POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND CONSUMER PREFERENCES

Despite continued polarization along political party lines, it remains unclear how differences in political ideology impact the choices consumers make. The results of seven studies indicate that political ideology profoundly influences the way consumers think and behave. Liberals and conservatives are systematically drawn to distinct choice preferences where liberals prefer hedonic, novel, and desirable options, while conservatives prefer utilitarian, status quo, and feasible options. These findings are robust for multiple measures of political ideology across multiple choice sets. Differences in behavior are explained by the amount of deliberation used for a given decision. Liberals deliberate more than conservatives as they are more open to information while conservatives have a lower tolerance for ambiguous information. Implications for consumers, marketers, and policy makers are provided

Human psychophysiological responses to visceral and somatic pain – the development of integrated, reproducible human pain phenotypes

PhDBackground Pain is the ubiquitous human experience, yet displays considerable inter- and intraindividual variability in health and disease. Many factors have been proposed to account for these differences. Pain activates a complex stress response, multiply determined through genetic, psychological, physiological and neuroanatomical factors. Chronic pain is a central defining characteristic of functional gastrointestinal disorders. They represent a major challenge for modern healthcare. An integrated understanding of the pathophysiology of these disorders remains to be elucidated. Aims To investigate human psychophysiological responses to visceral and somatic pain in health and disease, in order to develop multidimensional and reproducible pain phenotypes. Methods Study 1, in healthy volunteers, investigated personality traits, hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axes and selective novel non-invasive measures of autonomic tone in response to visceral and somatic pain. Study 2 examined the salience of genetic polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter. Study 3 evaluated the reproducibility of these responses after a period of one year. Study 4 utilised the methods of studies 1 and 2 in a case control study of patients with functional chest pain. Key Results Studies 1, 2 and 3 – Two pain phenotypes, or clusters, were found – cluster 1 (39%) had higher neuroticism scores, with higher sympathetic and hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis tone at rest, and a predominant parasympathetic response to pain in the presence of the short allele of the serotonin transporter. Cluster 2 (61%) displayed the converse profile in the absence of the short allele. These responses were stable at an interval of one year. Study 4 – similar phenotypes were observed in patients with functional chest pain, although the Cluster 1 phenotype was overrepresented in patients in comparison to the controls (71% vs. 29%). Conclusions and Inferences This series of studies provides evidence for the existence of two reproducible human pain phenotypes in health, which have clinical salience in patients with functional chest pain. By phenotyping pain responses, subject homogeneity in future studies may be improved. Furthermore, such phenotyping techniques may open new therapeutic avenues by facilitating the selective targeting of nociceptive aberrancies, particularly in functional gastrointestinal disorders

Practiceopolis: Journeys through the contemporary architectural profession

The contemporary architectural profession is dominated by a technical-rational culture of practice. The term refers to commercially-driven practices that are often associated with the production of buildings by or for multinational corporations and tend to echo their values. This research interrogates the imperatives of this domination on the original values of the architectural profession. It builds upon two premises: firstly; mapping different cultures of practice constituting the contemporary understanding of the profession; secondly, questioning the increasing closeness between the values of the architectural profession and the instrumentalist values of other actors in the building industry. To do so, the research introduces the imaginary city of Practiceopolis as a methodological device that allows the modelling of contemporary cultures of practice and dramatises their dialogues. The research ends with propositions regarding the particular values of the architectural profession and proposes a critical-instrumental mindset to explore how these values could be defined, communicated, and marketed

Modeling Water Withdrawal and Consumption for Electricity Generation in the United States

http://globalchange.mit.edu/research/publicationsWater withdrawals for thermoelectric cooling account for a significant portion of total water use in the United States. Any change in electrical energy generation policy and technologies has the potential to have a major impact on the management of local and regional water resources. In this report, a model of Withdrawal and Consumption for Thermo-electric Systems (WiCTS) is formalized. This empirically-based framework employs specific water-use rates that are scaled according to energy production, and thus, WiTCS is able to estimate regional water withdrawals and consumption for any electricity generation portfolio. These terms are calculated based on water withdrawal and consumption data taken from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) inventories and a recent NREL report. To illustrate the model capabilities, we assess the impact of a high-penetration of renewable electricity-generation technologies on water withdrawals and consumption in the United States. These energy portfolio scenarios are taken from the Renewable Energy Futures (REF) calculations performed by The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Results of the model indicate that significant reductions in water use are achieved under the renewable technology portfolio. Further experiments illustrate additional capabilities of the model. We investigate the impacts of assuming geothermal and concentrated solar power technologies employing wet cooling systems versus dry as well as assuming all wet cooling technologies use closed cycle cooling technologies. Results indicate that water consumption and withdrawals increase under the first assumption, and that water consumption increases under the second assumption while water withdrawals decrease.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from and collaborative efforts with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The authors would also like to thank Joan Kenny and Molly Maupin from the United States Geological Survey for their help in clarifying some questions we had surrounding the data in the recent USGS water use report. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change through a consortium of industrial sponsors and Federal grants

A Method for Calculating Reference Evapotranspiration on Daily Time Scales

Abstract and PDF report are also available on the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://globalchange.mit.edu/)Measures of reference evapotranspiration are essential for applications of agricultural management and water resources engineering. Using numerous esoteric variables, one can calculate daily reference evapotranspiration using the Modified Penman-Monteith methods. In 1985, Hargreaves developed a simplified method for estimating reference evapotranspiration. Similarly, Droogers and Allen improved upon Hargreaves’ method in 2002. Both methods provide excellent estimates of average daily rates for a given month, based on monthly climatology. The Hargraeves method also estimates daily rates based on daily data, though the Modified Hargreaves approach developed by Droogers and Allen is largely accepted as a stronger metric. Here efforts are made to improve the functionality of Droogers and Allen’s approach and to adapt it to provide daily estimates of reference evapotranspiration based on daily weather. The Hargreaves and Modified Hargeaves are used to calculate daily reference evapotranspiration based on daily data. The coefficients in these equations are then optimized to reduce the root mean squared difference between each estimate and the baseline value calculated by the Modified Penman-Monteith approach. The adapted method for daily reference evapotranspiration proves promising; estimating rates near a root mean squared difference of 1.07 mm/day. These results are validated with data from 1976-1980; here the root mean squared difference is 1.06 mm/day. Results are evaluated spatially and temporally. Weaknesses are seen in the estimates around clearly-defined summers. Further weaknesses are seen in pole-ward regions. Still, at the 1% significance level, the daily optimization of the Modified Hargreaves equation is found to be the best replica of the Modified Penman-Monteith method, globally. Finally, specific caveats and further avenues of research are noted. Overall, the daily Modified-Hargreaves method is advocated for general use in global studies where daily data and variation is of the utmost concern.This study received support from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which is funded by a consortium of government, industry and foundation sponsors

Quantifying the Likelihood of Regional Cimate Change: A hybridized Approach

The growing need for risk-based assessments of impacts and adaptation to climate change calls for increased capability in climate projections: the quantification of the likelihood of regional outcomes and the representation of their uncertainty. Herein, we present a technique that extends the latitudinal projections of the 2-D atmospheric model of the MIT Integrated Global System Model (IGSM) by applying longitudinally resolved patterns from observations, and from climate-model projections archived from exercises carried out for the 4th Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The method maps the IGSM zonal means across longitude using a set of transformation coefficients, and we demonstrate this approach in application to near-surface air temperature and precipitation, for which high-quality observational datasets and model simulations of climate change are available. The current climatology of the transformation coefficients is observationally based. To estimate how these coefficients may alter with climate, we characterize the climate models’ spatial responses, relative to their zonal mean, from transient increases in trace-gas concentrations and then normalize these responses against their corresponding transient global temperature responses. This procedure allows for the construction of meta-ensembles of regional climate outcomes, combining the ensembles of the MIT IGSM—which produce global and latitudinal climate projections, with uncertainty, under different global climate policy scenarios—with regionally resolved patterns from the archived IPCC climate-model projections. This approach also provides a hybridization of the climate-model longitudinal projections with the global and latitudinal patterns projected by the IGSM, and can be applied to any given state or flux variable that has the sufficient observational and model-based information.U.S. Department of Energy’s Abrupt Climate Change program, grant # DE-FG02-08ER64597

Recommendations for the management of opioid-induced constipation - how to improve usability in clinical practice

INTRODUCTION: Opioid-induced constipation remains undertreated despite effective and safe treatment options exists. Previous guidelines have only been partially effective in improving management, possibly due to their complexity, and studies suggest that a simple setup of concise and behaviorally-orientated steps improves usability.AREAS COVERED: This article introduces the concept of opioid-induced constipation and provides an overview of existing guidelines in this field. We also propose simplified recommendations for managing opioid-induced constipation, derived from a synthesis of current guidelines and the principles of optimal guideline design theory.EXPERT OPINION: Despite standard treatment with laxatives and fluid intake in patients with opioid-induced constipation, escalation of treatment is often needed where μ-opioid receptor antagonists or newer medications such as lubiprostone, linaclotide, or prucalopride are used. Previous guidelines have not been used sufficiently and thus management of the condition is often insufficient. We therefore propose simplified recommendations to management, which we believe can come into broader use. It was validated in primary care for credibility, clarity, relevance, usability, and overall benefit. We believe that this initiative can lead to better management of the substantial proportion of patients suffering from side effects of opioids.</p

Quiet in the Operating Room! Team STEPPS and OR Distractions

Background and Objective: From the moment that a patient enters the operating room to the time that they are brought to the post anesthesia care unit, a distraction has the potential to lead to an adverse outcome for the patient. During the critical portions of the surgery, it is even more important for all members of the operating staff to be focused and engaging in safe practices. Distractions in the operating room can hinder safe communication and potentially endanger patient safety. Team training has been shown to both improve team communication and reduce distractions. The objective of this project was using Team STEPPS training to reduce distractions during the critical portions of surgery, defined as the time of anesthesia induction, the time out, and the time of emergence from anesthesiahttps://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1060/thumbnail.jp