FORMULATION OF ENTOMOPATHOGENS FOR THE CONTROL OF GRASSHOPPERS AND LOCUSTS

1997 ◽  
Vol 129 (S171) ◽  
pp. 49-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Moore ◽  
R.W. Caudwell

AbstractSuccessful development of a biological pesticide requires attention not only to the biological agent, but also to formulation, application, and the biology of the pest–pathogen interaction in the field. Emphasis in our review is given to fungi, Metarhizium spp. and Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin, as the most suitable agents, and oil-based ULV formulations or baits as the most promising application techniques for use with locusts and grasshoppers. The efficacy of the pathogen isolate must be maximized; selection is aimed at those that are suitably virulent, specific, and well adapted to the relevant environmental conditions. Opportunities exist for manipulation of the characteristics of the isolate by genetic means and by developments in culturing techniques. Formulation requirements are stability during storage and the ability to carry the active ingredient successfully to the target insect at application. Likely storage methods for fungi would be as dry conidia, perhaps with clay diluents, or in oils; the characteristics of both are briefly discussed. At application, efficacy of dose transfer and protection of the biological agent against environmental constraints such as UV radiation are needed. Baits have advantages in terms of dose transfer but logistical problems associated with the bulkiness of the carrier remain. Technological advances, including those that offer the prospect of carrier production in situ from dense precursors, and better knowledge of feeding behaviour have improved the prospects for baits. Multi-disciplinary research reducing dependency on the biological agent and exploiting formulation chemistry and application technology is required in developing biological pesticides.

Materials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Haouas

The employment of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for studying crystalline porous materials formation is reviewed in the context of the development of in situ methodologies for the observation of the real synthesis medium, with the aim of unraveling the nucleation and growth processes mechanism. Both liquid and solid state NMR techniques are considered to probe the local environment at molecular level of the precursor species either soluble in the liquid phase or present in the reactive gel. Because the mass transport between the liquid and solid components of the heterogeneous system plays a key role in the synthesis course, the two methods provide unique insights and are complementary. Recent technological advances for hydrothermal conditions NMR are detailed and their applications to zeolite and related materials crystallization are illustrated. Achievements in the field are exemplified with some representative studies of relevance to zeolites, aluminophosphate zeotypes, and metal-organic frameworks.


1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 351
Author(s):  
Jann Williams ◽  
Derek Eamus

Introduction The Symposium ‘Plant Ecophysiology: Linking Pattern and Process’ was held as part of the 1995 meeting of the Ecological Society of Australia (ESA). The aim of the Symposium was to highlight work that examined mechanisms underlying ecological patterns and linked them to ecological and/or evolutionary processes. Another aim was to expose ecologists to the methods available to examine the mechanistic and functional basis of the organisms and systems under study. Much early ecological research has been concerned with the description and classification of vegetation types, with relatively little effort devoted to understanding the underlying processes that determined distribution. A more quantitative approach based on knowledge of the underlying mechanisms can further improve understanding of systems. This was amply demonstrated in a Symposium on the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on vegetation dynamics, also held in conjunction with an ESA meeting (see papers in Australian Journal of Botany, Volume 40(2)). Recent technological advances have stimulated rapid progress in the field of ecophysiology and hence an increasing process-based understanding is developing. The 1995 Symposium was seen as an opportunity to highlight more recent work in what is a relatively new field in Australia (albeit a well-established field in Europe and America), especially in situ studies and research from relatively little studied areas like northern Australia. The response to the Symposium was encouraging, with 25 spoken papers and poster-papers presented. In this paper, some of the unifying aspects of the papers presented in the symposium are drawn together, and placed in the context of likely future developments in ecophysiology in Australia. Based on this analysis, future directions and gaps are identified.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (38) ◽  
pp. 18525-18532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Yang ◽  
Tianpeng Jiao ◽  
Mian Li ◽  
Youbing Li ◽  
Longtao Ma ◽  
...  

Due to the promising application of sodium ion batteries (SIBs) in stationary energy storage, great effort has been devoted to the development of anode materials, such as capacitance-type MXenes, battery-type metal sulfides/selenides and red phosphorus.


2011 ◽  
Vol 266 ◽  
pp. 30-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Hong Li ◽  
Jing Jing Huang ◽  
Tian Cong Cai ◽  
Zhi Jun Zhang

Silica nanospheres with good dispersibility in oily solvents were prepared using a facile in-situ surface-modification route. The microstructure of resultant surface-capped silica nanospheres was analyzed with a transmission electron microscope. The tribological behavior of the silica nanospheres as additive in engine oil SE 15W/40 was evaluated using a four-ball machine; and the morphology and composition of the worn steel surfaces were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analysis attachment. It was found that organic modifier hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) was combined with nano-SiO2 by covalent bonds, resulting in varied surface properties and improved dispersibility of the nanoparticles in many organic mediums. Besides, oil-soluble silica nanospheres as additive in the engine oil had excellent friction-reducing and antiwear abilities, showing promising application prospect.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 15279-15288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan E. Schaffer ◽  
Muhammad Agil ◽  
Zainal Z. Zainuddin

The Sumatran Rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis is on the edge of extinction.  The decline of this species was initially attributed to poaching and habitat loss, but evidence presented here indicates that reproductive failure has also been a significant cause of loss, and continues to affect wild populations.  Indonesia’s remaining populations of Sumatran Rhino are small and scattered, with limited access to breeding opportunities with unrelated mates.  This leaves them subject to inbreeding and isolation-induced infertility, linked to fertility problems analyzed here.  Sumatran Rhino females in captivity showed high rates (>70%) of reproductive pathology and/or problems with conception, which has significantly hindered the breeding program.  Technological advances enabling examination immediately after capture revealed similarly high rates and types of reproductive problems in individuals from wild populations.  The last seven Sumatran Rhino females captured were from areas with small declining populations, and six had reproductive problems.  Going forward, capturing similarly compromised animals will take up valuable space and resources needed for fertile animals.  The high risk of infertility and difficulty of treating underlying conditions, coupled with the decreasing number of remaining animals, means that the success of efforts to build a viable captive population will depend upon utilizing fertile animals and applying assisted reproductive techniques.  Decades of exhaustive in situ surveys have not provided information relevant to population management or to ascertaining the fertility status of individual animals.  Thus the first priority should be the capture of individuals as new founders from areas with the highest likelihood of containing fertile rhinos, indicated by recent camera trap photos of mothers with offspring.  In Sumatra these areas include Way Kambas and parts of the Leuser ecosystem.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Sheng Wang ◽  
Jia Guo

The ability to quantify a large number of varied transcripts in single cells in their native spatial context is crucial to accelerate our understanding of health and disease. Bulk cell RNA analysis masks the heterogeneity in the cell population, while the conventional RNA imaging approaches suffer from low multiplexing capacity. Recent advances in multiplexed fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) methods enable comprehensive RNA profiling in individual cells in situ. These technologies will have wide applications in many biological and biomedical fields, including cell type classification, signaling network analysis, tissue architecture, disease diagnosis and patient stratification, etc. In this minireview, we will present the recent technological advances of multiplexed single-cell in situ RNA profiling assays, discuss their advantages and limitations, describe their biological applications, highlight the current challenges, and propose potential solutions.


2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (9) ◽  
pp. 5643-5647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefaan De Wildeman ◽  
Gabriele Diekert ◽  
Herman Van Langenhove ◽  
Willy Verstraete

ABSTRACT The suspected carcinogen 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) is the most abundant chlorinated C2 groundwater pollutant on earth. However, a reductive in situ detoxification technology for this compound does not exist. Although anaerobic dehalorespiring bacteria are known to catalyze several dechlorination steps in the reductive-degradation pathway of chlorinated ethenes and ethanes, no appropriate isolates that selectively and metabolically convert them into completely dechlorinated end products in defined growth media have been reported. Here we report on the isolation of Desulfitobacterium dichloroeliminans strain DCA1, a nutritionally defined anaerobic dehalorespiring bacterium that selectively converts 1,2-dichloroethane and all possible vicinal dichloropropanes and -butanes into completely dechlorinated end products. Menaquinone was identified as an essential cofactor for growth of strain DCA1 in pure culture. Strain DCA1 converts chiral chlorosubstrates, revealing the presence of a stereoselective dehalogenase that exclusively catalyzes an energy-conserving anti mechanistic dichloroelimination. Unlike any known dehalorespiring isolate, strain DCA1 does not carry out reductive hydrogenolysis reactions but rather exclusively dichloroeliminates its substrates. This unique dehalorespiratory biochemistry has shown promising application possibilities for bioremediation purposes and fine-chemical synthesis.


Photochem ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-125
Author(s):  
Anna C. Croce

Organisms belonging to all life kingdoms may have the natural capacity to fluoresce. Autofluorescence events depend on the presence of natural biomolecules, namely endogenous fluorophores, with suitable chemical properties in terms of conjugated double bonds, aromatic or more complex structures with oxidized and crosslinked bonds, ensuring an energy status able to permit electronic transitions matching with the energy of light in the UV-visible-near-IR spectral range. Emission of light from biological substrates has been reported since a long time, inspiring unceasing and countless studies. Early notes on autofluorescence of vegetables have been soon followed by attention to animals. Investigations on full living organisms from the wild environment have been driven prevalently by ecological and taxonomical purposes, while studies on cells, tissues and organs have been mainly promoted by diagnostic aims. Interest in autofluorescence is also growing as a sensing biomarker in food production and in more various industrial processes. The associated technological advances have supported investigations ranging from the pure photochemical characterization of specific endogenous fluorophores to their possible functional meanings and biological relevance, making fluorescence a valuable intrinsic biomarker for industrial and diagnostic applications, in a sort of real time, in situ biochemical analysis. This review aims to provide a wide-ranging report on the most investigated natural fluorescing biomolecules, from microorganisms to plants and animals of different taxonomic degrees, with their biological, environmental or biomedical issues relevant for the human health. Hence, some notes in the different sections dealing with different biological subject are also interlaced with human related issues. Light based events in biological subjects have inspired an almost countless literature, making it almost impossible to recall here all associated published works, forcing to apologize for the overlooked reports. This Review is thus proposed as an inspiring source for Readers, addressing them to additional literature for an expanded information on specific topics of more interest.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1683-1698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Fei Sun ◽  
Zhao-Yao Song ◽  
Lin-Feng Cai ◽  
Yan-Yu Zhang ◽  
Peng Li

AbstractA novel experimental procedure was proposed to investigate the phase behavior of a solvent mixture (SM) (64 mol% CH4, 8 mol% CO2, and 28 mol% C3H8) with heavy oil. Then, a theoretical methodology was employed to estimate the phase behavior of the heavy oil–solvent mixture (HO–SM) systems with various mole fractions of SM. The experimental results show that as the mole fraction of SM increases, the saturation pressures and swelling factors of the HO–SM systems considerably increase, and the viscosities and densities of the HO–SM systems decrease. The heavy oil is upgraded in situ via asphaltene precipitation and SM dissolution. Therefore, the solvent-enriched oil phase at the top layer of reservoirs can easily be produced from the reservoir. The aforementioned results indicate that the SM has promising application potential for enhanced heavy oil recovery via solvent-based processes. The theoretical methodology can accurately predict the saturation pressures, swelling factors, and densities of HO–SM systems with various mole fractions of SM, with average error percentages of 1.77% for saturation pressures, 0.07% for swelling factors, and 0.07% for densities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyprien Verseux ◽  
Mickael Baqué ◽  
Kirsi Lehto ◽  
Jean-Pierre P. de Vera ◽  
Lynn J. Rothschild ◽  
...  

AbstractEven though technological advances could allow humans to reach Mars in the coming decades, launch costs prohibit the establishment of permanent manned outposts for which most consumables would be sent from Earth. This issue can be addressed byin situresource utilization: producing part or all of these consumables on Mars, from local resources. Biological components are needed, among other reasons because various resources could be efficiently produced only by the use of biological systems. But most plants and microorganisms are unable to exploit Martian resources, and sending substrates from Earth to support their metabolism would strongly limit the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of their cultivation. However, resources needed to grow specific cyanobacteria are available on Mars due to their photosynthetic abilities, nitrogen-fixing activities and lithotrophic lifestyles. They could be used directly for various applications, including the production of food, fuel and oxygen, but also indirectly: products from their culture could support the growth of other organisms, opening the way to a wide range of life-support biological processes based on Martian resources. Here we give insights into how and why cyanobacteria could play a role in the development of self-sustainable manned outposts on Mars.


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