Based on fieldwork with two related Afro-Brazilian religions, Umbanda and Quimbanda, this article explores the value of Donald Davidson’s semantic theory for making sense of ethnographic fieldwork. Specifically, we look at the role of scriptedness in communication, including religious ritual. We first clarify the role of social externalities in Davidson’s view of communicative interpretation, which is broader than his initial framework of radical interpretation. We then offer an account of what constitutes communicative and interpretational success, by drawing on Davidson’s account of prior and passing theory. Prior theories are interpreters’ initial hypothetical frameworks, ranging from general (e.g., the rational, intentional nature of self and other, and a shared perceivable world) to local (e.g., assumptions about cultural, social, and institutional contexts). Passing theories are tactical, on-the-fly modifications that we hypothesize in order to get mutual understanding back on track. We introduce the concept of ‘semantic reduction’ to operationalize the view that specific, local social externalities provide clues that help keep interpretation on track. In the case of religious ethnography, these include ritual, doctrinal, narrative, symbolic, material, temporal, and spatial frames that constrain the generation of passing theories. Examples from fieldwork illustrate the potential value of our appeal to Davidson’s ideas.

a. Event type: Outdoor music festival.

b. Event onset date: December 3, 2016.

c. Location of event: Regatta Point, Commonwealth Park.

d. Geographical coordinates: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia (-35.289002, 149.131957, 600m).

e. Dates and times of observation in latitude, longitude, and elevation: December 3, 2016, 11:00-23:00.

f. Response type: Event medical support.

Abstract

Thermal responses and temperature-dependent development of laboratory- and field-overwintered eggs of the fruittree leafroller, Archips argyrospilus (Walker), were described using data from constant-temperature laboratory experiments. The time required for completion of hatch of overwintering eggs declined throughout winter until the end of January, after which increasing exposure to natural or artificial cold conditions had minimal effect on median hatching time. There was little year to year variation in response to cold treatments, and thus it was concluded that diapause is terminated by 1 February. Time to hatch decreased with increasing temperature. Distributions of hatch times were near normal, with mean and median development times similar at any given temperature. Development time (days ± SD) at a mean temperature of 20 °C was similar under constant (10.7 ± 1.1) and fluctuating (9.1 ± 1.4) temperature regimes. A nonlinear, six-parameter, biophysical model, fitted (r2 = 0.99) to median hatching rates at 11 temperatures (0.5–30 °C) indicated development was nonlinear below 10 °C, increased linearly between 10 and 25 °C, was maximal at 27.5 °C, and decreased above 27.5 °C. The lower developmental threshold (± SE), estimated to be 4.95 ± 0.54 °C by linear regression (r2 = 0.98) and the x-intercept method, was used to construct a degree-day (DD) model for predicting egg hatch. Median egg development required 154 DD above 4.95 °C. Observed median egg hatch in two different field sites and years was within ± 3 days of the predicted date, using max–min air temperatures, a base temperature of 5 °C, and a starting date of 1 February for accumulating DD. This model should prove useful for scheduling management actions against fruittree leafroller on apples and pears.

Emergence, oviposition, and seasonal flight activity of adult, speckled green fruit worm, Orthosia hibisci Guenée (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), were monitored during 1991 and 1992 in a mixed block of McIntosh and Spartan apple trees at Summerland, British Columbia, to establish relationships between the phenology of these events and degree-days (DD). Using air temperatures and a developmental threshold of 3 °C, median emergence of males was predicted most accurately (0–2 days) by starting DD summations on 1 March. Median emergence of females was predicted without error when first catch of a male in a trap baited with sex attractant was used as a population reference point (biofix) to start DD summation. Using a threshold temperature of 3 °C, observed cumulative emergence of females reached 50% at 63.5 ± 4.05 DD3 °C after biofix, similar to the laboratory-derived prediction of 61.3 ± 4.2 DD with a threshold temperature of 2.8 °C. Catches of males with sex attractant preceded oviposition, but female catches in light traps lagged behind oviposition, suggesting older females were being caught in light traps. The oviposition curve was linear and parallel to the cumulative curve of male catches with sex attractant. Oviposition began at 26.7 DD3 °C and reached 50% at 94.2 DD3 °C after biofix, respectively. Weibull equations fitted to observed cumulative catches with sex attractant, female emergence, and oviposition, combined with laboratory-derived DD models of egg and larval development, were used to predict phenology of O. hibisci and correlate it with flowering phenology of pome fruits. This study provides a basis for timing application of selective insecticides against O. hibisci based on first catch in a sex-attractant trap and DD summations.

Temperature-dependent development of eggs, larvae, and pupae of the speckled green fruitworm, Orthosia hibisci Guenée, at constant temperatures of 5–30.0 °C, 7.5–27.5 °C, and 0.8–20.8 °C, respectively, was described. Development times decreased with increasing temperatures and minimum developmental times in eggs, larvae, and pupae occurred at ca. 27.5, 25, and 20.8 °C, respectively. Variation in development times of all life stages was modelled accurately (R2 values 0.98–0.99) with a Weibull distribution. Relationships between temperature and developmental rates of all life stages were described by linear degree-day (DD) and nonlinear poikilotherm models. There were significant differences (ANOVA, P < 0.05) among the slopes of regression equations describing developmental rates of different life stages and larval instars. Minimum developmental temperatures for eggs (3.4 °C), first- through fifth-instar larvae (4.7, 2.9, 3.6, 3.5, and 3.7 °C), and pupae (2.8 °C) were determined by extrapolation of linear regression equations to the x-intercept. Median development time of eggs, first- through fifth-instar larvae, and pupae required 99.0, 44.2, 51.5, 52.4, 57.1, 69.9, and 61.3 DD above the minimum developmental temperatures, respectively. Developmental rates of eggs and all larval instars averaged were described by six-parameter models exhibiting low- and high-temperature inhibition. Development of pupae was best described by a four-parameter model exhibiting low- but no high-temperature inhibition. This information should be useful for developing a phenology model to improve management actions against O. hibisci.

In flight-tunnel assays in both clean and pheromone-permeated air, we compared attraction and behavioural responses of male Pandemis limitata (Robinson) to “calling” females, female pheromone gland extract (FGE), and synthetic sources of pheromone. In clean air, female-baited traps caught significantly more males than traps baited with rubber septa lures loaded with 10 or 100 µg of the known pheromone components ((Z)-11-tetradecenyl acetate (Z11-14:Ac) and (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate) blended in a 91:9 or 94:6 ratio. Traps baited with septa loaded with 500 µg of the 94:6 blend caught as many males as did female-baited traps. Proportions of males engaging in wing fanning, take-off flight, locking onto the plume, and upwind flight towards a rubber septum loaded with 100 or 500 µg of the 94:6 blend were not significantly different from proportions exhibiting these behaviours in response to calling females. Only 500 µg lures elicited as much source contact in the same time as did a calling female. In clean air, traps baited with FGE applied to filter paper at 5 or 10 female equivalents caught as many males as did calling females. In air treated with Z11-14:Ac applied as a pheromone disruptant, females attracted more males and did so sooner than did five equivalents of FGE on filter paper. Consequently, disruption of male orientation to calling females was significantly shorter (74 h) than disruption of orientation to FGE (146 h). However, FGE dispensed from a piezoelectric microsprayer at a rate equivalent to 50 pg of Z11-14:Ac·min–1 caught as many males as a calling female. At this delivery rate, two-choice microsprayer bioassays revealed that FGE containing the two known components at a 91:9 ratio was more attractive than a synthetic blend of these two pheromone components alone at the same ratio. In air permeated with Z11-14:Ac, disruption of orientation to this FGE lasted 74 h, equivalent to disruption of orientation to females. These results suggest the published two-component pheromone blend for P. limitata is likely incomplete, and in the absence of suitable synthetic attractants, we recommend use of calling females or FGE delivered using a microsprayer system for any laboratory examination of communication disruption in this species.

Pheromone trap catches and mating activity of sterile, mass-reared, diapaused and non-diapaused male codling moths, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), were compared with those of wild diapaused males using mark–release–recapture field experiments in springtime. Sterile moths were provided by the Okanagan–Kootenay Sterile Insect Release (SIR) Program mass-rearing facility, in Osoyoos, British Columbia, Canada. Nondiapause-reared (SIR-standard) and diapause-reared (SIR-diapaused) sterile males were recaptured in similar frequencies. Both types of sterile males were recaptured significantly less often than similarly released wild diapaused males, and ratios of recaptured sterile to wild males were similar with either sterile male. Ratios of sterile to wild males, using the combined catches of SIR-standard and SIR-diapaused males, were significantly lower when measured with traps baited with wild-females (21:1) than with traps baited with 10 μg pheromone (48:1). Both trapping ratios were markedly lower than the 80:1 ratio at which sterile and wild males were released. In mating studies, SIR-standard and SIR-diapaused males exhibited equivalent mating frequencies and both were recaptured in copula with tethered wild females significantly less often than released wild males. In the same mating studies, sterile mass-reared, diapaused males that had been chilled for 3 h at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre (PARC) before release (PARC-diapaused) were significantly more competitive than SIR-standard or SIR-diapaused males that averaged 24 h of chilling as part of normal SIR Program operations. PARC-diapaused males and released wild males mated with tethered females with equal frequency. We hypothesize that the length of time SIR males were chilled before being released may have caused SIR-diapaused males to be less mobile, and therefore less competitive with wild males in field mating assays, than were PARC-diapaused males. Based on these results, introduction of a diapause phase into the mass-rearing system used at the Osoyoos facility cannot currently be recommended as a means of improving trap-measured ratios of sterile to wild males, or increasing sterile × wild matings.

This article argues that – despite the value of distinguishing between insiders and outsiders in a contingent and relative sense – there is no fundamental insider–outsider problem. We distinguish weak and strong versions of ‘insiderism’ (privileged versus monopolistic access to knowledge) and then sociological and religious versions of the latter. After reviewing critiques of the sociological version, we offer a holistic semantic critique of the religious version (i.e. the view that religious experience and/or language offers sui generis access to knowledge). We argue that all evidence for mental states is overt, public, and observable, and, hence, that there can be no significant difference in the access to knowledge of insiders and outsiders.

The term epilepsy encompasses a heterogeneous group of disorders, with a lifetime cumulative incidence of 3%. Genetic factors are thought to contribute to the aetiology in up to 60% of cases. Various molecular and cellular mechanisms give rise to epilepsy, and epilepsy genes fall into several distinct categories. They include genes in which mutations cause abnormal ion-channel function, disordered brain development, progressive neurodegeneration and disturbances of cerebral energy metabolism. In this review, we have focused on current understanding of the molecular genetic bases of human inherited epilepsies. Particular reference has been given to specific idiopathic epilepsies, neuronal migration disorders (cortical dysgeneses) and the progressive myoclonic epilepsies, and how information about this group of disorders might be used to develop new treatment strategies.