1,212 research outputs found
Temperature Effects on Development of Three Cereal Aphid Parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae)
Temperature is an important climatological variable that influences the biology and ecology of insects. Poor climatic adaptation can limit the effectiveness of parasitic insects in biological control. Two exotic parasites (Syrian Diaeretiella rapae (M\u27Intosh) and Argentinean Aphidius colemani Viereck) imported for biological control of the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), and one native parasite (Diaeretiella rapae) were reared in growth chambers in three fluctuating temperature regimes with average daily temperatures of 12, 18, and 24°C. Estimates of temperature thresholds for immature development were 3.3, 3.5, and 2.8°C, for Oklahoman D. rapae, Syrian D. rapae, and A. colemani, respectively. Estimates of thermal require- ments for development from egg to adult were 297, 278, and 301 degree-days for the three parasitoids. Dry weights of adults reared in different fluctuating temperature regimes did not differ significantly among sexes, but adults from regimes with low average temperatures of 12 and 18°C had significantly greater weights than those reared in a regime with an average temperature of 24°C. Results suggest that developmental response to temperature will not limit the effectiveness of the exotic parasites in biological control
Parasitism, Adult Emergence, Sex Ratio, and Size of \u3ci\u3eAphidius Colemani\u3c/i\u3e (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) on Several Aphid Species
Aphidius colemani Viereck parasitizes several economically important aphid pests of small grain crops including the greenbug, Schizaphis graminum and the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia. The ability of A. colemani to switch from S. graminum to several species of aphids common to agricultural and associated non-agricultural ecosystems in the Great Plains, and the effects of host-change on several biological parameters that influence population growth rate were determined. Female A. colemani parasitized and developed to adulthood in nine of 14 aphid species to which they were exposed in the laboratory. All small grain feeding aphids except Sipha flava were parasitized. Two sunflower feeding species (Aphis nerii and A. helianthi) and two crucifer feeding species (Lipaphis erysimi and Brevicoryne brassicae) were parasitized, as was the cotton aphid. Aphis gossypii. The average percentage of aphids parasitized differed significantly among host aphid species. as did the percentage of parasitoids surviving from the mummy to the adult stage and the time required for immature development. The sex ratio of adults that enclosed from the various hosts did not differ significantly among species. Dry weights of adult parasitoids differed significantly among host species. Adults from S. graminum weighed most (0.054 mg) while those emerging from A. helianthi weighed least (0.020 mg). Results are discussed in terms of strategies for classical biological control of aphid pests of cereals
Control of Glycolytic Flux by AMPK and p53-Mediated Signaling Pathways in Tumor Cells Adapted to Grow at Low pH
Introduction: Tumor cells grow in nutrient and oxygen deprived microenvironments and adapt to the suboptimal growth conditions by altering metabolic pathways. This adaptation process characteristically results in a tumor phenotype that displays anaerobic glycolysis, chronic acidification and aggressive tumor characteristics. Understanding the tumor cell reaction to the microenvironment is a critical factor in predicting the tumor response to hyperthermia. The glucose regulatory molecule, 6-Phosphofructo-2-Kinase/Fructose-2,6-Biphosphatase Isoform-3 (PFKFB3), is a bifunctional enzyme central to glycolytic flux and downstream of the metabolic stress sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which has been shown to activate an isoform of Phosphofructokinase (PFK-2).
Society for Thermal Medicine Annual Meeting April 23-26, Clearwater Beach, FL
Control of Glycolytic Flux by AMPK and p53-mediated Signaling Pathways in Tumor Cells Grown at Low pH
Introduction: Tumor cells grow in nutrient and oxygen deprived microenvironments and adapt to the suboptimal growth conditions by altering metabolic pathways. This adaptation process characteristically results in a tumor phenotype that displays upregulated Hif-1α anaerobic glycolysis, chronic acidification, reduced rate of overall protein synthesis, lower rate of cell proliferation and aggressive invasive characteristics. Most transplantable tumors exhibit a pHe of 6.7- 7.0; the DB-1 melanoma xenografts used here have a pHe=6.7. Understanding tumor cell reaction to the microenvironment is a critical factor in predicting the tumor response to radiotherapy. The glucose regulatory molecule, 6-Phosphofructo-2-Kinase/Fructose-2,6- Biphosphatase Isoform-3 (PFKFB3), is a bifunctional enzyme central to glycolytic flux and downstream of the metabolic stress sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which we show activates an isoform of phosphofructokinase (PFK-2).
Radiation Research Society (RRS) 8th Annual Meeting September 25-29, Maui, H
Chaotic Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Cosmology
We show that the dynamics of a spatially closed Friedmann - Robertson -
Walker Universe conformally coupled to a real, free, massive scalar field, is
chaotic, for large enough field amplitudes. We do so by proving that this
system is integrable under the adiabatic approximation, but that the
corresponding KAM tori break up when non adiabatic terms are considered. This
finding is confirmed by numerical evaluation of the Lyapunov exponents
associated with the system, among other criteria. Chaos sets strong limitations
to our ability to predict the value of the field at the Big Crunch, from its
given value at the Big Bang. (Figures available on request)Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure
The Andante Regime of Scalar Field Dynamics
The andante regime of scalar field dynamics in the chaotic inflationary
Universe is defined as the epoch when the field is rolling moderately slowly
down its interaction potential, but at such a rate that first-order corrections
to the slow-roll approximation become important. These conditions should apply
towards the end of inflation as the field approaches the global minimum of the
potential. Solutions to the Einstein-scalar field equations for the class of
power law potentials are found in this regime in
terms of the inverse error function.Comment: 11 pages of plain Latex, FNAL-Pub-94/226-
Collective traffic-like movement of ants on a trail: dynamical phases and phase transitions
The traffic-like collective movement of ants on a trail can be described by a
stochastic cellular automaton model. We have earlier investigated its unusual
flow-density relation by using various mean field approximations and computer
simulations. In this paper, we study the model following an alternative
approach based on the analogy with the zero range process, which is one of the
few known exactly solvable stochastic dynamical models. We show that our theory
can quantitatively account for the unusual non-monotonic dependence of the
average speed of the ants on their density for finite lattices with periodic
boundary conditions. Moreover, we argue that the model exhibits a continuous
phase transition at the critial density only in a limiting case. Furthermore,
we investigate the phase diagram of the model by replacing the periodic
boundary conditions by open boundary conditions.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Evolution of the Bianchi I, the Bianchi III and the Kantowski-Sachs Universe: Isotropization and Inflation
We study the Einstein-Klein-Gordon equations for a convex positive potential
in a Bianchi I, a Bianchi III and a Kantowski-Sachs universe. After analysing
the inherent properties of the system of differential equations, the study of
the asymptotic behaviors of the solutions and their stability is done for an
exponential potential. The results are compared with those of Burd and Barrow.
In contrast with their results, we show that for the BI case isotropy can be
reached without inflation and we find new critical points which lead to new
exact solutions. On the other hand we recover the result of Burd and Barrow
that if inflation occurs then isotropy is always reached. The numerical
integration is also done and all the asymptotical behaviors are confirmed.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, Self-consistent Latex2e File. To be published
in Phys. Rev.
Dynamics of Assisted Inflation
We investigate the dynamics of the recently proposed model of assisted
inflation. In this model an arbitrary number of scalar fields with exponential
potentials evolve towards an inflationary scaling solution, even if each of the
individual potentials is too steep to support inflation on its own. By choosing
an appropriate rotation in field space we can write down explicitly the
potential for the weighted mean field along the scaling solution and for fields
orthogonal to it. This demonstrates that the potential has a global minimum
along the scaling solution. We show that the potential close to this attractor
in the rotated field space is analogous to a hybrid inflation model, but with
the vacuum energy having an exponential dependence upon a dilaton field. We
present analytic solutions describing homogeneous and inhomogeneous
perturbations about the attractor solution without resorting to slow-roll
approximations. We discuss the curvature and isocurvature perturbation spectra
produced from vacuum fluctuations during assisted inflation.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, latex with revtex and eps
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