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Beekeepers providing pollination services for California almond orchards have reported observing dead or malformed brood during and immediately after almond bloom—effects that they attribute to pesticide exposure. The objective of this study was to test commonly used insecticides and fungicides during almond bloom on honey bee larval development in a laboratory bioassay. In vitro rearing of worker honey bee larvae was performed to test the effect of three insecticides (chlorantraniliprole, diflubenzuron, and methoxyfenozide) and three fungicides (propiconazole, iprodione, and a mixture of boscalid-pyraclostrobin), applied alone or in insecticide-fungicide combinations, on larval development. Young worker larvae were fed diets contaminated with active ingredients at concentration ratios simulating a tank-mix at the maximum label rate. Overall, larvae receiving insecticide and insecticide-fungicide combinations were less likely to survive to adulthood when compared to the control or fungicide-only treatments. The insecticide chlorantraniliprole increased larval mortality when combined with the fungicides propiconazole or iprodione, but not alone; the chlorantraniliprole-propiconazole combination was also found to be highly toxic to adult workers treated topically. Diflubenzuron generally increased larval mortality, but no synergistic effect was observed when combined with fungicides. Neither methoxyfenozide nor any methoxyfenozide-fungicide combination increased mortality. Exposure to insecticides applied during almond bloom has the potential to harm honey bees and this effect may, in certain instances, be more damaging when insecticides are applied in combination with fungicides.

In response to the call for a physiologically-friendly light at night that shows low color temperature, a candle light-style organic light emitting diode (OLED) is developed with a color temperature as low as 1900 K, a color rendering index (CRI) as high as 93, and an effi cacy at least two times that of incandescent bulbs. In addition, the device has a 80% resemblance in luminance spectrum to that of a candle. Most importantly, the sensationally warm candle light-style emission is driven by electricity in lieu of the energywasting and greenhouse gas emitting hydrocarbon-burning candles invented 5000 years ago. This candle light-style OLED may serve as a safe measure for illumination at night. Moreover, it has a high color rendering index with a decent effi ciency.

Graphene oxide nanosheets were deposited directly onto the stainless steel substrate using electrophoretic deposition (EPD). The nickel ions adsorbed at the graphene oxide surface were reduced electrochemically to form nickel nanoparticles during the EPD process in the presence of a nickel nitrate additive. The attached Ni nanoparticles converted to NiO nanoparticles after annealing at 300 C. The NiO nanoparticles functioned as nanospacers to improve the face-to-face aggregation of the graphene oxide sheets. The nano-scaled crevices could be formed in the NiO-attached graphene oxide electrode after heat treatment due to different shrinkage or expansion rates between the graphene oxide and NiO nanoparticles. The wettability of electrode might be improved by the deposition of hydrophilic NiO nanoparticles at the surface of graphene sheets. Therefore, the specific capacitance of the NiO-attached graphene oxide reached as high as 569 F g À1 , which is 40 times higher than that of the bare graphene oxide electrode (13 F g À1 ) at a discharge current density of 5 A g À1 .