The growth and reproductive biology of the invasive goldfi sh Carassius auratus auratus were studied in Lake Trasimeno, central Italy. The results of the research revealed that the population is made up of eight age-classes. The sex ratio proved to be extremely unbalanced (1 : 19 in favour of females). Growth can be deemed rapid, the von Bertalanffy growth in length function being TL = 43.019{1- e(-0.272(t+0.162) )} for the total sample and Ф’ = 2.702. No sexual dimorphism in growth was observed. Back-calculation analysis suggested the existence of an inverse Lee phenomenon among 1 year-old specimens. The reproductive period covers a broad time-span, from March to June. In females, sexual maturity is reached after the second winter of life (2+ age-class); however, a small percentage (7.55%) of females is able to reproduce at the age of 1 year. Most of the males attained sexual maturity in the fi rst year (60.61%). The reproductive investment of the females is high; the relationship between SL and the number of eggs was Ne = 0.0041 SL4.368. Fecundity varied from 286 to 219104 eggs, with an average relative fecundity of 103 ± 5 eggs g-1; the mean diameter of the eggs was 1.27 ± 0.01 mm. The reproductive investment of the females was not homogeneous across the ageclasses; in addition to absolute fecundity, relative fecundity and egg diameter were seen to increase with the size of the specimens.
Judging the influence of private law enforcement on the success of the leniency programs is a veryinteresting and current topic. When dealing with it, it is necessary to find an answer to following question:How should be handled the initiative of the European Commission to strengthen the private law pillar ofthe cartel law enforcement not to weaken the public law pillar at the same time? It is possible to assume thatthe support of private enforcement of damages discourages cartel participants to report the existence of acartel and avoid the fine imposed by the state, because by admitting a cartel they potentially face an evenlarger financial burden than in the case of a fine. However, the other point of view is, taking into account thevery low effort of the impaired parties (mainly consumers) to enforce their claims through private means,that the support of private enforcement should not be perceived as a danger to the functionality of leniencyprograms, but only as their suitable complement, which can exert sufficient pressure on the cartel participantsto perform their activities in accordance with law. The article strives to show that at the moment the supportof private enforcement of cartel law does not pose any danger to leniency programs and that the implementationof legal institutions proposed by the European Commission, which would emphasize the role of privateenforcement, is desirable.
There are three basic procedures used for an assessment of the electrical heart field from the body surface: standard electrocardiography, vectorcardiography, and body surface potential mapping (BSPM). BSPM has two major advantages over both other methods: 1) it allows exploring the entire chest surface, thus providing all the information on the cardiac electric field available at the body surface; 2) it is more sensitive in detecting local electrical events, such as local conduction disturbances or regional heterogeneities of ventricular recovery. Nevertheless the results obtained using BSPM procedure cannot answer all questions about real causality of detected changes of the electrical heart field. We tried therefore to use mathematical model of the electrical field in order to answer these questions. A simple and anatomical forward calculation model was used to test the hypothesis whether the altered position of the heart could explain heterogeneity of repolarization at late stages of pregnancy in humans. The hypothesis was declined. Further findings included: A. Repolarization duration (represented by QT interval) in healthy subjects are distributed regularly and predictably on the body surface carrying no information about local pathology. B. At any systemic analysis of ventricular repolarization, it is vital to consider the regions where any electrode systems record low amplitudes due to methodological, not pathological reasons. C. Anatomical (heterogeneous) model did not yield superior results over simple (homogenous) ones possibly since none reflected the specific torso geometry of individual patients., O. Kittnar, M. Mlček., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Over a large range of the pressure, one cannot ignore the fact that the viscosity grows significantly (even exponentially) with increasing pressure. This paper concerns long-time and large-data existence results for a generalization of the Navier-Stokes fluid whose viscosity depends on the shear rate and the pressure. The novelty of this result stems from the fact that we allow the viscosity to be an unbounded function of pressure as it becomes infinite. In order to include a large class of viscosities and in order to explain the main idea in as simple a manner as possible, we restrict ourselves to a discussion of the spatially periodic problem.
Effects of two adipokinetic hormones (Pyrap-AKH and Peram-CAH-II) on the presence of diacylglycerol (DG) molecular species and their fatty acid (FA) constituents in the haemolymph of the firebug Pyrrhocoris apterus were investigated using liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The results show that DGs with characteristic FAs are preferentially mobilized from the fat body (FB) by the action of both the AKHs produced by P. apterus. Both the macropterous and brachypterous morphs have similar DG and FA profiles. A difference in the action of the Pyrap-AKH and the Peram-CAH-II, however, results in distinct differences in the distribution of FAs in the macropterous morph. It seems that C16 to a slight extent and unsaturated C18 FAs mainly play a dominant role in the AKH based action, in particular linoleic acid (18:2), which represents 50-60% of the total DG mobilized. The metabolically active C16 and C18 FAs are preferentially absorbed from the linden seeds and accumulated in the FB. The relationships between AKH action and FA distribution in DGs in P. apterus, compared to other insect species are summarized and discussed in detail.
Safe and effective loading of nuclear reactor fuel assemblies demand qualitative and quantitaive analysis of the relations between the coolant temperature in the fuel assembly outlet, measured by a thermocouple, and the mean temperature of the coolant in the thermocouple plane position. In the laboratory at the Institute of Thermal Power Engineering of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, an experiemental physical fuel assembly model of the VVER 440 nuclear power plant with V 213 nuclear reactors was installed The aim of the measurements on the physical model was to analyze the temperature and velocity profiles in the fuel assembly outlet. The following article deals with the analyses of these measurements based on different mass flow of the water through a physical model of the fuel assembly outlet. The following arficle deals with the analysis of these measurements based on different discontinuity generated by cold water flowing through triplet tubes and central tube in plane 1, and the positioning of the mixing CFD grid simulations of a fuel assembly outlet. All analyses were validated by means of measurements on the physical model of the fuel assembly. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
We studied the diet of 10 species of grasshopper belonging to the family Pamphagidae over a period of 3 years at 6 localities in North Eastern Algeria. The species of plants consumed by the grasshoppers was determined by comparing slide mounted specimens of the pieces of plant epidermis in their faeces with those in a reference collection of identified plants collected from the same localities. The percentages of occurrence of the different species of plants in the faeces of the grasshoppers were not related to the abundance of the plants at the sites studied. All the grasshoppers were polyphagous but differed in the percentage of Poaceae in their diets. The diet of Tmethis and Ocneridia contained a higher percentage of Poaceae than the other species and are considered to be ambivores. The three species in the Pamphagus gr. djelfensis complex differ in their diets but all tend to avoid consuming Poaceae and are categorized as forbivores. We also compared the frequency of occurrence of Fabaceae in the faeces and in the field and O. volxemii is the only species that avoided consuming this plant family. The number of sensilla on the labrum was also studied in both sexes of each species. Once one corrects for differences in the size of the labrum, the forbivores have higher numbers of sensilla in groups A1, A2 and A3 (but not A10) than the ambivores. The numbers of sensilla in the A10 group on the labrum of species of Pamphagidae is greater than on that of species of Acrididae, which are mainly graminivores and adapted to semi-arid conditions., Naima Benkenana, Abboud Harrat, Daniel Petit., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
This paper deals with the species composition of epiphytic lichens in Central European oak forests. A total of 192 oak trees at 48 localities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary were investigated. In total, 104 lichen species were recorded and divided into three groups in accordance with their frequency of occurrence on trees within the area. The importance of abiotic factors affecting species composition was assessed by multivariate statistics. Principal component analysis illustrated that lichen assemblages reflected geographical distribution of localities and that the occurrence of many species is closely associated with several environmental factors. In particular there is a high negative association with pollution, and positive associations with precipitation, solar radiation and basic bedrock. The variation partitioning estimated the influence of environmental parameters, human impact and naturality factors on lichen composition. Cluster analysis recognized six communities of lichens, of which the members differed from those in the other communities in their autecological characteristics. Two of the communities can be assigned to Parmelion caperatae and Pertusarion amarae and seem to be similar to natural lichen communities of oak forests in Central Europe. Possible reasons for absence of several epiphytic lichen associations (Lobarion pulmonariae, Pertusarion hemisphaericae) in the forests studied is discussed and the species composition in Central Europe was compared with the lichen assemblages in oak forests in neighbouring regions (western Europe, Scandinavia). On the basis of these findings several indicative species of close to natural oak forest are suggested (Acrocordia gemmata, Bacidia rubella, Calicium spp., Caloplaca lucifuga, Cetrelia olivetorum s.l., Chrysothrix candelaris, Flavoparmelia caperata, Melanelia subargentifera).
The article deals with the posssibility of using different design techniques of centrifugal pumps designing in the context of their use in the computer-aided design. It is carried out a comparison of calculated and experimental pump characteristics. and Obsahuje seznam literatury