Ensileability of alfalfa: cutting, maturity and treatment effects

Analysis of ensiling characteristics from late-bud, 10% bloom, and 50% bloom alfalfa, taken within each of four cuttings identified higher pre-ensiled dry matter (DM) content during the first two cuttings, whereas crop buffer capacity was weakest during the third cutting and subsequently strongest throughout the fourth cutting. Initial pH was lowest at the first cutting and increased with each cutting thereafter. Dry matter increased linearly within maturity, whereas late-bud maturity had the highest buffer capacity and initial pH. From hr 24 until d 90, the pH values were consistently highest for late-bud and lowest for 50% bloom silage. 1featments receiving 2% dextrose showed a slightly higher DM. At each of seven laboratory silo opening times, a combination of added dextrose and a lactic acid bacteria inoculant yielded the lowest pH; inoculant alone gave the next lowest pH values through hr 48. From d 3 to 90, pH\u27s were consistently highest for control silages, followed by inoculant. dextrose, and dextrose + inoculant combined

Does Common Ownership Impact Auditor Incentives?

Prior research suggests that common ownership (i.e., institutional investors owning significant equity stakes in companies within the same industry) impairs companies’ incentives to compete since owners are less likely to support an aggressive competitive strategy. In this paper, we examine whether common ownership impacts auditor incentives. Using a sample of US firms during the 2003–2017 period, we find that common ownership lowers audit fees and audit effort without impairing audit quality. We perform cross-sectional tests as well as a quasi-natural experiment based on institutional owner mergers to help mitigate concerns about omitted variable bias or reverse causality. Overall, our findings are consistent with the view that common-owners internalize governance externalities and have accumulated more industry-specific monitoring experience, which in turn decreases audit risk

Strange attractors in periodically-kicked degenerate Hopf bifurcations

We prove that spiral sinks (stable foci of vector fields) can be transformed into strange attractors exhibiting sustained, observable chaos if subjected to periodic pulsatile forcing. We show that this phenomenon occurs in the context of periodically-kicked degenerate supercritical Hopf bifurcations. The results and their proofs make use of a new multi-parameter version of the theory of rank one maps developed by Wang and Young.Comment: 16 page

Effects of crop species on indigenous microflora and of silage additives on the microbial succession during the ensiling process

This study considered the effects of crop species (alfalfa vs. corn) and silage additives on six categories of indigenous microorganisms (those naturally occurring on the crop) important to silage fermentation, and on the microbial succession during the ensiling process. The numbers of streptococci, Enterobacteriaceae, yeasts and molds, lactate-using yeasts, and carbohydrate- fermenting clostridial spores were higher on corn than on alfalfa. The lactic acid bacteria (LAB) comprised less than 2% of the total microbial populations on both crops. Alfalfa treated with Biomate® inoculant and the combination of dextrose and Biomate showed higher LAB counts than the control and dextrose treatments at 1 day post-ensiling. Adding dextrose accelerated multiplication of LAB in the ensiled alfalfa. Adding 1174® inoculant to corn silages did not affect the microbial succession during the ensiling process. Development of Enterobacteriaceae, yeasts and molds, lactate-using yeasts, and clostridia on either crop during ensiling was not influenced by the additives

Cultural differences in intimacy: The influence of gender-role ideology and individualism-collectivism

Two studies examined emotional intimacy in European Canadian and Chinese Canadian dating relationships. Cultural differences in gender-role ideology and individualism–collectivism were hypothesized to differentially contribute to selfdisclosure and responsiveness, and in turn, intimacy. Study 1 revealed that Chinese Canadians’ lower intimacy relative to European Canadians was mediated by their greater gender-role traditionalism but not by their individualism or collectivism. Study 2 further linked greater gender-role traditionalism to lower self-disclosure, and in turn, lower intimacy. Results also revealed that Chinese Canadians’ lower intimacy mediated their lower relationship satisfaction and higher rate of relationship termination in Study 1, but that Chinese Canadians were not any more likely to terminate their relationships in Study 2

From limit cycles to strange attractors

We define a quantitative notion of shear for limit cycles of flows. We prove that strange attractors and SRB measures emerge when systems exhibiting limit cycles with sufficient shear are subjected to periodic pulsatile drives. The strange attractors possess a number of precisely-defined dynamical properties that together imply chaos that is both sustained in time and physically observable.Comment: 27 page

Longitudinal relationships between subjective fatigue, cognitive function, and everyday functioning in old age

Background: The present study examined the prospective relationships between subjective fatigue, cognitive function, and everyday functioning. Methods: A cohort study with secondary data analysis was conducted using data from 2,781 community-dwelling older adults without dementia who were enrolled to participate in the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) randomized intervention trial. Measures included demographic and health information at baseline, and annual assessments of subjective fatigue, cognitive function (i.e. speed of processing, memory, and reasoning), and everyday functioning (i.e. everyday speed and everyday problem-solving) over five years. Results: Four distinct classes of subjective fatigue were identified using growth mixture modeling: one group complaining fatigue some of the time at baseline but most of the time at five-year follow-up (increased fatigue), one complaining fatigue a good bit of the time constantly over time (persistent fatigue), one complaining fatigue most of the time at baseline but some of the time at five-year follow-up (decreased fatigue), and the fourth complaining fatigue some of the time constantly over time (persistent energy). All domains of cognitive function and everyday functioning declined significantly over five years; and the decline rates, but not the baseline levels, differed by the latent class of subjective fatigue. Except for the decreased fatigue class, there were different degrees of significant associations between the decline rates of subjective fatigue and all domains of cognitive function and everyday functioning in other classes of subjective fatigue. Conclusion: Future interventions should address subjective fatigue when managing cognitive and functional abilities in community-dwelling older adults

Identifying the Technology Position on Patent Acquisition of Cardiovascular Stent by Complementarity and Supplementary Knowledge

[[abstract]]The most common way for an organization to expand its innovation capability is to acquire technological patent. Consequently, it is an important issue for firms to identify and estimate the target patent. Before acquiring, firms also have to make sure whether the target patents is matching the strategic purpose, and whether the target patent is suitable for the adopting after acquiring. And the result of patent citation analysis can be referred for estimating target patent as the result reveals the technology relationship between firms, the market value of technologies and the technology development strategy. Moreover, technology network analysis can visualize the overall social structure of actors in the technology network and illuminate their relationships and roles. However, few scholars have examined the relative positions of firms in technology networks from the viewpoint of individual social networks. This research uses the idea of the "ego-network", defining the firm's core technology patent portfolio as "ego" while patents which directly cite core patents are defined as the "neighborhood. The purpose of this research is to understand how the firm, through patent transfers, alters its technology position and performs inductive analysis as a reference for future changes in its patent portfolio strategies. The results of this research demonstrate that irrespective of patent transfer strategy, the relative position of firms in the technology network is displaced by patent transfers. By dividing the trajectory of displacement into quadrants the data set may be named as pioneers, leaders, followers, and laggards. And the result shows firms may exit markets, reduce internal subdivisions, carry out cost control, or sell off patents, moving their position to the left or downward and making them followers or laggards. By the same token, when firms enter a new technology area or market, increase their technological capabilities, or acquire technology patents, their position shits to the right or downward, and they become leaders or pioneers.[[notice]]補正完

Polarimetric Properties of Flux-Ropes and Sheared Arcades in Coronal Prominence Cavities

The coronal magnetic field is the primary driver of solar dynamic events. Linear and circular polarization signals of certain infrared coronal emission lines contain information about the magnetic field, and to access this information, either a forward or an inversion method must be used. We study three coronal magnetic configurations that are applicable to polar-crown filament cavities by doing forward calculations to produce synthetic polarization data. We analyze these forward data to determine the distinguishing characteristics of each model. We conclude that it is possible to distinguish between cylindrical flux ropes, spheromak flux ropes, and sheared arcades using coronal polarization measurements. If one of these models is found to be consistent with observational measurements, it will mean positive identification of the magnetic morphology that surrounds certain quiescent filaments, which will lead to a greater understanding of how they form and why they erupt.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, Solar Physics topical issue: Coronal Magnetis

Measurement of Cosmic-ray Muon-induced Spallation Neutrons in the Aberdeen Tunnel Underground Laboratory

AbstractMuon-induced neutrons are one of the major backgrounds to various underground experiments, such as dark matter searches, low-energy neutrino oscillation experiments and neutrino-less double beta-decay experiments. Previous experiments on the underground production rate of muon-induced neutrons were mostly carried out either at shallow sites or at very deep sites. The Aberdeen Tunnel experiment aims to measure the neutron production rate at a moderate depth of 611 meters water equivalent. Our apparatus comprises of six layers of plastic-scintillator hodoscopes for tracking the incident cosmic-ray muons, and 760 L of gadolinium-doped liquid-scintillator for both neutron production and detection targets. In this paper, we describe the design and the performance of the apparatus. The preliminary result on the measurement of neutron production rate is also presented