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Colloidal silica nanoparticles (NPs) modified with eight different silane coupling agents were incorporated into an amorphous poly(tetramethylene oxide)-based polyurethane–urea copolymer matrix at a concentration of 10¿wt % (4.4¿vol %) in order to investigate the effect of their surface chemistry on the structure–property behavior of the resulting nanocomposites. The rigid amorphous fraction (RAF) of the nanocomposite matrix as determined by differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis was confirmed to vary significantly with the surface chemistry of the NPs and to be strongly correlated with the bulk mechanical properties in simple tension. Hence, nanocomposites with an RAF of about 30¿wt % showed a 120% increase in Young's modulus, a 25% increase in tensile strength, a 15% decrease in elongation at break with respect to the neat matrix, which had no detectable RAF, whereas nanocomposites with an RAF of less than 5% showed a 60% increase in Young's modulus, a 10% increase in tensile strength and a 5% decrease in the elongation at break.

Objective: Validation of the LT-SYS quantitative in vitro copper assay on a Roche Cobas 8000 c502 analyzer and comparison with a BIOMED assay on a Roche Cobas Mira analyzer. Methods: Imprecision and bias were quantified at different concentration levels (serum and plasma) over a 20-day period. Linearity was assessed covering a range from 4.08 µmol/L to 33.8 µmol/L. Limit of blank (LoB) and limit of detection (LoD) were established based on a total of 120 blank and low-level samples. The method comparison was based on 58 plasma samples. Results: Within-run imprecision ranged from 0.7% to 1.2% and within-laboratory imprecision from 1.4% to 3.3%. Relative bias for the 2 serum pools with known target values was less than 2.5%. The assay did not deviate from linearity over the tested measuring range. LoB and LoD were 0.12 µmol/L and 0.23 µmol/L, respectively. The method comparison revealed an average deviation of 11.5% (2.016 µmol/L), and the linear regression fit was y = 1.464 + 0.795x. Conclusions: The LT-SYS copper assay characterized in this study showed a fully acceptable performance with good degrees of imprecision and bias, no deviation from linearity in the relevant measuring rangem, and very low LoB and LoD. * Abbreviations : CLSI : Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute LoA : limit of agreement LoB : limit of blank LoD : limit of detection SD : standard deviation SE : standard error UKH : University Hospital of Halle

For bees, many roads lead to social harmony Eusociality, where workers sacrifice their reproductive rights to support the colony, has evolved repeatedly and represents the most evolved form of social evolution in insects. Kapheim et al. looked across the genomes of 10 bee species with varying degrees of sociality to determine the underlying genomic contributions. No one genomic path led to eusociality, but similarities across genomes were seen in features such as increases in gene regulation and methylation. It also seems that selection pressures relaxed after the emergence of complex sociality. Science , this issue p. 1139

Membrane-like nanodiscs (ND) have become an important tool for the cell-free expression, solubilization, folding, and in vitro structural and functional studies of membrane proteins (MPs). Direct crystallization of MPs embedded in NDs would be of high importance for structural biology. However, despite considerable efforts we have been as yet unable to obtain crystals suitable for X-ray crystallography. In the present work, we show that an ND-trapped MP can be transferred into the cubic phase and crystallized in meso. Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) reconstituted into nanodiscs was mixed with a lipidic mesophase and crystallization was induced by adding a precipitant. The resulting crystals diffract beyond 1.8 A. The structure of BR was solved at 1.9 A and found to be indistinguishable from previous structures obtained with the protein solubilized in detergent. We suggest the proposed protocol of in meso crystallization to be generally applicable to ND-trapped MPs.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with obesity, consequently implying a role in adipocyte biology for many closely residing genes. We investigated the functional relevance of such genes in human adipocytes.We selected eight genes (BDNF, MAF, MTCH2, NEGR1, NPC1, PTER, SH2B1 and TMEM18) from obesity GWAS and analysed their effect in human adipogenesis using small interfering (si)RNA-mediated knockdown, their regulation by metabolic agents in adipocytes and pre-adipocytes, and gene expression in paired samples of human fat biopsies (68 non-obese, 165 obese) by quantitative real-time PCR.We show a two- to threefold upregulation of MAF, MTCH2 and NEGR1 and a two- to fourfold downregulation of BDNF and PTER during adipogenesis. Knockdown of BDNF (mean ± SEM; 83.8 ± 4.7% of control; p = 0.0002), MTCH2 (72.7 ± 9.5%; p = 0.0006), NEGR1 (70.2 ± 5.7%; p 0.0001) and TMEM18 (70.8 ± 6.1%; p 0.0001) significantly inhibited adipocyte maturation, while knockdown of the other proteins had no effect. Insulin slightly induced MAF (1.65-fold; p = 0.0009) and MTCH2 (1.72-fold; p 0.0001), while it suppressed BDNF (59.6%; p = 0.0009), NEGR1 (58.0%; p = 0.0085) and TMEM18 (69.3%; p = 0.0377) in adipocytes. The synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone suppressed MAF (45.7%; p = 0.0022), BDNF (66.6%; p = 0.0012) and TMEM18 (63.5%; p = 0.0181), but induced NEGR1 (3.2-fold; p = 0.0117) expression. Furthermore, MTCH2, NEGR1 and TMEM18 were differentially expressed in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue. TMEM18 expression was decreased in the adipose tissue of obese patients, and negatively correlated with anthropometric variables and adipocyte size.Our results imply a regulatory role for TMEM18, BDNF, MTCH2 and NEGR1 in adipocyte differentiation and biology. In addition, we show a variation of MAF expression during adipogenesis, while NPC1, PTER and SH2B1 were not regulated.

Drone aggregations are a widespread phenomenon in many stingless bee species (Meliponini), but the ultimate and proximate causes for their formation are still not well understood. One adaptive explanation for this phenomenon is the avoidance of inbreeding, which is especially detrimental for stingless bees due to the combined effects of the complementary sex-determining system and the small effective population size caused by eusociality and monandry. We analyzed the temporal genetic dynamics of a drone aggregation of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana with microsatellite markers over a time window of four weeks. We estimated the drones of the aggregation to originate from a total of 55 colonies using sibship re-construction. There was no detectable temporal genetic differentiation or sub-structuring in the aggregation. Most important, we could exclude all colonies in close proximity of the aggregation as origin of the drones in the aggregation, implicating that they originate from more distant colonies. We conclude that the diverse genetic composition and the distant origin of the drones of the S. mexicana drone congregation provides an effective mechanism to avoid mating among close relatives.

Aims: Evaluation of the activity profiles of standard prokaryotic translation inhibitors with different physicochemical properties under whole-cell and cellfree conditions. Methods and Results: The minimal inhibitory concentration values (cellfree ⁄whole-cell l gm l )1 ) for three aminoglycosides (neomycin, 0AE01 ⁄6AE92; paromomycin, 0AE7 ⁄1AE96; streptomycin 1AE45 ⁄1AE57), three macrolides (erythromycin, 1AE53 ⁄56AE9; josamycin, 1AE61 ⁄87AE7; oleandomycin, 5AE12 ⁄565AE9), chloramphenicol (11AE9 ⁄3AE04), and two tetracyclines (tetracycline hydrochloride, not determined ⁄0AE63; minocycline hydrochloride, 2AE53 ⁄1AE09), towards Escherichia coli A19 cells were determined with a microtitre plate-based broth dilution method and compared with values determined in a coupled transcription ⁄translation system based on a S30 extract of the same E. coli strain (cellfree) for the production of the green fluorescent protein. Conclusions: The analysed prokaryotic translation inhibitors showed substance-specific activity profiles under cell-free vs whole-cell conditions that are explainable by the physicochemical properties of the molecules. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study shows the advantages and limits of cell- free transcription ⁄translation (CFTT) experiments for the discovery of novel antimicrobials. The main advantage is the direct access of the target structures (ribosomes) for the inhibitors, and our results provide an estimation of the concentration necessary to detect new agents. The main limitations are that the inhibitory properties of different agents in CFTT experiments do not necessarily reflect their growth inhibition activity in cell cultures.

A new triple-fixed-point blackbody containing the fixed-point materials aluminum (freezing point 660.323°C), zinc (FP 419.527°C), and tin (FP 231.928°C) in one device has been developed at the Ilmenau University of Technology. It enables calibration of a radiation thermometer with direct reference to the ITS-90 at three fixed points after a single adjustment of the calibration object. The setup significantly reduces the technical effort and the time for the calibration procedure. Measurements of the phase-transition temperature and the time-dependent blackbody temperature made with a transfer radiation thermometer, the Linearpyrometer LP5 of the IKE Stuttgart, are presented in the article.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-21T20:31:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-04-24. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-10-22T09:48:01Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 WOS000353676700001.pdf: 2518339 bytes, checksum: d1f8d18bd059b76504f3fcd9aa639a74 (MD5) National Institutes of Health (NIH) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Research Council of Norway (NFR) PEW Charitable Trust University of East Anglia, UK Israel Science Foundation (ISF) Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK University of East Anglia University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship Swiss National Science Foundation New Faculty Initiative Grant (NFIG) from Illinois State University College of Arts and Sciences DFG Instituto Nacional de Bioinformatica (INB) from ISCIII in Spain Background: The shift from solitary to social behavior is one of the major evolutionary transitions. Primitively eusocial bumblebees are uniquely placed to illuminate the evolution of highly eusocial insect societies. Bumblebees are also invaluable natural and agricultural pollinators, and there is widespread concern over recent population declines in some species. High-quality genomic data will inform key aspects of bumblebee biology, including susceptibility to implicated population viability threats.Results: We report the high quality draft genome sequences of Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens, two ecologically dominant bumblebees and widely utilized study species. Comparing these new genomes to those of the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera and other Hymenoptera, we identify deeply conserved similarities, as well as novelties key to the biology of these organisms. Some honeybee genome features thought to underpin advanced eusociality are also present in bumblebees, indicating an earlier evolution in the bee lineage. Xenobiotic detoxification and immune genes are similarly depauperate in bumblebees and honeybees, and multiple categories of genes linked to social organization, including development and behavior, show high conservation. Key differences identified include a bias in bumblebee chemoreception towards gustation from olfaction, and striking differences in microRNAs, potentially responsible for gene regulation underlying social and other traits.Conclusions: These two bumblebee genomes provide a foundation for post-genomic research on these key pollinators and insect societies. Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation. Illinois State Univ, Sch Biol Sci, Normal, IL 61790 USA ETH, Inst Integrat Biol, Expt Ecol, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland E Carolina Univ, Dept Biol, Greenville, NC 27858 USA Hebrew Univ Jerusalem, Alexander Silberman Inst Life Sci, Dept Ecol Evolut &Behav, Jerusalem, Israel Univ Ghent, Fac Sci, Lab Zoophysiol, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium Univ Otago, Dept Biochem, Labo Evolut &Dev Genet, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand Univ Otago, Dept Biochem, Natl Res Ctr Growth &Dev, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand Univ Missouri, Div Plant Sci, Div Anim Sci, Columbia, MO 65211 USA Univ Missouri, MU Informat Inst, Columbia, MO 65211 USA Georgetown Univ, Dept Biol, Washington, DC 20057 USA Arizona State Univ, Sch Life Sci, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA Univ Copenhagen, Dept Biol, Ctr Funct &Comparat Insect Gen, Copenhagen, Denmark Univ Hohenheim, Inst Anim Sci, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany Univ Alabama, Dept Biol Sci, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA Univ Illinois, Dept Entomol, Urbana, IL 61801 USA Univ Ghent, Fac Biosci Engn, Dept Crop Protect, Lab Agrozool, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium Univ Halle Wittenberg, Inst Biol, Wittenberg, Germany Univ Geneva, Sch Med, Dept Genet Med &Dev, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland Swiss Inst Bioinformat, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland MIT, Comp Sci &Artificial Intelligence Lab, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA MIT &Harvard, Broad Inst, Cambridge Ctr 7, Cambridge, MA 02142 USA Univ Munster, Inst Evolut &Biodivers, D-48149 Munster, Germany Ctr Genom Regulat CRG, Barcelona 08003, Spain UPF, Barcelona, Spain Ernst Moritz Arndt Univ Greifswald, Inst Math &Comp Sci, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany Univ Calif Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, Genom Div, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA Natl Lib Med, Natl Ctr Biotechnol Informat, Bethesda, MD 20894 USA Norwegian Univ Food Sci, Dept Chem Biotechnol &Food Sci, N-1432 As, Norway Univ E Anglia, Sch Comp Sci, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England Univ Dusseldorf, Inst Evolut Genet, D-40225 Dusseldorf, Germany Univ Cologne, Inst Genet, Cologne, Germany Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Biol, Fac Filosofia Ciencias &Letras Ribeirao Preto, BR-14040901 Ribeirao Preto, Brazil Univ Edinburgh, Ashworth Labs, Inst Evolutionary Biol &Edinburgh Gen, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, Midlothian, Scotland Univ E Anglia, Sch Biol Sci, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England Royal Holloway Univ London, Sch Biol Sci, London, England Maynooth Univ, Dept Biol, Co, Kildare, Ireland Univ Bristol, Sch Biol Sci, Bristol BS8 1TQ, Avon, England CSIRO, Land &Water Flagship, Canberra, ACT, Australia Trin Coll Dublin, Sch Nat Sci, Dept Zool, Dublin, Ireland Zool Soc London, Inst Zool, London NW1 4RY, England ETH, Inst Integrat Biol, Theoret Biol, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland Swiss Inst Bioinformat, Lausanne, Switzerland Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Dept Biosyst Sci &Engn, Computat Evolut, Basel, Switzerland USDA ARS, Bee Res Lab, Washington, DC 20250 USA Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Genet, Fac Med Ribeirao Preto, BR-14040900 Ribeirao Preto, Brazil N Carolina State Univ, Ctr Res Sci Computat, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA Kyoto Univ, Grad Sch Agr, Lab Insect Ecol, Kyoto, Japan Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Biol Celular &Mol &Bioagentes Patogen, Fac Med Ribeirao Preto, BR-14040900 Ribeirao Preto, Brazil Inst Fed Educ Ciencia &Tecnol Sao Paulo, BR-15991502 Matao, Brazil Ohio State Univ, Dept Entomol, Wooster, OH 44791 USA Oxford Brookes Univ, Fac Hlth &Life Sci, Dept Biol &Med Sci, Oxford OX3 0BP, England Xian Jiaotong Liverpool Univ, Dept Biol Sci, Suzhou, Peoples R China Univ Hosp Halle Saale, Dept Lab Med, Halle, Germany German Ctr Integrat Biodivers Res iDiv, Leipzig, Germany Univ Southampton, Southampton, Hants, England Univ Leicester, Dept Biol, Leicester, Leics, England Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Ctr Ciencias Biol &Saude, Dept Genet &Evolucao, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Fac Ciencias Agr &Vet, Dept Tecnol, BR-14884900 Jaboticabal, Brazil Univ N Carolina, Dept Biol, Greensboro, NC 27403 USA Natl Ctr Sci Res Demokritos, Inst Biosci &Applicat, Athens, Greece Univ Munich, Munich, Germany Baylor Coll Med, Dept Mol &Human Genet, Human Genome Sequencing Ctr, Houston, TX 77030 USA Univ Illinois, Roy J Carver Biotechnol, Urbana, IL 61801 USA Univ Illinois, Dept Crop Sci, Urbana, IL 61801 USA Univ Illinois, Inst Genom Biol, Urbana, IL 61801 USA MD Anderson Canc Ctr, Sch Hlth Profess, Mol Genet Technol Program, Unit 2, Houston, TX 77025 USA Univ Chicago, Dept Human Genet, Chicago, IL 60637 USA Univ Ghent, Dept Biochem &Microbiol, Lab Prot Biochem &Biomol Engn, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium Queen Mary Univ London, Sch Biol &Chem Sci, Dept Biol &Expt Psychol, London E1 4NS, England Guangzhou Univ, Sch Life Sci, Guangzhou, Guangdong, Peoples R China Johns Hopkins Univ, McKusick Nathans Inst Genet Med, Ctr Computat Biol, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA Univ Illinois, Neurosci Program, Dept Entomol, Carl R Woese Inst Genom Biol, Urbana, IL 61801 USA Departamento de Tecnologia, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Jaboticabal, 14884-900, Brazi National Institutes of Health (NIH): DP1 OD006416 National Institutes of Health (NIH): U54 HG003273 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture: 2010-65106-21301 FAPESP: 11/03171-5 Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship: PIOF-GA-2011-303312 Swiss National Science Foundation: 31003A-125350 Swiss National Science Foundation: 31003A-143936

Chez les populations d'insectes sociaux, c'est principalement le nombre de colonies plutot que le nombre reel d'individus qui determine la taille de la population. C'est particulierement vrai pour les especes dont la reproduction a lieu au niveau de la colonie par fission de la colonie. Nous presentons une methode ou les donnees des microsatellites des mâles haploides peuvent etre utilisees pour estimer le nombre de mâles produisant des reines presents dans une population. Une analyse de groupement basee sur l'identite genetique par descendance (AID) parmi les genotypes mâles est utilisee pour regrouper les mâles potentiellement freres. Pour chaque « groupe de freres », le genotype de la reine mere correspondante a ete determine selon les regles mendeliennes. Dans diverses simulations nous avons montre que, bien qu'un nombre restreint de locus etudies puisse provoquer des estimations legerement biaisees, la precision de la methode augmente considerablement parallelement au nombre de locus (Fig. 1). Le nombre d'individus echantillonnes s'est revele plus important que le nombre de locus testes par individu. Si l'echantillon est de petite taille, les analyses tres precises portant sur un grand nombre de locus n'ameliorent par les analyses. Les analyses sont imparfaites principalement par l'erreur de non-echantillonnage, mais non par l'absence de precision des analyses genetiques (Fig. 2). Afin d'illustrer la methode proposee, nous avons analyse par la methode de l'AID les donnees des microsatellites d'une population d'abeilles domestiques (Apis mellifera L.) sur l'ile de Neuwerk (Allemagne) et d'une population d'abeilles geantes asiatiques (A. dorsata Fabricius) a Borneo. Dans le cas de l'ile de Neuwerk, le nombre « reel » de colonies (8 colonies produisant des mâles) etait connu et a pu etre compare au nombre de colonies estime. Le nombre estime par la methode de l'AID a ete de 11 colonies. La figure 3 donne la repartition des mâles entre les reines « reelles » et les reines estimees sur l'ile. Pour la population d'A. dorsata, nous avons obtenu une estimation de 53 colonies selon le groupement de l'AID sur un total de 148 mâles, dont le genotype avait ete caracterise. A en juger par nos simulations, ce peut etre une estimation robuste puisqu'elle est nettement en-dessous de la moitie de la taille de l'echantillon (148 mâles). La methode proposee ici pour estimer la taille des populations est egalement utile pour une large gamme d'especes d'Hymenopteres dont les colonies sont dirigees par une seule reine. Dans le cas d'especes polygynes, notre estimation refleterait le nombre de reines presentes dans une population plutot que le nombre reel de colonies. Il doit etre neanmoins possible dans ces cas d'estimer le nombre de colonies, s'il existe des donnees fiables sur le nombre moyen de reines pour l'espece consideree. Notre approche necessite une autre condition prealable cruciale, a savoir qu'un nombre suffisant de mâles puisse etre echantillonnes. Cela est possible chez de nombreuses especes, puisque la production de mâles est souvent synchronisee chez les insectes sociaux et qu'ils sont souvent produits en grandes quantites.

The article by Harpur et al. (2012) ‘Management increases genetic diversity of honey bees via admixture’ concludes that ‘…honey bees do not suffer from reduced genetic diversity caused by management and, consequently, that reduced genetic diversity is probably not contributing to declines of managed Apis mellifera populations’. In the light of current honeybee and beekeeping declines and their consequences for honeybee conservation and the pollination services they provide, we would like to express our concern about the conclusions drawn from the results of Harpur et al. (2012). While many honeybee management practices do not imply admixture, we are convinced that the large-scale genetic homogenization of admixed populations could drive the loss of valuable local adaptations. We also point out that the authors did not account for the extensive gene flow that occurs between managed and wild/feral honeybee populations and raise concerns about the data set used. Finally, we caution against underestimating the importance of genetic diversity for honeybee colonies and highlight the importance of promoting the use of endemic honeybee subspecies in apiculture.

Eucalypt litter, which decomposes slowly, exhibits a high content of phenolic compounds, and the disappearance of these compounds during decomposition is expected to improve faunal consumption, litter decomposition and incorporation into the soil. The aim of this study was to measure the disappearance rate of the phenolic compounds in eucalypt litter during laboratory and field decomposition. The outstanding result was the fast disappearance of soluble phenolic compounds and tannins, either in vitro or in the field. Laboratory experiments suggested that the rapid loss of phenolics observed during decomposition could not be ascribed to leaching only, and that degradation might play an important part. When initial litter quality is taken into account in the interpretation of decomposition studies, the disappearance rate of soluble phenolics, should also be considered.

The active twist rotor investigated in this research is a derivative of the previously developed smart-activeblade-tip (SABT) rotor. On the SABT rotor, the blade tips are independently pitched, with respect to the main blade. A novel piezo-induced bending ‐torsion coupled actuator beam, located spanwise in the hollow midcell of the main rotor blade, is used to actuate the blade tip. When the blade tip is locked to the main blade, the actuator beam twists the entire blade. A Mach scale rotor with a 1.542 m diameter was hover tested, open loop, to evaluate the control authority for vibration reduction. A nonrotating tip-twist amplitude of 0.78 deg was achieved (below resonance, 150 V rms ). Analysis indicates that no signie cant twist actuation degradation is expected at full rotor speed. In 2000-rpm hover (tip Mach 0.47 ), at 8-deg collective, and for a single blade actuation of 150 V rms at 1, 2, and 3 per revolution, respectively, the measured oscillatory thrust coefe cients are 1 :4 £ 10 3 , 0:55 £ 10 3 , and 0:7 £ 10 3 . The corresponding e nite element model estimated blade twist amplitudes are 0.8, 1.0, and 1.9 deg. Good correlation of the predicted and measured rotor thrust was achieved up to 3 per revolution. The hover test demonstrates the potential of the active twist rotor system using an internal actuation beam and warrants further research for a dedicated next-generation model-scale design and full-scale feasibility study.

The evolution of eusociality is one of the major transitions in evolution, but the underlying genomic changes are unknown. We compared the genomes of 10 bee species that vary in social complexity, representing multiple independent transitions in social evolution, and report three major findings. First, many important genes show evidence of neutral evolution as a consequence of relaxed selection with increasing social complexity. Second, there is no single road map to eusociality; independent evolutionary transitions in sociality have independent genetic underpinnings. Third, though clearly independent in detail, these transitions do have similar general features, including an increase in constrained protein evolution accompanied by increases in the potential for gene regulation and decreases in diversity and abundance of transposable elements. Eusociality may arise through different mechanisms each time, but would likely always involve an increase in the complexity of gene networks.

Active rotorblade tips offer an alternative approach to the challenge of main rotor active vibration control. The tips are pitched with respect to the main blade via a piezo-driven bending-torsion coupled actuator beam that runs down the length of the blade. A Vlasov based, specialized one-dimensional finite beam element is developed to model the rotating actuator beam and is validated with the free-vibration and static forced response of 4:1 and 2:1 aspect ratio, bending-torsion coupled, active and passive plates. A one-eighth scale, reduced tip-speed rotor model (tip Mach 0.26), incorporating the bending-torsion actuator beam, has been previously hover tested (open loop). In these tests, blade tip deflections of the order of 2° (half peak-to-peak) were achieved at 2, 3, 4, 5/rev with corresponding dynamic vertical blade root shear variations of the order of 10-20% of the nominal blade lift at 8° collective (CT/σ = 0.07). The test results are used to validate a coupled actuator and elastic rotorblade model. The correlation of the predicted active blade-tip pitch deflections and the experimental data is within 20%. The predicted values for the active vertical root shears are within the same margin for 4° and 6° collective.

This paper presents the development of an active on-blade vibration-reduction system using smart active blade tips (SABT), that are driven by a piezo-induced, bending-torsion coupled actuator. The actuator beam has a graphite substructure with surface bonded piezoceramic elements. A spanwise variation in both the bending-torsion coupling and the piezo element phasing is used to generate a pure tip twist. A small scale rotor, with 10% span active tips, was tested on the hover stand, at a reduced tip speed of Mach 0.25. At a mean thrust loading (CT/σ) of 0.07, and for an activation of 100 Vrms, SABT deflection amplitudes from 1.8 deg at 2/rev to 2.25 deg at 4/rev were achieved (half peak-to-peak). The rotor normal force measurements show a distinct coupling of the activation with the first and second flap frequencies of the rotor. The corresponding dynamic thrust, generated by a single active tip, relative to the steady thrust, ranges from 4.5% at 2/rev to 8.3% at 5/rev. For a 1/rev excitation, the single active tip generates a dynamic lift amplitude of 15% of the steady rotor thrust. The same actuator beam was used to test a rotor with controllable twist blades. The active twist blades used the same main blade section as the rotor blades with the active tips, and hence were not optimized for active twist configuration. Nonetheless, in hover, at a mean thrust loading (CT/σ) of 0.07, and with an activation of 100 Vrms, dynamic tip-twist amplitudes of 0.4 deg at 4/rev and 0.5 deg (at 5/rev) were achieved (half peak-to-peak).

Many forest species can be found in understory vegetation of old plantation plots, despite the fact that the native vegetation was a poor savanna growing on highly nonfertile sandy soils. The aim of the present paper is to describe the changes that occur in the environmental conditions when savanna is planted with fast-growing trees, and is particularly concerned with vegetation and soil macrofauna. The study was carried out in industrial eucalyptus plantations, and in experimental Acacia and pine plantations. Most plots were located on sandy soil, but some measurements were also carried out on clay soil planted with the same species in order to assess the influence of soil type. A strong correlation was shown between the age of the eucalyptus trees and the percentage of forest species in undergrowth, emphasizing the progressive change from savanna vegetation towards forest vegetation. Biomass and density of macrofauna were very low in both sandy and clayey savanna soils, total biomass being 3.3 and 5.8 g/m2 respectively. Soil macrofauna became more important as the age of plantations increased, and biomass reached 29 g/m2 in the 20-year-old eucalyptus plot on sandy soil, and 74 g/m2 in 26-year-old eucalyptus plantation on clay soil, compared to 33 g/m2 in the natural forest plot on sandy soil; however, frequency of occurrence and number of taxa were lower in old eucalyptus plot as compared to forest. Large differences in the abundance of macrofauna were observed in relation to planted species. Acacia was most favourable to soil macrofauna, with a total biomass of 60 g/m2 on sandy soil and many taxa present. Pine plantations had a poor macrofauna and several taxa were lacking, particularly in the sandy soil. Total macrofauna frequency was significantly correlated with the percentage of forest species in understory vegetation. Both were correlated with soil pH and soil organic-matter content. The results suggest that soil organic matter and litter quality are of main importance in changing the above- and below-ground habitat in plantations.