Predation, development, and ovipostion experiments were conducted to evaluate Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a potential biological control agent for tomato russet mite, Aculops lycopersici (Massee) (Acari: Eriophyidae) which is a periodic pest of greenhouse tomatoes. Results show that A. swirskii attacked all developmental stages of A. lycopersici, and had a type II functional response on the prey densities given. The predation rates of A. swirskii on A. lycopersici in the presense of alternative food sources such as pollen, thrips first instar, or whitefly eggs were recorded as 74%, 56%, and 76%, respectively of the predation rate on A. lycopersici alone. Amblyseius swirskii successfully completed their life-cycle on either A. lycopersici or cattail pollen. At 25oC, 70% RH, development time of female A. swirskii fed on A. lycopersici or on cattail pollen took 5.0 and 6.2 days, respectively. For the first 10 days after moulting to the adult stage, A. swirskii fed on A. lycopersici had higher daily oviposition rate (2.0 eggs per day) than on pollen (1.5 eggs per day). From this laboratory study, it can be concluded that A. swirskii has promising traits as a predator against A. lycopersici and that their populations can be stably maintained using alternative food such as cattail pollen. We suggest that the effectiveness of A. swirskii against A. lycopersici under field conditions deserves to be investigated.

Recently, we suggested a CME earthward direction parameter as an important geoeffective parameter that has been demonstrated by front-side halo CME data. In this study, we present the geometrical implication of this parameter by comparing with the parameters from a CME cone model. Major results from this study can be summarized as follows. First, we derive an analytic relationship between the cone model parameters (the half angular width of a cone and the angle between the cone axis and the plane of sky) and the earthward direction parameter. Second, we demonstrate a close relationship between the earthward direction parameter and the cone axis angle using 32 front-side full halo CMEs. Third, we found that there is noticeable inconsistency between the cone axis angles estimated from the cone model fitting to the CMEs and from their associated flare positions, implying that the flare position should not be considered as a good earthward direction parameter. Finally we present several advantages of our earthward direction parameter in terms of the forecast of a geomagnetic storm based on CME parameters.

We measured the non-carbon content of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in SWCNT soot using thermogravimetric analysis. The weight increased percentage by the oxidation of metal in the raw soot is well obtained by TGA graph which was confirmed with ICP-AES, XRD, and XPS. This work will be very useful for the purity precise evaluation of SWCNT with UN-vis-NIR spectroscopy.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of type of the sugar supplemented to the extender on the vigor, viability and intact acrosomal rates of frozen-thawed dog spermatozoa. The ejaculated semen was diluted with TRIS-citric acid extender containing 200mM TRIS, 73mM citric acid, 6% (v/v) glycerol, 20% (v/v) egg yolk, 1% (v/v) antibiotics (streptomycin/penicillin), 44 mM sugar, which was either glucose, fructose or glucose-fructose combination, and distilled water to make the final volume of 100ml. Extended semen samples were cooled at for an hour, packaged in 0.25ml straws, equilibrated for 10 minutes in liquid nitrogen vapor, and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Samples were thawed by placing straws into water for 120 seconds. After thawing, vigor, viability and intact acrosomal rates of frozen-thawed semen were compared according to type of sugar. No significant differences were observed between glucose and fructose groups. In addition, combination of the 2 sugars also did not show any significant differences in the vigor, viability and intact acrosomal rates. In conclusion, glucose and fructose were equally efficient as sugar supplements for freezing extender.

Experiments with a URT-0.5 accelerator (0.5 MeV, 50 ns, 1 kW) generating a nanosecond electron beam for irradiation of silver nitrate in various liquid solutions (water and toluene) were performed with the aim of producing silver nanopowders. A radiochemical reaction allows making weakly agglomerated pure Ag powders with particles of 10-15 nm and 30-50 nm in size by irradiation in toluene and water respectively. The injection of the nanosecond electron beam energy to the solution is optimal. As the absorbed dose increases, the output of the radiochemical reaction does not grow, but more agglomerated powders are synthesized.