Endophytes vs tree pathogens and pests: can they be used as biological control agents to improve tree health?

Like all other plants, trees are vulnerable to attack by a multitude of pests and pathogens. Current control measures for many of these diseases are limited and relatively ineffective. Several methods, including the use of conventional synthetic agro-chemicals, are employed to reduce the impact of pests and diseases. However, because of mounting concerns about adverse effects on the environment and a variety of economic reasons, this limited management of tree diseases by chemical methods is losing ground. The use of biological control, as a more environmentally friendly alternative, is becoming increasingly popular in plant protection. This can include the deployment of soil inoculants and foliar sprays, but the increased knowledge of microbial ecology in the phytosphere, in particular phylloplane microbes and endophytes, has stimulated new thinking for biocontrol approaches. Endophytes are microbes that live within plant tissues. As such, they hold potential as biocontrol agents against plant diseases because they are able to colonize the same ecological niche favoured by many invading pathogens. However, the development and exploitation of endophytes as biocontrol agents will have to overcome numerous challenges. The optimization and improvement of strategies employed in endophyte research can contribute towards discovering effective and competent biocontrol agents. The impact of environment and plant genotype on selecting potentially beneficial and exploitable endophytes for biocontrol is poorly understood. How endophytes synergise or antagonise one another is also an important factor. This review focusses on recent research addressing the biocontrol of plant diseases and pests using endophytic fungi and bacteria, alongside the challenges and limitations encountered and how these can be overcome. We frame this review in the context of tree pests and diseases, since trees are arguably the most difficult plant species to study, work on and manage, yet they represent one of the most important organisms on Earth

Endophytes vs tree pathogens and pests: can they be used as biological control agents to improve tree health?

Like all other plants, trees are vulnerable to attack by a multitude of pests and pathogens. Current control measures for many of these diseases are limited and relatively ineffective. Several methods, including the use of conventional synthetic agro-chemicals, are employed to reduce the impact of pests and diseases. However, because of mounting concerns about adverse effects on the environment and a variety of economic reasons, this limited management of tree diseases by chemical methods is losing ground. The use of biological control, as a more environmentally friendly alternative, is becoming increasingly popular in plant protection. This can include the deployment of soil inoculants and foliar sprays, but the increased knowledge of microbial ecology in the phytosphere, in particular phylloplane microbes and endophytes, has stimulated new thinking for biocontrol approaches. Endophytes are microbes that live within plant tissues. As such, they hold potential as biocontrol agents against plant diseases because they are able to colonize the same ecological niche favoured by many invading pathogens. However, the development and exploitation of endophytes as biocontrol agents will have to overcome numerous challenges. The optimization and improvement of strategies employed in endophyte research can contribute towards discovering effective and competent biocontrol agents. The impact of environment and plant genotype on selecting potentially beneficial and exploitable endophytes for biocontrol is poorly understood. How endophytes synergise or antagonise one another is also an important factor. This review focusses on recent research addressing the biocontrol of plant diseases and pests using endophytic fungi and bacteria, alongside the challenges and limitations encountered and how these can be overcome. We frame this review in the context of tree pests and diseases, since trees are arguably the most difficult plant species to study, work on and manage, yet they represent one of the most important organisms on Earth

Planar computer tomography (PCT)

There is an increasing demand on testing various layers of a multi-layer Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assembly. Especially the soldered joints are often the reason for the malfunction of IC board. This problem cannot be solved by 2-dimensional testing devices because of an overlapping of two different components or soldered jounkts at double side assemblies. Also in the case of Ball Grid Arrays (BGAs), only tomographic inspection systems provide the required information. Classical Computer Tomography (CT) reconstruction is based on axial rotation of the inspected object. The planar geometry of PCBs presents a problem with the necessary axial rotation for the inspection of PCB. Lateral planar movement would be better suited than rotation necessary for classical CT. Since the algorithm of Planar Computer Tomography (PCT) is well suited for parallel computers and only a few projections are needed, a significant speed-up will be achieved compared with axial (CT) and other 3D inspection tech niques. As a future extension, it is planned to add the possibility of testing even electronic devices internally because all ICs, which were soldered directly on a PCB, face the risk of being damaged due to the high temperatures of the soldering process. Therefore a final inspection for cracks and delaminations becomes more and more necessary. As a result, resolution and reliability of such testing devices has to be improved significantly

UVM-SystemC-AMS based framework for the correct by construction design of MEMS in their real heterogeneous application context

Each new embedded system tends to integrate more sensors with tight software-driven control, digitally assisted analog circuits, and heterogeneous structure. A more responsive simulation environment is needed to support the co-design and verification of such complex architectures including all its digital hardware/software and analog/multi-physical aspects using Multi-Disciplinary Virtual Prototyping (MDVP). Taking a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) vibration sensor as an example, we introduce a reusable framework based on the state-of-the-art technologies SystemC AMS, Finite Elements/Reduced-Order modeling, and UVM to design, simulate, and verify such systems in their real application context