Sensing of Airborne Infochemicals for Green Pest Management: What Is the Challenge?

One of the biggest global challenges for our societies is to provide natural resources to the rapidly expanding population while maintaining sustainable and ecologically friendly products. The increasing public concern about toxic insecticides has resulted in the rapid development of alternative techniques based on natural infochemicals (ICs). ICs (e.

Lanthanum Hexaboride As Novel Interlayer for Improving the Thermal Stability of P3HT:PCBM Organic Solar Cells.

For efficient organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells, a low work function electrode is necessary to enhance the built-in voltage of the active layer, thereby improving the overall efficiency. Calcium is often used for this purpose in the laboratory; however, its development on a larger scale is impaired by its high reactivity with oxygen and water and the resulting low stability of solar cells under operation. The influence of a novel interlayer, lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6), on the electronic properties of OPV is studied in this work.

Defensive behaviour of Apis mellifera against Vespa velutina in France: testing whether European honeybees can develop an effective collective defence against a new predator.

We investigated the prey-predator interactions between the European honeybee, Apis mellifera, and the invasive yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, which first invaded France in 2004 and thereafter spread to neighbouring European countries (Spain, Portugal and Italy). Our goal was to determine how successfully honeybees are able to defend their colonies against their new predator in Europe. Experiments were conducted in the southwest of France-the point of entry of the hornet in Europe-under natural and semi-controlled field conditions.