Studieswere conducted in apple,MalusdomesticaBorkhausen, orchards to evaluate the attractiveness of the kairomone, ethyl (E, Z)-2,4-decadienoate (pear ester), loaded at various rates into gray halobutyl septa, to adult codling moth, Cydia pomonella L. All studies were conducted in orchards treated with sex pheromone mating disruption. Lure loadings from 0.01 g to 50.0 mg were evaluated in 12 or...

Anthocoris nemoralis (F.) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) is one of the most prominent predators of the pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Forster) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) and is considered as a biological control agent against this pest. In order to investigate the effects of plant varieties on predation of C. pyricola by A. nemoralis, the functional response of both the sexes of A. nemoralis to pear ...

The success of seedling establishment of desert plants is determined by seedling emergence response to an unpredictable precipitation regime. Sand burial is a crucial and frequent environmental stress that impacts seedling establishment on sand dunes. However, little is known about the ecological role of seed mucilage in seedling emergence in arid sandy environments. We hypothesized that seed m...

Type-B response regulators (B-RRs) are transcription factors that function in the final step of two-component signaling systems. In model plants, B-RRs have been shown to play important roles in cytokinin signal transduction. However, the functions of B-RRs in pear have not been well studied. In this report, we conducted a genome-wide analysis and identified 11 putative genes encoding B-PpRR pr...

'Candidatus Liberibacter spp.' cause serious plant diseases. 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus', 'Ca. L. americanus' and 'Ca. L. africanus' are the aetiological agents of citrus greening (Huanglongbing) in Asia, America and Africa. 'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' causes diseases in Solanaceae in America and New Zealand. All four species are vectored by psyllid insects of different gener...

Betacyanin (betanin), total phenolics, vitamin C and antioxidant capacity (by Trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays) were investigated in two differently colored cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) genotypes, one with purple fruit and the other with orange fruit, from the Salento area, in Apulia (South Italy). In order to qu...

We isolated the 5’ upstream promoter regions of the fruit-type sucrose synthase (SS) gene from tomato and Japanese pear by inverse PCR. The 5’ region of the tomato SS gene (TOMSSF) contained an intron approximately 1.6 kbp long in the 5’untranslated region, whereas the equivalent 5’ region in the Japanese pear SS gene (PypSUS1) had no intron. Each region was fused to the β-glucuronidase (GUS) g...

Professional skills expected from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students are well-aligned with the broad learning outcomes defined by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET). While acquisition of professional skills in our graduates is increasingly crucial due to global competition and intensifying pressures on companies, the absence of a robust assessmen...

When multiple linear regression is used to develop a prediction model, sample size must be large enough to ensure stable coefficients. If the derivation sample size is inadequate, the model may not predict well for future subjects. The precision efficacy analysis for regression (PEAR) method uses a crossvalidity approach to select sample sizes such that models will predict as well as possible i...

It is well-known that for most spherical rubber balloons the pressure versus volume curve associated with uniform inflation has an N-shape (the pressure increases rapidly to a maximum, falls to a minimum, and subsequently increases monotonically), and that somewhere along the descending branch of this curve the spherical shape may bifurcate into a pear shape through localized thinning near one ...