Plant host acceptable microorganisms, which are ice nucleation deficient and use at least one nutrient from the plant also used by ice nucleating native microorganisms, are applied to a plant part at an early stage in the growth cycle. The multiplication of the native ice nucleating microorganisms is inhibited, so that under normal frost conditions encountered in the field, frost damage is substantially diminished. The non-nucleating microorganisms may be obtained by special selection procedures...

Compositions comprising urea peroxide are effective for treating plants for fungal, bacterial, and viral infections and for infestations of mites and insects. The compositions reduce populations of ice nucleating bacteria on plants, thus protecting the plants from frost damage. The compositions are applied to the aerial portions of plants, e.g., leaves, flowers, fruits, stems, branches, vines, and trunks.

Disclosed is a manufacturing process of a sintered iron-copper base porous alloy and of an oil-impregnated sintered bearings, having the steps of: preparing a mixed powder comprising an iron powder, and at least one of a copper powder and a copper alloy powder; forming the mixed powder into a green compact; and sintering the green compact to obtain a sintered iron-copper base porous alloy. The iron powder contains a porous iron powder which has a particle size of 177 microns or less and a specif...

An expert system for synoptic climatology. The expert system comprises a user interface that interacts with a user to obtain geographical information. An inference engine executes expert rules based on the geographical information. A synoptic climatology knowledge base provides the inference engine with the expert rules. A method for representing geographical information related to synoptic climatology for use in the expert system. The method comprises partitioning the world into climatic region...

A foam marking apparatus and method for applying foam to both pre-emergence and post-emergence crops in order to demark the boundaries of a spray application. The foam marking apparatus includes a foam generating system, a distribution line, and a foam sock applicator. The foam sock applicator includes a body having at least one opening and a flexible finger which aids in the application of the foam.

A fire extinguisher fluid comprising an aqueous gel containing as gelling agent a combination of polyacrylamide and bentonite, particularly a mixture of 0.5 parts polyacrylamide and 2.7 parts bentonite, per 100 parts of water, by weight. The gelling components are incorporated in water in the proper proportions, and a stream of the resulting aqueous gel is applied to a burning area, to form a wet cool blanket thereover and inhibit further burning.

The present invention relates to a method of protecting vegetation from frost or freeze by providing a coating of a composition containing partially hydrated cellulosic fibers. The coating composition optionally includes an adhesive and/or a foaming surfactant. The method is particularly useful in protecting fruit-bearing and blossoming trees from frost or freeze. The present invention also relates to a composition of cellulosic fibers for use in the protective method.

A method for transforming a fuzzy logic system into a neural network, where, in order to simulate membership functions, sigmoid functions are linked together in such a way that, even after the optimization of the neural network, back-transformation of the neural network into a, fuzzy logic system is possible. The advantage of the method described is that a fuzzy logic system can be transformed, in particular component by component, into a neural network and the latter can then be optimized as a ...

The temperament of a bee colony is assessed by placing a transducer-containing target adjacent the colony's hive, and inducing the colony to strike the target. Each individual bee strike is converted into an electrical signal by the target's transducer, that is transmitted to a tape recorder, or a totalizing counter for an immediate readout of the intensity of the strike by the colony.

A method for making porous metals that can be used as a filter, a sound-absorbing plate and a line material for a heat exchanger, is manufactured in a simple process using metal powder. The method includes the steps of heating a mixture of a powder-shaped salt and metal powder at a temperature lower than a melting temperature of the salt and higher than a melting temperature of metal powder, to thereby melt the metal powder, pressing and molding the mixture so that the fusion metal is filled int...