Search

Numerous empirical and mechanistic models predicting methane (CH 4) production are available. The aim of this work was to evaluate the Molly cow model and the Nordic cow model Karoline in predicting CH 4 production in cattle using a data set consisting of 267 treatment means from 55 respiration chamber studies. The dietary and animal characteristics used for the model evaluation represent the range of diets fed to dairy and growing cattle. Feedlot diets and diets containing additives mitigating CH 4 production were not included in the data set. The relationships between observed and predicted CH 4 (pCH 4) were assessed by regression analysis using fixed and mixed model analysis. Residual analysis was conducted to evaluate which dietary factors were related to prediction errors. The fixed model analysis showed that the Molly predictions were related to the observed data (± standard error) as CH 4 (g/d) = 0.94 (±0.022) × pCH 4 (g/d) + 31 (±6.9) [root mean squared prediction error (RMSPE) = 45.0 g/d (14.9% of observed mean), concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) = 0.925]. The corresponding equation for the Karoline model was CH 4 (g/d) = CH 4 (g/d) = 0.98 (±0.019) × pCH 4 (g/d) + 7.0 (±6.0) [RMSPE = 35.0 g/d (11.6%), CCC = 0.953]. Proportions of mean squared prediction error attributable to mean and linear bias and random error were 10.6, 2.2, and 87.2% for the Molly model, and 1.3, 0.3, and 98.6% for the Karoline model, respectively. Mean and linear bias were significant for the Molly model but not for the Karoline model. With the mixed model regression analysis RMSPE adjusted for random study effects were 10.9 and 7.9% for the Molly model and the Karoline model, respectively. The residuals of CH 4 predictions were more strongly related to factors associated with CH 4 production (feeding level, digestibility, fat concentrations) with the Molly model compared with the Karoline model. Especially large mean (underprediction) and linear bias (overprediction of low digestibility diets relative to high digestibility diets) contributed to the prediction error of CH 4 yield with the Molly model. It was concluded that both models could be used for prediction of CH 4 production in cattle, but Karoline was more accurate and precise based on smaller RMSPE, mean bias, and slope bias, and greater CCC. The importance of accurate input data of key variables affecting diet digestibility is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-bandwidth magnetic data are normally distorted by ubiquitous 50- or 60-Hz noise from powerlines and similar sources. The powerline noise can be orders of magnitude larger than the magnetic signal from targets and must be culled from data sets prior to interpretation. Suppression of the powerline noise by simple filtering can result in artifacts and an unacceptable reduction in resolution of ground-based and unmanned aerial vehicle magnetic surveys. Removal approaches such as those based on Biot–Savart modeling are sensitive to the estimated position of the powerline systems, in addition to their limited applicability due to the requirement of a DC source. Moreover, the powerline noise in data acquired from a moving platform is inherently nonstationary and removal techniques must be specifically developed with this in mind. We propose a model-based method that does not rely on a priori knowledge of the powerline system by fitting and subtracting a set of sinusoids to the data. These sinusoids are computed on small windows of data, tied together with regularization terms within the fitting process to reduce discontinuities between segments. We further incorporate powerline frequency as a nonlinear parameter, allowing for fluctuations in the fundamental frequency as loads on the power grid change. Through synthetic and field examples, we show that periodic noise can be reliably removed automatically without the need for filtering or significant alterations of the frequency content. Powerline noise is reduced by over 98% in the field example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient and accurate acquisition of magnetic field and gradient data have applications over a large range of environmental, archaeological, engineering, and geologic investigations. Developments in new systems and improvements in existing platforms have progressed to the point where magnetic surveying is a heavily used and trusted technique. However, there is still ample room to improve accuracy and coverage efficiency and to include reliable vector information. We have developed a vector magnetic gradiometer array capable of recording high-resolution field and gradient data over tens of hectares per day at 50 cm sensor spacing. Towed by an all-terrain vehicle, the system consists of eight vertical gradiometer sensor packages and incorporates differential GPS and an inertial measurement system. With a noise floor of around 6 nT at 15 km/h towing speed and 230 Hz sample rates, large areas can be mapped efficiently and precisely. Data are processed using a straightforward workflow, using both standard and newly developed methodologies. The system described here has been used successfully in Denmark to efficiently map buried structures and objects. We give two examples from such applications highlighting the system's capabilities in archaeological and geological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient and accurate acquisition of magnetic field and gradient data have applications over a large range of environmental, archaeological, engineering, and geologic investigations. Developments in new systems and improvements in existing platforms have progressed to the point where magnetic surveying is a heavily used and trusted technique. However, there is still ample room to improve accuracy, coverage efficiency, and to include reliable vector information. We have developed a vector magnetic gradiometer array capable of recording high resolution field and gradient data over tens of hectares per day at 50 cm sensor spacing. Towed by an all-terrain vehicle, the system consists of 8 vertical gradiometer sensor packages, and incorporates differential GPS and an inertial measurement system. With a noise floor of around 6 nT at 15 km/h towing speed and 230 Hz sample rates, large areas can be mapped efficiently and precisely. Data are processed using a straightforward workflow, using both standard and newly developed methodologies. The system described here has been used successfully in Denmark to efficiently map buried structures and objects. We give two examples from such applications highlighting the system's capabilities in archaeological and geological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In robotic milking dairy systems lack of control over intakes can be problematic for balancing the forage and concentrate portions of diets. This can lead to problems associated with high concentrate intakes and concomitant low forage intakes. To check this as a problem, the feeding behaviour of cows was observed: the number of daily visits to the feed barrier, the duration of these visits and actual feeding, of high and low yielding cows. The cows were robotmilked and fed a ration comprising, separately, concentrate feed from a robot and a feeder, and a grass/clover silage mix forage at the feed barrier. Individual variation in visiting times and times spent at the feed barrier were greater than the effect of level of production. There was no evidence that cows with higher milk yields are differentially motivated to feed from forage. But more dominant cows spent more time feeding than submissive cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterization of permafrost, particularly warm and near-surface permafrost which can contain significant liquid water, is critical to understanding complex interrelationships with climate change, ecosystems, and disturbances such as wildfires. Understanding the vulnerability and resilience of permafrost requires an interdisciplinary approach, relying on (for example) geophysical investigations, ecological characterization, direct observations, remote sensing, and more. As part of a multiyear investigation into the impacts of wildfires on permafrost, we have collected in situ measurements of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) response of the active layer and permafrost in a variety of soil conditions, types, and saturations. In this paper, we summarize the NMR data and present quantitative relationships between active layer and permafrost liquid water content and pore sizes and show the efficacy of borehole NMR (bNMR) to permafrost studies. Through statistical analyses and synthetic freezing simulations, we also demonstrate that borehole NMR is sensitive to the nucleation of ice within soil pore spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the changes in rumen parameters (pH, NH 3 -N and volatile fatty acids (VFA) proportions), caused by large amounts of dietary glycerol fed to dairy cows, and whether those changes are associated with differences in the milk fatty acid (FA) composition. For this study eight primiparous Estonian Holstein cows (134 ± 5 DIM at the beginning of the experiment) were paired and used in a 4 × 4 Latin square experimental design. Cows were fed a total mixed ration ad libitum , consisting of grass silage, barley meal, soybean meal and minerals (control) with crude glycerol isoenergetically replacing barley meal in experimental diets to inclusion levels of 52 g/kg, 104 g/kg and 156 g/kg of crude glycerol in the dry matter (DM) of the diets. The effect of the diets was studied with the analyses of variance followed by the tests of linear and quadratic contrasts. Pearson correlation was used to assess the suitability of models predicting rumen VFA proportions based on milk FA, when glycerol-containing diets were fed. Results showed that dietary glycerol did not affect ruminal pH but linearly increased the relative proportions of propionate and butyrate in rumen fluid, at the expense of acetate. The ratios of acetate to propionate, and lipogenic VFA to propionate, showed both linear and quadratic changes. The proportion of 2-methyl butyrate changed both linearly and quadratically; highest when the diet with 52 g/kg in DM of crude glycerol was fed. Rumen total VFA content decreased linearly according to the crude glycerol content in the diets. Replacing barley meal with glycerol in the diets affected the concentration of most of the de novo synthesized milk FA, as well as FA in different groups according to chain length or degree of saturation. The proportions of even-chain saturated FA C6:0–C10:0 increased linearly in milk fat of cows in the dietary glycerol treatments, whereas the proportions of C14:0 and C16:0 decreased quadratically. The proportion of saturated odd-chain FA (C5–C17) increased linearly and quadratically with increasing dietary glycerol treatments. Correlation analysis indicated that the increase in the proportion of propionate in total VFA was accordance with the changes in the milk FA profile, increasing the odd-chain (C5–C17) FA concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transient electromagnetic (TEM) data in applied geophysics are invariably contaminated by random and coherent noise associated with acquisition, geology, and the environment. Advanced unexploded ordnance (UXO) detection and discrimination using TEM data require the suppression of the random noise and reliable separation of UXO signal from other coherent signals. The random noise is usually easier to remove, with coherent signal being more difficult to identify as well as separate. We have developed a method based on principal component analysis (PCA) to achieve both objectives. As a data-adaptive linear transformation, PCA is a fast and reliable method for the removal of random uncorrelated noise as well as for the separation of coherent undesired signals from those due to UXO and UXO-like anomalies. In this paper, we outline the PCA method, including the choice of data organization, construction of covariance matrices, and choice of principal components in reconstruction. We then show both synthetic and field data as examples of the efficacy of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key barrier limiting extended utilization of biodiesel is higher NOx emissions compared to petrodiesel fuels. The reason for this effect is unclear, but various researchers have attributed this phenomena to the higher liquid bulk modulus associated with biodiesel and the additional heat released during the breaking of C-C double bonds in the methyl ester groups. In this study, water was incorporated into neat biodiesel (B100) as an emulsion in an attempt to lower NOx and particulate matter (PM) emissions. A biodiesel emulsion containing 10wt% water was formulated and evaluated against an ultra-low-sulfur petroleum diesel (ULSD) and neat biodiesel (B100) in a light-duty diesel engine operated at 1500 rpm and at loads of 68 and 102 Nm (50 and 75 ft-lbs). The influence of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) was also examined. The incorporation of water was found to significantly lower the NOx emission of B100 while maintaining fuel efficiency when operating at 0% and 27% EGR; however, NOx emissions were observed to increase slightly for the emulsified fuel when the engine load was raised to 102 Nm (75 ft-lbs). The soot fraction of the particulates (as determined using an opacity meter) was much lower for the B100 and B100-water emulsion compared to the ULSD. In contrast, total PM mass (for the three fuel types) was unchanged for the 0% EGR condition but was significantly lower for the B100 and B100-emulsion during the 27% EGR condition compared to the ULSD. Analysis of the emissions and heat release data indicate that water enhances air-fuel premixing to maintain fuel economy and lower soot formation. The exhaust chemistry of the biodiesel base fuels (B100 and water-emulsified B100) was found to be unique in that they contained measurable levels of methyl alkenoates, which were not found for the ULSD. These compounds were formed by the partial cracking of the methyl ester groups during combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A procedure for determination of concentrations of iron(III) and total iron by sequential injection analysis is described. The method is based on the strong blue-colored complexes formed between iron(III) and tiron. The absorbance of the complexes is measured spectrophotometrically at 635 nm. Oxidation of iron(II) and masking of interfering fluoride is simultaneously done by injecting one zone of hydrogen peroxide and one of thorium(IV) between the sample and reagent zones. Concentration of iron(III) and total iron, in the range 0.002–0.026 M, in diluted samples from a pickle bath were determined. The relative standard deviation was 0.4% (n=7). The method was also used in a pilot plant of a zinc process for determination of iron(III) in the range 0.2–3.0 g l−1. The sample throughput is approximately 17 samples per hour, including three repetitive determinations of each sample. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Time gating is a commonly used approach in the pre-processing of nuclear magnetic resonance data before inversion. Gating suppresses spurious signals that can degrade recovered decay time distributions and therefore often stabilizes inversion. However, care must be taken in applying this technique when assumptions of uncorrelated Gaussianity break down and reduce stacking efficiency. If not properly accounted for, unreliable noise estimates introduce inversion artefacts through over- or underfitting of the data. Block-bootstrap resampling of noise realization proxies obtained through data phasing can be used to generate reliable noise estimates for the windows. Benefits of the approach are demonstrated through inversion of synthetic and borehole data. Analysis confirms that bootstrapped noise metrics are more reliable under variable noise conditions and result in more stable inversion results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warming temperatures and increasing disturbance by wildfire and extreme weather events is driving permafrost change across northern latitudes. The state of permafrost varies widely in space and time, depending on landscape, climate, hydrologic, and ecological factors. Despite its importance, few approaches commonly measure and monitor the changes in deep (>1 m) permafrost conditions with high spatial resolution. Here, we use electrical resistivity tomography surveys along two transects in interior Alaska previously disturbed by wildfire and more recently by warming temperatures and extreme precipitation. Long‐term point observations of permafrost depth, temperature, and water content inform geophysical measurements which, in turn, are used to extrapolate interpretations over larger areas and with high spatial fidelity. We contrast gradual loss of recently formed permafrost driven by warmer temperatures and increased snowfall, with rapid permafrost loss driven by changes in air temperature, snow depth, and extreme summer precipitation in 2014. Plain Language Summary: Permafrost, or ground that remains perennially frozen, is thawing across Arctic and sub‐Arctic regions, driven in part by climate warming, wildfire, and changes in the amount and timing of rain and snow. When permafrost thaws, previously frozen carbon can be released to the atmosphere as greenhouse gases, water flow and storage is altered, and community land use and access are impacted. Permafrost landscapes can be mapped over large areas from satellites or airborne remote sensing methods, but only at the surface with limited information obtained at depth. Measurements of deeper permafrost properties are often limited to point observations. We use geophysical measurements to indirectly map and monitor high spatial resolution changes in permafrost characteristics within the ground. Combined with point observations of soil temperature and moisture content, and thaw depths, geophysical measurements help to extend our ability to measure changing permafrost conditions over time. At two nearby transects in interior Alaska, we document the long‐term trajectory of permafrost thaw following wildfire. Our results show similar yet distinct responses in shallow permafrost recovery and more recent degradation, both gradual and rapid, caused by warming temperatures, increased snowfall, and extreme summer rainfall events. Key Points: Changes in the state of permafrost can be highly variable in both space and timeDisturbance or changes in climate and precipitation influence the long‐and short‐term trajectory of permafrost and seasonally frozen groundGeophysical measurements and monitoring complement direct permafrost observations by providing high resolution information at depth [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucose uptake in tissues is mediated by insulin receptor (INSR) and glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4). The aim of this study was to examine the effect of body condition during the dry period on adipose tissue mRNA and protein expression of INSR and GLUT4, and on the dynamics of glucose and insulin following the i.v. glucose tolerance test in Holstein cows 21 d before (d −21) and after (d 21) calving. Cows were grouped as body condition score (BCS) ≤3.0 (thin, T; n = 14), BCS = 3.25 to 3.5 (optimal, O; n = 14), and BCS ≥3.75 (overconditioned, OC; n = 14). Blood was analyzed for glucose, insulin, fatty acids, and β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations. Adipose tissue was analyzed for INSR and GLUT4 mRNA and protein concentrations. During the glucose tolerance test 0.15 g/kg of body weight glucose was infused; blood was collected at −5, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 min, and analyzed for glucose and insulin. On d −21 the area under the curve (AUC) of glucose was smallest in group T (1,512 ± 33.9 mg/dL × min) and largest in group OC (1,783 ± 33.9 mg/dL × min), and different between all groups. Basal insulin on d −21 was lowest in group T (13.9 ± 2.32 µU/mL), which was different from group OC (24.9 ± 2.32 µU/mL. On d −21 the smallest AUC 5–60 of insulin in group T (5,308 ± 1,214 µU/mL × min) differed from the largest AUC in group OC (10,867 ± 1,215 µU/mL × min). Time to reach basal concentration of insulin in group OC (113 ± 14.1 min) was longer compared with group T (45 ± 14.1). The INSR mRNA abundance on d 21 was higher compared with d −21 in groups T (d −21: 3.3 ± 0.44; d 21: 5.9 ± 0.44) and O (d −21: 3.7 ± 0.45; d 21: 4.7 ± 0.45). The extent of INSR protein expression on d −21 was highest in group T (7.3 ± 0.74 ng/mL), differing from group O (4.6 ± 0.73 ng/mL), which had the lowest expression. The amount of GLUT4 protein on d −21 was lowest in group OC (1.2 ± 0.14 ng/mL), different from group O (1.8 ± 0.14 ng/mL), which had the highest amount, and from group T (1.5 ± 0.14 ng/mL). From d −21 to 21, a decrease occurred in the GLUT4 protein levels in both groups T (d −21: 1.5 ± 0.14 ng/mL; d 21: 0.8 ± 0.14 ng/mL) and O (d −21: 1.8 ± 0.14 ng/mL; d 21: 0.8 ± 0.14 ng/mL). These results demonstrate that in obese cows adipose tissue insulin resistance develops prepartum and is related to reduced GLUT4 protein synthesis. Regarding glucose metabolism, body condition did not affect adipose tissue insulin resistance postpartum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ebstein anomaly is characterized by deformities of the anterior leaflet of the tricuspid valve and atrialization of the right ventricle. Patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation are recommended to have tricuspid valve surgery with concomitant atrial septal defect closure. A 73-year-old female with Ebstein anomaly presented with severe hypoxemia. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed severe tricuspid regurgitation and a patent foramen ovale with right-to-left shunting. Complete percutaneous patent foramen ovale closure led to acute decompensation; however, partial closure led to hemodynamic stability and improved oxygenation. In conclusion, similar patients with “patent foramen ovale dependency” from longstanding shunts may benefit from partial patent foramen ovale closure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]