Counterintuitive Spring 2023

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During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019-present, spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) have invaded several areas in the northeast region of the U.S. These invasive insects are discovered to have successfully transported larvae and nymphs on firewood trading shipments from China. This has resulted in the devastation of fruit trees and grape vineyards depleting nutients and decreasing the chances of survival by causing trunk wounds and tree mold to develop. This has the potential to devastate agricultural chains and disrupt ecosystems. The primary food source for these lanternflies in their native habitat is Ailanthus altissima, also known as the “Tree of Heaven” in China; however, this plant species is also an invasive species worldwide. The lanternfliescan also eat a variety of other fruit trees from orchards in rural areas in America. Proposals for managing these invasive insects including capturing and returning them to their source, or eliminating them on sight near agricultural areas, as well as monitoring any lanternflies in the area. Spotted Lanternflies have a distinct pattern, a red body with black spots on brownish-grey wings being apart of a category of plant hopper from the eastern continents of China, India and South Korea respectively. The introduction of invasive species has opened up the topic of previous invasive species migrated mistakenly from their natural habitats to new one disrupting the natural order of nature.

The average size is 1 inch in length with a life span of one year. They are to lay around 30-50 eggs during the fall and winter season. Adult Lanternflies use upwinds to fly up 40 meters and are able to land on fruit tree orchards using their frontal wingspan and with an average airspeed of about 4.64 m/s. Anemotactic measurements are used to chart the movements of an object or thing in relation to the direction of the wind, allowing anyone to learn about their behavioral patterns. Using these measurements, researchers are able to figure out how the lanternflies use short flights to save small amounts of energy before their angled flight to the food source without exhausting themselves. Such strategy allows Lanternflies to anticipate their direction without falling to the ground, which most Lanternflies have tried and failed to do. This gives rise to the idea of how lanternflies easily migrated across the North American continent, flying from tree to tree and populating their kind to become an unstoppable force. Their average ground speed is 2.65 m/s as they take off at the 10 second mark in their bout towards the upwind by 4.64 m/s from the adult Spotted Lanternflies.

Fruit trees, such as apples, oranges, and peaches as well as grape vineyard orchards provide essential nutrients for spotted lanternflies as well as nesting grounds for their offspring, which has serious consequences for American farmers who have infestations of lanternflies and other orchard feeding bugs eating their hard-earned orchard trees, harming the economy and stores across the continent. Fruits have been treated with insecticides to keep their fresh look from being eaten away by lanternflies and other insects in the wild. Although the effects on the adult spotted lanternfly would be effective, the other issue would be the reproduction cycle of the spotted Lanternfly’s eggs and nymphs, which could be solved by using Chlorpyrifo to completely kill all the eggs from their hiding place. Another insecticide idea is to use Thiamethoxam and Bifenthrin, which are from a subcategory of insecticides that can be used to controlling insects for up to fourteen days and can be used directly on spotted lanternflies by approximately half of the population, which leaves the other half unharmed calmly. The cost of these insecticides to humans, however, would be their toxic hazard for everyone’s health, including taste and smell, if eaten by herbivore or omnivore animals, resulting in a double-edged sword for orchard protection that can eventually harm other lifeforms.

The alternative method for preventing the spread of Spotted Lanternflies in the area is to use lures and traps to capture them using their habitats such as covering tree trunks with sticky bands being the Bug Barrier or web cote tree bands with the use of methyl salicylate as the insect attractant lure from where the lanternfly might climb up, whether it’s a fruit orchard tree or a host tree, which stops them in their tracks, which was used on lanternflies that have already hatched from their eggs. The Pecan Weevil trap is also known as the Circle trunk trap because it is latched around the tree trunk by a velcro strip that’s been stapled and glued onto the jar with the insecticide strips to kill the lanternflies as well as a zipper bag that will collect them after two weeks of eliminating lanternflies in their late nymph and adult stages. The Intercept panel  creates a slip-slide effect with fluon solution and traps lanternflies in a jar with propylene glycol, which are  dumped from a paper cone strainer into a plastic bag to be sorted. Tall prism traps are similar to the sticky tree band traps, but they have an internal plastic prism supported by cables and pipes and painted brown to attract lanternflies in addition to the sticky bands around the surfaces. These traps have the greatest effect on lanternflies because the bugbarrier bands have a higher chance of capturing Lanternflies in the sticky tree bands. Regrettably, there are some disadvantages such as other insects becoming entangled in the traps and most lanternflies avoiding contact with the traps. The traps, on the other hand, have statistical value in terms of which life stage of the lanternfly prefers the attraction that surrounds the traps.

Lanternfly nymphs and adults have used their antennal sensory function to develop behavioral patterns that match their environment from their organs. The sensilla placodea and plate organ sensory have increased in size from 33 to 125 times during the nymphal instar cycle. The sexual dimorphism of adult Lanternflies sensilla placodea, which is related to mating behavior between males and females.

Reference sheet

Myrick, A.J., Baker, T.C. Analysis of Anemotactic Flight Tendencies of the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) during the 2017 Mass Dispersal Flights in Pennsylvania. J Insect Behav 32, 11–23 (2019). https://doi-org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/10.1007/s10905-019-09708-x 

Leach, Heather, et al. “Evaluation of Insecticides for Control of the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma Delicatula, (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), a New Pest of Fruit in the Northeastern U.S.” Crop Protection, Elsevier, 30 May 2019, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261219419301735?casa_token=HS980H8VqHgAAAAA%3APjvS6LajEnAFNPSA3w7969WkMkbulGC1Sce3EXLJQn4uFPLcL9LqPUeh_AplpbBD5Umt8a0LDw. 

Francese, Joseph A, et al. “Developing Traps for the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma Delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae).” Validate User, Environmental Entomology, Volume 49, Issue 2, April 2020, Pages 269–276, 28 Jan. 2020, https://academic.oup.com/ee/article/49/2/269/5716627.  

Emotional Intelligence

Everyone experiences the constant weight on their shoulders known as stress. Everyone experiences the fear and worry in the back of their minds known as anxiety. However, according to recent studies, only 18.1% of the US suffers from diagnosed anxiety. A major reason that just 40 million US adults of the near 260 million US adults (~15%), are suffering from a diagnosed form of anxiety can be a burden to an individual’s emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence (EI) is not only the understanding of one’s own emotions, but the ability to manage, control, and use these emotions for one’s own good; Alongside the understanding of others emotions. Whether the use of EI leads to reduced stress, better relationships with others, or even, in our case, an advantage on the athletic side of the world, EI is a determining catalyst in performance.

Through an analysis by The Relationship Between Anxiety and Performance: A Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective, we can differentiate athletes by their EI via assessment of individual traits. Athletes who have a high level of emotional intelligence score high in a variety of characteristics. These characteristics involve concentrated levels of self confidence, empathy, sympathy, and more control over their stress and anxiety. In the latter half, those with low level EI score high on anger, frustration, aggression, and are typically prone to bursting outwards due to changes in their emotions. Emotions dictate every occurrence in our lives, though it may not always be apparent. In fact, emotions precede thought. Emotions affect the way we make decisions and have a magnitude of importance on our cognitive abilities. Emotional intelligence assists us every single day through situational-recognition and thoughtful responses. According to the Institute for Health and Human Potential, the ability to manage our emotions – whether at a high level or not – affects our capabilities under pressure. Our ability to manage our emotions are tested most during the times of giving and receiving feedback, navigating change in our lives, and working through setbacks and failures. Times that athletes interact with in every match/game.

To put the importance of emotional intelligence into athletic perspective. Athletes with a high level of EI can outperform the better physical athlete with a lower level of EI. The highest level of EI athletes can command their emotions to lead to a better performance on the field through their ability to focus their emotions, or if needed to disregard them. In sports that are relatively constant such as soccer, football, hockey, basketball, and wrestling, situations that demand constant response and split-second decision making are nonstop. High level EI athletes are able to keep up with the constant barrage of decisions that must be made without letting outside factors effect their decision. These high level EI athletes also acknowledge how others on the field/court/pitch are feeling to a much higher degree than lower level EI athletes. Deciphering their feelings lead to better decisions with the knowledge of other’s motives, opposition likewise teammates. High level EI athletes are certainly more adept at playing in what are known as “clutch situations,” the most important of all circumstances. When an athlete must perform, those who do not let the moment overwhelm them and step up to the plate to smash the home run are those of high EI. Their ability to savor their emotions and utilize them to enhance their performances takes the psychological aspect to sports to the next level. Those athletes, those are the ones who put their emotional intelligence right on center stage.

Anxiety and stress are major factors in athletics. Competitive anxiety starts to kick in when an athlete’s expectations of themselves outweigh their own perceived ability. Athletes who lack a high level of self-confidence is far more likely to experience competitive anxiety than those with assuring self-confidence. Competitive anxiety is higher for individual sport athletes than team athletes. Individual sport athletes do not have the ability to rely on others for assistance in their job, as well as knowing that only one person can be to blame for a bad performance. Resulting in a more vulnerable emotional state. Nothing besides themselves can get them to their goals. Having no one to rely on leaves no route for anxiety to release without self performance or high level EI. Through numerous studies according to Miguel Humara, there is proof that cognitive anxiety holds a strong influence on one’s performance. There seems to be a different understanding of anxiety in athletes, some believe it to be debilitative while others see it as facilitative. Those who choose the latter see less anxiety in their sports compared to the other. To no surprise, the athletes who score higher on self-confidence tests are more likely to see anxiety as facilitative during activity.

In short, emotion is the primary catalyst in performance during sport activity. With the introduction to competition in sport, stress and anxiety are bound to come to the surface. In Personal and Individual Differences, it is believed that emotional intelligence (EI) plays a role in one’s ability to not only utilize their own emotions to be more efficient athletically, but also communicate with the ones surrounding them by understanding their emotions. Conversely, understanding the other team’s emotions will improve one’s ability to make decisions on the field. Athletes must be able to cope with the stress and anxiety that accompanies sport. EI at a high level makes it easier for athletes to not only cope properly with the stress, but utilize the stress to perform at a higher level. EI seems to be strongly correlated to self-control, a trait that makes it easier for one to withstand pressure, regulate stress, and control their emotions. The psychological aspect of sport controls much more of the result than most spectators give it credit for.

References

Facts & Statistics: Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA. Facts & Statistics | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA. (n.d.).

Goleman, Daniel What is emotional intelligence? IHHP.

Humara, Miguel The Relationship Between Anxiety and Performance: A Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective Athletic Insight.

Laborde, S., Brüll, A., Weber, J., & Anders, L. S. (2011, March 29). Trait Emotional Intelligence in sports: A protective role against stress through heart rate variability? Personality and Individual Differences.

As our environment gets worse each year and new climate crisis are on the radar, one of the main focuses environmental science should be the usage of the land that we can use. New health plans for consumers have become more prevalent as of recent, as many individuals have taken it upon themselves to help the environment. On a broader scale, what can be done to help this world become more efficient with its land and create more sustainable food sources? We lave a limited amount of land in the world and an even smaller amount of that land can be used for agricultural or livestock farming purposes. So the goal of those looking to find a solution to farmland efficiency should be to find the food production on land that produces the most output, for the least amount of work possible, alongside having to be fairly lasting if exporting the product is wanted.

Arguments exist over whether land used for livestock or agricultural are the best choice for using the land most efficiently, but this question only exists for land that could be used for either use. However, often land could be only useful for one or the other, so reasonably livestock farming and agricultural farming could be used in a sustainable plan on feeding as many people as possible given the land we have to work with. About a fourth of the earths land is used for livestock faming as well as other land and water being used for those animals water and their own needed food. But much of this land couldn’t be used for other food production originally, and those that could, now after being converted into livestock farms cannot be converted to have other uses as the livestock have irreversibly changed the land. When land is converted from livestock farming to agricultural farming, issues in the changed landscape can occur, as well as other issues that were not considered such as proximity to drainage and water sources.

So sustainability and efficiently can be found in decreasing the new plots that could be used for livestock farming being used for such, but that doesn’t address the land that isn’t suitable only for livestock. Sustainability most likely couldn’t be found in not using available land for a certain food source if that food source could be used and has been used to feed such a large portion of the world, a portion that has been increasing as advances in technology and genetic modifications have increased. Part of the answer to creating more sustainable and efficient food sources is to share what we know in relation to research on genetically modified organisms. As advancements have increased, the exports of meat the us can produce has increased while the land used for the source of that meat has stayed fairly constant. These advancements, when spread worldwide, could create an increase in land, only useable by livestock, being used to its most efficient to get the greatest amount of exports after being able to feed those in their own country. An increase in worldwide production of food in the most efficient way possible is one of the important first steps to creating more sustainable sources of food.

The responsibility of sustainability should not be left on the shoulders of the consumer, as they can only control the food that is produced to a certain amount. This is not to say they cannot effect production whatsoever, as we have seen in our lifetimes supermarkets change greatly in what they sell especially when it comes to plant based food. However consumers without restraint would most likely hurt the ideas of sustainability as wants are often thought about in the grocery store over needs. The goal of sustainability might be somewhat hindered by the consumer, but as more consumers want certain types of food, higher amounts of efficiency will be needed to accommodate this demand. As demands require the producers of food to become more efficient, sustainability should be what follows, but it seems somewhat unlikely. The most efficient way to raise livestock and animals is most likely one that leans more heavily into animal cruelty, but as our culture develops it seems unlikely that this will be seen as a sustainable and acceptable way to get food. To create a source of sustainable food for the world to survive off of, looking into the future is necessary and if a way of food production will not be accepted and held up over time, it is likely that these sources will have to be changed. If a source of food will need to be changed based on how our culture develops it is unlikely that the process would be seen as sustainable, no matter how efficient it is.

The key to developing sources of food that are both sustainable and efficient meet at a place that uses land available for the purpose that allows it to ethically produce the largest amount of food that the land allows. It must also need to be able to keep up over a long period of time and not destroy the land it uses in a way that it cannot be continued to use or repurposed into another form. Because land available can only often be used for certain purposes, the goal should be to find the most ethical, long term source of food that the land can provide using the technology available. Alongside this, the advancement of environmental and GMO science will most likely develop what use of land is the most efficient source of food, which is why not using land in a unchangeable way is important to long term sustainability. Planning for future technological development, understanding ethics of food production and consumption, and using the means and land that we have in the most efficient way is the way to create long term sustainable food sources.

What is Financial Literacy

Schools are failing our students by neglecting to include an essential life skill like financial literacy in the normal curriculum. Financial education in simple form can defined as the confident grasp of topics such as saving, investing, and debt that translates to a sense of overall financial well-being and self-trust. It seems like a disservice to our children to avoid teaching such a vital life skill.

Financial literacy is crucial to our society because it provides us with the information and skills we need to successfully manage our money. Without it, our financial choices and actions, whether taken or not, lack a firm foundation for success. It was found that nearly 70% of millennials are living paycheck to paycheck, which is more than any other generation. For many Americans, living paycheck to paycheck is an uncomfortable financial reality. Many Americans are dealing with this problem for a variety of reasons, the first of which is that they do not manage their spending. They continue to spend money without knowing where it is going. This may be highly damaging to their finances since expenditures accumulate and by the time they realize it, it is too late and they are in debt. Another issue is that many Americans do not make a budget. Budgeting how much you spend in relation to how much you earn will be very useful in the long term. Finally, and maybe most importantly, address your debt. It was revealed that 77 percent of all households had some form of debt. The more your debt, the more likely you are to live paycheck to paycheck. The easiest way to approach it is to start small and work your way up. Overall, the major reason people live paycheck to paycheck is a lack of financial education. If this could be included into our curriculum, many more folks would be able to escape such significant, long-term, and chronic poverty.

A prime and more recent example of Americas financial issues came during the pandemic. When millions of citizens in the United States and throughout the world went into lockdown, it was unavoidable that the economy would suffer. As important as these efforts were in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control, there was a downside: large swathes of the economy came to a standstill. Because this epidemic is worldwide, the ramifications have also been felt globally. The epidemic revealed the country’s lack of financial education. Covid was an unlucky but necessary lesson for the county. It taught the country the value of having emergency savings. Many financial gurus recommend that each household keep at least three to six months of cash on hand in case of an emergency. Many people are only one automobile accident or one medical emergency away from going into debt. The only reason some Americans were able to keep afloat was because of government help in the form of stimulas payments. Many people would have gone bankrupt if they hadn’t received such help.

The absence of personal financial education in our country has been disastrous. As a society, we’ve watched millions of Americans struggle with their money on a daily basis due to a general lack of financial preparation, only to end up deep in debt. Every day, millions of Americans struggle with their finances. Many Americans are discovering that they are unable to buy houses, save for retirement, or save for their children’s college funds due to student loan debt, huge vehicle payments, and a lack of financial preparation. People are deeply in debt and hopeless. Many of the financial issues that Americans are today might have been averted if financial literacy had been taught in schools. As a result, we believe that more schools should include financial literacy classes as part of their graduation requirements.

Although the benefits of financial education to American people are evident, it is still not being taught in our schools. It has gotten to the point where it appears like the American system was designed to keep us ignorant of the necessity of financial literacy. Our parents are the only ones who have the financial expertise that we require in our daily lives. Parents who are already facing their own financial hardships. It’s like a never-ending loop of financial illiteracy that continues to infect the next generation. Financial education is necessary in our daily lives, and some would argue that it is crucial to our existence. Students are instead preoccupied with the Pythagorean theorem, which I am sure is more important in our daily lives. Millions of Americans continue to struggle financially, yet the issue is being ignored. Financial literacy has other advantages, such as helping a person to be more flexible, decrease stress, and enhance relationships. Personal finance is as much about psychology as it is about statistics. A solid knowledge of financial literacy will enable you to make better financial decisions, which will ideally enhance your day-to-day life. Living over our means may lead to bankruptcy, divorce, and a great deal of worry. Furthermore, the burden of student loan debt might keep first-time homeowners out of the market, dragging the economy down. Meanwhile, living with low debt and a savings cushion might provide you the comfort and peace of mind that comes with being financially free. As a result, financial literacy is more than simply learning how to manage money in order to purchase more things; it is also about learning how to manage money in order to enhance many various parts of one’s life. As you can see, financial literacy is essential for people of all ages. And starting to teach these principles to youngsters can help them form long-term behaviors.

Overall, we can see how financial education may help each individual student with no question. By bringing this issue into the classroom, we can not only assist the economy, but also each individual student. Long term, the financial knowledge offered to children will benefit them in the future and keep them from making costly mistakes. It will also assist future generations of children, who will learn from their financially educated parents.

References

Fernando, Jason. “What Is Financial Literacy?” Investopedia, Investopedia, 7 Dec. 2021, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-literacy.asp.

Hoffower, Hillary. “60% Of Millennials Earning over $100,000 Say They’re Living Paycheck to Paycheck.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 16 Sept. 2021, https://www.businessinsider.com/high-earning-henry-millennials-six-figure-salaries-feel-broke-2021-6.

“How to Manage Your Money & Be Financially Successful.” Annuity.org, https://www.annuity.org/financial-literacy/.

JeffCoxCNBCcom. “Household Debt Jumps by the Most in 14 Years to Nearly $15 Trillion in the Second Quarter.” CNBC, CNBC, 3 Aug. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/03/household-debt-jumps-by-the-most-in-14-years-to-nearly-15-trillion-in-the-second-quarter.html.