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Master of Science / Department of Grain Science and Industry / Subramanyam Bhadriraju / The development, relative retention, and oviposition of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), on six different types of starches, wheat flour, and wheat flour plus yeast were investigated in the laboratory. The particle size of starch and flours were different; the mean size of 90% of particles for starches ranged from 15 μm for high amylose corn starch to 58 μm for potato, whereas that of the flour was ≤ 133 μm. Larval length, head capsule width, and weight gain of T. castaneum larvae were measured every 3 d on starches, flour, and flour plus 5% (by wt) yeast diet for 30 d at 28oC, 65% r.h., and 14:10 (L:D) photoperiod. Larvae reared on flour and flour plus yeast developed normally and showed better survival compared to those reared on starches. Larvae on the starches failed to develop beyond second, and rarely, third instars. Adults of T. castaneum did not show any preference to flour over starches in dual-choice tests in circular arenas. On average, T. castaneum laid less than 3 eggs/female over a 15-d period on starches compared to 97 and 109 eggs/female on flour and flour plus yeast diet, respectively. These studies suggest that starches are poor substrates for larval survival and development. Starches were as attractive as flour to adults; however, starches do not appear to be a suitable medium for egg-laying. Both aggregation pheromone and volatiles did not trigger oviposition behavior. Experiments by moving adults between wheat starch and wheat flour and vice versa showed that feeding on wheat flour was necessary for egg-laying, indicating the absence of essential nutrients in wheat starch. On wheat flour, feeding for 0.5 d was necessary to lay eggs. Females that were starved failed to lay eggs, reinforcing that the nutrional status of females and not males was essential for egg-laying. A minimum of 4% of wheat gluten (wheat protein) elicited egg-laying on starches, although 4-5 times fewer eggs were laid in starch gluten compared with wheat flour alone. Supplementing wheat starch with 1% cholesterol, in addition, to gluten, did not result in an increase in egg-laying by T. castaneum females. These findings suggest that starches may have potential in managing development and reproduction of T. castaneum—a pest that is common and severe in food-processing facilities. Furthermore, starches can be used as a suitable substrate for studying the nutritional ecology of T. castaneum.

With the steady increase in the bandwidth available to end users and Web sites hosting user generated content, there appears to be more multimedia content on the Web than ever before. Studies to quantify media stored on the Web done in 1997 and 2003 are now dated since the nature, size and number of streaming media objects on the Web have changed considerably. Although there have been more recent studies characterizing specific streaming media sites like YouTube, there are only a few studies that focus on characterizing the media stored on the Web as a whole. We build customized tools to crawl the Web, identify streaming media content and extract the characteristics of the streaming media found. We choose 16 different starting points and crawled 1.25 million Web pages from each starting point. Using the custom built tools, the media objects are identified and analyzed to determine attributes including media type, media length, codecs used for encoding, encoded bitrate, resolution, and aspect ratio. A little over half the media clips we encountered are video. MP3 and AAC are the most prevalent audio codecs whereas H.264 and FLV are the most common video codecs. The median size and encoded bitrates of stored media have increased since the last study. Information on the characteristics of stored multimedia and their trends over time can help system designers. The results can also be useful for empirical Internet measurements studies that attempt to mimic the behavior of streaming media traffic over the Internet.

This thesis investigated the relationships between the feeding behaviour and use of stored fat in overwintering Atlantic salmon parr remaining destined to remain resident in freshwater the following year. Experiments investigated the responses to periods of food shortage at different times of the year to assess the influence of season. Investigations were carried out to examine how feeding motivation and fat storage were influenced by changes in those environmental cues that indicate the change of season. The effect of the normal winter behavioural pattern upon feeding and fat was also investigated.

Master of Science / Department of Entomology / James F. Campbell / Thomas W. Phillips / Knowing the factors that influence the distribution patterns, establishment and persistence of stored product insects aids in the development of a more effective pest management program in grain storage structures. This research focuses mainly on the insect communities of stored wheat and stored rice in two different geographical locations, their temporal relationships and the most important or abundant species within that community. Stored wheat was sampled for one season in Manhattan, KS and for rice stored in Beaumont, TX was sampled for two seasons. Hairy fungus beetle, Typhaea stercorea (Coleoptera: Mycetophagidae) was one of the most abundant species and was present in every bin of either wheat or rice and appeared to move into and out of the grain mass. In wheat bin, Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) was a predominant species captured in the bin headspace, but was not frequently recovered in the grain mass. Headspace temperatures tended to be warmer than grain temperatures and outside temperatures. Other major insects recovered in wheat bin included the following groups or species: Anthicidae, Lathridiidae, Cryptolestes, foreign grain beetle Ahasverus advena (Coleoptera: Silvanidae), sawtoothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis (Coleoptera: Silvanidae), red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), smalleyed flour beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) and minute pirate bug Xylocoris favipes (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae). In rice bins, the predominate species were hairy fungus beetle, foreign grain beetle and Angoumois grain moth Sitotroga cerealella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Angoumois grain moth was one of the most abundant species in rice, and was captured in the headspace as well as below the grain surface. Rice bins varied considerably in the relative abundance of different species between bins within a season and between seasons. Foreign grain beetle and hairy fungus beetle were especially variable among bins. Two species of weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) that are not grain pests, the sugar cane rootstock weevil, Apinocis deplanata and rice water weevil, Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), were present in high numbers in rice bins from September-December 2009.

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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Grain Science / Bhadriraju Subramanyam / Mark E. Casada / In commercial grain elevators and feed mills, the boot and pit areas contribute to commingling of insects with grain that moves through the elevator leg. A pilot-scale bucket elevator leg with a modified removable boot, or slip-boot, was used to measure the magnitude of commingling as a function of stored-product insect density and boot holding time in tests with wheat and corn. Pilot-scale tests showed that clean grain transferred over infested boots was infested with about 1 insect/kg when transferred immediately after the boot was infested; this increased to 2 insects/kg after incubating the boot for 8 wk. Larger numbers of kernels with internal infestations were picked up by clean grain during transfer compared with externally infesting insects, because the mobility of the latter enabled them to move away from buckets during transfer. Monthly surveys over two years at elevators and feed mills revealed several stored-product insects in grain residues from the boot and pit areas and bulk load-out samples. Insect densities in the boot and pit areas were impacted by seasonal temperatures and facility sanitation practices. Recommended sanitation guidelines for the boot and pit areas include: (1) boot residual grain clean-out every 30 d, (2) removal of grain spillage and floor sweepings from the pit area, and (3) proper disposal of boot and pit residual grain. Facilities following these sanitation guidelines could avoid costly grain discounts, increase income of the business operation and minimize or prevent cross contamination of clean grain by infested grain in the boot and pit areas.