New Illinois Butterfly Records for Clark, Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, and Edgar Counties

The butterfly (Lepidoptera) fauna of east-central Illinois is largely undocumented. We collected butterflies and examined specimens in the Insect Museum at Eastern Illinois University for unpublished records for five counties in east-central Illinois. Here we report 105 new butterfly county records: 17 for Clark County, 30 for Coles County, 28 for Cumberland County, 9 for Douglas County, and 21 for Edgar County. We also describe behavioral observations, in particular those behaviors related to reproduction, for some of the records. Of special note were two rare vagrants from Coles County found in the museum collection, the orange-barred sulphur (Phoebis philea) and the marine blue (Leptotes marina)

The Excavation of the Privateer Defence

No abstract available at this time

A Synthetic Environment Flight Simulator: The AFIT Virtual Cockpit

This thesis describes the design and implementation of a part of the Virtual Cockpit: a synthetic environment, distributed network flight simulator. The goal of the project was to prove the concept that this type of flight simulator could fill the gap between high-end, very expensive flight simulators and low-end game quality flight simulators. Discussed are: object-oriented design techniques, multi-processor utilization, the flight dynamics model, synthetic environment technology, the frame-rate vs. realism issue, and the interfaces to a realistic joystick and throttle

Longitude distribution of solar flares

Longitude distribution of solar flare

A comparison of university student and community gamblers: Motivations, impulsivity, and gambling cognitions

Abstract Background and aims The present study tested whether the associations among motivational, cognitive, and personality correlates of problem gambling severity differed across university student gamblers (n = 123) and gamblers in the general adult community (n = 113) Methods The participants completed a survey that included standardized measures of gambling motivation, gambling related cognitions, and impulsivity. The survey also asked participants to report the forms of gambling in which they engaged to test whether gambling involvement (number of different forms of gambling) was related to problem gambling severity. After completing the survey, participants played roulette online to examine whether betting patterns adhered to the gambler's fallacy. Results Gambling involvement was significantly related to problem gambling severity for the community sample but not for the student sample. A logistic regression analysis that tested the involvement, motivation, impulsivity and cognitive correlates showed that money motivation and gambling related cognitions were the only significant independent predictors of gambling severity. Adherence to the gambler's fallacy was stronger for students than for the community sample, and was associated with gambling related cognitions. Discussion The motivational, impulsivity and cognitive, and correlates of problem gambling function similarly in university student gamblers and in gamblers from the general adult community. Interventions for both groups should focus on the financial and cognitive supports of problem gambling

The social environment affects mate guarding behavior in Japanese beetles, Popillia japonica

The effect of the social environment on post-copulatory mate guarding duration in Japanese beetles, (Popillia japonica Newman), was examined in a laboratory experiment. The mate guarding durations of beetles in different sex ratios and densities were observed for 10 hours. Guarding duration was longer when females were larger, suggesting the presence of ‘cryptic’ male mate choice. Densities, but not sex ratio, affected the duration of guarding bouts, with males guarding for longer at higher densities. This result implies that males increase their guarding duration under conditions in which their female may be likely to be encountered by other males. The lack of a sex ratio effect on the duration of guarding bouts is consistent with other studies on this species that indicate males have difficulty distinguishing females from males. Consequently, because the sex ratio on food plants is typically male-biased, a paired male may react just to density, treating surrounding individuals as if they were mostly males. The total amount of time males spent guarding was lower at lower densities and at male-biased sex ratios; this suggests that after ceasing to guard one female, males were less able to find a subsequent mate under these conditions

The effect of corporate environmental initiatives on firm value: evidence from Fortune 500 firms

When do firms derive value from investing in environmental initiatives (CEIs)? We examine stock market responses to the announcements of 183 CEIs by 71 Fortune 500 firms during the period 2002 to 2008. We find that the stock market reacts positively to such announcements but does not react differently to CEIs concerning a firm?s inputs, throughputs, and outputs. We also find that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the timing of a CEI and the abnormal stock market return following its announcement. Overall, this study shows that timing is a relevant explanatory factor for the value firms derive from investing in environmental action

Home Environment Factors Influencing Literacy Development: A Group of Brazilian Immigrant Head Start Children

This dissertation examines the literacy practices embedded in the home environment of a group of 5 Brazilian Head Start children. It elucidates the difficulties and challenges of immigration that influenced their home environments and describes the literacy practices embedded within these home environments

Male-male mounting and the unreliability of body size as a character for mate choice in male Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica Newman)

Background: Same-sex pairing is common in many animal species. In many insects, same-sex pairing is often thought to be a result of poor sexual discrimination (i.e., a mistake), but few detailed studies of the mechanisms underlying the mistaken pairing have been conducted. Previous studies have found that in the field, a small proportion of Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) mating pairs consist of two males instead of a male and a female. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between body size, the tendency to mount other males, and the duration of these mounts, in laboratory experiments on male Japanese beetles. Results: In the first experiment, we observed male-male mounting in all-male groups in which each male had been uniquely marked. Males of all sizes were likely to mount other males and extend their aedeagus (copulatory organ), but the mounts were longer, and aedeagus extension was more likely to occur, if the mounted beetle (in the ‘female’ position) was larger than the mounting beetle (in the ‘male’ position). In the second experiment, we observed male-female behavior in mixed-sex groups. Females did not immediately copulate with males that had mounted them. If copulation did occur, males tended to remain on the back of females for an extended period of time. Males that mounted other males in mixed-sex groups tended to mate subsequently with a female and then stay with her. Conclusions: We propose that the minimal physical difference between the sexes, in combination with benefits to the males of rapidly attempting to pair with any available female, explains the tendency for males to mount other males. Extended mounts may occur because larger individuals are more likely to be female and because of selection on males to persist in a copulation attempt when females do not immediately copulate with a male

Phenotypic consequences of RNA polymerase dysregulation in Escherichia coli

Many bacterial adaptive responses to changes in growth conditions due to biotic and abiotic factors involve reprogramming of gene expression at the transcription level. The bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP), which catalyzes transcription, can thus be considered as the major mediator of cellular adaptive strategies. But how do bacteria respond if a stress factor directly compromises the activity of the RNAP? We used a phage-derived small protein to specifically perturb bacterial RNAP activity in exponentially growing Escherichia coli. Using cytological profiling, tracking RNAP behavior at single-molecule level and transcriptome analysis, we reveal that adaptation to conditions that directly perturb bacterial RNAP performance can result in a biphasic growth behavior and thereby confer the ‘adapted’ bacterial cells an enhanced ability to tolerate diverse antibacterial stresses. The results imply that while synthetic transcriptional rewiring may confer bacteria with the intended desirable properties, such approaches may also collaterally allow them to acquire undesirable traits