3,867 research outputs found
An experimental study of attitudes to changing water charges in Scotland. ESRI Working Paper No.654 March 2020
If an aim of a regulatory body is to act on behalf of the views of its citizenry, then it is
important to understand what those views are. This paper, in collaboration with the OECD and the
Scottish water industry, presents the results of an online (n= 500) and face-to-face laboratory (n= 100)
study that utilised experimental behavioural science to explore how the provision and presentation of
future price change information influences Scottish citizensā acceptance of water price changes.
Participants were asked to rate different patterns of price rises for their water charges. The pattern,
presentation, magnitude of price rises and the provision of additional cost information (designed to
simplify the calculations of future costs) was manipulated across tasks and participants. Results from
this study suggest that Scottish citizens are generally accepting of price rises in the short and medium
terms. However, the patterns of price rises, and the way in which information is presented, can influence
these attitudes, suggesting that consumers do not always accurately integrate sequential price rises over
time. Findings from this study are designed to inform the regulatory process of the Scottish water
industry and highlight the potential role of behavioural science in regulation more generally
Eliciting trade-offs between water charges and service benefits in Scotland. ESRI Working Paper No. 655 March 2020
If it is the responsibility of a regulatory body to decide where to prioritise future investment, then it is important to
understand the priorities of the citizenry it represents. This paper, in collaboration with the OECD and the Scottish water
industry, presents the results of an online (n= 500) and face-to-face laboratory (n= 99) study that utilised experimental
behavioural science to explore how Scottish citizens trade-off costs and potential improvements to their water service.
Participantsā priorities for investment were elicited using a novel āslider taskā methodology that forced them to explicitly
consider the trade-offs required to allocate limited resources across multiple possible water service improvements. The provision
of additional cost and timing information was systematically varied. Results suggest that citizens are increasingly accepting of
price rises when provided this information. Results also suggest that citizensā priorities for specific improvements are not
sensitive to the costs of different improvements but are sensitive to the lengths of time improvements take to be made. Findings
from this study are designed to inform the regulatory process of the Scottish water industry and highlight the potential role of
behavioural science in regulation more generally
Interventions to increase physical activity in disadvantaged communities: A review of behavioural mechanisms. ESRI Working Paper No. 646 December 2019
Physical inactivity is now a significant driver of health and social inequalities among socioeconomically
disadvantaged communities and poses a major challenge to policymakers, worldwide. Although a vast amount of research has
focused on designing and evaluating interventions to increase physical activity, there remains little consensus on which
interventions are likely to work. In this narrative review, we build on previous reviews by not only examining what interventions
tend to work but by trying to understand why certain interventions tend to work, while others do not, through the lens of
behavioural science. We present a behavioural framework through which the existing body of physical activity research could be
viewed, in order to identify potentially effective mechanisms that would be likely to work in their intended domain. Our analysis
finds that while there is evidence that the physical and educational environment matter for increasing levels of physical activity,
interventions are more likely to be successful where they involve a social component. We conclude that a behaviourally
informed physical activity intervention would thus employ a set of focused educational and socially-mediated behavioural
mechanisms, within an appropriate physical environment
Asymptotic enumeration of incidence matrices
We discuss the problem of counting {\em incidence matrices}, i.e. zero-one
matrices with no zero rows or columns. Using different approaches we give three
different proofs for the leading asymptotics for the number of matrices with
ones as . We also give refined results for the asymptotic
number of incidence matrices with ones.Comment: jpconf style files. Presented at the conference "Counting Complexity:
An international workshop on statistical mechanics and combinatorics." In
celebration of Prof. Tony Guttmann's 60th birthda
Motivating social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic: An online experiment. ESRI Working Paper No. 658 April 2020
Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic will save lives. We tested communication strategies to promote social
distancing via an online experiment (N = 500) commissioned by Irelandās Department of Health. A control group saw a current
informational poster. Two treatment groups saw similar posters with messages that highlighted: (i) the risk of transmission to
identifiable persons vulnerable to COVID-19; (ii) the exponential nature of transmission. We then measured judgements of
behaviours previously identified by focus groups as āmarginalā (meaning that people were not sure whether they were
advisable, such meeting others outdoors, or visiting parents). We recorded intention to undertake behaviours and stated
acceptability of behaviours. Our hypotheses, that both treatments would increase participantsā caution about marginal
behaviours, were preregistered (i.e. lodged with an international organisation for open science before data collection). Results
confirmed the hypotheses. The findings suggest that the thought of infecting vulnerable people or large numbers of people can
motivate social distancing. This has implications for communications strategies. The stud
The diagonal graph
According to the O'Nan--Scott Theorem, a finite primitive permutation group either preserves a structure of one of three types (affine space, Cartesian lattice, or diagonal semilattice), or is almost simple. However, diagonal groups are a much larger class than those occurring in this theorem. For any positive integer m and group G (finite or infinite), there is a diagonal semilattice, a sub-semilattice of the lattice of partitions of a set Ī©, whose automorphism group is the corresponding diagonal group. Moreover, there is a graph (the diagonal graph), bearing much the same relation to the diagonal semilattice and group as the Hamming graph does to the Cartesian lattice and the wreath product of symmetric groups. Our purpose here, after a brief introduction to this semilattice and graph, is to establish some properties of this graph. The diagonal graph ĪD(G,m) is a Cayley graph for the group Gm, and so is vertex-transitive. We establish its clique number in general and its chromatic number in most cases, with a conjecture about the chromatic number in the remaining cases. We compute the spectrum of the adjacency matrix of the graph, using a calculation of the Mƶbius function of the diagonal semilattice. We also compute some other graph parameters and symmetry properties of the graph. We believe that this family of graphs will play a significant role in algebraic graph theory.PostprintPeer reviewe
Systematic review of trends in emergency department attendances : an Australian perspective
Emergency departments (EDs) in many developed countries are experiencing increasing pressure due to rising numbers of patient presentations and emergency admissions. Reported increases range up to 7% annually. Together with limited inpatient bed capacity, this contributes to prolonged lengths of stay in the ED; disrupting timely access to urgent care, posing a threat to patient safety. The aim of this review is to summarise the findings of studies that have investigated the extent of and the reasons for increasing emergency presentations. To do this, a systematic review and synthesis of published and unpublished reports describing trends and underlying drivers associated with the increase in ED presentations in developed countries was conducted. Most published studies provided evidence of increasing ED attendances within developed countries. A series of inter-related factors have been proposed to explain the increase in emergency demand. These include changes in demography and in the organisation and delivery of healthcare services, as well as improved health awareness and community expectations arising from health promotion campaigns. The factors associated with increasing ED presentations are complex and inter-related and include rising community expectations regarding access to emergency care in acute hospitals. A systematic investigation of the demographic, socioeconomic and health-related factors highlighted by this review is recommended. This would facilitate untangling the dynamics of the increase in emergency demand
Climate Change in Northern New Hampshire: Past, Present and Future
EARTHāS CLIMATE CHANGES. It always has and always will. However, an extensive and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human activitiesāincluding the burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy, clearing of forested lands for agriculture, and raising livestockāare now the primary force driving change in the Earthās climate system. This report describes how the climate of northern New Hampshire has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by a warmer planet due to human activities
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