INVITATION PAPER (C.P. ALEXANDER FUND): FORAGING OF INDIVIDUAL WORKERS IN RELATION TO COLONY STATE IN THE SOCIAL HYMENOPTERA

Workers of social insects are members of colonies that survive and reproduce together. Therefore, the behavioral activities of individual workers should be integrated with colony state. We here summarize and discuss the relationship between colony state and foraging behavior of individual workers under the provisional assumption that the colony is a unit. We argue that colony state can be described by a number of variables that should relate to fitness components in order to be meaningful. Among the possible candidates, colony population size seems to have an overriding importance in many respects, as shown by its relation to fitness components such as survival probability and reproductive performance. Other important variables include colony demography, i.e. caste or size distributions, nutritional status, or queen number. Each of these variables has been shown to affect fitness components; however, the evidence is rather scanty. We also discuss the evidence that variation in colony state variables relates to variation in individual worker behavior. Nutritional status (i.e. low or high levels of food stores) and colony size have been shown repeatedly to affect individual behavior. However, most of the evidence comes from the honey bee. Some studies suggest that behavioral responses are hierarchically structured. More work needs to be done to investigate the actual mechanisms of integration of individual behavior with colony state. Some knowledge has accumulated about the processes that govern recruitment to food sources. We conclude this review by discussing some concepts and problems for further research. These include the concept of a preferred colony state to which the colony should return after disturbance through the behavioral activities of the workers. Further theoretical elaboration and empirical investigations may help to elucidate whether this concept is useful and necessary. A largely neglected issue concerns the number versus effort problem, i.e. whether individuals should work harder or more workers should be allocated to a task that is in demand. We propose a simple scenario that suggests testable predictions. Finally, we discuss how colony state, individual work load, and the dependence of worker mortality rate on activity level may interact to generate different short-term foraging strategies that workers should adop

Conversational Grammar- Feminine Grammar? A Sociopragmatic Corpus Study

One area in language and gender research that has so far received only little attention is the extent to which the sexes make use of what recent corpus research has termed “conversational grammar.” The author’s initial findings have suggested that the majority of features distinctive of conversational grammar may be used predominantly by female speakers. This article reports on a study designed to test the hypothesis that conversational grammar is “feminine grammar” in the sense that women’s conversational language is more adapted to the conversational situation than men’s. Based on data from the conversational subcorpus of the British National Corpus and following the situational framework for the description of conversational features elaborated in the author’s previous research, features distinctive of conversational grammar are grouped into five functional categories and their normed frequencies compared across the sexes. The functional categories distinguish features that can be seen as adaptations to constraints set by the situational factors of (1) Shared Context, (2) Co-Construction, (3) Real-Time Processing, (4) Discourse Management, and (5) Relation Management. The study’s results, described in detail in relation to the biological category of speaker sex and cultural notions of gender, suggest that the feminine grammar hypothesis is valid

Rapid, modular and reliable construction of complex mammalian gene circuits

We developed a framework for quick and reliable construction of complex gene circuits for genetically engineering mammalian cells. Our hierarchical framework is based on a novel nucleotide addressing system for defining the position of each part in an overall circuit. With this framework, we demonstrate construction of synthetic gene circuits of up to 64 kb in size comprising 11 transcription units and 33 basic parts. We show robust gene expression control of multiple transcription units by small molecule inducers in human cells with transient transfection and stable chromosomal integration of these circuits. This framework enables development of complex gene circuits for engineering mammalian cells with unprecedented speed, reliability and scalability and should have broad applicability in a variety of areas including mammalian cell fermentation, cell fate reprogramming and cell-based assays.Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SA5284-11210)United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (HR0011-12-C-0067)United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA-BAA-11-23)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CBET-0939511)National Institutes of Health (U.S.). (5-R01-CA155320-02

2000 Ohio-Grape Wine Short Course

Air, water, sun, and fire--the cooper's footprint on the barrel / Henry Work -- Keeping the bugs unhappy; successful barrel sanitation and maintenance / Henry Work -- Recommended methods for cleaning and maintaining oak cooperage / Phil Burton and Henry Work, with Jim Yerkes -- Chip me, stave me, oak me! The romance, dollars and sense of barrel alternatives / Tim DiPlacido -- Oak experiments / Roland Riesen -- Barrel experiment / Nick Ferrante -- Exploring the versatility and potential of vidal / Roland Riesen -- Ferrante: 1999 vineyard planting / Nick Ferrante -- Breeding rootstocks for current and impending viticultural problems / Andrew Walker -- Grape expectations looking toward traditional and non-traditional sponsors to enhance your event / Doniella Winchell -- Assessing grape maturity by taste and by numbers / Thomas Henick-Kling -- Influence of fruit condition on wine quality / James F. Gallander -- Influence of post bottling storage temperature and SO2 on wine quality / T. E. Steiner -- What we do at harvest to help wine quality / Tony Debevc -- Delivering wine quality / Nick Ferrante -- Criteria for selecting rootstocks / Andrew Walker -- A comparison of Pinot noir production in New York and Burgundy / Pascal Durand and Leslie Weston -- A unique approach to harvest labor / Fran Massaro -- New fungicide registrations for grapes in the year 2000 / Michael Ellis -- Studies to determine time of susceptibility of grape berry and rachis tissues to infection by Phomopsis viticola / O. Erincik, L. V. Madden, D. C. Ferree and M. A. Ellis -- Rootstock performance in Ohio / Arnie Esterer -- Growing your own: vinifera grafting experiments (1999) / Ron Barrett -- Developing an effective fungicide spray program for wine grapes in Ohio / Michael Ellis -- Light and fruit set / David C. Ferree, David M. Scurlock and John C. Schmid -- Soil amendments and mulches in tree health management / Harry Hoitink, Matthew Krause and Randy Zondag -- Report of 5th International Symposium on Cool Climate Viticulture and Enology / Roland Riesen -- Control strategies for soil insects in the vineyard / Roger Williams and Dan Fickl

An “Electronic Fluorescent Pictograph” Browser for Exploring and Analyzing Large-Scale Biological Data Sets

Background. The exploration of microarray data and data from other high-throughput projects for hypothesis generation has become a vital aspect of post-genomic research. For the non-bioinformatics specialist, however, many of the currently available tools provide overwhelming amounts of data that are presented in a non-intuitive way. Methodology/Principal Findings. In order to facilitate the interpretation and analysis of microarray data and data from other large-scale data sets, we have developed a tool, which we have dubbed the electronic Fluorescent Pictograph – or eFP – Browser, available a

Malaria chemoprophylaxis recommendations for immigrants to Europe, visiting relatives and friends - a Delphi method study

BACKGROUND: Numbers of travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFRs) from Europe to malaria endemic countries are increasing and include long-term and second generation immigrants, who represent the major burden of malaria cases imported back into Europe. Most recommendations for malaria chemoprophylaxis lack a solid evidence base, and often fail to address the cultural, social and economic needs of VFRs. METHODS: European travel medicine experts, who are members of TropNetEurop, completed a sequential series of questionnaires according to the Delphi method. This technique aims at evaluating and developing a consensus through repeated iterations of questionnaires. The questionnaires in this study included questions about professional experience with VFRs, controversial issues in malaria prophylaxis, and 16 scenarios exploring indications for prescribing and choice of chemoprophylaxis. RESULTS: The experience of participants was rather diverse as was their selection of chemoprophylaxis regimen. A significant consensus was observed in only seven of 16 scenarios. The analysis revealed a wide variation in prescribing choices with preferences grouped by region of practice and increased prescribing seen in Northern Europe compared to Central Europe. CONCLUSIONS: Improving the evidence base on efficacy, adherence to chemoprophylaxis and risk of malaria and encouraging discussion among experts, using techniques such as the Delphi method, may reduce the variability in prescription in European travel clinics

White Paper on Ambient ultrafine particles: evidence for policy makers

Ultrafine particle, as defined by ISO/TC 146/SC 2/WG1 N 320 is “A particle sized about 100 nm in diameter or less”. The same definition applies to a nanoparticle as “A particle with a nominal diameter smaller than about 100 nm”. Ultrafine particles (UFP) is a term used in atmospheric sciences, while “nanoparticles” applies to material engineering