Effectiveness of metalaxyl, fosetyl-Al, dimethomorph, and cymoxanil against Phytophthora cactorum and P. citrophthora of peach tree

Metalaxyl, fosetyl-Al, dimethomorph and cymoxanil were applied as a soil drench to evaluate their ability to control in vitro and in vivo Phytophthora cactorum and P. citrophthora, agents of crown rot of peach tree. In the in vivo assays, metalaxyl, applied as soil drench at 2 g/tree, was the most effective, reducing growth of P. cactorum and P. citrophthora. Fosetyl-Al was less effective against both pathogens, while cymoxanil and dimethomorph did not inhibit growth. When scraped stem cankers were painted with metalaxyl, fosetyl-Al or dimethomorpth at 150 g/l Phytophthora colonization was inhibited, but cymoxanil applied in the same way was ineffective. In the in vitro tests, metalaxyl and dimethomorph at concentrations as low as 100 mg l-1 completely inhibited growth of P. cactorum and P. citrophthora. Fosetyl-Al only did so at concentration of 1500 mg l-1 and over. Cymoxanil was less effective since even at 2000 mg l-1 it did not prevent mycelial growth of P. cactorum and P. citrophthora. This study demonstrated that Phytophthora diseases of peach tree can be controlled by metalaxyl applied as a soil drench and by metalaxyl, fosetyl-Al and dimethomorph painted on scraped stem cankers

Climate and sustainability co-governance in Kenya: A multi-criteria analysis of stakeholders' perceptions and consensus

The Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development embody highly intertwined targets to act for climate in conjunction with sustainable development. This, however, entails different meanings and challenges across the world. Kenya, in particular, needs to address serious sustainability threats, like poverty and lack of modern and affordable energy access. This study uses a multi-criteria group decision aid and consensus measuring framework, to integrate both agendas, and engages with Kenyan stakeholders to help inform future mitigation research and policy in the country. Results showed that stakeholders highlight topics largely underrepresented in model-based mitigation analysis, such as biodiversity preservation and demand-side transformations, while pointing to gaps in cross-sectoral policies in relation to access to modern energy, agriculture, life on land, and climate change mitigation. With numerous past and recent policies aiming at these issues, persistent stakeholder concerns over these topics hint at limited success. Sectoral and technological priorities only recently emphasised in Kenyan policy efforts are also correlated with stakeholders' concerns, highlighting that progress is not only a matter of legislation, but also of coordination, consistency of targets, and comprehensibility. Higher bias is found among the preferences of stakeholders coming from the country's private sector. Results from this exercise can inform national policymakers on effectively reshaping the future direction of the country, as well as modelling efforts aimed at underpinning Kenya's energy, climate and sustainable development policy

Failure mechanisms in DP600 steel: Initiation, evolution and fracture

Local deformation and damage mechanisms have been studied for a commercial DP600 steel using in-situ tensile testing inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) in combination with Digital Image Correlation (DIC). Different gauge geometries have been used to study damage evolution processes during tensile testing up to final failure. Strain distributions have been measured within the ferrite and martensite phases, together with the corresponding strain values for identified damage initiation mechanisms. According to the strain maps, large plastic deformation with strain values as large as 4.5 have been measured within the ferrite phase. Severe deformation localization and slip band formation were observed within the ferrite grains. The DIC results show that martensite in the studied material is plastically deformable with a heterogeneous strain distribution within the islands with values of up to 0.9 close to the phase boundaries. Failure of the martensite islands occurs mostly due to micro-crack initiation at the boundaries with the ferrite followed by crack propagation towards the centre of the islands. As for the ferrite matrix, it is found that its interface with the martensite is strong and cohesive. Localized damage in the matrix occurs by sub-micron void formation within the ferrite adjacent to the interface as opposed to the separation along the phase boundary itself or in the central regions of the ferrite grains A mechanism has been proposed to explain the deformation and damage evolution in the microstructure of the studied DP600 steel up to the final fracture

Enhancement of solar cell efficiency by infra-red absorption

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