Grasshoppers Feeding on Red Pine Trees in Michigan (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Very few North American grasshoppers are true feeders on conifers. The several species of the punctulatus species-group of the genus Melanoplus, as summarized and revised by Rehn (1946), have been reported as occurring on pine, juniper, and cedar, but few reports of actual feeding on conifers have appeared in the literature. Because of this paucity of information regarding the use of conifers as food for grasshoppers, we summarize here observations of several kinds of grasshoppers feeding on red pine (Pinus resinosa Aiton) in 1966 in Michigan

The Talent Agencies Act: Time for a Change

Several years ago, the Talent Agencies Act was an effective tool for regulating unscrupulous agents and would-be agents, and the Labor Commissioner was a rigorous enforcer of the law. As recently as two to three years ago, the Act was interpreted and enforced uniformly and strictly, and wreaked havoc on the personal management profession. However, more recently the Labor Commissioner has left much of the enforcement and interpretation of the Act up to the courts. Superior Court judges do not understand (or do not care to understand) the Act, and appellate justices appear to be just as confused. The author contends that the current administration of the Act protects those artists who could otherwise protect themselves while leaving relatively helpless artists with no effective recourse. As such, the author contends that the Act now protects unscrupulous agents and would-be agents, and that the time has come for a change

Eastern Range Extension of \u3ci\u3eLeptoglossus Occidentalis\u3c/i\u3e With a Key to Leptoglossus Species of America North of Mexico (Heteroptera: Coreidae)

Leptoglossus occidentalis is reported for the first time from Illinois and Michigan, and confirmed for Indiana. A key to the species of Leptoglossus occurring in America north of Mexico is presented

Design for Longevity: Ongoing Use of Instruments from NIME 2010-14

Every new edition of NIME brings dozens of new DMIs and the feeling that only a few of them will eventually break through. Previous work tried to address this issue with a deductive approach by formulating design frameworks; we addressed this issue with a inductive approach by elaborat- ing on successes and failures of previous DMIs. We contacted 97 DMI makers that presented a new instrument at five successive editions of NIME (2010-2014); 70 answered. They were asked to indicate the original motivation for designing the DMI and to present information about its uptake. Results confirmed that most of the instruments have di culties establishing themselves. Also, they were asked to reflect on the specific factors that facilitated and those that hindered instrument longevity. By grounding these reflections on existing reserach on NIME and HCI, we propose a series of design considerations for future DMIs

Reconciling long-term cultural diversity and short-term collective social behavior

An outstanding open problem is whether collective social phenomena occurring over short timescales can systematically reduce cultural heterogeneity in the long run, and whether offline and online human interactions contribute differently to the process. Theoretical models suggest that short-term collective behavior and long-term cultural diversity are mutually excluding, since they require very different levels of social influence. The latter jointly depends on two factors: the topology of the underlying social network and the overlap between individuals in multidimensional cultural space. However, while the empirical properties of social networks are well understood, little is known about the large-scale organization of real societies in cultural space, so that random input specifications are necessarily used in models. Here we use a large dataset to perform a high-dimensional analysis of the scientific beliefs of thousands of Europeans. We find that inter-opinion correlations determine a nontrivial ultrametric hierarchy of individuals in cultural space, a result unaccessible to one-dimensional analyses and in striking contrast with random assumptions. When empirical data are used as inputs in models, we find that ultrametricity has strong and counterintuitive effects, especially in the extreme case of long-range online-like interactions bypassing social ties. On short time-scales, it strongly facilitates a symmetry-breaking phase transition triggering coordinated social behavior. On long time-scales, it severely suppresses cultural convergence by restricting it within disjoint groups. We therefore find that, remarkably, the empirical distribution of individuals in cultural space appears to optimize the coexistence of short-term collective behavior and long-term cultural diversity, which can be realized simultaneously for the same moderate level of mutual influence

Simulation of sedimentary rock deformation: lab-scale model calibration and parameterization

Journal ArticleUnderstanding the mechanical behavior of rock is critical for researchers and decision-makers in fields from petroleum recovery to hazardous waste disposal. Traditional continuum-based numerical models are hampered by inadequate constitutive relationships governing fracture initiation and growth. To overcome limits associated with continuum models we employed a discrete model based on the fundamental laws of contact physics to calibrate triaxial tests. Results from simulations of triaxial compression tests on a suite of sedimentary rocks indicate that the basic physics of rock behavior are clearly captured. Evidence for this conclusion lie in the fact that one set of model parameters describes rock behavior at many confining pressures. The use of both inelastic and elastic parameters for comparison yields insight concerning the uniqueness of these models. These tests will facilitate development and calibration of larger scale discrete element models, which may be applied to a wide range of geological problems

Direct simulation of fluid-solid mechanics in porous media using the discrete element and lattice-Boltzmann methods

Journal ArticleA detailed understanding of the coupling between fluid and solid mechanics is important for understanding many processes in Earth sciences. Numerical models are a popular means for exploring these processes, but most models do not adequately handle all aspects of this coupling. This paper presents the application of a micromechanically based fluid-solid coupling scheme, lattice-Boltzmann discrete element method (LBDEM), for porous media simulation. The LBDEM approach couples the lattice-Boltzmann method for fluid mechanics and a discrete element method for solid mechanics. At the heart of this coupling is a previously developed boundary condition that has never been applied to coupled fluid-solid mechanics in porous media. Quantitative comparisons of model results to a one-dimensional analytical solution for fluid flow in a slightly deformable medium indicate a good match to the predicted continuum-scale fluid diffusion-like profile. Coupling of the numerical formulation is demonstrated through simulation of porous medium consolidation with the model capturing poroelastic behavior, such as the coupling between applied stress and fluid pressure rise. Finally, the LBDEM model is used to simulate the genesis and propagation of natural hydraulic fractures. The model provides insight into the relationship between fluid flow and propagation of fractures in strongly coupled systems. The LBDEM model captures the dominant dynamics of fluid-solid micromechanics of hydraulic fracturing and classes of problems that involve strongly coupled fluid-solid behavior