Search

The field of levitated optomechanics has experienced significant advancements in manipulating the translational and rotational dynamics of optically levitated particles and exploring their sensing applications. The concept of using optically levitated particles as gyroscopes to measure angular motion has long been explored but has not yet been proven either theoretically or experimentally. In this study, we present the first rotor gyroscope based on optically levitated high-speed rotating particles. The gyroscope is composed of a micrometer-size ellipsoidal vaterite particle that is driven to rotate at MHz frequencies in a vacuum environment. When an external angular velocity is input, the optical axis deviates from its initial position, resulting in changes in the frequency and amplitude of the rotational signal. By analyzing these changes, the angular velocity of the input can be accurately detected, making it the smallest rotor gyroscope in the world. The angular rate bias instability of the gyroscope is measured to be 0.08°/s and can be further improved to as low as 10−9°/h theoretically by cooling the motion and increasing the angular moment of the levitated particle. Our work opens a new application paradigm for levitated optomechanical systems and may pave the way for the development of quantum rotor gyroscopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the extent of heritability of a plant-associated microbiome (phytobiome) is critically important for exploitation of phytobiomes in agriculture. Two crosses were made between pairs of cotton cultivars (Z2 and J11, L1 and Z49) with differential resistance to Verticillium wilt. F2 plants were grown in a field, together with the four parents to study the heritability of cotton rhizosphere microbiome. Amplicon sequencing was used to profile bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere. F2 offspring plants of both crosses had higher average alpha diversity indices than the two parents; parents differed significantly from F2 offspring in Bray–Curtis beta diversity indices as well. Two types of data were used to study the heritability of rhizosphere microbiome: principal components (PCs) and individual top microbial operational taxonomic units (OTUs). For the L1 × Z49 cross, the variance among the F2 progeny genotypes (namely, genetic variance, VT) was significantly greater than the random variability (VE) for 12 and 34 out of top 100 fungal and bacterial PCs, respectively. For the Z2 × J11 cross, the corresponding values were 10 and 20 PCs. For 29 fungal OTUs and 10 bacterial OTUs out of the most abundant 100 OTUs, genetic variance (VT) was significantly greater than VE for the L1 × Z49 cross; the corresponding values for the Z2 × J11 cross were 24 and one. The estimated heritability was mostly in the range of 40% to 60%. These results suggested the existence of genetic control of polygenic nature for specific components of rhizosphere microbiome in cotton. Key points: • F2offspring cotton plants differed significantly from parents in rhizosphere microbial diversity. • Specific rhizosphere components are likely to be genetically controlled by plants. • Common PCs and specific microbial groups are significant genetic components between the two crosses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to quantitatively study the effect of the modulus ratio of matrix polymer to toughening modifier on the brittle-ductile transition (BDT) of the blends, the modulus ratio of polypropylene (PP) to impact modifier at various temperatures was obtained from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results. The modulus ratio changed continuously from nearly 1 to more than 100 by increasing temperature from − 100 to 50 °C. Accordingly, the impact property of the PP/POE blends within a wide composition range was studied at various temperatures by notched impact strength test. The variations of the notched impact strength with the modulus ratio were thereby obtained for various PP/POE blends. The result shows that a clear sharp BDT appeared with increasing the modulus ratio and the critical modulus ratio is 10, that is, the modulus of impact modifier must be one tenth of that of polymer matrix in order to be effective. In addition, the effect of the microstructure on the BDT of PP/POE blends was also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brown rot caused by Monilinia spp. is one of the most important diseases in stone fruits worldwide. Latent infections of fruit by the pathogen often manifest once the fruit is ripe, leading to post-harvest rots. Two microbial strains (Bacillus subtilis -B91 and Aureobasidium pullulans - Y126) have shown antagonistic properties against M. laxa in previous studies. This study assessed the reduction in post-harvest rot of cherry by M. laxa when the two biocontrol (BCAs) strains were applied pre-harvest under field conditions to fruit artificially inoculated with M. laxa. The experiment was carried out for two consecutive years in cherry orchards in Kent. When applied pre-harvest, both strains (B91 and Y126) reduced the incidence of post-harvest rots by 30% - 60%. This promising result helps towards the commercialisation of the two strains, which would reduce reliance on fungicides in commercial cherry production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impact resistance for elastomer toughened high density polyethylene (HDPE) at low temperature was determined by its brittle-ductile transition temperature (TBD). Following our previous work, i.e. the effect of HDPE molecular weight on the brittle-ductile transition of POE toughened HDPE (Wang et al. in J Polym Res 29:1–8, 2022), we studied the effect of elastomer modulus because the modules ratio of matrix polymer to elastomer plays an important role in brittle-ductile transition. In this study, four elastomers with different glass transition temperatures (Tg) were employed. The modules ratios of the HDPE to the elastomers were obtained by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurement, respectively. The notched impact strengths for the HDPE blends with different elastomers were tested at various temperatures. The results showed that the notched impact strength appeared a clear sharp transition when the modulus ratio of the HDPE to elastomer reached 10 by increasing temperature, indicating that the HDPE could not be toughened effectively when the modulus ratio of the HDPE to elastomer is smaller than 10. This is the first time to quantitatively give the effect of elastomer toughened thermal plastic polymers on the brittle-ductile transition in experiment. Moreover, the result directly indicated that the Tg of elastomer must be low enough in order to obtain lower TBD of elastomer toughened HDPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the brittle-ductile transition of poly(ethylene-co-octene) (POE) toughened high density polyethylene (HDPE) was studied in terms of HDPE molecular weight, elastomer content and temperature. The relation among HDPE molecular weight, critical elastomer content and temperature, the relation among critical interparticle distance ( ID c ), HDPE molecular weight and temperature at critical brittle-ductile transition point were given. From these relations, the high impact HDPE blends with the lowest elastomer content, i.e. with the lowest rigidity loss, could be obtained. The results show that the lowest modulus loss for high impact HDPE/POE blend reduces markedly with the increase of HDPE molecule weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review focuses on biological control as a management strategy for brown rot disease on cherry. Specifically, the strain Monilina laxa as much of the research so far has been focused on Monilina fructicola and other stone fruit. Brown rot is one of the most economically important stone fruit diseases worldwide. Current control methods rely heavily on fungicide and costly physical controls. Biological control agents (BCAs) have been found which antagonise M. laxa and other Monilinia species. However, only a few have been developed into commercial products. This is primarily because they are still not as effective and consistent as the fungicides currently available to growers. Current biocontrol research focuses heavily on post-harvest applications but more could be done to look at the potential for BCAs to be used in the field to protect blossoms and fruits, reducing post-harvest losses. Future research needs to understand the ecology of these BCAs and their population dynamics in relation to external conditions, in order to optimise their use in integration with other management strategies. Disease management in the near future will rely more on the use of BCAs than conventional fungicides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Verticillium dahliae is a soilborne pathogen that causes wilt in many economically important crops. It produces melanized microsclerotia for its long-term survival in soil. Accurate quantification of viable microsclerotia in soil prior to planting is essential for predicting the risk of wilt. Melanin is believed to help microsclerotia resist to or tolerate abiotic stresses. We studied the temporal dynamics of both melanized and melanin-deficient microsclerotia of V. dahliae in four types of soils with or without addition of two biocontrol products (one based on Trichoderma viride; and the other based on two Bacillus strains: B. subtilis and B. amyloliquefaciens). Of the four soil types, two were from wheat and maize (non-host to V. dahliae) fields and the other two from sites with history of continuous cropping of cotton and pepper (both susceptible to V. dahliae). Results showed that the survival of microsclerotia in soils over time can be satisfactorily described by a negative exponential decline model. Microsclerotium mortality was much greater in the soils from wheat and maize field than from cotton and pepper, irrespective of biocontrol agents. Similarly, mortality of melanin-deficient microsclerotia was much greater than melanized microsclerotia. Both biocontrol products resulted in additional mortality of microsclerotia, especially Bacillus spp. There were significant interactions between soil origin, microsclerotium type and biocontrol treatment in affecting microsclerotium mortality. These results demonstrated that melanin contributes to the long-time survival of microsclerotia in soil and suggested that combination of biocontrol with rotation with non-host crops can be effective in reducing the number of viable microsclerotia of V. dahliae in soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Botrytis cinerea, Mucor piriformis and Rhizopus spp. are mainly responsible for post-harvest fruit rot in strawberry in the UK. However, research to date has been focused on the epidemiology and management of B. cinerea in strawberry (i.e., grey mould). A number of experiments were carried out to study the epidemiology of M. piriformis and Rhizopus on strawberry, including flower/fruit susceptibility, inoculum dose, in vitro spore germination and infection of both detached and attached fruit. The results showed that M. piriformis and Rhizopus had very similar epidemiological characteristics. Both pathogens were unable to infect flowers, but fruit became increasingly susceptible from the green development stage onwards. In vitro germination required near-saturation humidity conditions and was reduced in both low and high temperatures. However, infection of attached ripe fruit and subsequent rot development were relatively unaffected by temperature and relative humidity conditions that commonly occur under field conditions in the UK. On detached ripe fruit, a high spore infection potency was observed for both pathogens. Infection of fruit was completed within 9 to 24 h. Thus, the most important factor determining the level of infection of fruit by M. piriformis and Rhizopus in UK commercial crops is probably the number of spores deposited on the fruit. Management strategies should be targeted at reducing inoculum concentrations within crops in order to minimise the risk of fruit infection by M. piriformis and Rhizopus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multilayer thin film aluminum/titanium (Al/Ti) microheater is developed for the microthruster liquid propellant vaporizing and gas heating for increasing the specific impulse. The microheater was fabricated onto a Pyrex 7740 substrate using a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems processing technology. A finite-element based multiphysics simulation was employed to simulate the microheater performance. The distribution of temperature and variation of the thermal deformation are simulated in modeling with the different input power. And the simulation shows that heat loss of the microheater is relatively low comparing with the normal heater. Subsequently an experimental testing of the microheater performance based on infrared imaging device was actualized with applied voltage from 5 to 36 V. An auger electron spectroscopy detection was employed to validating the assumption that Al layer oxidizing is the main reason of temperature higher in the test than simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flower-like CoO particles with three-dimensional structure have been achieved by inheriting the flower-like framework of β-Co(OH) particles fabricated by a facile solvothermal method without any surfactant. The obtained CoO microflower, which was composed of large amounts of self-assembled porous ultrathin nanosheets, exhibited excellent electrochemical performances in terms of high specific capacity and good cycle stability when being evaluated as anode materials for lithium-ion battery. Specifically, a high reversible capacity of above 1100 mA h g was achieved after 50 cycles at the current density of 296 mA g. Hierarchical flower-like structure with mesoporous was considered as providing more active sites for Li insertion and paths for transport of Li, which led to faster lithium-ion diffusion. CoO porous flower-like nanostructures possessed significant potential application in energy storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microthruster has been playing significant role in micropropulsion system, of which micronozzle is the key component. In the present work, the geometric parameters of a typical micronozzle on a cold gas microthruster are first optimized using numerical univariate and orthogonal analysis combined with confirmation of thrust experiments. A 2 Dimension (2D) univariate numerical simulation, with only one geometric parameter varying within a large range during a simulation, is used to fully discuss the eight structural parameters of the proposed micronozzle. According to the effect of each parameter on the micronozzle performance, five critical factors, including half expansion angle θ , expansion ratio W / W , throat width W , throat radius of curvature R , Inlet width W and their corresponding proper levels range are selected. Then, a 2D orthogonal numerical simulation analysis is conducted utilizing an L (4) orthogonal table with the selected factors and levels. By analyzing the selected factors and levels simultaneously by range analysis method, the orders of significance of different factors are sorted and the optimum structural parameters are selected. The optimum result achieved in this study is identified as θ of 15°, W of 200 μm, W / W of 7, R of 20 μm and W of 4000 μm. Then, a 3 Dimension (3D) numerical simulation is conducted to predict and analyze the performance of the optimum microthruster when inlet pressure varies in three different values. When inlet pressure is 0.918 bar and temperature is 300 K, 3D simulation result shows that the microthruster using nitrogen as propellant can generate a thrust of 2.23 mN and efficiency of 72.14%. At last, an optimum cold gas microthruster adopting nitrogen gas as propellant is fabricated and tested. Experiment is conducted in three different inlet pressure. Results show that experimental values and simulation values are in agreement, which verifies the correctness of the simulation model. Under the inlet pressure of 0.918 bar and temperature of 300 K, the optimum microthruster can produce a thrust of 1.41 mN and efficiency of 52.84% when outlet pressure is set as 1000 Pa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici ( Pst), is an important disease of wheat worldwide. Understanding the survival of Pst during the winter is critical for predicting Pst epidemics in the spring. We used a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) method to quantify Pst CYR32 biomass in infected wheat seedlings under several fluctuating temperature regimes (three average temperatures 0, −5 and −10 °C, each with two daily fluctuating amplitudes 8 and 13 °C). The survival of Pst CYR32 increased with increasing average temperature but also varied greatly with the amplitude - larger amplitude led to lower survival, particularly at 0 and −5 °C. Nevertheless the survival at both amplitudes was still significantly greater than under the corresponding constant temperatures. There were small, albeit statistically significant, differences between the two cultivars (Xiaoyan 22, low winter-hardiness; Lantian 15, high winter-hardiness) in Pst CYR32 survival. This study indicated potential errors that could result from using daily average temperatures to predict Pst survival during the winter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a real-time PCR assay was established to quantify airborne inoculum of Blumeria graminis f. s p. tritici ( Bgt), the causal agent of wheat powdery mildew. Burkard 7-day recording spore traps were used to collect Bgt spores in air in Langfang City, Hebei Province, China. A linear relationship between number of spores counted with a compound microscope and those determined with the real-time PCR assay was obtained in artificially inoculated spore trap tape sections. The dynamics of airborne conidia concentrations of Bgt were similar. There were significant correlations ( P < 0.01) between spore concentrations by using a compound microscope and the real-time PCR assay in three growing seasons. The results demonstrated a potential method to quantitatively determine spore inoculum potential in wheat fields by using a real-time PCR assay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat, caused by several Fusarium species, is a damaging disease, resulting not only in yield reduction but also accumulation of mycotoxins in grain. Epidemiology and management of FHB has been extensively studied worldwide. Data on FHB development and accumulation of mycotoxins were obtained in four European countries during 2001-2004 to study the effect of FHB development and environmental conditions on accumulation of deoxynivalenol (DON). The occurrence of DON was highly correlated with presence of one or more toxigenic Fusarium species. Hourly weather data recorded at each sampling site were summarised over several periods of different lengths (5-30 days) during the anthesis and pre-harvest period. All-subsets regression was used to determine the extent to which the probability of DON occurrence is related to weather variables and also the consistency of such a toxin-weather relationship. Combined with a re-sampling technique, all-subsets regression analysis showed the difficulties in identifying a single 'best' model of relating the probability of toxin ≥90 μg kg to weather predictors. A wide range of inter-related weather predictors based on time windows around anthesis and pre-harvest were selected in different models. There were many alternative models based on weather predictors only with similar predictive power because of high correlation among weather predictors. The performance of these alternative models was generally poor, particularly in terms of the high proportion of false positive predictions (specificity was only around 0.60-0.65). Inclusion of the number of toxigenic Fusarium species at harvest into models did not improve the model sensitivity (ca. 0.75-0.80) but appreciably improved the specificity (ca. 0.70-0.75). On balance, weather summarised over a 15-day window frame led to models with better predictions than other three window frames (5, 10 and 30 days). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Verticillium dahliae causes wilt disease of many crops worldwide. Microsclerotia are the main resting structure of V. dahliae in soil and can survive for more than 10 years, serving as an important source of primary inoculum. Mass production of microsclerotia in laboratory is valuable for studying various aspects of V. dahilae, such as its biology, epidemiology and control. We failed to produce a sufficient amount of microsclerotia in vitro for one strain of our interest using several previously published methods. Therefore, we developed a new protocol for mass in vitro production of viable microsclerotia. Verticillium strains were cultured in a modified basal agar medium at pH of 11.5 under 20 °C and incubated for 25 days in dark. When 16 strains were subjected to this condition, large numbers of microsclerotia were produced although varied greatly among strains, including the strain that failed to produce microsclerotia with previously published methods. Microsclerotia from 14 of the 16 strains resulted in wilt development on inoculated cotton seedlings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strawberry production has expanded significantly in the UK, especially under protection where irrigation and fertiliser input are better managed than in open field production. Powdery mildew increases in importance on strawberry grown under protection. Experiments were conducted to investigate whether manipulation of irrigation and nitrogen via fertigation within commercially acceptable ranges would significantly affect powdery mildew development on strawberry (cv. Elsanta). The results showed that increasing nitrogen input via fertigation led to increased mildew development and that increasing water stress via regulated deficit irrigation led to decreased mildew development. However, the reduction in mildew development under low nitrogen input or deficit irrigation was rather limited. Therefore, the treatments investigated in this study could be considered for practical purposes to have little effect on powdery mildew development on strawberry under protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yield potential and stability improvement with the goal of ensuring global food security is an important priority. Yield has a quantitative nature and is controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTL) and environmental factors. An increasingly large number of maize yield QTL have been identified, and how to integrate and re-analyze them is challenging. To this end, we tried to combine QTL meta-analysis with homology-based cloning techniques to dissect candidate loci/genes for maize yield. We first collected maize yield-related QTL from public resources. Then, 351 collected QTL were iteratively projected and meta-analyzed to obtain metaQTL (MQTL). A total of 54 MQTL were identified and tended to cluster in the maize genome. Seven MQTL containing ten maize orthologs of rice yield genes were dissected and temporarily termed syntenic MQTL. Maize orthologs of three functionally-characterized rice yield genes, GIF1, WFP/ IPA1, and DEP1, were specially selected to undergo phylogenetic, proliferation, and selective pattern analysis. The results showed that maize orthologs were closely related to rice yield genes and subjected to mixed selective pressures, including positive selection during selective sweeps. The power of the combined techniques reported here was primarily validated not only by the congruency of MQTL and recently reported maize yield QTL but also by mined syntenic MQTL containing the well-characterized Miniature1 ( Mn1) gene for maize kernel size and weight determination. Maize MQTL, especially syntenic MQTL regions, could serve not only for QTL fine-mapping and cloning but also for the marker-assisted selection breeding program. The maize yield candidate loci/genes presented here also deserve further investigation and will provide clues to the molecular bases of grain yield. Additionally, the combined technique described here will find its way into further quantitative trait research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apple scab, caused by Venturia inaequalis, is one of the most important apple diseases worldwide. To investigate between- and within-orchard fungal variability, 212 isolates were sampled from two mixed orchards, one of 10 years of age and the other of 45 years of age, in the UK and genotyped with AFLP and SSR markers. Populations of isolates from the two orchards did not differ significantly in terms of allele frequencies at the screened AFLP and SSR loci. However, groups of isolates from individual cultivars differed significantly within each orchard and there were also significant differences between groups of isolates from individual trees of the same cultivar in the same orchard. These differences were less pronounced in the younger mixed orchard than in the older one. The existence of tree-to-tree fungal variability indicates a possible role for conidia as a source of primary inoculum. Non-random mating may be one of the factors causing the significant differences among fungal populations from different cultivars. These results suggest that apparently 'susceptible' cultivars have different background genetic resistance factors, which can be exploited for disease management in mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of local environmental conditions, intensity of Fusarium head blight (FHB) in wheat spikes, biomass of Fusarium graminearum, F. culmorum, and F. poae (pathogens causing FHB) and concentration of the mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and nivalenol (NIV) in harvested wheat grain were obtained in a total of 150 location-years, originating in three European countries (Hungary, Ireland, United Kingdom) from 2001 to 2004. Through window-pane methodology, the length and starting time of temporal windows where the environmental variables were significantly associated with the biological variables were identified. Window lengths of 5 to 30 days were evaluated, with starting times from 18 days before anthesis to harvest. Associations were quantified with nonparametric Spearman correlation coefficients. All biological variables were significantly associated with at least one evaluated environmental variable ( P ≤ 0.05). Moisture-related variables (e.g., average relative humidity, hours of relative humidity above 80%) had the highest positive correlations with the biological variables, but there also was a significant negative correlation between average temperature and several biological variables. When significant correlations were found, they were generally for all window lengths, but for a limited number of window start times (generally before anthesis for disease index and after anthesis for the toxins and late-season fungal biomasses). Semi-partial Spearman correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the relationship between the environmental variables and the concentration of DON and NIV after the effects of FHB intensity and fungal biomass on the mycotoxins were removed. Significant semi-partial correlations were found between relative humidity variables and DON, and between temperature and relative humidity variables and NIV for time windows that started after anthesis (and not for any earlier time windows). Results confirm that the environment influences disease, fungal biomass, and mycotoxin production, and help refine the time windows where the association is greatest. However, variability in the relationships was high, indicating that no single environmental variable is sufficient for prediction of disease or mycotoxin contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grey mould, caused by Botrytis cinerea, is one of the most important diseases of raspberry. In the UK, the majority of raspberry production has recently switched to cropping under polythene tunnels but without corresponding changes in managing grey mould despite the fact that the risk of grey mould is greatly reduced under protection. On average, two to four applications of fungicides are specifically targeted at B. cinerea during flowering and fruiting, leading to more than 50% fruit containing detectable amount of fungicide residues. Based on new findings on epidemiology of this disease under protection, we have developed a new integrated pest and disease management strategy to manage grey mould where fungicides are not applied during the flowering and fruiting period, but rapid post-harvest cooling and cold storage is used to delay the onset of fungal rotting. This new strategy was evaluated over 2 years at two commercial sites. Our main findings are: (1) The strategy produced a marketable yield as high as the conventional programme and resulted in comparable levels of grey mould and (2) rapid post-harvest cooling and subsequent storage at 4-5°C or below generally led to a reduced level of fungal rotting of fruit 9 days after harvest, which is comparable to the average maximum post-harvest period before consumption. Thus, we concluded that this new strategy can be adopted for managing grey mould on raspberry grown under protection. Adoption of this strategy will not only reduce the fungicide input but also lead to production of fruit with zero fungicide residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grey mould, caused by Botrytis cinerea, is one of the most important diseases of strawberry and raspberry. In the UK, the majority of raspberry and strawberry production has recently switched to cropping under polythene tunnels. Although the risk of grey mould is greatly reduced under protection, a similar strategy is still adopted to manage grey mould on these crops. We first reviewed published studies on the epidemiology of grey mould on raspberry and strawberry, most of which are for crops grown in open field: (1) inoculum source comprises sclerotia on plant debris, plant organs and weeds, and resting mycelia on plant tissues. (2) Infection of flowers and the establishment of quiescent mycelium in floral parts is one of the main avenues for the rotting of ripe fruits. Thus, control of grey mould in open-field crops relies heavily on the scheduled application of fungicides during the flowering and early fruiting periods. (3) Recent research suggested possibility of B. cinerea as an endophyte. We carried out studies to understand the infection of flowers and fruit by B. cinerea on raspberry and strawberry crops grown under protection in order to assess whether management strategies developed for open crops are appropriate for crops grown under protections. Our main findings are: (1) covering crops early in the season did not significantly affect the incidence of raspberry fruit with latent infection by B. cinerea at harvest but reduced latent infection in strawberry. (2) Models developed for strawberry crops grown in the open did not give reliable predictions of flower infections on both strawberry and raspberry grown under protection. It was not possible to develop a predictive model for flower infection on raspberry grown under protection. (3) The level of ripe fruit with visual symptoms at harvest was low, usually close to zero. (4) Nearly all fruits from both sprayed and unsprayed crops were colonised by several fungi, including B. cinerea, within 7 days of harvest when stored at room temperatures. Based on these results, we question the value of scheduled fungicide applications to flowers and fruit for grey mould control under protection, and suggest that post-harvest fruit management, e.g. rapid cooling, is the key to prevent fruit from developing fungal rots before consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comparative studies on micromorphological features in diagnostic horizons of Stagnic Anthrosols, Ustic Ferrosols and Ustic Vertosols in southwestern China were conducted to underpin the rationale for Chinese Soil Taxonomy. The following findings were explored: (1) Stagnic Anthrosols had the specific micromorphological features, e.g., the humic formation in anthrostagnic epipedon, the platy structures in plow subhorizon, the secondary formation of ferromanganese and the weakly optical-orientation clay domains in hydragric horizon, etc.: (2) The groundmasses of ferric horizon in Ustic Ferrosols appeared in hue of 2.5YR or redder, and had pellicular grain structure; (3) Ustic Vertosols had a crust horizon (Acr), and crack structure dominated in Acr and angular blocky structure in disturbed horizon; (4) Because of the distinct differences in micromorphological features among these three soils, the specific micromorphological features might be employed as diagnostic horizons to differentiate soils while the quantifiable micromorphological features might potentially be selected as diagnostic indices for Chinese soil taxonomic classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological site of the Sanxingdui may date back as far as 5,000 years ago. The typical profiles of Palaeo-Stagnic-Anthrosols near the ancient site were selected, which aimed to identify diagnostic horizons employing methodology of soil taxonomic classification and to reveal the micromorphological properties of the paleosols. Under long-term anthropogenic mellowing, the discernible differentiation between anthrostagnic epipedon and its subhorizons as well as hydragric horizon and its subhorizons occurred in Paleo-Stagnic-Anthrosols at the archaeological site of the Sanxingdui. The micromorphological properties diversified among each specific diagnostic subhorizon, e.g., the developed microstructure in cultivated subhorizon within anthrostagnic epipedon, closely arranged particles and considerable micropores beneficial to both of water conservation and filtration in plow subhorizon within anthrostagnic epipedon, and automorphic optical-orientation clays and calcareous corrosion in hydragric horizons. The findings above of micromorphological features related with diagnostic horizons are significant for soil taxonomic classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nonlinear Schrödinger type equations are of tremendous interest in both theory and applications. Various regimes of pulse propagation in optical fibers are modeled by some form of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation.In this paper we introduce parallel split-step Fourier methods for the numerical simulations of the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation that describes the propagation of two orthogonally polarized pulses in a monomode birefringent fibers. These methods are implemented on the Origin 2000 multiprocessor computer. Our numerical experiments have shown that these methods give accurate results and considerable speedup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although considerable progress has been made in the molecular biology of Colorectal cancer (CRC), novel approaches are still required to uncover the detailed molecular mechanism of CRC. We aim to explore the potential negatively regulated miRNA-mRNA pairs and investigate their regulatory roles so as to elaborate the potential roles of the critical proteins in the signaling pathways enriched by the differential target genes of negatively regulated miRNA in CRC. Firstly, the differential miRNA-mRNA pairs were selected, followed by pairs of miRNA and their target genes. The obtained relationships were subjected to do functional enrichment analysis and those enriched in CRC pathways were chose to further construct a protein interaction network. Finally, we analyzed the regulatory roles of these relationships and constructed a regulatory network of negatively regulated miRNA and mRNA relationships. A total of 372 pairs of miRNA-mRNA were found and 108 target genes of miRNA were obtained. Three miRNAs including hsa-mir-23b, hsa-mir-365-1 and hsa-mir-365-2 showed significant influence on prognosis of CRC patients. To conclude, the miRNA/mRNA deregulations pairs identified in this study have high potentials to be further applied in diagnosis and treatment of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]