Queen Effect Research Articles

Honey bee colony winter loss rates for 35 countries participating in the COLOSS survey for winter 2018–2019, and the effects of a new queen on the risk of colony winter loss

This article presents managed honey bee colony loss rates over winter 2018/19 resulting from using the standardised COLOSS questionnaire in 35 countries (31 in Europe). In total, 28,629 beekeepers supplying valid loss data wintered 738,233 colonies, and reported 29,912 (4.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.0–4.1%) colonies with unsolvable queen problems, 79,146 (10.7%, 95% CI 10.5–10.9%) dead colonies after winter and 13,895 colonies (1.9%, 95% CI 1.8–2.0%) lost through natural disaster. This gave an overall colony winter loss rate of 16.7% (95% CI 16.4–16.9%), varying greatly between countries, from 5.8% to 32.0%. We modelled the risk of loss as a dead/empty colony or from unresolvable queen problems, and found that, overall, larger beekeeping operations with more than 150 colonies experienced significantly lower losses (p < 0.001), consistent with earlier studies. Additionally, beekeepers included in this survey who did not migrate their colonies at least once in 2018 had significantly lower losses than those migrating (p < 0.001). The percentage of new queens from 2018 in wintered colonies was also examined as a potential risk factor. The percentage of colonies going into winter with a new queen was estimated as 55.0% over all countries. Higher percentages of young queens corresponded to lower overall losses (excluding losses from natural disaster), but also lower losses from unresolvable queen problems, and lower losses from winter mortality (p < 0.001). Detailed results for each country and overall are given in a table, and a map shows relative risks of winter loss at regional level.

How Aspiration-Relative Performance Affects Corporate Philanthropy

Research on the economic slack perspective suggests that high-performing firms are able and willing to be involved in philanthropic activities, yet less attention has been given to the potential negative effects of being high performing. Drawing upon the red queen effect and the myopic loss aversion perspective, we argue that high-performing firms are saddled with large threat of declines in their future relative financial performance and then crowd out their long-term orientation, manifesting a low level of corporate philanthropy engagement. We identify the cause of such response to be the myopic loss aversion of executives. The degree of myopic loss aversion depends on the institutional environments and market conditions. We further document that firms owned by the state and surrounded by a high level of religious atmosphere are less likely to experience myopic loss aversion, whereas market competition intensifies this perception of myopic loss aversion.

En la búsqueda de la adaptación y la resistencia: innovaciones biológicas en el cultivo de trigo en México, 1909-1941

Este trabajo centra su atención en el fenómeno de las innovaciones biológicas sobre el cultivo de trigo en México. Estudia la agricultura de trigo en México entre 1909 y 1941, considerada como la primera etapa de la agricultura científica en el país. Primero desarrolla una breve discusión teórica sobre lo que se entiende como innovaciones biológicas y su papel en la expansión de la agricultura comercial, y propone una caracterización y periodización general sobre la agricultura comercial de base científica en México. El análisis comienza con una descripción de la taxonomía de los trigos comerciales mexicanos y su relación tanto con los usos productivos-alimenticios, como con los principales problemas agronómicos y económicos locales a resolver. Posteriormente, analiza los programas de fomento que, en varias etapas y estrategias, promovieron el fitomejoramiento. Bajo este impulso, se desarrollaron nuevas variedades trigueras en aras de la productividad y expansión de este cultivo básico, resistentes a las plagas y, a la vez, adaptables a la diversidad ecológica de las zonas productoras de mayor peso a nivel nacional. Presta especial atención al “efecto de la reina roja” como uno de los fenómenos más relevantes sobre los límites de la investigación científica en materia agronómica en México. Brinda elementos para avanzar en la mejor comprensión de los fenómenos agrobiológicos mexicanos en la primera mitad del siglo XX, menos conocidos. Cierra con un balance sobre los logros obtenidos y los problemas no resueltos del periodo, los cuales fueron el escenario inicial y el antecedente inmediato del posterior periodo de la revolución verde en el sector agropecuario mexicano.

Improving Maneuver Strategy in Air Combat by Alternate Freeze Games with a Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm

In a one-on-one air combat game, the opponent’s maneuver strategy is usually not deterministic, which leads us to consider a variety of opponent’s strategies when designing our maneuver strategy. In this paper, an alternate freeze game framework based on deep reinforcement learning is proposed to generate the maneuver strategy in an air combat pursuit. The maneuver strategy agents for aircraft guidance of both sides are designed in a flight level with fixed velocity and the one-on-one air combat scenario. Middleware which connects the agents and air combat simulation software is developed to provide a reinforcement learning environment for agent training. A reward shaping approach is used, by which the training speed is increased, and the performance of the generated trajectory is improved. Agents are trained by alternate freeze games with a deep reinforcement algorithm to deal with nonstationarity. A league system is adopted to avoid the red queen effect in the game where both sides implement adaptive strategies. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can be applied to maneuver guidance in air combat, and typical angle fight tactics can be learnt by the deep reinforcement learning agents. For the training of an opponent with the adaptive strategy, the winning rate can reach more than 50%, and the losing rate can be reduced to less than 15%. In a competition with all opponents, the winning rate of the strategic agent selected by the league system is more than 44%, and the probability of not losing is about 75%.

Would Relaxation of the Anti-doping Rule Lead to Red Queen Effects?

ABSTRACT One of the claims sometimes advanced in favour of anti-doping is that allowing doping would lead to a uniform increase in performance in comparison to no doping. The idea is that if all athletes would use doping, this would just shift the playing field to a higher level without a change in ranking, but at a higher health cost. In this paper, we critique this contention. We first develop our theoretical framework, with reference to the so-called Red Queen effect. We then argue that, if doping were allowed, Red Queen effects would not be the rule. We also show that to some extent Red Queen effects would occur, but these would not necessarily be morally problematic. We end by developing an argument in favour of a more liberal approach of doping, since such would allow escaping from today’s runaway effects of anti-doping efforts.

Synergism between the Black Queen effect and the proteomic constraint on genome size reduction in the photosynthetic picoeukaryotes

The photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPEs) comprise a rare example of free-living eukaryotes that have undergone genome reduction. Here, we examine a duality in the process; the proposed driver of genome reduction (the Black Queen hypothesis, BQH), and the resultant impact of genome information loss (the Proteomic Constraint hypothesis, PCH). The BQH predicts that some metabolites may be shared in the open ocean, thus driving loss of redundant metabolic pathways in individual genomes. In contrast, the PCH predicts that as the information content of a genome is reduced, the total mutation load is also reduced, leading to loss of DNA repair genes due to the resulting reduction in selective constraint. Consistent with the BQH, we observe that biosynthetic pathways involved with soluble metabolites such as amino acids and carotenoids are preferentially lost from the PPEs, in contrast to biosynthetic pathways involved with insoluble metabolites, such as lipids, which are retained. Consistent with the PCH, a correlation between proteome size and the number of DNA repair genes, and numerous other informational categories, is observed. While elevated mutation rates resulting from the loss of DNA repair genes have been linked to reduced effective population sizes in intracellular bacteria, this remains to be established. This study shows that in microbial species with large population sizes, an underlying factor in modulating their DNA repair capacity appears to be information content.

Between the Scylla of despotism and the Charybdis of social norms (On the book by D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson “Narrow corridor: States, societies and the fate of freedom”)

Why is it that in the history of mankind the economic prosperity of countries, and even over a relatively long time interval, is quite rare? Aсemoglu and Robinson (AR) proposed a fresh look at the problem in their new book “Narrow corridor: States, societies and the fate of freedom”. Here we examine the main elements of the conceptual framework in which different countries are located on a few subsets — despotic, constrained, absent, paper Leviathan — and also the transition of a country from one subset to another based on the application of the “Red Queen effect” is explained. We evaluate the explanatory potential of the heuristic model of AR in comparison with the approach of North, Wallis and Weingast to the study of social orders of limited and open access. Critical comments on the presented concept are formulated.

A note on genetic parameters and accuracy of estimated breeding values in honey bees

BackgroundIn honey bees, observations are usually made on colonies. The phenotype of a colony is affected by the average breeding value for the worker effect of the thousands of workers in the colony (the worker group) and by the breeding value for the queen effect of the queen of the colony. Because the worker group consists of multiple individuals, interpretation of the variance components and heritabilities of phenotypes observed on the colony and of the accuracy of selection is not straightforward. The additive genetic variance among worker groups depends on the additive genetic relationship between the drone-producing queens (DPQ) that produce the drones that mate with the queen.ResultsHere, we clarify how the relatedness between DPQ affects phenotypic variance, heritability and accuracy of the estimated breeding values of replacement queens. Second, we use simulation to investigate the effect of assumptions about the relatedness between DPQ in the base population on estimates of genetic parameters. Relatedness between DPQ in the base generation may differ considerably between populations because of their history.ConclusionsOur results show that estimates of (co)variance components and derived genetic parameters were seriously biased (25% too high or too low) when assumptions on the relationship between DPQ in the statistical analysis did not agree with reality.

Modeling honey yield, defensive and swarming behaviors of Italian honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica) using linear-threshold approaches

BackgroundGenetic improvement of honey bees is more difficult compared to other livestock, due to the very different reproductive behavior. Estimation of breeding values requires specific adjustment and the use of sires in the pedigree is only possible when mating of queens and drones is strictly controlled. In the breeding program of the National Registry for Italian Queen Breeders and Bee Producers the paternal contribution is mostly unknown. As stronger modeling may compensate for the lack of pedigree information, we tested two models that differed in the way the direct and maternal effects were considered. The two models were tested using 4003 records for honey yield, defensive and swarming behaviors of Italian honey bee queens produced between 2002 and 2014. The first model accounted for the direct genetic effect of worker bees and the genetic maternal effect of the queen, whereas model 2 considered the direct genetic effect of the queen without maternal effect. The analyses were performed by linear (honey production) and threshold (defensive and swarming behavior) single-trait models; estimated genetic correlations among traits were obtained by a three-trait linear-threshold model.ResultsFor all traits, the highest predictability (correlation between breeding values estimated with and without performance records) was obtained with model 2, where direct genetic effect of queens was considered. With this model, heritability estimates were 0.26 for honey yield, 0.36 for defensive behavior, and 0.34 for swarming behavior. Multi-trait estimation resulted in similar or higher heritability estimates for all traits. A low, positive genetic correlation (0.19) was found between honey yield and defensive behavior, whereas the genetic correlation between honey yield and swarming behavior was moderate (0.41). A strong, positive genetic correlation was found between defensive and swarming behaviors (0.62). Predictability for multi-trait evaluations was higher for honey yield (0.46) and defensive behavior (0.30) but almost identical for swarming behavior (0.45) compared to corresponding single-trait predictability.ConclusionsMulti-trait evaluation using a model that accounts for the direct genetic effect of queen was the best approach for breeding value estimation of Italian honey bees. The results suggest a new direction for selection of linear and categorical traits in breeding programs where drone origin is unknown.

Addressing expensive multi-objective games with postponed preference articulation via memetic co-evolution

This paper presents algorithmic and empirical contributions demonstrating that the convergence characteristics of a co-evolutionary approach to tackle Multi-Objective Games (MOGs) with postponed preference articulation can often be hampered due to the possible emergence of the so-called Red Queen effect. Accordingly, it is hypothesized that the convergence characteristics can be significantly improved through the incorporation of memetics (local solution refinements as a form of lifelong learning), as a promising means of mitigating (or at least suppressing) the Red Queen phenomenon by providing a guiding hand to the purely genetic mechanisms of co-evolution. Our practical motivation is to address MOGs characterized by computationally expensive evaluations, wherein there is a natural need to reduce the total number of true evaluations consumed in achieving good quality solutions. To this end, we propose novel enhancements to co-evolutionary approaches for tackling MOGs, such that memetic local refinements can be efficiently applied on evolved candidate strategies by searching on computationally cheap surrogate payoff landscapes (that preserve postponed preference conditions). The efficacy of the proposal is demonstrated on a suite of test MOGs that have been designed.

Rapid Evolution of Bacterial Exotoxin B Subunits Independent of A subunits: Sialic Acid Binding Preferences Correlate with Host Range and Intrinsic Toxicity

Several well‐known AB bacterial toxins have cytotoxic A subunits that are delivered to the cytosol following B subunit binding to terminal sialic acid‐presenting glycans on host cell surfaces. Phylogenetic analysis of known and predicted B subunits in available genomes showed a poor correlation with that of associated A subunits, or even with that of the bacterial species phylogeny. In some cases, such as an exported protein of Yersinia pestis (YpB) there also appears to be no associated A subunit encoded in the genome. Y. pestis is the etiologic agent of Plague, responsible for major devastating epidemics in human history and is of global importance to public health and biodefense. Plague can never be eradicated because of the adaptability of the organism to infect more than 200 known host species. We noted that YpB shares 58% identity/79% similarity with the homopentameric B subunit of Subtilase cytotoxin, an AB5 toxin of E. coli, which also has 48% identity/68% similarity with that of the A2B5 S. Typhi typhoid toxin. We previously studied binding of such toxin B5 pentamers to a sialoglycan microarray and shown selective binding to different kinds of sialic acids that happen to be enriched in corresponding host cells, such as N‐acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac; prominent in humans) or N‐glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc; prominent in ruminant mammals and rodents). Consistent with the much broader host range of Y. pestis, we have now found that YpB binds to essentially all types of sialic acids studied including Neu5Ac, Neu5Gc and their modified versions, and even to Kdn (2‐keto‐3‐deoxy‐D‐glycero‐D‐galacto‐nononic acid) a sialic acid prominent in reptiles and amphibians. Notably, YpB toxin alone can cause cytotoxicity that is abolished by mutations eliminating sialic acid recognition, suggesting that both uncontrolled cell proliferation and cell death might be mediated via lectin‐like cross‐linking of cell surface glycoproteins. These findings may help explain the wide host range of Y. pestis and could be important for understanding pathogenic mechanisms. Taken together, the data suggest Red Queen effects that are driving ongoing rapid evolution of both host sialic acids and pathogen toxin binding properties. Further studies of this clade of B5 toxins are revealing additional correlations of sialic acid binding preferences with host range and intrinsic toxicity, and molecular modeling studies are underway to define amino acid residues that determine binding differences.Support or Funding InformationNIH U01 CA199792This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

How spatial structure and neighbor uncertainty promote mutualists and weaken black queen effects

The ubiquity of cooperative cross-feeding (a resource-exchange mutualism) raises two related questions: Why is cross-feeding favored over self-sufficiency, and how are cross-feeders protected from non-producing cheaters? The Black Queen Hypothesis suggests that if leaky resources are costly, then there should be selection for either gene loss or self-sufficiency, but selection against mutualistic inter-dependency. Localized interactions have been shown to protect mutualists against cheaters, though their effects in the presence of self-sufficient organisms are not well understood. Here we develop a stochastic spatial model to examine how spatial effects alter the predictions of the Black Queen Hypothesis. Microbes need two essential resources to reproduce, which they can produce themselves (at a cost) or take up from neighbors. Additionally, microbes need empty sites to give birth into. Under well mixed mean-field conditions, the cross-feeders will always be displaced by a non-producer and a self-sufficient microbe. However, localized interactions have two effects that favor production. First, a microbe that interacts with a small number of neighbors will not always receive the essential resources it needs; this effect slightly harms cross-feeders but greatly harms non-producers. Second, microbes tend to displace other microbes that produce resources they need; this effect also slightly harms cross-feeders but greatly harms non-producers. Our work therefore suggests localized interactions produce an accelerating cost of non-production. Thus, the right trade-off between the cost of producing resources and the cost of sometimes being resource-limited can favor mutualistic inter-dependence over both self-sufficiency and non-production.

How fast to run in the Red Queen race?

SummaryThis paper creates a market ecosystem, via an agent‐based model, that combines the dynamic features of the Red Queen effect with well‐accepted business world performance indicators. Essentially, firms are tasked with remaining ‘alive’ by adapting to their environment through implementing a competitive response of innovating or imitating. An analysis of the firms’ behaviours delivers a deep understanding of the drivers of innovative behaviour within the economy. The key findings of the paper are (1) that concentrated markets are not entirely detrimental to innovative behaviour, with the blend of firm type being a more important consideration, and (2) that the rate at which an innovation impairs existing markets affects the activity levels of the firms within the population. The model's results are validated against a matching study based on real‐world data.

The Red Queen Effect? Impact of Competition and Political Ties on Firm Performance and Efficiency

We examine how political ties influence firm performance and efficiency in competition. We argue that competition hurts firm performance but enhances their efficiency by creating the environment fo...

The Red Queen and King in finite populations

In antagonistic symbioses, such as host-parasite interactions, one population's success is the other's loss. In mutualistic symbioses, such as division of labor, both parties can gain, but they might have different preferences over the possible mutualistic arrangements. The rates of evolution of the two populations in a symbiosis are important determinants of which population will be more successful: Faster evolution is thought to be favored in antagonistic symbioses (the "Red Queen effect"), but disfavored in certain mutualistic symbioses (the "Red King effect"). However, it remains unclear which biological parameters drive these effects. Here, we analyze the effects of the various determinants of evolutionary rate: generation time, mutation rate, population size, and the intensity of natural selection. Our main results hold for the case where mutation is infrequent. Slower evolution causes a long-term advantage in an important class of mutualistic interactions. Surprisingly, less intense selection is the strongest driver of this Red King effect, whereas relative mutation rates and generation times have little effect. In antagonistic interactions, faster evolution by any means is beneficial. Our results provide insight into the demographic evolution of symbionts.

Effect of the Multiple Queens Within Colony on Some Honeybee Activities, Apis mellifera carnica and Sustainability of their Colonies

Multiple honey bee queen colonies contained two to four mated queens which able to move freely were produced by removing the mandibles of queens which trigger fighting and queen elimination within the colony. This method showed the high success, Twenty five out of twenty seven queens were accepted after their introduction in Carniolan colonies, and the success ratio reaches 92.6%. Twenty seven multiple queens introduced in nine colonies were sustainable enough for long period without losing any queen from the spring to fall in the first year. Twenty seven were over wintered successfully and no queen loss was recorded until the next fall in the second year. The multiple queen colonies which contained four queens were more efficient than the other tested multiple queen colonies in the workers brood production activity, it was recorded an average 14460 inch2/colony/ year for amount of worker brood, followed by colonies which contained three queens then colonies which contained two queens while the single queen colonies as control indicated the lowest mean amount of workers brood 5776 inch2/colony / year. Also, multiple queen colonies contained four queens were scored highest value of mean amounts 348, 9692 and 4120 inch2/colony / year for drone brood rearing, honey and pollen production, respectively. The single queen colonies indicated the lowest amount of 124, 4968 and 1864 inch2/colony / year for drones brood rearing, honey and pollen production, respectively. Also, multiple queen colonies contained four queens were scored highest value of mean amounts citrus, clover and cotton flow seasons, while single queen colonies were recorded lowest amount in same flow seasons. From the obtained results it was shown that the multiple queen colonies are more efficient for helping the beekeepers to increase the bee population and thus increase the honeybee products. In addition the multiple queens technique can be used in the commercial domain.

Effect of Queen’s College Step Test on Cognitive Performance among Young Adults

Effect of Queen’s College Step Test on Cognitive Performance among Young Adults

Cyclic Incrementality in Competitive Coevolution: Evolvability through Pseudo-Baldwinian Switching-Genes.

Coevolving systems are notoriously difficult to understand. This is largely due to the Red Queen effect that dictates heterospecific fitness interdependence. In simulation studies of coevolving systems, master tournaments are often used to obtain more informed fitness measures by testing evolved individuals against past and future opponents. However, such tournaments still contain certain ambiguities. We introduce the use of a phenotypic cluster analysis to examine the distribution of opponent categories throughout an evolutionary sequence. This analysis, adopted from widespread usage in the bioinformatics community, can be applied to master tournament data. This allows us to construct behavior-based category trees, obtaining a hierarchical classification of phenotypes that are suspected to interleave during cyclic evolution. We use the cluster data to establish the existence of switching-genes that control opponent specialization, suggesting the retention of dormant genetic adaptations, that is, genetic memory. Our overarching goal is to reiterate how computer simulations may have importance to the broader understanding of evolutionary dynamics in general. We emphasize a further shift from a component-driven to an interaction-driven perspective in understanding coevolving systems. As yet, it is unclear how the sudden development of switching-genes relates to the gradual emergence of genetic adaptability. Likely, context genes gradually provide the appropriate genetic environment wherein the switching-gene effect can be exploited.

A Study on the Co-evolutionary Appeared in the Music Video and Media Development

In this paper on the co-evolutionary theory development through music videos, broadcast media for the basis that it can present the guidelines of the singers ' Psy ' music video appeared in transition through co-evolutionary phenomena is confirmed practices for the purposes of this study. Singer psy was the Billboard Awards Top ten winners, on Now album listing, YouTube 5 month views performance based on the results refer to as billions viewers around the world have been attested, certainly well reveal the artistic inclinations and works that conform to analyze the characteristics of performance artists, the artist's self-organizing point selected reasons. As shown in the case of the evolution of the music video, the music video of singer Psy co-evolution characteristics are as follows. First, the interaction participation was seen as a form of communication such as Madang Nol-e. Second, it was the popularity of Korean culture kitschy fun and playful sentiments and emotions through healthy deviation. Third, the branded digital convergence environment and their culture evolved through various forms of music video to the expansion of the system are reproduced again showed characteristics. The Music Video Transition to the principles of Received (February 21, 2016), Review Result (March 7, 2016) Accepted (March 14, 2016), Published (April 30, 2016) (Corresponding author) Barng Keejung, Tel.+82-42-280-2916 Fax.+82-42-280-2389 HP. 010-3775-7575 34520 Dept. of Beauty & Healthcare, Daejeon Univ., 62 Daehak-Ro Dong-Gu, Dejeon, Korea E-mail: wp2848@nate.com A Study on the Co-evolutionary Appeared in the Music Video and Media Development Copyright c 2016 HSST 440 the co-evolution theory that explains Self-Organization, Red Queen Effect, Co-evolution of System Conformity relief map in four cases can be described, since present study, these characteristics of the music video were able to determine the possibility of co-evolution.

Sustaining process improvement: the Red Queen effect

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how the concept of the Red Queen is used to sustain improved performance in a production/maintenance operation. In doing so, this research contributes in two ways. For practitioners, this research creates a model so that practitioners may implement to ensure the sustainability of programme benefits over the long term. For academicians, this research theoretically explains why the benefits of some process improvement efforts are not sustained, while others are sustained for years.