Endogenous financing of the universal service

We address the question of endogenous financing of the Universal Service Obligations and we compare it with the exogenous financing. A fund is created and fed through a tax firms pay. We show that the way these funds are implemented by the current regulatory regimes at work goes against the social welfare. We propose a new way of implementing the fund that improves welfare. Moreover, we challenge the proportionality payment principle as it leads to lower welfare

Life After NBC’s “The Biggest Loser”: The Experiences and Perspectives of Former Reality TV Contestants

Utilizing Qualitative Description influenced by aspects of phenomenology, we conducted fifteen open-ended, semi-structured interviews with former contestants of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser.” The purpose of the study was to explore experiences of significant weight loss. We focused on challenges, emotional well-being, and relational dynamics of contestants transitioning through their weight loss journeys, which included what happened after the show was completed. Further, we analyzed perspectives regarding the utility of Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) in working with this population. In the study, three themes emerged which included: (1) Living at the ranch: It’s reality TV, not reality; (2) After the confetti falls: Post-Traumatic Reality TV Syndrome and The Whiplash Effect; and (3) Therapeutic treatment: Much needed but nowhere to be found. The study includes a rich description of the data, as well as a discussion of clinical implications

Life During The Biggest Loser: Experiences and Perspectives of Non-Contestant Romantic Partners

For this study, authors engaged in 9 semi-structured interviews with romantic partners of contestants who were involved with a weight loss intervention (The Biggest Loser), to gain insight into the phenomenon of weight loss within the context of couple relationships and reality television. Utilizing Basic Qualitative Description influenced by aspects of phenomenology, the authors explored the role of weight loss and the role that the specific intervention utilized, has played within the couple relationship. Building upon previous research (Moore, Cooper, Williams, & Zwierstra, 2017a) authors added the voice of the non-contestant partners to the discussion and explored experiences of weight loss and perceptions regarding the utilization of Marriage and Family Therapists during the weight loss process. The major themes that emerged were (1) Behind the Scenes: The sacrifices we make, (2) After the Show Wraps: Re-entry and the Transition Home, and (3) Perceptions of MFT: Addressing couple relationships. Implications for Marriage and Family Therapists as well as other professionals involved in working with couples during weight loss are discussed as well as future directions in research

Coping with a Nuclear North Korea

"China is the biggest loser with a nuclear North Korea." Zhang Liangu is professor of international strategic research at the Party School of the China Communist Party Central Committee

Working hard on the outside: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of The Biggest Loser Australia

The Biggest Loser (TBL) is a reality television weight-loss programme that positions itself as a response to the so-called “obesity crisis”. Research on TBL has thus far focussed on audience responses and its effect on viewers’ beliefs about weight loss. This article focuses instead on how meaning is constructed in TBL. We conducted a multimodal critical discourse analysis of a key episode of TBL (the 2012 Australian season finale) to examine how the textual, visual and auditory elements combine to construct meanings beyond the ostensible health messages. Although the overt message is that all contestants have worked hard, turned their lives around and been “successful”, examination of editing choices, lighting and colour, clothing and time spent on contestants allows us to see that the programme constructs varying degrees of success between contestants and provides accounts for these differences in outcomes. In this way the programme is able to present itself as a putative celebration of all contestants while prescribing narrow limits around what constitutes success. TBL reinforces an ideology in which “success” is a direct result of “the work” of weight loss (both physical and emotional), which can apparently be read straightforwardly off the body. TBL’s “celebration” of weight loss thus reproduces and strengthens the widespread view of fat bodies as physical manifestations of individual (ir)responsibility and psychological dysfunction, and contributes to the ongoing stigmatisation of obesity

More risk - less solidarity? An experimental investigation

A solidarity game was conducted where participants were able to choose between two lotteries with same expected values. However, in one lottery, the risky one, participants faced a higher probability to receive no endowment. The winners were then able to discriminate between subjects risk attitude when it came to voluntary transfers from winners to losers in randomly formed three person groups. The results indicated that risk takers were not fully held responsible for their self-inflicted neediness, although they received on average fewer transfers than non-risk-takers. In fact, group favoritism is observed, where non-risk-takers transferred more to loosing non-risk-takers and risk-takers transferred more to loosing risk-takers. This behavioral pattern was stable across different versions of group compounding, profession and gender. Nevertheless, a gender effect was found with regard to lottery choice and the amount of money transferred. Furthermore, similarities can be seen between the results of the experiment and certain aspects of the current financial crisis. Among them borrowing in non-recourse states in the USA, the role of rating agencies and the hiring of failed CEOs. -- Es wurde ein Solidaritätsspiel durchgeführt, in dem die Teilnehmer aus zwei Lotterien mit gleichen Erwartungswerten wählen konnten. Allerdings war die Wahrscheinlichkeit zu verlieren und keinen Gewinn zu erhalten bei der riskanten Lotterie höher. In Dreiergruppen, bestehend aus Gewinnern und Verlierern, hatten die Gewinner die Möglichkeit freiwillig etwas von ihrem Gewinn an die Verlierer abzugeben. Dabei konnten sie zwischen dem Risikoverhalten der Verlierer unterscheiden. Die Ergebnisse offenbaren, dass risikoreiche Verlierer nicht komplett für ihre selbstverschuldete "Armut" verantwortlich gemacht wurden, obwohl sie im Durchschnitt weniger Transfers erhielten als Verlierer die kein Risiko eingegangen sind. Vielmehr ist ein Favorisieren der eigenen Gruppe zu beobachten, wobei "risikolose Gewinner" mehr an "risikolose Verlierer" transferiert haben und "risikoreiche Gewinner" mehr an "risikoreiche Verlierer" transferierten. Dieses Verhaltensmuster ist stabil über verschiedene Gruppenzusammensetzungen, die fachliche Ausrichtung und das Geschlecht der Teilnehmer des Experiments. Im Gegensatz dazu wurde ein geschlechtsspezifischer Effekt bei der Wahl der Lotterie und bei der Höhe der Transfers beobachtet.

ENDOGENOUS FINANCING OF THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE

We address the question of endogenous financing of the Universal Service Obligations and we compare it with the exogenous financing. A fund is created and fed through a tax firms pay. We show that the way these funds are implemented by the current regulatory regimes at work goes against the social welfare. We propose a new way of implementing the fund that improves welfare. Moreover, we challenge the proportionality payment principle as it leads to lower welfare.

Endogenous financing of the universal service.

We address the question of endogenous financing of the Universal Service Obligations and we compare it with the exogenous financing. A fund is created and fed through a tax firms pay. We show that the way these funds are implemented by the current regulatory regimes at work goes against the social welfare. We propose a new way of implementing the fund that improves welfare. Moreover, we challenge the proportionality payment principle as it leads to lower welfare.

Overweight, obesity, and reality television: Exploring health data and the popularity of local versions of The Biggest Loser in the European context

With rates of overweight and obesity on the rise around the world, there have been numerous reality television shows dedicated to this complex and enduring issue. This exploratory contribution outlines the global epidemiological situation relating to overweight and obesity in the European context, before seeking to discover whether there is any linkage between the rates of overweight in a given European country and the popularity – as demonstrated through the number of seasons broadcast – of the local version of the weight-loss reality show The Biggest Loser. Through the analysis of online sources, preliminary data is gained, providing useful information for further research on the topic at a later date