Search

The concept of conformal mapping is introduced to the dayside magnetosphere studies as a useful tool to model the magnetic field and plasma flows in the magnetosheath region using the potential field method. Conformal mapping is a mathematical procedure to transform a smooth function (or shape) in the complex plan onto a deformed one by retaining the local angles. For example, many axi-symmetric boundary models around the magnetosphere (bow shock models and magnetopause models) can be expressed in the complex plane by mathematical trics (e.g., Joukowsky transformation). Conformal mapping opens the door to construct a high-precision steady-state model of the magnetic field and plasma flow in the planetary magnetosheath region by properly transforming the Kobel-Flueckiger potential field solution in the magnetosheath, known as the exact solution of Laplace equation in parabolic magnetosheath coordinates, to arbitrary two-dimensional bow shock and magnetopause shapes. Such a model will significantly ease the interpretation of magnetic field or plasma data in the planetary missions, as one obtains the global picture of bow shock, magnetopause, and magnetosheath from the model either from the measurements or from the given solar wind condition. Moreover, the conformal mapping method offers us the possibility to estimate the solar wind condition (magnetic field or flow speed) using the magnetosheath data by inverting the Kobel-Flueckiger solution. Expectations for the Earth and planetary magnetosphere studies are discussed with the future potential applications., The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

The tachinid Celatoria compressa Wulp has been evaluated as a candidate biological control agent for the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, in Europe, where it is an invasive alien pest of maize. Special emphasis has been placed on understanding aspects of the parasitoid basic biology and on developing a rearing technique for a small-scale production of C. compressa puparia. The age of C. compressa adults was found to be the most crucial factor in achieving mating. Only newly emerged, 1-h-old females, mated successfully with 2- to 5-day-old males, achieving a success rate of 74%. After mating, a prelarviposition period of 4 days occurred. The 5-day-old C. compressa females inserted their eggs containing fully-developed first instars directly into adults of D. v. virgifera. Total larval and pupal developmental time, including a pre-larviposition period of 4 days, was 29 days under quarantine laboratory conditions (25°C daytime, 15°C at night, L:D 14:10, 50% ± 10% r.h). Females of C. compressa were capable of producing on average 30 puparia throughout a female's mean larviposition period of 15 days. A large number of host attacks by C. compressa were unsuccessful, resulting in a mean larviposition success rate of 24% per female. Parasitoid females appear to have difficulties inserting the egg through the intersegmental sutures or membranes around leg openings of the host adults. Although the small-scale rearing technique of C. compressa presented is both time and labour intensive, C. compressa has been reared successfully for at least 20 successive generations without shifting the 1 male: 1 female sex ratio using a non-diapause strain of D. v. virgifera

Ehrenworth and Archer (1985) examined the relative merits of adolescent Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles utilizing either adult or adolescent scoring norms (Marks & Briggs, 1972). Eleven years later, the MMPI-A has been introduced into clinical use. It has been suggested that in these early years of the MMPI-A, clinicians plot both MMPI-A norms and Marks and Briggs (1972) norms to derive a clinical interpretation of a given profile, especially when code type interpretation is used (Archer, 1992). This study partially replicates the work of Ehrenworth and Archer (1985) by exploring the relation between code types generated with different norms (MMPI-A [Marks & Briggs, 1972] and adult K-corrected) in a sample of 134 adolescent psychiatric inpatients (77 female, 57 male). Code type narratives were blindly rated by members of the adolescent inpatient treatment staff. Although mean scores for the MMPI-A were significantly lower than those produced by the other two sets of norms, the use of the MMPI-A did not result in a clinical disadvantage. Both sets of adolescent norms (the Marks & Briggs and the MMPI-A) produced higher accuracy ratings than did the use of adult K-corrected norms but did not differ from each other. Gender differences were found on all three sets of norms, with female adolescent psychiatric inpatients scoring higher than male inpatients, particularly on Scales 1, 2, and 3.

Invasive species provide opportunities for investigating evolutionary aspects of colonization processes, including initial foundations of populations and geographic expansion. Using microsatellite markers and historical information, we characterized the genetic patterns of the invasion of the western corn rootworm (WCR), a pest of corn crops, in its largest area of expansion in Europe: Central and South-Eastern (CSE) Europe. We found that the invaded area probably corresponds to a single expanding population resulting from a single introduction of WCR and that gene flow is geographically limited within the population. In contrast to what is expected in classical colonization processes, an increase in genetic variation was observed from the center to the edge of the outbreak. Control measures against WCR at the center of the outbreak may have decreased effective population size in this area which could explain this observed pattern of genetic variation. We also found that small remote outbreaks in southern Germany and north-eastern Italy most likely originated from long-distance dispersal events from CSE Europe. We conclude that the large European outbreak is expanding by stratified dispersal, involving both continuous diffusion and discontinuous long-distance dispersal. This latter mode of dispersal may accelerate the expansion of WCR in Europe in the future.