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Coconut production in the Pacific Islands is threatened by coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB). Distinctive feeding damage caused by adults is often the first indicator of CRB activity in a new location. Multiple approaches to damage assessment have been used, reflecting observers' experience. The lack of standardisation makes it difficult to compare CRB impacts on coconut palms over time. We examine damage assessment from three perspectives: participants, power and purpose. Participants applied binary, 3-point and 5-point damage scales consecutively to photographs of damaged palms. Participant responses were more accurate using the binary scale compared with the 5-point scale. Experience with CRB improved accuracy, but this did not wholly compensate for the effect of scale complexity. Calculations of statistical power determined minimum sample sizes to detect a 20% change in palm damage was 50 palms for the binary scale, 150 palms for the 3-point scale and > 200 palms for the 5-point scale, when the change in damage was spread across damage categories. More complex damage scales did not increase the likelihood of detecting significant changes in palm damage. With real-world examples, including detecting new outbreaks and managing established populations, recommendations were developed to standardise damage assessment for CRB on coconut palms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is going through a global crisis, productivity and sustainability are two factors, which farmers are challenging to produce more food, preserve the environment and the health of living beings. Developed and developing countries need to adopt new productive alternatives, which improve the quality of food, preserving the environment and the ecosystems. Actually, the abuse and misuse of chemical products has caused a series of problems such as contamination (soil and water) and pest resistance to active ingredients. Climate change and other transformations that agriculture is going through, generated decades ago the emergence of the industry of biological inputs, which are friendly products with the environment and human health. These products have characteristics and modes of action that help pest control with fewer risks than the use of pesticides. This review compiles the importance, use and applications of biological products based on beneficial fungi in Latin America, highlighting the project "Biocontrol for Sustainable Farming Systems" executed in Ecuador, funded by MFAT New Zeland, which has shown the efficiency of the use of microorganisms in the agriculture through the research results obtained during the execution of this Project. In addition, aspects related to quality control of bioproducts and regulations for their registration are also mentioned.

The inaugural Pacific Ecological Security Conference (PESC) was held in October 2022, bringing together over 100 island leaders, policy-makers, natural resource managers and global and regional invasive species experts to prioritise the critical issue of invasive species in the Pacific Islands Region. Participants confirmed that invasive species are a major threat to building and maintaining climate resilience and adaptability of Pacific Island ecosystems, as well as food security, biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods and the protection of cultural resources and way of life. Three region-wide strategic action plans were developed to guide interventions focused on the topics of invasive ants, coconut rhinoceros beetle and the use of biological control as a pest and weed management tool. These plans were the major outcome of the PESC and, when implemented, will result in coordinated activities that take a "whole-of-Pacific" approach to invasive species biosecurity and management. Here, we briefly describe the background, planning and engagement process for the three plans, summarise any country- and territory-level data obtained through the process and detail what is planned to occur over the next few years. In addition to the adoption and implementation of the strategies as a result of this inaugural PESC, we anticipate that the PESC will become the premier regional conference aimed at reducing the entry and impacts of invasive species to improve sustainability of environments and peoples of the Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including economic narrative of rise and fall in political battles; journalist John McDonald, who popularised game theory as a tool for business strategy; and power of the economic growth narrative.

The coconut rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros (L.), (CRB) is a major pest of coconut and oil palms that causes significant damage in the Asia/Pacific region. Traditional methods for surveillance and detection of CRB involve in‐person inspections, but these are expensive to carry out and were made impossible by travel restrictions during the COVID‐19 pandemic. In this paper, a method to remotely detect possible CRB incursions and assess damage levels using publicly available images is described. The method involves searching for pictures of palms and identifying those with the distinctive V‐shaped cuts in fronds characteristic of CRB feeding. The method was validated by examining palm images from known outbreak areas and those free from the pest. We found evidence of CRB damage in the previously unreported site of Dili, Timor Leste and possible evidence of CRB in the Solomon Islands even before it was first reported in 2015. Potential limitations and broader applications of this approach are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reward Positivity (RewP) is a feedback‐locked event‐related potential component that is specifically elicited by rewarding feedback and scales with positive reward prediction error, a hallmark of reinforcement learning models. The RewP is also diminished in depression, suggesting that it may be a novel marker of anhedonia. Here, we examined if a sad mood induction offered an opportunity to causally induce a mood‐related alteration of the RewP and reward‐related learning. In Experiment 1 (N = 50 total), participants were randomly assigned to previously established sad or neutral mood induction procedures before a probabilistic selection task. This manipulation failed to induce changes in affect, suggesting that standard methods are inadequate. In Experiment 2 (N = 50 total), participants were randomly assigned to newly developed happy versus sad mood manipulations, which successfully induced large changes in affect. While the RewP was unaffected by mood induction, positive mood moderated the relationship between prediction error encoding in the RewP and reward learning, such that low positive mood and low prediction error encoding resulted in poorer reward learning. These findings provide a mechanistic example of how reduced positive affect moderates reward learning via poorer information encoding in the RewP. Our findings provide a mechanistic example of how mood affects reward learning and information content conveyed in the Reward Positivity. Additionally, our findings challenge the viability of standard mood manipulation procedures for investigating the impact of mood on reward processing and advancing a novel manipulation that is more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB: Oryctes rhinoceros) was reported on Efate, Vanuatu in 2019. The beetle population was determined to belong to the CRB‐S group (Clade II), similar to populations found in the Bismark Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. An introduction of the CRB‐G group (Clade IA) was discovered in 2021. Damage mapping, beetle trapping and genomic identification show that CRB‐S has now spread around about half of the island from the site of the original introduction. CRB‐G is mainly restricted to the seaport and surrounding areas of Port Vila with some outlying specimens. Through the efforts of Biosecurity Vanuatu, O. rhinoceros is still contained on the Efate group of islands and has not spread to the major copra‐producing islands in other parts of the country. Sanitation efforts appear to have reduced damage from coconut rhinoceros beetle within the zone of first arrival of the pest (Mangaliliu, Efate). Oryctes rhinoceros damage, however, is severe in areas with old plantations and limited sanitation activities (e.g. Mele/Devil's point, Efate). A concerted effort is necessary to contain the beetle on Efate and to reduce further spread and impact on the island. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the financial crisis of 2008 and the publication in 2014 of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century , income and wealth inequality have returned to public and scholarly interest. Most subsequent discussion has focused on the fall and rise of inequality in the twentieth century, but meanwhile another body of economic history literature has reconstructed long-run inequality dynamics in early modern Europe. This article surveys the new history of old inequality and discusses its three principal findings: first, that between about 1300 and about 1900 inequality increased continuously almost everywhere, meaning there is no clear link between economic growth and inequality. Secondly, the only phenomena that substantially reduced inequality were unprecedented catastrophes. Thirdly, although few things have decreased inequality, many strategies of elite wealth defence have increased it, motivating new comparative concepts like the 'inequality possibility frontier' and the 'extraction ratio'. Inequality will continue to be a subject of urgent political and moral attention, and this field opens up a research agenda that could bridge the methodological divide between economic history as practised by economists and by historians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the cerebellum contributes to nonmotor task performance, the specific contributions of the structure remain unknown. One possibility is that the cerebellum allows for the offloading of cortical processing, providing support during task performance, using internal models. Here we used transcranial direct current stimulation to modulate cerebellar function and investigate the impact on cortical activation patterns. Participants (n = 74; 22.03 ± 3.44 years) received either cathodal, anodal, or sham stimulation over the right cerebellum before a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan during which they completed a sequence learning and a working memory task. We predicted that cathodal stimulation would improve, and anodal stimulation would hinder task performance and cortical activation. Behaviorally, anodal stimulation negatively impacted behavior during late‐phase sequence learning. Functionally, we found that anodal cerebellar stimulation resulted in increased bilateral cortical activation, particularly in parietal and frontal regions known to be involved in cognitive processing. This suggests that if the cerebellum is not functioning optimally, there is a greater need for cortical resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB: Oryctes rhinoceros L.) is one of the most damaging pests of coconut and oil palms in the Asia/Pacific region but has not been reported from the Western Hemisphere. Here, we report a possible establishment of CRB in Nayarit, Mexico, based on an analysis of social media reports and photographs indicating the presence of the beetle and the distinctive v‐shaped notches in palm fronds caused by the beetle feeding. CRB populations are destructive once established, therefore, urgent actions are required to contain the pest and prevent damage to coconut and oil palm in the Americas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]