This work covers stages one through seven (of nine stages) of a classical biological control program for Mediterranean fruit fly (=medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). Major research objectives concentrate on stage five (exploration and collection of natural enemies), and stage seven (testing and selecting natural enemies for additional work). Coffee was collected monthly from three locations in Kenya from November 1997 through July 1999. Four species of tephritid flies and ten parasitoid species were recovered. Four guilds of parasitoids were recorded, and two egg-prepupal endoparasitoids, Fopius caudatus (Szépligeti) and F. ceratitivorus (Wharton), were discovered. The oviposition behavior of these two species is contrasted. Domination of this tropical parasitoid assemblage by koinobionts is discussed relative to the dominance of temperate fruit-infesting tephritid systems by idiobionts. Fruit handling procedures were examined for impact on overall percent emergence and specifically percent emergence of flies versus parasitoids. It was determined that stirring samples had a significant positive effect on overall emergence, however daily misting of fruit did not. The only treatment without a significant bias in fly emergence over parasitoids was the stirred/dry treatment. Effects of these results on rearing procedures are discussed. Host specificity and host suitability of parasitoids reared from coffee were examined via: (1) association of parasitoids with host flies based on characteristics of the fly puparia from which parasitoids emerged, (2) rearing of cucurbit infesting tephritids and their parasitoids in Kenya, (3) rearing of flowerhead infesting tephritids and their parasitoids in Kenya and Hawaii, and (4) host range testing of Psyttalia species in Kenya and Hawaii. These results are discussed in terms of their utility for predicting nontarget effects. Psyttalia concolor (Szépligeti) was shipped to Hawaii and tested against the nontarget gall forming tephritid Procecidochares utilis Stone introduced to control the weed Ageretina adenophora (Maui pamakani). Psyttalia concolor failed to attack the gall-forming P. utilis both in choice and no-choice tests, but readily attacked tephritid larvae offered in fruit in choice tests. Recommendations for further testing and release of the parasitoids from Kenya are discussed for Hawaii and Latin America.

Five elementary age students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities were taught shape identification. A multiple probe design across behaviors, replicated across participants, was used to determine the effectiveness of constant time delay to determine the effectiveness of Constant Time Delay to teach shapes. Nontarget information was included in praise statements. All students met criterion on target information of shape identification. All students increased their ability to identify shape words, spell shape words, tell the number of sides of the shapes when presented and tell the number of angles of shapes presented. Generalization occurred during daily walks through the school and community as well as during the probe sessions.

Groundwater aquifers are the largest source of drinking water for human population. Current available information of the quality of groundwater is quite limited mainly due to the lack of comprehensive analysis of groundwater and the challenging task of applying any analytical method in its investigation. In this thesis, a new method based on “soft” mass spectrometry and differential ion mobility (FAIMS) was developed to discover previously unknown sulphur-containing contaminants in groundwater in Ontario. Following this discovery, de novo identification of these contaminants was accomplished by determining their elemental composition based on mass measurements and their chemical structures from unique dissociation patterns. The compounds characterized in this study were found to be thiotetronic acids which are structurally related to synthetic and natural antibacterial agents such as the natural antibiotics thiolactomycin and thiotetramycin, allowing for speculation as to their potential beneficial properties.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:25:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-03-11Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:26:16Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 lohmann_tr_me_jabo.pdf: 1159043 bytes, checksum: 91192fb7d70eb0a6d02bd04c9badaf8f (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar o efeito da proteína Vip3Aa20, originária da bactéria Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner, sobre a broca-do-colmo Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) e dois de seus parasitóides: o parasitóide larval Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) e o parasitóide de ovos Trichogramma galloi Zucchi. D. saccharalis mostrou-se suscetível à proteína, apresentando efeitos letais e subletais. Foram afetadas pela proteína as características mortalidade larval, duração do período larval, número de ínstares larvais e peso de larvas, enquanto que a mortalidade pupal e a duração do período pupal não foram afetadas e o peso de pupas apresentou resultados divergentes entre os bioensaios conduzidos. Para os parasitóides, avaliaram-se os efeitos da exposição direta (ingestão da proteína pelos adultos) e indireta (ingestão da proteína por D. saccharalis e posterior parasitismo). Em C. flavipes, não foram observados efeitos pela exposição direta, enquanto que na exposição indireta ocorreu efeito negativo sobre as características peso da massa de casulos e peso do adulto. Estes efeitos podem ser associados ao efeito mediado pelo hospedeiro. Em T. galloi, não foram observados efeitos da proteína Vip3Aa20 sobre os parasitóides, tanto na exposição direta como na indireta / The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Vip3Aa20 protein, originating from the Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner bacterium, on sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) and two of its parasitoids: larval parasitoid Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) and egg parasitoid Trichogramma galloi Zucchi. D. saccharalis was susceptible to protein, with lethal and sublethal effects. Larval mortality, larval period, number of instars and larval weight were affected by the protein, while pupal mortality and pupal period were not affected and pupal weight presented discrepant results between bioassays conducted. For the parasitoids, direct (protein ingested by adults) and indirect (protein ingested by sugarcane borer with later parasitism) exposure were evaluated. In C. flavipes, no effects were observed by direct exposure, while in indirect exposure negative effects occurred on the cocoons weight and adult weight. These effects may be associated with the effect mediated by the host. No effects were verified on T. galloi when this species was direct or indirectly exposed to Vip3Aa20 protein

Orientador: Odair Aparecido Fernandes / Banca: Celso Omoto / Banca: Ricardo Antonio Polanczyk / Resumo: O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar o efeito da proteína Vip3Aa20, originária da bactéria Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner, sobre a broca-do-colmo Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) e dois de seus parasitóides: o parasitóide larval Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) e o parasitóide de ovos Trichogramma galloi Zucchi. D. saccharalis mostrou-se suscetível à proteína, apresentando efeitos letais e subletais. Foram afetadas pela proteína as características mortalidade larval, duração do período larval, número de ínstares larvais e peso de larvas, enquanto que a mortalidade pupal e a duração do período pupal não foram afetadas e o peso de pupas apresentou resultados divergentes entre os bioensaios conduzidos. Para os parasitóides, avaliaram-se os efeitos da exposição direta (ingestão da proteína pelos adultos) e indireta (ingestão da proteína por D. saccharalis e posterior parasitismo). Em C. flavipes, não foram observados efeitos pela exposição direta, enquanto que na exposição indireta ocorreu efeito negativo sobre as características peso da massa de casulos e peso do adulto. Estes efeitos podem ser associados ao efeito mediado pelo hospedeiro. Em T. galloi, não foram observados efeitos da proteína Vip3Aa20 sobre os parasitóides, tanto na exposição direta como na indireta / Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Vip3Aa20 protein, originating from the Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner bacterium, on sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) and two of its parasitoids: larval parasitoid Cotesia flavipes (Cameron) and egg parasitoid Trichogramma galloi Zucchi. D. saccharalis was susceptible to protein, with lethal and sublethal effects. Larval mortality, larval period, number of instars and larval weight were affected by the protein, while pupal mortality and pupal period were not affected and pupal weight presented discrepant results between bioassays conducted. For the parasitoids, direct (protein ingested by adults) and indirect (protein ingested by sugarcane borer with later parasitism) exposure were evaluated. In C. flavipes, no effects were observed by direct exposure, while in indirect exposure negative effects occurred on the cocoons weight and adult weight. These effects may be associated with the effect mediated by the host. No effects were verified on T. galloi when this species was direct or indirectly exposed to Vip3Aa20 protein / Mestre