A Mobile App Delivering a Gamified Battery of Cognitive Tests Designed for Repeated Play (OU Brainwave): App Design and Cohort Study

Background: Mobile phone and tablet apps are an increasingly common platform to collect data. A key challenge for researchers has been participant “buy-in” and participant attrition for designs requiring repeated testing. Objective: The objective of this study was to develop and asses the utility of 1 – 2 minute versions of both classic and novel cognitive tasks within a user focussed and driven mobile phone and tablet app designed to encourage repeated play. Methods: A large sample (N = 13,979 at first data collection) participated in multiple, self-paced, sessions of working memory (N-back), spatial cognition (Mental rotation), sustained attentional focus (Persistent Vigilance task), and split attention (Multiple object tracking) tasks along with an implementation of a novel action learning task. A full morningness-eveningness questionnaire was also included. Data was collected across an 18 month period. While the app prompted reengagement at set intervals, each participant was free to repeatedly complete each task as many times as they wished. Results: We found a significant relationship between morningness and age (r = 0.298, n = 12755, p Conclusions: Using extremely short testing periods and permitting participants to decide their own level of engagement - both in terms of which gamified task they played, and how many sessions they completed - we were able to collect a substantial and valid dataset. We suggest that the success of OU brainwave should inform future research oriented apps - particularly in issues around balancing participant engagement with data fidelity

Maize Streak Virus: diversity and virulence

Zea mays was first introduced to Africa in Ghana by Portuguese traders in the 16th century. The steady spread of maize cultivation since then has made it the most important cereal crop in Africa today. Whereas improved maize genotypes and agricultural techniques enable yearly yields above 10 tons hectare-1 in the developed world, yearly yields across Africa have remained low at about 1 ton hectare-1 in most countries. Although outmoded agricultural practices are the main reason for poor yields, maize pathogens inflict substantial additional losses. Of the many pathogens currently confronting maize farmers in Africa, Maize streak virus (MSV) is the most significant

A Choice-Based Conjoint Experiment with Genetically Engineered Cotton in the Mississippi Delta

Producers' preferences for cottonseed are examined using a willingness-to-pay (WTP) approach via mail surveys. Results indicate a positive WTP for yield, technology and fiber quality, and it increases with the level of technology and quality, respectively. WTP varies directly with farm size and inversely with farm labor.Crop Production/Industries,

Human Immunodeficiency Virus? One of nature's greatest evolutionary machines

Transmission of an HIV-like virus from chimpanzees to humans approximately 80 years ago triggered the worldwide AIDS pandemic. Possessing very high mutation and recombination rates, the descendants of this ancestral virus have evolved greatly. Most of this evolution has been in response to selective pressures imposed by human immune responses and has not provided HIV with any significant new biological characteristics. The continuing diversification of HIV variants is a principal obstruction to controlling the virus with drugs and vaccines

DEMAND FOR TANF IN MISSISSIPPI

The federal to state devolution of welfare programs accent the need for state and local policy makers to anticipate aggregate welfare demand. Pooled regression analysis using six years of county-level Mississippi TANF data identified effects of rurality, education, unemployment, poverty levels, and family structure on caseload numbers.Food Security and Poverty, Public Economics,

Why and When Consumers Prefer Products of User-Driven Firms: A Social Identification Account

Companies are increasingly drawing on their user communities to generate promising ideas for new products, which are then marketed as "user-designed" products to the broader consumer market. We demonstrate that nonparticipating, observing consumers prefer to buy from user-rather than designer-driven firms because of an enhanced identification with the firm that has adopted this user-driven philosophy. Three experimental studies validate a newly proposed social identification account underlying this effect. Because consumers are also users, their social identities connect to the user-designers, and they feel empowerment by vicariously being involved in the design process. This formed connection leads to preference for the firm's products. Importantly, this social identification account also effectively predicts when the effect does not materialize. First, we find that if consumers feel dissimilar to participating users, the effects are attenuated. We demonstrate that this happens when the community differs from consumers along important demographics (i.e., gender) or when consumers are nonexperts in the focal domain (i.e., they feel that they do not belong to the social group of participating users). Second, the effects are attenuated if the user-driven firm is only selectively rather than fully open to participation from all users (observing consumers do not feel socially included). These findings advance the emerging theory on user involvement and offer practical implications for firms interested in pursuing a user-driven philosophy. Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1999. (authors' abstract

In-Store Evaluation of Consumer Willingness to Pay for “Farm-Raised†Pre-Cooked Roast Beef: A Case Study

A choice-based conjoint experiment was used to examine consumer willingness to pay for a farm-raised pre-cooked roast beef product. Consumers were contacted in a grocery store and provided a sample of the pre-cooked product. Findings indicate there is a small, but statistically significant willingness-to-pay premium for the farm-raised product, suggesting that some product differentiation may result in higher prices for these products. The study outlines an approach to marketing research.beef, conjoint, convenience foods, experiments, in-store tests, surveys, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,