Brassica Plant Responses to Mild Herbivore Stress Elicited by Two Specialist Insects from Different Feeding Guilds

Compensation growth and chemical defense are two components of plant defense strategy against herbivores. In this study, compensation growth and the response of primary and secondary metabolites were investigated in Brassica rapa plants subjected to infestation by two herbivores from contrasting feeding guilds, the phloem-feeding aphid Brevicoryne brassicae and the leaf-feeding caterpillar Pieris brassicae. These specialist herbivores were used at two different densities and allowed to feed for seven days on a young caged leaf. Changes in growth rates were assessed for total leaf area and bulb mass, whereas changes in primary and secondary metabolites were evaluated in young and mature leaves, roots, and bulbs. Mild stress by caterpillars on young plants enhanced mean bulb mass and elicited a contrasting regulation of aliphatic and indolic glucosinolates in the leaves. In contrast, mild stress by aphids enhanced leaf growth and increased glucosinolate concentrations in the bulb, the most important storage organ of B. rapa. A similar mild stress by either herbivore to older plants did not alter plant growth parameters or concentrations of the metabolites analyzed. In conclusion, Brassica plant growth was either maintained or enhanced under mild herbivore stress, and defense patterns differed strongly in response to herbivore type and plant development stage. These results have implications for the understanding of plasticity in plant defenses against herbivores and for the management of Brassica rapa in agroecosystems.     

Drones for Transmission Infrastructure Inspection and Mapping Improve Efficiency

When most industry professionals think about drones, they envision a small, toy-like object with multiple blades hovering around their infrastructure, recklessly maneuvering for the pilot's enjoyment, or worse, for nefarious reasons. Often the thought immediately conjured up is of damaged electrical transmission lines or poles, damaged pipelines, gas leaks, or worse. Instead, they should envision cost savings, improved understanding of asset health, and increased safety and compliance. Energy companies, utilities, and others have already adopted the use of these unmanned aircraft, with the use of these aircraft and their sensors continuing to steadily increase to more accurately understand infrastructure and to do so in three-dimensional space.     

Expeditious Synthesis of Functionalized 1‐Arylcyclooctadienes via Palladium‐Catalyzed Lithium Cross‐Coupling

The palladium‐catalyzed direct cross‐coupling of aryl bromides and (1Z,5Z)‐cycloocta‐1,5‐dien‐1‐yllithium is described as an important method to synthesize 1‐arylcyclooctadienes. The use of a well‐established Pd₂dba₃/XPhos catalytic system affords the desired new compounds in good to excellent yields; the reaction proceeds at room temperature with both high efficiency and selectivity. Finally we found the best conditions to combine a suitable lithium‐halogen exchange with a cross‐coupling reaction.

     

Obtaining and Studying Films of Tungsten,Titanium and Their Oxides

Glass Physics and Chemistry - The initial polycrystalline films of tungsten and titanium, whose surface has predominantly ultrananodispersed morphology and a thickness of 50 to 100 nm, are obtained...     

Core–Shell Nanoarchitectonics of CoFe2O4 Encapsulated La2Fe2O6 Nanoparticles for Their Use in Various Applications

It would be helpful to achieve appropriate synthetic routes to attain larger-scale production at industrial levels of nanocomposites at low costs. In the present work, diphasic composites with core–shell nanostructures formed by La₂Fe₂O₆/CoFe₂O₄ are investigated. The core–shell structure is fabricated via different preparation methods. The advantages and the demerits of the synthesis techniques are discussed. The presence of both the spinel CoFe₂O₄ nano ferrite and orthorhombic La₂Fe₂O₆ perovskite phases is revealed by X-ray diffraction. XPS spectroscopy is utilized to investigate the chemical composition of the prepared samples. The hysteresis loops of the prepared samples exhibit a smooth loop that is resulted from the existence of two homogeneous magnetic phases. For the first time, it has been found that the preparation conditions have the advantage of reducing the switching field distribution value for the core–shell nanoparticles. Exchange coupled core–shell nanoparticles present a high potential to regulate the magnetic properties for numerous applications such as heavy metal removal and/or data storage devices. The maximum adsorption capacity (qm) of Cr III on the core–shell (S3) is higher compared to other adsorbents previously testified in the literature. The cost-effective and eco-friendly prepared core–shell samples with good metal removal capacity have great potential for commercialization.

     

Phase Behavior of Selected Condensed Double-Decker Shaped Silsesquioxane Compounds

Silicon - Bisfunctional dichlorosilanes were reacted with tetrasilanol of double-decker shaped octaphenylsilsesquioxane (DDSQ) to form fully condensed DDSQ compounds. The crystallographic and...     

About the Nature of Quasi-Cleavage in Low-Carbon Steel Embrittled with Hydrogen

Metal Science and Heat Treatment - Scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy are used to study a fracture surface of hydrogen-charged low-carbon steel, which has been...