Optimising Vine Weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus F. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Monitoring Tool Design

Vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus F. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an economically important insect pest of horticultural crops. To identify an effective and reliable monitoring system for adult vine weevil, this study investigated the influence of colour, height and entrance position on the efficacy of a model monitoring tool using modified paper cups as refuges. Vine weevil preferences were determined by the number of individuals recorded within a refuge. When provided with a binary choice between black or white refuges, vine weevil adults showed a preference for black refuges. Vine weevils provided with a range of coloured refuges (blue, green, red and yellow) in addition to black and white refuges showed a preference for black and blue over the other colours and white refuges in group choice experiments. Refuge height and entrance position also influenced vine weevil behaviour with individuals exhibiting a preference for taller refuges and those with entrance openings around the refuge base. These results provide insights into refuge selection by adult vine weevils, which can be exploited to improve monitoring tool design. The importance of developing an effective monitoring tool for vine weevil adults as part of an integrated pest management programme is discussed.

Value and Values

Many decisions are done intuitively. Sometimes, this works well, and sometimes they lead us astray. Tools of systems engineering recognize human biases and ask about what we do best—specify what is most important to us under the circumstances. This chapter presents a brief introduction into this world (multi-criteria decision analysis) using an example comparing three fictitious wines to show how different preferences lead to different rankings of wine quality, even when using the same “objective” data. This is as it should be—tastes differ, and good decision support systems take this into account. At this point, we focus on decisions made by one person. Later chapters focus on combining a diversity of individual preferences into a group choice.

Tailoring liquid crystal honeycombs by head-group choice in bird-like bent-core mesogens

New non-centrosymmetric soft honeycomb lattices and superlattices are generated by self-assembly of novel mesogens promising applications as SHG and ferroelectric materials.

Heroin Choice Depends on Income Level and Economy Type

RationaleIn a previous study investigating choice between heroin and a non-drug alternative in animals, reductions in income (i.e., choices/day) caused the percentage of income spent on heroin to progressively decrease. In contrast, another study found that humans with opioid use disorder spent the majority of their income on heroin even though they had little income. Comparison of these two studies suggests that the seemingly conflicting results could be explained by differences in the underlying economy types of the choice alternatives.ObjectiveThe present experiment tested the hypothesis that the effect of income changes on choice between heroin and a non-drug alternative depends on economy type.MethodsRats chose between heroin and saccharin under three income levels. For the Closed group, the choice session was the only opportunity to obtain these reinforcers. For the Heroin Open group and the Saccharin Open group, choice sessions were followed by 3-h periods of unlimited access to heroin or saccharin, respectively.ResultsAs income decreased, the Closed and Heroin Open groups, but not the Saccharin Open group, spent an increasingly greater percentage of income on saccharin than on heroin. The Saccharin Open group, compared to the other groups, spent a greater percentage of income on heroin as income decreased.ConclusionsResults confirm that the effects of income and economy type can interact and this may explain the apparently discrepant results of earlier studies. More generally, findings suggest that situations where heroin choice has little consequence for consumption of non-drug alternatives may promote heroin use.

Manipulation

Systematic opportunities for manipulation emerge as a by-product of the structure of all group decision processes. Theory suggests that no process is immune. The study of manipulation provides principles and insights about how parts of complex decision systems work together and how changes in one part can have broad impact. Thus, manipulation strategies are derived from many features of voting processes. Public choice theory highlights relationships among group choice, rules, and individual decisions. The theory is a source of surprises and paradoxes that suggests tools for manipulation of group choices. This chapter catalogs many of the surprises that harbor potential sources of manipulation in the hope that a deeper understanding of manipulation will produce better systems.