Effects of Molybdenum Supplementation on Performance of Forage‐fed SteersReceiving High‐sulfur Water

There has been on‐going research in the area of the consumption of high‐sulfur (S) water by steers grazing rangeland as well as forage‐fed steers in a feedlot setting. During the summer of 2009, a trial was conducted on the effects of high‐S water in finishing steers supplemented with molybdenum (Mo). The main purpose of the research was to gather data that may aid in the formulation of a supplement to counteract the negative effects of high‐S water consumed by ruminant livestock species in areas where sulfur concentration in water sources is a risk to animal health and performance. The specific focus of this trial was to determine whether the feeding of supplemental Mo would improve animal health and performance by decreasing the formation of hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) in the rumen. Yearling steers (n=96) were used for a 56‐d trial. The trial consisted of 3 treatment groups; a low‐S water group and two high‐S water groups. One high‐S water treatment group received the same pellet that the low‐S group was given and the other high‐S water treatment group received a pellet with supplemental Mo included. Rumen gas cap H2S was collected on d ‐1, 29 and 57. Weights were recorded on d ‐2, ‐1, 29, 56 and 57. There were no differences between treatments in water intake (P= 0.719), but feed intake was reduced in the steers receiving the supplemental Mo (P \u3c 0.001). There was a significant difference in ruminal H2S due to treatment (P= 0.014), with higher ruminal H2S in the steers receiving the supplemental Mo. Steers receiving the Mo supplement had lower ADG than steers in the other treatments (P= 0.009). Throughout the duration of the trial, two steers were removed from the trial due to advanced symptoms of sulfur‐induced PEM (sPEM) from the high‐S treatment with no supplemental M

Product consistency testing of three reference glasses in stainless steel and perfluoroalkoxy resin vessels

Because of their chemical durability, silicate glasses have been proposed and researched since the mid-1950s as a medium for incorporating high-level radioactive waste (HLW) generated from processing of nuclear materials. A number of different waste forms were evaluated and ranked in the early 1980s; durability (leach resistance) was the highest weighted factor. Borosilicate glass was rated the best waste form available for incorporation of HLW. Four different types of vessels and three different glasses were used to study the possible effect of vessel composition on durability test results from the Production Consistency Test (PCT). The vessels were 45-m 304 stainless steel vessels, 150-m 304 L stainless steel vessels, and 60-m perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) fluoropolymer resin vessels. The three glasses were the Environmental Assessment glass manufactured by Corning Incorporated and supplied by Westinghouse Savannah River company, and West Valley Nuclear Services reference glasses 5 and 6, manufactured and supplied by Catholic University of America. Within experimental error, no differences were found in durability test results using the 3 different glasses in the 304L stainless steel or PFA fluoropolymer resin vessels over the seven-day test period

Vortex Plastic Flow, B(x,y,H(t)),M(H(t)),Jc(B(t))B(x,y,H(t)), M(H(t)), J_c(B(t)), Deep in the Bose Glass and Mott-Insulator Regimes

We present simulations of flux-gradient-driven superconducting vortices interacting with strong columnar pinning defects as an external field $H(t)$ is quasi-statically swept from zero through a matching field $B_{\phi}$. We analyze several measurable quantities, including the local flux density $B(x,y,H(t))$, magnetization $M(H(t))$, critical current $J_{c}(B(t))$, and the individual vortex flow paths. We find a significant change in the behavior of these quantities as the local flux density crosses $B_{\phi}$, and quantify it for many microscopic pinning parameters. Further, we find that for a given pin density $J_c(B)$ can be enhanced by maximizing the distance between the pins for $B < B_{\phi}$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 PostScript Figure

Copper Supplementation of Grazing Yearling Steers Supplemented withMolybdenum While Consuming High‐sulfur Water

There has been on‐going research conducted by South Dakota State University in the area of the consumption of high‐sulfur (S) water by steers grazing rangeland. During the summer of 2009 a trial was conducted in cooperation with the University of Wyoming on the effects of copper supplementation of grazing pasture steers supplemented with molybdenum (Mo), while drinking high‐sulfur water. The main purpose of this experiment was to gather data that may aide in the formulation of a method to counteract the negative effects of high‐S water consumed by ruminant livestock species in areas where sulfur concentrations in water sources causes risk to animal health and performance. Yearling steers (n=120) were assigned randomly to 9 replicate groups, 3 replicates of 3 treatments for a 52 d experiment. All groups were provided with high‐S water containing on average 2,201 mg•kg‐1 of sulfate. Additionally, all treatment groups received 100 mg•kg‐1 of supplemental Mo as an antagonist that would bind excess S. Unfortunately, Mo also binds copper (Cu), indicating that supplemental Cu may be necessary. Therefore treatments differed in level of supplemental copper: treatments 1 through 3 received 0, 75, or 150 mg•kg‐1 of supplemental Cu, respectively. Prior to the trial, mid‐trial and at the conclusion of the trial, ruminal H2S gas cap levels were collected. Animal weights were recorded d ‐2, ‐1, 28, 52 and 53. Over the entire course of the experiment there was a significant difference in ADG due to treatment (P\u3c 0.001). There were no differences in water consumption as a result of treatment (P= 0.618). No differences were observed in ruminal H2S due to treatment. No animal losses occurred due to the consumption of high‐S water in this trial

Adaptive Mesh Refinement for Characteristic Grids

I consider techniques for Berger-Oliger adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) when numerically solving partial differential equations with wave-like solutions, using characteristic (double-null) grids. Such AMR algorithms are naturally recursive, and the best-known past Berger-Oliger characteristic AMR algorithm, that of Pretorius & Lehner (J. Comp. Phys. 198 (2004), 10), recurses on individual "diamond" characteristic grid cells. This leads to the use of fine-grained memory management, with individual grid cells kept in 2-dimensional linked lists at each refinement level. This complicates the implementation and adds overhead in both space and time. Here I describe a Berger-Oliger characteristic AMR algorithm which instead recurses on null \emph{slices}. This algorithm is very similar to the usual Cauchy Berger-Oliger algorithm, and uses relatively coarse-grained memory management, allowing entire null slices to be stored in contiguous arrays in memory. The algorithm is very efficient in both space and time. I describe discretizations yielding both 2nd and 4th order global accuracy. My code implementing the algorithm described here is included in the electronic supplementary materials accompanying this paper, and is freely available to other researchers under the terms of the GNU general public license.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures (40 eps figure files, 8 of them color; all are viewable ok in black-and-white), 1 mpeg movie, uses Springer-Verlag svjour3 document class, includes C++ source code. Changes from v1: revised in response to referee comments: many references added, new figure added to better explain the algorithm, other small changes, C++ code updated to latest versio

Is there anybody out there? Occupancy of the carnivore guild in a temperate archipelago

Carnivores are important components of ecological communities with wide-ranging effects that vary with carnivore size, natural history, and hunting tactics. Researchers and managers should strive to understand both the presence and distribution of carnivores within their local environment. We studied the carnivore guild in the Apostle Islands, where the distribution and occupancy of carnivores was largely unknown. We monitored 19 islands with 160 functioning camera traps from 2014-2017, from which we collected 203,385 photographs across 49,280 trap nights. We documented 7,291 total wildlife events with 1,970 carnivore events, and detected 10 of the 12 terrestrial carnivores found in Wisconsin. Detection rates for species were generally higher in summer than winter, except for coyotes (Canis latrans) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Finitesample occupancy estimates for carnivores varied across islands, with mean estimated occupancy across islands varying from a high of 0.73 for black bears to a low of 0.21 for gray wolves. Of the potential island biogeography explanatory variables for carnivore occupancy we considered, island size was the most important, followed by distance to the mainland, and then interisland distance. We estimated that terrestrial carnivore species varied in the number of islands they were detected on from 1 island for gray wolves to 13 islands for black bears. Estimated carnivore richness across islands (i.e., the number of carnivores occupying an island) also varied substantively from 1 species on Michigan Island to 10 species on Stockton Island. Island size and connectivity between islands appear important for the persistence of the carnivore community in the Apostle Islands

Closed-Form transformation between geodetic and ellipsoidal coordinates

We present formulas for direct closed-form transformation between geodetic coordinates(Φ, λ, h) and ellipsoidal coordinates (β, λ, u) for any oblate ellipsoid of revolution.These will be useful for those dealing with ellipsoidal representations of the Earth's gravityfield or other oblate ellipsoidal figures. The numerical stability of the transformations for nearpolarand near-equatorial regions is also considered

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types