Development of \u3ci\u3eOrius Insidiosus\u3c/i\u3e (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) in Relation to Temperature

A developmental threshold of lO.3°C and a thermal constant of 307 day-degrees C were estimated for a Wisconsin population of Orius insidiosus (Say) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) by rearing eggs and nymphs at various constant temperatures

Observation of meteors by MST radar

The observation of meteor trails by a vertical mesosphere - stratosphere - troposphere (MST) radar beam has the advantage of good height resolution and an approximate knowledge of the zenith angle since the trails are horizontal or near-horizontal. An extension of the ablation theory of meteors was developed for near horizontal trails which takes into account the curvature of the earth. Observations of the Geminid meteor shower by MST radar reveal the 'diffusion heights' to be in fair agreement with the true height, but with some discrepancies that can amount to 4 km. The true heights are almost entirely confined to the range 87-91 km, although the upper limit is attributed to the coherent integration time of the existing MST radar processing

The Canon as Provocation: Partnering with Museums for the Future of Art History

Understanding the art-historical canon as socially embedded and historically negotiated is a threshold concept for art history but there is a paucity of research on how to position students to examine the formation of the academic disciplines and negotiate the performance of their canons in academic and public space. Art history has an advantage over other disciplines in this regard due to the close relationship it enjoys with art museums, which make the discipline and its history present in space. This article presents two case studies in support of partnering with museums to move histories of the discipline to the forefront of students’ art-historical investigations. Drawing on Community Based Learning (CBL) with critical perspectives based in critical pedagogy and institutional critique, the article shares findings from two courses developed in partnership with a local public art museum that successfully promoted students’ “canonical critical consciousness” and empowered them to develop original, research-based interpretations of individual artworks with that perspective. One course focused on black arts and the other course drew on a European masterpiece collection and a larger collection of African art. In these courses students demonstrated increased awareness of the canon as a social construct, the ability to evaluate its value propositions, and applied ethical judgment to their interpretive choices

Wireless power transfer for Battery Management System in Electric Vehicle Applications

Wireless power transfer (WPT) using magnetic resonance is the technology which could set human free from than annoying wires. In fact, the WPT adopts the same basic theory which has already been developed for at least 30 years with the term inductive power transfer (IPT). WPT technology is developing rapidly in recent years. At kilowatts power level, the transfer distance increases from several millimeters to several hundred millimeters with a grid to load efficiency above 90%.         The advances make the WPT very attractive to the electric vehicle(EV) charging applications in both stationary and dynamic charging scenarios. This paper reviewed the technologies in the WPT area applicable to EV wireless charging. By introducing WPT in EVs, the obstacles of charging time, range and cost can be easily mitigated. Battery technology is no longer relevant in the mass market penetration of EVs. It is hoped that researcher could be encouraged by the state-of-the-art achievements, and push forward the further development of WPT as well as the expansion of EV

One Health: parasites and beyond

The field of parasitism is broad, encompassing relationships between organisms where one benefits at the expense of another. Traditionally the discipline focuses on eukaryotes, with the study of bacteria and viruses complementary but distinct. Nonetheless, parasites vary in size and complexity from single celled protozoa, to enormous plants like those in the genus Rafflesia. Lifecycles range from obligate intracellular to extensive exoparasitism. Examples of parasites include high profile medical and zoonotic pathogens such as Plasmodium, veterinary pathogens of wild and captive animals and many of the agents which cause neglected tropical diseases, stretching to parasites which infect plants and other parasites (e.g. (Blake et al., 2015; Hemingway, 2015; Hotez et al., 2014; Kikuchi et al., 2011; Meekums et al., 2015; Sandlund et al., 2015). The breadth of parasitology has been matched by the variety of ways in which parasites are studied, drawing upon biological, chemical, molecular, epidemiological and other expertise. Despite such breadth bridging between disciplines has commonly been problematic, regardless of extensive encouragement from government agencies, peer audiences and funding bodies promoting multi-disciplinary research. Now, progress in understanding and collaboration can benefit from establishment of the One Health concept (Stark et al., 2015; Zinsstag et al., 2012). One Health draws upon biological, environmental, medical, veterinary and social science disciplines in order to improve human, animal and environmental health, although it remains tantalizingly difficult to engage many relevant parties. For infectious diseases traditional divides have been exacerbated as the importance of wildlife reservoirs, climate change, food production systems and socio-economic diversity have been recognised but often not addressed in a multi-disciplinary manner. In response the 2015 Autumn Symposium organized by the British Society for Parasitology (BSP; https://www.bsp.uk.net/home/) was focused on One Health, running under the title ‘One Health: parasites and beyond…’. The meeting, held at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in Camden, London from September 14th to 15th, drew upon a blend of specialist parasitology reinforced with additional complementary expertise. Scientists, advocates, policy makers and industry representatives were invited to present at the meeting, promoting and developing One Health understanding with relevance to parasitology. The decision to widen the scope of the meeting to non-parasitological, but informative topics, is reflected in the diversity of the articles included in this special issue. A key feature of the meeting was encouragement of early career scientists, with more than 35% of the delegates registered as students and 25 posters

The causal relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the macro-economy of selected west African countries: Panel ARDL/Granger Causality Analysis

This study examined the long run and short run dynamic relationships between macroeconomic variables and FDI in West Africa using recent econometric techniques for Granger non-causality and PMG/ARDL for period of 1990 to 2016. Controlling for the influence of trade openness and exchange rate, the long-run effect of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on economic growth and gds are found to be positive and statistically significant. FDI is found to be negative and statistically significant on unemployment indicating that an increase in FDI would significantly reduce unemployment in the selected West African nations in the long-run. The coefficient of error correction model in all the specifications is negative and significant indicating that the short-run disequilibrium is corrected in the long-run. Panel Granger causality tests result indicates that causality do not run from any direction in the short run which could be attributed to poor economic activities among this developing countries and an important revelation for policy implication.Keywords/Phrases: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), West Africa, PMG/ARDL, cointegration, Granger causality, macroeconomic variable

Cloning characterisation and expression of a G-protein-couple receptor from Lymnaea stagnalis and identification of a leucokinin-like peptide PSFHSWSamide as its endogenous ligand

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Multimedia Object Modelling and Storage Allocation Strategies for Heterogeneous Parallel Access Storage Devices in Real Time Multimedia Computing Systems

The improvements in disk speeds have not kept up with improvements in processor and memory speeds. Conventional storage techniques, in the face of multimedia data, are inefficient and/or inadequate. Here, an efficient multimedia object allocation strategy is presented. We describe a multimedia object model, the object and storage device characteristics, and the fragmentation strategy. A bipartite graph approach is used for mapping fragments to storage devices and a cost function is used to determine an efficient allocation of an object and to balance the loads on the devices