29,905 research outputs found
Suitability of leguminous cover crop pollens as food source for the green lacewing Chrysoperla externa (Hagen) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae).
Diversification of crops with species that provide suitable pollen for predators may reduce pest population on crops by enhancing predator effectiveness. In this paper we evaluated the suitability of leguminous cover crop pollens to the predatory green lacewing Chrysoperla externa (Hagen). The predator is commonly found in coffee agroecosystems and the plant species tested were pigeon pea and sunn hemp, which are used in organic coffee systems. Newly emerged females and males of C. externa were reared on diets containing pollen of pigeon pea, sunn hemp, or castor bean, used as a control. The reproductive success of C. externa was evaluated when females fed the pollen species and when honey was added to the diets, to verify the predator need for an extra carbohydrate source. Similar intrinsic growth rates were found for females fed on pigeon pea pollen and on sunn hemp pollen but these rates increased significantly when honey was added to the diets. Females fed with pigeon pea pollen plus honey and with sunn hemp pollen plus honey had higher intrinsic growth rates than those fed with castor bean pollen plus honey. Females fed on castor bean pollen only or on honey only, did not oviposit. Leguminous pollen species were equally suitable for C. externa especially when they were complemented with honey. The results suggest that to successfully enhance predator effectiveness, organic coffee plantation should be diversified with plant providing pollen in combination with plant providing nectar
Experimental analysis of lateral impact on planar brittle material: spatial properties of the cracks
The breakup of glass and alumina plates due to planar impacts on one of their
lateral sides is studied. Particular attention is given to investigating the
spatial location of the cracks within the plates. Analysis based on a
phenomenological model suggests that bifurcations along the cracks' paths are
more likely to take place closer to the impact region than far away from it, i.
e., the bifurcation probability seems to lower as the perpendicular distance
from the impacted lateral in- creases. It is also found that many observables
are not sensitive to the plate material used in this work, as long as the
fragment multiplicities corresponding to the fragmentation of the plates are
similar. This gives support to the universal properties of the fragmentation
process reported in for- mer experiments. However, even under the just
mentioned circumstances, some spatial observables are capable of distinguishing
the material of which the plates are made and, therefore, it suggests that this
universality should be carefully investigated
Thermal Effects on Photon-Induced Quantum Transport
We theoretically investigate laser induced quantum transport in a two-level
quantum dot attached to electric contacts. Our approach, based on
nonequilibrium Green function technique, allows to include thermal effects on
the photon-induced quantum transport and excitonic coherent dynamics. By
solving a set of coupled integrodifferential equations, involving correlation
and propagator functions, we obtain the photocurrent and the dot occupations as
a function of time. The characteristic coherent Rabi oscillations are found in
both occupations and photocurrent, with two distinct sources of decoherence:
incoherent tunneling and thermal fluctuations. In particular, for increasing
temperature the dot becomes more thermally occupied which shrinks the amplitude
of the Rabi oscillations, due to Pauli blockade. Finally, due to the interplay
between photon and thermal induced electron populations, the photocurrent can
switch sign as time evolves and its stationary value can be maximized by
tunning the laser intensity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Germinação in vitro de grãos de pólen de Vriesea spp. (Bromeliaceae).
Estudos de viabilidade polínica são fundamentais como suporte ao melhoramento genético de bromeliáceas e para tal o ajuste de meios de germinação de pólen é determinante. Este trabalho objetivou avaliar a germinação de grãos de pólen in vitro e o subsequente crescimento do tubo polínico em Vriesea carinata, V. friburgensis, V. michaelii, V. paraibica e V. simplex. Grãos de pólen coletados na antese foram inoculados em quatro meios de cultura: BM, BKM, MBKM e SM, solidificados com agar (0,8%); pH ajustado a 6,5 e mantidos a uma temperatura de 27 ± 1 ºC. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado em esquema fatorial 5 x 4 (genótipo x meios de cultura), com 12 repetições, avaliando-se 300 grãos de pólen quanto à viabilidade e o comprimento de 25 tubos polínicos, aleatoriamente, por tratamento. Após 8 horas em cultura, verificou-se que os meios BKM e SM resultaram em maior germinação e comprimento do tubo polínico. Para as espécies V. carinata (80,33 %), V. paraibica (88,73 %), V. simplex (90,46 %) e V. michaelii (90,03 %) o melhor meio de cultura foi SM e para V. friburgensis, BKM (90,43 %) foi o melhor
Scanning Tunneling Microscope Operating as a Spin-diode
We theoretically investigate spin-polarized transport in a system composed of
a ferromagnetic Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) tip coupled to an adsorbed
atom (adatom) on a host surface. Electrons can tunnel directly from the tip to
the surface or via the adatom. Since the tip is ferromagnetic and the host
surface (metal or semiconductor) is non-magnetic we obtain a spin-diode effect
when the adatom is in the regime of single occupancy. This effect leads to an
unpolarized current for direct bias (V > 0) and polarized current for reverse
(V < 0) bias voltages, if the tip is nearby the adatom. Within the
nonequilibrium Keldysh technique we analyze the interplay between the lateral
displacement of the tip and the intra adatom Coulomb interaction on the
spindiode effect. As the tip moves away from the adatom the spin-diode effect
vanishes and the currents become polarized for both V > 0 and V < 0. We also
find an imbalance between the up and down spin populations in the adatom, which
can be tuned by the tip position and the bias. Finally, due to the presence of
the adsorbate on the surface, we observe spin-resolved Friedel oscillations in
the current, which reflects the oscillations in the calculated LDOS of the
subsystem surface+adatom.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Submitte
A Flexible Implementation of a Matrix Laurent Series-Based 16-Point Fast Fourier and Hartley Transforms
This paper describes a flexible architecture for implementing a new fast
computation of the discrete Fourier and Hartley transforms, which is based on a
matrix Laurent series. The device calculates the transforms based on a single
bit selection operator. The hardware structure and synthesis are presented,
which handled a 16-point fast transform in 65 nsec, with a Xilinx SPARTAN 3E
device.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. IEEE VI Southern Programmable Logic Conference
201
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