Does moral commitment predict resistance to corruption? experimental evidence from a bribery game

Corruption is ubiquitous in practice and has severe negative consequences for organizations and societies at large. Drawing on a laboratory experiment, we propose that individuals high in moral commitment are less likely to engage in corrupt behaviors and prefer foregoing financial benefits. Specifically, we posit that individuals refrain from corruption (i) the more they endorse integrity (incorruptibility) as a protected value and (ii) the higher their level of Honesty-Humility. The results of a two-step experiment largely support our expectations: people who treat compromises to integrity as unacceptable were less willing to accept bribes, and Honesty-Humility decreased bribe-giving. The findings are robust to demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, cultural background) and additional personal characteristics (e.g., risk tolerance, dispositional greed) and have important implications for ongoing theory-building efforts and business practice.

Assessing the potential of a Trichoderma-based compost activator to hasten the decomposition of incorporated rice straw

The potential for a Trichoderma-based compost activator was tested for in-situ rice straw decomposition, under both laboratory and field conditions. Inoculation of Trichoderma caused a 50% reduction in the indigenous fungal population after 2 weeks of incubation for both laboratory and field experiments. However, the Trichoderma population declined during the latter part of the incubation. Despite the significant reduction in fungal population during the first 2 weeks of incubation, inoculated samples were found to have higher indigenous and total fungal population at the end of the experiments with as much as a 300% increase in the laboratory experiment and 50% during day-21 and day-28 samplings in the field experiment. The laboratory incubation experiment revealed that inoculated samples released an average of 16% higher amounts of CO2 compared to uninoculated straw in sterile soil samples. Unsterile soil inoculated with Trichoderma released the highest amount of CO2 in the laboratory experiment. In the field experiment, improved decomposition was observed in samples inoculated with Trichoderma and placed below ground (WTBG). From the initial value of around 35%, the C content in WTBG was down to 28.63% after 42 days of incubation and was the lowest among treatments. This is significantly lower compared with NTBG (No Trichoderma placed below ground, 31.1% C), WTSS (With Trichoderma placed on soil surface, 33.83% C), and NTSS (No Trichoderma placed on soil surface, 34.30% carbon). The WTBG treatment also had the highest N content of 1.1%. The C:N ratio of WTBG was only 26.27, 39.51% lower than the C:N ratio of NTBG, which is 43.43. These results prove that the Trichoderma-based inoculant has the potential to hasten the decomposition of incorporated rice straw.

PENGARUH SALINITAS TERHADAP PERKEMBANGAN STADIUM AKUATIK Aedes aegypti DI LABORATORIUM

Aedes aegypti is known as the species of mosquito that breeds in fresh water, but due to the nature of adaptive this species found in habitats containing salt. This laboratory experiment aims to find out how different concentration of salinity will affect aquatic stages of Aedes aegypti. Salinity concentrations or treatment used in this study were 0‰, 2‰, 4‰, 6‰, 8‰ and 10‰ with five replicates. The observed parameters is the number of hatched eggs and number of surviving larvae or pupa after exposed to media containing salt. The results show that salinity influence both the number of hatced eggs and surviving larvae or pupae. There were decrease of number of hatched eggs and also the surviving larva or pupa as salinity increase. Analysis of variance showed significant relationship between salinity and the number of larvae or pupae survived but not with number of hatched eggs. Dengue vector adaptation against salinity become a phenomenon that needs to be examined and related to the spread of vector in habitats containing salt as well as transmission of the virus.

SNPs Associated with Foliar Phylloxera Tolerance in Hybrid Grape Populations Carrying Introgression from Muscadinia

Leaf-feeding phylloxera decreases the photosynthetic activity of a grape plant, leading to decreasing number of fruit buds. In addition, phylloxera larvae emerging from the leaf galls may colonize the roots, negatively affecting the growth of the grape plant. In this study, we evaluated host tolerance of three grapevine hybrid populations obtained from crossing of the same maternal grapevine M. no. 31-77-10 with interspecific hybrids carrying introgressions from Muscadinia and other North American Vitis species against leaf-feeding grape phylloxera. Combining genotyping data of the populations obtained with 12,734 SNPs and their resistance phenotypes evaluated in the laboratory experiment, we performed an association study. As the result of GWAS, nine SNPs with the lowest significant p-values were discovered in the whole sample of 139 hybrids as associated with variation of the scores ‘the percentage of infested leaves’ and ‘intensity of gall formation’. Three of the SNPs on LG 7 were located in the same chromosome interval where a major QTL (RDV6) for root phylloxera resistance was reported from Muscadine background. Two SNPs on LG 8 were detected within the gene, encoding E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase UPL4 involved in apoptosis. SNPs detected on LG 13 and LG 18 may overlap with the previously reported QTLs for phylloxera resistance inherited from V. cinerea.

Results of Experimental Studies of Piles on Horizontal Loads

Постановка задачи. Рассматриваются и сравниваются результаты лабораторных испытаний горизонтально нагруженной сваи, укрепленной стальной сеткой, расположенной в грунте, и отдельно стоящей сваи без сетки. Результаты. Производится сравнительная оценка перемещений и несущей способности сваи на горизонтальную нагрузку при лабораторном эксперименте. Для сопоставления результатов различных испытаний в лабораторных условиях были выполнены опыты в лотке с песком при одних и тех же диаметре и длине сваи. Эксперименты были проведены на моделях в Центре коллективного пользования им. проф. Ю. М. Борисова г. Воронежа. Выводы. Данные лабораторных экспериментов показали, что применение свай, укрепленных стальной сеткой, позволяет существенно повысить несущую способность свайных фундаментов и снизить горизонтальные и угловые перемещения по сравнению с отдельно стоящими сваями при одной и той же нагрузке. Statement of the problem. The results of laboratory tests of a horizontally loaded pile reinforced with a steel grid located in the ground and a free-standing pile without a grid are considered and compared. Results. A comparative assessment of the load-bearing capacity of the pile for a horizontal load is made during a laboratory experiment. To compare the results of various tests in the laboratory, experiments were performed in a tray with sand at the same diameter and length of the pile. The experiments were carried out on models at the center for collective use named after Prof. Yu. M. Barisov (Voronezh). Conclusions. The data of laboratory experiments have shown that the use of piles reinforced with steel mesh can significantly increase the load-bearing capacity of pile foundations and reduce horizontal movements compared to free-standing piles at the same load.