Developmental, metabolic and immunological costs of flea infestation in the common vole

Parasites use resources from their hosts, which can indirectly affect a number of host functions because of trade-offs in resource allocation. In order to get a comprehensive view of the costs imposed by blood sucking parasites to their hosts, it is important to monitor multiple components of the development and physiology of parasitized hosts over long time periods. The effect of infestation by fleas on body mass, body length growth, haematocrit, resistance to oxidative stress, resting metabolic rate and humoral immune response were experimentally evaluated. During a 3-month period, male common voles, Microtus arvalis, were either parasitized by rat fleas (Nosopsyllus fasciatus), which are naturally occurring generalist ectoparasites of voles, or reared without fleas. Then voles were challenged twice by injecting Keyhole Limpet Haemocyanin (KLH) to assess whether the presence of fleas affects the ability of voles to produce antibodies against a novel antigen. During the immune challenge we measured the evolution of body mass, haematocrit, resistance to oxidative stress and antibody production. Flea infestation negatively influenced the growth of voles. Moreover, parasitized voles had reduced haematocrit, higher resting metabolic rate and lower production of antibodies against the KLH. Resistance to oxidative stress was not influenced by the presence of fleas. During the immune challenge with KLH, body mass decreased in both groups, while the resistance to oxidative stress remained stable. In contrast, the haematocrit decreased only in parasitized voles. Our experiment shows that infestation by a haematophageous parasite negatively affects multiple traits like growth, energy consumption and immune response. Fleas may severely reduce the survival probability and reproductive success of their host in natural conditions.

Bayesian nash equilibrium in ''linear'' cournot models with private information about costs

Calculating explicit closed form solutions of Cournot models where firms have private information about their costs is, in general, very cumbersome. Most authors consider therefore linear demands and constant marginal costs. However, within this framework, the nonnegativity constraint on prices (and quantities) has been ignored or not properly dealt with and the correct calculation of all Bayesian Nash equilibria is more complicated than expected. Moreover, multiple symmetric and interior Bayesianf equilibria may exist for an open set of parameters. The reason for this is that linear demand is not really linear, since there is a kink at zero price: the general ''linear'' inverse demand function is P (Q) = max{a - bQ, 0} rather than P (Q) = a - bQ.

Fécondation in vitro: intérêt et désavantage du remboursement par l'assurance maladie en Suisse [In-vitro fertilization: advantage and disadvantage of covering the costs of IVF/ICSI by the health insurance in Switzerland]

In-vitro fertilization: advantage and disadvantage of covering the costs of IVF/CSI by the health insurance in Switzerland The reimbursement of certain infertility treatments (stimulation with/without insemination) whereas IVF/ICSI is not leads patients with an indication of IVF to prefer treatments of low efficacy. The costs of multiple pregnancies issued by reimbursed or non-reimbursed fertility treatments are paid by the society. There should be measures to reduce these costs and to take the money used today to pay the complications of infertility treatments to reimburse IVF. The efficacy of such a system (single embryo transfer) has been proven in Belgium since several years. The dangers of complete reimbursement (IVF treatment in cases without any chances of success, only because it is for free) can be avoided by an Efficacy and Safety Board.

Market Transparency, Market Quality and Sunshine Trading

This paper analyzes the implications of pre-trade transpareny on market performance. We find that transparency increases the precision held by agents, however we show that this increase in precision may not be due to prices themselves. In competitive markets, transparency increases market liquidity and reduces price volatility, whereas these results may not hold under imperfect competition. More importantly, market depth and volatility might be positively related with proper priors. Moreover, we study the incentives for liquidity traders to engage in sunshine trading. We obtain that the choice of sunshine/dark trading for a noise trader is independent of his order size, being the traders with higher liquidity needs more interested in sunshine trading, as long as this practice is desirable. Key words: Market Microstructure, Transparency, Prior Information, Market Quality, Sunshine Trading

City of Bernard Sewer Funds Independent Auditor's Reports Financial Statements and Supplemental Information Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2002

Other Audit Reports

Clarke Community School District Independent Auditor's Reports Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

Clarke Community School District Independent Auditor's Reports Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

City of Shellsburg, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

City Audit Report

City of Carlisle, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

City Audit Report

Sheldon Community School District, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

Community School District Audit Report

Indian Hills Community College, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

Community College Audit Reports

Muscatine County, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

County Audit Report

City of Johnston, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

City Audit Report

Kirkwood Community College, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplemental Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

Community College Audit Reports

Story County, Independent Auditor's Reports, Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, June 30, 2004

County Audit Report