Causes and Consequences of Local Variability in Aroga Websteri Clarke Abundance Over Space and Time

With increasing pressures on sagebrush steppe ecosystems, the sagebrush defoliating Aroga moth, Aroga websteri Clarke (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) has become a critical organism of concern. Despite the cyclic nature of A. websteri outbreaks throughout the Great Basin, there is limited information on the moth’s population dynamics. The goal of this dissertation was to develop effective means of assessing and describing population trends of the Aroga moth across space and time, and potentially promoting biological control of the moth to prevent unnaturally large, prolonged and destructive outbreaks. Field studies were conducted to: 1) monitor and quantify activity of the Aroga moth and its damage to sagebrush across a montane landscape, 2) assess the effects of parasitoid and floral diversity on parasitism of the moth, and 3) develop a degree-day (D) model to describe the phenology of the insect, as well as field populations studied previously. North-facing stands of sagebrush, characterized by low values of solar radiation, appear to be especially suitable local habitats for the Aroga moth. High habitat suitability may result from favorable microclimate, both in its direct effects on the Aroga moth and in indirect effects tied to sagebrush plant community productivity and performance. Parasitoid and floral diversity differed strongly and predictably across space and time, with greatest overall parasitism occurring when three major parasitoid species were present. Field experiments revealed individual species of parasitoids differed substantially and complemented one another in their patterns of attack among local populations of the Aroga moth across the montane landscape. Differing responses to provision of floral resources and methyl salicylate (an herbivore- induced plant volatile) support the general hypothesis that over large scales of space and time, species diversity of natural enemies promotes suppression of insect herbivores. Lastly, degree-day models were developed and least variation among years in (D) phenology resulted with the single-sine method with base temperature of 5C. Years of historical Aroga moth outbreaks had characteristic seasonal patterns of D accumulation that were intermediate and characterized by high precipitation in June and July during late stage larval development. Thus, it appears that periodic outbreaks of the defoliator are due to favorable weather conditions

Bees in the Neighborhood: Best Practices for Urban Beekeepers

The media coverage of the peril of pollinators has led to the general public wanting to help bees in particular. Public awareness about pollinator importance and the growing interest in urban beekeeping has led many local and municipal governments across California to revisit ordinances to acknowledge and potentially facilitate this developing resurgence in beekeeping. Learn beekeeping basics as they apply to urban environments as well as how to keep your bees good neighbors. Good for bees, good for beekeepers, and good for neighbors. Includes information on honeybee identification, flyways, hive management, installing a queen, recordkeeping, human-bee interactions, and an extensive glossary and references

Supporting Urban School Students’ Preparedness for Post-Secondary Study Through Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP)

Despite efforts to increase the number of urban school students from low-income backgrounds who graduate from high school and attend college, success in postsecondary continues to be a pervasive challenge. This study examined a Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness Programs (GEAR UP) high school who had received the intervention program beginning in seventh grade. Findings in the study revealed that there was a significant difference in Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) scores between the intervention and comparison group. GEAR UP students significantly outperformed the comparison group on their composite PSAT score, as well as on mathematics and reading subtests

Potential of Core-Collapse Supernova Neutrino Detection at JUNO

JUNO is an underground neutrino observatory under construction in Jiangmen, China. It uses 20kton liquid scintillator as target, which enables it to detect supernova burst neutrinos of a large statistics for the next galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) and also pre-supernova neutrinos from the nearby CCSN progenitors. All flavors of supernova burst neutrinos can be detected by JUNO via several interaction channels, including inverse beta decay, elastic scattering on electron and proton, interactions on C12 nuclei, etc. This retains the possibility for JUNO to reconstruct the energy spectra of supernova burst neutrinos of all flavors. The real time monitoring systems based on FPGA and DAQ are under development in JUNO, which allow prompt alert and trigger-less data acquisition of CCSN events. The alert performances of both monitoring systems have been thoroughly studied using simulations. Moreover, once a CCSN is tagged, the system can give fast characterizations, such as directionality and light curve

Detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with JUNO

As an underground multi-purpose neutrino detector with 20 kton liquid scintillator, Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is competitive with and complementary to the water-Cherenkov detectors on the search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). Typical supernova models predict 2-4 events per year within the optimal observation window in the JUNO detector. The dominant background is from the neutral-current (NC) interaction of atmospheric neutrinos with 12C nuclei, which surpasses the DSNB by more than one order of magnitude. We evaluated the systematic uncertainty of NC background from the spread of a variety of data-driven models and further developed a method to determine NC background within 15\% with {\it{in}} {\it{situ}} measurements after ten years of running. Besides, the NC-like backgrounds can be effectively suppressed by the intrinsic pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities of liquid scintillators. In this talk, I will present in detail the improvements on NC background uncertainty evaluation, PSD discriminator development, and finally, the potential of DSNB sensitivity in JUNO

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Bees in the Neighborhood: Best Practices for Urban Beekeepers

The media coverage of the peril of pollinators has led to the general public wanting to help bees in particular. Public awareness about pollinator importance and the growing interest in urban beekeeping has led many local and municipal governments across California to revisit ordinances to acknowledge and potentially facilitate this developing resurgence in beekeeping. Learn beekeeping basics as they apply to urban environments as well as how to keep your bees good neighbors. Good for bees, good for beekeepers, and good for neighbors. Includes information on honeybee identification, flyways, hive management, installing a queen, recordkeeping, human-bee interactions, and an extensive glossary and references

Teens-as-teachers nutrition program increases interest in science among schoolchildren and fosters self-efficacy in teens

The Healthy Living Ambassador Program brings health, teen leadership, and teamwork to California\u27s elementary school gardens through interdisciplinary UC Cooperative Extension collaboration, community-based partnerships and teen teaching. During spring 2015, teen ambassadors trained by Extension educators and volunteers at UC Elkus Ranch in San Mateo County taught nutrition science, food cultivation and healthy living skills in an 8-week, garden-based, after-school nutrition and physical education program for elementary school children in an urban setting. We conducted a pilot study using a mixed-methods approach to measure and explore the program\u27s impact on children\u27s vegetable selection and consumption preferences, as well as perceived self-efficacy in teen healthy living behavior. The children trended toward an increased preference for gardening, cooking and science, and teens displayed an increase in perceived health self-efficacy

Exploring Youths’ Decision to Participate in STEM Afterschool Programs

STEM afterschool programs offer a range of academic, social, and emotional outcomes to support positive youth development. In particular, STEM afterschool programs have been shown to increase student self-efficacy and interest in pursuing STEM careers (Chan et al., 2020; Dabney et al., 2012). Youth must first choose to attend the STEM afterschool programs to gain the many benefits offered. However, participation in such programs decreases as youth get older and encounter additional competing interests (i.e., home responsibilities, jobs, etc.). To get youth to attend, STEM afterschool programs must meet the needs of youth by leveraging resources, activities, and relationships. This study investigated the factors predicting high school participation as well as the relationships among in-school adult-youth interactions and participation in a GEAR UP afterschool program. We provide an overview of the value of in-school adult-youth interactions for youth participation in STEM afterschool programs. Practical applications will be shared for educators to implement in their own STEM afterschool programs. Effective leveraging of resources and interactions between educators and youth can positively impact students and their decision to attend STEM afterschool programs

Teens-as-teachers nutrition program increases interest in science among schoolchildren and fosters self-efficacy in teens

The Healthy Living Ambassador Program brings health, teen leadership, and teamwork to California's elementary school gardens through interdisciplinary UC Cooperative Extension collaboration, community-based partnerships and teen teaching. During spring 2015, teen ambassadors trained by Extension educators and volunteers at UC Elkus Ranch in San Mateo County taught nutrition science, food cultivation and healthy living skills in an 8-week, garden-based, after-school nutrition and physical education program for elementary school children in an urban setting. We conducted a pilot study using a mixed-methods approach to measure and explore the program's impact on children's vegetable selection and consumption preferences, as well as perceived self-efficacy in teen healthy living behavior. The children trended toward an increased preference for gardening, cooking and science, and teens displayed an increase in perceived health self-efficacy