Variation of Muscle Quality Parameters within the Longissimus Muscle

Results of this study indicate that significant variation exists for muscle quality traits within the longissimus muscle. It is important to follow a rigidly standardized protocol when obtaining samples for use in pork quality research. The decision on which section to use as an estimate of the composite is not as important as is procedure. Relationships among sections with composite values are high for most quality traits

Performance and Body Composition of Gilts from Differing Genetic Lines as Affected by Nutritional Program

Gilts restricted fed a high-protein ration were slower growing (P\u3c.05) than gilts ad libitum fed a high- and moderate-protein diet. Gilts ad libitum fed a moderateprotein diet with added fat had significantly (P\u3c.05) more fat accretion than gilts ad libitum fed and restricted fed a high-protein diet. A genetic line by diet interaction (P\u3c.05) was observed for average daily gain. Also, gilts with the presence of a terminal breed in their ancestry were leaner and heavier muscled (P\u3c.05) than gilts with no presence of a terminal breed in their ancestry

Low-resolution spectrograph for the IOTA interferometer

The design and scientific objectives of a near infrared channeled spectrometer planned at the IOTA interferometer are discussed. The spectrometer has the flexibility to reconfigure easily for conventional broadband operations in addition to multi-channel mode. This instrument makes use of the existing PICNIC camera at the IOTA in order to be cost efficient. The spectrometer has been designed specifically for studying Mira stars. However, it will find its application in other areas of astrophysical interests such as studies of circumstellar disks around young stars and binary stars

Confronting Standard Models of Proto--Planetary Disks With New Mid--Infrared Sizes from the Keck Interferometer

We present near and mid-infrared interferometric observations made with the Keck Interferometer Nuller and near-contemporaneous spectro-photometry from the IRTF of 11 well known young stellar objects, several observed for the first time in these spectral and spatial resolution regimes. With AU-level spatial resolution, we first establish characteristic sizes of the infrared emission using a simple geometrical model consisting of a hot inner rim and mid-infrared disk emission. We find a high degree of correlation between the stellar luminosity and the mid-infrared disk sizes after using near-infrared data to remove the contribution from the inner rim. We then use a semi-analytical physical model to also find that the very widely used "star + inner dust rim + flared disk" class of models strongly fails to reproduce the SED and spatially-resolved mid-infrared data simultaneously; specifically a more compact source of mid-infrared emission is required than results from the standard flared disk model. We explore the viability of a modification to the model whereby a second dust rim containing smaller dust grains is added, and find that the two-rim model leads to significantly improved fits in most cases. This complexity is largely missed when carrying out SED modelling alone, although detailed silicate feature fitting by McClure et al. 2013 recently came to a similar conclusion. As has been suggested recently by Menu et al. 2015, the difficulty in predicting mid-infrared sizes from the SED alone might hint at "transition disk"-like gaps in the inner AU; however, the relatively high correlation found in our mid-infrared disk size vs. stellar luminosity relation favors layered disk morphologies and points to missing disk model ingredients instead

First astronomical unit scale image of the GW Ori triple. Direct detection of a new stellar companion

Young and close multiple systems are unique laboratories to probe the initial dynamical interactions between forming stellar systems and their dust and gas environment. Their study is a key building block to understanding the high frequency of main-sequence multiple systems. However, the number of detected spectroscopic young multiple systems that allow dynamical studies is limited. GW Orionis is one such system. It is one of the brightest young T Tauri stars and is surrounded by a massive disk. Our goal is to probe the GW Orionis multiplicity at angular scales at which we can spatially resolve the orbit. We used the IOTA/IONIC3 interferometer to probe the environment of GW Orionis with an astronomical unit resolution in 2003, 2004, and 2005. By measuring squared visibilities and closure phases with a good UV coverage we carry out the first image reconstruction of GW Ori from infrared long-baseline interferometry. We obtain the first infrared image of a T Tauri multiple system with astronomical unit resolution. We show that GW Orionis is a triple system, resolve for the first time the previously known inner pair (separation $\rho\sim$1.4 AU) and reveal a new more distant component (GW Ori C) with a projected separation of $\sim$8 AU with direct evidence of motion. Furthermore, the nearly equal (2:1) H-band flux ratio of the inner components suggests that either GW Ori B is undergoing a preferential accretion event that increases its disk luminosity or that the estimate of the masses has to be revisited in favour of a more equal mass-ratio system that is seen at lower inclination. Accretion disk models of GW Ori will need to be completely reconsidered because of this outer companion C and the unexpected brightness of companion B.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, accepted Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters. 201

Low-resolution spectrograph for the IOTA interferometer

The design and scientific objectives of a near infrared channeled spectrometer planned at the IOTA interferometer are discussed. The spectrometer has the flexibility to reconfigure easily for conventional broadband operations in addition to multi-channel mode. This instrument makes use of the existing PICNIC camera at the IOTA in order to be cost efficient. The spectrometer has been designed specifically for studying Mira stars. However, it will find its application in other areas of astrophysical interests such as studies of circumstellar disks around young stars and binary stars

“It's Not What You Say, But How You Say it”: A Reciprocal Temporo-frontal Network for Affective Prosody

Humans communicate emotion vocally by modulating acoustic cues such as pitch, intensity and voice quality. Research has documented how the relative presence or absence of such cues alters the likelihood of perceiving an emotion, but the neural underpinnings of acoustic cue-dependent emotion perception remain obscure. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 20 subjects we examined a reciprocal circuit consisting of superior temporal cortex, amygdala and inferior frontal gyrus that may underlie affective prosodic comprehension. Results showed that increased saliency of emotion-specific acoustic cues was associated with increased activation in superior temporal cortex [planum temporale (PT), posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG), and posterior superior middle gyrus (pMTG)] and amygdala, whereas decreased saliency of acoustic cues was associated with increased inferior frontal activity and temporo-frontal connectivity. These results suggest that sensory-integrative processing is facilitated when the acoustic signal is rich in affective information, yielding increased activation in temporal cortex and amygdala. Conversely, when the acoustic signal is ambiguous, greater evaluative processes are recruited, increasing activation in inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and IFG STG connectivity. Auditory regions may thus integrate acoustic information with amygdala input to form emotion-specific representations, which are evaluated within inferior frontal regions

Confronting standard models of proto-planetary disks with new mid-infrared sizes from the Keck Interferometer

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Astronomical Society/IOP Publishing via the DOI in this record.The published version is in ORE at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/30943We present near and mid–infrared interferometric observations made with the Keck Interferometer Nuller and near–contemporaneous spectro–photometry from the IRTF of 11 well known young stellar objects, several observed for the first time in these spectral and spatial resolution regimes. With AU–level spatial resolution, we first establish characteristic sizes of the infrared emission using a simple geometrical model consisting of a hot inner rim and mid–infrared disk emission. We find a high degree of correlation between the stellar luminosity and the mid–infrared disk sizes after using near–infrared data to remove the contribution from the inner rim. We then use a semi–analytical physical model to also find that the very widely used “star + inner dust rim+ flared disk” class of models strongly fails to reproduce the SED and spatially–resolved mid–infrared data simultaneously; specifically a more compact source of mid–infrared emission is required than results from the standard flared disk model. We explore the viability of a modification to the model whereby a second dust rim containing smaller dust grains is added, and find that the two–rim model leads to significantly improved fits in most cases. This complexity is largely missed when carrying out SED modelling alone, although detailed silicate feature fitting by McClure et al. (2013) recently came to a similar conclusion. As has been suggested recently by Menu et al. (2015), the difficulty in predicting mid–infrared sizes from the SED alone might hint at “transition disk”–like gaps in the inner AU; however, the relatively high correlation found in our mid–infrared disk size vs. stellar luminosity relation favors layered disk morphologies and points to missing disk model ingredients instead.The authors wish to acknowledge fruitful discussions with Nuria Calvet and Melissa McClure. Part of this work was performed while X. C. was a Visiting Graduate Student Research Fellow at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), California Institute of Technology. The Keck Interferometer was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of its Exoplanet Exploration Program. Data presented herein were obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Data presented in this paper were obtained at the Infrared Telescope Facility, which is operated by the University of Hawaii under contract NNH14CK55B with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We gratefully acknowledge support and participation in the IRTF/BASS observing runs by Daryl Kim, The Aerospace Corporation. This work has made use of services produced by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology. M. S. was supported by NASA ADAP grant NNX09AC73G. R. W. R. was supported by the IR&D program of The Aerospace Corporatio

Relational memory weakness in autism despite the use of a controlled encoding task

IntroductionRecent work challenged past findings that documented relational memory impairments in autism. Previous studies often relied solely on explicit behavioral responses to assess relational memory integrity, but successful performance on behavioral tasks may rely on other cognitive abilities (e.g., executive functioning) that are impacted in some autistic individuals. Eye-tracking tasks do not require explicit behavioral responses, and, further, eye movements provide an indirect measure of memory. The current study examined whether memory-specific viewing patterns toward scenes differ between autistic and non-autistic individuals.MethodsUsing a long-term memory paradigm that equated for complexity between item and relational memory tasks, participants studied a series of scenes. Following the initial study phase, scenes were re-presented, accompanied by an orienting question that directed participants to attend to either features of an item (i.e., in the item condition) or spatial relationships between items (i.e., in the relational condition) that might be subsequently modified during test. At test, participants viewed scenes that were unchanged (i.e., repeated from study), scenes that underwent an “item” modification (an exemplar switch) or a “relational” modification (a location switch), and scenes that had not been presented before. Eye movements were recorded throughout.ResultsDuring study, there were no significant group differences in viewing directed to regions of scenes that might be manipulated at test, suggesting comparable processing of scene details during encoding. However, there was a group difference in explicit recognition accuracy for scenes that underwent a relational change. Marginal group differences in the expression of memory-based viewing effects during test for relational scenes were consistent with this behavioral outcome, particularly when analyses were limited to scenes recognized correctly with high confidence. Group differences were also evident in correlational analyses that examined the association between study phase viewing and recognition accuracy and between performance on the Picture Sequence Memory Test and recognition accuracy.DiscussionTogether, our findings suggest differences in the integrity of relational memory representations and/or in the relationships between subcomponents of memory in autism

SAO 75669: A late type giant behind the molecular cloud MBM 12

Photometric and spectroscopic observations of the star SAO 75669 in the region of the high galactic latitude molecular cloud MBM 12 are presented. The optical, near-infrared and far-infrared IRAS photometric magnitudes together with the observed CCD spectrum and the large degree of polarization are consistent with the star being and M type giant behind the molecular cloud MBM 12 suffering about 1.8 magnitudes visual extinction. The wavelength dependence of polarization indicates that the dust in the cloud is normal