The US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is developing technologies that will enable Navy-relevant missions with the smallest practical Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). The NRL Micro Tactical Expendable (MITE) air vehicle is a result of this research. MITE is a hand-launched, dual-propeller, fixed-wing air vehicle, with a 25cm chord and a wingspan of 25–47cm, depending on payload weight. Vehicle gross weight is 130–350g. Miniature autopilot systems, based on visual imaging techniques, are being developed for MITE. These will be used in conjunction with conventional autopilot sensors to allow the MITE to fly autonomously. This paper provides an overview of the MITE development, including aerodynamic design considerations, electric propulsion, and vision-based autopilot research. Also presented is a rationale for the development of control laws that can direct the behavior of large groups of MAVs or other vehicle agents. Dubbed ‘physicomimetics,’ this process can bring about the self-assembly of complex MAV formations, though individual MAVs have minimal onboard processing power and limited local sensing capabilities.

This paper describes a successful attempt to tag adult females of the European pine shoot, Rhyacionia buoliuna (Schiff.) with Co60, chosen as a tagging agent because it is a gamma emitter with a sufficiently long half-life (5.3 years). Emphasis is placed on the preparation and application of the tracer material, the absence of immediately harmful effects of radiation on the insects, and the ability of the insects to behave normally with the tags in place. This work was undertaken in order so develop techniques for following the movements of large numbers of these insects.

Recently, the light reactions of three species of tent caterpillars were described (3). The present paper contains a similar description of the responses of larvae of the spotless fall webworm, Hyphantria textor Harr. This species was chosen for comparative study because, like tent caterpillars, it is colonial through most of its larval stage, during which it forms extensive webs.

Larvae of all six instars were studied. Some of the behaviour described here was first observed during the summers of 1949-50 at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. During July and August of 1953, several of the laboratory tests were repeated at Sault Ste. Marie, and, in addition, some new reactions were observed for the first time.

The forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria Hbn., and the eastern and western tent caterpillars, M. americanum (Fab.) and M. pluviale (Dyar), are common pests of several species of deciduous trees in Canada. All are colonial during the larval stage, but M. disstria differs from the others in one respect: it does not construct a communal tent. This difference in habit merits special consideration in any comparative study of larval behaviour, particularly in one concerned with the effects of physical factors upon the insects, since a tent modifies the effects of the physical environment considerably. Recently, a series of such studies was carried out, and one part of the work consisted of laboratory and field observations on the light reactions of larvae. The results obtained have raised a number of new questions which unfortunately cannot be answered now, hecause two of the species have been difficult to obtain in quantity since 1950. Nevertheless, the findings are presented here without additional delay, since they are of general interest, and other workers may wish to use them.

During recent field studies of the behaviour and activiw of larvae in colonies of M. americanum and H. textor, it was noticed that nymphs and adults ofPodisus placidus (Uhler) and of P. modestus (Dallas) frequently visited colonies of the eastern tent caterpillar and occasionally those of the spotless fall webworm. Although small larvae, particularly those of the tent caterpillar, fell prey to both nymphs and adults, larvae of the fifth and sixth instars occasionally exhibited special reactions.

During field studies of the behaviour of larvae in colonies of Malacosoma disstria Hbn., it was observed that two species of ants, Camponotus herculeanus ligniperdus (Latr.) and Formica fusca L., were common on the twigs of the small trees, Populus tremuloides Michx., on which the caterpillars were established. Ant nests were common near the bases of trees, and the worker ants climbed the trunks and moved along the branches either to forage or to tend aphid colonies. When the tent caterpillars were small, they were frequently attacked by the ants. There were two distinct types of attack: one the result of foraging by worker ants and the other the result of defence of aphid colonies by the ants.

Conventional and modified methods of obtaining supercooling points of immature stages of insects have been utilized in studies of the cold-hardiness of the European pine shoot moth and the European pinesawfly. A method has been developed to permit visual observation of the freezing process of more than one specimen at a time. A freezing chamber consisting of a hole one inch in depth and one-half inch in diameter is located in the upper end of an aluminum rod partially submerged in a dry ice-alcohol mixture. A small filter paper disc, used as the insect platform, rests upon a #40 copper-constantan thermocouple located near the base of the freezing chamber. The thermocouple enters the chamber through a hole in the wall after several circuits around the circumference of the rod to prevent temperature anomalies attributable to thermal conduction within the wire. The thermocouple is connected to a sensitive recording potentiometer. The wall of the freezing chamber is blackened to prevent reflection of light from obscuring the view of the freezing process, through a binocular microscope mounted above the freezing chamber. The moment of freezing is readily recorded on the temperature trace provided by the potentiometer. At a cooling rate of approximately 5°F. per minute, a correction factor of 2.5°F. must be added to the indicated freezing point to obtain the actual temperature at the surface of the platform. When this correction is applied, the results provide data applicable to statistical analysis of freezing point determinations.

One way to achieve the large sample sizes required for genetic studies of complex traits is to combine samples collected by different groups. It is not often clear, however, whether this practice is reasonable from a genetic perspective. To assess the comparability of samples from the Australian and the Netherlands twin studies, we estimated Fst (the proportion of total genetic variability attributable to genetic differences between cohorts) based on 359 short tandem repeat polymorphisms in 1068 individuals. Fst was estimated to be 0.30% between the Australian and the Netherlands cohorts, a smaller value than between many European groups. We conclude that it is reasonable to combine the Australian and the Netherlands samples for joint genetic analyses.

The effect of the dietary n-3 long-chain PUFA, DHA (22 : 6n-3), on the growth of pre-term infants is controversial. We tested the effect of higher-dose DHA (approximately 1 % dietary fatty acids) on the growth of pre-term infants to 18 months corrected age compared with standard feeding practice (0·2–0·3 % DHA) in a randomised controlled trial. Infants born < 33 weeks gestation (n 657) were randomly allocated to receive breast milk and/or formula with higher DHA or standard DHA according to a concealed schedule stratified for sex and birth-weight ( < 1250 and ≥ 1250 g). The dietary arachidonic acid content of both diets was constant at approximately 0·4 % total fatty acids. The intervention was from day 2 to 5 of life until the infant's expected date of delivery (EDD). Growth was assessed at EDD, and at 4, 12 and 18 months corrected age. There was no effect of higher DHA on weight or head circumference at any age, but infants fed higher DHA were 0·7 cm (95 % CI 0·1, 1·4 cm; P = 0·02) longer at 18 months corrected age. There was an interaction effect between treatment and birth weight strata for weight (P = 0·01) and length (P = 0·04). Higher DHA resulted in increased length in infants born weighing ≥ 1250 g at 4 months corrected age and in both weight and length at 12 and 18 months corrected age. Our data show that DHA up to 1 % total dietary fatty acids does not adversely affect growth.

Dried spent hops possess a high absorptive capacity, and attention is drawn to its use as a “filler” to absorb such by-products as molasses and treacle.

The material possesses a high crude protein value and its ether extract is very high for a fibrous food, while the amount of crude fibre is the same as in good meadow hay. There is a high percentage of mineral matter present.

The digestibility of the material has been determined by feeding with hay chaff and linseed cake meal to three sheep. The spent hops were not readily eaten and could only be included in a ration in an amount equal to one-seventh of the dry weight of the total ration.

Its digestibility is low, a fifth of the crude protein and the nitrogenfree extractives, one-half of the ether extract, one-twentieth of the crude fibre and one-fifth of the total organic matter only being digestible. The production starch equivalent was 24.5.