Survival and Phenology of \u3ci\u3eAgrilus Planipennis\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Reared on a Newly Developed Artificial Diet Free of Host Material

The final phase in the development of an artificial diet that contains no ash host material and the phenology of the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Bupresidae) on that diet are documented. A diet containing powdered ash phloem exists, but host material introduces potential variability and contamination, and the cost and effort needed to collect and process it can be high. The post-embryonic development of A. planipennis was evaluated on four artificial diets lacking host material, and effects of variations in diet layer thickness and moisture content were also investigated. The best diet and rearing method resulted in 67.8% survival to pupation and 51% to adult. Larval size and development rate were comparable to published accounts for emerald ash borer larvae developing on susceptible host plants. Important advances include reduction of antimicrobial components to the lowest functional level; change of protein sources from wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, and casein to soy flour and casein; reduction of diet moisture content to 50%; and adding a fresh layer of diet to spent diet half-way through larval development. The artificial diet represents a step toward the development of a standardized mass- production system for A. planipennis

The General Consistent Labeling (or Constraint Satisfaction) Problem

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154162/1/39015099114897.pd

The Consistent Labeling Problem, Part 4: The Generalized Forward Checking and Word-wise Forward Checking Algorithms

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154145/1/39015099114590.pd

Three Constraint Satisfaction Algorithms and Their Complexities: Search-Order Dependent and Effectively Instance-Specific Results

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154154/1/39015099114749.pd

Role of epidermal growth factor receptor activation in regulating mucin synthesis

Healthy individuals have few goblet cells in their airways, but in patients with hypersecretory diseases goblet-cell upregulation results in mucus hypersecretion, airway plugging, and death. Multiple stimuli produce hypersecretion via epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and activation, causing goblet-cell metaplasia from Clara cells by a process of cell differentiation. These cells are also believed to be the cells of origin of non-small-cell lung cancer, but this occurs via cell multiplication. The mechanisms that determine which pathway is chosen are critical but largely unknown. Although no effective therapy exists for hypersecretion at present, the EGFR cascade suggests methods for effective therapeutic intervention

Representation-Selection for Constraint Satisfaction Problems: A Case Study Using n-Queens

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154179/1/39015100081804.pd

Elevated central venous pressure: A consequence of exercise training-induced hypervolemia

Resting plasma volumes, and arterial and central venous pressures (CVP) were measured in 16 men before and after exercise training to determine if training-induced hypervolemia could be explained by a change in total vascular capacitance. In addition, resting levels of plasma vasopressin (AVP), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), aldosterone (ALD), and norepinephrine (NE) were measured before and after training. The same measurements of vacular volume, pressures, and plasma hormones were measured in 8 subjects who did not undergo exercise and acted as controls. The exercise training program consisted of 10 weeks of controlled cycle exercise for 30 min/d, 4 d/wk at 75 to 80 percent of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max). A training effect was verified by a 20 percent increase in VO2max, a resting bradycardia, and a 370 ml (9 percent) increase in blood volume. Mean arterial blood pressure was unaltered by exercise training, but resting CVP increased. The percent change in blood volume from before to after training was linearly related to the percent change in CVP. As a consequence of elevations in both blood volume and CVP, the volume-to-pressure ratio was essentially unchanged following exercise training. Plasma AVP, ANP, ALD, and NE were unaltered. Results indicate that elevated CVP is a consequence of training-induced hypervolemia without alteration in total effective venous capacitance. This may represent a resetting of the pressure-volume stimulus-response relation for regulation of blood volume

Development of mathematical models of environmental physiology

Selected articles concerned with mathematical or simulation models of human thermoregulation are presented. The articles presented include: (1) development and use of simulation models in medicine, (2) model of cardio-vascular adjustments during exercise, (3) effective temperature scale based on simple model of human physiological regulatory response, (4) behavioral approach to thermoregulatory set point during exercise, and (5) importance of skin temperature in sweat regulation

Automated Benchmarking of Incremental SAT and QBF Solvers

Incremental SAT and QBF solving potentially yields improvements when sequences of related formulas are solved. An incremental application is usually tailored towards some specific solver and decomposes a problem into incremental solver calls. This hinders the independent comparison of different solvers, particularly when the application program is not available. As a remedy, we present an approach to automated benchmarking of incremental SAT and QBF solvers. Given a collection of formulas in (Q)DIMACS format generated incrementally by an application program, our approach automatically translates the formulas into instructions to import and solve a formula by an incremental SAT/QBF solver. The result of the translation is a program which replays the incremental solver calls and thus allows to evaluate incremental solvers independently from the application program. We illustrate our approach by different hardware verification problems for SAT and QBF solvers.Comment: camera-ready version (8 pages + 2 pages appendix), to appear in the proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Logic for Programming, Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning (LPAR), LNCS, Springer, 201