Differential Shoot Feeding by Adult \u3ci\u3eTomicus Piniperda\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in Mixed Stands of Native and Introduced Pines in Indiana.

The larger pine shoot beetle Tomicus piniperda, a native bark beetle of Europe and Asia, was found in North American Christmas tree plantations in 1992 in Ohio. Subsequent surveys found it in six U.S. states and in one Canadian province. The first natural area where Tomicus was found to be established was at the Indiana Dunes State Park, in northwestern Indiana near the Lake Michigan shoreline. Pine stands were surveyed for fallen shoots to determine the extent and range of shoot feeding in the park. Within the study area adult Tomicus fed on the shoots of all native pines (Pinus banksiana, P. resinosa. and P. strobus.), as well as the European species (P. sylvestris). More fallen shoots were collected from both P. resinosa and P. sylvestris than expected from their basal areas in the sampled stands. This contrasted with P. banksiana and P. strobus whose shoots were underrepresented relative to their basal areas. The relatively high numbers of fallen shoots found for P. resinosa suggests that red pines in the Great Lakes region will easily support populations of T. piniperda

Closing the Gap: How Improving Information Flow Can Help Community-Based Organizations Keep Uninsured Kids From Falling Through the Cracks

Evaluates how community-based organizations used a tool for systematic, ongoing data exchange with the state to monitor children's enrollment and redetermination status in public health insurance. Explores its potential to boost outreach and enrollment

Optimizing Outreach and Application Assistance Services in Community-based Organizations: Evaluation Findings from The Colorado Trust's Outreach and Enrollment for Children and Youth Grant Strategy

This report discusses findings from the evaluation of The Colorado Trust's three-year, $3.3 million grant strategy (2009-2011) to help expand enrollment of children and youth in public health insurance programs in Colorado. These findings focus on how 12 community-based organizations, with little previous experience in providing application assistance to families to enroll children and youth in public health insurance, offered targeted outreach and application assistance services. These findings provide new insights into the time, effort and outcomes associated with implementing outreach and application assistance services, reinforcing and expanding upon previous literature demonstrating the promise and potential pitfalls of this approach

Efeito flynn : estudo com adultos portugueses

O efeito Flynn refere-se aos ganhos verificados nas medidas de inteligência ao longo do tempo. Este estudo analisa a ocorrência do Efeito Flynn considerando os resultados obtidos por candidatos à Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) de Portugal. Participaram do estudo duas amostras: a primeira formada por 429 candidatos à Guarda Nacional Republicana submetidos ao processo de seleção do ano de 2005 e a segunda composta por 3806 candidatos do ano de 2010. Nas duas amostras foram aplicadas três provas da bateria PMA – Aptidões Mentais Primárias: Compreensão Verbal, Raciocínio Lógico e Cálculo Numérico. Os participantes foram avaliados por psicólogos especialistas, sendo que o acesso aos seus dados foi autorizado pelo Comando Geral da GNR, mediante garantia do anonimato e sigilo dos protocolos consultados. Os resultados indicaram que os candidatos à guarda que participaram do processo seletivo de 2005 obtiveram melhores médias nas três provas da PMA, quando comparados aos de 2010. Essa diferença no Teste R (Raciocínio Lógico) não é estatisticamente significativa, sendo já estatisticamente significativa no Teste V (Compreensão Verbal) e no Teste N (Cálculo Numérico). Assim, o Efeito Flynn não foi observado neste estudo, comentando-se a ocorrência na discussão dos resultados.The Flynn Effect refers to the gains observed in measures of intelligence over time. This study aims to investigate the occurrence of the Flynn Effect considering the results obtained by candidates for the National Republican Guard (GNR) from Portugal. The study included two samples: the first consisting of 429 candidates submitted to the National Guard to the selection process of 2005 and the second comprised 3806 candidates of 2010. In two samples were applied three tests of the PMA battery: Verbal Comprehension, Logical Reasoning and Numerical. Participants were evaluated by expert psychologists and the access to their data was authorized by the General Command of the GNR, by guaranteeing anonymity and confidentiality of the protocols. The results indicated that candidates who participated in the selection process of 2005, when compared to 2010, had the best averages in those three tests of PMA. The difference in Test R (Logical Reasoning) was not significant, but in the Test V (Verbal Comprehension) and Test N (Numerical) those differences were statistically significant. Thus, the Flynn Effect was not observed in this study and some considerations are presented on data discussion

Why the short face? Developmental disintegration of the neurocranium drives convergent evolution in neotropical electric fishes

© 2017 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Convergent evolution is widely viewed as strong evidence for the influence of natural selection on the origin of phenotypic design. However, the emerging evo-devo synthesis has highlighted other processes that may bias and direct phenotypic evolution in the presence of environmental and genetic variation. Developmental biases on the production of phenotypic variation may channel the evolution of convergent forms by limiting the range of phenotypes produced during ontogeny. Here, we study the evolution and convergence of brachycephalic and dolichocephalic skull shapes among 133 species of Neotropical electric fishes (Gymnotiformes: Teleostei) and identify potential developmental biases on phenotypic evolution. We plot the ontogenetic trajectories of neurocranial phenotypes in 17 species and document developmental modularity between the face and braincase regions of the skull. We recover a significant relationship between developmental covariation and relative skull length and a significant relationship between developmental covariation and ontogenetic disparity. We demonstrate that modularity and integration bias the production of phenotypes along the brachycephalic and dolichocephalic skull axis and contribute to multiple, independent evolutionary transformations to highly brachycephalic and dolichocephalic skull morphologies

Globalising assessment: an ethnography of literacy assessment, camels and fast food in the Mongolian Gobi

What happens when standardised literacy assessments travel globally? The paper presents an ethnographic account of adult literacy assessment events in rural Mongolia. It examines the dynamics of literacy assessment in terms of the movement and re-contextualisation of test items as they travel globally and are received locally by Mongolian respondents. The analysis of literacy assessment events is informed by Goodwin’s ‘participation framework’ on language as embodied and situated interactive phenomena and by Actor Network Theory. Actor Network Theory (ANT) is applied to examine literacy assessment events as processes of translation shaped by an ‘assemblage’ of human and non-human actors (including the assessment texts)

Spin moment over 10-300 K and delocalization of magnetic electrons above the Verwey transition in magnetite

In order to probe the magnetic ground state, we have carried out temperature dependent magnetic Compton scattering experiments on an oriented single crystal of magnetite (Fe$_3$O$_4$), together with the corresponding first-principles band theory computations to gain insight into the measurements. An accurate value of the magnetic moment $\mu_S$ associated with unpaired spins is obtained directly over the temperature range of 10-300K. $\mu_S$ is found to be non-integral and to display an anomalous behavior with the direction of the external magnetic field near the Verwey transition. These results reveal how the magnetic properties enter the Verwey energy scale via spin-orbit coupling and the geometrical frustration of the spinel structure, even though the Curie temperature of magnetite is in excess of 800 K. The anisotropy of the magnetic Compton profiles increases through the Verwey temperature $T_v$ and indicates that magnetic electrons in the ground state of magnetite become delocalized on Fe B-sites above $T_v$.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solid

How is rape a weapon of war?: feminist international relations, modes of critical explanation and the study of wartime sexual violence

Rape is a weapon of war. Establishing this now common claim has been an achievement of feminist scholarship and activism and reveals wartime sexual violence as a social act marked by gendered power. But the consensus that rape is a weapon of war obscures important, and frequently unacknowledged, differences in ways of understanding and explaining it. This article opens these differences to analysis. Drawing on recent debates regarding the philosophy of social science in IR and social theory, it interprets feminist accounts of wartime sexual violence in terms of modes of critical explanation – expansive styles of reasoning that foreground particular actors, mechanisms, reasons and stories in the formulation of research. The idea of a mode of critical explanation is expanded upon through a discussion of the role of three elements (analytical wagers, narrative scripts and normative orientations) which accomplish the theoretical work of modes. Substantive feminist accounts of wartime sexual violence are then differentiated in terms of three modes – of instrumentality, unreason and mythology – which implicitly structure different understandings of how rape might be a weapon of war. These modes shape political and ethical projects and so impact not only on questions of scholarly content but also on the ways in which we attempt to mitigate and abolish war rape. Thinking in terms of feminist modes of critical explanation consequently encourages further work in an unfolding research agenda. It clarifes the ways in which an apparently commonality of position can conceal meaningful disagreements about human action. Exposing these disagreements opens up new possibilities for the analysis of war rape

Shape of the 8B Alpha and Neutrino Spectra

The beta-delayed alpha spectrum from the decay of 8B has been measured with a setup that minimized systematic uncertainties that affected previous measurements. Consequently the deduced neutrino spectrum presents much smaller uncertainties than the previous recommendation. The 8B neutrino spectrum is found to be harder than previously recommended with about (10-20)% more neutrinos at energies between 12-14 MeV. The efficiencies of the 37Cl, 71Ga, 40Ar, and SuperKamiokande detectors are respectively, 3.6%, 1.4%, 5.7% and 1.8% larger than previously thought.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure