10,937 research outputs found
Carfentrazone-ethyl Pond Dissipation and Efficacy on Floating Plants
Carfentrazone-ethyl (CE) is a reduced risk herbicide that
is currently being evaluated for the control of aquatic weeds.
Greenhouse trials were conducted to determine efficacy of
CE on water hyacinth (
Eichhornia crassipes
(Mart.) Solms-
Laub.), water lettuce (
Pistia stratiotes
L.), salvinia (
Salvinia
minima
Baker) and landoltia
(Landoltia punctata
(G. Mey.)
Les & D. J. Crawford
)
. CE controlled water lettuce, water hyacinth
and salvinia at rates less than the maximum proposed
use rate of 224 g ha
-1
. Water lettuce was the most susceptible
to CE with an EC
90
of 26.9 and 33.0 g ha
-1
in two separate trials.
Water hyacinth EC
90
values were calculated to be 86.2 to
116.3 g ha
-1
, and salvinia had a similar susceptibility to water
hyacinth with an EC
90
of 79.1 g ha
-1
. Landoltia was not adequately
controlled at the rates evaluated. In addition, CE was
applied to one-half of a 0.08 ha pond located in North Central,
Florida to determine dissipation rates in water and hydrosoil
when applied at an equivalent rate of 224 g ha
-1
. The
half-life of CE plus the primary metabolite, CE-chloropropionic
acid, was calculated to be 83.0 h from the whole pond,
and no residues were detected in water above the limit of
quantification (5 ÎŒg L
-1
) 168 h after treatment. CE dissipated
rapidly from the water column, did not occur in the sediment
above the levels of quantification, and in greenhouse
studies effectively controlled three species of aquatic weeds
at relatively low rates.(PDF contains 6 pages.
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Development and validation of a new glaucoma screening test using temporally modulated flicker
Purpose
Describing the psychometric characteristics and diagnostic accuracy of the Accelerator 4âAlternative ForcedâChoice Flicker Test prototype (A4FTp) for detecting chronic open angle glaucoma (COAG).
Methods
A4FTp measures temporallyâmodulated flicker thresholds in regions of the visual field with high susceptibility to glaucomatous loss. We initially evaluated its psychometric properties on 20 normals (aged 33.8 ± 8.5 years) who were tested multiple times over a period of 3 months. All subjects underwent four repetitions for shorter (T8) and longer (T12) staircase termination criteria, to determine the most suitable threshold criterion. Four randomly selected subjects underwent a total of 10 repetitions to study testâretest repeatability and learning effects. To determine its diagnostic accuracy, one eye of 40 participants with COAG and 38 normal controls were tested with the A4FTp in comparison with the Frequency Doubling Technology (FDT; C20â5 programme) and iVue Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SDâOCT). Tests were conducted in a random order with results masked to the clinician conducting the reference ophthalmic examination. The accuracy of each test was determined by analysis of the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC).
Results
A4FTp flicker thresholds were stable, with standard deviations of only 0.52 decilog (dL) for T8, increasing to 1.32 dL for T12, and no significant flicker sensitivity threshold improvement over the 10 repeat runs. T8 was superior to T12 on several other measures, so it was used for the remaining comparisons. In terms of diagnostic accuracy, the mean AUROC for the three tests were A4FTp [T8 criterion; 0.82, 95% confidence interval (0.73â0.92)]; SDâOCT [any RNFL parameter p < 1% level; 0.90 (0.83â0.97)]; and FDT [one or more locations missed at p < 5% level; 0.91 (0.82â0.96)]. There was no statistical difference in AUROC between A4FTp and SDâOCT (p = 0.18) or FDT (p = 0.12). The A4FTp test duration averaged just over 2 min per eye, taking approximately oneâthird of the time for completion of the HFA SITA 24â2 algorithm (conducted as part of the reference examination) and twice the time for the suprathreshold FDT.
Conclusion
Test accuracy for the A4FTp was comparable to those of the FDT and SDâOCT for the detection of COAG. Time taken to complete the A4FTp was relatively short and initial results are promising. With further refinement, the A4FTp could have a future role in glaucoma detection
Scaling the propulsive performance of heaving and pitching foils
Scaling laws for the propulsive performance of rigid foils undergoing
oscillatory heaving and pitching motions are presented. Water tunnel
experiments on a nominally two-dimensional flow validate the scaling laws, with
the scaled data for thrust, power, and efficiency all showing excellent
collapse. The analysis indicates that the behaviour of the foils depends on
both Strouhal number and reduced frequency, but for motions where the viscous
drag is small the thrust closely follows a linear dependence on reduced
frequency. The scaling laws are also shown to be consistent with biological
data on swimming aquatic animals.Comment: 11 page
Fast algorithm for detecting community structure in networks
It has been found that many networks display community structure -- groups of
vertices within which connections are dense but between which they are sparser
-- and highly sensitive computer algorithms have in recent years been developed
for detecting such structure. These algorithms however are computationally
demanding, which limits their application to small networks. Here we describe a
new algorithm which gives excellent results when tested on both
computer-generated and real-world networks and is much faster, typically
thousands of times faster than previous algorithms. We give several example
applications, including one to a collaboration network of more than 50000
physicists.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Efficacy and Residue Comparisons between Two Slow-release Formulations of Fluridone
Residue profiles and efficacy of Avast and Sonar, two slow
release pellet formulations of fluridone {1-methyl-3-phenyl-5-
[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenly]-4(1H)-pyridinone}, were compared
in outdoor tanks. Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.)
Royle) and southern naiad (Najas guadalupensis (Sprengel)
Magnus) were treated with a split application of 6, 12, 18 and
24 ÎŒg/l a.i. fluridone and the concentrations of both formulations
compared over a 134-day period. Both pellet formulations
exhibited very similar residues over time for each
respective treatment, resulted in peak concentrations of fluridone
40 to 50 days after application, and effectively and
similarly controlled southern naiad and hydrilla at all rates
tested by 92 days after initial application. (PDF contains 3 pages.
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The improvement of contrast sensitivity with practice is not compatible with a sensory threshold account
In forced-choice detection, incorrect responses are routinely ascribed to internal noise, because experienced psychophysical observers do not act as if they have a sensory threshold, below which all perceived intensities would be identical. To determine whether inexperienced observers have sensory thresholds, we examined psychometric functions (percent correct vs log contrast) for detection and detection in full-field, dynamic visual noise. Over 5 days, neither type of psychometric function changed shape, but both shifted leftwards, indicating increased sensitivity. These results are not consistent with a lowered sensory threshold, which would decrease psychometric slope. They are consistent with a combination of reduced internal additive noise and improved filtering of external noise
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A BrĂŒcke-Bartley effect for contrast
Accurate derivation of the psychophysical (a.k.a. transducer) function from just-noticeable differences requires accurate knowledge of the relationship between the mean and variance of apparent intensities. Alternatively, a psychophysical function can be derived from estimates of the average between easily discriminable intensities. Such estimates are unlikely to be biased by the aforementioned variance, but they are notoriously variable and may stem from decisional processes that are more cognitive than sensory. To circumvent minimise cognitive pollution, we used amplitude-modulated contrast. As the spatial or temporal (carrier) frequency increased, estimates of average intensity became less variable across observers, converging on values that were closer to mean power (i.e. contrast 2) than mean contrast. Simply put, apparent contrast increases when physical contrast flickers. This result is analogous to BrĂŒcke's finding that brightness increases when luminance flickers. It implies an expansive transduction of contrast in the same way that BrĂŒcke's finding implies an expansive transduction of luminance
Numerical Linked-Cluster Algorithms. I. Spin systems on square, triangular, and kagome lattices
We discuss recently introduced numerical linked-cluster (NLC) algorithms that
allow one to obtain temperature-dependent properties of quantum lattice models,
in the thermodynamic limit, from exact diagonalization of finite clusters. We
present studies of thermodynamic observables for spin models on square,
triangular, and kagome lattices. Results for several choices of clusters and
extrapolations methods, that accelerate the convergence of NLC, are presented.
We also include a comparison of NLC results with those obtained from exact
analytical expressions (where available), high-temperature expansions (HTE),
exact diagonalization (ED) of finite periodic systems, and quantum Monte Carlo
simulations.For many models and properties NLC results are substantially more
accurate than HTE and ED.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures, as publishe
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