Effects of chinaberry fruit extract on feeding, growth and fecundity of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lep., Yponomeutidae)

Effects of chinaberry fruit extracts on larval mortality, feeding inhibition and reproduction of the diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella L., were investigated by feeding DBM larvae on treated leaves or seedlings. These extracts were found to be toxic to DBM larvae. The larvae usually died from failure in molting. The developmental growth rates and the food consumption were also reduced at concentrations of 2.0 and 4.0%. Chinaberry extracts reduced pupal weight, adult emergence and longevity in a dose-dependent manner when newly hatched larvae were continuously reared on treated rape seedlings at concentrations of 0.05% or above. Fecundity of the resulting females from the larvae treated with 0.5% extract was also reduced, while the egg hatch was not affected. However, the extracts significantly decreased egg hatch when the eggs were dipped directly into test solutions at 1.0% or above

A Neuro-Fuzzy System on System Modeling and Its

[[abstract]]It has been known that fuzzy system provide a framework to handle uncertainties and vagueness, however, the Sugeno or Mamdani fuzzy rule often face difficulties in deciding the number of inference rules and input/output membership functions. A five-layer neuro-fuzzy model is developed for applications in system identification of engineering system. Simulation and analysis show that both Sugeno and Mamdani neuro-fuzzy models have good performance in system identification. A benchmark test is applied to validate the model accuracy in nonlinear system modeling, and the former is superior in identification accuracy. Therefore, an experiment of pattern recognition is taken by way of the Sugeno fuzzy rules in neuro-fuzzy system, and it consequently gets good works in the application

International Journal of Remote Sensing Potential of colour-infrared digital camera imagery for inventory and mapping of alien plant invasions in South African shrublands Potential of colour-infrared digital camera imagery for inventory and mapping of ali

Abstract. Australian Acacia plant species invade the fynbos biome of southern Africa and threaten the exceptionally high plant diversity in the Cape Floristic Region. We examine the utility of very-high spatial resolution (0.5 m) colour infrared (CIR) digital image data for discriminating Acacia species from native fynbos vegetation, other alien vegetation and bare ground. Image data were acquired at a very low cost with a single-chip, digital CIR camera mounted on a light aircraft. Shrub and tree features were uniquely identi ed using visual or computer-assisted interpretation. However, increases in dynamic range and accuracy of interpolation schemes for the single chip sensor will be required if semi-automatic and accurate mapping of invasive plants is to be achieved

Clinical spectrum of individuals with pathogenic NF1 missense variants affecting p.Met1149, p.Arg1276, and p.Lys1423: genotype-phenotype study in neurofibromatosis type 1.

We report 281 individuals carrying a pathogenic recurrent NF1 missense variant at p.Met1149, p.Arg1276, or p.Lys1423, representing three nontruncating NF1 hotspots in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) cohort, together identified in 1.8% of unrelated NF1 individuals. About 25% (95% confidence interval: 20.5-31.2%) of individuals heterozygous for a pathogenic NF1 p.Met1149, p.Arg1276, or p.Lys1423 missense variant had a Noonan-like phenotype, which is significantly more compared with the "classic" NF1-affected cohorts (all p < .0001). Furthermore, p.Arg1276 and p.Lys1423 pathogenic missense variants were associated with a high prevalence of cardiovascular abnormalities, including pulmonic stenosis (all p < .0001), while p.Arg1276 variants had a high prevalence of symptomatic spinal neurofibromas (p < .0001) compared with "classic" NF1-affected cohorts. However, p.Met1149-positive individuals had a mild phenotype, characterized mainly by pigmentary manifestations without externally visible plexiform neurofibromas, symptomatic spinal neurofibromas or symptomatic optic pathway gliomas. As up to 0.4% of unrelated individuals in the UAB cohort carries a p.Met1149 missense variant, this finding will contribute to more accurate stratification of a significant number of NF1 individuals. Although clinically relevant genotype-phenotype correlations are rare in NF1, each affecting only a small percentage of individuals, together they impact counseling and management of a significant number of the NF1 population