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Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) are vital components of global ecosystems, yet knowledge of their distribution is limited in many regions. Washington state is located in an ecologically diverse part of North America and encompasses habitat types and plant communities known for high bee species richness. To establish a baseline for future studies on bee communities in the state, we used published and unpublished datasets to develop a preliminary annotated checklist of bees occurring in Washington state. We document, with high confidence, 565 species of bees in Washington and identify an additional 102 species likely to occur in the state. We anticipate future research survey efforts, such as the newly initiated Washington Bee Atlas, will discover several species that have the potential to occur in Washington and provide new data for 84 species which have not been recorded in more than 50 years.

Swapna S Shanbhag,1 Sanjay Chanda,1 Pragnya R Donthineni,1 Sayan Basu1– 3 1The Cornea Institute, L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India; 2Center for Ocular Regeneration (CORE), L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, India; 3Brien Holden Eye Research Centre (BHERC), L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, IndiaCorrespondence: Sayan BasuBrien Holden Eye Research Centre (BHERC), L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Road No. 2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, 500034, Telangana, IndiaTel +91 4030612555Fax +91 40-23548271Email sayanbasu@lvpei.orgPurpose: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of conjunctival autograft (CAG) versus simple limbal epithelial transplant (SLET) for management of unilateral partial limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD).Methods: This retrospective, comparative, interventional case series evaluated 30 eyes of 30 patients with unilateral partial LSCD. After corneal pannus dissection, 17 patients underwent CAG where graft was harvested from the ipsilateral or contralateral eye, while 13 patients underwent SLET where limbal biopsy was harvested from the contralateral eye. The primary outcome measure was anatomical success in the form of restoration of a completely epithelised, stable, and avascular corneal surface at last follow-up.Results: Both groups were comparable in terms of age at time of surgery, preoperative best-corrected visual acuity, median duration since injury, number of clock hours of limbus involved, and number of previous surgeries performed. The most common etiology for LSCD was chemical burns in both groups. The median duration of post-operative follow-up was 5.6 months [interquartile range [(IQR): 3.6– 15.1] in the CAG group versus 6.2 months (IQR: 4.5– 12.2) in the SLET group (p=0.75)]. The anatomical success rates were 86.5 ± 8.9% in the CAG group and 28.3 ± 13.7% in the SLET group at final follow-up visit (p = 0.025). Most failures in both groups occurred within the first 8 months after surgery.Conclusion: For eyes with unilateral partial LSCD secondary to chemical burns, CAG is a safe and effective method for restoring the corneal epithelium. Limbal transplantation may not be necessary for the treatment of partial LSCD.Keywords: partial limbal stem cell deficiency, ocular chemical burn, simple limbal epithelial transplantation, conjunctival autograft, symblepharon

Two Schiff bases were synthesized from raceacetophenone: 1) ADS1 4-ethyl-6-{(E)-1-[(3-nitrophenyl)imino]ethyl}benzene-1,3-diol and 2) ADS3 4-ethyl-6-[(E)-1-{(2-nitrophenyl)imino]ethyl}benzene-1,3-diol. Then their metal complexes were formed. The metals selected for the preparation of complexes were copper, nickel, iron and zinc. Hence, in total 8 metal complexes were synthesized and screened for antibacterial activity against some clinically important bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. The in vitro antibacterial activity was determined by the Agar Ditch technique using DMF (polar) and 1,4-dioxane (non polar) as solvents. The Schiff bases showed greater activity than theirmetal complexes; themetal complexes showed differential effects on the bacterial strains investigated and the solvent used, suggesting that the antibacterial activity is dependent on the molecular structure of the compound, the solvent used and the bacterial strain under consideration. The Schiff base ADS3 in the polar solvent DMF showed better antibacterial activity towards the investigated bacterial strains. Amongst the four metals, Zn showed the best antibacterial activity followed by Fe in 1,4-dioxane while Ni followed by Zn and Fe showed the best antibacterial activity in DMF. P. vulgaris was the most resistant bacteria.

The high-spin states in 197Tl were studied by populating them using the 197Au(α, 4n)197 Tl reaction at 48 MeV of beam energy. γ−γ coincidence data were taken using a combination of clover, LEPS (low energy photon spectrometer) and single crystal HPGe detectors. The polarization and DCO measurements were performed for definite spin and parity assignment of the excited states. The πi13/2 intruder state has been identified for the first time in this nucleus. The total Routhian surface calculations have been performed to study the shape and deformation of 197Tl for different configurations.

Alternating between concepts during learning (interleaving) and making guesses about to-be-learned information before viewing the correct answers (pretesting) can enhance learning relative to focusing on one concept at a time (blocking) and studying, respectively. We investigated the potential benefits of interleaving and pretesting for acquiring categorical knowledge and classification skills. In three experiments, participants learned about psychopathological disorders from interleaved or blocked case studies and via pretesting or studying. A 5-min delayed test (Experiment 1) showed that interleaving and pretesting improved the ability to classify new and previously viewed case studies. Moreover, their combination had at least additive effects, yielding the best overall performance. Similar results occurred on a 48-hr delayed test (Experiment 2) and under conditions of equivalent time on task (Experiment 3). Overall, this study reveals that an effective scheduling approach paired with a beneficial learning activity forms a potent combination (interleaved pretesting) that is uniquely capable of enhancing learning. General Audience Summary: A growing body of research suggests that alternating between multiple concepts or topics during learning, which is also known as interleaving, is more effective than a traditional, one-topic-at-a-time approach, which is also known as blocking. There is also evidence that making guesses about information before studying the correct answers, or pretesting, can yield better learning than studying correct information without any guessing. This study investigated (a) the benefits of interleaving and/or pretesting for learning to identify different categories and (b) whether combining interleaving and pretesting—that is, viewing a series of concepts in an interleaved order and guessing the identity of each concept prior to learning the correct answer—might also improve learning. In each of the three experiments, adult participants learned to identify psychopathological disorders (e.g., cyclothymic disorder) via exposure to paragraph-long case study examples of each disorder. Learning was interleaved or blocked (alternating between concepts or focusing on one concept at a time) and involved pretesting or studying (guessing the identity of the disorder first or being told the specific disorder from the outset). After 5 min (Experiments 1 and 3) or 48 hr (Experiment 2), participants took a classification test wherein they had to identify disorders described in never-before-seen and previously viewed case studies. If learning involved interleaving or pretesting, then classification performance was improved relative to blocking or studying, respectively. If interleaving and pretesting were used together, then classification performance was even better. These results suggest that combining an effective scheduling approach (interleaving) and a beneficial learning activity (pretesting) can harness benefits of both strategies, yielding better learning than when either strategy is used alone. Accordingly, in analogous situations and possibly other contexts, learners stand to benefit most from using interleaving and pretesting in tandem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to replicate the results of previous studies examining the spacing and testing effect by showing a benefit of spaced practice and repeated testing on inductive learning. Seventy-four participants practiced diagnosing 36 case studies of six psychological disorders and tested in a posttest phase. Although learning occurred, there were no significant differences found in posttest scores between the stimuli that were practiced in a massed versus spaced format. There were also no differences found in posttest scores between stimuli that were practiced as study versus testing trials. The results of the current study necessitate a discussion about how spacing and testing can be most effective and if the effectiveness is conditional on the material being studied. Keywords: spacing effect, testing effect, inductive learning, retention, study habits, Many academics who teach complex and related concepts struggle to help students retain information, and previous research on the topic of learning and memory fails to provide efficient methods for [...]

All 15 subscales of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1993) were administered to 352 undergraduate students taking Introductory Psychology. Their scores were evaluated with respect to incremental validity (in addition to ACT scores) they provided for predicting course grades. Results indicated that only two of the subscales, Self-efficacy, and Time and Study Environment, contributed incremental validity. When the students were disaggregated by ACT composite, and the low, medium, and high ACT groups were evaluated separately, Self-Efficacy dropped out of the model for the low ACT group, and only time and study environment provided incremental validity. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for increasing the structure of college courses to improve performance among students. (Contains 2 tables.)

A pioneering study on food and feeding habits and seasonal variation in diet of Chrysochir aurea was conducted along the Digha coast of West Bengal, India, from October 2021 to September 2022. The analysis involved a total of 562 specimens with lengths ranging from 124 mm to 417 mm that were collected by commercial trawlers. The indices of preponderance and relative importance revealed that the crustaceans dominated the stomach content of C. aurea, followed by fishes, unidentified digested matter and molluscs. Among crustaceans, the important food items recorded were penaeid shrimps, Acetes spp., crabs, Squilla spp., and semi-digested shrimps; among teleosts Secutor spp., Bregmaceros sp., Stolephorus spp., ribbon fish, flatfishes, Coilia spp., and semi-digested fish bodies were recorded; whereas, among molluscs Octopus spp. and Sepia spp. were recorded occasionally. Relative length of gut for both sexes was less than one, indicating C. aurea is a carnivore fish. Males and females had the highest gastro-somatic index during the monsoon (2.716 %) and pre-monsoon (2.856 %) seasons, respectively; whereas, the highest hepato-somatic index (male: 1.134 %, female: 1.080 %) was observed during the monsoon and lowest during the post-monsoon (male: 0.777 %, female: 0.769 %) seasons. Based on the overall vacuity index (31.14 %), C. aurea could be categorized as a 'relatively edacious feeder'. During the monsoon season, the feeding intensity observed was low compared to the other seasons, as revealed in the stomach fullness index (males: 0.656 %, females: 0.907 %). Cluster analysis performed with seasonal percentage gravimetric values of the prey groups revealed that the similarity of food items between monsoon and post-monsoon varied between 87.5 and 90.0 %, respectively. The current findings would abridge an existing knowledge gap in the feeding biology of C. aurea, and, thus, will aid in fisheries management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the quality of service delivery by councils in rural districts of Zambia, particularly Senanga Town Council. The study respondents were randomly selected from the residents of Senanga District in twelve wards and two hundred and fifty residents representing households from different wards were randomly selected to participate. Data were collected using an FM-SERVQUAL model questionnaire and analyzed using Social Statistics Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Mega Stat software. The results of the study show that out of four components, only one component of the working process met the minimum required level of quality service standards. The Human Capital, Technology and ICT, and Property Management components were all below the required service standards. On average, the Council's performance was below the required service quality standards. The study results also showed that there was no relationship between Senanga Town Council's service quality and customer satisfaction. There was no relationship between service quality components and customer satisfaction, although the results further showed that there was a significant relationship between technology and ICT and customer satisfaction. This means that technology and ICT have an impact on customer satisfaction in Senanga District.