Notes on a new mealybug (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae) pest in Florida and the Caribbean : the papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink

Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink, here called the papaya mealybug, was first detected in the United States in Hollywood, Florida in 1998. By the end of 1998 it was found in four localities in the state and has since spread to nine localities in five counties. This mealybug appears to have moved through the Caribbean area since its 1994 detection in the Dominican Republic. The pest is reported to cause serious damage to tropical fruit, especially papaya, and has been detected most frequently, in Florida, on hibiscus. It is now known from Antigua, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts, St. Martin, and the US Virgin Islands. Hosts include: Acacia sp.(Luguminosae), Acalypha sp.(Euphorbiaceae), Ambrosia cumanensis (Compositae), Annona squamosa (Annonaceae), Carica papaya (Caricaceae), Guazuma ulmifolia (Sterculiaccea), Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Euphorbiaceae), Hibiscus sp. (Euphorbiaceae), Ipomoea sp. (Convolvulaceae), Manihot chloristica (Euphorbiaceae), Manihot esculenta (Euphorbiaceae), Mimosa pigra (Lugiminosae), Parthenium hysterophorus (Compositae), Persea americana (Lauraceae), Plumeria sp. (Apocynaceae), Sida sp. (Malvaceae), Solanum melongena (Solanaceae). The species is believed to be native to Mexico andlor Central America

Development and application of optimum sensitivity analysis of structures

The research focused on developing an algorithm applying optimum sensitivity analysis for multilevel optimization. The research efforts have been devoted to assisting NASA Langley's Interdisciplinary Research Office (IRO) in the development of a mature methodology for a multilevel approach to the design of complex (large and multidisciplinary) engineering systems. An effort was undertaken to identify promising multilevel optimization algorithms. In the current reporting period, the computer program generating baseline single level solutions was completed and tested out

An expert system for choosing the best combination of options in a general-purpose program for automated design synthesis

An expert system was developed to aid a user of the Automated Design Synthesis (ADS) general-purpose optimization computer program in selecting the best combination of strategy, optimizer, and one-dimensional search options for solving a problem. There are approximately 100 such combinations available in ADS. The knowledge base contains over 200 rules, and is divided into three categories: constrained problems, unconstrained problems, and constrained problems treated as unconstrained problems. The inference engine is written in LISP and is available on DEC-VAX and IBM PC/XT computers

NASA's Digital Transformation (DT) Initiative

NASA's Digital Transformation (DT) Initiative will dramatically enhance NASA's mission impact by reinventing mission and mission support processes, products, and capabilities, enabled by an innovation culture, digital-savvy workforce, and advanced digital technologies, building on a foundation of modern data management and IT security. This presentation, as part of a conference panel, provides an overview of NASA's DT Initiative, and describes how the Initiative supports an "antidisciplinary" future, where the greatest mission transformation opportunities will be found at the intersections and mergers of multiple disciplines

Am J Trop Med Hyg

Matthew, a category 4 hurricane, struck Haiti on October 4, 2016, causing widespread flooding and damage to buildings and crops, and resulted in many deaths. The damage caused by Matthew raised concerns of increased cholera transmission particularly in Sud and Grand'Anse departments, regions which were hit most heavily by the storm. To evaluate the change in reported cholera cases following Hurricane Matthew on reported cholera cases, we used interrupted time series regression models of daily reported cholera cases, controlling for the impact of both rainfall, following a 4-week lag, and seasonality, from 2013 through 2016. Our results indicate a significant increase in reported cholera cases after Matthew, suggesting that the storm resulted in an immediate surge in suspect cases, and a decline in reported cholera cases in the 46-day post-storm period, after controlling for rainfall and seasonality. Regression models stratified by the department indicate that the impact of the hurricane was regional, with larger surges in the two most highly storm-affected departments: Sud and Grand'Anse. These models were able to provide input to the Ministry of Health in Haiti on the national and regional impact of Hurricane Matthew and, with further development, could provide the flexibility of use in other emergency situations. This article highlights the need for continued cholera prevention and control efforts, particularly in the wake of natural disasters such as hurricanes, and the continued need for intensive cholera surveillance nationally.2018-12-26T00:00:00Z30594260PMC6367609665

A comparison between the methods of apportionment using power indices: the case of the U.S. presidential elections

In this paper, we compare five well-known methods of apportionment, the ones by Adams, Dean, Hill, Webster and Jefferson. The criteria used for this comparison is the minimization of a distance between a power vector and a population vector. The power is measured with the well-known Banzhaf power index and the populations are the ones of the different States of the U.S. We first explain under which conditions this comparison makes sense. We then compare the apportionment methods in terms of their ability to bring closer the power of the States to their relative population. The U.S. presidential election by Electors is studied through 22 censuses since 1790. Our analysis is largely based on the book written by Balinski and Young (2001). The empirical findings are linked with theoretical results.Banzhaf index, methods of apportionment, distances, balance population-power.

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Jensen v. EXC, Inc.

The petitioners argue: 1) Supervisory Review is Needed Because the District Court and the Ninth Circuit Automatically Aligned U.S. Highway 160 with Alienated, Non-Indian Fee Land, Ignoring this Court’s Context-Specific, Multifactor Methodology for Determining the Status of Reservation Roadways for Tribal Jurisdictional Purposes. 2) Supervisory Review is Also Necessary Because Both Lower Courts Refused to Apply Supreme Court Precedents Governing Whether an Indian Tribe Retains Treaty-Based Authority over the Conduct of Nonmembers on a Tribe’s Reservation, Effecting an Impermissible Judicial Abrogation of the Navajo Nation’s Congressionally Confirmed, Treaty-Based Jurisdiction in This Case. 3) Supervisory Review is Further Needed Because Both Lower Courts’ Denial of the Navajo Nation’s Retained Inherent Sovereignty over the Tour Bus/Auto Collision Conflicts with This Court’s Precedents for Proper Application of the Montana Exceptions

SOME CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT IT OUTSOURCING PROCESS

IT outsourcing is the practice of contracting out the running of a part of an organization computer department. It is not a new phenomenon, but the scale and scope of its occurrence has greatly increased over the last decade. Due to the fact that IT outsourcing has no obviously and quantifiable benefits, most of the business entities choose not to do outsource their IT. The paper is based on the idea of incapability of exact determination of IT services costs. The purpose of this research regards the layout of the current approaches to outsourcing, description of different types of IT outsourcing and their advantages and the analysis of some models which might be used in order to facilitate the IT decision making process.Outsourcing, Information Technology, Information Systems, Application Services Provider, IT Risks

Predicting Gross Revenue Using Online Movie Reviews

Today, many people check the ratings and reviews of a movie before they watch it. A review can be easily published online and seen by thousands of people, and this can change a person’s opinion on whether or not they see the film. With the increasing presence of online platforms, it has changed the way people express their thoughts and feelings. There are many different platforms people can go to find varying opinions on a particular movie. This research will consider the problem of predicting a movie’s overall gross revenue. We focus on ratings, reviews and information given on the IMDb Website. (https://www.imdb.com) A list of 4,265 movies and their corresponding reviews were collected between January 2005 and December 2019. In our research, we use RStudio and sentiment analysis to determine a review’s emotions and opinions. We investigate whether the sentiment in a movie’s reviews can predict overall gross revenue, as well as other predictors given on the IMDb website