Diamondback moth

The diamondback moth is the most destructive insect pest of brassica crops throughout the world. Reliance on chemicals as a control measure for the diamondback moth has resulted in the development of resistance to many insecticides. Resistance to synthetic pyrethroid insecticides has been detected in populations of diamondback moth in all Australian states. Since 1993, brassica growers in Victoria have had difficulty in controlling the caterpillars of diamondback moth and have experienced insecticide control failures. In extreme cases, damaged crops have been ploughed in and produce has been unmarketable

Learning to Be: Tacit Knowledge of Professional Identity Negotiated, Developed, and Communicated by Emerging Student Affairs Professionals within a Community of Practice

A community of practice (CoP) is an important site for professionals to engage in the joint enterprise of defining and developing competence in a particular field. As such, it is far more than a site for networking and knowledge exchange. Seminal literature describes the CoP as a place where competence in a profession or field can be defined as moving from legitimate peripheral participation to full membership. This process involves observation, mentorship, and involvement in continued communal practice amongst a group of professionals. Working in and as a group also offers opportunities for forming important professional relationships and acquiring valuable knowledge that may support this move toward the becoming an acknowledged expert in the field. This study explored and furthered discussions of developing a professional identity in student affairs. The primary goal was to broaden the idea of identity development as an individual exercise of acquiring explicit knowledge, to the role of a CoP in developing, negotiating, and sharing tacit knowledge. Six participants representing emerging professionals in student affairs (0-5 years of full time experience, 35 years of age or younger) offered insights into an area of CoP participation. The CoP as a site for this identity development offered a space for the negotiation and communication of the tacit knowledge that influences how this professional identity is formed over time. As new professionals are on the cusp of rapid identity development both personally and professionally, this tacit knowledge is critically important for the development of a professional identity. This professional identity is negotiated, developed, and communicated to support an emerging professional being seen as possessing some level of competence in the field and as aligning with the prominent beliefs, values, and attitudes of the profession. Using a phenomenological approach, a narrative description of this phenomenon was created from an analysis of 12 participant interviews (an initial and a follow-up conversation with each of the 6 participants) and a review of participants’ ‘About Me’ statements posted on a professional website. Participants described tacit knowledge as a cognitive process akin to learning the language of the field that contributed to their identity-work. This tacit knowledge that formed their professional identity integrated the explicit knowledge gained from informal interactions and formal professional development opportunities in the CoP. Participants further described this tacit knowledge as demands of the field that impacted their current work and future goals, including the need for active, reciprocal, engagement with the CoP. They also identified disconnect between the CoP’s expressed values of inclusion and some practices that demonstrate existence of a more inequitable pathway to acceptance. Overall, this study adds substantively to the body of research exploring the development of a professional identity for emerging professionals in student affairs. In particular, it contributes a more fulsome understanding of the development of a professional identity as a process situated within a CoP, nested amongst increasingly impermeable spheres of influence, communally negotiated and communicated, and yet, personally defined, re-negotiated, and documented

Evidence of Benefits of Experiential Education for Student Learning – Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography was created in response to a request for additional evidence-based discussion of the benefits of experiential education for student learning. In particular, much of the literature presented offers empirical evidence for the role of experiential education in improving desired student learning outcomes, including the development of higher order skills, including critical thinking. Several of the articles and resources mentioned also offer insight into how experiential education could be incorporated into the classroom. There is a special emphasis on strategies for incorporating active learning, reflection, and engagement into lectures and assignments, knowing that these pedagogical initiatives can support meaningful learning experiences and outcomes. Several articles also discuss incorporating active learning strategies into large classrooms, knowing that this is especially relevant to current class sizes at the university. This literature represents a broad snapshot of what is available in the scholarship of experiential education and can offer important insights into the value of experiential education as a pedagogical strategy for deeper learning and personal/professional growth

Deceived by orchids: sex, science, fiction and Darwin

Between 1916 and 1927, botanists in several countries independently resolved three problems that had mystified earlier naturalists – including Charles Darwin: how did the many species of orchids that did not produce nectar persuade insects to pollinate them? Why did some orchid flowers seem to mimic insects? And, why should a native British orchid suffer ‘attacks’ from a bee? Half a century after Darwin’s death, these three mysteries were shown to be aspects of a phenomenon now known as pseudocopulation, whereby male insects are deceived into attempting to mate with the orchid’s flowers, which mimic female insects; the males then carry the flower’s pollen with them when they move on to try the next deceptive orchid. Early-twentieth-century botanists were able to see what their predecessors had not because orchids (along with other plants) had undergone an imaginative recreation: Darwin’s science was appropriated by popular interpreters of science, including the novelist Grant Allen; then H.G. Wells imagined orchids as killers (inspiring a number of imitators), to produce a genre of orchid stories that reflected significant cultural shifts, not least in the presentation of female sexuality. It was only after these changes that scientists were able to see plants as equipped with agency, actively able to pursue their own, cunning reproductive strategies – and to outwit animals in the process. This paper traces the movement of a set of ideas that were created in a context that was recognisably scientific; they then became popular non-fiction, then popular fiction, then inspired a new science, which in turn inspired a new generation of fiction writers. Long after clear barriers between elite and popular science had supposedly been established in the early twentieth century, they remained porous because a variety of imaginative writers kept destabilising them. The fluidity of the boundaries between makers, interpreters and publics of scientific knowledge was a highly productive one; it helped biology become a vital part of public culture in the twentieth century and beyond

Etymology of the Dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) named by R.J. Tillyard, F.R.S.

Given a few taxonomic and distributional uncertainties, the odonate fauna of Australia comprises 325 species in 113 genera Theischinger and Endersby 2009). The discovery and naming of these dragonflies falls roughly into three discrete time periods. During the first of these, all Australian Odonata were referred to European experts, while the second era was dominated by Robin John Tillyard, an Australian based entomologist who described 87 species and 21 genera. Tillyard also described Odonata from New Zealand, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea and, if ranks lower than species are included, 26 genera and 130 specific, subspecific or infrasubspecific taxa can be attributed to him

Evaluation of In2Care mosquito stations for suppression of the Australian backyard mosquito, Aedes notoscriptus (Diptera: Culicidae)

Aedes notoscriptus (Skuse) is a container-inhabiting mosquito endemic to Australia that vectors arboviruses and is suspected to transmit Mycobacterium ulcerans, the cause of Buruli ulcer. We evaluated the effectiveness of the In2Care station, which suppresses mosquito populations via the entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, and the insect growth regulator pyriproxyfen, the latter of which is autodisseminated among larval habitats by contaminated mosquitoes. A field trial was conducted using 110 In2Care stations in a 50,000 m2 area and results were compared to 4 control areas that did not receive the treatment. Efficacy was evaluated by comparing egg counts and measuring larvicidal impact in surrounding breeding sites. Laboratory experiments validated the effect of B. bassiana on adult survival. Results of this field trial indicate that, 6 wk after the In2Care stations were deployed, treatment site ovitraps contained 43% fewer eggs than control site ovitraps, and 33% fewer eggs after 10 wk, suggesting that the In2Care station was able to reduce the egg density of Ae. notoscriptus. Population reduction remained evident for up to 3 wk after In2Care stations were removed. Treatment site ovitraps had significantly fewer Ae. notoscriptus eclosing than control site ovitraps, confirming the pyriproxyfen autodissemination feature of the stations. An average reduction of 50% in adult eclosion was achieved. Exposure to B. bassiana resulted in four-times higher mortality among adult mosquitoes. Additionally, using fresh In2Care nettings led to an 88% decrease in average survival compared to 4-wk-old nettings. The use of In2Care stations has potential for suppressing Ae. notoscriptus egg density.</p

Conventional therapies deplete Brain-Infiltrating adaptive immune cells in a Mouse Model of Group 3 Medulloblastoma implicating Myeloid Cells as favorable immunotherapy targets

Medulloblastoma is the most common childhood brain cancer. Mainstay treatments of radiation and chemotherapy have not changed in decades and new treatment approaches are crucial for the improvement of clinical outcomes. To date, immunotherapies for medulloblastoma have been unsuccessful, and studies investigating the immune microenvironment of the disease and the impact of current therapies are limited. Preclinical models that recapitulate both the disease and immune environment are essential for understanding immune-tumor interactions and to aid the identification of new and effective immunotherapies. Using an immune-competent mouse model of aggressive Myc-driven medulloblastoma, we characterized the brain immune microenvironment and changes induced in response to craniospinal irradiation, or the medulloblastoma chemotherapies cyclophosphamide or gemcitabine. The role of adaptive immunity in disease progression and treatment response was delineated by comparing survival outcomes in wildtype C57Bl/6J and in mice deficient in Rag1 that lack mature T and B cells. We found medulloblastomas in wildtype and Rag1-deficient mice grew equally fast, and that craniospinal irradiation and chemotherapies extended survival equally in wildtype and Rag1-deficient mice, suggesting that tumor growth and treatment response is independent of T and B cells. Medulloblastomas were myeloid dominant, and in wildtype mice, craniospinal irradiation and cyclophosphamide depleted T and B cells in the brain. Gemcitabine treatment was found to minimally alter the immune populations in the brain, resulting only in a depletion of neutrophils. Intratumorally, we observed an abundance of Iba1+ macrophages, and we show that CD45high cells comprise the majority of immune cells within these medulloblastomas but found that existing markers are insufficient to clearly delineate resident microglia from infiltrating macrophages. Ultimately, brain resident and peripheral macrophages dominate the brain and tumor microenvironment and are not depleted by standard-of-care medulloblastoma therapies. These populations therefore present a favorable target for immunotherapy in combination with front-line treatments