Persistence of insecticidal activity of novel bio-encapsulated formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki against Choristoneura rosaceana [Lepidoptera: Tortricidae]

Le DiPelTM, une formulation commerciale du Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk), et des formulations bio-encapsulées du Btk ont été pulvérisées dans un verger de pommiers. Pendant trois années consécutives, leur persistance a été évaluée en laboratoire sur des larves de tordeuse à bandes obliques (Choristoneura rosaceana). En 1995, le DiPel et la formulation bio-encapsulée ont causé une mortalité larvaire significativement plus grande que celle du témoin, au moins 1 jour et jusqu’à 27 jours après les traitements, respectivement. En 1996, bien que 6 mm de pluie soient tombés la journée des traitements, le DiPel et la formulation bio-encapsulée ont causé respectivement 21 et 33 % de mortalité larvaire immédiatement après les traitements. Le DiPel a causé une mortalité significativement plus grande que celle du témoin pour une période de trois jours après les traitements alors que la formulation bio-encapsulée a causé une mortalité plus grande pendant 14 jours. En 1997, deux souches de Btk (HD-1 et BMP123) ont été pulvérisées à des concentrations différentes en matière active (3 et 8 %) et en doses (30 et 240 g 15 L-1). Des concentrations élevées en matière active et des doses élevées ont accru la persistance de l’activité insecticide des formulations de Btk. Parmi les facteurs météorologiques mesurés (précipitations, température et radiations solaires), les précipitations ont réduit la persistance de l’activité insecticide. Les radiations solaires peuvent également avoir contribué à moduler la persistance des formulations.DiPelTM, a registered Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk)-based formulation, and experimental bio-encapsulated Btk formulations were sprayed in an apple orchard. Their persistence was assessed in the laboratory against obliquebanded leafroller (Choristoneura rosaceana) larvae for three consecutive years. In 1995, DiPel and the bio-encapsulated formulation caused significantly higher larval mortality than the control at least 1 day, and up to 27 days after treatments, respectively. In 1996, although 6.4 mm of rain fell during the day of treatments, DiPel and the bio-encapsulated formulation caused respectively 21 and 33% larval mortality immediately after treatments. DiPel caused significantly higher mortality than the control for up to 3 days while the bio-encapsulated formulation caused significantly higher mortality for up to 14 days. In 1997, two Btk strains (HD-1 and BMP123) were sprayed at different concentrations in a.i. (3 and 8%) and doses (30 and 240 g 15 L-1 applied). Higher concentrations of a.i. in the Btk formulations and higher doses sprayed increased the persistence of the insecticidal activity. Among the meteorological factors that were measured (i.e. precipitations, temperature and solar radiations), precipitations reduced the persistence of the insecticidal activity. Solar radiations may have modulated the persistence of the formulations

Role of hindbrain in inner ear morphogenesis: Analysis of Noggin knockout mice

AbstractSignaling from rhombomeres 5 and 6 of the hindbrain is thought to be important for inner ear patterning. In Noggin −/− embryos, the gross anatomy of the inner ear is distorted and malformed, with cochlear duct outgrowth and coiling most affected. We attributed these defects to a caudal shift of the rhombomeres caused by the shortened body axis and the kink in the neural tube. To test the hypothesis that a caudal shift of the rhombomeres affects inner ear development, we surgically generated chicken embryos in which rhombomeres 5 and 6 were similarly shifted relative to the position of the inner ears, as in Noggin mutants. All chicken embryos with shifted rhombomeres showed defects in cochlear duct formation indicating that signaling from rhombomeres 5 and 6 is important for cochlear duct patterning in both chicken and mice. In addition, the size of the otic capsule is increased in Noggin −/− mutants, which most likely is due to unopposed BMP signaling for chondrogenesis in the peri-otic mesenchyme

Differences in Iron Removal from Carbon Nanoonions and Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes for Analytical Purpose

The paper describes the differences between wet iron removal from carbon nanoonions and from multiwall carbon nanotubes for analytical purpose. Nowadays, both carbon nanoonions and multiwall carbon nanotubes are one of the most interesting materials with applicability in electronics, medicine and biotechnology. Medical applications of those nanomaterials require not only recognition of their structure but also measurement of metal impurities concentration. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry as a method for Fe-determination requires liquid samples. Hence, we propose various protocols for leaching of iron from studied materials. Our results proved that structure of nanomaterials have an impact on the efficiency of iron removal

Deep Depth From Focus

Depth from focus (DFF) is one of the classical ill-posed inverse problems in computer vision. Most approaches recover the depth at each pixel based on the focal setting which exhibits maximal sharpness. Yet, it is not obvious how to reliably estimate the sharpness level, particularly in low-textured areas. In this paper, we propose `Deep Depth From Focus (DDFF)' as the first end-to-end learning approach to this problem. One of the main challenges we face is the hunger for data of deep neural networks. In order to obtain a significant amount of focal stacks with corresponding groundtruth depth, we propose to leverage a light-field camera with a co-calibrated RGB-D sensor. This allows us to digitally create focal stacks of varying sizes. Compared to existing benchmarks our dataset is 25 times larger, enabling the use of machine learning for this inverse problem. We compare our results with state-of-the-art DFF methods and we also analyze the effect of several key deep architectural components. These experiments show that our proposed method `DDFFNet' achieves state-of-the-art performance in all scenes, reducing depth error by more than 75% compared to the classical DFF methods.Comment: accepted to Asian Conference on Computer Vision (ACCV) 201

Differences in Iron Removal from Carbon Nanoonions and Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes for Analytical Purpose

The paper describes the differences between wet iron removal from carbon nanoonions and from multiwall carbon nanotubes for analytical purpose. Nowadays, both carbon nanoonions and multiwall carbon nanotubes are one of the most interesting materials with applicability in electronics, medicine and biotechnology. Medical applications of those nanomaterials require not only recognition of their structure but also measurement of metal impurities concentration. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry as a method for Fe-determination requires liquid samples. Hence, we propose various protocols for leaching of iron from studied materials. Our results proved that structure of nanomaterials have an impact on the efficiency of iron removal

Spin-triplet superconductivity in quasi-one dimension

We consider a system with electron-phonon interaction, antiferromagnetic fluctuations and disconnected open Fermi surfaces. The existence of odd-parity superconductivity in this circumstance is shown for the first time. If it is applied to the quasi-one-dimensional systems like the organic conductors (TMTSF)_2X we obtain spin-triplet superconductivity with nodeless gap. Our result is also valid in higher dimensions(2d and 3d).Comment: 2 page

Shifts of the nuclear resonance in the vortex lattice in YBa2_2Cu3_3O7_7

The NMR and NQR spectra of $^{63}$Cu in the CuO$_2$ plane of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$ in the superconducting state are discussed in terms of the phenomenological theory of Ginzburg-Landau type extended to lower temperatures. We show that the observed spectra, Kumagai {\em et al.}, PRB {\bf 63}, 144502 (2001), can be explained by a standard theory of the Bernoulli potential with the charge transfer between CuO$_2$ planes and CuO chains assumed.Comment: 11 pages 7 figure

Between overt and covert research: concealment and disclosure in an ethnographic study of commercial hospitality

This article examines the ways in which problems of concealment emerged in an ethnographic study of a suburban bar and considers how disclosure of the research aims, the recruitment of informants, and elicitation of information was negotiated throughout the fieldwork. The case study demonstrates how the social context and the relationships with specific informants determined overtness or covertness in the research. It is argued that the existing literature on covert research and covert methods provides an inappropriate frame of reference with which to understand concealment in fieldwork. The article illustrates why concealment is sometimes necessary, and often unavoidable, and concludes that the criticisms leveled against covert methods should not stop the fieldworker from engaging in research that involves covertness

Electrostatic potential in a superconductor

The electrostatic potential in a superconductor is studied. To this end Bardeen's extension of the Ginzburg-Landau theory to low temperatures is used to derive three Ginzburg-Landau equations - the Maxwell equation for the vector potential, the Schroedinger equation for the wave function and the Poisson equation for the electrostatic potential. The electrostatic and the thermodynamic potential compensate each other to a great extent resulting into an effective potential acting on the superconducting condensate. For the Abrikosov vortex lattice in Niobium, numerical solutions are presented and the different contributions to the electrostatic potential and the related charge distribution are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure

Granularity-induced gapless superconductivity in NbN films: evidence of thermal phase fluctuations

Using a single coil mutual inductance technique, we measure the low temperature dependence of the magnetic penetration depth in superconducting NbN films prepared with similar critical temperatures around 16 K but with different microstructures. Only (100) epitaxial and weakly granular (100) textured films display the characteristic exponential dependence of conventional BCS s-wave superconductors. More granular (111) textured films exhibit a linear dependence, indicating a gapless state in spite of the s-wave gap. This result is quantitatively explained by a model of thermal phase fluctuations favored by the granular structure.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.