1,323 research outputs found
Choice Architecture for Healthier Insurance Choices: Ordering and Partitioning Can Improve Decisions
Health insurance decisions are a challenge for many consumers and influence welfare, health outcomes, and longevity. Two choice architecture tools are examined that can improve these decisions: informed ordering of options (from best to worst) and choice set partitioning. It is hypothesized that these tools can improve choices by changing: (1) decision focus: the options in a set on which consumers focus their attention, and (2) decision strategy: how consumers integrate the different attributes that make up the options. The first experiment focuses on the mediating role of the hypothesized decision processes on consumer decision outcomes. The outcome results are validated further in a field study of over 40,000 consumers making actual health insurance choices and in two additional experiments. The results show that informed ordering and partitioning can reduce consumers’ mistakes by hundreds of dollars per year. They suggest that wise choice architecture interventions depend upon two factors: The quality of the user model possessed by the firm to predict consumers’ best choice and possible interactions among the ensemble of choice architecture tools
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Results of a seepage investigation at Bear Creek Valley, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, January through September 1994
A seepage investigation was conducted of 4,600 acres of Bear Creek Valley southwest of the Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for the period of January through September 1994. The data was collected to help the Y-12 Environmental Restoration Program develop a better understanding of ground-water and surface-water interactions, recharge and discharge relations, and ground-water flow patterns. The project was divided into three phases: a reconnaissance and mapping of seeps, springs, and stream-measurement sites; a high base flow seepage investigation; and a low base flow seepage investigation. This report describes the results of the investigation. It includes a map showing measurement site locations and tables that list the coordinates for each site and measurements of discharge, pH, specific conductance, temperature, and dissolved oxygen
Mitigation of electroencephalographic and cardiovascular responses to castration in Bos indicus bulls following the administration of either lidocaine or meloxicam
Objective
To investigate the mitigating effects of administration of local or systemic meloxicam on the electroencephalographic (EEG) and cardiovascular responses during surgical castration of Bos indicus bull calves.
Study design
Prospective, randomized, experimental study.
Animals
Thirty-six 6–8 month-old Bos indicus bull calves, with a mean ± standard deviation weight of 237 ± 19 kg.
Methods
Animals were randomly allocated to three groups of 12 (group L, 260 mg of 2% lidocaine subcutaneously and intratesticularly 5 minutes prior to castration; group M, 0.5 mg kg−1 of meloxicam subcutaneously 30 minutes prior to castration; group C, no pre-operative analgesia administered). Anaesthesia was induced and maintained with halothane (0.9–1.1%) in oxygen. Electroencephalogram, heart rate (HR) and mean blood pressure (MAP) were recorded for 300 seconds prior to (baseline, B) and from the start of surgery (first testicle incision, T1). HR and MAP were compared at 10 second intervals for 90 seconds from the start of T1. Median frequency (F50), spectral edge frequency (F95) and total power of the EEG (Ptot) were analysed using area under the curve comparing T1 to B.
Results
All EEG variables were significantly different between B and T1 (p ≤ 0.0001). No differences in F50 were found between groups during T1 (p = 0.6491). F95 and Ptot were significantly different between group L and groups C and M during T1 (p = 0.0005 and 0.0163, respectively). There were transient significant changes in HR and MAP in groups L and M compared to group C during the 20–50 second periods.
Conclusions
The EEG changes indicate nociceptive responses in all three groups during surgical castration, greater in group L compared to groups C and M. Both analgesics attenuated the peracute cardiovascular response. Lidocaine and meloxicam administered prior to castration attenuated these responses in Bos indicus bull calves.
Clinical relevance
These findings provide support for the pre-operative administration of lidocaine and potentially meloxicam for castration in Bos indicus bull calves
Exact Path-Integral Representations for the -Matrix in Nonrelativistic Potential Scattering
Several path integral representations for the -matrix in nonrelativistic
potential scattering are given which produce the complete Born series when
expanded to all orders and the eikonal approximation if the quantum
fluctuations are suppressed. They are obtained with the help of "phantom"
degrees of freedom which take away explicit phases that diverge for asymptotic
times. Energy conservation is enforced by imposing a Faddeev-Popov-like
constraint in the velocity path integral. An attempt is made to evaluate
stochastically the real-time path integral for potential scattering and
generalizations to relativistic scattering are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the workshop "Relativistic
Description of Two- and Three-Body Systems in Nuclear Physics", ETC*, October
19-23, 2009. v2: typo corrected, matches published version + additional
reference
The Nassau Grouper spawning aggregation fishery of the Cayman Islands — an historical and management perspective
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Emergence of behavioural avoidance strategies of malaria vectors in areas of high LLIN coverage in Tanzania
Despite significant reductions in malaria transmission across Africa since 2000, progress is stalling. This has been attributed to the development of insecticide resistance and behavioural adaptations in malaria vectors. Whilst insecticide resistance has been widely investigated, there is poorer understanding of the emergence, dynamics and impact of mosquito behavioural adaptations. We conducted a longitudinal investigation of malaria vector host choice over 3 years and resting behaviour over 4 years following a mass long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) distribution in Tanzania. By pairing observations of mosquito ecology with environmental monitoring, we quantified longitudinal shifts in host-choice and resting behaviour that are consistent with adaptation to evade LLINs. The density of An. funestus s.l., declined significantly through time. In tandem, An. arabiensis and An. funestus s.l. exhibited an increased rate of outdoor relative to indoor resting; with An. arabiensis reducing the proportion of blood meals taken from humans in favour of cattle. By accounting for environmental variation, this study detected clear evidence of intra-specific shifts in mosquito behaviour that could be obscured in shorter-term or temporally-coarse surveys. This highlights the importance of mosquito behavioural adaptations to vector control, and the value of longer-term behavioural studies
Molecular vibration in cold collision theory
Cold collisions of ground state oxygen molecules with Helium have been
investigated in a wide range of cold collision energies (from 1 K up to 10
K) treating the oxygen molecule first as a rigid rotor and then introducing the
vibrational degree of freedom. The comparison between the two models shows that
at low energies the rigid rotor approximation is very accurate and able to
describe all the dynamical features of the system. The comparison between the
two models has also been extended to cases where the interaction potential He -
O is made artificially stronger. In this case vibration can perturb rate
constants, but fine-tuning the rigid rotor potential can alleviate the
discrepancies between the two models.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Beyond nudges: Tools of a choice architecture
The way a choice is presented influences what a decision-maker chooses. This paper outlines the tools available to choice architects, that is anyone who present people with choices. We divide these tools into two categories: those used in structuring the choice task and those used in describing the choice options. Tools for structuring the choice task address the idea of what to present to decision-makers, and tools for describing the choice options address the idea of how to present it. We discuss implementation issues in using choice architecture tools, including individual differences and errors in evaluation of choice outcomes. Finally, this paper presents a few applications that illustrate the positive effect choice architecture can have on real- world decisions
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