Dominant Choice Research Articles

Life Cycle Costing and Assessment of Building Slab Materials

The selection process of material for slab construction must be well guided to ensure an effective and efficient slab. While numerous alternatives can be selected, some materials remain the dominant choice in the Nigerian construction industry. The usage of Concrete is now competing with eco-friendly materials such as Polystyrene and Hollow clay pot. This study researches into the life cycle cost of the three materials to determine the material with the lowest life cycle cost. It also assesses the environmental impacts posed by the production of the materials to the society. Cost data were retrieved from Design documents, Documented Bid Records, Bills of Quantities, Current documented prices, Maintenance schedules, and Slab Performance Models. Environmental Impact Assessment, structured interview, and Questionnaires were the collection instruments used to obtain assessment data. The analysis involved NPV discounting, Shadow pricing techniques, Sensitivity analysis, Descriptive statistics and Mean item scoring. The research discovered that although Concrete poses less cost on the slab users, Hollow clay pot slab possesses the lowest life cycle cost and differs from Polystyrene with a very close margin of less than 10%. Major environmental impacts posed by the production of the materials were air pollution, badlands due to excessive mining, gas flaring, and environmental waste. The study then recommends that Hollow clay pot and Polystyrene serve as a better alternative for the commonly used Concrete and should, therefore, be adopted for slab construction.

The Intersection between Climate Adaptation, Mitigation, and Natural Resources: An Empirical Analysis of Forest Management

Forest landowners can adapt to climate change and carbon pricing by altering the types of forests that are replanted or regenerated. By inducing land-use changes within forestry, climate adaptation and mitigation policy can alter the flow of nonmarket forest ecosystem services. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effect of climate change and carbon pricing on adaptation behavior of private forest owners. We develop an empirical framework with application to the US Pacific coast. An estimated discrete-choice econometric model is used as the empirical basis for a simulation of land-use changes to the composition of a landscape’s forest stock. Results indicate that climate change induces landowners to adapt away from their current dominant species choice of Douglas-fir to species more suitable for the future climate, notably hardwoods and ponderosa pine. A carbon price policy accelerates adaptation away from current forest types, potentially creating an externality at the local level.

A Systematic Review of Tablet Technology in Mathematics Education

<p class="0abstract">In 2019, the mobile learning body of knowledge is extensive and much is known about the technology impacts and affordances of mobile devices in educational settings. A particular focus has now shifted toward specific technologies in specific subjects. Mathematics is one such subject and tablets are one such technology that is gaining attention. This systematic review representing the latest generation of tablet technology within the tablet-mediated learning in mathematics body of knowledge sought to derive evidence that supported questions into (a) what math sub-disciplines were covered, (b) what technology (application/hardware) was utilized, and (c) what pedagogical approaches were deployed in educational settings. This included analysis of the (d) advantages and (e) disadvantages present in those elements. Thirty-nine relevant articles were collected from various academic technology and educational databases. The results demonstrate that tablets are being predominantly deployed in various sub-disciplines such as Arithmetic, Computation, and Geometry with the iPad as the dominant choice for tablet hardware/applications. Pedagogical approaches lean heavily on game-based learning, environment interaction, and special needs support. Technological advantages include increased collaboration and mathematics engagement enabled by tablet mobility and a high potential for customization of solutions. Developers, teachers, and researchers need to be informed of potential challenges in designing content for tablet technology deployments in mathematics.</p>

Dominant Choices? How CEO/Board Power Predicts Compensation Consulting Firm Relationships

While research examining the relevance of differences in CEO/Board relative power across firms has typically focused on intra-organizational antecedents and consequences, this study analyzes the po...

Lithium-ion battery state-of-health estimation in electric vehicle using optimized partial charging voltage profiles

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have become the dominant choice for powering the Electric Vehicles (EVs). In order to guarantee the safety and reliability of the battery pack in an EV, the Battery Management System (BMS) needs information regarding the battery State of Health (SOH). This paper estimates the battery SOH from the optimal partial charging voltage profiles, which is a straightforward and effective solution for the EV applications. In order to further improve the accuracy and efficiency of the SOH estimation, a novel method optimizing single and multiple voltage ranges during the EV charging process is proposed in this paper. Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) is applied to automatically select the optimal multiple voltage ranges, while the grid search technique is used to find the optimal single voltage range. The non-dominated solutions from NSGA-II enable the SOH estimation at different battery charging stages, which gives more freedom to the implementation of the proposed method. Three Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC)-based batteries from EV, which have been aged under calendar ageing for 360 days, are used to validate the proposed method.

Unleash Narrowband Technologies for Industrial Internet of Things Services

As the industrial market grows, it is becoming noticeable that there are many industrial Internet of things (IIoT) use cases for which existing technology cannot meet the huge demand of machine connectivity. For example, in the utility market, there is a strong trend to adopt new technology that can support positive business use case scenarios for efficient system operation and elaborate the dramatic increase of the services demands. Apart from this, most utility grid applications required long-range, low-power, secure, and reliable communications, which means narrowband (NB) technology can be the dominant choice. To address these challenges, this article provides a new framework architecture to enable technical decision makers to plan for NB-IIoT. Moreover, we highlight the key aspects of NB technology by focusing on the challenges, standardization, and requirements to facilitate the IIoT connectivity for industry revolutions. The motivation behind employing NB is to provide a high level of reliability, and better quality of service, and coverage. In particular, the article addresses the main applications of utility use cases under the NB umbrella, which can perform as a good bridge between utility services and the fundamental communication infrastructure. The utility use cases based on emerging technology can support the full array of smart grid services that are required for both central and distributed operation systems. Finally, the article provides connectivity solutions for potential IIoT deployment aiming to define a new roadmap for NB technology on specific industrial use cases.

Interspecific competition for frugivores: population-level seed dispersal in contrasting fruiting communities.

Indirect interactions among plant species mediated by frugivorous animals can be central to population and community dynamics, since the successful seed dispersal of species may depend on facilitative or competitive interactions with heterospecific plants. Yet, empirical evidence on these interactions is very scarce and mostly available at small spatial scales, within populations. Because lipid-rich fruits are known to be preferred by migratory birds, here we test our prediction of competitive inferiority of a carbohydrate-rich fruited species (the hawthorn Crataegus monogyna) compared to lipid-rich co-fruiting species in a Mediterranean region where the bulk of seed dispersal relies on migratory birds. We assessed avian seed dispersal in both relative (fruit removal rate) and absolute terms (seed dispersal magnitude) in seven hawthorn populations distributed across an altitudinal gradient encompassing three contrasting fruiting contexts: hawthorn is scarce in the lowlands, common in the midlands, and the dominant fruit species in the highlands. We found evidence of seed dispersal reduction due to interspecific competition in the lowland populations, where lipid-rich fruits dominate. Besides, DNA barcoding analysis of bird-dispersed seeds revealed that only a small subset of the local frugivore assemblages consumed hawthorn fruits in the lowland communities. Instead, the consumers of hawthorn fruits resembled the local frugivore assemblages where hawthorn fruits were more dominant and frugivore choices more limited. Our study suggests mechanisms by which the rarity or dominance of plant species might be jointly influenced by environmental constraints (here, precipitation along the altitudinal gradient) and frugivore-mediated indirect interactions among plants hindering or facilitating seed dispersal.

Masculinity and Men’s Choice of College Major

We investigate whether adherence to dominant masculine norms and choice of college major are related among undergraduate men in the United States. Our results indicate that men’s level of conformity to certain masculine norms is associated with their postsecondary field of study. In particular, we find men’s adherence to the masculine norm of emotional control is associated negatively with selecting majors from such academic fields as clinical and health sciences or arts and humanities compared to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and doctoral-track medicine (e.g., pre-medicine and pre-dentistry). Conformity to the masculine norm to focus on work is related negatively to choosing a major in arts and humanities or communication and media fields compared to STEM and doctoral-track medicine fields. These results suggest ways that dominant social norms about masculinity may contribute to gender segregation of postsecondary fields of study.

PF496 TREATMENT PATTERNS AMONG PATIENTS WITH RELAPSED FOLLICULAR LYMPHOMA

Background:Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the second most common form of non‐Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for about 35% of cases in the United States. Despite a high 5‐year survival rate (53–91%), FL is considered incurable with cycles of relapse and remission occurring frequently. Treatment may involve radiation or chemoimmunotherapy (drug treatment) according to disease stage. However, standard guidelines recommend a number of options for both first‐ (1L) and second‐line (2L) therapy with no dominant choice for clinical decision‐makers.Aims:To examine real‐world 2L treatment patterns among patients with relapsed FL.Methods:Using 2007–2014 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)‐Medicare data, we identified patients diagnosed with FL (International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, 3rd edition [ICD‐O‐3] codes 9690–9691, 9695, 9698) who initiated a target 1L treatment for FL during the identification period of January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2012. Date of diagnosis occurred on or before the first claim date for 1L treatment (index date). Patients using any drug treatment for FL before the index date were excluded. Patients were followed for ≥1 year (except due to death) until death, disenrollment, or study end. Target 1L treatments were identified by the presence of a claim for all agents (except prednisone): rituximab monotherapy (R‐mono); rituximab + bendamustine (BR); R‐CVP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone); R‐CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone). As physicians may modify the combination of CHOP agents, patients who were not on R‐CVP but received rituximab and ≥1 agent of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine were classified as R‐CHOP‐like. Patients who started 2L therapy after ≥4 cycles of index therapy and a remission period of ≥90 days (≥180 days for R‐mono) were considered to have relapsed FL. New drug treatment received before completing all cycles and achieving full remission was considered part of the previous line of therapy. We examined 2L treatment patterns, such as the type and frequency of 2L regimens. Baseline measures included demographics, Ann Arbor staging, and number of chronic conditions.Results:2,515 patients who initiated 1L therapy for FL and who met all selection criteria were identified. Mean age (standard deviation [SD]) was 74.1 (8.2) years, 87.2% were white, and 53.8% were female. All stages were represented: stage III (28.4%), IV (26.8%), I (20.8%), II (17.1%), and unknown (6.8%). Mean (SD) number of chronic conditions was 6.9 (2.1). Two‐thirds of patients (66.4%) completed 1L therapy and entered remission during follow‐up. Among these patients, 26.4% (n = 440) experienced a relapse and began 2L therapy. R‐mono, R‐CHOP‐like, R‐CVP, and BR were most commonly initiated as 2L therapy (97.2%). Many patients moved on to a second (12.3%) or third or more (5%) 2L regimen until completing a full course of therapy or reaching study end. Considerable heterogeneity was observed in 2L regimens (Table). In addition, treatment failure was somewhat common; among the 206 patients who completed 2L therapy and entered remission 27.7% (n = 57) experienced relapse and began third‐line therapy.Summary/Conclusion:Many patients with FL who receive 1L therapy experience relapse and move on to subsequent lines of therapy. Regimens received as part of 2L therapy are heterogeneous and over a quarter of 2L regimens completed result in failure, suggesting an unmet need for alternative treatment options among relapsed FL patients.image

A Comprehensive Overview of Coagulation Factor V and Congenital Factor V Deficiency.

Coagulation factor (F) V is a glycoprotein that plays an essential role in the formation of the prothrombinase complex, which is critical for progressing clot formation. FV deficiency is a rare bleeding disorder with an estimated incidence of one per 1 million in the general population. The disorder is manifested with a wide array of clinical bleeding events. The most common bleeding features of FV deficiency are mucosal bleedings. Life-threatening manifestations are rarely seen in this disorder. FV deficiency is diagnosed using routine coagulation tests and FV activity assay. A wide spectrum of mutations including missense, nonsense, and frameshift is observed throughout the F5 gene. Although fresh frozen plasma is the dominant therapeutic choice, a newly introduced plasma-derived FV concentrate was found effective in in vitro correction of prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, and thrombin generation parameters in severe FV deficiency and should provide more targeted treatment for patients with FV deficiency in the future.

Ulipristal acetate compared to levonorgestrel emergency contraception among current oral contraceptive users: a cost-effectiveness analysis

ObjectiveTo estimate the cost-effectiveness of ulipristal acetate (UPA) and levonorgestrel (LNG) emergency contraception (EC) on pregnancy prevention among combined oral contraceptive (COC) pill users with an extended pill-free interval. We accounted for the potential interaction of COCs and obesity on EC efficacy. MethodsWe built a decision-analytic model using TreeAge software to evaluate the optimal oral EC strategy in a hypothetical cohort of 100,000 twenty-five-year-old women midcycle with a prolonged "missed" pill episode (8–14 days). We used a 5-year time horizon and 3% discount rate. From a healthcare perspective, we obtained probabilities, utilities and costs inflated to 2018 dollars from the literature. We set the threshold for cost-effectiveness at a standard $100,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. We included the following clinical outcomes: number of protected cycles, unintended pregnancies, abortions, deliveries and costs. ResultsWe found that UPA was the optimal method of oral EC, as it resulted in 720 fewer unintended pregnancies, 736 fewer abortions and 80 fewer deliveries at a total cost savings of $50,323 and 79 additional adjusted life-years. UPA continued to be the optimal strategy even in the case of obesity or COCs impacting UPA efficacy, in which a COC interaction would have to change efficacy of UPA by 160% before LNG was the dominant strategy. ConclusionOur models found that UPA was the dominant choice of oral EC among COC users with a prolonged "missed" pill episode, regardless of body mass index or an adverse interaction of COCs on UPA. ImplicationsUlipristal acetate is the dominant choice of oral emergency contraception among combined oral contraceptive users.

Revealed Incomplete Preferences via Dominant Non-Forced Choices

This note generalizes Richter's (1966) revealed-preference/rationalizable-choice theorem by allowing choices not to be forced and preferences not to be complete.

Investigating the blood-host plasticity and dispersal of Anopheles coluzzii using a novel field-based methodology

BackgroundThe biting behaviour and dispersal of insect vectors in the field underlies the transmission of many diseases. Here, a novel collection methodology coupled with the molecular analysis of blood-meal sources and digestion rates is introduced with the aim of aiding the understanding of two critical and relatively understudied mosquito behaviours: plasticity in blood-host choice and vector dispersal.ResultsA collection strategy utilising a transect of mosquito traps placed at 50 m intervals allowed the collection of blood-fed Anopheles coluzzii from a malaria-endemic village of southern Ghana where human host availability ranged from zero (a cattle pen), increasing until humans were the dominant host choice (the middle of the village). Blood-meal analysis using PCR showed statistically significant variation in blood-meal origins for mosquitoes collected across the 250 m transect: with decreasing trend in Bovine Blood Index (OR = 0.60 95% CI: 0.49–0.73, P < 0.01) and correspondingly, an increasing trend in Human Blood Index (OR = 1.50 95% CI: 1.05–2.16, P = 0.028) as the transect approached the village. Using qPCR, the host DNA remaining in the blood meal was quantified for field-caught mosquitoes and calibrated according to timed blood digestion in colony mosquitoes. Time since blood meal was consumed and the corresponding distance the vector was caught from its blood-host allowed the estimation of An. coluzzii dispersal rates. Within 7 hours of feeding, mosquitoes typically remained within 50 m of their blood-host but at 60 hours they had dispersed up to 250 m.ConclusionsUsing this methodology the remarkably small spatial scale at which An. coluzzii blood-host choice can change was demonstrated. In addition, conducting qPCR on host blood from field-caught mosquitoes and calibrating with timed experiments with colonised mosquitoes presents a novel methodology for investigating the dispersal behaviour of vectors. Future adaptations to this novel method to make it broadly applicable to other types of setting are also discussed.

Indications for General versus Local Anesthesia during Carotid Endarterectomy.

Both general anesthesia (GA) and local anesthesia (LA) are used in our department for carotid endarterectomy. The decision of which anesthetic technique to use during surgery is made on an individual basis. The aim of our study was to analyze the reasons for using GA or LA. The reasons that led to the selection of either GA or LA were analyzed retrospectively in a group of 409 patients. GA was used in 304 patients (74%) and LA in 105 patients (26%). The reasons for a preference for GA were clopidogrel use (88 patients), patient preference (80), increased risk of shunt insertion (43), unfavorable anatomical conditions (41), surgeon preference (21), simultaneous carotid endarterectomy and cardiac surgery (18), emergent carotid endarterectomy (12), and sleep apnea syndrome (1). The reasons for selecting LA were internal comorbidities (46 patients), patient preference (39), unavailability of intraoperative electrophysiologic monitoring (15), and pacemaker (5). GA is the dominant choice for carotid endarterectomy in our department because of its prevailing benefits and its preference among neurosurgeons and patients. However, in some subgroups of patients, LA is preferable. An optimal approach is therefore an individual indication for both anesthesia techniques.

An experimental study of incentive contracts for short- and long-term employees

Motivated by real-world observations of different contract offers, we conduct a lab experiment to examine a principal's contract choice and agent effort in both long- and short-term employment relationships, implemented as one-shot and repeated games. We find that a piece-rate contract has the strongest incentive effect on short-term agents’ effort and is the principals’ dominant choice. Nevertheless, the bonus contract works almost as well as the piece-rate contract for long-term relationships, but not so well for short-term relationships. In addition, the bonus contract's effect on effort is mainly driven by the bonus component, suggesting that a fixed wage alone is not an effective mechanism to improve workers’ performance.

Design and Analysis of CMOS and CNTFET based Ternary Operators for Scrambling

As silicon technology scales down, it is a dominant choice to have high-performance digital circuits. As researchers investigated for high-performance digital circuits for future generations, Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (CNTFETs) is considered as the most promising technology due to their excellent current driving capability and proved to be an alternative to conventional CMOS technology. A CNTFET based energy efficient ternary operators are proposed for scrambling applications. The transistor-level implementations of operators namely Scrambling Operator1 (SOP1), Scrambling Operator2 (SOP2) and SUM operators are simulated with CMOS and CNTFET in 32 nm technology at 0.9 V supply voltage using Synopsys HSPICE. The performance metrics like Power, Delay and Power-delay product (PDP) are measured and a comparative analysis for CNTFET and CMOS technologies is carried out. The results demonstrate that CNTFET designs have better-optimized results in power, energy consumption, and reduced transistor count.

Socioeconomic Status and Relative Incidence of Hysterectomy and Endometrial Ablation in Young Australian Women

Decisions regarding surgery are complex and economic influences affect choices made both by patients and their doctors. There is evidence that surgeons’ decisions to offer operations are affected by financial incentives, yet we could find no studies addressing whether, once a decision to operate is made and a choice of procedures is available, operations offering greater financial reward are favoured. The choice between endometrial ablation or hysterectomy in heavy menstrual bleeding offers an opportunity to study decision-making. We obtained on all private hospital claims made in Australia for either endometrial ablation or hysterectomy for women aged 30 to 50 years for the five-year period 2012 to 2016 inclusive, according to socioeconomic status. The overall incidence rates and the ratio between hysterectomy and ablation, and the association between socio-economic factors, were examined using linear regression. We found that the surgery with the greatest economic impact on the patient (hysterectomy) was more commonly performed than ablation, yet hysterectomy became the less dominant choice with increasing socioeconomic status of women. This finding suggests that direct financial costs are a lesser consideration in choice of the procedure with patients, but that surgeons may respond to a financial incentive to perform a more expensive procedure.

Patterns and determinants of Indonesian accounting students’ career choice

This study investigates the patterns and determinants of accounting students’ career choice by comparing five types of accountant careers to non-accountant career. This study collected data from 216 Indonesian accounting students through Qualtrics online survey and used multinomial and logistic regressions for data analysis. This study found that government accountant was the most dominant career choice among the students (37.04%). Salary consideration as a biggest determination factor (RRR: 2.6231) followed by professional recognition, family &amp; colleagues’ encouragement and education. Meanwhile, career in appraisal was the smallest choice (4.63%), however this need more attention because information about appraisal from the college had positive predictor (OR: 1.0242), while professional recognition was the second biggest predictor to choose appraisal (RRR: 12.8063) after public accountant (RRR: 33.1328). This result could be the colleges’ reminder to provide accounting curriculum not only generally, but also specifically to provide information on different accounting career that fits both the demand of workforce and the students’ preference. College needs to pay attention in students’ preference because this result found that student always had positive expectation in all types of accountant career based on professional recognition, even better than salary expectation which is positive only in government accountant.

Contract design in a cross-sales supply chain with demand information asymmetry

We examine a supply chain with two manufacturers in which each manufacturer implements a cross-sales strategy by selling a substitutable product through two common retailers. Both retailers face uncertain demands, and their demand forecasts are private. The manufacturers, as Stackelberg leaders, can decide whether or not to acquire this private information from the retailers through contract design: either a wholesale price contract without information sharing, or a two-part tariff contract with information sharing. We derive the Bayesian–Nash equilibriums for contract choice. We find that the two-part tariff contract can be a dominant choice under certain conditions. Specifically, with a lump sum payment set by the two manufacturers, both manufacturers and retailers can benefit from a two-part tariff contract if product package substitutability is more intensive and the demand uncertainty level is relatively high, or if the product package competition is less intense. They do not benefit from the two-part tariff contract, however, if product package substitutability is more intense and the demand uncertainty is relatively low. In addition, by comparing to the case in which the demand is deterministic, we find that a two-part tariff contract with shared information is more likely to benefit both manufacturers and both retailers than a wholesale price contract without information sharing. The implications of the contract choices are discussed.

The Public Utteraton Machines: Recording What People Think of Public Art in New York City

In 2015–2016 the author installed interactive public artworks on sidewalks in Brooklyn and Queens using ordinary city permits. The locations were chosen in counterbalance to the dominant choices of location for public art in New York, which tends to be placed in Manhattan or other tourist-concentrated areas. The works are entitled the Public Utteraton Machines and enable passersby to utter their opinions about other public art in the city as well as art’s role in society. The device’s earpiece recorded over 100 open-ended narratives and 391 responses to quantitative data questions via an integrated e-paper display screen. This public art project combines social practice with object-based public art into a conceptual public art practice that forms a commons or civic art. Sound archives of the responses can be found at local libraries in Queens and Brooklyn and at http://utteraton.com/ .