Establishment, Impacts, and Current Range of Spotted Knapweed (\u3ci\u3eCentaurea Stoebe\u3c/i\u3e Ssp. \u3ci\u3eMicranthos\u3c/i\u3e) Biological Control Insects in Michigan

Centaurea stoebe L. ssp. micranthos (Gugler) Hayek (spotted knapweed) is an invasive plant that has been the target of classical biological control in North America for more than four decades. Work in the western U.S. and Canada has shown the seedhead-feeding weevils Larinus minutus Gyllenhal and Larinus obtusus Gyllenhal (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and the root-boring weevil Cyphocleonus achates (Fahraeus) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) to be the most effective C. stoebe control agents. These three weevils have recently been introduced into the eastern U.S., including sites in Michigan in 2007 and 2009. In 2010, we made additional releases at six sites in Michigan, monitoring them for three years 2011-13. Here we report on the establishment, impact, and cur- rent range of L. minutus, L. obtusus, and C. achates in Michigan. We also report on the initial results of native plant overseeding treatments that were applied to biological control release sites with the aim of supplementing the nectar source C. stoebe provides. We found that L. minutus has established at all of its Michigan release sites and is widespread in the southwestern part of the state, while L. obtusus has established at the single site where it was released in 2007 and is spreading to adjoining counties. We also found C. achates to be present at four sites and established at one additional site in Michigan, but in all cases abundances are low and dispersal has been minimal (\u3c 10 m). In the three years following the 2010 releases, we found no measurable impacts of these biological control agents on C. stoebe growth, demographics, or plant community metrics. We also found little evidence of native flowering plant establishment at seeded sites. These baseline data will be useful in monitoring the spread and potential impacts of biological control agents on C. stoebe in Michigan

A Search for Optical Variability of Type 2 Quasars in SDSS Stripe 82

Hundreds of Type 2 quasars have been identified in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data, and there is substantial evidence that they are generally galaxies with highly obscured central engines, in accord with unified models for active galactic nuclei (AGNs). A straightforward expectation of unified models is that highly obscured Type 2 AGNs should show little or no optical variability on timescales of days to years. As a test of this prediction, we have carried out a search for variability in Type 2 quasars in SDSS Stripe 82 using difference-imaging photometry. Starting with the Type 2 AGN catalogs of Zakamska et al. (2003) and Reyes et al. (2008), we find evidence of significant g-band variability in 17 out of 173 objects for which light curves could be measured from the Stripe 82 data. To determine the nature of this variability, we obtained new Keck spectropolarimetry observations for seven of these variable AGNs. The Keck data show that these objects have low continuum polarizations (p<~1% in most cases) and all seven have broad H-alpha and/or MgII emission lines in their total (unpolarized) spectra, indicating that they should actually be classified as Type 1 AGNs. We conclude that the primary reason variability is found in the SDSS-selected Type 2 AGN samples is that these samples contain a small fraction of Type 1 AGNs as contaminants, and it is not necessary to invoke more exotic possible explanations such as a population of "naked" or unobscured Type 2 quasars. Aside from misclassified Type 1 objects, the Type 2 quasars do not generally show detectable optical variability over the duration of the Stripe 82 survey.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in A

What We Should Look for in those Who Teach Mission

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/firstfruitspapers/1152/thumbnail.jp

Implementing the Five-A Model of technical refinement: Key roles of the sport psychologist

There is increasing evidence for the significant contribution provided by sport psychologists within applied coaching environments. However, this rarely considers their skills/knowledge being applied when refining athletes’ already learned and well-established motor skills. Therefore, this paper focuses on how a sport psychologist might assist a coach and athlete to implement long-term permanent and pressure proof refinements. It highlights key contributions at each stage of the Five-A Model—designed to deliver these important outcomes—providing both psychomotor and psychosocial input to the support delivery. By employing these recommendations, sport psychologists can make multiple positive contributions to completion of this challenging task

Focusing on the Big Picture: Insights into a Systems Approach to Deep Learning for Satellite Imagery

Deep learning tasks are often complicated and require a variety of components working together efficiently to perform well. Due to the often large scale of these tasks, there is a necessity to iterate quickly in order to attempt a variety of methods and to find and fix bugs. While participating in IARPA's Functional Map of the World challenge, we identified challenges along the entire deep learning pipeline and found various solutions to these challenges. In this paper, we present the performance, engineering, and deep learning considerations with processing and modeling data, as well as underlying infrastructure considerations that support large-scale deep learning tasks. We also discuss insights and observations with regard to satellite imagery and deep learning for image classification.Comment: Accepted to IEEE Big Data 201

Inclusion Of The Spatial Dimension Of Population Data In Developing Policies For The Management Of AnGR –The Case Of The Heritage Sheep Breeds

The sustainable use of farm animal genetic resources is connected with the recognition of their contribution to the society and the environment and the assessment of the threats they are facing. The category of the heritage breeds, which are genetically distinct, geographically concentrated, adapted to their environment, commercially farmed to contribute to the local economy were considered in the frame of the HERITAGESHEEP project. The aim of this project was to deliver the potential of the heritage sheep breeds for a sustainable future for medium to low input production systems, which support local rural communities throughout Europe. This was achieved by addressing the conservation of these breeds, defining the current and future threats and developing new uses and markets for products

An optical NMR spectrometer for Larmor-beat detection and high-resolution POWER NMR

Optical nuclear magnetic resonance (ONMR) is a powerful probe of electronic properties in III-V semiconductors. Larmor-beat detection (LBD) is a sensitivity optimized, time-domain NMR version of optical detection based on the Hanle effect. Combining LBD ONMR with the line-narrowing method of POWER (perturbations observed with enhanced resolution) NMR further enables atomically detailed views of local electronic features in III-Vs. POWER NMR spectra display the distribution of resonance shifts or line splittings introduced by a perturbation, such as optical excitation or application of an electric field, that is synchronized with a NMR multiple-pulse time-suspension sequence. Meanwhile, ONMR provides the requisite sensitivity and spatial selectivity to isolate local signals within macroscopic samples. Optical NMR, LBD, and the POWER method each introduce unique demands on instrumentation. Here, we detail the design and implementation of our system, including cryogenic, optical, and radio-frequency components. The result is a flexible, low-cost system with important applications in semiconductor electronics and spin physics. We also demonstrate the performance of our systems with high-resolution ONMR spectra of an epitaxial AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction. NMR linewidths down to 4.1 Hz full width at half maximum were obtained, a 10^3-fold resolution enhancement relative any previous optically detected NMR experiment

Automated CPX support system preliminary design phase

The development of the Distributed Command and Control System (DCCS) is discussed. The development of an automated C2 system stimulated the development of an automated command post exercise (CPX) support system to provide a more realistic stimulus to DCCS than could be achieved with the existing manual system. An automated CPX system to support corps-level exercise was designed. The effort comprised four tasks: (1) collecting and documenting user requirements; (2) developing a preliminary system design; (3) defining a program plan; and (4) evaluating the suitability of the TRASANA FOURCE computer model

The Rachel Carson Letters and the Making of Silent Spring

Environment, conservation, green, and kindred movements look back to Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring as a milestone. The impact of the book, including on government, industry, and civil society, was immediate and substantial, and has been extensively described; however, the provenance of the book has been less thoroughly examined. Using Carson’s personal correspondence, this paper reveals that the primary source for Carson’s book was the extensive evidence and contacts compiled by two biodynamic farmers, Marjorie Spock and Mary T. Richards, of Long Island, New York. Their evidence was compiled for a suite of legal actions (1957-1960) against the U.S. Government and that contested the aerial spraying of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). During Rudolf Steiner’s lifetime, Spock and Richards both studied at Steiner’s Goetheanum, the headquarters of Anthroposophy, located in Dornach, Switzerland. Spock and Richards were prominent U.S. anthroposophists, and established a biodynamic farm under the tutelage of the leading biodynamics exponent of the time, Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer. When their property was under threat from a government program of DDT spraying, they brought their case, eventually lost it, in the process spent US$100,000, and compiled the evidence that they then shared with Carson, who used it, and their extensive contacts and the trial transcripts, as the primary input for Silent Spring. Carson attributed to Spock, Richards, and Pfeiffer, no credit whatsoever in her book. As a consequence, the organics movement has not received the recognition, that is its due, as the primary impulse for Silent Spring, and it is, itself, unaware of this provenance