Developing a Sophisticated User Interface to Support Domain-Oriented Application Composition and Generation Systems

This research refined the visual presentation and usability of a previously developed visual interface for a domain-oriented application composition and generation system. The refined visual interface incorporated domain-specific bit-mapped graphics and sophisticated user interface design concepts to reduce user workload. User workload was reduced through object layout, window design, and color utilization techniques; by combining repetitive procedures into single commands; and reusing, rather than recreating, composition information throughout the application composition process. The Software Refinery environment, including its graphical interface tool INTERVISTA, was used to develop techniques for visualizing and manipulating objects contained in a formal object base. INTERVISTA was supplemented with graphical routines provided by Common Windows, a Lisp-based graphical environment that serves as the foundation for INTERVISTA. The interface was formally validated with a well-understood application domain, digital logic-circuits, and users of the interface were polled to ascertain the subjective usability of the interface. A comparative analysis of the application composition process with the previous visual interface was conducted to quantify the workload reduction realized by the new interface. Workload was measured as the number of user interactions (mouse or keyboard) required to compose an application. On average, application composition effort was reduced 44.0% for the test cases

The role of two eulophid parasitoids in populations of the leafminer, Phyllonorycter mespilella (Lepidoptera:Gracillariidae) in British Columbia

In 1991, orchards in the Naramata region of the Okanagan valley in British Columbia had significantly larger populations of the leafminer, Phyllonorycter mespilella, than those of the Osoyoos/Oliver region, 50 km south, where parasitism had been shown to keep the miner below treatment levels. We questioned if different roles of the parasitoid species caused the discrepancy. Leaves were collected and leafminers and parasitoids assessed from overwintering populations and also weekly from May through October (1992) in apple orchards representative of the areas. Pnigalio flavipes and Sympiesis marylandensis were the major parasitoid species overwintering in 52.3 and 46.7% respectively of the P. mespilella mines. The percentages of the two species did not diITer significantly between the orchards screened in both areas and did not account for the differences in the numbers of overwintering or summer generation mines. P. flavipes was the dominant parasitoid species in both regions through the three summer generations. S. marylandensis was only found at low levels in three of the eight orchards until the second and third generations. Parasitoid-induced-mortality in 1992 did not have a consistent significant impact on intraseasonal leafminer increase. Five of the orchards studied had leafminer populations above treatment thresholds.Key words: Treefruit; biological control; Hymenoptera; leafmine

STATUS OF AGENIASPIS FUSCICOLLIS (HYMENOPTERA: ENCRYTIDAE), AN INTRODUCED PARASITOID OF THE APPLE ERMINE MOTH (LEPIDOPTERA: YPONOMEUTIDAE)

The apple ermine moth, Yponomeuta malinellus Zeller, is a univoltine pest species that defoliates apple, Malus domestics (Borkh) (Rosaceae), in the temperate region of the Palaearctic. First instars overwinter within a communal hibernaculum beneath the covering of the egg batch (Kock 1998). In spring, larvae emerge to initially mine apple leaves and subsequently feed externally within a communal tent (Menken et al. 1992). During heavy infestations, the communal tents may envelop the entire apple tree, resulting in total defoliation (Parker and Schmidt 1985). There have been several accidental introductions and subsequent eradications of the apple ermine moth in eastern North America (Hewitt 1917; Parker and Schmidt 1985) but, by 1989, the pest was found in the Fraser River Valley in British Columbia, in Whatcom county, Washington, and in northwestern Oregon (Antonelli 1991; Unruh et al. 1993

Persistence of a commercial codling moth granulovirus product on apple fruit and foliage

Codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), larval bioassays were carried out on apples and leaves collected from trees treated with the commercially available codling moth granulovirus, Virosoft CP4®, to estimate the persistence of the product over time. The virus had a significant effect on survival of laboratory derived codling moth larvae placed on apples collected up to five and eight days post-treatment. Larvae died with virus symptoms after feeding on treated foliage and the leaf bioassay was easier to count than the apple bioassay. A combination assay, exposing larvae to leaf discs and fruit may more accurately account for potential exposure of wild neonate codling moth to virus in treated orchards. The addition of fish, soybean or mineral oils to Virosoft CP4® treatments did not significantly increase the efficacy or persistence of the viral insecticide on apples in this study

Susceptiblity of crabapple cultivars to attack by the codling moth

A repository block of ornamental crabapples containing 87 cultivars was left unsprayed and evaluated for resistance to the codling moth, Laspeyresia pomonella (L.). Although there were considerable differences in susceptibility, none of the cultivars was resistant to codling moth attack. A number of trees escaped injury from the first generation, but all showed entries from the second generation in August

Species of ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in organic apple orchards of British Columbia

In a two year study, 14 genera of Carabidae (Agonum Bonelli, Amara Bonelli, Anisodactylus Dejean, Bembidion Latreille, Carabus Linné, Harpalus Latreille, Lebia Latreille, Loricera Latreille, Poecilus Bonelli, Pterostichus Bonelli, Scaphinotus Dejean, Stenolophus Stephens, Syntomus Hope and Trechus Clairville) represented by 44 species were identified from six commercial organic apple orchards in the southern Similkameen valley in British Columbia, Canada; 13 of these species were not native to the area. The 4,299 specimens were caught in 'ramp' pitfall traps, with the genera Pterostichus and Harpalus comprising 56% and 43%, respectively. Numbers of Carabidae ranged from 11-21 species per orchard, with their presence detected throughout the collection period

Control of the Apple Clearwing Moth, Synanthedon myopaeformis, with Tree-Trunk Applications of Reduced-risk Insecticides, Nematodes and Barriers

Apple clearwing moth (ACM), Synanthedonmyopaeformis Borkhausen (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), wasdiscovered in an apple orchard in Cawston, British Columbia in 2005.  This xylophagous, invasive Europeanspecies has become a serious problem in high-density apple orchards wheresize-controlling rootstocks are attacked by the wood-boring larvae.  Seven screening trials with reduced-riskinsecticides for conventional (seven treatments) and organic apple production (threetreatments) were established in two commercial high-density mixed-variety appleplantings in Cawston.  Our objectiveswere (1) to screen several new synthetic insecticides having novel chemistriesthat purportedly have reduced risks, (2) to evaluate use of several organically-approvedspray materials, including nematodes, and (3) to compare the efficacy ofvarious products when applied at different times during the growing season.  Single, hand-gun sprays delivering treatmentsin 2000 L of water ha-1 at 200 psi were applied as curative sprays targeting mature larvae inrootstock-scion graft unions in May and October 2008, and June 2009.  Among seven treatments tested, only theinsect growth regulator, Rimon® 10 EC (10% novaluron), at 2.4 L a.i.ha-1, caused significant reductions in adult emergence compared withuntreated controls in all experiments.  Whenapplied twice as preventativetreatments during flight of male ACM in 2008, Altacor®, Belt®,Delegate™ and Rimon all caused significant reductions in adult emergence thefollowing year; Rimon caused the greatest reduction (-96.4%).  In a similar 2009 trial only Rimon reducedpopulations the following year.  One curative or two preventative applications of the organic materials, Entrust®,Crocker’s Fish Oil®, or Purespray Green Oil™, at anyspray timing, did not control ACM.  The nematode,Steinernema feltiae (Filipjev) (1×105infective juvenile nematodes / 100 ml of water / tree) provided significant controlof ACM in one spring 2008 trial.  In two 2009nematode-only experiments, a sawdust paste tree-trunk barrier applied over nematodeapplications made either in May or August, caused significant reductions in emergenceof ACM adults.  Curative tree-trunk spraysof Rimon 10 EC at the tested rate are recommended for control of ACM inconventional apple orchards.  There is noeffective organic control for ACM at this time, but tree-trunk barriers andnematodes may warrant further study