Suchergebnisse

An exploration of why the Balkan states have remained relatively financially stable in spite of the international financial crisis argues that organized crime has prevented many banks from suffering from debilitating shortages of cash & credit. Much of the income of countries like Bulgaria, Albania, & Montenegro is from such well institutionalized gray & black economies as cigarette smuggling. Attention is also given to the use of crime-generated cash to fund contraband operations in the trafficking of people & illegal hard drugs like heroin. Adapted from the source document.

The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L., Hymenoptera: Apidae) is a species of crucial economic, agricultural and environmental importance.In the last ten years, some regions of the world have suffered from a significant reduction of honey bee colonies. In fact, honey bee losses are not an unusual phenomenon, but in many countries worldwide there has been a notable decrease in honey bee families. The cases in the USA, in many European countries, and in the Middle East have received considerable attention, mostly due to the absence of an easily identifiable cause.It has been difficult to determine the main factors leading to colony losses because of honey bees' diverse social behavior. Moreover, in their daily routine, they make contact with many agents of the environment and are exposed to a plethora of human activities and their consequences. Nevertheless, a number of different factors are considered to be contributing to honey bee losses, and recent investigations have established some of the most important ones, in particular, pests and diseases, bee management, including bee keeping practices and breeding, the change in climatic conditions, agricultural practices, and the use of pesticides. The global picture highlights the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor as a major factor in colony loss. Last but not least, microsporidian parasites, mainly Nosema ceranae, also contribute to the problem.Thus, it is obvious that many factors are involved in honey bee colony losses globally. Increased monitoring and scientific research should throw new light on the factors involved in recent honey bee colony losses.This review focuses on the main factors which have been found to have an impact on the increase in honey bee colony losses.

Title Page -- Table of Contents -- Copyright -- Honey and Salt -- Pass, Friend -- Alone and Not Alone -- Wingtip -- Love Is a Deep and a Dark and a Lonely -- Almanac -- Biography -- Anecdote of Hemlock for Two Athenians -- Dreaming Fool -- Lief the Lucky -- Bird Footprint -- Cahokia -- Buyers and Sellers -- City Number -- Chromo -- The Evening Sunsets Witness and Pass On -- Deep Sea Wandering -- Call the Next Witness -- Early Copper -- Atlas, How Have You Been? -- Cheap Rent -- Elm Buds -- Child Face -- Fog Numbers -- Evening Questions -- Fifty-Fifty -- Evening Sea Wind -- Forgotten Wars -- God Is No Gentleman -- Hunger and Cold -- Foxgloves -- Harvest -- Fame If Not Fortune -- Impasse -- Is Wisdom a Lot of Language? -- Keepsake Boxes -- Impossible Iambics -- Lackawanna Twilight -- If So Hap May Be -- Kisses, Can You Come Back Like Ghosts? -- Lake Michigan Morning -- New Weather -- Lesson -- Metamorphosis -- Love Beyond Keeping -- Moods -- Moon Rondeau -- Little Word, Little White Bird -- Offering and Rebuff -- Morning Glory Blue -- High Moments -- Mummy -- Old Hokusai Print -- One Parting -- Ever a Seeker -- Old Music for Quiet Hearts -- Personalia -- The Gong of Time -- Prairie Woodland -- Shadows Fall Blue on the Mountains -- Quotations -- Skyscrapers Stand Proud -- Pool of Bethesda -- First Sonata for Karlen Paula -- Thou Art Like a Flower -- Solo for Saturday Night Guitar -- Rose Bawn -- Speech -- Runaway Colors -- Out of the Rainbow End -- Sun Dancer -- Themes in Contrast -- Two Fish -- Smoke Shapes -- Three Shrines -- Variations on a Theme -- Timesweep -- About the Author

Following the European Union (EU) legislation, honey should be produced by the western honey bee, Apis mellifera. Across Europe, 10 different A. mellifera subspecies can be found, comprising 3 different lineages (A, M and C) based on mtDNA [1]. In general, honey bees occupy allopatric geographical ranges according to their evolutionary lineages, allowing to establish an entomological origin for honey produced in different EU countries. Additionally, several honeys with protected designation of origin (PDO) detail the subspecies traditionally used in their production [2]. While numerous works focused on the botanical and/or geographical authenticity of honey, only a few have attempted its entomological authentication. For that purpose, DNA-based methods have been considered as the most suitable tools since they allow the unequivocal species identification. So far, only few works described the use of DNAbased methods to establish the entomological origin of honey [3,4] and those were focused on different species of honey bees, including Meliponini and/or Trigonini stingless bees. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to distinguish among different European honey bee subspecies commonly used in honey production, with further application to honey authentication. In this work, DNA markers were developed for the differentiation of A. mellifera subspecies DNA in honey. For this purpose, individuals of A. m. iberiensis lineage A (n=22) from Portugal and Spain (n=5), A. m. iberiensis lineage M from Spain (n=7), A. m. mellifera lineage M from France, Netherlands, Scotland and Norway (n=7), A. m. ligustica lineage C from Italy (n=4), A. m. carnica lineage C from Croacia and Serbia (n=4) and commercial Buckfast lineage C bees (n=10) were tested. Different sets of primers were designed targeting the cytochrome oxidase I gene. The specificity and sensitivity of the designed primers were assayed by qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Species-specific primers successfully allowed the identification of A. m. iberiensis lineage A by end-point PCR. The use of real-time PCR coupled with High Resolution Melting analysis allowed the separation of A. mellifera honey bee subspecies in different clusters according to their lineages. The developed methodologies were applied to the analysis of authentic honey samples from Portugal (produced by A. m. iberiensis lineage A), Spain (produced by A. m. iberiensis lineage M), and Italy (produced by A. m. ligustica lineage C), allowing its successful entomological origin identification. ; This work has been supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through project UID/QUI/50006/2013 – POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265 with financial support from FCT/ MEC through national funds and co-financed by FEDER, under the Partnership Agreement PT2020 and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000011. S. Soares and J. Costa are grateful to FCT grants (SFRH/ BPD/102404/2014 and SFRH/BD/75091/2010) financed by POPH-QREN (subsidized by FSE and MCTES). ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion