Disturbance Effects of Auger-Stirring Corn

Investigations were carried out studying diSturbance effects of auger-stirring 11.3 percent moisture corn with a 51-mm (2-in.) diameter stirring auger. Bulk density effects and the shape of the disturbed volume were defined for auger travel rates from 0 to 10.3 mm/s (24.3 in./min). Kernel orientations inside and outside the disturbed region were compared. Auger stirring devices are in wide use in bin-type corn-drying systems. These devices typically consist of one or more open 51-mm (2-in.) diameter, right-hand augers suspended from the bin roof and widewall and extending to near the bin floor. The augers rotate clockwise (viewed from above) and simultaneously travel horizontally. They lift grain from near the bin floor toward the top of the grain mass. H. A. Kalke of Rockford, Iowa was issued United States patent 3,156,541 for an auger stirring apparatus he invented during 1959-61. An auger stirring device was first commercially marketed in 1962. (Murphy, David M., 1977. Personal communication. David Manufacturing Co., Mason City, IA.) Auger stirrers are used with two kinds of bin-drying systems: the in-storage layer-fill system, in which corn is dried and stored in the same bin to a depth of 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 ft), and the bin-batch system, in which corn is placed for drying and cooling and then is removed to storage. In both these systems, the stirrer offers significant management advantages. A stirrer in an in-storage layer system allows the use of air temperatures as high as 60 °C (140 °F) resulting in faster drying and faster filling. If a stirring device is not used, an air temperature rise greater than about 11°C (20 °F) may result in moisture contents of less than 10 percent in the bottom layers of corn. Use of a stirrer with a bin-batch system permits doubling of the normal 0.75 to 1.2-m (2.5 to 4-ft) grain depth without an excessive moisture content variation from bottom to top at the completion of drying (Brooker etal.,1974). Two prior studies dealt with disturbance effects of auger stirring. Toms(1968) pictorially defined the region disturbed by a stirring auger as it rotated without hori-zontal movement in a plexiglas-windowed box with a horizontal cross-section 100 mm by 1.8 m (4 in. by 6 ft), containing corn to a depth of 1.8 m (6 ft). After about 15 min of operation, the disturbed region assumed a constant volume having a top width of 790 to 960 mm (31to 38 in.) and a bottom width of 150 mm (6 in.). This volume appeared thoroughly mixed. Hall and Beaty (1970) studied the mixing action of a stirring auger on wheat in a model bin at various horizontal travel rates and rotational speeds. For thorough blending of the 305-mm (12-in.) grain depth, traverse paths of the auger had to be adjacent, or spaced apart and repeated several times. Blending effectiveness improved as rotational speed increased and as horizontal travel rate decreased. This paper reports on a study undertaken to define the boundaries of the region disturbed by a moving stir-ring auger and to investigate effects of auger-stirring on corn bulk density and kernel orientation (Bern, 1973)

Heating Houses Electrically

More and more Iowa homes are being heated with electricity. Electrical house heating differs from other heating systems in several respects. Here\u27s a situation report on this relatively new house-heating method

Heavy Residues with A<90 in the Asymmetric Reaction of 20 AMeV 124Sn+27Al as a Sensitive Probe of the Onset of Multifragmentation

The cross sections and velocity distributions of heavy residues from the reaction of 20 AMeV 124Sn + 27Al have been measured at forward angles using the MARS recoil separator at Texas A&M in a wide mass range. A consistent overall description of the measured cross sections and velocity distributions was achieved using a model calculation employing the concept of deep-inelastic transfer for the primary stage of peripheral collisions, pre-equilibrium emission and incomplete fusion for the primary stage of more violent central collisions and the statistical model of multifragmentation (SMM code) for the deexcitation stage. An alternative calculation employing the sequential binary decay (GEMINI code) could not reproduce the observed yields of the residues from violent collisions (A<90) due to different kinematic properties. The success of SMM demonstrates that the heavy residues originate from events where a competition of thermally equilibrated fragment partitions takes place rather than a sequence of binary decays.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, LaTeX, to appear in NP

Isotopic Scaling of Heavy Projectile Residues from the collisions of 25 MeV/nucleon 86Kr with 124Sn, 112Sn and 64Ni, 58Ni

The scaling of the yields of heavy projectile residues from the reactions of 25 MeV/nucleon 86Kr projectiles with 124Sn,112Sn and 64Ni, 58Nitargets is studied. Isotopically resolved yield distributions of projectile fragments in the range Z=10-36 from these reaction pairs were measured with the MARS recoil separator in the angular range 2.7-5.3 degrees. The velocities of the residues, monotonically decreasing with Z down to Z~26-28, are employed to characterize the excitation energy. The yield ratios R21(N,Z) for each pair of systems are found to exhibit isotopic scaling (isoscaling), namely, an exponential dependence on the fragment atomic number Z and neutron number N. The isoscaling is found to occur in the residue Z range corresponding to the maximum observed excitation energies. The corresponding isoscaling parameters are alpha=0.43 and beta=-0.50 for the Kr+Sn system and alpha=0.27 and beta=-0.34 for the Kr+Ni system. For the Kr+Sn system, for which the experimental angular acceptance range lies inside the grazing angle, isoscaling was found to occur for Z<26 and N<34. For heavier fragments from Kr+Sn, the parameters vary monotonically, alpha decreasing with Z and beta increasing with N. This variation is found to be related to the evolution towards isospin equilibration and, as such, it can serve as a tracer of the N/Z equilibration process. The present heavy-residue data extend the observation of isotopic scaling from the intermediate mass fragment region to the heavy-residue region. Such high-resolution mass spectrometric data can provide important information on the role of isospin in peripheral and mid-peripheral collisions, complementary to that accessible from modern large-acceptance multidetector devices.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Science and technology requirements to explore caves in our Solar System

Research on planetary caves requires cross-planetary-body investigations spanning multiple disciplines, including geology, climatology, astrobiology, robotics, human exploration and operations. The community determined that a roadmap was needed to establish a common framework for planetary cave research. This white paper is our initial conception

Comorbidity and dementia : a mixed method study on improving healthcare for people with dementia (CoDem)

© Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2016. This work was produced by Bunn et al. under the terms of a commissioning contract issued by the Secretary of State for Health. This issue may be freely reproduced for the purposes of private research and study and extracts (or indeed, the full report) may be included in professional journals provided that suitable acknowledgement is made and the reproduction is not associated with any form of advertising. Applications for commercial reproduction should be addressed to: NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UKAmong people living with dementia (PLWD) there is a high prevalence of comorbid medical conditions but little is known about the effects of comorbidity on processes and quality of care and patient needs or how services are adapting to address the particular needs of this population. To explore the impact of dementia on access to non-dementia services and identify ways of improving the integration of services for this population

Global estimates on the number of people blind or visually impaired by cataract: a meta-analysis from 2000 to 2020

Background: To estimate global and regional trends from 2000 to 2020 of the number of persons visually impaired by cataract and their proportion of the total number of vision-impaired individuals. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of published population studies and gray literature from 2000 to 2020 was carried out to estimate global and regional trends. We developed prevalence estimates based on modeled distance visual impairment and blindness due to cataract, producing location-, year-, age-, and sex-specific estimates of moderate to severe vision impairment (MSVI presenting visual acuity &lt;6/18, ≥3/60) and blindness (presenting visual acuity &lt;3/60). Estimates are age-standardized using the GBD standard population. Results: In 2020, among overall (all ages) 43.3 million blind and 295 million with MSVI, 17.0 million (39.6%) people were blind and 83.5 million (28.3%) had MSVI due to cataract blind 60% female, MSVI 59% female. From 1990 to 2020, the count of persons blind (MSVI) due to cataract increased by 29.7%(93.1%) whereas the age-standardized global prevalence of cataract-related blindness improved by −27.5% and MSVI increased by 7.2%. The contribution of cataract to the age-standardized prevalence of blindness exceeded the global figure only in South Asia (62.9%) and Southeast Asia and Oceania (47.9%). Conclusions: The number of people blind and with MSVI due to cataract has risen over the past 30 years, despite a decrease in the age-standardized prevalence of cataract. This indicates that cataract treatment programs have been beneficial, but population growth and aging have outpaced their impact. Growing numbers of cataract blind indicate that more, better-directed, resources are needed to increase global capacity for cataract surgery.</p

Heating Houses Electrically

More and more Iowa homes are being heated with electricity. Electrical house heating differs from other heating systems in several respects. Here's a situation report on this relatively new house-heating method.</p

Disturbance Effects of Auger-Stirring Corn

Investigations were carried out studying diSturbance effects of auger-stirring 11.3 percent moisture corn with a 51-mm (2-in.) diameter stirring auger. Bulk density effects and the shape of the disturbed volume were defined for auger travel rates from 0 to 10.3 mm/s (24.3 in./min). Kernel orientations inside and outside the disturbed region were compared. Auger stirring devices are in wide use in bin-type corn-drying systems. These devices typically consist of one or more open 51-mm (2-in.) diameter, right-hand augers suspended from the bin roof and widewall and extending to near the bin floor. The augers rotate clockwise (viewed from above) and simultaneously travel horizontally. They lift grain from near the bin floor toward the top of the grain mass. H. A. Kalke of Rockford, Iowa was issued United States patent 3,156,541 for an auger stirring apparatus he invented during 1959-61. An auger stirring device was first commercially marketed in 1962. (Murphy, David M., 1977. Personal communication. David Manufacturing Co., Mason City, IA.) Auger stirrers are used with two kinds of bin-drying systems: the in-storage layer-fill system, in which corn is dried and stored in the same bin to a depth of 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 ft), and the bin-batch system, in which corn is placed for drying and cooling and then is removed to storage. In both these systems, the stirrer offers significant management advantages. A stirrer in an in-storage layer system allows the use of air temperatures as high as 60 °C (140 °F) resulting in faster drying and faster filling. If a stirring device is not used, an air temperature rise greater than about 11°C (20 °F) may result in moisture contents of less than 10 percent in the bottom layers of corn. Use of a stirrer with a bin-batch system permits doubling of the normal 0.75 to 1.2-m (2.5 to 4-ft) grain depth without an excessive moisture content variation from bottom to top at the completion of drying (Brooker etal.,1974). Two prior studies dealt with disturbance effects of auger stirring. Toms(1968) pictorially defined the region disturbed by a stirring auger as it rotated without hori-zontal movement in a plexiglas-windowed box with a horizontal cross-section 100 mm by 1.8 m (4 in. by 6 ft), containing corn to a depth of 1.8 m (6 ft). After about 15 min of operation, the disturbed region assumed a constant volume having a top width of 790 to 960 mm (31to 38 in.) and a bottom width of 150 mm (6 in.). This volume appeared thoroughly mixed. Hall and Beaty (1970) studied the mixing action of a stirring auger on wheat in a model bin at various horizontal travel rates and rotational speeds. For thorough blending of the 305-mm (12-in.) grain depth, traverse paths of the auger had to be adjacent, or spaced apart and repeated several times. Blending effectiveness improved as rotational speed increased and as horizontal travel rate decreased. This paper reports on a study undertaken to define the boundaries of the region disturbed by a moving stir-ring auger and to investigate effects of auger-stirring on corn bulk density and kernel orientation (Bern, 1973).This article is from Transactions of the ASAE 21 (1978): 371–374, doi:10.13031/2013.35306. Posted with permission.</p

Evaluating the Usability, Perceived Performance, and Perceived Effects of KBGAN iHealth© and KBGAN iFeed© Mobile Apps for Buffalo Management in Selected Municipalities in the Philippines

This study evaluates the KBGAN iHealth© and KBGAN iFeed© mobile apps designed for buffalo health and feeding management, particularly for agricultural extension professionals (AEPs) in selected Philippine municipalities. These apps aim to address challenges in buffalo management, such as limited access to veterinary expertise, personalized recommendations, organized data, communication channels, and difficulties in calculating ideal feed compositions and meeting the distinct needs of smallholder farmers and AEPs. Despite System Usability Scale (SUS) scores indicating marginal acceptability for both apps, weighted mean scores by AEPs for statements assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (1 as strongly disagree and 5 as strongly agree), demonstrate that AEPs reported high confidence in the accuracy of buffalo health diagnostics (Mean of 4.20) and health management recommendations (Mean of 4.17) provided by KBGAN iHealth©. Similarly, KBGAN iFeed© received favorable ratings, with AEPs expressing agreement on the accuracy of feeding recommendations (Mean of 3.89) and the facilitation of feeding ration computations (Mean of 4.00). These positive perceived performance outcomes, coupled with increased confidence (Mean of 4.03) and motivation (Mean of 4.00) among AEPs, suggest the potential for frequent and consistent app usage despite usability concerns. Chi-square tests examining the relationship between AEP characteristics and SUS scores for the apps reveal significant associations between AEPs' education and experience levels and SUS scores for KBGAN iFeed©. The choice of IT device also influences KBGAN iHealth© SUS scores. Proposed enhancements by AEPs include refining algorithms, improving the user interface for navigation, speed, and efficiency, and incorporating features such as photo uploads and geotagging