text:
Culicoides paolae and C. circumscriptus as potential vectors of avian haemosporidians in an arid ecosystem
Jesús Veiga ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1140-24111,
Josué Martínez-de la Puente2,3,
Radovan Václav4,
Jordi Figuerola2,3 &
Francisco Valera1
Haemosporidians are the most important vector-borne parasites due to their cosmopolitan distribution and their wide range of hosts, including humans. Identification of their vectors is critical to highlight ecologically and epidemiologically relevant features such as host specificity or transmission routes. Biting midges of the genus Culicoides are considered the main vectors of Haemoproteus spp., yet important information on aspects such as vector feeding preferences or vector-host specificity involving haemosporidian parasites is frequently missing.
We assessed the abundance of Culicoides circumscriptus and C. paolae and blood sources of the latter at the nests of cavity-nesting bird species (mainly the European roller Coracias garrulus) and in their surroundings. We also explored the prevalence and genetic diversity of avian haemosporidians in parous females of both species.
Both C. circumscriptus and C. paolae were abundant in the study area and common at European roller nests. Culicoides paolae had a diverse ornithophilic diet, feeding on at least seven bird species. Human DNA was also detected in the blood meal of some individuals. Four Haemoproteus lineages, including a new one reported here for the first time, were isolated from parous females of both biting midges.
Culicoides circumscriptus and C. paolae can play a locally important role in the transmission dynamics of Haemoproteus parasites in a community of cavity-nesting bird species in an arid ecosystem.
Biting midges of the genus Culicoides are small, cosmopolitan blood-sucking insects playing an important role as vectors of numerous viruses, filarial nematodes and protozoa affecting human, livestock and wildlife [1, 2]. Culicoides are regarded as the main vectors of Haemoproteus (class Aconoidasida, order Haemosporidia, subgenus Parahaemoproteus) [3]. Still, they are the least studied of the major dipteran vector groups and our knowledge of their vectorial role is biased. On one side, their participation in the transmission of livestock and human viruses has received much attention (e.g. bluetongue virus [4], African horse sickness virus [5], Oropouche virus [6]). On the other side, much less is known about their role in the transmission of avian haemosporidians. In particular, malaria-like parasites of the genus Haemoproteus are highly prevalent avian haemoparasites [7] with a relevant impact on the health status, longevity and fitness of their avian hosts [8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. Haemoproteus presents a high diversity in host-parasite associations [7] and it is unclear to what extent this diversity is due to host-parasite, host-vector or vector-parasite specificity [15,16,17,18,19,20]. Moreover, the vector identity and ecology of most Haemoproteus lineages is unknown [7, 21].
Tracing the feeding preferences (i.e. feeding patterns) of female Culicoides is critical to identify host-vector-parasite associations as well as ecologically and epidemiologically relevant features such as host specificity or transmission routes. Biting midges have a clear preference to feed mainly on either birds or mammals, with some species showing an opportunistic behaviour [22]. Traditionally, the feeding preferences of Culicoides have been assessed based on morphological characterization of the sensory structures (i.e. palps and antennae [23,24,25]). Other methods, such as the precipitin test [26,27,28], immunological assays [29, 30], and more recently, MALDI-TOF [31] and molecular tools [32, 33], have been applied to specifically identify the blood meal sources of female Culicoides and other insect vectors. Methods like the immunological assays are useful when the suitable hosts are suspected, which is commonly the case for the Culicoides surveys done in relation with livestock [34,35,36,37]. Yet, biting midges trapped in the wild may have a broad range of potential hosts, supporting the necessity to use approaches allowing the identification of a wide range of vertebrate species [22]. Studies on Culicoides feeding preferences in natural areas are especially scarce, although they provide a more complete view of the circulation of the blood parasites in the wild.
Here we studied the role of two common ornithophilic species of Culicoides in the transmission of avian haemosporidians in the driest European area, the Desert of Tabernas (south-eastern Spain). In this area, the prevalence of infection by Haemoproteus spp. varies between avian species, with a total absence of parasites found in adult Trumpeter finches (Bucanetes githagineus) while all the adult European rollers (Coracias garrulus) sampled showed evidence of infection [38, 39]. The haemosporidian species described for rollers in this area (Haemoproteus coraciae) was clustered, based on phylogenetic analysis, with other Haemoproteus spp. vectored by Culicoides [39], although the dipteran species involved in its transmission remains unidentified.
At least 81 species of the genus Culicoides are present in Spain [40]. In south-eastern Spain, different ornithophilic Culicoides species have been recorded including Culicoides paolae. This species, registered for first time in Spain in 2008 [41], has been frequently associated with livestock farms [34, 42, 43]. However, analysis of the sensory structures suggests an ornithophilic preference in this species [44], although the host sources of blood remain unidentified, and its role for the transmission of avian haemosporidians is completely unknown. This contrasts with other well-known, sympatric ornithophilic species such as C. circumscriptus, a common species in southern Spain which may be involved in the transmission of Haemoproteus parasites [18, 45, 46].
To assess the potential of C. paolae and C. circumscriptus as the vectors of blood parasites in a community of birds in south-eastern Spain we: (i) collected the specimens of the two species inside and in the surroundings of the nests of the European roller, one of the locally most abundant troglodytic species; (ii) identified the blood meal sources of engorged females; and (iii) studied the prevalence and genetic diversity of Haemoproteus parasites harboured by parous biting midge females.
This study was performed in an approximately 50 km2 area located in the Desert of Tabernas (Almería, SE Spain, 37°05'N, 2°21'W). The landscape mostly consists of open shrubland with olive and almond groves interspersed among numerous dry riverbeds (ramblas). Inhabited farms are scarce and scattered along the study area. The climate is temperate, semiarid Mediterranean with a strong water deficit during the long, hot summer months (June to September), when the absolute maximum monthly temperature is higher than 40 °C and the monthly average of the maximum daily temperatures remains above 30 °C [47]. The average annual temperature is 18 °C, with mild inter-annual oscillations of 3–4 °C and significant intra-annual fluctuations [47]. The mean annual rainfall is c.230 mm with high inter-annual and intra-annual variability [48].
The bird community comprises species that breed mainly in cavities in the study area (e.g. the little owl Athene noctua, scops owl Otus scops, Eurasian jackdaw Corvus monedula, common kestrel Falco tinnunculus and feral pigeon Columba livia), chiefly in natural holes in sandy cliffs but also in cavities in human constructions [49]. The European roller (hereafter roller) is a common breeding species in the study area where it is distributed patchily according to distinct geomorphological units [50]: (i) ramblas (dry stream channels with steep sandstone banks), which are linear, continuous geographical units separated from neighbouring ramblas by hills and human settlements; (ii) individual bridges with numerous, densely spaced cavities (c.2–3 m apart); and (iii) spatial aggregations of suitable nesting places, mostly trees with nest boxes but also small sandstone banks with natural cavities and isolated country houses with cavities. Wooden nest boxes have been placed in these habitat types and most rollers individuals are currently breeding in them (height × length × width: 310 × 232 × 230 mm, entrance diameter: 60 mm, with a removable upper lid to allow nest monitoring) installed on isolated eucalyptus trees, sandstone banks and isolated and deserted country houses [49, 50]. Rollers are migratory birds wintering in Africa and arriving at the breeding grounds in the study area when resident, secondary cavity-nesting birds are already settled. Eggs (mean clutch size = 4.23) [51] are incubated by both sexes [52] during c.21 days. Rollers rear a single brood per year [52] with fledglings leaving the nest approximately 20–22 days after hatching in the studied population [50].
Culicoides trapping
Culicoides spp. specimens were trapped using two methods: sticky traps and CDC light traps. Sticky traps were placed in nest boxes occupied by rollers during the 2016 and 2017 breeding seasons (from 18 May to 4 July in 2016 and from 2 June to 18 July in 2017). Specifically, sticky traps were fixed under the upper lid of 69 nest boxes (32 in 2016 and 37 in 2017). In 2016 we took advantage of a pair of kestrels breeding in a next box close to a breeding pair of rollers, thus resembling natural nesting conditions with different cavity nesting bird species breeding in close proximity [50]. We followed the method described by Tomás et al. [53] (i.e using Petri dishes smeared with body gel-oil as a non-attractant glue) but replacing Petri dishes by white vegetal papers that were fixed by thumbtacks on the inner side of the upper lid. In 2016, these sticky traps (size = 63.6 cm2) were kept for three days in two periods of the breeding cycle: (i) at the end of the incubation phase (18–20 days after the first egg was laid); and (ii) during the nestling phase, when all chicks had already hatched (13–15 days after the first egg hatched). In 2017, sticky traps were only placed during the nestling stage, because most vectors were captured during this stage in 2016, and the trap size was increased (size = 175.5 cm2). Thus, in 2017, a first trap was set 13 days after the first egg hatched and kept for four days. Then, it was replaced by a new trap that was kept for a second period of four days. Additionally, opportunistic catches of Culicoides at the nests were made by hand during routine visits.
Additionally, CDC traps were set throughout the study area during 2016 and 2017. We used traps with UV light as they are recommended to attract Culicoides [54]. Moreover, since this study is part of a broader one aimed at studying the community of dipteran vectors, we also used incandescent light traps. Both trap types were put together and were also baited with CO2 in order to use as many different stimuli as possible. Dry ice was used as source of CO2 (1 kg of dry ice per night and pair of traps to ensure the continued emission of CO2 until the collection of the traps at dawn). Thus, 20 pairs of CDC traps (each pair formed by one trap with incandescent light and one with UV light, c.50 cm apart from each other, both baited with CO2) were set all over the study area and in the main breeding habitats of the roller, namely trees, ramblas and bridges (see above), so that eight traps were located on ramblas, eight on trees and four on bridges during 2016 and 2017. The traps were powered by a 6 V battery of 12 Ah. The trapping sessions were adjusted according to the breeding season of rollers and the moon calendar, so that traps were active on the days during or close to the period of the new moon (reducing the effect of ambient light [55]), and avoiding windy nights. In 2016 we placed one group of 10 pairs of traps from 8 June to 10 June and a second group of 10 trap pairs from 7 July to 8 July. In 2017, all 20 trap pairs were set from 22 June to 1 July. Most traps (82.5%) were set before dusk or shortly after and were removed after sunrise. Captured insects were moved to the Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas and frozen in 70% ethanol until identification.
Morphological identification
Biting midges were identified to the species level based on González & Goldarazena [56] and Mathieu et al. [57] taxonomic keys under a Zeiss Discovery V8 stereomicroscope. Culicoides circumscriptus and C. paolae were the most abundant biting midges at the nests (see Results), and individuals of these species collected at the nests and with CDC light traps were analysed for blood meal origin (engorged females) or Haemoproteus detection (parous females). Engorged females were identified based on the presence of blood remains in the abdomen. The abdomen of each C. paolae engorged female was separated from the head-thorax using sterile tips on chilly Petri dishes and, subsequently, maintained in individual vials. Diet analyses were restricted to C. paolae as only two engorged C. circumscriptus females were captured. Parous females were identified based on the presence of burgundy-red pigmented abdomen that develops during the first gonotrophic cycle [58]. As previous studies have reported a low prevalence of avian haemosporidians in Culicoides from southern Spain ([46], our unpublished observations], parous females were grouped in pools from 1 to 11 individuals according to species, date and site of capture.
DNA extraction and molecular analyses
Genomic DNA from the abdomen of each engorged C. paolae females and biting midge pools was extracted using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue® kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) following company specifications. Negative controls (reagents without a template) were used to detect possible contaminations. DNA was stored at -20 °C until PCR amplification. To confirm the morphological identification of Culicoides species, we amplified a 658 base pair (bp) fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (cox1 gene, barcoding region) of four individuals following Gutiérrez-López et al. [59]. The vertebrate hosts of Culicoides females were identified by amplification of a fragment of 758 bp of the vertebrate cox1 gene following Alcaide et al. [32]. Finally, the presence and identity of Haemoproteus and Plasmodium spp. were assessed for the pools of parous female Culicoides specimens using the protocol by Hellgren et al. [60]. Parasite determination was conducted at least twice per sample to avoid false negative results [61]. The presence of amplicons was verified on 1.8% agarose gels. Positive amplifications were sequenced using the Macrogen laboratories sequencing service (Madrid, Spain) and sequences were edited using the software Sequencher™ v.4.9 (Gene Codes Corp, Ann Arbor, MI, USA).
The identity of Culicoides species and their vertebrate hosts were established by comparison with sequences deposited in GenBank DNA sequence database (National Center for Biotechnology Information BLAST) or the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD). The molecular identification of two female C. paolae and two female C. circumscriptus confirmed the morphological identifications. Vertebrate species were confirmed if agreement was ≥ 98% with deposited sequences. Parasite lineages and morphospecies were identified by BLAST comparison with the sequences available in GenBank and MalAvi [62].
The abundance of parous C. paolae and C. circumscriptus captured in CDC traps were analysed with a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) with the negative binomial distribution of errors. Year (2016 and 2017) and biting midge species were included as independent variables. Scaled and centred date of sampling was included in a GLMM as a covariate. The number (log-transformed, scaled and centred) of blood-feeding parasitic dipterans captured per pair of traps was included as an offset variable to correct for their abundance in each sampling point. Trap location, identical during both years, was included as a random factor. The interaction between sampling date and Culicoides species was introduced to explore a seasonal effect in the capture of the two species. One outlier due to the capture of 94 parous C. paoale was detected and the analyses were run with and without this datum. Given that the results obtained were qualitatively comparable, we report the analysis including this datapoint.
The prevalence of Haemoproteus spp. in Culicoides pools was estimated considering variable pool sizes and 100% test specificity and sensitivity following Sergeant [63]. Statistical analyses were performed using the R environment [64] with the lme4 and effects packages [65, 66].
Abundance of Culicoides spp. in avian nests
Overall, 57 Culicoides spp. were collected in avian nest during both years (n = 42 in 2016 and n = 15 in 2017, Table 1). From the 57 captures, four individuals were collected opportunistically in the nest and 53 were collected by sticky traps. In addition, Simuliidae (n = 230) and Phlebotominae (n = 105) were other blood-feeding dipterans collected with the sticky traps at the nests.
Table 1 Abundance, mean ± SD, and range (in parentheses) for Culicoides spp. (overall data set) and for the subset of parous and engorged females of C. paolae and C. circumscriptus trapped in avian nests and their surroundings during 2016 and 2017
The most abundant biting midges were C. paolae (57.9%, 33 out of 57) and C. circumscriptus (22.8%, 13 out of 57). Twenty-seven C. paolae specimens were parous and six were engorged, whereas 11 C. circumscriptus specimens were parous, two nulliparous (not included in Table 1) and no engorged individual was captured. Twenty-two out of the 32 C. paolae collected in 2016 were captured in a common kestrel nest.
Abundance of Culicoides spp. in CDC traps
Overall, 7764 Culicoides spp. were captured using CDC traps (Table 1). Of them, 341 were parous females of C. paolae and C. circumscriptus, representing 4.4% of the total Culicoides spp. specimens captured (Table 1). The average number of parous females per pair of traps was 3.8 of C. paolae and 1.7 of C. circumscriptus in 2016 and 9 of C. paolae and 2.5 of C. circumscriptus in 2017. Furthermore, 30 engorged females of C. paolae and two engorged females of C. circumscriptus were also captured (Table 1).
The abundance of parous biting midges (C. paolae and C. circumscriptus) was greater in 2017 and decreased through the breeding season. Culicoides paolae was significantly more abundant than C. circumscriptus (Table 2). The interaction between Culicoides species and sampling date was also significant (Table 2), because parous C. paolae was more abundant late in the roller breeding season and parous C. circumscriptus was more abundant early in the season (Fig. 1).
Table 2 Results of a generalised mixed model analysing the abundance of parous Culicoides paolae and C. circumscriptus collected using CDC traps in relation to year (2016, 2017), date of capture, and the interaction between date of capture and the species of Culicoides biting midges
Relationship between capture date and abundance of parous females of Culicoides circumscriptus (estimate ± SE = -0.63 ± 0.23, P < 0.01) and C. paolae (estimate ± SE = 0.48 ± 0.21, P = 0.022) captured with CDC traps in south-eastern Spain during 2016 and 2017. Date of capture was scaled and centred. Lines represent fitted values with shaded regions showing areas delimited by 95% confidence intervals
Culicoides paolae feeding patterns
Blood meals of 21 (58.3%) out of the 36 engorged C. paolae were successfully identified. Of them, the six females captured in avian nests fed on the species breeding in these nest boxes (two on common kestrels and four on rollers) (Table 3). Culicoides paolae females captured with CDC traps (n = 15) fed mainly on birds (66.7% of the identified blood meals) corresponding to five different species including cavity-nesting and open-nesting species. Finally, human DNA was found in five (33.3%) out of 15 C. paolae collected with CDC traps (Table 3).
Table 3 Hosts of C. paolae based on the molecular identification of blood meal origin. The number of successfully identified blood meals is shown for each species
Prevalence and identification of haemosporidian parasites
The prevalence of Haemoproteus spp. was 4.4% (95% CI: 1.39–9.95%, n = 95 individuals) and 0.7% (95% CI: 0.12–2.21%, n = 284 individuals) for C. circumscriptus and C. paolae pools, respectively. Overall, four Haemoproteus and one Plasmodium lineages were found. Of them, the three Hemoproteus lineages, TURDUS2, GAGLA03 (= GAGLA05, both sequences with equal coverage and identity) and AEFUN03, and the Plasmodium lineage SYAT05 (Plasmodium vaughani), were identified with 100% coverage and identity. The three Haemoproteus lineages, TURDUS2, GAGLA03 (=GAGLA05) and AEFUN03, were isolated from C. circumscriptus specimens (Table 4). The Haemoproteus lineage TURDUS2 and the Plasmodium lineage SYAT05 were isolated from C. paolae specimens (Table 4). In addition, a new lineage (CUPAO-01, GenBank: MH237967) was isolated from a C. paolae specimen. This lineage showed 93% overlap and 99% similarity with the Haemoproteus coraciae lineage H1CG.1 (GenBank: KU297278) (Table 4). In fact, six nucleotide bases differed between both lineages.
Table 4 Molecular identification of haemosporidians in pools of parous C. circumscriptus and C. paolae females trapped in avian nests and surroundings. Lineages and accession numbers from GenBank sequences showing the highest percentage of coverage and identity to those found in this study are shown. Previous information regarding these sequences is reported including the parasite morphospecies (when described), avian hosts and potential insect vectors (in bold) according to information of the reported sequences
This study reveals that C. circumscriptus and C. paolae are common endophagous insects at the nests of cavity-nesting species, with C. paolae being identified for the first time, using identification of blood meals, as a potential vector of avian haemosporidians. This assertion is supported by detecting a high diversity of avian hosts including cavity-nesting and open-nesting species and the identification of avian haemosporidian parasites for C. paolae.
Whereas C. circumscriptus is common in Spain [56, 67,68,69,70,71,72], C. paolae was detected for the first time in 2008 [41]. It has been proposed that the latter species was introduced into Europe by Columbus's travels from America five centuries ago [44, 73]. In spite of some morphological differences, C. paolae is very similar to the American Culicoides jamaicensis [44] and a recent phylogenetic study related the former species with Culicoides from the New World [73]. Nowadays, in addition to Spain, where C. paolae is currently expanding its distribution range [41], this biting midge is the most widespread and abundant species of all Culicoides in Malta [34] and one of the most abundant species in central Tunisia [74] and Sardinia [75], where its importance on the local transmission of avian vector-borne pathogens should be considered. Culicoides paolae is commonly found near livestock farms [34, 74, 75], but according to our results, this species may also be widespread in the wild and, at least for the study period, it is even more abundant than C. circumscriptus (Tables 1, 2). Data from two breeding seasons suggest that the two species exhibit different phenologies, C. paolae being more abundant late in the roller breeding season whereas the opposite is true for C. circumscriptus. Furthermore, whereas the ability of some ornithophilic biting midges to feed inside enclosed places (endophagy) has been previously shown [39, 53, 69, 76], to our knowledge this is the first time that endophagy has been recorded for C. paolae.
Culicoides paolae is defined as ornithophilic according to its sensory structures [44]. Here we provide for the first time, unequivocal identification of its hosts, including seven different bird species within the study area. This broad spectrum of hosts has already been described for other ornithophilic Culicoides species [22, 77]. Interestingly, some of the host species are not particularly abundant in the study area, suggesting a remarkable feeding range of this biting midge and excellent host-searching abilities. Nonetheless, a greater effort in sampling engorged females C. paolae together with an analysis of the bird community composition around the traps is still necessary for a better knowledge of host selection by this dipteran. Our results also suggest that C. paolae could feed on humans. Even though we tried to minimize the risk of contamination, we did not type the human-positive samples with DNA samples of the experimenters (e.g. [78]). Thus, we cannot discard the possibility of sample contamination. Nonetheless, other ornithophilic species like C. kibunensis [79, 80], C. circumscriptus [81], or C. pictipennis [82], have previously been reported to feed on humans. The broad range of hosts could help biting midges to face environmental changes [79], and in our case, it could have facilitated the establishment of C. paolae in a new area.
DNA from four Haemoproteus lineages and one Plasmodium lineage was detected in parous C. paolae and C. circumscriptus. Even though multiple Plasmodium lineages have been molecularly detected in Culicoides [18, 46], this does not imply vector competence [83]. Plasmodium is mainly transmitted by Culex mosquitoes [7] and our result could simply reflect the presence of abortive stages of P. vaughani in C. paolae [84].
We isolated four different Haemoproteus lineages from six pools of Culicoides females. A lineage of H. minutus (TURDUS2) was detected both in C. paolae and C. circumscriptus. This is a geographically widespread lineage (northwest Africa, northwest Iberia, Transcaucasia and western Greater Caucasus) infecting different avian species, with Turdus merula probably playing a central role as reservoir [85]. Additionally, GAGLA03 (=GAGLA05) was previously isolated in Bulgaria from Garrulus glandarius [86], C. circumscriptus in Spain ([46], this study) and Turkey (GenBank: MF594402 and MF095639). The lineage AEFUN03 that had been only detected previously in Aegolious funereus [87] was found in C. circumscriptus in south-eastern Spain. This bird species is absent from the study area and probably this Haemoproteus lineage is infecting another locally abundant owl (e.g. little owl Athene noctua). Finally, we also detected a new Haemoproteus lineage highly similar (99% similarity) to the one corresponding to the haplotype H1CG.1 (identified as H. coraciae), which was detected previously in the same roller breeding population by Václav et al. [39]. Microscopic examination of smears suggested that this lineage might correspond to the species Haemoproteus coraciae [39], a parasite identified in rollers in Bulgaria [88] and Kazakhstan [89]. For the case of avian malaria parasites and related haemosporidians, different lineages are described with differences of a single nucleotide base in their sequences [62]. However, different lineages showing few differences may correspond to the same parasite morphospecies. Thus, it is likely that the new lineage reported here (H1CG.1) corresponds to the H. coraciae morphospecies. Further analyses are necessary to confirm this possibility. Haemoproteus coraciae were widely prevalent in adult rollers and also present in nestlings, suggesting the presence of a competent vector in the breeding area [39]. Václav et al. [39] pointed out that the detection of a Haemoproteus species only infecting adult rollers was intriguing because all the Culicoides species studied by Bobeva et al. [82] were feeding on a wide range of avian host. Our results suggest that C. paolae may be a competent vector for H. coraciae probably playing a role on the transmission of locally circulating parasites that could be amplified by the migratory behaviour of rollers. Further analyses are necessary to confirm the vector competence of this Culicoides species for the transmission of the lineages isolated here [83].
The prevalence of Haemoproteus in C. circumscriptus in the study area (4.4%) is slightly lower than the one observed in central Spain (16.7% [18]) and southwestern Spain (10.3% [46]), yet it is higher than the prevalence found in the sympatric C. paolae (0.7 vs 4.4%). On the other hand, C. paolae is seemingly locally more abundant than C. circumscriptus both at the nests and in their surroundings. Therefore, both species could play an important role in the transmission dynamics of haemosporidian parasites in the study area. Nevertheless, other factors such as the efficiency of parasite transmission or seasonality in vector abundance should be considered. Concerning the latter, our study reveals that differential exposure of the hosts to individual biting midge species along the season is worth studying to fully understand the risk of haemosporidian transmission by each species.
Vectors for most haemosporidians are unidentified [7, 90] and thus parasite-vector associations remain an enigmatic aspect of haemosporidian parasite ecology [17, 19, 91]. Here, we provide valuable information about the Haemoproteus lineages potentially transmitted by two biting midges species. Culicoides paolae and C. circumscriptus were abundant both at the nests of cavity bird species and in their surroundings, with seasonal differences in abundance during the study period. We assessed the ornithophilic diet of C. paolae that fed on at least seven bird species and possibly also on humans. Both biting midge species harboured several Haemoproteus lineages. These findings provide an important first step towards the identification of C. paolae and C. circumscriptus as potential vectors of avian haemosporidian parasites.
MALDI-TOF:
matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry
CDC:
GLMM:
Generalized linear mixed effects models
Borkent A. The biting midges, the Ceratopogonidae (Diptera). In: Marquardt WC, editor. Biology of Disease Vectors. 2nd ed. San Diego: Elsevier Academic Press; 2005. p. 113–26.
Carpenter S, Groschup MH, Garros C, Felippe-Bauer ML, Purse BV. Culicoides biting midges, arboviruses and public health in Europe. Antiviral Res. 2013;100:102–13.
Atkinson CT, Van Riper C. Pathogenicity and epizootiology of avian haematozoa: Plasmodium, Leucocytozoon and Haemoproteus. In: Loye JE, Zuk M, editors. Bird-Parasite Interactions: Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour. London: Oxford University Press; 1991. p. 19–48.
Mellor PS, Boorman J, Baylis M. Culicoides biting midges: their role as arbovirus vectors. Annu Rev Entomol. 2000;45:307–40.
Mellor PS, Boorman J. The transmission and geographical spread of African horse sickness and bluetongue viruses. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1995;89:1–15.
Da Rosa JFT, de Souza WM, de Paula Pinheiro F, Figueiredo ML, Cardoso JF, Acrani GO, et al. Oropouche virus: clinical, epidemiological, and molecular aspects of a neglected Orthobunyavirus. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2017;96:1019–30.
Valkiūnas G. Avian Malaria Parasites and Other Haemosporidia. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2005.
Merino S, Moreno J, Sanz JJ, Arriero E. Are avian blood parasites pathogenic in the wild? A medication experiment in blue tits (Parus caeruleus). Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2000;267:2507–10.
Marzal A, De Lope F, Navarro C, Møller AP. Malarial parasites decrease reproductive success: an experimental study in a passerine bird. Oecologia. 2005;142:541–5.
Valkiūnas G, Zickus T, Shapoval AP, Iezhova TA. Effect of Haemoproteus belopolskyi (Haemosporida: Haemoproteidae) on body mass of the blackcap Sylvia atricapilla. J Parasitol. 2006;92:1123–5.
Tomás G, Merino S, Moreno J, Morales J, Martínez-de la Puente J. Impact of blood parasites on immunoglobulin level and parental effort: a medication field experiment on a wild passerine. Funct Ecol. 2007;21:125–33.
Martínez-de la Puente J, Merino S, Tomás G, Moreno J, Morales J, Lobato E, et al. The blood parasite Haemoproteus reduces survival in a wild bird: a medication experiment. Biol Lett. 2010;6:663–5.
Asghar M, Hasselquist D, Bensch S. Are chronic avian haemosporidian infections costly in wild birds? J Avian Biol. 2011;42:530–7.
Asghar M, Hasselquist D, Hansson B, Zehtindjiev P, Westerdahl H, Bensch S. Hidden costs of infection: chronic malaria accelerates telomere degradation and senescence in wild birds. Science. 2015;347:436–8.
Hellgren O, Bensch S, Malmqvist B. Bird hosts, blood parasites and their vectors - associations uncovered by molecular analyses of blackfly blood meals. Mol Ecol. 2008;17:1605–13.
Ishtiaq F, Guillaumot L, Clegg SM, Phillimore AB, Black RA, Owens IPF, et al. Avian haematozoan parasites and their associations with mosquitoes across Southwest Pacific Islands. Mol Ecol. 2008;17:4545–55.
Kimura M, Darbro JM, Harrington LC. Avian malaria parasites share congeneric mosquito vectors. J Parasitol. 2010;96:144–51.
Martínez-de la Puente J, Martínez J, Rivero-de Aguilar J, Herrero J, Merino S. On the specificity of avian blood parasites: revealing specific and generalist relationships between haemosporidians and biting midges. Mol Ecol. 2011;20:3275–87.
Njabo KY, Cornel AJ, Bonneaud C, Toffelmier E, Sehgal RNM, Valkiūnas G, et al. Nonspecific patterns of vector, host and avian malaria parasite associations in a central African rainforest. Mol Ecol. 2011;20:1049–61.
Santiago-Alarcon D, Palinauskas V, Schaefer HM. Diptera vectors of avian haemosporidian parasites: untangling parasite life cycles and their taxonomy. Biol Rev. 2012;87:928–64.
Garnham PCC. Malaria Parasites and other Haemosporidia. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications; 1966.
Martínez-de la Puente J, Figuerola J, Soriguer R. Fur or feather? Feeding preferences of species of Culicoides biting midges in Europe. Trends Parasitol. 2015;3:16–22.
Jamnback H. The Culicoides of New York State (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). NY State Mus Sci Serv Bull. 1965;399:1–154.
Braverman Y, Hulley PE. The relationship between the numbers and distribution of some antennal and palpal sense organs and host preference in some Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from southern Africa. J Med Entomol. 1979;15:419–24.
Augot D, Hadj-Henni L, Strutz SE, Slama D, Millot C, Depaquit J, et al. Association between host species choice and morphological characters of main sensory structures of Culicoides in the Palaeartic region. PeerJ. 2017;5:e3478.
Weitz B. Identification of blood meals of blood-sucking arthropods. Bull World Health Organ. 1956;15:473.
Braverman Y, Boreham PFL, Galum R. The origin of blood meals of female Culicoides pallidipennis trapped in a sheepfold in Israel. J Med Entomol. 1971;8:379–81.
Nevill EM, Anderson D. Host preferences of Culicoides midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in South Africa as determined by precipitin tests and light trap catches. Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1972;39:147–52.
Blackwell A, Mordue W. Identification of bloodmeals of the Scottish biting midge, Culicoides impunctatus, by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Med Vet Entomol. 1994;8:20–4.
Blackwell A, Brown M, Mordue W. The use of an enhanced ELISA method for the identification of Culicoides bloodmeals in host-preference studies. Med Vet Entomol. 1995;9:214–8.
Niare S, Berenger JM, Dieme C, Doumbo O, Raoult D, Parola P, et al. Identification of blood meal sources in the main African malaria mosquito vector by MALDI-TOF MS. Malar J. 2016;15:87.
Alcaide M, Rico C, Ruiz S, Soriguer R, Muñoz J, Figuerola J. Disentangling vector-borne transmission networks: a universal DNA barcoding method to identify vertebrate hosts from arthropod bloodmeals. PLoS One. 2009;4:e7092.
Van der Saag MR, Gu X, Ward MP, Kirkland PD. Development and evaluation of real-time PCR assays for bloodmeal identification in Culicoides midges. Med Vet Entomol. 2016;30:155–65.
Goffredo M, Buttigieg M, Meiswinkel R, Delécolle JC, Chircop S. Entomological surveillance for bluetongue on Malta: first report of Culicoides imicola Kieffer. Vet Ital. 2004;40:278–81.
Lysyk TJ. Abundance and species composition of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) at cattle facilities in southern Alberta, Canada. J Med Entomol. 2006;43:840–9.
Casati S, Racloz V, Delécolle JC, Kuhn M, Mathis A, Griot C, et al. An investigation on the Culicoides species composition at seven sites in southern Switzerland. Med Vet Entomol. 2009;23:93–8.
Narladkar BW, Shivpuje PR. Prevalence, population dynamics and host preferences of Culicoides spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) of livestock in Marathwada region of Maharashtra State. Vet World. 2014;7:717–26.
Valera F, Carrillo CM, Barbosa A, Moreno E. Low prevalence of haematozoa in Trumpeter finches Bucanetes githagineus from south-eastern Spain: additional support for a restricted distribution of blood parasites in arid lands. J Arid Environ. 2003;55:209–13.
Václav R, Betáková T, Švančarová P, Pérez-Serrano J, Criado-Fornelio Á, Škorvanová L, et al. Nest ecology of blood parasites in the European roller and its ectoparasitic carnid fly. Exp Parasitol. 2016;165:71–80.
Alarcón-Elbal PM, Lucientes J. Actualización del catálogo de Culicoides Latreille, 1809 (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) de España. Graellsia. 2012;68:353–62.
Estrada R, Carmona VJ, Alarcón-Elbal PM, Miranda MA, Borrás D, Roche ML, et al. Primera cita de Culicoides paolae Boorman, 1996 (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) para la Península Ibérica. Bol SEA. 2011;49:217–21.
Boorman J, Mellor PS, Scaramozzino P. A new species of Culicoides (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) from southern Italy. Parassitologia. 1996;38:501–3.
Barceló C, Miranda MA. Bionomics of livestock-associated Culicoides (biting midge) bluetongue virus vectors under laboratory conditions. Med Vet Entomol. 2017; https://doi.org/10.1111/mve.12286.
Meiswinkel R, Labuschagne K, Goffredo M. Christopher Columbus and Culicoides: was C. jamaicensis Edwards, 1922 introduced into the Mediterranean 500 years ago and later re-named C. paolae Boorman 1996? Vet Ital. 2004;40:340–4.
Černý O, Votýpka J, Svobodová M. Spatial feeding preferences of ornithophilic mosquitoes, blackflies and biting midges. Med Vet Entomol. 2011;25:104–8.
Ferraguti M, Martínez-de la Puente J, Ruiz S, Soriguer R, Figuerola J. On the study of the transmission networks of blood parasites from SW Spain: diversity of avian haemosporidians in the biting midge Culicoides circumscriptus and wild birds. Parasit Vectors. 2013;6:208.
Lázaro R, Rodríguez-Tamayo ML, Ordiales R, Puigdefábregas J. El clima. In: Mota J, Cabello J, Cerrillo MI, Rodríguez-Tamayo ML, editors. Subdesiertos de Almería: naturaleza de cine. Murcia: Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucía; 2004. p. 63–79.
Lázaro R, Rodrigo FS, Gutiérrez L, Domingo F, Puigdefábregas J. Analysis of a thirty-year rainfall record (1967–1997) from semi-arid SE Spain: a plant ecological perspective. J Arid Environ. 2001;48:373–95.
Valera F, Václav R, Calero-Torralbo MA, Martínez T, Veiga J. Natural cavity restoration as an alternative to nest box supplementation. Restor Ecol. 2018; https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12841.
Václav R, Valera F, Martínez T. Social information in nest colonisation and occupancy in a long-lived, solitary breeding bird. Oecologia. 2011;165:617–27.
Avilés JM, Sánchez JM, Sánchez A, Parejo D. Breeding biology of Roller Coracias garrulus L. 1758 in farming areas of the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Bird Study. 1999;46:217–23.
Cramp S. Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa: the Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. IV. Terns to Woodpeckers. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1985.
Tomás G, Merino S, Martínez-de la Puente J, Moreno J, Morales J, Lobato E. A simple trapping method to estimate abundances of blood-sucking flying insects in avian nests. Anim Behav. 2008;75:723–9.
González M, Alarcón-Elbal PM, Valle-Mora J, Goldarazena A. Comparison of different light sources for trapping Culicoides biting midges, mosquitoes and other dipterans. Vet Parasitol. 2016;226:44–9.
McDermott EG, Mullens BA. The dark side of light traps. J Med Entomol. 2018;55:251–61.
González M, Goldarazena A. El género Culicoides en el País Vasco. Guía Práctica para su identificación y control. Vitoria-Gasteiz, España: Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco; 2011.
Mathieu B, Cêtre-Sossah C, Garros C, Chavernac D, Balenghien T, Carpenter S, et al. Development and validation of IIKC: an interactive identification key for Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) females from the Western Palaearctic region. Parasit Vectors. 2012;5:137.
Dyce AL. The recognition of nulliparous and parous Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) without dissection. Aus J Ent. 1969;8:11–5.
Gutiérrez-López R, Martínez-de la Puente J, Gangoso L, Soriguer RC, Figuerola J. Comparison of manual and semi-automatic DNA extraction protocols for the barcoding characterization of hematophagous louse flies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae). J Vector Ecol. 2015;40:11–5.
Hellgren O, Waldenström J, Bensch S. A new PCR assay for simultaneous studies of Leucocytozoon, Plasmodium, and Haemoproteus from avian blood. J Parasitol. 2004;90:797–802.
McClintock BT, Nichols JD, Bailey LL, MacKenzie DI, Kendall W, Franklin AB. Seeking a second opinion: uncertainty in disease ecology. Ecol Lett. 2010;13:659–74.
Bensch S, Hellgren O, Pérez-Tris J. MalAvi: a public database of malaria parasites and related haemosporidians in avian hosts based on mitochondrial cytochrome b lineages. Mol Ecol Res. 2009;9:1353–8.
Sergeant ESG. Epitools epidemiological calculators. Ausvet Pty Ltd. 2018; http://epitools.ausvet.com.au. Accessed 18 Apr 2018
R Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2015.
Fox J. Effect displays in R for generalised linear models. J Stat Softw. 2003;8:1–27.
Bates D, Mächler M, Bolker B, Walker S. Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw. 2015;67:1–48.
Ortega MD, Mellor PS, Rawlings O, Pro MJ. The seasonal and geographical distribution of Culicoides imicola, C. pulicaris group and C. obsoletus group biting midges in central and southern Spain. Arch Virol. 1998;14:85–91.
Ventura D, Pagès N, Sarto V. Citas nuevas e interesantes de Culicoides Latreille, 1809 para Cataluña y la Península Ibérica (Diptera, Nematocera, Ceratopogonidae). Bol Asoc Esp Entomol. 2005;29:75–86.
Martínez-de la Puente J, Merino S, Tomás G, Moreno J, Morales J, Lobato E, et al. Factors affecting Culicoides species composition and abundance in avian nests. Parasitology. 2009;136:1033–41.
Del Río R. Estrategias de control y competencia vectorial de las especies de Culicoides vectores del virus de la lengua azul en península Ibérica y Baleares, PhD Thesis. Palma de Mallorca: Universitat de les Illes Balears; 2012.
Estrada R, Alarcón-Elbal PM, Carmona Salido VJ, Ruiz Arrondo I, Delacour S, Pinal R, et al. Culicoides (Diptera, Cerotopogonidae) de Aragón. Bol SEA. 2013;53:153–60.
Alarcón-Elbal PM, Estrada R, Carmona-Salido VJ, Calvete C, Lucientes J. Composición faunística y dinámica poblacional de los Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) de Castilla-La Mancha. An Biol. 2016;28:37–61.
Augot D, Mathieu B, Hadj-Henni L, Barriel V, Mena SZ, Smolis S, et al. Molecular phylogeny of 42 species of Culicoides (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) from three continents. Parasite. 2017;24:23.
Slama D, Haouas N, Mezhoud H, Babba H, Chaker E. Blood meal analysis of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in central Tunisia. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0120528.
Foxi C, Pinna M, Monteys VSI, Delrio G. An updated checklist of the Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) of Sardinia (Italy), and seasonality in proven and potential vectors for bluetongue virus (BTV). Proc Entomol Soc Wash. 2011;113:403–16.
Votýpka J, Synek P, Svobodova M. Endophagy of biting midges attacking cavity-nesting birds. Med Vet Entomol. 2009;23:277–80.
Pettersson E, Bensch S, Ander M, Chirico J, Sigvald R, Ignell R. Molecular identification of blood meals and species composition in Culicoides biting midges. Med Vet Entomol. 2013;27:104–12.
Malmqvist B, Strasevicius D, Hellgren O, Adler PH, Bensch S. Vertebrate host specificity of wild-caught blackflies revealed by mitochondrial DNA in blood. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2004;271:152–5.
Santiago-Alarcon D, Havelka P, Schaefer HM, Segelbacher G. Bloodmeal analysis reveals avian Plasmodium infections and broad host preferences of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) vectors. PLoS One. 2012;7:e31098.
Santiago-Alarcon D, Havelka P, Pineda E, Segelbacher G, Schaefer H. Urban forests as hubs for novel zoonosis: Blood meal analysis, seasonal variation in Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) vectors, and avian haemosporidians. Parasitology. 2013;140:1799–810.
Lassen SB, Nielsen SA, Kristensen M. Identity and diversity of blood meal hosts of biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae: Culicoides Latreille) in Denmark. Parasit Vectors. 2012;5:143.
Bobeva A, Zehtindjiev P, Ilieva M, Dimitrov D, Mathis A, Bensch S. Host preferences of ornithophilic biting midges of the genus Culicoides in the eastern Balkans. Med Vet Entomol. 2015;29:290–6.
Valkiūnas G. Haemosporidian vector research: marriage of molecular and microscopical approaches is essential. Mol Ecol. 2011;20:3084–6.
Valkiūnas G, Kazlauskienė R, Bernotienė R, Palinauskas V, Iezhova TA. Abortive long-lasting sporogony of two Haemoproteus species (Haemosporida, Haemoproteidae) in the mosquito Ochlerotatus cantans with perspectives on haemosporidian vector research. Parasitol Res. 2013;112:2159–69.
Drovetski SV, Aghayan SA, Mata VA, Lopes RJ, Mode NA, Harvey JA, et al. Does the niche breadth or trade-off hypothesis explain the abundance-occupancy relationship in avian haemosporidia? Mol Ecol. 2014;23:3322–9.
Dimitrov D, Zehtindjiev P, Bensch S. Genetic diversity of avian blood parasites in SE Europe: cytochrome b lineages of the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus (Haemosporida) from Bulgaria. Acta Parasitol. 2010;55:201–9.
Synek P, Popelková A, Koubínová D, Šťastný K, Langrová I, Votýpka J, et al. Haemosporidian infections in the Tengmalm's Owl (Aegolius funereus) and potential insect vectors of their transmission. Parasitol Res. 2016;115:291–8.
Shurulinkov P, Golemansky V. Haemoproteids (Haemosporida: Haemoproteidae) of wild birds in Bulgaria. Acta Protozool. 2002;41:359–74.
Valkiūnas G, Iezhova T. Parasitic Protozoa of the blood of birds in the USSR. 6. Haemoproteidae of columbiformes and coraciiformes. Ekologija. 1990;2:86–103 (In Russian).
Cleaveland S, Laurenson MK, Taylor LH. Diseases of humans and their domestic mammals: pathogen characteristics, host range and the risk of emergence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2001;356:991–9.
Atkinson CT, Thomas NJ, Hunter DB. Parasitic Diseases of Wild Birds. Ames: Wiley-Blackwell; 2008.
Francisco Collantes provided helpful advice concerning trapping methods. Domingo Álvarez, Isabel Martín and Laura Gómez helped in the laboratory analyses.
JV was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness by means of a predoctoral grant (grant no. BES-2015-075951). FV and JF received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and the European Regional Development Fund (CGL2014-55969-P; CGL2015-65055-P). JMP was partially supported by a 2017 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation. The Foundation accepts no responsibility for the opinions, statements and contents included in the project and/or the results thereof, which are entirely the responsibility of the authors. We acknowledge support of the publication fees by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The new lineage sequence of H. coraciae was submitted to the GenBank database under the accession number MH237967.
Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA-CSIC), Ctra. de Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, E-04120, Almería, Spain
Jesús Veiga & Francisco Valera
Departamento de Ecología de Humedales, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Seville, Spain
Josué Martínez-de la Puente & Jordi Figuerola
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-84506, Bratislava, Slovakia
Radovan Václav
Jesús Veiga
Josué Martínez-de la Puente
Jordi Figuerola
Francisco Valera
Conceived and designed the experiments: JV, RV and FV. Fieldwork: JV and FV. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JV, JMP, JF and FV. All authors contributed toward writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Jesús Veiga.
Bird trapping was carried out with all the necessary permits issued by the Junta de Andalucía.
Veiga, J., Martínez-de la Puente, J., Václav, R. et al. Culicoides paolae and C. circumscriptus as potential vectors of avian haemosporidians in an arid ecosystem. Parasites Vectors 11, 524 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-3098-8
Biting midges
Haemoproteus
Vector-borne
Arid area
Endophagy


Is a Simple IFA Website Design More Effective?
12 Jul Is a Simple IFA Website Design More Effective?
No matter what type of business you have, it is incredibly important to have a website to back up your online promotions. You need to be found, and that applies just as much to an independent financial adviser as it does to anyone else.
To this end, you need a specific IFA website design to help your cause. However, should this design be simple or complex in nature? What does your current website look like and how effective is it when it comes to drawing in visitors – not to mention converting those visitors into paying customers?
There can be many reasons why a website isn't doing as well as it could be. Sometimes all that's needed is a simple tweak or two to get things underway again. In other cases it might be something more serious such as a complete overhaul. Whatever the case may be it is important to consider the differences between opting for a complex design and something that is simpler.
While complex may seem to be better in the first instance, this isn't necessarily the case. Complex websites can be harder for people to navigate and follow. If you don't make life easy for your visitors they could well give up and go elsewhere very quickly indeed. This isn't good news because they will probably end up going to your competitors.
In contrast, a simple IFA website design is a very good idea. Simple can still mean effective, and indeed it should mean this. If you focus on finding the right design – something that is easy to follow and yet it still provides everything the client needs – you will be surprised how easy it is to retain more visitors. This is the crux of the matter: many people think a good website should bring more visitors but this is only half the battle. You also need to ensure it can retain visitors because it is only by doing this that you'll be able to convert them into clients.
So does your current website achieve all this and more? Does your IFA website design hold up to scrutiny or do you find new visitors depart your site within minutes or seconds of arriving there? If this is the case you need to take a closer look at what is happening so you can work out whether you need to make changes – whether they are small ones or big ones. The first step to making changes is to identify that they're needed in the first place. This means you can look forward to improving the number of visitors who stay on your website and look for more information about your business in the future. Indeed, making changes to your IFA website design in this sense could make all the difference to the bottom line – the turnover your business achieves and its profit levels as well.
Why not take a closer look at your website today to see what else you could achieve with it?


text:
package interfaceGraphique.jdialog;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.sql.Date;

import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.JTextField;

import metier.KeyDateObject;
import metier.KeyDateObjectAdapter;
import metier.ScheduleObjectAdapter;
import bdd.DatabaseAccess;

public class AddKeyDate extends JDialog{

	private KeyDateObject KeyDate;
	private KeyDateObjectAdapter adapter;
	private JTable tableau;
	private JLabel DetailsLabel;
	private JTextField Details;
	private Dimension d, halfD;
	private JPanel  panDetails, buttons, content;
	private JButton ok, cancel;
	private DatabaseAccess data;
	private String matiere, classe;
	private ScheduleObjectAdapter schedule;
	private int selectedSchedule, idSchedule, idTeacher;
	private Date date;

	public AddKeyDate(JFrame parent, boolean modal, JTable tableau, String matiere, String classe, ScheduleObjectAdapter schedule, int selectedSchedule, int idTeacher) {
		super(parent, "Ajouter une date clé", modal);
		setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
		d = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();

		halfD = new Dimension(d.width/2, d.height/2);
		setSize(halfD.width, halfD.height/3);
		setResizable(false);
		setLocationRelativeTo(null);
		this.tableau = tableau;
		this.matiere = matiere;
		this.classe = classe;
		this.schedule = schedule;
		this.selectedSchedule = selectedSchedule;
		this.idSchedule = (int)schedule.getValueAt(selectedSchedule, 7);
		this.idTeacher = idTeacher;
		this.date = (Date)schedule.getValueAt(selectedSchedule, 0);
		initWindow();

		setVisible(true);
	}

	private void initWindow() {

		// Details
		panDetails = new JPanel();
		panDetails.setBackground(Color.white);
		panDetails.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(halfD.width, halfD.height / 6));
		Details = new JTextField();
		Details.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(halfD.width / 2, halfD.height / 20));
		panDetails.setBorder(BorderFactory
				.createTitledBorder("Détails"));
		DetailsLabel = new JLabel("Saisir le détails");
		panDetails.add(DetailsLabel);
		panDetails.add(Details);

		content = new JPanel();
		content.setBackground(Color.white);
		content.add(panDetails);

		ok = new JButton("Ok");
		ok.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

			@Override
			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

				KeyDate = new KeyDateObject(Details.getText(),AddKeyDate.this.classe, AddKeyDate.this.matiere);
				data = new DatabaseAccess();
				data.addKeyDate(KeyDate, AddKeyDate.this.schedule, AddKeyDate.this.selectedSchedule, AddKeyDate.this.idTeacher);

					adapter = new KeyDateObjectAdapter(idSchedule, schedule, selectedSchedule);
					adapter.fireTableDataChanged();
					tableau.setModel(adapter);
					setVisible(false);

			}

		});

		cancel = new JButton("Annuler");
		cancel.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

			@Override
			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
				setVisible(false);

			}
		});

		buttons = new JPanel();
		buttons.add(ok);
		buttons.add(cancel);

		this.getContentPane().add(content, BorderLayout.CENTER);
		this.getContentPane().add(buttons, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Earn up to 15 CEU at this year's annual conference with 90+ workshops to choose from.
We will be tracking attendance digitally again this year.
To get CEU for workshops, mini plenary and keynote sessions you attend, you must get the QR code on your badge scanned.
It will be important to always wear your badge during the conference.
Scan into Keynote Sessions and scan in & out of workshops & mini plenaries: It's that simple!
Can I get Continuing Education Unit credits (CEU) at your conference?
How many credits will I receive if I attend your conference?
Specific hours awarded will depend on the certificate type you request and whether the sessions you attend are approved for the type of continuing education you seek. There is an opportunity to earn up to 15 CEU.
Is there an additional fee for CEU?
No, CEU are included in your conference registration.


Tom Siebel Tom Siebel is all business and then some.
Want to bring your dog to work? Wear jeans to visit a customer? Play ball in the hallway? Then don't bother applying to Siebel Systems , where the 47-year-old chief executive demands conformity that would have earned a salute from General Patton.
At Siebel headquarters in San Mateo, Calif., the cubicles are neat, the employees dress in traditional business attire and all effort goes into one thing: selling the sales force automation and customer relationship management software that has turned Siebel into one of the fastest-growing companies in history. In 1996, the year it went public, Siebel had revenue of just over $100 million. Since then sales have grown in the 100% range each year and over the past 12 months have hit $1.5 billion (with $207.5 million in profits).
Siebel has benefited from being in a market that itself is enjoying runaway growth as more and more companies automate their sales and customer relationship operations. And Siebel, which invented the genre, is in the driver's seat, with a market share that tops 20%.
Driving the Siebel juggernaut is Tom Siebel himself, a man who friends and foes alike acknowledge is a salesman nonpareil. "Tom can sell anything to anybody," says Marc Benioff Marc Benioff , an early investor in Siebel Systems who now runs a competing company, Salesforce.com . "He's as good a salesman as [Oracle CEO] Larry Ellison Larry Ellison ."
Maybe better. Siebel shattered sales quotas right and left while working for Oracle from 1984 to 1990. But he was more than a salesman--he was a salesman who understood the technology he was selling, having earned a master's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois (he also holds a bachelor's degree in history and has an MBA).
In 1990, Siebel took a leave of absence from Oracle. The following year, Oracle crashed and nearly burned, the victim of an overzealous sales force and creative bookkeeping. Later, Siebel would say that he saw the train wreck coming and decided to get out of the way.
Siebel never returned to Oracle. Instead, he took the helm of Cayenne Systems , a small, privately held multimedia company. In 1992, he orchestrated the sale of the company, which he had renamed Gain Technology, to Sybase for $105 million.
Employees who have held onto their options have gotten a lot richer. Siebel's stock has split 4 times, and even after dipping in recent weeks along with the rest of the tech sector, its value has risen by nearly 3,300% since it began trading in 1996. Siebel, who owns about 15% of the company's shares, is worth a cool $4.7 billion.
With the company sailing along on a full wind, Siebel has become less autocratic, delegating more authority to underlings and devoting more time to his personal life. That often takes the form of roping and riding with his wife Stacey at their 77,000-acre ranch in Montana.
Not a bad life for a salesman.


Wavetable synths are a lot of fun but they're digital, right? Is it possible to create one that's 100% analog? Well, Loopop shows how in this illuminating video tutorial.
The basic idea is quite simple. If you plug two analog waveforms into a mixer, you can morph between the two waveforms (and sounds) by applying different mix levels to each source. If your mixer has an inverter, you can also subtract one waveforms from another.
If you add a VCA to the mix (pun not avoided) then you can modulate the different mix levels using an LFO or envelop, and have your sound evolve gradually.
All of this applies both to simple and complex waveforms.
Finally, if you want gradually to morph across multiple waveforms, a module like Doepfer's A-144, connected to a VCA comes in really handy for morphing through up to four waveforms.
Gear used (not abused) in this video: Moog Mother 32, Voicas 248 VCA and Mixvert8r, Doepfer A-144, Maths, Z-3000.


text:
MEET JEREMY
Ep #21: Gina Cotner – CEO and Founder of Athena Executive Services
I had the pleasure of chatting with Gina Cotner, who has a team of top notch Virtual Executive Assistants at her company, Athena Executive Services.
We talked about the differences between a virtual and on-site assistant, how to get clients if you're a VA, and how to set yourself apart as a high-performing EA.
If you're a VA, or are considering becoming one, this episode is especially for you.
Instead of looking for a great leader, we are in an era where each of us needs to find the great leader within ourselves.
– Werner Erhard
About Gina Cotner
Gina Cotner is the founder and CEO of Athena Executive Services, a firm that pairs virtual Executive Assistants around the United States with busy business owners, entrepreneurs and executives. Her team of high-caliber Executive Assistants work part-time, from home, taking many administrative tasks and projects off the plate of successful people, leaving them free to spend their time where they are needed most.
She, herself, has worked remotely for over 10 years on national and international teams. For the last 5 years she has been focusing on the work-life balance, wellness and satisfaction of busy professionals.
She is masterful at living from her calendar and coaching others in how to have their calendar be the canvas on which they paint their life. Her coaching on time management (and how we relate to "time" altogether) leaves people as the author of their day and their week, rather than having to be heroic and simply survive what's coming at them.
She was born and raised in the Seattle area. After earning her dual degree in Human Resources and Public Relations, she went on to have her career center around training and personal development. She has also led seminars for one of the world's leading Personal Development organizations. Currently she spends 75% of her year living and working in Seattle, and 25% of her year in Pismo Beach, CA.
CONNECT WITH GINA
Athena Executive Services
Subscribe to The Leader Assistant Podcast so you don't miss new episodes!
You can find the show on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.
Join my email list here if you want to get an email when a new episode goes live.
Join the Leader Assistant Facebook Group here for bonus content and to network with other assistants who are committed to becoming leaders!
If you're enjoying the podcast, please take 2 minutes to rate and review the show on iTunes here. Each review helps me stay motivated to keep the show going!
HELP ME, HELP YOU (MAKE THE PODCAST BETTER)
Do you have questions you'd like me to answer, guests you think I should interview, or suggested topics you'd like me to address on the show? Or maybe you have some constructive feedback? Either way, I'd love to hear from you! You can email me at [email protected]derassistant.com.
Jeremy Burrows2019-08-04T00:48:37-05:00August 4, 2019|Podcast|
Ep 150: Professional Development for Executive Assistants
Ep 149: How to be a Future-Proof Executive Assistant
Ep 148: Natasha Huynh – EA to the President at DMG MORI
Ep 147: Giovanna de Beij – Executive Assistant at Royal BAM
Ep 146: Mimi Coiffait – Sports Industry Executive Assistant & Operations Manager
Hi. I'm Jeremy Burrows. I help executives and assistants lead well and resist burnout.
I'm a long-time executive assistant, podcast host, #1 Amazon bestselling author, speaker, and corporate trainer. Say hi to me here.
3 Things I Learned About Myself in 2021
Avoiding Burnout
Hiring an Assistant
© 2022 Go Burrows, LLC + Privacy Policy + Contact + Back to Top
LinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterEmail

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
A driver who excels
Felipe Massa is the longest lasting sports partner of the Richard Mille family. A driver who excels not only at the wheel but also in his friendships. His personality, generosity and warmth have been a mainstay of the brand for many years.
'Richard showed me that the spirit of watchmaking and racing are the same. When making watches at this level, there are constant challenges to be overcome on a technical level. Likewise, high-end watchmaking also requires tremendous physical mastery and total concentration without a fraction of a second's distraction.'
An historic partner
The Brazilian driver is one of the most experienced on the Formula 1 circuit. He started his career in motor sport's flagship competition in 2002. The brand's first 'historic' partner started every Grand Prix since 2004 with an RM watch on his wrist. He won 11 races, earning 16 pole positions, 41 podiums and finishing runner-up in the Drivers' World Championship in 2008 at Ferrari. Felipe drove for Williams until 2018. That was the moment he decided it was time to leave his ground-breaking career in Formula 1 and start over again.
'I remember great events in Japan with Rafael Nadal and Richard, lovely events in Abu Dhabi, and even several in France at Richard's house. All the memories I have are delightful, as Richard is a charming and charismatic person with a great sense of friendship and loyalty. In addition to being a great professional, I can say that he is a true friend.'
THE test driver
A long-time test driver for Richard Mille watches, it was he who enabled the brand to initiate and accomplish astonishing feats in watchmaking development. These triumphs included the manufacture of a carbon nanofibre baseplate, first tested with the RM 006 Felipe Massa and then used in a number of other models, the processing of new materials such the ALUSIC® cases on the RM 009 Felipe Massa, or the development of what is possibly the brand's most iconic watch: the RM 011.
'I've loved working with the RM Team over the years. Their unwavering commitment to retain the beauty of their hand-craftmanship whilst driving future horological innovation without compromise really impresses me.'
Discover FELIPE MASSA's Watch


The study evaluated substrate cleavage product(s) generated by three botulinum neurotoxin serotype A (BoNT/A) medicinal drug products utilizing a novel and highly specific, light-chain activity, high-performance liquid chromatography (LCA-HPLC) method. Samples were reacted with a commercially available BoNT/A fluorescent substrate derived from the [...] Read more.
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a Gram positive bacterium that is carried by about one third of the general population and is responsible for common and serious diseases. These diseases include food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome, which are caused by [...] Read more.
The infection of bacterial organisms generally causes cell death to facilitate microbial invasion and immune escape, both of which are involved in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases. In addition to the intercellular infectious processes, pathogen-produced/secreted enterotoxins (mostly exotoxins) are the major weapons that [...] Read more.
An estimated 4 billion episodes of diarrhea occur each year. As a result, 2–3 million children and 0.5–1 million adults succumb to the consequences of this major healthcare concern. The majority of these deaths can be attributed to toxin mediated diarrhea by infectious [...] Read more.
Heat-stable enterotoxins are the most notable virulence factors associated with Staphylococcus aureus, a common pathogen associated with serious community and hospital acquired diseases. Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) cause toxic shock-like syndromes and have been implicated in food poisoning. But SEs also act as [...] Read more.
Open AccessArticle How Should Staphylococcal Food Poisoning Outbreaks Be Characterized?
Staphylococcal food poisoning is one of the most common food-borne diseases and results from the ingestion of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) preformed in food by enterotoxigenic strains of Staphylococcus aureus. To date, more than 20 SEs have been described: SEA to SElV. All SEs [...] Read more.
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin with nephrotoxic, genotoxic and carcinogenic properties produced by Penicillium and Aspergillus moulds under different climatic conditions. Humans and animals are exposed to this compound mainly via ingestion of contaminated food. In Croatia, research on mycotoxins focused on [...] Read more.
Liquid- or solid substrate-cultured Penicillium polonicum administered in feed to rats over several days evokes a histopathological response in kidney involving apoptosis and abnormal mitosis in proximal tubules. The amphoteric toxin is yet only partly characterized, but can be isolated from cultured sporulating [...] Read more.
In the present review we have attempted to assess the involvement of the organic anion transporters OAT1, OAT2, OAT3, and OAT4, belonging to the SLC22 family of polyspecific carriers, in drug-induced renal damage in humans. We have focused on drugs with widely recognized [...] Read more.
Heat-stable toxins (STs) produced by enterotoxigenic bacteria cause endemic and traveler's diarrhea by binding to and activating the intestinal receptor guanylyl cyclase C (GC-C). Advances in understanding the biology of GC-C have extended ST from a diarrheagenic peptide to a novel therapeutic agent. [...] Read more.
LT-R192G, a mutant of the thermolabile enterotoxin of E. coli, is a potent adjuvant of immunization. Immune responses are generally analyzed at the end of protocols including at least 2 administrations, but rarely after a prime. To investigate this point, we compared [...] Read more.
We have shown previously that neurons in the mouse spinal cord express Gb3. We show in this article that distribution of anti-Gb3-Ab reactivity occurs in many different types of neurons of different areas of the central nervous system (CNS). [...] Read more.
In this study, ochratoxin A (OTA) occurrence in Argentinean musts, wines and dried vine fruits was evaluated, alongside with the performance of OchraStarTM columns for OTA extraction. In all the three matrices analyzed, the OchraStarTM columns showed good performance. The analysis [...] Read more.
Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) and related superantigenic toxins are potent stimulators of the immune system and cause a variety of diseases in humans, ranging from food poisoning to toxic shock. These toxins bind directly to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules on [...] Read more.
Natural toxins are a source of new chemical classes of pesticides, as well as environmentally and toxicologically safer molecules than many of the currently used pesticides. Furthermore, they often have molecular target sites that are not exploited by currently marketed pesticides. There are [...] Read more.
The OTA content of 30 roasted coffees purchased in French supermarkets was evaluated by two validated different methods: one using immunoaffinity column (IAC) clean-up after alkaline extraction; the second using toluene extraction under acidic conditions. OTA recoveries (0.5 to 5 µg/kg) ranged from [...] Read more.


text:
Bigscreen Beta Gets Major Performance Boost, 12-Person Rooms
Bigscreen Beta received a "Big" update that introduced new environments which support up to 12 people in one space. The new release also includes major performance improvements, which should free up valuable CPU cycles and enable a much smoother experience.
It's hard to classify what kind of software Bigscreen Beta is. It allows you to access your desktop applications and games on a virtual screen in VR in a multi-user environment. You can use it as a shared working environment for remote workers, or you can have a virtual LAN party if you want to game with friends. The platform also allows you to share your desktop screen with others, which allows you to watch movies and shows.
We've played with Bigscreen Beta several times in the last two years, and we've enjoyed our time with the platform. However, we've always thought of the four-person-per-room limit as a big drawback.
Darshan Shankar, the founder of Bigscreen, said that the four-person limit was a technical limitation, not an arbitrary one. Previous iterations of Bigscreen Beta demanded significant computational power from the CPU. The developer said that for every user who connects to a room, the host computer would incur a 5-15% increase in CPU load. In the new update, the developer reduced the per-user CPU load to 0%. Shankar did not explain what his company did to achieve these gains. He said it was "magic."
The new version of Bigscreen Beta is also easier on the GPU. For the latest update, Shankar's team rebuilt most of the environments and their elements with a lower poly count to reduce the number of draw calls to render each scene. The developer also reduced the number of transparencies to reduce the GPU load.
Along with the performance improvements, the new version of Bigscreen Beta also introduces "big rooms," which support up to 12 people at once. Bigscreen converted the theater environment into a big room so you can share videos with a larger audience. The company also introduced the "Big Balcony," which is a larger version of the original Bigscreen Beta environment, and "Big Campfire," which is a larger version of the original campfire environment, but with a giant amphitheater screen for movies.
In the four-person environments, everyone can share their screen for others to see. In the 12-person environments, only the host has access to the shared screen.
Bigscreen Beta remains a free application that you can download from Steam or the Oculus Store.


text:
Trade with information on the Otcrit Platform
A new European startup is taking a much-needed approach when it comes to blockchain-based project evaluations. They believe the biggest issue in this industry remains the lack of transparency and authentic information. Otcrit is building a community of researchers, traders, and investors that will have the opportunity to share their knowledge and profit from it. All members will have access to a wide range of in-depth technical analyses and reports at one place. They will be able to hire someone with a high rating on the platform or request further analysis from the community.
The company will also have a solid team of experts, working full-time to provide everyone in this space with quality information and research. The platform is accumulating a large database of all the companies and their teams, where anyone can see the exact projects a developer is involved in. Projects, accused of being dishonest, will have all of their official documentation thoroughly investigated. The Ocrit team is planning to release the beta version this month, before the presale that is scheduled for February 15th.
Those assets that have received a high ranking by the Otcrit experts and analysts, as well as the community's approval, will be listed on an advanced cryptocurrency exchange – Otcritex. And while most trading platforms ask for a fortune to add a new project, Otcritex will have no fees for listing. Otcrit will provide an events calendar and newsfeed on the exchange, which will inform traders of any important upcoming events that may influence the price charts.
This way they will have the opportunity to make the best possible trading decisions, based on the real-time data presented to them. The platform's creators want to make over-the-counter trading more widely available, where anyone can purchase digital assets at a fixed price without dealing with high spreads and thin order books. The digital assets available for over-the-counter trading will be listed on the Otcrit Top 100 Index – a sophisticated cryptocurrency index containing only digital currencies that are being actively developed and also thoroughly researched or audited.
The same will apply for listing on the exchange, where Otcrit will share 5% of its profit with the listed projects that reach their roadmap goals. Another 10% of the profit, coming from trading fees, subscriptions and benchmark services, will be distributed to all OTC token holders. These weekly rewards will be in ETH. The team also has an advertising revenue program that will benefit content creators on the platform, as well as those who own OTC tokens.
With all the information, available on the platform and on the exchange itself, Otcrit aims to take cryptocurrency trading and investing to a whole new level.
Shakepay, a Canadian-based exchange platform for bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), announced it closed $44 million in Series A funding. The round was led by QED Investors, a US-based venture capital firm. "We love...
METACO, a provider of security software and infrastructure to the crypto-asset ecosystem, has announced that Union Bank of the Philippines will deploy its digital asset management solution. Moreover, UnionBank is deploying services on IBM...
pSTAKE, a protocol for unlocking liquidity for staked assets, has closed its public token sale hosted on CoinList, successfully raising $10 million. selling out a tranche of its native $PSTAKE token. The sale started...
ShapeShift, a decentralized, non-custodial cryptocurrency platform, has announced the launch of its new open-source v2 web platform. The new platform allows users to manage their crypto privately, without KYC, simply by connecting their crypto...


Originally Published: February 15, 2017 6:01 a.m.
As owner of the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics from 1960-80, Charles O. Finley had more creative ideas than all his fellow owners combined. He outfitted his teams in colorful uniforms and tried to convince his fellow owners to adopt orange baseballs and bases. Finley was roundly criticized by fans, media and players for confusing baseball with softball. Decades later, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is impersonating Finley.
In an effort to speed up the game and save pitchers' arms, MLB plans to test a rule change this season in the Minors that would place a runner on second base at the start of each extra inning. Different rules for extra innings are not without precedent. A similar rule has been used in international baseball for nearly a decade and will be implemented in the World Baseball Classic this spring. Putting a runner on second for extra innings has also been used in softball.
Pace-of-play has been a Manfred obsession since he assumed office two years ago. In 2015, MLB restricted players from leaving the batter's box between pitches, quickened the pace of pitchers' warm up tosses, and expedited replay reviews. Average game time in '15 was 2 hours, 56 minutes, a reduction from 3 hours and 8 minutes in '14. However, average game time crept back up over the three-hour mark last year, exasperating Manfred and propelling baseball into what can only be described as panic mode.
In defending the experiment, Joe Torre, former player and manager and now MLB's Chief Baseball Officer said, "Its baseball. It doesn't mean you're going to score." Either Torre is ill-informed or, more likely, toeing the party line.
Statistics show that teams score in about 27 percent of innings, but they score 61 percent of the time when there's a runner on second and no one out. No, putting a runner on second base to start an inning doesn't mean "you're going to score," but it more than doubles the chances. Furthermore, it isn't baseball if you put a runner on second base when he hasn't earned the right to be on base at all, let alone halfway home.
Even if adopted, the rule won't have much effect on pace-of-play. Only about 8 percent of games go into extra innings, and last season almost half of them ended after the 10th inning even without putting a runner on second base.
Rather than taking drastic action that will change the game as we know it, baseball should be nibbling around the edges of the rulebook. Keep strict time limits on pitching changes, cap mound conferences by coaches, managers and players, and reduce hitters' antics in the batter's box. Additional time will be saved by eliminating the four-pitch intentional walk, another rule change that will be adopted for trial in the Minors this year. MLB has also limited the time between pitches in the Minor Leagues, a change that reduced game times by 16 minutes in one Triple-A league and was well received.
A bullpen gets extended and overworked? There are other ways to address that. Put three members of your starting rotation on the inactive list when it isn't their day to pitch and replace them with relievers (or position players) from the Minors. Nonstarters are only on the roster to tempt the manager into using them for non-pitching duty, as John Farrell of the Red Sox did last year with Steven Wright, his number two starter, with disastrous results. Farrell inserted Wright into a game as a pinch runner whereupon he promptly injured his pitching shoulder sliding into second base, putting him out for the season.
Fortunately, MLB can't implement changes in the big leagues without the approval of the players' union and most players seem opposed to the new extra inning rule.
The rule would change the fundamental nature of the game, which is something baseball should avoid at all costs. Manfred should quit imitating Charlie Finley and shelve this idea before it's implemented.


text:
A dizzyingly implausible new 'Red Dawn'
Robert Beatty— November 30, 2012
The army invading the United States in Red Dawn, an ill-advised remake of the campy 1984 original, was changed in post-production from Chinese to North Korean. With a few snips here, a few re-dubs there, the filmmakers re-edited and re-shot, fearful of offending China and its increasingly important moviegoing market.
But why stop there? Can't we blithely make any nation our enemy for movie-sake? Let's try a version with Iran! And don't we have reason to be suspicious of Sweden? Do we really know what's in all those Ikea stores?
The ridiculous Red Dawn is the supreme example of Hollywood's Cold War nostalgia, when the Russkies offered up an easy, de facto villain. Today's terrorism paranoia, apparently, is too complex and too faceless for some. No, we need a clear-cut enemy. Do you have something in red?
The awkward updating of Red Dawn came after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which had produced the film back in 2009, went bankrupt. Not surprisingly, the market was weak for a film that reportedly cost $60 million to make and suggested modern China was the equivalent of Cold War-era Soviet Union. So the switch was made and distributor FilmDistrict picked it up.
SPOKANE SWITCH
Like the original, Red Dawn is about a band of high-schoolers whose hometown (now Spokane, WA, instead of smalltown Colorado) is suddenly taken over by parachuting foreign troops. With most adults locked up and military response not coming, the kids develop into a gang of insurgents, dubbing themselves the Wolverines.
Back in 1984, the kids were played by brat pack all-stars: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey. Yes, Tom Brokaw had it wrong: This was truly the greatest generation. The film was grade-A '80s kitsch, a movie that captured the imaginations of kids growing up amid Cold War fears.
The new Red Dawn has no such context. While there is plenty of anxiety to go around these days, North Korea is more likely viewed a punchline than a legitimate invasion threat. (In the film, Russia is suggested to be cahoots with them, as well.) The implausibility is dizzying, all around.
The cast is centered on two brothers: the returning Iraq veteran Jed (Chris Hemsworth, the Snow White and the Huntsman star) and high school quarterback Matt Eckert (Josh Peck). They're the leaders of the Wolverines, whose ranks include Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), Connor Cruise and Edwin Hodge.
LINES IN KOREAN
From a mountain cabin and other woodsy lairs, they launch guerilla warfare on the occupying North Koreans. Director Dan Bradley, a former stunt coordinator, can mount a decent shootout scene, but doesn't stage the action well, leaving scenes looking set in the same few downtown blocks. Still, there's no telling how Bradley had to alter his footage. (No one had it harder than actor Will Yun Lee, who, as the occupying commander, had to redo his lines in Korean.)
In recent years, home invasion movies have been made frequently, only with aliens. The appeal, as one of the characters in Red Dawn says, is that defending one's homeland makes "more sense" in a time filled with indirect military aims.
But such fantasies – here played out by delusional teenage football players – are all the more dubious given that the U.S. was engaged in two (real) wars at the time of filming. In Red Dawn, Afghanistan and Iraq go hardly mentioned, replaced by a game of toy soldiers with make-believe foes.
Next post Clerk of courts offers couples unqiue and historic wedding
Previous post Election results show Cuban voters no longer monolithic


text:
Short review on variational approach in abstract splines
Vasilenko Vladimir
The abstract variational theory of splines in the Hilbert space originated from the well-known paper by M. Atteia (1965) and supported by P.J. Laurent's researches (1968, 1973) is today a well-developed field in the approximation theory. We mean that the forthcoming researches in abstract theory were initiated by the problem of high-quality approximation of the functions at the multi-dimensional scattered meshes. But the efforts in this particular problem have already led to more powerful results both in abstract theory and in practice: new kinds of characterization theorems, convergence and general estimation techniques, finite element approach in the construction of complicated non-polynomial splines, theory of traces of splines onto smooth manifolds (new algorithms for the approximation of complicated surfaces in engineering), general theory of tensor splines, including the famous blending splines, variational theory of the vector and rational splines and so on. We think that the investigations of the Russian mathematicians from the Computing Center of USSR Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk during recent years and after first fundamental successes of our French collegues, were quite significant in each of these fields. And the last but not least: the powerful software library based on these theoretical grounds was also created in Novosibirsk.
Indeed, this paper is only a short review and is not complete. We inform the reader who has interest in theory of splines and its various applications that the book Bezhaev A.Yu., Vasilenko V.A. Variational Spline Theory (255p.) will be published in special issue 3 (1993) of the Bulletin of Novosibirsk Computing Center, series Numerical Analysis, till summer 1993.
vasilenko.pdf4.99 MB
Numerical Analysis, № 2, 1993