Space based topographic mapping experiment using Seasat synthetic aperture radar and LANDSAT 3 return beam vidicon imagery

A technique for producing topographic information is described which is based on same side/same time viewing using a dissimilar combination of radar imagery and photographic images. Common geographic areas viewed from similar space reference locations produce scene elevation displacements in opposite direction and proper use of this characteristic can yield the perspective information necessary for determination of base to height ratios. These base to height ratios can in turn be used to produce a topographic map. A test area covering the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania region was observed by synthetic aperture radar on the Seasat satellite and by return beam vidicon on by the LANDSAT - 3 satellite. The techniques developed for the scaling re-orientation and common registration of the two images are presented along with the topographic determination data. Topographic determination based exclusively on the images content is compared to the map information which is used as a performance calibration base

Abrupt grain boundary melting in ice

The effect of impurities on the grain boundary melting of ice is investigated through an extension of Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theory, in which we include retarded potential effects in a calculation of the full frequency dependent van der Waals and Coulombic interactions within a grain boundary. At high dopant concentrations the classical solutal effect dominates the melting behavior. However, depending on the amount of impurity and the surface charge density, as temperature decreases, the attractive tail of the dispersion force interaction begins to compete effectively with the repulsive screened Coulomb interaction. This leads to a film-thickness/temperature curve that changes depending on the relative strengths of these interactions and exhibits a decrease in the film thickness with increasing impurity level. More striking is the fact that at very large film thicknesses, the repulsive Coulomb interaction can be effectively screened leading to an abrupt reduction to zero film thickness.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

A direct optical method for the study of grain boundary melting

The structure and evolution of grain boundaries underlies the nature of polycrystalline materials. Here we describe an experimental apparatus and light reflection technique for measuring disorder at grain boundaries in optically clear material, in thermodynamic equilibrium. The approach is demonstrated on ice bicrystals. Crystallographic orientation is measured for each ice sample. The type and concentration of impurity in the liquid can be controlled and the temperature can be continuously recorded and controlled over a range near the melting point. The general methodology is appropriate for a wide variety of materials.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, updated with minor changes made to published versio

Cultural energy analyses of climatologically suitable places in Turkey for feedlot cattle production determined by using the comprehensive climate index model

Citation: Koknaroglu, H., Harrington, J. A., & Mader, T. L. (2016). Cultural energy analyses of climatologically suitable places in Turkey for feedlot cattle production determined by using the comprehensive climate index model. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 26-26. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-057The objective of this study was to conduct cultural energy analyses on feedlot cattle production in Turkey. The comprehensive climate index (CCI) model was used to predict DMI, ADG, and feed efficiency of feedlot cattle in 15 locations in Turkey. The CCI enables one to quantify beef cattle performance for a number of breeds based on environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation) at any time in the year. Because mostly dairy breed calves are placed into the feedlot in Turkey, the Holstein (dairy breed) option in the CCI was chosen to calculate the maintenance energy requirement. Based on previous feedlot feeding studies conducted in Turkey, it was assumed that calves would be placed on feed at 250 kg and be marketed at 520 kg and that the diet would have 2600 kcal/kg metabolic energy and would have DMI of 2.31% of the BW. It was assumed that cattle would receive 2 kg/d straw and that the concentrate mixture would consist of 52.65% barley, 26% corn, 19% cotton seed meal, 1.5% limestone, 0.25% vitamins, 0.5% salt, and 0.1% minerals. Cultural energy inputs were calculated by multiplying the amount of inputs and their corresponding cultural energy based on values from existing literature. Cultural energy used for feed was derived from DMI of cattle and corresponding values for each feed ingredient. Transportation energy was also included in the analysis, including costs for shipping calves from animal market to the farm, shipping yearlings to slaughterhouse, and shipping feed ingredients to the farm. Cultural energy expended for feed made up more than half of the total cultural energy and differed among cities (P < 0.05). Cultural energy for feed was highest for the coldest places and lowest for hot locations. Cultural energy of transportation constituted the second highest cultural energy expenditure. Cultural energy expended per kilogram live weight gain (defined as total cultural energy expended divided by kg live weight gain) was highest for the coldest location and lowest for relatively hotter cities (P < 0.05). Cultural energy use efficiency (defined by kcal input/kcal output) followed the feed efficiency ranking with cattle having better feed efficiency also have better cultural energy use efficiency. Results showed that cattle having higher ADG did not mean that they would also have better cultural energy use efficiency

Determination of climatologically suitable places in the Midwest for feedlot cattle production by using the comprehensive climate index model

Citation: Koknaroglu, H., Harrington, J. A., & Mader, T. L. (2016). Determination of climatologically suitable places in the Midwest for feedlot cattle production by using the comprehensive climate index model. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 28-29. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-062The objective of this study was to determine climatologically suitable places to raise feedlot cattle in the Midwest. Hourly average temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed values for 22 locations (Des Moines, Mason City, Sioux City, Waterloo, Concordia, Dodge City, Goodland, Russell, Topeka, Wichita, Columbia, Kansas City, KCI, Springfield, St. Louis, Grand Island, Lincoln, Norfolk, North Platte, Omaha, Scottsbluff, and Valentine), spanning the last 10 yr, were obtained. Daily solar radiation values could not be obtained from the weather stations and were calculated based on a formula that takes hemisphere, latitude, and day of the year into account. The comprehensive climate index (CCI) model was used to predict DMI, ADG, and feed efficiency of feedlot cattle. The CCI enables one to quantify beef cattle performance for a number of breeds based on environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation) at any time in the year. Because mostly beef cattle breed calves are placed into the feedlot in the Midwest, the British (beef breed) option in CCI was chosen to calculate the maintenance energy requirement of cattle. It was assumed that calves would be placed on feed at 340 kg and be marketed at 613 kg and that diets would have 3200 kcal/kg metabolic energy and would have DMI of 2.10% of the BW. Results comparing the 22 locations showed that Mason City had the highest and Columbia had the lowest DMI (P < 0.05). Cattle raised in Kansas and Missouri had lower DMI than those raised in Iowa and Nebraska. Cattle had ADG ranging from 1.74 to 1.69 kg/d; Scottsbluff and Goodland had the highest ADG and Columbia had the lowest ADG (P < 0.05). As it is observed in DMI, cattle raised in south latitudes had lower ADG than those raised in northern latitudes. Springfield and Wichita had better feed efficiency than other locations, and Mason City had the worst feed efficiency. Cattle raised in Kansas and Missouri had better feed efficiency than those raised in Iowa and Nebraska (P < 0.05). Results showed that there are differences in terms of performance of cattle raised in different locations in the Midwest and this should be taken into consideration for economical beef production

Generalized Interpolation Material Point Approach to High Melting Explosive with Cavities Under Shock

Criterion for contacting is critically important for the Generalized Interpolation Material Point(GIMP) method. We present an improved criterion by adding a switching function. With the method dynamical response of high melting explosive(HMX) with cavities under shock is investigated. The physical model used in the present work is an elastic-to-plastic and thermal-dynamical model with Mie-Gr\"uneissen equation of state. We mainly concern the influence of various parameters, including the impacting velocity $v$, cavity size $R$, etc, to the dynamical and thermodynamical behaviors of the material. For the colliding of two bodies with a cavity in each, a secondary impacting is observed. Correspondingly, the separation distance $D$ of the two bodies has a maximum value $D_{\max}$ in between the initial and second impacts. When the initial impacting velocity $v$ is not large enough, the cavity collapses in a nearly symmetric fashion, the maximum separation distance $D_{\max}$ increases with $v$. When the initial shock wave is strong enough to collapse the cavity asymmetrically along the shock direction, the variation of $D_{\max}$ with $v$ does not show monotonic behavior. Our numerical results show clear indication that the existence of cavities in explosive helps the creation of ``hot spots''.Comment: Figs.2,4,7,11 in JPG format; Accepted for publication in J. Phys. D: Applied Physic

How universal is the fractional-quantum-Hall edge Luttinger liquid?

This article reports on our microscopic investigations of the edge of the fractional quantum Hall state at filling factor $\nu=1/3$. We show that the interaction dependence of the wave function is well described in an approximation that includes mixing with higher composite-fermion Landau levels in the lowest order. We then proceed to calculate the equal time edge Green function, which provides evidence that the Luttinger exponent characterizing the decay of the Green function at long distances is interaction dependent. The relevance of this result to tunneling experiments is discussed.Comment: 5 page

Distance and the pattern of intra-European trade

Given an undirected graph G = (V, E) and subset of terminals T ⊆ V, the element-connectivity κ ′ G (u, v) of two terminals u, v ∈ T is the maximum number of u-v paths that are pairwise disjoint in both edges and non-terminals V \ T (the paths need not be disjoint in terminals). Element-connectivity is more general than edge-connectivity and less general than vertex-connectivity. Hind and Oellermann [21] gave a graph reduction step that preserves the global element-connectivity of the graph. We show that this step also preserves local connectivity, that is, all the pairwise element-connectivities of the terminals. We give two applications of this reduction step to connectivity and network design problems. • Given a graph G and disjoint terminal sets T1, T2,..., Tm, we seek a maximum number of elementdisjoint Steiner forests where each forest connects each Ti. We prove that if each Ti is k element k connected then there exist Ω( log hlog m) element-disjoint Steiner forests, where h = | i Ti|. If G is planar (or more generally, has fixed genus), we show that there exist Ω(k) Steiner forests. Our proofs are constructive, giving poly-time algorithms to find these forests; these are the first non-trivial algorithms for packing element-disjoint Steiner Forests. • We give a very short and intuitive proof of a spider-decomposition theorem of Chuzhoy and Khanna [12] in the context of the single-sink k-vertex-connectivity problem; this yields a simple and alternative analysis of an O(k log n) approximation. Our results highlight the effectiveness of the element-connectivity reduction step; we believe it will find more applications in the future

Principles And Practices Fostering Inclusive Excellence: Lessons From The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Capstone Institutions

Best-practices pedagogy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) aims for inclusive excellence that fosters student persistence. This paper describes principles of inclusivity across 11 primarily undergraduate institutions designated as Capstone Awardees in Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) 2012 competition. The Capstones represent a range of institutional missions, student profiles, and geographical locations. Each successfully directed activities toward persistence of STEM students, especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups, through a set of common elements: mentoring programs to build community; research experiences to strengthen scientific skill/identity; attention to quantitative skills; and outreach/bridge programs to broaden the student pool. This paper grounds these program elements in learning theory, emphasizing their essential principles with examples of how they were implemented within institutional contexts. We also describe common assessment approaches that in many cases informed programming and created traction for stakeholder buy-in. The lessons learned from our shared experiences in pursuit of inclusive excellence, including the resources housed on our companion website, can inform others’ efforts to increase access to and persistence in STEM in higher education