scholarly journals Social dilemma in the external immune system of the red flour beetle? It is a matter of time

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaitanya S. Gokhale ◽  
Arne Traulsen ◽  
Gerrit Joop
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Red Flour Beetle ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Flour Beetle ◽  
Experimental Systems ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Cost

Sociobiology has revolutionized our understanding of interactions between organisms. Interactions may present a social dilemma where the interests of individual actors do not align with those of the group as a whole. Viewed through a sociobiological lens, nearly all interactions can be described in terms of their costs and benefits and a number of them then resemble a social dilemma. Numerous experimental systems, from bacteria to mammals, have been proposed as models for studying such dilemmas. Here we make use of the external immune system of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, to investigate how the experimental duration can affect whether the external secretion comprises a social dilemma or not. Some beetles (secretors) produce a costly quinone-rich external secretion that inhibits microbial growth in the surrounding environment, providing the secretors with direct personal benefits. However, since the antimicrobial secretion acts in the environment of the beetle it is potentially also advantageous to other beetles (non-secretors), who avoid the cost of producing the secretion. We test experimentally if the secretion qualifies as a public good. We find that in the short term, costly quinone secretion can be interpreted as a public good presenting a social dilemma where the presence of secretors increases the fitness of the group. In the long run, the benefit to the group of having more secretors vanishes and actually becomes detrimental to the group. Therefore, in such semi-natural environmental conditions, it turns out that qualifying a trait as social can be a matter of timing.

scholarly journals Social dilemma in the external immune system of the red flour beetle? It is a matter of time

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (17) ◽  
pp. 6758-6765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaitanya S. Gokhale ◽  
Arne Traulsen ◽  
Gerrit Joop
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Red Flour Beetle ◽  
Flour Beetle

scholarly journals Cheater-altruist synergy in immunopathogenic ecological public goods games

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryce Morsky ◽  
Dervis Can Vural
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Average Growth ◽  
Public Goods Games ◽  
Cheating Behavior ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Population Dynamics Models ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Dynamics Models

AbstractMuch research has focused on the deleterious effects of free-riding in public goods games, and a variety of mechanisms that suppresses cheating behavior. Here we argue that under certain conditions cheating behavior can be beneficial to the population. In a public goods game, cheaters do not pay for the cost of the public goods, yet they receive the benefit. Although this free-riding harms the entire population in the long run, the success of cheaters may aid the population when there is a common enemy that antagonizes both cooperators and cheaters. Here we study models in which an immune system antagonizes a cooperating pathogen. We investigate three population dynamics models, and determine under what conditions the presence of cheaters help defeat the immune system. The mechanism of action is that a polymorphism of cheaters and altruists optimizes the average growth rate. Our results give support for a possible synergy between cooperators and cheaters in ecological public goods games.

Resolving mechanisms of short-term competitive fertilization success in the red flour beetle

2016 ◽  
Vol 93-94 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Droge-Young ◽  
John M. Belote ◽  
Giselle S. Perez ◽  
Scott Pitnick
Keyword(s):  
Fertilization Success ◽  
Red Flour Beetle ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Flour Beetle

scholarly journals Costs and benefits of Daphnia defense against Chaoborus in nature

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1286-1294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiebke J Boeing ◽  
Björn Wissel ◽  
Charles W Ramcharan
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Daphnia Pulex ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Cost Of Defense ◽  
Daphnia Population ◽  
Direct And Indirect Impacts ◽  
Indirect Impacts ◽  
The Cost

To estimate costs and benefits of antipredator defenses in the Chaoborus–Daphnia system, we employed lake enclosures wherein controls (C) had no predators, the predation (P) treatment had freely swimming Chaoborus, and the kairomone (K) treatment predators were sequestered in a mesh tube apart from the Daphnia. Population growth (r) of two Daphnia pulex clones, one responsive (RC) and the other nonresponsive (NRC) to Chaoborus kairomone, was estimated for each predator treatment. Cost of defense was calculated as r(C,RC) – r(K,RC). Benefit was calculated as r(P,RC) – r(P,NRC). Antipredator defenses of Daphnia towards Chaoborus kairomone led to a 32% reduction in population growth in nature. The benefit of the defense, however, was a short-term 68% enhanced population growth by a responsive over a nonresponsive clone in the presence of the actual predation threat. The benefit of the defense exceeded the cost, but cost was nevertheless substantial. Our results verify that the in situ effects of Chaoborus on Daphnia involve direct and indirect impacts.

The Economic Effects of Business to Business Internet Activity

2001 ◽  
Vol 175 ◽  
pp. 95-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Brookes ◽  
Zaki Wahhaj
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Long Run ◽  
If Current ◽  
Macroeconomic Effects ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Business To Business

This article argues that an effective way to analyse the macroeconomic effects of business-to-business electronic commerce is to regard it as a decline in the cost of information to producers. Calculations based on input-output tables and the IMF's Multimod macroeconomic model show that current estimates of such savings translate into about a 5 per cent long-run increase in output in the major industrialised economies. In the medium term, although the deflationary effects of the shock would provide greater room to central banks to keep interest rates low, the simulation results also hint at short-term inflation risks if current demand outstrips supply in anticipation of higher future incomes.

No evidence for short-term purging benefits of sexual selection in inbred red flour beetle populations

2018 ◽  
Vol 307 (3) ◽  
pp. 178-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. M. Prokop ◽  
K. Hlebowicz ◽  
T. S. Gaczorek ◽  
W. M. Antoł ◽  
O. Y. Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Red Flour Beetle ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Flour Beetle

scholarly journals Going for the Gold: The Economics of the Olympics

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Baade ◽  
Victor A. Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Investment Decision ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Good Effect ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Net Benefits ◽  
Opening And Closing ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Bidding Process

In this paper, we explore the costs and benefits of hosting the Olympic Games. On the cost side, there are three major categories: general infrastructure such as transportation and housing to accommodate athletes and fans; specific sports infrastructure required for competition venues; and operational costs, including general administration as well as the opening and closing ceremony and security. Three major categories of benefits also exist: the short-run benefits of tourist spending during the Games; the long-run benefits or the “Olympic legacy” which might include improvements in infrastructure and increased trade, foreign investment, or tourism after the Games; and intangible benefits such as the “feel-good effect” or civic pride. Each of these costs and benefits will be addressed in turn, but the overwhelming conclusion is that in most cases the Olympics are a money-losing proposition for host cities; they result in positive net benefits only under very specific and unusual circumstances. Furthermore, the cost–benefit proposition is worse for cities in developing countries than for those in the industrialized world. In closing, we discuss why what looks like an increasingly poor investment decision on the part of cities still receives significant bidding interest and whether changes in the bidding process of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will improve outcomes for potential hosts.

On assessing the cost of TRIPS implementation

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
TRAVIS J. LYBBERT
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Indirect Costs ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Trips Agreement ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Cost

Efforts to ensure that intellectual property rights are respected and protected world-wide have met increasing resistance by critics who see extreme imbalances in the costs and benefits of implementing stronger intellectual property protection. The WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) attracts particular criticism as an enforceable multilateral embodiment of these efforts. While few disagree that developed countries stand to benefit more in the short term from TRIPS implementation than developing countries, precisely estimating associated costs and benefits is challenging. This paper comments on an approach to estimating the ‘indirect’ costs of implementing TRIPS proposed by McCalman (2001) and argues that the approach overestimates the costs born by developing countries. Specifically, this overestimation is due primarily to an inadequate representation of the TRIPS Agreement and a counterfactual assumption that countries would not have strengthened their intellectual property policies in the absence of the TRIPS Agreement.

Hostile Takeovers and Anti-takeover Defenses in the Russian Corporate Market

2007 ◽  
pp. 70-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Demidova
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Hostile Takeovers ◽  
Russian Market ◽  
Takeover Defenses ◽  
The Cost ◽  
European Markets

This article analyzes definitions and the role of hostile takeovers at the Russian and European markets for corporate control. It develops the methodology of assessing the efficiency of anti-takeover defenses adapted to the conditions of the Russian market. The paper uses the cost-benefit analysis, where the costs and benefits of the pre-bid and post-bid defenses are compared.

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