Population dynamics of the Sycamore Lace Bug (Corythucha Ciliata, Say, Heteroptera: Tingidae) in Hungary

Based on the observation of more than 10 000 leaves of plane trees, four populations of Corythucha ciliata (Say, 1832) (Heteroptera: Tingidae) are investigated. After having introduced some parameters derived from the data, we draw spatial-temporal patterns and describe the seasonal population dynamics of Corythucha ciliata. Amongst others, the temporal change of the density of population, the state plane of larvae–adults, the inclination to accumulate, and the intraspecific competition are examined. Population and biomass dynamics is characterized for populations with and without limited nutrient source in case of different weather circumstances and effects.

The effect of climate change on the population of sycamore lace bug (Corythuca ciliata, Say) based on a simulation model with phenological response

Climate change affects on insect populations in many ways: it can cause a shift in geographical spread, abundance, or diversity, it can change the location, the timing and the magnitude of outbreaks of pests and it can define the phenological or even the genetic properties of the species. Long-time investigations of special insect populations, simulation models and scenario studies give us very important information about the response of the insects far away and near to our century. Getting to know the potential responses of insect populations to climate change makes us possible to evaluate the adaptation of pest management alternatives as well as to formulate our future management policy. In this paper we apply two simple models, in order to introduce a complex case study for a Sycamore lace bug population. We test how the model works in case the whether conditions are very different from those in our days. Thus, besides we can understand the processes that happen in present, we can analyze the effects of a possible climate change, as well.

The species composition of true bug assemblages extracted with Berlese funnels (Data to the knowledge on the ground-living Heteroptera of Hungary, No 1)

A rich collection of Heteroptera extracted with Berlese funnel by Dr. I. Loksa between 1953–1974 in Hungary, has been examined. Altogether 157 true bug species have been identified. The great majority of them have been found in very low number, there are only 27 species of which more than 10 adult individuals have been found. Some species considered to be rare or very rare in Hungary have been collected in relatively great number (Ceratocombus coleoptratus, Cryptostemma pusillimum, C. waltli, Acalypta carinata, A. platycheila, Loricula ruficeps, Myrmedobia exilis). The three families, which are more or less rich in species and have the highest ratio of extracted species, were Rhyparochromidae, Tingidae and Nabidae. Out of them, the family Rhyparochromidae has been found to be most diverse and most characteristic at the ground-level. Individuals of the families Tingidae, Hebridae and Rhyparochromidae have been found in greatest number. The occurrence of the lace bug Campylosteira orientalis Horváth, 1881 in Hungary has been verified by a voucher specimen. In respect to the environmental changes through the country, parallel changes have been observed in the zoogeographical distribution of the ground-living bugs.

Spatial and temporal patterns of true bug assemblages extracted with Berlese funnels (Data to the knowledge on the ground-living Heteroptera of Hungary, No. 2)

A rich material of Heteroptera extracted with Berlese funnels by Dr. I. Loksa between 1953–1974 in Hungary, has been examined. Altogether 157 true bug species have been identified. The ground-living heteropteran assemblages collected in different plant communities, substrata, phytogeographical provinces and seasons have been compared with multivariate methods. Because of the unequal number of samples, the objects have been standardized with stochastic simulation. There are several true bug species, which have been collected in almost all of the plant communities. However, characteristic ground-living heteropteran assemblages have been found in numerous Hungarian plant community types. Leaf litter and debris seem to have characteristic bug assemblages. Some differences have also been recognised between the bug fauna of mosses growing on different surfaces. Most of the species have been found in all of the great phytogeographical provinces of Hungary. Most high-dominance species, which have been collected, can be found at the ground-level almost throughout the year. Specimens of many other species have been collected with Berlese funnels in spring, autumn and/or winter. The diversities of the ground-living heteropteran assemblages of the examined objects have also been compared.

A User Interaction Bug Analyzer Based on Image

Context: Mobile applications support a set of user-interaction features that are independent of the application logic. Rotating the device, scrolling, or zooming are examples of such features. Some bugs in mobile applications can be attributed to user-interaction features. Objective: This paper proposes and evaluates a bug analyzer based on user-interaction features that uses digital image processing to find bugs. Method: Our bug analyzer detects bugs by comparing the similarity between images taken before and after a user-interaction. SURF, an interest point detector and descriptor, is used to compare the images. To evaluate the bug analyzer, we conducted a case study with 15 randomly selected mobile applications. First, we identified user-interaction bugs by manually testing the applications. Images were captured before and after applying each user-interaction feature. Then, image pairs were processed with SURF to obtain interest points, from which a similarity percentage was computed, to finally decide whether there was a bug. Results: We performed a total of 49 user-interaction feature tests. When manually testing the applications, 17 bugs were found, whereas when using image processing, 15 bugs were detected. Conclusions: 8 out of 15 mobile applications tested had bugs associated to user-interaction features. Our bug analyzer based on image processing was able to detect 88% (15 out of 17) of the user-interaction bugs found with manual testing.

UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BROWN MARMORATED STINK BUG, HALYOMORPHA HALYS (STÅL), AND ITS SYMBIONT, PANTOEA CARBEKII, WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR STINK BUG MANAGEMENT

Symbiotic relationships between insects and beneficial microbes are very common in nature, especially within the Hemiptera. The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys Stål, harbors a symbiont, Pantoea carbekii, within the fourth region of the midgut in specialized crypts. In this dissertation, I explored this insect- microbe relationship. I determined that the brown marmorated stink bug is heavily reliant on its symbiont, and that experimental removal of the symbiont from the egg mass surface prior to nymphal acquisition led to lower survival, longer development, lower fecundity, and aberrant nymphal behavior. Additionally, I determined that even when the symbiont is acquired and housed in the midgut crypts, it is susceptible to stressors. Stink bugs reared at a higher temperature showed lower survival, longer development, and a cease in egg mass production, and when bugs were screened for their symbiont, fewer had successfully retained it while under heat stress. Finally, with the knowledge that the stink bug suffers decreases in fitness when its symbiont is missing or stressed, I wanted to determine if targeting the symbiont was a possible management technique for the stink bug. I tested the efficacy of a number of different insecticidal and antimicrobial products to determine whether prevention of symbiont acquisition from the egg mass was possible, and results indicated that transmission of the symbiont from the egg mass to the newly hatched nymph was negatively impacted when certain products were applied (namely surfactants or products containing surfactants). Additionally, direct effects on hatch rate and survival were reported for certain products, namely the insect growth regulator azadirachtin, which suggests that nymphs can pick up residues from the egg mass surface while probing for the symbiont. I conclude that P. carbekii plays a critically important role in the survival of its host, the brown marmorated stink bug, and its presence on the egg mass surface before nymphal hatch makes it targetable as a potential management technique.

El trabajo social y la educación de Bachillerato General Unificado (BUG)

El presente trabajo monográfico consiste en establecer la importancia que tiene la intervención del Trabajo Social dentro de las instituciones públicas que brindan el servicio de educación en los niveles de Bachillerato General Unificado BGU. Como lo establecen (Merino & Namicela, 2012) dentro de estas instituciones (Colegios y/o Unidades Educativas) se identifican varias problemáticas como el acoso escolar, el consumo, uso y abuso de sustancias psicotrópicas, problemas intrafamiliares (falta de comunicación, negligencia, déficit económico, etc.) que dificultan al proceso educativo de los estudiantes, causan bajo rendimiento académico, abandono y/o deserción escolar; que finalmente repercute al desarrollo económico y social de cada persona y de la sociedad ecuatoriana en general. Ante esta problemática el Estado ecuatoriano ha implementado varios instrumentos legales, empezando desde la reforma de la Constitución en el 2008, que significo un cambio fundamental para el sistema educativo ecuatoriano, pues a partir de este hecho, se han creado y reformulado normas legales que especifican y garantizan el acceso a una educación integral de mayor calidad y calidez. Dentro de esta apuesta gubernamental para mejorar el acceso y la calidad educativa aparece la intervención del Trabajo Social como la profesión que investiga procesos concretos relacionados a las condiciones de vida de los individuos, sus necesidades y potencialidades para que atreves de sus funciones reconozca y establezca soluciones a problemas entre las interacciones humanas e institucionales, a fin de lograr un mayor bienestar social de los estudiantes.

Fluctuation and vertical distribution of a population of brown root stink bug Scaptocoris castanea (Hemiptera: Cydnidae) in the soil profile in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil.

2016

The influence of volatile semiochemicals from stink bug eggs and ovipositiondamaged plants on the foraging behaviour of the egg parasitoid Telenomus podisi.

2016

The natural plant stress elicitor cis-jasmone causes cultivar-dependent reduction in growth of the stink bug, Euschistus heros and associated changes in flavonoid concentrations in soybean, Glycine max.

To test the hypothesis that the plant stress related elicitor cis-jasmone (cJ) provides protection in soybean pods against the seed-sucking stink bug pest, Euschistus heros, the growth of E. heros on cJ-treated pods was investigated using three soybean cultivars differing in insect susceptibility, i.e. BRS 134 (susceptible), IAC 100 (resistant) and Dowling (resistant). E. heros showed reduced weight gain when fed cJ-treated Dowling, whereas no effect on weight gain was observed when fed other treated cultivars. Using analysis of variance, a three factor (cultivar x treatment x time) interaction was observed with concentrations of the flavonoid glycosides daidzin and genistin, and their corresponding aglycones, daidzein and genistein. There were increases in genistein and genistin concentrations in cJ-treated Dowling at 144 and 120 h post treatment, respectively. Higher concentrations of malonyldaidzin and malonylgenistin in Dowling, compared to BRS 134 and IAC 100, were observed independently of time, the highest concentrations being observed in cJ-treated seeds. Levels of glycitin and malonylglycitin were higher in BRS 134 and IAC 100 compared to Dowling. Canonical variate analysis indicated daidzein (in the first two canonical variates) and genistein (in the first only) as important discriminatory variables. These results suggest that cJ treatment leads to an increase in the levels of potentially defensive isoflavonoids in immature soybean seeds, but the negative effect upon E. heros performance is cultivar-dependent.

Análise das relações taxonômicas e sistemáticas entre espécies de triatomíneos (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) de colônias mantidas pelo Serviço Especial de Saúde de Araraquara, inferida de seqüências do 16S rDNA mitocondrial

Foram analisadas seqüências de nucleotídeos do gene 16S do rDNA mitocondrial em 14 populações de triatomíneos mantidos em colônias no insetário SESA de Araraquara- SP, comparando-as com seqüências do mesmo gene disponíveis no GenBank. Os fragmentos variaram de 311 a 317 pb com baixa variação intra-específica entre as distâncias genéticas (0% a 0,6%), exceto para os relacionamentos entre espécimes de Triatoma sordida (1%) e espécimes de T. brasiliensis (1,3%) atribuídos a populações geográficas diferentes. A parafilia de Rhodniini e do gênero Panstrongylus foi evidenciada pelas analises, confirmando resultados anteriores entre estes e os estreitos relacionamentos de R. prolixus com R. robustus e de T. infestans e T. platensis. O relacionamento entre T. maculata e T. pseudomaculata não foi solucionado, uma vez que, esses táxons apareceram tanto em monofilia quanto em parafilia: T. pseudomaculata (SESA) está agrupado com T. maculata (seqüência do GenBank) e associados a T . brasiliensis (SESA), enquanto T. maculata (SESA) aparece agrupado com T. pseudomaculata do SESA e do GenBank. Os resultados evidenciam a utilidade do gene 16S como marcador de espécies de triatomíneos e sua importância em questões de sistemática e taxonomia. Há necessidade de novos estudos envolvendo outros marcadores associados a caracteres sistemáticos clássicos de morfologia, ecologia e comportamento para decisões sistemáticas adequadas uma vez, que teriam impacto não apenas sistemático mas, para as estratégias de controle.

An insight into the sialotranscriptome of the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus

Background: Rhipicephalus sanguineus, known as the brown dog tick, is a common ectoparasite of domestic dogs and can be found worldwide. R. sanguineus is recognized as the primary vector of the etiological agent of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis and canine babesiosis. Here we present the first description of a R. sanguineus salivary gland transcriptome by the production and analysis of 2,034 expressed sequence tags (EST) from two cDNA libraries, one consctructed using mRNA from dissected salivary glands from female ticks fed for 3-5 days (early to mid library, RsSGL1) and the another from ticks fed for 5 days (mid library, RsSGL2), identifying 1,024 clusters of related sequences. Results: Based on sequence similarities to nine different databases, we identified transcripts of genes that were further categorized according to function. The category of putative housekeeping genes contained similar to 56% of the sequences and had on average 2.49 ESTs per cluster, the secreted protein category contained 26.6% of the ESTs and had 2.47 EST's/clusters, while 15.3% of the ESTs, mostly singletons, were not classifiable, and were annotated as ""unknown function"". The secreted category included genes that coded for lipocalins, proteases inhibitors, disintegrins, metalloproteases, immunomodulatory and antiinflammatory proteins, as Evasins and Da-p36, as well as basic-tail and 18.3 kDa proteins, cement proteins, mucins, defensins and antimicrobial peptides. Comparison of the abundance of ESTs from similar contigs of the two salivary gland cDNA libraries allowed the identification of differentially expressed genes, such as genes coding for Evasins and a thrombin inhibitor, which were over expressed in the RsSGL1 (early to mid library) versus RsSGL2 (mid library), indicating their role in inhibition of inflammation at the tick feeding site from the very beginning of the blood meal. Conversely, sequences related to cement (64P), which function has been correlated with tick attachment, was largely expressed in the mid library. Conclusions: Our survey provided an insight into the R. sanguineus sialotranscriptome, which can assist the discovery of new targets for anti-tick vaccines, as well as help to identify pharmacologically active proteins.

A Functional Verification Methodology Based on Parameter Domains for Efficient Input Stimuli Generation and Coverage Modeling

Modern Integrated Circuit (IC) design is characterized by a strong trend of Intellectual Property (IP) core integration into complex system-on-chip (SOC) architectures. These cores require thorough verification of their functionality to avoid erroneous behavior in the final device. Formal verification methods are capable of detecting any design bug. However, due to state explosion, their use remains limited to small circuits. Alternatively, simulation-based verification can explore hardware descriptions of any size, although the corresponding stimulus generation, as well as functional coverage definition, must be carefully planned to guarantee its efficacy. In general, static input space optimization methodologies have shown better efficiency and results than, for instance, Coverage Directed Verification (CDV) techniques, although they act on different facets of the monitored system and are not exclusive. This work presents a constrained-random simulation-based functional verification methodology where, on the basis of the Parameter Domains (PD) formalism, irrelevant and invalid test case scenarios are removed from the input space. To this purpose, a tool to automatically generate PD-based stimuli sources was developed. Additionally, we have developed a second tool to generate functional coverage models that fit exactly to the PD-based input space. Both the input stimuli and coverage model enhancements, resulted in a notable testbench efficiency increase, if compared to testbenches with traditional stimulation and coverage scenarios: 22% simulation time reduction when generating stimuli with our PD-based stimuli sources (still with a conventional coverage model), and 56% simulation time reduction when combining our stimuli sources with their corresponding, automatically generated, coverage models.

Over the Air Download for Digital Television Receivers Upgrade

Over the air download is an important feature for terrestrial digital television systems. It provides a cheaper option for DTV receiver manufacturers to provide bug fixes and quality improvements to their products, allowing a shorter time to the market. This paper presents a mechanism proposal of an over the air download software update for the Brazilian system. This mechanism was specified considering the Brazilian DTV over the air download specifications, but it was extended considering efficiency, reliability and user transparency as requirements for software update. A proof of concept was implemented on a Linux based set-top box. The mechanism is divided into five main functional parts: download schedule, packets download, packets authentication, installation and error robustness. Some analyses were conducted upon the implementation considering the following criteria: download robustness and maximum downloading rate. (1)

Are there costs in the repeated mating activities of female Southern stink bugs Nezara viridula?

Mating is an energy demanding process, imposing risks to physical injuries, pathogen infection and predation. Nevertheless, repeated and multiple mating are widespread even in insect species where nuptial gifts are not involved. The effects of repeated mating, by the same male, are examined on the reproductive performance of female Southern green stink bug Nezara viridula (L.). Fecundity is reduced in females mated three or four times, although there is increased longevity. Females mated once or twice produce more egg clusters and concentrate egg-laying activity in the early part of adult life, whereas those mating more often lay eggs throughout the life span, with fewer egg clusters. Although fecundity is negatively affected by the number of matings, egg fertility remains unaffected.