Attraction of brown marmorated stink bugs, Halyomorpha halys, to blooming sunflower semiochemicals

I tested whether the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys, discriminates among phenological stages of sunflower, Helianthus annuus. When BMSB females in a still-air laboratory experiment were offered a choice of potted sunflowers at distinct phenological stages (vegetative, pre-bloom, bloom, seeding), most females settled onto blooming plants. In moving air olfactometer experiments, testing each plant stage versus one another, for the attraction of BMSB females, blooming sunflowers overall were most attractive. Analyzing the headspace odorants of each plant stage revealed a marked increase of odorant abundance as plants transitioned from pre-bloom to bloom. Thirteen blooming-stage odorants elicited responses from female BMSB antennae. A synthetic blend of antennally-active odorants attracted BMSB females in laboratory olfactometer experiments, and in field settings enhanced the attractiveness of BMSB pheromone as a trap lure, particularly in spring. Sunflower semiochemicals coupled with synthetic BMSB pheromone could be developed to improve efforts to monitor and control BMSB populations

A Fireside Chat with Supreme Court Justices McMillian and Warren

The Women\u27s Law Student Association is hosting the 38th Annual Edith House Lecture featuring Georgia Supreme Court Justices Carla Wong McMillian and Sarah Hawkins Warren. Inaugurated in 1983, the Edith House Lecture Series honors one of the first female graduates of the School of Law, Edith Elizabeth House. House was co-valedictorian of the law class of 1925 and enjoyed a distinguished career in public service. In a moderated “fireside chat” format, Justices McMillian and Warren spoke about their backgrounds, experiences as women in the legal profession, and paths to Georgia’s highest court. Students and faculty had the opportunity to ask questions at the end

The Design of Early Childhood Teacher Education Programs: Australian Employer Perspectives with International Program Comparisons

Provision of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) supports children’s learning with strong agreement that early childhood teachers (ECTs) are central to quality provision. In many countries, it is mandatory that ECEC services employ ECTs. However, Australian ECT employers report that early childhood graduates are not always well-prepared to work in ECEC settings. This may be because what constitutes optimal early childhood initial teacher education programs (EC ITE) is unclear. To investigate the design of EC ITE programs this research reports on (i) design of EC ITE programs across international contexts; and (ii) 19 Australian ECT employers’ perspectives on EC ITE program design. Findings indicate little consensus on the design of EC ITE programs, with inconsistencies across and within countries. Australian employers identified shortcomings in graduates knowledge. This research highlights recommendations to understand how programs prepare ECTs, by conducting research tracking preservice teachers from EC ITE programs into ECEC teaching

The Potential of Three Computer-Based Communication Activities for Supporting Older Adult Independent Living

Technology has become an increasingly integral part of life. For example, technology allows individuals to stay in touch with loved ones, obtain medical services through telehealthcare, and enjoy an overall higher quality of life. Particularly for older adults, using technology increases the likelihood that they will maintain their independence and autonomy. Long-distance caregiving has recently become a feasible option where caregivers for older adults can access reports and information about their loved one’s patterns that day (e.g., food and medication intake). Technology may be able to offset age-related challenges (e.g., caregiving, accessing healthcare, decreased social networks) by applying technology to the needs of older adults. Solutions for meeting such challenges, however, have been less targeted. In addition, the healthcare system is evolving to focus on providing options and services in the home. This has direct implications for older adults, as the majority of healthcare services are utilized by older adults. Research is still at the beginning stages of developing successful technology tools that are compatible with older adult users. Therefore, the design, implementation, and outcome of such computer-based communication activities will be discussed in this paper in order to guide future endeavors in technology marketed for older adults

ntLink: a toolkit for de novo genome assembly scaffolding and mapping using long reads

With the increasing affordability and accessibility of genome sequencing data, de novo genome assembly is an important first step to a wide variety of downstream studies and analyses. Therefore, bioinformatics tools that enable the generation of high-quality genome assemblies in a computationally efficient manner are essential. Recent developments in long-read sequencing technologies have greatly benefited genome assembly work, including scaffolding, by providing long-range evidence that can aid in resolving the challenging repetitive regions of complex genomes. ntLink is a flexible and resource-efficient genome scaffolding tool that utilizes long-read sequencing data to improve upon draft genome assemblies built from any sequencing technologies, including the same long reads. Instead of using read alignments to identify candidate joins, ntLink utilizes minimizer-based mappings to infer how input sequences should be ordered and oriented into scaffolds. Recent improvements to ntLink have added important features such as overlap detection, gap-filling and in-code scaffolding iterations. Here, we present three basic protocols demonstrating how to use each of these new features to yield highly contiguous genome assemblies, while still maintaining ntLink's proven computational efficiency. Further, as we illustrate in the alternate protocols, the lightweight minimizer-based mappings that enable ntLink scaffolding can also be utilized for other downstream applications, such as misassembly detection. With its modularity and multiple modes of execution, ntLink has broad benefit to the genomics community, from genome scaffolding and beyond. ntLink is an open-source project and is freely available from https://github.com/bcgsc/ntLink.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figure

Effect of Reduced Stator-blade Trailing-edge Thickness on Over-all Performance of a Transonic Turbine

A transonic turbine with a stator trailing-edge thickness reduced from 0.030 to 0.010 inch has been investigated experimentally. The performance results indicated an increase in efficiency of 0.6 of a point at design operation, and as much as 2.4 points at off-design conditions, as a result of reducing the trailing-edge thickness. This improvement could only be partially accounted for by the theoretical change in mixing loss for the two stator-blade rows, and it was felt that the improvement was largely due to a reduced amount of low-velocity fluids entering the rotor and the interference effect of these fluids whth the mainstream flow

The invasive strawberry blossom weevil, Anthonomus rubi Herbst (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), uses Dasiphora fruticosa for reproduction in British Columbia

The first North American report of the Eurasian strawberry blossom weevil, Anthonomus rubi Herbst was in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia (BC), Canada in 2019. This weevil feeds on and reproduces in closed developing flower buds of plants in the family Rosaceae, including small fruit crops, ornamental plants, and non-crop plants outside of crop fields. In its native range, A. rubi has been observed feeding and ovipositing on shrubby cinquefoil, Dasiphora fruticosa. In the Fraser Valley, D. fruticosa is a commonly grown landscaping shrub and therefore could serve as an important non-crop host for A. rubi. To investigate the potential of D. fruticosa as a host for A. rubi, we monitored four landscaping beds containing D. fruticosa for A. rubi adults, immature stages, and parasitoids that target immature stages of A. rubi during the 2022 growing season. We collected damaged flower buds weekly and monitored for weevil and parasitoid emergence. We observed A. rubi adults feeding on flowers and ovipositing in D. fruticosa buds at all field sites. Adult weevils emerged from 45% of collected clipped buds and two species of parasitoid wasps from the genus Pteromalus Swederus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), emerged from A. rubi damaged buds. Parasitism levels were low at all surveyed sites, with a mean parasitism rate of 1.4%. This is the first report of A. rubi using D. fruticosa as a host plant in North America and suggests that this plant could be an important non-crop host for A. rubi in the newly invaded range, where attack by natural enemies is low