Creating Energy Choices for the Future. A Summary of the National Plan for Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Energy Research and Development Administration, Washington, DC.

This booklet, which highlights and explains the 1975 National Energy Plan, is intended to improve the general public's understanding of U.S. energy policy. Sections in the publication include: (1) The Energy Problem and the Need for Planning; (2) Basic Principles of the Plan and How They Apply; (3) Overcoming the Oil and Gas Shortage; (4) The…

Effects of on-street parking on cyclist route choice and the operational behavior of cyclists and motorists.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-04-01

Because of the serious societal, environmental, economic, and public health problems associated with motorized : transportation, there is increased interest in encouraging non-motorized modes of travel. The current study contributes toward this : obj...

Step by Step: Biology Undergraduates' Problem-Solving Procedures during Multiple-Choice Assessment.

PubMed

Prevost, Luanna B; Lemons, Paula P

2016-01-01

This study uses the theoretical framework of domain-specific problem solving to explore the procedures students use to solve multiple-choice problems about biology concepts. We designed several multiple-choice problems and administered them on four exams. We trained students to produce written descriptions of how they solved the problem, and this allowed us to systematically investigate their problem-solving procedures. We identified a range of procedures and organized them as domain general, domain specific, or hybrid. We also identified domain-general and domain-specific errors made by students during problem solving. We found that students use domain-general and hybrid procedures more frequently when solving lower-order problems than higher-order problems, while they use domain-specific procedures more frequently when solving higher-order problems. Additionally, the more domain-specific procedures students used, the higher the likelihood that they would answer the problem correctly, up to five procedures. However, if students used just one domain-general procedure, they were as likely to answer the problem correctly as if they had used two to five domain-general procedures. Our findings provide a categorization scheme and framework for additional research on biology problem solving and suggest several important implications for researchers and instructors. © 2016 L. B. Prevost and P. P. Lemons. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Public mental hospital work: pros and cons for psychiatrists.

PubMed

Miller, R D

1984-09-01

The extensive literature concerning public mental hospitals has largely been written from the perspective of administrators and systems analysts; most of the reports emphasize the frustrations and problems of working in public mental hospitals and the continued exodus of psychiatrists from these facilities. The author addresses the pros and cons of such a career choice from the viewpoint of one who has been an "Indian" rather than a "chief" for a decade. He suggests that the current financial situation in both private practice and academia makes work in public mental hospitals increasingly attractive.

Developing a Better Understanding of the Process of Fat Absorption.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yip, Din Yan

2001-01-01

Performance on a multiple-choice item in a public examination indicates that most students do not understand how fat is absorbed through villi. A teaching strategy is suggested to overcome this problem by helping students review their own ideas critically. (Author/MM)

Liberating Schools: Education in the Inner City.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boaz, David, Ed.

This volume offers the analysis and suggestions for reform of leading educational experts on the topic of education in the inner cities. An introduction provides an overview of the problems of American education and a proposed solution: educational choice. The 12 chapters are as follows: (1) "The Public School Monopoly: America's Berlin…

Measuring walking and cycling using the PABS (pedestrian and bicycling survey) approach : a low-cost survey method for local communities.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-12-01

To tackle the problems of greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, resident quality of life, and public health concerns, communities are using initiatives to spur more walking and cycling. As local governments face hard choices about which progr...

The effect of a career choice guidance on self-reported psychological problems

PubMed Central

Kunnen, E. S.

2014-01-01

Late adolescents with career choice problems often have psychological problems as well. The starting point of this study was the question of career choice counselors whether potential clients with career choice problems and psychological problems could be accepted in career choice intervention, or whether it was better to advise them to seek help for their psychological problems. We investigated whether a successful career choice intervention reduced psychological problems, and whether this program was equally effective in participants with low and with high levels of psychological problems. Participants were 45 Dutch students (age 17–24) with career choice problems. They had above average levels of self-reported psychological problems before the start of the intervention. These problems decreased significantly following the intervention. With regard to vocational commitment development, the intervention was equally effective for participants with low or average and with (very) high levels of psychological problems before the start of the intervention. PMID:24926278

Informed choice and the nanny state: learning from the tobacco industry.

PubMed

Hoek, Janet

2015-08-01

To examine the 'nanny state' arguments used by tobacco companies, explore the cognitive biases that impede smokers' ability to make fully informed choices, and analyse the implications for those working to limit the harmful effects of other risk products. A critical analysis of the practices engaged in by the tobacco industry, the logic on which they relied, and the extent to which their work has informed approaches used by other industries. The tobacco industry's deliberate strategy of challenging scientific evidence undermines smokers' ability to understand the harms smoking poses and questions arguments that smoking is an informed choice. Cognitive biases predispose smokers to discount risk information, particularly when this evidence is disputed and framed as uncertain. Only state intervention has held the tobacco industry to account and begun ameliorating the effects of their sustained duplicity. Evidence other industries are now adopting similar tactics, particularly use of 'nanny state' claims to oppose proportionate interventions, is concerning. Some marketing strategies have deliberately mis-informed consumers thus directly contributing to many public health problems. Far from removing free choice, government policies that restrain commercial communications and stimuli are prerequisites necessary to promote free choice. Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global Environmental Problems: Implications for U.S. Policy. Teacher's Resource Book [and Student Guidebook]. Public Policy Debate in the Classroom: Choices for the 21st Century Education Project. 9th Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown Univ., Providence, RI. Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Inst. for International Studies.

This teacher resource text and student text are part of a continuing series on current and historical international issues, placing special emphasis on the importance of educating students in their participatory role as citizens. It examines the relationship between public policy in the United States and the ecological health of the planet.…

Bus Ride to Nowhere.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGroarty, Daniel

1996-01-01

Describes the situation created by busing in Milwaukee's public schools. The rise of support for school choice developed out of the failure of busing, which was Milwaukee's solution to school problems. Wisconsin now has a private-school voucher law. Busing has been less onerous since the city was divided into five zones from which parents of…

Stepping Up: How Are American Cities Delivering on the Promise of Public School Choice?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Christine; Heyward, Georgia; Gross, Betheny

2017-01-01

In America today, families in almost every urban community have some kind of public school choice. This report focuses on "public school choice," under which families are able to choose from both an array of traditional public schools and public charter schools. Public school choice has grown rapidly in the past 20 years; new charter…

Engaging the public in biodiversity issues

PubMed Central

Novacek, Michael J.

2008-01-01

To engage people in biodiversity and other environmental issues, one must provide the opportunity for enhanced understanding that empowers individuals to make choices and take action based on sound science and reliable recommendations. To this end, we must acknowledge some real challenges. Recent surveys show that, despite growing public concern, environmental issues still rank below many other problems, such as terrorism, health care, the economy, and (in the U.S.) family values. Moreover, much of the recent upswing in interest in the environment is due to the marked shift in attention to global warming away from other environmental problems such as destruction of ecosystems, water pollution, overpopulation, and biodiversity loss. Such a change in public focus often comes with a tendency to decouple various environmental problems and ignore their synergistic effects. Exacerbating this problem are arguments from the media and other sources that discourage public interest in environmental topics by characterizing the science behind them as overly complex, immersed in debate and controversy, and detached from human interests. Educational programming, media, exhibitions, and other means of public outreach should build on the welcome increase in public interest in global warming by demonstrating the interplay of various environmental disruptions. In the case of biodiversity, the importance of species in providing ecosystem services, natural beauty and pleasure, and sustaining human lives is a message that requires constant attention and recrafting to impact diverse audiences. PMID:18695244

Colloquium paper: engaging the public in biodiversity issues.

PubMed

Novacek, Michael J

2008-08-12

To engage people in biodiversity and other environmental issues, one must provide the opportunity for enhanced understanding that empowers individuals to make choices and take action based on sound science and reliable recommendations. To this end, we must acknowledge some real challenges. Recent surveys show that, despite growing public concern, environmental issues still rank below many other problems, such as terrorism, health care, the economy, and (in the U.S.) family values. Moreover, much of the recent upswing in interest in the environment is due to the marked shift in attention to global warming away from other environmental problems such as destruction of ecosystems, water pollution, overpopulation, and biodiversity loss. Such a change in public focus often comes with a tendency to decouple various environmental problems and ignore their synergistic effects. Exacerbating this problem are arguments from the media and other sources that discourage public interest in environmental topics by characterizing the science behind them as overly complex, immersed in debate and controversy, and detached from human interests. Educational programming, media, exhibitions, and other means of public outreach should build on the welcome increase in public interest in global warming by demonstrating the interplay of various environmental disruptions. In the case of biodiversity, the importance of species in providing ecosystem services, natural beauty and pleasure, and sustaining human lives is a message that requires constant attention and recrafting to impact diverse audiences.

A Global Environmental Agenda for the United States: Issues for the New U.S. Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Donald; Sant, Roger W.

2000-01-01

The new presidential administration faces an array of urgent challenges. Complex public policy choices are necessary to address the near-term challenges of climate change and resource degradation which will help the United States deal with the chronic problems of global inequity and human deprivation. Outlines the environmental problems…

When Your "Problem" Becomes Mine: Adult Female Siblings' Perspectives of Having a Brother with a Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pompeo, Michelle N.

2009-01-01

This study is a retrospective look at adult female siblings' perspectives of their childhoods and present identities based on having a brother with a disability. This paper focuses on siblings' experiences within educational and public domains, and how such experiences have shaped their personalities and career choices. Qualitative findings were…

Public Choice, Market Failure, and Government Failure in Principles Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fike, Rosemarie; Gwartney, James

2015-01-01

Public choice uses the tools of economics to analyze how the political process allocates resources and impacts economic activity. In this study, the authors examine twenty-three principles texts regarding coverage of public choice, market failure, and government failure. Approximately half the texts provide coverage of public choice and recognize…

Publication bias in situ.

PubMed

Phillips, Carl V

2004-08-05

Publication bias, as typically defined, refers to the decreased likelihood of studies' results being published when they are near the null, not statistically significant, or otherwise "less interesting." But choices about how to analyze the data and which results to report create a publication bias within the published results, a bias I label "publication bias in situ" (PBIS). PBIS may create much greater bias in the literature than traditionally defined publication bias (the failure to publish any result from a study). The causes of PBIS are well known, consisting of various decisions about reporting that are influenced by the data. But its impact is not generally appreciated, and very little attention is devoted to it. What attention there is consists largely of rules for statistical analysis that are impractical and do not actually reduce the bias in reported estimates. PBIS cannot be reduced by statistical tools because it is not fundamentally a problem of statistics, but rather of non-statistical choices and plain language interpretations. PBIS should be recognized as a phenomenon worthy of study - it is extremely common and probably has a huge impact on results reported in the literature - and there should be greater systematic efforts to identify and reduce it. The paper presents examples, including results of a recent HIV vaccine trial, that show how easily PBIS can have a large impact on reported results, as well as how there can be no simple answer to it. PBIS is a major problem, worthy of substantially more attention than it receives. There are ways to reduce the bias, but they are very seldom employed because they are largely unrecognized.

Investigating Proenvironmental Behavior: The Case of Commuting Mode Choice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trinh, Tu Anh; Phuong Linh Le, Thi

2018-04-01

The central aim of this article is to investigate mode choice behavior among commuters in Ho Chi Minh City using disaggregate mode choice model and norm activation theory. A better understanding of commuters’ choice of transport mode provide an opportunity to obtain valuable information on their travel behaviors which help to build a basic for proffering solutions stimulating commuters to switch to public transport, which in turn contribute to deal with traffic problems and environmental issues. Binary logistic regression was employed under disaggregate choice method. Key findings indicated that Demographic factors including Age (-0.308), Married (-9.089), Weather (-8.272); Trip factors including Travel cost (0.437), Travel distance (0.252), and Norm activation theory (Awareness of consequences: AC2 (-1.699), AC4 (2.951), AC6 (-3.523), AC7 (-2.092), AC9 (-3.045), AC11 (+ 2.939), and Personal norms: PN2 (-2.695)) had strong impact on the commuters’ mode choice. Although motorcycle was the major transport mode among commuters, they presented their willingness to switch to bus transport if it had less negative impacts on the environment and their daily living environment.

A Survey and Analysis of the American Public's Perceptions and Knowledge About Antibiotic Resistance

PubMed Central

Carter, Rebecca R.; Sun, Jiayang; Jump, Robin L. P.

2016-01-01

Background. Little is known about the American public's perceptions or knowledge about antibiotic-resistant bacteria or antibiotic misuse. We hypothesized that although many people recognize antibiotic resistance as a problem, they may not understand the relationship between antibiotic consumption and selection of resistant bacteria. Methods. We developed and tested a survey asking respondents about their perceptions and knowledge regarding appropriate antibiotic use. Respondents were recruited with the Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform. The survey, carefully designed to assess a crowd-sourced population, asked respondents to explain “antibiotic resistance” in their own words. Subsequent questions were multiple choice. Results. Of 215 respondents, the vast majority agreed that inappropriate antibiotic use contributes to antibiotic resistance (92%), whereas a notable proportion (70%) responded neutrally or disagreed with the statement that antibiotic resistance is a problem. Over 40% of respondents indicated that antibiotics were the best choice to treat a fever or a runny nose and sore throat. Major themes from the free-text responses included that antibiotic resistance develops by bacteria, or by the infection, or the body (ie, an immune response). Minor themes included antibiotic overuse and antibiotic resistance caused by bacterial adaptation or an immune response. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that the public is aware that antibiotic misuse contributes to antibiotic resistance, but many do not consider it to be an important problem. The free-text responses suggest specific educational targets, including the difference between an immune response and bacterial adaptation, to increase awareness and understanding of antibiotic resistance. PMID:27382598

The Problem of Dirty Hands: The Moral Dilemma of Public Life.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-04-21

ridden? Once this question is asked, a " slippery slope " seems to take effect in which the absoluteness of a *1 R.M. Hare, "Rules of " and Moral...but what of less clear dis- tinctions? Euthanasia , for instance, most often becomes an issue in cases where the choices seem to be between allowing a

Framing Effects: Dynamics and Task Domains

PubMed

Wang

1996-11-01

The author examines the mechanisms and dynamics of framing effects in risky choices across three distinct task domains (i.e., life-death, public property, and personal money). The choice outcomes of the problems presented in each of the three task domains had a binary structure of a sure thing vs a gamble of equal expected value; the outcomes differed in their framing conditions and the expected values, raging from 6000, 600, 60, to 6, numerically. It was hypothesized that subjects would become more risk seeking, if the sure outcome was below their aspiration level (the minimum requirement). As predicted, more subjects preferred the gamble when facing the life-death choice problems than facing the counterpart problems presented in the other two task domains. Subjects' risk preference varied categorically along the group size dimension in the life-death domain but changed more linearly over the expected value dimension in the monetary domain. Framing effects were observed in 7 of 13 pairs of problems, showing a positive frame-risk aversion and negative frame-risk seeking relationship. In addition, two types of framing effects were theoretically defined and empirically identified. A bidirectional framing effect involves a reversal in risk preference, and occurs when a decision maker's risk preference is ambiguous or weak. Four bidirectional effects were observed; in each case a majority of subjects preferred the sure outcome under a positive frame but the gamble under a negative frame. In contrast, a unidirectional framing effect refers to a preference shift due to the framing of choice outcomes: A majority of subjects preferred one choice outcome (either the sure thing or the gamble) under both framing conditions, with positive frame augmented the preference for the sure thing and negative frame augmented the preference for the gamble. These findings revealed some dynamic regularities of framing effects and posed implications for developing predictive and testable models of human decision making.

Leasing policies for the extractive resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Attanasi, E.D.; Johnson, S.R.

1976-01-01

Much of the available analysis of policies for the disposal of publicly held resources is based on comparatively straightforward extensions of the neoclassical pricing and allocation theory. As such, these analyses have to a large extent not fully incorporated the fact that firms normally acquire rights to these resources in sealed tender markets. In this paper, a simple bidding model is used to show that the choice of disposal policies can influence the firm's bid and also the public revenues obtained from the sale of the resource. It is additionally shown that the implications of such policy choices are conditioned by the firm's attitudes towards risk. Finally, it is argued that a modification of existing prescriptions may be necessary if a more realistic specification of the disposal problem taking account of the sealed tender market in which rights are obtained, is considered. ?? 1976 Annals of Regional Science.

Is premium support the right medicine for Medicare?

PubMed

Oberlander, J

2000-01-01

This paper assesses the desirability of transforming Medicare into a premium-support system. I focus on three areas crucial to the future of Medicare: cost savings, beneficiary choice, and the stability of traditional Medicare. Based on my analysis of the Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare plan, I find substantial problems with adopting premium support for Medicare. In particular, projections of premium-support savings are based on questionable assumptions that the slowdown in health spending during 1993-1997 can be sustained and extrapolated to future Medicare performance. Consequently, premium support may inadvertently destabilize public Medicare and erode beneficiary choice without achieving substantial savings.

Factors influencing young urologists' productivity and academic career choice.

PubMed

Resorlu, Berkan; Silay, Mesrur Selcuk; Onem, Kadir; Bayrak, Omer; Sonbahar, Adil Emrah; Acar, Omer; Ergun, Osman; Celik, Orcun; Tefik, Tzevat; Firdolas, Fatih; Tandogdu, Zafer

2016-01-01

The objective of this study is to identify the variables that affect young urologists' productivity and academic career choice. We have conducted an internet-based national survey for urologists randomly sampled from the database of Turkish Urological Association and 110 physicians completed this survey. Participants were asked to answer three-page questionnaire including 37 questions, which takes around 5 min to complete. Questionnaire was consisting of four main sections: 'demography', 'education', 'working conditions' and 'quality of life'. Increased dedicated research time, being interested in an academic career, being Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU), having English proficiency, and greater numbers of manuscript publication during residency were associated with increased productivity after residency (p = 0.001, p = 0.028, p = 0.046, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). The remaining variables including age at marriage, age at having a child, monthly salary, length of residency, having a mentor or role model during residency showed no significant relationship with manuscript publications. Twenty-nine physicians (26.4%) stated that they had once been interested in their residency but were no longer interested in academic urology. Reasons for this loss of academic interest included lack of effective mentor or role model (27.2%), bureaucracy (17%), financial issues (13.6%), mandatory rule to work in public hospitals (18.2%) or military hospitals (9%) and language problems (21.6%). Our data indicate that increased time spent for research, being interested in an academic career, being an FEBU, having English proficiency, and greater publication during residency were associated with increased numbers of publications and academic career choice.

Going like gangbusters: transnational tobacco companies "making a killing" in South America.

PubMed

Stebbins, K R

2001-06-01

This article reports on the recent growth of transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) in South America. Although some scholarly attention has been directed toward such growth in Asia and eastern Europe, South America has also been targeted by the TTCs' aggressive expansionist practices in recent years. Fighting "Big Tobacco" is entirely different from combating most public health problems. Unlike cigarettes, most infectious diseases and maternal and child health problems never provide profits to transnational corporations and governments. Also, most public health problems (with alcohol being another notable exception) are not exacerbated by extensive advertising campaigns that promote the cause of the health problems. Supported by data gathered during three months of fieldwork in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina in 1997, this article suggests that the TTCs' marketing strategies override cultural differences in the choices people make regarding smoking and health. Combining critical medical anthropology and public health, this article concludes that unless dramatic actions are taken, an avoidable outbreak of tobacco-related diseases will eventually reach epidemic proportions on the South American continent. It is also a "call to arms" for more medical anthropologists to investigate tobacco-related matters around the world.

The role of public relations activities in hospital choice.

PubMed

Tengilimoglu, Dilaver; Yesiltas, Mehmet; Kisa, Adnan; Dziegielewski, Sophia F

2007-01-01

Public relations activities for all organizations can have an important effect on consumer decision-making when buying goods or services. This study examines the effect that public relations activities can have regarding consumer decisions and choice. To explore exemplify this relationship a questionnaire was given to 971 patients within public, university and private hospitals in Ankara, Turkey. Study results show that public relations activities were a crucial factor in determining consumer hospital choice. The majority of respondents reported that the behaviors and attitude of personnel as public relations activities that support the hospital's reputation within the public were the primary variables in hospital choice. Health care managers can use these findings to further understand how patients make informed choices related to usage of a health care facility and to develop and/or improve public relations activities.

Publication bias in situ

PubMed Central

Phillips, Carl V

2004-01-01

Background Publication bias, as typically defined, refers to the decreased likelihood of studies' results being published when they are near the null, not statistically significant, or otherwise "less interesting." But choices about how to analyze the data and which results to report create a publication bias within the published results, a bias I label "publication bias in situ" (PBIS). Discussion PBIS may create much greater bias in the literature than traditionally defined publication bias (the failure to publish any result from a study). The causes of PBIS are well known, consisting of various decisions about reporting that are influenced by the data. But its impact is not generally appreciated, and very little attention is devoted to it. What attention there is consists largely of rules for statistical analysis that are impractical and do not actually reduce the bias in reported estimates. PBIS cannot be reduced by statistical tools because it is not fundamentally a problem of statistics, but rather of non-statistical choices and plain language interpretations. PBIS should be recognized as a phenomenon worthy of study – it is extremely common and probably has a huge impact on results reported in the literature – and there should be greater systematic efforts to identify and reduce it. The paper presents examples, including results of a recent HIV vaccine trial, that show how easily PBIS can have a large impact on reported results, as well as how there can be no simple answer to it. Summary PBIS is a major problem, worthy of substantially more attention than it receives. There are ways to reduce the bias, but they are very seldom employed because they are largely unrecognized. PMID:15296515

Insights from Preclinical Choice Models on Treating Drug Addiction.

PubMed

Banks, Matthew L; Negus, S Stevens

2017-02-01

Substance-use disorders are a global public health problem that arises from behavioral misallocation between drug use and more adaptive behaviors maintained by nondrug alternatives (e.g., food or money). Preclinical drug self-administration procedures that incorporate a concurrently available nondrug reinforcer (e.g., food) provide translationally relevant and distinct dependent measures of behavioral allocation (i.e., to assess the relative reinforcing efficacy of the drug) and behavioral rate (i.e., to assess motor competence). In particular, preclinical drug versus food 'choice' procedures have produced increasingly concordant results with both human laboratory drug self-administration studies and double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials. Accordingly, here we provide a heuristic framework of substance-use disorders based on a behavioral-centric perspective and recent insights from these preclinical choice procedures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Null but not void: considerations for hypothesis testing.

PubMed

Shaw, Pamela A; Proschan, Michael A

2013-01-30

Standard statistical theory teaches us that once the null and alternative hypotheses have been defined for a parameter, the choice of the statistical test is clear. Standard theory does not teach us how to choose the null or alternative hypothesis appropriate to the scientific question of interest. Neither does it tell us that in some cases, depending on which alternatives are realistic, we may want to define our null hypothesis differently. Problems in statistical practice are frequently not as pristinely summarized as the classic theory in our textbooks. In this article, we present examples in statistical hypothesis testing in which seemingly simple choices are in fact rich with nuance that, when given full consideration, make the choice of the right hypothesis test much less straightforward. Published 2012. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Factors Influencing the Nutritional Health and Food Choices of African American HIV-Positive Marginally Housed and Homeless Female Substance Abusers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahadevan, Meena; Fisher, Celia B.

2010-01-01

The toll of HIV/AIDS and drug abuse on economically disadvantaged women of color in the United States is a public health problem of epidemic proportions. Malnutrition, believed to be pervasive in this population, exacerbates the devastating health effects of addiction and HIV. This study documented dietary deficiencies in this population and…

Relationship between Teachers' Perception of Causes of Challenging Behaviour and the Choice of Management Strategies among Learners with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khasakhala, Edward; Galava, Priscilla

2016-01-01

The ministry of Public Health and Sanitation in Kenya together with ministry of Education recognizes that mental well being is important in psychosocial well being and cognitive development of children. They point out that learners with emotional and behavioural problems may engage in truancy, delinquency, drug and substance abuse and other…

Contraceptive implants: long acting and provider dependent contraception raises concerns about freedom of choice.

PubMed

Thompson, M S

1996-11-30

David Bromham's editorial on contraceptive implants ignores the wider issues to voice concern that trial by media could limit contraceptive choice by jeopardising research into new methods. However, it is more beneficial to the public for points of conflict to be debated openly. Furthermore, the impetus for research into new contraceptive technology is driven by profit and political motives and is only marginally affected by the media. Implanted contraceptives may increase the choice of contraceptive methods, but they put control of fertility increasingly into the hands of the medical profession. Herein lies their greatest problem: their potential to increase providers' control over clients' choice. There is the danger that certain groups of women may be targeted for their use: in the United States the coercive use of Norplant for mothers receiving welfare benefit has been suggested. Long acting contraceptives are a contraceptive of choice only when they are available without pressure, as part of a wider menu; when instant removal on request is guaranteed; and when there is an open and free flow of information and opinions between users, health professionals, and special interest groups.

Engaging adolescent girls in transactional sex through compensated dating.

PubMed

Cheung, Chau-Kiu; Jia, Xinshan; Li, Jessica Chi-Mei; Lee, Tak-Yan

2016-10-01

Transactional sex through so-called compensated dating in adolescent girls is a problem in need of public concern. Compensated dating typically involves the use of information communication technology to advertise, search, bargain, and eventually arrange for transactional sex. The technology enables the sexual partners to maintain privacy and secrecy in transactional sex. Such secrecy necessitates the girls' disclosure about their life experiences in order to address the concern. The disclosure is the focus of the present qualitative study of 27 girls practicing the dating in Hong Kong, China. Based on the disclosure, the study presents a grounded theory that epitomizes engagement in compensated dating by referential choice. Such a referential choice theory unravels that choice with reference to the family push and social norms sustains the engagement. Meanwhile, the choice rests on expectancy and reinforcement from experiential learning about compensated dating. The theory thus implies ways to undercut the engagement through diverting the referential choice of the dating. Copyright © 2016 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Step by Step: Biology Undergraduates' Problem-Solving Procedures during Multiple-Choice Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prevost, Luanna B.; Lemons, Paula P.

2016-01-01

This study uses the theoretical framework of domain-specific problem solving to explore the procedures students use to solve multiple-choice problems about biology concepts. We designed several multiple-choice problems and administered them on four exams. We trained students to produce written descriptions of how they solved the problem, and this…

77 FR 39722 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment: Housing Choice Voucher Program...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-05

... Information Collection for Public Comment: Housing Choice Voucher Program Administrative Fee Study Data... is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal. This request is for the clearance of on-site and telephone data collection from public housing agencies (PHAs) in support of the Housing Choice...

Hospital sector choice and support for public hospital care in New Zealand: Results from a labeled discrete choice survey.

PubMed

Brown, Paul; Panattoni, Laura; Cameron, Linda; Knox, Stephanie; Ashton, Toni; Tenbensel, Tim; Windsor, John

2015-09-01

This study uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to measure patients' preferences for public and private hospital care in New Zealand. A labeled DCE was administered to 583 members of the general public, with the choice between a public and private hospital for a non-urgent surgery. The results suggest that cost of surgery, waiting times for surgery, option to select a surgeon, convenience, and conditions of the hospital ward are important considerations for patients. The most important determinant of hospital choice was whether it was a public or private hospital, with respondents far more likely to choose a public hospital than a private hospital. The results have implications for government policy toward using private hospitals to clear waiting lists in public hospitals, with these results suggesting the public might not be indifferent to policies that treat private hospitals as substitutes for public hospitals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Parent Choice versus Attendance Area Assignment to Schools: Does Magnet-Based School Choice Affect NAEP Scores?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archbald, Douglas A.; Kaplan, David

2004-01-01

Inter- and intra-district public school choice, vouchers, tuition tax credits and other forms of school choice have been advocated for decades, in large part on grounds that the market forces engendered will improve public education. There are many studies of school choice policies and programs and a large theoretical literature on school choice,…

Practical problems which women encounter with available contraception in Australia.

PubMed

Weisberg, E

1994-06-01

Australian women face major difficulties with contraception because of the limited range of choices, the need for meticulous attention to compliance with most available methods and because of cost limitations for a significant minority of the population. The most commonly used methods are oral contraceptive pills and barrier methods, and each has substantial compliance problems which can be minimized with care and counselling. There is an urgent need for a wider range of options in Australia and for good information and publicity about them. Present progress in this direction gives some hope for the near future.

Public School Choice and Student Mobility in Metropolitan Phoenix

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Jeanne M.; Topper, Amelia M.; Silver, Michael

2012-01-01

Arizona's interdistrict open enrollment and charter schools laws allow families to send their children to the public schools of their choice. We assessed how public school choice affected elementary school enrollments in 27 metropolitan Phoenix school districts. Student mobility rates varied widely between districts and by location. The higher…

Economic Thinking for Strategic Leaders

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-24

unprepared to analyze certain complex, ambiguous issues and craft informed decisions. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Behavioral Economics, Public Choice Theory ...COUNT: 7,668 PAGES: 38 KEY TERMS: Behavioral Economics, Public Choice Theory , Army Profession CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified Military senior...various economic fields, including Identity Economics, Neoclassical Economics, Behavioral Economics, and Public Choice Economics. Finally, it

Health hazards associated with solid waste disposal.

PubMed

Gaby, W L

1981-01-01

The landfilling and disposal of domestic solid waste should be considered as great or greater a public health hazard as raw sewage. Solid waste is toxic and contains a greater variety of pathogenic microorganisms than does sewage sludge. Of all the procedures for solid waste disposal, landfills have and will continue to give rise to serious public health problems of land and water pollution. Although the general public is opposed to landfilling our inept health officials have offered small communities and cities no choice. Small communities do not have the technical knowledge or the funds to initiate alternative procedures. As the volume of solid waste increases each year the magnitude of the health hazards will eventually force public health agencies to implement correct disposal procedures ultimately resulting in recycling.

Utah Public Education Funding: The Fiscal Impact of School Choice. School Choice Issues in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aud, Susan

2007-01-01

This study examines Utah's funding system for public education and provides an analysis of the fiscal impact of allowing parents to use a portion of their child's state education funding to attend a school of their choice, public or private. Like many states, Utah is facing pressure to improve its system of public education funding. The state's…

Universal health insurance through incentives reform.

PubMed

Enthoven, A C; Kronick, R

1991-05-15

Roughly 35 million Americans have no health care coverage. Health care expenditures are out of control. The problems of access and cost are inextricably related. Important correctable causes include cost-unconscious demand, a system not organized for quality and economy, market failure, and public funds not distributed equitably or effectively to motivate widespread coverage. We propose Public Sponsor agencies to offer subsidized coverage to those otherwise uninsured, mandated employer-provided health insurance, premium contributions from all employers and employees, a limit on tax-free employer contributions to employee health insurance, and "managed competition". Our proposed new government revenues equal proposed new outlays. We believe our proposal will work because efficient managed care does exist and can provide satisfactory care for a cost far below that of the traditional fee-for-service third-party payment system. Presented with an opportunity to make an economically responsible choice, people choose value for money; the dynamic created by these individual choices will give providers strong incentives to render high-quality, economical care. We believe that providers will respond to these incentives.

76 FR 16437 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment Choice Neighborhoods

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-23

...-functioning services, effective schools and education programs, public assets, public transportation and improved access to jobs. Choice Neighborhoods grants will primarily fund the transformation of public and...

Privatization and Educational Choice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieberman, Myron

This book describes how and why educational choice movements will affect public education. It uses a public-choice approach to argue that both the supporters and opponents of private and school choice have failed to address several critical issues. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 is devoted to the rationale for contracting out…

Making School Choice Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeArmond, Michael; Jochim, Ashley; Lake, Robin

2014-01-01

School choice is increasingly the new normal in urban education. But in cities with multiple public school options, how can civic leaders create a choice system that works for all families, whether they choose a charter or district public school? To answer this question, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) researchers surveyed 4,000…

Choice with Equity: An Assessment by the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. Hoover Institution Press Publication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Paul T., Ed.

This collection of papers reviews the national debate over school choice, examining the benefits for parents, children, and schools and showing how properly designed choice programs can prevent the harmful outcomes choice opponents fear. The papers discuss why choice must be addressed in the context of the real-world performance of public schools,…

Education by the Numbers: The Fiscal Effect of School Choice Programs, 1990-2006. School Choice Issues in Depth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aud, Susan L.

2007-01-01

School choice programs, which allow students to attend the public or private school of their choice using public funds, have taken root in the U.S. and are growing rapidly both in number and size. Their fiscal impact has become an important political issue. Proponents say school choice saves money because private schooling is more efficient,…

The Ironies of School Choice: Empowering Parents and Reconceptualizing Public Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson Beal, Heather K.; Hendry, Petra Munro

2012-01-01

School choice policy, especially as embedded in No Child Left Behind, assumes that empowering parents with choice will improve education by holding schools accountable and will reenergize democratic participation in public education. While parents are seen as critical change agents, little research documents how engaging in school choice affects…

Risk Selection, Risk Adjustment and Choice: Concepts and Lessons from the Americas

PubMed Central

Ellis, Randall P.; Fernandez, Juan Gabriel

2013-01-01

Interest has grown worldwide in risk adjustment and risk sharing due to their potential to contain costs, improve fairness, and reduce selection problems in health care markets. Significant steps have been made in the empirical development of risk adjustment models, and in the theoretical foundations of risk adjustment and risk sharing. This literature has often modeled the effects of risk adjustment without highlighting the institutional setting, regulations, and diverse selection problems that risk adjustment is intended to fix. Perhaps because of this, the existing literature and their recommendations for optimal risk adjustment or optimal payment systems are sometimes confusing. In this paper, we present a unified way of thinking about the organizational structure of health care systems, which enables us to focus on two key dimensions of markets that have received less attention: what choices are available that may lead to selection problems, and what financial or regulatory tools other than risk adjustment are used to influence these choices. We specifically examine the health care systems, choices, and problems in four countries: the US, Canada, Chile, and Colombia, and examine the relationship between selection-related efficiency and fairness problems and the choices that are allowed in each country, and discuss recent regulatory reforms that affect choices and selection problems. In this sample, countries and insurance programs with more choices have more selection problems. PMID:24284351

Categorizing health-related cues to action: using Yelp reviews of restaurants in Hawaii

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ariyasriwatana, W.; Buente, W.; Oshiro, M.; Streveler, D.

2014-10-01

Yelp, a social media site, undeniably has an influence on consumers' food choice in spite of its ability to reflect consumers' real voice being criticized. Since unhealthy food choices contribute to health problems, such as obesity and malnourishment, we attempted to examine these problems by better understanding consumers through health-related cues to action-a construct from the Health Belief Model (HBM)- on Yelp Honolulu's restaurant reviews. Our research revealed 13 main categories: Ingredient, Type of food, Taste, Lifestyle, Cooking, Option, Price, Portion, Well-being, Nutrition, Hygiene, Emotional attachment and indulgence, and Feeling. We argue that these categories may ultimately lead consumers to make healthier food choices. In search of the most appealing way to communicate with the target group, underlying concepts that derived from these categories can be tested. Marketers in food industry (or public health policy-makers) can craft their strategies for healthy food brands/products (or healthy eating scheme) based on the concept test research. Moreover, Yelp can apply these insights in the development of their algorithm and filter system in order to help consumers find healthy food if they wish to do so. Restaurants can also improve their strategy, menu, and communication execution to meet the growing demands of health conscious consumers.

Similar problems, different solutions: comparing refuse collection in the Netherlands and Spain.

PubMed

Bel, Germà; Fageda, Xavier; Dijkgraaf, Elbert; Gradus, Raymond

2010-01-01

Because of differences in institutional arrangements, public service markets, and national traditions regarding government intervention, local public service provision can vary greatly. In this paper we compare the procedures adopted by the local governments of The Netherlands and Spain in arranging for the provision of solid waste collection. We find that Spain faces a problem of consolidation, opting more frequently to implement policies of privatization and cooperation, at the expense of competition. By contrast, The Netherlands, which has larger municipalities on average, resorts somewhat less to privatization and cooperation, and more to competition. Both options-cooperation and competition-have their merits when striving to strike a balance between transaction costs and scale economies. The choices made in organizational reform seem to be related to several factors, among which the nature of the political system and the size of municipalities appear to be relevant.

A hybrid heuristic for the multiple choice multidimensional knapsack problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansi, Raïd; Alves, Cláudio; Valério de Carvalho, J. M.; Hanafi, Saïd

2013-08-01

In this article, a new solution approach for the multiple choice multidimensional knapsack problem is described. The problem is a variant of the multidimensional knapsack problem where items are divided into classes, and exactly one item per class has to be chosen. Both problems are NP-hard. However, the multiple choice multidimensional knapsack problem appears to be more difficult to solve in part because of its choice constraints. Many real applications lead to very large scale multiple choice multidimensional knapsack problems that can hardly be addressed using exact algorithms. A new hybrid heuristic is proposed that embeds several new procedures for this problem. The approach is based on the resolution of linear programming relaxations of the problem and reduced problems that are obtained by fixing some variables of the problem. The solutions of these problems are used to update the global lower and upper bounds for the optimal solution value. A new strategy for defining the reduced problems is explored, together with a new family of cuts and a reformulation procedure that is used at each iteration to improve the performance of the heuristic. An extensive set of computational experiments is reported for benchmark instances from the literature and for a large set of hard instances generated randomly. The results show that the approach outperforms other state-of-the-art methods described so far, providing the best known solution for a significant number of benchmark instances.

Effects of 7-day continuous d-amphetamine, methylphenidate, and cocaine treatment on choice between methamphetamine and food in male rhesus monkeys*

PubMed Central

Schwienteck, Kathryn L.; Banks, Matthew L.

2015-01-01

Background Methamphetamine addiction is a significant public health problem for which no Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmacotherapies exist. Preclinical drug vs. food choice procedures have been predictive of clinical medication efficacy in the treatment of opioid and cocaine addiction. Whether preclinical choice procedures are predictive of candidate medication effects for other abused drugs, such as methamphetamine, remains unclear. The present study aim was to determine continuous 7-day treatment effects with the monoamine releaser d-amphetamine and the monoamine uptake inhibitor methylphenidate on methamphetamine vs. food choice.In addition, 7-day cocaine treatment effects were also examined. Methods Behavior was maintained under a concurrent schedule of food delivery (1-g pellets, fixed-ratio 100 schedule) and methamphetamine injections (0-0.32 mg/kg/injection, fixed-ratio 10 schedule) in male rhesus monkeys (n=4). Methamphetamine choice dose-effect functions were determined daily before and during 7-day periods of continuous intravenous treatment with d-amphetamine (0.01-0.1 mg/kg/h), methylphenidate (0.032-0.32 mg/kg/h), or cocaine (0.1-0.32 mg/kg/h). Results During saline treatment, increasing methamphetamine doses resulted in a corresponding increase in methamphetamine vs. food choice. Continuous 7-day treatments with d-amphetamine, methylphenidate or cocaine did not significantly attenuate methamphetamine vs. food choice up to doses that decreased rates of operant responding. However, 0.1 mg/kg/h d-amphetamine did eliminate methamphetamine choice in two monkeys. Conclusions The present subchronic treatment resultssupport the utility of preclinical methamphetamine choice to evaluate candidate medications for methamphetamine addiction. Furthermore, these results confirm and extend previous results demonstrating differential pharmacological mechanisms between cocaine choice and methamphetamine choice. PMID:26361713

Effects of 7-day continuous D-amphetamine, methylphenidate, and cocaine treatment on choice between methamphetamine and food in male rhesus monkeys.

PubMed

Schwienteck, Kathryn L; Banks, Matthew L

2015-10-01

Methamphetamine addiction is a significant public health problem for which no Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmacotherapies exist. Preclinical drug vs. food choice procedures have been predictive of clinical medication efficacy in the treatment of opioid and cocaine addiction. Whether preclinical choice procedures are predictive of candidate medication effects for other abused drugs, such as methamphetamine, remains unclear. The present study aim was to determine continuous 7-day treatment effects with the monoamine releaser d-amphetamine and the monoamine uptake inhibitor methylphenidate on methamphetamine vs. food choice. In addition, 7-day cocaine treatment effects were also examined. Behavior was maintained under a concurrent schedule of food delivery (1-g pellets, fixed-ratio 100 schedule) and methamphetamine injections (0-0.32mg/kg/injection, fixed-ratio 10 schedule) in male rhesus monkeys (n=4). Methamphetamine choice dose-effect functions were determined daily before and during 7-day periods of continuous intravenous treatment with d-amphetamine (0.01-0.1mg/kg/h), methylphenidate (0.032-0.32mg/kg/h), or cocaine (0.1-0.32mg/kg/h). During saline treatment, increasing methamphetamine doses resulted in a corresponding increase in methamphetamine vs. food choice. Continuous 7-day treatments with d-amphetamine, methylphenidate or cocaine did not significantly attenuate methamphetamine vs. food choice up to doses that decreased rates of operant responding. However, 0.1mg/kg/h d-amphetamine did eliminate methamphetamine choice in two monkeys. The present subchronic treatment results support the utility of preclinical methamphetamine choice to evaluate candidate medications for methamphetamine addiction. Furthermore, these results confirm and extend previous results demonstrating differential pharmacological mechanisms between cocaine choice and methamphetamine choice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The International System in the 21st Century: Considering the U.S. Role. Third Edition. Teacher Resource Book [and Student Text]. Public Policy Debate in the Classroom. Choices for the 21st Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Sarah Cleveland

Although the attacks of September 11, 2001, present new challenges and priorities for U.S. policy, it is uncertain what direction international relations will take. China's growth and power, Russia's political and economic problems, resentment and corruption in Russia, and global warming effect policymaking. While the war on terrorism may be a…

Insights from Preclinical Choice Models on Treating Drug Addiction

PubMed Central

Banks, Matthew L.; Negus, S. Stevens

2016-01-01

Substance-use disorders are a global public health problem that arises from behavioral misallocation between drug use and more adaptive behaviors maintained by nondrug alternatives (e.g., food or money). Preclinical drug self-administration procedures that incorporate a concurrently available nondrug reinforcer (e.g., food) provide translationally relevant and distinct dependent measures of behavioral allocation (i.e., to assess the relative reinforcing efficacy of the drug) and behavioral rate (i.e., to assess motor competence). In particular, preclinical drug versus food ‘choice’ procedures have produced increasingly concordant results with both human laboratory drug self-administration studies and double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials. Accordingly, here we provide a heuristic framework of substance-use disorders based on a behavioral-centric perspective and recent insights from these preclinical choice procedures. PMID:27916279

A novel integration effort to reduce the risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancy among women attending urban STD clinics.

PubMed

Hutton, Heidi E; Chander, Geetanjali; Green, Patricia P; Hutsell, Catherine A; Weingarten, Kimberly; Peterson, Karen L

2014-01-01

Alcohol-exposed pregnancy (AEP) is a significant public health problem in the United States. Sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics serve female clients with a high prevalence of heavy alcohol consumption coupled with ineffective contraceptive use. Project CHOICES (Changing High-Risk AlcOhol Use and Increasing Contraception Effectiveness) is an evidence-based, brief intervention to lower risk of AEP by targeting alcohol and contraceptive behaviors through motivational interviewing and individualized feedback. We describe our experience integrating and implementing CHOICES in STD clinics. This endeavor aligns with CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention's program collaboration and service integration strategic priority to strengthen collaborative work across disease areas and integrate services provided by related programs at the client level.

A Novel Integration Effort to Reduce the Risk for Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancy Among Women Attending Urban STD Clinics

PubMed Central

Hutton, Heidi E.; Chander, Geetanjali; Green, Patricia P.; Hutsell, Catherine A.; Weingarten, Kimberly

2014-01-01

Alcohol-exposed pregnancy (AEP) is a significant public health problem in the United States. Sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics serve female clients with a high prevalence of heavy alcohol consumption coupled with ineffective contraceptive use. Project CHOICES (Changing High-Risk AlcOhol Use and Increasing Contraception Effectiveness) is an evidence-based, brief intervention to lower risk of AEP by targeting alcohol and contraceptive behaviors through motivational interviewing and individualized feedback. We describe our experience integrating and implementing CHOICES in STD clinics. This endeavor aligns with CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention's program collaboration and service integration strategic priority to strengthen collaborative work across disease areas and integrate services provided by related programs at the client level. PMID:24385650

The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Missouri. School Choice Issues in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottlob, Brian J.

2006-01-01

As a large body of high-quality research has emerged in the past few years showing that school choice benefits the students who use it, much of the debate has shifted to the "public" or "social" effects of school choice. This study examines how school choice in Missouri would raise high school graduation rates, and measures the…

The ABCs of School Choice: The Comprehensive Guide to Every Private School Choice Program in America. 2018 Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

EdChoice, 2018

2018-01-01

This annual publication of "The ABCs of School Choice" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This publication outlines how each program works, whom it serves, and offers feedback on how it could be changed to help even more families in a particular state. Programs are grouped…

Teen Dating Violence Prevention: Cluster-Randomized Trial of Teen Choices, an Online, Stage-Based Program for Healthy, Nonviolent Relationships

PubMed Central

Levesque, Deborah A.; Johnson, Janet L.; Welch, Carol A.; Prochaska, Janice M.; Paiva, Andrea L.

2016-01-01

Objective Teen dating violence is a serious public health problem. A cluster-randomized trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of Teen Choices, a 3-session online program that delivers assessments and individualized guidance matched to dating history, dating violence experiences, and stage of readiness for using healthy relationship skills. For high risk victims of dating violence, the program addresses readiness to keep oneself safe in relationships. Method Twenty high schools were randomly assigned to the Teen Choices condition (n=2,000) or a Comparison condition (n=1,901). Emotional and physical dating violence victimization and perpetration were assessed at 6 and 12 months in the subset of participants (total n=2,605) who reported a past-year history of dating violence at baseline, and/or who dated during the study. Results The Teen Choices program was associated with significantly reduced odds of all four types of dating violence (adjusted ORs ranging from .45 to .63 at 12 months follow-up). For three of the four violence outcomes, participants with a past-year history of that type of violence benefited significantly more from the intervention than students without a past-year history. Conclusions The Teen Choices program provides an effective and practicable strategy for intervention for teen dating violence prevention. PMID:27482470

Teen Dating Violence Prevention: Cluster-Randomized Trial of Teen Choices, an Online, Stage-Based Program for Healthy, Nonviolent Relationships.

PubMed

Levesque, Deborah A; Johnson, Janet L; Welch, Carol A; Prochaska, Janice M; Paiva, Andrea L

2016-07-01

Teen dating violence is a serious public health problem. A cluster-randomized trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of Teen Choices , a 3-session online program that delivers assessments and individualized guidance matched to dating history, dating violence experiences, and stage of readiness for using healthy relationship skills. For high risk victims of dating violence, the program addresses readiness to keep oneself safe in relationships. Twenty high schools were randomly assigned to the Teen Choices condition ( n =2,000) or a Comparison condition ( n =1,901). Emotional and physical dating violence victimization and perpetration were assessed at 6 and 12 months in the subset of participants (total n =2,605) who reported a past-year history of dating violence at baseline, and/or who dated during the study. The Teen Choices program was associated with significantly reduced odds of all four types of dating violence (adjusted ORs ranging from .45 to .63 at 12 months follow-up). For three of the four violence outcomes, participants with a past-year history of that type of violence benefited significantly more from the intervention than students without a past-year history. The Teen Choices program provides an effective and practicable strategy for intervention for teen dating violence prevention.

Valuing conservation benefits of disease control in wildlife: A choice experiment approach to bovine tuberculosis management in New Zealand's native forests.

PubMed

Tait, Peter; Saunders, Caroline; Nugent, Graham; Rutherford, Paul

2017-03-15

We assess the non-monetary environmental benefits that accrue incidentally in New Zealand (NZ) from pest management conducted primarily to control an animal disease, bovine tuberculosis (TB). TB is an infectious disease that is one of the world's most serious animal health problems and, in many parts of the developing world, still a major mortality risk for humans. The incidence of TB in New Zealand (NZ) farmed livestock has been reduced progressively over the last 20 years, largely due to extensive and sustained population control of the main wildlife reservoir of disease, the introduced brushtail possum. Possums are also major pests that threaten indigenous forest biodiversity, and so extensive possum control for TB mitigation also incidental benefits conservation, but the extent and public value of this benefit has yet to be quantified. We conducted a choice experiment survey of the NZ public in an effort to value the native forest biodiversity benefits of TB-related possum control. We find strong public support for conservation outcomes consequent to TB-possum control in public native forests. The public place substantial value on the most observable biodiversity benefits of TB possum control, such as improved forest canopies and presence of native birds. The benefits, costs and values of TB-possum control are discussed in relation to the future directives of NZ's TB control programme, which is headed toward first regional and then national level disease eradication. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 19417 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment for Housing Choice Voucher (HCV...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-14

... Information Collection for Public Comment for Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, HUD. ACTION: Notice... Voucher Program) with public and private resources to enable eligible families to achieve economic...

The economics of alcohol.

PubMed

Lehto, J

1997-03-01

The use of economic arguments with regard to four aspects of alcohol policy is described and discussed. The first aspect is the impact of a potential reduction in alcohol consumption on employment by alcohol production and trade. It is shown that employment is quite independent of the level of consumption. The second aspect is the opportunity for serving the public health and state finance interests at the same time by developing alcohol taxation. The third aspect is the relationship between the public revenue from alcohol and the public costs for alcohol-related problems. A "polluter pays" principle with regard to alcohol would mean higher taxation of alcoholic beverages. The fourth aspect is the need for cost-effectiveness analyses to support the choices by the decision makers between different alcohol policy options. It is concluded that such analyses could have impact on the priorities in public health policy on alcohol.

School Choice: Economic and Fiscal Perspectives. Policy Report PR-B12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Addonizio, Michael

This paper applies economic concepts to several school choice issues, identifying various market and public school choice proposals as alternative mechanisms for generating and distributing the economic benefits of education. Private benefits redound directly to those educated or their parents; external, or public, benefits redound to other…

Educational Attainment Effects of Public and Private School Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foreman, Leesa M.

2017-01-01

The two fastest growing school choice options are charter schools and private school choice programs, which include vouchers, tax credit scholarships, and education savings accounts. Most research assessing the effects of these programs focuses on student achievement. I review the literature to determine the impact public and private school choice…

How chemical pollution becomes a social problem. Risk communication and assessment through regional newspapers during the management of PCB pollutions of the Rhône River (France).

PubMed

Comby, Emeline; Le Lay, Yves-François; Piégay, Hervé

2014-06-01

The case study of the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) pollutions of the Rhône River (France) offers the possibility of studying criteria for the construction of social problems that result from chemical pollution (2005-2010). We investigated the dynamics of competition that create and define pollution as a social problem and entail its decline. News outlets are crucial for determining how an environmental issue emerges locally or nationally; this study used newspapers to highlight the potential of new outlets as a data source to analyze discourse variability, science-policy-media connections and the hydrosphere. Media coverage was based on a content analysis and textual data analysis of 75 articles. Analytical frameworks such as the Downs Model and the Public Arena Model (Hilgartner and Bosk, 1988) that consider time and stakeholders were tested to determine how human alteration of the hydrosphere can become a social problem and to analyze different communication strategies held by stakeholders. In terms of management, we described the temporal dynamics of the social problem based on the case study and considered an explanation of the selections. We considered the organization of particular stakeholders who define the social problem from its beginning to end by focusing on their discourses, relationships, decision-making and political choices, and scientific studies. Despite some biases, newspapers are useful for retrospectively evaluating the emergence of a social problem in the public arena by describing it through discourse and then understanding the temporal patterns of information. Despite uncertainties and information flow, decisions are made and science is translated to the public. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mathematical marriages: intercourse between mathematics and Semiotic choice.

PubMed

Wagner, Roy

2009-04-01

This paper examines the interaction between Semiotic choices and the presentation and solution of a family of contemporary mathematical problems centred around the so-called 'stable marriage problem'. I investigate how a socially restrictive choice of signs impacts mathematical production both in terms of problem formation and of solutions. I further note how the choice of gendered language ends up constructing a reality, which duplicates the very structural framework that it imported into mathematical analysis in the first place. I go on to point out some semiotic lines of flight from this interlocking grip of mathematics and gendered language.

Mastery matters: consumer choice, psychiatric symptoms and problematic substance use among adults with histories of homelessness.

PubMed

Greenwood, Ronni Michelle; Manning, Rachel M

2017-05-01

Previous research demonstrated the importance of consumer choice and mastery to residential stability and psychiatric functioning for adults with histories of homelessness. In the present study, we investigated whether these relationships hold, even in the context of problem-related substance misuse. Questionnaire data were collected in Ireland from 101 residents of long-term homeless accommodation in 2010. Hayes' PROCESS macro for mediation and moderation analysis in SPSS was employed to test our hypotheses. Findings demonstrated that the indirect effect of choice through mastery on psychiatric functioning was stronger for individuals with more recent problem-related substance use than for those with no or distant histories of problem-related substance use. Our findings confirm that consumer choice in housing and services is important to homeless services users' recovery experiences. Because of its relationship with mastery, consumer choice in housing and services protects homeless services users' psychiatric functioning, especially when substance use-related choices have had negative consequences. Our findings suggest that if homeless services take away consumer choice when substance use causes problems, they may actually undermine, rather than foster, service users' psychiatric functioning. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Beyond Choice to New Public Schools: Withdrawing the Exclusive Franchise in Public Education. Policy Report No. 8.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolderie, Ted

A strategy for revitalizing public education by stimulating the creation of new public schools is proposed in this report. The proposed system goes beyond school choice and is based on the withdrawal of local districts' exclusive franchise to own and operate public schools. The proposal is based on the premise that the state must provide both…

What Happened to the "Public" in Public Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, David; Keeping, Janet

2012-01-01

Many Canadians seem to have lost track of the role that public education plays in the nurturing of our civic culture. We have allowed consumerist thinking--the more choice, the better--to infect public policy around education. A moment's reflection reminds us that the corollary of consumerism is fragmentation. It is important that choice in public…

Does the amount of school choice matter for student engagement?

PubMed Central

Vaughn, Michael G.; Witko, Christopher

2013-01-01

School choice may increase student engagement by enabling students to attend schools that more closely match their needs and preferences. But this effect on engagement may depend on the characteristics of the choices available. Therefore, we consider how the amount of educational choice of different types in a local educational marketplace affects student engagement using a large, national population of 8th grade students. We find that more choice of regular public schools in the elementary and middle school years is associated with a lower likelihood that students will be severely disengaged in eighth grade, and more choices of public schools of choice has a similar effect but only in urban areas. In contrast, more private sector choice does not have such a general beneficial effect. PMID:23682202

(Re) Searching for a School: How Choice Drives Parents to Become More Informed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovenheim, Michael F.; Walsh, Patrick

2018-01-01

Policies that expand school choice aim to empower parents by giving them the opportunity to choose the school that best fits their child. Publicly funded school choice has increased considerably in recent years, helped by a variety of initiatives, including public charter schools, transfer options for students under the No Child Left Behind Act…

Choice-Making as Intervention for Public Disrobing in Children with Developmental Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlson, Jane I.; Luiselli, James K.; Slyman, Amy; Markowski, Andrea

2008-01-01

The authors describe a choice-making intervention with two children who had developmental disabilities and demonstrated public disrobing in school settings. The children also urinated in their clothing, apparently to gain access to new and more preferred apparel. The intervention gave the children a choice to change into high-preference clothes at…

Family Choice and Public Schools: A Report to the State Board of Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massachusetts State Dept. of Education, Quincy. Bureau of Equal Educational Opportunity.

This examination of parent choice among public schools in Massachusetts begins with an expanded version of remarks made by C. L. Glenn to the Board of the National Education Association describing the parent choice options available in Massachusetts and the ways in which they have developed. Approximately four of five minority students in…

School Choice and the Decision-Making of School Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalmar, William F., Jr.

2014-01-01

Almost since the time public schools first opened in the United States there have been those seeking to reform them. One of the most persistent cries for reform has been the call to apply the free market economic model of competition through consumer choice on the public school system. Schools, consumer choice supporters posit, when faced with the…

Domain-specific rationality in human choices: violations of utility axioms and social contexts.

PubMed

Wang, X T

1996-07-01

This study presents a domain-specific view of human decision rationality. It explores social and ecological domain-specific psychological mechanisms underlying choice biases and violations of utility axioms. Results from both the USA and China revealed a social group domain-specific choice pattern. The irrational preference reversal in a hypothetical life-death decision problem (a classical example of framing effects) was eliminated by providing a small group or family context in which most subjects favored a risky choice option regardless of the positive/negative framing of choice outcomes. The risk preference data also indicate that the subjective scope of small group domain is larger for Chinese subjects, suggesting that human choice mechanisms are sensitive to culturally specific features of group living. A further experiment provided evidence that perceived fairness might be one major factor regulating the choice preferences found in small group (kith-and-kin) contexts. Finally, the violation of the stochastic dominance axiom of the rational theory of choice was predicted and tested. The violations were found only when the "life-death" problem was presented in small group contexts; the strongest violation was found in a family context. These results suggest that human decisions and choices are regulated by domain-specific choice mechanisms designed to solve evolutionary recurrent and adaptively important problems.

34 CFR 200.44 - Public school choice.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... only if the State law prohibits choice through restrictions on public school assignments or the... manner as all other students in the school. (g) Duration of transfer. (1) If a student exercises the.... If all public schools to which a student may transfer within an LEA are identified for school...

34 CFR 200.44 - Public school choice.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... only if the State law prohibits choice through restrictions on public school assignments or the... manner as all other students in the school. (g) Duration of transfer. (1) If a student exercises the.... If all public schools to which a student may transfer within an LEA are identified for school...

34 CFR 200.44 - Public school choice.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... only if the State law prohibits choice through restrictions on public school assignments or the... manner as all other students in the school. (g) Duration of transfer. (1) If a student exercises the.... If all public schools to which a student may transfer within an LEA are identified for school...

77 FR 27475 - Announcement of Funding Awards; Choice Neighborhoods Grant Program for Fiscal Years (FY) 2010 and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-10

... community development centered on housing transformation. The program aims to transform neighborhoods of...-functioning services, effective schools and education programs, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs. Choice Neighborhoods grants primarily funds the transformation of public and/or...

The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Indiana. School Choice Issues in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottlob, Brian J.

2006-01-01

This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Indiana, and examines how school choice would provide large public benefits by increasing the graduation rate in Indiana public schools. It calculates the annual cost of high school dropouts in Indiana due to lower state income tax payments, increased reliance on Medicaid, and…

Early Design Choices: Capture, Model, Integrate, Analyze, Simulate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malin, Jane T.

2004-01-01

I. Designs are constructed incrementally to meet requirements and solve problems: a) Requirements types: objectives, scenarios, constraints, ilities. etc. b) Problem/issue types: risk/safety, cost/difficulty, interaction, conflict, etc. II. Capture requirements, problems and solutions: a) Collect design and analysis products and make them accessible for integration and analysis; b) Link changes in design requirements, problems and solutions; and c) Harvest design data for design models and choice structures. III. System designs are constructed by multiple groups designing interacting subsystems a) Diverse problems, choice criteria, analysis methods and point solutions. IV. Support integration and global analysis of repercussions: a) System implications of point solutions; b) Broad analysis of interactions beyond totals of mass, cost, etc.

The politics of managed competition: public abuse of the private interest.

PubMed

Robinson, James C

2003-01-01

The doctrine of managed competition in health care sought to achieve the social goals of access and efficiency using market incentives and consumer choice rather than governmental regulation and public administration. In retrospect, it demanded too much from both the public and the private sectors. Rather than develop choice-supporting rules and institutions, the public sector has promoted process regulation and benefit mandates. The private health insurance sector has pursued short-term profitability rather than cooperate in the development of fair competition and informed consumer choice. Purchasers have subsidized inefficient insurance designs in order to exploit tax and regulatory loopholes and to retain an image of corporate paternalism. America's health care system suffers from the public abuse of private interests and the private abuse of the public interest.

Parental Choice? A Critical Reconsideration of Choice and the Debate about Choice. Critical Constructions: Studies on Education and Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, P. L.

2010-01-01

Education has rarely been absent from local and national public discourse. Throughout the history of modern education spanning more than a century, individuals have as a culture lamented the failures of public schooling, often making such claims based on assumptions instead of any nuanced consideration of the many influences on teaching and…

School Choice in 2003: An Old Concept Gains New Life. Legal Memorandum. No. 9

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kafer, Krista

2004-01-01

This document discusses issues related to the historical development of school choice and its impact today. Over the past 2 decades, 9 states have adopted publicly funded voucher or tax credit programs, 40 states and the District of Columbia have enacted charter school laws, and others have established public school choice within and between…

41 CFR 102-117.285 - What are my choices if a TSP's performance is not satisfactory?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What are my choices if a TSP's performance is not satisfactory? 102-117.285 Section 102-117.285 Public Contracts and Property... are my choices if a TSP's performance is not satisfactory? You may choose to place a TSP in temporary...

School Choice in Indianapolis: Effects of Charter, Magnet, Private, and Traditional Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berends, Mark; Waddington, R. Joseph

2018-01-01

School choice researchers are often limited to comparing one type of choice with another (e.g., charter schools vs. traditional public schools). One area researchers have not examined is the effects of different school types within the same urban region. We fill this gap by analyzing longitudinal data for students (grades 3-8) in Indianapolis,…

The Impact of Charter Schools on the Budget, Operations, and Educational Services of Columbus City Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Logan, Stephanie R.

2009-01-01

Today one of the most notable school reform efforts is that of providing school choice options to families. An aim of this reform effort is to create market driven changes in the performance of traditional public schools. Of all school choice options, charter schools have emerged as an influential educational choice. As public schools, charter…

Politics of prevention: The emergence of prevention science.

PubMed

Roumeliotis, Filip

2015-08-01

This article critically examines the political dimension of prevention science by asking how it constructs the problems for which prevention is seen as the solution and how it enables the monitoring and control of these problems. It also seeks to examine how prevention science has established a sphere for legitimate political deliberation and which kinds of statements are accepted as legitimate within this sphere. The material consists of 14 publications describing and discussing the goals, concepts, promises and problems of prevention science. The analysis covers the period from 1993 to 2012. The analysis shows that prevention science has established a narrow definition of "prevention", including only interventions aimed at the reduction of risks for clinical disorders. In publications from the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse, the principles of prevention science have enabled a commitment to a zero-tolerance policy on drugs. The drug using subject has been constructed as a rational choice actor lacking in skills in exerting self-control in regard to drug use. Prevention science has also enabled the monitoring and control of expertise, risk groups and individuals through specific forms of data gathering. Through the juxtaposition of the concepts of "objectivity" and "morality", prevention science has constituted a principle of delineation, disqualifying statements not adhering to the principles of prevention science from the political field, rendering ethical and conflictual dimensions of problem representations invisible. The valorisation of scientific accounts of drugs has acted to naturalise specific political ideals. It simultaneously marginalises the public from the public policy process, giving precedence to experts who are able to provide information that policy-makers are demanding. Alternative accounts, such as those based on marginalisation, poverty or discrimination are silenced within prevention science. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rare disaster information can increase risk-taking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newell, Ben R.; Rakow, Tim; Yechiam, Eldad; Sambur, Michael

2016-02-01

The recent increase in the frequency and impact of natural disasters highlights the need to provide the public with accurate information concerning disaster prevalence. Most approaches to this problem assume that providing summaries of the nature and scale of disasters will lead people to reduce their exposure to risk. Here we present experimental evidence that such ex post `news reports’ of disaster occurrences can increase the tolerance for risk-taking (which implies that rare events are underweighted). This result is robust across several hundred rounds of choices in a simulated microworld, persists even when the long-run expected value of risky choices is substantially lower than safe choices, and is contingent on providing risk information about disasters that have been (personally) experienced and those that have been avoided (`forgone’ outcomes). The results suggest that augmenting personal experience with information summaries of the number of adverse events (for example, storms, floods) in different regions may, paradoxically, increase the appeal of a disaster-prone region. This finding implies a need to communicate long-term trends in severe climatic events, thereby reinforcing the accumulation of events, and the increase in their associated risks, across time.

Choosing Health and the inner citadel.

PubMed

Allmark, P

2006-01-01

It is argued in this paper that the latest UK government white paper on public health, Choosing Health, is vulnerable to a charge of paternalism. For some years libertarians have levelled this charge at public health policies. The white paper tries to avoid it by constant reference to informed choice and choice related terms. The implication is that the government aims only to inform the public of health issues; how they respond is up to them. It is argued here, however, that underlying the notion of informed choice is a Kantian, "inner citadel" view of autonomy. According to this view, each of us acts autonomously only when we act in accord with reason. On such a view it is possible to justify coercing, cajoling, and conning people on the basis that their current behaviour is not autonomous because it is subject to forces that cause irrational choice, such as addiction. "Informed choice" in this sense is compatible with paternalism. This paternalism can be seen in public health policies such as deceptive advertising and the treatment of "bad habits" as addictions. Libertarians are bound to object to this. In the concluding section, however, it is suggested that public health can, nonetheless, find ethical succour from alternative approaches.

Seminar presentation on the economic evaluation of the space shuttle system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

The proceedings of a seminar on the economic aspects of the space shuttle system are presented. Emphasis was placed on the problems of economic analysis of large scale public investments, the state of the art of cost estimation, the statistical data base for estimating costs of new technological systems, and the role of the main economic parameters affecting the results of the analyses. An explanation of the system components of a space program and the present choice of launch vehicles, spacecraft, and instruments was conducted.

Design and analysis of simple choice surveys for natural resource management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fieberg, John; Cornicelli, Louis; Fulton, David C.; Grund, Marrett D.

2010-01-01

We used a simple yet powerful method for judging public support for management actions from randomized surveys. We asked respondents to rank choices (representing management regulations under consideration) according to their preference, and we then used discrete choice models to estimate probability of choosing among options (conditional on the set of options presented to respondents). Because choices may share similar unmodeled characteristics, the multinomial logit model, commonly applied to discrete choice data, may not be appropriate. We introduced the nested logit model, which offers a simple approach for incorporating correlation among choices. This forced choice survey approach provides a useful method of gathering public input; it is relatively easy to apply in practice, and the data are likely to be more informative than asking constituents to rate attractiveness of each option separately.

Politics, Religion and Morals: The Symbolism of Public Schooling for the Urban Middle-Class Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowe, Emma E.

2016-01-01

Research points to sections of the middle-class repopulating the "ordinary" urban public school and whilst there are key differences in how they are navigating public school choices, from "seeking a critical mass" to resisting traditional methods of choice and going "against-the-grain", or collectively campaigning for…

Charter School Quality and Parental Decision Making with School Choice. NBER Working Paper No. 11252

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanushek, Eric A.; Kain, John F.; Rivkin, Steven G.; Branch, Gregory F.

2005-01-01

Charter schools have become a very popular instrument for reforming public schools, because they expand choices, facilitate local innovation, and provide incentives for the regular public schools while remaining under public control. Despite their conceptual appeal, evaluating their performance has been hindered by the selective nature of their…

Animal and human bite injuries: a 5-year retrospective study in a large urban public hospital in Venezuela.

PubMed

Gelvez, Muñoz; Enrique, Ruben; Gajos, Golaszewski; Bladimir, Jose; Carvajal, Diaz; Luis, Alvaro

2017-12-01

Animal bite injuries to the head and neck regions are an important public health problem. Most of these bites are from dogs. A 10-year retrospective study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of animal and human bites. This retrospective study was done from January 2011 to December 2016 and included 387 patients with a mean age of 21.51 years. Data collection included age, sex, days of hospitalization, lesion type, and clinical management. Majority of patients were in age group of 21-29 years, followed by 31-55 years. Out of the total 281 patients, 42 patients (51.60%) were males and 34 patients (48.40%) were females. Mean hospital stay was 7.2 days with a minimum of 5 days and a maximum of 12 days. Surgical management included cleansing and primary closure of the wound. We concluded that the use of empiric antibiotic prophylaxis is essential for management of facial animal bite, and the antibiotic of first choice is amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. The aim of immediate surgical repair (< 6 h) is to avoid infections. The persistence of dog bite is public health problem in Venezuela.

Individual Differences in Strategy Use on Division Problems: Mental versus Written Computation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hickendorff, Marian; van Putten, Cornelis M.; Verhelst, Norman D.; Heiser, Willem J.

2010-01-01

Individual differences in strategy use (choice and accuracy) were analyzed. A sample of 362 Grade 6 students solved complex division problems under 2 different conditions. In the choice condition students were allowed to use either a mental or a written strategy. In the subsequent no-choice condition, they were required to use a written strategy.…

[Psychological, social and cultural factors of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents in México].

PubMed

Martínez-Munguía, Carlos; Navarro-Contreras, Gabriela

2014-01-01

Child obesity is a serious problem of public health in México. If we don't reverse it quickly, it will generate unsustainable economical consequences to the health institutions in this country, as well as serious health problems. This article reviews some psychological, social and cultural factors in the health-illness process, in particular in relation to food choices, the function of the family, and the food-related parental practices, changes in physical activity, and the role of media. As a conclusion, we can say it is very important to take into account psychological and cultural aspects, as well as the family as a whole in the creation of public policies in the fight against the obesity epidemic. Other fundamental aspect to bear in mind is the generation and effective monitoring of regulations on food advertising, particularly that aimed to children, and also in regards to a labelling of edible products accessible to all people. An interdisciplinary work is essential to generate synergies that help us to control obesity in the first place, and then to be able to reverse this problem, without disregarding the role of prevention.

Improving the public health sector in South Africa: eliciting public preferences using a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Honda, Ayako; Ryan, Mandy; van Niekerk, Robert; McIntyre, Diane

2015-06-01

The introduction of national health insurance (NHI), aimed at achieving universal coverage, is the most important issue currently on the South African health policy agenda. Improvement in public sector health-care provision is crucial for the successful implementation of NHI as, regardless of whether health-care services become more affordable and available, if the quality of the services provided is not acceptable, people will not use the services. Although there has been criticism of the quality of public sector health services, limited research is available to identify what communities regard as the greatest problems with the services. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was undertaken to elicit public preferences on key dimensions of quality of care when selecting public health facilities in South Africa. Qualitative methods were applied to establish attributes and levels for the DCE. To elicit preferences, interviews with community members were held in two South African provinces: 491 in Western Cape and 499 in Eastern Cape. The availability of necessary medicine at health facilities has the greatest impact on the probability of attending public health facilities. Other clinical quality attributes (i.e. provision of expert advice and provision of a thorough examination) are more valued than non-clinical quality of care attributes (i.e. staff attitude, treatment by doctors or nurses, and waiting time). Treatment by a doctor was less valued than all other attributes. Communities are prepared to tolerate public sector health service characteristics such as a long waiting time, poor staff attitudes and lack of direct access to doctors if they receive the medicine they need, a thorough examination and a clear explanation of the diagnosis and prescribed treatment from health professionals. These findings prioritize issues that the South African government must address in order to meet their commitment to improve public sector health-care service provision. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014; all rights reserved.

Assessment of health seeking behaviour and self-medication among general public in the state of Penang, Malaysia.

PubMed

Dawood, Omar T; Hassali, Mohamed A; Saleem, Fahad; Ibrahim, Inas R; Abdulameer, Aseel H; Jasim, Hanan H

2017-01-01

Patients' behaviour in making decisions regarding health is currently changing from passive recipients to recipients who play an active role in taking action to control their health and taking self-care initiatives. This study was conducted to evaluate the health seeking behaviour among general public and its associated factors; and to evaluate the medicine taking behaviour in public and the practice of self-medication. A cross-sectional study was undertaken among general public in Penang Island, Malaysia. A convenience sampling of 888 participants successfully completed the survey. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the residents in the north east of Penang Island. This study showed that most of the participants chose to consult the physician when they experience any health problems (66.7%), followed by self-medication (20.9%). The first action for consulting the physician was significantly predicted by Malay respondents and retired people (OR 3.05, 95% CI 1.04-8.89). The prevalence of self-medication was 54%. The practice of self-medication was significantly associated with Chinese participants, educated people, people with alone living status and people with more self-care orientation. Increasing the awareness of the public about the rational choice of getting medical assistance is a very important issue to control their health. A health education program is needed to increase the awareness about the use of medicines among the general public and to enable them to make the right decisions relating to health problems.

SOFIA's Choice: Automating the Scheduling of Airborne Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frank, Jeremy; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

This paper describes the problem of scheduling observations for an airborne telescope. Given a set of prioritized observations to choose from, and a wide range of complex constraints governing legitimate choices and orderings, how can we efficiently and effectively create a valid flight plan which supports high priority observations? This problem is quite different from scheduling problems which are routinely solved automatically in industry. For instance, the problem requires making choices which lead to other choices later, and contains many interacting complex constraints over both discrete and continuous variables. Furthermore, new types of constraints may be added as the fundamental problem changes. As a result of these features, this problem cannot be solved by traditional scheduling techniques. The problem resembles other problems in NASA and industry, from observation scheduling for rovers and other science instruments to vehicle routing. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In 2 we describe the observatory in order to provide some background. In 3 we describe the problem of scheduling a single flight. In 4 we compare flight planning and other scheduling problems and argue that traditional techniques are not sufficient to solve this problem. We also mention similar complex scheduling problems which may benefit from efforts to solve this problem. In 5 we describe an approach for solving this problem based on research into a similar problem, that of scheduling observations for a space-borne probe. In 6 we discuss extensions of the flight planning problem as well as other problems which are similar to flight planning. In 7 we conclude and discuss future work.

76 FR 29004 - Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB; Emergency Comment Request Choice...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-19

... investment in well-functioning services, effective schools and education programs, public assets, public transportation and improved access to jobs. Choice Neighborhoods grants will primarily fund the transformation of...

Choosing Schools and Choosing Content: The Case of Career and Technical Education. Issue Focus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Rachel

2017-01-01

The public discussion around school choice often focuses on the types of schools families can choose from--public, charter, magnet, or private--and the importance of having a choice, rather than on the content of what they may be choosing. In the high school choice process, some form of career and technical education (CTE) is likely to arise as an…

Effect of the Presence of External Representations on Accuracy and Reaction Time in Solving Mathematical Double-Choice Problems by Students of Different Levels of Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leikin, Roza; Leikin, Mark; Waisman, Ilana; Shaul, Shelley

2013-01-01

This study explores the effects of the "presence of external representations of a mathematical object" (ERs) on problem solving performance associated with short double-choice problems. The problems were borrowed from secondary school algebra and geometry, and the ERs were either formulas, graphs of functions, or drawings of geometric…

Visual Attention for Solving Multiple-Choice Science Problem: An Eye-Tracking Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Meng-Jung; Hou, Huei-Tse; Lai, Meng-Lung; Liu, Wan-Yi; Yang, Fang-Ying

2012-01-01

This study employed an eye-tracking technique to examine students' visual attention when solving a multiple-choice science problem. Six university students participated in a problem-solving task to predict occurrences of landslide hazards from four images representing four combinations of four factors. Participants' responses and visual attention…

Distortion of some of the basic principles of public health practice in India.

PubMed

Banerji, Debabar

2006-01-01

India's political leadership has chosen personnel from the Indian Administrative Service cadre of generalist administrators and from the clinician-dominated cadre of the Central Health Services to run the country's health service system. The personnel's inadequate or distorted understanding of some of the basic principles of public health practice--such as developing an epidemiological approach to solving community health problems, choice of appropriate technology, and optimization of health service systems--has had a very deleterious effect on the health service system. These administrators have become vulnerable to manipulation by personnel from international agencies, who also have questionable public health credentials, to create space for imposition of their technocentric, ill-conceived, and ill-designed agenda. To rationalize adoption of such an obviously faulty agenda, they have to be ahistorical, apolitical, and atheoretical and indulge in misinformation, disinformation, and suppression and manipulation of information. This amounts to what Navarro has termed "intellectual fascism."

Insecticides against headlice in Glasgow.

PubMed

Lindsay, S W; Peock, S

1993-08-01

A postal questionnaire for describing current practices of insecticide usage for the prevention and treatment of pediculosis was sent to 53 pharmacists in Glasgow. 91% returned completed questionnaires. Between 19,000 to 36,000 bottles of insecticide against headlice were bought by the public in Glasgow in 1991. Most of these were sold in small volumes (less than 100 ml) and sales were highest during the autumn. Although pharmacists sold a range of different classes of insecticide, the most popular were those that contained malathion, the treatment for pediculosis recommended by the Health Board. Choice of treatment was probably influenced by advice given to the public by pharmacists and general practitioners. Clients preferred shampoo formulations. There was evidence that treatments were used prophylactically against headlice. However, there was little indication of large scale resistance to insecticides in the louse population. The results indicate that headlice remain a persistent problem in Glasgow, despite the public adhering to the advice of health professionals.

The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice.

PubMed

Tversky, A; Kahneman, D

1981-01-30

The psychological principles that govern the perception of decision problems and the evaluation of probabilities and outcomes produce predictable shifts of preference when the same problem is framed in different ways. Reversals of preference are demonstrated in choices regarding monetary outcomes, both hypothetical and real, and in questions pertaining to the loss of human lives. The effects of frames on preferences are compared to the effects of perspectives on perceptual appearance. The dependence of preferences on the formulation of decision problems is a significant concern for the theory of rational choice.

Measuring mental illness stigma with diminished social desirability effects.

PubMed

Michaels, Patrick J; Corrigan, Patrick W

2013-06-01

For persons with mental illness, stigma diminishes employment and independent living opportunities as well as participation in psychiatric care. Public stigma interventions have sought to ameliorate these consequences. Evaluation of anti-stigma programs' impact is typically accomplished with self-report questionnaires. However, cultural mores encourage endorsement of answers that are socially preferred rather than one's true belief. This problem, social desirability, has been circumvented through development of faux knowledge tests (KTs) (i.e., Error-Choice Tests); written to assess prejudice. Our KT uses error-choice test methodology to assess stigmatizing attitudes. Test content was derived from review of typical KTs for façade reinforcement. Answer endorsement suggests bias or stigma; such determinations were based on the empirical literature. KT psychometrics were examined in samples of college students, community members and mental health providers and consumers. Test-retest reliability ranged from fair (0.50) to good (0.70). Construct validity analyses of public stigma indicated a positive relationship with the Attribution Questionnaire and inverse relationships with Self-Determination and Empowerment Scales. No significant relationships were observed with self-stigma measures (recovery, empowerment). This psychometric evaluation study suggests that a self-administered questionnaire may circumvent social desirability and have merit as a stigma measurement tool.

A review of chemosensory perceptions, food preferences and food-related behaviours in subjects with Prader-Willi Syndrome.

PubMed

Martínez Michel, Lorelei; Haqq, Andrea M; Wismer, Wendy V

2016-04-01

Hyperphagia and obsessive preoccupation with food are hallmark characteristics of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). Although hyperphagia in PWS is linked to hypothalamic dysfunction, the underlying mechanisms behind this problem are poorly understood. Moreover, our understanding of how chemosensory perceptions and food choice/preferences relate to hyperphagia in individuals with PWS is very limited. This narrative review synthesizes studies that assessed chemosensory perceptions, food choices and food-related behaviours in PWS individuals and highlights knowledge gaps in research for further exploration. Twenty seven publications from relevant databases met inclusion criteria and were organized thematically by study technique in the review. Results suggested that PWS individuals have consistent preferences for sweet tastes and in most studies have exhibited a preference for calorie-dense foods over lower calorie foods. No firm conclusions were drawn concerning the chemosensory perceptions of PWS individuals and their influence on food preferences or choices; chemosensation among PWS individuals is an understudied topic. Current evidence suggests that eating behaviour in PWS is a complex phenomenon that involves a dysfunctional satiation and not excessive hunger. Food preferences, choices, and related behaviours and the impact of these on obesity management in those with PWS remain poorly understood and require further study using validated tools and methodologies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Palatability and efficacy of bromadiolone rodenticide block bait previously exposed to environmental conditions.

PubMed

Nakagawa, Lia; de Masi, Eduardo; Narciso, Emerson; Neto, Hildebrando Montenegro; Papini, Solange

2015-10-01

In São Paulo city, rodent infestation is considered to be a serious public health problem and is the object of a municipal rodent control programme. One of the most important routine methods involves baiting in sewers, using bromadiolone block bait in a pulsed baiting strategy. It has been observed that, after each pulse, bait is not always consumed, and its appearance is altered, which has led to concerns about efficacy. We assessed whether exposure to sewer conditions influences the palatability and efficacy of rodenticide baits to Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus). Baits containing bromadiolone as active ingredient were placed in sewers, removed after 30 days and offered to rats in a two-choice food trial and a no-choice food trial. The appearance of the rodenticide baits changed after 30 days exposure to sewer conditions, but they continued to be palatable and effective against rats. The level of mortality was considered to be satisfactory, 75% in the two-choice food trial and 100% in the no-choice food trial. Results support the reuse of rodenticide block bait in rodent control. It seems to be justified to continue using/reuse baits even when their appearance has changed after 30 days exposure in sewer systems. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

An Exploration of Dual Systems via Time Pressure Manipulation in Decision-making Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Lisa

Every day, decisions need to be made where time is a limiting factor. Regardless of situation, time constraints often place a premium on rapid decision-making. Researchers have been interested in studying this human behavior and understanding its underlying cognitive processes. In previous studies, scientists have believed that the cognitive processes underlying decision-making behavior were consistent with dual-process modes of thinking. Critics of dual-process theory question the vagueness of its definition, and claim that single-process accounts can explain the data just as well. My aim is to elucidate the cognitive processes that underlie decisions which involve some level of risk through the experimental manipulation of time pressure. Using this method, I hope to distinguish between competing hypotheses related to the origin of the effect. I will explore three types of decisions that illustrate these concepts: risky decision-making involving gambles, intertemporal choice, and one-shot public goods games involving social cooperation. In our experiments, participants made decisions about gambles framed as either gains or losses; decided upon intertemporal choices for smaller but sooner rewards or larger but later rewards; and played a one-shot public goods game involving social cooperation and contributing an amount of money to a group. In each case, we experimentally manipulated time pressure, either within subjects or among individuals. Results showed under time pressure, increased framing effects under in both hypothetical and incentivized choices; and greater contributions and cooperation among individuals, lending support to the dual process hypothesis that these effects arise from a fast, intuitive system. However, our intertemporal choice experiment showed that time constraints led to increased selection of the larger but later options, which suggests that the magnitude of the reward may play larger role in choice selection under cognitive load than previously studied. This diverges from the current dual-process interpretation that myopic choices under time pressure favor smaller but sooner rewards, and suggests that more studies are needed in this realm to disentangle the intuitive from the deliberative system through the manipulation of cognitive load.

The problem of obesity and dietary nudges.

PubMed

White, Eliah J

2018-01-01

From a psychological perspective, Cass R. Sunstein's 2016 book The Ethics of Influence is an insightful examination of the ethics of using social and cognitive psychological principles to influence behavior and decision-making. The United States has been experiencing what can only be described as an obesity epidemic. Scientists know that this epidemic has been brought about in part by the prevailing choice architecture, which influences what we eat, how much we eat, and how little we exercise. From a public health perspective, the policy issue centers on how a democracy can employ a combination of bans, mandates, and nudges to reshape our dietary habits to combat obesity. In this article, I will address how policymakers must nudge and change the existing psychological and physical choice architecture to combat obesity. The obesity epidemic cannot be won solely by increasing taxes, mandates, and bans on certain food items as that infringes on the personal liberty, welfare, autonomy, and dignity of citizens.

Reversing the Use of Hobson's Choice: Culturally Relevant Assessment and Treatment Practices for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners with Problem Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obiakor, Festus E.; Gibson, Lenwood

2015-01-01

Hobson's Choice is a psychological philosophy that prescribes a "take-it-or-leave-it" approach when addressing the problematic behaviors of students. Logically, this choice provides a traditional order in the classroom and gives teachers and service providers the sole power and authority to manage problem behaviors. For many students…

On the Policy Structure and Orientation of Governing the School Choice Problem in China's Basic Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Zhi-yong

2009-01-01

The paper analyzes the nature of the basic education, and points out that the scarcity, disparity and exclusiveness to a certain degree form the inner reasons of school choice in China. In review of the policy evolution of governing the school choice problems, and analyzing the policy framework of the current stage, the paper holds that expanding…

Forging the future: the public health imperative.

PubMed Central

Allukian, M

1993-01-01

During the 1980s, national policy promoted military expenditures and downsized domestic programs. These priorities, along with tax reform and deregulation, created a "domestic gulf crisis" with a new wave of vulnerable populations--poor children, the homeless, the elderly, and the uninsured. Our lack of a national health program compounds the problem. The 1990s will be a decade of change and challenge. To forge a healthier and stronger future for our nation, we must implement five public health imperatives: (1) We must have a national health program that is universal, comprehensive, and prevention-oriented, with built-in assurances for quality, efficiency, and a strong public health infrastructure. (2) We must have a comprehensive national health education and promotion program for all schoolchildren. (3) Women must have freedom of choice. (4) Prevention and public health must become one of our country's highest health priorities. (5) The federal government must increase its leadership, commitments, and resources to reach the goals set forth in Healthy Communities 2000 and Healthy People 2000. PMID:8484444

Forging the future: the public health imperative.

PubMed

Allukian, M

1993-05-01

During the 1980s, national policy promoted military expenditures and downsized domestic programs. These priorities, along with tax reform and deregulation, created a "domestic gulf crisis" with a new wave of vulnerable populations--poor children, the homeless, the elderly, and the uninsured. Our lack of a national health program compounds the problem. The 1990s will be a decade of change and challenge. To forge a healthier and stronger future for our nation, we must implement five public health imperatives: (1) We must have a national health program that is universal, comprehensive, and prevention-oriented, with built-in assurances for quality, efficiency, and a strong public health infrastructure. (2) We must have a comprehensive national health education and promotion program for all schoolchildren. (3) Women must have freedom of choice. (4) Prevention and public health must become one of our country's highest health priorities. (5) The federal government must increase its leadership, commitments, and resources to reach the goals set forth in Healthy Communities 2000 and Healthy People 2000.

An analysis of choice making in the assessment of young children with severe behavior problems.

PubMed

Harding, J W; Wacker, D P; Berg, W K; Cooper, L J; Asmus, J; Mlela, K; Muller, J

1999-01-01

We examined how positive and negative reinforcement influenced time allocation, occurrence of problem behavior, and completion of parent instructions during a concurrent choice assessment with 2 preschool-aged children who displayed severe problem behavior in their homes. The children were given a series of concurrent choice options that varied availability of parent attention, access to preferred toys, and presentation of parent instructions. The results showed that both children consistently allocated their time to choice areas that included parent attention when no instructions were presented. When parent attention choice areas included the presentation of instructions, the children displayed differential patterns of behavior that appeared to be influenced by the presence or absence of preferred toys. The results extended previous applications of reinforcer assessment procedures by analyzing the relative influence of both positive and negative reinforcement within a concurrent-operants paradigm.

State Disinvestment, Technologies of Choice and "Fitting In": Neoliberal Transformations in US Public Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Convertino, Christina

2017-01-01

Given state cuts to US public education, overcrowding and underfunding in urban district schools continue to grow. Yet, how parents understand the role of state disinvestment on underfunded and overcrowded public schools remains relatively unexamined. Drawing from an ethnographic study of school choice in Arizona, I explore how a group of white…

North Carolina Traditional Public School Principals' Perspectives about Charter Schools: A Qualitative Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eslinger Jones, Amy Susan

2014-01-01

The purpose of this research was to analyze North Carolina traditional public school principals' perspectives about and experiences with charter schools. A history of school choice in America was explored, as well as the changing role of public school principals. This dissertation presented a thorough review of the literature on school choice and…

What makes a problem an ethical problem? An empirical perspective on the nature of ethical problems in general practice

PubMed Central

Braunack-Mayer, A. J.

2001-01-01

Whilst there has been considerable debate about the fit between moral theory and moral reasoning in everyday life, the way in which moral problems are defined has rarely been questioned. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with 15 general practitioners (GPs) in South Australia to argue that the way in which the bioethics literature defines an ethical dilemma captures only some of the range of lay views about the nature of ethical problems. The bioethics literature has defined ethical dilemmas in terms of conflict and choice between values, beliefs and options for action. While some of the views of some of the GPs in this study about the nature of their ethical dilemmas certainly accorded with this definition, other explanations of the ethical nature of their problems revolved around the publicity associated with the issues they were discussing, concern about their relationships with patients, and anxiety about threats to their integrity and reputation. The variety of views about what makes a problem a moral problem indicates that the moral domain is perhaps wider and richer than mainstream bioethics would generally allow. Key Words: Empirical ethics • general practice • qualitative research PMID:11314166

What's in Your Portfolio? How Parents Rank Traditional Public, Private, and Charter Schools in Post-Katrina New Orleans' Citywide System of School Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lincove, Jane A.; Cowen, Joshua M.; Imbrogno, Jason P.

2018-01-01

We examine the characteristics of schools preferred by parents in New Orleans, Louisiana, where a "portfolio" of school choices is available. This tests the conditions under which school choice induces healthy competition between public and private schools through the threat of student exit. Using unique data from parent applications to…

Patterns of Problem-Solving in Children's Literacy and Arithmetic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farrington-Flint, Lee; Vanuxem-Cotterill, Sophie; Stiller, James

2009-01-01

Patterns of problem-solving among 5-to-7 year-olds' were examined on a range of literacy (reading and spelling) and arithmetic-based (addition and subtraction) problem-solving tasks using verbal self-reports to monitor strategy choice. The results showed higher levels of variability in the children's strategy choice across Years 1 and 2 on the…

Energy in America: Progress and Potential.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Petroleum Inst., Washington, DC.

An overview of America's energy situation is presented with emphasis on recent progress, the risk of depending upon foreign oil, and policy choices. Section one reviews the energy problems of the 1970s, issues of the 1980s, concerns for the future, and choices that if made today could alleviate future problems. Section two examines past problems,…

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE ANALYSIS OF RESIDENTIAL PREFERENCES, RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY, AND NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGE1

PubMed Central

Bruch, Elizabeth E.; Mare, Robert D.

2011-01-01

This paper reviews methods for analyzing both individual preferences and choices about where to live, and the implications of these choices for residential patterns. Although these methods are discussed in the context of residential choice, they can be applied more broadly to individual choices in a range of social contexts where behavior is interdependent. We review a variety of types of data on residential preferences and mobility and discuss appropriate statistical models for these data. We discuss the analysis of ranked and other types of clustered data; functional form issues; problems of unobserved heterogeneity in individuals and in neighborhoods; and strengths and weaknesses of stated preference data versus observations of actual mobility behavior. We also discuss specific problems with residential mobility data, including the treatment of one’s current location as a potential choice, how to specify the choice set of potential movers, the aggregation of units (such as dwelling units into neighborhoods) and the need to take account of variations in neighborhood size, the problem of very large choice sets and possible sampling solutions; and the link between residential mobility and patterns of neighborhood change. PMID:23476098

A Cross-National Analysis of the Relations of School Choice and Effectiveness Differences between Private-Dependent and Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dronkers, Jaap; Avram, Silvia

2010-01-01

We apply propensity score matching to the estimation of differential school effectiveness between the publicly funded private sector and the public sector in a sample of 26 countries. This technique allows us to distinguish between school choice and school effectiveness processes and thus to account for selectivity issues involved in the…

Review of "Promising Start: An Empirical Analysis of How EdChoice Vouchers Affect Ohio Public Schools"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lubienski, Christopher

2008-01-01

A Friedman Foundation report attempts to find empirical support for the contention that competition from private schools, through voucher programs, improves the effectiveness of public schools. In the first year of Ohio's new EdChoice voucher program, the report claims to have found substantial academic gains at public schools exposed to the…

Neoliberal Imaginary, School Choice, and "New Elites" in Public Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Ee-Seul

2016-01-01

There has been a growing concentration of high-achieving students attending selective public schools of choice as part of the neoliberal reforms of education. While this growth has had an eroding effect on the aim of inclusivity in public education, few have explored this development as a new segment of elite schooling. This paper fills this gap…

Cost containment for the public health.

PubMed

Eastaugh, Steven R

2006-01-01

The U.S. health care system has major problems with respect to patient access and cost control. Trimming excess hospital expenses and expanding public health activities are cost effective. By budgeting well, with global budgets set for the high cost sectors, the United States might emerge with lower tax hikes, a healthier population, better facilities, and enhanced access to service. Nations with global budgets have better health statistics, and lower costs, compared to the United States. With global budgets, these countries employ 75 to 85 percent fewer employees in administration and regulation, but patient satisfaction is almost double the rate in the United States. Implement a global budget for health care, or substantially raise taxes, is the basic choice faced in this country. Key words: global budget control cost containment.

Sugar-sweetened beverages coverage in the British media: an analysis of public health advocacy versus pro-industry messaging

PubMed Central

Elliott-Green, Alex; Hyseni, Lirije; Lloyd-Williams, Ffion; Bromley, Helen; Capewell, Simon

2016-01-01

Objectives To assess the extent of media-based public health advocacy versus pro-industry messaging regarding sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Design We conducted a systematic analysis to identify and examine all articles regarding SSBs published in all mainstream British print newspapers and their online news websites from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014. We initially conducted a brief literature search to develop appropriate search terms and categorisations for grouping and analysing the articles. Articles were then coded according to the publishing newspaper, article type, topic, prominence and slant (pro-SSB or anti-SSB). A contextual analysis was undertaken to examine key messages in the articles. Results We identified 374 articles published during 2014. The majority of articles (81%) suggested that SSBs are unhealthy. Messaging from experts, campaign groups and health organisations was fairly consistent about the detrimental effects of SSB on health. However, relatively few articles assessed any approaches or solutions to potentially combat the problems associated with SSBs. Only one-quarter (24%) suggested any policy change. Meanwhile, articles concerning the food industry produced consistent messages emphasising consumer choice and individual responsibility for making choices regarding SSB consumption, and promoting and advertising their products. The food industry thus often managed to avoid association with the negative press that their products were receiving. Conclusions SSBs were frequently published in mainstream British print newspapers and their online news websites during 2014. Public health media advocacy was prominent throughout, with a growing consensus that sugary drinks are bad for people's health. However, the challenge for public health will be to mobilise supportive public opinion to help implement effective regulatory policies. Only then will our population's excess consumption of SSBs come under control. PMID:27436666

Asymmetrically dominated choice problems, the isolation hypothesis and random incentive mechanisms.

PubMed

Cox, James C; Sadiraj, Vjollca; Schmidt, Ulrich

2014-01-01

This paper presents an experimental study of the random incentive mechanisms which are a standard procedure in economic and psychological experiments. Random incentive mechanisms have several advantages but are incentive-compatible only if responses to the single tasks are independent. This is true if either the independence axiom of expected utility theory or the isolation hypothesis of prospect theory holds. We present a simple test of this in the context of choice under risk. In the baseline (one task) treatment we observe risk behavior in a given choice problem. We show that by integrating a second, asymmetrically dominated choice problem in a random incentive mechanism risk behavior can be manipulated systematically. This implies that the isolation hypothesis is violated and the random incentive mechanism does not elicit true preferences in our example.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of nudging to increase fruit and vegetable choice.

PubMed

Broers, Valérie J V; De Breucker, Céline; Van den Broucke, Stephan; Luminet, Olivier

2017-10-01

Nudging refers to interventions that organize the choice architecture in order to alter people's behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. As a strategy to encourage healthy behaviour, nudging can serve as a complement to health education. However, the empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of nudging as a way to influence food choice remains contradictory. To address this issue, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to test the effects of nudging to encourage people to select more fruit and vegetables. A systematic literature search was performed on PubMed, Medline, PsycInfo, Cochrane library, Scopus and Google Scholar. After quality assessment, 20 articles (23 studies) were retained for narrative synthesis. Twelve articles (14 studies) contained enough information to calculate effect-sizes for meta-analysis using Comprehensive Meta-analysis software. The meta-analysis shows that nudging interventions that aim to increase fruit and/or vegetable choice/sales/servings have a moderately significant effect (d = 0.30), with the largest effect for altering placement (d = 0.39) and combined nudges (d = 0.28). The results of this review provide an indication of the effectiveness of nudging on fruit and vegetable choice in terms of actual effect-sizes, while also highlighting the problems that must be addressed before more definitive conclusions can be drawn. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

The relationship between urban forests and income: A meta-analysis.

PubMed

Gerrish, Ed; Watkins, Shannon Lea

2018-02-01

Urban trees provide substantial public health and public environmental benefits. However, scholarly works suggest that urban trees may be unequally distributed among poor and minority urban communities, meaning that these communities are potentially being deprived of public environmental benefits, a form of environmental injustice. The evidence of this problem is not uniform however, and evidence of inequity varies in size and significance across studies. This variation in results suggests the need for a research synthesis and meta-analysis. We employed a systematic literature search to identify original studies which examined the relationship between urban forest cover and income (n=61) and coded each effect size (n=332). We used meta-analytic techniques to estimate the average (unconditional) relationship between urban forest cover and income and to estimate the impact that methodological choices, measurement, publication characteristics, and study site characteristics had on the magnitude of that relationship. We leveraged variation in study methodology to evaluate the extent to which results were sensitive to methodological choices often debated in the geographic and environmental justice literature but not yet evaluated in environmental amenities research. We found evidence of income-based inequity in urban forest cover (unconditional mean effect size = 0.098; s.e. = .017) that was robust across most measurement and methodological strategies in original studies and results did not differ systematically with study site characteristics. Studies that controlled for spatial autocorrelation, a violation of independent errors, found evidence of substantially less urban forest inequity; future research in this area should test and correct for spatial autocorrelation.

Public's Views toward Return of Secondary Results in Genomic Sequencing: It's (Almost) All about the Choice.

PubMed

Ryan, Kerry A; De Vries, Raymond G; Uhlmann, Wendy R; Roberts, J Scott; Gornick, Michele C

2017-12-01

The therapeutic use of genomic sequencing creates novel and unresolved questions about cost, clinical efficacy, access, and the disclosure of sequencing results. The disclosure of the secondary results of sequencing poses a particularly challenging ethical problem. Experts disagree about which results should be shared and public input - especially important for the creation of disclosure policies - is complicated by the complex nature of genetics. Recognizing the value of deliberative democratic methods for soliciting informed public opinion on matters like these, we recruited participants from a clinical research site for an all-day deliberative democracy (DD) session. Participants were introduced to the clinical and ethical issues associated with genomic sequencing, after which they discussed the tradeoffs and offered their opinions about policies for the return of secondary results. Participants (n = 66; mean age = 57 (SD = 15); 70% female; 76% white) were divided into 10 small groups (5 to 8 participants each) allowing interactive deliberation on policy options for the return of three categories of secondary results: 1) medically actionable results; 2) risks for adult-onset disorders identified in children; and 3) carrier status for autosomal recessive disorders. In our qualitative analysis of the session transcripts, we found that while participants favored choice and had a preference for making information available, they also acknowledged the risks (and benefits) of learning such information. Our research reveals the nuanced reasoning used by members of the public when weighing the pros and cons of receiving genomic information, enriching our understanding of the findings of surveys of attitudes regarding access to secondary results.

Public School Choice: Let the Education Buyer Beware.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gainey, Donald D.

1995-01-01

Within an open-market system, educators must confront a basic philosophical conflict between equity and excellence. Public school choice requires that educators review all existing rules, roles, and relationships related to school practice and adequately address new competition, accountability, and assessment challenges. Schools must have…

Intertemporal bargaining predicts moral behavior, even in anonymous, one-shot economic games.

PubMed

Ainslie, George

2013-02-01

To the extent that acting fairly is in an individual’s long-term interest, short-term impulses to cheat present a self-control problem. The only effective solution is to interpret the problem as a variant of repeated prisoner’s dilemma, with each choice as a test case predicting future choices. Moral choice appears to be the product of a contract because it comes from self-enforcing intertemporal cooperation.

The young, the old, and the economists: rethinking how agencies account for age in cost-benefit analysis.

PubMed

Herz-Roiphe, Daniel

2014-01-01

Federal agencies count all fatalities prevented by regulation as having the same value for the purposes of cost-benefit analysis, making no adjustment for the age of the person saved. This uniform valuation is guided by empirical studies that find that the young are not willing to pay more than the elderly for small risk reductions in private markets. This Note argues for a different approach. It proposes that agencies take account of a previously ignored body of "public choice" research that finds that most individuals think government should adopt lifesaving programs that benefit the young over those that benefit the old. These data illustrate a divergence between people's private and public preferences. While the economic theory that guides current agency practice prioritizes the former over the latter, this Note argues that it should be the other way around. The Note maintains that public choice data reflect a wider range of societal commitments than individual willingness-to-pay metrics, and therefore that the use of public choice data could help agencies satisfy their mandate under Executive Order 13,563 to engage in broader forms of analysis. The Note also posits that public choice data actually provide a better guide to the welfare consequences of prioritizing lifesaving regulations for different age groups than do individual willingness-to-pay data. It accordingly recommends a new system of age adjustment based on public choice results.

The Economic and Fiscal Costs of Failing to Reform K-12 Education in Georgia. School Choice Issues in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottlob, Brian J.

2009-01-01

This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Georgia, and examines how policies that increase school choice, such as the recently-enacted tuition tax credit scholarship program will provide large public benefits by increasing public school graduation rates. The study calculates the annual cost of Georgia dropouts caused by…

The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Texas. School Choice Issues in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottlob, Brian J.

2008-01-01

Research has documented a crisis in Texas high school graduation rates. Only 67 percent of Texas students graduate from high school, and some large urban districts have graduation rates of 50 percent or lower. This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Texas and examines how school choice could provide large public benefits…

Middle-Class School Choice in Urban Spaces: The Economics of Public Schooling and Globalized Education Reform. Routledge Research in Education Policy and Politics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowe, Emma E.

2016-01-01

"Middle-class School Choice in Urban Spaces" examines government funded public schools from a range of perspectives and scholarship in order to examine the historical, political and economic conditions of public schooling within a globalized, post-welfare context. In this book, Rowe argues that post-welfare policy conditions are…

More Choice Isn't Always Better

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schuller, Tom

2012-01-01

Choice is important to everyone, for one's identity as well as one's material satisfaction. Everyone has choices, but even the head of state's choices are constrained. In recent years choice has risen up the political agenda in the UK. It has become a key component of the drive to reform public services such as health and education. The…

Target for improvement: a cluster randomised trial of public involvement in quality-indicator prioritisation (intervention development and study protocol)

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Public priorities for improvement often differ from those of clinicians and managers. Public involvement has been proposed as a way to bridge the gap between professional and public clinical care priorities but has not been studied in the context of quality-indicator choice. Our objective is to assess the feasibility and impact of public involvement on quality-indicator choice and agreement with public priorities. Methods We will conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial comparing quality-indicator prioritisation with and without public involvement. In preparation for the trial, we developed a 'menu' of quality indicators, based on a systematic review of existing validated indicator sets. Participants (public representatives, clinicians, and managers) will be recruited from six participating sites. In intervention sites, public representatives will be involved through direct participation (public representatives, clinicians, and managers will deliberate together to agree on quality-indicator choice and use) and consultation (individual public recommendations for improvement will be collected and presented to decision makers). In control sites, only clinicians and managers will take part in the prioritisation process. Data on quality-indicator choice and intended use will be collected. Our primary outcome will compare quality-indicator choice and agreement with public priorities between intervention and control groups. A process evaluation based on direct observation, videorecording, and participants' assessment will be conducted to help explain the study's results. The marginal cost of public involvement will also be assessed. Discussion We identified 801 quality indicators that met our inclusion criteria. An expert panel agreed on a final set of 37 items containing validated quality indicators relevant for chronic disease prevention and management in primary care. We pilot tested our public-involvement intervention with 27 participants (11 public representatives and 16 clinicians and managers) and our study instruments with an additional 21 participants, which demonstrated the feasibility of the intervention and generated important insights and adaptations to engage public representatives more effectively. To our knowledge, this study is the first trial of public involvement in quality-indicator prioritisation, and its results could foster more effective upstream engagement of patients and the public in clinical practice improvement. Trial registration NTR2496 (Netherlands National Trial Register, http://www.trialregister.nl). PMID:21554691

Planning for Parent Choice: A Guide to Parent Surveys and Parent Involvement in Planning for Parent and Professional Choice in the Public Schools. [Parent Choice and the Public Schools: Volume 2].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clinchy, Evans

This guide, second in a series of four volumes, offers a method of surveying parents' attitudes about choosing schools for their children and provides a survey instrument used over a period of 5 years in four Massachusetts urban school districts. Section 1 introduces the basic research questions pursued in the survey. Section 2, "The Parent…

The Pressure for Choice: An Analysis of a Series of "Traditional School" Proposals to School Boards in B.C. with Regard to Establishing Schools of Choice within the Public System. Research Series #2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coleman, Peter

During 1994 to 1996, 15 school districts in British Columbia, Canada, received proposals to establish alternative public schools of choice based on the effective school model. These became commonly known as "traditional schools." Most of the proposals were denied, but four elementary schools were in existence by early 1998 and three…

Development of Proportional Reasoning: Where Young Children Go Wrong

PubMed Central

Boyer, Ty W.; Levine, Susan C.; Huttenlocher, Janellen

2008-01-01

Previous studies have found that children have difficulty solving proportional reasoning problems involving discrete units until 10- to 12-years of age, but can solve parallel problems involving continuous quantities by 6-years of age. The present studies examine where children go wrong in processing proportions that involve discrete quantities. A computerized proportional equivalence choice task was administered to kindergartners through fourth-graders in Study 1, and to first- and third-graders in Study 2. Both studies involved four between-subjects conditions that were formed by pairing continuous and discrete target proportions with continuous and discrete choice alternatives. In Study 1, target and choice alternatives were presented simultaneously and in Study 2 target and choice alternatives were presented sequentially. In both studies, children performed significantly worse when both the target and choice alternatives were represented with discrete quantities than when either or both of the proportions involved continuous quantities. Taken together, these findings indicate that children go astray on proportional reasoning problems involving discrete units only when a numerical match is possible, suggesting that their difficulty is due to an overextension of numerical equivalence concepts to proportional equivalence problems. PMID:18793078

Use of Photovoice in addiction.

PubMed

Miller Heery, Gretchen Hope

2013-09-01

The addiction to narcotic substances is an increasing public health problem. Addiction relapse is preventable. Photovoice may increase the success rate by offering a deeper perspective, insight, dimension of feeling, and perception connecting with those who feel disconnected. This process uses cameras, discussion groups, storyboards, and interaction to thread through difficult discussion points created by the participant. Understanding the process of recovery from opioid substance abuse creates an opportunity to maintain socially acceptable behaviors and decreases the risk of participating in illegal activities and making poor choices. Photovoice allows for creative expression of thought by bypassing cognitive defenses. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of health seeking behaviour and self-medication among general public in the state of Penang, Malaysia

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Background: Patients’ behaviour in making decisions regarding health is currently changing from passive recipients to recipients who play an active role in taking action to control their health and taking self-care initiatives. Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the health seeking behaviour among general public and its associated factors; and to evaluate the medicine taking behaviour in public and the practice of self-medication. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken among general public in Penang Island, Malaysia. A convenience sampling of 888 participants successfully completed the survey. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the residents in the north east of Penang Island. Results: This study showed that most of the participants chose to consult the physician when they experience any health problems (66.7%), followed by self-medication (20.9%). The first action for consulting the physician was significantly predicted by Malay respondents and retired people (OR 3.05, 95% CI 1.04-8.89). The prevalence of self-medication was 54%. The practice of self-medication was significantly associated with Chinese participants, educated people, people with alone living status and people with more self-care orientation. Conclusion: Increasing the awareness of the public about the rational choice of getting medical assistance is a very important issue to control their health. A health education program is needed to increase the awareness about the use of medicines among the general public and to enable them to make the right decisions relating to health problems. PMID:28943981

The public's opinions of physicians: do perceived choice and exercised choice matter?

PubMed

Tai-Seale, Ming; Pescosolido, Bernice

2003-09-01

To assess whether the public's opinions of physicians are affected by one's perceived ability to choose providers and by past experience with switching providers or health plans. Cross-sectional survey of the American general public in 1998. Multivariate quantitative analyses of opinions according to respondents' perceived ability to choose providers, history of exercising choice of providers or plans, and health status. Exploratory factor analyses resulted in 4 scales of opinions: trusting personal physician, positive opinions of physicians as a group, negative opinions of physicians as a group, and concerns about the influence of managed care on personal physicians' practice patterns. Although 75% (879/1172) of the sample perceived that they could use any physician they wanted, only 20% had ever switched health providers or plans owing to dissatisfaction. Perceived lack of choice is associated with lower levels of trust in personal physicians and with higher levels of concern about the influence of managed care on personal physicians. Individuals who have not switched in the past are more positive about physicians as a group and are less concerned about the influence of managed care. Health status affected opinions significantly. Educational attainment is negatively associated with opinions. The public's opinions of physicians are significantly associated with one's perceived ability to choose any provider, past experience with switching health providers or plans, health status, and education. Ensuring consumer choice of providers and targeting those who have switched in the past and the sick could potentially improve the public's opinions. Meaningful provider quality information is necessary to ensure choices that can enhance consumer welfare.

Hobson's Choice: Illusory Intervention Choice for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners with Problem Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obiakor, Festus E.

2012-01-01

Hobson's choice is a "no-choice" choice that gives general and special educators the traditional impetus to do what they want in classrooms. While there is some "goodness" in having this power and audacity to control whatever happens in classrooms, it does not allow for creativity, flexibility, adaptability, modification, especially in behavior…

Agency and Choice in Education: Does School Choice Enhance the Work Effort of Teachers?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rapp, Geoffrey C.

2000-01-01

Investigates effects of school-choice laws on U.S. teachers' work incentives, using 1993-94 Schools and Staffing Survey data. Examines whether school system competitiveness works to solve the principal-agent problem in education. Results are mixed, but suggest that one type of choice policy--intradistrict choice--enhances teacher motivation.…

K-12 Schools: The Effect of Public School Choices on Marine Families’ Co-Location Decisions

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

homeschool the child/children, or enroll in the new installation’s public school system. Each of these choices comes at a cost which changes based on...location. For instance, if the local public schools are considered to be of high quality, the cost associated with enrolling in that school is low; if...the form of private school tuition, or can be thought of in terms of opportunity costs for tuition-free public schools. Every family has a different

Bridging the Gap Between Planning and Scheduling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, David E.; Frank, Jeremy; Jonsson, Ari K.; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Planning research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has often focused on problems where there are cascading levels of action choice and complex interactions between actions. In contrast. Scheduling research has focused on much larger problems where there is little action choice, but the resulting ordering problem is hard. In this paper, we give an overview of M planning and scheduling techniques, focusing on their similarities, differences, and limitations. We also argue that many difficult practical problems lie somewhere between planning and scheduling, and that neither area has the right set of tools for solving these vexing problems.

[Delayed reactions of active avoidance in white rats under conditions of an alternative choice].

PubMed

Ioseliani, T K; Sikharulidze, N I; Kadagishvili, A Ia; Mitashvili, E G

1995-01-01

It was shown that if the rats had been learned and then tested using conventional pain punishment of erroneous choice they were able to solve the problem of alternative choice only in the period of immediate action of conditioned stimuli. If the pain punishment for erroneously chosen compartment had not been applied in animal learning and testing, rats successfully solved the problem of alternative choice even after 5-second delay. Introduction of pain punishment led to the frustration of earlier elaborated delayed avoidance reactions. Analysis of the obtained results allows us to argue that the apparent incapability of white rats for solving the problems of delayed avoidance is caused by simultaneous action of two different mechanisms, i.e., those of the active and passive avoidance rather than short-term memory deficit.

Customer Choice Would Advance Renewable Energy

Science.gov Websites

Customer Choice Would Advance Renewable Energy Golden, Colo., Oct. 31, 2001 Giving consumers a , but the recent suspension of customer choice in California represents a setback to the development of of market rules and public policies that support customer choice. The full report, "Forecasting

Policy Expansion of School Choice in the American States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Kenneth K.; Langevin, Warren E.

2007-01-01

This research study explores the policy expansion of school choice within the methodological approach of event history analysis. The first section provides a comparative overview of state adoption of public school choice laws. After creating a statistical portrait of the contemporary landscape for school choice, the authors introduce event history…

Labour Market Motivation and Undergraduates' Choice of Degree Subject

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davies, Peter; Mangan, Jean; Hughes, Amanda; Slack, Kim

2013-01-01

Labour market outcomes of undergraduates' choice of subject are important for public policy and for students. Policy interest is indicated by the prominence of "employability" in public discourse and in proposals to concentrate government funding in England in supporting STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).…

The Carrot or the Stick for School Desegregation Policy?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rossell, Christine H.

1990-01-01

Compares the public-choice model for school desegregation, which involves parents choosing magnet schools, to the command-and-control model, which involves mandatory reassignment plans, in order to evaluate the desegregation effectiveness of each plan. The public-choice model works for school desegregation. Mandatory reassignment produces more…

42 CFR 405.455 - Application to Medicare+Choice contracts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Application to Medicare+Choice contracts. 405.455 Section 405.455 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES MEDICARE PROGRAM FEDERAL HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE AGED AND DISABLED Private Contracts § 405.455...

42 CFR 431.51 - Free choice of providers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., except the plan for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or Guam, must provide as follows: (1) Except as... 42 Public Health 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Free choice of providers. 431.51 Section 431.51 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES...

Educational Accountability in a Regulated Market

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Jacob E., Jr.; Hill, Paul T.

2006-01-01

Public debate about school choice is often polarized between those who favor and oppose total free markets in education. However, the serious intellectual work on choice focuses on more moderate alternatives that involve a mixture of public and private accountability. A regulated market model of educational accountability would mix government…

Choice in Public Education. CPRE Joint Note Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elmore, Richard F.

The current debate on educational choice concerns whether locally centralized school systems of the kind that predominate in the public school sector are responsive to and can accommodate the diversity of educational consumers' preferences. Section I analyzes policy options and illustrates how policymakers, by examining a range of solutions to the…

Golden Rule: Living Up to Its Name.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rooney, J. Patrick

1992-01-01

Discusses the Golden Rule Insurance Company's educational choice program which assists lower-income families in sending children to private/church schools. Identifies benefits (e.g., introduction of public school choice plan, and families' sense of control over future). Answers criticisms (e.g., destroying public school system, racial motivation,…

Using respondent uncertainty to mitigate hypothetical bias in a stated choice experiment

Treesearch

Richard C. Ready; Patricia A. Champ; Jennifer L. Lawton

2010-01-01

In a choice experiment study, willingness to pay for a public good estimated from hypothetical choices was three times as large as willingness to pay estimated from choices requiring actual payment. This hypothetical bias was related to the stated level of certainty of respondents. We develop protocols to measure respondent certainty in the context of a choice...

Step by Step: Biology Undergraduates’ Problem-Solving Procedures during Multiple-Choice Assessment

PubMed Central

Prevost, Luanna B.; Lemons, Paula P.

2016-01-01

This study uses the theoretical framework of domain-specific problem solving to explore the procedures students use to solve multiple-choice problems about biology concepts. We designed several multiple-choice problems and administered them on four exams. We trained students to produce written descriptions of how they solved the problem, and this allowed us to systematically investigate their problem-solving procedures. We identified a range of procedures and organized them as domain general, domain specific, or hybrid. We also identified domain-general and domain-specific errors made by students during problem solving. We found that students use domain-general and hybrid procedures more frequently when solving lower-order problems than higher-order problems, while they use domain-specific procedures more frequently when solving higher-order problems. Additionally, the more domain-specific procedures students used, the higher the likelihood that they would answer the problem correctly, up to five procedures. However, if students used just one domain-general procedure, they were as likely to answer the problem correctly as if they had used two to five domain-general procedures. Our findings provide a categorization scheme and framework for additional research on biology problem solving and suggest several important implications for researchers and instructors. PMID:27909021

A typology of intellectual property management for public health innovation and access: design considerations for policymakers.

PubMed

Taubman, Antony

2010-01-19

This paper seeks to set the practical discipline of public interest intellectual property (IP) management in public health into its broader policy context. The most immediate and direct impact of IP systems on public welfare results not from international standards nor from national legislation - though these norms are fundamentally important - but rather from the accumulated impact of numerous practical choices whether or not to seek IP protection; where and where not; and how any exclusive rights are deployed, by whom, and to what end. IP management is the essentially practical exercise of limited exclusive rights over protected subject matter, the judicious use of those rights to leverage outcomes that advance an institution's or a firm's objectives. Exclusive rights are used to construct and define knowledge-based relationships, to leverage access to technology and other necessary resources, and to enhance market-based incentives. IP management choices range across a broad spectrum, spanning public domain strategies, open or exclusive licensing, and strong exclusivity. The idea of 'exclusive rights', as a specific legal mechanism, can run counter to expectations of greater openness and accessibility, but actual outcomes will depend very much on how these mechanisms are used in practice. For public interest or public sector institutions concerned with health research and development, particularly the development of new medicines, IP management choices can be just as critical as they are for private firms, although a predominant institutional concentration on advancing direct public interest objectives may lead to significantly different approaches in weighing and exercising practical choices for IP management: even so, a private sector approach should not be conflated with exclusivity as an end in itself, nor need public interest IP management eschew all leverage over IP. This paper offers a tentative framework for a richer typology of those choices, to give a sense of practical options available and the factors that might guide their application, but without advocating any particular approach.

A Typology of Intellectual Property Management for Public Health Innovation and Access: Design Considerations for Policymakers§

PubMed Central

Taubman, Antony

2010-01-01

This paper seeks to set the practical discipline of public interest intellectual property (IP) management in public health into its broader policy context. The most immediate and direct impact of IP systems on public welfare results not from international standards nor from national legislation – though these norms are fundamentally important - but rather from the accumulated impact of numerous practical choices whether or not to seek IP protection; where and where not; and how any exclusive rights are deployed, by whom, and to what end. IP management is the essentially practical exercise of limited exclusive rights over protected subject matter, the judicious use of those rights to leverage outcomes that advance an institution's or a firm's objectives. Exclusive rights are used to construct and define knowledge-based relationships, to leverage access to technology and other necessary resources, and to enhance market-based incentives. IP management choices range across a broad spectrum, spanning public domain strategies, open or exclusive licensing, and strong exclusivity. The idea of ‘exclusive rights’, as a specific legal mechanism, can run counter to expectations of greater openness and accessibility, but actual outcomes will depend very much on how these mechanisms are used in practice. For public interest or public sector institutions concerned with health research and development, particularly the development of new medicines, IP management choices can be just as critical as they are for private firms, although a predominant institutional concentration on advancing direct public interest objectives may lead to significantly different approaches in weighing and exercising practical choices for IP management: even so, a private sector approach should not be conflated with exclusivity as an end in itself, nor need public interest IP management eschew all leverage over IP. This paper offers a tentative framework for a richer typology of those choices, to give a sense of practical options available and the factors that might guide their application, but without advocating any particular approach. PMID:20517487

Uncertainty reasoning in expert systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kreinovich, Vladik

1993-01-01

Intelligent control is a very successful way to transform the expert's knowledge of the type 'if the velocity is big and the distance from the object is small, hit the brakes and decelerate as fast as possible' into an actual control. To apply this transformation, one must choose appropriate methods for reasoning with uncertainty, i.e., one must: (1) choose the representation for words like 'small', 'big'; (2) choose operations corresponding to 'and' and 'or'; (3) choose a method that transforms the resulting uncertain control recommendations into a precise control strategy. The wrong choice can drastically affect the quality of the resulting control, so the problem of choosing the right procedure is very important. From a mathematical viewpoint these choice problems correspond to non-linear optimization and are therefore extremely difficult. In this project, a new mathematical formalism (based on group theory) is developed that allows us to solve the problem of optimal choice and thus: (1) explain why the existing choices are really the best (in some situations); (2) explain a rather mysterious fact that fuzzy control (i.e., control based on the experts' knowledge) is often better than the control by these same experts; and (3) give choice recommendations for the cases when traditional choices do not work.

Cross-sectional analysis of food choice frequency, sleep confounding beverages, and psychological distress predictors of sleep quality.

PubMed

Knowlden, Adam P; Burns, Maranda; Harcrow, Andy; Shewmake, Meghan E

2016-03-16

Poor sleep quality is a significant public health problem. The role of nutrition in predicting sleep quality is a relatively unexplored area of inquiry. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the capacity of 10 food choice categories, sleep confounding beverages, and psychological distress to predict the sleep quality of college students. A logistic regression model comprising 10 food choice variables (healthy proteins, unhealthy proteins, healthy dairy, unhealthy dairy, healthy grains, unhealthy grains, healthy fruits and vegetables, unhealthy empty calories, healthy beverages, unhealthy beverages), sleep confounding beverages (caffeinated/alcoholic beverages), as well as psychological distress (low, moderate, serious distress) was computed to determine the capacity of the variables to predict sleep quality (good/poor). The odds of poor sleep quality were 32.4% lower for each unit of increased frequency of healthy proteins consumed (p<0.001; OR=0.676), 14.1% lower for each unit of increased frequency of healthy dairy food choices consumed (p=0.024; OR=0.859), 13.1% higher for each unit of increased frequency of empty calorie food choices consumed (p=0.003; OR=1.131), and 107.3% higher for those classified in the moderate psychological distress (p=0.016; OR=2.073). Collectively, healthy proteins, healthy dairy, unhealthy empty calories, and moderate psychological distress were moderately predictive of sleep quality in the sample (Nagelkerke R2=23.8%). Results of the study suggested higher frequency of consumption of healthy protein and healthy dairy food choices reduced the odds of poor sleep quality, while higher consumption of empty calories and moderate psychological distress increased the odds of poor sleep quality.

Social phobia: diagnosis and epidemiology, neurobiology and pharmacology, comorbidity and treatment.

PubMed

Brunello, N; den Boer, J A; Judd, L L; Kasper, S; Kelsey, J E; Lader, M; Lecrubier, Y; Lepine, J P; Lydiard, R B; Mendlewicz, J; Montgomery, S A; Racagni, G; Stein, M B; Wittchen, H U

2000-10-01

Social phobia is a common disorder associated with significant psychosocial impairment, representing a substantial public health problem largely determined by the high prevalence, and the lifelong chronicity. Social phobia starts in early childhood or adolescence and is often comorbid with depression, other anxiety disorders, alcohol and substance abuse or eating disorders. This cascade of comorbidity, usually secondary to social phobia, increases the disability associated with the condition. The possibility that social phobia may be a trigger for later developing comorbid disorders directs attention to the need for early effective treatment as a preventive measure. The most recent drug class to be investigated for the psychopharmacological treatment of social phobia is the SSRI group for which there is growing support. The other drug classes that have been evaluated are monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), benzodiazepines, and beta-blockers. The SSRIs represent a new and attractive therapeutic choice for patients with generalized social phobia. Recently the first, large scale, placebo-controlled study to assess the efficacy of drug treatment in generalized social phobia has been completed with paroxetine. Paroxetine was more effective in reducing the symptoms than placebo and was well tolerated. Many now regard SSRIs as the drugs of choice in social phobia because of their effectiveness and because they avoid the problems of treatment with benzodiazepines or classical MAOIs.

Public Mood and Consumption Choices: Evidence from Sales of Sony Cameras on Taobao

PubMed Central

Ma, Qingguo; Zhang, Wuke

2015-01-01

Previous researchers have tried to predict social and economic phenomena with indicators of public mood, which were extracted from online data. This method has been proved to be feasible in many areas such as financial markets, economic operations and even national suicide numbers. However, few previous researches have examined the relationship between public mood and consumption choices at society level. The present study paid attention to the “Diaoyu Island” event, and extracted Chinese public mood data toward Japan from Sina MicroBlog (the biggest social media in China), which demonstrated a significant cross-correlation between the public mood variable and sales of Sony cameras on Taobao (the biggest Chinese e-business company). Afterwards, several candidate predictors of sales were examined and finally three significant stepwise regression models were obtained. Results of models estimation showed that significance (F-statistics), R-square and predictive accuracy (MAPE) all improved due to inclusion of public mood variable. These results indicate that public mood is significantly associated with consumption choices and may be of value in sales forecasting for particular products. PMID:25902358

Public mood and consumption choices: evidence from sales of Sony cameras on Taobao.

PubMed

Ma, Qingguo; Zhang, Wuke

2015-01-01

Previous researchers have tried to predict social and economic phenomena with indicators of public mood, which were extracted from online data. This method has been proved to be feasible in many areas such as financial markets, economic operations and even national suicide numbers. However, few previous researches have examined the relationship between public mood and consumption choices at society level. The present study paid attention to the "Diaoyu Island" event, and extracted Chinese public mood data toward Japan from Sina MicroBlog (the biggest social media in China), which demonstrated a significant cross-correlation between the public mood variable and sales of Sony cameras on Taobao (the biggest Chinese e-business company). Afterwards, several candidate predictors of sales were examined and finally three significant stepwise regression models were obtained. Results of models estimation showed that significance (F-statistics), R-square and predictive accuracy (MAPE) all improved due to inclusion of public mood variable. These results indicate that public mood is significantly associated with consumption choices and may be of value in sales forecasting for particular products.

Parental Voucher Enrollment Decisions: Choice within Choice in New Orleans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beabout, Brian R.; Cambre, Belinda M.

2013-01-01

Set in the context of a choice-saturated public school system, this study examines the school choice process of low-income parents who participated in Louisiana's 2008 voucher program. Based on semistructured interviews with 16 parents at 1 Catholic school, we report that spirituality, small class and school size, character/values, familiarity,…

Faith, Education, and Choice: A Study of the Educational Choices of Catholic Parents in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, N.Y

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bott, Christopher Bruce

2017-01-01

School choice is a research topic that is often associated with public funds supporting educational alternatives. While much of the school choice research literature focuses on this category, additional types of school choice merit examination. This study examines how Catholic parents chose high schools for their children within the geographic…

An Introductory Summary of Various Effect Size Choices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cromwell, Susan

This paper provides a tutorial summary of some of the many effect size choices so that members of the Southwest Educational Research Association would be better able to follow the recommendations of the American Psychological Association (APA) publication manual, the APA Task Force on Statistical Inference, and the publication requirements of some…

Why Continuous Improvement Is a Poor Substitute for School Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, David C.; Rochester, J. Martin

2008-01-01

Efforts to introduce school choice have produced pressures on public schools to improve their performance. As a result, many public schools have embraced the total quality management principle of continuous improvement. In this article we explain that while this may be well intentioned, it may have perverse unintended consequences. A likely…

76 FR 35232 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment; Housing Choice Voucher Program...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-16

... Information Collection for Public Comment; Housing Choice Voucher Program Administrative Fee Study Pretest... Program Administrative Fee Study Pretest. Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use... collection approaches at between 5 and 10 PHAs across the country. The results of the pretest will be used to...

School Choice Outcomes in Post-Katrina New Orleans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zimmerman, Jill M.; Vaughan, Debra Y.

2013-01-01

Today, over 80% of public school students in New Orleans attend charter schools, and just 37% of students attend school in their neighborhood (Louisiana Department of Education, 2011; Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, 2011). This study examines school choice participation and outcomes in New Orleans by analyzing the extent…

On the Political Economy of Educational Vouchers. NBER Working Paper No. 17986

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Epple, Dennis N.; Romano, Richard

2012-01-01

Two significant challenges hamper analyses of collective choice of educational vouchers. One is the multi-dimensional choice set arising from the interdependence of the voucher, public education spending, and taxation. The other is that household preferences between public and private schooling vary with the policy chosen. Even absent a voucher,…

Exploring the Competitive Effects of Charter Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carpenter, Dick M., II; Medina, Paul M.

2011-01-01

Central to the debate over school choice has been the question of how public schools respond to market-based competition. Many choice advocates suggest that competition can spur public schools to become more effective and efficient, but the evidence regarding the effect of competition from charters is comparably sparse and mixed. This article…

School Choice in Spain and the United States: A Comparative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Umpstead, Regina; Jankens, Benjamin; Ortega Gil, Pablo; Weiss, Linda; Umpstead, Bruce

2016-01-01

This article explores issues of school choice in Spain and the United States by examining the roles and functions of "centros concertados," publicly funded private schools in Spain, and public charter schools in the United States, to provide key insights into the similarities and differences between them. After making a national…

Reproductive policy and the social construction of motherhood.

PubMed

Bonnie, Stabile

2016-01-01

Reproductive technologies allow women to embrace or forgo motherhood, but a woman's ability to make autonomous reproductive choices depends on access to these technologies. In the United States, public policies - laws, regulations, appropriations, and rulings - have either broadened or narrowed this access. Have U.S. public policies affecting reproductive choices conformed to attitudinal distinctions about motherhood itself? I identified policies covering infertility, contraception, and abortion and examined them contextually within the Ingram-Schneider social construction framework. Women's choices fell within social construction quadrants as being positively portrayed and powerful; negatively portrayed but powerful; positively portrayed but powerless; and negatively portrayed and powerless. Married heterosexual women embracing motherhood were likely to be viewed positively and to reap benefits. Women forgoing motherhood, poor women, and women seeking to form nontraditional families were likely to be viewed negatively and to bear burdens; critical among these burdens was restriction of access to technologies that could be used to support a decision to avoid motherhood or to achieve motherhood through nontraditional methods. Yes, U.S. public policies affecting reproductive choices have conformed to attitudinal distinctions about motherhood itself. These policies may also have altered those choices.

Prioritising health service innovation investments using public preferences: a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Erdem, Seda; Thompson, Carl

2014-08-28

Prioritising scarce resources for investment in innovation by publically funded health systems is unavoidable. Many healthcare systems wish to foster transparency and accountability in the decisions they make by incorporating the public in decision-making processes. This paper presents a unique conceptual approach exploring the public's preferences for health service innovations by viewing healthcare innovations as 'bundles' of characteristics. This decompositional approach allows policy-makers to compare numerous competing health service innovations without repeatedly administering surveys for specific innovation choices. A Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was used to elicit preferences. Individuals chose from presented innovation options that they believe the UK National Health Service (NHS) should invest the most in. Innovations differed according to: (i) target population; (ii) target age; (iii) implementation time; (iv) uncertainty associated with their likely effects; (v) potential health benefits; and, (vi) cost to a taxpayer. This approach fosters multidimensional decision-making, rather than imposing a single decision criterion (e.g., cost, target age) in prioritisation. Choice data was then analysed using scale-adjusted Latent Class models to investigate variability in preferences and scale and valuations amongst respondents. Three latent classes with considerable heterogeneity in the preferences were present. Each latent class is composed of two consumer subgroups varying in the level of certainty in their choices. All groups preferred scientifically proven innovations, those with potential health benefits that cost less. There were, however, some important differences in their preferences for innovation investment choices: Class-1 (54%) prefers innovations benefitting adults and young people and does not prefer innovations targeting people with 'drug addiction' and 'obesity'. Class- 2 (34%) prefers innovations targeting 'cancer' patients only and has negative preferences for innovations targeting elderly, and Class-3 (12%) prefers spending on elderly and cancer patients the most. DCE can help policy-makers incorporate public preferences for health service innovation investment choices into decision making. The findings provide useful information on the public's valuation and acceptability of potential health service innovations. Such information can be used to guide innovation prioritisation decisions by comparing competing innovation options. The approach in this paper makes, these often implicit and opaque decisions, more transparent and explicit.

"The way to break the taboo is to do the taboo thing" breastfeeding in public and citizen-activism in the UK.

PubMed

Boyer, Kate

2011-03-01

Like other forms of infant feeding, breastfeeding is a fundamental act of care. Yet despite being the recommended way of feeding babies, breastfeeding is not always easy to do. In addition to lack of support, bio-physical problems and the need to return to work; discomfort with breastfeeding in public is a factor shaping infant feeding choice (and the decision to stop breastfeeding specifically). With increased awareness of breast milk's health benefits in recent years, there has been a rise in efforts to make breastfeeding in public more commonplace and socially acceptable (including through lactation advocacy or "lactivism"). This paper considers breastfeeding in public and lactation advocacy in the UK through interviews with lactation activists, non-activist breastfeeding mothers, and participant-observation at two breastfeeding picnics held in 2009. Building on existing scholarship in Geography, I suggest that lactivism can be understood as an effort to expand the boundaries of where care-work is allowed to take place: thus constituting a form of "care-work activism". Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kolkata Paise Restaurant Problem: An Introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Asim; Biswas, Soumyajyoti; Chatterjee, Arnab; Chakrabarti, Anindya Sundar; Naskar, Tapan; Mitra, Manipushpak; Chakrabarti, Bikas K.

We discuss several stochastic optimization strategies in games with many players having large number of choices (Kolkata Paise Restaurant Problem) and two choices (minority game problem). It is seen that a stochastic crowd avoiding strategy gives very efficient utilization in KPR problem. A slightly modified strategy in the minority game problem gives full utilization but the dynamics stops after reaching full efficiency, thereby making the utilization helpful for only about half of the population (those in minority). We further discuss the ways in which the dynamics may be continued and the utilization becomes effective for all the agents keeping fluctuation arbitrarily small.

Lost in the crowd? Using eye-tracking to investigate the effect of complexity on attribute non-attendance in discrete choice experiments.

PubMed

Spinks, Jean; Mortimer, Duncan

2016-02-03

The provision of additional information is often assumed to improve consumption decisions, allowing consumers to more accurately weigh the costs and benefits of alternatives. However, increasing the complexity of decision problems may prompt changes in information processing. This is particularly relevant for experimental methods such as discrete choice experiments (DCEs) where the researcher can manipulate the complexity of the decision problem. The primary aims of this study are (i) to test whether consumers actually process additional information in an already complex decision problem, and (ii) consider the implications of any such 'complexity-driven' changes in information processing for design and analysis of DCEs. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) is used to simulate a complex decision problem; here, the choice between complementary and conventional medicine for different health conditions. Eye-tracking technology is used to capture the number of times and the duration that a participant looks at any part of a computer screen during completion of DCE choice sets. From this we can analyse what has become known in the DCE literature as 'attribute non-attendance' (ANA). Using data from 32 participants, we model the likelihood of ANA as a function of choice set complexity and respondent characteristics using fixed and random effects models to account for repeated choice set completion. We also model whether participants are consistent with regard to which characteristics (attributes) they consider across choice sets. We find that complexity is the strongest predictor of ANA when other possible influences, such as time pressure, ordering effects, survey specific effects and socio-demographic variables (including proxies for prior experience with the decision problem) are considered. We also find that most participants do not apply a consistent information processing strategy across choice sets. Eye-tracking technology shows promise as a way of obtaining additional information from consumer research, improving DCE design, and informing the design of policy measures. With regards to DCE design, results from the present study suggest that eye-tracking data can identify the point at which adding complexity (and realism) to DCE choice scenarios becomes self-defeating due to unacceptable increases in ANA. Eye-tracking data therefore has clear application in the construction of guidelines for DCE design and during piloting of DCE choice scenarios. With regards to design of policy measures such as labelling requirements for CAM and conventional medicines, the provision of additional information has the potential to make difficult decisions even harder and may not have the desired effect on decision-making.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN IMPULSIVE CHOICE AND TIMING IN RATS

PubMed Central

Galtress, Tiffany; Garcia, Ana; Kirkpatrick, Kimberly

2012-01-01

Individual differences in impulsive choice behavior have been linked to a variety of behavioral problems including substance abuse, smoking, gambling, and poor financial decision-making. Given the potential importance of individual differences in impulsive choice as a predictor of behavioral problems, the present study sought to measure the extent of individual differences in a normal sample of hooded Lister rats. Three experiments utilized variations of a delay discounting task to measure the degree of variation in impulsive choice behavior across individual rats. The individual differences accounted for 22–55% of the variance in choice behavior across the three experiments. In Experiments 2 and 3, the individual differences were still apparent when behavior was measured across multiple choice points. Large individual differences in the rate of responding, and modest individual differences in timing of responding were also observed during occasional peak trials. The individual differences in timing and rate, however, did not correlate consistently with individual differences in choice behavior. This suggests that a variety of factors may affect choice behavior, response rate, and response timing. PMID:22851792

Which factors decided general practitioners’ choice of hospital on behalf of their patients in an area with free choice of public hospital? A questionnaire study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Parts of New Public Management-reforms of the public sector depend on introduction of market-like mechanisms to manage the sector, like free choice of hospital. However, patients may delegate the choice of hospital to agents like general practitioners (GPs). We have investigated which factors Danish GPs reported as decisive for their choice of hospital on behalf of patients, and their utilisation of formal and informal data sources when they chose a hospital on behalf of patients. Methods Retrospective questionnaire study of all of the 474 GPs practising in three counties which constituted a single uptake area. Patients were free to choose a hospital in another county in the country. The GPs were asked about responsibility for choice of the latest three patients referred by the GP to hospital; which of 16 factors influenced the choice of hospital; which of 15 sources of information about clinical quality at various hospitals/departments were considered relevant, and how often were six sources of information about waiting time utilised. Results Fifty-one percent (240 GPs) filled in and returned the questionnaire. One hundred and eighty-three GPs (76%) reported that they perceived that they chose the hospital on behalf of the latest referred patient. Short distance to hospital was the most common reason for choice of hospital. The most frequently used source of information about quality at hospital departments was anecdotal reports from patients referred previously, and the most important source of information about waiting time was the hospitals’ letters of confirmation of referrals. Conclusions In an area with free choice of public hospital most GPs perceived that they chose the hospital on behalf of patients. Short distance to hospital was the factor which most often decided the GPs’ choice of hospital on behalf of patients. GPs attached little weight to official information on quality and service (waiting time) at hospitals or departments, focusing instead on informal sources like feedback from patients and colleagues and their experience with cooperation with the department or hospital. PMID:22630354

The impact of two multiple-choice question formats on the problem-solving strategies used by novices and experts.

PubMed

Coderre, Sylvain P; Harasym, Peter; Mandin, Henry; Fick, Gordon

2004-11-05

Pencil-and-paper examination formats, and specifically the standard, five-option multiple-choice question, have often been questioned as a means for assessing higher-order clinical reasoning or problem solving. This study firstly investigated whether two paper formats with differing number of alternatives (standard five-option and extended-matching questions) can test problem-solving abilities. Secondly, the impact of the alternatives number on psychometrics and problem-solving strategies was examined. Think-aloud protocols were collected to determine the problem-solving strategy used by experts and non-experts in answering Gastroenterology questions, across the two pencil-and-paper formats. The two formats demonstrated equal ability in testing problem-solving abilities, while the number of alternatives did not significantly impact psychometrics or problem-solving strategies utilized. These results support the notion that well-constructed multiple-choice questions can in fact test higher order clinical reasoning. Furthermore, it can be concluded that in testing clinical reasoning, the question stem, or content, remains more important than the number of alternatives.

Congestion patterns of electric vehicles with limited battery capacity.

PubMed

Jing, Wentao; Ramezani, Mohsen; An, Kun; Kim, Inhi

2018-01-01

The path choice behavior of battery electric vehicle (BEV) drivers is influenced by the lack of public charging stations, limited battery capacity, range anxiety and long battery charging time. This paper investigates the congestion/flow pattern captured by stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) traffic assignment problem in transportation networks with BEVs, where the BEV paths are restricted by their battery capacities. The BEV energy consumption is assumed to be a linear function of path length and path travel time, which addresses both path distance limit problem and road congestion effect. A mathematical programming model is proposed for the path-based SUE traffic assignment where the path cost is the sum of the corresponding link costs and a path specific out-of-energy penalty. We then apply the convergent Lagrangian dual method to transform the original problem into a concave maximization problem and develop a customized gradient projection algorithm to solve it. A column generation procedure is incorporated to generate the path set. Finally, two numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and the solution algorithm.

Congestion patterns of electric vehicles with limited battery capacity

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

The path choice behavior of battery electric vehicle (BEV) drivers is influenced by the lack of public charging stations, limited battery capacity, range anxiety and long battery charging time. This paper investigates the congestion/flow pattern captured by stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) traffic assignment problem in transportation networks with BEVs, where the BEV paths are restricted by their battery capacities. The BEV energy consumption is assumed to be a linear function of path length and path travel time, which addresses both path distance limit problem and road congestion effect. A mathematical programming model is proposed for the path-based SUE traffic assignment where the path cost is the sum of the corresponding link costs and a path specific out-of-energy penalty. We then apply the convergent Lagrangian dual method to transform the original problem into a concave maximization problem and develop a customized gradient projection algorithm to solve it. A column generation procedure is incorporated to generate the path set. Finally, two numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and the solution algorithm. PMID:29543875

Designing a Transportation System for a Parent Choice School District: A Transportation Supervisor's Handbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paller, Alan; And Others

This study was commissioned to investigate the special transportation problems in parent-choice school districts and to prepare a handbook to assist transportation supervisors in overcoming these problems. Intended for school districts that have alternative schools, open enrollment plans, magnet schools, or other kinds of parent and student choice…

Incorporating Choice and Preferred Activities into Classwide Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kern, Lee; State, Talida M.

2009-01-01

It is often said that the best intervention strategies prevent problem behaviors from starting in the first place. Two preventative strategies that teachers can use are choice making and incorporating preferred activities into classwide instruction. Not only do these strategies avoid problem behaviors, but teachers also find them easy to use in…

Controlling urban air pollution caused by households: uncertainty, prices, and income.

PubMed

Chávez, Carlos A; Stranlund, John K; Gómez, Walter

2011-10-01

We examine the control of air pollution caused by households burning wood for heating and cooking in the developing world. Since the problem is one of controlling emissions from nonpoint sources, regulations are likely to be directed at household choices of wood consumption and combustion technologies. Moreover, these choices are subtractions from, or contributions to, the pure public good of air quality. Consequently, the efficient policy design is not independent of the distribution of household income. Since it is unrealistic to assume that environmental authorities can make lump sum income transfers part of control policies, efficient control of air pollution caused by wood consumption entails a higher tax on wood consumption and a higher subsidy for more efficient combustion technologies for higher income households. Among other difficulties, implementing a policy to promote the adoption of cleaner combustion technologies must overcome the seemingly paradoxical result that efficient control calls for higher technology subsidies for higher income households. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Involving citizens in priority setting for public health research: Implementation in infection research.

PubMed

Rawson, Timothy M; Castro-Sánchez, Enrique; Charani, Esmita; Husson, Fran; Moore, Luke S P; Holmes, Alison H; Ahmad, Raheelah

2018-02-01

Public sources fund the majority of UK infection research, but citizens currently have no formal role in resource allocation. To explore the feasibility and willingness of citizens to engage in strategic decision making, we developed and tested a practical tool to capture public priorities for research. A scenario including six infection themes for funding was developed to assess citizen priorities for research funding. This was tested over two days at a university public festival. Votes were cast anonymously along with rationale for selection. The scenario was then implemented during a three-hour focus group exploring views on engagement in strategic decisions and in-depth evaluation of the tool. 188/491(38%) prioritized funding research into drug-resistant infections followed by emerging infections(18%). Results were similar between both days. Focus groups contained a total of 20 citizens with an equal gender split, range of ethnicities and ages ranging from 18 to >70 years. The tool was perceived as clear with participants able to make informed comparisons. Rationale for funding choices provided by voters and focus group participants are grouped into three major themes: (i) Information processing; (ii) Knowledge of the problem; (iii) Responsibility; and a unique theme within the focus groups (iv) The potential role of citizens in decision making. Divergent perceptions of relevance and confidence of "non-experts" as decision makers were expressed. Voting scenarios can be used to collect, en-masse, citizens' choices and rationale for research priorities. Ensuring adequate levels of citizen information and confidence is important to allow deployment in other formats. © 2017 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluation of Ohio's EdChoice Scholarship Program: Selection, Competition, and Performance Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Figlio, David; Karbownik, Krzysztof

2016-01-01

In June 2005, the State of Ohio enacted the Educational Choice Scholarship Program (EdChoice, initially called the Educational Choice Scholarship Pilot Program), which offered scholarships to students assigned to public schools considered consistently poor-performing by the Ohio Department of Education, to take effect during the 2006-07 academic…

To Choose or Not to Choose: High School Choice and Graduation in Chicago

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lauen, Douglas Lee

2009-01-01

School choice reforms have been proposed as ways to enhance efficiency, equity, and effectiveness in education. This study examines the consequences of participating in public high school choice in Chicago, a city with a wide variety of choice programs, including career academies, charter schools, magnet schools, and selective test-based college…

Recent Experience with Urban School Choice Plans. ERIC/CUE Digest Number 127.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cookson, Peter W., Jr.; Shroff, Sonali M.

School choice plans have been widely adopted, and most urban areas have a limited choice plan of some sort. This digest presents an overview of different choice strategies by reviewing the experiences of several urban areas. Minnesota has statewide open enrollment for all students, making all public schools throughout the state open to all…

Erasing the Myths on How School Choice Would Impact Texas Private Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibbons, Patrick

2013-01-01

For more than 20 years school choice programs have provided parents opportunities to send their children to public or private schools more suited to their needs. Choice and competition in education benefits students. Today, 21 states and Washington, D.C., have school choice programs serving more than one million students. Impressively, nine out of…

Expanding Choice: Tax Credits and Educational Access in Indiana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carpenter, Dick M., II; Ross, John K.

2009-01-01

One of the oldest and more popular forms of school choice in the United States is educational tax credits. Like many other types of school choice, educational tax credits enable parents to send their children to the K-12 school of their choice, public or private, religious or non-religious. One type of educational tax credits, tax-credit…

Estimating preferences for local public services using migration data.

PubMed

Dahlberg, Matz; Eklöf, Matias; Fredriksson, Peter; Jofre-Monseny, Jordi

2012-01-01

Using Swedish micro data, the paper examines the impact of local public services on community choice. The choice of community is modelled as a choice between a discrete set of alternatives. It is found that, given taxes, high spending on child care attracts migrants. Less conclusive results are obtained with respect to the role of spending on education and elderly care. High local taxes deter migrants. Relaxing the independence of the irrelevant alternatives assumption, by estimating a mixed logit model, has a significant impact on the results.

Influence of an Intermediate Option on the Description-Experience Gap and Information Search

PubMed Central

Sharma, Neha; Debnath, Shoubhik; Dutt, Varun

2018-01-01

Research shows that people tend to overweight small probabilities in description and underweight them in experience, thereby leading to a different pattern of choices between description and experience; a phenomenon known as the Description-Experience (DE) gap. However, little is known on how the addition of an intermediate option and contextual framing influences the DE gap and people’s search strategies. This paper tests the effects of an intermediate option and contextual framing on the DE gap and people’s search strategies, where problems require search for information before a consequential choice. In the first experiment, 120 participants made choice decisions across investment problems that differed in the absence or presence of an intermediate option. Results showed that adding an intermediate option did not reduce the DE gap on the maximizing option across a majority of problems. There were a large majority of choices for the intermediate option. Furthermore, there was an increase in switching between options due to the presence of the intermediate option. In the second experiment, 160 participants made choice decisions in problems like those presented in experiment 1; however, problems lacked the investment framing. Results replicated findings from the first experiment and showed a similar DE gap on the maximizing option in a majority of problems in both the absence and presence of the intermediate option. Again, there were a large majority of choices for the intermediate option. Also, there was an increase in switching between options due to the presence of the intermediate option. Meta-analyses revealed that the absence or presence of the intermediate option created certain differences in the strength of frequency and recency processes. Also, a single natural-mean heuristic model was able to account for the experimental results across both experiments. We discuss implications of our findings to consequential decisions made after information search. PMID:29643821

Influence of an Intermediate Option on the Description-Experience Gap and Information Search.

PubMed

Sharma, Neha; Debnath, Shoubhik; Dutt, Varun

2018-01-01

Research shows that people tend to overweight small probabilities in description and underweight them in experience, thereby leading to a different pattern of choices between description and experience; a phenomenon known as the Description-Experience (DE) gap. However, little is known on how the addition of an intermediate option and contextual framing influences the DE gap and people's search strategies. This paper tests the effects of an intermediate option and contextual framing on the DE gap and people's search strategies, where problems require search for information before a consequential choice. In the first experiment, 120 participants made choice decisions across investment problems that differed in the absence or presence of an intermediate option. Results showed that adding an intermediate option did not reduce the DE gap on the maximizing option across a majority of problems. There were a large majority of choices for the intermediate option. Furthermore, there was an increase in switching between options due to the presence of the intermediate option. In the second experiment, 160 participants made choice decisions in problems like those presented in experiment 1; however, problems lacked the investment framing. Results replicated findings from the first experiment and showed a similar DE gap on the maximizing option in a majority of problems in both the absence and presence of the intermediate option. Again, there were a large majority of choices for the intermediate option. Also, there was an increase in switching between options due to the presence of the intermediate option. Meta-analyses revealed that the absence or presence of the intermediate option created certain differences in the strength of frequency and recency processes. Also, a single natural-mean heuristic model was able to account for the experimental results across both experiments. We discuss implications of our findings to consequential decisions made after information search.

Lifestyle as an Influential Factor to Urban Mobility Transport: a Case Study of Semarang City, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ismiyati, I.; Hermawan, F.

2018-02-01

Most of urban spatial structures in developing countries apparently face a typical phenomenon, as well as in Indonesia. The development of the urban spatial structure has the effects, namely to create polycentric pattern (sprawl). Moreover, communication technology believes that the factors of distance and density are highly considered in the organization of the urban structure. In other words, a distance problem is overcome by communication technology, in terms of interaction among people; in running their activities, mobility or distance is not a problem at all. Urban structure as path which is dependent is unable to intervene for an optimum form of urban structure because of dynamic of development objectives. In facts, lifestyle of inhabitant particularly concerning residential and vehicle ownership influences the mobility transport on the tremendous changes in developing countries. On the contrary, this research points out that mobility transport contributes to transportation problems as it becomes increasingly inefficient. Therefore, a sporadic traffic jam and increasing carbon emission issues have risen on the urban phenomenon. It is important to investigate the lifestyle, in terms of residential choice and vehicle ownership to reshape the urban spatial structure. The research aims to draw the urban spatial growth which extends to the phenomenon process toward polycentric pattern and inefficient transport mobility patterns triggering transportation problems in the context of Indonesia. The results confirm that lifestyle regarding residential choices to suburban area and vehicle ownership preference are unable to create the efficient mobility transport, either by cost, density consequences or vehicle ownership as orientation. This research recommends the local authority from multi-disciplinary sector, in particular public policy making to issue permission for authority of land use; residential area and transport agencies for reconciliation with regard to life style aspects in urban spatial planning.

In search of the silver bullet: regulatory models to address childhood obesity.

PubMed

Rothenberg, Joan R

2010-01-01

The concern over obesity today has evolved beyond an issue of personal vanity to a serious national health issue affecting millions of Americans. Obesity in children is especially alarming. Overweight children and adolescents are at risk for health problems throughout their lives. While under-nutrition or diet insufficiencies were once major obstacles in the development of healthy infants and children, the epidemic of childhood obesity marks the start of the 21st century with equally menacing health consequences. Childhood obesity creates an increased burden of disease on our economy with increased indirect economic costs of time lost from work for parents and time lost from school for the child. Data raise the possibility that the current generation of children could suffer greater illness or experience a shorter lifespan than that of their parents. Some experts believe that government mandated restrictions on dietary choices would alleviate the obesity problem, while others find such actions to be an unwarranted government intrusion. Still, as concerns about obesity continue to grow, especially regarding children, some say government intervention of some type is necessary to solve the problem. This paper examines the history and factors involved in the childhood obesity epidemic, explores regulatory options for its resolution, and provides an overview of obesity as a serious challenge to public health, and the health of children in particular. The federal agencies who share the responsibility for regulating food in the United States and their efforts to address the obesity problem are discussed as a background to various state and federal regulatory models influencing dietary choices. The effectiveness of proposed regulations and alternatives to government intervention suggest that the resolution of the childhood obesity issue requires a coordinated, multilevel approach.

Genetic Algorithms for Multiple-Choice Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aickelin, Uwe

2010-04-01

This thesis investigates the use of problem-specific knowledge to enhance a genetic algorithm approach to multiple-choice optimisation problems.It shows that such information can significantly enhance performance, but that the choice of information and the way it is included are important factors for success.Two multiple-choice problems are considered.The first is constructing a feasible nurse roster that considers as many requests as possible.In the second problem, shops are allocated to locations in a mall subject to constraints and maximising the overall income.Genetic algorithms are chosen for their well-known robustness and ability to solve large and complex discrete optimisation problems.However, a survey of the literature reveals room for further research into generic ways to include constraints into a genetic algorithm framework.Hence, the main theme of this work is to balance feasibility and cost of solutions.In particular, co-operative co-evolution with hierarchical sub-populations, problem structure exploiting repair schemes and indirect genetic algorithms with self-adjusting decoder functions are identified as promising approaches.The research starts by applying standard genetic algorithms to the problems and explaining the failure of such approaches due to epistasis.To overcome this, problem-specific information is added in a variety of ways, some of which are designed to increase the number of feasible solutions found whilst others are intended to improve the quality of such solutions.As well as a theoretical discussion as to the underlying reasons for using each operator,extensive computational experiments are carried out on a variety of data.These show that the indirect approach relies less on problem structure and hence is easier to implement and superior in solution quality.

The Changing Landscape of School Choice in Canada: From Pluralism to Parental Preference?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bosetti, Lynn; Van Pelt, Deani; Allison, Derek J.

2017-01-01

This paper provides a descriptive account of the growing landscape of school choice in Canada through a comparative analysis of funding and student enrolment in the public, independent and home-based education sectors in each province. Given that the provinces have responsibility for K-12 education, the mixture of public, independent and home…

Public School Choice and Racial Sorting: An Examination of Charter Schools in Indianapolis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stein, Marc L.

2015-01-01

There has been a long-standing concern among education researchers and policy makers that public school choice may lead to increased racial isolation. Improving on aggregate comparisons, I examine the sorting of students into charter schools by tracking individual students from their charter school of enrollment back to the school they were…

Choice, Charters, and Public School Competition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanushek, Eric A.

2006-01-01

In the last century, public schools changed in ways that dramatically reduced the control that parents have over their local schools. Regaining that control is one key to improving the quality of our schools, and giving students a choice of schools is one way of increasing the influence that parents have over the way schools are run. Several…

The Inequalities in School Choice in Spain in Accordance to PISA Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Escardibul, Josep-Oriol; Villarroya, Anna

2009-01-01

In Spain as in other European countries, policies on school choice have been implemented in tandem with the channelling of public resources into private education. Given the application of public money to private schooling, the primary objective of this paper is to analyse the extent to which Spanish families enjoy equality in their ability to…

My Kids, Your Kids, Our Kids: What Parents and the Public Want from Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valant, Jon; Newark, Daniel A.

2017-01-01

Background/Context: School choice reforms could strengthen parents' influence on school behaviors, since schools must appeal to parents in order to operate. If parents' desires for schools differ from the broader public's desires for schools, then schools might pursue different goals and activities in systems emphasizing school choice. One popular…

34 CFR 200.32 - Identification for school improvement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... defined under §§ 200.13 through 200.20. (ii) In identifying schools for improvement, an LEA— (A) May base... LEA must, in accordance with § 200.44, provide public school choice to all students in the school. (c... LEA must— (i) In accordance with § 200.44, provide public school choice to all students in the school...

34 CFR 200.32 - Identification for school improvement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... defined under §§ 200.13 through 200.20. (ii) In identifying schools for improvement, an LEA— (A) May base... LEA must, in accordance with § 200.44, provide public school choice to all students in the school. (c... LEA must— (i) In accordance with § 200.44, provide public school choice to all students in the school...

34 CFR 200.32 - Identification for school improvement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... defined under §§ 200.13 through 200.20. (ii) In identifying schools for improvement, an LEA— (A) May base... LEA must, in accordance with § 200.44, provide public school choice to all students in the school. (c... LEA must— (i) In accordance with § 200.44, provide public school choice to all students in the school...

Multiple Choice: How Public School Leaders in New Orleans' Saturated Market View Private School Competitors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jabbar, Huriya; Li, Dongmei M.

2016-01-01

School choice policies, such as charter schools and vouchers, are in part designed to induce competition between schools. While several studies have examined the impact of private school competition on public schools, few studies have explored school leaders' perceptions of private school competitors. This study examines the extent to which public…

Some unsolved problems in discrete mathematics and mathematical cybernetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korshunov, Aleksei D.

2009-10-01

There are many unsolved problems in discrete mathematics and mathematical cybernetics. Writing a comprehensive survey of such problems involves great difficulties. First, such problems are rather numerous and varied. Second, they greatly differ from each other in degree of completeness of their solution. Therefore, even a comprehensive survey should not attempt to cover the whole variety of such problems; only the most important and significant problems should be reviewed. An impersonal choice of problems to include is quite hard. This paper includes 13 unsolved problems related to combinatorial mathematics and computational complexity theory. The problems selected give an indication of the author's studies for 50 years; for this reason, the choice of the problems reviewed here is, to some extent, subjective. At the same time, these problems are very difficult and quite important for discrete mathematics and mathematical cybernetics. Bibliography: 74 items.

Choosing Health and the inner citadel

PubMed Central

Allmark, P

2006-01-01

It is argued in this paper that the latest UK government white paper on public health, Choosing Health, is vulnerable to a charge of paternalism. For some years libertarians have levelled this charge at public health policies. The white paper tries to avoid it by constant reference to informed choice and choice related terms. The implication is that the government aims only to inform the public of health issues; how they respond is up to them. It is argued here, however, that underlying the notion of informed choice is a Kantian, “inner citadel” view of autonomy. According to this view, each of us acts autonomously only when we act in accord with reason. On such a view it is possible to justify coercing, cajoling, and conning people on the basis that their current behaviour is not autonomous because it is subject to forces that cause irrational choice, such as addiction. “Informed choice” in this sense is compatible with paternalism. This paternalism can be seen in public health policies such as deceptive advertising and the treatment of “bad habits” as addictions. Libertarians are bound to object to this. In the concluding section, however, it is suggested that public health can, nonetheless, find ethical succour from alternative approaches. PMID:16373514

Association of preresidency peer-reviewed publications with radiation oncology resident choice of academic versus private practice career.

PubMed

McClelland, Shearwood; Thomas, Charles R; Wilson, Lynn D; Holliday, Emma B; Jaboin, Jerry J

The decision of radiation oncology residents to pursue academic versus private practice careers plays a central role in shaping the present and future of the field, but factors that are potentially predictive of this decision are lacking. This study was performed to examine the role of several factors publicly available before residency on postresidency career choice, including preresidency peer-reviewed publications (PRPs), which have been associated with resident career choice in comparably competitive subspecialties such as neurosurgery. Using a combination of Internet searches, telephone interviews, and the 2015 Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology directory, a list of 2016 radiation oncology resident graduates was compiled, along with their postresidency career choice. PRP was defined as the number of PubMed publications encompassing the end of the calendar year (2010) in which residency applications were due; this number was then correlated with career choice. A total of 163 residents from 76 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-certified programs were examined: 78% were male, 22% were MDs/PhDs, and 79 graduates (48%) chose academic careers. Fifty-two percent of graduates had at least 1 PRP at the time of application to radiation oncology residency; 35% had more than 1 PRP. Regarding career choice, the difference between 0 and 1+ PRP was statistically significant (odds ratio, 3.3; P < .01), but not between 1 and >1 PRP. Sex, PhD, or non-PhD dual degree status were not associated with career choice. Radiation oncology residency graduates with 1 or more PRPs at the time of residency application were roughly 2 times more likely to choose an academic career as their initial career choice than graduates with no preresidency PRPs. This information may prove useful to medical students, medical school advisors, and residency program directors and deserves further prospective investigation. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Radiation Oncology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The publication strategies of Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848): negotiating national and linguistic boundaries in chemistry.

PubMed

Beckman, Jenny

2016-04-01

This article follows the publication strategies of the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848). It focuses on the role of language and translation in Berzelius' efforts to strengthen his own reputation, and that of Swedish science. As an author and editor, Berzelius encouraged the translation of his own works into several languages, while endeavouring to preserve the status of Swedish as a language of scientific publication in the face of French, and increasingly German and English, dominance. Reforming the Transactions of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and launching several new scientific periodicals, Berzelius also attempted to influence the publication practices in other countries. Recent scholarship on the history of scientific publication has drawn attention to the practical difficulties of determining and getting hold of the relevant publications in one's field, the 'malleability' of the journal medium, and the common practice of reprinting and summarising papers published elsewhere. Berzelius' publication strategies highlight translation - time-consuming, unreliable and problematic in terms of authorisation and ownership - as one aspect of the wider problem of communicating across national and linguistic boundaries. Berzelius' struggles with the practicalities of communicating across borders in times of war, the choice of language and its consequences, and national standards of publication, demonstrate the importance of a transnational perspective on the history of scientific publication.

Does Choice of Influenza Vaccine Type Change Disease Burden and Cost-Effectiveness in the United States? An Agent-Based Modeling Study.

PubMed

DePasse, Jay V; Smith, Kenneth J; Raviotta, Jonathan M; Shim, Eunha; Nowalk, Mary Patricia; Zimmerman, Richard K; Brown, Shawn T

2017-05-01

Offering a choice of influenza vaccine type may increase vaccine coverage and reduce disease burden, but it is more costly. This study calculated the public health impact and cost-effectiveness of 4 strategies: no choice, pediatric choice, adult choice, or choice for both age groups. Using agent-based modeling, individuals were simulated as they interacted with others, and influenza was tracked as it spread through a population in Washington, DC. Influenza vaccination coverage derived from data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was increased by 6.5% (range, 3.25%-11.25%), reflecting changes due to vaccine choice. With moderate influenza infectivity, the number of cases averaged 1,117,285 for no choice, 1,083,126 for pediatric choice, 1,009,026 for adult choice, and 975,818 for choice for both age groups. Averted cases increased with increased coverage and were highest for the choice-for-both-age-groups strategy; adult choice also reduced cases in children. In cost-effectiveness analysis, choice for both age groups was dominant when choice increased vaccine coverage by ≥3.25%. Offering a choice of influenza vaccines, with reasonable resultant increases in coverage, decreased influenza cases by >100,000 with a favorable cost-effectiveness profile. Clinical trials testing the predictions made based on these simulation results and deliberation of policies and procedures to facilitate choice should be considered. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Couple Therapy for Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Karakurt, Gunnur; Whiting, Kate; Van Esch, Chantal; Bolen, Shari; Calabrese, Joseph

2016-01-01

Intimate partner violence is a serious public health problem accompanied by substantial morbidity and mortality. Despite its documented impact on health, there is no widely recognized treatment of choice. Some studies indicate that couples suffering from situational violence may benefit from couples therapy, but professionals are cautious to risk the possibility of violent retaliation between partners. After a comprehensive literature search of 1733 citations, this systematic review and meta-analysis compiles the results of six studies to investigate the effectiveness of couple therapy as a treatment for violence. Preliminary data suggest that couples therapy is a viable treatment in select situations. PMID:27377617

Repeated 7-Day Treatment with the 5-HT2C Agonist Lorcaserin or the 5-HT2A Antagonist Pimavanserin Alone or in Combination Fails to Reduce Cocaine vs Food Choice in Male Rhesus Monkeys.

PubMed

Banks, Matthew L; Negus, S Stevens

2017-04-01

Cocaine use disorder is a global public health problem for which there are no Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmacotherapies. Emerging preclinical evidence has implicated both serotonin (5-HT) 2C and 2A receptors as potential mechanisms for mediating serotonergic attenuation of cocaine abuse-related neurochemical and behavioral effects. Therefore, the present study aim was to determine whether repeated 7-day treatment with the 5-HT 2C agonist lorcaserin (0.1-1.0 mg/kg per day, intramuscular; 0.032-0.1 mg/kg/h, intravenous) or the 5-HT 2A inverse agonist/antagonist pimavanserin (0.32-10 mg/kg per day, intramuscular) attenuated cocaine reinforcement under a concurrent 'choice' schedule of cocaine and food availability in rhesus monkeys. During saline treatment, cocaine maintained a dose-dependent increase in cocaine vs food choice. Repeated pimavanserin (3.2 mg/kg per day) treatments significantly increased small unit cocaine dose choice. Larger lorcaserin (1.0 mg/kg per day and 0.1 mg/kg/h) and pimavanserin (10 mg/kg per day) doses primarily decreased rates of operant behavior. Coadministration of ineffective lorcaserin (0.1 mg/kg per day) and pimavanserin (0.32 mg/kg per day) doses also failed to significantly alter cocaine choice. These results suggest that neither 5-HT 2C receptor activation nor 5-HT 2A receptor blockade are sufficient to produce a therapeutic-like decrease in cocaine choice and a complementary increase in food choice. Overall, these results do not support the clinical utility of 5-HT 2C agonists and 5-HT 2A inverse agonists/antagonists alone or in combination as candidate anti-cocaine use disorder pharmacotherapies.

Freedom to Make Choices for Health: Plus 40 Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Airhihenbuwa, Collins O.; Iwelunmor, Juliet

2010-01-01

In the 1969 inaugural issue of the "School Health Review", Douglass J.H. examined four major issues he felt were central to the question of choices one has about health: (1) problems with health care delivery methods; (2) persistent poverty in our population and its impact on health; (3) systemic problems inherent in social and institutional…

The Multiple-Choice Model: Some Solutions for Estimation of Parameters in the Presence of Omitted Responses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abad, Francisco J.; Olea, Julio; Ponsoda, Vicente

2009-01-01

This article deals with some of the problems that have hindered the application of Samejima's and Thissen and Steinberg's multiple-choice models: (a) parameter estimation difficulties owing to the large number of parameters involved, (b) parameter identifiability problems in the Thissen and Steinberg model, and (c) their treatment of omitted…

Educational Choice: Practical Policy Questions. Occasional Paper Series No. 7.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

First, Patricia F.

The consideration of school choice plans raises policy questions for school administrators. This paper addresses pragmatic concerns about definitions and policy questions related to educational finance. Interdistrict choice, emphasizing families' right to choose among existing public schools, raises questions regarding transportation and…

The Effect of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program on Student Achievement in Milwaukee Public Schools. SCDP Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Report #11

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Jay P.; Marsh, Ryan H.

2009-01-01

This paper examines evidence on the "systemic effects" of expanding school choice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee is home to one of the nation's largest and longest-running school choice programs. If there are systemic effects from expanding school choice we should be able to see them in Milwaukee. This paper also introduces a novel…

[Career goals and choice of profession among recently graduated physicians].

PubMed

Soethout, M B M; van der Wal, G; ten Cate, Th J

2007-09-22

To obtain insight into the career choice of recently graduated physicians and the factors that influence this choice. Descriptive. Questionnaires were sent to 1091 physicians who graduated from the VU University in Amsterdam or the University Utrecht between 1 July 1999 and 30 June 2002. Graduates were asked to provide the following information: current occupation, number of days that they have worked in current occupation, 5-year career goals, prerequisites for obtaining a residency, time spent on patient care and research, and the extent to which certain factors have influenced their career choice. Respondents were subdivided into three groups: clinical specialists, general practitioners, and public or occupational health professionals. The response was 70%, and approximately half of the respondents were engaged in additional resident training: 68% in a clinical specialty, 23% in general practice, 9% in public or occupational health, and 2% in another occupation. Most of the respondents worked full-time but would prefer to work less in the future. Full-time availability was the most important prerequisite for a clinical residency. Work experience after graduation was also considered important to obtain a residency in general practice or public or occupational health. Among clinical and general practitioner residents, the most important factor influencing career choice was interest in the specific field. For public and occupational health residents, the most important factor was working within office hours, particularly for female respondents. Various factors influence career choice in recently graduated physicians, and these factors are specialty-dependent. Graduates are interested in the possibility of working part-time in their present occupation and in the near future.

When students can choose easy, medium, or hard homework problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teodorescu, Raluca E.; Seaton, Daniel T.; Cardamone, Caroline N.; Rayyan, Saif; Abbott, Jonathan E.; Barrantes, Analia; Pawl, Andrew; Pritchard, David E.

2012-02-01

We investigate student-chosen, multi-level homework in our Integrated Learning Environment for Mechanics [1] built using the LON-CAPA [2] open-source learning system. Multi-level refers to problems categorized as easy, medium, and hard. Problem levels were determined a priori based on the knowledge needed to solve them [3]. We analyze these problems using three measures: time-per-problem, LON-CAPA difficulty, and item difficulty measured by item response theory. Our analysis of student behavior in this environment suggests that time-per-problem is strongly dependent on problem category, unlike either score-based measures. We also found trends in student choice of problems, overall effort, and efficiency across the student population. Allowing students choice in problem solving seems to improve their motivation; 70% of students worked additional problems for which no credit was given.

The problem of choice: From the voluntary way to Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges.

PubMed

Mulligan, Jessica

2017-05-01

This article takes a genealogical and ethnographic approach to the problem of choice, arguing that what choice means has been reworked several times since health insurance first figured prominently in national debates about health reform. Whereas voluntary choice of doctor and hospital used to be framed as an American right, contemporary choice rhetoric includes consumer choice of insurance plan. Understanding who has deployed choice rhetoric and to what ends helps explain how offering choices has become the common sense justification for defending and preserving the exclusionary health care system in the United States. Four case studies derived from 180 enrollment observations at the Rhode Island health insurance exchange conducted from March 2014-January 2017 and interviews with enrollees show how choice is experienced in this latest iteration of health reform. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 created new pathways to insurance coverage in the United States. Insurance exchanges were supposed to unleash the power of consumer decision-making through marketplaces where health plans compete on quality, coverage, and price. Consumers, however, contended with confusing insurance terminology and difficult to navigate websites. The ethnography shows that consumers experienced choice as confusing and overwhelming and did not feel "in charge" of their decisions. Instead, unstable employment, changes in income, existing health needs, and bureaucratic barriers shaped their "choices." Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

True Private Choice: A Practical Guide to School Choice after Zelman v. Simmons-Harris. Policy Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gryphon, Marie

In 2002, the Supreme court upheld an Ohio school choice program designed to help children leave Cleveland's failing public schools. This paper explains the history of the Cleveland program upheld in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, describing the rules that the Supreme Court established for school choice. It includes examples and strategy to help…

Determinants of journal choice among Nigerian medics

PubMed Central

Olusegun, Nwhator Solomon; Olayinka, Agbaje Maarufah; Modupe, Soroye; Ikenna, Isiekwe Gerald

2015-01-01

Introduction Despite the well-known maxim "publish or perish" among academicians, productivity remains low in Nigeria. There are barriers to academic writing which must be identified and addressed. Even after addressing those barriers, authors are faced with another dilemma-where to publish. It was the concern of the authors to evaluate perceived barriers to academic writing and the determinants of journal choice among Nigerian academics. They also attempted to evaluate the determinants of journal choice and perceived barriers to academic writing among Nigerian academicians. Respondents were academicians used in the context of this study to mean anyone involved in academic writing. Such persons must have written and published at least one paper in a peer-reviewed journal in the preceding year to be included in the survey. An online-based self-administered questionnaire. Methods An online structured and self-administered questionnaire-based cross sectional survey of Nigerian medical academicians was conducted over a period of one year using a Google-powered questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed the determinants of journal choice, perceived barriers to publications, number of publications in the preceding year as a measure of academic productivity and the highest publication fee authors were willing to pay. Results Of the over 500 email request sent, a total of 200 academicians responded (response rate of 40%). The male and female distribution was 120 and 80 respectively. The highest number of respondents were lecturer 1 and senior lecturers (or junior faculty) (69.5%) however the senior faculty had the higher number of publications in the preceding year. Indexing (35.5%) was the most important determinant of journal choice whilst ease of submission (2.1%) was the least. Unfriendly environment (46%) was the most perceived barrier to publication. Though, majority (88.5%) of the respondents were willing to pay up $300 as publication fees, twice as many junior faculty members (28%) were willing to pay more than $300 as publication fee when compared with professors (12.5%). About 140 of the respondents (70%) were doctors/dentists. Conclusion In this study, the major determinant of journal choice among Nigerian medics is journal indexing and unfriendly environment appears to be the major perceived barrier to publication. Encouraging a friendly and conducive environment in the universities will impact positively in academic productivity amongst Nigerian faulty members. PMID:26327985

Determinants of journal choice among Nigerian medics.

PubMed

Olusegun, Nwhator Solomon; Olayinka, Agbaje Maarufah; Modupe, Soroye; Ikenna, Isiekwe Gerald

2015-01-01

Despite the well-known maxim "publish or perish" among academicians, productivity remains low in Nigeria. There are barriers to academic writing which must be identified and addressed. Even after addressing those barriers, authors are faced with another dilemma-where to publish. It was the concern of the authors to evaluate perceived barriers to academic writing and the determinants of journal choice among Nigerian academics. They also attempted to evaluate the determinants of journal choice and perceived barriers to academic writing among Nigerian academicians. Respondents were academicians used in the context of this study to mean anyone involved in academic writing. Such persons must have written and published at least one paper in a peer-reviewed journal in the preceding year to be included in the survey. An online-based self-administered questionnaire. An online structured and self-administered questionnaire-based cross sectional survey of Nigerian medical academicians was conducted over a period of one year using a Google-powered questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed the determinants of journal choice, perceived barriers to publications, number of publications in the preceding year as a measure of academic productivity and the highest publication fee authors were willing to pay. Of the over 500 email request sent, a total of 200 academicians responded (response rate of 40%). The male and female distribution was 120 and 80 respectively. The highest number of respondents were lecturer 1 and senior lecturers (or junior faculty) (69.5%) however the senior faculty had the higher number of publications in the preceding year. Indexing (35.5%) was the most important determinant of journal choice whilst ease of submission (2.1%) was the least. Unfriendly environment (46%) was the most perceived barrier to publication. Though, majority (88.5%) of the respondents were willing to pay up $300 as publication fees, twice as many junior faculty members (28%) were willing to pay more than $300 as publication fee when compared with professors (12.5%). About 140 of the respondents (70%) were doctors/dentists. In this study, the major determinant of journal choice among Nigerian medics is journal indexing and unfriendly environment appears to be the major perceived barrier to publication. Encouraging a friendly and conducive environment in the universities will impact positively in academic productivity amongst Nigerian faulty members.

The paradox of non-evidence based, publicly funded complementary alternative medicine in the English National Health Service: An explanation.

PubMed

Sheppard, Maria K

2015-10-01

Despite the unproven effectiveness of many practices that are under the umbrella term 'complementary alternative medicine' (CAM), there is provision of CAM within the English National Health Service (NHS). Moreover, although the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence was established to promote scientifically validated medicine in the NHS, the paradox of publicly funded, non-evidence based CAM can be explained as linked with government policy of patient choice and specifically patient treatment choice. Patient choice is useful in the political and policy discourse as it is open to different interpretations and can be justified by policy-makers who rely on the traditional NHS values of equity and universality. Treatment choice finds expression in the policy of personalised healthcare linked with patient responsibilisation which finds resonance in the emphasis CAM places on self-care and self-management. More importantly, however, policy-makers also use patient choice and treatment choice as a policy initiative with the objective of encouraging destabilisation of the entrenched healthcare institutions and practices considered resistant to change. This political strategy of system reform has the unintended, paradoxical consequence of allowing for the emergence of non-evidence based, publicly funded CAM in the NHS. The political and policy discourse of patient choice thus trumps evidence based medicine, with patients that demand access to CAM becoming the unwitting beneficiaries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

GMOtrack: generator of cost-effective GMO testing strategies.

PubMed

Novak, Petra Krau; Gruden, Kristina; Morisset, Dany; Lavrac, Nada; Stebih, Dejan; Rotter, Ana; Zel, Jana

2009-01-01

Commercialization of numerous genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has already been approved worldwide, and several additional GMOs are in the approval process. Many countries have adopted legislation to deal with GMO-related issues such as food safety, environmental concerns, and consumers' right of choice, making GMO traceability a necessity. The growing extent of GMO testing makes it important to study optimal GMO detection and identification strategies. This paper formally defines the problem of routine laboratory-level GMO tracking as a cost optimization problem, thus proposing a shift from "the same strategy for all samples" to "sample-centered GMO testing strategies." An algorithm (GMOtrack) for finding optimal two-phase (screening-identification) testing strategies is proposed. The advantages of cost optimization with increasing GMO presence on the market are demonstrated, showing that optimization approaches to analytic GMO traceability can result in major cost reductions. The optimal testing strategies are laboratory-dependent, as the costs depend on prior probabilities of local GMO presence, which are exemplified on food and feed samples. The proposed GMOtrack approach, publicly available under the terms of the General Public License, can be extended to other domains where complex testing is involved, such as safety and quality assurance in the food supply chain.

Virginia's Opinion on K-12 Education and School Choice. School Choice Survey in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiPerna, Paul

2009-01-01

This statistically representative survey of 1,203 likely Virginia voters illustrates public opinion on a wide range of K-12 education issues. The underlying purpose of the Friedman Foundation's state surveys is to measure voter knowledge and attitudes toward public institutions and policies, innovative ideas, and the state's K-12 education system.…

An Invitation to BuildingChoice.org: Raising Achievement through Public School Choice. Innovations in Education Resource

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2005

2005-01-01

In many places across the country, public school students no longer automatically attend their neighborhood school. Instead, parents may decide that their child's needs are better met elsewhere, for example, at a small alternative school, an arts magnet school, a charter technology high school, or a media academy operating within a larger school.…

State Financial Aid to Students: A Trend Analysis of Access and Choice of Public or Private Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fenske, Robert H.; And Others

1979-01-01

Reports trends over a recent nine-year period in student access to and choice of public or private college as related to availability of monetary awards from one of the largest state student financial aid agencies, the Illinois State Scholarship Commission. Survey responses indicate that state awards foster access to Illinois college and…

Reliability of individual valuations of public and private goods: Choice consistency, response time, and preference refinement

Treesearch

Thomas C. Brown; David Kingsley; George L. Peterson; Nicholas E. Flores; Andrea Clarke; Andrej Birjulin

2008-01-01

We examined the reliability of a large set of paired comparison value judgments involving public goods, private goods, and sums of money. As respondents progressed through a random sequence of paired choices they were each given, their response time decreased and they became more consistent, apparently fine-tuning their responses, suggesting that respondents tend to...

The Economics of School Choice. A National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoxby, Caroline M., Ed.

This collection of essays grew out of a series of conferences held by the National Bureau of Economic Research on school finance, public economics, and school choice. After an introduction by Carolyn M. Hoxby, the papers are: (1) "Does Public School Competition Affect Teacher Quality?" (Eric A. Hanushek and Steven G. Rivkin); (2) "Can School…

Do Charter Schools Ruin Local Public Schools in Poor Neighborhoods? Evidence from New York City. Working Paper #02-14

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cordes, Sarah

2014-01-01

Charter schools and school choice are popular reforms believed to improve student performance largely through market competition, increased innovation, or some combination of the two mechanisms. Opponents of school choice argue that such reforms sap needed funds and resources from the traditional public school system. Despite this claim, there has…

Special Issue: College Choice and Access to College: Moving Policy, Research, and Practice to the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergerson, Amy Aldous, Ed.

2009-01-01

College choice has been a topic of investigation for many years. Since the 1990 publication of Michael Paulsen's ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report on student enrollment behaviors, hundreds of publications have explored the processes through which students determine whether and where to go to college and the factors that influence these processes.…

Cooperative Competition and Free Choice: The Results of a Two-System Open School Enrollment Policy. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamin, Jonathan; Erickson, Donald A.

In the city of Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), parents and students have a unique opportunity to choose between nondenominational public schools and publicly supported Roman Catholic schools, with no penalties or fees attached to either choice. The research described was carried out principally through face-to-face interviews with the officials of both…

Voice and choice in health care in England: understanding citizen responses to dissatisfaction.

PubMed

Dowding, Keith; John, Peter

2011-01-01

Using data from a five-year online survey the paper examines the effects of relative satisfaction with health services on individuals' voice-and-choice activity in the English public health care system. Voice is considered in three parts – individual voice (complaints), collective voice voting and participation (collective action). Exercising choice is seen in terms of complete exit (not using health care), internal exit (choosing another public service provider) and private exit (using private health care). The interaction of satisfaction and forms of voice and choice are analysed over time. Both voice and choice are correlated with dissatisfaction with those who are unhappy with the NHS more likely to privately voice and to plan to take up private health care. Those unable to choose private provision are likely to use private voice. These factors are not affected by items associated with social capital – indeed, being more trusting leads to lower voice activity.

Testing and Validation of Computational Methods for Mass Spectrometry.

PubMed

Gatto, Laurent; Hansen, Kasper D; Hoopmann, Michael R; Hermjakob, Henning; Kohlbacher, Oliver; Beyer, Andreas

2016-03-04

High-throughput methods based on mass spectrometry (proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, etc.) produce a wealth of data that cannot be analyzed without computational methods. The impact of the choice of method on the overall result of a biological study is often underappreciated, but different methods can result in very different biological findings. It is thus essential to evaluate and compare the correctness and relative performance of computational methods. The volume of the data as well as the complexity of the algorithms render unbiased comparisons challenging. This paper discusses some problems and challenges in testing and validation of computational methods. We discuss the different types of data (simulated and experimental validation data) as well as different metrics to compare methods. We also introduce a new public repository for mass spectrometric reference data sets ( http://compms.org/RefData ) that contains a collection of publicly available data sets for performance evaluation for a wide range of different methods.

Computational unsteady aerodynamics for lifting surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, John W.

1988-01-01

Two dimensional problems are solved using numerical techniques. Navier-Stokes equations are studied both in the vorticity-stream function formulation which appears to be the optimal choice for two dimensional problems, using a storage approach, and in the velocity pressure formulation which minimizes the number of unknowns in three dimensional problems. Analysis shows that compact centered conservative second order schemes for the vorticity equation are the most robust for high Reynolds number flows. Serious difficulties remain in the choice of turbulent models, to keep reasonable CPU efficiency.

Methods of equipment choice in shotcreting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharapov, R. R.; Yadykina, V. V.; Stepanov, M. A.; Kitukov, B. A.

2018-03-01

Shotcrete is widely used in architecture, hydraulic engineering structures, finishing works in tunnels, arc covers and ceilings. The problem of the equipment choice in shotcreting is very important. The main issues influencing the equipment choice are quality improvement and intensification of shotcreting. Main parameters and rational limits of technological characteristic of machines used in solving different problems in shotcreting are described. It is suggested to take into account peculiarities of shotcrete mixing processes and peculiarities of applying these mixtures with compressed air kinetic energy. The described method suggests choosing a mixer with the account of energy capacity, Reynolds number and rotational frequency of the mixing drum. The suggested choice procedure of the equipment nomenclature allows decreasing exploitation costs, increasing the quality of shotcrete and shotcreting in general.

Spontaneous gestures influence strategy choices in problem solving.

PubMed

Alibali, Martha W; Spencer, Robert C; Knox, Lucy; Kita, Sotaro

2011-09-01

Do gestures merely reflect problem-solving processes, or do they play a functional role in problem solving? We hypothesized that gestures highlight and structure perceptual-motor information, and thereby make such information more likely to be used in problem solving. Participants in two experiments solved problems requiring the prediction of gear movement, either with gesture allowed or with gesture prohibited. Such problems can be correctly solved using either a perceptual-motor strategy (simulation of gear movements) or an abstract strategy (the parity strategy). Participants in the gesture-allowed condition were more likely to use perceptual-motor strategies than were participants in the gesture-prohibited condition. Gesture promoted use of perceptual-motor strategies both for participants who talked aloud while solving the problems (Experiment 1) and for participants who solved the problems silently (Experiment 2). Thus, spontaneous gestures influence strategy choices in problem solving.

The cost-effectiveness and consumer acceptability of taxation strategies to reduce rates of overweight and obesity among children in Australia: study protocol.

PubMed

Comans, Tracy A; Whitty, Jennifer A; Hills, Andrew P; Kendall, Elizabeth; Turkstra, Erika; Gordon, Louisa G; Byrnes, Josh M; Scuffham, Paul A

2013-12-14

Childhood obesity is a recognised public health problem and around 25% of Australian children are overweight or obese. A major contributor is the obesogenic environment which encourages over consumption of energy dense nutrient poor food. Taxation is commonly proposed as a mechanism to reduce consumption of poor food choices and hence reduce rates of obesity and overweight in the community. An economic model will be developed to assess the lifetime benefits and costs to a cohort of Australian children by reducing energy dense nutrient poor food consumption through taxation mechanisms. The model inputs will be derived from a series of smaller studies. Food options for taxation will be derived from literature and expert opinion, the acceptability and impact of price changes will be explored through a Citizen's Jury and a discrete choice experiment and price elasticities will be derived from the discrete choice experiment and consumption data. The health care costs of managing rising levels of obesity are a challenge for all governments. This study will provide a unique contribution to the international knowledge base by engaging a variety of robust research techniques, with a multidisciplinary focus and be responsive to consumers from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

The cost-effectiveness and consumer acceptability of taxation strategies to reduce rates of overweight and obesity among children in Australia: study protocol

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Childhood obesity is a recognised public health problem and around 25% of Australian children are overweight or obese. A major contributor is the obesogenic environment which encourages over consumption of energy dense nutrient poor food. Taxation is commonly proposed as a mechanism to reduce consumption of poor food choices and hence reduce rates of obesity and overweight in the community. Methods/Design An economic model will be developed to assess the lifetime benefits and costs to a cohort of Australian children by reducing energy dense nutrient poor food consumption through taxation mechanisms. The model inputs will be derived from a series of smaller studies. Food options for taxation will be derived from literature and expert opinion, the acceptability and impact of price changes will be explored through a Citizen’s Jury and a discrete choice experiment and price elasticities will be derived from the discrete choice experiment and consumption data. Discussion The health care costs of managing rising levels of obesity are a challenge for all governments. This study will provide a unique contribution to the international knowledge base by engaging a variety of robust research techniques, with a multidisciplinary focus and be responsive to consumers from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. PMID:24330325

Decision making under uncertainty and information processing in positive and negative mood states.

PubMed

Mohanty, Sachi Nandan; Suar, Damodar

2014-08-01

This study examines whether mood states (a) influence decision making under uncertainty and (b) affect information processing. 200 students at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur participated in this study. Positive mood was induced by showing comedy movie clips to 100 participants and negative mood was induced by showing tragedy movie clips to another 100 participants. The participants were administered a questionnaire containing hypothetical situations of financial gains and losses, and a health risk problem. The participants selected a choice for each situation, and stated the reasons for their choice. Results suggested that the participants preferred cautious choices in the domain of gain and in health risk problems and risky choices in the domain of loss. Analysis of the reasons for the participants' choices suggested more fluency, originality, and flexibility of information in a negative mood compared to a positive mood. A negative (positive) mood state facilitated systematic (heuristic) information processing.

Global Environmental Problems: Implications for U.S. Policy [and] Teacher's Resource Book. Revised. Choices for the 21st Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown Univ., Providence, RI. Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Inst. for International Studies.

This unit weighs the choices and tradeoffs involved in protecting the environment. The first section of the first booklet is designed to introduce students to the most significant global environmental problems. Part 2 explores humanity's impact on the environment while part 3 examines environmental issues from the political dimension as a…

Sugar-sweetened beverages coverage in the British media: an analysis of public health advocacy versus pro-industry messaging.

PubMed

Elliott-Green, Alex; Hyseni, Lirije; Lloyd-Williams, Ffion; Bromley, Helen; Capewell, Simon

2016-07-19

To assess the extent of media-based public health advocacy versus pro-industry messaging regarding sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). We conducted a systematic analysis to identify and examine all articles regarding SSBs published in all mainstream British print newspapers and their online news websites from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014. We initially conducted a brief literature search to develop appropriate search terms and categorisations for grouping and analysing the articles. Articles were then coded according to the publishing newspaper, article type, topic, prominence and slant (pro-SSB or anti-SSB). A contextual analysis was undertaken to examine key messages in the articles. We identified 374 articles published during 2014. The majority of articles (81%) suggested that SSBs are unhealthy. Messaging from experts, campaign groups and health organisations was fairly consistent about the detrimental effects of SSB on health. However, relatively few articles assessed any approaches or solutions to potentially combat the problems associated with SSBs. Only one-quarter (24%) suggested any policy change. Meanwhile, articles concerning the food industry produced consistent messages emphasising consumer choice and individual responsibility for making choices regarding SSB consumption, and promoting and advertising their products. The food industry thus often managed to avoid association with the negative press that their products were receiving. SSBs were frequently published in mainstream British print newspapers and their online news websites during 2014. Public health media advocacy was prominent throughout, with a growing consensus that sugary drinks are bad for people's health. However, the challenge for public health will be to mobilise supportive public opinion to help implement effective regulatory policies. Only then will our population's excess consumption of SSBs come under control. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Why Parents Choose: Examining Factors Influencing Urban-Suburban Parents to Participate in Schools-within-Schools Programs of Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Pamela N.

2017-01-01

During an era of a strong movement toward national school choice and the much-debated topic of school vouchers, it is critical for today's public school leaders to understand why families make the decision to leave their neighborhood schools and enroll in other school choice options. This study situated school choice within the context of an…

Indiana K-12 & School Choice Survey: What Do Voters Say about K-12 Education? Polling Paper No. 27

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiPerna, Paul

2016-01-01

The purpose of the "Indiana K-12 & School Choice Survey" is to measure public opinion on, and in some cases awareness or knowledge of, a range of K-12 education topics and school choice reforms. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice developed this project in partnership with Braun Research, Inc., who conducted the live phone…

Choice Grants: Foundations and the School Choice Movement. Edited Transcript

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaffer, Krista, Ed.

2007-01-01

A National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) report addresses the questions "What have conservative foundations done with their grant dollars to promote concepts of privatizing public education through "school choice," primarily linked to school vouchers? What were their strategies in providing resources to an array of conservative…

Sex Education: Challenges and Choices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacKenzie, Alison; Hedge, Nicki; Enslin, Penny

2017-01-01

Noting public concern about sexual exploitation, abuse and sexualisation, we argue that sex education in the UK needs revision. Choice is a feature of current sex education policy and, acknowledging that choice can be problematic, we defend its place in an approach to sex education premised on informed deliberation, relational autonomy, a…

Beyond the Campus Tour: College Choice and the Campus Visit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okerson, Justine Rebecca

2016-01-01

College choice, the decision-making process for students of whether and where to attend college, is complex. The college choice process also affects a range of stakeholders: high school students, parents, public policymakers, high schools, admission professionals, and institutions of higher education. Understanding the influences of college choice…

Privatizing Education and Educational Choice: Concepts, Plans, and Experiences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hakim, Simon, Ed.; And Others

This book contains articles by educational researchers who examine the issues surrounding educational choice in public school systems and the voucher system for private schools. They discuss when choice should be considered, methods of implementation, and the extent to which government should be involved. Descriptions and evaluations of choice…

Democratic Education and School Choice Revisited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paquette, Jerry

2005-01-01

This article features the author's reply to John Coons's "Dodging Democracy: The Educator's Flight from the Specter of Choice." First, he wants to thank Coons for his thoughtful and thought-provoking reply to "Public Funding for 'Private' Education: The Equity Challenge of Enhanced Choice." So thought provoking, in fact, did the author find…

Discrimination in Elite Public Schools: Investigating Buffalo

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orfield, Gary, Ed.; Ayscue, Jennifer B., Ed.

2018-01-01

School choice is an increasingly important part of today's educational landscape and this timely volume presents fresh research about the competitive admissions policies of choice systems. Based on their investigation of a unique civil rights challenge to school choice admissions policies in politically and racially divided Buffalo, New York, and…

Informed choice and deaf children: underpinning concepts and enduring challenges.

PubMed

Young, Alys; Carr, Gwen; Hunt, Ros; McCracken, Wendy; Skipp, Amy; Tattersall, Helen

2006-01-01

This article concerns the first stage of a research and development project that aimed to produce both parent and professional guidelines on the promotion and provision of informed choice for families with deaf children. It begins with a theoretical discussion of the problems associated with the concept of informed choice and deaf child services and then focuses specifically on why a metastudy approach was employed to address both the overcontextualized debate about informed choice when applied to deaf children and the problems associated with its investigation in practice with families and professionals. It presents a detailed analysis of the conceptual relevance of a range of identified studies "outside" the field of deafness. These are ordered according to 2 main conceptual categories and 7 subcategories-(a) the nature of information: "information that is evaluative, not just descriptive"; "the difficulties of information for a purpose"; "the origins and status of information"; and "informed choice and knowledge, not informed choice and information" and (b) parameters and definitions of choice: "informed choice as absolute and relative concept", "preferences and presumptions of rationality", and "informed choice for whom?" Relevant deaf child literature is integrated into the discussion of each conceptual debate in order both to expand and challenge current usage of informed choice as applied to deaf children and families and to delineate possible directions in the planning of the next stage of the main project aimed at producing parent/professional guidelines.

Reproductive rights on firmer ground with prochoice White House, Congress. Special report -- abortion and the 1992 elections.

PubMed

1992-11-12

After 12 years, the US citizens elected a pro-choice president and preserved the already pro-choice Congress even though new people constitute 25% of the House of Representatives. The Congress gained even more pro-choice members. The abortion issue played an important secondary role (preceded by the economy) in the national elections, but was more important at the state level in many states. For example, voters overwhelmingly chose to preserve access to legal abortion in Arizona (69.31%) and Maryland (62.38%). In addition, 4 new women Senators and a Senator-elect from Colorado publicly proclaimed their pro-choice stance. The states of Missouri, North Carolina, and North Dakota elected pro-choice governors resulting in 30 pro-choice US governors and 20 antiabortion governors. President-elect Clinton can unilaterally repeal 2 of Bush's executive orders: the gag rule and the ban on fetal tissue transplantation research. He will need Congress' support to renew the Title X family planning program, to grant public funding for medically necessary abortions for poor women again, and the pass of the Freedom of Choice Act. Congress and the new president face the obstacle of convincing the public of the damage to basic rights done by the Supreme Court as evidenced by abortion rulings. They also need to lead the pro-choice groups to begin concentrating on how to prevent unwanted pregnancies so as to reduce the number of abortions and the needs of all women who want and need access to safe abortion. The Republican party's great hostility toward abortion and its intolerance for a variety of beliefs and life styles alienated most US citizens. Recent political losses are motivating the Republican party to reorganize but it depends on the moderates' ability and willingness to reclaim the party.

Child and adolescent fast-food choice and the influence of calorie labeling: a natural experiment.

PubMed

Elbel, B; Gyamfi, J; Kersh, R

2011-04-01

Obesity is an enormous public health problem and children have been particularly highlighted for intervention. Of notable concern is the fast-food consumption of children . However, we know very little about how children or their parents make fast-food choices, including how they respond to mandatory calorie labeling. We examined children's and adolescents' fast-food choice and the influence of calorie labels in low-income communities in New York City (NYC) and in a comparison city (Newark, NJ). Natural experiment: Survey and receipt data were collected from low-income areas in NYC, and Newark, NJ (as a comparison city), before and after mandatory labeling began in NYC. Study restaurants included four of the largest chains located in NYC and Newark: McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken. A total of 349 children and adolescents aged 1-17 years, who visited the restaurants with their parents (69%) or alone (31%) before or after labeling was introduced. In total, 90% were from racial or ethnic minority groups. We found no statistically significant differences in calories purchased before and after labeling; many adolescents reported noticing calorie labels after their introduction (57% in NYC) and a few considered the information when ordering (9%). Approximately 35% of adolescents ate fast food six or more times per week and 72% of adolescents reported that taste was the most important factor in their meal selection. Adolescents in our sample reported that parents have some influence on their meal selection. Adolescents in low-income communities notice calorie information at similar rates as adults, although they report being slightly less responsive to it than adults. We did not find evidence that labeling influenced adolescent food choice or parental food choices for children in this population.

Format Effects of Empirically Derived Multiple-Choice versus Free-Response Instruments When Assessing Graphing Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berg, Craig; Boote, Stacy

2017-01-01

Prior graphing research has demonstrated that clinical interviews and free-response instruments produce very different results than multiple-choice instruments, indicating potential validity problems when using multiple-choice instruments to assess graphing skills (Berg & Smith in "Science Education," 78(6), 527-554, 1994). Extending…

Diversity and Choice in School Education: An Alternative View.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walford, Geoffrey

1996-01-01

Discusses the difficulties in using cost-benefit analysis in education, examines in detail some of the documents supporting the modified libertarian position, and traces the development of policy on school choice. Documents the various new forms of selection that accompany increased choice and considers problems of social segregation. (MJP)

Preference Reversal: A New Look at an Old Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Shu

2006-01-01

A generalized "weak dominance" approach is used to test the documented preference reversal (PR) phenomenon. This approach simply models risky choice behavior in PR as a choice between the best possible outcomes or a choice between the worst possible outcomes by equating smaller paired outcome difference between bets. The preference…

Good Governance Is a Choice: A Way to Re-Create Your Board--The Right Way

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinn, Randy; Dawson, Linda J.

2011-01-01

This book comes with a promise: after reading it, you will never again think of board work the same as before. "Good Governance is a Choice" is a book about, and for, boards of public and non-profit organizations. Its central focus is on public school boards and the special challenges they face, but the governing model it introduces, Coherent…

State Public Policies and the Racial/Ethnic Stratification of College Access and Choice in the State of Maryland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perna, Laura W.; Steele, Patricia; Woda, Susan; Hibbert, Taifa

2005-01-01

This study uses descriptive analyses of data from multiple sources to examine changes during the 1990s in the racial/ethnic stratification of college access and choice in Maryland and to explore state public policies that may have influenced changes in the demand for and supply of higher education for students of different racial/ethnic groups…

Food Choices for Good Health [and] Children and Weight: What's a Parent To Do?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ikeda, Joanne P.; Mitchell, Rita

These two publications offer parents information on food choices for children and children's weight. The first publication is a guide that lists, for each of the five food groups, which foods should be eaten often, sometimes, or rarely in order to maintain good health. The food groups are: (1) milk and milk products; (2) meats, poultry, fish,…

When Government Is No Longer Employer of Choice: What May the Sector Perceptions of Public Managers Be Like after the Economy Recovers?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boardman, Craig; Ponomariov, Branco

2012-01-01

In today's economic climate, government is now considered by many to be the "employer of choice." However, employers at all levels of government may eventually lose their recent gains in the war for talent, as the economy improves. Accordingly, it is important to explain how public sector managers viewed the relative advantages and…

The Fiscal Impact of Tax-Credit Scholarships in Montana. School Choice Issues in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottlob, Brian

2009-01-01

Many states have enacted or are considering proposals to give tax credits for contributions that provide tuition scholarships for students in K-12 schools to attend the private or public schools of their choice. This study seeks to inform the public and policymakers about the implications for Montana if the state were to enact such a program. The…

School Choice in the Light of the Effectiveness Differences of Various Types of Public and Private Schools in 19 OECD Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dronkers, J.; Robert, P.

2008-01-01

The paper approaches the issue of school choice in an indirect manner by investigating the effectiveness of public, private government-dependent and private independent schools in 19 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development countries selected from the PISA 2000 survey for this purpose. In a multilevel approach we estimate these…

Porter's Five Competitive Forces Framework and Other Factors That Influence the Choice of Response Strategies Adopted by Public Universities in Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathooko, Francis M.; Ogutu, Martin

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which Porter's five competitive forces (PFCF) framework, among other factors drive the choice of response strategies adopted by public universities in Kenya. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study design was descriptive and utilized a cross-sectional survey of all the public…

A discrete choice experiment studying students' preferences for scholarships to private medical schools in Japan.

PubMed

Goto, Rei; Kakihara, Hiroaki

2016-02-09

The shortage of physicians in rural areas and in some specialties is a societal problem in Japan. Expensive tuition in private medical schools limits access to them particularly for students from middle- and low-income families. One way to reduce this barrier and lessen maldistribution is to offer conditional scholarships to private medical schools. A discrete choice experiment is carried out on a total of 374 students considering application to medical schools. The willingness to receive a conditional scholarship program to private medical schools is analyzed. The probability of attending private medical schools significantly decreased because of high tuition, a postgraduate obligation to provide a service in specific specialty areas, and the length of time of this obligation. An obligation to provide a service in rural regions had no significant effect on this probability. To motivate non-applicants to private medical schools to enroll in such schools, a decrease in tuition to around 1.2 million yen (US$ 12,000) or less, which is twice that of public schools, was found to be necessary. Further, it was found that non-applicants to private medical schools choose to apply to such schools even with restrictions if they have tuition support at the public school level. Conditional scholarships for private medical schools may widen access to medical education and simultaneously provide incentives to work in insufficiently served areas.

The impact of interventions to promote healthier ready‐to‐eat meals (to eat in, to take away or to be delivered) sold by specific food outlets open to the general public: a systematic review

PubMed Central

Summerbell, C. D.; Moore, H. J.; Routen, A.; Lake, A. A.; Adams, J.; White, M.; Araujo‐Soares, V.; Abraham, C.; Adamson, A. J.; Brown, T. J.

2016-01-01

Summary Introduction Ready‐to‐eat meals sold by food outlets that are accessible to the general public are an important target for public health intervention. We conducted a systematic review to assess the impact of such interventions. Methods Studies of any design and duration that included any consumer‐level or food‐outlet‐level before‐and‐after data were included. Results Thirty studies describing 34 interventions were categorized by type and coded against the Nuffield intervention ladder: restrict choice = trans fat law (n = 1), changing pre‐packed children's meal content (n = 1) and food outlet award schemes (n = 2); guide choice = price increases for unhealthier choices (n = 1), incentive (contingent reward) (n = 1) and price decreases for healthier choices (n = 2); enable choice = signposting (highlighting healthier/unhealthier options) (n = 10) and telemarketing (offering support for the provision of healthier options to businesses via telephone) (n = 2); and provide information = calorie labelling law (n = 12), voluntary nutrient labelling (n = 1) and personalized receipts (n = 1). Most interventions were aimed at adults in US fast food chains and assessed customer‐level outcomes. More ‘intrusive’ interventions that restricted or guided choice generally showed a positive impact on food‐outlet‐level and customer‐level outcomes. However, interventions that simply provided information or enabled choice had a negligible impact. Conclusion Interventions to promote healthier ready‐to‐eat meals sold by food outlets should restrict choice or guide choice through incentives/disincentives. Public health policies and practice that simply involve providing information are unlikely to be effective. PMID:27899007

Allocating health care resources: a questionnaire experiment on the predictive success of rules.

PubMed

Ahlert, Marlies; Schwettmann, Lars

2017-06-26

The topic of this paper is related to equity in health within a country. In public health care sectors of many countries decisions on priority setting with respect to treatment of different types of diseases or patient groups are implicitly or explicitly made. Priorities are realized by allocation decisions for medical resources where moral judgments play an important role with respect to goals and measures that should be applied. The aim of this study is to explore the moral intuitions held in the German society related to priorities in medical treatment. We use an experimental questionnaire method established in the Empirical Social Choice literature. Participants are asked to make decisions in a sequence of distributive problems where a limited amount of treatment time has to be allocated to hypothetically described patients. The decision problems serve as an intuition pump. Situations are systematically varied with respect to patients' initial health levels, their ability to benefit from treatment time, and the amount of treatment time available. Subjects are also asked to describe their deliberations. We focus on the acceptance of different allocation principles including equity concepts and utilitarian properties. We investigate rule characteristics like order preservation or monotonicity with respect to resources, severity, or effectiveness. We check the consistency of individual choices with stated reasoning. The goals and allocation principles revealed show that the moral intuitions held by our experimental subjects are much more complex than the principles commonly applied in health economic theory. Especially, cost-utility principles are rarely applied, whereas the goal of equality of health gain is observed more often. The principle not to leave any patient untreated is very dominant. We also observe the degrees to which extent certain monotonicity principles, known from welfare economics, are followed. Subjects were able to describe their moral judgments in written statements. We also find evidence that they followed their respective intuitions very consistently in their decisions. Findings of the kind presented in this paper may serve as an important input for the public and political discussion when decisions on priorities in the public health care sector are formed.

A Portfolio of the Identities of Young People of the South of Russia under the Conditions of Civilizational Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avksent'ev, V. A.; Aksiumov, B. V.

2012-01-01

The problem of civilizational choice is one of the most timely and relevant problems of the entire postcommunist world. Most of the states of the former Soviet Union, including Russia, still find themselves in an uncertain zone of transition. The crisis of civilizational identity, far from being overcome, has even deepened as the Soviet past…

Reclassification: Rationale and Problems; Proceedings of a Conference on Reclassification held at the Center of Adult Education, University of Maryland, College Park, April 4 to 6, 1968.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perreault, Jean M., Ed.

Several factors are involved in the decision to reclassify library collections and several problems and choices must be faced. The discussion of four classification schemes (Dewey Decimal, Library of Congress, Library of Congress subject-headings and Universal Decimal Classification) involved in the choices concerns their structure, currency,…

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action: Hypothetical choices and real decisions in Medicare Part D

PubMed Central

Kesternich, Iris; Heiss, Florian; McFadden, Daniel; Winter, Joachim

2016-01-01

In recent years, consumer choice has become an important element of public policy. One reason is that consumers differ in their tastes and needs, which they can express most easily through their own choices. Elements that strengthen consumer choice feature prominently in the design of public insurance markets, for instance in the United States in the recent introduction of prescription drug coverage for older individuals via Medicare Part D. For policy makers who design such a market, an important practical question in the design phase of such a new program is how to deduce enrollment and plan selection preferences prior to its introduction. In this paper, we investigate whether hypothetical choice experiments can serve as a tool in this process. We combine data from hypothetical and real plan choices, elicited around the time of the introduction of Medicare Part D. We first analyze how well the hypothetical choice data predict willingness to pay and market shares at the aggregate level. We then analyze predictions at the individual level, in particular how insurance demand varies with observable characteristics. We also explore whether the extent of adverse selection can be predicted using hypothetical choice data alone. PMID:23317633

Trading off dietary choices, physical exercise and cardiovascular disease risks.

PubMed

Grisolía, José M; Longo, Alberto; Boeri, Marco; Hutchinson, George; Kee, Frank

2013-09-01

Despite several decades of decline, cardiovascular diseases are still the most common causes of death in Western societies. Sedentary living and high fat diets contribute to the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. This paper analyses the trade-offs between lifestyle choices defined in terms of diet, physical activity, cost, and risk of cardiovascular disease that a representative sample of the population of Northern Ireland aged 40-65 are willing to make. Using computer assisted personal interviews, we survey 493 individuals at their homes using a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) questionnaire administered between February and July 2011 in Northern Ireland. Unlike most DCE studies for valuing public health programmes, this questionnaire uses a tailored exercise, based on the individuals' baseline choices. A "fat screener" module in the questionnaire links personal cardiovascular disease risk to each specific choice set in terms of dietary constituents. Individuals are informed about their real status quo risk of a fatal cardiovascular event, based on an initial set of health questions. Thus, actual risks, real diet and exercise choices are the elements that constitute the choice task. Our results show that our respondents are willing to pay for reducing mortality risk and, more importantly, are willing to change physical exercise and dietary behaviours. In particular, we find that to improve their lifestyles, overweight and obese people would be more likely to do more physical activity than to change their diets. Therefore, public policies aimed to target obesity and its related illnesses in Northern Ireland should invest public money in promoting physical activity rather than healthier diets. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Metacognition for strategy selection during arithmetic problem-solving in young and older adults.

PubMed

Geurten, Marie; Lemaire, Patrick

2018-04-19

We examined participants' strategy choices and metacognitive judgments during arithmetic problem-solving. Metacognitive judgments were collected either prospectively or retrospectively. We tested whether metacognitive judgments are related to strategy choices on the current problems and on the immediately following problems, and age-related differences in relations between metacognition and strategy choices. Data showed that both young and older adults were able to make accurate retrospective, but not prospective, judgments. Moreover, the accuracy of retrospective judgments was comparable in young and older adults when participants had to select and execute the better strategy. Metacognitive accuracy was even higher in older adults when participants had to only select the better strategy. Finally, low-confidence judgments on current items were more frequently followed by better strategy selection on immediately succeeding items than high-confidence judgments in both young and older adults. Implications of these findings to further our understanding of age-related differences and similarities in adults' metacognitive monitoring and metacognitive regulation for strategy selection in the context of arithmetic problem solving are discussed.

Rethinking School Choice: Educational Options, Control, and Sovereignty in Indian Country

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castagno, Angelina E.; Garcia, David R.; Blalock, Nicole

2016-01-01

Despite the plethora of schooling options in Indigenous communities, the public policy debate, research, and discourse on school choice is almost entirely absent a specific engagement with how school choice intersects issues relevant to American Indian youth and tribal nations. This article suggests that Indian Country is an important and unique…

The School Choice Hoax: Fixing America's Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corwin, Ronald G.; Schneider, E. Joseph

2007-01-01

The federal government is devoting millions of dollars to charter and voucher programs that currently require parents to abandon regular public schools. The goal of the authors of The School Choice Hoax is to expose the misleading hyperbole that has been driving the school choice movement and to show how charter schools can become more effective…

Parent Resource Centers: An Innovative Mechanism for Parental Involvement in School Choice Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wao, Hesborn; Hein, Vanessa L.; Villamar, Roger; Chanderbhan-Forde, Susan; Lee, Reginald S.

2017-01-01

This qualitative investigation reports on the use of Parent Resource Centers (PRCs) as a mechanism for parental involvement in public school choice decisions. Interviews with parents and staff at seven PRCs in Florida revealed that PRCs employ multiple strategies to communicate choice information to parents: community-, school- and media-based…

Estimating willingness to accept using paired comparison choice experiments: tests of robustness

Treesearch

David C. Kingsley; Thomas C. Brown

2013-01-01

Paired comparison (PC) choice experiments offer researchers and policy-makers an alternative nonmarket valuation method particularly apt when a ranking of the public's priorities across policy alternatives is paramount. Similar to contingent valuation, PC choice experiments estimate the total value associated with a specific environmental good or service. Similar...

The Education Choice and Competition Index: Background and Results 2011

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitehurst, Grover J.

2011-01-01

Exploring the critical role of school choice in the future of education reform, Grover (Russ) Whitehurst introduces the Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI), an interactive web application that scores large school districts based on thirteen categories of policy and practice. The intent of the ECCI is to create public awareness of the…

78 FR 3425 - Filiquarian Publishing, LLC; Choice Level, LLC; and Joshua Linsk; Analysis of Proposed Consent...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-16

... FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION [File No. 112 3195] Filiquarian Publishing, LLC; Choice Level, LLC; and Joshua Linsk; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission... approval, an agreement containing a consent order from Filiquarian Publishing, LLC; Choice Level, LLC; and...

Publicly Minded, Privately Focused: Western Australian Teachers and School Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forsey, Martin G.

2010-01-01

In the growing school choice research literature little, if any, attention has been given to the choices made by the providers of educational services. Yet the workplace preferences shown by teachers and school administrators influences educational practice in important ways and helps illuminate some of the important issues raised in the school…

Key Policy Issues in the Implementation of User Choice. Working Paper No. 8.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Joy Selby; Smith, Chris Selby; Ferrier, Fran

This working paper examines key policy issues in the implementation of Australia's User Choice policy regarding allocating public funds for vocational education and training (VET). Part 1 explains the process used to obtain stakeholders regarding the User Choice policy, the administrative arrangements required to support it, and issues that must…

Understanding the College Choice Process of United States Military-Affiliated Transfer Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ives, Emily Joanne

2017-01-01

This study examined the college choice process of transfer student veterans who are currently enrolled in a public research university. The research presented in this dissertation utilized both quantitative and qualitative strategies to identify key factors in students' college choice process. This study focuses on the following two research…

Data Mining Student Choices: A New Approach to Business Curriculum Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maldonado, Edgar; Seehusen, Vicky

2018-01-01

The authors used a clustering technique to analyze business course choices made by students who completed an individualized degree in a large, urban, public university. They looked for patterns to answer the research question, "What can we learn from students' choices to inform the curricular redesign process in business programs?" The…

School Choice: The Perceptions of Rural Public School Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brabham, Jessica Marlene

2010-01-01

This study identified the feelings and beliefs that rural educators possess about the options of school choice, via vouchers, as currently discussed by federal and state governments. The sample of this study consisted of 250 educators, representing 10 different schools, who completed a school choice survey developed by the researcher. A comparison…

42 CFR 413.87 - Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied health education programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 42 Public Health 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... NURSING FACILITIES Specific Categories of Costs § 413.87 Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... reimbursement for approved nursing and allied health education programs and the methodology for determining the...

42 CFR 413.87 - Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied health education programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... NURSING FACILITIES Specific Categories of Costs § 413.87 Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... reimbursement for approved nursing and allied health education programs and the methodology for determining the...

42 CFR 413.87 - Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied health education programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... NURSING FACILITIES Specific Categories of Costs § 413.87 Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... reimbursement for approved nursing and allied health education programs and the methodology for determining the...

42 CFR 413.87 - Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied health education programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 42 Public Health 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... NURSING FACILITIES Specific Categories of Costs § 413.87 Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... reimbursement for approved nursing and allied health education programs and the methodology for determining the...

42 CFR 413.87 - Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied health education programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... NURSING FACILITIES Specific Categories of Costs § 413.87 Payments for Medicare+Choice nursing and allied... reimbursement for approved nursing and allied health education programs and the methodology for determining the...

Two Perspectives on the Continuing Debate over School Choice. Dialogue Series, Number 13.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pioneer Inst. for Public Policy Research, Boston, MA.

In Pioneer Institute's November 1995 "Dialogue," nine school-choice advocates critiqued a draft manuscript of "Who Chooses, Who Loses? Culture, Institutions, and the Unequal Effects of School Choice," edited by Harvard professors Richard Elmore, Gary Orfield, and Bruce Fuller. This publication contains the response of Professor Fuller to the…

Dodging Democracy: The Educator's Flight from the Specter of Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coons, John E.

2005-01-01

Jerry Paquette, in his article "Public Funding for "Private" Education: The Equity Challenge of Enhanced Choice" (in this issue, 568), properly urges everyone to ponder, then to reject, various hypothetical schemes for school choice whose design might worsen the plight of the poor. Among these devices, his chief bugbear is a largely unregulated…

Magnetizing Public Education Neoliberalism and the Evolution of School Choice in Cincinnati, Ohio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parrillo, Adam John

2009-01-01

The research is to understand the historical sociopolitical context of the emergence of school choice, more specifically magnet schools, and the consequences of this choice on student enrollment patterns. The approach is a critical examination of Neoliberalism as an ideology and polarizing sociopolitical movement and the intersection of this…

Tobacco industry use of personal responsibility rhetoric in public relations and litigation: disguising freedom to blame as freedom of choice.

PubMed

Friedman, Lissy C; Cheyne, Andrew; Givelber, Daniel; Gottlieb, Mark A; Daynard, Richard A

2015-02-01

We examined the tobacco industry's rhetoric to frame personal responsibility arguments. The industry rarely uses the phrase "personal responsibility" explicitly, but rather "freedom of choice." When freedom of choice is used in the context of litigation, the industry means that those who choose to smoke are solely to blame for their injuries. When used in the industry's public relations messages, it grounds its meaning in the concept of liberty and the right to smoke. The courtroom "blame rhetoric" has influenced the industry's larger public relations message to shift responsibility away from the tobacco companies and onto their customers. Understanding the rhetoric and framing that the industry employs is essential to combating this tactic, and we apply this comprehension to other industries that act as disease vectors.

Free choice in residential care for older people - A philosophical reflection.

PubMed

Nord, Catharina

2016-04-01

Free choice in elderly care services is a debated issue. Using the theoretical support of philosophers of free will, this paper explores free choice in relocation to residential care. The three dominant perspectives within this field of philosophy, libertarianism, determinism and compatibilism, are applied from the perspective of the older individual to the process of moving. Empirical data were collected through qualitative interviews with 13 older individuals who had recently moved into residential care. These individuals had made the choice to move following either a health emergency or incremental health problems. In a deterministic perspective they had no alternative to moving, which was the inevitable solution to their various personal problems. A network of people important to them assisted in the move, making the choice possible. However, post-move the interviewees' perspective had changed to a libertarian or compatibilist interpretation, whereby although the circumstances had conferred little freedom regarding the move. The interviewees reported a high degree of self-determination in the process. It appeared that in order to restore self-respect and personal agency, the older individuals had transformed their restricted choice into a choice made of free will or freer will. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Incentives, equity and the Able Chooser Problem.

PubMed

Grill, Kalle

2017-03-01

Health incentive schemes aim to produce healthier behaviours in target populations. They may do so both by making incentivised options more salient and by making them less costly. Changes in costs only result in healthier behaviour if the individual rationally assesses the cost change and acts accordingly. Not all people do this well. Those who fail to respond rationally to incentives will typically include those who are least able to make prudent choices more generally. This group will typically include the least advantaged more generally, since disadvantage inhibits one's effective ability to choose well and since poor choices tend to cause or aggravate disadvantage. Therefore, within the target population, health benefits to the better off may come at the cost of aggravated inequity. This is one instance of a problem I name the Able Chooser Problem, previously emphasised by Richard Arneson in relation to coercive paternalism. I describe and discuss this problem by distinguishing between policy options and their effects on the choice situation of individuals. Both positive and negative incentives, as well as mandates that are less than perfectly effective, require some sort of rational deliberation and action and so face the Able Chooser Problem. In contrast, effective restriction of what options are physically available, as well as choice context design that makes some options more salient or appealing, does not demand rational agency. These considerations provide an equity-based argument for preferring smart design of our choice and living environment to incentives and mandates. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Public versus Private: Evidence on Health Insurance Selection

PubMed Central

Pardo, Cristian; Schott, Whitney

2012-01-01

This paper models health insurance choice in Chile (public versus private) as a dynamic, stochastic process, where individuals consider premiums, expected out-of pocket costs, personal characteristics and preferences. Insurance amenities and restrictions against pre-existing conditions among private insurers introduce asymmetry to the model. We confirm that the public system services a less healthy and wealthy population (adverse selection for public insurance). Simulation of choices over time predicts a slight crowding out of private insurance only for the most pessimistic scenario in terms of population aging and the evolution of education. Eliminating the restrictions on pre-existing conditions would slightly ameliorate the level (but not the trend) of the disproportionate accumulation of less healthy individuals in the public insurance program over time. PMID:22374192

Help-seeking behavior of patients with mental health problems visiting a tertiary care center in north India.

PubMed

Mishra, Nitin; Nagpal, Sajanjiv Singh; Chadda, Rakesh K; Sood, Mamta

2011-07-01

Patients with mental health problems in the nonwestern world seek help from a variety of sources, such as the family physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, traditional faith-healers, or alternative medicine practitioners. Understanding the help-seeking behavior is important from the public health perspective. Two hundred new patients visiting a psychiatric outpatient service at a tertiary care hospital were interviewed on a semi-structured questionnaire for various services contacted by them for their mental health problems. Psychiatrists were the first choice in 45% of the cases followed by nonpsychiatric physicians and religious faith healers. Important reasons to seek help from different sources included easy accessibility, belief in the system, or particular healer and good reputation. Mean duration of treatment varied from 2.35 months with the alternative system practitioners to 16.63 months with the psychiatrists. The mean expenditure per visit to a service was highest for the nonpsychiatric physician and lowest for alternative system practitioners. Patients with mental health problems seek help from psychiatrists, nonpsychiatric physicians, faith healers, alternative system practitioners, and traditional faith healers for multiple reasons. It is important to sensitize various nonpsychiatric physicians with early identification and optimum management of mental disorders.

Factors influencing physicians' choice of workplace: systematic review of drivers of attrition and policy interventions to address them.

PubMed

El Koussa, Maria; Atun, Rifat; Bowser, Diana; Kruk, Margaret E

2016-12-01

The movement of skilled physicians from the public to the private sector is a key constraint to achieving universal health coverage and is currently affecting health systems worldwide. This systematic review aims to assess factors influencing physicians' choice of workplace, and policy interventions for retaining physicians in the public sector. Five literature databases were searched. Studies were included in the review if they focused on at least one of the following criteria: (i) incentives or motivators for retaining physicians in the public sector, (ii) pull factors that encouraged physicians to move to the private sector, (iii) push factors that forced physicians to leave the public sector, (iv) policy interventions or case studies that addressed physician retention in the public sector, and (v) qualitative reviews of policy interventions that were implemented in different health system settings. Nineteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Six major themes that affected physicians' choice of workplace were identified including: financial incentives, career development, infrastructure and staffing, professional work environment, workload and autonomy. The majority of the studies suggested that the use of financial incentives was a motivator in retaining physicians in the public sector. The review also identified policy interventions including: regulatory controls, incentives and management reforms. Regulatory controls and incentives were the two most frequently reported policy interventions. While factors affecting physicians' choice of workplace are country specific, financial incentives and professional development are core factors. Other factors are highly influenced by context, and thus, it would be useful for future cross-country research to use standardized data collection tools, allowing comparison of contextual factors as well as the examination of how context affects physician retention in the public sector.

Factors influencing physicians’ choice of workplace: systematic review of drivers of attrition and policy interventions to address them

PubMed Central

El Koussa, Maria; Atun, Rifat; Bowser, Diana; Kruk, Margaret E

2016-01-01

Objectives The movement of skilled physicians from the public to the private sector is a key constraint to achieving universal health coverage and is currently affecting health systems worldwide. This systematic review aims to assess factors influencing physicians’ choice of workplace, and policy interventions for retaining physicians in the public sector. Methods Five literature databases were searched. Studies were included in the review if they focused on at least one of the following criteria: (i) incentives or motivators for retaining physicians in the public sector, (ii) pull factors that encouraged physicians to move to the private sector, (iii) push factors that forced physicians to leave the public sector, (iv) policy interventions or case studies that addressed physician retention in the public sector, and (v) qualitative reviews of policy interventions that were implemented in different health system settings. Results Nineteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Six major themes that affected physicians’ choice of workplace were identified including: financial incentives, career development, infrastructure and staffing, professional work environment, workload and autonomy. The majority of the studies suggested that the use of financial incentives was a motivator in retaining physicians in the public sector. The review also identified policy interventions including: regulatory controls, incentives and management reforms. Regulatory controls and incentives were the two most frequently reported policy interventions. Conclusion While factors affecting physicians’ choice of workplace are country specific, financial incentives and professional development are core factors. Other factors are highly influenced by context, and thus, it would be useful for future cross–country research to use standardized data collection tools, allowing comparison of contextual factors as well as the examination of how context affects physician retention in the public sector. PMID:27648254

Multiple Choice Items: How to Gain the Most out of Them.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talmir, Pinchas

1991-01-01

Describes how multiple-choice items can be designed and used as an effective diagnostic tool by avoiding their pitfalls and by taking advantage of their potential benefits. The following issues are discussed: correct' versus best answers; construction of diagnostic multiple-choice items; the problem of guessing; the use of justifications of…

Comparison of Difficulties and Reliabilities of Math-Completion and Multiple-Choice Item Formats.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oosterhof, Albert C.; Coats, Pamela K.

Instructors who develop classroom examinations that require students to provide a numerical response to a mathematical problem are often very concerned about the appropriateness of the multiple-choice format. The present study augments previous research relevant to this concern by comparing the difficulty and reliability of multiple-choice and…

Science, Pseudoscience and Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altschuler, Daniel

2010-05-01

In this lecture I will consider a paradox of our times. Collectively, we know a great deal more, about life, the universe, and everything, than what Aristotle or Archimedes knew a couple of thousand years ago, and more than what Newton or Darwin knew a few hundred years ago. Yet, a large fraction of the public knows much less than what they knew, and maintain beliefs worthy of a caveperson. (With all due respect of the caveperson who had no choice). I will consider the problem of demarcation - how we define pseudoscience - and what leads people to believe what to some is unbelievable, the prevalence of pseudoscientific thought, and why we should care. I end with the idea that we should teach pseudoscience.

Repeated 7-Day Treatment with the 5-HT2C Agonist Lorcaserin or the 5-HT2A Antagonist Pimavanserin Alone or in Combination Fails to Reduce Cocaine vs Food Choice in Male Rhesus Monkeys

PubMed Central

Banks, Matthew L; Negus, S Stevens

2017-01-01

Cocaine use disorder is a global public health problem for which there are no Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmacotherapies. Emerging preclinical evidence has implicated both serotonin (5-HT) 2C and 2A receptors as potential mechanisms for mediating serotonergic attenuation of cocaine abuse-related neurochemical and behavioral effects. Therefore, the present study aim was to determine whether repeated 7-day treatment with the 5-HT2C agonist lorcaserin (0.1–1.0 mg/kg per day, intramuscular; 0.032–0.1 mg/kg/h, intravenous) or the 5-HT2A inverse agonist/antagonist pimavanserin (0.32–10 mg/kg per day, intramuscular) attenuated cocaine reinforcement under a concurrent ‘choice’ schedule of cocaine and food availability in rhesus monkeys. During saline treatment, cocaine maintained a dose-dependent increase in cocaine vs food choice. Repeated pimavanserin (3.2 mg/kg per day) treatments significantly increased small unit cocaine dose choice. Larger lorcaserin (1.0 mg/kg per day and 0.1 mg/kg/h) and pimavanserin (10 mg/kg per day) doses primarily decreased rates of operant behavior. Coadministration of ineffective lorcaserin (0.1 mg/kg per day) and pimavanserin (0.32 mg/kg per day) doses also failed to significantly alter cocaine choice. These results suggest that neither 5-HT2C receptor activation nor 5-HT2A receptor blockade are sufficient to produce a therapeutic-like decrease in cocaine choice and a complementary increase in food choice. Overall, these results do not support the clinical utility of 5-HT2C agonists and 5-HT2A inverse agonists/antagonists alone or in combination as candidate anti-cocaine use disorder pharmacotherapies. PMID:27857126

Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches.

PubMed

Kniel, Nina; Schmitz, Jennifer; Witte, Klaudia

2015-01-01

Mate-choice copying is a form of social learning in which an individual gains information about potential mates by observing conspecifics. However, it is still unknown what kind of information drives the decision of an individual to copy the mate choice of others. Among zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis), only females (not males) copy the mate choice of others. We tested female zebra finches in a binary choice test where they, first, could choose between two males of different phenotypes: one unadorned male and one male artificially adorned with a red feather on the forehead. After this mate-choice test, females could observe a single unadorned male and a pair of zebra finches, i.e. a wild-type female and her adorned mate. Pair interactions were either restricted to acoustic and visual communication (clear glass screen between pair mates) or acoustic communication alone (opaque screen between pair mates). After the observation period, females could again choose between new males of the two phenotypes in a second mate-choice test. In experiments with a clear glass screen, time spent with the respective males changed between the two mate-choice tests, and females preferred adorned over unadorned males during the second mate-choice test. In experiments with an opaque screen, time spent with the respective males did not change between the two mate-choice tests, although females lost an initial preference for unadorned males. Our results demonstrate that the quality of the received public information (visual and acoustic interaction of the observed pair) influences mate-choice copying in female zebra finches.

Diagrams Benefit Symbolic Problem-Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chu, Junyi; Rittle-Johnson, Bethany; Fyfe, Emily R.

2017-01-01

Background: The format of a mathematics problem often influences students' problem-solving performance. For example, providing diagrams in conjunction with story problems can benefit students' understanding, choice of strategy, and accuracy on story problems. However, it remains unclear whether providing diagrams in conjunction with symbolic…

Where Would You Go for Your Next Hospitalization?

PubMed Central

Jung, Kyoungrae; Feldman, Roger; Scanlon, Dennis

2014-01-01

We examine the effects of diverse dimensions of hospital quality – including consumers’ perceptions of unobserved attributes – on future hospital choice. We utilize consumers’ stated preference weights to obtain hospital-specific estimates of perceptions about unmeasured attributes such as reputation. We report three findings. First, consumers’ perceptions of reputation and medical services contribute substantially to utility for a hospital choice. Second, consumers tend to select hospitals with high clinical quality scores even before the scores are publicized. However, the effect of clinical quality on hospital choice is relatively small. Third, satisfaction with a prior hospital admission has a large impact on future hospital choice. Our findings suggest that including measures of consumers’ experience in report cards may increase their responsiveness to publicized information, but other strategies are needed to overcome the large effects of consumers’ beliefs about other quality attributes. PMID:21665300

[Determinism and Freedom of Choice in the Brain Functioning].

PubMed

Ivanitsky, A M

2015-01-01

The problem is considered whether the brain response is completely determined by the stimulus and the personal experience or in some cases the brain is free to choose its behavioral response to achieve the desired goal. The attempt is made to approach to this important philosophical problem basing on modern knowledge about the brain. The paper consists of four parts. In the first part the theoretical views about the free choice problem solving are considered, including views about the freedom of choice as a useful illusion, the hypothesis on appliance of quantum mechanics laws to the brain functioning and the theory of mentalism. In other tree parts consequently the more complicated brain functions such as choice reaction, thinking and creation are analyzed. The general conclusion is that the possibility of quite unpredictable, but sometimes very effective decisions increases when the brain functions are more and more complicated. This fact can be explained with two factors: increasing stochasticity of the brain processes and the role of top-down determinations from mental to neural levels, according to the theory of mentalism.

Strategy Choice in Solving Arithmetic Word Problems: Are There Differences between Students with Learning Disabilities, G-V Poor Performance, and Typical Achievement Students?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez, Juan E. Jimenez; Espinel, Ana Isabel Garcia

2002-01-01

A study was designed to test whether there are differences between Spanish children (ages 7-9) with arithmetic learning disabilities (n=60), garden-variety (G-V) poor performance (n=44), and typical children (n=44) in strategy choice when solving arithmetic word problems. No significant differences were found between children with dyscalculia and…

Interactions among attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and problem gambling in a probabilistic reward-learning task.

PubMed

Abouzari, Mehdi; Oberg, Scott; Gruber, Aaron; Tata, Matthew

2015-09-15

Problem gambling is thought to be highly comorbid with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We propose that the neurobiological pathologies underlying problem gambling overlap with those in ADHD. In this study, we used a simplified computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to assess differences in reinforcement-driven choice adaptation among participants with pathological gambling and/or ADHD. The task contained two choice options with different net payouts over the session; a good bet that resulted in a win of +50 points on 60% of trials (and -50 points on 40%), and a bad bet that resulted in +100 points on 40% of the trials (and -100 points on 60%). We quantified participants' preference for the good bet over the session and their sensitivity to reinforcement. Both the control subjects and medicated ADHD nongamblers significantly increased the proportion of good bets over the 400-trial session. Subjects with problem gambling performed worse than controls and ADHD nongamblers, but better than our limited sample of unmedicated ADHD gamblers. Control subjects, medicated ADHD nongamblers, and unmedicated ADHD nongamblers tended to tolerate losses following good bets, whereas unmedicated ADHD gamblers tended to tolerate losses following bad bets. These data reveal that ADHD, particularly when treated with medication, is not associated with poor choices on the IGT, but may exacerbate pathological choices in problem gamblers. It seems that stabilization of dopamine signaling that occurs when ADHD is treated is itself also a treatment for certain forms of problem gambling. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Students' Choice of College Major and Their Perceived Fairness of the Procedure: Evidence from Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yazici, Sedat; Yazici, Asli

2010-01-01

This study investigated the relative influence of factors and persons in college major choice and procedural justice perceptions of 449 undergraduate students enrolled in 1 private and 2 public universities in Turkey. Results showed that students found themselves to be the most influential person in their choice of college major, followed by…

A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Choice. Third Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forster, Greg

2013-01-01

This report surveys the empirical research on school choice. It provides a thorough overview of what the research has found on five key topics: (1) Academic outcomes of choice participants; (2) Academic outcomes of public schools; (3) Fiscal impact on taxpayers; (4) Racial segregation in schools; and (5) Civic values and practices. The evidence…

The Readability and Complexity of District-Provided School-Choice Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stein, Marc L.; Nagro, Sarah

2015-01-01

Public school choice has become a common feature in American school districts. Any potential benefits that could be derived from these policies depend heavily on the ability of parents and students to make informed and educated decisions about their school options. We examined the readability and complexity of school-choice guides across a sample…

School Choice in an English Village: Living, Loyalty and Leaving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bagley, Carl; Hillyard, Sam

2015-01-01

In late modernity, the marketisation of public services has become a global policy phenomenon. In the case of schooling, this has resulted in parents discursively positioned as consumers of education making a choice between providers of education. To date the majority of research on parental choice has focused on the urban; this paper is concerned…

School Choice & Competition: What Is the Impact on School Leadership?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Lisa

2013-01-01

School choice reform rests on the notion that competition amongst schools will produce more efficient schools and improve the educational system as a whole. This study focused on the impact of school choice competition on school principals in both magnet schools and traditional public schools in a midsized district in Florida. This study examined…

A Case Study of School Choice and Special Education in the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernier, Lisa E.

2017-01-01

School choice is deeply rooted in the marketization theories originally presented by Milton Friedman in the 1950s. There are many school choice options available in Arizona. The purpose and primary research question of this case study explored how a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and other factors influenced the parents' decisions to…

The Supply Side of Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Paul T.

2005-01-01

New school creation is key to success of choice. For the last two decades, the struggle over school choice has focused on freeing up parents to choose. It continues to this day, with growing success in the forms of public and private voucher programs, charter school laws in 40 states and the District of Columbia, and state and federal laws that…

The Role of Post-Visit Action Resources in Facilitating Meaningful Free-Choice Learning after a Zoo Visit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bueddefeld, Jill N. H.; Van Winkle, Christine M.

2018-01-01

Places like zoos, where free-choice learning is encouraged, are important for conveying climate change and sustainability issues to the public. Free-choice learning that targets environmentally focused sustainable behavior changes must be meaningful in order to encourage actual behavior change post-visit. However, visitors often fail to translate…

"Score Choice": A Tempest in a Teapot?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoover, Eric

2009-01-01

A new option that allows students to choose which of their test scores to send to colleges has generated renewed criticism of the College Board. College Board officials tout the option, called Score Choice, as a way to ease test taker anxiety. Some prominent admissions officials have publicly described Score Choice as a sales tactic that will…

Marketing, Parental Choice and Strategic Planning: An Opportunity or Dilemma for UK Schools?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giles, Corrie

Site-based management, parental choice, and accountability for the efficient, effective, and economic use of public resources in England and Wales were key themes of the 1988 Education Reform Act. The 1993 Education Act opened the way for greater choice in the marketplace by encouraging specialization and/or selection by aptitude/ability in…

Markets in Education: The Impact of School Choice Policies in One Market Context in New Zealand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stubbs, Tim; Strathdee, Rob

2012-01-01

The publication of "Trading in Futures" and "When Schools Compete" helped give empirical support to the view that choice policies increased differences between schools. However, dispute about this research and changes in policy mean that our understanding of the impact of school choice policies in New Zealand remains partial.…

Public health insurance under a nonbenevolent state.

PubMed

Lemieux, Pierre

2008-10-01

This paper explores the consequences of the oft ignored fact that public health insurance must actually be supplied by the state. Depending how the state is modeled, different health insurance outcomes are expected. The benevolent model of the state does not account for many actual features of public health insurance systems. One alternative is to use a standard public choice model, where state action is determined by interaction between self-interested actors. Another alternative--related to a strand in public choice theory--is to model the state as Leviathan. Interestingly, some proponents of public health insurance use an implicit Leviathan model, but not consistently. The Leviathan model of the state explains many features of public health insurance: its uncontrolled growth, its tendency toward monopoly, its capacity to buy trust and loyalty from the common people, its surveillance ability, its controlling nature, and even the persistence of its inefficiencies and waiting lines.

The Effect of Publicized Quality Information on Home Health Agency Choice

PubMed Central

Jung, Jeah Kyoungrae; Wu, Bingxiao; Kim, Hyunjee; Polsky, Daniel

2016-01-01

We examine consumers’ use of publicized quality information in Medicare home health care markets, where consumer cost sharing and travel costs are absent. We report two findings. First, agencies with high quality scores are more likely to be preferred by consumers after the introduction of a public reporting program than before. Second, consumers’ use of publicized quality information differs by patient group. Community-based patients have slightly larger responses to public reporting than hospital-discharged patients. Patients with functional limitations at the start of their care, at least among hospital-discharged patients, have a larger response to the reported functional outcome measure than those without functional limitations. In all cases of significant marginal effects, magnitudes are small. We conclude that the current public reporting approach is unlikely to have critical impacts on home health agency choice. Identifying and releasing quality information that is meaningful to consumers may help increase consumers’ use of public reports. PMID:26719047

Managing the Cooperative Network: The Public Administration Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diener, Ronald E.

1981-01-01

Recommends that library administrators turn to public administration models in preference to business administration models for network management; this choice is predicated on the not-for-profit aspects of public service organizations. (RAA)

Tobacco Industry Use of Personal Responsibility Rhetoric in Public Relations and Litigation: Disguising Freedom to Blame as Freedom of Choice

PubMed Central

Cheyne, Andrew; Givelber, Daniel; Gottlieb, Mark A.; Daynard, Richard A.

2015-01-01

We examined the tobacco industry’s rhetoric to frame personal responsibility arguments. The industry rarely uses the phrase “personal responsibility” explicitly, but rather “freedom of choice.” When freedom of choice is used in the context of litigation, the industry means that those who choose to smoke are solely to blame for their injuries. When used in the industry’s public relations messages, it grounds its meaning in the concept of liberty and the right to smoke. The courtroom “blame rhetoric” has influenced the industry’s larger public relations message to shift responsibility away from the tobacco companies and onto their customers. Understanding the rhetoric and framing that the industry employs is essential to combating this tactic, and we apply this comprehension to other industries that act as disease vectors. PMID:25521876

Burger or yogurt? Indulgent consumption in impression management contexts.

PubMed

Cheng, Yin-Hui; Huang, Molly C-J; Chuang, Shih-Chieh; Ju, Ying Rung

2015-10-01

We conducted three studies to investigate indulgent choice in settings with and without impression management by public-private manipulation with evaluation. Study 1 showed that the participants were less indulgent under public scrutiny due to the employment of impression management. Study 2 focused on the impression management context to test the moderate effect of self-consciousness in two impression managed contexts. Study 3 focused on context without impression management to test the moderate effects of self-awareness on choices. We found that depending on differences in primed personality, individuals tended to make choices other than those they favoured privately when anticipating that others might form impressions of them based on the decisions made. The findings of all three studies support our basic prediction that people are less indulgent under impression management and suggest that people tend to manage their impression by eating healthier (less indulgently) in public. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

Consumers' choice of drinking water: Is it dependent upon perceived quality, convenience, price and attitude?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahid, Nabsiah Abdul; Cheng, Patrick Tan Foon; Abustan, Ismail; Nee, Goh Yen

2017-10-01

Tap water is one of the many sources of water that the public as consumers can choose for drinking. This study hypothesized that perceived quality, convenience, price and environmental attitude would determine consumers's choice of drinking water following the Attribution Theory as the underlying model. A survey was carried out on Malaysia's public at large. From 301 usable data, the PLS analysis revealed that only perceived quality, convenience and price attributed towards the public's choice of drinking water while attitude was not significant. The findings are beneficial for the water sector industry, particularly for drinking water operators, state governments, and alternative drinking water manufacturers like bottled water companies. The ability to identify factors for why consumers in the marketplace choose the source of their drinking water would enable the operators to plan and strategize tactics that can disseminate accurate knowledge about the product that can motivate marketability of drinking water in Malaysia.

Informed Choice and Deaf Children: Underpinning Concepts and Enduring Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Alys; Carr, Gwen; Hunt, Ros; McCracken, Wendy; Skipp, Amy; Tattersall, Helen

2006-01-01

This article concerns the first stage of a research and development project that aimed to produce both parent and professional guidelines on the promotion and provision of informed choice for families with deaf children. It begins with a theoretical discussion of the problems associated with the concept of informed choice and deaf child services…

Providing Information to Parents of Children with Mental Health Problems: A Discrete Choice Conjoint Analysis of Professional Preferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunningham, Charles E.; Deal, Ken; Rimas, Heather; Chen, Yvonne; Buchanan, Don H.; Sdao-Jarvie, Kathie

2009-01-01

We used discrete choice conjoint analysis to model the ways 645 children's mental health (CMH) professionals preferred to provide information to parents seeking CMH services. Participants completed 20 choice tasks presenting experimentally varied combinations of the study's 14 4-level CMH information transfer attributes. Latent class analysis…

The Effect of Positive or Negative Frame on the Choices of Students in School Psychology and Educational Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagley, N. S.; Miller, Paul M.; Jones, Robert N.

1999-01-01

Doctoral students (N=109) in school psychology and educational administration responded to five decision problems whose outcomes were framed either positively as gains or negatively as losses. Frame and profession significantly affected the number of risky choices. Educational administration students made more risky choices than school psychology…

Coordination and resource-related difficulties encountered by Quebec's public health specialists and infectious diseases/medical microbiologists in the management of A (H1N1)--a mixed-method, exploratory survey.

PubMed

Nhan, Charles; Laprise, Réjean; Douville-Fradet, Monique; Macdonald, Mary Ellen; Quach, Caroline

2012-02-10

In Quebec, the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic was managed using a top-down style that left many involved players with critical views and frustrations. We aimed to describe physicians' perceptions--infectious diseases specialists/medical microbiologists (IDMM) and public health/preventive medicine specialists (PHPMS)--in regards to issues encountered with the pandemics management at the physician level and highlight suggested improvements for future healthcare emergencies. In April 2010, Quebec IDMM and PHPMS physicians were invited to anonymously complete a web-based learning needs assessment. The survey included both open-ended and multiple-choice questions. Descriptive statistics were used to report on the frequency distribution of multiple choice responses whereas thematic content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data generated from the survey and help understand respondents' experience and perceptions with the pandemics. Of the 102 respondents, 85.3% reported difficulties or frustrations in their practice during the pandemic. The thematic analysis revealed two core themes describing the problems experienced in the pandemic management: coordination and resource-related difficulties. Coordination issues included communication, clinical practice guidelines, decision-making, roles and responsibilities, epidemiological investigation, and public health expert advisory committees. Resources issues included laboratory resources, patient management, and vaccination process. Together, the quantitative and qualitative data suggest a need for improved coordination, a better definition of roles and responsibilities, increased use of information technologies, merged communications, and transparency in the decisional process. Increased flexibility and less contradiction in clinical practice guidelines from different sources and increased laboratory/clinical capacity were felt critical to the proper management of infectious disease emergencies.

Sociological research on the population awareness regarding ophthalmological care in ukraine.

PubMed

Ieremeieva, Tetiana V

nowadays, there are about 45 million blind individuals and, according to the prognosis, their quantity will reach over 76 million in 2020. In such a way, nowadays ophthalmological problems become more widespread, and the market of the ophthalmological services is not studied enough to understand all the tendencies and processes. was to study the patients' awareness on eye diseases and choice peculiarities of the information sources and medical institutions among various population age groups of Lutsk, Rivne and Ternopil cities. the research was conducted as an anonymous questionnaire survey of respondents according to a specially designed integrated protocol by means of interviewing people at the streets of Lutsk (n=2000), Rivne (n=1500) and Ternopil (n=1500) cities. there was conducted a research on the population awareness concerning vision problems, analysis of social factors and peculiarities of the choice of information sources about eye diseases and factors influencing the choice of a medical institution and an ophthalmologist. It was determined that younger population prefers private medical institutions in almost half of the cases (95% confidence interval (CI) of the private institution choice probability: 0,48-0,52), while older population prefers mainly state ones (95% CI of the choice probability: 0,71-0,74). it was determined depending on the age, the range of people having vision problems varied from 22% in the "under 30 years" population group up to 76% in the "over 60 years" group, although at least 21,5% of the whole population realizing their problems do not address an ophthalmologist.

Sociological research on the population awareness regarding ophthalmological care in ukraine.

PubMed

Ieremeieva, Tetiana V

2016-01-01

nowadays, there are about 45 million blind individuals and, according to the prognosis, their quantity will reach over 76 million in 2020. In such a way, nowadays ophthalmological problems become more widespread, and the market of the ophthalmological services is not studied enough to understand all the tendencies and processes. was to study the patients' awareness on eye diseases and choice peculiarities of the information sources and medical institutions among various population age groups of Lutsk, Rivne and Ternopil cities. the research was conducted as an anonymous questionnaire survey of respondents according to a specially designed integrated protocol by means of interviewing people at the streets of Lutsk (n=2000), Rivne (n=1500) and Ternopil (n=1500) cities. there was conducted a research on the population awareness concerning vision problems, analysis of social factors and peculiarities of the choice of information sources about eye diseases and factors influencing the choice of a medical institution and an ophthalmologist. It was determined that younger population prefers private medical institutions in almost half of the cases (95% confidence interval (CI) of the private institution choice probability: 0,48-0,52), while older population prefers mainly state ones (95% CI of the choice probability: 0,71-0,74). it was determined depending on the age, the range of people having vision problems varied from 22% in the "under 30 years" population group up to 76% in the "over 60 years" group, although at least 21,5% of the whole population realizing their problems do not address an ophthalmologist.

Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to noncontingent success.

PubMed

Berglas, S; Jones, E E

1978-04-01

In two closely related experiments, college student subjects were instructed to choose between a drug that allegedly interfered with performance and a drug that allegedly enhanced performance. This choice was the main dependent measure of the experiment. The drug choice intervened between work on soluble or insoluble problems and a promised retest on similar problems. In Experiment 1, all subjects received success feedback after their initial problem-solving attempts, thus creating one condition in which the success appeared to be accidental (noncontingent on performance) and one in which the success appeared to be contingent on appropriate knowledge. Males in the noncontingent-success condition were alone in preferring the performance-inhibiting drug, presumably because they wished to externalize probable failure on the retest. The predicted effect, however, did not hold for female subjects. Experiment 2 replicated the unique preference shown by males after noncontingent success and showed the critical importance of success feedback.

An information processing view of framing effects: the role of causal schemas in decision making.

PubMed

Jou, J; Shanteau, J; Harris, R J

1996-01-01

People prefer a sure gain to a probable larger gain when the two choices are presented from a gain perspective, but a probable larger loss to a sure loss when the objectively identical choices are presented from a loss perspective. Such reversals of preference due to the context of the problem are known as framing effects. In the present study, schema activation and subjects' interpretations of the problems were examined as sources of the framing effects. Results showed that such effects could be eliminated by introducing into a problem a causal schema that provided a rationale for the reciprocal relationship between the gains and the losses. Moreover, when subjects were freed from framing they were consistently risk seeking in decisions about human life, but risk averse in decisions about property. Irrationality in choice behaviors and the ecological implication of framing effects are discussed.

Think twice before you book? Modelling the choice of public vs private dentist in a choice experiment.

PubMed

Kiiskinen, Urpo; Suominen-Taipale, Anna Liisa; Cairns, John

2010-06-01

This study concerns the choice of primary dental service provider by consumers. If the health service delivery system allows individuals to choose between public-care providers or if complementary private services are available, it is typically assumed that utilisation is a three-stage decision process. The patient first makes a decision to seek care, and then chooses the service provider. The final stage, involving decisions over the amount and form of treatment, is not considered here. The paper reports a discrete choice experiment (DCE) designed to evaluate attributes affecting individuals' choice of dental-care provider. The feasibility of the DCE approach in modelling consumers' choice in the context of non-acute need for dental care is assessed. The aim is to test whether a separate two-stage logit, a multinomial logit, or a nested logit best fits the choice process of consumers. A nested logit model of indirect utility functions is estimated and inclusive value (IV) constraints are tested for modelling implications. The results show that non-trading behaviour has an impact on the choice of appropriate modelling technique, but is to some extent dependent on the choice of scenarios offered. It is concluded that for traders multinomial logit is appropriate, whereas for non-traders and on average the nested logit is the method supported by the analyses. The consistent finding in all subgroup analyses is that the traditional two-stage decision process is found to be implausible in the context of consumer's choice of dental-care provider.

Parent Choice: A Digest of the Research. [Parent Choice and the Public Schools: Volume 1].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zerchykov, Ross

This guide, first in a series of four volumes, is designed to give information to parents and other decision makers on costs and benefits of different kinds of choices of schools that children might attend. Four sections present digests of information based on research and evaluation studies. Section 1 introduces the format and purpose of the…

"The Mall" and "the Plant": Choice and the Classed Construction of Possible Futures in Two Specialized Arts Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaztambide-Fernández, Rubén; VanderDussen, Elena; Cairns, Kate

2014-01-01

This article explores how conceptions of choice and visions of the future are constructed within the context of specialized arts programs in two Canadian public high schools. The authors consider how discourses of the arts are implicated in the way that possible futures are envisioned differently, delimiting the range of choices available to…

Course Selection Theory and College Transition Seminars: An Adaptation of College Choice Models to Explain First-Year Students' Course Enrollment Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graff, Curt Gerard

2011-01-01

This dissertation examines the course-enrollment behavior of first-year students at a public Midwestern university. Using the student choice construct, modern college choice theory, and the constructs of habitus, human capital, financial capital, social capital, cultural capital, along with background variables such as gender and locus of control,…

Making School Choice Work for Families: DC School Reform Now's High Quality Schools Campaign

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jochim, Ashley; Gross, Betheny; McCann, Colleen

2017-01-01

Washington, D.C., has looked to school choice as one way to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. School choice attempts to "level the playing field" between students of different backgrounds by making it possible for all families to have access to a city's high-quality public schools--whether students live near these…

Expanding Choice in Elementary and Secondary Education: A Report on Rethinking the Federal Role in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Jay; Loveless, Tom; MacLeod, W. Bentley; Nechyba, Thomas; Peterson, Paul; Rosenthal, Meredith; Whitehurst, Grover

2010-01-01

Choice is most frequently realized within the public sector using the mechanisms of residence, magnet schools, and open enrollment systems, whereas the voucher-like systems applauded by choice advocates and feared by opponents are extremely rare. Further, the charter sector is neither large enough nor sufficiently prepared to go to scale to…

Self-Governing Schools, Parental Choice, and the Need to Protect the Public Interest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fiske, Edward B.; Ladd, Helen F.

2017-01-01

As policy makers call for the dramatic expansion of school choice and voucher programs across the U.S., it becomes all the more important for educators and advocates to consider lessons learned in countries--such as the Netherlands, New Zealand, and England--that have already gone down this path. Efforts to promote choice and school…

Quality of life of people with mental health problems: a synthesis of qualitative research

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Purpose To identify the domains of quality of life important to people with mental health problems. Method A systematic review of qualitative research undertaken with people with mental health problems using a framework synthesis. Results We identified six domains: well-being and ill-being; control, autonomy and choice; self-perception; belonging; activity; and hope and hopelessness. Firstly, symptoms or ‘ill-being’ were an intrinsic aspect of quality of life for people with severe mental health problems. Additionally, a good quality of life was characterised by the feeling of being in control (particularly of distressing symptoms), autonomy and choice; a positive self-image; a sense of belonging; engagement in meaningful and enjoyable activities; and feelings of hope and optimism. Conversely, a poor quality life, often experienced by those with severe mental health difficulties, was characterized by feelings of distress; lack of control, choice and autonomy; low self-esteem and confidence; a sense of not being part of society; diminished activity; and a sense of hopelessness and demoralization. Conclusions Generic measures fail to address the complexity of quality of life measurement and the broad range of domains important to people with mental health problems. PMID:23173689

Strategies in a symmetric quantum Kolkata restaurant problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharif, Puya; Heydari, Hoshang

2012-12-01

The Quantum Kolkata restaurant problem is a multiple-choice version of the quantum minority game, where a set of n non-communicating players have to chose between one of m choices. A payoff is granted to the players that make a unique choice. It has previously been shown that shared entanglement and quantum operations can aid the players to coordinate their actions and acquire higher payoffs than is possible with classical randomization. In this paper the initial quantum state is expanded to a family of GHZ-type states and strategies are discussed in terms of possible final outcomes. It is shown that the players individually seek outcomes that maximize the collective good.

Measuring the level of public understanding of total solar eclipse from the mass media: Palembang as sample

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Purwati, F. G.; Ekawanti, N.; Luthfiandari; Premadi, P. W.

2016-11-01

The Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) on the 9th March 2016 received a huge attention from the mass media. Some of them intensively write articles about it even months before the TSE day. As we know media plays strategic role not only in raising public awareness but also interest. The aim of this project is to study the relation between the number of accesses to the media information and how well public learned the information delivered by the media. We prepared questionnaire consisting of seven semi-multiple choices on how public got information about TSE. We gave them choices of what they had heard to measure their basic understanding of TSE. Furthermore we add two “wrong” choices in the last questions to identify less serious respondents. We analyze 60 respondents of Palembang who visited Ampera bridge area. Our result shows no correlation between the number of information access and the level of understanding about TSE. We also found that local media did not provide the scientific content of TSE as well as the national media.

Escoja Alimentos Sanos y Que Deben Hacer los Padres de los Ninos Que Pesan Mucho. (Food Choices for Good Health and Children and Weight: What's a Parent To Do?).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ikeda, Joanne P.; Mitchell, Rita

These two publications offer parents information on food choices for children and children's weight. The first publication is a guide that lists, for each of the five food groups, which foods should be eaten often, sometimes, or rarely in order to maintain good health. The food groups are: (1) milk and milk products; (2) meats, poultry, fish,…

Beyond Problem-Based Learning: Using Dynamic PBL in Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overton, Tina L.; Randles, Christopher A.

2015-01-01

This paper describes the development and implementation of a novel pedagogy, dynamic problem-based learning. The pedagogy utilises real-world problems that evolve throughout the problem-based learning activity and provide students with choice and different data sets. This new dynamic problem-based learning approach was utilised to teach…

Choice, Contol and Change: Using Scientific Evidence to Promote Healthful Food and Activity Choices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koch, Pamela; Barton, Angela Calabrese; Whitaker, Rabi; Contento, Isobel

2007-01-01

Childhood obesity and its long-term health implications should be of major concern to science educators. In an effort to support teachers and youth about this growing problem, a five-unit, 19-lesson module entitled Choice, Control, and Change (C3) was developed at Teachers College Columbia University. C3 is a standards-driven and inquiry-based…

Provide, provide: the economics of aging.

PubMed

1998-06-26

Most older persons face two potentially serious economic problems: (a) declining earning power and (b) declining health that can be partly offset by increased utilization of health care. The decline in earning power is largely attributable to physiological changes and to obsolescence of skills and knowledge. These adverse effects are exacerbated by public and private policies that reduce the incentives of older persons to continue work and increase the cost to employers of employing older workers. The problems of earnings replacement and health care payment are usually discussed separately, but there are several reasons why they should be considered together. First, there are often tradeoffs between the two. Money is money, and for most people there is never enough to go around. This is self-evident where private funds are concerned. Low-income elderly, for instance, frequently must choose between expensive prescription drugs and an adequate diet. For middle-income elderly, the choice may be between saving on medigap insurance or forgoing an airplane trip to a grandchild's graduation. Difficult choices are also inherent in the allocation of public funds. The same tax receipts that could be used to maintain or increase retirement benefits could be used to fund additional care, and vice versa. In discussing these tradeoffs, some analysts assert that people will gladly give up other goods and services for medical care that cures illness, relieves pain, or restores function. Others believe that some people would forgo some health insurance in order to maintain access to other goods and services. A second reason for looking at the two problems together is that they pose similar questions for public policy. How much should each generation provide for its own needs in old age, and how much should be provided by the generations that follow? How much provision should be voluntary, how much compulsory? How much intra-generational redistribution is appropriate after age 65? How well can private markets serve the elderly's desire for annuities and health insurance, and when are public programs more efficient? Finally, the problem of health care payment is approaching that of earning replacement in economic importance and, by 2020, will far exceed it. Declining health after age 65 results in substantial increase in use of prescription drugs, hospital admissions, repair or replacement of parts of the body, rehabilitation and physical therapy, and assistance with activities of daily living. New technologies offer great promise for offsetting the health problems of aging, but often at considerable expense. Overall, per capita expenditures for health care after age 65 are between three and four times as great as for those under 65. This presentation will focus primarily on the (thus far) inexorable increase in consumption of health care by older Americans. If this increase continues and if the government's share of the total remains unchanged, the tax burden on younger cohorts could become intolerable. Concomitantly, if the private share remains unchanged, the ability of the elderly to obtain other goods and services would be sharply diminished. Although the emphasis of the session will be on aggregate and average results, levels and trends in income inequality among the elderly will also be examined and compared with inequality at younger ages. The session will conclude with a discussion of changes that might avert the economic and social crises foreshadowed in the data.

Food-choice motives of adolescents in Jakarta, Indonesia: the roles of gender and family income.

PubMed

Maulida, Rizka; Nanishi, Keiko; Green, Joseph; Shibanuma, Akira; Jimba, Masamine

2016-10-01

The aims of the present study were to assess the reliability and validity of the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and to determine the factors associated with food-choice motives in public junior-high-school students in Jakarta, Indonesia. Cross-sectional study with self-administered questionnaires. Trained research assistants measured height and weight of the participants on the day of the data collection. Settings Fourteen randomly selected public junior-high schools in East Jakarta, Indonesia. Public junior-high-school students (n 681) in grades 7 and 8, aged 13-14 years (377 girls and 304 boys). Three food-choice motives (subscales) were obtained from factor analysis and reliability testing: (i) comfort; (ii) convenience and price; and (iii) health. The subscale with the greatest mean value was health. Family affluence was inversely associated with the convenience and price subscale (β=-0·05, P=0·01) and with the health subscale (β=-0·04; P=0·02). Females were less likely than males to consider health when choosing foods (β=-0·16; P=0·03). While its factor structure differed from those found in previous studies of adults, the FCQ can provide reliable measures of food-choice motives among these adolescents. Students from less affluent families placed more importance on food's convenience and price, but more affluent students did not necessarily make healthier choices. Compared with females, males were more likely to choose healthy foods. Future interventions should be tailored based on the socio-economic status of the target group.

The impact of interventions to promote healthier ready-to-eat meals (to eat in, to take away or to be delivered) sold by specific food outlets open to the general public: a systematic review.

PubMed

Hillier-Brown, F C; Summerbell, C D; Moore, H J; Routen, A; Lake, A A; Adams, J; White, M; Araujo-Soares, V; Abraham, C; Adamson, A J; Brown, T J

2017-02-01

Ready-to-eat meals sold by food outlets that are accessible to the general public are an important target for public health intervention. We conducted a systematic review to assess the impact of such interventions. Studies of any design and duration that included any consumer-level or food-outlet-level before-and-after data were included. Thirty studies describing 34 interventions were categorized by type and coded against the Nuffield intervention ladder: restrict choice = trans fat law (n = 1), changing pre-packed children's meal content (n = 1) and food outlet award schemes (n = 2); guide choice = price increases for unhealthier choices (n = 1), incentive (contingent reward) (n = 1) and price decreases for healthier choices (n = 2); enable choice = signposting (highlighting healthier/unhealthier options) (n = 10) and telemarketing (offering support for the provision of healthier options to businesses via telephone) (n = 2); and provide information = calorie labelling law (n = 12), voluntary nutrient labelling (n = 1) and personalized receipts (n = 1). Most interventions were aimed at adults in US fast food chains and assessed customer-level outcomes. More 'intrusive' interventions that restricted or guided choice generally showed a positive impact on food-outlet-level and customer-level outcomes. However, interventions that simply provided information or enabled choice had a negligible impact. Interventions to promote healthier ready-to-eat meals sold by food outlets should restrict choice or guide choice through incentives/disincentives. Public health policies and practice that simply involve providing information are unlikely to be effective. © 2016 The Authors. Obesity Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of World Obesity Federation.

Behavioral economics and empirical public policy.

PubMed

Hursh, Steven R; Roma, Peter G

2013-01-01

The application of economics principles to the analysis of behavior has yielded novel insights on value and choice across contexts ranging from laboratory animal research to clinical populations to national trends of global impact. Recent innovations in demand curve methods provide a credible means of quantitatively comparing qualitatively different reinforcers as well as quantifying the choice relations between concurrently available reinforcers. The potential of the behavioral economic approach to inform public policy is illustrated with examples from basic research, pre-clinical behavioral pharmacology, and clinical drug abuse research as well as emerging applications to public transportation and social behavior. Behavioral Economics can serve as a broadly applicable conceptual, methodological, and analytical framework for the development and evaluation of empirical public policy. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Are Public-Private Partnerships an Appropriate Governance Structure for Power Plants? A Transaction Cost Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho, S. Ping; Hsu, Yaowen

2015-04-01

In order to meet the requirements of the rapid economic growth, many countries demand an increasing number of power plants to meet the increasing electricity usage. Since high capital requirements of power plants present a big issue for these countries, PPPs have been considered an alternative to provide power plant infrastructure. In particular, in emerging or developing countries, PPPs may be the fastest way to provide the infrastructure needed. However, while PPPs are a promising alternative to providing various types of infrastructure, many failed power plant PPP projects have made it evident that PPPs, under certain situations, can be very costly or even a wrong choice of governance structure. While the higher efficiency due to better pooling of resources is greatly emphasized in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), the embedded transaction inefficiencies are often understated or even ignored. Through the lens of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), this paper aims to answer why and when PPPs may become a costly governance structure for power plants. Specifically, we develop a TCE-based theory of PPPs as a governance structure. This theory suggests that three major opportunism problems embedded in infrastructure PPPs are possible to cause substantial transaction costs and render PPPs a costly governance structure. The three main opportunism problems are principal-principal problem, firm's hold-up problem, and government-led hold-up problem. Moreover, project and institutional characteristics that may lead to opportunism problems are identified. Based on these characteristics, an opportunism-focused transaction cost analysis (OTCA) for PPPs as a governance structure is proposed to supplement the current practice of PPP feasibility analysis. As a part of theory development, a case study of PPP power plants is performed to evaluate the proposed theory and to illustrate how the proposed OTCA can be applied in practice. Policies and administration strategies for power plant PPPs are derived based on the proposed theory.

The Restaurant Food Hot Potato: Stop Passing it on—A Commentary on Mah and Timming’s, ‘Equity in Public Health Ethics: The Case of Menu Labelling Policy at the Local Level’

PubMed Central

MacKay, Kathryn L.

2015-01-01

In the case discussion, ‘Equity in Public Health Ethics: The Case of Menu Labelling Policy at the Local Level’ (2014), Mah and Timming state that menu labelling would ‘place requirements for information disclosure on private sector food businesses, which, as a policy instrument, is arguably less intrusive than related activities such as requiring changes to the food content’. In this commentary on Mah and Timming’s case study, I focus on discussing how menu-labelling policy permits governments to avoid addressing the heart of the problem, which is high-calorie, high-sodium restaurant food. Menu labelling policy does not address food content in a way that is meaningful for change, instead relying on individuals to change their behaviour given new information. Besides having questionable efficacy, this raises concerns about moralizing food choices. PMID:25815060

[METHODICAL APPROACHES, EXPERIENCE AND PERSPECTIVES OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RISK MODEL OF SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITIES IN THE SPHERE OF THE ASSURANCE OF SANITARY AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL WELFARE OF POPULATION, POPULATION'S HEALTH RISK MANAGEMENT AND THE CONSUMER RIGHTS PROTECTION].

PubMed

Gurvich, V B; Kuz'min, S V; Dikonskaia, O V; Gileva, M A; Boiarskiĭ, A P

2015-01-01

Control and supervision measures--one of the main technologies of Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights protection and Human Welfare in the overall system of risk management for public health and damage to property consumers, aimed at the solution of the prior tasks in the field of assurance of the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population and consumer rights protection. The effectiveness of this technology depends on the correct choice of priority objects of supervision, which form the main problems in the sanitary and epidemiological situation and in the consumer market. The application of is approach has led to more effective oversight activity and the improvement of a number of indices characterizing the achievement of the objectives in the common system of risk management for public health and property of consumers.

Participatory System Science: Multi-Level Comprehension Through a Game-like Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fatland, D. R.; Kuntz, L.

2012-12-01

Participatory System Science: Multi-Level Comprehension Through a Game-like Process We built a time-series game that permits the player to make water management decisions concerning the Skagit River (north-central Washington state) every five years for 60 years. This work was inspired by the integrative efforts of the Skagit Climate Science Consortium and the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington. Our principle guiding concepts have been - Construct a reasonable system description with -- wherever possible -- Events / Consequences rendered both visually and in terms of financial impact. - Base the system description on peer reviewed publications - Emphasize both connection and absence of connection between player Actions and subsequent Consequences in the catchment basin. Player choices center around dam flow levels and steps to mitigate negative impacts of sediment transport into the lower (populated) reaches of the Skagit River and into Puget Sound (levees, new dams, estuary restoration, etcetera). With this work we hope to explore scientific results in public awareness by engaging the game Player as a problem solver.

Influence of the large-small split effect on strategy choice in complex subtraction.

PubMed

Xiang, Yan Hui; Wu, Hao; Shang, Rui Hong; Chao, Xiaomei; Ren, Ting Ting; Zheng, Li Ling; Mo, Lei

2018-04-01

Two main theories have been used to explain the arithmetic split effect: decision-making process theory and strategy choice theory. Using the inequality paradigm, previous studies have confirmed that individuals tend to adopt a plausibility-checking strategy and a whole-calculation strategy to solve large and small split problems in complex addition arithmetic, respectively. This supports strategy choice theory, but it is unknown whether this theory also explains performance in solving different split problems in complex subtraction arithmetic. This study used small, intermediate and large split sizes, with each split condition being further divided into problems requiring and not requiring borrowing. The reaction times (RTs) for large and intermediate splits were significantly shorter than those for small splits, while accuracy was significantly higher for large and middle splits than for small splits, reflecting no speed-accuracy trade-off. Further, RTs and accuracy differed significantly between the borrow and no-borrow conditions only for small splits. This study indicates that strategy choice theory is suitable to explain the split effect in complex subtraction arithmetic. That is, individuals tend to choose the plausibility-checking strategy or the whole-calculation strategy according to the split size. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

[New approaches in pharmacology: numerical modelling and simulation].

PubMed

Boissel, Jean-Pierre; Cucherat, Michel; Nony, Patrice; Dronne, Marie-Aimée; Kassaï, Behrouz; Chabaud, Sylvie

2005-01-01

The complexity of pathophysiological mechanisms is beyond the capabilities of traditional approaches. Many of the decision-making problems in public health, such as initiating mass screening, are complex. Progress in genomics and proteomics, and the resulting extraordinary increase in knowledge with regard to interactions between gene expression, the environment and behaviour, the customisation of risk factors and the need to combine therapies that individually have minimal though well documented efficacy, has led doctors to raise new questions: how to optimise choice and the application of therapeutic strategies at the individual rather than the group level, while taking into account all the available evidence? This is essentially a problem of complexity with dimensions similar to the previous ones: multiple parameters with nonlinear relationships between them, varying time scales that cannot be ignored etc. Numerical modelling and simulation (in silico investigations) have the potential to meet these challenges. Such approaches are considered in drug innovation and development. They require a multidisciplinary approach, and this will involve modification of the way research in pharmacology is conducted.

Who will take responsibility for obesity in Australia?

PubMed

Stanton, R

2009-03-01

Obesity is increasing throughout the world. With its strong links to many health problems, the costs associated with obesity will strain future health budgets. Urgent action on obesity is needed and this needs to extend beyond treatment. Diets may work in the short term but their long-term success is poor. Bariatric surgery can be effective, but it is expensive and its long-term effects are unknown. Common sense dictates that attention should be focused on preventing obesity. Experience with other public health measures, such as reducing cigarette smoking, indicates that government intervention will be essential for success in preventing obesity. In practice, however, governments are reluctant to take responsibility for this multi-factorial problem that is exacerbated by modern lifestyles because it involves standing up to vested interests. The real need is to take action to alter food consumption patterns, change transport options and reform urban planning (including housing and workplace environments), so that healthy choices are easy and physical activity returns to being a normal part of everyday life.

The Relative Efficiency of Charter Schools: A Cost Frontier Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gronberg, Timothy J.; Jansen, Dennis W.; Taylor, Lori L.

2012-01-01

Charters represent an expansion of public school choice, offering free, publicly funded educational alternatives to traditional public schools. One relatively unexplored research question concerning charter schools asks whether charter schools are more efficient suppliers of educational services than are traditional public schools. The potential…

Stated choice models for predicting the impact of user fees at public recreation sites

Treesearch

Herbert W. Schroeder; Jordan Louviere

1999-01-01

A crucial question in the implementation of fee programs is how the users of recreation sites will respond to various levels and types of fees. Stated choice models can help managers anticipate the impact of user fees on people's choices among the alternative recreation sites available to them. Models developed for both day and overnight trips to several areas and...

Short sleep duration and irregular bedtime are associated with increased behavioral problems among Japanese preschool-age children.

PubMed

Komada, Yoko; Abe, Takashi; Okajima, Isa; Asaoka, Shoichi; Matsuura, Noriko; Usui, Akira; Shirakawa, Shuichiro; Inoue, Yuichi

2011-06-01

Sleep problems are known to be risk factors for subsequent emotional and behavioral difficulties in childhood and adolescence. To date, there has been no study investigating the relationships between sleep habits and behavioral problems in a large nonclinical sample of preschool age children. The aim of this study was to examine these relationships and factors associated with the sleep habits of preschool age (2 to 5 year old) children. Their mothers (n = 1,746) completed a multiple-choice questionnaire about the sleep habits and behavior problems of their children, as well as their own sleep habits and working hours at Tokyo metropolitan public nursery schools. The short sleep duration group showed significantly higher aggressive scores than the long sleep duration group among 2- to 3-year-old children, and the irregular bedtime group showed significantly higher aggressive and attention problem scores than the regular bedtime group among 4- to 5-year-old children. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that children's late bedtime was associated with their mother's late waking-up time, and late schedule of both the mother's leaving and returning home. This study recognized an association between behavioral problems and poor sleep habits among preschool-age children. It is important for children to sleep regularly and adequately in order to decrease their behavior problems. In conclusion, appropriate management of children's sleep by their mothers is necessary for promoting sleep-related health of children.

“... And Gladly Teach”: The American Hospital Association's Experience in Conducting Institutes on Hospital Librarianship

PubMed Central

Yast, Helen

1964-01-01

As part of its overall educational program, the American Hospital Association has since 1959 conducted three institutes on hospital librarianship to meet the demand for more competent librarians in medical, nursing school, and patients' libraries. The purpose of such institutes is to teach the basic elements of library science to untrained personnel in hospital libraries. Discussed are steps in initiating an institute; factors determining length, date, and place; financing; publicity; choice and responsibility of local advisory committee; program content; qualifications of instructors; characteristics of registrants; materials for distribution; evaluations. Details of the most recent institute are outlined. A summary of problems still facing this type of educational program and suggestions for future improvements conclude the paper. PMID:14119309

Food labelling: Regulations and Public Health implications.

PubMed

Marcotrigiano, V; Lanzilotti, C; Rondinone, D; De Giglio, O; Caggiano, G; Diella, G; Orsi, G B; Montagna, M T; Napoli, C

2018-01-01

Legislators have implemented policies to improve food labelling to protect consumers and to make the presentation of ingredients and nutritional information more transparent. Proper food labelling allows consumers who may suffer from food allergies or intolerances to know exactly what ingredients a product contains, and it also helps them make more informed health and nutrition choices. This paper deals with the most current European and Italian legislation on food labelling, actions taken in non-EU countries to increase health choices, and the expected impact on Public Health.

Automation of Tooling Backup and Cutter Selection for Engineering Production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terekhov, M. V.; Averchenkov, V. I.; Reutov, A. A.; Handozhko, A. V.

2017-01-01

This paper reports the analysis of a tool support procedure for mechanical engineering and basic trends in the automation of this field are revealed. The system of technical-organizational measures directed at the formation, management and development of the tool stock and a high degree of technological readiness of manufacturing are described. The problems of an automated optimum cutter selection are considered. A mathematical support for a choice of cutters with through-away tips is described. A simulator for the description of combined cutters is presented. Basic criteria defining cutter choice are established. The problem of a multi-criterion fuzzy estimation of alternatives at different significance of choice criteria is solved. The criterion significance ranking at the parameter choice of cutter plates and tool supports is carried out. A set of estimations of cutter plate forms and other cutter parameters taking into account a relative significance of criteria is defined. The application of a decisive rule in the choice of an alternative required is described, which consists in the definition of the intersection of sets of alternative estimations.

Assessing the relative importance of health and conformation traits in the cavalier king Charles spaniel.

PubMed

Wijnrocx, Katrien; François, Liesbeth; Goos, Peter; Buys, Nadine; Janssens, Steven

2018-01-01

The selection of a future breeding dog is a complicated task, in which disease characteristics and different traits have to be combined and weighed against one another. Truncation selection, that is the exclusion of affected animals, may be very inefficient when selecting on a large number of traits, and may result in a reduction of the genetic diversity in a population or breed. Selection could be facilitated by the use of a selection index that combines multiple traits or breeding values into one score. This however requires a consideration of their relative value according to their economic weight, which is difficult to express in monetary units for health traits. The use of a choice experiment to derive non-market values might be a solution to this problem. This is a pilot study to assess the potential use of choice experiments to ascertain the public preference and relative importance attached to health- and conformation traits in the selection of a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. The focus was on two prevalent disorders, mitral valve disease and syringomyelia, and on several important conformation traits such as muzzle length and eye shape. Based on available prior information, a Bayesian D-optimal design approach was used to develop a choice experiment and the resulting choice sets. Every participant (breeder or owner) in the choice experiment was presented with a total of 17 choice sets, in which at most four traits could vary to reduce the cognitive burden. A total of 114 respondents participated in the choice experiment and results showed that respondents (breeders/owners) current attitudes were directed towards health (syringomyelia and mitral valve disease), followed by eye shape and level of inbreeding. This approach identifies the value breeders and owners attach to certain traits in the breeding objective. The resulting relative weights, represented as the logworths obtained from the choice experiment, could be an alternative to economic weights. They could be implemented as a weight when breeding values are available, but more study on this topic will be necessary. A challenge in this approach is to scale up the experiment with additional traits. Moreover, for other traits, the genetic parameters and correlations should be known first, in order to include them in the health selection index as well.

Using School Choice: Analyzing How Parents Access Educational Freedom. School Choice Issues in Depth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forster, Greg

2005-01-01

This report provides a summary of the process parents must go through to participate in each of the nation's school choice programs, identifying problem areas in some programs. For the first time in one place, this report collects data on participation in each of the programs in current and previous years. Data are given for the number of students…

Risky Choice with Heuristics: Reply to Birnbaum (2008), Johnson, Schulte-Mecklenbeck, and Willemsen (2008), and Rieger and Wang (2008)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brandstatter, Eduard; Gigerenzer, Gerd; Hertwig, Ralph

2008-01-01

E. Brandstatter, G. Gigerenzer, and R. Hertwig (2006) showed that the priority heuristic matches or outperforms modifications of expected utility theory in predicting choice in 4 diverse problem sets. M. H. Birnbaum (2008) argued that sets exist in which the opposite is true. The authors agree--but stress that all choice strategies have regions of…

Algorithm of the automated choice of points of the acupuncture for EHF-therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyapina, E. P.; Chesnokov, I. A.; Anisimov, Ya. E.; Bushuev, N. A.; Murashov, E. P.; Eliseev, Yu. Yu.; Syuzanna, H.

2007-05-01

Offered algorithm of the automated choice of points of the acupuncture for EHF-therapy. The recipe formed by algorithm of an automated choice of points for acupunctural actions has a recommendational character. Clinical investigations showed that application of the developed algorithm in EHF-therapy allows to normalize energetic state of the meridians and to effectively solve many problems of an organism functioning.

Further examination of factors that influence preference for positive versus negative reinforcement.

PubMed

Kodak, Tiffany; Lerman, Dorothea C; Volkert, Valerie M; Trosclair, Nicole

2007-01-01

Factors that influence choice between qualitatively different reinforcers (e.g., a food item or a break from work) are important to consider when arranging treatments for problem behavior. Previous findings indicate that children who engage in problem behavior maintained by escape from demands may choose a food item over the functional reinforcer during treatment (DeLeon, Neidert, Anders, & Rodriguez-Catter, 2001; Lalli et al., 1999). However, a number of variables may influence choice between concurrently available forms of reinforcement. An analogue for treatment situations in which positive reinforcement for compliance is in direct competition with negative reinforcement for problem behavior was used in the current study to evaluate several variables that may influence choice. Participants were 5 children who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities and who engaged in problem behavior maintained by escape from demands. In the first phase, the effects of task preference and schedule of reinforcement on choice between a 30-s break and a high-preference food item were evaluated. The food item was preferred over the break, regardless of the preference level of the task or the reinforcement schedule, for all but 1 participant. In the second phase, the quality of the break was manipulated by combining escape with toys, attention, or both. Only 1 participant showed preference for the enriched break. In the third phase, choice of a medium- or low-preference food item versus the enriched break was evaluated. Three of 4 participants showed preference for the break over the less preferred food item. Results extend previous research by identifying some of the conditions under which individuals who engage in escape-maintained behavior will prefer a food reinforcer over the functional one.

Further Examination of Factors that Influence Preference for Positive Versus Negative Reinforcement

PubMed Central

Kodak, Tiffany; Lerman, Dorothea C; Volkert, Valerie M; Trosclair, Nicole

2007-01-01

Factors that influence choice between qualitatively different reinforcers (e.g., a food item or a break from work) are important to consider when arranging treatments for problem behavior. Previous findings indicate that children who engage in problem behavior maintained by escape from demands may choose a food item over the functional reinforcer during treatment (DeLeon, Neidert, Anders, & Rodriguez-Catter, 2001; Lalli et al., 1999). However, a number of variables may influence choice between concurrently available forms of reinforcement. An analogue for treatment situations in which positive reinforcement for compliance is in direct competition with negative reinforcement for problem behavior was used in the current study to evaluate several variables that may influence choice. Participants were 5 children who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities and who engaged in problem behavior maintained by escape from demands. In the first phase, the effects of task preference and schedule of reinforcement on choice between a 30-s break and a high-preference food item were evaluated. The food item was preferred over the break, regardless of the preference level of the task or the reinforcement schedule, for all but 1 participant. In the second phase, the quality of the break was manipulated by combining escape with toys, attention, or both. Only 1 participant showed preference for the enriched break. In the third phase, choice of a medium- or low-preference food item versus the enriched break was evaluated. Three of 4 participants showed preference for the break over the less preferred food item. Results extend previous research by identifying some of the conditions under which individuals who engage in escape-maintained behavior will prefer a food reinforcer over the functional one. PMID:17471792

Designing for Decision Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jonassen, David H.

2012-01-01

Decision making is the most common kind of problem solving. It is also an important component skill in other more ill-structured and complex kinds of problem solving, including policy problems and design problems. There are different kinds of decisions, including choices, acceptances, evaluations, and constructions. After describing the centrality…

The Effect of Publicized Quality Information on Home Health Agency Choice.

PubMed

Jung, Jeah Kyoungrae; Wu, Bingxiao; Kim, Hyunjee; Polsky, Daniel

2016-12-01

We examine consumers' use of publicized quality information in Medicare home health care markets, where consumer cost sharing and travel costs are absent. We report two findings. First, agencies with high quality scores are more likely to be preferred by consumers after the introduction of a public reporting program than before. Second, consumers' use of publicized quality information differs by patient group. Community-based patients have slightly larger responses to public reporting than hospital-discharged patients. Patients with functional limitations at the start of their care, at least among hospital-discharged patients, have a larger response to the reported functional outcome measure than those without functional limitations. In all cases of significant marginal effects, magnitudes are small. We conclude that the current public reporting approach is unlikely to have critical impacts on home health agency choice. Identifying and releasing quality information that is meaningful to consumers may help increase consumers' use of public reports. © The Author(s) 2015.

IODC 1998 Lens Design Problem Revisited: A Strategy for Simplifying Glass Choices in an Apochromatic Design

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Seppala, L G

2000-09-15

A glass-choice strategy, based on separately designing an achromatic lens before progressing to an apochromatic lens, simplified my approach to solving the International Optical Design Conference (IODC) 1998 lens design problem. The glasses that are needed to make the lens apochromatic are combined into triplet correctors with two ''buried'' surfaces. By applying this strategy, I reached successful solutions that used only six glasses--three glasses for the achromatic design and three additional glasses for the apochromatic design.

Proceedings for the ICASE Workshop on Heterogeneous Boundary Conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perkins, A. Louise; Scroggs, Jeffrey S.

1991-01-01

Domain Decomposition is a complex problem with many interesting aspects. The choice of decomposition can be made based on many different criteria, and the choice of interface of internal boundary conditions are numerous. The various regions under study may have different dynamical balances, indicating that different physical processes are dominating the flow in these regions. This conference was called in recognition of the need to more clearly define the nature of these complex problems. This proceedings is a collection of the presentations and the discussion groups.

The Neural Basis of Risky Choice with Affective Outcomes

PubMed Central

Suter, Renata S.; Pachur, Thorsten; Hertwig, Ralph; Endestad, Tor; Biele, Guido

2015-01-01

Both normative and many descriptive theories of decision making under risk are based on the notion that outcomes are weighted by their probability, with subsequent maximization of the (subjective) expected outcome. Numerous investigations from psychology, economics, and neuroscience have produced evidence consistent with this notion. However, this research has typically investigated choices involving relatively affect-poor, monetary outcomes. We compared choice in relatively affect-poor, monetary lottery problems with choice in relatively affect-rich medical decision problems. Computational modeling of behavioral data and model-based neuroimaging analyses provide converging evidence for substantial differences in the respective decision mechanisms. Relative to affect-poor choices, affect-rich choices yielded a more strongly curved probability weighting function of cumulative prospect theory, thus signaling that the psychological impact of probabilities is strongly diminished for affect-rich outcomes. Examining task-dependent brain activation, we identified a region-by-condition interaction indicating qualitative differences of activation between affect-rich and affect-poor choices. Moreover, brain activation in regions that were more active during affect-poor choices (e.g., the supramarginal gyrus) correlated with individual trial-by-trial decision weights, indicating that these regions reflect processing of probabilities. Formal reverse inference Neurosynth meta-analyses suggested that whereas affect-poor choices seem to be based on brain mechanisms for calculative processes, affect-rich choices are driven by the representation of outcomes’ emotional value and autobiographical memories associated with them. These results provide evidence that the traditional notion of expectation maximization may not apply in the context of outcomes laden with affective responses, and that understanding the brain mechanisms of decision making requires the domain of the decision to be taken into account. PMID:25830918

The neural basis of risky choice with affective outcomes.

PubMed

Suter, Renata S; Pachur, Thorsten; Hertwig, Ralph; Endestad, Tor; Biele, Guido

2015-01-01

Both normative and many descriptive theories of decision making under risk are based on the notion that outcomes are weighted by their probability, with subsequent maximization of the (subjective) expected outcome. Numerous investigations from psychology, economics, and neuroscience have produced evidence consistent with this notion. However, this research has typically investigated choices involving relatively affect-poor, monetary outcomes. We compared choice in relatively affect-poor, monetary lottery problems with choice in relatively affect-rich medical decision problems. Computational modeling of behavioral data and model-based neuroimaging analyses provide converging evidence for substantial differences in the respective decision mechanisms. Relative to affect-poor choices, affect-rich choices yielded a more strongly curved probability weighting function of cumulative prospect theory, thus signaling that the psychological impact of probabilities is strongly diminished for affect-rich outcomes. Examining task-dependent brain activation, we identified a region-by-condition interaction indicating qualitative differences of activation between affect-rich and affect-poor choices. Moreover, brain activation in regions that were more active during affect-poor choices (e.g., the supramarginal gyrus) correlated with individual trial-by-trial decision weights, indicating that these regions reflect processing of probabilities. Formal reverse inference Neurosynth meta-analyses suggested that whereas affect-poor choices seem to be based on brain mechanisms for calculative processes, affect-rich choices are driven by the representation of outcomes' emotional value and autobiographical memories associated with them. These results provide evidence that the traditional notion of expectation maximization may not apply in the context of outcomes laden with affective responses, and that understanding the brain mechanisms of decision making requires the domain of the decision to be taken into account.

Can Limiting Choice Increase Social Welfare? The Elderly and Health Insurance

PubMed Central

Hanoch, Yaniv; Rice, Thomas

2006-01-01

Herbert Simon's work on bounded rationality has had little impact on health policy discourse, despite numerous supportive findings. This is particularly surprising in regard to the elderly, a group marked by a decline in higher cognitive functions. Elders' cognitive capacity to make decisions will be challenged even further with the introduction of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit program, mainly because of the many options available. At the same time, a growing body of evidence points to the perils of having too many choices. By combining research from decision science, economics, and psychology, we highlight the potential problems with the expanding health insurance choices facing the elderly and conclude with some policy suggestions to alleviate the problem. PMID:16529568

Public transit design for smart growth : using choice experiments to quantify tradeoffs, values and funding implications.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

Studying public perception of public transportation and the environment in which it operates is crucial to understanding the symbiotic relationship : between transportation and the built environment. This report documents research completed to quanti...

Factors influencing women's utilization of public health care services during childbirth in Malawi Public health facility utilization.

PubMed

Machira, Kennedy; Palamuleni, Martin

2017-06-01

Maternal mortality remains a public health challenge claiming many lives at the time of giving birth lives. However, there have been scanty studies investigating factors influencing women's use of public health facilities during childbirth. The aim of the study was to explore the factors associated with women choice of public health facility during childbirth. The study used 2010 Malawi Demographic Health Survey dataset and a binary logistics regression analysis to estimate the determinants influencing women's use of public health facilities at the time they give birth. Of 23020 women respondents, 8454(36.7%) chose to give birth in public health facilities. Multivariate analysis reported that frequency of antenatal care (ANC), birth order, women's education, wealth status and quality of care were the major predictors increasing women's choice to use public health facilities at childbirth. There is need to use multimedia approach to engage women on significance of utilizing public health facilities during childbirth and promote quality of care in facilities if their health outcome is to improve in Malawi.

Active choice but not too active: Public perspectives on biobank consent models

PubMed Central

Simon, Christian M.; L’Heureux, Jamie; Murray, Jeffrey C.; Winokur, Patricia; Weiner, George; Newbury, Elizabeth; Shinkunas, Laura; Zimmerman, Bridget

2013-01-01

Purpose Despite important recent work, US public attitudes toward specific biobank consent models are not well understood. Public opinion data can help shape efforts to develop ethically sound and publicly trusted mechanisms for informing and consenting prospective biobank donors. The purpose of this study was to explore public perspectives toward a range of consent models currently being used or considered for use among comprehensive US biobanks. Methods The study used an exploratory mixed-methods design, using focus groups and telephone surveys. Eligible participants were English-speaking residents in the catchment area of a comprehensive biobank being developed at the University of Iowa. Results Forty-eight participants in seven focus groups and 751 survey participants were recruited. Biobanks were unfamiliar to almost all study participants but were seen as valuable resources. Most focus group (63%) and survey (67%) participants preferred a prospective opt-in over an opt-out consent approach. Broad, research-unspecific consent was preferred over categorical and study-specific consent models for purposes of approving future research use. Conclusion Many individuals may want to make an active and informed choice at the point of being approached for biobank participation but are prepared to consent broadly to future research use and to forego additional choices as a result. PMID:21555942

Modified mandated choice for organ procurement

PubMed Central

Chouhan, P; Draper, H

2003-01-01

Presumed consent to organ donation looks increasingly unlikely to be a palatable option for increasing organ procurement in the UK following the publication of the report into events at Alder Hey and elsewhere. Yet, given that the alternative to increasing the number of cadaveric organs available is either to accept a greater number of live donations, or accept that people will continue to die for the want of an organ, public policy makers remain obliged to consider other means of increasing the procurement rate. In this paper, we meet the main objections to mandated choice (namely that it undermines autonomy and that mandated donation is preferable). We have modified the traditional approach to mandated choice to take into account the force of the objection that mandated donation is preferable, by accepting that people can and do make bad decisions about organ donation and proposing that all accompanying public education and information about cadaveric donation should be directed in favour of donation. PMID:12796435

Quality Multiple-Choice Test Questions: Item-Writing Guidelines and an Analysis of Auditing Testbanks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, James D.; Dexter, Lee

1997-01-01

Analysis of test item banks in 10 auditing textbooks found that 75% of questions violated one or more guidelines for multiple-choice items. In comparison, 70% of a certified public accounting exam bank had no violations. (SK)

The Role of Personality Traits through Habit and Intention on Determining Future Preferences of Public Transport Use

PubMed Central

Yazdanpanah, Mahdi; Hadji Hosseinlou, Mansour

2017-01-01

A complex set of factors may affect transportation mode choice. While earlier studies have often considered objective factors in determining preferences of public transport use as a sustainable transportation, subjective factors such as personality traits are underexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence of personality traits on the number of future public transport use. Additionally, “car habit” and “intention toward using public modes” were considered to be important. For this purpose, a case study from departure passengers at Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA, Tehran, Iran) was conducted between January and February 2015 at IKIA. Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) shows that only neuroticism and extraversion personality traits were significant in determining future public transportation mode choice. However, the model indicates that these traits indirectly influence intention and car habit. Neuroticism was found to have a total effect of −0.022 on future public transport use, which represents a negative association with public transport use, while extraversion positively influenced future public transport use with a total effect of 0.031. Moreover, the results found interestingly that car access had a better fit to the data than the number of cars in household (NCH); both had significant positive effect on car habit, but only car access had a significant influence on intention. Furthermore, the effect of socio-demographic variables such as age, gender, educational level, income level, and body mass index (BMI) were determined to be significant in identifying choice of future transport mode to airports, which is explained in the discussion section of this paper. PMID:28218641

Fifty Years of College Choice: Social, Political and Institutional Influences on the Decision-Making Process. New Agenda Series. Volume 5, Number 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinzie, Jillian; Palmer, Megan; Hayek, John; Hossler, Don; Jacob, Stacy A.; Cummings, Heather

2004-01-01

The college-choice process is complex and affects many high school students, family members and public policy-makers, as well as institutions of higher education. This report provides an overview of the college-choice process for traditional-age students and examines how it has evolved during the last half of the 20th century. Material from the…

Options/Choices in Public Education: A Report of a National and Statewide Survey in Utah of Educational Choice Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elliott, Norman, Comp.

An analysis of the development of diverse educational programs based on a common curriculum core is the purpose of this paper. After an overview of the major kinds of option/choice programs, a study of educational options in Utah and the United States is described. Three research methodologies were used to collect data: a statewide survey on…

Maryland Child Care Choices Study: Changes in Child Care Arrangements of Young Children in Maryland. Publication #2014-57

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krafft, Caroline; Davis, Elizabeth E.; Tout, Kathryn

2014-01-01

The purpose of this series is to summarize key findings and implications from the Maryland Child Care Choices study, a longitudinal survey of parents who were applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in 2011. Families in the Maryland Child Care Choices study had at least one child age six or younger and lived in one of the…

Colorado K-12 & School Choice Survey: What Do Voters Say about K-12 Education? Polling Paper No. 26

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiPerna, Paul

2015-01-01

The purpose of the "Colorado K-12 & School Choice Survey" is to measure public opinion on, and in some cases awareness or knowledge of, a range of K-12 education topics and school choice reforms. A total of 601 telephone interviews were completed from August 29 to September 16, 2015, with questions on the direction of K-12 education,…

Free to Choose? Reform, Choice, and Consideration Sets in the English National Health Service.

PubMed

Gaynor, Martin; Propper, Carol; Seiler, Stephan

2016-11-01

Choice in public services is controversial. We exploit a reform in the English National Health Service to assess the effect of removing constraints on patient choice. We estimate a demand model that explicitly captures the removal of the choice constraints imposed on patients. We find that, post-removal, patients became more responsive to clinical quality. This led to a modest reduction in mortality and a substantial increase in patient welfare. The elasticity of demand faced by hospitals increased substantially post- reform and we find evidence that hospitals responded to the enhanced incentives by improving quality. This suggests greater choice can raise quality.

A framework for understanding and advancing intertemporal choice research using rodent models

PubMed Central

Fobbs, Wambura C.; Mizumori, Sheri J. Y.

2017-01-01

Intertemporal choices are common and consequential to private and public life. Thus, there is considerable interest in understanding the neural basis of intertemporal decision making. In this minireview, we briefly describe conceptual and psychological perspectives on intertemporal choice and then provide a comprehensive evaluation of the neural structures and signals that comprise the underlying cortico-limbic-striatal circuit. Even though great advances have been made, our understanding of the neurobiology of intertemporal choice is still in its infancy because of the complex and dynamic nature of this form of decision making. We close by briefly discussing recommendations for the future study of intertemporal choice research. PMID:28065715

'Please don't put the whole dang thing out there!': a discursive analysis of internet discussions around infant feeding.

PubMed

Callaghan, Jane E M; Lazard, Lisa

2012-01-01

The promotion of breastfeeding is an important focus of intervention for professionals working to improve infant health outcomes. Literature in this area focuses largely on 'choices' and 'barriers to breastfeeding'. It is our argument, however, that women's cultural context plays a key role in infant feeding 'choices'. In this article, we explore contested representations of infant feeding and infant feeding choices in public debates conducted on a large British parenting website. To sample dominant representations of infant feeding circulating in UK culture, two threads were chosen from the debating board of a busy online parenting community (105 and 99 individual posts, respectively). Participants on the threads were largely women. A feminist informed Foucauldian discourse analysis was used to deconstruct the intersecting constructions of gender, childhood and motherhood implicit in public discussions about infant feeding choices. We identify dominant constructions of women who breastfeed or bottle feed, social representations of both forms of infant feeding, and explore the relationship between constructions of infant feeding choices and constructions of 'good' or 'bad' motherhood. This analysis functions to trouble the individualist assumptions underpinning the notion of infant feeding 'choices', considering the cultural context within which British mothers 'choose' how to feed their babies.

Improving the attractiveness of an emergency medicine career to medical students: An exploratory study.

PubMed

Celenza, Antonio; Bharath, Jude; Scop, Jason

2012-12-01

To describe perceptions of medical students and emergency doctors towards careers in emergency medicine (EM), and to identify influences on career choice. A prospective, cross-sectional questionnaire study was performed in three EDs. The instrument used Likert-type items addressing: factors important in the choice of a career, factors offered by a career in EM, and opinions of EM. EM consultants and registrars and a cohort of final-year medical students participated. Overall, 22 consultants, 30 registrars and 164 students completed the questionnaire (77.1% overall response). Student interest in an EM career increased from 10/161 (6.2% [95% CI 3.0-11.1%]) before, to 26/137 (19.0% [95% CI 12.8-26.6%]) after an EM attachment (P = 0.0014). The highest proportion of students chose work-life balance as being an important factor for career choice (143/163 students, 87.7% [95% CI 81.2-92.6%]). Compared with consultants and registrars, students had negative perceptions about lifestyle factors that EM offered, as well as about the future of the specialty, job security and workplace stress. Some students also preferred careers with opportunities for research, subspecialty practice, and better pay and conditions, yet perceived EM as not offering these factors. Students considered EM as an acute, procedural, public hospital specialty, with diverse patient problems and minimal continuity of care. Smaller proportions of students considered these factors important for career choice. Increasing the attractiveness of a career in EM requires changing student perceptions of lifestyle and satisfaction benefits, access to EM subspecialties, increasing ED research, information about job security, and improved work conditions. © 2012 The Authors. EMA © 2012 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

School Choice, School Quality and Postsecondary Attainment.

PubMed

Deming, David J; Hastings, Justine S; Kane, Thomas J; Staiger, Douglas O

2014-03-01

We study the impact of a public school choice lottery in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools on college enrollment and degree completion. We find a significant overall increase in college attainment among lottery winners who attend their first choice school. Using rich administrative data on peers, teachers, course offerings and other inputs, we show that the impacts of choice are strongly predicted by gains on several measures of school quality. Gains in attainment are concentrated among girls. Girls respond to attending a better school with higher grades and increases in college-preparatory course-taking, while boys do not.

Child and adolescent fast-food choice and the influence of calorie labeling: a natural experiment

PubMed Central

Elbel, B; Gyamfi, J; Kersh, R

2013-01-01

Objective Obesity is an enormous public health problem and children have been particularly highlighted for intervention. Of notable concern is the fast-food consumption of children. However, we know very little about how children or their parents make fast-food choices, including how they respond to mandatory calorie labeling. We examined children’s and adolescents’ fast-food choice and the influence of calorie labels in low-income communities in New York City (NYC) and in a comparison city (Newark, NJ). Design Natural experiment: Survey and receipt data were collected from low-income areas in NYC, and Newark, NJ (as a comparison city), before and after mandatory labeling began in NYC. Study restaurants included four of the largest chains located in NYC and Newark: McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Subjects A total of 349 children and adolescents aged 1–17 years who visited the restaurants with their parents (69%) or alone (31%) before or after labeling was introduced. In total, 90% were from racial or ethnic minority groups. Results We found no statistically significant differences in calories purchased before and after labeling; many adolescents reported noticing calorie labels after their introduction (57% in NYC) and a few considered the information when ordering (9%). Approximately 35% of adolescents ate fast food six or more times per week and 72% of adolescents reported that taste was the most important factor in their meal selection. Adolescents in our sample reported that parents have some influence on their meal selection. Conclusions Adolescents in low-income communities notice calorie information at similar rates as adults, although they report being slightly less responsive to it than adults. We did not find evidence that labeling influenced adolescent food choice or parental food choices for children in this population. PMID:21326209

Using Decision Trees for Estimating Mode Choice of Trips in Buca-Izmir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oral, L. O.; Tecim, V.

2013-05-01

Decision makers develop transportation plans and models for providing sustainable transport systems in urban areas. Mode Choice is one of the stages in transportation modelling. Data mining techniques can discover factors affecting the mode choice. These techniques can be applied with knowledge process approach. In this study a data mining process model is applied to determine the factors affecting the mode choice with decision trees techniques by considering individual trip behaviours from household survey data collected within Izmir Transportation Master Plan. From this perspective transport mode choice problem is solved on a case in district of Buca-Izmir, Turkey with CRISP-DM knowledge process model.

A Conditional Curie-Weiss Model for Stylized Multi-group Binary Choice with Social Interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Opoku, Alex Akwasi; Edusei, Kwame Owusu; Ansah, Richard Kwame

2018-04-01

This paper proposes a conditional Curie-Weiss model as a model for decision making in a stylized society made up of binary decision makers that face a particular dichotomous choice between two options. Following Brock and Durlauf (Discrete choice with social interaction I: theory, 1955), we set-up both socio-economic and statistical mechanical models for the choice problem. We point out when both the socio-economic and statistical mechanical models give rise to the same self-consistent equilibrium mean choice level(s). Phase diagram of the associated statistical mechanical model and its socio-economic implications are discussed.

21st century toolkit for optimizing population health through precision nutrition.

PubMed

O'Sullivan, Aifric; Henrick, Bethany; Dixon, Bonnie; Barile, Daniela; Zivkovic, Angela; Smilowitz, Jennifer; Lemay, Danielle; Martin, William; German, J Bruce; Schaefer, Sara Elizabeth

2017-07-05

Scientific, technological, and economic progress over the last 100 years all but eradicated problems of widespread food shortage and nutrient deficiency in developed nations. But now society is faced with a new set of nutrition problems related to energy imbalance and metabolic disease, which require new kinds of solutions. Recent developments in the area of new analytical tools enable us to systematically study large quantities of detailed and multidimensional metabolic and health data, providing the opportunity to address current nutrition problems through an approach called Precision Nutrition. This approach integrates different kinds of "big data" to expand our understanding of the complexity and diversity of human metabolism in response to diet. With these tools, we can more fully elucidate each individual's unique phenotype, or the current state of health, as determined by the interactions among biology, environment, and behavior. The tools of precision nutrition include genomics, metabolomics, microbiomics, phenotyping, high-throughput analytical chemistry techniques, longitudinal tracking with body sensors, informatics, data science, and sophisticated educational and behavioral interventions. These tools are enabling the development of more personalized and predictive dietary guidance and interventions that have the potential to transform how the public makes food choices and greatly improve population health.

Monte Carlo Study Elucidates the Type 1/Type 2 Choice in Apoptotic Death Signaling in Healthy and Cancer Cells

PubMed Central

Raychaudhuri, Subhadip; Raychaudhuri, Somkanya C

2013-01-01

Apoptotic cell death is coordinated through two distinct (type 1 and type 2) intracellular signaling pathways. How the type 1/type 2 choice is made remains a central problem in the biology of apoptosis and has implications for apoptosis related diseases and therapy. We study the problem of type 1/type 2 choice in silico utilizing a kinetic Monte Carlo model of cell death signaling. Our results show that the type 1/type 2 choice is linked to deterministic versus stochastic cell death activation, elucidating a unique regulatory control of the apoptotic pathways. Consistent with previous findings, our results indicate that caspase 8 activation level is a key regulator of the choice between deterministic type 1 and stochastic type 2 pathways, irrespective of cell types. Expression levels of signaling molecules downstream also regulate the type 1/type 2 choice. A simplified model of DISC clustering elucidates the mechanism of increased active caspase 8 generation and type 1 activation in cancer cells having increased sensitivity to death receptor activation. We demonstrate that rapid deterministic activation of the type 1 pathway can selectively target such cancer cells, especially if XIAP is also inhibited; while inherent cell-to-cell variability would allow normal cells stay protected. PMID:24709706

The relation of post-work ruminative thinking with eating behaviour.

PubMed

Cropley, Mark; Michalianou, Georgia; Pravettoni, Gabriella; Millward, Lynne J

2012-02-01

Inability to unwind about work during leisure time has been associated with a number of negative health outcomes. This study was concerned with a possible behavioural pathway between unwinding and disease and examined the relationship between work-related rumination and food choice. Work-related rumination is arguably a core to understanding the 'unwinding process', and food choice is a well-established indicator of nutritional health. Two hundred and sixty-eight full-time workers from a range of white-collar occupations completed a self-report measure of ruminative thinking about work and an eating behaviour questionnaire. Three types of ruminative thinking were identified by factor analysis and labelled affective rumination, problem-solving pondering and detachment. In terms of food choice, high-relative to low-affective ruminators reported eating more unhealthy foods, and low detachers reported eating less cooked meals and more processed foods compared to high detachers. Problem-solving pondering was not associated with food choice, and none of the factors were associated with healthy food choice. It was concluded that failure to unwind from work is not necessarily related to unhealthy food choices. What appears to be the crucial factor is the type of perseverative thinking that people engage in post-work. Limitations and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Relationships Between Smoking and Sleep Problems in Black and White Adolescents.

PubMed

Bellatorre, Anna; Choi, Kelvin; Lewin, Daniel; Haynie, Denise; Simons-Morton, Bruce

2017-01-01

The relationship between sleeping and smoking during adolescence remains unclear and is likely complex. We aim to evaluate the longitudinal reciprocal associations between sleep problems, sleep duration, and smoking among non-Hispanic white (NHW) and non-Hispanic black (NHB) youth. Prospective cohort study. NEXT Generation Health Study. A national sample (N = 1394) of NHB and NHW 10th graders were surveyed annually between 2009 (Wave 1) and 2012 (Wave 3). N/A. Past 30-day smoking, chronic difficulty falling asleep, recent difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, and weekday and weekend sleep duration were measured at each wave. Using structural equation models, we observed significant autocorrelations over time for sleep problems and sleep duration. We found significant reciprocal, prospective relationships between smoking and sleep problems. The strengths of the relationships differed by race, with a stronger association between sleep problems and subsequent smoking for NHB than NHW youth. Conversely, a stronger association between smoking and subsequent sleep problems for NHW than NHB youth was observed. These association were independent of demographics, snoring or sleep apnea, body mass index, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and soda consumption. Reciprocal and prospective relationships exist for youth smoking and sleep problems and duration in both NHW and NHB youth. Further research is needed to unravel the complex relationship between the direct effects of nicotine, lifestyle choices that may link smoking and sleep problems, and racial differences. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Sleep Research Society (SRS) 2016. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

The construct-behavior gap in behavioral decision research: A challenge beyond replicability.

PubMed

Regenwetter, Michel; Robinson, Maria M

2017-10-01

Behavioral decision research compares theoretical constructs like preferences to behavior such as observed choices. Three fairly common links from constructs to behavior are (1) to tally, across participants and decision problems, the number of choices consistent with one predicted pattern of pairwise preferences; (2) to compare what most people choose in each decision problem against a predicted preference pattern; or (3) to enumerate the decision problems in which two experimental conditions generate a 1-sided significant difference in choice frequency 'consistent' with the theory. Although simple, these theoretical links are heuristics. They are subject to well-known reasoning fallacies, most notably the fallacy of sweeping generalization and the fallacy of composition. No amount of replication can alleviate these fallacies. On the contrary, reiterating logically inconsistent theoretical reasoning over and again across studies obfuscates science. As a case in point, we consider pairwise choices among simple lotteries and the hypotheses of overweighting or underweighting of small probabilities, as well as the description-experience gap. We discuss ways to avoid reasoning fallacies in bridging the conceptual gap between hypothetical constructs, such as, for example, "overweighting" to observable pairwise choice data. Although replication is invaluable, successful replication of hard-to-interpret results is not. Behavioral decision research stands to gain much theoretical and empirical clarity by spelling out precise and formally explicit theories of how hypothetical constructs translate into observable behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Framing effects in choices between multioutcome life-expectancy lotteries.

PubMed

Bernstein, L M; Chapman, G B; Elstein, A S

1999-01-01

To explore framing or editing effects and a method to debias framing in a clinical context. Clinical scenarios using multioutcome life-expectancy lotteries of equal value required choices between two supplementary drugs that either prolonged or shortened life from the 20-year beneficial effect of a baseline drug. The effects of these supplementary drugs were presented in two conditions, using a between-subjects design. In segregated editing (n = 116) the effects were presented separately from the effects of the baseline drug. In integrated editing (n = 100), effects of supplementary and baseline drugs were combined in the lottery presentation. Each subject responded to 30 problems. To explore one method of debiasing, another 100 subjects made choices after viewing both segregated and integrated editings of 20 problems (dual framing). Statistically significant preference reversals between segregated and integrated editing of pure lotteries occurred only when one framing placed outcomes in the gain domain, and the other framing placed them in the loss domain. When both editings resulted in gain-domain outcomes only, there was no framing effect. There was a related relationship of framing-effect shifts from losses to gains in mixed-lottery-choice problems. Responses to the dual framing condition did not consistently coincide with responses to either single framing. In some situations, dual framing eliminated or lessened framing effects. The results support two components of prospect theory, coding outcomes as gains or losses from a reference point, and an s-shaped utility function (concave in gain, convex in loss domains). Presenting both alternative editings of a complex situation prior to choice more fully informs the decision maker and may help to reduce framing effects. Given the extent to which preferences shift in response to alternative presentations, it is unclear which choice represents the subject's "true preferences."

From School Choice to Student Voice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heckman, Paul E.; Montera, Viki L.

2001-01-01

Educational mass marketing approaches are like fast-food franchises; they offer homogeneous, standardized products that cannot satisfy every consumer's needs. A niche market looks inside the masses to address more individual, specialized choices missing from the menu. Variability, not uniformity, should guide development of public schooling. (MLH)

Choice, Empowerment, and Involvement: What Satisfies Parents?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldring, Ellen B.; Shapira, Rina

1993-01-01

Questionnaire responses from 337 parents in Israel examine the nature of interrelationships between parent satisfaction with public schools of choice and parent empowerment, parent involvement, and the congruence of parental expectation with school programs. Findings indicate the importance of socioeconomic status as a factor in these…

Charter Schools: A Viable Public School Choice Option?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geske, Terry G.; And Others

1997-01-01

Overviews the charter-school phenomenon and these schools' basic design. Discusses the government's role in education and identifies various school-choice options. Explores overall autonomy via legislative provisions and examines empirical evidence on charter schools' innovative features, teacher and student characteristics, and parental contracts…

Building a middle-range theory of free public healthcare seeking in sub-Saharan Africa: a realist review

PubMed Central

Robert, Emilie; Samb, Oumar Mallé; Marchal, Bruno; Ridde, Valéry

2017-01-01

Abstract Realist reviews are a new form of knowledge synthesis aimed at providing middle-range theories (MRTs) that specify how interventions work, for which populations, and under what circumstances. This approach opens the ‘black box’ of an intervention by showing how it triggers mechanisms in specific contexts to produce outcomes. We conducted a realist review of health user fee exemption policies (UFEPs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This article presents how we developed both the intervention theory (IT) of UFEPs and a MRT of free public healthcare seeking in SSA, building on Sen’s capability approach. Over the course of this iterative process, we explored theoretical writings on healthcare access, services use, and healthcare seeking behaviour. We also analysed empirical studies on UFEPs and healthcare access in free care contexts. According to the IT, free care at the point of delivery is a resource allowing users to make choices about their use of public healthcare services, choices previously not generally available to them. Users’ ability to choose to seek free care is influenced by structural, local, and individual conversion factors. We tested this IT on 69 empirical studies selected on the basis of their scientific rigor and relevance to the theory. From that analysis, we formulated a MRT on seeking free public healthcare in SSA. It highlights three key mechanisms in users’ choice to seek free public healthcare: trust, risk awareness and acceptability. Contextual elements that influence both users’ ability and choice to seek free care include: availability of and control over resources at the individual level; characteristics of users’ and providers’ communities at the local level; and health system organization, governance and policies at the structural level. PMID:28520961

The choice and preference for public-private health care among urban residents in China: evidence from a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Tang, Chengxiang; Xu, Judy; Zhang, Meng

2016-10-18

Public health care dominated the services provision in China before 1980s. However, the number of private health care providers in China has been increasing since then. The growth of private hospitals escalated after a market-oriented reform was implemented in 2001. Through an experimental approach, this study aims to a better understanding of the dynamic change in preference of health care utilisation among the residents in urban China. Based on a discrete choice experiment (DCE) from a random sample of respondents in urban China, the study evaluated preference over health care attributes affecting individuals' choice for the utilisation of hospital health care. The marginal willingness-to-pay for five health care attributes was estimated, including public/private provision of health care, by analysing mixed logit and latent class models. The results indicated a significantly negative marginal willingness-to-pay for private health care, which was interpreted as representing people's previous interactions with the health care system. The latent class model further suggested preference heterogeneity across our sample. We found that Hukou type, a typical indicator of socioeconomic background, was significantly related to respondents' preference for health care utilisation. Permanent urban residents (urban Hukou) valued private health care less; in contrast rural migrants (rural Hukou) were more likely to be indifferent between public/private provision. Urban residents in China showed a high disposition to obtain health care from the public providers of health care. Our results have implications in the context of the Chinese government attempts to expand the private health care sector in the short term. Policy makers need to consider residents' preference for health care in health policy development as the preference can only change in the long term.

Menu labeling perception and health behaviors among immigrant and US born minority populations: assessment in two Los Angeles public markets.

PubMed

Vargas-Bustamante, Arturo

2013-01-01

To analyze menu labeling perception and food choices/health behaviors in two Los Angeles public markets. Labels with food caloric content were displayed in the food court of one of these markets. Bivarate means analyses compared the surveyed population by market and by nativity status. The main predictors of menu-labeling influence were identified in the sample from the market that displayed labels. A separate analysis investigated food choices/health behaviors among immigrant cohorts by time of US residence. Reading labels when shopping was one of the main predictors associated with menu labeling influence. Longer-stayed immigrants were more likely to afford "balanced meals", but they were also more likely to eat in fast food restaurants and less likely to engage into moderate/intense physical activity. While nativity was not a significant predictor of menu labeling influence on food choices, our findings suggest food choices/behaviors convergence among immigrant and US-born populations.

45 CFR 98.33 - Consumer education.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Consumer education. 98.33 Section 98.33 Public... Program Operations (Child Care Services)-Parental Rights and Responsibilities § 98.33 Consumer education... public consumer education information that will promote informed child care choices including, at a...

Charters, Vouchers, and Public Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Paul E., Ed.; Campbell, David E., Ed.

This book presents 15 papers on charters, vouchers, and public education: (1) "Introduction: A New Direction in Public Education?" (Paul E. Peterson and David E. Campbell); (2) "Charter Schools: Taking Stock" (Chester E. Finn, Jr, Bruno V. Manno, and Gregg Vanourek); (3) "School Choice in Michigan" (Michael Mintrom…

42 CFR 54.12 - Treatment of intermediate organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Treatment of intermediate organizations. 54.12 Section 54.12 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK...

42 CFR 54.6 - Employment practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Employment practices. 54.6 Section 54.6 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.3 - Nondiscrimination against religious organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Nondiscrimination against religious organizations. 54.3 Section 54.3 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK...

42 CFR 54.12 - Treatment of intermediate organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Treatment of intermediate organizations. 54.12 Section 54.12 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK...

42 CFR 54.4 - Religious activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Religious activities. 54.4 Section 54.4 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.6 - Employment practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Employment practices. 54.6 Section 54.6 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.12 - Treatment of intermediate organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Treatment of intermediate organizations. 54.12 Section 54.12 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK...

42 CFR 54.4 - Religious activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Religious activities. 54.4 Section 54.4 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.3 - Nondiscrimination against religious organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Nondiscrimination against religious organizations. 54.3 Section 54.3 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK...

42 CFR 54.4 - Religious activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Religious activities. 54.4 Section 54.4 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.6 - Employment practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Employment practices. 54.6 Section 54.6 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.6 - Employment practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Employment practices. 54.6 Section 54.6 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.3 - Nondiscrimination against religious organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Nondiscrimination against religious organizations. 54.3 Section 54.3 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK...

42 CFR 54.6 - Employment practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Employment practices. 54.6 Section 54.6 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.4 - Religious activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Religious activities. 54.4 Section 54.4 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.4 - Religious activities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Religious activities. 54.4 Section 54.4 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK GRANTS AND/OR...

42 CFR 54.12 - Treatment of intermediate organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Treatment of intermediate organizations. 54.12 Section 54.12 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK...

42 CFR 54.3 - Nondiscrimination against religious organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Nondiscrimination against religious organizations. 54.3 Section 54.3 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO STATES RECEIVING SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT BLOCK...

45 CFR 98.33 - Consumer education.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Consumer education. 98.33 Section 98.33 Public... Program Operations (Child Care Services)-Parental Rights and Responsibilities § 98.33 Consumer education... public consumer education information that will promote informed child care choices including, at a...

Framing effects in medical situations: distinctions of attribute, goal and risky choice frames.

PubMed

Peng, Jiaxi; Jiang, Yuan; Miao, Danmin; Li, Rui; Xiao, Wei

2013-06-01

To verify whether three different framing effects (risky choice, attribute and goal) exist in simulated medical situations and to analyse any differences. Medical decision-making problems were established, relating to medical skill evaluation, patient compliance and a selection of treatment options. All problems were described in positive and negative frame conditions. Significantly more positive evaluations were made if the doctor's medical records were described as 'of 100 patients, 70 patients became better' compared with those described as 'of 100 patients, 30 patients didn't become better'. Doctor's advice described in a negative frame resulted in significantly more decisions to comply, compared with advice described in a positive frame. Treatment options described in terms of survival rates resulted in significantly more adventurous choices compared with options described in terms of mortality rates. Decision-making reversal appeared in the risky choice and attribute frames, but not the goal frame. Framing effects were shown to exist in simulated medical situations, but there were significant differences among the three kinds of such effects.

Public reporting in health care: how do consumers use quality-of-care information? A systematic review.

PubMed

Faber, Marjan; Bosch, Marije; Wollersheim, Hub; Leatherman, Sheila; Grol, Richard

2009-01-01

One of the underlying goals of public reporting is to encourage the consumer to select health care providers or health plans that offer comparatively better quality-of-care. To review the weight consumers give to quality-of-care information in the process of choice, to summarize the effect of presentation formats, and to examine the impact of quality information on consumers' choice behavior. The evidence is organized in a theoretical consumer choice model. English language literature was searched in PubMed, the Cochrane Clinical Trial, and the EPOC Databases (January 1990-January 2008). Study selection was limited to randomized controlled trails, controlled before-after trials or interrupted time series. Included interventions focused on choice behavior of consumers in health care settings. Outcome measures referred to one of the steps in a consumer choice model. The quality of the study design was rated, and studies with low quality ratings were excluded. All 14 included studies examine quality information, usually CAHPS, with respect to its impact on the consumer's choice of health plans. Easy-to-read presentation formats and explanatory messages improve knowledge about and attitude towards the use of quality information; however, the weight given to quality information depends on other features, including free provider choice and costs. In real-world settings, having seen quality information is a strong determinant for choosing higher quality-rated health plans. This review contributes to an understanding of consumer choice behavior in health care settings. The small number of included studies limits the strength of our conclusions.

The issue of gauge choice in the Landau problem and the physics of canonical and mechanical orbital angular momenta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wakamatsu, M.; Kitadono, Y.; Zhang, P.-M.

2018-05-01

One intriguing issue in the nucleon spin decomposition problem is the existence of two types of decompositions, which are representably characterized by two different orbital angular momenta (OAMs) of quarks. The one is the mechanical OAM, while the other is the so-called gauge-invariant canonical (g.i.c.) OAM, the concept of which was introduced by Chen et al. An especially delicate quantity is the g.i.c. OAM, which must be distinguished from the ordinary (gauge-variant) canonical OAM. We find that, owing to its analytically solvable nature, the famous Landau problem offers an ideal tool to understand the difference and the physical meaning of the above three OAMs, i.e. the standard canonical OAM, g.i.c. OAM, and the mechanical OAM. We analyze these three OAMs in two different formulations of the Landau problem, first in the standard (gauge-fixed) formulation and second in the gauge-invariant (but path-dependent) formulation of DeWitt. Especially interesting is the latter formalism. It is shown that the choice of path has an intimate connection with the choice of gauge, but they are not necessarily equivalent. Then, we answer the question about what is the consequence of a particular choice of path in DeWitt's formalism. This analysis also clarifies the implication of the gauge symmetry hidden in the concept of g.i.c. OAM. Finally, we show that the finding above offers a clear understanding about the uniqueness or non-uniqueness problem of the nucleon spin decomposition, which arises from the arbitrariness in the definition of the so-called physical component of the gauge field.

Conflict management and job satisfaction in paediatric hospitals in Greece.

PubMed

Kaitelidou, Daphne; Kontogianni, Alexandra; Galanis, Petros; Siskou, Olga; Mallidou, Anastasia; Pavlakis, Andreas; Kostagiolas, Petros; Theodorou, Mamas; Liaropoulos, Lycurgus

2012-05-01

To assess the major causes of conflict and to identify choices of strategy in handling conflicts. Conflict is inherent to hospitals as in all complex organizations, and health personnel deal with internal and external conflicts daily. The sample consisted of 286 participants. A five-part questionnaire, specific for conflicts in hospitals, was administered to health personnel. Of the participants 37% were physicians and 63% were nurses and nursing assistants. As far as choice of strategy in conflict management is concerned, avoidance was found to be the most frequent mode chosen while accommodation was the least frequent mode. Organizational problems were the main issue creating conflicts since 52% of nurses and 45% of physicians agreed that receiving direction from more than one manager may lead to conflicts (P=0.02). Educational differences and communication gaps were reported as another cause of conflicts, with nurses supporting this statement more than the other groups (P=0.006). To become effective in conflict management nurses and physicians must understand causes and strategies in handling conflicts. Major changes are needed regarding human resource management, work incentives and dynamics of teamwork in order to improve working conditions in Greek public hospitals. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Evolving from academic to academic entrepreneur: overcoming barriers to scientific progress and finance.

PubMed

Miller, Andrew D

2016-07-01

The overall goal of my career as an academic chemist has always been the design and creation of advanced therapeutics and diagnostics that address unmet medical need in the management of chronic diseases. Realising this goal has been an immensely difficult process involving multidisciplinary problem-driven research at the chemistry-biology-medicine interfaces. With success in the laboratory, I started seriously to question the value of remaining an academic whose career is spent in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding alone without making any significant effort to translate knowledge and understanding gained into products of genuine utility for public benefit. Therefore, I elected by choice to become an academic entrepreneur, seeking opportunities wherever possible for the translation of the best of my personal and collaborative academic research work into potentially valuable and useful products. This choice has brought with it many unexpected difficulties and challenges. Nevertheless, progress bas been made and sufficient learnt to suggest that this would be an appropriate moment to take stock and provide some personal reflections on what it takes to design and create advanced therapeutics and diagnostics in the laboratory then seek to develop, innovate and translate the best towards market.

The Cow in the Room: Public Knowledge of the Links Between Dietary Choices and Health and Environmental Impacts

PubMed Central

Joyce, Andrew W; Dixon, Sarah; Comfort, Jude; Hallett, Jonathan

2008-01-01

Issue Addressed: This paper describes results of a survey comparing people’s knowledge of health and environmental impacts of dietary choices. Dietary choice is one of the key ways in which individuals can reduce their environmental impact in relation to water use and greenhouse gas emissions but this may not be widely known amongst the public due to limited press coverage. Methods: A street intercept survey was conducted asking open ended questions on how people can help the environment, maintain or improve health and basic demographics. The sample size was 107 with a refusal rate of 51%. Results: Only 3.2% of the sample made a link between dietary choice and environmental impact whereas 85.6% of the sample referred to dietary choice in relation to personal health. Transport options and keeping active were popular responses to both health and environmental categories. Conclusions: It seems that very few people are aware that the livestock sector is the second largest contributor to equivalent greenhouse gas emissions and one of the largest users of fresh water. Reduction in red meat consumption could have both important positive health and environmental impacts. PMID:21572845

A Spreadsheet Simulation of the Monty Hall Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patterson, Mike C.; Harmel, Bob; Friesen, Dan

2010-01-01

The "Monty Hall" problem or "Three Door" problem--where a person chooses one of three doors in hope of winning a valuable prize but is subsequently offered the choice of changing his or her selection--is a well known and often discussed probability problem. In this paper, the structure, history, and ultimate solution of the…

MARC calculations for the second WIPP structural benchmark problem

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Morgan, H.S.

1981-05-01

This report describes calculations made with the MARC structural finite element code for the second WIPP structural benchmark problem. Specific aspects of problem implementation such as element choice, slip line modeling, creep law implementation, and thermal-mechanical coupling are discussed in detail. Also included are the computational results specified in the benchmark problem formulation.

School Choice in Philadelphia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keefe, Connie; Scher, Lauren; Sparks, Andrew; Weinbaum, Elliot

Throughout the country, a wide range of educational options exist, from neighborhood public schools to cyber-schools. This study focuses on school choice in improving the educational experience in one city, Philadelphia. The study employed interviews with policymakers, teachers, and others; a focus group of middle-school students; a collection of…

Therapy and Counseling

MedlinePlus

... infidelity, divorce, or other relationship issues sexual problems stress and anxiety addictions and compulsions grief, loss, or bereavement anger career choice parenting or family problems phobias insomnia fertility issues chronic pain or illness domestic violence ...

Health Checkup

MedlinePlus

Regular health exams and tests can help find problems before they start. They also can help find problems early, ... and screenings you need depends on your age, health and family history, and lifestyle choices such as ...

The Thinnest Path Problem

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-22

their corresponding transmission powers . At first glance, one may wonder whether the thinnest path problem is simply a shortest path problem with the...nature of the shortest path problem. Another aspect that complicates the problem is the choice of the transmission power at each node (within a maximum...fixed transmission power at each node (in this case, the resulting hypergraph degenerates to a standard graph), the thinnest path problem is NP

Smoking as an 'informed choice': implications for endgame strategies.

PubMed

Hoek, Janet; Ball, Jude; Gray, Rebecca; Tautolo, El-Shadan

2017-11-01

Tobacco companies often assert that adults should be free to make an 'informed choice' about smoking; this argument influences public perceptions and shapes public health policy agendas by promoting educative interventions ahead of regulation. Critically analysing 'informed choice' claims is pivotal in countries that have set endgame goals and require new, more effective policies to achieve their smoke-free aims. In-depth interviews with 15 New Zealand politicians, policy analysts and tobacco control advocates examined how they interpreted 'informed choice' arguments. We used a thematic analysis approach to review and explicate interview transcripts. Participants thought 'informed choice' implied that people make an active decision to smoke, knowing and accepting the risks they face; they rejected this assumption and saw it as a cynical self-justification by tobacco companies. Some believed this rhetoric had countered calls for stronger policies and thought governments used 'informed choice' arguments to support inaction. Several called on the government to stop allowing a lethal product to be widely sold while simultaneously advising people not to use it. 'Informed choice' arguments allow the ubiquitous availability of tobacco to go unquestioned and create a tension between endgame goals and the strategies used to achieve these. Reducing tobacco availability would address this anomaly by aligning government's actions with its advice. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

A set partitioning reformulation for the multiple-choice multidimensional knapsack problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voß, Stefan; Lalla-Ruiz, Eduardo

2016-05-01

The Multiple-choice Multidimensional Knapsack Problem (MMKP) is a well-known ?-hard combinatorial optimization problem that has received a lot of attention from the research community as it can be easily translated to several real-world problems arising in areas such as allocating resources, reliability engineering, cognitive radio networks, cloud computing, etc. In this regard, an exact model that is able to provide high-quality feasible solutions for solving it or being partially included in algorithmic schemes is desirable. The MMKP basically consists of finding a subset of objects that maximizes the total profit while observing some capacity restrictions. In this article a reformulation of the MMKP as a set partitioning problem is proposed to allow for new insights into modelling the MMKP. The computational experimentation provides new insights into the problem itself and shows that the new model is able to improve on the best of the known results for some of the most common benchmark instances.

Public choice economics and space policy: realising space tourism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, Patrick

2001-03-01

Government space agencies have the statutory responsibility to suport the commercialisation of space activities. NASA's 1998 report "General Public Space Travel and Tourism" concluded that passenger space travel can start using already existing technology, and is likely to grow into the largest commercial activity in space: it is therefore greatly in taxpayers' economic interest that passenger space travel and accommodation industries should be developed. However, space agencies are doing nothing to help realise this — indeed, they are actively delaying it. This behaviour is predicted by 'public choice' economics, pioneered by Professors George Stigler and James Buchanan who received the 1982 and 1986 Nobel prizes for Economics, which views government organisations as primarily self-interested. The paper uses this viewpoint to discuss public and private roles in the coming development of a space tourism industry.

Choice of Variables and Preconditioning for Time Dependent Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turkel, Eli; Vatsa, Verr N.

2003-01-01

We consider the use of low speed preconditioning for time dependent problems. These are solved using a dual time step approach. We consider the effect of this dual time step on the parameter of the low speed preconditioning. In addition, we compare the use of two sets of variables, conservation and primitive variables, to solve the system. We show the effect of these choices on both the convergence to a steady state and the accuracy of the numerical solutions for low Mach number steady state and time dependent flows.

45 CFR 1170.45 - Housing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Housing. 1170.45 Section 1170.45 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES NATIONAL... scope of handicapped students' choice of living accommodations is, as a whole, comparable to that of...

45 CFR 1170.45 - Housing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Housing. 1170.45 Section 1170.45 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES NATIONAL... scope of handicapped students' choice of living accommodations is, as a whole, comparable to that of...

42 CFR 54a.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... financial assistance under an applicable program. (e) SAMHSA means the Substance Abuse and Mental Health... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Definitions. 54a.2 Section 54a.2 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GRANTS CHARITABLE CHOICE REGULATIONS...

Changing friend selection in middle school: A social network analysis of a randomized intervention study designed to prevent adolescent problem behavior

PubMed Central

DeLay, Dawn; Ha, Thao; Van Ryzin, Mark; Winter, Charlotte; Dishion, Thomas J.

2015-01-01

Adolescent friendships that promote problem behavior are often chosen in middle school. The current study examines the unintended impact of a randomized school based intervention on the selection of friends in middle school, as well as on observations of deviant talk with friends five years later. Participants included 998 middle school students (526 boys and 472 girls) recruited at the onset of middle school (age 11-12 years) from three public middle schools participating in the Family Check-up model intervention. The current study focuses only on the effects of the SHAPe curriculum—one level of the Family Check-up model—on friendship choices. Participants nominated friends and completed measures of deviant peer affiliation. Approximately half of the sample (n=500) was randomly assigned to the intervention and the other half (n=498) comprised the control group within each school. The results indicate that the SHAPe curriculum affected friend selection within School 1, but not within Schools 2 or 3. The effects of friend selection in School 1 translated into reductions in observed deviancy training five years later (age 16-17 years). By coupling longitudinal social network analysis with a randomized intervention study the current findings provide initial evidence that a randomized public middle school intervention can disrupt the formation of deviant peer groups and diminish levels of adolescent deviance five years later. PMID:26377235

Teaching Emotional Intelligence: Making Informed Choices. K-College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewkowicz, Adina Bloom

Teachers can help lessen their students' frustrations, make classroom time more productive, and prevent behavioral and learning problems by providing students with information and skills with which to make informed, positive, and independent choices regarding their emotional, social, physical, and mental well-being. This resource for teachers…

Matching and Conditioned Reinforcement Rate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shahan, Timothy A.; Podlesnik, Christopher A.; Jimenez-Gomez, Corina

2006-01-01

Attempts to examine the effects of variations in relative conditioned reinforcement rate on choice have been confounded by changes in rates of primary reinforcement or changes in the value of the conditioned reinforcer. To avoid these problems, this experiment used concurrent observing responses to examine sensitivity of choice to relative…

Educational Opportunity, Parental Choice and Community: The Case for Reforming Public Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, Robert B., Jr.

1982-01-01

For the last 10 years, polling data have recorded a consistent decline in the American citizen's support for public education. While public schools experienced an 8 percent decline in enrollment between 1968 and 1978, private school enrollment grew by 12 percent. The decline in quality of public education over the last 50 years appears strongly…

Public v. Private: Parental Choice of Schools and the Reasons Why

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dauber, Jonathan J.

2013-01-01

With the rise in alternatives to public schools over the past three decades, it is clear that families have a variety of options in addition to the local public school. These opportunities have created a competitive marketplace where all schools, public included, are now competing for families. Parents are increasingly viewed as consumers and,…

School Choice, School Quality and Postsecondary Attainment

PubMed Central

Deming, David J.; Hastings, Justine S.; Kane, Thomas J.; Staiger, Douglas O.

2015-01-01

We study the impact of a public school choice lottery in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools on college enrollment and degree completion. We find a significant overall increase in college attainment among lottery winners who attend their first choice school. Using rich administrative data on peers, teachers, course offerings and other inputs, we show that the impacts of choice are strongly predicted by gains on several measures of school quality. Gains in attainment are concentrated among girls. Girls respond to attending a better school with higher grades and increases in college-preparatory course-taking, while boys do not. PMID:27244675

Competitive Effects of Means-Tested School Vouchers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Figlio, David N.; Hart, Cassandra M. D.

2010-01-01

School choice options--including both voucher and neo-voucher options like tuition tax credit funded scholarship programs--have become increasingly prevalent in recent years (Howell, Peterson, Wolf and Campbell, 2006). One popular argument for school choice policies, drawing from economic theory, is that public schools will improve the education…

Neighborhood crime and travel behavior : an investigation of the influence of neighborhood crime rates on mode choice, phase II.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

There are considerable environmental and public health benefits if people choose to walk, bicycle, or ride transit, instead of drive. However, little work has been done on the effects of neighborhood crimes on mode choice. Instinctively, we understan...

Neighborhood crime and travel behavior : an investigation of the influence of neighborhood crime rates on mode choice - phase II.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

There are considerable environmental and public health benefits if people choose to walk, bicycle, or ride transit, instead of drive. : However, little work has been done on the effects of neighborhood crimes on mode choice. Instinctively, we underst...

EVALUATION OF ON-SITE CHLORINE GENERATORS FOR THE DISINFECTION OF DRINKING WATER

EPA Science Inventory

Public Water Systems (PWSs) routinely use various forms of chlorine as the disinfectant of choice for the treatment of drinking water. Chlorine is a popular choice because it is a very effective disinfectant, it is inexpensive, and it is widely available in various forms to suit...

EXPANSION OF THE FREE CHOICE OPEN ENROLLMENT PROGRAM.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

FOX, DAVID J.

THIS EVALUATION OF THE SECOND YEAR OF THE FREE CHOICE OPEN ENROLLMENT PROGRAM (OE) IN NEW YORK CITY'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS PRESENTS COMPARATIVE DATA FOR 26 RECEIVING AND 15 SENDING ELEMENTARY AND JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS. THE AREAS STUDIED WERE (1) CHILDRENS' CLASSROOM FUNCTIONING, (2) TEACHERS' CLASSROOM FUNCTIONING, (3) SCHOOL APPEARANCE, CLIMATE, AND…

Silent Policy Feedback through School Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little-Hunt, Catherine Cecchini

2017-01-01

Increasing numbers of Florida parents are withdrawing their children from traditional public schools in highly-rated school districts to enroll them in tuition-free, startup, charter schools. Since not all parents have equal access or are as equally motivated to elect school choice alternatives, the fiscal sustainability of the traditional public…

Parents Guide on Choice. The Right To Choose.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raywid, Mary Anne

Starting with the contention that we need to restore a wider range of choice to parents in their children's education, this paper lists and reviews the varieties of public education currently available throughout the country, and discusses their advantages and disadvantages. These varieties include magnet schools, alternative schools, independent…

Special Ed. and Choice Ties Grow

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shah, Nirvi

2012-01-01

Creating private school vouchers for special education students--programs that are largely unchallenged in court, unlike other publicly financed tuition vouchers--can be the perfect way to clear a path for other students to get school options, according to school choice proponents. At least seven states--Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio,…

Educating Citizens: International Perspectives on Civic Values and School Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolf, Patrick J., Ed.; Macedo, Stephen, Ed.

2004-01-01

In the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling upholding school choice, policymakers across the country are grappling with the challenge of funding and regulating private schools. Towns, cities, and states are experimenting with a variety of policies, including vouchers, tax credits, and charter schools. Meanwhile, public officials and…

False Choices: Why School Vouchers Threaten Our Children's Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowe, Robert, Ed.; Miner, Barbara, Ed.

1992-01-01

A voucher system of schooling would destroy the few democratic gains made in public education in recent years, worsen inequalities that already permeate education, and block opportunities for meaningful reform. Articles included in this special issue are: (1) an introduction, "Why We Are Publishing False Choices" ("Rethinking…

Employer of Choice? Workplace Innovation in Government: A Synthesis Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowe, Graham S.

The Human Resources in Government project examined the impact of extensive downsizing and restructuring in Canada's public service sector and sought innovative ways of making Canada's governments "employers of choice." The project focused on Canada's federal government and the governments of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.…

Educational Choice and Educational Space

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomson, Kathleen Sonia

2016-01-01

This dissertation entitled "Educational choice and educational space" aims to explore the confluence of constructed space and geographic space using a supply-side context for New Zealand's public school system of quasi-open enrollment. In Part I, New Zealand's state and state-integrated school system across four urban areas is analyzed…

Early Education and Professional Choice: Brazilian Teachers' Views

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galvão, Afonso; Brasil, Ive

2014-01-01

This qualitative and exploratory research is aimed at investigating the underlying reasons for the professional choice of Brazilian teachers who work within early education. Seventeen teachers (seven from public schools and 10 from private schools) were interviewed in depth in a semi-structured manner. Questions concerned the reasons that guided…

Choice in Schooling: A Case for Tuition Vouchers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirkpatrick, David W.

The educational reform movement produced only incremental improvements in student achievement, prompting a need for greater focus on structural and cultural aspects of school organization. Parental choice is the necessary element for successful school reform in the future. The public educational system that has evolved in America is widely…

Doing School Choice Right: Preliminary Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, James; Hill, Paul T.

2006-01-01

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has launched a new initiative entitled "Doing School Choice Right." Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates, Annie E. Casey, and Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundations, the initiative's goal is to help state and local leaders handle practical issues whose resolution can determine whether school…

Group differences in adult simple arithmetic: good retrievers, not-so-good retrievers, and perfectionists.

PubMed

Hecht, Steven A

2006-01-01

We used the choice/no-choice methodology in two experiments to examine patterns of strategy selection and execution in groups of undergraduates. Comparisons between choice and no-choice trials revealed three groups. Some participants good retrievers) were consistently able to use retrieval to solve almost all arithmetic problems. Other participants (perfectionists) successfully used retrieval substantially less often in choice-allowed trials than when strategy choices were prohibited. Not-so-good retrievers retrieved correct answers less often than the other participants in both the choice-allowed and no-choice conditions. No group differences emerged with respect to time needed to search and access answers from long-term memory; however, not-so-good retrievers were consistently slower than the other subgroups at executing fact-retrieval processes that are peripheral to memory search and access. Theoretical models of simple arithmetic, such as the Strategy Choice and Discovery Simulation (Shrager & Siegler, 1998), should be updated to include the existence of both perfectionist and not-so-good retriever adults.