Evaluation of two repellent semiochemicals for disruption of attack by the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Scolytidae)

When released from attractant-baited multiple-funnel traps, 3-methyl-2-cyclohexen-1- one (MCH) reduced catches of male and female mountain pine beetles, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, by 67.4% and 71.8%, respectively. 2-Phenyl ethanol reduced the respective catches by 96.6% and 95.1%, but only verbenone and all three compounds together reduced catches to levels no different from those in unbaited control traps. In another experiment, all three binary combinations of the above compounds, plus the ternary combination, reduced catches of both sexes by >96%. In comparable tree protection experiments near Princeton BC, MCH and 2-phenyl ethanol alone and together significantly reduced the percentages of pheromone-baited lodgepole pines that were attacked by 16.0%, 33.3% and 40.0%, respectively, but verbenone alone totally protected baited trees, and many trees within 5 m of them, from attack. In identical experiments near Prince George BC, where mountain pine beetle populations were much higher, adding MCH, 2-phenyl ethanol or both together to verbenone did not cause attack to be reduced significantly beyond that achieved by verbenone alone. Our results confirm that 2-phenyl ethanol is an antiaggregation pheromone for the mountain pine beetle, and that MCH is an interspecific synomone. However, because neither was as effective as verbenone in protecting pheromone-baited trees from attack, and adding either or both to verbenone did not improve protection, neither compound warrants further consideration as a potential tool for operational disruption of attack

Seasonal, Taxonomic, and Local Habitat Components of Bird-window Collisions on an Urban University Campus in Cleveland, OH

Author Institution: Department of Biological, Geological & Environmental Sciences, Cleveland State UniversityAuthor Institution: Department of Ornithology, Cleveland Museum of Natural HistoryMigrating birds congregate near the shores of Lake Erie during migration and may be funneled through small green spaces within the urban matrix of Great Lake coastal cities, where they are at risk of higher mortality from manmade structures. Bird deaths due to window collisions were assessed amongst a complex of low-rise buildings (<30 m) on a university campus in Cleveland, OH. A 1.8 km route was surveyed three times per week during a 12-month period. Deaths were tested against null hypotheses that season, taxonomy, and building attributes had no significant relationship with avian mortality. We recovered 271 dead birds of 50 species, all of which were consistent with regional bird lists and Neotropical-Nearctic and North American migrants through Ohio. Deaths occurred non-randomly by week, month, and migratory status with 90 percent of deaths occurring during spring and fall migrations. Consequently, migrants (warblers: 34 percent of species richness, 30 percent of deaths; sparrows: 14 percent of richness, 35 percent of deaths) were observed nine times more frequently than residents. Neotropical-Nearctic migrant species outnumbered North American migrant species. Although there was no statistical difference between the compass direction of a building facade and the number of deaths, deaths were not randomly distributed among campus buildings. Rather, significantly more deaths occurred at facades with higher percentages of glass. The presence of trees within 5 m of a window and the reflection of trees in windows were also associated with a greater risk of fatality. A better understanding of the factors associated with bird-window collisions is a pressing issue in the conservation of migratory birds

Conceptual design of the MHD Engineering Test Facility

The reference conceptual design of the MHD engineering test facility, a prototype 200 MWe coal-fired electric generating plant designed to demonstrate the commerical feasibility of open cycle MHD is summarized. Main elements of the design are identified and explained, and the rationale behind them is reviewed. Major systems and plant facilities are listed and discussed. Construction cost and schedule estimates are included and the engineering issues that should be reexamined are identified

Detecting and Studying Higgs Bosons at a Photon-Photon Collider

We examine the potential for detecting and studying Higgs bosons at a photon-photon collider facility associated with a future linear collider. Our study incorporates realistic \gam\gam luminosity spectra based on the most probable available laser technology. Results include detector simulations. We study the cases of: a) a SM-like Higgs boson; b) the heavy MSSM Higgs bosons; c) a Higgs boson with no $WW/ZZ$ couplings from a general two Higgs doublet model.Comment: 52 pages, 26 figures, revised version with new appendi

Windsurfing : an extreme form of material and embodied interaction?

This paper makes reference to the development of water based board sports in the world of adventure or action games. With a specific focus on windsurfing, we use Parlebas (1999) and Warnier's (2001) theoretical interests in the praxaeology of physical learning as well as Mauss' (1935) work on techniques of the body. We also consider the implications of Csikzentimihalyi's notion of flow (1975). We argue that windsurfing equipment should not merely be seen as protection but rather as status objects through which extreme lifestyles are embodied and embodying

The Higgs - photon - Z boson coupling revisited

We analyze the coupling of CP-even and CP-odd Higgs bosons to a photon and a Z boson in extensions of the Standard Model. In particular, we study in detail the effect of charged Higgs bosons in two-Higgs doublet models, and the contribution of SUSY particle loops in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. The Higgs-$\gamma Z$ coupling can be measured in the decay $Z \to \gamma$+Higgs at $e^+e^-$ colliders running on the Z resonance, or in the reverse process Higgs $\to Z \gamma$ with the Higgs boson produced at LHC. We show that a measurement of this coupling with a precision at the percent level, which could be the case at future $e^+e^-$ colliders, would allow to distinguish between the lightest SUSY and standard Higgs bosons in large areas of the parameter space.Comment: 18 pages LaTex + 7 figures (ps). Typo corrected in eq.(5

Practitioner accounts and knowledge production: an analysis of three marketing discourses

Responding to repeated calls for marketing academicians to connect with marketing actors, we offer an empirically-sourced discourse analysis of the ways in which managers portray their practices. Focusing on the micro-discourses and narratives that marketing actors draw upon to represent their work we argue that dominant representations of marketing knowledge production present a number of critical concerns for marketing theory and marketing education. We also evidence that the often promoted idea of a need to close the gap between theory - as a dominant discourse - and practice, as a way of doing marketing, is problematic to pursue. We suggest that a more fruitful agenda resides in the development of a range of polyphonic and creative micro-discourses of management, promoting context, difference and individual meaning in marketing knowledge production

Adenovirus type 5 E4 Orf3 protein targets promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) protein nuclear domains for disruption via a sequence in PML isoform II that is predicted as a protein interaction site by bioinformatic analysis

Human adenovirus type 5 infection causes the disruption of structures in the cell nucleus termed promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) protein nuclear domains or ND10, which contain the PML protein as a critical component. This disruption is achieved through the action of the viral E4 Orf3 protein, which forms track-like nuclear structures that associate with the PML protein. This association is mediated by a direct interaction of Orf3 with a specific PML isoform, PMLII. We show here that the Orf3 interaction properties of PMLII are conferred by a 40 aa residue segment of the unique C-terminal domain of the protein. This segment was sufficient to confer interaction on a heterologous protein. The analysis was informed by prior application of a bioinformatic tool for the prediction of potential protein interaction sites within unstructured protein sequences (predictors of naturally disordered region analysis; PONDR). This tool predicted three potential molecular recognition elements (MoRE) within the C-terminal domain of PMLII, one of which was found to form the core of the Orf3 interaction site, thus demonstrating the utility of this approach. The sequence of the mapped Orf3-binding site on PML protein was found to be relatively poorly conserved across other species; however, the overall organization of MoREs within unstructured sequence was retained, suggesting the potential for conservation of functional interactions

CP--violating Chargino Contributions to the Higgs Coupling to Photon Pairs in the Decoupling Regime of Higgs Sector

In most supersymmetric theories, charginos $\tilde{\chi}^\pm_{1,2}$ belong to the class of the lightest supersymmetric particles and the couplings of Higgs bosons to charginos are in general complex so that the CP--violating chargino contributions to the loop--induced coupling of the lightest Higgs boson to photon pairs can be sizable even in the decoupling limit of large pseudoscalar mass $m_A$ with only the lightest Higgs boson kinematically accessible at future high energy colliders. We introduce a specific benchmark scenario of CP violation consistent with the electric dipole moment constraints and with a commonly accepted baryogenesis mechanism in the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model. Based on the benchmark scenario of CP violation, we demonstrate that the fusion of the lightest Higgs boson in linearly polarized photon--photon collisions can allow us to confirm the existence of the CP--violating chargino contributions {\it even in the decoupling regime of the Higgs sector} for nearly degenerate SU(2) gaugino and higgsino mass parameters of about the electroweak scale.Comment: 1+13 pages, 3 eps figure