Efficacy of Protein Baits with Fipronil to Control Vespa velutina nigrithorax (Lepeletier, 1836) in Apiaries

The yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax), outside its natural range, has become a major threat to domestic bees. Several control methods have been used to fight against V. velutina, but the results achieved are not satisfactory. The use of protein baits with biocides has shown to be an effective method to control invasive wasp populations, but they have not been used to control V. velutina. Thus, the efficacy of protein baits containing fipronil to reduce the presence of hornets in apiaries was evaluated in this study. After laboratory determination of the optimal efficacy of a protein bait at a 0.01% concentration of fipronil, field trials were conducted involving 222 beekeepers. The data reported by the 90 beekeepers who completed the requested questionnaire demonstrated that in the groups of apiaries with the highest pressure of hornets (groups with 10-30 and >30 hornets), there was a significant decrease in the presence of V. velutina, lasting at least two weeks. The reduction in the number of hornets was positively correlated with bait consumption, and bait consumption was positively correlated with the number of hornets present at the time of treatment. Although the method used has shown good efficacy and the concentration of fipronil used was very low; possible negative effects on the environment should also be evaluated.

Robust Control Based on Modeling Error Compensation of Microalgae Anaerobic Digestion

Microalgae are used to produce renewable biofuels (biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas, and biohydrogen) and high-value-added products, as well as in bioremediation and CO2 sequestration tasks. In the case of anaerobic digestion of microalgae, biogas can be produced from mainly proteins and carbohydrates. Anaerobic digestion is a complex process that involves several stages and is susceptible to operational instability due to various factors. Robust controllers with simple structure and design are necessary for practical implementation purposes and to achieve a proper process operation despite process variabilities, uncertainties, and complex interactions. This paper presents the application of a control design based on the modeling error compensation technique for the anaerobic digestion of microalgae. The control design departs from a low-order input–output model by enhancement with uncertainty estimation. The results show that achieving desired organic pollution levels and methanogenic biomass concentrations as well as minimizing the effect of external perturbations on a benchmark case study of the anaerobic digestion of microalgae is possible with the proposed control design.