Suchergebnisse

The spittlebug Philaenus spumarius (L.) has been identified as vector for the damaging bacterium X. fastidiosa in Europe. The knowledge about this insect biology and survival developing on native plants from Europe is crucial to establish ground cover management strategies in olive orchards to control the X. fastidiosa spread. In this study we aimed to evaluate the survival of adults developing on two native and common plants in Europe as well as the effect of different temperatures on the P. spumarius survival. The species selected for the survival analysis were Medicago arabica (L.) Huds. and Sanguisor baverrucosa (Link exG.Don) Ces. These plants are distributed all across Europe and presented foams near the campus, where they were collected. New born adults (<24h) were used for survival analysis. Six treatments (M. sativa 21⁰C, M. sativa 25⁰C, S. verrucosa 21⁰C, water 21⁰C, water 25⁰C and water 4⁰C) with 21 to 30 replicates were accomplished. Results indicated that survival of P. spumarius could improve when developing on different plants species. Variation in temperatures also affected the P. spumarius survival, being particularly remarkable the improvement of survival under 4⁰C when compared with the other water treatments. ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N. 727987 "Xylella fastidiosa Active Containment Through a multidisciplinary-Oriented Research Strategy XF-ACTORS".

In this article, the relationship between populist attitudes and conventional and unconventional forms of political participation in Portugal is explored. The data analysis allows us to conclude that these attitudes are linked to a greater likelihood of party affiliation as well as expressive and nonpartisan modes of participation such as association membership, demonstrations, petition signing, and purchasing or boycotting products and services for political, ethical or environmental reasons. On the other hand, populist attitudes are not related to instances of extreme unconventional participation such as blocking roads or railway lines, occupying buildings or factories and damaging public spaces. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Se analiza la estrecha relación entre historiografía y poder, especialmente en el Renacimiento, cuando tienen lugar tres procesos históricos que propiciaron una interesante colaboración entre ambos: el nacimiento y desarrollo del estado Moderno, la Reforma religiosa, tanto católica como protestante, y el descubrimiento de América.

There is an urgent need of increasing the knowledge about natural enemies of Philaenus spumarius and finding strategies to limit the spread of X. fastidiosa. Generalist predators, such as spiders, can arise as potential natural control agents. Determining the functional response is crucial for understanding the potentiality of a predator as biological control agent. In this work, the functional response of two widespread palearctic spider species belonging to two different functional groups was assessed. The ambusher spider Synema globosum and the orb-weaver Araniella cucurbitina were used as model species and P. spumarius as prey under laboratory conditions. In parallel, Ceratitis capitata was also used as prey in order to compare the spiders´ predatory potential between a non-flying insect (P. spumarius) and a flying one (C. capitata). A. cucurbitina and S. globosum showed a type II and type I functional response respectively when fed with P. spumarius and a type II response when fed with C. capitata. Both the handling time and attack rate were significantly different between spider species when fed with P. spumarius (p<0.01) and between prey types for each spider functional group (p<0.01). The results suggest that S. globosum was more efficient capturing spittlebugs one by one than A. cucurbitina. On the contrary, A. cucurbitina was more efficient killing flies in webs than S. globosum. ; Acknowledgement This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N. 727987 "Xylella fastidiosa Active Containment Through a multidisciplinary-Oriented Research Strategy XF-ACTORS".

Despite a great flourishing of studies on election campaigns, the issue of individualized campaigns has been widely neglected, especially from a comparative perspective. Yet, campaigns differ not only in terms of strategy or style, but also with regard to the role played by individual candidates. This article examines the variation of both the communicative focus and the resources used by candidates across different Western democracies. Using data from the Comparative Candidate Surveys (CCS), it tests the impact of several institutional and political features on campaign individualization. Our results show that both electoral systems and the legal framework regulating electoral contests display a significant impact on campaign individualization. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Coalition agreements in the Italian Second Republic have traditionally been pre-electoral, often long, compre-hensive but vague documents serving also as electoral manifestos for centre-right or centre-left coalitions. In this article, we analyse the 2018 post-electoral coalition agreement between the Movimento Cinque Stelle and Lega in comparative perspective, contrasting this agreement with former coalition programmes enforced since the mid-1990s in Italy and the pre-election manifestos published by these two political parties. The analysis reported here allow us to conclude that the first post-electoral coalition agreement in Italy is shorter than most centre-left documents, as vague as previous agreements and constitutes a compromise committing the Lega to less right-wing positions, the grillini to less progressive stances and both political forces to tone down their Eu-roscepticism. The extent by which these commitments are solid and longstanding is unknown. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In this paper we model macro-economic policies with a Finite State Machine (FSM). The FSM is made of several states and transitions between states, in which a state is modelled by a set of conditions. The allowed transitions between states must be also be defined, in order to complete the model. In this paper we analyze how to use a FSM in order to model macroeconomic decision, where each state represents a set of economic decisions. Together with some pre-defined initial conditions, these adapted FSM models are analyzed in order for us to study what sequence of decisions yield the best results for pre-determined end-goals, based on the FSM's possibilities. The final model shows what policies must be followed, and by what order, in order to maximize results, yielding some interesting conclusions. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The first synthesis of the Afrotropical species of the genus Micrambe Thomson, 1863 (Coleoptera, Cryptophagidae) is presented. The species are defined according to their external features and the shape of their aedeagus. Keys for the identification of subgenera and species of the approximately 79 known species are included. The characteristics of the genus Micrambe of eastern Africa are analyzed and the most relevant aedeagal traits of all Afrotropical species are compared with those of the Palaearctic species. This comparison dearly suggested that all tropical African species belong to a distinct, probably monophyletic lineage. Two new species are described: Micrambe borjai sp. nov. and Micrambe cuccodoroi sp. nov. New combinations are proposed: Micrambe angulata (Bruce, 1952) from Cryptophagus (Micrambe) angulatus Bruce, 1952; Micrambe capensis (Redtenbacher, 1867) from Cryptophagus capensis Redtenbacher, 1867; Micrambe gracilipes (Wollaston, 1871) from Cryptophagus gracilipes Wollaston, 1871 and Micrambe nigrothoracica (Bruce, 1952) from Cryptophagus (Micrambe) nigrothoracicus Bruce, 1952. Two justified amendments are added: Micrambe modesta Grouvelle, 1906 instead of Micrambe modestus Grouvelle, 1906 and Micrambe brevipilis (Bruce, 1951) instead Micrambe brevipila (Bruce, 1951);. Thirteen species are cited for the first time for the fauna of some Afrotropical countries: two for the Republic of Angola: Micrambe basuto (Bruce, 1957) and Micrambe eichelbaumi Grouvelle, 1908; three for the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia: Micrambe difficilis (Bruce, 1955), Micrambe discolor (Bruce, 1951) and Micrambe (Neomicrambe) figurata (Bruce, 1951); one for Reunion Island: Micrambe consors Grouvelle, 1906; three for the Republic of Kenya: Micrambe (Neomicrambe) figurata (Bruce, 1951), Micrambe (Neomicrambe) helichrysi (Scott, 1935) and Micrambe nigrothoracica (Bruce, 1952); one for the Republic of Rwanda: Micrambe (Neomicrambe) alluaudi (Scott, 1935); one for the United Republic of Tanzania: Micrambe acerba (Bruce, ...

The European project has enjoyed considerable support from both elite and masses in Portugal. Since the country joined the EEC in 1986, the main political parties have been strong supporters of the Europe project. In recent years, however, this has been undermined by both political and economic crises. In this paper, we produce a preliminary analysis of the competition dimensions in the forthcoming 2014 European elections. We make an empirical analysis of the position held by the five most important Portuguese political parties in relation to European integration, the Euro, debt renegotiation, Eurobonds, and changes in pensions in a context that fosters contestation of European integration and its outputs. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion