Induced Moods, Warning Messages, and Gambling Behavior

Gambling behavior is maintained by cognitive biases (Ladouceur & Walker, 1996; Sharpe, 2002) which stem from an automatic level of thinking, referred to as System 1 (Kahneman, 2011). System 2 thinking is more deliberative than System 1, but requires more cognitive effort. System 2 is only activated when necessary. Positive affect increases reliance on System 1, often leading to an increase in risky behavior. Negative affect increases reliance on System 2, often leading to a decrease in risky behavior. Researchers argue that mandatory warning messages should be implemented in gambling venues to caution patrons against the dangers of problem gambling (Blaszczynski, Ladouceur, & Shaffer, 2004; Ginley, Whelan, Pfund, Peter, & Meyers, 2017; Steenbergh, Whelan, Meyers, May, & Floyd, 2004). Pop-up warning messages (Monaghan & Blaszczynski, 2010) containing information meant to correct gambling-related cognitive biases (Ginley et al., 2017) are most effective. The current study sought to bridge a gap between the literature on gambling warning messages and literature on the effect of affect on risky decision-making. If a case is to be made for implementing mandatory gambling warning messages, it is important to examine if the effectiveness of warning messages is modulated by affect. Participants were randomly assigned to be induced with either positive or negative affect, and to either receive gambling warning messages or not receive gambling warning messages. It was hypothesized that those induced with positive affect would have higher levels of risk-taking than those induced with negative affect. It was also hypothesized that there would be an interaction effect between affect condition and warning message condition. Results showed that there was not a significant difference in risk-taking behavior between those who received warning messages and those who did not receive warning messages. There was a trend towards a significant difference based on affect condition, in that those induced with negative affect had slightly higher levels of risk-taking than those induced with positive affect. No significant interaction effects were detected

Employer Health Benefits 2016 Annual Survey

This annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage including premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing provisions, and employer opinions. The 2016 survey included almost 1,900 interviews with non-federal public and private firms.Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $18,142 this year, up 3 percent from last year, with workers on average paying$5,277 towards the cost of their coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Education Trust 2016 Employer Health Benefits Survey. The 2016 survey includes information on the use of incentives for employer wellness programs, plan cost-sharing as well as firm offer rate. Survey results are released here in a variety of ways, including a full report with downloadable tables on a variety of topics, summary of findings, and an article published in the journal Health Affairs

A Value Relevance Examination of the Current Leasing Standard

In the wake of the prominent accounting scandals of the past several years, investors and standard setters are demanding increased corporate transparency. Nowhere is the demand for transparency more salient than with off-balance-sheet financing, of which lease accounting plays a major role. At the end of 2004, total rental commitments by U.S. firms from off balance-sheet operating leases exceeded $1 trillion. As standard setters reconsider leases as part of their broad reexamination of off-balance-sheet financing, they do so without the benefit of empirical research documenting whether capital market participants find the current leasing standard value relevant. This paper examines whether as-if capitalized operating lease liabilities and capital lease liabilities are both relevant and sufficiently reliable to be priced and explores whether equity investors value operating and capital leases differently. The results are consistent with the market viewing both operating and capital leases as economic liabilities of the firm. However, the results also indicate that capital market participants price operating and capital lease liabilities differently, consistent with the bright-line tests of the current leasing standard identifying economic differences in operating and capital leases. Thus, continuing to require lease disclosures by different lease classifications would assure that equity investors will not suffer from a loss of value relevant information in the pricing of leases

How Nonprofits and NGOs Can Get Real Value from Strategic Planning

Strategy is all about getting critical resource decisions right. The strategic planning process is a rare chance for a nonprofit's leaders to step back and look at their organization and its activities as a whole—to understand what success looks like and to allocate time, talent, and dollars to the activities that can help achieve it.When strategic planning is done well, it not only clarifies the path forward for teams and stakeholders, but also informs resourcing decisions and sets in motion key organizational changes. To be sure, it doesn't always go well; we expect some readers may have had negative experiences with strategic planning. The practical advice we offer in this article will help leaders avoid the pitfalls and get real value from the process

How Nonprofit Leadership Development Sustains Organizations and Their Teams

This article outlines an approach to investing in future leaders. Through Bridgespan's work with hundreds of nonprofits over the past decade, we've found that the key to leadership development is for managers and staff to work together on a few simple practices:Define great leadership by crafting competencies that reflect your organization's goals and values. Co-create professional development plans that build staff skills and capabilities?using a 70-20-10 approach—70 percent on-the-job learning, 20?percent coaching and mentoring, and 10 percent formal learning. Support consistent development conversations ("check-ins") between managers and direct reports to put plans into action.What these practices have in common is a commitment to greater transparency and consistency in developing talent. They complement performance assessment as part of a talent development system and help to build an organizational culture that embraces professional growth. The nonprofits that put these approaches in place seek to?ensure every team member has an opportunity to grow

Reply to comment by S. P. Ferguson and C. D. Rennie on “A mechanistic model linking insect (Hydropsychidae) silk nets to incipient sediment motion in gravel‐bedded streams”

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112221/1/jgrf20397.pd

Evaluating the impact of a longitudinal patient case on the development of professionalism and professional identity

This article explores the student outcomes of a progressive case on the development of professional identity and professionalism within first-year student pharmacists

A mechanistic model linking insect (Hydropsychidae) silk nets to incipient sediment motion in gravel‐bedded streams

Plants and animals affect stream morphodynamics across a range of scales, yet including biological traits of organisms in geomorphic process models remains a fundamental challenge. For example, laboratory experiments have shown that silk nets built by caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae) can increase the shear stress required to initiate bed motion by more than a factor of 2. The contributions of specific biological traits are not well understood, however. Here we develop a theoretical model for the effects of insect nets on the threshold of sediment motion, τ * crit , that accounts for the mechanical properties, geometry, and vertical distribution of insect silk, as well as interactions between insect species. To parameterize the model, we measure the tensile strength, diameter, and number of silk threads in nets built by two common species of caddisfly, Arctopsyche californica and Ceratopsyche oslari . We compare model predictions with new measurements of τ * crit in experiments where we varied grain size and caddisfly species composition. The model is consistent with experimental results for single species, which show that the increase in τ * crit above the abiotic control peaks at 40–70% for 10–22 mm sediments and declines with increasing grain size. For the polyculture experiments, however, the model underpredicts the measured increase in τ * crit when two caddisfly species are present in sediments of larger grain sizes. Overall, the model helps explain why the presence of caddisfly silk can substantially increase the forces needed to initiate sediment motion in gravel‐bedded streams and also illustrates the challenge of parameterizing the behavior of multiple interacting species in a physical model. Key Points Caddisfly silk nets are incorporated into a model of incipient sediment motion Silk nets increase critical shear stress in gravel‐bedded streams Species‐specific silk and behaviors control the range of grain sizes affectedPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109329/1/jgrf20303.pd

Adolescent Perceptions of Injury and Pressures of Returning to Sport: A Retrospective Qualitative Analysis

The increase in sport participation among adolescents has led to the rise in sport-related injuries, many of which have unique characteristics based on the patient, their perceptions, and the pressures faced when returning to sport. The purpose of this study was to identify the underlying factors that contributed to adolescents’ perceptions of injury and the various pressures they experienced when returning to sport. Two themes emerged from the study: support and fear. Support was provided to participants through development, care, and the environment. Fear was the factor that affected the participant in their return to sport, which came in the form of worry and doubt

Improving The Landscape Design Skills of North Carolina Green Industry Professionals

A 2-day hands-on landscape design workshop was presented to landscape design professionals in the North Carolina green industry who had never received formal training in the design process. All attendees were satisfied, significantly increased their knowledge of landscape design, and adopted key strategies for improving their designs and design skills