INCREASING NURSERY CROP CANOPY DENSITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE INSECT PEST MANAGEMENT

Consumers are attracted to woody ornamental plants that have symmetrical, dense canopies. In order to get the desired canopy density and symmetry, growers often manipulate growth by pruning or applying chemical plant growth regulators. Another method of acquiring a dense plant canopy is for growers to purchase in vitro-propagated liners instead of traditional cutting-propagated liners. This work analyzed the validity of all three methods on several woody ornamental species. Liners from Cutting-propagated (CP) and in vitro-propagated (IVP) sources were purchased and treatments of pruning and PGRs were applied. Pruning only increased the canopy density of rhododendron (Rhododendron L. ‘Roseum Elegans’) and was even more effective when IVP plants were pruned. PGRs were generally ineffective on all species with the exception of blueberry (Vaccinum corymbosum L. ‘Duke’). IVP clethra (Clethra alnifolia L. ‘Hummingbird’) and rhododendron had greater canopy density than their CP counterparts. A dense plant canopy attracts customers more easily than a sparse canopy. However, as canopy density increases, the grower’s ability to achieve adequate spray penetration within the canopy decreases, causing insecticide application to be ineffective at controlling pests within the interior of the canopy. If insect pest populations within the plant canopy are not decreased by chemical application events, it is possible that natural enemy populations within the plant canopy will also be unaffected and therefore continue to aid in pest control. However, we cannot be certain that natural enemies will be within the plant canopy when an insecticide application occurs. In order to achieve the most effective pest control strategy, growers should apply chemicals that control insect pests but do not harm natural enemies. Systemic insecticides are generally thought to be safer for insects that do not directly ingest the plant material. A worse-case scenario was conducted where natural enemies were trapped in arenas with residue of a systemic or contact insecticide. Reactions to both systemic and contact insecticides were inconsistent between three species implying that no insecticide is inherently “safe” for all natural enemies

The Science of Happiness and its Effect on Professional Quality of Life in Mental Health Providers

Abstract OBJECTIVE: The science of happiness is part of the field of positive psychology, which should not be confused with positive thinking, self-help, or religious beliefs, but is considered a scientific evidence- based practice. The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive, study was to examine the relationship of education on the science of happiness and a gratitude intervention on subjective happiness and professional quality of life of mental health care providers. METHODS: The mental healthcare providers for this study included psychiatrists, advanced practice nurses, physician’s assistants, psychologists, social -work and registered nurses in a large medical system in Tennessee and Kentucky. The PERMA and CREATION health theoretical models were used for this scholarly project. This study utilized two Survey Monkey surveys and included the Subjective Happiness Scale and the Professional Quality of Life: Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue: Version Five (ProQOL) as pre- and post- tests. The intervention included viewing a video by Sonya Lyubomirsky on the science of happiness followed by the participants keeping a gratitude journal for three weeks. There was data obtained from three qualitative questions, concerning personal happiness, the effects of keeping a gratitude journal, and suggestions to improve overall professional quality of life. RESULTS: The study was presented to 430 mental health providers in a large medical system in Tennessee and Kentucky in December 2020. Ten respondents completed both the pre and post-tests and the data were analyzed using a Wilcoxon Rank Test which did not show a statistically significant difference in the pre and post test scores after viewing the science of happiness video 5 THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS and keeping the gratitude journal for three weeks. The data did show a moderate positive correlation between the subjective happiness scores and the secondary traumatic stress scores. CONCLUSIONS: Although this study did not show a statistically significant difference on the overall subjective happiness and quality of life scales with the utilization of the interventions of the science of happiness education and the gratitude journaling, there was useful clinical data obtained. The data showed a moderate positive correlation between higher levels of happiness and secondary traumatic stress scores. It is theorized that the higher secondary traumatic stress scores are related to the increased empathy levels of the providers. Further research with this provider population may provide clues to causation, early diagnosis, and treatment modalities for burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress

Controlling Prairie Dog Damage.

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Enhancing the performance of dowel type fasteners and a case study of timber truss failure

This document will outline the findings of three separate and independent studies: Study 1: In or around 1972, an experimental building was constructed. One of the intents of the construction project was to demonstrate advancements in wood building construction design. It was value-engineered throughout. That is, its materials and systems were intended to function at or near design capacity. In 2019, part of the roof of the structure collapsed. This case study investigates two potential factors that led to the failure: stress concentration in excess of the 12 allowable stress for 2 × 4 web members and insufficient plywood sheathing to support live loads 13 caused by large rain events. Study 2: As a building material, cross laminated timber (CLT) has exponentially grown in popularity recently. Although performing superior to numerous other popular building materials, a consistent issue presented in wood construction is the effect of moisture on performance. This study looks to investigate the effect of moisture content on the performance of a 2-way dowel type fastener system loaded in shear perpendicular to the major strength axis. It was found that the peak load capacity of the specimens was not affected by the moisture content of the CLT. However, yield strength increased as the moisture content decreased. Lastly it was found that the failure mode changed from ductile to brittle as specimens became drier than 12% moisture content by mass. Study 3: Inherently, the weak point of any structure is the connection system. This phenomenon is particularly apparent in wooden structures as dowel type fasteners place tremendous amounts of stress perpendicular to the grain of the wood, as well as shear stress under the bolt. In hopes of mitigating this behavior, fiberglass reinforcement of these samples is examined to see if both failure mode as well as overall performance of these fasteners could be improved with reinforcement. It was found that fiberglass significantly reduced the standard deviation of failure strength of fasteners, significantly increased the overall strength of the fasteners, increased the efficiency of the fasteners, and finally increased the probability of bearing failure opposed to block shear failure

Perception, Pitch, and Musical Chords

In this dissertation, I argue that hearing a musical chord—a simultaneity of two or more notes perceived as a single object—is perceptually different from hearing separate concurrent tones, and that the object status of chords shapes our experience of listening to harmonic music. Following an outline of the acoustic and contextual cues that promote chordal listening, I offer a series of performance strategies based on these cues that maximize the likeliness of hearing a sonority as a chord. I then argue that these strategies played a role in the development of the Western practice of harmonic tonality, and that the design and use of polyphonic instruments in the late Renaissance period enabled many of these strategies to be applied within musical practice. A further investigation of contextual and experience-based factors in chord perception is conducted in a pair of experiments, in which the listener is asked to recognize or “hear out” a tone from within a three-tone sonority. A listener who perceives a sonority as a chord is better able to perceive its emergent features, which are defined as properties of the whole that are not necessarily properties of its parts. I examine the emergent feature of pitch—a familiar property of the musical tone in both perceptual and theoretical descriptions—using the virtual pitch model proposed by Ernst Terhardt, and I outline the conditions in which a listener might perceive a chord as bearing an emergent pitch. An analysis of the opening sonority of Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms gives an example of how chord pitch may be used as a compositional resource. Drawing upon the conclusions of this analysis, I suggest how further research on perceiving chords’ emergent features—in particular the perceptual correlate of the music-theoretical concept of chord quality—could be applied to develop a more complete understanding of how we experience chords

Appeals from Pleas of Guilty and Nolo Contendere: History and Procedural Considerations.

The changing history of appeal rights—made through decisional interpretation by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals—highlights the importance of staying current on interpretations of procedural and substantive rules. Lawyers owe their clients a duty to understand the history of the right to appeal from a conviction following a guilty plea. Additionally, they owe their clients a duty to understand substantive and procedural requirements for maintaining such appeals, as well as to stay abreast of changes affecting these appeals. Recently, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals handed down several opinions drastically reshaping the landscape for appeals following pleas of guilty and nolo contendere. In Texas, statutes grant criminal defendants the right to appeal. According to the 1965 Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, a defendant’s right to appeal includes appealing convictions from pleas of guilty or nolo contendere. In 1985, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals promulgated the original Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. The Rules allowed for the repeal of certain articles of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure that previously governed post-trial, appellate, and review procedures in criminal cases. Then, in 1997, the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals amended the Rules of Appellate Procedure. Consequently, there are several important historical and procedural considerations to be aware of when filing appeals from pleas of guilty and nolo contendere. Lawyers practicing criminal law should keep in mind the pace at which changes have developed and prepare for future changes in order to effectively represent their clients

A Case Study of Middle School Teachers\u27 Preparations for High-Stakes Assessments

Students, educators, and schools across the country have been presented with challenges as a result of rigorous standards and high-complexity tests. The problem addressed in this case study was that teachers in a rural middle school in a southeastern state were preparing students to take a new high-stakes state-mandated assessment in English language arts with very little information about what should be done to best prepare students to perform well. Danielson\u27s work on instructional leaders, Webb\u27s work on alignment of standards and assessments, and Tankersley\u27s research on alignment of instruction and assessment provided the frameworks for the study. The participants were 6 teachers and 2 administrators at a local rural middle school who either taught English language arts or supervised those teachers before the first administrations of the new test. The research questions were designed to gather through interviews, local educators\u27 descriptions of their test preparation methods, activities, the information and training provided to them prior to the new tests, and their views about what was needed to better prepare students. Interview data were coded and analyzed for common themes. Findings were that participants felt they had limited prior information about the tests, that their previous instructional methods were ineffective, and that local teachers needed training in order to design and implement effective reading instruction aligned with test objectives to better prepare students for more rigorous academic tasks. This study and the resulting professional development project for teachers have the potential to affect positive social change at the local level by helping teachers improve literacy instruction aligned with standards and assessments. Consequently, students will be better prepared to access the increased rigor of the standards and the assessments