Sorption of carbon dioxide by chickpeas packaged in modified atmospheres

Modified atmospheres (MAs) with high CO2 concentrations are used for packaging several commodities with different purposes, including as an alternative method for pest control. When used in gas-tight flexible packages, sorption by the commodity produces a vacuum effect that causes the package to adopt a random shape and makes it impossible to reshape it without opening the package. Other than storage problems in retail storehouses, sorption can affect the amount of gas inside the packages needed for pest control. This study reports the amount of CO2 sorption by chickpeas packaged with different MAs and the negative pressure produced due to the decrease in the partial pressure of the gas. Trials were conducted in 710 mL semi-rigid plastic containers filled up to 24%, 48% and 96% of their capacity (filling ratios). Three MAs (90%, 70% and 50% CO2 with a residual of 3%, 6% and 10% O2, respectively, and balanced by N2) were used during 24 h, 48 h, 240 h and 384 h of exposure at 20 °C. The maximum sorption (1.28 g CO2/kg of chickpea) was obtained with the lower filling ratio (24%) and with an initial concentration of 90%. Sorption decreased with the decline in the initial CO2 concentration and with the rise in the filling ratio. The time needed to reach the equilibrium sorption varied between 141 h and 27 h, depending on the initial CO2 concentration and the filling ratio of chickpeas. The vacuum effect produced inside the containers by sorption produced a negative pressure that increased with the increase in the filling ratio and the initial CO2 concentration. Whether the amount of CO2 available in packages after gas sorption is still effective for controlling chickpea pests remains to be tested.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Biological control of Acanthoscelides obtectus and Zabrotes subfasciatus in stored dried beans

This study assesses the feasibility of using natural enemies for the control of Acanthoscelides obtectus Say and Zabrotes subfasciatus Boheman (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), key pests of stored dried beans, Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Fabales: Fabaceae). The predatory mites Blattisocius tarsalis Berlese (Acari: Ascidae) and Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae) were able to prey on A. obtectus eggs, reducing the bruchid population by more than 60% under both controlled and warehouse conditions. Therefore, they show good potential as biological agents for controlling this pest. The larval parasitoids Anisopteromalus calandrae Howard and Lariophagus distinguendus Förster (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) were both moderately effective (34–38% reduction) at suppressing A. obtectus populations, but when A. calandrae was combined with B. tarsalis, a significant improvement in control efficacy (81% reduction in emergence) was observed. Therefore, the release of A. calandrae combined with B. tarsalis seems to be a promising strategy for controlling A. obtectus. Neither B. tarsalis nor A. swirskii were able to prey on Z. subfasciatus eggs. Only the parasitoid A. calandrae was moderately effective (39% reduction) at supressing Z. subfasciatus populations. Further testing is needed to identify other natural enemies that can complement the action of A. calandrae in reducing Z. subfasciatus populations.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Susceptibility of Rhyzopertha dominica to high CO2 modified atmospheres in packaged chickpeas

Three MAs with 50%, 70% and 90% CO2 in air was tested at different exposure times on all the developmental stages of R. dominica using chickpeas packed with 4% and 96% filling ratio in which there was excess of CO2. At 4% filling ratio the loss of the gas was negligible. The exposure time to reach 50% mortality (LT50) was estimated for each developmental stage and CO2 concentration, ranging from 7 h for larvae with 90% to 2 days for pupae with 50% CO2. At 96% filling ratio and for the intervals of the estimated exposure times (LT50) from the 4% filling ratio, mortality decreased significantly for eggs and adults at the three MAs tested, while for the internal developmental stages, larvae at 50% and 70% CO2 and pupae in all concentrations of CO2, the susceptibility remained the same as with a 4% filling ratio. This decline in mortality of the external developmental stages was possible due to the sorption of CO2 by the chickpeas, which caused a loss of intergranular levels of CO2 between 17% and 29%. This sorption ranged from 0.1955 to 0.3285 g of CO2 per kg of chickpeas and produced a negative pressure of 77.12 to 60.65 kPa. In conclusion, when chickpeas are packed with high CO2 MAs, a decrease in the mortality of eggs and adults of R. dominica could be expected due to pulse sorption.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Efficacy of Modified Atmospheres on Trogoderma granarium (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) and Sitophilus zeamais (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

We investigated the efficacy of two types of modified atmospheres (MA) against adults of the khapra beetle, Trogoderma granarium Everts, and the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky, under laboratory conditions. Adults of the above species on wheat were exposed to a carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration of 70% or a low oxygen (O2) concentration of 0.1% for durations of 0.67 (16 h), 1, 2, 4, and 6 d and stored in an environmental chamber set at 28 ± 2°C, 70 ± 5% RH, and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h. After each exposure interval, immediate mortality and knockdown were recorded, and the surviving or knocked down individuals were transferred to normal atmospheres and returned to the environmental chamber, where survival was recorded 7 d later. In addition, after the immediate and delayed mortality counts, all adults were removed from the substrate, and the number of progeny produced was recorded 60 d later. Both MA conditions totally controlled (100% mortality) the adults of T. granarium and S. zeamais immediately after a 6-d exposure or after a 4-d exposure when delayed mortality was taken into account, showing the postexposure effect of the MA. Moreover, high CO2 was more effective than low O2 for S. zeamais, whereas the reverse was true for T. granarium. The 4-d exposure period was crucial for the production of progeny of both species because after that period surviving insects did not produce offspring. Our results show that both MA conditions can be used with success to control these species.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Caribbean paleogeography

95 p. : ill., maps (some col.) ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-72)."This paper presents a series of detailed paleogeographical analyses of the Caribbean region, beginning with the opening of the Caribbean basin in the Middle Jurassic and running to the end of the Middle Miocene. Three intervals within the Cenozoic are given special treatment: Eocene-Oligocene transition (35-33 Ma), Late Oligocene (27-25 Ma), and early Middle Miocene (16-14 Ma). While land mammals and other terrestrial vertebrates may have occupied landmasses in the Caribbean basin at any time, according to the interpretation presented here the existing Greater Antillean islands, as islands, are no older than Middle Eocene. Earlier islands must have existed, but it is not likely that they remained as such (i.e., as subaerial entities) due to repeated transgressions, subsidence, and (not incidentally) the K/T bolide impact and associated mega-tsunamis. Accordingly, we infer that the on-island lineages forming the existing (i.e., Quaternary) Antillean fauna must all be younger than Middle Eocene. The fossil record, although still very poor, is consistent with the observation that most land mammals lineages entered the Greater Antilles around the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Western Laurasia (North America) and western Gondwana (South America) were physically connected as continental areas until the mid-Jurassic, ca. 170 Ma. Terrestrial connections between these continental areas since then can only have occurred via landbridges. In the Cretaceous, three major uplift events, recorded as regional unconformities, may have produced intercontinental landbridges involving the Cretaceous Antillean island arc. The Late Campanian/Early Maastrichtian uplift event is the one most likely to have resulted in a landbridge, as it would have been coeval with uplift of the dying Cretaceous arc. However, evidence is too limited for any certainty on this point. The existing landbridge (Panamanian Isthmus) was completed in the Pliocene; evidence for a precursor bridge late in the Middle Miocene is ambiguous. We marshal extensive geological evidence to show that, during the Eocene-Oligocene transition, the developing northern Greater Antilles and northwestern South America were briefly connected by a "landspan" (i.e., a subaerial connection between a continent and one or more offshelf islands) centered on the emergent Aves Ridge. This structure (Greater Antilles + Aves Ridge) is dubbed GAARlandia. The massive uplift event that apparently permitted these connections was spent by 32 Ma; a general subsidence followed, ending the GAARlandia landspan phase. Thereafter, Caribbean neotectonism resulted in the subdivision of existing land areas. The GAARlandia hypothesis has great significance for understanding the history of the Antillean biota. Typically, the historical biogeography of the Greater Antilles is discussed in terms of whether the fauna was largely shaped by strict dispersal or strict continent-island vicariance. The GAARlandia hypothesis involves elements of both. Continent-island vicariance sensu Rosen appears to be excludable for any time period since the mid-Jurassic. Even if vicariance occurred at that time, its relevance for understanding the origin of the modern Antillean biota is minimal. Hedges and co-workers have strongly espoused over-water dispersal as the major and perhaps only method of vertebrate faunal formation in the Caribbean region. However, surface-current dispersal of propagules is inadequate as an explanation of observed distribution patterns of terrestrial faunas in the Greater Antilles. Even though there is a general tendency for Caribbean surface currents to flow northward with respect to the South American coastline, experimental evidence indicates that the final depositional sites of passively floating objects is highly unpredictable. Crucially, prior to the Pliocene, regional paleoceanography was such that current-flow patterns from major rivers would have delivered South American waifs to the Central American coast, not to the Greater or Lesser Antilles. Since at least three (capromyid rodents, pitheciine primates, and megalonychid sloths) and possibly four (nesophontid insectivores) lineages of Antillean mammals were already on one or more of the Greater Antilles by the Early Miocene, Hedges' inference as to the primacy of over-water dispersal appears to be at odds with the facts. By contrast, the landspan model is consistent with most aspects of Antillean land-mammal biogeography as currently known; whether it is consistent with the biogeography of other groups remains to be seen"--P. 3

New Tertiary fossils from Cuba and Puerto Rico.

30 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 25-30

Node mapping criterion for highly saturated interior PMSMs using magnetic reluctance network

Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (IPMSM) are high torque density machines that usually work under heavy load conditions, becoming magnetically saturated. To obtain properly their performance, this paper presents a node mapping criterion that ensure accurate results when calculating the performance of a highly saturated IPMSM via a novel magnetic reluctance network approach. For this purpose, a Magnetic Circuit Model (MCM) with variable discretization levels for the different geometrical domains is developed. The proposed MCM caters to V-shaped IPMSMs with variable magnet depth and angle between magnets. Its structure allows static and dynamic time stepping simulations to be performed by taking into account complex phenomena such as magnetic saturation, cross-coupling saturation effect and stator slotting effect. The results of the proposed model are compared to those obtained by Finite Element Method (FEM) for a number of IPMSMs obtaining excellent results. Finally, its accuracy is validated comparing the calculated performance with experimental results on a real prototype

A pilot 1-year follow-up randomised controlled trial comparing metacognitive training to psychoeducation in schizophrenia: effects on insight

Poor insight in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) is linked with negative outcomes. This single-centre, assessor-blind, parallel-group 1-year follow-up randomised controlled trial (RCT) tested whether metacognitive training (MCT) (compared to psychoeducation) may improve insight and outcomes in outpatients with SSD assessed: at baseline (T0); after treatment (T1) and at 1-year follow-up (T2). Insight (primary outcome) was measured with (i) the Schedule for Assessment of Insight-Expanded version- (SAI-E), including illness recognition (IR), symptom relabelling (SR), treatment compliance (TC) and total insight scores (TIS); and (ii) the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS). Between-group comparisons were nonsignificant, while within the MCT group (but not within controls) there was a significant medium effect size for improved TIS at T2 (d = 0.67, P = 0.02). Secondary outcomes included cognitive measures: Jumping to Conclusions (JTC), Theory of Mind (ToM), plus symptom severity and functioning. Compared to psychoeducation, MCT improved the PANSS excitement (d = 1.21, P = 0.01) and depressed (d = 0.76, P = 0.05) factors at T2; and a JTC task both at T1 (P = 0.016) and at T2 (P = 0.031). Participants in this RCT receiving MCT showed improved insight at 1-year follow-up, which was associated with better mood and reduced JTC cognitive bias. In this pilot study, no significant benefits on insight of MCT over psychoeducation were detected, which may have been due to insufficient power