Liquid baits with Oenococcus oeni increase captures of Drosophila suzukii

The spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (Diptera: Drosophilidae), native to Eastern Asia, is an invasive alien species in Europe and the Americas, where it is a severe pest of horticultural crops, including soft fruits and wine grapes. The conventional approach to controlling infestations of SWD involves the use of insecticides, but the frequency of application for population management is undesirable. Consequently, alternative strategies are urgently needed. Effective and improved trapping is important as an early risk detection tool. This study aimed to improve Droskidrink® (DD), a commercially available attractant for SWD. We focused on the chemical and behavioral effects of adding the bacterium Oenococcus oeni (Garvie) to DD and used a new trap design to enhance the effects of attractive lures. We demonstrate that microbial volatile compounds produced by O. oeni are responsible for the increase in the attractiveness of the bait and could be later utilized for the development of a better trapping system. Our results showed that the attractiveness of DD was increased up to two-fold by the addition of commercially available O. oeni when combined with an innovative trap design. The new trap-bait combination increased the number of male and especially female catches at low population densitie

Impact of two new non-conventional yeasts, Candida oleophila and Starmerella lactis-condensi, isolated from sugar-rich substrates, on Frappato wine aroma

The interest of non-Saccharomyces yeasts in wine fermentation increased constantly in last years. This study reports for the first time the enological potential of two strains Starmerella lactis-condensi MN412 and Candida oleophila YS209. In an innovative way, these strains were used in winemaking to improve floral and fruity aroma of Frappato red wine, which has not been explored. The enological performances of the two non-Saccharomyces strains were compared to a wine strain of Starmerella bacillaris, namely Cz3, previously characterized in winemaking conditions. In these three cases, the non-Saccharomyces strain was sequentially inoculated with S. cerevisiae wine strain NF213, used as control. The St. lactis-condensi MN412 was isolated from Sicilian manna, a sugar-rich matrix, extracted from Fraxinus angustifolia trees (Oleaceae). The strain C. oleophila YS209 was isolated from honey by-products. Microbiological counts showed the ability of MN412 and YS209 to maintain high counts up to 6 days of alcoholic fermentation. Regarding chemical parameters, Cz3 showed the highest glycerol production. Analysis of VOCs revealed that the trials with non-Saccharomyces yeasts were characterized by a higher concentration of esters that contributed positively to the fruity aroma of the wines. The sensory analysis confirmed that the use of MN412 and YS209 impacted positively the final wines in terms of fruity and floral intensity, respectively, while did not generate sensory defects. In conclusion, non-conventional yeasts represent strategy to improve floral-fruity freshness of wine aroma and sugar-rich matrices such as manna ash and honey might represent novel ecological niches as source of potential oenological yeast

A monolithic integrated photonic microwave filter

[EN] Meeting the increasing demand for capacity in wireless networks requires the harnessing of higher regions in the radiofrequency spectrum, reducing cell size, as well as more compact, agile and power-efficient base stations that are capable of smoothly interfacing the radio and fibre segments. Fully functional microwave photonic chips are promising candidates in attempts to meet these goals. In recent years, many integrated microwave photonic chips have been reported in different technologies. To the best of our knowledge, none has monolithically integrated all the main active and passive optoelectronic components. Here, we report the first demonstration of a tunable microwave photonics filter that is monolithically integrated into an indium phosphide chip. The reconfigurable radiofrequency photonic filter includes all the necessary elements (for example, lasers, modulators and photodetectors), and its response can be tuned by means of control electric currents. This is an important step in demonstrating the feasibility of integrated and programmable microwave photonic processors.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnologico Industrial (CDTI) through the NEOTEC start-up programme, the European Commission through the 7th Research Framework Programme project, Photonic Advanced Research and Development for Integrated Generic Manufacturing (FP7-PARADIGM), the Generalitat Valenciana through the Programa para grupos de Investigacion de Excelencia (PROMETEO) project code 2013/012, the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Comercio (MINECO) via project TEC2013-42332-P, PIF4ESP, and the Unwersitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPVOV) through projects 10-3E-492 and 08-3E-008 funded by the Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). J.S. Fandino acknowledges financial support from Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU) grant AP2010-1595.Sanchez Fandiño, JA.; Muñoz Muñoz, P.; Doménech Gómez, JD.; Capmany Francoy, J. (2017). A monolithic integrated photonic microwave filter. Nature Photonics. 11(2):124-129. https://doi.org/10.1038/NPHOTON.2016.233S124129112Novak, D. et al. Radio-over-fiber technologies for emerging wireless systems. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 52, 1–11 (2016).Waterhouse, R. & Novak, D. Realizing 5G: microwave photonics for 5G mobile wireless systems. IEEE Microw. Mag. 16, 84–92 (2015).Won, R. Microwave photonics shines. Nat. Photon. 5, 736 (2011).Capmany, J. & Novak, D. Microwave photonics combines two worlds. Nat. Photon. 1, 319–330 (2007).Yao, J. Microwave photonics. J. Lightw. Technol. 27, 314–335 (2009).Andrews, J. G. et al. What will 5G be? IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun. 32, 1065–1082 (2014).Gosh, A., et al. 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Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 3.

In this contribution new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, exclusions, and confirmations to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Asplenium, Bolboschoenus, Botrychium, Chamaerops, Crocus, Galeopsis, Grafia, Helosciadium, Hieracium, Juniperus, Leucanthemum, Lolium, Medicago, Phalaris, Piptatherum, Potamogeton, Salicornia, Salvia, Seseli, Silene, Spiraea, Torilis and Vicia. Rhaponticoides calabrica is proposed as synonym novum of R. centaurium. Furthermore, new combinations in the genera Galatella and Lactuca are proposed

Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 3

In this contribution, new data concerning the Italian distribution of alien vascular flora are presented. It includes new records, exclusions, confirmations, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Acer, Amaranthus, Araujia, Aubrieta, Avena, Bidens, Calycanthus, Celtis, Elaeagnus, Eragrostis, Euonymus, Fallopia, Ficus, Hedera, Lantana, Ligustrum, Ludwigia, Morus, Oenothera, Opuntia, Oxalis, Parkinsonia, Paspalum, Paulownia, Platycladus, Pleuropterus, Rumex, Salvia, Senecio, Setaria, Syagrus, Tradescantia, Trifolium and Yucca. Furthermore, a new combination in the genus Vicia is proposed

The developmental trajectory of attentional orienting to socio-biological cues.

It has been proposed that the orienting of attention in the same direction as another’s point of gaze relies on innate brain mechanisms which are present from birth, but direct evidence relating to the influence of eye gaze cues on attentional orienting in young children is limited. In two experiments, 137 children aged 3–10 years old performed an adapted pro-saccade task with centrally presented uninformative eye gaze, finger pointing and arrow pre-cues which were either congruent or incongruent with the direction of target presentations. When the central cue overlapped with presentation of the peripheral target (Experiment 1), children up to 5 years old had difficulty disengaging fixation from central fixation in order to saccade to the target. This effect was found to be particularly marked for eye gaze cues. When central cues were extinguished simultaneously with peripheral target onset (Experiment 2), this effect was greatly reduced. In both experiments finger pointing cues (image of pointing index finger presented at fixation) exerted a strong influence on saccade reaction time to the peripheral stimulus for the youngest group of children (<5 years). Overall the results suggest that although young children are strongly engaged by centrally presented eye gaze cues, the directional influence of such cues on overt attentional orienting is only present in older children, meaning that the effect is unlikely to be dependent upon an innate brain module. Instead, the results are consistent with the existence of stimulus–response associations which develop with age and environmental experience

Yeast biodiversity in vineyard environments is increased by human intervention

One hundred and five grape samples were collected during two consecutive years from 33 locations on seven oceanic islands of the Azores Archipelago. Grape samples were obtained from vineyards that were either abandoned or under regular cultivation involving common viticultural interventions, to evaluate the impact of regular human intervention on grape yeast biota diversity in vineyards. A total of 3150 yeast isolates were obtained and 23 yeast species were identified. The predominant species were Hanseniaspora uvarum, Pichia terricola, Starmerella bacillaris and Issatchenkia hanoiensis. The species Barnettozyma californica, Candida azymoides and Pichia cecembensis were reported in grapes or wine-associated environments for the first time. A higher biodiversity was found in active vineyards where regular human intervention takes place (Shannon index: 1.89 and 1.53 in the first and second years, respectively) when compared to the abandoned ones (Shannon index: 0.76 and 0.31). This finding goes against the assumptions that human intervention can destroy biodiversity and lead to homogeneity in the environment. Biodiversity indices were considerably lower in the year with the heaviest rainfall. This study is the first to report on the grape yeast communities from several abandoned vineyards that have undergone no human intervention.Joao Drumonde Neves is the recipient of a fellowship of the Azorean Government (M321/006/F/2008) and PROEMPREGO. This work was supported by the strategic programme UID/BIA/04050/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007569) funded by national funds through the FCT I.P. and by the ERDF through the COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI), and by national funds through FCT by the projects FCOMP-01-0124-008775, PTDC/AGR-ALI/103392/2008 and PTDC/AGR-ALI/121062/2010.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of volatile phenols and their precursors on wine quality and control measures of Brettanomyces/Dekkera yeasts

Volatile phenols are aromatic compounds and one of the key molecules responsible for olfactory defects in wine. The yeast genus Brettanomyces is the only major microorganism that has the ability to covert hydroxycinnamic acids into important levels of these compounds, especially 4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol, in red wine. When 4-ethylphenols reach concentrations greater than the sensory threshold, all wine’s organoleptic characteristics might be influenced or damaged. The aim of this literature review is to provide a better understanding of the physicochemical, biochemical, and metabolic factors that are related to the levels of p-coumaric acid and volatile phenols in wine. Then, this work summarizes the different methods used for controlling the presence of Brettanomyces in wine and the production of ethylphenols

Slurrry and manure as a source of bioethanol for sustainable mobility in rural areas

This work reports part of the activity of the project ZOOTANOLO “The production of bioethanol as an innovative energy use of manure”. The first phase was dedicated to verify at lab scale the feasibility of using manure to produce bioethanol. Manure have good content of carbohydrate (cellulose, hemicellulose, particularly); scope of the work is the enhancement of this unused lignocellulosic fraction. The experimental and technical activity divides into several subsequently steps: pre-treatment of the animal biomass, hydrolysis of molecules of cellulose, hemicelluloses and starch by enzymes; fermentation by yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis) and ethanol distillation. Related topics under study are the application of immobilization techniques to overcome inhibition phenomena and treatments on the distillation waste, aimed at nitrogen removal and at the evaluation of residual potential energy. The data obtained will be used to energetic, technical, economic and environmental evaluation and feasibility study, with the final aim to contribute to the development of the production chain of second generation bioethanol in rural areas