The cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, is an economically important pest, which harms various kinds of important agricultural crops, such as tomato. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of ionizing radiations (electron beam, X-ray, gamma-ray) on the development and reproduction of H. armigera and to determine the optimal dose of three ionizing radiations for the construction of quarantine technology applicable to tomato export.

We present the results of the spectral and temporal analysis of eight X-ray point sources in five nearby (distance < 20 Mpc) galaxies observed with Chandra. For spectral analysis, an absorbed powerlaw and an absorbed diskblackbody were used as empirical models. Six sources were found to be equally fitted by both the models while two sources were better fitted by the powerlaw model. Based on model parameters, we estimate the X-ray luminosity of these sources in the energy range 0.3 − 10.0 keV, to be of the order of ∼ 1039ergs s−1 except for one source (X-8) with LX > 1040ergs s−1. Five of these maybe classified as Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with powerlaw photon index within the range, Γ ∼ 1.63−2.63 while the inner disk temperature, kT ∼ 0.68−1.93 keV, when fitted with the disk blackbody model. The black hole masses harboured by the X-ray point sources were estimated using the disk blackbody model to be in the stellar mass range, however, the black hole mass of one source (X-6) lies within the range 68.37M ≤ MBH ≤ 176.32M, which at the upper limit comes under the Intermediate mass black hole range. But if the emission is considered to be beamed by a factor ∼ 5, the black hole mass reduces to ∼ 75M. The timing analysis of these sources does not show the presence of any short term variations in the kiloseconds timescales.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary since the launch of Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, we take a retrospect to a series of breakthroughs Fermi has contributed to pulsar astronomy in the last decade. Apart from significantly enlarging the population of ɤ−ray pulsars, observations with the Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi also show the population is not homogeneous. Instead, many classes and sub-classes have been revealed. In this paper, we will review the properties of different types of ɤ−ray pulsars, including radio-quiet ɤ−ray pulsars, millisecond pulsars, ɤ−ray binaries. Also, we will discuss the prospects of pulsar astronomy in the high energy regime.

Whitefly (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) pests, including the tobacco whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, and the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum, are economically important in agriculture. With the annual growth of the domestic fresh fruit export market, various quarantine treatment methods are being used to export strawberries of better quality. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of gamma rays on the development and reproductive sterility of B. tabaci and T. vaporariorum. In both species, the eggs were completely inhibited from hatching at 50 Gy, and the emergence of 3rd instar nymphs was completely suppressed at 150 Gy. Some adult B. tabaci and T. vaporariorum spawning occurred at 100 Gy and 70 Gy, respectively; however, at these irradiation levels, F1 hatchability was completely inhibited. Dosimetry results showed that the penetrating power of gamma ray in the strawberry-filled box was the lowest at the mid-box position. Therefore, B. tabaci and T. vaporariorum were placed in the middle of the strawberry-filled box and irradiated. A gamma-ray irradiation of 100 Gy suppressed the development and reproduction of eggs and adults in both B. tabaci and T. vaporariorum. However, the development of 3rd instar nymphs was inhibited at 300 Gy for B. tabaci and 200 Gy for T. vaporariorum. Our data suggest that at least 300 Gy should be used for the control of these two types of whitefly for strawberry export.

Massive stars blow powerful stellar winds throughout their evolutionary stages from the main sequence to Wolf-Rayet phases. The amount of mechanical energy deposited in the interstellar medium by the wind from a massive star can be comparable to the explosion energy of a core-collapse supernova that detonates at the end of its life. In this study, we estimate the kinetic energy deposition by massive stars in our Galaxy by considering the integrated Galactic initial mass function and modeling the stellar wind luminosity. The mass loss rate and terminal velocity of stellar winds during the main sequence, red supergiant, and Wolf-Rayet stages are estimated by adopting theoretical calculations and observational data published in the literature. We find that the total stellar wind luminosity due to all massive stars in the Galaxy is about Lw ≈ 1.1 × 1041 erg s−1, which is about 1/4 of the power of supernova explosions, LSN ≈ 4.8 × 1041 erg s−1. If we assume that ∼ 1 − 10 % of the wind luminosity could be converted to Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) through collisonless shocks such as termination shocks in stellar bubbles and superbubbles, colliding-wind shocks in binaries, and bow-shocks of massive runaway stars, stellar winds might be expected to make a significant contribution to GCR production, though lower than that of supernova remnants.

Milled carbon fiber (mCF) was prepared by a ball milling process, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) diffractograms were obtained by a 2θ continuous scanning analysis to study mCF crystallinity as a function of milling time. The raw material for the mCF was polyacrylonitrile- based carbon fiber (T700). As the milling time increased, the mean particle size of the mCF consistently decreased, reaching 1.826 μm at a milling time of 18 h. The XRD analysis showed that, as the milling time increased, the fraction of the crystalline carbon decreased, while the fraction of the amorphous carbon increased. The (002) peak became asymmetric before and after milling as the left side of the peak showed an increasingly gentle slope. For analysis, the asymmetric (002) peak was deconvoluted into two peaks, less-developed crystalline carbon (LDCC) and more-developed crystalline carbon. In both peaks, Lc decreased and d002 increased, but no significant change was observed after 6 h of milling time. In addition, the fraction of LDCC increased. As the milling continued, the mCF became more amorphous, possibly due to damage to the crystal lattices by the milling.

We present a study of the inexplicit connection between radio jet activity and γ-ray emission of BL Lacertae (BL Lac; 2200+420). We analyze the long-term millimeter activity of BL Lac via interferometric observations with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) obtained at 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz simultaneously over three years (from January 2013 to March 2016); during this time, two γ-ray outbursts (in November 2013 and March 2015) can be seen in γ-ray light curves obtained from Fermi observations. The KVN radio core is optically thick at least up to 86 GHz; there is indication that it might be optically thin at higher frequencies. To first order, the radio light curves decay exponentially over the time span covered by our observations, with decay timescales of 41185 days, 352±79 days, 310±57 days, and 283±55 days at 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz, respectively. Assuming synchrotron cooling, a cooling time of around one year is consistent with magnetic field strengths B ∼ 2 μT and electron Lorentz factors γ ∼ 10 000. Taking into account that our formal measurement errors include intrinsic variability and thus over-estimate the statistical uncertainties, we nd that the decay timescale  scales with frequency τ ν - 0.2. This relation is much shallower than the one expected from opacity effects (core shift), but in agreement with the (sub-)mm radio core being a standing recollimation shock. We do not find convincing radio flux counterparts to the γ-ray outbursts. The spectral evolution is consistent with the `generalized shock model' of Valtaoja et al. (1992). A temporary increase in the core opacity and the emergence of a knot around the time of the second -ray event indicate that this γ-ray outburst might be an `orphan' are powered by the `ring of fire' mechanism.