Timing of gain does not alter puberty and reproductive performance of beef heifers fed a high-roughage diet

Eighty crossbred heifers (549 lb initial body weight) were developed in drylot and limit-fed a forage sorghum silage diet predicted to produce gains of either 1 lb/day for the entire developmental period (EVENGAIN) or .25 lb/day for the first two-thirds of the period followed by 2 lb/day during the last third (LATEGAIN). Treatments began on November 7, 1994 and continued until April 24, 1995 (onset of the breeding season). Actual daily gains over the entire feeding period averaged 1.18 and 1.10 lb/day for EVENGAIN and LATEGAIN heifers, respectively. Age and weight at puberty were not affected by feeding treatment. Body condition score, frame score, and pelvic area were similar at the end of the experiment regardless of growth regimen. At the conclusion of the 168-day feeding period, estrus was synchronized using two injections of prostaglandin F2 , and heifers were inseminated artificially during a 45-day breeding season. Open heifers were mated naturally for an additional 15 days. First service and overall pregnancy rates were similar between treatments. In summary, timing of gain did not affect the onset of puberty or breeding performance. These data indicate that bee f producers may be able to utilize low quality feedstuffs early in heifer development without adversely affecting reproductive performance. Because feed inputs are major costs for developing beef heifers, such a management alternative may decrease costs

Triple oxygen isotopic composition of the high-³He/⁴He mantle

Measurements of Xe isotope ratios in ocean island basalts (OIB) suggest that Earth’s mantle accreted heterogeneously, and that compositional remnants of accretion are sampled by modern, high-3He/4He OIB associated with the Icelandic and Samoan plumes. If so, the high-3He/4He source may also have a distinct oxygen isotopic composition from the rest of the mantle. Here, we test if the major elements of the high-3He/4He source preserve any evidence of heterogeneous accretion using measurements of three oxygen isotopes on olivine from a variety of high-3He/4He OIB locations. To high precision, the Δ17O value of high-3He/4He olivines from Hawaii, Pitcairn, Baffin Island and Samoa, are indistinguishable from bulk mantle olivine (Δ17OBulk Mantle − Δ17OHigh 3He/4He olivine = −0.002 ± 0.004 (2 × SEM)‰). Thus, there is no resolvable oxygen isotope evidence for heterogeneous accretion in the high-3He/4He source. Modelling of mixing processes indicates that if an early-forming, oxygen-isotope distinct mantle did exist, either the anomaly was extremely small, or the anomaly was homogenised away by later mantle convection. The δ18O values of olivine with the highest 3He/4He ratios from a variety of OIB locations have a relatively uniform composition (∼5‰). This composition is intermediate to values associated with the depleted MORB mantle and the average mantle. Similarly, δ18O values of olivine from high-3He/4He OIB correlate with radiogenic isotope ratios of He, Sr, and Nd. Combined, this suggests that magmatic oxygen is sourced from the same mantle as other, more incompatible elements and that the intermediate δ18O value is a feature of the high-3He/4He mantle source. The processes responsible for the δ18O signature of high-3He/4He mantle are not certain, but δ18O–87Sr/86Sr correlations indicate that it may be connected to a predominance of a HIMU-like (high U/Pb) component or other moderate δ18O components recycled into the high-3He/4He source

Size Doesn't Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology

notes: As the primary author, O’Malley drafted the paper, and gathered and analysed data (scientific papers and talks). Conceptual analysis was conducted by both authors.publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePhilosophers of biology, along with everyone else, generally perceive life to fall into two broad categories, the microbes and macrobes, and then pay most of their attention to the latter. ‘Macrobe’ is the word we propose for larger life forms, and we use it as part of an argument for microbial equality. We suggest that taking more notice of microbes – the dominant life form on the planet, both now and throughout evolutionary history – will transform some of the philosophy of biology’s standard ideas on ontology, evolution, taxonomy and biodiversity. We set out a number of recent developments in microbiology – including biofilm formation, chemotaxis, quorum sensing and gene transfer – that highlight microbial capacities for cooperation and communication and break down conventional thinking that microbes are solely or primarily single-celled organisms. These insights also bring new perspectives to the levels of selection debate, as well as to discussions of the evolution and nature of multicellularity, and to neo-Darwinian understandings of evolutionary mechanisms. We show how these revisions lead to further complications for microbial classification and the philosophies of systematics and biodiversity. Incorporating microbial insights into the philosophy of biology will challenge many of its assumptions, but also give greater scope and depth to its investigations

A C6orf10/LOC101929163 locus is associated with age of onset in C9orf72 carriers

The G4C2-repeat expansion in C9orf72 is the most common known cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. The high phenotypic heterogeneity of C9orf72 patients includes a wide range in age of onset, modifiers of which are largely unknown. Age of onset could be influenced by environmental and genetic factors both of which may trigger DNA methylation changes at CpG sites. We tested the hypothesis that age of onset in C9orf72 patients is associated with some common single nucleotide polymorphisms causing a gain or loss of CpG sites and thus resulting in DNA methylation alterations. Combined analyses of epigenetic and genetic data have the advantage of detecting functional variants with reduced likelihood of false negative results due to excessive correction for multiple testing in genome-wide association studies. First, we estimated the association between age of onset in C9orf72 patients (n = 46) and the DNA methylation levels at all 7603 CpG sites available on the 450 k BeadChip that are mapped to common single nucleotide polymorphisms. This was followed by a genetic association study of the discovery (n = 144) and replication (n = 187) C9orf72 cohorts. We found that age of onset was reproducibly associated with polymorphisms within a 124.7 kb linkage disequilibrium

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

Timing of gain does not alter puberty and reproductive performance of beef heifers fed a high-roughage diet

Eighty crossbred heifers (549 lb initial body weight) were developed in drylot and limit-fed a forage sorghum silage diet predicted to produce gains of either 1 lb/day for the entire developmental period (EVENGAIN) or .25 lb/day for the first two-thirds of the period followed by 2 lb/day during the last third (LATEGAIN). Treatments began on November 7, 1994 and continued until April 24, 1995 (onset of the breeding season). Actual daily gains over the entire feeding period averaged 1.18 and 1.10 lb/day for EVENGAIN and LATEGAIN heifers, respectively. Age and weight at puberty were not affected by feeding treatment. Body condition score, frame score, and pelvic area were similar at the end of the experiment regardless of growth regimen. At the conclusion of the 168-day feeding period, estrus was synchronized using two injections of prostaglandin F2", and heifers were inseminated artificially during a 45-day breeding season. Open heifers were mated naturally for an additional 15 days. First service and overall pregnancy rates were similar between treatments. In summary, timing of gain did not affect the onset of puberty or breeding performance. These data indicate that bee f producers may be able to utilize low quality feedstuffs early in heifer development without adversely affecting reproductive performance. Because feed inputs are major costs for developing beef heifers, such a management alternative may decrease costs

Ken Wilber's Spectrum Model: Identifying Alternative Soteriological Perspectives

I identify two problematic strands of Wilber's transpersonal theory. First, I question Wilber's claim that his spectrum model is supported by the materials of all the world's major mystical traditions. I argue that his integral, hierarchical perspective privileges some traditions but distorts others. Drawing heavily upon Andrew Rawlinson's recent, taxonomic study of mystical traditions, which identifies four authentic routes to spiritual emancipation (Cool Structured, Cool Unstructured, Hot Structured and Hot Unstructured), I argue that while Wilber's model, itself Cool (the source of spiritual liberation lies within oneself) and Structured (developmental, hierarchical), provides a valuable cartography of transpersonal structures and states of consciousness, it cannot adequately handle the materials of the alternative, soteriological paths of Hot traditions (emphasizing the numinous, and as other than oneself) and Unstructured traditions (affirming that there can be no gradual, or progressive, spiritual development at all). Second, and more cursorily, I argue that it is Wilber's Cool Structured perspective that informs his categorisation of Jung as an elevationist. I try to demonstrate that Jung's psychic model of the conjunction of opposites is a Hot Structured one, which provides an alternative, soteriological path for persons whose spiritual needs are different from those addressed by Wilber