A study was conducted on the Felder-Soloman Index of Learning Styles © (ILS) to assess reliability, factor structure, and construct validity as well to determine whether changing its dichotomous response scale to a five-option response scale would improve reliability and validity. Data collected in this study had internal consistency reliability ranging from 0.55 to 0.77 across the four learning style scales of the ILS. Factor analysis revealed that multiple factors were present within three of the learning style scales, which correspond to known aspects of the scale definitions. The factor analysis and direct feedback from students on whether they felt their scores accurately represented their learning preferences provide evidence of construct validity for the ILS. Changing the response scale improved reliability, but it did not change the factor structure substantially nor did it affect the strength of the evidence for construct validity based on student feedback.

Broad-spectrum insecticide resistance was detected for codling moth. Resistance to azinphos-methyl, lambda-cyhalothrin and methoxyfenozide was associated with reduced residual activity in the field. Broad-spectrum resistance presents serious problems for management of the codling moth in Michigan.

Management of fire blight is complicated by limitations on use of antibiotics in agriculture, antibiotic resistance development, and limited efficacy of alternative control agents. Even though successful in control, preventive antibiotic sprays also affect non-target bacteria, aiding the selection for resistance which could ultimately be transferred to the pathogen Erwinia amylovora. Trunk injection is a target-precise pesticide delivery method that utilizes tree xylem to distribute injected compounds. Trunk injection could decrease antibiotic usage in the open environment and increase the effectiveness of compounds in fire blight control. In field experiments, after 1–2 apple tree injections of either streptomycin, potassium phosphites (PH), or acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM), significant reduction of blossom and shoot blight symptoms was observed compared to water injected control trees. Overall disease suppression with streptomycin was lower than typically observed following spray applications to flowers. Trunk injection of oxytetracycline resulted in excellent control of shoot blight severity, suggesting that injection is a superior delivery method for this antibiotic. Injection of both ASM and PH resulted in the significant induction of PR-1, PR-2, and PR-8 protein genes in apple leaves indicating induction of systemic acquired resistance (SAR) under field conditions. The time separating SAR induction and fire blight symptom suppression indicated that various defensive compounds within the SAR response were synthesized and accumulated in the canopy. ASM and PH suppressed fire blight even after cessation of induced gene expression. With the development of injectable formulations and optimization of doses and injection schedules, the injection of protective compounds could serve as an effective option for fire blight control.

BACKGROUND: The invasive drosophilid pest, Drosophila suzukii Matsumura, is affecting berry production in most fruit-producing regions of the world. Chemical control is the dominant management approach, creating concern for insecticide resistance in this pest. We compared the insecticide susceptibility of D. suzukii populations collected from conventional, organic or insecticide-free blueberry sites. RESULTS

A primary goal of The Pennsylvania State University's new Engineering Entrepreneurship (E‐SHIP) Minor is to build students' life skills so they can succeed within innovative, product‐focused, cross‐disciplinary teams. The E‐SHIP Minor is designed for undergraduate students majoring in engineering, business, or IST (Information Sciences and Technology) who aspire to be innovation leaders for new technology‐based products and companies. This paper outlines five E‐SHIP program components to meet this mission: the core courses for the minor, E‐SHIP competitions in which students exhibit their products and ideas, the E‐SHIP Event Series, student organizations to support out‐of‐classroom entrepreneurial interest, and team projects for local industry and Penn State researchers. Penn State's engineering entrepreneurship program is reviewed, summarizing both quantitative and qualitative assessment data to date, previewing future assessment plans, and providing a summary of lessons learned during the development and implementation of this program.

In this study the authors employed the plant-insect-chemistry (PIC) triad to investigate two novel life stage targets against the plum curculio (PC), Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst), in apple integrated pest management (IPM). Laboratory treated apple bioassays were used to determine if the insect growth regulator (IGR) insecticides novaluron and tebufenozide have physiological effects on PC larvae following adult exposure. Curative activity bioassays were conducted for IGR, neonicotinoid, oxidiazine and organophosphate insecticides on PC larvae post-infestation, and fruit penetration profiles of insecticides were developed. The results revealed that novaluron exhibits activity on PC larvae via vertical transmission following exposure of mated females to treated substrate. Surface treatments of azinphos-methyl, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam to preinfested fruit resulted in significant reductions in larval emergence. For all compounds, 50% or more of the total recovered active ingredient was from apple skin, and for azinphos-methyl, indoxacarb and thiamethoxam it was greater than 80%. For azinphos-methyl, novaluron, methoxyfenozide and thiacloprid, however, active ingredient was recovered from every section of the apple, from skin to core. Implications for twenty-first century IPM are discussed.

Nineteen insecticides, belonging to nine chemical classes, were bioassayed by dietary exposure against two strains of obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana, collected from Michigan apple orchards. Berrien is a putatively organophosphate-resistant strain from a commercial orchard with a history of insecticide use, and Kalamazoo a susceptible strain from an isolated and unsprayed orchard. The Berrien strain was moderately resistant (about 25-fold) to organophosphates such as azinphos-methyl and chlorpyrifos. Very low resistance (< 10-fold) was also observed to pyrethroids such as cypermethrin, zeta-cypermethrin, bifenthrin, deltamethrin and esfenvalerate, to the ecdysone agonists tebufenozide and methoxyfenozide, and to the chlorinated pyrrole chlorfenapyr. Endosulfan and carbamates such as thiodicarb, methomyl and carbaryl had low intrinsic toxicities against both strains, with little difference in sensitivity between them. There was no resistance to spinosad. Emamectin benzoate was found to be the most toxic insecticide against C rosaceana, with slightly higher lethal doses required for the Berrien strain. Unexpectedly, Berrien exhibited a very high level of resistance (> 700-fold) to indoxacarb, which has never been used in Michigan to control this insect pest. The active metabolite of indoxacarb, DCJW, was considerably more toxic than the parent compound, but the resistance against DCJW was comparable to that seen with indoxacarb. This indicates that a failure to activate indoxacarb was not the mechanism of resistance in Berrien. The low level of resistance to several chemistries recorded in Michigan C rosaceana can be managed at this stage by adopting a rotation of chemistries having different modes of action.

Two studies related to readiness for self‐directed learning of engineering students were performed using the Self‐directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS). A cross‐sectional study of students in the first through final years of study showed that their SDLRS scores are significantly correlated with academic year of study and with grade point average, but not with gender. However, neither academic year of study nor grade point average is a good predictor of SDLRS scores; together they account for less than 5 percent of the observed variance. A second study investigated the effect of a problem‐based learning experience on students' readiness for self‐directed learning. It showed that the average readiness for self‐directed learning increased significantly for students in the problem‐based learning courses. However, investigation of the changes for individual students revealed that only nine of eighteen students showed significant increases in their SDLRS scores, and two showed significant decreases. Potential underlying causes are explored.