Some Caterpillars Frequently Mistaken for the European Corn Borer

The rapid advance westward of the European corn borer in 1926 has aroused the whole nation, particularly the corn belt states. New infestations were found all thru southern Michigan, across northern Ohio and into six counties in northeastern Indiana. An isolated infestation was discovered in Kankakee County, Illinois, only about 150 miles from Iowa. A number of caterpillars occurring in Iowa are frequently mistaken for the Eropean corn borer. Some of these are of about the saine size and quite similar in color markings and general appear.ance, while others, even tho they are very different in appearance, cause injury which resembles somewhat the work of the European corn borer. This circular is issued . to acquaint farmers and Iowa people in general with the habits and characters of these caterpillars. By careful consideration of the larval descriptions, the time of appearance, and character of the injury, the European corn borer may be distinguished from most of the caterpillars discussed in this circular. The smartweed borer and the lotus borer are exceptions, because they so closely resemble the European corn borer that it requires an expert and a microscope to identify them with certainty

QED calculation of the n=1 and n=2 energy levels in He-like ions

We perform ab initio QED calculations of energy levels for the $n=1$ and $n=2$ states of He-like ions with the nuclear charge in the range $Z = 12$-100. The complete set of two-electron QED corrections is evaluated to all orders in the parameter \aZ. Uncalculated contributions to energy levels come through orders \alpha^3 (\aZ)^2, \alpha^2 (\aZ)^7, and higher. The calculation presented is the first treatment for excited states of He-like ions complete through order \alpha^2 (\aZ)^4. A significant improvement in accuracy of theoretical predictions is achieved, especially in the high-$Z$ region.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure

Controlling Screwworms

A new insect pest - the primary screwworm fly - has been moving into Iowa during recent summers to pester and kill some livestock. Two outbreaks were reported in June this year in southern Iowa and more may follow

Redshifted X-rays from the material accreting onto TW Hya: evidence of a low-latitude accretion spot

High resolution spectroscopy, providing constraints on plasma motions and temperatures, is a powerful means to investigate the structure of accretion streams in CTTS. In particular, the accretion shock region, where the accreting material is heated to temperatures of a few MK as it continues its inward bulk motion, can be probed by X-ray spectroscopy. To attempt to detect for the first time the motion of this X-ray-emitting post-shock material, we searched for a Doppler shift in the deep Chandra/HETGS observation of the CTTS TW Hya. This test should unveil the nature of this X-ray emitting plasma component in CTTS, and constrain the accretion stream geometry. We searched for a Doppler shift in the X-ray emission from TW Hya with two different methods, by measuring the position of a selected sample of emission lines, and by fitting the whole TW Hya X-ray spectrum, allowing the line-of-sight velocity to vary. We found that the plasma at T~2-4 MK has a line-of-sight velocity of 38.3+/-5.1 km/s with respect to the stellar photosphere. This result definitively confirms that this X-ray-emitting material originates in the post-shock region, at the base of the accretion stream, and not in coronal structures. The comparison of the observed velocity along the line of sight, 38.3+/-5.1 km/s, with the inferred intrinsic velocity of the post shock of TW Hya, v_post~110-120 km/s, indicates that the footpoints of the accretion streams on TW Hya are located at low latitudes on the stellar surface. Our results indicate that complex magnetic field geometries, such as that of TW Hya, permit low-latitude accretion spots. Moreover, since on TW Hya the redshift of the soft X-ray emission is very similar to that of the narrow component of the CIV resonance doublet at 1550 Ang, as found by Ardila et al. (2013), then the plasma at 2-4 MK and that at 0.1 MK likely originate in the same post-shock regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics; 2nd version after language editor corrections; 16 pages, 8 figures, 6 table

Some Pattern Recognition Challenges in Data-Intensive Astronomy

We review some of the recent developments and challenges posed by the data analysis in modern digital sky surveys, which are representative of the information-rich astronomy in the context of Virtual Observatory. Illustrative examples include the problems of an automated star-galaxy classification in complex and heterogeneous panoramic imaging data sets, and an automated, iterative, dynamical classification of transient events detected in synoptic sky surveys. These problems offer good opportunities for productive collaborations between astronomers and applied computer scientists and statisticians, and are representative of the kind of challenges now present in all data-intensive fields. We discuss briefly some emergent types of scalable scientific data analysis systems with a broad applicability.Comment: 8 pages, compressed pdf file, figures downgraded in quality in order to match the arXiv size limi

Long-range interactions of metastable helium atoms

Polarizabilities, dispersion coefficients, and long-range atom-surface interaction potentials are calculated for the n=2 triplet and singlet states of helium using highly accurate, variationally determined, wave functions.Comment: RevTeX, epsf, 4 fig