SOCIAL CAPITAL AND HOUSEHOLD INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS: EVIDENCE FROM MICHIGAN AND ILLINOIS

Social capital is a resource increasingly recognized as having important economic and social consequences. Robison and Siles (1999) examined some of these consequences at the U.S. state level and this study extends their efforts. Their 1999 study found important connections between the distributions of social capital and the distributions of household incomes. This study asks if the relationships between social capital and household incomes discovered at the state level are also present at the community level.Consumer/Household Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Superelastic NiTi honeycombs: fabrication and experiments

In this paper we demonstrate a new class of superelastic NiTi honeycomb structures. We have developed a novel brazing technique that has allowed us to fabricate Nitinol-based cellular structures with relative densities near 5%. Commercially available nickel-rich Nitinol strips were shape-set into corrugated form, stacked, and bonded at high temperature by exploiting a contact eutectic melting reaction involving pure niobium. After heat treatment to restore transformational superelastic response, prototype honeycomb structures were subjected to severe in-plane compression loading at room temperature. The specimens exhibited good specific strength, high specific stiffness, and enhanced shape recovery compared to monolithic shape memory alloys (SMAs). Compressive strains of over 50% could be recovered upon unloading. The demonstrated architectures are simple examples of a wide variety of possible built-up topologies, enabled by the bonding method, that can be engineered for customizable net section properties, arbitrary shape, and kinematically enhanced thermomechanical shape-memory and superelastic response.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58146/2/sms7_1_S17.pd

Higher Retail Prices of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages 3 Months After Implementation of an Excise Tax in Berkeley, California

Objectives. We assessed the short-term ability to increase retail prices of the first US 1-cent-per-ounce excise tax on the distribution of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which was implemented in March 2015 by Berkeley, California. Methods. In 2014 and 2015, we examined pre- to posttax price changes of SSBs and non-SSBs in a variety of retailers in Berkeley and in the comparison cities Oakland and San Francisco, California. We examined price changes by beverage, brand, size, and retailer type. Results. For smaller beverages (£ 33.8 oz), price increases (cents/oz) in Berkeley relative to those in comparison cities were 0.69 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.36, 1.03) for soda, 0.47 (95% CI = 0.08, 0.87) for fruit-flavored beverages, and 0.47 (95% CI = 0.25, 0.69) for SSBs overall. For 2-liter bottles and multipacks of soda, relative price increases were 0.46 (95% CI = 0.03, 0.89) and 0.49 (95% CI = 0.21, 0.77). We observed no relative price increases for nontaxed beverages overall. Conclusions. Approximately 3 months after the tax was implemented, SSB retail prices increased more in Berkeley than in nearby cities, marking a step in the causal pathway between the tax and reduced SSB consumption

Low-density open-cell foams in the NiTi system

It is shown that open-cell metallic foams having very low density, and that display martensite transformations required for shape memory and superelastic behavior, can be fabricated using a powder-metallurgy technique. Results are presented on experiments in which a polymeric precursor foam was coated with an equiatomic NiTi powder slurry and subsequently sintered to yield foams with relative densities as low as 0.039. Although contaminated with interstitial impurities, they displayed unambiguous calorimetric signature of the B2→B19′B2→B19′ transformation. The results are of considerable significance to potential applications requiring ultralightweight structures with the unusual dissipative and strain-recovery properties of NiTi shape-memory materials. © 2003 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71336/2/APPLAB-82-16-2727-1.pd

Individual- and Population-Level Impacts of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Health Warnings

Introduction. Implementing health warnings on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) could reduce consumption of these products and associated diseases. This dissertation aimed to design effective SSB warnings, evaluate their impact on actual SSB purchases, and model the expected effects of a national SSB health warning policy. Methods. In the first study, a national sample of U.S. adults (n=1,360) completed an online randomized experiment investigating their responses to SSB health warnings with different characteristics. In the second study, I conducted a randomized controlled trial in a naturalistic replica of a convenience store to evaluate the impact of SSB health warnings on adults’ (n=400) beverage purchases. The third study applied a microsimulation model of dietary behaviors and body weight to quantify the effects of a national SSB health warning policy on U.S. adults’ SSB intake, total energy intake, body mass index (BMI), and obesity status over five years. Results. In the first study, SSB health warnings that described the health effects of SSB consumption, began with the marker word “WARNING,” and were displayed on an octagon-shaped (vs. rectangular) labels were perceived to be more effective than warnings without these characteristics (ps<0.001). In the second study, SSB health warnings reduced SSB purchases by 32.4 calories/transaction, a 22.4% reduction over the control arm (p=0.019). The third study found that implementing a national SSB health warning policy would reduce U.S. adults’ average SSB intake by 26.2 calories/day (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: -28.3, -24.1) and total energy intake by 32.4 calories/day (95% UI: -34.2, -30.5). If sustained over five years, these dietary changes would reduce average BMI by 0.61 kg/m2 (95% UI: -0.64, -0.57) and obesity prevalence by 2.1 percentage points (95% UI: -2.4%, -1.7%). Conclusions. Small changes in the design of SSB health warnings will likely enhance their impact on SSB consumption and obesity. Implementing health warnings could improve population health.Doctor of Philosoph

Influence of the San Francisco, CA, Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Health Warning on Consumer Reactions: Implications for Equity from a Randomized Experiment

BACKGROUND: In 2020, San Francisco, CA, amended an ordinance requiring warning labels on advertisements for sugary drinks to update the warning message. No studies have evaluated consumer responses to the revised message. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate responses to the 2020 San Francisco sugary drink warning label and to assess whether these responses differ by demographic characteristics. DESIGN: Randomized experiment. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: During 2020, a convenience sample of US parents of children aged 6 months to 5 years (N = 2,160 included in primary analyses) was recruited via an online panel to complete a survey. Oversampling was used to achieve a diverse sample (49% Hispanic/Latino[a], 34% non-Hispanic Black, and 9% non-Hispanic White). METHODS: Participants were randomly assigned to view a control label ("Always read the Nutrition Facts Panel") or the 2020 San Francisco sugary drink warning label ("SAN FRANCISCO GOVERNMENT WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) can cause weight gain, which increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes."). Messages were shown in white text on black rectangular labels. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants rated the labels on thinking about health harms of sugary drink consumption (primary outcome) and perceived discouragement from wanting to consume sugary drinks. The survey was available in English and Spanish. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Ordinary least squares regression. RESULTS: The San Francisco warning label elicited more thinking about health harms (Cohen's d = 0.24; P &lt; 0.001) than the control label. The San Francisco warning label also led to more discouragement from wanting to consume sugary drinks than the control label (d = 0.31; P &lt; 0.001). The warning label's influence on thinking about harms did not differ by any participant characteristics, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, income, or language of survey administration (all P values for interactions &gt; 0.12). CONCLUSIONS: San Francisco's 2020 sugary drink warning label may be a promising policy for informing consumers and encouraging healthier beverage choices across groups with diverse demographic characteristics

Health Warnings and Beverage Purchase Behavior: Mediators of Impact

Background: To reduce diet-related chronic disease, policymakers have proposed requiring health warnings on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Health warnings reduced purchases of these products by 22% in our recent randomized controlled trial, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Purpose: We sought to identify the psychological mechanisms that explain why SSB health warnings affect purchase behavior. Methods: In 2018, we recruited 400 adult SSB consumers to complete a shopping task in a naturalistic convenience store laboratory in North Carolina, USA. We randomly assigned participants to either a health warning arm (all SSBs in the store displayed a text health warning) or to a control arm (SSBs displayed a control label). Participants selected items to purchase with cash. Results: Compared to control labels, health warnings elicited more attention, negative affect, anticipated social interactions, and thinking about harms (range of ds = 0.63-1.34; all p &lt;. 001). Health warnings also led to higher injunctive norms about limiting SSB consumption (d = 0.27, p =. 008). Except for attention, all of these constructs mediated the effect of health warnings on SSB purchases (all p &lt;. 05). In contrast, health warnings did not influence other attitudes or beliefs about SSBs or SSB consumption (e.g., healthfulness, outcome expectations, and response efficacy). Conclusions: Health warnings on sugar-sweetened beverages affected purchase behavior by eliciting negative emotions, increasing anticipated social interactions, keeping SSBs' harms at top of mind, and shifting norms about beverage consumption. Results are consistent with recent studies of why tobacco warnings influence quitting behavior, pointing toward a general framework for understanding how health warnings affect behavior

Effects of red meat taxes and warning labels on food groups selected in a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: High consumption of red and processed meat contributes to both health and environmental harms. Warning labels and taxes for red meat reduce selection of red meat overall, but little is known about how these potential policies affect purchases of subcategories of red meat (e.g., processed versus unprocessed) or of non-red-meat foods (e.g., cheese, pulses) relevant to health and environmental outcomes. This study examined consumer responses to warning labels and taxes for red meat in a randomized controlled trial.METHODS: In October 2021, we recruited 3,518 US adults to complete a shopping task in a naturalistic online grocery store. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four arms: control (no warning labels or tax), warning labels only (health and environmental warning labels appeared next to products containing red meat), tax only (prices of products containing red meat were increased 30%) or combined warning labels + tax. Participants selected items to hypothetically purchase, which we categorized into food groups based on the presence of animal- and plant-source ingredients (e.g., beef, eggs, pulses), meat processing level (e.g., processed pork versus unprocessed pork), and meat species (e.g., beef versus pork). We assessed the effects of the warning labels and tax on selections from each food group.RESULTS: Compared to control, all three interventions led participants to select fewer items with processed meat (driven by reductions in processed pork) and (for the tax and warning labels + tax interventions only) fewer items with unprocessed meat (driven by reductions in unprocessed beef). All three interventions also led participants to select more items containing cheese, while only the combined warning labels + tax intervention led participants to select more items containing processed poultry. Except for an increase in selection of pulses in the tax arm, the interventions did not affect selections of fish or seafood (processed or unprocessed), eggs, or plant-based items (pulses, nuts &amp; seeds, tofu, meat mimics, grains &amp; potatoes, vegetables).CONCLUSIONS: Policies to reduce red meat consumption are also likely to affect consumption of other types of foods that are relevant to both health and environmental outcomes.TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT04716010 on www.CLINICALTRIALS: gov .</p

The influence of ion beam mixed Ni---Al surface layers on fatigue in polycrystalline nickel

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26250/1/0000331.pd

Awareness of and reactions to health and environmental harms of red meat among parents in the United States

Objective: Evidence of the health and environmental harms of red meat is growing, yet little is known about which harms may be most impactful to include in meat reduction messages. This study examined which harms consumers are most aware of and which most discourage them from wanting to eat red meat. Design: Within-subjects randomized experiment. Participants responded to questions about their awareness of, and perceived discouragement in response to, eight health and eight environmental harms of red meat presented in random order. Discouragement was assessed on a 1-to-5 Likert-type scale. Setting: Online survey. Participants: 544 US parents. Results: A minority of participants reported awareness that red meat contributes to health harms (ranging from 8% awareness for prostate cancer to 28% for heart disease) or environmental harms (ranging from 13% for water shortages and deforestation to 22% for climate change). Among specific harms, heart disease elicited the most discouragement (mean=2.82 out of 5), followed by early death (mean=2.79) and plants and animals going extinct (mean=2.75), though most harms elicited similar discouragement (range of means, 2.60 to 2.82). In multivariable analyses, participants who were younger, identified as Black, identified as politically liberal, had higher general perceptions that red meat is bad for health, and had higher usual red meat consumption reported being more discouraged from wanting to eat red meat in response to health and environmental harms (all p&lt;0.05)