High resource availability can reduce anti-herbivore resistance (a plant's ability to defend against herbivores and reduce damage) in rice, Oryza sativa L, but may also increase tolerance (a plant's ability to withstand damage by, for example, compensatory growth). Through a series of greenhouse, screenhouse and field experiments, this study examines fitness (survival and development × reproduc...

The management of major field insect pests of cowpea under calendar and monitored sprays of cypermethrin was studied. The major insect pests studied were the cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch, legume bud thrips Megalurothrips sjostedti Tryb, legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata Fab. and pod sucking bugs. Influence of insect pest management on yield was also determined. The calendar sprays consist...

Numerical aspects of the grain level micromechanical model presented in part I are discussed in this study. They include, an examination of solution convergence in the context of cohesive elements used as an approach to model crack initiation and propagation; performance of parametric studies to assess the role of grain boundary strength and toughness, and their stochasticity, on damage initiat...

We extend the common theme of random Apollonian packing of circles to consider orientable grains with a noncircular shape. Systems of up to 10(6) grains are examined for a range of polygonal and elliptical shapes using both the random Apollonian packing model and the new rotational random Apollonian packing model which takes into account the extra rotational degree of freedom of noncircular gra...

Ductile compaction is common in many natural systems, but the temporal evolution of such systems is rarely studied. We observe surprising oscillations in the weight measured at the bottom of a self-compacting ensemble of ductile grains. The oscillations develop during the first ten hours of the experiment, and usually persist through the length of an experiment (one week). The weight oscillatio...

Three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of ion beam assisted deposition ~IBAD! are performed to determine the mechanisms of crystallographic texture selection during the IBAD of polycrystalline films. A face centered cubic bicrystal consisting of @111# and @110# oriented grains is grown while an ion beam bombards the growing film at normal incidence. As the film grows, the grain bounda...

The ultra-short pulse laser has attracted attention as an advanced tool for functionalizing surface topography, since it has high accuracy and results in little damage. In a previous study, some innovative patterns were introduced on cemented carbide surfaces, such as dimples, which are commonly used as oil reservoirs for bearings. The accuracy is not only related to the inherent features of th...

Original scientific paper Rock burst is a common serious geological hazard in underground engineering, which seriously affects the progress of projects. The mechanism of rock burst can be explained by the distribution law of rock fragments and its fractal characteristics. A simulation experiment of rock burst was conducted with the granite samples under a biaxial loading machine system to analy...

  Abstract Two experiments with factorial arrangements on the basis of randomized complete block design in three replications were conducted in 2007 and 2008, to evaluate chlorophyll content index (CCI), fluorescence of chlorophyll, proline content and grain yield of three soybean cultivars (Williams, Zan and L17) under a non-saline (control) and three saline (3, 6 and 9 ds/m NaCl) conditions...

The two-phase theory for compaction and damage employs a nonequilibrium relation between interfacial surface energy, pressure, and viscous deformation, thereby providing a model for damage (void generation and microcracking) and a continuum description of weakening, failure, and shear localization. Here we examine the application of this theory to the problem of generating platelike behavior fr...