Recent reports suggest that New Zealanders underestimate the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on society, perceiving NCDs as standalone problems to be managed by affected individuals. This belief conflicts with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis that NCD risk is rooted in early-life environmental exposures. For the research community to contribute towards shifting societal beliefs, we need to know more about NZers’ understanding of how NCDs develop and have the potential to track this over time. To address this, we conducted a face-to-face survey of 702 Auckland adults in 2015–16, repeated in 2022–23 with 814 online and 96 face-to-face respondents. An increased recognition of links between mental health and obesity was the only change observed between the earlier and later cohorts. Overall, of the 59% familiar with the term ‘non-communicable disease’, 73% accurately described NCD characteristics and gave examples. Online, tertiary-educated and non-male respondents were more likely to identify various social determinants of health in addition to individual behaviours as contributors to metabolic disease risk. More than twice as many subjects strongly agreed that preconception health of mothers could affect the health of the child than that of fathers. Maternal nutrition was recognised by most as important for fetal health, but 49% disagreed or did not know if it could affect adult health. These results indicate that regardless of subject sampling or data collection method, adult New Zealanders have little appreciation of the significance of the early-life environment in relation to NCD risk across the lifespan.

During the 2019 growing season, seeds of Palmer amaranth and common waterhemp were collected from 141 and 133 agricultural sites, respectively, from across the southeastern and midwestern United States. These accessions were screened with a new protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibitor, epyrifenacil, using a whole-plant bioassay at 20 g ai ha−1 in controlled environmental conditions to estimate its efficacy on these two agronomically important weeds. In addition, the coding sequence of the PPX2 gene was determined for plants from each accession through short-read sequencing of cDNA fragments amplified via polymerase chain reaction. Results showed that nearly all accessions were completely controlled by epyrifenacil, with average survival rates of less than 2% for both species. Target site resistance mutations toward PPO inhibitors were lower in Palmer amaranth (<20%) compared to waterhemp, with nearly half of all waterhemp samples (42%) possessing the ΔG210 allele, which is shown to cause high-level resistance to other commercially available PPO-inhibiting herbicides. Follow-up testing of accessions with high frequency (≥50%) of the ΔG210 allele of PPX2 compared the efficacy of epyrifenacil, saflufenacil, and saflufenacil + trifludimoxazin and showed that of the herbicides tested, epyrifenacil at 20 g ha−1 provided the best control, averaging 85% mortality across these accessions. Same-plant association study of molecular data and whole-plant assay correlated all detected variants of PPX2 with visual injury following epyrifenacil treatment and found that the ΔG210 mutation was associated with a reduction in relative efficacy of epyrifenacil in some accessions. All other known target site resistance mutations appeared to have no significant effect on epyrifenacil efficacy.

China is well known for providing official data, but how to treat these data is a longstanding debate among China scholars. This paper advances understandings of how to interpret Chinese official statistics about the internet. Using standards for evaluating surveys in the social sciences, we systematically compare official data from the China Network Information Center (CNNIC), which is under the supervision of China’s main regulator of internet policy, with the China Internet Survey 2018 (CIS), which is, to our knowledge, the first nationally representative survey on internet use in China. Using three examples, we illustrate how methodological differences in sampling design and measurement can lead to vastly different conclusions about key indicators of internet use in mainland China, including the percentage of internet users, their regional and urban–rural digital divide, and the percentage of specific social media platforms. We discuss the challenges of survey work on internet use in China and offer recommendations on how to interpret official statistics, especially in light of the limitations researchers face when conducting face-to-face surveys in China.

The paper surveys the experimental literature on centralized matching markets, covering school choice and college admissions models. In the school choice model, one side of the market (schools) is not strategic, and rules (priorities) guide the acceptance decisions. The model covers applications such as school choice programs, centralized university admissions in many countries, and the centralized assignment of teachers to schools. In the college admissions model, both sides of the market are strategic. It applies to college and university admissions in countries where universities can select students, and centralized labor markets such as the assignment of doctors to hospitals. The survey discusses, among other things, the comparison of various centralized mechanisms, the optimality of participants’ strategies, learning by applicants and their behavioral biases, as well as the role of communication, information, and advice. The main experimental findings considered in the survey concern truth-telling and strategic manipulations by the agents, as well as the stability and efficiency of the matching outcome.

Uncontrolled weeds can cause billions of dollars in yield loss in corn and soybean production fields in the United States. Growers often use herbicides to control weeds to avoid yield loss. The objective of this study was to estimate the cost of herbicides used in corn and soybean production in the United States. On-farm herbicide usage data were extracted from surveys of corn production costs in 2021 and soybean production costs in 2023, carried out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture–National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS) through the Agricultural Chemical Use Program. Commonly used or known products were assumed for each reported herbicide. Based on the USDA-NASS surveys, approximately 107.8 and 89.1 million kg of herbicides were used in corn and soybean production in 2021 and 2023, respectively, in the United States. Glyphosate (33.8 million kg; in various salt forms), atrazine (26.8 million kg), and mesotrione (2.4 million kg) were the most widely applied herbicides, applied to 79%, 65%, and 47% of corn production areas, respectively, planted in 2021. Similarly, glyphosate (in various salt forms) was the most widely applied herbicide in soybean production, followed by 2,4-D (15.9 million kg; in various salt forms) and glufosinate-ammonium (4.4 million kg), which were applied to 58% and 23% of soybean hectarage, respectively, planted in 2023. Using the average retail price of herbicide products from Kansas State University, University of Nebraska−Lincoln, and North Dakota State University publications, herbicides (excluding adjuvants and application costs) would have cost approximately US$3.2 and US$4.1 billion in corn and soybean production in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

An online survey was distributed to South Dakota stakeholders to understand how noxious weeds are currently being managed. The response rate was 26%; 129 stakeholders completed the survey of the 491 stakeholders who opened the survey. Eighty percent of respondents stated noxious weeds were a problem. Canada thistle [Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.], leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.), and absinth wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) were the most common and troublesome, but all statewide noxious weeds were reported. The most common singular response to manage noxious weeds was herbicides alone (25%), but respondents utilized two (27%) to three (24%) other tactics as well. Most respondents (47%) were somewhat satisfied with management tactics, while others were completely satisfied (9%), neither satisfied nor dissatisfied (20%), somewhat unsatisfied (11%), or very unsatisfied (15%). A covariate analysis showed that the more management tactics individual stakeholders utilized, the less satisfied they were with control (P < 0.0001). The most common barrier of adopting new tactics was effectiveness (26%) followed by a combination of effectiveness + current production practices + cost + labor (13%). An additional covariate analysis showed that the increase in management tactics increased the barriers of adoption (P = 0.04) and increasing the number of barriers of adoption resulted in stakeholders being dissatisfied with control (P = 0.0003). Overall, the results of the survey suggest that statewide noxious weeds remain a problem, and multiple tactics are used to manage these weeds. However, Cooperative extension efforts need to address how to use current management and implement new management strategies to increase effectiveness.

An estimated 129000 cases of Lyme borreliosis (LB) are reported annually in Europe. In 2022, we conducted a representative web-based survey of 28034 persons aged 18–65 years old in 20 European countries to describe tick and LB risk exposures and perceptions. Nearly all respondents (95.0%) were aware of ticks (range, 90.4% in the UK to 98.8% in Estonia). Among those aware of ticks, most (85.1%) were also aware of LB (range, 70.3% in Switzerland to 97.0% in Lithuania). Overall, 8.3% of respondents reported a past LB diagnosis (range, 3.0% in Romania to 13.8% in Sweden). Respondents spent a weekly median of 7 (interquartile range [IQR] 3–14) hours in green spaces at home and 9 (IQR 4–16) hours away from home during April–November. The most common tick prevention measures always or often used were checking for ticks (44.8%) and wearing protective clothing (40.2%). This large multicountry survey provided needed data that can be used to design targeted LB prevention programmes in Europe.

This article surveys the rapidly growing literature that examined the influence of Covid-19 on preferences. Based on 33 studies, the article examines how the pandemic impacted altruism, cooperation, trust, inequity aversion, risk-taking, and patience/time discounting. Even though the survey suggests the effect of the pandemic on preferences is heterogeneous, some noticeable patterns can be observed in the literature. First, in the case of incentivized preference elicitation, there is weak evidence that the pandemic positively influenced altruism and had no significant impact on time preferences or patience. Second, many studies that used balanced panel data and incentivized preference elicitation mechanisms do not find a significant effect of the pandemic on preferences. Last, studies that used unincentivized methods to elicit preferences show relatively higher variability in results when compared to the studies that used incentivized methods for preference elicitation. The organized synthesis and several noticeable patterns can help future research focusing on preference stability during Covid-19 and other unfavorable events.

Weeds are one of the greatest challenges to snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) production. Anecdotal observation posits certain species frequently escape the weed management system by the time of crop harvest, hereafter called residual weeds. The objectives of this work were to (1) quantify the residual weed community in snap bean grown for processing across the major growing regions in the United States and (2) investigate linkages between the density of residual weeds and their contributions to weed canopy cover. In surveys of 358 fields across the Northwest (NW), Midwest (MW), and Northeast (NE), residual weeds were observed in 95% of the fields. While a total of 109 species or species-groups were identified, one to three species dominated the residual weed community of individual fields in most cases. It was not uncommon to have >10 weeds m−2 with a weed canopy covering >5% of the field’s surface area. Some of the most abundant and problematic species or species-groups escaping control included amaranth species such as smooth pigweed (Amaranthus hybridus L.), Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson), redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.), and waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) Sauer]; common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.); large crabgrass [Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop.]; and ivyleaf morningglory (Ipomoea hederacea Jacq.). Emerging threats include hophornbeam copperleaf (Acalypha ostryifolia Riddell) in the MW and sharppoint fluvellin [Kickxia elatine (L.) Dumort.] in the NW. Beyond crop losses due to weed interference, the weed canopy at harvest poses a risk to contaminating snap bean products with foreign material. Random forest modeling predicts the residual weed canopy is dominated by C. album, D. sanguinalis, carpetweed (Mollugo verticillata L.), I. hederacea, amaranth species, and A. ostryifolia. This is the first quantitative report on the weed community escaping control in U.S. snap bean production.

Palmer amaranth with resistance to dicamba, glufosinate, and protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitors has been documented in several southern states. With extensive use of these and other herbicides in South Carolina, a survey was initiated in fall 2020 and repeated in fall 2021 and 2022 to determine the relative response of Palmer amaranth accessions to selected preemergence and postemergence herbicides. A greenhouse screening experiment was conducted in which accessions were treated with three preemergence (atrazine, S-metolachlor, and isoxaflutole) and six postemergence (glyphosate, thifensulfuron-methyl, fomesafen, glufosinate, dicamba, and 2,4-D) herbicides at the 1× and 2× use rates. Herbicides were applied shortly after planting (preemergence) or at the 2- to 4-leaf growth stage (postemergence). Percent survival was evaluated 5 to 14 d after application depending on herbicide activity. Sensitivity to atrazine preemergence was lower for 49 and 33 accessions out of 115 to atrazine applied preemergence at the 1× and 2× rate, respectively. Most of the accessions (90%) were controlled by isoxaflutole applied preemergence at the 1× rate. Response to S-metolachlor applied preemergence indicated that 34% of the Palmer amaranth accessions survived the 1× rate (>60% survival). Eleven accessions exhibited reduced sensitivity to fomesafen applied postemergence; however, these percentages were not different from the 0% survivor group. Glyphosate applied postemergence at the 1× rate did not control most accessions (79%). Palmer amaranth response to thifensulfuron-methyl applied postemergence varied across the accessions, with only 36% and 28% controlled at the 1× rate and 2× rate, respectively. All accessions were controlled by 2,4-D, dicamba, or glufosinate when they were applied postemergence. Palmer amaranth accessions from this survey exhibited reduced susceptibility to several herbicides commonly used in agronomic crops in South Carolina. Therefore, growers should use multiple management tactics to minimize the evolution of herbicide resistance in Palmer amaranth in South Carolina.