Pan-European grading scales: lessons from national systems and the ECTS

This article assesses the impact of the Bologna Process on the grading schemes of EU member countries. In light of some problems regarding the implementation of the European Credit Transfer system (ECTS), the author proposes further reforms and offers some elements of a unified grading system for European higher education. The author explores the variation among Europe’s grading systems and the resulting lessons learned are shared here. Lastly, this article also argues that principles of justice and fairness, deemed central to academic freedom, are best upheld by the use of a unified grading system at national and European levels

The Nebraska Mathematics Readiness Project: Year 1 Evaluation Report

The Nebraska Math Readiness Project (NMRP) is a targeted curriculum designed for seniors who have plans of attending college, yet lack the foundational math skills needed for college-level courses. They are given a fourth-year mathematics class to help them improve their mathematical skills and prepare for required college math courses. The project is a collaboration between community colleges across the state and high schools within the Nebraska school districts

Ethanol Injection of Ornamental Trees Facilitates Testing Insecticide Efficacy Against Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae)

Exotic ambrosia beetles are damaging pests in ornamental tree nurseries in North America. The species Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Motshulsky) and Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford) are especially problematic. Management of these pests relies on preventive treatments of insecticides. However, field tests of recommended materials on nursery trees have been limited because of unreliable attacks by ambrosia beetles on experimental trees. Ethanol-injection of trees was used to induce colonization by ambrosia beetles to evaluate insecticides and botanical formulations for preventing attacks by ambrosia beetles. Experiments were conducted in Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia. Experimental trees injected with ethanol had more attacks by ambrosia beetles than un-injected control trees in all but one experiment. Xylosandrus crassiusculus and X. germanus colonized trees injected with ethanol. In most experiments, attack rates declined 8 d after ethanol-injection. Ethanol-injection induced sufficient pressure from ambrosia beetles to evaluate the efficacy of insecticides for preventing attacks. Trunk sprays of permethrin suppressed cumulative total attacks by ambrosia beetles in most tests. Trunk sprays of the botanical formulations Armorex and Veggie Pharm suppressed cumulative total attacks in Ohio. Armorex, Armorex + Permethrin, and Veggie Pharm + Permethrin suppressed attacks in Tennessee. The bifenthrin product Onyx suppressed establishment of X. germanus in one Ohio experiment, and cumulative total ambrosia beetle attacks in Virginia. Substrate drenches and trunk sprays of neonicotinoids, or trunk sprays of anthranilic diamides or tolfenpyrad were not effective. Ethanol-injection is effective for inducing attacks and ensuring pressure by ambrosia beetles for testing insecticide efficacy on ornamental trees

Preharvest Quarantine Treatments of Chlorantraniliprole, Clothianidin, and Imidacloprid-Based Insecticides for Control of Japanese Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and Other Scarab Larvae in the Root Zone of Field-Grown Nursery Trees

Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), is an important quarantine pest of nurseries. Nursery plant movement from P. japonica-infested regions is regulated by the U.S. Domestic Japanese Beetle Harmonization Plan (DJHP), which classifies states by risk categories. Treatments for category 2 states include preharvest soil surface treatment of nursery plants grown in field soil using Discus SC, Marathon (1G or 60 WP), or Flagship (0.22G or 25 WG). In this study, Discus, Marathon 60 WP, or Flagship 0.22G DJHP standards were compared with labeled rates of non–DJHP-approved insecticides, including neonicotinoids clothianidin (Arena 50WDG), generic imidacloprid (Quali-Pro Imidacloprid 2 F T&O Insecticide, Mallet 2 F T&O Insecticide, and Lada 2 F Insecticide), and imidacloprid + bifenthrin (Allectus SC), as well as the anthranilic diamide, chlorantraniliprole (Acelepryn Insecticide). Arena provided 100% P. japonica control in May, June, and July over four test years, but had one larva recovered during August in two of those 4 yr. Acelepryn did not provide DJHP-acceptable P. japonica control. During July, Allectus provided 100% P. japonica control in three of four test years, but had four larvae in one test year. Other treatments tested only during July, which provided 100% P. japonica control, included Discus (five tests); Marathon, Quali-Pro, and Mallet (two tests); and Lada and Flagship (one test). Generic imidacloprid 2 F formulations were equivalent in P. japonica control to DJHP-approved insecticides. Insecticides generally performed poorly on other scarabs or curculionid larvae. The study supports Arena, Allectus, and generic imidacloprid 2 F products as suitable candidates for the DJHP

Developmental outcomes of early adverse care on amygdala functional connectivity in nonhuman primates

Despite the strong link between childhood maltreatment and psychopathology, the underlying neurodevelopmental mechanisms are poorly understood and difficult to disentangle from heritable and prenatal factors. This study used a translational macaque model of infant maltreatment in which the adverse experience occurs in the first months of life, during intense maturation of amygdala circuits important for stress and emotional regulation. Thus, we examined the developmental impact of maltreatment on amygdala functional connectivity (FC) longitudinally, from infancy through the juvenile period. Using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) we performed amygdala-prefrontal cortex (PFC) region-of-interest and exploratory whole-brain amygdala FC analyses. The latter showed (a) developmental increases in amygdala FC with many regions, likely supporting increased processing of socioemotional-relevant stimuli with age; and (b) maltreatment effects on amygdala coupling with arousal and stress brain regions (locus coeruleus, laterodorsal tegmental area) that emerged with age. Maltreated juveniles showed weaker FC than controls, which was negatively associated with infant hair cortisol concentrations. Findings from the region-of-interest analysis also showed weaker amygdala FC with PFC regions in maltreated animals than controls since infancy, whereas bilateral amygdala FC was stronger in maltreated animals. These effects on amygdala FC development may underlie the poor behavioral outcomes associated with this adverse experience

Movement of Xylosandrus germanus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Ornamental Nurseries and Surrounding Habitats

Some exotic ambrosia beetles are damaging pests in ornamental nurseries. Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford) is the most problematic ambrosia beetle in Ohio nurseries. Movement of X. germanus in nurseries has not been characterized, and knowledge is lacking on whether infestations originate from within nurseries or surrounding habitats. Flight activity of X. germanus was monitored in nurseries and adjacent wooded areas to determine the source of beetles infesting nurseries, and characterize their movement within nurseries. Ethanol-baited bottle traps were positioned within wooded areas adjacent to commercial nurseries and within nurseries at various distances from the nursery woodlot interface. Flight activity of overwintered X. germanus occurred in wooded areas adjacent to nurseries before occurrence within nurseries. There was a direct relationship between degree-days and the distance from woodlots when X. germanus were first found in traps in spring, with earlier captures closest to wooded areas and latest ones furthest away into the nursery. X. germanus appeared to move into nurseries from adjacent wooded areas, with numbers trapped within nurseries decreasing with distance away from wooded areas. Trees in the interior of nurseries would appear to be subjected to less attack pressure than trees near the nursery border. Intercepting beetles as they move into nurseries might be an effective strategy to reduce attack pressure on valuable trees

Trap Tree and Interception Trap Techniques for Management of Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in Nursery Production Get access Arrow

The majority of wood-boring ambrosia beetles are strongly attracted to ethanol, a behavior which could be exploited for management within ornamental nurseries. A series of experiments was conducted to determine if ethanol-based interception techniques could reduce ambrosia beetle pest pressure. In two experiments, trap trees injected with a high dose of ethanol were positioned either adjacent or 10–15 m from trees injected with a low dose of ethanol (simulating a mildly stressed tree) to determine if the high-dose trap trees could draw beetle attacks away from immediately adjacent stressed nursery trees. The high-ethanol-dose trees sustained considerably higher attacks than the low-dose trees; however, distance between the low- and high-dose trees did not significantly alter attack rates on the low-dose trees. In a third experiment, 60-m length trap lines with varying densities of ethanol-baited traps were deployed along a forest edge to determine if immigrating beetles could be intercepted before reaching sentinel traps or artificially stressed sentinel trees located 10 m further in-field. Intercept trap densities of 2 or 4 traps per trap line were associated with fewer attacks on sentinel trees compared to no traps, but 7 or 13 traps had no impact. None of the tested intercept trap densities resulted in significantly fewer beetles reaching the sentinel traps. The evaluated ethanol-based interception techniques showed limited promise for reducing ambrosia beetle pressure on nursery trees. An interception effect might be enhanced by applying a repellent compound to nursery trees in a push–pull strategy

Genetic polymorphisms in the catechol estrogen metabolism pathway and breast cancer risk

Background: This study investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes within the catechol estrogen metabolism pathway altered the risk of breast cancer alone or in combination, as well as whether menopausal hormone therapy (HT) modified the effect of these SNPs on breast cancer risk. Methods: In a population-based case-control study of breast cancer, 891 cases and 878 controls were genotyped for six functional SNPs in the COMT, CYP1B1, GSTM1, GSTP1, and GSTT1 genes. Results: Women homozygous with the T allele in CYP1B1*2 (Ser119; rs1056827) were at 1.69 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17-2.46) times the risk of women homozygous with the G allele; women homozygous with the G allele in GSTP1 (Val105; rs1695) were at 0.73 (95% CI: 0.54-0.99) times the risk of breast cancer compared to women homozygous with the A allele. No other SNPs tested were associated with breast cancer to any appreciable degree. Potential gene-gene and gene-HT interactions were investigated. Conclusion: With the exception of GSTP1 and possibly CYP1B1*2, our findings do not provide support for the role of genetic variation in the catechol estrogen metabolism pathway and breast cancer risk in post-menopausal women

Biology, Ecology, and Management of Nonnative Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in Ornamental Plant Nurseries

Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford) and Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are two of the most damaging nonnative ambrosia beetle pests in ornamental plant nurseries. Adult females tunnel into the stems and branches of host plants to create galleries with brood chambers. Hosts are infected with symbiotic Ambrosiella spp. fungi that serve as food for the larvae and adults. Plants can also become infected with secondary opportunistic pathogens, including Fusarium spp. Both X. germanus and X. crassiusculus have broad host ranges, and infestations can result in “toothpicks” of extruded chewed wood and sap flow associated with gallery entrances, canopy dieback, stem and trunk cankers, and plant death. Beetles efficiently locate and preferentially attack living, weakened plants, especially those physiologically stressed by flooding, inadequate drainage, frost injury, or winter injury and low temperature. Maintaining plant health is the foundation of a management plan. Vulnerable hosts can be partially protected with preventive pyrethroid applications in the spring before peak flight and attack, which are monitored using ethanol-based trapping tactics