Efficacy of two traps and three different pheromone-based attractants to control the banana weevil adults Cosmopolites sordidus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in banana orchards on Terceira Island, Azores.

ABSTRACT: The banana borer weevil, Cosmopolites sordidus (German) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is considered an important pest of bananas. It is extremely specific to Musaceae (Musaceae: Musa species). The efficacy of the different combination of traps and attractants on the banana weevil is important to been investigated to identify the best combination to use in banana orchards on Terceira Island (Azores). For that purpose, an essay was conducted during two years (2021 and 2022) to determine the efficiency of two traps (Cosmotrack and Stopweevil) and three attractants containing sordidin pheromone (Cosmogel NovAgrica, CosmoPlus Scyll’Agro and EcoSordidina 90K Ecobertura) to monitor C. sordidus populations in two banana orchards. The trap contents were collected every 15 days in 2021 for all the year (January to December). In 2022 the same two traps (Cosmotrack and Stopweevil) and only two different attractants (Cosmogel NovAgrica and CosmoPlus Scyll’Agro) were tested for 5 months (from January to May). The results from both essays suggest that Cosmotrack with Cosmoplus is the more suitable best combination trap and attractant for the control of C. sordidus. We also found significant differences in the banana weevil adult captures between the two traps and the three attractants considered in two orchards. Significant difference was found between Cosmotrack with Cosmoplus and Cosmotrack with Cosmogel, and when between Cosmotrack with Cosmoplus regarding all the other trap and attractant combinations tested.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

COESIG : Optimització d'estoc i generació de pressupostos amb comunicació xifrada

"COESIG" és un projecte que pretén crear un sistema que pugui ser emprat en la realitat laboral de l'empresa "Quadres Horta S.L.", permetent per un costat el control i l'optimització de les motllures del magatzem i per l'altre la generació de pressupostos. Aquest sistema està compost per una aplicació que funciona sobre una base de dades relacional. A més, la comunicació entre l'aplicació i la base de dades està xifrada per mitjà de certificats digitals. Així doncs, la connexió a base de dades requereix "SSL" el que fa que el sistema global sigui segur davant de qualsevol amenaça externa."COESIG" es un proyecto que pretende crear un sistema que pueda ser utilizado en la realidad laboral de la empresa "Quadres Horta S.L.", permitiendo el control y la optimización de las molduras del almacén y la generación automatizada de presupuestos. Este sistema está compuesto por una aplicación que funciona sobre una base de datos relacional. Además, la comunicación entre la aplicación y la base de datos está cifrada mediante certificados digitales. Así pues, la conexión a base de datos requiere "SSL" lo que hace que el sistema global sea seguro ante cualquier amenaza externa."COESIG" is a project created which the aim of developing a system that can be used in the reality of the company "Quadres Horta S.L.", allowing control and optimization of the warehouse frames and automatizing budgets for customers. This system is composed by an application that operates on a relational database. In addition, communication between the application and the database is encrypted using digital certificates. That means that database connection requires "SSL" which makes the whole system secure against any external threat

Avaliação da eficiência do controlo do contágio e do tratamento médico à COVID-19 em países da OCDE utilizando a análise envoltória de dados

Atualmente, a doença causada pelo novo coronavírus (COVID-19) é um dos problemas de saúde mais significativos em todo o mundo. A Organização Mundial da Saúde (World Health Organization - WHO) declarou o evento uma emergência de saúde pública global no final de janeiro de 2020 e, em seguida, declarou-o uma pandemia global em março de 2020. A impressionante e rápida disseminação do vírus não tem precedentes e superou todas as expectativas. Com quase todos os países do mundo sendo infetados, o desafio de conter o vírus torna-se cada vez mais sério. O objetivo principal deste artigo é explorar o potencial do uso da Análise Envoltória de Dados (Data Envelopment Analysis - DEA) para estabelecer comparações internacionais sobre a eficiência da implementação de programas no combate à pandemia COVID-19, permitindo desta forma identificar um conjunto de boas práticas. Para fazer isso, usou-se dados de 18 países pertencentes à Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Económico (OCDE) para a avaliação de eficiência do controlo do contágio e do tratamento médico, modelo A e B, respetivamente. Os resultados indicam que há uma variação notável na eficiência, sugerindo que um melhor uso dos recursos poderia evitar a disseminação do vírus e a mortalidade elevada. Como países eficientes obteve-se a Eslovénia e Letónia para ambos os modelos. Como menos eficientes obteve-se a Dinamarca, Islândia e Suíça no controlo de contágio, e a Alemanha, Áustria e Suíça no tratamento médico. Estes resultados também demonstram o potencial papel estratégico da metodologia DEA para o planeamento eficiente e eficaz de recursos escassos para o combate à pandemia.Currently, the disease caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) is one of the most significant health problems worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the event a global public health emergency in late January 2020 and then declared it a global pandemic in March 2020. The impressive and rapid spread of the virus is unprecedented and surpassed all expectations. With nearly every country in the world is infected, the challenge of containing the virus becomes increasingly serious. The main objective of this article is to explore the potential of using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to establish international comparisons on the efficiency of implementing programs to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, thus allowing to identify a set of good practices. To do this, data from 18 countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) were used to assess the efficiency of infection control and medical treatment, model A and B, respectively. The results indicate that there is a notable variation in efficiency, suggesting that better use of resources could prevent the spread of the virus and high mortality. The efficient countries are Slovenia and Latvia for both models. Less efficient countries were Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland in the control of infection, and Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the medical treatment. These results also demonstrate the potential strategic role of the DEA methodology for the efficient and effective planning of scarce resources to fight the pandemic

The definition of consequentialism: a survey

There are different meanings associated with consequentialism and teleology. This causes confusion, and sometimes results in discussions based on misunderstandings rather than on substantial disagreements. To clarify this, we created a survey on the definitions of ‘consequentialism’ and ‘teleology’, which we sent to specialists in consequentialism. We broke down the different meanings of consequentialism and teleology into four component parts: Outcome-Dependence, Value-Dependence, Maximization, and Agent-Neutrality. Combining these components in different ways we distinguished six definitions, all of which are represented in the philosophical literature. We asked the respondents which definition is best for consequentialism and for teleology. The most popular definition of consequentialism was the one which accepted value-dependence, but not maximization and agent-neutrality. We therefore recommend the use of this meaning to avoid misunderstandings. The results for teleology were more problematic, with several respondents claiming they never use the term, or indicating that it is confusingS

Real-time enforcement of local energy market transactions respecting distribution grid constraints

International audienceFuture electricity distribution grids will host a considerable share of the renewable energy sources needed for enforcing the energy transition. Demand side management mechanisms play a key role in the integration of such renewable energy resources by exploiting the flexibility of elastic loads, generation or electricity storage technologies. In particular, local energy markets enable households to exchange energy with each other while increasing the amount of renewable energy that is consumed locally. Nevertheless, as most ex-ante mechanisms, local market schedules rely on hour-ahead forecasts whose accuracy may be low. In this paper we cope with forecast errors by proposing a game theory approach to model the interactions among prosumers and distribution system operators for the control of electricity flows in real-time. The presented game has an aggregative equilibrium which can be attained in a semi-distributed manner, driving prosumers towards a final exchange of energy with the grid that benefits both households and operators, favoring the enforcement of prosumers' local market commitments while respecting the constraints defined by the operator. The proposed mechanism requires only one-to-all broadcast of price signals, which do not depend either on the amount of players or their local objective function and constraints, making the approach highly scalable. Its impact on distribution grid quality of supply was evaluated through load flow analysis and realistic load profiles, demonstrating the capacity of the mechanism ensure that voltage deviation and thermal limit constraints are respected

Inventory of Arthropod pests in Azorean orchards : the project CUARENTAGRI

The data we present are part of the CUARENTAGRI project, which involves all archipelagos of the Macaronesia region (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, and Cabo Verde). The project aims to identify and evaluate the risk associated with the introduction of new arthropod pests and also to study the population evolution of those present and the arthropod pests responsible by damaging crops, as well as develop monitoring systems based on prediction and/or evolution of the crop pests, creating warnings and a phytosanitary prevention system. The presented data comprised three islands of the Azores archipelago (Terceira, São Jorge and São Miguel islands), where pheromones-baited traps were placed in several orchards types (banana, olives, orange, strawberry, chestnuts, pasture, potato and apples), during 3 consecutive years (2020, 2021 and 2022). This publication contributes to a better knowledge of the arthropods pests that can affect the Azorean crops, and will serve as a baseline for future monitoring actions, pest risk assessments, and impacts warning and prevention systems.FUNDING: This work was financed under the project CUARENTAGRI by Cooperation Programs INTERREG V A (Spain-Portugal) and MAC 2014-2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Limited effect of management on apple pollination : a case study from an oceanic Island

Intensive agricultural practices leading to habitat degradation represent a major threat to pollinators. Diverse management practices are expected to influence wild pollinator abundance and richness on farms, although their effect in perennial crops is still unclear. In this study, we assessed the impact of management on apple (Malus domestica) pollination on an oceanic island, by comparing conventional (with and without herbicide application) and organic apple orchards. Pollinator visitation and pan trap surveys were carried out in six apple orchards in Terceira Island (Azores) and the landscape composition surrounding orchards was characterized. We also quantified fruit set, seed set and apple weight. We found no significant effect of management on insect visitation rates, whereas there was a negative association with increasing surrounding agricultural land. In contrast, management had an effect on species abundance, richness and diversity at the orchard level. Conventional orchards without herbicides showed higher abundance than the rest, but lower richness and diversity than conventional orchards with herbicides. Management had an effect on fruit set, but not on seed set or fruit weight. Our results suggest that management alone is insufficient for the overall improvement of apple pollination on an oceanic island, while landscape composition may play a relevant role.Regional Government of Extremadura in Spain (PO17006); ACORES-01-0145-FEDER-000073info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

First finding of Sophonia orientalis (Matsumura) in the Azores

Sophonia orientalis (Matsumura) (Hemiptera; Cicadellidae) is native to South-East Asia and is a highly polyphagous pest, considered an invasive pest, that affects crops as well as endemic plants. This paper presents the first report of S. orientalis in the Azores (Portugal). The first individuals were found in 2018 in the botanic garden on Terceira Island and later in 2020 in banana orchards. In 2020, S. orientalis was found in Pico Island in mixed forests.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio