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Eudocima spp. adults are moths that feed on ripe or ripening fruit. Occasionally, some species can cause economic losses in commercial crops. In Mexico, this group of lepidopterans has been little studied and the information is limited to capture records in diverse regions of the country. However, in recent years, damage to commercial maradol papaya crops caused by these moths has been detected. The species identified as Eudocima serpentifera and Eudocima apta were found feeding on papaya fruits. Although the two moths can be differentiated by external characteristics, problems have arisen in terms of determining the species. This paper provides comparative descriptions and images of diagnostic traits for precise identification. Moreover, the damage that these species cause is described and illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the rapidly changing circumstances of our increasingly digital world, reading is also becoming an increasingly digital experience: electronic books (e-books) are now outselling print books in the United States and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, many readers still view e-books as less readable than print books. The present study thus used combined EEG and eyetracking measures in order to test whether reading from digital media requires higher cognitive effort than reading conventional books. Young and elderly adults read short texts on three different reading devices: a paper page, an e-reader and a tablet computer and answered comprehension questions about them while their eye movements and EEG were recorded. The results of a debriefing questionnaire replicated previous findings in that participants overwhelmingly chose the paper page over the two electronic devices as their preferred reading medium. Online measures, by contrast, showed shorter mean fixation durations and lower EEG theta band voltage density – known to covary with memory encoding and retrieval – for the older adults when reading from a tablet computer in comparison to the other two devices. Young adults showed comparable fixation durations and theta activity for all three devices. Comprehension accuracy did not differ across the three media for either group. We argue that these results can be explained in terms of the better text discriminability (higher contrast) produced by the backlit display of the tablet computer. Contrast sensitivity decreases with age and degraded contrast conditions lead to longer reading times, thus supporting the conclusion that older readers may benefit particularly from the enhanced contrast of the tablet. Our findings thus indicate that people's subjective evaluation of digital reading media must be dissociated from the cognitive and neural effort expended in online information processing while reading from such devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers highlights from the 100 (plus) years of the Botanical Society of America (BSA) and draws extensively on the archives of the BSA. In addition to examining the founding of the society and the attempt to "professionalize" botany in late 19th century America, the paper also explores the complex relations between the BSA and a number of related societies in the United States, the Society's struggle to create a coherent identity for itself, the place of botany as a whole in the context of the burgeoning biological sciences in the 20th century, and the changing role of the BSA in an international context. The paper assesses both the achievements and the challenges facing the BSA. It closes by offering some historical reflections on the status of "botany" as a science and the historical significance of terms like "plant biology" and "plant science." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The understanding of core concepts and processes of science in solving problems is important to successful learning in biology. We have designed and developed a Web-based, self-directed tutorial program, SOLVEIT, that provides various scaffolds (e.g., prompts, expert models, visual guidance) to help college students enhance their skills and abilities in solving problems in science. An initial version of SOLVEIT was used in this study. This paper details the features of SOLVEIT that are contextualized within the biological domains of evolution and ecology. A qualitative case study was conducted to evaluate the usability of the program. Selected students were recruited from an introductory biology course at a large public university in the south-eastern United States. Data for this study were collected through the SOLVEIT database and semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study demonstrate the potential of the program for improving students' problem solving in biology. Suggestions for the use of SOLVEIT and its further improvement and development are discussed, along with suggestions for future research. This study also provides more general guidance for researchers and practitioners who are interested in the design, development and evaluation of Web-based tutorial programs in science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this paper are to predict life years lost associated with obesity-related diseases (ORDs) for U.S. non-smoking adults, and to examine the relationship between those ORDs and mortality. Data from the National Health Interview Survey, 1997–2000, were used. We employed mixed proportional hazard models to estimate the association between those ORDs and mortality and used simulations to project life years lost associated with the ORDs. We found that obesity-attributable comorbidities are associated with large decreases in life years and increases in mortality rates. The life years lost associated with ORDs is more marked for younger adults than older adults, for blacks than whites, for males than females, and for the more obese than the less obese. Using U.S. non-smoking adults aged 40 to 49 years as an example to illustrate percentage of the life years lost associated with ORDs, we found that the mean life years lost associated with ORDs for U.S. non-smoking black males aged 40 to 49 years with a body mass index above 40 kg/m2 was 5.43 years, which translates to a 7.5% reduction in total life years. White males of the same age range and same degree of obesity lost 5.23 life years on average – a 6.8% reduction in total life years, followed by black females (5.04 years, a 6.5% reduction in life years), and white females (4.7 years, a 5.8% reduction in life years). Overall, ORDs increased chances of dying and lessened life years by 0.2 to 11.7 years depending on gender, race, BMI classification, and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Networks describe a variety of interacting complex systems in social science, biology, and information technology. Usually the nodes of real networks are identified not only by their connections but also by some other characteristics. Examples of characteristics of nodes can be age, gender, or nationality of a per- son in a social network, the abundance of proteins in the cell taking part in protein-interaction networks, or the geographical position of airports that are connected by directed flights. Integrating the information on the connections of each node with the information about its characteristics is crucial to discriminating between the essential and negligible characteristics of nodes for the structure of the network. In this paper we propose a general indicator 0, based on entropy measures, to quantify the dependence of a network's structure on a given set of features. We apply this method to social networks of friendships in U.S. schools, to the protein-interaction network of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and to the U.S. airport network, showing that the proposed measure provides information that complements other known measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1917, the German-American scientist Jacques Loeb (1859-1924) published a short essay, entitled 'Biology and War', that summarized his disagreement with World War I. He was deeply saddened by the break-up of the international scientific community as a consequence of the actions of bellicose politicians. These actions were in direct opposition to his efforts to promote social reform, mechanistic biology and scientific internationalism. The aim of this paper is to examine Loeb's activities aimed at these efforts before, during and after the war. It attempts to explain how Loeb's scientific work was formed, what was special about it and why it was both successful and attacked. Particular emphasis is placed on how Loeb reacted to the War and the subsequent forced disintegration of his international scientific network. Loeb's attempts to integrate his interpretation of biology into post-war Europe's approach to the life sciences is analysed in connection with his social commitment. It is argued that his emigration to the USA, the circumstances of World War I, the reaction of his German colleagues to it and the demolition of the international scientific community changed: (1) Loeb's feelings towards his old home; (2) the direction of his scientific endeavours; and (3) his engagement in science politics. His correspondence with eminent scientists from all over the world serves as a key to Loeb's efforts in the context of the social elements of scientific networks and perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of genetic ability in generating the strong positive intergenerational earnings correlation observed in the USA. We compare the intergenerational wage and earnings elasticities of adopted children with these of non-adopted children. Because adopted children’s genetic ability does not depend on that of their adoptive parents, the differences between these two samples reveal the importance of genetic ability in transmitting earnings ability across generations. We find that the earnings correlation between fathers and children would be halved if their biological link was removed. Our results suggest that inheritable ability plays a very important role in passing parents’ earnings ability on to their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether your vantage point is that of an office window or a national park, your view undoubtedly encompasses a rich diversity of life forms, all carefully studied or managed by some scientist, resource manager, or planner. A few simple calculations-the number of species, their interrelationships, and the many researchers studying them-and you can easily see the tremendous challenges that the resulting biological data presents to the information and computer science communities. Biological information varies in format and content: it may pertain to a particular species or an entire ecosystem; it can contain land use characteristics, and geospatially referenced information. The complexity and uniqueness of each individual species or ecosystem do not easily lend themselves to today's computer science toots and applications. To address the challenges that the biological enterprise presents the National Biological Information infrastructure (NBII) (http://www.nbii.gov) was established in 1993 on the recommendation of the National Research Council (National Research Council 1993). The NBII is designed to address these issues on a national scale. and through international partnerships. This paper discusses current information and computer science efforts within the National Biological Information Infrastructure Program, and future computer science research endeavors that are needed to address the ever-growing issues related to our nation's biological concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applies the information extraction (IE) technology to scientific journal papers in molecular biology in the United States. Tasks included in an IE system; Function of the LaSIE system for IE; Support of LaSIE by the General Architecture for Text Engineering software; LaSIE application in two separate bioinformatics research projects.

To investigate disciplinary differences in how scientific journals evaluate submissions, I collected data from the Astrophysical Journal, Physiological Zoology, and the American Sociological Review. Referees' evaluations of submissions to these journals differed strikingly: nearly half of the referee reports for American Sociological Review recommended outright rejection, while the corresponding proportions for the other two journals were about one fourth and one tenth. Final dispositions show even greater variation, with Astrophysical Journal accepting 91% of submissions, Physiological Zoology 59%, and American Sociological Review 13%. The journals also differed substantially in the average number of revisions of eventually accepted papers and the average time lags between submission and final editorial decisions. Such differences conform to claims that disciplinary differences in consensus on research priorities and procedures contribute to variation in typical journal peer review systems. Review systems, in turn, influence authors' experiences in the peer review process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the 75th anniversary of Vannevar Bush's paper, "Science—The Endless Frontier" that is based on funding science in the U.S. It mentions that medical research has always had bipartisan support, and Bush's framing ensured that fundamental understanding of biology always had support; and the ability of academic institutions to make the case for knowledge as a public good. It mentions proferring Bush and his essay as symbols of nonpolitical science during Covid-19 pandemic.

Presents a number of ideas and scientific definitions as reported by 9-12-year-olds in class discussions, essays or examination papers at the Ballwin Elementary School in Ballwin, Missouri. Living body; Gastral and other tracts; Metabolism and energy; Audition and vision; Skeletal design and locomotion; Heart; Respiratory ailments and their prevention; Neuroscience trends; Concepts of genetics; Basic microbiology.

This section offers news briefs on issues related to biology. The "Conservation Genetics Symposium" sponsored by the Third American Genetic Association (AGA) will be held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. A cash prize will be included in the Stephen J. O'Brien Award for best student paper to be given at the annual meeting of the AGA. AGA president Michael Lynch will host the 2007 meeting of the society titled "Mechanisms of Genome Evolution" in Indiana.