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House Flies: Manure, Media, and Microbes
Get PDFThis study was conducted to determine if there is a difference in bacterial abundance in house flies based on sex and rearing environment (manure versus artificial media) for house flies. This is important in determining the effectiveness of the facilities where the flies are being raised. Although, previous studies have shown differences in bacterial abundance between male and female house flies, it still remains unknown whether there is a discrepancy in bacterial abundance between rearing environments in the lab. We hypothesized that there would be a greater abundance of bacteria in females than males and a greater bacterial abundance in the manure environment than the artificial media. We determined that there was no significant difference between house fly sex or the environments in which they were raised. These results are meaningful because they introduce evidence of forced interaction that could skew the bacterial counts. In the future, the results would be more telling with a larger sample size.
Genetics and Light Affect Grouping Behavior in Red Flour Beetles
Get PDFAlthough others may see beetles as pests, entomologists would say otherwise. These critters vary in sizes and can be found almost anywhere! Interaction amongst humans and animals within an environment can be pretty similar whether it is environmentally influenced or through genetic material. We often question if habits are done because of genes or because of what is going on around us. Although beetles do not seem interesting, they actually have their own way of socializing. Beetles do not really have the best vison, however they can socialize/communicate using pheromones. Chemical messages are chemicals integrated with behavior (Birch, 1976). Using red flour beetles from Mantitoba, Canada (NDG) and Hudson, Kansas (Hudson) we can see how these beetles from two different areas interact amongst each other. Will there be a distinct isolation due to there strains and if so does this affect how they are within the same strain
Characterizing Website Traffic Driven by Different Media Types
Get PDFThe audience for KSU Ag Extension services consists of crop managers across Kansas; traditionally reached through face-to-face events and delivery of paper-based materials. The myFields program is an alternative, online approach for delivering information; important in light of budget cuts that reduce face-to-face events and paper publications. The extension of myFields has been defined by social media, newsletters, and the radio. Our goal is to look at the analytics of the site and to determine which extension outlet is the most effective for driving user traffic to the website. We want to know; how do different media outlets drive user traffic to myFields.info? Using new data available on the site, we will track site analytics after pushing the data release on 1) social media (Twitter), 2) the agronomy department’s newsletter (eUpdates), and 3) KSU’s ag radio show (Ag Today). Specifically, we used the release of 2018 corn performance data on our Demonstration Plot Data tool to audiences as a driver to the site. The results suggest that the eUpdate article was the most successful extension resource considering the length of time people spent on the site, but the Radio spot was extremely successful as a jump in page views
Preferences of Indian Meal Moth Larvae for Different Dog Foods
Get PDFIndian meal moths (IMM), Plodiainterpuntella, are persistent pests to our foods (Fasulo et al.1998; Plunkett’s Pest Control 2018). When IMMs infest a a food product the resulting value loss is the result of contamination by larvae that leave droppings and silken webs in grain and grain products (Jacob and Calvin 2001). The IMM is an important pest of high-value dog foods and the grain components of these food may influence their infestation. Experiments were conducted with eggs of the IMM to determine if moth larvae would choose and infest the grain-based dog food in comparison to dog foods with a higher meat content. IMM laboratory rearing diet was included for comparison. No-choice and choice tests confirmed the IMM diet to be the most preferred and best for larval development. Forced infestation of 50 IMM eggs on the four different dog foods found difference among them. In two-choice test that require newly hatched larvae to walk to and infest either lab diet or a dog food, the highest proportion of larvae selecting any of the dog foods was on product C, which was a medium quality, grain-free food. These results suggest that IMM infestations in warehouses or consumer’s homes could be prevalent on some dog foods more than others
Assessing the long-distance repellency of long-lasting insecticide netting to a suite of post-harvest insects
Get PDFInsects are our main competitors for food on the planet (1). In fact, growers lose 10-30% of crops during storage, processing, and marketing after harvest each year to stored product insects (2,3). Challenges to current management include increasing insecticide resistance to phosphine (4), which is the most common insect fumigant. Another challenge has been an increasing demand for organic or low insecticide-input products by consumers (5). To meet these challenges we came up with an alternative management approach, a long lasting insecticide netting (LLIN). Insecticide-treated nets have been widely used as a tool for malaria vector control in tropical regions since the early 1990s (6). These nets are typically treated with a pyrethroid insecticide, such as permethrin or deltamethrin, which repel, incapacitate, and kill mosquitoes that land on the nets. Researchers have recently begun exploring the use of LLINs for management of agricultural pests in high value specialty crops (7). More recently, work with LLINs in post-harvest settings has demonstrated that this tool can induce mortality, as well as significantly decrease the movement and dispersal capacity of post-harvest insects (8). Some possible uses for LLIN include being used to line windows, vents, eaves, or other openings into food facilities. However, anecdotal evidence from IPM practitioners has suggested that pyrethroids, which the LLIN contains, may be repellent to specific groups of insects. In order for LLIN to be an effective tool at intercepting and preventing infestation by stored product insects, we must demonstrate that the netting is not repellent to a range of post-harvest insects
Can the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia colicolonize the gut of Lone Star Tick(Amblyomma americanum)?
Get PDFTicks are obligate blood feeding ectoparasites and vectors of several mammalian pathogens (Williams-Newkirk et al, 2014). In addition to pathogens they also carry a bacterial community with commensal and symbiotic relationships (Bonnet et al, 2017). Using a culture-dependent approach we previously reported a high prevalence of Gram-positive bacteria in the gut of field collected lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum). These results suggested that epithelial immunity functions to control Gram-negative bacteria in A. americanum. In this study, we used a culturing and non-culturing approach to measure the outcome of E.coli (Gram-negative) when fed to female adult lone star ticks (n=16). Results showed a significant reduction of E.coli at Days 1, 3 and 7 post bacterial feeding. qPCR of 16S rDNA confirmed reduction of bacterial rDNA when compared to water fed ticks (n=16). Our results suggest that there is a midgut epithelial immune response in place, which mainly targets Gram-negative bacteria
2018 National Winter Canola Variety Trial
Get PDFThe objectives of the National Winter Canola Variety Trial (NWCVT) are to evaluate the performance of released and experimental varieties, determine where these varieties are best adapted, and increase the visibility of winter canola across the United States. Breeders, marketers, and producers use data collected from the trials to make informed variety selections. The NWCVT is planted at locations in the Great Plains, Midwest, northern U.S., and Southeast
Preschool Internship with Johnson Ferry Baptist Church
No full textTonnie MartinezAfter 12 weeks of working with over 1,000 kids, anyone is guaranteed to learn some lessons. My internship with Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia provided an opportunity for me to apply many concepts I learned in class. I learned about the important role of fun in learning, about the delicate balance of classroom management, about how to create meaningful educational interactions with kids, about writing, publishing and using curriculum, and many other ways to apply classroom material. I realized what a wide variety of applications a major in Education provides, even outside of traditional classrooms
Irony Comprehension In Children With ASD: Does Conventionality Make a Difference?
Get PDFDebra BurnettIrony, a non-literal language convention in which the meaning of the statement and what is said are contradictory, is employed and practiced in the English language regularly. To interpret an ironic statement accurately, an individual must be able to infer the speaker’s meaning, attitude and intent. This type of interpretation is potentially one of the most difficult tasks to develop for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as a core deficit of individuals with ASD is perspective taking skills as well as deficits in pragmatic communication. The current study explored the acquisition of irony for children ages eight to eleven years with ASD in comparison to their typically developing same-aged peers, and their peers with language impairments. It will also examine how the conventionality of the ironic statement influences the child’s comprehension skills. The study presented 22 short vignettes to participants via auditory or written modalities. These vignettes contained remarks that were either ironic or literal in nature, and utilized both conventional and situation-specific remarks. Following presentation of the vignette, participants were asked a series of questions to assess their comprehension of speaker meaning, attitude, and intent. Results from the sample of 5 participants indicated that there were no significant differences between the two types of remarks. Implications for those findings are discussed
Coulomb explosion imaging of CH3I and CH2ClI photodissociation dynamics
Get PDFThe photodissociation dynamics of CH3I and CH2ClI at 272 nm were investigated by time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging, with an intense non-resonant 815 nm probe pulse. Fragment ion momenta over a wide m/z range were recorded simultaneously by coupling a velocity map imaging spectrometer with a pixel imaging mass spectrometry camera. For both molecules, delay-dependent pump-probe features were assigned to ultraviolet-induced carbon-iodine bond cleavage followed by Coulomb explosion. Multi-mass imaging also allowed the sequential cleavage of both carbon-halogen bonds in CH2ClI to be investigated. Furthermore, delay-dependent relative fragment momenta of a pair of ions were directly determined using recoil-frame covariance analysis. These results are complementary to conventional velocity map imaging experiments and demonstrate the application of time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging to photoinduced real-time molecular motion