The impact of anticipated discussion on cooperation in a social dilemma

We study the impact of anticipated face-to-face discussions among group members after they have made an anonymous contribution to a public good in an experimental setting. We find that the impact of anticipated discussions depends on how we frame the public good game. When framed in non-evaluative language, anticipated ex post discussions lead to a sharp reduction in contributions to the public good. This effect reversed when evaluative language was used to underscore normative expectations. In contrast, there was no framing in the no-discussion baseline version of our game. We offer an explanation that centres on the idea that the announcement of ex post discussions reinforces both normative and predictive expectations.Public Goods; Laboratory; Individual Behavior

The effects on language and curriculum of flight safety training used in helicopter emergency medical service after implementing a safety management system

The trend in contemporary aviation is to enhance safety by implementing a Safety Management System (SMS). This trend has also become a part of the medical rotary industry. As a part of a SMS, Flight Safety Training (FST) is included, which consist of Human factors, Crew Resource Management (CRM) -training and the creation/shaping of attitudes and safety culture. During 2012 a SMS was implemented in Scandinavian MediCopter Ab. This study attempts to discover if the implementation of the FST tool in the SMS has an effect on how professional aviators speak about safety and how the training curriculum is affected. For the qualitative research nine professional pilots and flight instructors working with FST and duty in a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS)-organization were interviewed about how they perceive the language and syllabus change during the last five years. Additionally the training curriculum was reviewed both before and after the implementation of the SMS. The results imply that language change is difficult to connect to implementing a SMS alone. The change can arguably be seen as being intertwined with deeper phenomena and is a result of a broader change, which does come incrementally. The study hints that as a part of such a change, the SMS helps people to have a more open and transparent approach to safety and increased incident/accident reporting. Changes in the curriculum could be found, which in part are also connected to other aspects, like authority and customer requirements. Additionally the results suggest that the SMS can contribute in making FST and reporting actually feel less bureaucratic, which is a phenomenon usually attributed to SMS

The Death Knell For the Death Penalty and the Significance of Global Realism to its Abolition from Glossip v. Gross to Brumfield v. Cain

Objectives For the last decade a host of different projects have been launched to allow persons who are concerned about their hearing status to quickly and at a low cost test their hearing ability. Most often, this is carried out without collecting complementary information that could be correlated with hearing impairment. In this two-part study we first, present the development and validation of a novel Internet-based hearing test, and second, report on the associations between this test and phonological representation, quality of life and self-reported hearing difficulties. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting An opportunity sample of participants was recruited at the Stockholm central station for the first study. All parts of the second study were conducted via the Internet, with testing and self-report forms adapted for online use. Participants The first part of the study was carried out in direct contact with the participants, and participants from the second study were recruited by means of advertisements in newspapers and on webpages. The only exclusion criterion was that participants had to be over 18 years old. Most participants were between 60 and 69 years old. There were almost an equal number of men and women (total n=316). Outcome measures 48 participants failed the Internet-based hearing screening test. The group failing the test reported more problems on the Amsterdam Inventory of Auditory Disability. In addition, they were found to have diminished phonological representational skills. However, no difference in quality of life was found. Conclusions Almost one in five participants was in need of contacting their local hearing clinic. This group had more complaints regarding tinnitus and hyperacusis, rated their own hearing as worse than those who passed, and had a poorer capability of generating accurate phonological representations. This study suggests that it is feasible to screen for hearing status online, and obtain valid data

Dense Random Texture Detection using Beta Distribution Statistics

This note describes a method for detecting dense random texture using fully connected points sampled on image edges. An edge image is randomly sampled with points, the standard L2 distance is calculated between all connected points in a neighbourhood. For each point, a check is made if the point intersects with an image edge. If this is the case, a unity value is added to the distance, otherwise zero. From this an edge excess index is calculated for the fully connected edge graph in the range [1.0..2.0], where 1.0 indicate no edges. The ratio can be interpreted as a sampled Bernoulli process with unknown probability. The Bayesian posterior estimate of the probability can be associated with its conjugate prior which is a Beta($\alpha$, $\beta$) distribution, with hyper parameters $\alpha$ and $\beta$ related to the number of edge crossings. Low values of $\beta$ indicate a texture rich area, higher values less rich. The method has been applied to real-time SLAM-based moving object detection, where points are confined to tracked boxes (rois)

Developing novel measures and treatments for gambling disorder

Background: While gambling is an activity that seems to have entertained humanity for millennia, it is less clear why problematic gambling behavior may persist despite obvious negative consequences, from a research and clinical perspective. With the introduction of the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–5), gambling was equated with alcohol and drug use and labeled an addictive disorder, Gambling Disorder (GD). Problem gambling is associated with destroyed careers, broken marriages, financial ruin, and psychiatric comorbidities. Still, research on gambling can be described as a field still in its infancy, with a need to conduct further gambling research on measurement and treatment procedures. Aims: The overall aim for the thesis was to develop and evaluate measures and treatments for Gambling Disorder. • The aims of Study I were to reach a consensus regarding a specific set of potential new measurement items, to yield a testable draft version of a new gambling measure, and to establish preliminary construct and face validity for this novel gambling measure, the Gambling Disorder Identification Test (GDIT). • The aim of Study II was to evaluate psychometric properties (e.g., internal consistency and test-retest reliability, factor structure, convergent and discriminant validity, as well as diagnostic accuracy) of the GDIT, among treatment- and support-seeking samples (n = 79 and n = 185), self-help groups (n = 47), and a population sample (n = 292). • The aim of Study III was to formulate hypotheses on the maintenance of GD by identifying clinically relevant behaviors at an individual level, among six treatmentseeking participants with GD. This qualitative study was conducted as a preparatory step to develop the iCBTG (see Study IV). • The aim of Study IV was to evaluate acceptability and clinical effectiveness of the newly developed iCBTG, among treatment seeking-patients with GD (n = 23) in routine care. A further aim was to evaluate research feasibility of using existing healthcare infrastructure to deliver the iCBTG program. Methods: In Study I, gambling experts from ten countries rated 30 items proposed for inclusion in the GDIT, in a two-round Delphi (n = 61; n = 30). Three following consensus meetings including gambling researchers and clinicians (n = 10; n = 4; n = 3), were held to solve item-related issues and establish a GDIT draft version. To evaluate face validity, the GDIT draft version was presented to individuals with experience of problem gambling (n = 12) and to treatment-seeker participants with Gambling Disorder (n = 8). In Study II, the psychometric properties of the GDIT were evaluated among gamblers (N = 603), recruited from treatment- and support-seeking contexts (n = 79; n = 185), self-help groups (n = 47), and a population sample (n = 292). The participants completed self-report measures, a GDIT retest (n = 499) and a diagnostic semi- structured interview assessing GD (n = 203). In Study III, treatment-seeking patients with GD and various additional psychiatric symptom profiles (n = 6), were interviewed using an in-depth semi-structured functional interview. Participants also completed self-report measures assessing gambling behavior. A qualitative thematic analysis was performed using functional analysis as a theoretical framework. Following completion of Study III, the results were synthesized with existing experimental evidence on gambling behavior and used to develop the novel treatment model and internet-delivered treatment evaluated in Study IV, i.e., the iCBTG. In Study IV, a non-randomized preliminary evaluation of the novel iCBTG was conducted in parallel with implementation into routine addiction care, through the Support and Treatment platform (St d och behandlingsplattformen; ST platform). Feasibility was evaluated among a sample of treatment-seeking patients (N = 23), in terms of iCBTG adherence, acceptability and clinical effectiveness, and feasibility of using existing healthcare infrastructure for clinical delivery as well as research purposes. Results: Study I established preliminary face validity for the GDIT, as well as construct validity in relation to a researcher agreement from 2006 on measuring problem gambling, known as the Banff consensus. Study II showed excellent internal consistency reliability (α = .94) and test–retest reliability (6-16 days, intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.93) for the GDIT. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded factor loadings supporting the three proposed GDIT domains of gambling behavior, gambling symptoms, and negative consequences. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) and clinical significance estimates were used to establish GDIT cut-off scores for recreational gambling (<15), problem gambling (15-19), and GD (any ≥20; mild 20-24; moderate 25-29; and severe ≥30). Study III yielded several functional categories for gambling behavior, as well as four main processes potentially important for treatment, i.e., access to money, anticipation, selective attention (focus) and chasing behaviors. Study IV showed that patient engagement in the iCBTG modules was comparable to previous internet-delivered cognitive behavioral treatment trials in the general population. The iCBTG was rated satisfactory in treatment credibility, expectancy, and satisfaction. Mixed effects modeling revealed a significant decrease in gambling symptoms during treatment (within-group effect size d=1.05 at follow-up), which correlated with changes in loss of control (in the expected direction of increased control). However, measurement issues related to the ST platform were also identified, which led to significant attrition in several measures. Conclusions: GDIT is a reliable and valid measure to assess GD and problem gambling. In addition, GDIT demonstrates high content validity relation to the Banff consensus. The iCBTG was developed to achieve a theoretically grounded and meaningful treatment model for GD. Preliminary estimates support acceptability and clinical effectiveness in “real world” settings, but further randomized controlled studies are warranted to ensure treatment efficacy

PIPES - The New Source of Financing for European Companies?

This paper investigates the firm and transaction characteristics of PIPE issuers. Whereas previous empirical studies have been focused on the U.S. market, this paper focuses on the characteristics of the European market and also examines the importance of PIPEs as a source of financing and the impact of the institutional settings in key European countries. My findings show that many PIPE issuers are poor performing companies with high R&D expenditures in need of financing to keep their investment levels. I also find that the PIPE may act as a supplement, and cater the needs of firms with difficulties to obtain financing in the public space, and that these firms significantly underperform the market in the long run. My results further indicate that the institutional settings in Europe may act as a barrier in the PIPE market as evident from the low issue fractions and small transactions

Cooperation driven by mutations in multi-person Prisoner's Dilemma

The n-person Prisoner's Dilemma is a widely used model for populations where individuals interact in groups. The evolutionary stability of populations has been analysed in the literature for the case where mutations in the population may be considered as isolated events. For this case, and assuming simple trigger strategies and many iterations per game, we analyse the rate of convergence to the evolutionarily stable populations. We find that for some values of the payoff parameters of the Prisoner's Dilemma this rate is so low that the assumption, that mutations in the population are infrequent on that timescale, is unreasonable. Furthermore, the problem is compounded as the group size is increased. In order to address this issue, we derive a deterministic approximation of the evolutionary dynamics with explicit, stochastic mutation processes, valid when the population size is large. We then analyse how the evolutionary dynamics depends on the following factors: mutation rate, group size, the value of the payoff parameters, and the structure of the initial population. In order to carry out the simulations for groups of more than just a few individuals, we derive an efficient way of calculating the fitness values. We find that when the mutation rate per individual and generation is very low, the dynamics is characterised by populations which are evolutionarily stable. As the mutation rate is increased, other fixed points with a higher degree of cooperation become stable. For some values of the payoff parameters, the system is characterised by (apparently) stable limit cycles dominated by cooperative behaviour. The parameter regions corresponding to high degree of cooperation grow in size with the mutation rate, and in number with the group size.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Journal of Theoretical Biolog