WHAT SHOULD WHOLESALERS AND RETAILERS DO?

Agribusiness,

OPPORTUNITIES AND NEEDS FOR PERSONAL COMPUTERS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Small carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae) from burrows of Geomys and Thomomys pocket gophers (Rodentia: Geomyidae) in the United States

The cholevine beetles inhabiting burrows of Geomys and Thomomys pocket gophers (Rodentia: Geomyidae) are reviewed. Catops geomysi n. sp. and Ptomaphagus geomysi n. sp. are described. Both of these species and Ptomaphagus schwarzi Hatch appear to be regular and obligate inhabitants of Geomys burrows b~t are not host specific. Nemadus hornii Hatch, Sciodrepoides watsoni horn ian us (Blanchard), Catops s~mplex Say, Ptomaphagus cavernicola Schwarz, Ptomaphagus consobrinus (LeConte), Ptomaphagus fisus Horn, and Ptomaphagus texanus Horn were less frequently collected and are probably facultative inhabitants of Geomys burrows, as well as nests or dens of other small mammals. Ptomaphagus nevadicus Horn is an inhabitant of ~)Urrows of Thomomys pocket gophers in western North America. A key to the species of Ptomaphagus III the southeastern Gulf Coastal Plain, from non-cave habitats, is provided to aid in their identification

A summary of the endemic beetle genera of the West Indies (Insecta: Coleoptera); bioindicators of the evolutionary richness of this Neotropical archipelago

The Caribbean Islands (or the West Indies) are recognized as one of the leading global biodiversity hot spots. This is based on data on species, genus, and family diversity for vascular plants and non-marine vertebrates. This paper presents data on genus level endemicity for the most speciose (but less well publicised) group of terrestrial animals: the beetles, with 205 genera (in 25 families) now recognized as being endemic (restricted) to the West Indies. The predominant families with endemic genera are Cerambycidae (41), Chrysomelidae (28), Curculionidae (26), and Staphylinidae (25). This high level of beetle generic endemicity can be extrapolated to suggest that a total of about 700 genera of all insects could be endemic to the West Indies. This far surpasses the total of 269 endemic genera of all plants and non-marine vertebrates, and reinforces the biodiversity richness of the insect fauna of the West Indies.Las islas del Caribe (o Indias Occidentales) son reconocidas como uno de los principales hotspots de la biodiversidad global. Esto se basa en datos sobre la diversidad de especies, géneros y familias de plantas vasculares y vertebrados no-marinos. Este trabajo presenta datos sobre la endemicidad a nivel genérico para el más especioso (pero menos popularizado) grupo de animales terrestres: los escarabajos, con 205 géneros (en 25 familias) reconocidos al presente como endémicos (restringidos) a las Indias Occidentales. Las familias predominantes en géneros endémicos son Cerambycidae (41), Chrysomelidae (28), Curculionidae (26) y Staphylinidae (25). Este alto nivel de endemicidad genérica en los escarabajos puede extrapolarse a sugerir que alrededor de 700 géneros pudieran ser endémicos entre todos los insectos de las Indias Occidentales. Esto sobrepasa ampliamente el total de 269 géneros endémicos de plantas y vertebrados no-marinos y refuerza la riqueza en biodiversidad de la fauna de insectos en las Indias Occidentales

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WEST

Environmental Economics and Policy,

Effects of Climate Change on Water Resources

Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q25, Q54,

Conceptual design for spacelab pool boiling experiment

A pool boiling heat transfer experiment to be incorporated with a larger two-phase flow experiment on Spacelab was designed to confirm (or alter) the results of earth-normal gravity experiments which indicate that the hydrodynamic peak and minimum pool boiling heat fluxes vanish at very low gravity. Twelve small sealed test cells containing water, methanol or Freon 113 and cylindrical heaters of various sizes are to be built. Each cell will be subjected to one or more 45 sec tests in which the surface heat flux on the heaters is increased linearly until the surface temperature reaches a limiting value of 500 C. The entire boiling process will be photographed in slow-motion. Boiling curves will be constructed from thermocouple and electric input data, for comparison with the motion picture records. The conduct of the experiment will require no more than a few hours of operator time

The persistence of drought impacts across growing seasons: a dynamic stochastic analysis

Agricultural producers throughout much of the United States experienced one of the most severe droughts in the last 100 years during the years 1999-2006. The prolonged nature of this drought highlights a need to better understand the impacts and management of drought across growing seasons, rather than just within a growing season. Producers express specific concern about the tendency of drought impacts to persist even after drought itself has subsided. The persistence of drought impacts has received limited attention in the economics literature. The objectives of this study are two-fold: 1) to determine whether inter-year dynamics, in the form of agronomic constraints and financial flows, can cause persistence of a drought's impact in years subsequent to the drought, and 2) to determine whether the impact of one year of drought can alter the impact of a subsequent year of drought. A multi-year, dynamic and stochastic decision model is developed in a discrete stochastic programming framework and solved to address the objectives. The structure and parameters of the farm-level model are based on irrigated row crop farms in eastern Oregon, USA. Analysis of the model's solution reveals the following results: 1) the impact of a drought can persist long after the drought subsides, and 2) the impact of one year of drought can alter the impact of a subsequent year of drought. Potential implications for the administration of drought-related assistance are discussed briefly.Drought, preparedness, response, uncertainty, dynamics, discrete stochastic programming, agriculture, irrigation, eastern Oregon, row crops, crop rotation, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Variation in size of living articulated brachiopods with latitude and depth

Geographical variations in animal characters are one of the main subjects for study in macroecology. Variation with latitude has received special interest. Articulated brachiopods are possibly the commonest macrofossil with large variations in size of taxa through the fossil record. Here, we investigate trends in size of the 3 main orders of articulated brachiopod with latitude and depth. Data were insufficient to identify patterns in Thecideida (a micromorph taxon only recorded from low latitudes). Rhynchonellida had no clear trends in size with latitude or depth. Terebratulida exhibited hemispheric differences in size relations, with increasing length of species towards the pole in the south and no significant trend in the north. Tropical species were small (<20 mm length between 10°N and 10°S), and the largest species were found between 30° and 60° latitude in both hemispheres. There were no articulated brachiopods recorded from the high arctic, and support for a continuous trend in size with latitude was small or absent. In Terebratulida, there was a significant decrease in species length with depth of 1.7 mm per 100 m depth increase. These trends could be explained by competition for space and reduced availability of habitat with progressive depth beyond the continental shelf