477 research outputs found
Phytochemical Characterization of Callistemon lanceolatus Leaf Essential Oils and Their Application as Sustainable Stored Grain Protectants against Major Storage Insect Pests
No full textFood storage has been important since the dawn of agriculture and human settlement. Insect pests cause major losses to food grains during storage and production. Essential oils are good alternatives for chemical insecticides for the management of storage pests. Red bottlebrush, Callistemon lanceolatus, is a flowering plant of the Myrtaceae family. This research work aimed to extract the oil from bottlebrush leaves, and chemically characterize and assess their repellent and insecticidal properties against the cowpea seed beetle, Callasobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (Coleoptera: Ptinidae), and red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst.) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), for the first time. The essential oil yielded by hydro-distillation of bottlebrush leaves was 1.02 ± 0.01%. GC-MS analysis determined the chemical composition of the volatile oil comprised 1,8-cineole (19.17%), α-terpineol (11.51%), α-pinene (10.28%), and α-Phellandrene (9.55%). The C. lanceolatus leaf oil showed potent repellence, contact toxicity, and fumigation toxic effects. In the contact toxicity assay, at 24 h, the LC50 values were 1.35, 0.52, and 0.58 mg/cm2 for the red flour beetle, cigarette beetle, and cowpea seed beetle, respectively. Likewise, in the fumigation assay observed after 24 h, LC50 values of 22.60, 5.48, and 1.43 μL/L air were demonstrated for the red flour beetle, cigarette beetle, and cowpea seed beetle, respectively. Additionally, there was no significance found by a phytotoxicity assay when the paddy seeds were exposed to C. lanceolatus oil. The results show that the volatile oils from red bottlebrush leaves have the potential to be applied as a biopesticide. Therefore, C. lanceolatus leaf oil can be utilized as a bio-insecticide to control stored product insects
Breakdowns
No full textWe study a continuous-time game of strategic experimentation in which the players try to assess the failure rate of some new equipment or technology. Breakdowns occur at the jump times of a Poisson process whose unknown intensity is either high or low. In marked contrast to existing models, we find that the cooperative value function does not exhibit smooth pasting at the efficient cut-off belief. This finding extends to the boundaries between continuation and stopping regions in Markov perfect equilibria. We characterize the unique symmetric equilibrium, construct a class of asymmetric equilibria, and elucidate the impact of bad versus good Poisson news on equilibrium outcomes
Negatively Correlated Bandits
No full textWe analyze a two-player game of strategic experimentation with two-armed bandits. Each player has to decide in continuous time whether to use a safe arm with a known payoff or a risky arm whose likelihood of delivering payoffs is initially unknown. The quality of the risky arms is perfectly negatively correlated between players. In marked contrast to the case where both risky arms are of the same type, we find that learning will be complete in any Markov perfect equilibrium if the stakes exceed a certain threshold, and that all equilibria are in cutoff strategies. For low stakes, the equilibrium is unique, symmetric, and coincides with the planner’s solution. For high stakes, the equilibrium is unique, symmetric, and tantamount to myopic behavior. For intermediate stakes, there is a continuum of equilibria.
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Nearest Neighbor Conditional Estimation for Harris Recurrent Markov Chains
No full textThis paper is concerned with consistent nearest neighbor time series estimation for data generated by a Harris recurrent Markov chain. The goal is to validate nearest neighbor estimation in this general time series context, using simple and weak conditions. The framework considered covers, in a unified manner, a wide variety of statistical quantities, e.g. autoregression function, conditional quantiles, conditional tail estimators and, more generally, extremum estimators. The focus is theoretical, but examples are given to highlight applications
Lies and Biased Evaluation: A Real-Effort Experiment
No full textThis paper presents the results of a laboratory experiment in which workers perform a real-effort task and supervisors report the workers' performance to the experimenter. The report is non verifiable and determines the earnings of both the supervisor and the worker. We find that not all the supervisors, but at least one third of them bias their report. Both selfish black lies (increasing the supervisor's earnings while decreasing the worker's payoff) and Pareto white lies (increasing the earnings of both) according to Erat and Gneezy (2009)'s terminology are frequent. In contrast, spiteful black lies (decreasing the earnings of both) and altruistic white lies (increasing the earnings of workers but decreasing those of the supervisor) are almost non-existent. The supervisors' second-order beliefs and their decision to lie are highly correlated, suggesting that guilt aversion plays a role.Lies, deception, self-image, guilt aversion, lie-aversion, evaluation, experiments
Europeanizing from the Centre? Executive Configurations and Transposition of Community Legislation in Poland
No full textThis paper seeks to explain cross-temporal variation in the transposition of Community legislation in Poland between 1997 and 2001. Transposition paths are linked to institutional factors that facilitate or prohibit change; but - in contrast to the existing conceptualizations - this paper focuses on the configurations of the national executive. The principal finding is that a major upward shift in the pattern of transposition in 2000 was correlated with a far-reaching centralization of authority in the executive. Internally, the core executive increased its powers through (i) strong leadership from the prime minister and the minister for European affairs, (ii) reinforced horizontal and hierarchical coordination mechanisms, and (iii) capacity to undertake regulatory management. In its relationship with parliament the executive won extensive control over legislative time and agenda through (i) cohesive support from major political parties, (ii) monopoly of legislative initiative, and (iii) restricting of parliamentary amending powers
Gminy miejskie w średniowiecznych Prusach i Inflantach – pomiędzy władzą rady a uczestnictwem mieszczan
No full textDer Artikel präsentiert Forschungen zum Modell der Stadtgemeinde, wie es sich im Selbstbild der wichtigsten Städte in Preußen und Livland im Mittelalter herausbildete, und seinen Verbindungen mit der sozialen und politischen Wirklichkeit. Eine Analyse der in der Korrespondenz und in den Dokumenten angewandten gewohnheitsmäßigen Praktiken ergab, dass sich die preußischen und livländischen Städte im 13. Jahrhundert als Stadtgemeinden präsentierten, die mit Hilfe von Organe der Gemeindeherrschaft (Ortsverwalter, Stadtrat) funktionierten. Mit Beginn des 14. Jahrhunderts wurde in den wichtigsten preußischen Städten eine Tendenz zur Betonung der Oberrigket des Stadtrates gegenüber der Bürgergemeinschaft erkennbar. In Livland galt das Bild einer egalitären Gemeinschaft bis in die zweite Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts. Trotz der dominierenden politischen Rolle der oligarchischen Stadträte überwogen die Ideen des Gemeinwohls und der Beteiligung der Bürger an der Herrschaftsausübung. Der Autor zeigt, dass die Stadträte in Zeiten des Konflikts mit dem Territorialherrscher und jedesmal, wenn es zu inneren Kämpfen kam, unabhängig von der politischen Wirklichkeit versuchten, das Bild einer egalitären Gemeinschaft zu kreieren, die an den meisten politischen und administrativen Entscheidungen beteiligt war. In Livland sollen die Gilden im 15. Jahrhundert eingeladen worden sein, über Stadtgemeinden (Riga, Reval) betreffende Angelegenheiten mitzuentscheiden. Die als Teil des Selbstbildes der Städte geschaffenen Bilder sollten als Kommunikationsmittel betrachtet werden, die dem Erreichen bestimmter politischer und sozialer Ziele dienten. In beschränktem Maße würden sie die wirkliche politische Kondition der preußischen und livländischen Städte widerspiegeln.The article presents the research on the model of an urban municipality as created in the self-image of major cities in Prussia and Livonia in the Middle Ages and its connection with the social and political reality. The analysis of the habitual practices used in correspondence and documents indicates that in the 13th century, Prussian and Livonian towns presented themselves as civil communities acting through the bodies of the communal authority (the head of the village, the city council). From the beginning of the 14th century in the major Prussian cities there arose a tendency to highlight the supreme authority of the city council over the community of citizens. In Livonia the image of the egalitarian community remained valid until the second half of the 14th century. Despite the dominant political role of the oligarchic city councils, the ideas of the common good and the citizens’ participation in governing the city prevailed. The author indicates that in periods of conflict with the territorial ruler and whenever internal infighting occurred, the city councils, irrespective of the political reality, tried to create a picture of an egalitarian community that took part in the most important political and administrative decisions. In Livonia in the 15th century, guilds would be invited to the process of making decisions concerning the urban municipalities (Riga, Tallin). The pictures created as part of the cities’ self-image should be treated as a means of communication serving to achieve certain political and social aims. They only reflected the actual political conditions of Prussian and Livonian towns to a limited extent.Artykuł przedstawia badania nad modelem gminy miejskiej, jaki uformował się we własnym wizerunku głównych miast w Prusach i Inflantach w wiekach średnich, oraz jego powiązania z rzeczywistością społeczną i polityczną. Analiza zwyczajowych praktyk stosowanych w korespondencji i dokumentach wskazuje, że w XIII w. pruskie i inflanckie miasta przedstawiały się jako wspólnoty miejskie działające poprzez organy władzy gminnej (zarządca miejscowości, rada miejska). Wraz z początkiem XIV stulecia w głównych miastach pruskich pojawiła się tendencja do podkreślania zwierzchniej władzy rady miejskiej nad społecznością mieszczan. W Inflantach wizerunek egalitarnej wspólnoty obowiązywał do drugiej połowy XIV stulecia. Mimo dominującej roli politycznej oligarchicznych rad miejskich, przeważały idee dobra wspólnego i udziału mieszczan w sprawowaniu rządów. Autor wskazuje, że w okresach konfliktu z władcą terytorialnym i za każdym razem, kiedy pojawiały się walki wewnętrzne, rady miejskie, niezależnie od rzeczywistości politycznej, próbowały wykreować obraz społeczności egalitarnej, która uczestniczyła w podejmowaniu większości decyzji politycznych i administracyjnych. W Inflantach w XV w. gildie miały być zapraszane do podejmowania decyzji dotyczących gmin miejskich (Ryga, Tallin). Obrazy wytworzone jako część autowizerunku miast powinny być rozpatrywane jako środki komunikacji służące osiąganiu określonych celów politycznych i społecznych. W ograniczonym stopniu odzwierciedlały one rzeczywistą kondycję polityczną miast pruskich i inflanckich
The Optimal Consumption Function in a Brownian Model of Accumulation Part A: The Consumption Function as Solution of a Boundary Value Problem
No full textWe consider a neo-classical model of optimal economic growth with c.r.r.a. utility in which the traditional deterministic trends representing population growth, technological progress, depreciation and impatience are replaced by Brownian motions with drift. When transformed to 'intensive' units, this is equivalent to a stochastic model of optimal saving with diminishing returns to capital. For the intensive model, we give sufficient conditions for optimality of a consumption plan (open-loop control) comprising a finite welfare condition, a martingale condition for shadow prices and a transversality condition as t ? ?. We then replace these by conditions of optimality of a plan generated by a consumption function (closed-loop control), i.e. a function H(z) expressing log-consumption as a time-invariant, deterministic function of log-capital z. Making use of the exponential martingale formula we replace the martingale condition by a non-linear, non-autonomous second order o.d.e. which an optimal consumption function must satisfy; this has the form H"(z) = F[H'(z),?(z),z], where ?(z) = exp{H(z)-z}. Economic considerations suggest certain limiting values which H'(z) and ?(z) should satisfy as z ? ? ?, thus defining a two-point boundary value problem (b.v.p.) - or rather, a family of problems, depending on the values of parameters. We prove two theorems showing that a consumption function which solves the appropriate b.v.p. generates an optimal plan. Proofs that a unique solution of each b.v.p. exists will be given in a separate paper (Part B).Consumption, capital accumution, Brownian motion, optimisation, orderinary differential equation, boundary value problems.
Zygmunt Gloger in the context of folklore and local history in Poland and Belarus
No full textThe author of the article argues that Zygmunt Gloger – as if he were a genuine artist – became famous for collecting, editing and examining the folklore works of eastern borderlands. Today, the results of his kind of activity are essential not only for Poland and Belarus, but for the whole Slavdom. The materials, manuscripts, folk tales and customs that he collected and systematized are a solid foundation for comparative and typological studies of the Slavdom, irrespective of language groups, histories and social issues over centuries.Swietłana F. Musijenko – prof. em. dr hab., twórczyni pierwszej w historii edukacji białoruskiej katedry filologii polskiej w Grodnie, założycielka pierwszego na świecie
Muzeum Zofii Nałkowskiej, przewodnicząca Naukowo-Dydaktycznego Centrum Koordynacyjnego „Międzynarodowy Instytut Adama Mickiewicza”. Organizatorka
współpracy naukowo-dydaktycznej z uczelniami Polski, Rosji, Białorusi. Autorka ponad 300 prac naukowych publikowanych w Polsce, Białorusi, Rosji, Szwajcarii,
w tym książek: Twórczość Zofii Nałkowskiej (Mińsk 1989), Polska powieść realistyczna lat 20.–30. XX stulecia (Grodno 2003), Gatunkowo-stylistyczne poszukiwania
w prozie polskiej końca lat 50. i połowy lat 60. XX stulecia (Grodno 2015). Zainteresowania naukowe: literatura polska XIX–XX stulecia, związki literackie polsko-rosyjskie, polsko-białoruskie, imagologia. Członek Rady Naukowej ds. obrony prac doktorskich i habilitacyjnych, członek rady redakcyjnej czasopism naukowych: „Веснік Гродзенскага дзяржаўнага ўніверсітэта імя Янкі Купалы”, „Вестник Полоцкого государственного университета”, „Bibliotekarz Podlaski”.Grodzieński Państwowy Uniwersytet im. Janki Kupały, BiałoruśGloger Z., Encyklopedia staropolska ilustrowana, T. 1–4, Warszawa 1900–1903.Krzyżanowski J., Zygmunt Gloger i jego „Encyklopedia staropolska”, [w:] Z. Gloger, Encyklopedia staropolska ilustrowana, T. 1, Warszawa 1996.Literatura polska. Przewodnik encyklopedyczny, T. 1–2, Warszawa 1986.Orzeszkowa E., Przedmowa [do rozdziału Niemen], [w:] Z. Gloger, Dolinami rzek, Warszawa 1903.Zygmunt Gloger. Pisarz, myśliciel, uczony. Studia, red. naukowa J. Leończuk, J. Ławski, Ł. Zabielski, Białystok 2016.35135
Host species identification of bloodmeals from tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae) by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP)
No full textDeckblatt - Impressum
for my parents, wife and children
Contents
Abbreviations
1 INTRODUCTION 1
2 LITERATURE REVIEW 3
3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 23
4 RESULTS 39
5 DISCUSSION 61
6 CONCLUSIONS 68
7 SUMMARY 69
8 ZUSAMMENFASSUNG 71
9 REFERENCES 73
10 ANNEXES 89
AcknowledgementsTsetsefliegen sind obligat blutsaugende Arthropoden, die ausschließlich an
Wirbeltieren Blut saugen. Sie sind für die Übertragung der Schlafkrankheit
beim Menschen und der afrikanischen Trypanosomosen bei Haustieren in weiten
Teilen Afrikas südlich der Sahara (Tsetsegürtel) verantwortlich. Kenntnisse
über das Verhalten von Tsetsefliegen bei der Nahrungsaufnahme sind
erforderlich, um die Beziehung zwischen Wirt und Vektor und ihre jeweilige
Rolle im Übertragungszyklus der Krankheit zu verstehen. Die Herkunft der
Blutmahlzeiten der Tsetsefliegen liefert dabei wichtige Informationen über die
natürlichen Ernährungsgewohnheiten der verschiedenen Fliegenarten aus der
Gattung Glossina. Ziel der Arbeit war es daher, ein DNA-analytisches
Untersuchungsverfahren zur Tierartidentifikation des von Tsetsefliegen
aufgenommenen Blutes zu entwickeln. Es wurde eine DNA-Bank von Haus- und
Wildtierarten eingerichtet, die 33 potenzielle Wirbeltierwirte von
Tsetsefliegen erfasst. Die DNA wurde aus natürlichen Proben, wie Blut, Haaren
und Haut extrahiert und mittels PCR unter Verwendung universeller Cytochrom
b-Primer (cytb 1 und cytb 2) amplifiziert. Die verwendeten Primer waren
komplementär zu konservierten Regionen des Cytochrom b - Gens der Wirbeltiere
und führten bei allen untersuchten Arten der Familie Bovidae zu
übereinstimmenden aber variablen 359 bp PCR-Produkten. Die Auswahl geeigneter
Schnittstellen für die Restriktionsendonukleasen basierte auf dem Vergleich
von mtDNA Sequenzdaten von Boviden, die vom "National Centre for Biotechnology
Information� (USA) bezogen wurden. Die potenziellen Schnittstellen innerhalb
der verschiedenen 359 bp Amplifikate, wurden mit dem von der �New England
Biolab Incorporation� entwickelten frei verfügbaren Programms �NEB cutter
V1.0� identifiziert. Für die Unterscheidung der verschiedenen Arten der
Familie Bovidae wurde unter Nutzung der unterschiedlichen Restriktionsenzyme
TaqI, AluI, HindII die PCR-RFLP Analyse verwendet. Die erhaltenen
artspezifischen Restriktionsprofile waren für die Identifikation von allen 10
untersuchten Bovidenarten geeignet. Die Interpretation der Restriktionsprofile
erfolgte visuell, durch Vergleich mit Referenzproben und unter Verwendung
eines 50 bp DNA-Markers. Eine Computeranalyse war nicht notwendig. Die
Ergebnisse zeigen, dass es unter Verwendung universeller cytb Primer möglich
ist, die in der Blutmahlzeit von Tsetsefliegen vorhandene Wirtstier-DNA zu
amplifizieren. Die Nachweisrate in Blutmahlzeiten von Tsetsefliegen mittels
PCR-RFLP betrug 24 h nach der Blutaufnahme 100%, nach 48 h 80%, nach 72 h 60%
und nach 96 h 40%. Außerdem war die Technik auch für die Amplifikation der DNA
von Blutausstrichen auf Filterpapier geeignet. Bei Verwendung antiseptischer
Lösungen wurde die Wirtstier- DNA nicht zerstört. Nach der Verdauung der PCR
Amplifikate mit Restriktionsendonukleasen entstanden durch co-Amplifikation
nukleärer cytb Pseudogene einige unspezifische DNA Fragmente. Außerdem wurde
bei einigen Tierarten eine unvollständige Restriktionsverdauung beobachtet.
Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie zeigen, dass die cytb PCR-RFLPAnalyse eine
vielversprechende Methode für die Identifikation der Blutmahlzeiten von
Tsetsefliegen ist.Tsetse flies are obligatory haematophagous arthropods, feeding only on
vertebrate blood. They are responsible for the transmission of Human Sleeping
Sickness (HSS) and African Animal Trypanosomosis (AAT) in large areas of sub-
Saharan Africa. Information on the feeding behaviour of tsetse is essential in
understanding the relationship between hosts and vectors, and their respective
roles in a disease transmission cycle. The source of a tsetse bloodmeal might
provide important information relating to the epidemiology of trypanosomosis
and natural feeding habits of different species of Glossina. The aim of this
work was to develop a DNA based assay for the identification of bloodmeals
from tsetse flies. A DNA bank from potential vertebrate hosts of tsetse flies
was established comprising of 33 wild and domestic vertebrate species. DNA was
extracted from biological specimens, such as blood, hair and skin and
submitted to PCR using universal Cytochrome b primers (cytb 1 and cytb 2). The
primers were complementary to the conserved region of the cytochrome b gene of
vertebrates leading to a consistent but variable 359 bp-PCR products in all
bovid species tested. The selection of appropriate restriction endonucleases
sites was based on the comparison of mtDNA sequence data of bovids drawn from
the search tool of the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (USA).
Sites for all restriction enzymes that cut the amplified 359 bp sequence were
identified by means of the free available programme NEB cutter V1.0 designed
by New England Biolab Incorporation. PCR-RFLP analysis was used to
differentiate different species of the family Bovidae by using different
restriction endonucleases; TaqI, AluI and HindII. The obtained species-
specific restriction profiles were suitable for the identification of 10 bovid
species tested in this study. Interpretation of the restriction profiles was
performed visually by comparison with reference samples and help of 50 bp
molecular size marker, without the need for computer analysis. The results
also demonstrate that it is possible to use universal cytb primers to amplify
DNA present in bloodmeals from haematophagous tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae).
The detection rate of host DNA in tsetse bloodmeals by PCR-RFLP was 100%, 80%,
60% and 40% at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h post-feeding, respectively. In addition,
the technique was successfully used to amplify DNA from blood smeared onto
filter paper and subjected to antiseptic solutions without deterioration in
the host DNA. After digestion of PCR amplicons with restriction endonucleases,
some non-specific DNA fragments were obtained in some species due to co-
amplification of nuclear cytb pseudogenes. In addition, incomplete digestion
was observed in some species. The results of this study reveal that the cytb
PCR-RFLP analysis is a promising tool for the identification of tsetse
bloodmeals
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