Questing behavior of adult Amblyomma americanum (L.) in a laboratory setting

Author(s):  
Miranda Huang ◽  
Abby Jones ◽  
Afsoon Sabet ◽  
Jillian Masters ◽  
Natalie Dearing ◽  
...  

Tick-borne diseases are on the rise globally; however, information is lacking about tick questing behavior. In this laboratory study, we explored tick preferences for stem type (plastic grass, wooden, and metal), questing height, and head orientation. Using 60 Amblyomma americanum adults over three 72-hour replicates, we determined that 21.7% of ticks quested at any given time and that ticks exhibited a strong preference to quest with their heads oriented downwards, irrespective of stem type. Individual ticks tended to quest on only one stem in this study, and a maximum of three. Nonetheless, ticks appeared to prefer questing on wooden and plastic grass stems over metal stems. We did not find an effect of time of day on tick questing rates. Increased understanding of tick questing behavior can improve vector control efforts.  

1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 1051-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. Bradley ◽  
M. C. Cullen

This laboratory study dealt with real-life intense emotional events. Subjects generated embarrassing stories from their experience, then submitted to polygraph testing and, by lying, denied their stories and, by telling the truth, denied a randomly assigned story. Money was given as an incentive to be judged innocent on each story. An interrogator, blind to the stories, used Control Question Tests and found subjects more deceptive when lying than when truthful. Stories interacted with order such that lying on the second story was more easily detected than lying on the first. Embarrassing stories provide an alternative to the use of mock crimes to study lie detection in the laboratory.


2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (10) ◽  
pp. 3471-3484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori A. Schultz ◽  
Daniel J. Cecil

Abstract An expanded “climatology” of U.S. tropical cyclone (TC) tornadoes covering the period 1950–2007 is presented. A major climatology published in 1991 included data on 626 TC tornadoes. Since then, almost 1200 more TC tornado records have been identified, with almost half of that number from the 2004–05 seasons alone. This work reexamines some findings from previous studies, using a substantially larger database. The new analyses strongly support distinctions between inner- and outer-region tornadoes, which were suggested in previous studies. Outer-region tornadoes (beyond 200 km from the TC center) have a stronger diurnal signal, commonly occurring during the afternoon. Inner-region tornadoes typically occur within ∼12 h of TC landfall, with no strong preference for a particular time of day. They are disproportionately less damaging tornadoes, with more rated F0 than in the outer-region sample. In more general terms, the TC tornado database includes a smaller percentage of significant (≥F2) tornadoes (14%) than does the overall U.S. tornado database (22%). Most TC tornadoes (60%) occur within 100 km of the coast; this includes core-region tornadoes near the time of landfall as well as tornadoes from rainbands coming ashore far from the circulation center. The F0-rated tornadoes are slightly more common near the coast but compose a smaller percentage of the tornadoes inland. The threat often persists for 2–3 days after landfall and extends ∼400 km inland and ∼500 km from the TC center, although there is much case-to-case variability. This puts locations at risk that might otherwise avoid damage from the TC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (30) ◽  
pp. 15086-15095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellie Sherrard-Smith ◽  
Janetta E. Skarp ◽  
Andrew D. Beale ◽  
Christen Fornadel ◽  
Laura C. Norris ◽  
...  

The antimalarial efficacy of the most important vector control interventions—long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS)—primarily protect against mosquitoes’ biting people when they are in bed and indoors. Mosquito bites taken outside of these times contribute to residual transmission which determines the maximum effectiveness of current malaria prevention. The likelihood mosquitoes feed outside the time of day when LLINs and IRS can protect people is poorly understood, and the proportion of bites received outdoors may be higher after prolonged vector control. A systematic review of mosquito and human behavior is used to quantify and estimate the public health impact of outdoor biting across Africa. On average 79% of bites by the major malaria vectors occur during the time when people are in bed. This estimate is substantially lower than previous predictions, with results suggesting a nearly 10% lower proportion of bites taken at the time when people are beneath LLINs since the year 2000. Across Africa, this higher outdoor transmission is predicted to result in an estimated 10.6 million additional malaria cases annually if universal LLIN and IRS coverage was achieved. Higher outdoor biting diminishes the cases of malaria averted by vector control. This reduction in LLIN effectiveness appears to be exacerbated in areas where mosquito populations are resistant to insecticides used in bed nets, but no association was found between physiological resistance and outdoor biting. Substantial spatial heterogeneity in mosquito biting behavior between communities could contribute to differences in effectiveness of malaria control across Africa.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1367-1373 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. FitzMaurice ◽  
C. Cenedese ◽  
F. Straneo

AbstractAn earlier study indicates that the side melting of icebergs subject to vertically homogeneous horizontal velocities is controlled by two distinct regimes, which depend on the melt plume behavior and produce a nonlinear dependence of side melt rate on velocity. Here, we extend this study to consider ice blocks melting in a two-layer vertically sheared flow in a laboratory setting. It is found that the use of the vertically averaged flow speed in current melt parameterizations gives an underestimate of the submarine side melt rate, in part because of the nonlinearity of the dependence of the side melt rate on flow speed but also because vertical shear in the horizontal velocity profile fundamentally changes the flow splitting around the ice block and consequently the velocity felt by the ice surface. An observational record of 90 icebergs in a Greenland fjord suggests that this effect could produce an average underestimate of iceberg side melt rates of 21%.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Knowles ◽  
Kyle Brown ◽  
Silvio Aldrovandi

Research into why the proximity effect occurs and understanding of the underpinning mechanisms is relatively scarce. Attempts have been made to explore whether cognitive load and physical effort underpin the effect, but no previous study has experimentally manipulated visual salience to determine its role in the proximity effect. The present study aims to be the first to do so, starting with a pilot study to determine an effective operationalisation of visual salience in a laboratory setting. The selected manipulation will then be used in a laboratory study conducted with 68 individuals in a 2(Distance; 20cm vs 70cm) x 2(Visual Salience; Low vs High) between subjects design. Actual and Likelihood of consumption will be measured and statistically compared between conditions to determine the potential role of Visual Salience within the Proximity Effect.


Author(s):  
D.E. Brownlee ◽  
A.L. Albee

Comets are primitive, kilometer-sized bodies that formed in the outer regions of the solar system. Composed of ice and dust, comets are generally believed to be relic building blocks of the outer solar system that have been preserved at cryogenic temperatures since the formation of the Sun and planets. The analysis of cometary material is particularly important because the properties of cometary material provide direct information on the processes and environments that formed and influenced solid matter both in the early solar system and in the interstellar environments that preceded it.The first direct analyses of proven comet dust were made during the Soviet and European spacecraft encounters with Comet Halley in 1986. These missions carried time-of-flight mass spectrometers that measured mass spectra of individual micron and smaller particles. The Halley measurements were semi-quantitative but they showed that comet dust is a complex fine-grained mixture of silicates and organic material. A full understanding of comet dust will require detailed morphological, mineralogical, elemental and isotopic analysis at the finest possible scale. Electron microscopy and related microbeam techniques will play key roles in the analysis. The present and future of electron microscopy of comet samples involves laboratory study of micrometeorites collected in the stratosphere, in-situ SEM analysis of particles collected at a comet and laboratory study of samples collected from a comet and returned to the Earth for detailed study.


1988 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen E. Pollock ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz

The relationship between syllabic structure and segmental development was examined longitudinally in a child with a severe phonological disorder. Six speech samples were collected over a 4-year period (3:5 to 7:3). Analyses revealed gradual increases in the complexity and diversity of the syllable structures produced, and positional preferences for sounds within these forms. With a strong preference for [d] and [n] at the beginning of syllables, other consonants appeared first at the end of syllables. Implications for clinical management of phonological disorders include the need to consider both structural position and structural complexity in assessing segmental skills and in choosing target words for intervention.


2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
David De Cremer ◽  
Barbara C. Schouten

The present research examined the idea that the effectiveness of apologies on promoting fairness perceptions depends on how meaningful and sincere the apology is experienced. More precisely, it was predicted that apologies are more effective when they are communicated by an authority being respectful to others. A study using a cross-sectional organizational survey showed that an apology (relative to giving no apology) revealed higher fairness perceptions, but only so when the authority was respectful rather than disrespectful. In a subsequent experimental laboratory study the same interaction effect (as in Study 1) on fairness perceptions was found. In addition, a similar interaction effect also emerged on participants’ self-evaluations in terms of relational appreciation (i.e., feeling valued and likeable). Finally, these self-evaluations accounted (at least partly) for the interactive effect on fairness perceptions.


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