Many OECD countries have amalgamated their municipalities during the last couple of decades. For decisions concerning future territorial rescaling, it is crucial to augment the previously inconclusive evaluative knowledge of the effects of mergers. This paper examines the effects of amalgamations conducted between 1998 and 2009 in the areas of public service delivery, local finance, administrative staff, municipal autonomy and local democracy. The data are obtained from two comprehensive surveys of all local secretaries (top civil servants) in Switzerland in 1998 and 2009. The analysis -based upon a comparison between a quasi-experimental and a control group -(partially) supports the hypothesis of a positive effect on public service delivery, the professionalization of staff and municipal autonomy. The effect on local finance is inconclusive, and negative effects on local democracy are not discovered in the framework of this study.
Survival data of mosquito males and females under different dietary conditions but constant antecedent and con-temporaneous environmental conditions are presented. Two strains of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti (L.), a strain of the subspecies Culex pipiens fatigans Wiedemann and an autogenous strain of C. p. pipiens L. have been compared. Mean survival time and 50% survival time are considered to be more representative than maximal life-span. Survival under complete starvation was significantly prolonged by feeding sucrose in all experiments, but less by feeding protein alone. In general, optimal survival was observed when males were fed on sugar and females on sugar and protein. Autogenous females of C. p. pipiens showed reduced survival upon regular blood and sugar feeding after their first gonotrophic cycle.
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