Rational accounts of decision-making are incompatible with the prevalence and success of ubiquitous marketing strategies. In this paper, we demonstrate, using computational experiments, how an ideal Bayesian observer model of preference learning is compatible with the manipulation of purchasing decisions via a number of well-known marketing techniques. The ability of this model to predict the e...

In this paper, we present a novel approach which incorporates the web-derived selectional preferences to improve statistical dependency parsing. Conventional selectional preference learning methods have usually focused on word-to-class relations, e.g., a verb selects as its subject a given nominal class. This paper extends previous work to wordto-word selectional preferences by using webscale d...

People routinely draw inferences about others’ preferences by observing their decisions. We study these inferences by characterizing a space of simple observed decisions. Previous work on attribution theory has identified several factors that predict whether a given decision provides strong evidence for an underlying preference. We identify one additional factor and show that a simple probabili...

stability and structural change of iranian consumers' preference for tea commodities during 1988-2005 is investigated throughout the coarse of this study. to this end, nonparametric test of revealed preference has been utilized. results of weak axiom of revealed preference (warp) show that in 1995 a contradiction has been in observed consumers' preference for tea with the null hypothe...

Fungus-growing ants, their cultivated fungi and the cultivar-attacking parasite Escovopsis coevolve as a complex community. Higher-level phylogenetic congruence of the symbionts suggests specialized long-term associations of host-parasite clades but reveals little about parasite specificity at finer scales of species-species and genotype-genotype interactions. By coupling sequence and amplified...

Polyploidy, ploidal variation between populations, and aneuploidy within some populations complicate population genetic analyses in switchgrass. We report 21 genic-simple sequence repeat marker loci with single-locus disomic segregation in tetraploids and apparently tetrasomic inheritance in octoploids, thus allowing population genetic analyses across ploidy levels. Based on 472 individuals sam...

Onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), is a highly destructive pest of onion, Allium cepa L., and its management relies on multiple applications of foliar insecticides. Development of insecticide resistance is common in T. tabaci populations, and new strategies are needed to relax existing levels of insecticide use, but still provide protection against T. tabaci without...

In this study, the effect of 20 barley cultivars were evaluated on the life table parameters and digestive enzymatic activity of the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) under laboratory conditions (28 ± 1°C, 60 ± 5% RH, and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h). Among barley cultivars tested developmental time of R. dominica immature stages was longest on cultivar ...

The objective of this work was to morphologically characterize 15 banana cultivars and assess the physical and chemical characteristics of their fruits at two maturation stages, unripe (pre-climacteric) and ripening. The plants were evaluated regarding their pseudostem height and diameter, petiole length, leaf blade length, width and length-to-width ratio. The cultivar Ouro had fruits with lowe...

ABSTRACT A precise real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed for quantifying Verticillium albo-atrum DNA. The assay was used in a repeated experiment to examine the relationship between the quantity of pathogen DNA detected in infected leaves and shoots and the severity of Verticillium wilt symptoms in several alfalfa cultivars expressing a range of disease symptoms. Plants ...