Images and economic behaviour

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Beyond rationality: images as guide-lines to choice

In this paper I will discuss a representation of the decision-making process that is based on images production, and exploitation, in order to propose theoretical refinement of the link between decisional behaviour and mental images in economic contexts. To do so, I will start by shortly presenting Beach and Mitchell' s model (1987). I will then extend it to economics, by comparing its implications with those deriving from two more traditional approaches, both the neoclassical one and those recently from Simon' s bounded rationality theory: The most significant consequences of an image-based model appear to be: i) wider cognitive foundations for the decision process; ii) the need to extend the concept of rationality by enlarging its relationship with that of imagination; iii) a new and fuller "image" of the economic agent.

Resistance to change. Exploring the convergence of institutions, organizations and the mind toward a common phenomenon

Resistance to change is not a new concept in economic literature (Coch and French 1948, Boulding 1956). However, in the last few decades it has acquired specific connotations and meanings that deserve attention. The first aim of the paper is to analyze how the concept has evolved since its introduction by Lewin (1946) and how it has diversified. Having acknowledged that resistance characterizes institutions, organizations and the mind, we suggest that the convergence toward such phenomenon is not surprising. Indeed, it may be explained by taking the bounds that affect the cognitive and emotional counterparts of economic behavior into account. We finally reinterpret resistance to change as a heuristic that helps manage the natural tendency of human beings to fear, uncertainty and its expected effects.Change - cognitive economics - heuristic - emotions - resistance

An innovative approach for health care delivery to obese patients: from health needs identification to service integration

In Europe, more than half of the population is overweight or obese, and effort to design, validate, and implement innovative approaches is required to address social and health unmet needs of obese patients in terms of health promotion, disease prevention, and integration of services. The challenge is improving the collaboration between the different health and care stakeholders involved in the lives of obese patients, changing the socio-cultural attitude towards food intake and other behaviours leading to a negative impact on their health-related quality of life. The digital transformation of health and care can support changes in healthcare systems, healthy policy, and approaches to patient care and better implementation of the different health promotion and disease prevention strategies between all the stakeholders and support obese patients. Based on the previously experience adopted by Blueprint Partners with the Blueprint persona and user scenario in the context of models of care and prevention, health policies and analysis of risk factors affecting health and quality of life of obese subjects, the study aimed to simulate an integrated care pathway, through a multidisciplinary approach, developing and applying solutions and good clinical practices addressing the social and health unmet needs of obese patients. A pilot study assessed the quality of life (QoL), adherence to the Mediterranean diet, efficacy and interoperability of a digital health platform, Paginemediche. it. A qualitative approach has been adopted to identify and specify key digital solutions and high-impact user scenarios in Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA). To achieve a successful result, an iterative and collaborative approach has been followed to develop a user-centred perspective to the identification of solutions addressing health needs with different complexity along the entire life-course. Four initial key topic areas were chosen and used to identify different digital solutions that may meet the needs of the population segments defined by both age and the complexity of their health status. All data, derived from the industry representatives in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA), were collected via a survey to how digital solutions best met the needs of the various population segments represented by personas. Subsequently, innovative solutions were designed based on how a user from a target group interacts with technologies, developing "personas" belonging to specific "population segments" with different conditions and needs. Then, a high-impact user scenario, based on the correlation of personas' needs, good clinical practices and digital solutions available targeting needs which playing a role in the health and care delivery for the persona, has been developed. In the end, to evaluate how digital solutions and technologies can support obese patients during their weight loss or management of their related comorbidities in current service provision, ten obese patients were enrolled to evaluate a Digital Health platform, pagininemediche.it, developed. Matilde, the Blueprint persona developed, highlighted some of the main needs (social support, development of a health-friendly environment and educational program on healthy nutrition and physical activity) that may be addressed by integrating innovative solutions in the care of obese patients. Based on her profile, a high-impact user scenario diagram correlates health and social needs with digital solutions and can help key actors in the creation of a well-integrated care approach. Moreover, the evaluation of the digital platform, paginemediche.it, demonstrated how digital solutions can motivate and support obese patients in changing habits towards a healthy lifestyle, although no further statistical significance has been identified in the quality of life assessment because of the limited number of the patients, and short period of observation. Overweight or obese patients tend to be marginalized and the subject of a real social stigma. Digital solutions may be useful to overcome psychological factors that prevent obese patients from starting their journey for a lifestyle change. The suggested approach, which considers health needs, IT skills, socioeconomic context, interoperability, and integration gaps that may influence the adoption of innovative solutions tailored to improve health outcomes is person-centred, and identify what is important for obese patients. The implementation of a persona and user scenario approach may also be useful for the early involvement of end-users in solutions' design and adaptation, increasing adherence, and the effectiveness of digital solutions. Persona profiles, the user scenario, and the related digital solution also consider the potential benefits that can derive for both patients and health system in term of reduced emergency room admissions, waiting lists, and health related expenditures

Joe DiMaggio and Everything After

In 2020, Tommaso Davide Guastella Riccio is ninety-two years old in New York City when the global pandemic shuts down the city. Over the course of Tommaso’s confinement, he reminisces about a decade of his youth from 1936-46. During this long-ago decade, Tommaso comes of age in the Italian section of East Harlem. At eight years old, he discovers baseball; the Yankees; and his first hero, Joe DiMaggio. Then Tommaso discovers jazz. Along the way, he loses his father, Alfredo, a subway worker, and his older brother, Peter, ships off to Europe to fight in World War II. Tommaso lives alone with his mother, Angela, who sells illicit wine that she bottles in the basement of their apartment building. In the New York City of the thirties and forties, Tommaso falls in love with the drums through the late night jam sessions at Minton’s Playhouse where jazz musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker hold court. When Tommaso finally works up the courage to try to sit in on one of these sessions, he discovers Charlie Parker has moved out to California. The eighteen-year-old Tommaso embarks on his own journey to California to fulfill his goal of playing with one of the greats. When Tommaso gets there, he finds that Parker is “relaxing” at Camarillo State Hospital. Tommaso breaks into the Hospital to play in one of the impromptu jam sessions Parker holds inside while a patient. In the present day of 2020, through this retelling and the feelings and memories it resurfaces, elderly Tommaso strengthens his bond with his only child, the sixty-year-old Connie

Science Based Education for Students Who Are Deaf and/or Hard of Hearing

Research studies have shown that if science is taught through inquiry using both hands-on and minds-on instruction, the theory of science-based learning would be the best method to teach students with disabilities (Luckner & Carter, 2001). In the field of Deaf education, it is well known that for a majority of students who are Deaf and/or Hard of Hearing (D/HH), American Sign Language (ASL) is their primary language with its own syntax and grammar. The English language is, in actuality, a Deaf student’s second language. With this in mind, students who are Deaf are functionally English-language learners (ELLs) or limited English proficient learners. Looking at students who are D/HH as actual ELLs, it would seem logical to research what has been used as best practices in teaching Hearing ELL students. Sutman (1993), Barrera, Shyyan, & Liu (2008), Echevarria (2005), and McCargo (1999) all came to the conclusion that exposure to hands-on, inquiry based science helped facilitate the acquisition of language and the development of cognitive skills to hearing English-language learners. If ELLs are successful in learning English through a science-based curriculum, can students who are D/HH do the same? This mixed methods research study gathered data to validate the need to use a science-centered curriculum to support reading comprehension with 4th and 5th grade students at a school for the Deaf in a northeastern, urban region of the United States. Findings from this action based phenomenological research study included an increase in vocabulary retention in science, as well as an increased trend line of correct responses during English Language Arts (ELA) classes. Along with this quantitative data, qualitative data was collected supporting the perspectives of both teachers and students in this mixed methods study. Six teachers and four students were interviewed that met the criteria of this study and concluded that motivation and experiential learning through the lens of science increased students’ ability to retain information, as well as word identification, compared to an English-centered curriculum

Police Power and the Public Trust: Prescriptive Zoning Through the Conflation of Two Ancient Doctrins

The close historical affinity between the Public Trust doctrine and police power supports a more expansive view of zoning. The doctrines’ kindred public interest spirit can empower localities to adopt dynamic, proactive, prescriptive zoning ordinances that promote community character. To do so, municipalities must self-define their unique community assets and ambiance through an openly developed comprehensive plan that honestly memorializes development patterns and sets forth community goals. If public interest is at the heart of the comprehensive plan, localities may consider an expansion of the police power as justified in order to zone and nurture communtiy character more justified than zoning which relies on the classic Euclidean general welfare criteria. A combination of the police power, infused with the Public Trust, and a candid comprehensive plan, could allow localities to adopt zoning ordinances that preserve and promote the unique set of intangibles that attract people to a community in the first place

The determination of quinidine in serum

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1949. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive