Preconditioning Feeder Calves

Each year more than million quality feeder calves are sold in South Dakota. These sales contribute significantly to agricultural income in the state, the sale of cattle and calves comprising about 50% of the total. Under the leadership of the South Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement Association (BCIA) and the South Dakota Extension Service, an organized, certified feeder calf preconditioning program has been initiated and is available as an optional management/marketing tool for South Dakota cow-calf producers. The program is designed to assure the highest standards of quality, health and performance once South Dakota feeder calves reach the feedlot

The Economic Contribution of Logging and Trucking in Maine

Maine\u27s forest products industry has long been hailed as a backbone of the state\u27s economy. Multiple reports have been commissioned detailing the economic role of the sector (e.g. Bailey, 2019; Anderson III and Crandall, 2016; Gabe, 2013). It was recently estimated that the forest products industry contributed $7.7 billion in output to the state\u27s economy in 2016 (Bailey, 2019) An essential component of the industry is logging—which directly effects the availability and cost of delivered wood. In 2014, researchers set out to specifically highlight the logging industry\u27s economic role in Maine (Crandall, McCullock, Nick, Kizha, 2016). The work presented here aims to update and build upon that report

Fast computation of Bernoulli, Tangent and Secant numbers

We consider the computation of Bernoulli, Tangent (zag), and Secant (zig or Euler) numbers. In particular, we give asymptotically fast algorithms for computing the first n such numbers in O(n^2.(log n)^(2+o(1))) bit-operations. We also give very short in-place algorithms for computing the first n Tangent or Secant numbers in O(n^2) integer operations. These algorithms are extremely simple, and fast for moderate values of n. They are faster and use less space than the algorithms of Atkinson (for Tangent and Secant numbers) and Akiyama and Tanigawa (for Bernoulli numbers).Comment: 16 pages. To appear in Computational and Analytical Mathematics (associated with the May 2011 workshop in honour of Jonathan Borwein's 60th birthday). For further information, see http://maths.anu.edu.au/~brent/pub/pub242.htm

Experimental mathematics on the magnetic susceptibility of the square lattice Ising model

We calculate very long low- and high-temperature series for the susceptibility $\chi$ of the square lattice Ising model as well as very long series for the five-particle contribution $\chi^{(5)}$ and six-particle contribution $\chi^{(6)}$. These calculations have been made possible by the use of highly optimized polynomial time modular algorithms and a total of more than 150000 CPU hours on computer clusters. For $\chi^{(5)}$ 10000 terms of the series are calculated {\it modulo} a single prime, and have been used to find the linear ODE satisfied by $\chi^{(5)}$ {\it modulo} a prime. A diff-Pad\'e analysis of 2000 terms series for $\chi^{(5)}$ and $\chi^{(6)}$ confirms to a very high degree of confidence previous conjectures about the location and strength of the singularities of the $n$-particle components of the susceptibility, up to a small set of ``additional'' singularities. We find the presence of singularities at $w=1/2$ for the linear ODE of $\chi^{(5)}$, and $w^2= 1/8$ for the ODE of $\chi^{(6)}$, which are {\it not} singularities of the ``physical'' $\chi^{(5)}$ and $\chi^{(6)},$ that is to say the series-solutions of the ODE's which are analytic at $w =0$. Furthermore, analysis of the long series for $\chi^{(5)}$ (and $\chi^{(6)}$) combined with the corresponding long series for the full susceptibility $\chi$ yields previously conjectured singularities in some $\chi^{(n)}$, $n \ge 7$. We also present a mechanism of resummation of the logarithmic singularities of the $\chi^{(n)}$ leading to the known power-law critical behaviour occurring in the full $\chi$, and perform a power spectrum analysis giving strong arguments in favor of the existence of a natural boundary for the full susceptibility $\chi$.Comment: 54 pages, 2 figure

Is core temperature the trigger of a menopausal hot flush?

OBJECTIVE: Menopausal hot flushes negatively impact quality of life and may be a biomarker of cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk; therefore understanding the physiology of hot flushes is important. Current thinking is that a small elevation (~0.03-0.05oC) in core temperature surpasses a sweating threshold (that is reduced in the menopause), sweating is activated, and a hot flush ensues. Nevertheless, more recent studies examining thermoregulatory control question whether core temperature per se can explain the trigger for a hot flush. The primary aim of this study was to assess the contribution of increases in core temperature on the occurrence of menopausal hot flushes. METHODS: For this purpose, 108 hot flushes were objectively assessed in a laboratory setting in 72 symptomatic postmenopausal women (aged 45.8±5.1 yrs; BMI 25.9±4.5 kg/m2) from 5 previously reported studies. Women rested, wearing a tube lined suit (or trousers) which was perfused with 34oC water. A subset then underwent mild heat stress (48°C water). Sweat rate, skin blood flow, blood pressure, heart rate, skin and core temperature were measured continuously throughout. A hot flush was objectively identified during rest (spontaneous hot flush) or mild heating as an abrupt increase in sternal sweat rate. Further, a subset of symptomatic post- (n=22) underwent whole-body passive heating for 60 mins to identify core temperature thresholds and sensitivities for sweat rate and cutaneous vasodilation, which were compared to a subset of pre-menopausal women (n=18). Data were analysed using t-tests and/or general linear modelling, and are presented as mean (95% CI). RESULTS: In the 20 mins prior to a spontaneous hot flush, core temperature increased by 0.03±0.12oC (P<0.05), but only 51% of hot flushes were preceded by an increase in core temperature. During mild heating, 76% of hot flushes were preceded by an increase in core temperature. The temperature thresholds for sweating were similar but the vasodilatory threshold was higher in post-menopausal compared to pre-menopausal women (37.1±0.2 vs. 36.8 ±0.3°C, P = 0.06). CONCLUSION: We provide new evidence that menopausal hot flushes are unlikely triggered by an increase in core temperature. These findings provide important information about the physiology of hot flushes that have implications for treatment and management options for menopausal hot flushes

Elliptic integral evaluations of Bessel moments

We record what is known about the closed forms for various Bessel function moments arising in quantum field theory, condensed matter theory and other parts of mathematical physics. More generally, we develop formulae for integrals of products of six or fewer Bessel functions. In consequence, we are able to discover and prove closed forms for $c_{n,k}:=\int_0^\infty t^k K_0^n(t) {\rm d}t$ with integers $n=1,2,3,4$ and $k\ge0$, obtaining new results for the even moments $c_{3,2k}$ and $c_{4,2k}$. We also derive new closed forms for the odd moments $s_{n,2k+1}:=\int_0^\infty t^{2k+1}I_0^{}(t) K_0^{n-1}(t) {\rm d}t$ with $n=3,4$ and for $t_{n,2k+1}:=\int_0^\infty t^{2k+1}I_0^2(t) K_0^{n-2}(t) {\rm d}t$ with $n=5$, relating the latter to Green functions on hexagonal, diamond and cubic lattices. We conjecture the values of $s_{5,2k+1}$, make substantial progress on the evaluation of $c_{5,2k+1}$, $s_{6,2k+1}$ and $t_{6,2k+1}$ and report more limited progress regarding $c_{5,2k}$, $c_{6,2k+1}$ and $c_{6,2k}$. In the process, we obtain 8 conjectural evaluations, each of which has been checked to 1200 decimal places. One of these lies deep in 4- dimensional quantum field theory and two are probably provable by delicate combinatorics. There remains a hard core of five conjectures whose proofs would be most instructive, to mathematicians and physicists alike.Comment: 51 pages, 1 Postscript figure, uses amsmath.sty, added reference

Feasibility and Validity of the Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index in Routine Clinical Practice

The Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index (PUCAI) is a non-invasive disease activity index developed as a clinical trial endpoint. More recently, practice guidelines have recommended the use of PUCAI in routine clinical care. We therefore sought to evaluate the feasibility, validity and responsiveness of PUCAI in a large, diverse collection of pediatric gastroenterology practices

More Than Forty Prominent Economists Urge Supreme Court to Allow EPA to Consider Costs and Consequences of Clean Air Regulations

More than forty prominent economists filed a Friend of the Court brief with the Supreme Court, asking the justices to overturn a lower court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may not take into account the costs of regulations when setting standards under the Clean Air Act. Calling the lower court ruling "economically unsound," the economists argued that the EPA "should be allowed to consider explicitly the full consequences" of regulatory decisions, including costs, benefits, and any other relevant facts. In their Amici Curiae brief, the economists contended that the "plain aim" of the Clean Air Act "is protecting the public health&quo.t; That aim, they said, "is unlikely to be achieved without, at least, an implicit balancing of benefits and costs." The Supreme Court filing was organized by the American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. The bipartisan group of economists signing the brief included three Nobel laureates, seven former chairmen of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, and two former directors of the White House Office of Management and Budget. The case, American Trucking Association v. Carol M. Browner, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency , was appealed to the Supreme Court after a Federal Court in Washington D.C. ruled that the EPA was not permitted to consider costs in setting regulatory standards for enforcing the Clean Air Act. "We believe it would be imprudent for the EPA to ignore costs totally, particularly given their magnitude in this case," the economists stated in the brief. "The EPA estimates that those [clean air] standards could cost on the order of $50 billion annually." The brief argued, "Not considering costs makes it difficult to set a defensible standard, especially when there is no threshold below which health risks disappear." Ignoring costs, the economists said, "could lead to a decision to set the standard at zero pollution," which would threaten "the very economic prosperity on which public health primarily depends." The economists declared: "The importance of this issue cannot be overstated. Both direct benefits and costs of environmental, health, and safety regulations are substantial, estimated to be several hundred billion dollars annually." If the Supreme Court overturns the lower court ruling and allows the EPA to consider costs in establishing clear air regulations, the brief argued, it would be "a historic moment in the making of regulatory policy."Environment, Other Topics