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Meloidogyne enterolobii is a highly aggressive quarantine pathogen which threatens the multibillion-dollar tobacco industry and is not manageable with the currently available management methods in tobacco. There is currently no known host plant resistance in tobacco and previous studies have shown that the lower level of the currently recommended rate of non-fumigant nematicides does not provide satisfactory management of M. enterolobii. The current study was conducted with the hypothesis that M. enterolobii can be better managed using a single soil application of the maximum allowed rate of non-fumigant nematicides. Treatments involved three non-fumigant chemical nematicides (oxamyl, fluopyram, and fluensulfone), a biological nematicide derived from Burkholderia, and a non-treated control. Fluensulfone significantly suppressed the nematode reproduction relative to the control, the suppression being 71% for eggs and 86% for the second stage juveniles (J2). Fluopyram also suppressed nematode reproduction, although this was statistically insignificant, with the suppression being 26% and 37% for eggs and J2, respectively. Oxamyl significantly suppressed J2 (80%), but not eggs (50%) in relation to the control. The most significant reduction of disease severity was achieved by the application of fluensulfone (64%), followed by oxamyl (54%) and fluopyram (48%). Except for fluensulfone, which significantly reduced the root biomass, none of the nematicides significantly impacted root and shoot biomass. The biological nematicide did not significantly affect nematode reproduction, pathogenicity, or disease severity. The results from the current study suggest that while the non-fumigant nematicides provided a good level of the nematode suppression, more research is needed to improve the efficacy of non-fumigant nematicides through employing better application methods or finding better chemistries.

Lead‐containing halide perovskites show promise for solar energy but pose ecological and health risks. To address these, researchers are exploring inorganic binary metal perovskites. This study proposes an eco‐friendly, durable hole transport layer (HTL)‐free design of CsSn0.5Ge0.5I3 with high power conversion efficiency (PCE). Using the SCAPS‐1D simulator, we assessed the efficiency of an HTL‐free planar heterojunction, while the Density Functional Theory (DFT)‐based CASTEP simulator evaluated the optical properties of CsSn0.5Ge0.5I3 in an orthorhombic structure. Key findings highlight enhanced performance under 100 Wm−2 AM 1.5G illumination by optimizing absorber layer thickness to 800 nm and reducing defect densities in both the perovskite absorber layer and interfaces to 1 × 1014 cm−3.Additonally, the effects of different electron transport materials (ETMs), optimization of electron transport layer (ETL) thickness (30‐50 nm), and back contact design improvements were examined. The simulation's results included an increase over the highest values reported in the literature: an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 1.06 V, a short circuit current density (Jsc) of 28.52 mA/cm2, a fill factor (FF) of 86.57%, and a PCE of 26.18% for the FTO/Zn0.875Mg0.125O/CsSn0.5Ge0.5I3/Se perovskite solar cell (PSC). This research provides theoretical insights for developing high‐efficiency power modules without HTLs with significant industrial and research potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article centers its attention on the phenomenon of electrostatics, linearity, analogue, and RF performance of a 0.5 μm × (2 × 100) μm double heterojunction AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs pHEMT using on‐wafer DC and RF measurements up to 50 GHz. With a high ION/IOFF ratio (1.21 × 107) and low subthreshold slope (72.7 mV/dec), a flat and high transconductance over a wide range of Vgs has been achieved for the tested device. Furthermore, the input intercept and higher‐order voltage intercept point both attained large values with low intermodulation and harmonic distortion. Regarding RF parameters, the intrinsic gain has been achieved up to 28 dB. The GBW up to 750 GHz was attained, with the highest fT and fmax values being 24.5 GHz and 99.3 GHz, respectively. Since the device has very low intrinsic capacitance, parameters like TFP, GFP, and GTFP also showed excellent results. The high intrinsic gain and TGF indicate ample potential of the device for use as an amplifier. Investigating the parameters reveals the device to have very good linearity and amplifying capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmable and reconfigurable photonics is revolutionized the next generation of Si/SiN‐based photonics processors, optical signal processing, and neural and quantum networks. Ultra‐low loss phase‐change technology has the enormous potential to offer energy‐efficient, extra large‐scale integrated (ELSI) nonvolatile programmable photonics that can overcome the limitations of commonly used volatile and energy‐hungry programmable photonic systems. So far, most of the phase change materials (PCM) devices have already shown to be suitable for programmable and reconfigurable photonic circuit applications that do not require extreme endurance or ultra‐fast switching speeds. However, applications with ultra‐fast speed and multi‐million cycling requirements, such as memory cells, quantum computing, optical displays, and optical modulators necessitate enormous improvements in the existing cycling speed and endurance of PCMs, for high‐performance device configuration. Here, optical switching of an ultra‐low loss PCM (Sb2Se3) is demonstrated with an unprecedented combination of rapid cycling speed (0.6 × 105 cycles s−1) and extreme endurance (> 2 × 106 cycles) that pave the way for ultrafast, large‐scale, programmable, and reconfigurable integrated photonic circuits and devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reliable and cost‐effective source of fingerlings is essential for the successful commercial aquaculture of black sea bass. This study aimed to determine the effects of nursery tank stocking densities on the growth performance, feed efficiency, survival, tolerance to shipping, and biochemical quality of juvenile black sea bass. In two experiments, different stocking densities were compared for black sea bass at different stages of development. In Experiment 1, intermediate stage juveniles (1.27 g mean wt) were stocked at densities of 4.5 and 6.5 fish per liter of tank volume. Growth performance and biochemical quality were similar between the two density treatments. In Experiment 2, early post‐metamorphic stage juveniles (mean wt. = 0.524 g) were compared using the same stocking densities. While the fish reared at 4.5 fish/L were slightly larger, there were no significant differences in growth performance or biochemical quality between the density treatments. After both experiments, the fingerlings from each density treatment showed high survival rates under acute crowding and simulated shipping conditions. The study demonstrates that high NT densities of 4.5 and 6.5 fish/L did not negatively impact the growth performance and quality of black sea bass fingerlings, providing transport‐ready fingerlings in a relatively short period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arch action in deep reinforced concrete (RC) members has a beneficial effect on shear capacity. The Strut-and-Tie Method (STM) is one of the proposed methods for the design of steel reinforced deep beams (DBs). However, some iterations may require to obtain the optimum solution. This paper investigates the shear capacity of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)-reinforced DBs using STM and sectional methods of Canadian Standard Association (CSA) and American Concrete Institute (ACI) design provisions. To this end, 106 FRP-reinforced DBs were compiled from the literature. It has been found that current sectional methods do not adequately account for the effects of arch. action on DBs. From this investigation, modifications were proposed in the current sectional methods to calculate the shear capacity of FRP-reinforced DBs. The proposed modifications were found to significantly improve the prediction accuracy. The sectional methods proposed by CSA and ACI were found to be better than the CSA-STM method in predicting the shear capacity of FRP-reinforced DBs.. The mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation for the proposed CSA sectional method are 1.00, 0.28 and 28.2% and for the proposed ACI sectional method are 1.01, 0.26 and 25.6, respectively. The same for the CSA-STM method are 2.20, 0.76 and 34.4%, respectively. The proposed methods can be used to predict the shear capacity of FRP reinforced deep members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]