Microorganisms from aphid honeydew attract and enhance the efficacy of natural enemies

Aphids are one of the most serious pests of crops worldwide, causing major yield and economic losses. To control aphids, natural enemies could be an option but their efficacy is sometimes limited by their dispersal in natural environment. Here we report the first isolation of a bacterium from the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum honeydew, Staphylococcus sciuri, which acts as a kairomone enhancing the efficiency of aphid natural enemies. Our findings represent the first case of a host-associated bacterium driving prey location and ovipositional preference for the natural enemy. We show that this bacterium has a key role in tritrophic interactions because it is the direct source of volatiles used to locate prey. Some specific semiochemicals produced by S. sciuri were also identified as significant attractants and ovipositional stimulants. The use of this host-associated bacterium could certainly provide a novel approach to control aphids in field and greenhouse systems

Critical Organizations

As new paradigms of organizational research are developed, a key task will be the selection and investigation of organizations which have important social impact. In this article a category of organizations which are crucial for the development of society is identified. The relation between these critical organizations and the society is described along with the research problems implied by this relationship. Three examples of critical organizations are discussed

Men under pressure: representations of the `salaryman' and his organization in Japanese manga

In this article we analyse representations of the Japanese salaryman and Japanese organization in Japanese manga, or graphic novels, during the turbulent decades from the mid-1980s to the present day. We argue that manga presents salarymen protagonists in a sympathetic yet not uncritical light, and that it displays support for and criticism of both the Japanese and American organizational models. We describe how these manga offer important critical challenges from the world of popular culture to the direction of change in Japanese business organizations since the 1980s. In addition, we suggest that the manga may also provide salarymen with opportunities for critically re-evaluating their own working situations and for developing methods for surviving and thriving under the pressures of working within contemporary Japanese business organizations

FUV spectroscopy of the H_2 emission in the Jovian aurora: model update and results

The Jovian aurora exhibits bright emissions mainly due the bright Lyman-alpha line and to radiation from excited singlet states to the ground electronic state extending from 800 to 1600 Angstroms. Above 1200 Angstroms, the molecular spectrum is dominated by the Lyman (B-X) bands and continuum and the Werner (C-X) bands. These transitions have been observed with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrometer (GHRS) and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrometer (STIS) at various spectral and spatial resolutions. To analyze these spectra, a model synthetic auroral spectrum has been constructed and applied to the analysis of the ro-vibrational temperature of H_2 and a search for non-H_2 emission features. It has been recently updated to include the latest singlet state excitation and cascading cross sections, self-absorption in optically thick lines and to account for the energy distribution of the secondary electrons which cause additional excitation. We illustrate these effects in a few study cases and apply the model to high resolution (0.5 Angstroms) GHRS spectra and low resolution STIS spectra of the entire H_2 spectrum at wavelengths longer than Lyman-alpha. We determine the methane column overlying the auroral emission peak and find that a better fit is obtained with additional absorption by acetylene

The exploitation of Talibé children in Mauritania

Talibés are children, usually boys, who have been sent to Koranic schools, also known as daaras. This is a widespread phenomenon in French-speaking West Africa

The Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown: Towards the (Re)Construction of a Safe, Sustainable and Compassionate Society in Japan's Shrinking Regions

Japan’s rural regions have been shrinking for the entire postwar period, and successive efforts to revitalize rural society have failed. This article asks whether the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, present the Japanese state and society with a watershed opportunity to rethink regional revitalization and national energy procurement strategies. The article begins by summarizing the events of March and April 2011, examines possible approaches to the reconstruction of communities in the Tōhoku region, and critiques problems of governance in postwar Japan that the disaster reveals. The article concludes by pulling together the information and analysis presented into a discussion of the prospects for achieving the three point vision for a safe, sustainable, and compassionate society that Prime Minister Naoto Kan set the Reconstruction Design Council