Ice accretion causes damage on power generation infrastructure, leading to mechanical failure. Icephobic materials are being researched so that ice buildup on these surfaces will be shed before the weight of the ice causes catastrophic damage. Lubricated materials have imposed the lowest-recorded forces of ice adhesion, and therefore lubricated materials are considered the state-of-the-art in this area. Slippery lubricant-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) are one type of such materials. SLIPS are initially very effective at repelling ice, but the trapped fluid layer that affords their icephobic properties is easily depleted by repeated icing/deicing cycles, even after one deicing event. UV-cured siloxane resins were infused into SLIPS to observe effects on icephobicity and durability. These UV-cured polymer networks enhanced both the icephobicity and longevity of the SLIPS; values of ice adhesion below 10 kPa were recorded, and appreciable icephobicity was maintained up to 10 icing/deicing cycles.

The feasibility of disrupting sexual communication in oriental beetle, Exomala orientalis (Waterhouse) with a microencapsulated sprayable formulation of (Z)-and (E)-7-tetradecen-2-one, the major and minor pheromone components, respectively, was evaluated in blueberries and ornamental nurseries during 1998 and 1999 seasons in southern New Jersey. In 1998, pheromone-baited traps captured signiÞcantly fewer male beetles in blueberries, treated with a 9:1 blend of (Z)-and (E)-7-tetradecen-2-one at 100 g (AI)/ha of the major component, or in nurseries treated with (Z)-7-tetradecen-2-one alone at the same rate, compared with trap captures in untreated control plots. The percentage of reduction in trap captures (disruption index) in plots treated with the blend in blueberries was comparable to reductions in trap captures in nurseries (97 versus 92%) treated with the major component alone. During 1999, pheromone trap captures in blueberry and nursery plots treated with a 93:7 blend of (Z)-and (E)-7-tetradecen-2-one at 37.5 g (AI)/ha of the major component were on an average 92 and 82% lower compared with trap captures in untreated control plots, respectively. SigniÞcantly fewer tethered virgin female oriental beetles were found in copula/contact with males in treated blueberry Þelds relative to those deployed in untreated control plots. These results suggest that communication disruption is a promising strategy to manage oriental beetle populations in blueberries and ornamental nurseries. This is the Þrst study to document the feasibility of disrupting sexual communication in a soil-dwelling coleopteran with applications of sex pheromone components to the soil.

Preventing ice growth on infrastructure, vehicles, and appliances remains a significant engineering challenge. Damage caused by ice growth on these installations can be expensive to repair, and their failure can be dangerous. Materials such as cross‐linked polymer networks make effective anti‐ice coatings and can prevent ice growth: reducing the cost of infrastructure repairs and limiting downtime. A link between cross‐link density and ice adhesion has been demonstrated, such that lower cross‐link density materials tend toward lower ice adhesion. Here we describe a method of lowering cross‐link density by incorporating the covalently bound comonomers methyl methacrylate, lauryl methacrylate, and styrene into UV‐cured PDMS‐based polymer networks. Cross‐link density, hardness, surface roughness, and ice adhesion on these materials are tested, showing the influence of comonomer proportions on their properties. Durability is found to increase with the addition of 5, 10, and 25 wt% comonomer, with little to no effect on ice adhesion until 25 wt%, where increases in ice adhesion are observed. Coatings show promisingly low ice adhesion of ~50 kPa, maintaining this low adhesion for up to 50 deicing cycles.

1 Sex pheromone-mediated mating disruption can be used to provide economic control of the North American grape berry moth in commercial vineyards. Controlled release devices that use a plastic tube or polymer to regulate the emission of pheromone have been registered for use in Canada for controlling this pest. These dispensers require manual application, whereas a newly developed microencapsulated formulation can be applied using a vineyard airblast sprayer. 2 The efficacy of 3M Sprayable Pheromone was compared with the efficacy of Isomate Ò GBM pheromone dispensers and organophosphorus insecticide for controlling the grape berry moth during the 1997 and 1998 growing seasons. Two application schedules of sprayable pheromone were tested during 1997 and two formulations of sprayable pheromone were tested during 1998. The mating disruption efficiency of the pheromone treatments was compared using pheromone-baited traps and the efficacy of the pheromone and insecticide treatments was compared by inspecting grape clusters for feeding injury caused by grape berry moth larvae. 3 The estimated mating disruption efficiency of the pheromone treatments ranged from 67 to 100%. There was no difference in the efficiency of the two application schedules of 3M Sprayable Pheromone during 1997. The estimated efficiency of Isomate Ò GBM was greater than that of 3M Sprayable Pheromone during the first two flights of 1997. During 1998, the estimated efficiency of 3M Sprayable Pheromone and Isomate Ò GBM was similar. 4 The average percentage of grape clusters with grape berry moth feeding injury was greater in the border than in the interior zone on 13 ocassions, and greater in the interior zone than in the border zone of experimental plots on six of the 72 occasions when clusters were inspected during the 2-year study. 5 The average percentage of grape clusters with feeding injury was similar in plots treated with 3M Sprayable Pheromone, Isomate Ò GBM and insecticide during both years of the study. There was no difference in feeding injury in plots treated with 3M Sprayable Pheromone and Isomate Ò GBM, despite the greater estimated mating disruption efficiency of Isomate Ò GBM. 6 The use of sprayable pheromone may have several operational and cost advantages compared with a hand-applied dispensing system such as Isomate Ò GBM.