Exploration of Neuronal Responses to Auditory Stimuli in Dragonflies

To date there is no scientific evidence that dragonflies (Odonata), have a nervous system equipped to process auditory stimuli. Even with considerable research on these creatures due to their specialized vision and flight mechanics, there is no evidence that dragonflies have ears or even auditory neurons. Last year student Andrew Hamlin and Professor Robert Olberg recorded neuronal responses in the dragonfly to auditory stimuli of 100-2000Hz sounds (Olberg and Hamlin, unpublished). This year our research was aimed at understanding a sensory modality that was previously unknown in dragonflies, the sense of hearing. In order to investigate this question we used behavioral and electrophysiological studies on the live dragonflies Anax junius and Aeshna constricta. Behaviorally, dragonflies were loosely tethered to a standing mount allowing free movement while computer-generated sound stimuli were played to the animal and video-recorded. Electrophysiological studies were done by extracellular recording of the ventral nerve cord to observe neuronal activity in response to these computer-generated frequencies (50Hz – 22KHz). Due to the electrical and mechanical properties of a speaker, low range frequencies (100-200Hz) were used to conduct sound waves that directly contacted the dragonfly (near-field sound) while staying out of the electrical field of the speaker itself. This inhibited the electrical field of the speaker from being picked up in the extracellular recordings. We observed body movements to near-field sound waves in behavioral studies that backed up the initial observations. Our electrophysiological studies showed that sound waves do not stimulate an auditory sense through a tympanum but apparently stimulate mechanoreceptors on the body. This mechanoreception is subtle and highly dependent on the quality of the recording but does exist. Our findings suggest that the behavioral responses of dragonflies to loud sounds may be mediated by mechanoreceptors, such as sensory hairs, distributed across the body of the dragonfly.https://digitalworks.union.edu/steinmetz_posters/1005/thumbnail.jp

The Exploration of Neuronal Responses to Auditory Stimuli in the Dragonflies, Anax junius and Aeshna Constricta

To date there is no published evidence that dragonflies (Odonata), have a nervous system equipped to process auditory stimuli. Even with considerable research on these creatures due to their specialized vision and flight mechanics, there is no evidence that dragonflies have ears or even auditory neurons. Last year student Andrew Hamlin and Professor Robert Olberg recorded neuronal responses in the dragonfly to auditory stimuli of 100-2000Hz sounds (Olberg and Hamlin, unpublished). This year our research was aimed at understanding a sensory modality that was previously unknown in dragonflies, the sense of hearing. In order to investigate this question we used behavioral and electrophysiological studies on the Aeshnid dragonfly Anax junius and various Aeshna species. Behaviorally, dragonflies were loosely tethered to a standing mount allowing free movement while computer-generated sound stimuli were played to the animal and video-recorded. Electrophysiological studies were done by extracellular recording of the ventral nerve cord to detect neuronal activity in response to these computer-generated frequencies (50Hz – 22KHz). This study suggested that sound waves do stimulate an auditory sense through a tympanum or external ear in dragonflies. This is an extremely subtle sense in these highly visual creatures but it is consistent in the far field of a sound wave meaning the response is characteristic of an external ear and not mediated by mechanoreception or sensory hairs

Bureaucracy and professionalism in an educational organisation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education at Massey University

The development of human societies has been in essence a development of forms of social organisation. In modern societies, social organisation is complex, diverse, and characterised by conditions of industrialisation, division of labour, urbanisation, and the aggregation of individuals into large organisations with specific purposes. One form of social organisation which has developed to maintain social relationships in such conditions is the bureaucracy. Bureaucracies as structures, or systems of rational procedures deliberately set up to achieve specifically prescribed social ends, affect to some degree the lives of all citizens of modern societies. Educational organisations are bureaucratised to varying degrees, and the rapid and accelerating demand for popular education suggests that bureaucratisation is likely to be a dominating characteristic of education in the future

Knowledge modeling for software design

This paper develops a modeling framework for systems engineering that encompasses systems modeling, task modeling, and knowledge modeling, and allows knowledge engineering and software engineering to be seen as part of a unified developmental process. This framework is used to evaluate what novel contributions the 'knowledge engineering' paradigm has made and how these impact software engineering

The Corporeal Idea

The act of transforming the ever elusive idea to the glorified art that appears on the “silver screen” is neither glamorous nor easy. I find the process often misrepresented in the eyes of the common viewer, and until the last four years of my undergraduate career, I saw through those same skewed eyes. The art of filmmaking is in its very essence a battle of wills and a test of endurance. It takes more than a great idea to breathe life into a project. It takes perseverance, preparation, cooperation, and most of all, a lot of luck! My experiences as an undergraduate in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting have shown me not only the value of these traits, but I have witnessed firsthand the value of the art itself

Heat and mass transfer by convection through large rectangular openings in vertical partitions

Summary: p.vi

The Legal Implications of Values Education

As Rushworth Kidder noted in another article in this issue, the mere mention of values education creates a stir among its advocates and detractors. Brian Shaw, a Portland attorney whose practice focuses in part on public school law, was asked by Maine Policy Review to address the legal issues involved in values education in public schools. The article includes an overview of those issues and, by way of illustration, a case study from a Maine school district