Red Rock Research Articles

Paleontology

Paleontology Alyssa Pelish (bio) The excavation of Patagotitan mayorum, the largest dinosaur ever uncovered, took over eighteen months. The video that plays on a loop at the Museum of Natural History shows a swarm of paleontologists going at the pale red rock like workers in a quarry. They wield shovels and pickaxes and jack hammers and chisels. Some kind of crane-like machine, with blunt teeth, heaves mouthfuls of rock up from the site. One man uses a push broom to sweep debris from an enormous femur. Bulldozers are brought in to clear a road through the rocky, scrubby barrens of the Patagonian Desert to carry the bones off the site. In the lab, beneath the light of a magnifying lens, men apply what look like dental instruments—tiny drills, or maybe cleaning devices—to the fossilized bones. In the lab, notes the outback-voiced narrator, any remaining fragments of rock are chipped away. I like to think about this as I sit staring into the hull of the Patagotitan’s rib cage. Some 223 different sauropod bones were exhumed from layers and layers of sediment, the mudstone and sandstone chipped away from them, the dust brushed off. Eighty-four of the bones could be pieced together to form the titanic skeleton that rises as high as forty-six feet and extends for 120. I like to think about this. I don’t know, though, what Miles is thinking when he sits here on this black bench that, in the dim light, is almost invisible against the equally black wall striped with the shadows of the Patagotitan’s enormous ribs. He will sit here and stare for a while, sometimes a quarter of an hour, hunching his small body in the inexplicable cold of the room, his soft face solemn and close-lipped. Miles and I come here, to the museum, on Fridays. It’s marginally less crowded in the late afternoon of a weekday, after I’ve picked him up from preschool. He and I always enter the museum from the subway, which makes the whole trip seem somewhat covert, as if we are secret agents who must avoid the exposure of the streets. Miles and I step from the subway not out into the light of day and the enlightenment of knowledge promised on the Teddy Roosevelt memorial facade, but into the windowless basement of the museum and, then, by stepping into the vacuum tube of an elevator, toward the dinosaur bones. He and I sometimes visit the other halls, the other floors. The Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians on the third, Birds of the World on the second, North American Forests on the first. But we always drift back to the dinosaurs. Most days, that is the only place we go. Miles doesn’t say what it is he likes about the dinosaur bones. Is it the overwhelming scale of the big ones, the spookiness of their skeletal silhouettes, their [End Page 30] faint resemblance to the familiar characters in his picture books? Is it their silence? Miles has never quite stuck by my side in the museum. Even when I first brought him here, he wandered the saurischian and ornithischian halls on his own, and I followed at a tentative distance, like a one-person surveillance team. We enter the museum together—he knows he needs me to flash our members’ pass. We ride the elevator to the fourth floor together. We exit the elevator together, both of us turning right. But Miles enters the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs on his own, beneath the silent flock of seagulls suspended above. He might pause at the glass-encased skeleton of the Diatryma gigantea, a flamingo-like creature posed in profile, or at the gigantic skull of a T. rex, its hollows poured full of what looks like concrete. I follow, at a distance, careful not to appear obvious about it. Mostly, he seems indifferent to my presence, but if I get too close, make a conversational foray, his shoulders tighten and he soon wanders, silently, away, and I feel like a clumsy spy who has just been made. When we began coming here, I at first...

Red Rock Hydroelectric Project – New hydro development at an existing flood control dam

The Red Rock Hydroelectric Project converted the existing Red Rock Dam near Pella, Iowa, from a non-powered dam into a multi-purpose dam. The existing flood control dam was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the 1960s on the Des Moines River near Pella, Iowa. The hydroelectric project was developed by Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency and generates up to 55 MW with an average annual energy output of 178 gigawatt-hours. The new intake, penstock and powerhouse are located immediately adjacent to the spillway. Construction required large excavations into the upstream and downstream sides of the existing embankment dam and two penetrations through the existing gravity dam monoliths. Extensive water and earth-retention systems, prescriptive construction staging, and a robust dam safety surveillance program were designed to maintain and monitor the integrity of the existing dam throughout construction and avoid impacts to active USACE flood control operations. Construction was completed in 2020. This paper provides an overview of the unique challenges involved with the design and construction of a new hydroelectric project at an existing and active flood control dam.

Hydrology management influences nest survival but not clutch size in Lesser Scaup

Components of reproductive success such as clutch size and nest survival may greatly affect avian population growth rates. Understanding how environmental conditions influence temporal variation in these demographic parameters could thus provide valuable insight into best management practices for species of concern. One such species that could benefit from a better understanding of such processes is Lesser Scaup (<em>Aythya affinis</em>), whose overall abundance in North America has declined since the early 1980s. We used a long-term study (2005–2019) of Lesser Scaup demography at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana, USA, to examine how the management of wetland conditions influenced within- and across-year temporal variation in clutch size and nest survival. Predicted clutch size varied more across nest initiation dates (6.18–10.05 eggs) within years than it did across years (7.51–8.38 eggs), and none of the covariates we examined were significantly related to clutch size across years. Nest daily survival rates varied substantially across days within breeding seasons (e.g., 2018: 0.38–0.985), and annual mean nest survival varied greatly across years (0.27–0.58). Furthermore, seasonal chronology of managed wetland water levels influenced nest survival such that years when water levels gradually rose to a maximum late in the breeding season, relative to mean nest initiation date, resulted in the highest nest survival. These findings collectively suggest that when flows can be manipulated with water control structures, efforts to manage the chronology of water levels at watershed and local wetland scales could improve nest survival, whereas such management efforts will not likely affect clutch sizes.

AWWA Water Science Author Spotlight

<i>AWWA Water Science</i> Author Spotlight

Controlling factors of coalbed methane occurrence below redbeds in Xutuan mine: Caprock thickness below redbeds

Coalbed methane (CBM) occurrence is highly significant in gas drainage design and gas disaster prevention. The redbeds of Xutuan mine, red clastic sedimentary rocks, distributed in the southeastern region of the mine, generally make gas contents lower than normal area, which could make CBM occurrence more complicated and ambiguous to determine. To explore the CBM occurrence law and its controlling factors in the redbeds-covered area (RCA), this study constructed geological profiles based on geological exploration drillings, and then analyzed the geological evolution and the critical periods of gas emission in the RCA combining regional geological evolution and sedimentary history of the Guzhen Basin. Additionally, coal samples obtained from the RCA and the non-redbeds covered area (N-RCA) were analyzed through testing the proximate analysis, adsorption constant, and vitrinite reflectance. There are two critical gas emission periods, the Yanshan tectonic movement period when the Huaibei strata lifted and denuded and the deposition of the redbeds in the Guzhen Basin. During the two periods, the caprock below redbeds played a role in gas emissions. The differences in the proximate analysis, adsorption capacity, and metamorphosis between the coal samples from the two regions were relatively small, indicating that redbeds deposition had a minimal effect on the coal properties of the coal seams. Finally, the linear correlation between the in-situ gas contents and caprock thickness below redbeds was determined to be higher than that between the contents and buried depth, proving that the controlling factor of CBM occurrence is the caprock thickness below redbeds in the RCA.

PHENOLOGY AND GROWING DEGREE DAYS OF FESTIVAL STRAWBERRY GROWN ON RED VOLCANIC ROCK AT TWO PLANT DENSITIES

Due to their correlation with temperature, growing degree days (GDD) allow to analyze the effect of climate change on plant phenology, while being also useful for scheduling activities in a cultivation system. Fruit cropping systems in general lack enough information in this regard. This research aimed to determine GDD during the phenology of Festival strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) grown on two substrates at two plant densities under a macro-tunnel. Previously chilled (4 o C/720 h), one-leaf plants were grown from August 2016 to March 2017 either in hydroponics on red volcanic rock or in soil with fertigation at 10 or 15 plants m-2. A Steiner nutrient solution reduced to 50% of its original concentration was used. GDD were counted daily after planting using the single sine curve method with a base temperature of 3 o C. A high correlation coefficient (r &gt; 0.964) was found between GDD and days after planting (DAP) for the phenological stages studied. The phyllochron was not affected by treatments, and 597 GDD were required as an average for the onset of leafing and a high correlation between air temperature and the emission of leaves number 2 to 10 (r = 0.9754; P ≤ 0.0001). The substrate did not affect the chronology of the reproductive phenological stages. The onset of anthesis was delayed by 17 days in plants grown at 15 plants m-2 (2039.4 GDD) compared to those grown at 10 plants m-2 (1829.7 GDD), but there was no effect of plant density for the sequent phenological stages. It is concluded that GDD have a high predictive value in Festival strawberry for DAP of the phenological stages studied; likewise, the phyllochron and reproductive phenology were not affected by substrate cultivation; however, planting at high densities could delay the onset of anthesis.

A NEW SPECIES OF HELIANTHUS (ASTERACEAE) FROM CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA

Helianthus devernii T.M.Draper is described as a new endemic species from two small desert spring populations found within Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Clark County, NV. Morphological data and nuclear ribosomal ITS marker data place it in section Ciliares series Pumili. Furthermore, the molecular data allies it most closely to H. pumilus Nutt. Helianthus devernii differs from H. pumilus by its sessile one nerved opposite and alternate leaves, glabrous glaucous stems, and overall smaller heads. The two known populations of H. devernii of approximately 400 individuals occur near the Las Vegas Valley and are threatened by heavy recreational use and exotic plants and animals. A key to the species of Helianthus of Nevada is presented.

Geochemical Anomaly Characteristics of Cd in Soils around Abandoned Lime Mines: Evidence from Multiple Technical Methods

Lime mines are a potential source of pollution, and the surrounding soil environment is generally at threat, especially in abandoned lime mines. This paper focuses on the study area in eastern Anhui, attempting to analyze whether Cd enrichment is related to abandoned mines. On the basis of geological investigation, this study systematically used XRD, XRF, GTS and universal Kriging interpolation to determine the distribution law of Cd in the study area, and evaluated the potential ecological risk of Cd. The results showed that the main mineral types of soil samples of red clastic rock soil parent material (RdcPm) and soil samples of carbonate soil parent material (CPm) were not completely the same. Correlation analysis showed that CaO, MgO and Cd were positively correlated with the CPm. Human activities led to the accumulation of Cd in the study area. High Cd was mainly concentrated in the northwest of the study area, which was correlated with abandoned mines and soil parent materials. The study area was dominated by slight potential risks, although some areas had medium potential risks and high potential risks. All potential high risks were in the CPm field. This study provides a scientific basis for the comprehensive utilization and development planning of soil in the study area.

Active Trumpeter Swan Nest on an Active Muskrat Lodge

We observed Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) nesting on top of an active muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) lodge, indicating simultaneous breeding uses of a constructed vegetation mound not previously recorded in the literature. Specifically, within the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana, we observed 4 eggs in an actively tended Trumpeter Swan nest, while underneath the swan nest bowl was a muskrat nursery occupied by 3 neonate muskrats. Swans are known to use abandoned muskrat lodges as nest foundations, but not active lodges. Our observations point to a close association between breeding muskrats and Trumpeter Swans in the shallow wetlands of North America and emphasize the benefit of robust muskrat populations for Trumpeter Swan restoration.

Комплекси діатомей верхнього пліоцену та їх нєзначення для встановлення нижньої межі квартеру (південь Далекого Сходу)

An analysis of the evolutionary distribution of diatoms in the outcrops of the Late Cenozoic shows that, upon reaching the level of the Annensky Horizon (Gelazian stage), the extinct species disappear almost completely. A predominance of the alluvial type of sedimentogenesis and reduction in the lake basins areas are clearly registered for deposits of the diatom zone Aulacoseira praegranulata var. praeislandica f. praeislandica. A cooling in the Late Pliocene with the pronounced temperature minimum at the level about 2,58 million years is fairly bright reflected in the ecological structures of diatomic associations (upper complex): the benthic arcto- and north-boreal flora predominates. Of that time, a total absence of the pollen of the broad-leaved species is also characteristic and paleo-landscapes become close to the Eopleistocene ones. From this moment on, the coexistence and expansion of the polar ice sheets begin (transition of planet from the “Green house” mode to the “Ice house” mode) which determine the formation of the modern climatic system of the Earth which emphasizes the globality of the palaeoclimatic event. From the lithological point of view, the bottom of the red rocks strata of the Annensky Horizon corresponding to the Gelazian stage bottom (2,58 million years) coincides with this boundary in the southern Primorye. The age changes of the Quarter boundary to this chronostratigrahic level is well founded.

Evaluation of Potential Regulations for Improving Flathead Catfish Size Structure in Iowa’s Large Reservoirs

AbstractRelatively little research exists for lentic populations of Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris, particularly in northern states, such as Iowa, where there are currently no harvest restrictions but where the interest in trophy opportunities is growing. We assessed size structure, age structure, growth, condition, and survival for Flathead Catfish populations in Lake Red Rock and Rathbun Lake to increase our understanding of populations in Iowa and determine parameter values to be used in simulating potential regulations. Using low‐frequency electrofishing, we captured Flathead Catfish during July and August 2019; all fish were measured and weighed, and a pectoral spine was collected for age estimation. Archived data collected in 2010–2013 were also included in analyses. Reducing harvest by using two potential protected slot limits (PSLs; 305–381 and 381–432 mm) or a maximum length limit (no restrictions on fish &lt;381 mm and a reduced bag limit for fish &gt;381 mm) was simulated to determine effects on the percentage of quality‐ and preferred‐size fish. Simulations indicated that both PSLs and the maximum length limit produced a greater percentage of quality‐ and preferred‐size fish than a “no regulation” scenario, with PSLs being more effective at low exploitation (0.05) and the maximum length limit being more effective at higher exploitation rates (&gt;0.10). An understanding of the current status of Flathead Catfish populations will allow managers to better manage these populations via informed decision making and help to protect them as their popularity with anglers increases.

Stakeholders’ perceptions of mammal occurrence and abundance on agricultural properties bordering the Boland Mountain Complex, South Africa

The encroachment of agricultural landscapes on natural ecosystems poses a significant threat to native wildlife persistence. In the Boland Mountain Complex (BMC), the presence of mammals was well documented in the 20th century, but an updated account is lacking. This study relied on Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) to elucidate perceived medium- to large-sized (>300 g) mammal occurrences, distribution ranges, and relative abundance on private agricultural properties adjacent to protected areas in the BMC. In total, 30 mammal species were reported to be present, and inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolations were created for species that had more than five independent citations (n = 24), to display reported relative abundance-distributions beyond the scope of the sampled locations. Species with severely isolated relative abundance-distribution profiles (e.g. leopard, Panthera pardus, Cape clawless otter, Aonyx capensis and honey badger, Mellivora capensis), species with low overall incidence (e.g. aardwolf, Proteles cristata and Smith’s red rock rabbit, Pronolagus rupestris), and non-native species with high incidences (e.g. feral dog, Canis familiaris and feral pig, Sus scrofa) were identified, and can now be prioritised further for future research and conservation efforts within the BMC region.

A comparison of the predatory impacts of an invasive and native crab species using a functional response approach

The European green crab (Carcinus maenas) is invasive on the West coast of North America, but the ecological consequences of this invasion remain poorly understood. Comparative functional response analysis has arisen as a method of elucidating ecological consequences of invasive species by comparing the impact of these species to native analogues. Through comparative functional response experiments of green crabs and native red rock crabs (Cancer productus) we found that green crab predation increased asymptotically (Type II functional response) when fed increasing densities of Pacific oysters (Magallana gigas), while red rock crab predation displayed a sigmoidal (Type III) response. At high oyster densities red rock crabs consume more Pacific oysters than green crabs do, due to their reduced handling time, though green crabs consume more Pacific oysters relative to their size than red rock crabs. However, compared to red rock crabs, green crabs consume more oysters at low prey densities, which implies that they have a larger, potentially destabilizing impact on low densities of Pacific oysters. As green crabs continue to spread across the West coast of North America, Pacific oysters will face increased predation pressure. Our results show the advantage of using functional response analysis to compare density dependent predation between an invasive species and a native species to predict the ecological consequences of invasions.

Monumental Mobility: The Memory Work of Massasoit

In 2017, after a long reclamation battle, the Wampanoag ceremonially reinterred artifacts and remains associated with the seventeenth-century leader 8sâmeeqan (Ousamequin). Massasoit, the name widely used in histories and Thanksgiving pageants, was a title signifying 8sâmeeqan’s leadership role. A century earlier, a Euro-American fraternal order called the Improved Order of Red Men (IORM) commissioned a sculpture to commemorate the tricentennial of the pilgrims’ 1620 encounter with the Massasoit and his people.As current controversies attest, “the urge to commemorate” is never a straightforward one. In this timely book, Lisa Blee and Jean M. O’Brien trace the creation and installation of the Massasoit memorial on Cole Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its remarkable afterlife.Monumental Mobility explores the “memory work” of public history: “how individuals and collectivities make meaning of the past as distinct from the concrete matter of what actually happened” (7). O’Brien brilliantly addressed these themes in her earlier work on settler colonialism in New England, where displacement of Indigenous people from local history went hand in hand with dispossessing them from their land. The IORM hoped a monument on Cole’s Hill looking out over Plymouth harbor would cement the landing’s importance in the nation’s history. Achieving this goal meant presenting the European arrival as a peaceful encounter welcomed by Indigenous people, thus “shedding the violence” and exculpating guilt around dispossession. Sculptor Cyrus Dallin, raised in Utah Territory and an avid consumer of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show, brought his own stereotypes to the commission.Press for the unveiling advertised the presence of 8sâmeeqan’s “only living descendant,” Wootonekanuske/Charlotte Mitchell. The “disappearing Indian” image was so prevalent that newspapers casually erased her siblings and cousins. Mitchell resisted the subordinate role assigned to her in “helping celebrate the killing of my own people” (75). As the statue was unveiled and the band played the Star-Spangled Banner, she turned away from the camera and spoiled the shot. The Mitchells and other Wampanoag activists used commemoration events to bolster land claims and to subvert the narrative of disappearance. On Thanksgiving 1970, United American Indians protesters staged a “Day of Mourning.” They painted the Massasoit statue with red and buried Plymouth Rock in sand. Activism gained the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoags authorship: they shaped interpretation to reflect Indigenous perspectives at Plimoth Plantation and Cole’s Hill, and in their own exhibits.The statue’s history outside New England occupies a significant portion of the book. Dallin donated the plaster cast to the state capitol, but it ended up at Brigham Young University. There, curators engaged in an elaborate tax fraud that involved making unauthorized new castings. The Massasoit figure became a generic trope untethered from tribe, geography, and history, with miniatures sold in tourist shops and larger copies installed in malls, museums, and sculpture parks in Kansas City, Spokane, Chicago, Dayton, and Salt Lake City. This mobility permits Blee and O’Brien to investigate settler colonial narratives in the West. Utah officials rejected Dallin’s proposal for a statue honoring Shoshone leader Washakie and removed the Massasoit from its place of honor in the capitol to make way for representations of Utah history centered on Mormon migrants, actions that simulated the literal dispossession of Utes, Navajos, and Shoshones. Brigham Young University framed its Massasoit statue as a “helper,” a symbol of Indigenous self-sacrifice necessary for Europeans to thrive.If memorials say more about who erected them than they do about the past, sponsors and artists cannot always control the message. Showcasing Blee’s public history expertise, the authors surveyed visitors’ responses to the Massasoit statues. In Kansas City and Dayton, Massasoit stands with other sculptures or art, convincing some that 8sâmeeqan was important without teaching much history. In Provo, the semi-nude statue’s violation of campus dress codes draws more comment than its historical message. Still, for a few individuals the monument inspires reflection about local Indigenous groups and America’s national narrative. As colonized people around the globe tear down monuments, this fascinating book offers a blueprint for closing the gap between the past and present understandings of history.

Hawksweeds of the Putorana Plateau

An overview of all hawkweeds (Hieracium L.) recorded on the Putorana Mountains is given. The list of floristic findings of the territory of the Plateau includes 3 new species (Hieracium czamyjashense Tupitz., H. pseudarctophilum Schljakov., H. pseudofariniramum Tupitz.). New localities are also given for the endemic species H. putoranicum Tupitz. and the rare species H. subfariniramum (Ganesch et. Zahn) Ȕksip ex Tupitz.. The coordinates of collection sites, dates of collection, habitats nature, area type and an ecological-cenotic confinedness are given for each species. The nomenclature is reviewed. Field studies were carried out in 2018 in the western part of the Putorana Mountains, on the western coast of Lake Sobachye (Yt-Kyuyol) near the mouth of the Nakhta River; in 2019 in the western part of the Putorana Mountains, in the vicinity of Talnakh Town, at the Red Rocks Natural Sanctuary of regional significance; in 2020 in the south-west of the Putorana Mountains, in the vicinity of the middle part of Lake Kutaramakan (mouth of the Irkingda River) on the territory of the Putoransky Nature Reserve and its protective zone. Moreover, the herbarium specimen of H. umbellatum L. from the vicinity of Snezhnogorsk Town is published.

Prefledging Growth and Recruitment of Female Lesser Scaup

ABSTRACTAnnual variation in juvenile recruitment is an important component of duck population dynamics, yet little is known about the factors affecting the probability of surviving and breeding in the first year of life. Two hypothesized mechanisms to explain annual variability are indirect carry‐over effects (COEs) from conditions experienced during the prefledging period and direct effects from climatic conditions during the postfledging period. We used Cormack‐Jolly‐Seber models to estimate apparent survival and detection rates of 643 juvenile female lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) marked just prior to fledging at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana, USA, 2010–2018. We evaluated COEs from hatch date, a hatch date × spring phenology interaction, and conspecific duckling density in addition to a direct climatic effect of winter conditions (indexed by the El Niño Southern Oscillation [ENSO]) and spring habitat conditions on the study area. We used growth data from a subset (n = 190) of known‐aged ducklings to estimate the influence of hatch date and conspecific density on prefledging growth to help identify mechanisms underlying COEs. Prefledging growth and juvenile apparent survival were negatively related to measures of conspecific duckling density. We found evidence that detection probability varied annually for juvenile (but not adult) scaup, possibly representing decisions to delay breeding and not return to or remain at the study site in their first year of life. Like with apparent survival, there was suggestive evidence that detection probability decreased with increasing duckling density in the previous year. Hatching date was weakly negatively related to detection probability, but unrelated to apparent survival, whereas neither vital rate was related to winter ENSO index. Our results are consistent with a process where density‐dependent growth rates in the prefledging period carry over to influence fitness in subsequent life‐cycle stages. If this pattern generalizes to other systems, this density COE may have important implications for our understanding of duck population dynamics and reaffirms the importance of maintaining abundant brood‐rearing habitats in conservation and management of ducks. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.

Red Rock Power

The addition of hydroelectric power to the existing Red Rock Dam on Iowa's Des Moines River presented engineers with the opportunity to use an untapped resource to generate clean and reliable power...

Effect of mixing ratios of natural inorganic additives in removing ammonia and sulfide in the liquid phase during anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste

In this study, the efficacy of inorganic additives in the removal of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) and sulfide in the aqueous phase of slaughterhouse waste undergoing anaerobic digestion in the batch reactor was investigated. A mixture of natural inorganic additives processed from the anthill and red rock soil samples collected from Arusha, Tanzania were used as adsorbents in different ratios. These materials were chosen in regard to their abundance in the local environment, surface properties, and elemental composition. Before analysis, the materials were pulverized and calcined at 700 and 900 °C for 2 h in a furnace and then sieved to 250 μm fine particle size. XRD analysis revealed that the anthill soil sample is endowed with major mineral phases of quartz and hematite while red rock soil contains albite, pyroxene, and quartz as predominant phases. The anthill and red rock soil samples calcined at 900 °C displayed higher BET surface areas of 815.35 and 852.35 m2/g, respectively. The mixture of anthill soil and red rock soil in a ratio of 3:1 had a higher TAN removal efficiency of 92% at a contact time of 30 min compared to other ratios. On the other hand, a ratio of 1:2 showed a higher sulfide removal efficiency of 79% at a contact time of 60 min. Adsorption isotherm studies revealed that the Jovanovich model fitted better to the experimental data than the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The results demonstrated further that inorganic additives have a synergistic effect on stimulating methanogenesis as well as eliminating ammonia and sulfide during anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste. Our findings demonstrate that anthill and red rock soils can be exploited as affordable, ecofriendly, and efficient adsorbents for mitigation of TAN and sulfide from the liquid phase and sustenance of methanogenesis.

Egg Production by Hens Fed with Homemade or Commercial Concentrate in a Cage-Free System

Objective: To evaluate two types of concentrate (homemade and commercial), in laying percentage (LP, %), weight (EW, g), and egg mass (EM, g bird-1 d-1), among hens in a cage-free system. Methodology: Sixty hens aged 37 weeks (Rhode Island Red and Barred Plymouth Rock) were assigned two treatments: COM, 150 g of commercial concentrate bird-1 d-1and CAS, 150 g of homemade concentrate bird-1 d-1. The birds were managed in a cage-free system with access to a meadow of white clover (Trifolium repens L.). LP, EW and EM were evaluated for 11 weeks. Results: LP was different between treatments (P&lt;0.05) in the last four weeks of observation. In this time, the COM birds laid 17 to 24% more than CAS birds. The EW produced by birds from the COM group (59.1 to 60.7 g) was greater (P&lt;0.05) than that of the CAS birds (55.0 to 57.0 g). In the second half of the study period, a lower EM (P&lt;0.05) was observed in the CAS treatment (24.7 to 31.8 g bird-1 d-1) compared to the COM treatment (39.7 to. 41.8 bird-1 d-1). Study Implications: The results obtained are only valid for the types of concentrate evaluated and under the specified experimental conditions. Conclusions: The homemade concentrate reduces the productive performance of hens in a cage-free system in terms of LP, EW, and EM, when compared to the commercial concentrate.

Sub-level Classification and Prediction System of Fully Weathered Red Sandstone Rock Mass Based on Physical Property Indices

This paper intends to obtain a sub-level classification of fully weathered red sandstone rock mass during the Cretaceous period based on physical property indices. An automatic prediction system for mechanical properties of rock mass is also established in which the values of rock mass grade and mechanical properties can be returned when physical indices are given. In this study, water content, relative compaction, and fine content, which are relatively easy to measure on tunnel sites, are selected as physical property indices, while cohesion, internal friction angle, and compression modulus, which affect mechanical strength, are taken as mechanical indices. For the convenience of analysis, rock mass of different physical states is divided into 18 different combinations based on the results of lab tests and rock mass stability of each state is evaluated using a stability evaluation criterion we put forward. The numerical simulation of tunnel excavation is further carried out for determining the sub-level classification. A decision tree model is applied for further studying the relationship between physical and mechanical indices to ensure accurate prediction. The result shows that the prediction system works with high accuracy and can be used for engineering reference for fully weathered red sandstone rock mass.