Adoption of Integrated Pest Management Practices by South Carolina Cotton Growers

The project reported here assessed the level of adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) by South Carolina cotton growers. A mail survey of growers was used to provide data on specific IPM practices utilized. Growers were categorized as low, medium, or high IPM adopters based on the frequency with which they implemented specific practices. The majority of growers fell into the medium or high IPM rankings. However, only 7% of respondents attained a high IPM ranking in the Cultural Pest Management section. This suggests that future cotton IPM Extension efforts should be directed towards increasing grower adoption of cultural IPM practices

Virtual environments as memory training devices in navigational tasks for older adults.

Cognitive training approaches using virtual environments (VEs) might counter age-related visuospatial memory decline and associated difficulties in wayfinding. However, the effects of the visual design of a VE in route learning are not fully understood. Therefore, we created a custom-designed VE optimized for route learning, with adjusted levels of realism and highlighted landmark locations (MixedVE). Herein we tested participants' route recall performance in identifying direction of turn at the intersection with this MixedVE against two baseline alternatives (AbstractVE, RealisticVE). An older vs. a younger group solved the tasks in two stages (immediate vs. delayed recall by one week). Our results demonstrate that the MixedVE facilitates better recall accuracy than the other two VEs for both age groups. Importantly, this pattern persists a week later. Additionally, our older participants were mostly overconfident in their route recall performance, but the MixedVE moderated this potentially detrimental overconfidence. Before the experiment, participants clearly preferred the RealisticVE, whereas after the experiment, most of the younger, and many of the older participants, preferred the MixedVE. Taken together, our findings provide insights into the importance of tailoring visualization design in route learning with VEs. Furthermore, we demonstrate the great potential of the MixedVE and by extension, of similar VEs as memory training devices for route learning, especially for older participants

On-site monitoring for better selection of stone repairs: a case study

Weathering of clay-bearing sandstones does not only depend on material properties but also on the environmental conditions they are exposed to. The same is true for repaired stones, in which the compatibility of the repair mortar should be studied not only in terms of material properties, but also in terms of the climatic conditions it will be sub- jected, in order to maximize this compatibility. This paper proposes a methodology to quantify the thermal and hygric stresses in clay-bearing sandstones and their repair, based on the measurement of temperature and relative humidity at the surface and at several depths in a repaired and a non-repaired stone, as well as wind-driven rain and absorbed water. This is illustrated by a case study in an historical building. The data are used to quantify the stresses in the mate- rials and to propose possible degradation mechanisms.ISSN:2050-744

Bacillus subtilis M4 decreases plant susceptibility towards fungal pathogens by increasing host resistance associated with differential gene expression

Results presented in this paper describe the ability of Bacillus subtilis strain M4 to reduce disease incidence caused by Colletotrichum lagenarium and Pythium aphanidermatum on cucumber and tomato, respectively. Disease protection in both pathosystems was most probably due to induction of resistance in the host plant since experiments were designed in order to avoid any direct contact between the biocontrol agent and the pathogen. Pre-inoculation with strain M4 thus sensitised both plants to react more efficiently to subsequent pathogen infection. In cucumber, the use of endospores provided a disease control level similar to that obtained with vegetative cells. In contrast, a mixture of lipopeptides from the surfactin, iturin and fengycin families showed no resistance-inducing potential. Interestingly, treatment with strain M4 was also associated with significant changes in gene transcription in the host plant as revealed by cDNA-AFLP analyses. Several AFLP fragments corresponded to genes not expressed in control plants and specifically induced by the Bacillus treatment. In support to the macroscopic protective effect, this differential accumulation of mRNA also illustrates the plant reaction following perception of strain M4, and constitutes one of the very first examples of defence-associated modifications at the transcriptional level elicited by a non-pathogenic bacterium in a host plant