A calcium-alginate gel diet was developed for Spodoptera litura larvae, and its reliability as a carrier for incorporating antifeedants as well as insecticides was investigated. The alginate gel diet was prepared with a simple protocol, which does not involve any heating process. When tested using this diet, acephate, a Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxin formulation and rotenone reproducibly showed insecticidal activity against the larvae, while neem oil and scabequinone deterred the larval feeding effectively. However, not only the insecticidal activity of acephate but also the antifeedant activity of neem oil was reduced by replacing the alginate component by agar in the diet, suggesting the usefulness of the alginate gel diet as an assay tool for testing a broad range of samples against the larvae.

Phosphorus-substituted tobermorite was easily synthesized by hydrothermal treatment using phosphorus-doped calcium silicate hydrate as a starting material. The crystalline phase of phosphorus-substituted tobermorite was identified by X-ray diffraction pattern analysis. The diffraction patterns of phosphorus-substituted tobermorite showed good agreement with the powder patterns in tobermorite. The single phase of tobermorite was confirmed. With increasing P/(P+Si) molar ratio, the lattice constants, i.e., the a and c-axis distances, of phosphorus-substituted tobermorite decreased. A maximum P/(P+Si) molar ratio of 0.10 was incorporated in the structure of tobermorite. Increasing the P/(P+Si) molar ratio was confirmed by the adsorption bands of HPO 4 2¹ and PO 4 3¹ groups by infrared adsorption measurement. The morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The primary particles were thin plate-like crystals of about 0.1¯m (thickness) © 1.0¯m (width). The secondary particles were formed into approximate spheres of about 20¯m in size by aggregation of the thin plate-like crystals.

A photoelectron spectrometer composed of a cylindrical mirror type of electron energy analyzer and an Al Kα x-ray source is described. Performance tests with a tungsten filament and with gold samples have proved that the analyzer performs well. The doublet peaks of N6 and N7 of gold were completely resolved, and half-widths of the two peaks were both found to be about 1.5 eV, which is comparable with the value of 1.3–1.4 eV given by Siegbahn et al. with Mg Kα x rays.

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