Comparing Multiple Methods of Eye Tracking for Packaging

The technology to understand consumer behavior through eye tracking is becoming more affordable and accessible. When eye tracking is applied within a retail environment, packaging can be evaluated based on the amount of attention obtained. For companies developing products or designing packages, the results of eye tracking could help estimate the likelihood a package will be selected over competitors, what design attributes attract the most attention or how shelf placement impacts sales. Using a physical retail environment with tangible stimuli allows participants to be fully immersed and follow normal shopping behaviors. However, many eye tracking studies are conducted in a digital environment using photos of packages in a simulated retail environment displayed on a monitor. While these studies lack physical immersion, they are typically less expensive. This experiment involves varying the eye tracking technology (mobile eye tracking, on-screen eye tracking, and 3M’s Visual Attention Software) while collecting data on consumer behavior relating to retail packaging. The results from each technology is then compared to determine if varying the eye tracking technology will change the results of how the stimuli performed in the consumer behavior study. Of the 104 on-screen and mobile technology results comparisons, 32% of the results were significantly different. Therefore eye tracking studies could potentially yield different results when analyzing a package depending on which type of technology was utilized

Three Essays on the Political Consequences of Geographic Boundaries in U.S. Political Institutions.

Electoral and administrative boundaries make geographic space relevant to the United States political system. I examine this relationship between geography and politics in three parts. In the first part, I establish a theoretical link between partisan residential patterns and Congressional representation. Using a computational model to simulate legislative elections in the presence of partisan segregation, I develop predictions about how partisan geography affects the vote-to-seats curve. As a result, I show that when districts are drawn to be compact, contiguous, and equally apportioned, Democratic clustering not only flattens the votes-to-seats curve but, when Democrats cluster more than Republicans, the clustering tends to flatten the curve asymmetrically, causing Democrats and Republicans to translate the same number of votes into a different number of seats. In the second part, I provide empirical evidence that the geographic distribution of partisan voters does, in fact, influence partisan representation as predicted by the computational model. I do this in two ways. I show that a randomly generated sample of potential Congressional districts - drawn only with respect to the underlying geographic distribution of the population - nearly replicates the partisanship of Congressional districts across a number of states. And I show that increases in the urban/non-urban divisions in partisanship correspond with a change in district-level partisanship that is consistent with the computational model's predictions. Lastly, in the third part, I analyze differences in the implementation of federal health and safety policy that occur between the geographic jurisdictions of federal and state regulators. I show that OSHA's devolution of federal regulatory authority to the states has not only resulted in a lack of responsiveness by the states, but has also created geographic discontinuities between state and federal jurisdictions. Therefore, whether it is through the residential patterns of partisans across electoral districts, or the manipulation of the geographic shape of the districts themselves, or the execution of policy between states and administrative jurisdictions, I show that political boundaries influence representation and shape policy.PhDPolitical ScienceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116745/1/dcott_1.pd

Duodenal sensory and reflex mechanisms

Duodenal sensory and reflex mechanisms were examined during acute experiments with isolated loops of duodenum in anaesthetised rabbits and sheep.Mechanical stimulation of the rabbit duodenum caused reflex motor responses in adjacent segments of the gut. The thresholds of these reflexes were the same as the thresholds of mechanoreceptors whose afferent activity was recorded in duodenal nerves during electro¬ physiological investigations. These mechanoreceptors were situated in the muscularis externa, the serosa and the mesentery. Mechano¬ receptors in the muscularis externa were excited when the duodenum was perfused with chemical solutions containing glucose.In the sheep duodenum the impulse activity of afferent units from slowly adapting mechanoreceptors in the muscularis externa coincided with local electromyographic (emg) and tension changes. Units were excited by passive distension, compression, active increases in muscle tension and alterations of temperature. The application of chemical solutions or light mechanical stimulation of the mucosa evoked intrinsic reflexes which modified impulse activity. Receptors were excited by injections of peptide hormone analogues and other drugs. With the exception of insulin, the responses evoked by drugs coincided with increases in muscle tension and emg activity.Slowly adapting mechanoreceptors in the sheep duodenal mucosa were either silent in the absence of a mechanical stimulus or were spontaneously active. Mucosal receptor units were selectively sensitive to chemicals. One class of unit was excited by solutions of potassium chloride and another was excited by volatile fatty acids. No evidence was found for mucosal receptors sensitive to osmolality or temperature changes.It was concluded that : (a) the mechanoreceptors in the muscularis externa of the sheep duodenum are tension receptors which occupy a position "in series" with longitudinal muscle; (b) post-prandially released alimentary hormones may increase impulse activity in duodenal tension receptors and thus, by a reflex mechanism, modify ingestive behaviour and gastric emptying; (c) spontaneously active mucosal receptors are associated with contractile elements in the muscularis mucosa; (d) the responses of mucosal receptors to chemicals in duodenal chyme makes them poor candidates for providing tonic afferent inputs to the central nervous system; (e) these mucosal mechanoreceptors do not initiate reflexes requiring large mechanical stimuli; and (f) the sensory receptors studied do not play a part in duodenal reflex mechanisms initiated by osmotic changes

Hume on Mental Representation and Intentionality

The past two decades have seen an explosion of literature on Hume’s views about mental representation and intentionality. This essay gives a roadmap of this literature, while arguing for two main interpretive claims. First, Hume aims to naturalize all forms of mental representation and intentionality, i.e. to explain them in terms of properties and relations that are found throughout the natural world (not just in minds) and that are not, individually, peculiar to representational or intentional things. Second, Hume holds that the passions are not representational, but do have intentionality extrinsically

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Strategic Analysis

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a health system located in Columbus, Ohio that provides healthcare services to more than 2.3 Million residents of Central Ohio. OSUWMC is the third largest health system in the region behind OhioHealth and Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel operates four hospitals and two urgent care facilities and employs over 8,000 individuals, of which 1,500 are physicians. OhioHealth is a faith-based health system that contracts more than 2,000 physicians in 17 hospitals and 20 surgical centers. Competing against these two systems will prove to be a challenge that requires the use of strategic analysis. OSUWMC’s $1 Billion projectONE expansion will create an estimated 10,000 new jobs, and the primary initiatives of this project’s People Plan are to build a talent base, foster excellence, and develop leaders. There is a strong need for HR to recruit, hire, and develop individuals with different skills and talents to maximize the potential of this expansion project. These new facilities will bring more space and more processes that should have their potential maximized. In order to assist with this, managers can implement Six Sigma and LEAN thinking into designing layouts and workflows that minimize errors and increase efficiency. LEAN concepts result in the elimination of waste caused by defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing. Eliminating waste at this crucial stage in a hospital’s development can prevent potentially devastating financial errors. The medical center comprises approximately half of the university’s budget; a very significant part of the financial structure of the university. Given the economic challenges facing the State of Ohio and the need to moderate tuition increases, it is imperative that the university seek new and innovative ways to finance continued progress. Accomplishing OSUWMC’s mission will require the development of adaptive strategies. One of these strategies involves expanding the scope of the services being offered. The Ohio State University has an opportunity to be a leader in developing telemedicine. There are benefits to adopting telemedicine for both the supplier and the consumer. Telemedicine eliminates distance barriers and provides an opportunity to branch out into rural communities. Adapting an organization to withstand current and future markets may require eliminating services or products to cut financial losses or to make room for development in other areas. Consolidating services to a single location can increase efficiency and reduce overhead costs significantly. Both of the full service hospitals operate laboratories that conduct microbiology and hematology testing on patient samples. Reducing this overlap by transporting specimens from one hospital to the other will eliminate the need for excess equipment and the associated materials. Implementing strategies that improve efficiency and develop new markets will allow the OSUWMC to maintain its standing as the premier provider of healthcare services in Central Ohio.https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2014/1083/thumbnail.jp

Disasters and Social Resilience: a bioecological approach

The interconnectedness of communities, organisations, governing bodies, policy and individuals in the field of disaster studies has never been accurately examined or comprehensively modelled. This kind of study is vital for planning policy and emergency responses and assessing individual and community vulnerability, resilience and sustainability as well as mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts; it therefore deserves attention. Disasters and Social Resilience fills this gap by introducing to the field of disaster studies a fresh methodology and a model for examining and measuring impacts and responses to disasters. Urie Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory, which is used to look at communities holistically, is outlined and illustrated through a series of chapters, guiding the reader from the theory's underpinnings through research illustrations and applications focused on each level of Bronfenbrenner's ecosystems, culminating in an integration chapter. The final chapter provides policy recommendations for local and national government bodies and emergency providers to help individuals and communities prepare and withstand the effects of a range of disasters. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of disaster and emergency management, disaster readiness and risk reduction (DRR), and to scholars and students of more general climate change and sustainability studies

Wellbeing in long-term primary carers: biopsychosocial outcomes

Carers are vital to sustaining the independence and optimal functioning of some of the most vulnerable members of the community, yet carers themselves are at risk of poor health and wellbeing outcomes. Indeed, carers often subjugate their own needs in order to fulfill their caring role. This study examined wellbeing outcomes in long-term primary carers. The consequences of providing extended informal care were investigated using a mixed methodology, including questionnaires, saliva sampling and individual interviews. Carers and age and gender matched non-carers were compared across stress, distress, and subjective wellbeing as well as sleep variables and stress hormones. The findings are used to explore the biopsychosocial bases of carer wellbeing. This research has the potential to inform policy on the growing population of Australian carers and to add to the developing wellbeing literature

Can We Avoid a Sick Fiscal Future? The Non-Sustainability of Health-Care Spending with an Aging Population

Funding for Canadian public health care has long relied on a “pay-as-you-go” funding model: for the most part, government pays for health costs each year from taxes collected in that fiscal year with effectively nothing put aside for projected rising health-care costs in the future. But the future of Canadian public health care is going to get more expensive as the relatively large cohort of baby boomers reaches retirement age. As they exit the work force, and enter the ages at which Canadians use the health-care system more, a smaller population of younger workers is going to be left paying the growing health-care costs of older Canadians. If Canadians intend to preserve a publicly funded medicare system that offers a similar level of service in the future as it does today, under the pay-as-you-go model, eventually peak taxes for Canadians born after 1988 will end up twice as high as the peak taxes that the oldest baby boomers paid. The “payas-you-go” model has become like a Ponzi scheme, where those who got in early enough make out nicely, while those who arrive late stand to suffer a serious financial blow. This should concern both Canadians who value a comprehensive public health system as well as Canadians who value competitive tax rates: There is no reason to be certain that future taxpayers will blithely accept having their taxes substantially increased to finance health care for another, older generation that did not pay for a significant portion of its own health care. If the burden proves too high for the taxpaying public to accept, that could well jeopardize Canada’s health-care system as we know it. If Canadians intend to preserve their iconic public health system, and are unprepared to unjustly overburden future generations with the tax bill left by their parents and grandparents, provincial governments must make strong and rapid efforts to reform the health system. They must find more cost-efficient ways of managing medicine, including new approaches to eldercare, chronic disease prevention and better health promotion. If policymakers respond in time with a workable strategy and adequate effort, the substantial financial health-care liability currently faced by future generations may not be eliminated entirely, but it can still be reduced dramatically

Using comparative historical analysis to compensate shortcomings of cross-sectional methods in explaining causal mechanisms: lessons from a study of rice farmers in Vietnam

The benefits of mixed methods are well recognised. Using mixed methods, researchers are able to overcome shortcomings inherent in individual methods while enhancing the validity and reliability of their research findings. Mixed methods are commonly used in cross-sectional studies – to answer research questions, and/or explore contemporary social issues. However, when researchers are interested in understanding cause and effect relationships that happened over a long period of time, Comparative-Historical Analysis (CHA), which is longitudinal by nature, can be used in combination with mixed methods to understand the causal mechanism of a series of events, and generalise the research findings. Using a case study that involves technology transfer with the rice farmers in the Mekong delta of Vietnam, we describe how CHA could be used in conjunction with mixed methods to better understand why the decade-long mutual aid farming practice among rice farmers in the Mekong delta was abandoned after more than fifty years' existence. We recommend the use of CHA in conjunction with cross-sectional methods for similar social contexts, and suggest future research that aims to understand cooperative behaviours in farm settings