The Potential Impact of a Proposed Ban on the Sale of U.S. Horses for Slaughter and Human Consumption

Both federal and state governments in the United States are being asked to enact laws that would make slaughtering of horses for human consumption illegal. In the past, the United States was one of the principal exporters of horsemeat to Europe. This paper examines the impacts of a proposed ban on the U.S. horse industry and the U.S. export market for horsemeat. Findings indicate a loss of approximately $300 per horse in the United States as a result of such a ban. The supply of U.S. exported horsemeat has declined during the past decade. The results suggest that the most significant factors influencing this decline are lower real prices and competing imports.horse slaughter, horsemeat, meat exports, Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

Magnetic anisotropy in Shiba bound states across a quantum phase transition

The exchange coupling between magnetic adsorbates and a superconducting substrate leads to Shiba states inside the superconducting energy gap and a Kondo resonance outside the gap. The exchange coupling strength determines whether the quantum many-body ground state is a Kondo singlet or a singlet of the paired superconducting quasiparticles. Here, we use scanning tunneling spectroscopy to identify the different quantum ground states of Manganese phthalocyanine on Pb(111). We observe Shiba states, which are split into triplets by magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Their characteristic spectral weight yields an unambiguous proof of the nature of the quantum ground state.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Linking Illness to Food: Summary of a Workshop on Food Attribution

To identify and prioritize effective food safety interventions, it is critical not only to identify the pathogens responsible for illness, but also to attribute cases of foodborne disease to the specific food vehicle responsible. A wide variety of such “food attribution” approaches and data are used around the world, including the analysis of and extrapolation from outbreak and other surveillance data, case-control studies, microbial subtyping and source-tracking methods, and expert judgment, among others. The Food Safety Research Consortium sponsored the Food Attribution Data Workshop in October 2003 to discuss the virtues and limitations of these approaches and to identify future options for the collection of food attribution data in the United States. This discussion paper summarizes workshop discussions and identifies challenges that affect progress in this critical component of a risk-based approach to improving food safety.foodborne illness, food attribution, outbreaks, case-control studies, microbial fingerprinting, microbial subtyping, FoodNet

End states and subgap structure in proximity-coupled chains of magnetic adatoms

A recent experiment [Nadj-Perge et al., Science 346, 602 (2014)] provides evidence for Majorana zero modes in iron (Fe) chains on the superconducting Pb(110) surface. Here, we study this system by scanning tunneling microscopy using superconducting tips. This high-resolution technique resolves a rich subgap structure, including zero-energy excitations in some chains. We compare the symmetry properties of the data under voltage reversal against theoretical expectations and provide evidence that the putative Majorana signature overlaps with a previously unresolved low-energy resonance. Interpreting the data within a Majorana framework suggests that the topological gap is significantly smaller than previously believed. Aided by model calculations, we also analyze higher-energy features of the subgap spectrum and their relation to high-bias peaks which we associate with the Fe d-bands.Comment: 5+5 pages, 5+6 figure

Launch Vehicle Production and Operations Cost Metrics

Traditionally, launch vehicle cost has been evaluated based on $/Kg to orbit. This metric is calculated based on assumptions not typically met by a specific mission. These assumptions include the specified orbit whether Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), or both. The metric also assumes the payload utilizes the full lift mass of the launch vehicle, which is rarely true even with secondary payloads.1,2,3 Other approaches for cost metrics have been evaluated including unit cost of the launch vehicle and an approach to consider the full program production and operations costs.4 Unit cost considers the variable cost of the vehicle and the definition of variable costs are discussed. The full program production and operation costs include both the variable costs and the manufacturing base. This metric also distinguishes operations costs from production costs, including pre-flight operational testing. Operations costs also consider the costs of flight operations, including control center operation and maintenance. Each of these 3 cost metrics show different sensitivities to various aspects of launch vehicle cost drivers. The comparison of these metrics provides the strengths and weaknesses of each yielding an assessment useful for cost metric selection for launch vehicle programs

Orbital Picture of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov Multiplets

We investigate the nature of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) subgap states induced by single manganese (Mn) atoms adsorbed on different surface orientations of superconducting lead (Pb). Depending on the adsorption site, we detect a distinct number and characteristic patterns of YSR states around the Mn atoms. We suggest that the YSR states inherit their properties from the Mn d levels, which are split by the surrounding crystal field. The periodicity of the long- range YSR oscillations allows us to identify a dominant coupling of the d states to the outer Fermi sheet of the two-band superconductor Pb