Concept Drift Detection to Improve Time Series Forecasting of Wind Energy Generation

Most of the current data sources generate large amounts of data over time. Renewable energy generation is one example of such data sources. Machine learning is often applied to forecast time series. Since data flows are usually large, trends in data may change and learned pat terns might not be optimal in the most recent data. In this paper, we analyse wind energy generation data extracted from the Sistema de Infor mación del Operador del Sistema (ESIOS) of the Spanish power grid. We perform a study to evaluate detecting concept drifts to retrain models and thus improve the quality of forecasting. To this end, we compare the performance of a linear regression model when it is retrained randomly and when a concept drift is detected, respectively. Our experiments show that a concept drift approach improves forecasting between a 7.88% and a 33.97% depending on the concept drift technique appliedMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2020-117954RB-C22Junta de Andalucía US-1263341Junta de Andalucía P18-RT-277

Age-Stage, Two-Sex Life Table of Chrysodeixis chalcites (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) at Constant Temperatures on Semi-Synthetic Diet

The golden twin-spot moth or tomato looper, Chrysodeixis chalcites (Esper), is a polyphagous and worldwide pest that causes important aesthetic damages to banana fruits in the Canary Islands. The life history parameters of C. chalcites were determined under laboratory conditions in base on the age-stage, two-sex life table at 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35°C, 65% relative humidity (RH), and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h, when it was reared on a semi-synthetic diet. The results show that C. chalcites was able to develop and survive from 15 to 30°C, but no development occurred at 35°C. Developmental threshold temperatures of the egg, larval, pupal, and total preoviposition stages were 10.42, 11.73, 11.22, and 9.42°C, respectively, and their effective accumulated temperatures were 58.31, 265.96, 118.57, and 562.39 degree-days, respectively. The adult longevity was reduced with increasing temperature, which ranged between 16.27 and 34.85 d for females and between 14.27 and 35.21 d for males. The highest values of net reproductive rate (R0) and fecundity were observed at 25°C, with 232.70 offspring and 1,224.74 eggs, respectively. Both the intrinsic rate of increase (r) and finite rate of increase (λ) increased significantly and mean generation time (T) decreased significantly with increasing temperature. These results provide useful information that will allow predicting the impact of climate change on the distribution and population dynamics of C. chalcites and developing successful integrated management programs

Can the pheromones of predators modulate responses to herbivore-induced plant volatiles?

Biological control of greenhouse pests has been successfully developed and applied. In greenhouse crops, several entomophagous species (predators and parasitoids) are used simultaneously in the crop cycle. One important aspect of these crops, which represent modified ecosystems, is the interactions among complexes of species, including plants, phytophagous insects, and predators. The chemical relationships (semiochemicals: pheromones and kairomones) among these species likely play an important role in greenhouse crops; however, few studies have focused on these relationships. The aim of this study was to analyse the importance of semiochemicals. Three groups of laboratory trials were conducted with two predatory species: Nabis pseudoferus and Nesidiocoris tenuis (Hemiptera: Nabidae and Miridae, respectively). The results of the first group of trials indicated that the adult females of both species were more attracted to herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) than they were to the control plants or plants with artificial damage. Based on the second group of trials, pheromones triggered an attraction in adult females of both species for conspecifics. Finally, based on the interactions of the adult females of the same species, pheromones changed or modulated the predatory responses to HIPVs. The implications of these results for the biological control of pest species in greenhouses are further discussed

Potential of the Blattisocius mali mite (Acari: Blattisociidae) as biological control agent of potato tubermoth (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in stored potatoes

Potato tubermoth (PTM) Phthorimaea operculella (Lep.: Gelechiidae) is one of the pest species affecting Solanaceae worldwide. It can cause up to 80% of losses in potato open air crops as well as damage up to 100% of tubers during storage. Blattisocius (= Typhlodromus) mali (Acari: Blattisociidae), a predatory mite, was studied as a potential biological control agent of PTM. A prey acceptance bioassay of PTM eggs was carried out. Additionally, two bioassays have been conducted under microcosm conditions, which assessed the densities of mite releases at two levels of PTM infestation. The results showed that B. mali female adults accept PTM eggs as prey, and they cause a mortality rate 89.63 ± 2.47%, 48 h later. In addition to this, under microcosm conditions with potato tubers, we found at low infestation level that the effectiveness of the predatory mite varied from 72.50 ± 28.50 to 100%, 28 days later, according to the release rate of mites. Under high infestation level, the effectiveness of biological control of the pest varied from 53.36 ± 25.55 to 92.51 ± 7.88%, also according to the release rate of the mites. The possible use of biological control with B. mali of PTM, in different types of potato storage, is analysed and discussed

Hongos micorrícicos arbusculares en asociación con Lotus tenuis en ambientes halomórficos de la Cuenca del río Salado

Fil: García, Ileana. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia; ArgentinaFil: Cabello, Marta Noemi. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Instituto Spegazzini; ArgentinaFil: Fernández-López, Carolina. INTA; ArgentinaFil: Chippano, Tomás. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia; ArgentinaFil: Mendoza, Rodolfo. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia; Argentin

A privacy-aware crowd management system for smart cities and smart buildings

Cities are growing at a dizzying pace and they require improved methods to manage crowded areas. Crowd management stands for the decisions and actions taken to supervise and control densely populated spaces and it involves multiple challenges, from recognition and assessment to application of actions tailored to the current situation. To that end, Wi-Fi-based monitoring systems have emerged as a cost-effective solution for the former one. The key challenge that they impose is the requirement to handle large datasets and provide results in near real-time basis. However, traditional big data and event processing approaches have important shortcomings while dealing with crowd management information. In this paper, we describe a novel system architecture for real-time crowd recognition for smart cities and smart buildings that can be easily replicated. The described system proposes a privacy-aware platform that enables the application of artificial intelligence mechanisms to assess crowds' behavior in buildings employing sensed Wi-Fi traces. Furthermore, the present paper shows the implementation of the system in two buildings, an airport and a market, as well as the results of applying a set of classification algorithms to provide crowd management information.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Government (MINECO) by means of the Project Future Internet Enabled Resilient CitiEs (FIERCE) under Grant RTI2018-093475-A-I00, and in part by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme through the European project Federated CPS Digital Innovation Hubs for the Smart Anything Everywhere Initiative (FED4SAE) under Grant 761708

Synthesis of Porous and Mechanically Compliant Carbon Aerogels Using Conductive and Structural Additives

We report the synthesis of conductive and mechanically compliant monolithic carbon aerogels prepared by sol-gel polycondensation of melamine-resorcinol-formaldehyde (MRF) mixtures by incorporating diatomite and carbon black additives. The resulting aerogels composites displayed a well-developed porous structure, confirming that the polymerization of the precursors is not impeded in the presence of either additive. The aerogels retained the porous structure after etching off the siliceous additive, indicating adequate cross-linking of the MRF reactants. However, the presence of diatomite caused a significant fall in the pore volumes, accompanied by coarsening of the average pore size (predominance of large mesopores and macropores). The diatomite also prevented structural shrinkage and deformation of the as-prepared monoliths upon densification by carbonization, even after removal of the siliceous framework. The rigid pristine aerogels became more flexible upon incorporation of the diatomite, favoring implementation of binderless monolithic aerogel electrodes

MDPI

The use of oophagous species from the genus Trichogramma—small wasp—in the control of pest species, both in agriculture and forestry, is the most important example of this type of control because of the area in which it is implemented. They are called parasitoids because the female seeks out the host—the pest species—from which its offspring feed and develop. Until now, this mechanism of action was thought to be due to the parasitism relationships established between the immature stages of the parasitoid and its host; however, it has been shown that the directed ‘host-feeding’ mechanism of the adult mothers, acting as predators, plays a very important ecological role. This proves that there are much more complex parasitoid–parasitoid relationships than predator–predator relationships. This has implications for the current state of knowledge and can be applied in biological control involving parasitoid species

Theoretical Foundation of the Control of Pollination by Hoverflies in a Greenhouse

We propose a conceptual model for pollination and fertilization of tomato flowers in greenhouses crops by hoverflies, when the maximal number of adult pollinators maintained by the crops is less than what is needed for an economically successful pollination in greenhouses. The model consists of a two-stage process for additional feeding of hoverfly to maintain the pollinator density at the economically desired level. First, with a stochastic model, we calculate the density of flies necessary for the economically successful pollination, determined according to the economically expected yield. Second, using a deterministic optimal control model, we find a minimum cost supplementary feeding strategy. In summary, we theoretically demonstrate, at the present stage of the research without validations in case studies, that optimal supplementary feeding can maintain the economically desired hoverfly density