Abundance of Insects Inhabiting the Male Strobili of Red Pine

(excerpt) Southwood (1973) concluded that pollen feeding was probably the first step in the development of the phytophagous habit in insects, because pollen, compared with plant foliage, is rich in nutrients and low in sewndary defense substances. Surprisingly, little is known about insects that feed mainly on pollen. For example, in a bibliography of insects that feed on reproductive structures of North American conifers (Barcia and Merkel, 1972), less than three per cent of 719 references pertained to pollen feeders. This note reports on the kinds and abundance of insects found inhabiting clusters of fresh staminate or male strobili (MS) of 60- to 65-year-old red pine trees in two seed production areas (SPAs) in northern Minnesota

Negligible Feeding Responses by Birds to Variations in Abundance of the Budworm, \u3ci\u3eChoristoneura Pinus\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

(excerpts) Recent studies have emphasized that to evaluate the potential importance of any predators in prey regulation it is necessary to consider their functional (feeding) and numerical responses to variations in prey abundance (Holling 1959, Buckner 1966, 1967). For example, preliminary data from a study of bird predation on the jack pine budworm (Choristoneura pinus Freeman) in Michigan indicated that budworm consumption by the common resident birds in jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lambert) forests was only weakly related to observed budworm abundance (Mattson et al. 1968). This note reports further evidence to substantiate the preliminary data

Interview with Karl Mattson, August 10, 2011

Karl Mattson was interviewed on August 10, 2011 by Michael Birkner about his life starting with his earliest memories. This interview is part 1 of a 2 part interview. Length of Interview: 46 minutes Collection Note: This oral history was selected from the Oral History Collection maintained by Special Collections & College Archives. Transcripts are available for browsing in the Special Collections Reading Room, 4th floor, Musselman Library. GettDigital contains the complete listing of oral histories done from 1978 to the present. To view this list and to access selected digital versions please visit -- http://gettysburg.cdmhost.com/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16274coll

Modified bubble level senses pitch and roll angles over wide range

Bubble level sensor with fiber-optic field flattener is simple, rugged, small, and impervious to temperature and vibration effects. Pitch angles from -15 deg to +40 deg and roll angles of +30 deg are determined within 0.5 deg

RXTE and BeppoSAX Observations of MCG -5-23-16: Reflection From Distant Cold Material

We examine the spectral variability of the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy MCG -5-23-16 using RXTE and BeppoSAX observations spanning 2 years from April 1996 to April 1998. During the first year the X-ray source brightens by a factor of ~25% on timescales of days to months. During this time, the reprocessed continuum emission seen with RXTE does not respond measurably to the continuum increase. However, by the end of the second year during the BeppoSAX epoch the X-ray source has faded again. This time, the reprocessed emission has also faded, indicating that the reprocessed flux has responded to the continuum. If these effects are caused by time delays due to the distance between the X-ray source and the reprocessing region, we derive a light crossing time of between ~1 light day and ~1.5 light years. This corresponds to a distance of 0.001 pc to 0.55 pc, which implies that the reprocessed emission originates between 3x10^15 cm and 1.6x10^18 cm from the X-ray source. In other words, the reprocessing in MCG -5-23-16 is not dominated by the inner regions of a standard accretion disk.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 17 pages, 8 figure

Degree-Day Summation and Hatching of the Forest Tent Caterpillar, \u3ci\u3eMalacosoma Disstria\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae)

(excerpt) The forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria (Htibner), is a common defoliater of deciduous trees throughout most of the United States and Canada. It is a well known outbreak species, whose populations erupt periodically (every 10 to 16 years) when forest conditions are suitable. Typical outbreaks last three to six years in a given geographic area and then collapse as quickly as they arise. This note documents the relation between forest tent caterpillar egg hatching in the field and heat accumulation (degree-days) leading up to hatch. This information will permit (a) predicting the date on which eggs will hatch by summing degree days during the insect\u27s overwintering period, and (b) comparing with populations in other years and areas. The data came from an outbreak in northern Minnesota that began near International Falls in 1966 and collapsed in 1972 (Witter et al., 1975)

Adult Female Spruce Bedworm, \u3ci\u3eChoristoneura Fumiferana\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), Dry Weight in Relationship to Pupal Fresh Weight and Case Diameter

(excerpt) The weights of adult insects are often measured in production and population studies in order to estimate such variables as growth rates, food conversion efficiencies, fecundity, and others. For the eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens), both pupal fresh weights and pupal case diameters have been measured as indicators of adult fecundity and adult dry weights (Miller 1957). However, there are no reports explicitly showing the relationship between these metric pupal variables and adult dry weights. This is the goal of this note

Learning Style Diversity in Post –Secondary Distance Education

During the fall semester of 2005, 153 university graduate students’ preferred learning styles were measured with the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, online version 3.1. The primary findings of the study indicated all of the learning styles and processes described by Kolb were represented in the distance learning population and suggested distance and residential learners uniquely engage the learning process. Biblical references were discussed with respect to the uniqueness displayed by study participants

Grounds for a New Normal: Integration of Telenephrology in Rural Communities

Patients with kidney disease represent a group of people who are known to have comorbidities, high costs of care, decreased quality of life, and invasive interventions. In rural communities of Western Washington State, many nephrology patients experience factors evidenced to impede access to quality and timely management of their disease, compounding the risk for poor outcomes. Telenephrology is a novel modality of service delivery with the potential to make care more efficient, cost-effective, flexible, and accessible. The author created this project to develop a telenephrology program plan and evaluation for rural settings in Western Washington, informed by relevant epidemiology, pathophysiology, standards of care, and evidence in the literature. As there are a paucity of program plans specific to this service delivery in rural Western Washington, development of this project aims to substantiate the need for evidence-based implementation in this setting. The appraisal of barriers to care for this patient population was used to guide aspects of telenephrology program planning and evaluation to ensure intervention outcomes are equitable. This project provides grounds to support the adoption a new normal for nephrology care and utilizes the existing evidence to inform the planning and evaluating of telenephrology services, implementation processes, budget, and outcomes to assist healthcare providers and their institutions in successful integration of telenephrology in rural communities of Western Washington State

Use of Scanning Electron Microscopy to Study Structural-Functional Relationships in Normal and Diseased Platelets

This paper reviews the contribution of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to our understanding of platelet physiology and pathology. Observations of platelet shape changes which accompany activation and the ability to visualize and analyze platelet aggregation and adhesion in three dimensions make this experimental medium an important tool in the evaluation of healthy and diseased platelets. While SEM adds a valuable third dimension to the study of morphology and ultrastructure, its greatest contribution is realized when studies are correlated directly with light and/or transmission electron microscopic observations and with studies of functional capacity