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  • Publication
    Métadonnées seulement
    Nests, Floral Preferences, and Immatures of the Bee Haetosmia vechti (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Osmiini)
    (2014-7-21)
    Gotlieb, Ariella
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    Pisanty, Gideon
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    Rozen, Jerome G, Gideon
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    Mueller, Andreas
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    Sedivy, Claudio
    ;
    Herein we describe the nests (including structure, closure, orientation, and depth of cells) of the bee Haetosmia vechti Peters found nesting in Rehovot, Israel. The nesting biology of H. vechti mirrors the ancestral nesting biology within the Osmia group of the Osmiini. Nests in sandy soil consist of an excavated burrow, ending below in a small cluster of vertical cells. The cells possess firm walls of masticated leaf pulp of Centaurea procurrens Spreng. and Heliotropium suaveolens M. Bieb., and are covered with pebbles and sand grains. The last larval instar and pupa of Haetosmia vechti are described, as is its cocoon. The "immature stages exhibit the basic features of megachilid bees, but tend to have a thinner body vestiture compared to other studied taxa. In addition, we report new information on and review published accounts concerning the pollen collecting behavior of the genus Haetosmia Popov, which contains three species. Pollen taken from scopal hairs of 68 females collected at 17 sites in Turkestan, Morocco, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates was identified as originating solely from Heliotropium L. (Boraginaceae), which strongly suggests that all three Haetosmia species are narrowly oligolectic on this plant genus. In females of all three species, the second segment of the labial palpus is densely covered with rather long, apically curved and capitate bristles, an adaptation to collect Heliotropium pollen from anthers that are hidden inside the narrow corolla tube. Similar pollen-harvesting bristles specifically adapted to exploit flowers of He/iotropium seem to have evolved independently a number of times on different continents, in bees of four families.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Coping with an antagonist: the impact of a phytopathogenic fungus on the development and behaviour of two species of alpine leaf beetle
    (2007) ; ;
    Naisbit, Russell. E.
    Herbivorous insects and phytopathogenic fungi often share their host plants. This creates a network of direct and indirect interactions, with far-reaching consequences for the ecology and evolution of all three parties. In the Alps, the leaf beetles Oreina elongata and Oreina cacaliae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), and the rust fungus Uromyces cacaliae (Uredinales: Pucciniaceae) are found on the same host plant, Adenostyles alliariae (Asterales: Asteraceae). We compare the impact of rust infection on these two closely-related beetle species, one of which, O. cacaliae, is a specialist on A. alliariae, while the other, O. elongata, moves repeatedly between Adenostyles and an alternative host, Cirsium spinosissimum. Larval performance, feeding preference, oviposition choice and dispersal behaviour were studied in field and laboratory experiments. When reared on rust-infected leaves, larvae of both beetle species had lower growth rates, lower maximum weights and longer development times. Larvae and adults discriminated among diets in feeding trials, showing a preference for discs cut from healthy leaves over those bearing a patch of sporulating rust, those from elsewhere on an infected leaf, and those from an upper leaf on an infected plant. Females of the two species differed in behaviour: in O. cacaliae they favoured healthy leaves for larviposition, while in O. elongata they showed no significant preference during oviposition. In the field, larvae and adults of both species dispersed more rapidly when placed on infected host plants. The results demonstrate that rust infection reduces the quality of the plant as a host for both Oreina species, and they combine the ability to detect systemic infection with the evolution of evasive behaviours. For these beetles, competition with a rust clearly increases the difficulty of survival in the harsh conditions of alpine environments, and may have a profound impact on the evolution of their life history traits and host plant use.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Wirkt interkulturelle Mediation integrierend?: Materialienband des Projekten NFP 51 - 405140-69224
    (2005) ; ;
    Conca, Antoinette
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    Rothenbühler, Igor
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    Kurth, Elisabeth
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    Delli, Chantal
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Dolmetschen, Vermitteln und Schlichten im vielsprachigen Basel: Umgang mit Diversität und Fremdsprachigkeit – Umfrage unter Leitungspersonen öffentlicher Institutionen
    Survey among senior staff persons of public institutions in the city of Basel, Switzerland on coping with diversity and foreign languages

    Background. As European countries become more diverse, so do the client populations in public institutions. Switzerland has, like all modern societies, been affected by major cultural and social changes, characterised by a pluralisation of lifestyles, ways of life, languages and value systems. For Swiss society as a whole and for its public institutions, this raises questions about how this pluralistic society can be held together and, more specifically, how the integration of members of immigrant groups can be supported. Integration is to be understood here as the creation of an institutional framework for social pluralism and the establishment of equal rights and non-discrimination. In practical terms, this means that everyone living in Switzerland should have equal access to the services of public institutions and that the services that these institutions offer should take into account the needs of different communities. One instrument that can contribute effectively to the inclusion of immigrant communities is intercultural mediation. By this we include three forms of mediation: linguistic mediation (interpreting), cultural mediation and conflict mediation. How do public institutions deal with diversity characterised by migration and foreign languages? Basel, one of the larger Swiss cities, is a case in point. With a high proportion of foreigners among the resident population (31%), Basel’s public institutions have been dealing with the increasing diversity of their clientele in different ways. One of them is the use of interpreters, cultural mediators and conflict mediators.

    Aim and methods. The aim of this study was to examine the practices, experiences and problems of public institutions in Basel in relation to linguistic mediation, cultural mediation and conflict mediation. We undertook a cross-sectional survey using a convenience sampling approach and addressed self-administrated questionnaires to senior staff of public institutions, including health, social, education and legal services. Data collection was carried out between March and November 2004.

    Results: In total, 193 senior staff persons participated in the survey. Their estimates of the proportion of migrants in their institutions varied from 33% in health services, 60% in social services, 72% in educational institutions, up to 74% in legal and police services. Senior staff also estimated the proportion of foreign language speakers, i.e. those clients that have little or no language proficiency in German. High and very high proportions of foreign language clients were found: 18% in health services, 35% in social services, 44% in education services and 71% in legal services. The estimated use of intermediaries varies widely: while most public institutions used interpreters (32% of them regularly, 49% occasionally), this is not the case with other intermediaries: institutions use intercultural mediators infrequently (9% regularly, 14% occasionally) and conflict mediators only sporadically (4% regularly, 7% occasionally).

    Senior staff were also asked what type of intermediaries they used when they had to find someone that could translate between provider and client of a given language. They indicated whether they opted most often for a qualified interpreter (paid, professional, trained), a bilingual employee (someone working in the respective institution who speaks the foreign language), a client relative (family member or friend of the client who serves as an ad-hoc interpreter), and other non-professional interpreters (including volunteers such as interpreters appearing on internal lists). It appears that for most foreign-languages, professional interpreters were primarily used in about half of the public institutions. However, the use of client relatives, bilingual employees and other non-qualified intermediaries is also frequent. A the same time, senior staff rated the quality of client relatives as mostly poor or just fair, the quality of bilingual employees as fair, and the trained and professional interpreters as good or excellent.

    Conclusion. Public institutions’ senior staff members are well aware of the increasing diversity of their clientele. While interpreting services appear to be routinely available in the major part of public institutions, intercultural mediation and conflict mediation is less frequent. The proxy solutions of intermediaries (client relatives, bilingual employees and non-trained interpreters) abound and are at the same time deemed of suboptimal quality. Nevertheless, we conclude that intercultural mediation offers a means of integrating immigrants, in that institutions which set up mediation services improve access to public institutions for foreign language speakers and ensure equity for diverse populations.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Synergies and trade-offs between insect and pathogen resistance in maize leaves and roots
    (2011) ;
    Balmer, Yves
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    de Lange, Elvira S.
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    von Merey, Georg
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    Robert, Christelle Aurélie Maud
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    Sobhy, Islam
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    ; ;
    Determining links between plant defence strategies is important to understand plant evolution and to optimize crop breeding strategies. Although several examples of synergies and trade-offs between defence traits are known for plants that are under attack by multiple organisms, few studies have attempted to measure correlations of defensive strategies using specific single attackers. Such links are hard to detect in natural populations because they are inherently confounded by the evolutionary history of different ecotypes. We therefore used a range of 20 maize inbred lines with considerable differences in resistance traits to determine if correlations exist between leaf and root resistance against pathogens and insects. Aboveground resistance against insects was positively correlated with the plant's capacity to produce volatiles in response to insect attack. Resistance to herbivores and resistance to a pathogen, on the other hand, were negatively correlated. Our results also give first insights into the intraspecific variability of root volatiles release in maize and its positive correlation with leaf volatile production. We show that the breeding history of the different genotypes (dent versus flint) has influenced several defensive parameters. Taken together, our study demonstrates the importance of genetically determined synergies and trade-offs for plant resistance against insects and pathogens.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Insights into the encapsulation process of photovoltaic modules: GCMS analysis on the curing step of poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) encapsulant
    (2012)
    Heng-Yu, L.
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    Théron, R
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    ; ;
    Lange, R.F.M.
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    Ballif, C.
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    Perret-Aebi, L.-E.
    Appropriate encapsulation schemes are essential in protecting the active components of the photovoltaic (PV) module against weathering and to ensure long term reliability. For crystalline cells, poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) is the most commonly used PV encapsulant. Additives like peroxides and silanes are formulated in EVA encapsulants to obtain the desired properties, e.g. the desired gel content value and sufficient adhesion after the encapsulation process etc. The identification and control of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by the polymeric encapsulant during PV module encapsulation is important for understanding and optimizing processes in order to enhance the encapsulation quality of the manufactured modules. The authors demonstrate how gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques can be used to help understand the curing process, mainly by identifying the VOCs emanating from EVA under the effect of temperature and pressure. The results provide chemical insights into the EVA encapsulation process, which are valuable for further optimisation of the PV module manufacturing process and evaluation of its environmental impact. 26 Refs.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Counter-intuitive developmental plasticity induced by host quality
    (2007) ; ;
    Naisbit, Russell. E.
    Adaptation to different hosts plays a central role in the evolution of specialization and speciation in phytophagous insects and parasites, and our ability to experimentally rank hosts by their quality is critical to research to understand these processes. Here we provide a counter-intuitive example in which growth is faster on poor quality hosts. The leaf beetles Oreina elongata and Oreina cacaliae share their host plant with the rust Uromyces cacaliae. Larvae reared on infected Adenostyles alliariae show reduced growth rate, reduced maximum weight and longer development time. However, they normally respond adaptively to the rust's mid-season arrival. When switched during development from healthy to infected leaves, larvae accelerate growth and reduce development time, but pupate at lower body weight. In this novel plant–insect–fungus interaction, infection forms the cue to trade off life-history traits in order to complete development within the brief alpine summer. It represents a novel mode of developmental plasticity, which is likely to be found in other host–parasite systems whenever host quality deteriorates due to multiple infection or ageing. This phenotypic plasticity would modify competition after co-infection and the mutual selection imposed by hosts and parasites, and creates a paradoxical negative correlation between growth rate and environmental quality.