While it is well known that wildfires can greatly contribute to soil water repellency by changing chemical composition, the mechanisms of these changes are still poorly understood. In past decade, number, size, and intensity have increased in western USA. Recent megafires California (i.e., Dixie, Beckwourth Complex, Caldor, Mosquito fires) provided us with an opportunity characterize pre- post-...

Perfluoroalkyls constitute a class of compounds that have been used extensively in surface coating and protectant formulations due to their unique surfactant properties. Major applications have included protectants for paper and cardboard packaging products, carpets, leather products, and textiles that enhance water, grease, and soil repellency. Perfluoroalkyls have also been used as processing...

Consumer and industrial products are manufactured from a range of materials that are selected for specific bulk properties, cost and/or ‘look and feel’. However, many materials chosen in this way do not display the optimum surface properties. This presents an opportunity for surface modifications to apply desirable properties such as fire retardancy, anti-microbial, protein resistance and, wate...

Lotus leaves have become an icon for superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning surfaces, and have led to the concept of the 'Lotus effect'. Although many other plants have superhydrophobic surfaces with almost similar contact angles, the lotus shows better stability and perfection of its water repellency. Here, we compare the relevant properties such as the micro- and nano-structure, the chemical c...

Sex pheromones have rarely been studied in parasitoids, and it remains largely unknown how male and female parasitoids locate each other. We investigated possible attraction (and repellency) between the sexes of two braconid wasps belonging to the same genus, the gregarious parasitoid, Cotesia glomerata (L.), and the solitary parasitoid, Cotesia marginiventris (Cresson). Males of both species w...

Directional control of droplets on a surface is an important issue for tasks of long-range liquid-transport, self-cleaning and water repellency. However, it is still challenging to control the structure motions in orientations so as to control the shedding-off of droplets. Herein, we report a novel dynamic magnetic responsive wall (DMRW) array on PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane)-based surface. The w...

To develop natural product resources to control cigarette beetles (Lasioderma serricorne), the essential oil from Artemisia lavandulaefolia (Compositae) was investigated. Oil was extracted by hydrodistillation of the above-ground portion of A. lavandulaefolia and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Extracted essential oil and three compounds isolated from the oil were t...

The evaluation of 10 essential oils of geranium, Pelargonium graveolens (Geraniaceae), were all shown to have repellent activity against nymphs of the medically important lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.). The biological tests were carried out using a vertical filter paper bioassay, where ticks must cross an area of the paper treated with repellent to approach host stimuli. One of the e...