Simulator Sickness and Spectacular Destruction: Survival Research Laboratories\u27 Theater of Operations

The Strategic Air Command in Omaha, Nebraska is closed for business. Described in the December 29, 1991 New York Times as the nerve center of the United States\u27 nuclear strike force, the SAC once employed 260,000 people at 66 bases; its underground command post incarnated Hollywood visions of cold war paranoia, omniscient computers, and wall-sized maps sprinkled with blinking lights, like the one in Stanley Kubrick\u27s Dr. Strangelove

Ariel - Volume 5 Number 3

Editor J.D. Kanofsky Entertainment Editors Robert Breckenridge Gary Kaskey Overseas Editor Mike Sinason Staff Ken Jaffe Bob Sklaroff Janet Weish David Jacoby Circulation Editor Jay Amsterdam Humorist Jim McCan

Public Managers, Media Influence, and Governance: Three Research Traditions Empirically Explored

Nowadays, media and media logic have become important and inherent elements in everyday practices of public administration and policy making. However, the logic of the media is often very different from, and conflicting with, the logic of political and administrative life. So the question of how public managers experience and deal with media attention is more relevant than ever. An analytical sketch of the literature on the relationship between public managers and media provides three main categories of literature (public relations, agenda, and mediatization tradition). These three categories are used to develop statements (so-called Q-sort statements) to capture the way public managers experience thei

Characterization of a Field Strain of the Mosquito Culex Quinquefasciatus for the Distribution of Esterase Activity Variants Associated with Insecticide Resistance

In the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus Say, the mechanism of resistance to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides is a type of metabolic resistance, which results from an increase in esterase activity that sequesters the insecticide. The esterases responsible for this elevated activity are associated with two closely linked esterase loci, Est alpha and Est beta, which code for several forms of esterase enzymes. Elevated esterase activity is due to the gene amplification of one or both of these genes. Research on insecticide resistance is an important topic to be studied in order to insure that insect pests can continue to be controlled to prevent the outbreak of disease and to control agricultural pests, and also because it provides a great way to study the mechanisms of evolution. This work characterizes a field strain of Culex quinquefasciatus for esterase activity and electromorph identity by conducting esterase and protein assays, as well as polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on a sample of individual mosquitoes from the strain. The characterization of this field strain provides a better understanding of which esterases are present in the population that was collected and that is now being raised for future work. This characterization is necessary before any further work on this strain can be conducted to provide a baseline for esterase activity

Wash-Off Potential of Pyrethroids After Use of Total Release Foggers and the Chemical Ecology of Bed Bugs (Heteroptera: Cimicidae)

Despite detection of pyrethroids in the influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants, little is known about the sources and mechanisms responsible for down-the-drain transport of pyrethroids. It was hypothesized that total release foggers may serve as a source of pyrethroids entering wastewater through the deposition of the active ingredients and subsequent transfer from contaminated surfaces into the waste stream through cleaning activities. Experiments were conducted to determine floor deposition characteristics of total release foggers and the transfer from various surfaces and materials. We found that total release foggers can contribute to insecticide loading into the wastewater treatment system via several routes, such as contacting or cleaning exposed surfaces and washing contaminated clothing.Bed bugs produce volatile aldehydes that have alarm and aggregation functions. Using two synanthropic bed bug species, Cimex lectularius L. and C. hemipterus (Fabricius), developmental quantity changes were examined for (E)-2-hexenal, 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-octenal, and 4-oxo-(E)-2-octenal. The quantities and percent abundances of the aldehydes in the nymphal exuviae and the adults were significantly different between species. The behavioral response of these bed bug species to the conspecific or heterospecific nymphal aldehyde blends (exuviae or a synthetic blend) was examined. In both species, the adults settled preferentially on the treatment side when conspecific volatile aldehyde cues were provided. When tested with heterospecific volatile aldehyde cues, only adult C. lectularius preferentially responded to C. hemipterus volatile cues. Adult C. hemipterus was indifferent to the aldehyde blend of C. lectularius. The use of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana for bed bug control is a recent addition to bed bug management. Mortality was monitored following the exposure of bed bugs to commercial products containing B. bassiana when in the presence of an aldehyde source. The introduction of bed bug aldehydes significantly reduced the effectiveness of B. bassiana as a control method when the product is not formulated specifically for bed bugs. However, the addition of aldehydes only delayed mortality when bed bugs are exposed to a formulation designed for bed bugs. The addition of synthetic bed bug aldehydes delayed and reduced the growth of B. bassiana in culture

Ontogenesis of Aldehyde Pheromones in Two Synanthropic Bed Bug Species (Heteroptera: Cimicidae).

Bed bugs produce volatile aldehydes that have alarm and aggregation functions. Using two synanthropic bed bug species, Cimex lectularius L. and C. hemipterus (Fabricius), developmental changes were examined for (E)-2-hexenal, 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-octenal, and 4-oxo-(E)-2-octenal, the four most abundant aldehydes shared between the two species. Quantitative analyses of the aldehydes in the nymphal exuviae indicated that the aldehydes' ratio remained similar throughout nymphal development. In general, (E)-2-octenal was most abundant, and (E)-2-hexenal and 4-oxo-(E)-2-octenal were least abundant. The fourth aldehyde, 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal, was present in intermediate quantities. The quantities and percent abundances of the aldehydes in nymphal exuviae and the adults were significantly different between C. lectularius and C. hemipterus. The ratio between (E)-2-hexenal and (E)-2-octenal was determined in adult male and female bed bugs of each species. Adult C. hemipterus had a higher proportion of (E)-2-hexenal than C. lectularius, while no sex differences were found. This work provides the first systematic quantification of four aldehydes [(E)-2-hexenal, 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-octenal and 4-oxo-(E)-2-octenal] for all five of the nymphal stages for both C. lectularius and C. hemipterus