A List of the Scutelleroidea of the La Rue-Pine Hills Ecological Area with Notes on Biology

A survey of the scutelleroid fauna of the LaRue-Pine Hills Ecological Area, Union County, Illinois was conducted from May, 1972 to September, 1974. Forty-nine species were collected, five of which were state records. The remaining 44 represented over 57% of the species presently listed for Illinois. Life history information was collected for the majority of species, including host plants, predators and parasites. The pertinent literature is summarized for each species

Between Regional and National Identity: Spectacle and Festival in Modern Japan

Distinctive cultures of display and spectacle mark the regional diversity of Japanese festivals. At the same time, material and ritual links among these traditions speak to broader forces of cultural standardization and commodification. This paper examines the mobile architecture and wood sculpture of festival floats (dashi) in central Japan as discursive and material markers of the connections between local Shintō festivals (matsuri) and broader agendas of nationalism in modern Japan. The Chita peninsula in Aichi prefecture is famous for dashimatsuri, Shintō shrine festivals featuring the procession of huge, wheeled floats called dashi. I argue that the recurrent reinvention of festive material culture and ritual has reflected and influenced broader ideological and social transformations. As the religious historian Helen Hardacre has shown, the modern reconfiguration of religious ritual as part of the construction of State Shintō co-opted local practices into larger discourses of national cultural identity. Studies of the art, architecture and ritual of dashi festivals view them as unchanging folk art and local practices that embody the cultural values of the merchant class of early modern (1600-1868) Japan. However, during Japan’s rapid modernization during the Meiji period (1868-1912), the ritual and doctrinal disciplining of matsuri through official programs of shrine consolidation, ritual standardization, and fiscal austerity transformed the cultural landscape of popular festivity in modern Japan. I argue that most surviving dashimatsuri reflect their early 20th-century reinvention as local expressions of popular nationalism. The ritual process and sculptural iconography of festival floats on the Chita peninsula reflected and reinforced discourses of national cultural exceptionalism and colonialism

Social dynamics in conferences: analyses of data from the Live Social Semantics application

Popularity and spread of online social networking in recent years has given a great momentum to the study of dynamics and patterns of social interactions. However, these studies have often been confined to the online world, neglecting its interdependencies with the offline world. This is mainly due to the lack of real data that spans across this divide. The Live Social Semantics application is a novel platform that dissolves this divide, by collecting and integrating data about people from (a) their online social networks and tagging activities from popular social networking sites, (b) their publications and co-authorship networks from semantic repositories, and (c) their real-world face-to-face contacts with other attendees collected via a network of wearable active sensors. This paper investigates the data collected by this application during its deployment at three major conferences, where it was used by more than 400 people. Our analyses show the robustness of the patterns of contacts at various conferences, and the influence of various personal properties (e.g. seniority, conference attendance) on social networking patterns

Potential structural material problems in a hydrogen energy system

Potential structural material problems that may be encountered in the three components of a hydrogen energy system - production, transmission/storage, and utilization - were identified. Hydrogen embrittlement, corrosion, oxidation, and erosion may occur during the production of hydrogen. Hydrogen embrittlement is of major concern during both transmission and utilization of hydrogen. Specific materials research and development programs necessary to support a hydrogen energy system are described

Ionization of clusters in strong X-ray laser pulses

The effect of intense X-ray laser interaction on argon clusters is studied theoretically with a mixed quantum/classical approach. In comparison to a single atom we find that ionization of the cluster is suppressed, which is in striking contrast to the observed behavior of rare-gas clusters in intense optical laser pulses. We have identified two effects responsible for this phenomenon: A high space charge of the cluster in combination with a small quiver amplitude and delocalization of electrons in the cluster. We elucidate their impact for different field strengths and cluster sizes.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Relativistic ionization-rescattering with tailored laser pulses

The interaction of relativistically strong tailored laser pulses with an atomic system is considered. Due to a special tailoring of the laser pulse, the suppression of the relativistic drift of the ionized electron and a dramatic enhancement of the rescattering probability is shown to be achievable. The high harmonic generation rate in the relativistic regime is calculated and shown to be increased by several orders of magnitude compared to the case of conventional laser pulses. The energies of the revisiting electron at the atomic core can approach the MeV domain, thus rendering hard x-ray harmonics and nuclear reactions with single atoms feasible