Comparison of regeneration capacity and Agrobacterium-mediated cell transformation efficiency of different cultivars and rootstocks of Vitis spp. via organogenesis.

The success of in vitro plant regeneration and the competence of genetic transformation greatly depends on the genotype of the species of interest. In previous work, we developed a method for the efficient Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation via organogenesis of V. vinifera cultivar Thompson Seedless, by using meristematic bulk (MB) as starting tissue. In this study, we applied this method for the regeneration and transformation of MBs obtained from the Italian cultivar Ciliegiolo and two of the commonly used Vitis rootstocks, 110 Richter and Kober 5BB, in comparison with Thompson Seedless. The A. tumefaciens strain EHA105, harbouring pK7WG2 binary vector, was used for the transformation trials, which allowed selection through the enhanced-green fluorescent protein (eGFP) and the neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII) gene. Putative transformed tissues and/or shoots were identified by either a screening based on the eGFP expression alone or its use in combination with kanamycin in the medium. MBs obtained from Thompson Seedless showed the highest regeneration and transformation cell competence, which subsequently allowed the recovery of stably transformed plants. Ciliegiolo, 110 Richter, and Kober 5BB, produced actively growing transgenic calli showing eGFP fluorescence, more consistently on selective media, but had no regenerative competence.

Gap-inhomogeneity-induced electronic states in superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+delta).

In this Letter, we analyze, using scanning tunneling spectroscopy, the density of electronic states in nearly optimally doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+delta) in zero magnetic field. Focusing on the superconducting gap, we find patches of what appear to be two different phases in a background of some average gap, one with a relatively small gap and sharp large coherence peaks and one characterized by a large gap with broad weak coherence peaks. We compare these spectra with calculations of the local density of states for a simple phenomenological model in which a 2xi0 x 2xi0 patch with an enhanced or suppressed d-wave gap amplitude is embedded in a region with a uniform average d-wave gap.

Superconductivity in the two-dimensional t-J model.

Using computational techniques, it is shown that pairing is a robust property of hole-doped antiferromagnetic insulators. In one dimension and for two-leg ladder systems, a BCS-like variational wave function with long-bond spin singlets and a Jastrow factor provides an accurate representation of the ground state of the t-J model, even though strong quantum fluctuations destroy the off-diagonal superconducting long-range order in this case. However, in two dimensions it is argued-and numerically confirmed using several techniques, especially quantum Monte Carlo-that quantum fluctuations are not strong enough to suppress superconductivity.

Stripes and spin incommensurabilities are favored by lattice anisotropies.

Structural distortions in cuprate materials give a natural origin for anisotropies in electron properties. We study a modified one-band t-J model in which we allow for different hoppings and antiferromagnetic couplings in the two spatial directions (t(x) not equal to t(y) and Jx not equal to J(y)). Incommensurate peaks in the spin structure factor show up only in the presence of a lattice anisotropy, whereas charge correlations, indicating enhanced fluctuations at incommensurate wave vectors, are present but almost unaffected with respect to the isotropic case.

Resonating valence bond wave functions for strongly frustrated spin systems.

The resonating-valence-bond (RVB) theory for two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets is shown to be the correct paradigm for large enough "quantum frustration." This scenario, proposed a long time ago but never confirmed by microscopic calculations, is strongly supported by a new type of variational wave function, which is extremely close to the exact ground state of the J(1)-J(2) Heisenberg model for 0.4 less than approximately J(2)/J(1) less than approximately 0.5. This wave function is proposed to represent the generic spin-half RVB ground state in spin liquids.

Spontaneous plaquette dimerization in the J1-J2 heisenberg model

We investigate the nonmagnetic phase of the spin-half frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the square lattice using exact diagonalization (up to 36 sites) and quantum Monte Carlo techniques (up to 144 sites). The spin gap and the susceptibilities for the most important crystal symmetry breaking operators are computed. A genuine and somehow unexpected "plaquette resonating valence bond," with spontaneously broken translation symmetry and no broken rotation symmetry, comes out from our numerical simulations as the most plausible ground state for J(2)/J(1) approximately 0.5.

[Determination of residues of chlorinated and phosphorated pesticides on the fruit of Pesaro province (author's transl)]. / Determinazione di residui di pesticidi clorurati e fosforati nella frutta della provincia di Pesaro

The residues of pesticides chlorinated and phosphorated on the fruit of Pesaro province at the moment of its immission on the market has been determined. No pesticides has found to have a residue near to toxicity values, but sometimes more than one pesticide has been found on the same sample. This fact, also if not alarming, must be attentively considered in order to promote a better information campaign and therefore a more rational use of those substances.