Cash Prize Research Articles

Cessation and relapse in a year-long workplace quit-smoking contest

In an attempt to increase the impact of smoking cessation activities, some recent studies have examined the use of contests and competitions. The study reported here evaluates a year-long multiple-lottery quit-smoking contest at Volvo Flygmotor, the Volvo aircraft engine manufacturing company in Trollhattan, Sweden. Lotteries were held at 1, 6, and 12 months after the contest began. By quitting for at least 1 month, enrollees were eligible to win cash prizes. Maintaining nonsmoking status from a previous lottery automatically qualified enrollees for the next one. Smoking status was established by self-report, expired carbon monoxide, and saliva cotinine. Seventy-three employees, representing approximately 10% of the company's smokers, entered the contest during the initial 2-week enrollment period. Point prevalence 1-month and 6-month cessation rates were 64.4 and 49.3%, respectively. Continuous abstinence 6-month and 1-year rates were 45.2 and 32.8% respectively. Psychological, home, work and smoking history variables generally were not related to cessation or relapse.

The 20th annual ACM North American computer chess championship

Despite entering ranked almost a class above the field, a last-round loss forced DEEP THOUGHT to settle for a first-place tie with HITECH at the 20th Annual ACM North American Computer Chess Championship. The five-round Swiss-style tournament was held November 12-15 at Bally's-Reno in conjunction with Supercomputing '89. It marked the twentieth consecutive year that ACM has organized this major chess event. Until 1988, the tournament took place at the Annual ACM Conferences. In 1988 and again this year, however, the event was hosted by the joint ACM SIGARCH/IEEE Computer Society Supercomputing Conference. Ten teams participated in the strongest computer chess tournament in history. Every program was playing at least at the Expert level. This year's tournament offered $5000 in prizes. HITECH and DEEP THOUGHT's programmers each won $2000 for their first-place tie while MEPHISTO X and BEBE's programmers split the $1000 third-place prize. In addition to the cash prizes, trophies were awarded to the first three finishers. A special trophy was given to MEPHISTO X as the “Best Small Computing System.” A Technical Session chaired by Tony Marsland was held during the championship. The topic of the session was endgame play by computers. Once upon a time computers played the endgame particularly badly, but this is no longer the case. The session considered some of the improvements and some of the problems that remain. David Levy served as Tournament Director, returning after a layoff of almost a decade. He served as TD for the first time in 1971, continuing into the early 1980s when his own programs began to compete. Levy will take on DEEP THOUGHT in London in a four-game match in December.* In 1978, he won a bet made in 1968 that no computer would defeat him during the following ten years. This time he appears to be the underdog. Attending the championship as an Honored Guest was Ben Mittman. Mittman was head of Northwestern University's Vogelback Computing Center during the years that Slate, Atkin, and Gorlen's programs dominated the ACM events. Some give him credit for being Northwestern University's greatest and most successful “coach.” From 1971 through 1983, Ben also was involved in the organization of the tournaments, From 1977 through 1983, Ben served as the first president of the International Computer Chess Association. He was also the first editor of what is now called the ICCA Journal, the main journal for technical papers on computer chess. This year the championship is scheduled to be a part of Supercomputing '90 in New York City on November 11-14. The 1990 event will see the first major change in the tournament rules. For the last 20 years, the rules have specified that each player is given two hours to make the first 40 moves and an additional hour for each 20 moves thereafter. Games frequently lasted more than six hours. This year, each computer will be required to make all its moves in two hours, thus guaranteeing that no game will last more than four hours. In addition to the main championship, a special endgame tournament will be held testing the programs' abilities in this special part of the game. For the first time at Supercomputing '90, all games will be played during the day beginning at 1:OO p.m.—except for one 7:00 p.m. Sunday evening game on the 11th. The event will be a five-round Swiss-style tournament. For information contact Professor Monty Newborn, School of Computer Science, McGill University, 3480 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A. 2A7.

Old-Time Black Gospel Quartet Contests

Quartet singers claim that anytime two quartets appeared on the same program, there was automatically a contest, each group intent upon stealing the house from the other. More formal competitions, however, appeared during the 1920s and 1930s, complete with judges, cash prizes, and a standard method of point scoring. It is reported that on one occasion twenty-three quartets performed at a high school in Laurel, Mississippi, competing for a total of $550 in prize money. Generally, contest purses were far more nominal; yet, the fact that such an amount was offered during the lean years of the mid1930s attests to the popularity of the competitions. Without question, the two most fertile breeding grounds for quartet singing were Jefferson County, Alabama (which encompasses Birmingham, Bessemer, Fairfield, and their rural suburbs), and the Tidewater region of Virginia (whose cultural center was the city of Norfolk). It is difficult to appreciate the role quartet singing played in these places; but it was the prevailing form of musical expression for the time as well as the general pastime of black church-going youth for at least two generations. In some cities, every neighborhood had at least one active quartet. The quartet contests provided a medium through which a group could distinguish itself from numerous local contemporaries. They were a source of community pride. On February 25, 1922, the Norfolk Journal and Guide, the Tidewater area's longstanding black community newspaper, reported:

Promoting local initiative through a community development competition

A significant thrust toward self-reliant development was initiated by local community groups in Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas of Ireland in the late 1960s. Although Gaeltarra Eireann (established in 1957 to promote industrial activities in the Gaeltacht) concentrated on attracting exogenous investment to the area, it also sought to promote a parallel and complementary programme of local development. A community development competition (CDC) is a novel means of encouraging local communities to attempt self-help initiatives. The CDC provides cash prizes for the communities adjudged to have made the greatest progress on various specified fronts during the period of adjudication. Evaluation of the CDC reveals many shortcomings and contradictions. However, the predominant view among Gaeltacht communities and its main sponsor is that the CDC is well worthwhile. The importance of allocating sufficient resources to it is stressed. So too is the need to place the CDC in an overall community development framework and to co-ordinate activities being promoted through it with other activities. The CDC is a limited instrument and only a comprehensive community development programme can realistically be expected to successfully promote self-reliant development among local communities.

Digital canvas: artists and designers in the 2D/3D marketplace

Digital canvas: artists and designers in the 2D/3D marketplace

Effects of Monetary Incentives on Customer Behavior:

A cash payoff game was applied to increase use of Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) by bank customers. ATM users could win either $5 or $100 by playing the game. Cash prizes were awarded based on a predetermined set of probabilities controlled by a central computer. The probability of winning was higher for customers who had used the ATMs at low rates. The game produced an increase in (1) the number of cards used, (2) the frequency of uses per card, and (3) percentage of transactions carried out on ATMs. Increased ATM use was maintained once the game was withdrawn.

Cash prizes and mail survey response rates: A threshold analysis

In a study involving the mailing of some 3,150 questionnaires, the ability of six kinds of incentives to augment survey responses was tested against a no-incentive control condition. Two of the incentives were small prepaid monetary amounts (25¢ and $1.00), while the remaining four consisted of the opportunity for respondents to win cash prizes valued at either $50, $100, $150, or $200. The use of such cash prizes enabled an approximate test of the just-noticeable-difference principle in terms of both its absolute and differential threshold hypotheses. The 25¢ and $1.00 incentives yielded response rates that were significantly larger than that of the control group. No confirmation of the differential threshold hypothesis was evidenced, at least over the range of cash prizes employed in the present study. In contrast, the absolute threshold hypothesis received support. Suggestions for further research in this area were also identified.

Research Notes: Cash Prizes and Mail Survey Response Rates: A Threshold Analysis

In a study involving the mailing of some 3,150 question naires, the ability of six kinds of incentives to augment survey responses was tested against a no-incentive control condition. Two of the incentives were small prepaid monetary amounts (25¢ and $1.00), while the remaining four consisted of the opportunity for respondents to win cash prizes valued at either $50, $100, $150, or $200. The use of such cash prizes enabled an approximate test of the just-noticeable-difference principle in terms of both its absolute and differential threshold hypothe ses. The 25¢ and $1.00 incentives yielded response rates that were significantly larger than that of the control group. No confirmation of the differential threshold hypothesis was evi denced, at least over the range of cash prizes employed in the present study. In contrast, the absolute threshold hypothesis received support. Suggestions for further research in this area were also identified.

Correlates of participation in a worksite stop-smoking contest.

Smokers employed at Roswell Park Memorial Institute, a cancer hospital and research center located in Buffalo, New York, were offered the opportunity to participate in a quit-smoking contest in which cash prizes were awarded for stopping smoking. Information on the smoking habits and attitudes of employees collected in a survey 3 months before the contest was used to predict the characteristics of smokers associated with contest participation. The same variables were also used to predict cessation among contest participants 3 months after the start of the contest. Overall, 14% of smokers enrolled in the contest, with one-third still abstinent 3 months later. Contest participation was associated with the smoker's reported desire to stop smoking and the number of symptoms related to smoking. Smoking cessation was related to the strength of the smoking habit, the confidence in the ability to quit, and the smoking status and relationship of the respondent's partner in the contest.

AUDIO VISUAL AIDS

The first Scottish Young Persons National Video Competition 1988, arranged by the Scottish Council for Educational Technology and the Scottish Community Education Council, will include as prizes a trip to London, use of professional video editing equipment, and visits to the BBC and STV studios in Glasgow. There are also cash prizes of up to £100 for earch of the competition categories: primary schools, secondary schools, colleges and community groups. Winning videos will be selected for their technical quality, entertainment value, creativity and imagination, appropriateness to target audience and evidence that the video‐makers have learnt something in the process. Details are available from SCET, 74 Victoria Crescent Road, Glasgow G12 9JN. Tel: 041–334 9314.

Compulsive gambling in Britain

In 1968 England legalized casino gaming. Unlike their counterparts in America, legislators in the House of Lords actively debated ways to help compulsive gamblers. Parliament adopted the “48 hour rule,” requiring players to wait two days before gambling, put severe restrictions on check cashing in casinos and, limited the number of slot machines to two per club. England considered, but rejected, other proposals: the method, used in France, of allowing compulsive gamblers to voluntarily put their names on a list of persons to be excluded and, complete prohibitions on casino credit. Although the legislative restrictions greatly reduced compulsive gambling among adult gamers; sadly, Parliament ignored what has become a growing source of compulsive gambling among children: the practically unlimited availability of public arcades with “amusement machines” paying small cash prizes.

On ἀργúρια in the Athenaion Politeia 60.3

The London papyrus of the Athenaion Politeia of Aristotle makes this statement about the prizes awarded in the musical contests at the Panathenaic games:It has been generally assumed that the andhere are connected with the prizes offered in the musical contests in IG n2 2311.1–22.For instance the winner in the lyre-playing contest receives a gold crown worth 1000 drachmas as well as 500 drachmas of silver(lines 4–7).In consequence, the here are connected with the prizes offered in the musical contests in IG n2 2311.1–22.For instance the winner in the lyre-playing contest receives a gold crown worth 1000 drachmas as well as 500 drachmas of silver(lines 4–7).In consequence, the,in Aristotle should refer to the cash prize awarded to the winner in the lyre-playing contest.In other words, a sum of silver money would be referred to in Aristotle by the plural

Gold Achievement Award Carries $10,000 Cash Prize

Gold Achievement Award Carries $10,000 Cash Prize

Chronicle Volume 64, No. 2 (1983)

For the achievements in work, active participation in the movement for a communist attitude to work and successful fulfillment of the conditions of the All-Union Review of the work of healthcare institutions and additional socialist obligations in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the formation of the USSR, the Red Banner of the Ministry of Health of the USSR and the Central Committee of the Trade Union of Medical Workers and a cash prize in the amount of 2000 rubles was awarded to the Tatar Children's Republican Clinical Hospital.

NUTRITION AWARD

Dr Elsie M. Widdowson, the British scientist whose landmark studies of infant body composition have been used for decades to determine babies' nutritional needs, is the winner of the second annual Bristol‐Myers Award for distinguished achievement in nutrition research. This award honours an outstanding scientist for basic or clinical nutrition research. The winner is chosen by a select committee of leading physicians and scientists engaged in nutrition research. Dr Widdowson received the award, a $25,000 cash prize, presented by Bristol‐Myers and its Mead Johnson & Company subsidiary, at the end of 1982 in Washington DC.

An Essay Contest for Honors Students

A recent grant from the National Office of Pi Sigma Alpha gave us the opportunity to provide students with an extra-curricular writing experience that proved rewarding for all involved. The honorary's Committee on Chapter Activities funded a project jointly conceived by chapters at Miami and Purdue Universities during the 1981-82 academic year.The project consisted of a research essay contest with a cash prize awarded to the winning paper authors. Three teams of two students each were chosen from both chapters to write papers and to present them at a joint meeting. Specifically, the three “teams” from Miami were asked to write on the following topics:1.The Reagan Administration seems committed to a lessened role for the federal government and a stronger role for the state governments in determining and implementing public policies.

The CPMS/TIMS Award for Management Science Achievement Eleventh Annual Competition: 1982

The CPMS/TIMS Award for Management Science Achievement Eleventh Annual Competition: 1982. The Arizona Department of Transportation is the winner of the 1982 TIMS Award for Management Science Achievement for its use of an innovative high-impact management science system to improve highway maintenance. The $6000 cash prize was awarded to the practitioner team of Kamal Golabi, University of Pittsburgh, Ram B. Kulkarni, Woodward-Clyde Consultants, and George B. Way, Arizona Department of Transportation.

Association for Symbolic Logic

ASL NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2001 • The 2001 ASL Election. Enclosed with this Newsletter is the ballot for the 2001 election for the positions of Secretary-Treasurer, two members of the Executive Committee of the Council, and two members of the Council. All terms are for three years beginning January 1, 2002. There were no nominations by petition and thus there are no contested seats. The Nominating Committee consisted of John Burgess, Chi Tat Chong, Dirk van Dalen, Neil Immerman, Julia Knight, Peter Koepke, and Carol Wood (Chair). To be counted, ballots must be returned to the ASL office in Poughkeepsie by December 31, 2001. All ASL members are urged to vote. • Foundation for Polish Science Annual Award to Newelski. The Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) recently announced that Professor Ludomir Newelski of the Mathematical Institute of Wroc law University and the Mathematical Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, has been awarded an FNP Annual Award. Four of these awards are granted each year to Polish scholars and scientists for remarkable achievements or findings in the exact sciences, medicine and the life sciences, the humanities and social sciences, and the technical sciences. The awards carry a cash prize of approximately $10,000. The award ceremony is traditionally held in the beginning of December in the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The FNP, currently regarded as the most significant non-governmental sponsor of Polish science, was registered in 1991 as an independent, self-financing, non-profit institution whose mission is to support Polish science, humanities, and technology.

The Management Science Achievement Award—Ninth Annual Competition: 1980

The Kelly-Springfield Tire Company is the winner of the 1980 Management Science Achievement Award for its innovative, technically advanced, and effective use of Management Science in integrated operations planning and scheduling. The $6,000 cash prize was awarded to Robert H. King, Manager of Research and Planning, and Robert R. Love, Jr., Management Science Analyst, both of Kelly-Springfield's Operating Division. Their award-winning paper concerned production planning in tire manufacture. The judges were particularly impressed by the work of Kenneth G. Cooper, of Pugh-Roberts Associates, dealing with the Ingalls shipbuilding model as a technique for cost management and negotiation. For this work, Dr. Cooper received the second cash award of $2,500. Likewise of special merit was the entry by Betty W. Holz and General James M. Wroth (Ret.) of General Research Corporation on the Army's computer system for manpower planning, budgeting, and policy evaluation. For this work, Ms. Holz and General Wroth received the third cash award of $1,500.

Decreased helpfulness with increased group size through lessening the effects of the needy individual's dependency1

The present experiment attempted to integrate the research on helpfulness in which subjects work for someone else in an artificial laboratory setting (Berkowitz & Daniels, 1963; Berkowitz, 1972) with the bystander-intervention-in-emergencies studies often carried out under more realistic conditions (e.g., Latané & Darley, 1970; Schwartz & Clausen, 1970; Clark & Word, 1972). Fifty-six university women in a 2 × 2 factorial design were led to think they were working for a same-sex peer who could win a cash prize, although there was “nothing in it for them.” Half were told that the other's chance of getting the prize was greatly dependent upon their effort while the remaining participants were informed that the other did not need their-work very much. Moreover, half of the subjects thought they were the only ones working for the other whereas the remaining people believed there were two other co-workers and that the output from all three would be averaged. It was expected that the participants would feel the greatest personal responsibility to help the other and would work hardest for her when she was greatly dependent upon their productivity and they were the only worker, while the subjects would feel the lowest level of personal responsibility for their peer and would be least helpful to her when she was not particularly dependent upon them and there were two other co-workers. The findings are generally in accord with these expectations.