Possibilities for Measurement and Compensation of Stray DC Electric Fields Acting on Drag-Free Test Masses

DC electric fields can combine with test mass charging and thermal dielectric voltage noise to create significant force noise acting on the drag-free test masses in the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) gravitational wave mission. This paper proposes a simple technique to measure and compensate average stray DC potentials at the mV level, yielding substantial reduction in this source of force noise. We discuss the attainable resolution for both flight and ground based experiments.Comment: To be published in Advances in Space Research, COSPAR 2002 conference proceedings (6 pages, 3 figures

14 September 1941 BERNALILLO County Specimen Collection Data

Specimen collected 14 September 1941. Original Locality: Albuquerque, Rio Grande below Diversion Dam. Locality: Rio Grande, below a diversion dam, Albuquerque.Catalog number: MSB637; Taxa: Pimephales promelas; Common name: fathead minnow; Count of specimens: 96; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB782; Taxa: Rhinichthys cataractae; Common name: longnose dace; Count of specimens: 5; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB1079; Taxa: Gambusia affinis; Common name: western mosquitofish; Count of specimens: 60; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB1162; Taxa: Hybognathus amarus; Common name: Rio Grande silvery minnow; Count of specimens: 33; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB1377; Taxa: Notropis jemezanus; Common name: Rio Grande shiner; Count of specimens: 1; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB1410; Taxa: Notropis simus; Common name: bluntnose shiner; Count of specimens: 25; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB1586; Taxa: Cyprinus carpio; Common name: common carp; Count of specimens: 9; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB1645; Taxa: Gila pandora; Common name: Rio Grande chub; Count of specimens: 73; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB1757; Taxa: Platygobio gracilis; Common name: flathead chub; Count of specimens: 118; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB1875; Taxa: Macrhybopsis aestivalis; Common name: speckled chub; Count of specimens: 147; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB2012; Taxa: Salmo trutta; Common name: brown trout; Count of specimens: 1; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB2074; Taxa: Oncorhynchus mykiss; Common name: rainbow trout; Count of specimens: 13; Standard length:Catalog number: MSB3218; Taxa: Carpiodes carpio; Common name: river carpsucker; Count of specimens: 27; Standard length

Correction of cone index for soil water content differences in a coastal plain soil

Soil penetration resistance (cone index) varies with water content. The field variation of water content could mask treatment differences. The correction of cone index data to a single water content would help prevent this. We used equations from TableCurve software and from the literature to correct cone indices for differences in soil water contents. Data were taken from two field experiments where cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) was grown using conventional and conservation tillage without irrigation, and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were grown using conventional tillage with microirrigation. Boundary conditions based on hard, dry and soft. wet soils were imposed on the equations. Equations fit the data with coefficients of determination ranging from 0.55 to 0.92 and error mean squares from 1.37 to 6.35. After correction, cone index dependence on water content was reduced. A single-equation correction did not always fit the data across all treatments. Separate corrections, based on treatment, might be required. When corrections required multiple equations, differences may be real or may be a manifestation of the correction differences. In this case, the correction may not be feasible (unless some future work can coordinate different equations and assure a uniform correction)

Experiences with microirrigation for agronomic crops in the southeastern USA

Microirrigation offers several advantages over sprinkler irrigation in humid areas, including ease of automation; lower water pressure and flow rate; improved management of water and nutrients; and easy seasonal start-up, especially for subsurface placement. Microirrigation system cost could be reduced and made more profitable for agronomic crops by using wider spacing and subsurface placement of microirrigation laterals. Results are reviewed from five experiments involving microirrigation of agronomic crops (corn, soybean, and cotton) and including 14 site-years of data. Agronomic crops can be effectively and efficiently irrigated in the southeastern Coastal Plain with microirrigation systems. In three experiments involving nine site-years of data, both normal (0.76 - 1.0 m) and wide (1.5 - 2.0 m) lateral spacings were used to irrigate corn and cotton; yields were equal except in one year when corn yield was reduced by about 10% for the wide spacing. With corn, there was no yield difference between surface and subsurface placement of laterals at the normal spacing (every row). Other data indicate that wider spacing of laterals in subsurface installations produces cotton lint yields similar to those for the same spacing in surface placements. Consequently, it appears that surface or subsurface placement of laterals at wider spacings (alternate furrow, 1.5 - 2.0 m) has significant potential for profitable irrigation of agronomic crops such as corn, cotton, and soybean in the southeastern USA

Updated tests of scaling and universality for the spin-spin correlations in the 2D and 3D spin-S Ising models using high-temperature expansions

We have extended, from order 12 through order 25, the high-temperature series expansions (in zero magnetic field) for the spin-spin correlations of the spin-S Ising models on the square, simple-cubic and body-centered-cubic lattices. On the basis of this large set of data, we confirm accurately the validity of the scaling and universality hypotheses by resuming several tests which involve the correlation function, its moments and the exponential or the second-moment correlation-lengths.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Scaling and universality in the phase diagram of the 2D Blume-Capel model

We review the pertinent features of the phase diagram of the zero-field Blume-Capel model, focusing on the aspects of transition order, finite-size scaling and universality. In particular, we employ a range of Monte Carlo simulation methods to study the 2D spin-1 Blume-Capel model on the square lattice to investigate the behavior in the vicinity of the first-order and second-order regimes of the ferromagnet-paramagnet phase boundary, respectively. To achieve high-precision results, we utilize a combination of (i) a parallel version of the multicanonical algorithm and (ii) a hybrid updating scheme combining Metropolis and generalized Wolff cluster moves. These techniques are combined to study for the first time the correlation length of the model, using its scaling in the regime of second-order transitions to illustrate universality through the observed identity of the limiting value of $\xi/L$ with the exactly known result for the Ising universality class.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. Special Topic

Association of the CHEK2 c.1100delC variant, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment with contralateral breast cancer risk and breast cancer-specific survival

Background Breast cancer (BC) patients with a germline CHEK2 c.1100delC variant have an increased risk of contralateral BC (CBC) and worse BC-specific survival (BCSS) compared to non-carriers. Aim To assessed the associations of CHEK2 c.1100delC, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment with CBC risk and BCSS. Methods Analyses were based on 82,701 women diagnosed with a first primary invasive BC including 963 CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers; median follow-up was 9.1 years. Differential associations with treatment by CHEK2 c.1100delC status were tested by including interaction terms in a multivariable Cox regression model. A multi-state model was used for further insight into the relation between CHEK2 c.1100delC status, treatment, CBC risk and death. Results There was no evidence for differential associations of therapy with CBC risk by CHEK2 c.1100delC status. The strongest association with reduced CBC risk was observed for the combination of chemotherapy and endocrine therapy [HR (95% CI): 0.66 (0.55–0.78)]. No association was observed with radiotherapy. Results from the multi-state model showed shorter BCSS for CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers versus non-carriers also after accounting for CBC occurrence [HR (95% CI): 1.30 (1.09–1.56)]. Conclusion Systemic therapy was associated with reduced CBC risk irrespective of CHEK2 c.1100delC status. Moreover, CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers had shorter BCSS, which appears not to be fully explained by their CBC risk

Physical activity, sedentary time and breast cancer risk: a Mendelian randomisation study

Objectives: Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour are associated with higher breast cancer risk in observational studies, but ascribing causality is difficult. Mendelian randomisation (MR) assesses causality by simulating randomised trial groups using genotype. We assessed whether lifelong physical activity or sedentary time, assessed using genotype, may be causally associated with breast cancer risk overall, pre/post-menopause, and by case-groups defined by tumour characteristics. Methods: We performed two-sample inverse-variance-weighted MR using individual-level Breast Cancer Association Consortium case-control data from 130 957 European-ancestry women (69 838 invasive cases), and published UK Biobank data (n=91 105–377 234). Genetic instruments were single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated in UK Biobank with wrist-worn accelerometer-measured overall physical activity (nsnps=5) or sedentary time (nsnps=6), or accelerometer-measured (nsnps=1) or self-reported (nsnps=5) vigorous physical activity. Results: Greater genetically-predicted overall activity was associated with lower breast cancer overall risk (OR=0.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.42 to 0.83 per-standard deviation (SD;~8 milligravities acceleration)) and for most case-groups. Genetically-predicted vigorous activity was associated with lower risk of pre/perimenopausal breast cancer (OR=0.62; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.87,≥3 vs. 0 self-reported days/week), with consistent estimates for most case-groups. Greater genetically-predicted sedentary time was associated with higher hormone-receptor-negative tumour risk (OR=1.77; 95% CI 1.07 to 2.92 per-SD (~7% time spent sedentary)), with elevated estimates for most case-groups. Results were robust to sensitivity analyses examining pleiotropy (including weighted-median-MR, MR-Egger). Conclusion: Our study provides strong evidence that greater overall physical activity, greater vigorous activity, and lower sedentary time are likely to reduce breast cancer risk. More widespread adoption of active lifestyles may reduce the burden from the most common cancer in women

Experiences with microirrigation for agronomic crops in the southeastern USA

Microirrigation offers several advantages over sprinkler irrigation in humid areas, including ease of automation; lower water pressure and flow rate; improved management of water and nutrients; and easy seasonal start-up, especially for subsurface placement. Microirrigation system cost could be reduced and made more profitable for agronomic crops by using wider spacing and subsurface placement of microirrigation laterals. Results are reviewed from five experiments involving microirrigation of agronomic crops (corn, soybean, and cotton) and including 14 site-years of data. Agronomic crops can be effectively and efficiently irrigated in the southeastern Coastal Plain with microirrigation systems. In three experiments involving nine site-years of data, both normal (0.76 - 1.0 m) and wide (1.5 - 2.0 m) lateral spacings were used to irrigate corn and cotton; yields were equal except in one year when corn yield was reduced by about 10% for the wide spacing. With corn, there was no yield difference between surface and subsurface placement of laterals at the normal spacing (every row). Other data indicate that wider spacing of laterals in subsurface installations produces cotton lint yields similar to those for the same spacing in surface placements. Consequently, it appears that surface or subsurface placement of laterals at wider spacings (alternate furrow, 1.5 - 2.0 m) has significant potential for profitable irrigation of agronomic crops such as corn, cotton, and soybean in the southeastern USA