BACKGROUND The brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens (Stal) is a serious pest of rice in Asia. Development of novel control strategies can be facilitated by comparison of BPH feeding behaviour on varieties exhibiting natural genetic variation, and then elucidation of the underlying mechanisms of resistance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS BPH feeding behaviour was compared on 12 rice vari...

The complete temperature dependences of the in-plane and ĉ-axis microwave (10 GHz) penetration depth lsT d and the surface resistance RssT d of high quality Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O81d crystals are reported. In contrast to earlier measurements, a leading lab ~ T dependence is observed at low temperatures, consistent with nodes in the in-plane gap. The overall behavior of labsT d and Rs absT d is similar t...

Coherent twin boundaries (CTBs) in nano-twinned materials could improve crack resistance. However, the role of the CTBs during crack penetration has never been explored at atomic scale. Our in situ observation on nano-twinned Ag under a high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) reveals the dynamic processes of a crack penetration across the CTBs, which involve alternated crack ti...