872 research outputs found

    A One-Parameter Family of Hamiltonian Structures for the KP Hierarchy and a Continuous Deformation of the Nonlinear \W_{\rm KP} Algebra

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    The KP hierarchy is hamiltonian relative to a one-parameter family of Poisson structures obtained from a generalized Adler map in the space of formal pseudodifferential symbols with noninteger powers. The resulting \W-algebra is a one-parameter deformation of \W_{\rm KP} admitting a central extension for generic values of the parameter, reducing naturally to \W_n for special values of the parameter, and contracting to the centrally extended \W_{1+\infty}, \W_\infty and further truncations. In the classical limit, all algebras in the one-parameter family are equivalent and isomorphic to \w_{\rm KP}. The reduction induced by setting the spin-one field to zero yields a one-parameter deformation of \widehat{\W}_\infty which contracts to a new nonlinear algebra of the \W_\infty-type.Comment: 31 pages, compressed uuencoded .dvi file, BONN-HE-92/20, US-FT-7/92, KUL-TF-92/20. [version just replaced was truncated by some mailer

    Terpene based biopesticides as potential alternatives to synthetic insecticides for control of aphid pests on protected ornamentals

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    Biopesticides based on plant extracts offer a promising alternative to the use of conventional synthetic pesticides. However, biopesticide products must provide acceptable levels of control. To date, few studies have investigated the efficacy of biopesticide products under conditions that reflect commercial practice. Here we report results from three experiments, one completed under glasshouse conditions in 2014 and two completed under polytunnel conditions, in 2015 and 2016, respectively. These experiments tested the efficacy of three terpene based biopesticides used to control two aphid species, peach-potato aphid (Myzus persicae) and melon and cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii), on ornamental crops. The three biopesticide products tested were orange oil (60 g active ingredient per litre, formulated as a soluble liquid), the essential oil from Chenopodium ambrosioides variety nr. ambrosioides (16.75% active ingredient, formulated as an oil dispersion) and neem oil (1% active ingredient, formulated as emulsifiable concentrate). The biopesticides tested were applied as foliar sprays using a water volume of 600 l/Ha and all experiments were done at Harper Adams University, Shropshire, UK. The biopesticide products tested gave statistically similar levels of control of M. persicae populations on pansy plants as the conventional synthetic insecticide flonicamid (500 g/kg active ingredient, formulated as a wettable granule) and spirotetramat (150 g/l active ingredient, formulated as an oil dispersion). All products reduced numbers of aphids by at least 85% during the experimental period. Orange oil also gave a similar speed of kill to flonicamid and was faster acting than spirotetramat, two conventional synthetic insecticides that are widely used to control aphid pests of ornamental crops. Against A. gossypii on Hebe, orange oil gave similar levels of control (90% reduction in aphid numbers) as flonicamid (98% reduction in aphid numbers), when applied with a spray interval of three days (as per label recommendation). The essential oil from Chenopodium ambrosioides variety nr. ambrosioides was not as effective as flonicamid but did significantly reduced (80% reduction in aphid numbers) numbers of A. gossypii on Hebe compared to a water control when applied with a spray interval of five days. Neem oil was not effective against A. gossypii. Importantly, there was little evidence of any phytotoxicity caused by any of the biopesticide products tested. The potential to use these products as part of an Insecticide Resistance Management (IRM) programme are discussed

    Catch me if you can: the influence of refuge / trap design, previous feeding experience, and semiochemical lures on vine weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) monitoring success

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    BACKGROUND Vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus F. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is one of the most economically important pest species of berry and ornamental crops globally. Monitoring this nocturnal pest can be difficult and time consuming and the efficacy of current tools is uncertain. Without effective monitoring tools, implementation of integrated pest management strategies is challenging. This study tests the relative efficacy of a range of vine weevil monitoring tools. Whether host‐plant volatiles and weevil feeding experience influence vine weevil capture is also tested. RESULTS Monitoring tool efficacy differed overall between the six monitoring tool designs tested and ranged from catches of 0.4 % to 26.7 % under semi‐field conditions. Previous feeding experience influenced vine weevil behaviour. In yew conditioned populations, 39 % of the weevils responded to and were retained in the trap baited with yew foliage while 37 % of weevils from Euonymus fortunei conditioned populations responded to and were retained in the trap baited with E. forunei foliage. A simple synthetic lure consisting of (Z)‐2‐pentenol + methyl eugenol also increased vine weevil catches compared with an unbaited trap. CONCLUSION Demonstrating differences in the efficacy of different monitoring tool designs is an important first step for developing improved methods for monitoring vine weevil populations within crops. This study presents the first direct comparison of vine weevil monitoring tool designs and indicates that trap efficacy can be improved by baiting with host‐plant material or a synthetic lure based on host‐plant volatiles

    Exploiting volatile organic compounds in crop protection: a systematic review of 1‐octen‐3‐ol and 3‐octanone

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    The 21st century has brought new challenges to the agri-food industry due to population growth, global warming, and greater public awareness of environmental issues. Ensuring global food security for future generations is crucial. However, pests, weeds, and diseases still significantly contribute to crop losses, and the availability of effective conventional synthetic pesticides is decreasing. To address this, new and diverse pest management tools are needed. One pest management tool showing potential for invertebrate pest management is the exploitation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—in particular, the compounds 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone. This review aims to explore the extent to which 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone show potential in the future management of invertebrate crop and animal pests. A significant increase in the rate of publication of literature on the use of 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone in crop protection since 2018 is identified by this review, therefore, showing the potential importance of these compounds for use in future pest management. This review also identifies key interactions between naturally occurring biosynthesised 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone, and a range of invertebrate targets. Many of these interactions with key crop pests are sourced from the taxonomic families Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, and Trichomaceae. However, analysis of the practical application of these sources in an integrated pest management programme identifies clear limitations with the use of naturally occurring biosynthesised 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone. Rather, future focus should be placed on the development and exploitation of synthesised nature identical 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone for use as a biopesticide product. Overall, 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone show potential for exploitation in future crop protection, being abundant in source and diversity of invertebrate interactions. However, their use as a naturally occurring biosynthesised chemical is likely not practical for direct implementation in crop protection. Rather, focus should be placed on the development and exploitation of synthesised nature identical variants of these compounds for use as a biopesticide

    Marginal Deformations of Field Theories with AdS_4 Duals

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    We generate new AdS_4 solutions of D=11 supergravity starting from AdS_4 x X_7 solutions where X_7 has U(1)^3 isometry. We consider examples where X_7 is weak G_2, Sasaki-Einstein or tri-Sasakian, corresponding to d=3 SCFTs with N=1,2 or 3 supersymmetry, respectively, and where the deformed solutions preserve N=1,2 or 1 supersymmetry, respectively. For the special cases when X_7 is M(3,2), Q(1,1,1) or N(1,1)_I we identify the exactly marginal deformation in the dual field theory. We also show that the volume of supersymmetric 5-cycles of N(1,1)_I agrees with the conformal dimension predicted by the baryons of the dual field theory.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figures; v2. typos correcte

    General Supersymmetric Solutions of Five-Dimensional Supergravity

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    The classification of 1/4-supersymmetric solutions of five dimensional gauged supergravity coupled to arbitrary many abelian vector multiplets, which was initiated in hep-th/0401129, is completed. The structure of all solutions for which the Killing vector constructed from the Killing spinor is null is investigated in both the gauged and the ungauged theories and some new solutions are constructed.Comment: 24 pages, references added, uses JHEP3.cl

    Scents and sensibility: Best practice in insect olfactometer bioassays

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    Olfactometers have been used for more than 100 years and are integral to experimental chemical ecology. Studies utilising olfactometer bioassays form the foundation for understanding the behavioural responses of invertebrates to chemical stimuli under standardised laboratory conditions. Widely used olfactometry apparatuses include two-arm olfactometers for binary responses through to four- and six-arm arenas to evaluate more complex behaviours. Despite its prevalence in chemical ecology studies, there has never been a review of experimental best practice in olfactometry. This review critically evaluates both olfactometry methods and applications as well as experimental design and analysis. We aim to outline a standard of good practice to improve experimental design and reporting for studies involving olfactometry, thereby establishing a reference guide to build a robust experimental workflow for olfactometry bioassays

    G+++ Invariant Formulation of Gravity and M-Theories: Exact BPS Solutions

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    We present a tentative formulation of theories of gravity with suitable matter content, including in particular pure gravity in D dimensions, the bosonic effective actions of M-theory and of the bosonic string, in terms of actions invariant under very-extended Kac-Moody algebras G+++. We conjecture that they host additional degrees of freedom not contained in the conventional theories. The actions are constructed in a recursive way from a level expansion for all very-extended algebras G+++. They constitute non-linear realisations on cosets, a priori unrelated to space-time, obtained from a modified Chevalley involution. Exact solutions are found for all G+++. They describe the algebraic properties of BPS extremal branes, Kaluza-Klein waves and Kaluza-Klein monopoles. They illustrate the generalisation to all G+++ invariant theories of the well-known duality properties of string theories by expressing duality as Weyl invariance in G+++. Space-time is expected to be generated dynamically. In the level decomposition of E8+++ = E11, one may indeed select an A10 representation of generators Pa which appears to engender space-time translations by inducing infinite towers of fields interpretable as field derivatives in space and time.Comment: Latex 45 pages, 1 figure. Discussion on pages 19 and 20 altered. Appendix B amplified. 4 footnotes added. 2 references added. Acknowledgments updated. Additional minor correction

    Decoding attraction: improving vine weevil monitoring by exploiting key sensory cues

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    BACKGROUND Monitoring is an integral component of integrated pest management (IPM) programmes used to inform crop management decisions. Vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus F. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), continues to cause economically significant losses in horticultural crops due to an inability to reliably detect the presence of this species before crop damage occurs. To improve vine weevil monitoring we investigated the behavioural responses of adult vine weevils to visual (monitoring tool shade/colour, height and diameter as well as the effect of monitoring tool and plant density) and olfactory (host plant and conspecifics) cues under glasshouse conditions. RESULTS Monitoring tool shade, height and diameter all influenced monitoring tool efficacy, with individuals exhibiting a preference for black, tall and wide monitoring tools. The total number of individuals recorded in monitoring tools increased with monitoring tool density. By contrast, plant density did not influence the number of individuals recorded in monitoring tools. Yew-baited monitoring tools retained a larger number of individuals compared to unbaited ones. Similarly, more vine weevils were recorded in monitoring tools baited with yew and conspecifics than in unbaited monitoring tools or those baited with only yew. Baiting monitoring tools with conspecifics alone did not enhance the number of vine weevils recorded in monitoring tools. CONCLUSIONS Our study confirms that visual and olfactory cues influence vine weevil behaviour. This provides information on key factors that influence vine weevil monitoring tool efficacy and can be used to inform the development of a new monitoring tool for this pest
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