Attraction of Apple Maggot Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) to Synthetic Fruit Volatile Compounds and Food Attractants in Michigan Apple Orchards

The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh), is a serious pest of apples in the United States, requiring reliable monitoring and control programs. Various synthetic apple volatile lures with and without protein hydrolysate, ammonium acetate, or ammonium carbonate were evaluated from 1998-2000 for their attractiveness to R. pomonella adults with red sticky-sphere (9 cm diam.) monitoring traps. A blend consisting of butyl butanoate (10%), propyl hexano- ate (4%), butyl hexanoate (37%), hexyl butanoate (44%), and pentyl hexanoate (5%) was the most effective lure tested for attracting both sexes of R. pomonella adults during all three field seasons. The addition of protein hydrolysate or ammonium compounds to spheres baited with a commercial attractant (BioLure) consisting of plastic dispensers containing butyl hexanoate, did not significantly increase apple maggot fly captures. Spheres baited with the blend or with butyl hexanoate in polyethylene vials and spheres baited with BioLure dispensers were highly selective in capturing R. pomonella flies relative to non-target insects. However, spheres baited with ammonium compounds with or without synthetic apple lures were non-selective with respect to apple maggot captures. Protein hydrolysate alone was ineffective for monitoring R. pomonella flies. We provide further evidence that baiting red-sticky sphere traps with the volatile blend without ammonium bait additives creates a highly effective and selective device for capturing apple maggot flies. The blend could be an important addition to current monitoring and control programs for apple maggot flies in Michigan orchards and other important apple growing regions

Investigating prediction in L2 morpho-syntax: A visual world study

When speakers of gendered languages hear determiners, they anticipate nouns that share the determiner’s gender. We examined whether beginning L2 learners anticipate upcoming nouns using determiners’ number/grammatical gender, as a function of 1) cross-language similarity and 2) reliability in mapping of the determiner to an upcoming noun. Native English speakers were taught Dutch nouns, and determiners that were “Similar” or “Different” in English and Dutch, and “Unique” to Dutch. Half the participants were taught determiners that had reliable, one-to-one mapping to upcoming nouns, and the other half was taught a determiner that mapped to more than one type of noun. We tracked eye movements to pairs of pictures while participants listened to partial determiner-final Dutch sentences; they identified by button press which picture best completed the sentence. Accuracy was higher for Similar than Different and Unique sentences, and reaction time (RT) was faster for Similar than Different and Unique sentences. Cross-language similarity also influenced how quickly participants looked to the target after hearing the determiner. Reliability effects were most evident in RT data, which showed that participants in the High reliability group responded more quickly than those in the Low reliability group. Cross-language similarity appears to modulate the learnability of mapping a determiner to its noun, suggesting that beginning L2 learners can use morpho-syntax to make predictions during online sentence comprehension

Efficient M-Commerce Platform for Developing Countries

Mobile phones have become an integral part of a vast majority of people’s daily lives. It is becoming rare to conduct any form of communication between individuals without a mobile phone. Research continues on the integration of mobile phones and e-commerce solutions. Developed countries already use systems for such commercial transactions however developing countries, for example those in the Caribbean, face challenges in adopting such systems. This paper proposes a system that would allow users to carry out financial transactions with their mobile phones as well as manage their financial activities. The system, which we call PayPhone, allows customers in developing countries to pay for items by tapping their phone against a terminal that supports Near-Field Communications (NFC). The system is compared to other systems such as the debit card based system, LINX, in the Caribbean and other systems in developing and developed countries. We also explore and discuss other possible short-range technology options

Management of Strawberry Insect and Mite Pests in Greenhouse and Field Crops

Strawberry is an important small fruit crop grown throughout the world due to its rich sources of vitamins and abundance of antioxidants. The US is the world’s leading producer of strawberries followed by Mexico. The main strawberry producing states are California followed by Florida, which produce >90% of the strawberries grown in the US. Strawberry production is often threatened by a host of arthropod pests that include insect and mite species. In order for the US to maintain its lead in strawberry production it is vital to develop effective management tools for key insect pests, diseases, and weeds. Some of the major arthropod pests that affect strawberry production include twospotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch, thrips, Frankliniella and Scirtothrips spp., armyworms, root-boring pests, and many different hemipterans that cause injury to the strawberry leaf and fruit including the tarnished plant bug, Lygus Hesperus, and the seed bug Neopamera bilobata Say. This chapter will summarize some of the key pests that can severely impact strawberry production. We have included some integrated management guidelines to curtail pest’s activities during a production season

An N-version electronic voting system

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-109).The ballot battles of the 2000 US Presidential Election clearly indicate that existing voting technologies and processes are not sufficient to guarantee that every eligible voter is granted their right to vote and implicitly to have that vote counted, as per the fifteenth, nineteenth, twenty fourth and twenty sixth amendments to the US constitution [1-3]. Developing a voting system that is secure, correct, reliable and trustworthy is a significant challenge to current technology [3, 4]. The Secure Architecture for Voting Electronically (SAVE) demonstrates that N-version programming increases the reliability and security of its systems, and can be used to increase the trustworthiness of systems. Further, SAVE demonstrates how a viable practical approach to voting can be created using N-version programming. SAVE represents a significant contribution to voting technology research because of its design, and also because it demonstrates the benefits of N-version programming and introduces these benefits to the field of voting technology.by Soyini D. Liburd.M.Eng

Attraction of Apple Maggot Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) to Synthetic Fruit Volatile Compounds and Food Attractants in Michigan Apple Orchards

The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh), is a serious pest of apples in the United States, requiring reliable monitoring and control programs. Various synthetic apple volatile lures with and without protein hydrolysate, ammonium acetate, or ammonium carbonate were evaluated from 1998-2000 for their attractiveness to R. pomonella adults with red sticky-sphere (9 cm diam.) monitoring traps. A blend consisting of butyl butanoate (10%), propyl hexano- ate (4%), butyl hexanoate (37%), hexyl butanoate (44%), and pentyl hexanoate (5%) was the most effective lure tested for attracting both sexes of R. pomonella adults during all three field seasons. The addition of protein hydrolysate or ammonium compounds to spheres baited with a commercial attractant (BioLure) consisting of plastic dispensers containing butyl hexanoate, did not significantly increase apple maggot fly captures. Spheres baited with the blend or with butyl hexanoate in polyethylene vials and spheres baited with BioLure dispensers were highly selective in capturing R. pomonella flies relative to non-target insects. However, spheres baited with ammonium compounds with or without synthetic apple lures were non-selective with respect to apple maggot captures. Protein hydrolysate alone was ineffective for monitoring R. pomonella flies. We provide further evidence that baiting red-sticky sphere traps with the volatile blend without ammonium bait additives creates a highly effective and selective device for capturing apple maggot flies. The blend could be an important addition to current monitoring and control programs for apple maggot flies in Michigan orchards and other important apple growing regions

Interdomain competition: Arabidopsis thaliana versus Soil Bacteria

Plants in their natural habits are constantly competing with other organisms.Arabidopsis thaliana is a model plant that must germinate and grow in the presence ofcommon soil bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. A.thalianamay compete with soil bacteria such as for water, micronutrients, and the carbohydrate produced by photosynthesis. If there is competition between plants and soil bacteria, conditions that favor the growth of microorganisms will negatively impact plant development.A. thaliana was grown in petri dishes inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. Murashige and Skoog agar, a plant growth media, was used initially, to favor plant growth. The experiment was done in both warm conditions, that favor bacteria, and cool conditions, that discourage bacterial growth, and at high and low concentrations of bacteria. Later in the experiment, the growth of P. aureginosa and B. subtilis was enhanced by adding nutrient broth to the petri dishes. We found that, under these conditions, the plants are only vulnerable to bacterial competition at the earliest stages, and only with low concentration of B. subtilis under warm conditions. Bacterial growth later in plant development actually seems to promote plant growth

A Plan for Economic Evaluation of Organic Blueberry Production in Georgia

Blueberry consumption is increasing across the United States. Georgia’s production value of conventional blueberries has exceeded that of peaches to reach a farm-gate value of $75 million. Demand for organic food products is increasing with United States gross sales at$16.9 billion in 2006. Economic feasibility of organic blueberries is uncertain creating risk in transitioning from conventional to organic production. The principal objective is to utilize field data to determine the costs of various production methods, by developing several enterprise budgets for each adopted technique., Crop Production/Industries,