A checklist of the ants of Wyoming (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The history of myrmrecology in Wyoming began when Fore1 described a new species, obscuripes in the genus Formica from Green River in 1886, four years before Wyoming Territory became a state. There was a long hiatus until 1932 when Cole cited ten records for Pogonomyrmex occidentalis. Since then a dozen authors have published one to many records each. During the summers of 1957, 1958, 1961, 1963, 1964,1965 and 1966, while we were still at the University of North Dakota (Grand Forks), we made a dozen field trips into Wyoming to observe and collect ants in 12 of the 23 counties and in Yellowstone National Park. These expeditions yielded a total of 168 records for 45 species (a record is a species in a locality)

My association with William Steel Creighton

The recent (1986) publication of “My Association with William Morton Wheeler” evidently stirred my latent autobiographical urge. It is quite reasonable that I should next apply it to William Steel Creighton, for he certainly ranks next to W. M. Wheeler among American myrmecologists. It will be quite different, however, because my actual association with Creighton was very brief twice a dinner guest in New York City and two visits in La Feria, Texas. Correspondence, however, is quite different. I received 45 letters from W. M. Wheeler between 1919 and 1936; the last was dated four months before his death. They dealt chiefly with our proposed treatise on ant larvae; only two ran over to the second page. From Creighton I received 81 letters between 1929 (while he was still a graduate student at Harvard) and 1973 (dated 12 days before his death). His early letters filled one page; the length increased gradually to three pages. The subject matter was chiefly practical taxonomy, but the wide variety of topics treated makes them just as interesting as when they were written

Checklist of the Ants of Michigan (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

A total of 113 species of ants is recorded by county from the state of Michigan. The list is based upon literature records and specimens in the authors\u27 collections and those of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and the Michigan State University Department of Entomology. The list includes 3 species in Ponerinae, 44 in Myrnucinae, 6 in Dolichoderinae, and 60 in Formicinae. Ten species represent new state records. Five distribution pat- terns are evident: statewide (39 species), southern counties only (5), southern 3/4th of Lower Peninsula (10), Lower Peninsula (17), and Upper Peninsula (2). Forty species have been collected too infrequently to determine the distribution within the state

Patent Portfolio Strategy for the America Invents Act, 12 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 289 (2013)

The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act made significant changes to U.S. patent law when it was enacted on September 16, 2011. Some provisions did not immediately take effect, however, and arguably the most important of these delayed provisions are the new rules under section 102 relating to prior art and the transition from a “first to invent” system to a “first inventor to file” system. This Article provides a guide to understanding the new rules relating to prior art and the impact these changes have on patent prosecution. Then, several strategies and techniques are discussed for managing a patent portfolio in addition to tips on how to take advantage of both pre- and post-AIA rules

Revised techniques for the study of ant larvae

In 1960 we published Techniques for the study of ant larvae. We referred to it in 1976 and again in 1986. In the intervening years three authors have cited it and the quality of their drawings suggest they have benefited from our suggestions. The poor quality of most other recent drawings suggest they have not seen our article. Perhaps a 1960 reference is too old to be caught in latter-day literature searches. Or, if the searcher did find it, he was unwilling to take the trouble to follow the recommended techniques. And troublesome they are, especially if one does not have readily available the required apparatus and chemicals

Interacting Effects of Nutrient Availability and Encironmental Change on Grassland Plant Communities

The availability of nutrients plays an important role in shaping the composition, productivity and diversity of plant communities. Such effects are particularly well documented in grassland ecosystems, where both independent studies and collaborations such as the Nutrient Network consistently show increasing productivity and decreasing diversity with the addition of limiting nutrients. The specifics of this pattern, however, vary widely from site to site, and within a single site, they may shift with changes in environmental conditions and disturbance regimes. My research at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve (Minnesota, USA), documents such a pattern through resampling of a long-term experiment on pine encroachment into old field grasslands. In burned plots, where pine encroachment is inhibited, nitrogen addition shifts the herbaceous plant community from one dominated by perennial C4 grasses with native forbs and legumes to one where invasive C3 grasses are abundant. In unburned plots subject to pine encroachment, however, invasive C3 grasses are abundant regardless of nitrogen treatment. This community pattern does not, however, extend to the ecosystem’s overall carbon and nitrogen dynamics. While several ecosystem carbon pools respond to fire, they do not respond to nitrogen addition or to fire-nitrogen interactions. Alongside such measures of species composition and resource cycling, plant functional traits may provide valuable insights into community dynamics. Such traits show considerable intraspecific variability, and understanding this variation is critical to their effective use. At Cedar Point Biological Station (Nebraska, USA), grassland plant species’ functional traits show considerable variation with nutrient addition. I found, however, that these traits, and in some cases the strength of their nutrient responses, are also dependent on sampling year. Species display more acquisitive trait values both with nitrogen addition and in high rainfall years, and for leaf dry matter content, these effects interact to produce an elevated nitrogen effect in high rainfall years. Through experimental rainfall manipulation, I found that these patterns can be partially explained by total rainfall but that a substantial component remains to be explained by other components of annual environmental variation

Notes on ant larvae : 1989-1991

In 1976 we published "Ant Larvae: Review and Synthesis," which we regarded as a summary of our life-time of research. During the following years so many new larvae were added to our collection and so much was published about ant larvae that we decided another general treatment was desirable; so in 1986 we published a "Ten-Year Supplement" to include additions and revisions to our Memoir. In 1987 and 1988 additional material warranted a supplement to the "10-year Supplement" in 1989a. This article is the third supplement to the Memoir. In the supplement, two genera are characterized, one generic characterization is revised, and references in the literature are increased by 43. Changes in our Memoir (1976) and its supplements (1986, 1989a) are noted

Creative Claim Drafting: Claim Drafting Strategies, Specification Preparation, and Prosecution Tactics, 3 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 34 (2003)

Patent prosecution is becoming more complex with every new rule, statute, and court decision. Rather than approaching the changes with a glass-is-half-empty view, the author explains why this development is a boon to the importance of skilled patent prosecutors. The author reviews the latest developments that have given added scrutiny to the patent drafting process and provides nine tips to assist patent prosecution in the current environment

Composing with Sound-Objects: A Methodology

Technology presents us with the ability to record and manipulate the entire universe of sound in a musical composition. As a result, composers are faced with an overwhelming—often paralyzing—amount of available musical options. My methodology focuses on how a sound-object informs the organization, collection, manipulation, and culmination of a work of electronic music. I believe that breaking down the number of choices to manageable bite-sized portions helps minimize ambiguity, and imposing limits on musical parameters helps the composer focus on productive musical options. This is a methodology where the sound-object holds primacy over the work and serves as the motivic touchstone from which to make all compositional decisions.Part one of the dissertation provides a definition of a sound-object and an historical overview. Part two is my methodology, which is divided into three working stages: onset, continuant, and termination. The onset stage discusses a compositional approach to organizing a piece of music based on the sound-object as motivic touchstone; it introduces the organizational process according to functional considerations as well as conceptual approaches. The continuant stage is the composer’s playground where sound is transformed. It includes the technical and practical approaches used to assess the many parameters of a sound-object, as well as how the object itself informs the transformations. Additionally, the continuant stage represents an approach to composition and improvisation—informed by the sound-object—that uses acoustic instruments. Finally, the termination stage brings all these elements together in order to finish the piece. This stage explores how the sound-object can inform the structure of the piece at the subsequent levels of event, phrase, section, and overall form. I will demonstrate this methodology by explaining how I composed five original pieces with sound-objects—Acoustic Memories (2019), Modular Voices (2019), Interconnected (2019), Synthetic Objects (2019), and Gucci Concrète (2019). Through the framework presented in this methodology, composers of electronic music will better understand this flexible medium of composition, by moving beyond the traditional grid of discrete pitches and rhythms, in order to control the entire universe of sound for their palette of inspiration