Allelochemics produced by the hydrophyteMyriophyllum spicatum affecting mosquitoes and midges

An extract of the hydrophyteMyriophyllum spicatum L. was found to be toxic to first- and fourth-instar larvae of the mosquitoes,Culex quinquefasciatus Say,Culex tarsalis Coquillett,Culiseta incidens (Thomson),Aedes aegypti L., and chironomid midges in the laboratory. When first-stage larvae were exposed to the extract, the lowest concentration (6.4 mg extract/100 ml H₂O) produced 86,60, and 48% mortality inC. incidens, C. quinquefasciatus, andA. aegypti, respectively. Higher concentrations caused 100% mortality in both first and fourth instars (63.75 mg/100 ml H₂O or more). In general, the biocidal activity of the extract was found to be similar when first- and fourth-stage larvae were exposed. Some mortality in the successive pupal and adult stages was observed when fourth-stage larvae were exposed to the extract, but mortality occurred only in the various larval instars when first instars were exposed. Among the chironomids,Tanytarsus spp. was more tolerant to the extract thanChironomus spp. In addition to the biocidal activity against immature mosquitoes, the extract was found to show a unique activity acting as an attractant to both sexes of adultC. quinquefasciatus andA. aegypti. The response elicited inA. aegypti appeared to be somewhat higher than that inC. quinquefasciatus. In general, the percentage of males responding to water treated with the extract was higher than that of the females. The extract at higher concentrations seemed to show some repellency at the outset to both species, but induced positive responses later on.     

草地场景碾压效果模拟

草体作为自然场景的一种重要元素,数量众多、覆盖范围广,很难实现实时模拟。针对已有方法存在的问题,提出了一种草体碾压效果模拟方法。利用混合式表达方式构建出大规模静态草地场景,采用基于GPU的实时碰撞检测算法和受力向量传播机制计算视点近处草叶的受力和形变,通过调整布告板斜率模拟中远距离草丛变形。为消除混合式表达方法带来的跳动现象,实现了一种层间动态过渡策略。实验结果表明,该方法能模拟出逼真的草体碾压效果,同时有效弥补了传统算法的缺陷。