THE PROBLEM OF RESISTANCE OF ARTHROPODS TO INSECTICIDAL AND ACARICIDAL DRUGS

The introduction of intensive technologies in modern agricultural production involves the widespread use of chemicals to protect plants and animals, including insecticides and acaricides. However, the development of arthropods resistance to the used drugs significantly reduces the efficiency of the chemical method of controlling insects and mites. The article describes the basic mechanisms of the development of resistance on which the study of a comprehensive strategy of combating pests and pathogens in plants and animals based on. Multiple resistance in case of revealed resistance of target objects to multiple substances is of particular importance. Necessity for the development of new insecticidal and acaricidal preparations as well as the improvement of the principles of their application to slow down the development of resistance in arthropods is required. In animal husbandry, the problem is compounded by developing parallel resistance of infectious agents to antimicrobial agents. This requires the development of a scientific-based methodology of pharmacological prevention and treatment of infectious and parasitic diseases of animals, as well as chemical protection of plants against pests and diseases.

The Effect of Vacuum Annealing and HDDR Processing on the Electrochemical Characteristics of Activated Carbon and Graphene Oxide for the Production of Supercapacitors Electrodes

Electric double-layer capacitors prepared using activated carbons have been subjected to vacuum heat treatments at low and high temperatures (200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000°C). The electrodes have been tested at a potential of 1.1 V employing a KOH electrolyte (1.0and 6.0 mol.L-1). The effect of or HDDR upon the electrical properties has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry. It has been shown that the specific capacitance at 5 msV-1 increases from 50 Fg-1 to 130 Fg-1 after a heat treatment at 400°C for 1 hour under back pump vacuum. At 400°C the diminution in the specific capacitance with higher scanning rate (10 msV-1) was much less pronounced (from 130 Fg-1 to 100 Fg-1). Equivalent series resistance (ESR) and equivalent parallel resistance of supercapacitors electrodes have also been investigated. Internal resistances of the supercapacitors were calculated using the galvanostatic curves at current densities (100 mAg-1).A compositional and morphological evaluation of these electrodes showed no significant change on the activated carbon structure.

MWCNT-Epoxy Nanocomposite Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring

We address Multi-Wall Carbon NanoTubes (MWCNTs) for structural health monitoring in adhesive bonds such as in building structures. MWCNT-loaded composites are employed to sense strain changes under tension load using an AC impedance measurement setup. Different weight percentages of 1, 1.5, 2 and 3 wt.% MWCNT are added to the base epoxy resin using different dispersion times, i.e. 5, 10 and 15 minutes. The equivalent parallel resistance of the specimens is measured by applying an alternating voltage at different frequencies. To determine the mechanical as well as sensory properties, the specimens are subjected to a tensile test with concurrent impedance measurement. Using alternating voltage, a higher sensitivity of the impedance reading can be achieved. Employing these sensors in buildings and combining the readings of a network of such devices can significantly improve the buildings’ safety. Additionally, networks of such sensors can be used to identify necessary maintenance actions and locations.   

Inclusion without incorporation: re-imagining Manchester through a new politics of environment

We know from recent work in urban studies that the role of local government in administering cities has changed significantly in recent years. The provision of local public services has gradually been moving out of local government control, becoming the responsibility of networks of charities, volunteers and private organisations, which now have to work in partnership with local authorities to deliver metropolitan public services. This chapter explores the effects of this shift in urban governance on political practice by exploring ethnographically the experience of governing a city under such changing conditions. The analysis takes as its focus environmental policymaking and approaches this set of practices from an ethnographic and anthropological perspective. Building on this ethnography the chapter illustrates how the work of doing politics in Manchester hinges on a tension between a desire for inclusion in decision-making and a parallel resistance to incorporation into specific political networks and regimes.

A dynamic model for series and parallel resistance of photovoltaic cell using material properties extraction and energy tunnel

This article presents a novel model for the equivalent circuit of a photovoltaic module. This circuit consists of the following important parameters: a single diode, series resistance (Rs) and parallel resistance (Rp) that can be directly adjusted according to ambient temperature and the irradiance. The single diode in the circuit is directly related to the ideality factor (m), which represents the relationship between the materials and significant structures of PV module such as mono crystalline, multi crystalline and thin film technology. Especially, the proposed model in this article is to present the simplified model that can calculate the results of I-V curves faster and more accurate than other methods of the previous models. This can show that the proposed models are more suitable for the practical application. In addition, the results of the proposed model are validated by the datasheet, the practical data in the laboratory (indoor test) and the onsite data (outdoor test). This ensures that the less than 0.1% absolute errors of the model can be accepted.

Development of a GIS Tool for a High Precision PV Degradation Monitoring and Supervision: Feasibility Analysis in Large and Small PV Plants

It is well known that working PV plants show several maintenance needs due to wiring and modules degradation, mismatches, dust and PV cells defects and faults. There are a wide range of studies that show the theoretical and some laboratory tests of how these circumstances may affect the PV production. Thus, it results mandatory to evaluate the whole PV plant performance and, then, it’s payback time, profitability and environmental impact or carbon footprint. However, very few studies include a systematic procedure to quantify and supervise the real degradation effects and faults impacts on the field. In this paper, the authors first conduct a brief review of the most frequent PV faults and degradation that can be found on real conditions operative PV Plants. Then, they propose and develop an innovative Geographic Information System application to locate and supervise them. The designed tool has been applied to either a large PV plant of 108 kWp and a small PV plant of just 9 kWp installed on a home rooftop. For the large PV plant, 24 strings of PV modules have been modelized and introduced into the GIS application and every module in the power plant has been studied including voltage, current, power, series and parallel resistance, fill factor, normalized PV curve to STC, thermography and visual analysis. For the small PV installation 3 strings of PV panels have been studied identically. It must be noticed that PV modules in this case include power optimizers. The precision of the study allows the researchers to locate and supervise up to a third part of every PV cell in the system, which are adequately georreferenciated. The developed tool allows both the researchers and the investors to increase control on the PV plant performance and conducts to a better planification of maintenance actuations and to evaluate several PV modules replacement strategies in a preventive maintenance programme. Found PV faults include hot spots, snail tracks, EVA discoloration, PV cells fractures, busbars discoloration, bubbles and Si discoloration.