Feeding and oviposition preferences of Ctenarytaina spatulata Taylor (Hemiptera, Psyllidae) for Eucalyptus spp. and other Myrtaceae in Brazil

Feeding and oviposition preferences of Ctenarytaina spatulata Taylor (Hemiptera, Psyllidae) for Eucalyptus spp. and other Myrtaceae in Brazil. The Australian psyllid, Ctenarytaina spatulata Taylor (Hemiptera, Psyllidae), was first detected in Brazil in 1994, where it was found on drought-affected shoots of Eucalyptus grandis in a plantation located in the northern part of Paraná State. The oviposition and feeding preferences of this psyllid were examined on 19 Eucalyptus species, one Eucalyptus hybrid (Cambiju), three Corymbia species and four native Myrtaceae species (Hexaclames edulis, Marlieria edulis, Plinia trunciflora, and Psydium sp.) under greenhouse conditions. The largest populations of C. spatulata were found on E. robusta and E. pellita, while sizeable infestations were also found on E. urophylla, E. grandis, and the Cambiju hybrid. The plants with the greatest symptoms of damage were E. grandis and E. resinifera. Eucalyptus cinerea, E. benthamii, E. pilularis, and E. dunnii were not infested and E. cloeziana was minimally infested. Among the Corymbia species, the number of eggs of C. spatulata was very low on C. citriodora and C. torelliana. No eggs and nymphs of C. spatulata were found on native Brazilian Myrtaceae. The number of eggs on plants was highly correlated with the subsequent levels of nymphs, suggesting that egg counts can be used as a viable monitoring tool to assist with the integrated management of this pest.

Consumer choice in competitive location models: Formulations and heuristics

A new direction of research in Competitive Location theory incorporatestheories of Consumer Choice Behavior in its models. Following thisdirection, this paper studies the importance of consumer behavior withrespect to distance or transportation costs in the optimality oflocations obtained by traditional Competitive Location models. To dothis, it considers different ways of defining a key parameter in thebasic Maximum Capture model (MAXCAP). This parameter will reflectvarious ways of taking into account distance based on several ConsumerChoice Behavior theories. The optimal locations and the deviation indemand captured when the optimal locations of the other models are usedinstead of the true ones, are computed for each model. A metaheuristicbased on GRASP and Tabu search procedure is presented to solve all themodels. Computational experience and an application to 55-node networkare also presented.

Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) parasitoids of Lepidoptera caterpillars feeding on Croton floribundus Spreng (Euphorbiaceae)

Parasitoids of the family Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) were obtained during an inventory of Lepidoptera larvae caught feeding in the wild on Croton floribundus (Euphorbiaceae). The Lepidoptera larvae were collected from host plants along trails inside three preserved forest areas in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Fifteen different species of Ichneumonidae belonging to five subfamilies (Banchinae, Campopleginae, Cremastinae, Mesochorinae and Metopiinae) were obtained. Seven species of Ichneumonidae were reared from leaf rollers: Meniscomorpha sp. (Banchinae) and Leurus caeruliventris (Cresson) (Metopiinae) from Dichomeris sp. (Gelechiidae); Mesochorus sp.1 (Mesochorinae) [as a parasitoid of Hypomicrogaster sp. (Braconidae, Microgastrinae)], Campoplex sp. (Campopleginae) and Leurus sp. from Olethreutinae sp. (Tortricidae); Sphelodon annulicornis Morley (Banchinae) and Eutanygaster brevipennis Cameron (Cremastinae) were also reared from two unidentified species of Gelechiidae. The other eight species were reared from the larvae of exposed feeders: Diradops sp. (Banchinae) from Miselia albipuncta Hampson (Noctuidae), Casinaria sp. (Campopleginae) from Hymenomima conia Prout (Geometridae), Charops sp. (Campopleginae) from Bagisara paulensis Schaus (Noctuidae) and Oxydia vesulia (Cramer) (Geometridae), two species of Hyposoter Förster (Campopleginae) from Semaeopus sp. (Geometridae) and H. conia, two species of Microcharops Roman (Campopleginae) from B. paulensis and an unidentified species of Limacodidae and Mesochorus sp. 2 [reared from what was probably Aleiodes sp. (Braconidae, Rogadinae)] from an unidentified species of Noctuidae.

Flexible multivariate GARCH modeling with an application to international stock markets

The goal of this paper is to estimate time-varying covariance matrices.Since the covariance matrix of financial returns is known to changethrough time and is an essential ingredient in risk measurement, portfolioselection, and tests of asset pricing models, this is a very importantproblem in practice. Our model of choice is the Diagonal-Vech version ofthe Multivariate GARCH(1,1) model. The problem is that the estimation ofthe general Diagonal-Vech model model is numerically infeasible indimensions higher than 5. The common approach is to estimate more restrictive models which are tractable but may not conform to the data. Our contributionis to propose an alternative estimation method that is numerically feasible,produces positive semi-definite conditional covariance matrices, and doesnot impose unrealistic a priori restrictions. We provide an empiricalapplication in the context of international stock markets, comparing thenew estimator to a number of existing ones.

Delayed-Choice Experiments and the Metaphysics of Entanglement

Delayed-choice experiments in quantum mechanics are often taken to undermine a realistic interpretation of the quantum state. More specifically, Healey has recently argued that the phenomenon of delayed-choice entanglement swapping is incompatible with the view that entanglement is a physical relation between quantum systems. This paper argues against these claims. It first reviews two paradigmatic delayed-choice experiments and analyzes their metaphysical implications. It then applies the results of this analysis to the case of entanglement swapping, showing that such experiments pose no threat to realism about entanglement.

Retention half times in the skeleton of plutonium and 90Sr from above-ground nuclear tests: a retrospective study of the Swiss population.

Plutonium and (90)Sr are considered to be among the most radiotoxic nuclides produced by the nuclear fission process. In spite of numerous studies on mammals and humans there is still no general agreement on the retention half time of both radionuclides in the skeleton in the general population. Here we determined plutonium and (90)Sr in human vertebrae in individuals deceased between 1960 and 2004 in Switzerland. Plutonium was measured by sensitive SF-ICP-MS techniques and (90)Sr by radiometric methods. We compared our results to the ones obtained for other environmental compartments to reveal the retention half time of NBT fallout (239)Pu and (90)Sr in trabecular bones of the Swiss population. Results show that plutonium has a retention half time of 40+/-14 years. In contrast (90)Sr has a shorter retention half time of 13.5+/-1.0 years. Moreover (90)Sr retention half time in vertebrae is shown to be linked to the retention half time in food and other environmental compartments. These findings demonstrate that the renewal of the vertebrae through calcium homeostatic control is faster for (90)Sr excretion than for plutonium excretion. The precise determination of the retention half time of plutonium in the skeleton will improve the biokinetic model of plutonium metabolism in humans.

An enhanced concave program relaxation for choice network revenue management

The network choice revenue management problem models customers as choosing from an offer-set, andthe firm decides the best subset to offer at any given moment to maximize expected revenue. The resultingdynamic program for the firm is intractable and approximated by a deterministic linear programcalled the CDLP which has an exponential number of columns. However, under the choice-set paradigmwhen the segment consideration sets overlap, the CDLP is difficult to solve. Column generation has beenproposed but finding an entering column has been shown to be NP-hard. In this paper, starting with aconcave program formulation based on segment-level consideration sets called SDCP, we add a class ofconstraints called product constraints, that project onto subsets of intersections. In addition we proposea natural direct tightening of the SDCP called ?SDCP, and compare the performance of both methodson the benchmark data sets in the literature. Both the product constraints and the ?SDCP method arevery simple and easy to implement and are applicable to the case of overlapping segment considerationsets. In our computational testing on the benchmark data sets in the literature, SDCP with productconstraints achieves the CDLP value at a fraction of the CPU time taken by column generation and webelieve is a very promising approach for quickly approximating CDLP when segment consideration setsoverlap and the consideration sets themselves are relatively small.

The choice of the form of representation in multinational banking: Evidence from Spain

This paper investigates foreign direct investment in the bankingsector. The attention has been addressed to test the importanceof OLI advantages as the determinants of the bank's decisionto invest in foreign locations. Nevertheless, since banks canexpand their activities abroad through different organizationalforms that imply different levels of foreign involvement, theissue of the form of representation has been tackled. Theresults show the importance of OLI advantages in the form ofrepresentation in multinational banking.

Influence of different tropical fruits on biological and behavioral aspects of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera, Tephritidae)

Influence of different tropical fruits on biological and behavioral aspects of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera, Tephritidae). Studies on Ceratitis capitata, a world fruit pest, can aid the implementation of control programs by determining the plants with higher vulnerability to attacks and plants able to sustain their population in areas of fly distribution. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the influence of eight tropical fruits on the following biological and behavioral parameters of C. capitata: emergence percentage, life cycle duration, adult size, egg production, longevity, fecundity, egg viability, and oviposition acceptance. The fruits tested were: acerola (Malpighia glabra L.), cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.), star fruit (Averrhoa carambola L.), guava (Psidium guajava L.), soursop (Annona muricata L.), yellow mombin (Spondias mombin L.), Malay apple (Syzygium malaccense L.), and umbu (Spondias tuberosa L.). The biological parameters were obtained by rearing the recently hatched larvae on each of the fruit kinds. Acceptance of fruits for oviposition experiment was assessed using no-choice tests, as couples were exposed to two pieces of the same fruit. The best performances were obtained with guava, soursop, and star fruit. Larvae reared on cashew and acerola fruits had regular performances. No adults emerged from yellow mombin, Malay apple, or umbu. Fruit species did not affect adult longevity, female fecundity, or egg viability. Guava, soursop, and acerola were preferred for oviposition, followed by star fruit, Malay apple, cashew, and yellow mombin. Oviposition did not occur on umbu. In general, fruits with better larval development were also more accepted for oviposition.

New record of predatory ladybird beetle (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) feeding on extrafloral nectaries

New record of predatory ladybird beetle (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) feeding on extrafloral nectaries. Feeding by Exoplectra miniata (Germar) on extrafloral nectaries of Inga edulis Mart. was observed in Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is the first record of this behavior for Exoplectrini.

Portfolio choice beyond the traditional approach

This paper surveys asset allocation methods that extend the traditional approach. An important feature of the the traditional approach is that measures the risk and return tradeoff in terms of mean and variance of final wealth. However, there are also other important features that are not always made explicit in terms of investor s wealth, information, and horizon: The investor makes a single portfolio choice based only on the mean and variance of her final financial wealth and she knows the relevant parameters in that computation. First, the paper describes traditional portfolio choice based on four basic assumptions, while the rest of the sections extend those assumptions. Each section will describe the corresponding equilibrium implications in terms of portfolio advice and asset pricing.

Comment to "Weak instruments robust tests in GMM and the New Keynesian Phillips curve" by Frank Kleibergen and Sophocles Mavroeidis

I discuss the identifiability of a structural New Keynesian Phillips curve when it is embedded in a small scale dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. Identification problems emerge because not all the structural parameters are recoverable from the semi-structural ones and because the objective functions I consider are poorly behaved. The solution and the moment mappings are responsible for the problems.

Demand for pharmaceutical drugs: A choice modelling experiment

Despite the importance of supplier inducement and brand loyalty inthe drug purchasing process, little empirical evidence is to be foundwith regard to the influence that these factors exert on patients decisions. Under the new scenario of easier access to information,patients are becoming more demanding and even go as far asquestioning their physicians prescription. Furthermore, newregulation also encourages patients to adopt an active role in thedecision between brand-name and generic drugs. Using a statedpreference model based on a choice survey, I have found evidenceof how significant physicians prescription and pharmacists recommendation become throughout the drug purchase process and,to what extent, brand loyalty influences the final decision. Asfar as we are aware, this paper is the first to explicitlytake consumers preferences into account rather than focusingon the behavior of health professionals.