Fungitoxicity of some fungicides against to pathogens responsible of olive trees decline in the Chebika’s area in Tunisia

The incidence of the disease seems very important on young trees and tends to bemoderate with the aging of the tree. In fact, olive trees have a shallow root system and arestill vulnerable to pathogens especially the irrigated varieties. Chemical and biological control against Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani and Verticillium dahliae have revealed that the application in vitro of Prodazim and of Methyl-thiophanatehave showed a very good efficacy up to 100%. Ridomil and Tachigaren have indicated aregular efficiency, while the two bio-fungicides Fungstop and the compost juice havedemonstrated a low efficiency. The two bio-control agents Trichoderma harzianum and Gliocladium virens have showed a relatively high effectiveness in vitro. In vivo, obtainedresults have revealed that the nature of the product, the doses applied and the condition ofthe olive trees are highly correlated factors. The treatment doesn’t appear to have apositive effect on the beginning of stage 1 and on plots presented a good structured soil.Going beyond this stage, whatever the product and the doses used, the attack isirreversible

Adaptive tracking of people and vehicles using mobile platforms

Tracking algorithms have important applications in detection of humans and vehicles for border security and other areas. For large-scale deployment of such algorithms, it is critical to provide methods for their cost- and energy-efficient realization. To this end, commodity mobile devices have significant potential for use as prototyping and testing platforms due to their low cost, widespread availability, and integration of advanced communications, sensing, and processing features. Prototypes developed on mobile platforms can be tested, fine-tuned, and demonstrated in the field and then provide reference implementations for application-specific disposable sensor node implementations that are targeted for deployment. In this paper, we develop a novel, adaptive tracking system that is optimized for energy-efficient, real-time operation on off-the-shelf mobile platforms. Our tracking system applies principles of dynamic data-driven application systems (DDDAS) to periodically monitor system operating characteristics and apply these measurements to dynamically adapt the specific classifier configurations that the system employs. Our resulting adaptive approach enables powerful optimization of trade-offs among energy consumption, real-time performance, and tracking accuracy based on time-varying changes in operational characteristics. Through experiments employing an Android-based tablet platform, we demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed tracking system design for multimode detection of human and vehicle targets.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) involved in the resistance of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) to the mildew under different water treatments, in semi-arid Mediterranean region

In the present study we evaluated the contribution of molecular marking to the breeding of barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) for resistance to the mildew ( Erysiphe graminis sp L. hordei ) in semi-arid Mediterranean region. For this study a F8 progeny of 167 recombinants inbred lines (RILs) from two row barley was cultivated at the experimental station of the National Institute of Agronomic Research of Tunisia (INRAT), at Kef during the cropping season of 1999/2000. The trials, in a completely randomized design, were conducted under three water treatments: (1) irrigation at seedling emergence, (2) no water addition and (3) irrigation at first observation of water stress symptoms. Assessment of natural infection by mildew of was made every fifteen days starting from the day when water treatments were setup. Statistical analyses of data showed a high among progeny variation within the progeny of RILs regardless a water treatments; however plants of treatment 1 (irrigation since seedling emergence) appeared to be the most susceptible. A combination of data on susceptibility of barley to natural infection by mildew and data from the genetic map generated from the crossing of Er/Apm vs Tadmor (parents of the 167RILs) allowed the detection and localization of several QTLs on chromosomes 3(3H), 4(4H) and 7(5H) of the barley. The most significant QTLs were located on the longer arm of chromosome 4(4H); on a portion where several authors have located reaction genes of barley to E. graminis. Overall, our results showed that the detection of QTL responsible of the expression of the resistance to E. graminis seemed to be intimately linked to the initial cropping conditions (e.g. temperature and optimum humidity). Indeed, no primary QTL were observed for dry conditions treatment (no irrigation). Moreover, the available literature reports did not allow us to confirm the relative situations of the secondary QTLs found for these treatments. Thus, genes of resistance to E. graminis would express themselves only in conditions that are favorable for the development of the pathogen. Improving the resistance of barley to mildew infection requires therefore, by a good knowledge on the process that governs expression of these genes

Screening of fungi implicated in the dieback of olive trees (Olea europea) in Chebika’s area

Several surveys were conducted during spring 2008 in Chebika’s area in Tunisia. Samples were collected from infected plants showed different types of symptoms and they have been the subject of mycological analysis. The morphological identification of fungal colonies isolated from roots, crown and stems of two olive varieties Koroneiki and Chemlali Sfax, revealed the presence of a fungi complex including Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani, Verticillium dahliae, Cladosporium fulvum, Alternaria solani, Alternaria tenuis, Bispora punctata. and Cylindrocarpon .sp; Although,those fungi Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani and Verticillium dahliae are ubiquitous and the predominant one. Pathogenicity results revealed that the fungi isolated from olive trees exhibited typical symptoms on Koroneiki variety incontrolled conditions

Transport of Water and Gases through EVA/PVC blend films – Permeation and DSC investigations.

The transport of water vapor and gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) through poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) films of different VA content, poly(vinylchloride) (PVC) and EVA/PVC blend films, was analysed from permeation measurements. A plasticization effect of water on the material was observed for EVA films with more than 19% wt. of VA content and for the EVA/PVC blends, while for gas permeation practically all the experimental curves are characterized by a constant diffusion coefficient, whatever the VA content of the copolymer used. The increase in water absorption with the VA content leads to a steady increase in the water permeability of the EVA copolymers. By mixing the glassy PVC polymer with the EVA copolymer (in a rubbery state) reduced water and gas permeability is observed, resulting mainly from the decrease of the diffusivity due to the low segment mobility of the dense PVC material able to create hydrogen bonds between the hydrogen atoms and the Cl-substituted carbon of PVC with VA carbonyls. Compared to EVA copolymers, the EVA/PVC blends with equivalent VA contents are better in terms of selectivity

Prediction of academic dropout in university students using data mining: Engineering case

Student dropout is considered an important indicator for measuring social mobility and reflecting the social contribution that universities offer. In economic terms, there is evidence that students attribute their decision to defect from their academic programs because of their economic situation. Dropout causes significant waging gaps among people who complete their tertiary studies compared to those who do not, leading to a lack of skilled human capital that pays greater productivity to economic development of a country. Given the above, the objective of this study is to present a tree-based classification of decisions (CBAD) with optimized parameters to predict the dropout of students at Colombian universities. The study analyses 10,486 cases of students from three private universities with similar characteristics. The result of the application of this technique with optimized parameters achieved a precision ratio of 88.14%

1-Phenyl­piperazine-1,4-diium bis­(hydrogen sulfate)

In the title compound, C10H16N2 2+·2HSO4 −, the S atoms adopt slightly distorted tetra­hedral geometry and the diprotonated piperazine ring adopts a chair conformation. In the crystal, the 1-phenyl­piperazine-1,4-diium cations are anchored between chains formed by the sulfate entities via inter­molecular bifurcated N—H⋯(O,O) and weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. These hydrogen bonds contribute to the cohesion and stability of the network of the crystal structure