1,143 research outputs found
Seasonal Variation in Carcinops pumilio (Coleoptera: Histeridae) Dispersal and Potential for Suppression of Dispersal Behavior
Seasonal dispersal of Carcinops pumilio (Erichson) was evaluated using two trapping methods-a black-light pitfall trap and a mesh-bottomed trap placed on poultry manure. The black-light trap collected larger numbers than the mesh-bottomed trap from March through June. The mesh-bottomed trap gathered larger numbers of beetles from June through August and numbers were less variable throughout the year. Often, when very low numbers of beetles were recovered from manure cores, large numbers of beetles could be collected with the black-light trap suggesting that beetle density may not be an important factor in dispersal behavior. The greatest dispersal in the dispersal arenas (≈90%) occurred using beetles collected by both trap types in June 2000. Beginning in March and ending in August, a cyclic rise and then fall pattern in both laboratory dispersal and beetle collections was observed. Trap collection patterns were similar in both years of the study. In January and March, we were unable to prevent dispersal behavior of beetles captured in black-light traps. However, in May, after beetles had been in a dispersal phase for several months, we were able to suppress dispersal. In contrast, dispersal behavior among beetles captured with the mesh-bottomed trap did not change following the photoperiod-altered exposur
Factors that Contribute to Resident Teaching Effectiveness
Background One of the key components of residency training is to become an educator. Resident physicians teach students, advanced practice providers, nurses, and even faculty on a daily basis. Objective The goal of this study was to identify the objective characteristics of residents, which correlate with perceived overall teaching effectiveness. Methods We conducted a one-year, retrospective study to identify factors that were associated with higher resident teaching evaluations. Senior emergency medicine (EM) teaching residents are evaluated by medical students following clinical teaching shifts. Eighteen factors pertaining to resident teaching effectiveness were chosen. Two items from the medical students' evaluations were analyzed against each factor: teaching effectiveness was measured on a five-point Likert scale and an overall teaching score (1-75). Results A total of 46 EM residents and 843 medical student evaluations were analyzed. The ACGME milestones for systems-based practice (p = 0.02) and accountability (p = 0.05) showed a statistically significant association with a rating of "five" on the Likert scale for teaching effectiveness. Three other ACGME milestones, systems-based practice (p = 0.01), task switching (p = 0.04), and team management (p = 0.03) also showed a statically significant association of receiving a score of 70 or greater on the overall teaching score. Conclusion Residents with higher performance associated with system management and accountability were perceived as highly effective teachers. USMLE and in-service exams were not predictive of higher teaching evaluations. Our data also suggest that effective teachers are working in both academic and community settings, providing a potential resource to academic departments and institutions
Integrated Management of Flies in and around Dairy and Livestock Barns
NYS IPM Type: Livestock Fact SheetIn the past, management of flies in dairy and livestock barns often relied solely on insecticide use. But this single-tactic approach can aggravate fly populations' resistance to insecticides and inadvertently destroy natural enemies of flies. Today successful farmers are combining careful use of pesticides with other integrated pest management (IPM) practices
House Fly (Musca domestica L.) Survival after Mechanical Incorporation of Poultry Manure into Field Soil
Land application is often a routine part of manure management. Not only is it a practical means of disposing large amounts of poultry wastes, it is an efficient use of an organic fertilizer. Unfortunately, poultry manure may contain a large number of house fly larvae and pupae that can become a nuisance if they complete development. Mechanical incorporation of poultry manure is often recommended to help reduce odor; it has also been though to reduce the potential for a fly outbreak. This study examined fly survival following burial in field soil at depths of 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 in. One quarter of the adult house flies developing from pupae were able to crawl through 12 in. of soil to reach the surface. Survival of flies buried closer to the surface was greater. We compared house fly survival following disk, harrow, and moldboard plow incorporation of manure to surface application. No method of incorporation was better than the surface application. Adult flies reached outbreak proportions 10 days following application and the outbreak lasted another 11 day
Potential energy surfaces of superheavy nuclei
We investigate the structure of the potential energy surfaces of the
superheavy nuclei 258Fm, 264Hs, (Z=112,N=166), (Z=114,N=184), and (Z=120,N=172)
within the framework of self-consistent nuclear models, i.e. the
Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach and the relativistic mean-field model. We compare
results obtained with one representative parametrisation of each model which is
successful in describing superheavy nuclei. We find systematic changes as
compared to the potential energy surfaces of heavy nuclei in the uranium
region: there is no sufficiently stable fission isomer any more, the importance
of triaxial configurations to lower the first barrier fades away, and
asymmetric fission paths compete down to rather small deformation. Comparing
the two models, it turns out that the relativistic mean-field model gives
generally smaller fission barriers.Comment: 8 pages RevTeX, 6 figure
Superheavy nuclei in selfconsistent nuclear calculations
The shell structure of superheavy nuclei is investigated within various
parametrizations of relativistic and nonrelativistic nuclear mean field models.
The heaviest known even-even nucleus 264Hs is used as a benchmark to estimate
the predictive value of the models. From that starting point, doubly magic
spherical nuclei are searched in the region Z=110-140 and N=134-298. They are
found at (Z=114, N=184), (Z=120, N=172), or at (Z=126, N=184), depending on the
parametrization.Comment: 16 pages RevTeX, 2 tables, 2 low resolution Gif figures (high
resolution PostScript versions are available at
http://www.th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~bender/nucl_struct_publications.html
or at ftp://th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/pub/bender ), submitted to Phys. Rev.
Application of Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (C-SPE) to Monitoring Nickel(II) and Lead(II) in Spacecraft Water Supplies
Archived water samples collected on the International Space Station (ISS) and returned to Earth for analysis have, in a few instances, contained trace levels of heavy metals. Building on our previous advances using Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (C-SPE) as a biocide monitoring technique, we are devising methods for the low level monitoring of nickel(II), lead(II) and other heavy metals. C-SPE is a sorption-spectrophotometric platform based on the extraction of analytes onto a membrane impregnated with a colorimetric reagent that are then quantified on the surface of the membrane using a diffuse reflectance spectrophotometer. Along these lines, we have determined nickel(II) via complexation with dimethylglyoxime (DMG) and begun to examine the analysis of lead(II) by its reaction with 2,5- dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (DMTD) and 4-(2- pyridylazo)-resorcinol (PAR). These developments are also extending a new variant of C-SPE in which immobilized reagents are being incorporated into this methodology in order to optimize sample reaction conditions and to introduce the colorimetric reagent. This paper describes the status of our development of these two new methods
Single centre experience of the application of self navigated 3D whole heart cardiovascular magnetic resonance for the assessment of cardiac anatomy in congenital heart disease.
BACKGROUND: For free-breathing cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), the self-navigation technique recently emerged, which is expected to deliver high-quality data with a high success rate. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that self-navigated 3D-CMR enables the reliable assessment of cardiovascular anatomy in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to define factors that affect image quality.
METHODS: CHD patients ≥2 years-old and referred for CMR for initial assessment or for a follow-up study were included to undergo a free-breathing self-navigated 3D CMR at 1.5T. Performance criteria were: correct description of cardiac segmental anatomy, overall image quality, coronary artery visibility, and reproducibility of great vessels diameter measurements. Factors associated with insufficient image quality were identified using multivariate logistic regression.
RESULTS: Self-navigated CMR was performed in 105 patients (55% male, 23 ± 12y). Correct segmental description was achieved in 93% and 96% for observer 1 and 2, respectively. Diagnostic quality was obtained in 90% of examinations, and it increased to 94% if contrast-enhanced. Left anterior descending, circumflex, and right coronary arteries were visualized in 93%, 87% and 98%, respectively. Younger age, higher heart rate, lower ejection fraction, and lack of contrast medium were independently associated with reduced image quality. However, a similar rate of diagnostic image quality was obtained in children and adults.
CONCLUSION: In patients with CHD, self-navigated free-breathing CMR provides high-resolution 3D visualization of the heart and great vessels with excellent robustness
Properties of odd nuclei and the impact of time-odd mean fields: A systematic Skyrme-Hartree-Fock analysis
We present a systematic analysis of the description of odd nuclei by the
Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach augmented with pairing in BCS approximation and
blocking of the odd nucleon. Current and spin densities in the Skyrme
functional produce time-odd mean fields (TOMF) for odd nuclei. Their effect on
basic properties (binding energies, odd-even staggering, separation energies
and spectra) is investigated for the three Skyrme parameterizations SkI3, SLy6,
and SV-bas. About 1300 spherical and axially-deformed odd nuclei with 16 < Z <
92 are considered. The calculations demonstrate that the TOMF effect is
generally small, although not fully negligible. The influence of the Skyrme
parameterization and the consistency of the calculations are much more
important. With a proper choice of the parameterization, a good description of
binding energies and their differences is obtained, comparable to that for even
nuclei. The description of low-energy excitation spectra of odd nuclei is of
varying quality depending on the nucleus
Efeito de níveis de metionina sobre o número de furos do disco germinal de ovos de codornas.
Com o objetivo de predizer resultados de incubatório, avaliou-se o número de furos, feitos por espermatozoides, próximos ao disco germinal de ovos de codornas que receberam diferentes níveis de metionina na dieta, formulada à base de milho e farelo de soja, sendo os tratamentos: T1 = sem adição de metionina, somente a aportada pelos alimentos, T2 = inclusão de metionina estabelecida de acordo com Rostagno et al. (2011) para a espécie e T3 = inclusão de 20% superior à recomendada para a espécie (T2). Os ovos foram coletados, processados e o número de furos avaliado. Este trabalho não encontrou diferença significativa para os níveis de metionina testados. With the aim to predict hatching results, the number of sperm holes in the germinal disc area of Japanese quail eggs submitted to different dietary methionine content were counted. Treatments were stablished as: T1 = no supplementary methionine (just from the ingredients content), T2 = methionine content according to Rostagno et al. (2011), and T3 = T2 plus 20% additional methionine. The eggs were collected, processed, and the number of holes in the germinal disc area were recorded. No significant difference was observed for the dietary methionine levels tested
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