First record of Stenodiplosis sorghicola on sorghum in Greece

Στην παρούσα εργασία γίνεται η πρώτη καταγραφή του είδους Stenodiplosis sorghicola (Coquillett) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), εχθρού του σόργου, στην Ελλάδα. Η παρουσία του είδους αυτού διαπιστώθηκε από δειγματοληψία που  πραγματοποιήθηκε τον Οκτώβριο του 2007 στον πειραματικό αγρό του Γεωπονικού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών, στον Αλίαρτο Βοιωτίας. Επίσης, δίδονται πληροφορίες σχετικά με τα μορφολογικά και βιολογικά χαρακτηριστικά, όπως και για την γεωγραφική εξάπλωση του εντόμου.In October 2007, the sorghum midge Stenodiplosis sorghicola (Coquillett) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) was recorded for the first time in Greece. Its occurrence was noticed in an experimental sorghum cultivar at Aliartos, near Athens, in Viotia region. Information on its morphology, biology and distribution is given

Dosadašnja istraženost i novi podaci o Fitozeidama i Tideidama (Acari: Phytoseiidae, Tydeidae) za faunu Srbije i Crne Gore

Thirty two (32) species of phytoseiids and six (6) species of tydeids (Acari Phytoseiidae and Tydeidae) are known from Serbia and Montenegro. To add to that knowledge five (5) phytoseiid species namely: Neoseiulus californicus N. marginatus, N. bicaudus, Typhlodromus phialatus, Phytoseius canadensis and four (4) tydeids namely: Tydeus caudatus, Lorryia parainfatus, L. obliqua and Metatriophtydeus sp. are recorded for the first time.U radu je dat pregled vrsta fitozeida i tideida (Acari: Phytoseiidae Tydeidae) koje su u periodu 1975-2001. registrovane na teritoriji Srbije i Crne Gore. Fitozeide su do sada bile umereno istražena grupa u našoj zemlji sa ukupno 32 nađene vrste, od kojih 20 u Srbiji a 19 u Crnoj Gori. Kod nas je ranije nađeno svega 6 vrsta tideida, od čega u Srbiji svih šest, a u Crnoj Gori samo jedna vrsta. Usled nedostatka naših specijalista za tideide ova grupa grinja je do danas ostala neistražena. U radu su izneti podaci o devet novih vrsta fitozeida i tideida za našu akarofaunu. Na teritoriji Srbije registrovano je pet vrsta fitozeida: Neoseiulus califomicus, N. marginatus, N. bicaudus, Typhlodromus phialatus i Phytoseius canadensis. U Srbiji su nađene i tri nove vrste tideida - Tydeus caudatus, Lorryia obliqua i Metatriophtydeus sp. Jedna vrsta tideide nađena je Crnoj Gori - L. parainflatus

Political Stability and Democratic Governance. A Panel Data Analysis.

In the present paper we undertake to link democracy with a set of indicators for economic freedom and financial crises, using panel data analysis. The sample covers annually the period 2000-2012 for the EU, the USA and Japan. The results point out, that political stability is positively related to the set of economic freedom indicators and negatively to financial crises, because greater economic freedom influences positively investment and economic growth, while financial crises, which lead to austerity policies, which again lead to recession-depression, increases dissatisfaction of citizens with the working of democracy (Georgiou, 2011) and thus, to the rise of extremist parties. Our findings support the idea that democratic stability is linked to economic stability and growth and vice-versa

Political Stability and Democratic Governance. A Panel Data Analysis.

In the present paper we undertake to link democracy with a set of indicators for economic freedom and financial crises, using panel data analysis. The sample covers annually the period 2000-2012 for the EU, the USA and Japan. The results point out, that political stability is positively related to the set of economic freedom indicators and negatively to financial crises, because greater economic freedom influences positively investment and economic growth, while financial crises, which lead to austerity policies, which again lead to recession-depression, increases dissatisfaction of citizens with the working of democracy (Georgiou, 2011) and thus, to the rise of extremist parties. Our findings support the idea that democratic stability is linked to economic stability and growth and vice-versa

The Role of HCG in Implantation: A Mini-Review of Molecular and Clinical Evidence

Embryo implantation is a complex process involving continuous molecular cross-talk between the embryo and the decidua. One of the key molecules during this process is human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). HCG effectively modulates several metabolic pathways within the decidua contributing to endometrial receptivity. Herein, a brief overview of the molecular mechanisms regulated by HCG is presented. Furthermore, we summarize the existing evidence regarding the clinical impact on reproductive outcomes after endometrial priming with HCG prior to embryo transfer. Although promising, further evidence is needed to clarify the protocol that would lead to beneficial outcomes

Using textual analysis to identify merger participants: Evidence from the U.S. banking industry

In this paper, we use the sentiment of annual reports to gauge the likelihood of a bank to participate in a merger transaction. We conduct our analysis on a sample of annual reports of listed U.S. banks over the period 1997 to 2015, using the Loughran and McDonald’s lists of positive and negative words for our textual analysis. We find that a higher frequency of positive (negative) words in a bank’s annual report relates to a higher probability of becoming a bidder (target). Our results remain robust to the inclusion of bank-specific control variables in our logistic regressions

The X-ray and mid-infrared luminosities in luminous type 1 quasars

Several recent studies have reported different intrinsic correlations between the active galactic nucleus (AGN) mid-IR luminosity (${L}_{\mathrm{MIR}}$) and the rest-frame 2–10 keV luminosity (L X) for luminous quasars. To understand the origin of the difference in the observed {L}_{{\rm{X}}}\mbox{--}{L}_{\mathrm{MIR}} relations, we study a sample of 3247 spectroscopically confirmed type 1 AGNs collected from Boötes, XMM-COSMOS, XMM-XXL-North, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars in the Swift/XRT footprint spanning over four orders of magnitude in luminosity. We carefully examine how different observational constraints impact the observed {L}_{{\rm{X}}}\mbox{--}{L}_{\mathrm{MIR}} relations, including the inclusion of X-ray-nondetected objects, possible X-ray absorption in type 1 AGNs, X-ray flux limits, and star formation contamination. We find that the primary factor driving the different {L}_{{\rm{X}}}\mbox{--}{L}_{\mathrm{MIR}} relations reported in the literature is the X-ray flux limits for different studies. When taking these effects into account, we find that the X-ray luminosity and mid-IR luminosity (measured at rest-frame $6\,\mu {\rm{m}}$, or ${L}_{6\mu {\rm{m}}}$) of our sample of type 1 AGNs follow a bilinear relation in the log–log plane: $\mathrm{log}{L}_{{\rm{X}}}=(0.84\pm 0.03)\times \mathrm{log}{L}_{6\mu {\rm{m}}}/{10}^{45}$ erg s−1 + (44.60 ± 0.01) for ${L}_{6\mu {\rm{m}}}\lt {10}^{44.79}$ erg s−1, and $\mathrm{log}{L}_{{\rm{X}}}=(0.40\pm 0.03)\times \mathrm{log}{L}_{6\mu {\rm{m}}}/{10}^{45}$ erg s−1 + (44.51 ± 0.01) for ${L}_{6\mu {\rm{m}}}\,\geqslant {10}^{44.79}$ erg s−1. This suggests that the luminous type 1 quasars have a shallower {L}_{{\rm{X}}}\mbox{--}{L}_{6\mu {\rm{m}}} correlation than the approximately linear relations found in local Seyfert galaxies. This result is consistent with previous studies reporting a luminosity-dependent {L}_{{\rm{X}}}\mbox{--}{L}_{\mathrm{MIR}} relation and implies that assuming a linear {L}_{{\rm{X}}}\mbox{--}{L}_{6\mu {\rm{m}}} relation to infer the neutral gas column density for X-ray absorption might overestimate the column densities in luminous quasars