Permanent gases inside healthy and microbially infected cotton fruit during development.

Permanent gases inside developing cotton fruit (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were, by weight, 46% nitrogen, 29% oxygen, 4% argon and 20% carbon dioxide, whereas plant canopy air assayed at 73% nitrogen, 25% oxygen, 2% argon and 0.3% carbon dioxide. Light exposure, fruit age, and mild infection (Erwinia) had no compositional effect but aggressive infection (Aspergillus) raised carbon dioxide content to 31% by weight and correspondingly lowered oxygen to 17%. Respiration with oxygen replenishment except during aggressive infection accounted for the fruit gas compositions.

Hybridization between European and africanized honey bees in the neotropical yucatan peninsula.

A population genetic analysis of honey bees of the Mexican neotropical Yucatan peninsula shows that the range expansion of Africanized bees there has involved extensive introgressive hybridization with European bees. Yucatan honey bee populations now include many colonies with intermediate morphologies. Genotypes of mitochondria have disassociated from historically correlated Africanized or European morphology, producing diverse phenotypic associations. This suggests that the size of resident European populations may be important in explaining previously reported asymmetrical hybridization. Evidence of natural hybridization is encouraging for the use of genetic management to mitigate the effects of Africanized bees in the United States.

The Autonomic Nervous System Response Inventory (ANSRI): prediction of psychophysiological response.

An experiment was conducted to test the validity of the ANSRI by determining whether self-report of physiological response to emotion-provoking imagery could predict individuals' patterns of physiological response to the same imagery. Fifty two undergraduate volunteers completed the ANSRI and, 2 weeks later, reconstructed their original imagery (fear, anger, sadness, joy, activity situations) while seven physiological response systems were recorded polygraphically. The ANSRI scales for a condition (e.g. fear) were entered as predictors of each electrophysiological measure recorded under that condition in Stepwise Multiple Regression Analyses. Forty-nine percent of the analyses were statistically significant (mean R = 0.52; 27% of the variance). Every electrophysiological variable was significantly predicted by the ANSRI's scales under at least one imagery condition, or by using the mean response to items across the five conditions. Cardiovascular, respiration and electrodermal measures were predicted best. Every ANSRI P scale corresponding to an electrophysiological measure was a major variable in the significant prediction of that measure in at least one condition.

Nest plundering allomones of the fire beeTrigona (Oxytrigona) mellicolor.

Ten volatile compounds derived from the cephalic glands of the fire beeTrigona (Oxytrigona)mellicolor were bioassayed for possible allomonal activities facilitating nest plundering. Two diketones, (E)-3-heptene-2,5-dione and (E)-3-nonene-2,5-dione, caused the honeybeeApis mellifera to display avoidance behavior and reduced defensive behavior. These diketones are produced in relatively large quantities in fire-bee cephalic glands.

An Autonomic Nervous System Response Inventory (ANSRI): scaling, reliability, and cross-validation.

The Autonomic Nervous System Response Inventory (ANSRI) was designed to elicit individuals' self-reported patterns of peripheral physiological response to emotion-provoking stimuli. Fifty-one items reflecting such responses were rated as having been present (1 = absent to 5 = intense) during prototypical emotional situations drawn from experience, which were reconstructed and imagined by a subject. Items were rated for each of five conditions, four of which were emotions (fear, anger, sadness, joy) and one of which was an activation control condition (physical activity). Scales were developed to describe the relative activity of different physiological response systems: P scales based on physiological coherence of items and F scales based on factor analytic item clusters. The derivation and contents of the scales are described, and the following psychometric data are reported: test-retest reliabilities and internal consistency coefficients (original and cross-validation samples), factor analyses, and cross-validation of factors. Data indicate that the ANSRI and most of its scales are sufficiently reliable and replicable to warrant validity research.