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While recent academic research on entomophagy has predominantly focused on adults, the purpose of this child-centred research is to obtain a better understanding of young consumer acceptance of insect-based foods.

Two qualitative studies were conducted with a total of 43 French children aged 8–13 years. Study 1 (n = 22), based on semi-directive interviews, and Study 2 (n = 21), based on focus groups, included projective techniques and exposure to different types of insect-based products to help children express their feelings and thoughts.

The evidence shows that in Western children’s minds, insects are considered as culturally non-edible. Children predominantly reject insects as food because of their sensory properties and the disgust they arouse. However, their interest in eating insect-based food is embedded within experiential contexts specific to childhood, in particular the peer group, which makes insect-eating fun and challenging, and the family, which offers a protective and reassuring setting.

The authors advocate changing children’s sensory perception of insect-eating food through sensory and participatory activities. Manufacturers and policymakers should also draw on children’s peer culture to associate insect-eating with positive social experiences and foster peer influence.

Drawing on cognitive psychology theories and the literature in food science on food rejection, the authors contribute to emerging consumer research on alternative food consumption (AFC) focusing on cognitive, emotional and social factors of acceptance or rejection of insect-based foods by children.

Insects can be sustainably produced and are nutrient rich. However, adoption of insects in western culture, including New Zealand (NZ) is slow. The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer attitudes, drivers and barriers towards entomophagy and uncover consumer expectations surrounding what their ideal insect product attributes are.

In total, 32 participants took part in three product design workshops. This involved two sections. First, focus groups discussion took place surrounding consumer acceptance. Second, following adapted consumer idealised design, groups of three or four designed their ideal liquid and solid product incorporating extracted insect protein. Designs included the ideal product, place, price and promotional attributes.

Participants were both disgusted and intrigued about entomophagy, with common barriers including; culture, food neophobia, disgust sensitivity, lack of necessity and knowledge. Motivational drivers were novelty, health, sustainability and/or nutrition. Most of the liquid and solid food products were designed as a premium priced sweet snack, drink or breakfast option, as opposed to a meat substitute. The convenience, health and sustainability benefits of certain products were promoted towards health and fitness oriented consumers. Whereas, other designs promoted the novelty of insects to kids or the general population, in order to introduce the idea of entomophagy to consumers.

The study is the first attempt at uncovering what insect products NZ consumers are accepting of; therefore, contributing to both limited research and product development opportunities for industry.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the recent research on the interaction between flight mechanics and sensory/control systems in flies. It furthermore, explores the application to biomimetic micro‐air vehicles (MAVs).

A review of recent literature on flight in flies is given first, whereafter two biomimetic case studies are discussed; the optic flow sensor developed by a French team and the micro‐mechanical flying insect project at the University of Berkeley.

The paper discusses the many areas where biological knowledge on flight in flies can be used by designers of MAVs.

Fully autonomous MAVs, inspired by insect flight, could be useful in a wide range of areas including search‐and‐rescue, surveillance and for military purposes.

The paper gives an up to date overview of dipteran flight behaviour and points to ways in which this knowledge can be applied to MAVs. The paper should thus be useful for biologists wishing to collaborate with engineers as well as for engineers and sensor designers seeking inspiration from nature.

Insects depend on the spatial, temporal and spectral distribution of light in the environment for navigation, collision avoidance and flight control. The principles of insect vision have been gradually revealed over the course of decades by biological scientists. The purpose of this paper is to report on bioinspired implementations and flight tests of these sensors and reflexes on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The devices are used for the stabilization of UAVs in attitude, heading and position. The implementations were developed to test the hypothesis that current understanding of insect optical flight control systems is feasible in real systems.

Design was based on behavioral and anatomical studies of insects. The approach taken was to test the designs in flight on a UAV.

The research showed that stabilization in attitude, heading and position is possible using the developed sensors.

Partial alternatives to magnetic, inertial and GPS sensing have been demonstrated. Optical flow and polarization compassing are particularly relevant to flight in urban environments and in planetary exploration.

For the first time the use of multispectral horizon sensing, polarization compassing and optical flow-based heading control have been demonstrated in flight.

Climate change and global population growth are threatening the sustainability of hospitality food systems. Foodservice organizations are seeking an optimal solution for this problem. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization proposed edible insects as a solution, yet the “yuck” factor discourages consumers from actively endorsing this option. Thus, this study aims to find ways to increase consumer acceptance of edible insects.

A 2 (message framing: hedonic vs utilitarian) × 2 (celebrity endorsement: absence vs presence) × 2 (social support: low vs high) between-subjects factorial design experiment was conducted.

The significant three-way interaction effects show that when celebrity endorsement is absent, there is no difference in restaurant advocacy (RA) and experience satisfaction between utilitarian and hedonic message framing, regardless of low (vs high) social support. However, when celebrity endorsement is present and social support is not lacking, a hedonic (vs a utilitarian) message had more significant effects on dependent variables. Conversely, when celebrity-endorsed messages receive high social support, utilitarian (vs hedonic) messages had a more substantial effect on the outcome variables.

This study contributes to alternative protein and associated consumer psychology and hospitality marketing literature by introducing marketing strategies for edible insects. By demonstrating the three-way interaction effects of message framing, celebrity, endorsement and social support on RA and experience satisfaction, this study could demonstrate some boundary conditions to consider when applying celebrity endorsement strategies (e.g. message framing and social support). Also, by addressing the effects of social support, this study builds upon the lack of hospitality literature on online social support.

The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of research on the various biological agents that could cause deterioration of paper materials and possible intervention strategies against these biotic agents in the tropics.

Recent literature in the tropics is reviewed to gain insight into the problems that confront libraries in the tropics as regards the biological deterioration of library materials.

The paper identifies moulds as the most important biodeteriorating agents of library materials. In addition to destroying, disfiguring and staining books, the moulds have been linked to numerous adverse human health effects that fall into three categories: allergic, toxic and infectious. The other biological agents include bacteria, insects and rodents. The important insects in tropical environment are cockroaches and termites. The warm humid tropical conditions and dirty environment trigger/promote biodeterioration processes and make book deterioration to be more pronounced in the tropics than in the temperate regions.

Physical visits to the libraries were not carried out and the conclusions reached were based on evidence from scientific literature on the subject in the tropics.

A very useful source of information on how to curb the menace of biological agents against the destruction of library materials in the tropics. These include training programmes for library staff on conservation and preservation of library collections, the creation of awareness on the issue among library users, the adoption of good house keeping practices and modification of storage environment to make them unsuitable for the biodeteriogens. It is recommended that libraries and archives in tropical countries should have preservation guidelines and integrated pest management teams and should also cooperate with scientists in relevant disciplines to be able to find lasting solutions to the problem of biodeterioration of library materials.

This paper looks into the neglected area of biological deterioration of papers which is the main information carrier in libraries. It provides very useful and practical suggestions that libraries in the tropics could adopt to tackle the menace of biological agents.

Millions of the British people have for some years now been struggling valiantly to live with hard times, watching them day by day grow worse but always hopefully that the cloud had a silver lining; that one day, reason and a sense of direction would prevail. Tyranny in many forms is a feature of history; the greatest epics have been risings of ordinary people to overthrow it. The modern form of tyranny is that of Money; the cruel and sinister ways in which it can be obtained and employed and the ineffectiveness of any measures taken to control the evils which result. Money savings over the years and the proverbial bank book, once the sure safeguard of ordinary people, are whittled away in value, never to recover. Causes always seemed to be contained within the country's own economy and industrial practices, and to this extent should have been possible of control. The complex and elaborate systems constructed by the last Government were at least intended for the purpose, but each attempt to curb excessive demands for more money, more and more for doing less and less— the nucleus of inflation—produced extreme reactions, termed collectively “industrial strife”. Every demand met without compensatory returns in increased work, inevitably led to rises in prices, felt most keenly in the field of food and consumer goods. What else would be expected from such a situation?

The purpose of this paper is to explore the readiness of young Italian people to consume insects and the psychosocial determinants associated with edible insect consumption, in order to evaluate whether insect-based food could be an alternative food source.

An explorative study was conducted, using focus group interviews as the technique for data collection. In total, 32 consumers, aged 20-35 years took part in five focus group interviews.

Significant determinants comprised appearance, farming and sustainability. Participants’ willingness to eat insect-based food is dependent on the form in which the products are presented to them. Crustaceans were frequently mentioned as a comparison in terms of distaste. Lack of practice in preparation was a major barrier to consumption. To expand consumption participants suggested an active role for public health institutions. Even though with some uncertainty, there are some people prepared to consume insects.

Due to the restricted size of the sample survey, the findings are considered as exploratory research. Further investigation is required among other young adults in order to delineate promotional strategies.

There is a lack of information regarding the willingness to consume edible insects in Italy. Due to the restricted size of the sample survey, the findings are considered as exploratory research. Further investigation is required among other young adults in order to delineate promotional strategies.

Aversion linked to disgust and neophobia is the primary reason for human reluctance towards edible insects as a sustainable food source. Stimulating positive emotions may overcome these mental barriers. Cute visuals and claims on product packaging can trigger positive affective responses in consumers whilst modulating taste expectations. This study investigated how these elements influence emotions, perceptions and attitudes towards insect-based foods.

An online cross-cultural study involving French (n = 747) and Colombian (n = 695) consumers was conducted using two insect-based products: chips (hedonic) and bread (functional). Ten visual packaging variations were created per product, emphasising palatability, sustainability, nutrition and popularity (plus a control: no claim) affixed to the image of a cute anthropomorphic cricket or its silhouette. Visual appreciation and associations were assessed along with the participants' degree of food variety seeking, familiarity with entomophagy and openness to consuming edible insects.

Differences were reported in emotions, perceptions and attitudes based on the combination of packaging elements, product type and consumer segments. The findings suggest that food marketers should use cute insect depictions linked to palatability-focussed claims to alleviate young French adults' reluctance towards insect-based foods (IFs). Colombians responded better to pro-social claims and neutrally to cuteness.

The results should be valuable to stakeholders seeking to enhance food marketing strategies related to IFs amongst target consumer segments.

This study is the first to assess how baby schema cuteness induces emotional changes towards IFs and how it affects perceptions and attitudes amongst distinct populations and age segments.