Geographic variability in Calligrapha verrucosa (Suffrian 1858), a willow-feeding leaf beetle from western North America(Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

A diagnosis is provided to separate Calligrapha verrucosa (Suffrian) from similar species. Geographic variability is described and illustrated for various populations of C. verrucosa. A map is provided to indicate the distribution of this species

Psychographics on Steroids: The Attacks on Democratic Governments

Research originally developed in the 1970s to make television and mass media advertising more effective has involved into a contemporary system of propaganda manipulation. Agents use social media to convince people that fake news is a valid reason for people to act and to vote. While the Russian manipulation of the U.S. presidential election in 2016 has received the most attention, people are being manipulated around the world. These manipulations undermine democratic governments, which require an informed, voting public. This paper outlines the theories behind the manipulation of social media and the conditions under which these efforts are most likely to work

Carnivore: Will It Devour Your Privacy?

Perhaps you have written an e-mail that looks something like this

Big Boys Dicks

THE MAKING OF BIG BOYS DICKS/Mark Goodman—a personal essay about punk rock scene photographs taken in Austin, Texas during the summer and fall of 1980, the making of a limited edition artist’s book in 2008, and its revised Blurb print on demand version in December 2015. Plus five work-in-progress book dummies from 2008—June 3 & 26, July 18 & 30, November 4—and, a sixth, the next to last Blurb version from October 2015.Art and Art Histor

ENDOSYMBIOTIC BACTERIA IN THE BED BUG, \u3cem\u3eCimex Lectularius\u3c/em\u3e L. (HEMIPTERA: CIMICIDAE)

The return of bed bugs to prominence as an urban pest has precipitated an emphatic research response from the scientific community in an effort to better understand their biology and management. However, not all aspects of bed bug biology have received equal attention. The role of symbiotic bacteria in the normal function and biology of insects is often underappreciated, and this is true of bed bugs. Bed bugs have two main endosymbiotic bacteria, a Wolbachia species and a poorly-characterized gamma-proteobacterium referred to as BLS. However, their interactions with the host are poorly understood. I explored various aspects of these symbionts and their relationship with bed bugs. Major objectives included studies of the methods for symbiont elimination to create aposymbiotic strains, modes of endosymbiont transmission within a bed bug population, and impacts of symbiont loss on the host. Additional studies of bed bugs measured the impact of juvenile hormone analogs for the control of bed bugs. Endosymbionts often form close interdependent relationships with the host, making it difficult to create a truly aposymbiotic strain. Maintaining bed bugs at elevated temperature (36°C) for five weeks or feeding for eight weeks with the antibiotic rifamycin were determined to be the most effective methods of those examined, including the use of other antibiotics. Although these two treatments were not successful in eliminating symbionts completely from treated adults, aposymbiotic strains were successfully created by harvesting the offspring of treated bugs soon after treatment. Transovarial transmission of endosymbionts in bed bugs is well documented, but additional methods of transmission have not been explored. The reproductive strategy exhibited by bed bugs, traumatic insemination, has been suggested as a possible avenue of horizontal transmission of symbionts. My experiments demonstrated horizontal transmission of BLS from the male to the female during mating, but there was no indication that the new infection was passed from females to males or directly to offspring. No horizontal transmission of Wolbachia was detected. There was also no evidence of transmission through coprophagy. In contrast with normal symbiotic controls, bed bugs which lacked both symbionts took a significantly longer time to develop to the adult stage. Successive generations of aposymbiotic bugs took longer to develop, up to several months. Supplemental B Vitamins administered through blood meals did not compensate fully for the slowed development. Upon reaching the adult stage, aposymbiotic bugs were significantly smaller than normal bugs in total body length and head-capsule width. Symbiont loss did not directly affect fecundity of adults. Hydroprene and methoprene administered as the active ingredients of formulated products produced negative effects such as reduced fecundity and increased mortality only at doses much greater than label rate, and did not inhibit feeding or activity at sub-lethal doses. This work with Juvenile Hormone analogs has been published in Pest Management Science

Newspaper Ownership and the Weekly Editorial in Illinois

The independently owned newspaper is fast disappearing in the United States. ~1uch like other American businesses, American newspapers have become an industry dominated by huge corporations. Ownership of newspapers in the United States is becoming more concentrated because of newspaper groups, also known as newspaper chains. A group can be defined as ownership and publication of several different newspapers in more than one location. During the twentieth century, groups have become the dominant form of ownership in the American newspaper industry. They control almost three-fourths of total daily newspaper circulation in the United States. And groups are estimated to own as much as one-third of all weekly newspapers published in the nation. The study compares editorials printed in independent and group owned weeklies. Newspaper observers are concerned about the growth of newspaper groups. Observers are especially concerned about the potential threat groups pose to the editorial freedom and local autonomy of · the newspapers the groups have acquired. Some critics, including Ben H. Bagdikian, United States Senator Larry Pressler of South Dakota, Congressman Morris Udall of Arizona and the late Supreme Court Justice William 0. Douglas, believe freedom of the press is endangered when newspaper ownership is concentrated among fewer owners. The effect of ownership on the editorial content of weekly newspapers also deserves study for historical reasons. Newspapers are the only business mentioned in the Bill of Rights. Press time, the journal of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, said newspapers were mentioned because of the important role they play in providing crucial information needed by a free society to make effective decisions. Economics Professor Bruce M. Owen said he believes newspapers are America\u27s most important media link with the framers of the Constitution. Weeklies are an important medium in American journalism. There are nearly 9,000 weekly newspapers published in the United States. These weeklies are sometimes looked upon as the bedrock of American journalism. Therefore, this study attempts to determine what effects ownership has on the editorial freedom and local autonomy of weekly newspapers. Studies have been done concerning the effect of ownership on the editorial independence and local autonomy of daily newspapers. Thrift said the editorials of independently owned newspapers declined in vigor” after the newspapers were -purchased by groups. However, the decline was not statistically significant

Detection of BCR-ABL Positive Cells in an Asymptomatic Patient: A Case Report and Literature Review

We report a case of an asymptomatic 39-year-old male who was incidentally found to have a white blood cell count of 15 000/mm3 associated with a positive BCR-ABL/t(9;22)(q34;q11) chromosomal translocation detected in 51/300 of cells by FISH and RT-PCR from peripheral blood. Within the next 3 months, leukocytosis spontaneously subsided; however, BCR-ABL by RT-PCR and FISH was persistent both in peripheral blood and bone marrow. The patient was not started on any therapy and is being followed regularly with laboratory checkup and physical examination for monitoring signs and symptoms of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and biological behavior of his BCR-ABL transcripts. At 1 year of surveillance, he is disease free; however he has persistent detection of BCR-ABL fusion gene. Our case is challenging because actual risk of developing CML in BCR-ABL positive healthy, asymptomatic patients is not known

Trump: The Threat of Chaos and the Promise of Stability

In his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination to be President of the United States, Donald J. Trump presented the audience with a stark world of good vs. evil, chaos vs. stability. We use Burke's concept good terms and evil terms to rhetorically analyze the acceptance speech. While Trump used specific references to real events in his use of good and evil terms, his promises for stability over chaos are indefinite terms, which allowed a divided Republican Party to unite behind his candidacy. However, governance has required concrete concepts to solve real world issues