Flower strips increase the control of rosy apple aphids after parasitoid releases in an apple orchard

Mass releases of two parasitoid species, Aphidius matricariae and Ephedrus cerasicola, may provide an alternative measure to pesticides to control the rosy apple aphid Dysaphis plantaginea in organic apple orchards. As a proof of concept study, we tested if the presence of flower strips between apple tree rows could improve the action of three early parasitoid releases—and of other naturally present aphid enemies—on the control of aphid colonies and number of aphids per tree. Apple trees located at different distances from parasitoid release points were monitored in plots with and without flower strips in an organic apple orchard over two years, along the season of aphid infestation (March to July). Our case study demonstrated that the presence of flowering plant mixes in the alleyways of an apple orchard improved the biological control of D. plantaginea, with an effect size of 33.4% less aphids in plots with flower strips, compared to plots without flower strips, at the infestation peak date. We also showed a negative effect of higher distance to parasitoid release points on aphid control, but our results at the infestation peak date suggest that the presence of flowers could marginally compensate for the detrimental effect of distance, probably by improving the persistence and dispersal capacities of natural enemies. Despite high variations in aphid population dynamics between years, we conclude that combining flower strips with early parasitoid releases in apple orchards is promising for biological control of the rosy apple aphid, although the method merits to be further refined and repeated in more orchards.

Does corporate social responsibility affect dividend policy? Empirical evidence in the French context

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on dividend policy in the French context. In addition, the authors seek to determine if the individual components of CSR influence dividend policy. Design/methodology/approach This study uses panel data methodology for a sample of French non-financial firms between 2008 and 2018. Generalized least squares method is used to estimate the models. Findings Using panel data methodology for a sample of 825 observations for the period 2008–2018, this study finds a positive impact of CSR practices on dividend policy. The authors also find that individual components of CSR positively influence dividend policy. To check the robustness of the results, this study further runs a sensitivity tests, including an alternative measure of dividend policy, all of which confirm the findings. Practical implications This study has examined the impact of CSR on dividend policy in France and may have implications for regulatory, investors, analysts and academics. First, the involvement in CSR best practices encourages companies to pay more dividends to investors. Therefore, investors are more motivated to invest in socially responsible firms than socially irresponsible firms. Second, given the association of CSR with the quality of accounting information and financial markets, regulators should step up recommendations relating to the different societal dimensions of CSR. Originality/value While little previous work has focused on the causal link between CSR and dividend policy, this research is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to have looked at the impact of CSR on dividend policy in France.

Analysis of Necessity and Feasibility for Ground Improvement in Warm and Ice-Rich Permafrost Regions

Characterized by low bearing capacity and high compressibility, warm and ice-rich frozen soil is a kind of problematic soil, which makes the original frozen ground formed by of that unreliable to meet the stability requirements of engineering infrastructures and foundations in permafrost regions. With the design and construction of major projects along the Qinghai-Tibet Engineering Corridor (QTEC), such as expressway and airport runway, it is a great challenge to favor the stability of overlying structures by formulating the proper engineering design principles and developing the valid engineering supporting techniques. The investigations carried out in recent years indicated that warm and ice-rich permafrost foundations were widespread, climate warming was significant, and the stability of existing engineering structures was poor, along the QTEC. When the warm and ice-rich frozen ground is used as the foundation soil, the implementation of ground improvement is an alternative measure to enhance the bearing capacity of foundation soil and eliminate the settlement of structures during operation, in order to guarantee the long-term stability of the structures. Based on the key factors determining the physicomechanical properties of frozen soil, an innovative idea of stabilizing the warm and ice-rich frozen soil based on chemical stabilization is proposed in this study, and then, an in situ ground improvement technique is introduced. This study intends to explore the feasibility of ground improvement in warm and ice-rich permafrost regions along the QTEC based on in situ chemical stabilization and provide the technical support and scientific reference to prevent and mitigate the hazards in the construction of major projects in the future.

Does Trust Associate with Political Regime?

Since trust correlates with economic development and in turn economic development associates with political regime, we conjecture that there may be a relationship between trust and political regime. Without looking for any casual inference, we investigate if trust aggregated on the country level correlates with the country's political regime. Specifically, we are interested whether trust correlates positively with the level of democracy in cross-sectional observations. We analyse data on trust from 76 countries using the Global Preference Survey and investigate the correlations with five separate democracy indices (Polity2, Economist Intelligence Unit’s Index of Democracy, Freedom House, MaxRange and Unified Democracy Score). We do not find any significant association, with or without taking into account other factors (e.g., regional location, economic development, geographic conditions, culture) as well. Trust does not correlate with cornerstones of democracy either, measured by five components of the EIU index. A robustness check using an alternative measure of trust from the World Values Survey reaches the same results. The present study supersedes the working paper version (Khayouti et al., 2020).

𝑯𝑵- Entropy: A New Measureof Information And Its Properties

Entropy measures the amount of uncertainty and dispersion of an unknown or random quantity, this concept introduced at first by Shannon (1948), it is important for studies in many areas. Like, information theory: entropy measures the amount of information in each message received, physics: entropy is the basic concept that measures the disorder of the thermodynamical system, and others. Then, in this paper, we introduce an alternative measure of entropy, called 𝐻𝑁- entropy, unlike Shannon entropy, this proposed measure of order α and β is more flexible than Shannon. Then, the cumulative residual 𝐻𝑁- entropy, cumulative 𝐻𝑁- entropy, and weighted version have been introduced. Finally, comparison between Shannon entropy and 𝐻𝑁- entropy and numerical results have been introduced.

Relationship between rectal temperature measured with a conventional thermometer and the temperature of several body regions measured by infrared thermography in fattening rabbits. Influence of different environmental factors

In clinical examination of rabbits, the temperature is usually recorded with a digital thermometer introduced rectally, an invasive procedure that could cause handling stress. The aim of this study was to assess body temperature using infrared thermography (IRT) in four areas of the rabbit’s anatomy: eye (ETT), outer ear (OETT), inner ear (IETT) and nose (NTT), and then validate it as an alternative measure to rectal temperature (RT) assessed with a conventional thermometer. Temperature samples were taken twice a week from 48 weaned rabbits of Spanish Common Rabbit breed during a 38-d fattening period. The factors considered were: doe from which the rabbits came (8 does), weeks of fattening period (4 to 5 wk), batch (3 periods of the year: April-May, June-July and January-February) and group size (cages with 1 to 7 rabbits). On average, the results were an RT of 38.48±0.02 °C; ETT of 37.31±0.05 °C; OETT of 29.09±0.26°C; IETT of 30.53±0.251 °C, and NTT of 33.29±0.11 °C (mean±se). Moderate, statistically significant positive correlations (PP

fingeRNAt - a novel tool for high-throughput analysis of nucleic acid-ligand interactions

Computational methods play a pivotal role in drug discovery and are widely applied in virtual screening, structure optimization, and compound activity profiling. Over the last decades, almost all the attention in medicinal chemistry has been directed to protein-ligand binding, and computational tools have been created with this target in mind. With novel discoveries of functional RNAs and their possible applications, RNAs have gained considerable attention as potential drug targets. However, the availability of bioinformatics tools for nucleic acids is limited. Here, we introduce fingeRNAt - a software tool for detecting non-covalent interactions formed in complexes of nucleic acids with ligands. The program detects nine types of interactions: (i) hydrogen and (ii) halogen bonds, (iii) cation-anion, (iv) pi-cation, (v) pi-anion, (vi) pi-stacking, (vii) inorganic ion-mediated, (viii) water-mediated, and (ix) lipophilic interactions. However, the scope of detected interactions can be easily expanded using a simple plugin system. In addition, detected interactions can be visualized using the associated PyMOL plugin, which facilitates the analysis of medium-throughput molecular complexes. Interactions are also encoded and stored as a bioinformatics-friendly Structural Interaction Fingerprint (SIFt) - a binary string where the respective bit in the fingerprint is set to 1 if a particular interaction is present and to 0 otherwise. This output format, in turn, enables high-throughput analysis of interaction data using data analysis techniques. We present applications of fingeRNAt-generated interaction fingerprints for visual and computational analysis of RNA-ligand complexes, including analysis of interactions formed in experimentally determined RNA-small molecule ligand complexes deposited in the Protein Data Bank. We propose interaction-based similarity based on fingerprints as an alternative measure to RMSD to recapitulate complexes with similar interactions but different folding. We present an application of molecular fingerprints for the clustering of molecular complexes. This approach can be used to group ligands that form similar binding networks and thus have similar biological properties.

Young Offenders on the Camino de Santiago—Theoretical Background of the Learning Walks

Delinquent behaviour is predominantly an expression of adolescent developmental phases, but at the same time a possible entry into criminal careers. Where socio-educational measures and admonitions no longer help, society reacts with youth detention and imprisonment as a last resort, in doing so it brings the young people into an environment of violence and power. The concept of the socio-educational pilgrimage as an alternative measure to imprisonment takes the young people out of this context and offers space for reflection and self-efficacy. In this article, different concepts of Learning Walks for young offenders are discussed and theoretically analysed.

A Comparison of the Two-Minute Walk Test and Comprehensive High-level Activity Mobility Predictor (CHAMP) in People with a Leg Prosthesis

Objective To determine if the two-minute walk test (2MWT) could serve as an alternative measure of high-level mobility in lower limb prosthesis users when circumstances preclude administration of the Comprehensive High-level Activity Mobility Predictor (CHAMP). Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Indoor recreational athletic field and gymnasium Subjects Fifty-eight adult lower limb prosthesis users with unilateral or bilateral lower limb amputation who participate in recreational athletic activities. Intervention N/A Main Measures The 2MWT and CHAMP while using their preferred prosthesis(es) on an indoor artificial athletic field or hardwood gymnasium floor. Results Thirty-nine men and nineteen women with a median age of 38.3 years participated in the study. Most participants experienced amputation(s) due to trauma (62%) or tumor (10%) and were generally higher functioning (K4 (91.4%) and K3 (8.6%)). The median (range) score for the CHAMP was 23.0 points (1.5–33.5) and the mean ± standard deviation (range) 2MWT distance walked was 188.6 ± 33.9 m (100.2–254.3 m). The CHAMP demonstrated a strong positive relationship with 2MWT (r = 0.83, p < 0.001). The 2MWT distance predicted 70% of the variance in CHAMP score. Conclusions Although the 2MWT does not test multi-directional agility like the CHAMP, they were found to be highly correlated. If space is limited, the two-minute walk test can serve as an alternative measure for assessing high-level mobility capabilities in lower limb prosthesis users.

The Asymmetric Impact of Oil Prices on Unemployment in the MENA Region

We examine the effects of oil prices on unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the period of 1991–2017. Using the panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (panel NARDL) model, the results show that in the long run, positive changes of oil prices exert a positive (increasing) impact on the unemployment rate. However, negative changes in oil prices have a significant decreasing effect on the unemployment rate in the MENA region. We also find that the short run changes in oil prices do not show a significant effect on unemployment rates. Our findings are robust to an alternative measure of oil rents per capita and in line with predictions of the resource curse hypothesis. Countries with higher dependency on natural resource rents experience, on average, a slower long run economic growth rate (and thus higher unemployment rates), compared with countries with lower dependency.