Nueva especie de grillo mirmecófilo de Mallorca, islas Baleares, España (Orthoptera, Myrmecophilidae)

A new species of ant-loving cricket, Myrmecophilus fuscus sp. n., is described and illustrated, based on individuals collected on the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain. Lasius lasioides (Emery, 1869) was the host ant species. The habitat was evergreen oak forest. The holotype specimen was deposited in the collection of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Genève. The species is closely related to Myrmecophilus acervorum (Panzer, [1799]) and belongs to the subgenus Myrmecophilus Berthold, 1827.Se describe e ilustra una nueva especie de grillo mirmecófilo, Myrmecophilus fuscus sp. n., procedente de la isla de Mallorca (islas Baleares, España). Lasius lasioides (Emery, 1869) es la especie hospedadora y su hábitat es el bosque perenne de roble. El holotipo se ha depositado en la colección del Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Ginebra. La nueva especie está estrechamente relacionada con Myrmecophilus acervorum (Panzer, [1799]) y pertenece al subgénero Myrmecophilus Berthold, 1827

OUT INTO THE WILDS: A GAY MARINE\u27S JOURNEY TOWARDS SELF-ACCEPTANCE

(A segment of a book-length project) Struggling with divorce, the death of his father and coming to terms with his sexuality, a former Force Recon Marine abandons the thought of suicide and decides, instead, to retreat to the wilds in a desperate attempt to make sense of thing. Hiking by himself for more than 1,000 miles, over three months, mostly off-trail through some of the most remote and wild country left in the United States, the author writes of his encounters with wolves, grizzlies, mountain lions and, more importantly, himself. In the wilds, the author writes, there are no societal-created norms and expectations. everything is what it is. A Grizzly might judge me as a possible threat or feast but doesn\u27t care who I love or sleep with. A mixture or wilderness adventure, natural history and self-discovery, the narrator takes along on his physical and emotional journey as he faces a lifetime of deceit and begins to understand and embrace his darkest secrets and authentic self

Best Practice Spiritual Formation Models in the Christian Hybrid Church

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore best practice spiritual formation models and the perceived effectiveness of spiritual formation in the hybrid church community brick-and-mortar and online church settings for individuals in Christian hybrid churches. The concern was whether the churches effectively implemented best practice models through their traditional brick-and-mortar locations and digital platforms that would cause individuals within the Christian community to experience spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is generally defined as “the holistic work of God in a believer’s life whereby systematic change renders the individual continually closer to the image and actions of Jesus Christ” (Pettit, 2008, p. 19). In the model of social network formation, Centola (2010) suggested, “Many behaviors spread through social contact. As a result, the network structure of who is connected to whom can critically affect the extent to which a behavior diffuses across a population” (para. 1). Interpretative phenomenological analysis was an appropriate qualitative design for collecting data via semistructured interviews, allowing participants to respond to open-ended questions and provide insight in their personal experiences. Nine purposively selected participants provided sufficient data to answer the research questions. The sample comprised Pastors, Elders, Directors of Spiritual Formation and Christian Education, and congregants who had attended the traditional or online church community at least twice weekly for a minimum of 1 year. The video-recorded virtual interviews underwent transcription and upload into Dedoose software for coding and data analysis, including reviewing and examining data from individual interviews. Common themes and patterns emerged from coding. The findings showed that with effective models in place for digital platform interaction, using digital platforms to attend church—including Biblical teachings, engagement opportunities, prayer, and connecting—could encourage spiritual formation in an individual’s life just as in a local physical church setting

The search for and identification of amino acids, nucleobases and nucleosides in samples returned from Mars

An investigation of the returned Mars samples for biologically important organic compounds, with emphasis on amino acid, the puring and pyrimidine bases, and nucleosides is proposed. These studies would be conducted on subsurface samples obtained by drilling past the surface oxidizing layer with emphasis on samples containing the larges quantities of organic carbon as determined by the rover gas chromatographic mass spectrometer (GCMS). Extraction of these molecules from the returned samples will be performed using the hydrothermal extraction technique described by Cheng and Ponnamperuma. More rigorous extraction methods will be developed and evaluated. For analysis of the extract for free amino acids or amino acids present in a bound or peptidic form, aliquots will be analyzed by capillary GCMS both before and after hydrolysis with 6N hydrochloric acid. Establishment of the presence of amino acids would then lead to the next logical step which would be the use of chiral stationary gas chromatography phases to determine the enatiomeic composition of the amino acids present, and thus potentially establish their biotic or abiotic origin. Confirmational analyses for amino acids would include ion-exchange and reversed-phase liquid chromatographic analysis. For analyses of the returned Mars samples for nucleobases and nucleosides, affinity and reversed-phase liquid chromatography would be utilized. This technology coupled with scanning UV detection for identification, presents a powerful tool for nucleobase and nucleoside analysis. Mass spectrometric analysis of these compounds would confirm their presence in samples returned form Mars