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This essay argues that Steven Soderbergh's 2009–2012 films – The Girlfriend Experience (2009), Haywire (2011) and Magic Mike (2012) – form a loose trilogy depicting the plight of the working class (or precariat) during the Great Recession Linking textual analysis to the economic downturn reveals Soderbergh's significant critique about this period, ultimately causing him to announce his retirement. His protagonists' predicaments are the same as contract workers in the new, neoliberal economy, including the creative class in conglomerate Hollywood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brangus cattle were developed to utilize the superior traits of Angus and Brahman cattle. Their genetic compositions are expected to be stabilized at 3/8 Brahman and 5/8 Angus. Previous studies have shown more than expected Angus lineage with Brangus cattle, and the reasons are yet to be investigated. In this study, we revisited the breed compositions for 3,605 Brangus cattle from three perspectives: genome-wise (GBC), per chromosomes (CBC), and per chromosome segments (SBC). The former (GBC) depicted an overall picture of the "mosaic" genome of the Brangus attributable to their ancestors, whereas the latter two criteria (CBC and SBC) corresponded to local ancestral contributions. The average GBC for the 3,605 Brangus cattle were 70.2% Angus and 29.8% Brahman. The K-means clustering supported the postulation of the mixture of 1/2 Ultrablack (UB) animals in Brangus. For the non-UB Brangus animals, the average GBC were estimated to be 67.4% Angus and 32.6% Brahman. The 95% confidence intervals of their overall GBC were 60.4%-73.5% Angus and 26.5%-39.6% Brahman. Possibly, genetic selection and drifting have resulted in an approximately 5% average deviation toward Angus lineage. The estimated ancestral contributions by chromosomes were heavily distributed toward Angus, with 27 chromosomes having an average Angus CBC greater than 62.5% but only two chromosomes (5 and 20) having Brahman CBC greater than 37.5%. The chromosomal regions with high Angus breed proportions were prevalent, tending to form larger blocks on most chromosomes. In contrast, chromosome segments with high Brahman breed proportion were relatively few and isolated, presenting only on seven chromosomes. Hence, genomic hitchhiking effects were strong where Angus favorable alleles resided but weak where Brahman favorable alleles were present. The functions of genes identified in the chromosomal regions with high (≥ 75%) Angus compositions were diverse yet may were related to growth and body development. In contrast, the genes identified in the regions with high (≥ 37.5%) Brahman compositions were primarily responsible for disease resistance. In conclusion, we have addressed the questions concerning the Brangus genetic make-ups. The results can help form a dynamic picture of the Brangus breed formation and the genomic reshaping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK), also known as pinkeye, is characterized by damage to the cornea and is an economically important, lowly heritable, categorical disease trait in beef cattle. Scores of eye damage were collected at weaning on 858 Angus cattle. SNP genotypes for each animal were obtained from BovineSNP50 Infinium-beadchips. Simultaneous associations of all SNP with IBK phenotype were determined using Bayes-C that treats SNP effects as random with equal variance for an assumed fraction (π=0.999) of SNP having no effect on IBK scores. Bayes-C threshold models were used to estimate SNP effects by classifying IBK into two, three or nine ordered categories. Magnitudes of genetic variances estimated in localized regions across the genome indicated that SNP within the most informative regions accounted for much of the genetic variance of IBK and pointed out some degree of association to IBK. There are many candidate genes in these regions which could include a gene or group of genes associated with bacterial disease in cattle.

This paper describes the use of thick film heating elements in domestic appliances, and comparison is made of performance and cost between thick film and traditional heaters. Thick films are created by screen printing pastes, usually containing glass and metal powders, onto a flat substrate. A brief explanation of thick film technology is given. This technology has been used for many years in the electronics industry to produce circuits containing conductors, resistors and dielectrics. The structure of a thick film resistor makes it ideal for heating applications, and it may be deposited on a number of substrate materials. Experimental data demonstrating that thick films make effective and reliable heating elements and temperature sensors are presented. The combination of a thick film heating element with thick film temperature sensor on an insulated steel substrate is described.