On Some Multi-Site Multi-Season Streamflow Generation Models

The relative performance of some multi-site multi-season models is compared with respect to their adequacy for simulating monthly streamflow sequences. The three models brought under examination are the extended version of the multi-variate model proposed by Matalas (1967), the model formulated by Young and Pisano (1968), and the disaggregation model of Valencia and Schaake (1972). Computer implementation of these models has been accomplished in the form of the Multi-site Multi-season Streamflow Generation Package (MMSGP). Evaluation and comparison of the models has been carried out in terms of statistical flow parameters only. Some of these parameters are not explicitly built into the model structure. At the end, some general comments concerning applicability of each model are presented. [Since this phase of investigations was completed, Mejia and Roussele (1976) have proposed modification of the disaggregation model which will be taken into account in the further work on the MMSGP.

Parasitism, Adult Emergence, Sex Ratio, and Size of \u3ci\u3eAphidius Colemani\u3c/i\u3e (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) on Several Aphid Species

Aphidius colemani Viereck parasitizes several economically important aphid pests of small grain crops including the greenbug, Schizaphis graminum and the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia. The ability of A. colemani to switch from S. graminum to several species of aphids common to agricultural and associated non-agricultural ecosystems in the Great Plains, and the effects of host-change on several biological parameters that influence population growth rate were determined. Female A. colemani parasitized and developed to adulthood in nine of 14 aphid species to which they were exposed in the laboratory. All small grain feeding aphids except Sipha flava were parasi­tized. Two sunflower feeding species (Aphis nerii and A. helianthi) and two crucifer feeding species (Lipaphis erysimi and Brevicoryne brassicae) were parasitized, as was the cotton aphid. Aphis gossypii. The average percentage of aphids parasitized differed significantly among host aphid species. as did the percentage of parasitoids surviving from the mummy to the adult stage and the time required for immature development. The sex ratio of adults that enclosed from the various hosts did not differ significantly among species. Dry weights of adult parasitoids differed significantly among host species. Adults from S. graminum weighed most (0.054 mg) while those emerging from A. helianthi weighed least (0.020 mg). Results are discussed in terms of strategies for classical biological control of aphid pests of cereals

Long-term Treatment of Minimal-change Nephrotic Syndrome with Cyclosporin: A Control Biopsy Study

Seven patients with minimal-change nephrotic syndrome confirmed by renal biopsy were treated with cyclosporin (CsA). Four patients had frequent relapses and three others had primary steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome. Corticosteroids were discontinued as soon as CsA whole blood trough values of 200-500 ng/ml (RIA method) were reached. A full remission, defined as complete disappearance of proteinuria, was achieved in five patients under this treatment. In the two other patients proteinuria was reduced. Two patients experienced an acute episode of dose-dependent nephrotoxicity; however, overall renal function, as determined by the creatinine clearance, was stable. Control biopsies in five patients after a mean treatment period of 10 months showed no significant vascular or interstitial toxicit

Management of Four Alfalfa Varieties to Control Damage from Potato Leafhoppers

The main purpose of this study was to obtain information on forage yield and quality of four alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) varieties that differed in level of resistance to potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae Harris) yellowing, when cut at three stages of growth in the second and third cuttings in field plots, with and without insecticide application. The stages of growth were bud, 1/10, and full bloom. Other purposes included study of the same varieties in field cages manually infested at 20, 40, and 60 adult leafhoppers/square yard, and in supplemental cuttings of field plots under high natural infestation levels

Colored Petri Nets to Verify Extended Event-Driven Process Chains

Business processes are becoming more and more complex and at the same time their correctness is becoming a critical issue: The costs of errors in business information systems are growing due to the growing scale of their application and the growing degree of automation. In this paper we consider Extended Event-driven Process Chains (eEPCs), a language which is widely used for modeling business processes, documenting industrial reference models and designing workflows. We describe how to translate eEPCs into timed colored Petri nets in order to verify processes given by eEPCs with the CPN Tools

Beaver exploitation, 400,000 years ago, testifies to prey choice diversity of Middle Pleistocene hominins

Data regarding the subsistence base of early hominins are heavily biased in favor of the animal component of their diets, in particular the remains of large mammals, which are generally much better preserved at archaeological sites than the bones of smaller animals, let alone the remains of plant food. Exploitation of smaller game is very rarely documented before the latest phases of the Pleistocene, which is often taken to imply narrow diets of archaic Homo and interpreted as a striking economic difference between Late Pleistocene and earlier hominins. We present new data that contradict this view of Middle Pleistocene Lower Palaeolithic hominins: cut mark evidence demonstrating systematic exploitation of beavers, identified in the large faunal assemblage from the c. 400,000 years old hominin site Bilzingsleben, in central Germany. In combination with a prime-age dominated mortality profile, this cut mark record shows that the rich beaver assemblage resulted from repetitive human hunting activities, with a focus on young adult individuals. The Bilzingsleben beaver exploitation evidence demonstrates a greater diversity of prey choice by Middle Pleistocene hominins than commonly acknowledged, and a much deeper history of broad-spectrum subsistence than commonly assumed, already visible in prey choices 400,000 years ago.Human Origin

Human behavioural adaptations to interglacial lakeshore environments

The Schöningen 13II-4 “Spear Horizon” is among the most famous lakeshore archaeological sites dating from the Middle Pleistocene in Europe. Multiple well-crafted wooden spears recovered together with a large assemblage of butchered horse bones at Schöningen stimulated a new outlook of the behavioural capabilities of Palaeolithic hunters. Since these discoveries, a wealth of geological and palaeoecological data have been generated to reconstruct the wider Schöningen interglacial lakeshore environment. Yet, the underlying social and economic behaviours of Middle Pleistocene hominins reflected in the archaeological record itself have received less attention. To address these shortcomings, we began a comprehensive zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the entire large mammalian assemblage from the Schöningen 13II-4 “Spear Horizon”, with the goal of re-focusing attention to the “human component” of this important site. Here we present the preliminary results of our research

Hunting and processing of straight-tusked elephants 125.000 years ago: implications for Neanderthal behavior

Straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) were the largest terrestrial mammals of the Pleistocene, present in Eurasian landscapes between 800,000 and 100,000 years ago. The occasional co-occurrence of their skeletal remains with stone tools has generated rich speculation about the nature of interactions between these elephants and Pleistocene humans: Did hominins scavenge on elephants that died a natural death or maybe even hunt some individuals? Our archaeozoological study of the largest P. antiquus assemblage known, excavated from 125,000-year-old lake deposits in Germany, shows that hunting of elephants weighing up to 13 metric tons was part of the cultural repertoire of Last Interglacial Neanderthals there, over >2000 years, many dozens of generations. The intensity and nutritional yields of these well-documented butchering activities, combined with previously reported data from this Neumark-Nord site complex, suggest that Neanderthals were less mobile and operated within social units substantially larger than commonly envisaged.Human Origin

High field x-ray diffraction study on a magnetic-field-induced valence transition in YbInCu4

We report the first high-field x-ray diffraction experiment using synchrotron x-rays and pulsed magnetic fields exceeding 30 T. Lattice deformation due to a magnetic-field-induced valence transition in YbInCu4 is studied. It has been found that the Bragg reflection profile at 32 K changes significantly at around 27 T due to the structural transition. In the vicinity of the transition field the low-field and the high-field phases are observed simultaneously as the two distinct Bragg reflection peaks: This is a direct evidence of the fact that the field-induced valence state transition is the first order phase transition. The field-dependence of the low-field-phase Bragg peak intensity is found to be scaled with the magnetization.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp