The highabundance and impact on honeybees of the Asian hornet Vespa velutina var. nigrithorax have caused great concern among European public authorities and beekeepers. The species was reported for the first time in France in 2005 and spread out across 66 European districts (ca. 360 000 km 2 ) within 7 years (INPN, 2012; Rome et al., 2013). Its arrival was reported in 2010 in Northern Spain, in 2011 in Portugal and Belgium and in 2013 in Italy. Its wider expansion in Europe is soon to be expected. We discuss here the advances of the collaborative research project initiated in 2008 in France. 1. The potential invasion risk of the species was assessed using modeling tools of climatic suitability (Villemant et al., 2011, Barbet-Massin et al., 2013). Interestingly, the potential distribution of V. v. nigrithorax matches the current distribution of another invasive social wasp, the German yellow jacket, Vespula germanica (Beggs et al., 2011). 2. Apartfrom reported damages on hives, little is known on the biology of V. velutina throughout its native Asian range. In the invaded range, the impact of V. v. nigrithorax on the diversity and biomass of the invertebrate fauna is under study. Preliminary results reported a diversified diet varying among seasons and habitat types. 3. The genetic variability between individuals of V. v. nigrithorax from France and Asia was assessed in order to describe the history of its invasion. The analysis has evidenced a low variability among the invasive population, which indicates a single introduction of one or more queens. The sampling of specimens in France and in the area of origin has been extended to confirm this hypothesis and the most probable area of origin (Arca, 2012). Given the potential economic and biological impact of V. v. nigrithorax, a better understanding of its invasion dynamics is necessary to predict regions at risk, hence to help with planning dedicated control measures, a prerequisite for replacing the reactive nature of current solutions with a proactive, predictive approach.

Understanding how researchers are tackling globally important issues, such as climate change, is crucial to identify whether current research is comprehensive enough to make substantive predictions about general responses to climate change. We assessed the type of studies being conducted by researchers to understand the impacts of climate change on insects, published. Most published research is generated from Europe and North America and being dedicated to core data analysis, with reviews being highly produced. Temperature – only is the main climate change factor being analysed, with most researchers are assessing changes in abundance or distribution/range shifts. Of most concern is the number of studies which do not specifically identify a climate change factor (ie just arm wave), the lack of studies on Hemimetabolous insects and the need for more studies to assess specific mechanistic responses to climate change.

We investigate the relation between star formation activity and PAH 3.3 μm emission. Our targets are mid-infrared-excess galaxies selected from the AKARI all-sky survey point source catalog. We performed AKARI near-infrared spectroscopy for them. As a result, we obtained 2.5 − 5 μm spectra of 79 galaxies, and selected 35 star-forming galaxies out of them. Comparing the PAH 3.3 μm luminosities with the infrared luminosities, we find a linear correlation between them. However, by adding the results from literatures for luminous infrared galaxies and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies that are more luminous than our sample, the ratio of the PAH to the infrared luminosity is found to decrease towards the luminous end.

Sulfoxaflor, a novel sulfoximine insecticide, discovered by and proprietary to Dow AgroSciences is being developed globally. Sulfoxaflor will be used in all major crop groups, including fruits, vegetables, rice, cereals, soybean, and many other crops. Sulfoxaflor provides excellent efficacy at low use rates through contact and ingestion against important and difficult-to-control sap-feeding insect pests, including certain species of aphids, scales, plant bugs, whiteflies, planthoppers and other sap feeders. Sulfoxaflor’s mode of action is via agonism of the insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR), which is the same target site of neo-nicotinoid insecticides. However, relative to most neonicotinoids, sulfoxaflor is a high efficacy agonist of the nAchR with relatively low affinity for the imidacloprid binding site. Furthermore, sulfoxaflor is less susceptible to metabolism by monooxygenase enzymes and displays a broad lack of metabolism-based cross-resistance with neonicotinoids. This difference as well as its novel chemical structure led to sulfoxaflor being designated as the sole member of Group 4, Subgroup C of the IRAC Mode of Action Classification Scheme. Because of broad lack of crossresistance, sulfoxaflor will be a useful rotational partner with other insecticide chemistries, enhancing Insect Resistance Management strategies. In Korea, sulfoxaflor is being developed for use in fruit and leafy and fruiting vegetable by several companies. Results from several laboratory and field trials revealed that sulfoxaflor at use rate of 35 ppm (7% product, X2,000 dilution rate) provided excellent performance against economically important aphids in several crops compared with current sap-feeding pest control agents. Sulfoxaflor was registered in October 2011 as brandname TRANSFORM® (Sulfoxaflor 7% SC which is produced by Dongbu Hannong) will be launched for apple, pear and red-pepper in 2012.

The international cooperation project CIBER (Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment) is a rocket-borne instrument, of which the scientific goal is to measure the cosmic near-infrared extra-galactic background to search for signatures of primordial galaxy formation. CIBER consists of a wide-field two-color camera, a low-resolution absolute spectrometer, and a high-resolution narrow-band imaging spectrometer. Currently, all the subsystems have been built, and the integration, testing, and calibration of the CIBER system are on process for the scheduled launch in June 2008.

The correct computer simulation of the powder compaction stage requires the determination of the elastoplastic parameters which characterize its mechanical behavour. Instrumented dies are frequently used to monitor the longitudinal and radial stress occurring during powder compaction. When strain gages are employed a previous calibration is needed. Many sources of error exist that can lead to the incorrect calibration of the instrumented die. By means of a FEM simulation some of these problems are analysed. The effect of die wall thickness, compression length, and strain location are studied.

The present study examines the sintering behaviour and effect of manganese addition both mechanically-blended and mechanically alloyed on Cr-Mo low alloyed steels to enhance the mechanical properties. Mn sublimation during sintering provides some specific phenomena which facilitate the sintering of alloying elements with high oxygen affinity. First step is the optimization of milling time to attain a master alloy with 50% of Mn which is diluted in Fe-1.5Cr-0.2Mo water atomized prealloyed powder by normal mixing. These mixtures are pressed to a green density of 7.1 g/cm3 and sintered at 1120 ºC in 90N2-10H2 atmosphere.

The decrease of the distance between particle centers due to the growth of the sinter necks can be explained by the well known two-particle model. Unfortunately this model fails to provide a comprehensive description of the processes for 3D specimens. Furthermore, there is a significant discrepancy between the calculated and the measured shrinkage because particle rearrangements are not considered. Only the recently developed analysis of the particle movements inside of 3D specimens using micro focus computed tomography (μCT), combined with photogrammetric image analysis, can deliver the necessary experimental data to improve existing sintering theories. In this work, μCT analysis was applied to spherical copper powders. Based on photogrammetric image analysis, it is possible to determine the positions of all particle centers for tracking the particles over the entire sintering process and to follow the formation and breaking of the particle bonds. In this paper, we present an in-depth analysis of the obtaine data. In the future, high resolution synchrotron radiation tomography will be utilized to obtain in-situ data and images of higher resolution.

We report on the mechanical and structural properties of nanocrystalline 8% and 10% mol yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) obtained using mechanical alloying (MA). The as-milled powders show a body-centered cubic structure with grain sizes in the nanometer scale. After uniaxial pressing and sintering the compacts exhibit good mechanical properties. We discuss the correlation of these enhanced properties with the microstructural changes induced by heat treatment.

The influence of doping on the structural and morphological properties of the phosphor system, obtained ultrasonically via Spray Pyrolysis from common gadolinium and europium nitrate solutions, was studied. The particle morphology, crystalline and chemical structure were studied by XRD, SEM and EDS. TEM was applied in order to identify the structure and growth of "primary nanoparticles" and determine the presence of domains locally affected by "Moires Frames" and "Crystallite Size". The SADP allows determining the presence of a polycrystalline material with two phases in the "as-prepared" samples, and only an Ia3 phase along the thermal treatment.

Based on the comparison of structures and properties of the HS6-5-2 high speed steels made with the powder injection moulding method, pressureless forming, compacting and sintering, and commercial steels made with the ASEA-STORA method, fine carbides spread evenly in the steel matrix were found in the structure of all tested high-speed steels in the sintered state. The steels made with the pressureless forming method are characteristic of the lowest sintering temperature and the highest density, resulting from the high carbon concentration coming from the binding agent degradation.