Predicting Altruistic Behavior and Assessing Homophily: Evidence from the Sisterhood

The persistence of altruism throughout the evolutionary process has been explained by some on the basis of assortation, which requires the ability to detect dispositional altruism in others and voluntary interaction, resulting in altruism homophily. Numerous studies have identified the ability to detect dispositional altruism in strangers, but few have investigated this ability and altruism homophily in social networks. The purpose of this study is to provide additional evidence with regard to the ability to detect dispositional altruism among individuals who have repeated interactions in a collegiate social organization and the extent of altruism homophily. The results indicate that individuals possess an ability to predict dispositional altruism as measured by behavior in the dictator game and that this ability is a function of social closeness. However, the study does not support the hypothesis of an assortation process that results in altruism homophily

Framing Effects on Bidding Behavior in Experimental First-Price Sealed-Bid Money Auctions

Consumers often face prices that are the sum of two components, for example, an online purchase that includes a stated price and shipping costs. In such cases consumer behavior may be influenced by framing, i.e., how the components are bifurcated. Previous studies have demonstrated the effects of framing and anchoring in auctions. This study examines bidding patterns in a series of first-price sealed-bid experimental money auctions (where the commodity being auctioned is money itself). We hypothesize that bidders’ behavior is affected by the framing of the potential monetary payoff into “monetary prize” and “winner’s bonus” components. We find strong evidence of an anchoring effect that influences the strategic behavior of bidders

The sugar and energy in non-carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The consumption of non-carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages (NCSSBs) has many adverse health effects. However, the sugar and energy content in NCSSBs sold in China remain unknown. We aimed to investigate the sugar and energy content of NCSSBs in China and how these contents were labelled. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 15 supermarkets in Haidian District, Beijing from July to October 2017. The product packaging and nutrient information panels of NCSSBs were recorded to obtain type of products (local/imported), serving size, nutrient contents of carbohydrate, sugar and energy. For those NCSSBs without sugar content information, we used carbohydrate content as a replacement. RESULTS: A total of 463 NCSSBs met the inclusion criteria and were included in our analysis. The median of sugar content and energy content was 9.6 [interquartile range (IQR): 7.1-11.3] g/100 ml and 176 (IQR: 121-201) kJ/100 ml. The median of sugar contents in juice drinks, tea-based beverages, sports drinks and energy drinks were 10.4, 8.5, 5.0 and 7.4 g/100 ml. Imported products had higher sugar and energy content than local products. There were 95.2% products of NCSSBs receiving a 'red'(high) label for sugars per portion according to the UK criteria, and 81.6% products exceeding the daily free sugar intake recommendation from the World Health Organization (25 g). There were 82 (17.7%) products with sugar content on the nutrition labels and 60.2% of them were imported products. CONCLUSIONS: NCSSBs had high sugar and energy content, and few of them provided sugar content information on their nutrition labels especially in local products. Measures including developing better regulation of labelling, reducing sugar content and restricting the serving size are needed for reducing sugar intakes in China

Impact of physical activity level and dietary fat content on passive overconsumption of energy in non-obese adults

Background: Passive overconsumption is the increase in energy intake driven by the high-fat energy-dense food environment. This can be explained in part because dietary fat has a weaker effect on satiation (i.e. process that terminates feeding). Habitually active individuals show improved satiety (i.e. process involved in post-meal suppression of hunger) but any improvement in satiation is unknown. Here we examined whether habitual physical activity mitigates passive overconsumption through enhanced satiation in response to a high-fat meal. Methods: Twenty-one non-obese individuals with high levels of physical activity (HiPA) and 19 individuals with low levels of physical activity (LoPA) matched for body mass index (mean = 22.8 kg/m2) were recruited. Passive overconsumption was assessed by comparing ad libitum energy intake from covertly manipulated high-fat (HFAT; 50% fat) or high-carbohydrate (HCHO; 70% carbohydrate) meals in a randomized crossover design. Habitual physical activity was assessed using SenseWear accelerometers (SWA). Body composition, resting metabolic rate, eating behaviour traits, fasting appetite-related peptides and hedonic food reward were also measured. Results: In the whole sample, passive overconsumption was observed with greater energy intake at HFAT compared to HCHO (p  0.05). SWA confirmed that HiPA were more active than LoPA (p  0.05 for all). Conclusions: Non-obese individuals with high or low physical activity levels but matched for BMI showed similar susceptibility to passive overconsumption when consuming an ad libitum high-fat compared to a high-carbohydrate meal. This occurred despite increased total daily energy expenditure and improved body composition in HiPA. Greater differences in body composition and/or physical activity levels may be required to impact on satiation

Modellazione di turbine eoliche galleggianti con il modello numerico SPH DualSPhysics

L’energia eolica rappresenta una delle strade percorribili per raggiungere la transizione energetica. Mentre l’eolico terrestre è diffuso e la tecnologia utilizzata è matura, l’eolico offshore è, allo stato attuale, ancora poco sfruttato, a causa dell’ambiente marino ostile che ne rende più complicata l’installazione e ne mette a dura prova il funzionamento in condizioni di esercizio. Tra le possibilità che offre l’eolico offshore, la tecnologia delle turbine eoliche galleggianti costituisce la nuova frontiera della produzione di energia rinnovabile. Le turbine eoliche galleggianti sono più versatili di quelle fisse, in quanto non hanno limitazioni legate al fondale, ma possono essere installate anche in acque profonde. Tuttavia, per consentire lo sviluppo di questa tecnologia, occorre studiare l’interazione tra la struttura della turbina galleggiante e l’ambiente marino, in modo da individuare il migliore design e il più efficiente collocamento, soprattutto nel caso in cui tali turbine siano installate in gruppo formando un parco eolico. Obiettivo del presente lavoro è la modellazione bidimensionale di due differenti fondazioni di turbine eoliche offshore galleggianti e l’analisi dei diversi effetti da esse prodotti sulla corrente, con l’ausilio del software SPH DualSPHysics. Testando ognuna delle due fondazioni sotto sei differenti scenari ondosi, è stato possibile ricavare informazioni utili sul galleggiamento delle due strutture e sull’influenza che la loro presenza ha sulla velocità e sulla vorticità della corrente, oltre che sull’andamento della superficie libera. I risultati ottenuti e presentati in questo elaborato non hanno solo l’obiettivo di valutare le differenze indotte dalle due fondazioni nell’idrodinamica, ma si prefiggono anche l’ambizione di mettere in risalto le potenzialità e le limitazioni del software DualSPHysics, in modo da poterne favorire il pieno sviluppo per applicazioni ingegneristiche future

Arcil social impact field lab, portfolio review - Arcil madeiras´ context and potential impact assessment

ARCIL Madeiras is one of the nine for-profit URCPs (professional development and training units) aiming to involve people with reduced capabilities in the production of wooden items. Its key point of differentiation is the possibility to receive individually-tailored solutions for clients, by choosing four product categories –namely, pallets, multi-purpose boxes, wood shaving, and other types of solutions. The BU works both as a B2B and B2C model and is known for its fast delivery and excellent quality/price ratio. Despite this, ARCIL Madeiras appears to have four main pain points preventing it from realizing its full growth potential: 1) it is currently operating in a saturated market with a competitive disadvantage –as workers have limited working capacities and can only perform repetitive actions manually; 2) it has unregulated agreements with customers; 3) it relies on a limited number of clients –which implies a high exposure to losses in revenues; 4) it faces many transportation issues and geographical constraints. These, combined with the effects of Covid-19, negatively impacted its overall financial outlook, considering how the business mainly operated at a loss in the last years. Nonetheless, to understand whether there was any hidden potential, the team decided to perform a market analysis, through which it was able to identify key trends and forecasts in the pallets market for the upcoming five years, as well as assess competitions from both national and geographically close companies, especially in the B2B segment. Moreover, to have a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape, the team also performed a SWOT –TOWS analysis, and consequently decided to focus on the S-O and T-S strategies as a starting point to formulate feasible recommendations. Once the market had been deeply assessed, it was important to understand the targeted customer segment and overall satisfaction. It emerged that business unit mainly targeted industries located near Lousã, in need of transportation & logistical solutions for the B2B channel, and that customers were highly satisfied with the product offering, the price/quality ratio, geographical proximity, and social purpose of the organization.Finally, to quantify the effects of the proposed strategies, the team estimated the number of new potential clients based both on past information and market forecasts. Overall, it resulted that, regarding the B2C segment, the strategy that will generate the greatest impact is the one suggesting attendance to fairs and the formation of partnerships with physical stores, whereas, regarding the B2B segment, the strategy with the greatest potential impact is the one recommending, once again, participation in B2B Fairs