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The Cori system at NERSC has two compute partitions with different CPU architectures: a 2,004 node Haswell partition and a 9,688 node KNL partition, which ranked as the 5th most powerful and fastest supercomputer on the November 2016 Top 500 list. The compute partitions share a common storage configuration, and understanding the IO performance gap between them is important, impacting not only to NERSC/LBNL users and other national labs, but also to the relevant hardware vendors and software developers. In this paper, we have analyzed performance of single core and single node IO comprehensively on the Haswell and KNL partitions, and have discovered the major bottlenecks, which include CPU frequencies and memory copy performance. We have also extended our performance tests to multi-node IO and revealed the IO cost difference caused by network latency, buffer size, and communication cost. Overall, we have developed a strong understanding of the IO gap between Haswell and KNL nodes and the lessons learned from this exploration will guide us in designing optimal IO solutions in many-core era.

Background:Reducing meat consumption could protect the environment and human health. Objectives:We tested the impact of a behavioral intervention to reduce meat consumption. Methods:Adult volunteers who regularly consumed meat were recruited from the general public and randomized 1:1 to an intervention or control condition. The intervention comprised free meat substitutes for 4 weeks, information about the benefits of eating less meat, success stories, and recipes. The control group received no intervention or advice on dietary change. The primary outcome was daily meat consumption after 4 weeks, assessed by a 7-day food diary, and repeated after 8 weeks as a secondary outcome. Other secondary and exploratory outcomes included the consumption of meat substitutes, cardiovascular risk factors,psychosocial variablesrelated to meat consumption, and the nutritional composition of the diet. We also estimated the intervention’s environmental impact. We evaluated the intervention using generalized linear mixed-effects models. Results:Between June 2018 and October 2019, 115 participants were randomized. The baseline meat consumption values were 134 g/d in the control group and 130 g/d in the intervention group. Relative to the control condition, the intervention reduced meat consumption at 4 weeks by 63 g/d (95% CI: 44–82;P< 0.0001;n= 114) and at 8 weeks by 39 g/d (95% CI: 16–62;P= 0.0009;n= 113), adjusting for sex and baseline consumption. The intervention significantly increased the consumption of meat substitutes without changing the intakes of other principal food groups. The intervention increased intentions, positive attitudes, perceived control, and subjective norms of eating a low-meat diet and using meat substitutes, and decreased attachment to meat. At 8 weeks, 55% of intervention recipients identified as meat eaters, compared to 89% of participants in the control group. Conclusions:A behavioral program involving free meat substitutes can reduce meat intake and change psychosocial constructs consistent with a sustained reduction in meat intake.

"July 1990".Project Number: MDFRC Consultancy Folio Number M/04/221.MDFRC item.At the request of the Electricity Commission of New South Wales, the Wyong Shire Council and the State Pollution Control Commission, this review of the impact of the Munmorah Power Station on the Tuggerah lakes system on the NSW central coast has been undertaken by a multidisciplinary CSIRO team whose expertise included aquatic plants, heavy metals, nutrient dynamics and hydrology. A range of issues were specifically indentified for examination by the team. This report covers the first of two stages of the investigations; the second stage will require investigations by experts in marine biology. The Tuggerah Lakes system consists of three interconnected shallow coastal lagoons, Budgewoi Lake, Lake Munmorah and Tuggerah Lake connected to the sea by a narrow channel from Tuggerah Lake. There is limited interchange of water between the lakes and the sea through this channel. The lakes support a diversity of aquatic plants and animals and are an important aesthetic and recreational resource. Human utilisation of the catchment has progressed from logging and agriculture to residential housing, industry, recreation and tourism. The resident population has increased markedly in recent years to about 96,000 in 1989. The Munmorah Power Station was commissioned in 1967 and has a maximum generating capacity of 1400 MW. It obtains its cooling water from the uppermost lake, Lake Munmorah, and discharges it to the central lake, Budgewoi Lake; setting up an artificial flow between the two lakes which is the reverse of the natural flow. The hydrology and hydrodynamics of the lake system and the influence of the power station have been deduced from limited salinity and temperature data and water balance estimates. The lakes naturally are characterised by large temporal variations in salinity and temperature. They are well mixed, largely as a result of wind shear effects, though stratification can occur in Tuggerah Lake. Major inflows lead to significant flushing and reduced salinities. Tuggerah Lake is assessed to be virtually unchanged by the operation of the power station. Cooling water circulation has ensured that the surface water of Budgewoi Lake and all the waters of Munmorah Lake have a common composition. The cooling field plume in Budgewoi Lake induces a semi-permanent stratification above bottom water closely related to Tuggerah Lake. Heating effects due to the power station are most perceptible in Budgewoi Lake. Temperatures appear to have risen less in Lake Munmorah and Tuggerah Lake generally appears to be unaffected. However, the additional hear causes further evaporation averaging an increase of about one-third more than would naturally occur from the upper two lakes. The power station has a marginal impact on the two upper lakes with the additional evaporation being such that for the lake system as a whole, the maximum increase in salinity cannot exceed 3 ppt. Instead, local rainfall and consequent runoff remains the dominant factor in salinity variation in the lakes. This understanding of the hydrology and hydrodynamics of the system set out above has provided a valuable background to the interpretation of plant growth, nutrient and heavy metal data. The larger aquatic plants in the lakes belong to two groups: seagrasses and macroalgae. Some of the latter are not attached to the lake bottom and can be blown by the wind into large accumulations. The growth of these plants is affected by a number of environmental factors which may also interact with one another so that the situation is complex and dynamic. Various methods have been used to chart the distribution and measure the extent of these aquatic plant populations. Unfortunately the plant populations show a high degree of natural variability, both temporally and spatially. Furthermore it is a difficult and time consuming exercise to collect statistically rigorous measurements. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the data showed that seagrass populations around the near-shore perimeter of the lakes increased from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s and have fluctuated in area and species composition since then. More recently there has been a marked increase in the amount of macroalgae in waters near the shore where they can constitute the bulk of the plant matter in some localities. There is circumstantial evidence that this process has been encouraged by enrichment of the lakes by plant nutrients in dissolved forms and in sediments from the catchment. The hydrology and morphology of the lakes also make them especially susceptible to eutrophication processes. There are insufficient data to make categorical statements regarding the effect of elevated temperatures caused by power station cooling water on the growth of seagrasses in Tuggerah Lakes and experiments designed specifically to investigate this are required. Other factors such as light penetration, salinity and sediment type affect the species composition and biomass of aquatic macrophytes but these have not been markedly changed by the construction and operation of the power station. However, a coherent, well designed monitoring program should be established with the aim of giving early warning of any undesirable effects that may occur. The nutrient dynamics of the system is closely connected with the hydrodynamics of the system. Flushing flows of freshwater following rains and tidal exchanges through The Entrance are clearly important, the former resulting in a net loss of nutrients from the system and the latter a net gain in phosphate-phosphorus. Because of the beds of submerged vegetation in shallow inshore waters, exchange between inshore and mid-lake waters is often impeded. This is important as there has been an increase in organic matter in the sediments near the lake shore which is now covered with 5-8 cm of an organic ooze (2-6% organic matter). Phosphorus in the ooze is in excess of that accounted for by known inputs including urban runoff, especially in the northern lakes. The discrepancy in the phosphorus balance is of concern and all the sources of phosphorus have yet to be identified. The flux of nutrients from the sediment is increased by anoxia and Eutrophication. It is possible that the nutrient enrichment of the inshore waters has occurred because of the deposition of ooze onto sediments which were previously white, aerobic and mesotrophic. Increased surface water temperature in Budgewoi Lake, brought about by the power station, could result indirectly in increased nutrient release rates from the sediment. Particulate ash from the power station may represent a potential source of phosphorus, but more detailed monitoring is needed to define the phosphorus budget to the lakes, and quantify all nutrient sources. An analysis of sediments revealed the presence of ash, as high as 12% in Lake Munmorah. Surface enrichments of zinc, lead, copper and antimony were also greatest in this lake and decreased with distance south. This is consistent with the elevated concentrations of these elements in precipitator ash, although bottom ash was also evident. Both dissolved and particulate sources of these elements were found and most evidence implicated the power station. The depth of the enrichments was used to estimate sedimentation rates, which in Lake Munmorah were found to be high. It was not possible to fully assess the contribution of the power station to the increased sedimentation, which may indeed have occurred in the early operation of the station, when operational constraints were less stringent. It was clear that despite enrichments of some metals in sediments there was no evidence of any excessive accumulation by seagrasses or other sediment-dwelling biota. Other studies have shown that, while seagrass species are reasonably tolerant of heavy metal contamination, many of the animals that live in seagrass communities are not. There is however no need for any concern about the dissolved metal concentrations, which are currently not enriched significantly above background, with the reservation that any small difference between the dissolved concentrations in the power station inlet and outlet waters may represent a significant mass input to the lakes, given the high water throughput. A number of additional research needs and recommendations concerning lake management have been identified.

1. IntroductionMeeting global climate targets will require a marked reduction in environmental impacts caused by dietary patterns (Willett et al., 2019), with several UK supermarkets setting targets to halve the environmental impact of customers' food shopping by 2030 (Lee, 2021). The environmental impacts of different types of foods are highly variable, and variation in impact is also seen for a given food. For example, there is a 50-fold variability in the land-use impacts of beef products, although the difference in impacts of a given food (e.g. beef) is typically smaller than the difference in impacts between food types (e.g. beef vs beans) (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). For consumers to be able to make ecologically informed purchases, they need relevant information about the environmental impact of individual products at the point of choice.

We investigate the OpenMP parallelization and optimization of two novel data classification algorithms. The new algorithms are based on graph and PDE solution techniques and provide significant accuracy and performance advantages over traditional data classification algorithms in serial mode. The methods leverage the Nystrom extension to calculate eigenvalue/eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian and this is a self-contained module that can be used in conjunction with other graph-Laplacian based methods such as spectral clustering. We use performance tools to collect the hotspots and memory access of the serial codes and use OpenMP as the parallelization language to parallelize the most time-consuming parts. Where possible, we also use library routines. We then optimize the OpenMP implementations and detail the performance on traditional supercomputer nodes (in our case a Cray XC30), and test the optimization steps on emerging testbed systems based on Intel’s Knights Corner and Landing processors. We show both performance improvement and strong scaling behavior. A large number of optimization techniques and analyses are necessary before the algorithm reaches almost ideal scaling.

Odalys Torres-Luquis,1,2 Krystal Madden,3 N’sanh MR N’dri,1 Richard Berg,4 Olufunmilayo F Olopade,5 Wilfred Ngwa,6,7 Dafalla Abuidris,8 Suresh Mittal,1,2 Beverly Lyn-Cook,9 Sulma I Mohammed1,2 1Department of Comparative Pathobiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; 2Purdue University Center for Cancer Research, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; 3Department of Learning Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 4Department of Surgery, Indiana University Health, Lafayette, IN, USA; 5Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and Global Health, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 6Department of Radiation Oncology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; 7Department of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 8Department of Oncology, National Cancer Institute, University of Gezira, Gezira, Sudan; 9Division of Biochemical Toxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, AR, USA Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is more prevalent in African and African American (AA) women compared to European American (EA) women. African and AA women diagnosed with TNBC experience high frequencies of metastases and less favorable outcomes. Emerging evidence indicates that this disparity may in fact be the result of the uniquely aggressive biology of African and AA disease. Purpose: To understand the reasons for TNBC in AA aggressive biology, we designed the present study to examine the proteomic profiles of TNBC and luminal A (LA) breast cancer within and across patients’ racial demographic groups in order to identify proteins or molecular pathways altered in TNBC that offer some explanation for its aggressiveness and potential targets for treatment. Materials and methods: Proteomic profiles of TNBC, LA tumors, and their adjacent normal tissues from AA and EA women were obtained using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and bioinformatics, and differentially expressed proteins were validated by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Our data showed that a number of proteins have significantly altered in expression in LA tumors compared to TNBC, both within and across patients’ racial demographic groups. The differentially overexpressed proteins in TNBC (compared to LA) of AA samples were distinct from those in TNBC (compared to LA) of EA women samples. Among the signaling pathways altered in AA TNBC compared to EA TNBC are innate immune signaling, calpain protease, and pyrimidine de novo synthesis pathways. Furthermore, liver LXR/RXR signaling pathway was altered between LA and TNBC in AA women and may be due to the deficiency of the CYP7B1 enzyme responsible for cholesterol degradation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that TNBC in AA women enriched in signaling pathways that are different from TNBC in EA women. Our study draws a link between LXR/RXR expression, cholesterol, obesity, and the TNBC in AA women.Keywords: breast, triple-negative breast cancer, African American, European American, luminal breast cancer, luminal

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal carcinomas in the United States. In accord with the American Cancer Society pancreatic cancer is anticipated to move from the third to the second leading cause of deaths in the United States by 2020. Although the standard treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer is gemcitabine (GEM), the response rate is less than 20%. Chemoresistance is a hallmark of this cancer, and modulation of drug transporters expression has been shown to increase cancer drug efficacy. Studies have shown that human equilibrative nucleoside transporters (hENTs) expression patterns may predict GEM treatment efficacy. This study investigated whether or not GEM in combination with metformin (MET) or indole-3-carbinol (I3C) increases cytotoxicity and modulates hENT1 and hENT4. Pancreatic cancer cells from males and females were treated for 24 or 72h with GEM and/or MET or I3C. Cell viability, drug interactions, and protein and mRNA expression levels of hENTs were assessed. Treatment with GEM and/or MET or I3C showed cell line specific reductions in pancreatic cancer cell proliferation, and modulation of hENT1 and hENT4 expression. Response to GEM and MET/I3C may be dependent upon the genetic profile of the tumor and the level of expression of a specific transporter. The sensitivity of GEM could depend on the method of treatment, whether cells were pre-treated with MET or I3C, which studies, including our own, have showed that pre-treatment with I3C increased upregulation of hENT1 expression in pancreatic cancer cell lines.

The essential idea in this paper it to generalize and synthesize some of the pioneering ideas of Bernstein, Lucas and Horadam on generalizations of basic and primordial Fibonacci numbers and their arbitrary order generalizations and their relation to generalized continued fractions with matrices as the unifying elements.

Each year, countless hours of productive research time is spent brainstorming creative acronyms for surveys, simulations, codes, and conferences. We present ACRONYM, a command-line program developed specifically to assist astronomers in identifying the best acronyms for ongoing projects. The code returns all approximately-English-language words that appear within an input string of text, regardless of whether the letters occur at the beginning of the component words (in true astronomer fashion)., 3 pages. Code can be installed with "pip install acronym" and is hosted on GitHub at http://github.com/bacook17/acronym

Latino immigrants constitute a large portion of the Spanish and US immigrant populations, yet a dearth of research exists regarding barriers to retention in behavioral health care.To identify and compare perceived barriers related to behavioral health care among first- and second-generation Latinos in Boston, Madrid, and Barcelona, and evaluate whether the frequency of behavioral health care use in the last year was related to these barriers.Data were obtained from the International Latino Research Partnership project. First- or second-generation self-identified Latino immigrants aged 18 years and more who resided more than 1 year in the host country were recruited from community agencies and primary care, mental health, substance abuse, and HIV clinics.Eleven barriers were assessed and compared across sites. The relationship between barriers and behavioral services visits within the last year was evaluated, adjusting for sociodemographics, clinical measures, degree of health literacy, cultural, and social factors.Wanting to handle the problem on one's own, thinking that treatment would not work, and being unsure of where to go or who to see were the most frequently reported barriers for Latino immigrants. Previous treatment failure, difficulties in transportation or scheduling, and linguistic barriers were more likely to be reported in Boston; trying to deal with mental health problems on one's own was more commonly reported in Barcelona and Madrid. Two barriers associated with the number of visits were concerns about the cost of services and uncertainty about where to go or who to see.After adjusting for sociodemographics, clinical measures, degree of health literacy, cultural, and social factors, barriers still differed significantly across sites. Efforts to improve behavioral health services must be tailored to immigrants' context, with attention to changing attitudes of self-reliance and outreach to improve access to and retention in care.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether tight control of blood pressure with either a beta blocker or an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor has a specific advantage or disadvantage in preventing the macrovascular and microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial comparing an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (captopril) with a beta blocker (atenolol) in patients with type 2 diabetes aiming at a blood pressure of =300 mg/l (5% and 9%). The proportion of patients with hypoglycaemic attacks was not different between groups, but mean weight gain in the atenolol group was greater (3.4 kg v 1.6 kg). CONCLUSION: Blood pressure lowering with captopril or atenolol was similarly effective in reducing the incidence of diabetic complications. This study provided no evidence that either drug has any specific beneficial or deleterious effect, suggesting that blood pressure reduction in itself may be more important than the treatment used.

Mechanical sensitivity is commonly affected in chronic pain and other neurological disorders. To discover mechanisms of individual differences in punctate mechanosensation, we performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of the response to von Frey monofilament stimulation in BXD recombinant inbred (BXD) mice. Significant loci were detected on mouse chromosome (Chr) 5 and 15, indicating the location of underlying polymorphisms that cause heritable variation in von Frey response. Convergent evidence from public gene expression data implicates candidate genes within the loci: von Frey thresholds were strongly correlated with baseline expression of Cacna2d1, Ift27 and Csnk1e in multiple brain regions of BXD strains. Systemic gabapentin and PF-670462, which target the protein products of Cacna2d1 and Csnk1e, respectively, significantly increased von Frey thresholds in a genotype-dependent manner in progenitors and BXD strains. Real-time polymerase chain reaction confirmed differential expression of Cacna2d1 and Csnk1e in multiple brain regions in progenitors and showed differential expression of Cacna2d1 and Csnk1e in the dorsal root ganglia of the progenitors and BXD strains grouped by QTL genotype. Thus, linkage mapping, transcript covariance and pharmacological testing suggest that genetic variation affecting Cacna2d1 and Csnk1e may contribute to individual differences in von Frey filament response. This study implicates Cacna2d1 and Ift27 in basal mechanosensation in line with their previously suspected role in mechanical hypersensitivity. Csnk1e is implicated for von Frey response for the first time. Further investigation is warranted to identify the specific polymorphisms involved and assess the relevance of these findings to clinical conditions of disturbed mechanosensation.

National audience

Cell libraries often contain a simulation model in a system design language, such as Verilog. These languages usually involve non-determinism, which in turn, poses a challenge to their validation. Simulators often resolve such problems by using certain rules to make the specification deterministic. This however is not justified by the behavior of the hardware that is to be modeled. Hence, simulation might not be able to detect certain errors. In this paper we develop a technique to prove whether non-determinism does not affect the behavior of the simulation model, or whether there exists a situation in which the simulation model might produce different results. To make our technique efficient, we show that the global property of equal behavior for all possible evaluations is equivalent to checking only a certain local property.

Contains fulltext : 76014.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Formal Methods for Industrial Critical Systems (FMICS 2009), 02 november 2010

Contains fulltext : 75281.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access) 14th International Workshop, FMICS 2009, 02 november 2009

We show how the problem of nontermination proving can be reduced to a question of underapproximation search guided by a safety prover. This reduction leads to new nontermination proving implementation strategies based on existing tools for safety proving. Our preliminary implementation beats existing tools. Furthermore, our approach leads to easy support for programs with unbounded nondeterminism.

This research studies the performance of a battery-free wireless antenna sensor for measuring crack propagation. In our previous work, a battery-free folded patch antenna was designed for wireless strain and crack sensing. When experiencing deformation, the antenna shape changes, causing shift in electromagnetic resonance frequency of the antenna. The wireless interrogation system utilizes the principle of electromagnetic backscattering and adopts off-the-shelf 900MHz radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology. Following the same sensing mechanism, a slotted patch antenna sensor of smaller size is designed. The antenna detours surface current using slot patterns, so that the effective electrical length is kept similar as previous folded patch antenna. As a result, the sensor footprint is reduced and the antenna resonance frequency is maintained within 900MHz RFID band. To validate the sensor performance for crack sensing, a fatigue crack experiment is conducted on a steel compact-tension specimen. A slotted patch antenna sensor is installed at the center of the A36 steel specimen. For wireless interrogation, a Yagi reader antenna is placed 36 in. away from the antenna sensor to wirelessly measure the resonance frequency shift of the antenna sensor. The measurement is taken after every 10,000 loading cycles, till the specimen fails. Meanwhile, the length and width of the fatigue crack are also recorded. Finally, the resonance frequency shift of the antenna sensor is correlated with crack length and width at each loading stage.

Inkjet-printing is a very promising technology for the development of microwave circuits and components. Inkjet-printing technology of conductive silver nanoparticles on an organic flexible paper substrate is introduced in this study. The paper substrate is characterised using the T-resonator method. A variety of microwave passive and active devices, as well as complete circuits inkjet-printed on paper substrates are introduced. This work includes inkjet-printed artificial magnetic conductor structures, a substrate integrated waveguide, solar-powered beacon oscillator for wireless power transfer and localisation, energy harvesting circuits and nanocarbon-based gas-sensing materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene. This study presents an overview of recent advances of inkjet-printed electronics on paper substrate.

Droughts in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica caused significant societal disruptions during the Late Classic and Post-Classic Periods. While the primary causes of these droughts are still debated, it has been speculated that they may be linked to extensive deforestation associated with high population densities during these intervals. Here we show that pre-Columbian deforestation would have biased the climate in Mesoamerica towards a drier mean state, amplifying drought in the region. In climate model simulations using a pre-Columbian land cover reconstruction, annual precipitation decreases by 5%-15% throughout southern Mexico and the Yucatan compared to simulations using either natural forest cover or forest regrowth associated with population declines after 1500 C. E. These changes are driven primarily by large reductions (10%-20%) in precipitation during the late summer wet season (August-September). When compared to precipitation changes estimated to have occurred during the Maya collapse, our results suggest that deforestation could account for up to sixty percent of the mean drying during this interval. Many regions previously deforested in the pre-Columbian era are now under dense forest cover, indicating potential future climate impacts should tropical deforestation of these areas accelerate. Citation: Cook, B. I., K. J. Anchukaitis, J. O. Kaplan, M. J. Puma, M. Kelley, and D. Gueyffier (2012), Pre-Columbian deforestation as an amplifier of drought in Mesoamerica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L16706, doi:10.1029/2012GL052565.

The freshwater fauna (crustaceans, molluscs, fish) of many tropical islands in the Caribbean and Pacific share an amphidromous lifecycle, meaning their larvae need to develop in saline conditions before returning to freshwater as juveniles. This community dominates the freshwaters of much of the tropics, but is poorly known and at risk from development, in particular dam construction. Amphidromy can theoretically lead to dispersal between different freshwater areas, even to distant oceanic islands, via the sea. The extent and scale of this presumed dispersal, however, is largely unknown in the Caribbean. Recent genetic work in Puerto Rico has shown that many freshwater species have little or no population structure among different river catchments, implying high levels of connectivity within an island, whereas between-island structure is unknown. We used genetic techniques to infer the geographic scales of population structure of amphidromous invertebrates (a gastropod and a number of crustacean species) between distant parts of the Caribbean, in particular Puerto Rico, Panama and Trinidad. We found virtually no geographic population structure across over 2000 km of open sea for these freshwater species. This implies that they are indeed moving between islands in sea currents as larvae, meaning that continued recruitment requires a continuum of healthy habitat from the freshwater to marine environment. We further discuss the role of amphidromy and suggest its ecological and biogeographic role may be more important than previously presumed.

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Predictors of feedlot performance including clinical illness (morbidity), treatments, cost of treatments, and economic return of calves in a retained ownership program were measured using testing of samples collected at entry from post-weaning calves. At the delivery point, cattle were processed and samples were collected for laboratory testing, including nasal swabs for viral and bacterial isolation, EDTA blood for viral isolation from peripheral blood leukocytes, and serums for antibody testing against bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-I), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) 1a and BVDV2a, parainfluenza-3 virus (PI-3V), bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), Mannheimia haemolytica whole cell (WC) antigen, M. haemolytica leukotoxin (LKT), and Pasteurella multocida outer membrane proteins (OMP). Feedlot performance records and carcass data obtained at the close of the feeding period revealed predictors of feedlot performance and economic return based on lower or higher levels of serum antibodies to several BRD pathogens. These were based on both individual animal comparisons and herd averages. On an individual animal basis, low antibodies to BVDV1a, BVDV2a, M. haemolytica WC, M. haemoytica LKT, P. multocida OMP, BHV-1, PI-3V, and BRSV were associated with one or more of the following: increased morbidity, increased number of treatments, increased treatment costs, and decreased net value to owner (carcass value minus total costs in the feedlot). On a herd basis, low antibodies to BVDVIa, BHV-I, P. multocida OMP, M. haemolytica WC, and M. haemolytica LKT were associated with one or more of the following: increased morbidity, increased number of treatments, increased treatment costs, and decreased net value to owner. These results reaffirm that post-weaning calves with increased immunity to (antibody levels) BVDV, BHV-I, PI-3V, BRSV, M. haemolytica, and P. multocida perform better in the feedlot with less effects clinically to these BRD pathogens and provide greater economic return to the owner. Management for the breeding cow-herd owner retaining calves for feedlot delivery should stress vaccination against these pathogens., The Bovine Practitioner, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2011 Spring)

The LTSMIN toolset provides a new level of modular design to high-performance model checkers. Its distinguishing feature is the wide spectrum of supported specification languages and model checking paradigms. On the language side, it supports process algebras (MCRL), state based languages (PROMELA, DVE) and even discrete abstractions of ODE models (MAPLE, GNA). On the algorithmic side (Sec. 3.2), it supports two main streams in high-performance model checking: reachability analysis based on BDDs (symbolic) and on a cluster of workstations (distributed, enumerative). LTSMIN also incorporates a distributed implementation of state space minimization, preserving strong or branching bisimulation.

International audience; Since the early descriptions published by Callaway in 1884, the gently dipping mylonites exposed along the Moine Thrust at the Stack of Glencoul have drawn generations of geologists to the northern part of the Assynt district. These mylonites, derived from Cambrian quartzites (footwall) and Moine pelites and psammites (hanging wall), have figured prominently in: a) early research into the influence of crystal plastic deformation and recrystallization on microstructural and crystal fabric evolution; b) debates on the kinematic interpretation of macro- and micro-structures and crystal fabrics; and c) debates on the tectonic significance of such kinematic data. In this paper first we briefly review the historical aspects of this research and then, using both previously published and unpublished data, document the finite strain and quartz fabric development at this classic mylonite locality. A tectonic interpretation of these data, together with quantitative estimates of flow vorticities associated with mylonite formation at the Stack of Glencoul, are presented in a companion paper by Law (2010).

Terrestrial ecosystems sequester 2.1 Pg of atmospheric carbon annually. A large amount of the terrestrial sink is realized by forests. However, considerable uncertainties remain regarding the fate of this carbon over both short and long timescales. Relevant data to address these uncertainties are being collected at many sites around the world, but syntheses of these data are still sparse. To facilitate future synthesis activities, we have assembled a comprehensive global database for forest ecosystems, which includes carbon budget variables (fluxes and stocks), ecosystem traits (e.g. leaf area index, age), as well as ancillary site information such as management regime, climate, and soil characteristics. This publicly available database can be used to quantify global, regional or biome-specific carbon budgets; to re-examine established relationships; to test emerging hypotheses about ecosystem functioning [e.g. a constant net ecosystem production (NEP) to gross primary production (GPP) ratio]; and as benchmarks for model evaluations. In this paper, we present the first analysis of this database. We discuss the climatic influences on GPP, net primary production (NPP) and NEP and present the CO2balances for boreal, temperate, and tropical forest biomes based on micrometeorological, ecophysiological, and biometric flux and inventory estimates. Globally, GPP of forests benefited from higher temperatures and precipitation whereas NPP saturated above either a threshold of 1500 mm precipitation or a mean annual temperature of 10 °C. The global pattern in NEP was insensitive to climate and is hypothesized to be mainly determined by nonclimatic conditions such as successional stage, management, site history, and site disturbance. In all biomes, closing the CO2balance required the introduction of substantial biome-specific closure terms. Nonclosure was taken as an indication that respiratory processes, advection, and non-CO2carbon fluxes are not presently being adequately accounted for. © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Terrestrial ecosystems sequester 2.1 Pg of atmospheric carbon annually. A large amount of the terrestrial sink is realized by forests. However, considerable uncertainties remain regarding the fate of this carbon over both short and long timescales. Relevant data to address these uncertainties are being collected at many sites around the world, but syntheses of these data are still sparse. To facilitate future synthesis activities, we have assembled a comprehensive global database for forest ecosystems, which includes carbon budget variables (fluxes and stocks), ecosystem traits (e.g. leaf area index, age), as well as ancillary site information such as management regime, climate, and soil characteristics. This publicly available database can be used to quantify global, regional or biome-specific carbon budgets; to re-examine established relationships; to test emerging hypotheses about ecosystem functioning [e.g. a constant net ecosystem production (NEP) to gross primary production (GPP) ratio]; and as benchmarks for model evaluations. In this paper, we present the first analysis of this database. We discuss the climatic influences on GPP, net primary production (NPP) and NEP and present the CO2 balances for boreal, temperate, and tropical forest biomes based on micrometeorological, ecophysiological, and biometric flux and inventory estimates. Globally, GPP of forests benefited from higher temperatures and precipitation whereas NPP saturated above either a threshold of 1500 mm precipitation or a mean annual temperature of 10 °C. The global pattern in NEP was insensitive to climate and is hypothesized to be mainly determined by nonclimatic conditions such as successional stage, management, site history, and site disturbance. In all biomes, closing the CO2 balance required the introduction of substantial biome-specific closure terms. Nonclosure was taken as an indication that respiratory processes, advection, and non-CO2 carbon fluxes are not presently being adequately accounted for.

The objective of this study was to evaluate animal health status at entry to a feedlot against feedlot performance and carcass value. There were 24 herds represented by 417 calves in a retained ownership program. The health status at entry was represented by the levels of serum antibody to infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (IBRV), bovine viral diarrhea viruses 1 and 2 (BVDV1a, BVDV2), parainfluenza 3 virus (PI3V), bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), Mannheimia haemolytica, and Pasteurella multocida, as well as by the presence of virus in nasal swabs and blood leukocytes and the presence of bacteria in nasal swabs. The presence or absence of viruses or bacteria at entry did not predict subsequent illness. However, there were predictors of illness severity (number of treatments) and performance parameters of feedlot performance. Herds with a low morbidity rate had higher levels of BVDV1a antibodies than herds with a high morbidity rate. On both an individual-animal and a herd-average basis, calves with low levels of antibody to BVDV1a and BVDV2 had increased total treatment costs. Also, for individual animals and the herd as a whole, low levels of antibody to P. multocida, BVDV1a, and BVDV2 were related to decreased net value to owner (carcass value minus total feedlot cost). Calves treated twice or more had lower levels of antibody to BVDV1a than those treated once or not at all. Differences in herd morbidity rate and treatment costs were more related to appropriate timing of vaccine (last dose at or near delivery of calf) or lack of a 2nd dose of killed vaccine. This was best illustrated by the levels of antibody to BVDV1a. The results of this study were used to formulate recommendations for the subsequent year.

The objective was to assess vaccination programs for calves in a Retained Ownership Program (ROP) and their effect on feedlot performance., American Association of Bovine Practitioners Proceedings of the Annual Conference, 2001

The production of fast neutrons (1 MeV - 1 GeV) in high energy muon-nucleus interactions is poorly understood, yet it is fundamental to the understanding of the background in many underground experiments. The aim of the present experiment (CERN NA55) was to measure spallation neutrons produced by 190 GeV/c muons scattering on carbon target. We have investigated the energy spectrum and angular distribution of spallation neutrons, and we report the result of our measurement of the neutron production differential cross section. The production of fast neutrons (1 MeV - 1 GeV) in high energy muon-nucleus interactions is poorly understood, yet it is fundamental to the understanding of the background in many underground experiments. The aim of the present experiment (CERN NA55) was to measure spallation neutrons produced by 190 GeV/c muons scattering on carbon, copper and lead targets. We have investigated the energy spectrum and angular distribution of spallation neutrons, and we report the result of our measurement of the neutron production differential cross section.

The production of fast neutrons (1 MeV - 1 GeV) in high energy muon-nucleus interactions is poorly understood, yet it is fundamental to the understanding of the background in many underground experiments. The aim of the present experiment (CERN NA55) was to measure spallation neutrons produced by 190 GeV/c muons scattering on carbon, copper and lead targets. We have investigated the energy spectrum and angular distribution of spallation neutrons, and we report the result of our measurement of the neutron production differential cross section., 19 pages, 11 figures eps

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Introduction . Formal methods for the analysis of system behaviour offer solutions to problems with concurrency, such as race conditions and deadlocks.We employ two such methods that are presently most applied in industry: model checking and static analysis on a common case study to analyse the behaviour of a Linux driver for I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit). An industrial client provided us with the source code of the driver for which it was known that it contained defects. Based on the code, some documentation, and feedback by the developers we extracted a model of the device driver. The model was checked using the mCRL2 toolset [3] and some potential defects were revealed which were later confirmed by the developers. The errors were caused by inconsistent use of routines for interrupt enabling and disabling, resulting in unprotected references to shared memory and calls to lower-level functions. In addition, we performed checks with UNO [4], a static analysis tool that works directly with the source code. We employed UNO to statically detect the errors that were found by the dynamic analysis in the model checking phase. Based on our findings, we modified the source code to avoid the discovered potential defects. Although some errors remained unsolved, an improvement was observed in the standard tests that were carried out with our fixed version.

Successful disability management practice is a systemic approach to vocational rehabilitation that begins with planning at the organizational level. A strategic planning format is used to outline the basic tenets of planning and, through its description, describe the unique approach to workplace intervention disability management has to offer. A case study is used to illustrate a simple application of planning steps of needs assessment, establishing goals and objectives, and developing disability management strategies.

PURPOSE: To determine the frequency of ophthalmic abnormalities in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome) and T-cell lymphoma involving the skin and to describe the clinical course of the disease with selected examples. METHODS: A computerized diagnostic retrieval system was used to identify all patients with T-cell lymphoma involving the skin who were examined at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) between January 1, 1976 and December 31, 1990. The medical records of affected patients were reviewed. RESULTS: During the 15-year interval from 1976 through 1990, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma was diagnosed in 2,155 patients. Of these 2,155 patients, 42 (1.95%; 26 male and 16 female) had at least 1 ophthalmic abnormality attributable to the disease. The diagnoses in these 42 patients were mycosis fungoides in 19, clinical variants of T-cell lymphoma of the skin (most commonly, peripheral T-cell lymphoma) in 11, and Sézary syndrome in 12. Cicatricial eyelid ectropion was the most common finding, affecting 17 (40.4%) of the 42 patients. Thirty-seven patients had findings that, although probably not a direct consequence of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, have been cataloged in previous studies. CONCLUSION: Although ophthalmic abnormalities in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma are relatively uncommon, the manifestations of the disease are diverse and frequently difficult to treat.

Introduction Recent evidence suggests that choice of fluid used for resuscitation may influence mortality in critically ill patients. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study in 391 intensive care units across 25 countries to describe the types of fluids administered during resuscitation episodes. We used generalized estimating equations to examine the association between patient, prescriber and geographic factors and the type of fluid administered (classified as crystalloid, colloid or blood products). Results During the 24-hour study period, 1,955 of 5,274 (37.1%) patients received resuscitation fluid during 4,488 resuscitation episodes. The main indications for administering crystalloid or colloid were impaired perfusion (1,526/3,419 (44.6%) of episodes), or to correct abnormal vital signs (1,189/3,419 (34.8%)). Overall, colloid was administered to more patients (1,234 (23.4%) versus 782 (14.8%)) and during more episodes (2,173 (48.4%) versus 1,468 (32.7%)) than crystalloid. After adjusting for patient and prescriber characteristics, practice varied significantly between countries with country being a strong independent determinant of the type of fluid prescribed. Compared to Canada where crystalloid, colloid and blood products were administered in 35.5%, 40.6% and 28.3% of resuscitation episodes respectively, odds ratios for the prescription of crystalloid in China, Great Britain and New Zealand were 0.46 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.30 to 0.69), 0.18 (0.10 to 0.32) and 3.43 (1.71 to 6.84) respectively; odds ratios for the prescription of colloid in China, Great Britain and New Zealand were 1.72 (1.20 to 2.47), 4.72 (2.99 to 7.44) and 0.39 (0.21 to 0.74) respectively. In contrast, choice of fluid was not influenced by measures of illness severity (for example, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score). Conclusions Administration of resuscitation fluid is a common intervention in intensive care units and choice of fluid varies markedly between countries. Although colloid solutions are more expensive and may possibly be harmful in some patients, they were administered to more patients and during more resuscitation episodes than crystalloids were.

Freshwater amphipods in southern Africa are divided into three distinct elements. Five ingolfiellid species occur in Namibia, six Sternophysinx species are found in the northern Cape Province and Transvaal, while 12 Paramelita species are restricted to the south-western Cape. The crangonyctoid genus Paramelita was last reviewed in 1981 based mainly on a reassessment of museum material. Thus, large scale field surveys of these amphipods have not been undertaken since they were first described by Barnard in 1916 and 1927. In addition, little is known about the ecology of these amphipods. This thesis examines the systematics, distribution and aspects of the ecology of Paramelita. After an extensive sampling programme in 1989 and 1990, several new species were discovered. Four new species, whose affinities with the known species were not immediately evident, were initially described, and later, after further analyses .of morphological and genetic differentiation amongst Paramelita populations, eight other new species were recognised. A phenetic analysis of the 24 Paramelita species revealed the existence of three distinct groups. The new genus Afrocrangonyx was proposed to accommodate seven of these species, whilst a single species was placed in the new genus Aquadulcaris. Sixteen species remained in Paramelita. Based on a cladistic analysis of morphological data, a fully resolved phylogenetic tree was obtained for Afrocrangonyx, but not for Paramelita, suggesting that the latter genus is not monophyletic. A population of P. nigroculus in Window Stream, Table Mountain, was selected for a detailed ecological study. P. nigroculus occurred at high densities, and showed no seasonal breeding patterns. An investigation of thermal acclimation and tolerances to high temperatures in P. nigroculus individuals showed that their acclimation rates and lethal limits were similar to many other crustaceans. P. nigroculus individuals feed mainly on allochthonous input. An investigation of the nature, timing and magnitude of this input indicated that litter was dominated by abscissed leaves which fall throughout the year, peaking in summer. Leaf fall values and benthic detritus standing stocks were within the range reported for headwaters worldwide. A study of leaf retention capabilities of two similar headwaters revealed that amphipod abundances were positively correlated with leaf retention characteristics. Leaf retention was strongly influenced by discharge, with increasing discharges resulting in decreases in retention and stream bed complexity. Thus the stream with higher discharges was less favourable for colonisation by amphipods. Since P. nigroculus occurred at such high densities, it was expected to play a significant role in breakdown of detritus. Breakdown of three riparian leaf species in litter bags submerged in two streams was investigated. Litter bags were designed to allow amphipod access, yet retain fragments which resulted from physical abrasion and feeding activity. Breakdown was rapid, and the decomposition rate of one of the leaf species was the highest ever recorded for a riparian leaf species. Thus, it was concluded that where they occur at high densities, Paramelita individuals play a major role in the detritus dynamics of the stream.

Factors that influence ambulatory care (visits to physicians and emergency rooms) and use of hospitals were investigated in a population of chronically ill, rural, low-income children. Rates of use for this population--a stratified random sample of 672 Medicaid-eligible children under age 17 years who lived in a 24-county area of northern Florida--were similar to those in a national study of chronically ill children. Further, the rates were shown to increase significantly as limitations to activity increased. Younger children and white children were also shown to have significantly higher use rates than older children and black children. Despite these associations, and those related to primary diagnoses, none of the analyses were able to explain much of the variation in the use of health care resources. The findings were similar to those of other studies; thus, the identification of the relatively small numbers of children who consume relatively large amounts of health care remains elusive.