Postal survey of contacts between cattle farms on the Isle of Lewis

The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) database contains an unprecedented quantity of data on the movement of cattle within the UK. These data may be used to construct models of the contact structure of the UK cattle herd, for epidemiological purposes. There are two significant potential sources of inaccuracy within such models: movements that are not reported or are reported inaccurately to the BCMS, and contacts between farms that might transmit infection, but are not animal movements. This field study addressed these issues. Cattle farmers on the Isle of Lewis were recruited with the assistance of the local veterinary surgeon, and asked to record a range of potential risk behaviours for a one-month period. They were also asked questions about husbandry practices on their farm. Comparison of the BCMS contact data with that reported by Lewis' farmers highlighted use of common grazing land as a significant source of contact, and potential disease transmission, between cattle that currently goes unreported; around half of responding holdings on Lewis use common grazing land at some point during the year, and these movements are not reported to the BCMS

Verification tests of durable TPS concepts

Titanium multiwall, superalloy honeycomb, and Advanced Carbon-carbon (ACC) multipost Thermal Protection System (TPS) concepts are being developed to provide durable protection for surfaces of future space transportation systems. Verification tests including thermal, vibration, acoustic, water absorption, lightning strike, and aerothermal tests are described. Preliminary results indicate that the three TPS concepts are viable up to a surface temperature in excess of 2300 F

The planthopper genus Spartidelphax, a new segregate of Nearctic Delphacodes (Hemiptera, Delphacidae)

The new genus Spartidelphax is described to house three species removed from the polyphyletic genus Delphacodes. The members of Spartidelphax are coastal species native to eastern North America, and probably feed exclusively on cordgrass (Poaceae, Spartina Schreb.). The taxonomy and nomenclature of the included species (viz. S. detectus, S. luteivittus, and S. penedetectus) are reviewed. Spartidelphax luteivittus is a nomen dubium, whose type material is inadequate to provide diagnostic features contrasting with S. detectus and S. penedetectus. Diagnoses and a key are provided for the remaining Spartidelphax.Copyright Charles R. Bartlett, Mick D. Webb. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.NHM Repositor