Silicon (Si) amendment to plants can confer enhanced resistance to herbivores. In the present study, the physiological and cytological mechanisms underlying the enhanced resistance of plants with Si addition were investigated for one of the most destructive rice pests in Asian countries, the rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée). Activities of defense-related enzymes, superoxide d...

The Sirius Passet Lagerstätte of North Greenland contains the first exceptionally preserved mat-ground community of the Cambrian, dominated, in terms of abundance, by trilobites but particularly characterized by iconic arthropods and lobopods, some also occurring in the Burgess shale. High-resolution photography, scanning electron imaging and elemental mapping have been carried out on a variety...

The taxonomic hierarchy and nationwide distribution of soils with a salic horizon were studied using the USA Natural Resources Conservation Service Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) Database to provide a more holistic view of the role of soil-forming factors in pedogenesis than from isolated case studies. Soils with a salic horizon occupied an area of 11 000 km2, i.e., 0.1% of land area in the co...

A new method for the stepwise synthesis of propylamines containing fragments of N-methyl propylamine as found in diatom bioextracts is presented and their activity in silicic acid condensation is described.

The association of natural polymers with silica is a fruitful strategy to design novel hybrid structures with potential applications in the fields of biotechnology, medicine, and environmental sciences. Here we illustrate the principles of formation, the structure, and the properties of such biohybrid systems by the specific example of silica–pectin porous materials. The influence of the silica...

The programmed self-assembly of block copolymers into higher order nanoscale structures offers many attractive attributes for the development of new nanomaterials for numerous applications including drug delivery and biosensing. The incorporation of biomimetic silaffin peptides in these block copolymers enables the formation of hybrid organic-inorganic materials, which can potentially enhance t...

A facile method to coat carbon fibers with a silica shell is presented in this work. By immobilizing linear polyamines on the carbon fiber surface, the high catalytic activity of polyamines in the sol-gel-processing of silica precursors is used to deposit a silica coating directly on the fiber's surface. The surface localization of the catalyst is achieved either by attaching short-chain polyam...

The North Pyrenean Zone corresponds to the palaeopassive margin of Iberia plate, at foot which subcontinental mantle was exhumed during Albian times. Rare bodies rocks associated with strongly sheared lenses continental crust are scattered among metasediments. Significant fluid flow occurred along a major décollement basement–Trias interface in Urdach massif (Chaînons Béarnais). Fluids broad ra...