Can implementation intentions and text messages promote brisk walking? A randomized trial.

Objective: To test the efficacy in promoting brisk walking of two theory-based interventions that incorporate implementation intentions and text message (Short Message Service; SMS) reminders directed at one’s walking-related plans or goals. Design: Participants (N = 149) were randomized to one of three conditions (implementation intention + SMS plan reminder, implementation intention + SMS goal reminder, control) before completing measures at baseline and follow-up 4 weeks later. At follow-up, the experimental groups were given a surprise recall task concerning their plans. All participants completed an equivalent goal recall task. Main Outcome Measures: Validated self-report measures of physical activity and measures of implementation intention and goal recall, weight, and waist-to-hip ratio. Results: Both intervention groups increased their brisk walking relative to the control group, without reducing other physical activity. The goal reminder group lost the most weight. The SMS plan reminder group recalled more of their plans than the SMS goal reminder group, but the latter were more successful in goal recall. Conclusion: Both interventions can promote brisk walking in sedentary populations. Text messages aid the recall of, and could enhance interventions that target, implementation intentions and goals

Information seeking and reciprocity: A transformational analysis

The motivation to reciprocate is analyzed within the framework of interdependence theory, with focus on the process of transformation of situations. A model of transformation is presented for the motivation to reciprocate and hypotheses regarding allocation behavior and information seeking are derived. The hypotheses are tested in two experiments implementing a game where participants allocate payoff to self and other in a sequential way, with one participant able to gather costly information regarding the other's previous behavior. Individual differences in the motivation to reciprocate are assessed with the Personal Norm of Reciprocity questionnaire. Results show that participants with high motivation to reciprocate seek information regarding other's past behavior, and react to this information as the norm of reciprocity prescribes. Participants with low motivation to reciprocate prefer information regarding the future of the interaction (Study 1), or no information (Study 2), and behave in a more selfish way. Results are discussed with respect of (1) the transformation of situation process, (2) the role of reciprocity as an interpersonal motive, and (3) the validity of the individual differences measure. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Globalisation and the decline of the labour share: a microeconomic perspective

This paper contributes to the infant literature on the determinants of the labour share at the level of individual firms and provides novel insights on the effect of firms’ patterns of internationalisation. The analysis is performed using a rich dataset, covering six EU countries (Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Spain), and combining information from the EFIGE survey and Amadeus balance sheets. Our results show that the labour share is lower for exporting firms and for those engaged in foreign direct investments or offshoring activities. These findings are robust to an array of sensitivity tests. Our instrumental variable analysis indicates that causation goes from internationalization to changes in the labour share. Investigation into the channels of the negative impact of internationalisation shows that these effects are not related to the composition of the labour force, nor to technological factors or firm market power. The analysis for subsectors of different technological regimes is consistent with this interpretation

Looking for a simple Big Five factorial structure in the domain of adjectives.

The Big Five factors structure is currently the benchmark for personality dimensions. In the domain of adjectives, various instruments have been developed to measure the Big Five. In this contribution the authors propose a methodology to find a simple factorial structure and apply this methodology to the domain of Big Five as measured by adjectives. Using data collected on a sample of 337 Ss (mean age 21.69 yrs), a five-factor benchmark structure is proposed derived from the 50 best marker adjectives selected among the adjectives contained in three instruments specifically developed to measure the Big Five (i.e., L. R. Goldberg's 100 adjectives list, IASR-B5, and SACBIF (1992)). They use this common factor structure (or benchmark structure) to investigate the differences and the similarities between the three operationalizations of the Big Five, and to investigate the placements of the full set of adjectives contained in the three instruments. The main features of the proposed methodology and the generalizability of the obtained results are discussed

Rigidity for perimeter inequality under spherical symmetrisation

Necessary and sufficient conditions for rigidity of the perimeter inequality under spherical symmetrisation are given. That is, a characterisation for the uniqueness (up to orthogonal transformations) of the extremals is provided. This is obtained through a careful analysis of the equality cases, and studying fine properties of the circular symmetrisation, which was firstly introduced by Pólya in 1950

Development of scaffold-free vascularized pancreatic beta-islets in vitro models by the anchoring of cell lines to a bioligand-functionalized gelatine substrate

Bioengineered pancreatic β-islets have been widely advocated for the research and treatment of diabetes by offering both suitable cell culture models for the study of the pathology and the testing of new drugs and a therapy in those patients no longer responding to insulin administration and as an alternative to the shortage of donors for organ and islet transplantation. Unlike most of the studies published so far where pancreatic islets of pancreatic β-cells are encapsulated in hydrogels, this study demonstrate the formation of bioengineered pancreatic islets through cell anchoring to a gelatine-based biomaterial, PhenoDrive-Y, able to mimic the basement membrane of tissues. Through simple culture conditions, PhenoDrive-Y led human pancreatic β-cell lines and human umbilical endothelial cell lines to form organized structures closely resembling the natural vascularized pancreatic islets. When compared to gelatine, the cultures in presence of PhenoDrive-Y show higher degree of organization in tissue-like structures, a more pronounced endothelial sprouting and higher expression of typical cell markers. Noticeably, when challenged by hyperglycaemic conditions, the cells embedded in the PhenoDrive-Y assembled spheroids responded with higher levels of insulin production. In conclusion, the present work demonstrates the potential of PhenoDrive-Y as substrate for the development of bioengineered vascularized pancreatic islets and to be particularly suitable as a model for in vitro studies and testing of new therapeutics. [Figure: see text

Diagnosis of bell palsy with gadolinium magnetic resonance imaging

Bell palsy is a condition resulting from a peripheral edematous compression on the nervous fibers of the facial nerve. This pathological condition often has clinical characteristics of no importance and spontaneously disappears in a short time in a high percentage of cases. Facial palsy concerning cranial nerve VII can also be caused by other conditions such as mastoid fracture, acoustic neurinoma, tumor spread to the temporal lobe (e.g., cholesteatoma), neoformation of the parotid gland, Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome, and Ramsay-Hunt syndrome. Therefore, it is important to adopt an accurate diagnostic technique allowing the rapid detection of Bell palsy and the exclusion of causes of facial paralysis requiring surgical treatment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with medium contrast of the skull shows a marked increase in revealing lesions, even of small dimensions, inside the temporal bone and at the cerebellopontine angle. The authors present a clinical case to show the important role played by gadolinium MRI in reaching a diagnosis of Bell palsy in the differential diagnosis of the various conditions that determine paralysis of the facial nerve and in selecting the most suitable treatment or surgery to be adopted

Money Walks: A Human-Centric Study on the Economics of Personal Mobile Data

In the context of a myriad of mobile apps which collect personally identifiable information (PII) and a prospective market place of personal data, we investigate a user-centric monetary valuation of mobile PII. During a 6-week long user study in a living lab deployment with 60 participants, we collected their daily valuations of 4 categories of mobile PII (communication, e.g. phonecalls made/received, applications, e.g. time spent on different apps, location and media, photos taken) at three levels of complexity (individual data points, aggregated statistics and processed, i.e. meaningful interpretations of the data). In order to obtain honest valuations, we employ a reverse second price auction mechanism. Our findings show that the most sensitive and valued category of personal information is location. We report statistically significant associations between actual mobile usage, personal dispositions, and bidding behavior. Finally, we outline key implications for the design of mobile services and future markets of personal data.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. To appear in ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp 2014