Effects of stress, genetics, and environment on microbiome composition in western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera Leconte)

Increased study of microbiomes illuminated the diversity of roles microorganism play across ecosystems. For agricultural systems, microbiomes represent a new frontier to potentially improve plant, animal, and human health, while increasing agricultural sustainability. Insect pests represent a major threat to health and agriculture. Current management tactics aimed at addressing pest outbreaks may be improved through exploitation and adaptation of microbiomes. Corn growers in the United States encounter several insect pests throughout the growing season. None may be as damaging as the subterranean larvae of the western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte. Transgenic corn producing insecticidal proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) effectively controls WCR, but continuous use of Bt corn leads to the evolution of resistance and failure of the management tactic. Proper resistance management is necessary to prolong the efficacy of Bt-corn as new management tools are slow to reach the market. Insect microbiomes have been shown to enhance host nutrition, disrupt plant defenses, and protect against diseases, but are also capable of inducing mortality in certain situations. Thus, understanding WCR microbial communities may improve management of this serious pest. The first objective of this investigation was to characterize WCR beetle-associated bacterial communities and describe their patterns of assembly across spatial scales. Communities were characterized from WCR adults collected across the United States using 16S rRNA sequencing. Results suggest dispersal dynamics shape bacterial communities at small spatial scales (~25 km apart) while host genetics or environment drive bacterial community composition at broad scales ([greater than] 50 km apart). Findings provide important information for understanding how determinants of insect microbiomes are influenced by deterministic and stochastic forces. The second objective was to investigate the potential impact of Bt intoxication and resistance on the WCR larval microbiome. Comparisons of microbial communities of Bt-resistant and -susceptible WCR were made after feeding on Bt and non-Bt corn. Bt-resistant larvae harbor a less rich microbiome that is unresponsive to Bt ingestion. Selection for resistance to Bt produced heritable changes in the microbiome, potentially providing WCR an adaptive trait to mitigate stress. In an effort to synthesize the previous findings of this work into a management application, the third objective asked how do sustainable management practices that boost soil microbial diversity affect WCR fitness. Soil microbes from fields planted with cover crops and no-till were applied to Bt and non-Bt corn seedlings and fed to Bt-resistant and -susceptible WCR larvae. Susceptible larvae were controlled by Bt regardless of soil microbiome treatment. Cover crop no-till soil microbes reduced Bt-resistant WCR larval dry weight. Transgenic crops can likely be integrated with the sustainable cropping practice of cover cropping and no-till to improve belowground pest management. Food security in the future will rely on successful integration of sustainable management practices in agricultural systems to balance productivity and broader ecosystem functioning. Microbiomes represent a link between plant, animal, and human life that could help accomplish this goal. Documenting the ecological rules microbiomes follow serve as a foundation for application of these powerful systems.Includes bibliographical references

Authenticity and Adaptation : The Mongol Ger as a Contemporary Heritage Paradox

The Mongol Ger is a transportable felt tent deriving from an ancient nomadic civilization. The structure encapsulates a specific Mongolian nomadic cultural identity by encompassing a way of life based upon pastoral migration, complex familial relationships and hierarchies, and spiritual beliefs. As Mongolia has rapidly urbanised over the past century, the form and function of the ger have changed, with some of the integral facets of the structure lost with a view to commercialising and/or adapting a nomadic symbol for modern consumption. This paper will explore the ger as a vernacular and globally recognised form, assessing whether its nomination by the Mongolian State Party on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as a craft-skill is either sufficient or indeed appropriate. It will further be argued that to understand the ger in its totality requires an understanding also of the concept of authenticity to disentangle variations between the ‘livingness’ of the ger and its appropriation for a wider audience

Patient-Psychotherapist Privilege: Acces to Clinical Records in the Tangled Web of Repressed Memory Litigation

The 1990s promise to be an era of mental health litigation whose outcomes that some predict will dwarf the settlements awarded recently in lawsuits over sexual improprieties between psychotherapists and their patients. One expert estimates that over 17,000 claims will be filed in the next decade, with litigation costs in excess of $250 million. These new cases emerged as therapy patients began to accuse fathers and mothers, uncles and grandfathers, former neighbors and teachers, psychotherapists and countless others of sexually abusing them years ago

Teresa of Avila's elaboration of imagery in her literary expression of mystical experience

This thesis argues that Teresa of Avila's mystical writings contain images which she methodically fashions and elaborates into a developed and consistent scheme designed to express, to the extent possible through literary artistry, her mystical experiences of God. Teresa does not give a specific or detailed account of the sources for her key images. However, her mental and spiritual formation were those of a devout Catholic in sixteenth century Spanish society, in which the teaching of the Catholic Church (Scripture and Tradition), with its Christocentric, redemptive doctrines, was as fundamental to life for the secular laity as it was for the religious Orders. When Teresa introduces a particular image, whether from secular or religious sources, she does so as if it is a memory that occurs to her which gives her a trusted foundation to build on. From the initial image-idea, whether consciously or unconsciously remembered, she develops and expands a complex system within an inter-relating structure. The thesis seeks to show that she develops, extends and elaborates imagery as her mystical experiences intensify, and as she reflects on them with steadily growing insight and maturity. Her imagery undergoes a process of growth and development to maturity as Teresa attempts to convert ultimately indescribable mystical experiences into intellectually understandable metaphor. Chapter I examines the social and religious background to her writings and the literary and spiritual traditions in which she writes. Chapter 2 explores the meaning of "oracion" in Teresa's writings, for which 1 have retained the Spanish word, for the term "prayer" does not encapsulate the depth of meaning and significance of the term "oracion" as understood by Teresa and her contemporaries. This chapter, while identifying some of Teresa's principal imagery, considers the problem she encounters of expressing the inexpressible, the difficulty of paradoxes, and her literary management of concepts or ideas which challenge, or even defy, rational and intellectual credibility. Chapter 3 examines the key Teresian imagery of water, in which the soul is seen as a garden which produces growth and increase, and shows how this imagery relates both to similar ideas in Catholic teaching and to Teresa's other key images. Chapter 4 considers the complexity of the imagery of the Castle as it is used to convey both the process and the effects of spiritual exploration and experience as achieved through "oracion". Chapter 5 examines Teresa's imagery of Fire, considering that image in relation to other "elemental" images already surveyed, and to those of other writers, secular and sacred. The thesis concludes that all Teresa's key images, and indeed subsidiary images, interrelate, growing and developing into a skilfully contrived fabric of imagery which is of the highest literary quality, and which has a profoundly spiritual impact on the reader. The images seem to take on a life and significance of their own, so that they relate to the other images and to the whole scheme of Teresian imagery, and yet at the same time convey to the reader a constant awareness that there is much more spiritual meaning and experience beyond what these words of the image express, "y asi es mejor no decir mas"

Structural Design and Analysis of the Upper Pressure Shell Section of a Composite Crew Module

This paper presents the results of the structural design and analysis of the upper pressure shell section of a carbon composite demonstration structure for the Composite Crew Module (CCM) Project. The project is managed by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center with participants from eight NASA Centers, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and multiple aerospace contractors including ATK/Swales, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Collier Research Corporation, Genesis Engineering, and Janicki Industries. The paper discusses details of the upper pressure shell section design of the CCM and presents the structural analysis results using the HyperSizer structural sizing software and the MSC Nastran finite element analysis software. The HyperSizer results showed that the controlling load case driving most of the sizing in the upper pressure shell section was the internal pressure load case. The regions around the cutouts were controlled by internal pressure and the main parachute load cases. The global finite element analysis results showed that the majority of the elements of the CCM had a positive margin of safety with the exception of a few hot spots around the cutouts. These hot spots are currently being investigated with a more detailed analysis. Local finite element models of the Low Impact Docking System (LIDS) interface ring and the forward bay gussets with greater mesh fidelity were created for local sizing and analysis. The sizing of the LIDS interface ring was driven by the drogue parachute loads, Trans-Lunar Insertion (TLI) loads, and internal pressure. The drogue parachute loads controlled the sizing of the gusset cap on the drogue gusset and TLI loads controlled the sizing of the other five gusset caps. The main parachute loads controlled the sizing of the lower ends of the gusset caps on the main parachute fittings. The results showed that the gusset web/pressure shell and gusset web/gusset cap interfaces bonded using Pi-preform joints had local hot spots in the Pi-preform termination regions. These regions require a detailed three-dimensional analysis, which is currently being performed, to accurately address the load distribution near the Pi-preform termination in the upper and lower gusset caps

TriTruss: A New and Novel Structural Concept Enabling Modular Space Telescopes and Space Platforms

Modular structures that can be assembled on-orbit will be the backbone for all future persistent missions, including in-space assembled telescopes and platforms for science and communications. The TriTruss is a new and innovative structural module that has been conceived by researchers at the NASA Langley Research Center for platform and telescope applications. Some of the innovative features of the TriTruss include: very compact packaging for launch, the possibility of staged packaging, simple robotic deployment, ease of embedding payload components, an innovative structural connector that has linear structural performance, ease of module-to-module robotic assembly, design versatility, and ease of customizing its design for specific applications. This paper will introduce the TriTruss concept and describe how it can serve as the foundation for many different mission applications, in particular, a 20-meter diameter large space telescope and a beam-type platform that can host a variety of payloads and instruments. The geometry of the TriTruss will be described and the various truss design variables (such as truss depth, member diameter, material modulus, etc.) and each of their impacts on the truss performance will be illustrated. The TriTruss can be mapped to a variety of structural forms, such as beams, two-dimensional platforms and filled curved apertures (for antennas and telescopes), and examples will be illustrated. The TriTruss lends itself to a large variety of packaging schemes; the structural concepts associated with packaging and deployment will be described, as well as the means for robotically deploying TriTruss modules and locking them into their final configuration. TriTruss module-to-TriTruss module robotic assembly operations will also be described. Equations will be presented to structurally size TriTruss modules, such that when assembled into the final persistent platform, the platform achieves a desired level of global structural performance. A status of the TriTruss development will also be presented. This material will cover design and fabrication of TriTruss hardware for platform and telescope applications as well as structural testing of that hardware (the struts, connectors and platforms). Robotic assembly of TriTruss modules is also being performed, and the results of those tests will be summarized

Rickettsia parkeri in Argentina

Clinical reports of an eschar-associated rickettsiosis in the Paraná River Delta of Argentina prompted an evaluation of Amblyomma triste ticks in this region. When evaluated by PCR, 17 (7.6%) of 223 questing adult A. triste ticks, collected from 2 sites in the lower Paraná River Delta, contained DNA of Rickettsia parkeri

Investigations into ecological and sociological determinants of land-use decisions: a study of inland lake watersheds in northern Michigan

reprinted June l978; Bibliography: p. 251-259.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49266/2/2194424.0001.001.pd

The potential impact of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) on fisheries

The commercial development of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) operations will involve some environmental perturbations for which there is no precedent experience. The pumping of very large volumes of warm surface water and cold deep water and its subsequent discharge will result in the impingement, entrainment, and redistribution of biota. Additional stresses to biota will be caused by biocide usage and temperature depressions. However, the artificial upwelling of nutrients associated with the pumping of cold deep water, and the artificial reef created by an OTEC plant may have positive effects on the local environment. Although more detailed information is needed to assess the net effect of an OTEC operation on fisheries, certain assumptions and calculations are made supporting the conclusion that the potential risk to fisheries is not significant enough to deter the early development of IDEe. It will be necessary to monitor a commercial-scale plant in order to remove many of the remaining uncertainties. (PDF file contains 39 pages.