Computer program analyzes whirl critical speeds and bearing loads for shafts coupled by nonlinear springs to machine housing

Computerized method of analysis predicts bearing loads, shaft deflections, and critical speeds for shafts coupled by rolling contact bearings to the machine housing. The bearing nonlinearities, casing as well as rotor dynamics, and rotor-imbalance forcing functions are all included in the system dynamics analysis

The Possibility of Relationships with Others

Levinas offers a rich philosophical insight into the kind of responsibility and ethics that we must have for the Other. This involves a certain conception of what it means to be hospitable which turns out to be impossible. In order to talk about how this impossible relationship can occur, I use Heidegger’s description of the existential Being-with structure and Derrida’s conception of the event in order to make sense of how this Levinasian relationship can possibly exist in spite of—or thanks to—its impossibility

Assessing Calf Survival and the Quantitative Impact of Reproductive Success on the Declining Moose (Alces alces) Population in Northeastern Minnesota

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. September 2017. Major: Natural Resources Science and Management. Advisor: Glenn DelGiudice. 1 computer file (PDF); x, 123 pages.Ungulate reproductive success is an important driver of population performance. Long-term, the northeastern Minnesota moose (Alces alces) population declined 58% since 2006, yet aerial survey estimates indicate stability during 2012–2017. Because causal mechanisms for this decline were largely unknown, I investigated calf production, survival and cause-specific mortality of calves of global positioning system (GPS)-collared dams of this population. Global positioning system collars have been deployed on adult moose and other ungulates to study various aspects of their ecology, but until the current study they had not been fitted to moose neonates. In 2013 and 2014, I GPS-collared 54 neonates and monitored them for survival. In 2015, I monitored 50 calving dams for signs of neonatal mortality using behavioral cues, and assessed seasonal calf survival with aerial surveys. In 2013 and 2014, collared calf survival to 9 months was 0.34 (95% CI = 0.23–0.52), whereas uncollared calf survival in 2015 was estimated at 0.40 (95% CI = 0.30–0.54). Survival in all 3 years dropped dramatically in the first 50 days of life; hazard peaked at about 15 days of age when dams and calves departed calving sites. Predation was the leading cause of death of collared calves (84% of mortalities); wolf (Canis lupus) predation accounted for 77% of deaths. The cumulative probability of succumbing to all forms of mortality by 9 months of age was 69.8%. I documented higher wolf predation than other recent studies with similar predator communities. Habitat use during calving and the energetically demanding post-parturition period can be an important determinant of neonatal survival. I surveyed and compared habitat characteristics of pre-calving, calving, peak-lactation, and mortality sites at a fine and broad scale. I also compared mortality sites of calves killed by wolves versus other causes, as well as calving sites of cows that successfully reared a calf to winter to those that did not. Cows tended to move to areas of more conifer forest cover to calve. During peak-lactation, cows and their calves used steeper areas with abundant forage, high concealment, and less conifer cover. Mortality sites were more level than other site types. Generally, wolf-kill sites were farther from roads. Cows that successfully reared a calf to winter typically calved in areas with more deciduous forest and less forested wetland cover than cows whose calves died. I estimated population growth rate (λ) using adult survival and calf recruitment data from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources demographic studies and the Recruitment-Mortality (R-M) Equation, and compared this estimate to those calculated using data from the annual aerial survey. Measures of recruitment were similar whether derived from the survey or collaring studies, but generally were higher in the collared sample. More recent calculations of λ (derived from the survey [2012–2017 stabilization; 1.02 ± 0.16 (SE)] and using the R-M Equation [1.04 ± 0.04]) indicated growth over the next 50 years. However, the stochastic model using parameters from the adult and calf studies indicated an average decline in the population over the next 50 years (λ = 0.94 ± 0.004). Habitat improvement projects for moose should consider not only forage requirements, but also cover, slope, and road density. Identifying specific causes of calf mortality and understanding their relations to various landscape characteristics and other extrinsic factors should yield insight into mechanisms contributing to the declining moose population in northeastern Minnesota and serve as a basis for ecologically sound management responses

Analysis of the M-1 liquid hydrogen turbopump shaft critical whirling speed and bearing loads

Shaftwhirling critical speeds and bearing loads for model I and model II fuel turbopump

The Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic: Correlates and Implications for Therapists

The goal of the current study is to examine the belief in SRA and correlating variables among the next generation of psychologists. 26 participants completed the full questionnaire to be included in the analyses. Pre-doctoral internship sites were selected from the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers’ (APPIC) directory that were located in the United States, accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), and offered training opportunities in the areas of sexual abuse, empirically-supported treatments, evidence-based practice, and/or evidence based research. Interested interns could click on the questionnaire’s link, which connected them to Qualtrics, an online survey platform. Generally, participants did not highly endorse a belief in a literal Satan (M = 10.54, SD = 6.96). On average, participants were neutral (i.e., between “somewhat agree” and “somewhat disagree”) in their belief in the accuracy of recovered repressed memories and memories of Satanic ritual abuse. Future research would benefit from broadening the sampling to include other mental health providers beyond psychology interns, such as clinical social workers, mental health counselors, and marriage and family therapists

Who Takes the Bait? Non-target Species Use of Bear Hunter Bait Sites

Hunting bears (Ursus spp.) over baits is legal in many countries, states, and provinces, but the practice remains a controversial topic among wildlife managers, hunting groups, and the general public. The baits used to attract bears may also provide a pulsed resource on the landscape that can be used by other wildlife species, particularly carnivores. To determine what other species might use bear bait sites, we constructed and monitored 21 bear bait sites with camera traps from August to October 2016 in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. The sites mimicked typical American black bear (U. americanus) hunter bait sites. We tested recorded changes in carnivore visitation before and during hunting season using paired t-test and analyzed carnivore temporal shifts between the 2 periods using a nonparametric kernel density estimation procedure. We analyzed 7,915 images, of which 81.9% were nontarget species. Bear daily visitation at the bait sites was reduced by 49.3% during hunting season while nontarget carnivore visitation increased by 33.0%. Bears also increased their nocturnal activity by 22.4% during the legal hunting season while other carnivore species maintained their diel patterns. Because of the high rates of nontarget species use of the bear hunter bait sites, there is a potential for disease spread and conflict with hunters. Managers should evaluate the potential impacts on target and nontarget species when establishing hunter bait regulations

Mineral Licks as a Potential Nidus for Parasite Transmission

Discrete landscape features can concentrate animals in time and space, leading to non-random interspecific encounters. These encounters have implications for predator-prey interactions, habitat selection, intraspecific competition, and transmission of parasites and other pathogens. The lifecycle of the parasitic nematode Parelaphostrongylus tenuis requires an intermediate host of a terrestrial gastropod. Natural hosts of P. tenuis are whitetailed deer, and an aberrant host of conservation concern is moose, which are susceptible to high levels of mortality as a naive host to the parasite. Intermediate hosts become infected when P. tenuis larvae are shed in deer feces, then consumed or enter the gastropod through the foot. Incidental (or perhaps intentional) ingestion of infected gastropod intermediate hosts by aberrant or dead-end hosts often results in mortality of that animal. We present photographic evidence depicting a potential mechanism for transmission from infected white-tailed deer to moose, heretofore not examined in the literature. We deployed remote cameras at mineral licks around Grand Portage Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota, USA. We observed white-tailed deer defecating at mineral lick sites and geophagous moose at the same sites. We hypothesize that mineral licks may act as a nidus for P. tenuis transmission between deer and moose in this system and call for further research into the potential role of mineral licks in parasite transmission. The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is a federally recognized Indian tribe in extreme northeastern Minnesota, USA, and proudly exercises its rights to food sovereignty through subsistence hunting and fishing. Mooz (Moose) are a primary subsistence food used by the Anishinaabeg (people) of Grand Portage Band historically and presently. Management for and research on maintaining this moose population as a vital subsistence species thus sets the context for this paper examining potential for disease transmission between whitetailed deer and moose through shared use of mineral licks

The role of forage availability on diet choice and body condition in American beavers (\u3ci\u3eCastor canadensis\u3c/i\u3e)

Forage availability can affect body condition and reproduction in wildlife.Weused terrestrial and aquatic vegetation sampling, stable isotope analysis, and livetrapping to investigate the influence of estimated forage biomass on diet, body condition, and reproduction in American beavers (Castor canadensis) in the Namakan Reservoir, Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, USA, May 2008–September 2009. Available terrestrial and emergent aquatic forage varied greatly among territories, but floating leaf aquatic forage was low in abundance in all territories. Variation in estimated biomass of available emergent and terrestrial vegetation did not explain variation in respective assimilated diets, but variation in floating leaf vegetation explained 31% of variation in assimilated floating leaf diets. No models using available vegetation explained variation in body condition. Body condition of individual females in spring did not affect kit catch per unit effort, and overwinter body condition of subadults and adults was similar between territories with and without kits. We found no evidence that available aquatic vegetation affected beaver body condition or fitness. Available forage may be above minimum thresholds to detect differences in diet choice or body condition. Other factors such as water level fluctuations or climatic variables may also explain variation in beaver body condition

BLOOD PROFILES AND ASSOCIATED BIRTH CHARACTERISTICS OF FREE-RANGING MOOSE (ALCES ALCES) NEONATES IN A DECLINING POPULATION IN NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA

Sources of natural variability of blood analytes related to physiological development pose both challenges and opportunities to deriving and interpreting the most useful nutritional and health-related information from blood profiles of free-ranging animals. Preliminary evidence suggests accurate interpretation of blood profiles may be particularly important relative to newborns given their high probability of death. Our goal was to establish hematological and serum reference values for free-ranging moose (Alces alces) neonates. Sixteen neonates (8 females, 8 males) were captured and blood was sampled during 8–12 May 2013. Mean age was 2.9 days old (range = 1.4–6.0); mean body mass and hind foot length were 16.8 kg (13.8–20.5) and 46.8 cm (45.0–49.0). We present mean, 95% confidence interval and range of values for 15 hematological and 24 serum characteristics, including metabolites,chemistries, electrolytes, enzymes, and metabolic and stress hormones. We observed significant (r2 = 0.423–0.747, P ≤ 0.016) positive relationships between body mass and red blood cell and white blood cell counts, hemoglobin, and packed cell volume. Hind foot length was positively related (r2 = 0.369, P = 0.028) only to red blood cell counts. No serum constituents were affected by body size metrics, but sex influenced (P ≤ 0.052) several whole blood and serum characteristics. At the individual level, blood profiles facilitated discrimination of one individual neonate in poor nutritional condition that was not evident in the original physical examination at capture. As wildlife researchers and veterinarians increasingly assess the nutritional and health status of free-ranging moose and other species by clinical biochemistry and laboratory methods, cumulative banks of blood reference values will aid in data interpretation