Individual Efforts Research Articles

APA/APAGS Award for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology: Sergio Domínguez Jr.

This award honors a graduate student who has demonstrated outstanding practice and application of psychology. "Sergio Domínguez Jr. is a PhD candidate in counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a pre-doctoral intern in health service psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago Counseling Center. As a practitioner-scholar-advocate, their work focuses on facilitators and inhibitors to pleasure, particularly by using a racial-gender justice perspective as a vehicle toward achieving widespread freedom and liberation. Specifically, they are deeply invested in Black and Brown trans people's well-being, ethical and legal professional issues in psychology, and the transformative power of relationships in psychotherapy and in community-engaged psychological practice. Their connection to community and involvement in multilevel advocacy has enabled them to be a trusted collaborator for community-oriented individual, social, and systemic justice efforts. Sergio's dissertation involves a qualitative exploration of the ways trans people's gender euphoria defies systems of power that deprive all people from experiencing racialized gendered pleasure. After graduation, Sergio aspires to continue being a community-rooted psychological practitioner who intervenes individually, socially, and systemically to create pleasure-centric futures. While this award bears their name, this award was not earned by Sergio alone; instead, this award is shared with the many people who have done and will continue to do and support racial-gender justice advocacy." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Strategies to Improve Perioperative Palliative Care Integration for Seriously Ill Veterans.

Seriously ill patients are at higher risk for adverse surgical outcomes. Palliative care (PC) interventions for seriously ill surgical patients are associated with improved quality of patient care and patient-centered outcomes, yet, they are underutilized perioperatively. To identify strategies for improving perioperative PC integration for seriously ill Veterans from the perspectives of PC providers and surgeons. We conducted semistructured, in-depth individual and group interviews with Veteran Health Administration PC team members and surgeons between July 2020 and April 2021. Participants were purposively sampled from high- and low-collaboration sites based on the proportion of received perioperative palliative consults. We performed a team-based thematic analysis with dual coding (inter-rater reliability above 0.8). Interviews with 20 interdisciplinary PC providers and 13 surgeons at geographically distributed Veteran Affairs sites converged on four strategies for improving palliative care integration and goals of care conversations in the perioperative period: 1) develop and maintain collaborative, trusting relationships between palliative care providers and surgeons; 2) establish risk assessment processes to identify patients who may benefit from a PC consult; 3) involve both PC providers and surgeons at the appropriate time in the perioperative workflow; 4) provide sufficient resources to allow for an interdisciplinary sharing of care. The study demonstrates that individual, programmatic, and organizational efforts could facilitate interservice collaboration between PC clinicians and surgeons.

Experiences of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis interacting with health care and the use of a digital self-care application: a qualitative interview study

ObjectivesOver the last few decades, there have been significant improvements in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with the development of new treatments and guidelines for teamwork and patient self-care...

Implementation of Team-Based Learning for a Clinical Module of the Ethiopian Undergraduate Anesthesia Curriculum and Students' Perspectives: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study.

Team-based learning (TBL) is an active learning strategy that gives students the opportunity to apply conceptual information through a series of tasks that incorporate individual effort, team collaboration, and immediate feedback. This study aimed to report baseline TBL implementation in a clinical module of a fourth-year competency-based undergraduate anesthesia curriculum and explore the perspectives of students. In April 2023, 18 students participated in two TBL sessions over two weeks, and readiness assurance test results and post-TBL evaluations were analyzed. Week one TBL implementation scores were compared with week two, establishing a longitudinal analysis over two points in time. Students also participated in an online survey to assess their views on the advantages and design of TBL, their perceptions of its best and worst features, and their suggestions for its implementation. Of 18 students, 16 (89%) responded to the survey. Most students believed that TBL was an effective educational strategy but expressed concern about the amount of time required for TBL preparation and the need for student readiness. The individual readiness assurance test scores did not differ significantly between weeks 1 and 2 (mean difference [MD] = 0.39, P= 0.519, 95% CI: -0.824 to 1.60). However, the students' median [IQR] team readiness assurance test scores increased significantly from week one to week two, from 8 [2] to 10 [1] (p = 0.004). Peer evaluation scores also showed a significant increase in week 2 (MD = 2.4, P = 0.001, 95% CI: -3.760 to -0.996). TBL was successfully implemented for a clinical module at Dilla University-Ethiopia for the first time. Students perceived it positively, but some criticized its preparation time, workload, and minimal facilitator engagement. We suggest convenient and flexible scheduling personalized for each student's needs when TBL is applied for clinical modules.

『우리가 볼 수 없는 모든 빛』에 나타난 스피노자적 윤리의 실천

This thesis seeks an ethical way to advance towards the love of eternal and infinite things that Spinoza pursued in All the Light We Cannot See, an American novel published by Anthony Doerr in 2014 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the following year. It is an attempt to examine Spinoza's Conatus as an individual's effort to maintain and sustain life, and that Conatus inevitably includes desire. However, Spinoza sees life pursuing this desire as something that can restrain life and give suffering, but the effort to achieve the third perception leads human beings find bliss, which is the final path to freedom. This paper examines the main character‘s choices and efforts to continue his life, and try to find out whether they have entered the path of freedom in the Spinozist sense. The first section briefly examines how Spinoza explained Conatus and the road to bliss. Werner's Conatus is examined in the second section, and how he perceives three different perceptions Spinoza distinguished in the third section. And in the last section, it will look at how Werner's perception of God's intellectual love is embodied.

System Safety Assessment of the Warehouse Operation Using Functional Resonance Analysis Method and Resilience Analysis Grid

This study applied the perspective of Safety-II using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) and the Resilience Analysis Grid (RAG) to analyze safety in warehouse operations from a system perspective. FRAM was used to emphasize what caused things to go right, with the findings highlighting higher performance and safety variability occurring in activities that require multiple individual or group efforts. RAG was used to assess the organization’s potential to handle unexpected occurrences, identify the potential resilience of the warehouse in its daily activities, and evaluate the ability to maintain flow and worker safety based on four pillars of resilience. The assessment resulted in a value of 3.50 in the ability to respond, 2.84 in the ability to monitor, 3.88 in the ability to learn, and 3.21 in the ability to anticipate. Combining FRAM and RAG enhances the depth of a new perspective of safety analysis and addresses resilience factors in daily operations.

Factors influencing older adults' participation in telehealth interventions for primary prevention and health promotion: A rapid review.

To identify facilitators and barriers to older adults' participation in telehealth interventions for primary prevention and health promotion. Relevant articles were searched using keywords in Embase and MEDLINE. Study characteristics, type of telehealth interventions and technology involved, as well as facilitators and barriers to their use, were extracted from selected articles. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model was used to organise data. A total of 24 articles (pertaining to 20 studies) were included. Nine facilitators and 11 barriers influencing the participation in telehealth interventions for primary prevention and health promotion among older adults were identified. The most recurrent facilitators were related to the individual's performance expectancy and effort expectancy, as well as the presence of a social dimension associated with the intervention (i.e. having a good relationship with the other participants in the program). The two most prevalent barriers were also related to effort expectancy and performance expectancy, followed by barriers related to the inherent characteristics of the technology and older adults' health condition. Experience, age and gender were also found to moderate technology use and acceptance. This rapid review highlights the importance of adopting a holistic perspective when designing telehealth interventions aimed at preventive and health promotion purposes among older adults.

Unleashing the power of gen-AI for digital education development

Teaching and learning is being transformed by Generative Artificial Intelligence (gen-AI). Gen-AI in the form of tools such as Midjourney and ChatGPT provide opportunities for novel partnerships between human and non-human actors in the field of education. Unlike previous technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, which encountered barriers due to their high costs, complexity, and demanding implementation processes, gen-AI has the potential to more broadly reshape digital pedagogy with its low cost, accessibility, and ease of adoption. In Higher Education, the initial attention on gen-AI was driven by a focus on students utilising AI-text generators in assessments (Rudolph et al., 2023). Yet, for course design and development gen-AI-human partnerships have the potential to yield results that surpass the creativity, originality, and efficiency of individual efforts (Halaweh, 2023). We already have a research base about how human actors collaborate when designing and developing courses to create exceptional student experiences (Chen & Carliner, 2020), but what is possible with the addition of non-human actors? In what way will human-AI partnerships enhance the existing ways that we design and develop courses and programs? Emerging case studies around the use of gen-AI for course design and development shed light on the possibilities as well as the risks involved in these partnerships (Airey et al., 2023). But when this is implemented in practice, what are the possible outcomes? Focusing on the theme of Digital Pedagogy this poster presentation will share examples of how the power of gen-AI has been unleashed for digital education development. Within our context as third-space professionals, we work with academic staff to rapidly develop micro-credentials for a global audience. In this work, we have integrated gen-AI as a non-human partner to help us generate efficiencies in our work and enhance the quality of the courses we output. This poster presentation will share innovative practical examples of how digital educational developers have utilised the affordances of text-based, image-based, and coding-based gen-AI to create artefacts such as interactive learning content and enhanced visuals to support learning. These examples demonstrate how human-non-human partnerships can be leveraged to maximise the human ‘value add’ while gaining time and resource efficiencies in the implementation of digital pedagogies. The examples are unpacked as part of the digital poster to show the ‘behind the scenes’ of how they were created in partnership with gen-AI. Finally, this poster will share the development of sustainable prompts that can be reused in different contexts, thereby further capitalising on the affordances of gen-AI. Due to the recent emergence of gen-AI in teaching and learning, case studies such as this one, are crucial in revealing how we incorporate gen-AI, providing transparency in pedagogical decisions, making them replicable, and open to critical scholarly discussion. As such, the aim of this poster presentation is to explore how gen-AI has been implemented in a way that provides conference delegates with practical examples to engage with and discuss.

Development and validation of the Digital Health Acceptability Questionnaire

Summary: Acceptability (of healthcare services) is an important construct that lacks a consistent definition within research. Addressing this issue, a systematic review led to the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability. In this study, we describe the development (based on the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability) and validation of the Digital Health Acceptability Questionnaire. Nineteen items aligning with the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability were developed. Two versions of the questionnaire measuring telehealth acceptability by telephone (N = 644) and videoconference appointment (N = 425), were administered to a nationally representative survey of consumers in Australia. Two exploratory factor analyses (Oblimin rotation) were conducted for each scale (telephone/videoconference). Two-factor solutions (5 items each) were found for both (telephone/videoconference) acceptability questionnaires: (a) attitude toward the service as a means to address healthcare needs and affective attitude and (b) individual capacity and effort to use telehealth. Before rotation, Factor 1 of the telephone scale (α = 0.92) measured 56.18% of the variance and Factor 2 (α = 0.86) measured 14.17%. Factor 1 of the videoconference scale (α = 0.90) measured 56.68% of the variance and Factor 2 (α = 0.85) measured 10.63%. The full10-item acceptability questionnaire showed excellent internal consistency (telephone: α = 0.91 and videoconference: α = 0.92). The 2-dimensional Digital Health Acceptability Questionnaire is a brief survey based on research evidence and validated in a large Australian sample.

A Systematic Review of Relationship Between Empathy Deficits and Psychopathy

This systematic review undertook a comprehensive investigation into the intricate relationship between empathy deficits and individuals exhibiting psychopathic traits. Three primary objectives guided our analysis, each addressing a notable gap in the current research landscape: (1) To discern variations in empathy deficits among distinct psychopathic subtypes, (2) To rigorously analyze the predictive correlation between empathy deficits and the propensity to reoffend in individuals with psychopathy, and (3) To thoroughly examine the multifaceted factors influencing empathy within this complex population. This systematic review makes a significant contribution to existing research by addressing critical gaps in our understanding of psychopathy and empathy. By pinpointing the distinct empathy profiles of psychopathic subtypes, predicting the risk of reoffending based on empathy impairments, and offering insights into the contextual nature of empathy, this review bridges crucial knowledge gaps. These findings hold immense significance for the development of more empathetic approaches to both research and clinical practices, striving to improve interactions and rehabilitative efforts for individuals exhibiting psychopathic traits.

An improved single short detection method for smart vision-based water garbage cleaning robot

These days, plastic trash is exponentially overwhelming our waterways. The catastrophe has attracted global attention at this point. As a result, protecting the environment on the water's surface has received increasing focus. Currently, manpower can be used to clean up contaminated water bodies like ponds, rivers, and oceans. Using the current cleaning approach results in low efficiency and hazard. The detection, collection, sorting, and removal of plastic trash from such water surfaces has been the subject of relatively little robotic research, despite the dire circumstances. From private sources, there are very few individual efforts to be found. In order to attain great efficiency without human assistance or operation, a fully autonomous water surface cleaning robot is proposed in this study. The robot was created to adapt to any type of water body found in the real world. An efficient object identification machine learning technique can be suggested for the creation of autonomous cleaning robots. This study improved the Single Short Detection (SSD) method to recognise objects accurately. Because of the enhanced detection techniques, the robot is able to collect trash on its own. With a mean average precision (mAP) of 94.099 % and a detection speed of up to 64.67 frames per second, experimental findings show that the enhanced SSD has exceptional detection speed and accuracy.

Investigation of the Reasons for the Ottoman Empire's Limited Participation in the Modern Olympic Games

The Olympic Games organised in the ancient Greek civilisation was a formation in which only Greeks and men could participate and individual competitions were held. Years later, the work carried out by archaeologists and researchers in Olympia attracted the attention of Baron Pierre De Coubertin. These studies sparked the idea of creating the modern Olympic Games, a modernised version of the ancient Greek games. Thoughts such as the modern Olympic Games, providing a peaceful and goodwill environment, and being open to the whole world affected the perspective of the Ottoman Empire on the Olympics, and in this sense, the Ottoman Empire was also involved in the process of participation in the modern Olympics, albeit limited. The aim of this study is to examine the Ottoman State's perspective on the modern Olympic Games, to analyse the process of participating in these Olympics and to determine the reasons for the limited participation considering the conditions of the period, which first started in Athens in 1896 and the date of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In the study conducted for this purpose, the conditions of the period in question were analysed and a literature review covering various articles and academic books was conducted. During the relevant period, the Ottoman Empire could not participate in the first Olympic Games due to financial difficulties and the oppressive regime; afterwards, this participation was made possible through individual efforts. The oppressive regime of tyranny imposed on Turks paved the way for the participation to be realised through non-Turkish athletes. In this sense, the reasons for the limited participation of the Ottoman Empire in the modern Olympics can be considered as financial impossibilities, the oppressive regime imposed, distance, the outbreak of the World War and the attribution of the responsibility to the Allied States in which the Ottoman Empire was located.

From context adaptation to context restoration: strategies, motivations, and decision rules of managing context collapse on WeChat

Abstract Context collapse occurs on social media platforms when different groups are mixed into one audience. To advance the understanding of the extensive and complex coping strategies people use to address context collapse, this study makes a conceptual distinction between passively adapting by sharing context-free, general information (context adaptation) and rebuilding contexts to satisfy the diverse needs of impression management (context restoration). This study in-depth interviewed 51 WeChat users (30 working professionals and 21 college students) in urban China. The results identified strategies for context restoration through reconstructing contextual boundaries on psychological, relational, spatial, and temporal dimensions. These findings highlight individual (effort minimization, self-consciousness, and privacy concerns) and audience factors (the heterogeneity and activeness of the audience) in determining the adoption of specific strategies. This study emphasizes the subjectivity and agency of users in relation to the social media ecosystem and develops a theoretical spectrum systematically situating users’ coping behaviors for mitigating context collapse.

Abnormal basic visual processing functions in binocular fusion disorders

Heterophoria is a common type of binocular fusion disorder that consists of a latent eye misalignment with potential consequences on daily activities such as reading or working on a computer (with CVS). Crowding, a type of contextual modulation, can also impair reading. Our recent studies found an abnormal pattern of low-level visual processing with larger perceptive fields (PF) in heterophoria. The PF is the fundamental processing unit of human vision and both masking and crowding depend on its size. We investigated how heterophoria would impact the PF’s size via a lateral masking experiment and consequently affect the foveal crowding at different letter-spacings (the crowding zone). More specifically, we explored the relationship between crowding, lateral masking, the PF’s size, and the amount of heterophoria. The binocular horizontal PF’s size was larger with heterophoric subjects, in agreement with our previous study. We found a stronger crowding and an extended crowding zone associated with slower response times; this shows that the processing of letter identification under both crowded and uncrowded conditions requires more processing effort in heterophoric individuals. In agreement with previous studies, we found a correlation between the crowding zone and the PF’s size; each was strongly correlated with the amount of phoria. These findings resemble those involving the PF size and the extended crowding found at the fovea in amblyopia and young children. We suggest that these findings could help explain the inter-observers’ variability found in the masking literature, and the reading difficulties often encountered in subjects with high heterophoria.

Acoustic and Physiologic Correlates of Vocal Effort in Individuals With and Without Primary Muscle Tension Dysphonia.

The aims of this study were to determine relationships between vocal effort and (a) acoustic correlates of vocal output and (b) supraglottic compression in individuals with primary muscle tension dysphonia (pMTD) and without voice disorders (controls) in the context of a vocal load challenge. Twenty-six individuals with pMTD and 35 vocally healthy controls participated in a 30-min vocal load challenge. The pre- and postload relationships among self-ratings of vocal effort, various acoustic voice measures, and supraglottic compression (mediolateral and anteroposterior) were tested with multiple regression models and post hoc Pearson's correlations. Acoustic measures included cepstral peak prominence (CPP), low-to-high spectral ratio, difference in intensity between the first two harmonics, fundamental frequency, and sound pressure level (dB SPL). Regression models for CPP and mediolateral compression were statistically significant. Vocal effort, diagnosis of pMTD, and vocal demand were each significant variables influencing CPP measures. CPP was lower in the pMTD group across stages. There was no statistical change in CPP following the vocal load challenge within either group, but both groups had an increase in vocal effort postload. Vocal effort and diagnosis influenced the mediolateral compression model. Mediolateral compression was higher in the pMTD group across stages and had a negative relationship with vocal effort, but it did not differ after vocal loading. CPP and mediolateral supraglottic compression were influenced by vocal effort and diagnosis of pMTD. Increased vocal effort was associated with lower CPP, particularly after vocal load, and decreased mediolateral supraglottic compression in the pMTD group.

Optimal allocations in growth models with private information

This paper considers a class of growth models with idiosyncratic human capital risk and private information about individual effort choices (moral hazard). Households are infinitely-lived and have preferences that allow for a time-additive expected utility representation with a one-period utility function that is additive over consumption and effort as well as logarithmic over consumption. Human capital investment is risky due to idiosyncratic shocks that follow a Markov process with transition probabilities that depend on effort choices. The production process is represented by an aggregate production function that uses physical capital and human capital as input factors. We show that constrained optimal allocations are simple in the sense that individual effort levels and individual consumption growth rates are history-independent. Further, constrained optimal allocations are the solutions to a recursive social planner problem that is simple in the sense that exogenous shocks are the only state variables. We also show that constrained optimal allocations can be decentralized as competitive equilibrium allocations of a market economy with a simple tax- and transfer scheme. Finally, it is always optimal to subsidize human capital investment in the market economy.

Effect of Acid Rain on Human Living Environment and Human Self

There have been countless scientists studying acid rain from the 1970s to the present, and of course, there have been reviews and studies of this kind, but these studies are not enough. The influence of acid rain on human beings, as well as the environment, is discussed in this paper. First, the production of acid rain is caused by a mix of human activities, as well as natural processes. Human activities like burning fossil fuels, industrial emissions, and transportation release pollutants such as sulfuric and nitric acid, as well as acid rain, are produced when sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the atmosphere combine with water vapor and oxygen. Acid rain creates a large bad effect to the ecosystem. It harms water bodies, soils, vegetation, and biodiversity. In addition, acid rain poses a threat to human health. Pollutants in acid rain can irritate the respiratory system and cause respiratory diseases. To combat the problem of acid rain, both individual and government efforts are critical. In the future, people need to develop technology and do more research to solve acid rain. The meaning of the essay is to let more people know about acid rain, how acid rain affect the world, and what human can do to solve acid rain.

The process of nurses' role negotiation in general practice: A grounded theory study.

To explain the process by which nurses' roles are negotiated in general practice. Primary care nurses do important work within a social model of health to meet the needs of the populations they serve. Latterly, in the face of increased demand and workforce shortages, they are also taking on more medical responsibilities through task-shifting. Despite the increased complexity of their professional role, little is known about the processes by which it is negotiated. Constructivist grounded theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants from 17 New Zealand general practices between December 2020 and January 2022. Due to COVID-19, 11 interviews were via Zoom™. Concurrent data generation and analysis, using the constant comparative method and common grounded theory methods, identified the participants' main concern and led to the construction of a substantive explanatory theory around a core category. The substantive explanatory theory of creating place proposes that the negotiation of nurse roles within New Zealand general practice is a three-stage process involving occupying space, positioning to do differently and leveraging opportunity. Nurses and others act and interact in these stages, in accordance with their conceptualizations of need-responsive nursing practice, towards the outcome defining place. Defining place conceptualizes an accommodation between the values beliefs and expectations of individuals and pre-existing organizational norms, in which individual and group-normative concepts of need-responsive nursing practice are themselves developed. The theory of creating place provides new insights into the process of nurses' role negotiation in general practice. Findings support strategies to enable nurses, employers and health system managers to better negotiate professional roles to meet the needs of the populations they serve, while making optimum use of nursing skills and competencies. Findings can inform nurses to better negotiate the complexities of the primary care environment, balancing systemic exigencies with the health needs of populations. What Problem Did the Study Address? In the face of health inequity, general practice nurses in New Zealand, as elsewhere, are key to meeting complex primary health needs. There is an evidence gap regarding the processes by which nurses' roles are negotiated within provider organizations. A deeper understanding of such processes may enable better use of nursing skills to address unmet health need. What Were the Main Findings? Nurses' roles in New Zealand general practice are determined through goal-driven negotiation in accordance with individual concepts of need-responsive nursing practice. Individuals progress from occupying workspaces defined by the care-philosophies of others to defining workplaces that incorporate their own professional beliefs, values and expectations. Negotiation is conditional upon access to role models, scheduled dialogue with mentors and decision-makers, and support for safe practice. Strong clinical and organizational governance and individuals' own positive personal self-efficacy are enablers of effective negotiation. Where and on Whom Will the Research Have Impact? The theory of Creating Space can inform organizational and individual efforts to advance the roles of general practice nurses to meet the health needs of their communities. General practice organizations can provide safe, supported environments for effective negotiation; primary care leaders can promote strong governance and develop individuals' sense of self-efficacy by involving them in key decisions. Nurses themselves can use the theory as a framework to support critical reflection on how to engage in active negotiation of their professional roles. The authors adhered to relevant EQUATOR guidelines using the COREQ reporting method. Researchers and participants currently working in general practice were involved in the development of this study. By the process of theoretical sampling and constant comparison, participants' comments helped to shape the study design. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER CONTRIBUTE TO THE WIDER GLOBAL CLINICAL COMMUNITY?: An understanding of the processes by which health professionals negotiate their roles is important to support them to meet the challenges of increased complexity across all health sectors globally.

Learning for employability in contexts of economic despair: Empirical insight from the Gaza Strip

Literature on education for employment (EfE) predominantly focuses on the role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in preparing students for the workforce. This focus covers links between employability, on one hand, and teaching, curriculum, assessment, and extracurricular activities, on the other. The role of independent learning, broadly understood as students’ individual effort to enhance their employability, remains masked and is assigned secondary importance in the relevant literature. This scholarship deficit is arguably more pronounced in contexts of economic despair. In such contexts, an EfE logic still supersedes any logic of learning for employability (LfE) in efforts to train a high-calibre workforce for economic recovery and development. Yet, this logic is often accompanied by decontextualized views of HEIs, which often lead to suboptimal problem formulations and unfeasible solution proposals. The study is an attempt at addressing this deficit. It proposes a parallel, not alternative, logic of LfE, which centralizes students’ independent learning engagements to examine and develop support for their own pursuits of employability development. The study draws on original empirical data collected, through a questionnaire and in-depth interviews, from new graduates in the Gaza Strip. Through interpretive phenomenological analysis, the study findings suggest that the participants exerted significant, independent, and strategic effort in seizing employability development opportunities. Based on the findings, I contend that a learner-centred logic of linking education and employability is of compelling significance to various stakeholders in the education and market spheres, especially in contexts of protracted hardship.

Rent dissipation and streamlined costs: Laboratory experiments

The effect of group size and effort cost on rent dissipation in the standard Tullock rent seeking model is examined using a laboratory experiment. Data support qualitative comparative static Nash equilibrium predictions as reductions in both group size and effort cost increase effort levels. However, effort and dissipation rates are above Nash predictions for all treatments. In addition, while cutting per-unit effort costs in half increases individual effort levels, they do not fully double as predicted and therefore lower rent dissipation, creating a policy-relevant “streamlining effect”. A quantal response equilibrium, which adds stochastic elements into the game structure, predicts the observed higher effort levels and dissipation but is proven to be unable to explain the streamlining effect. A modification of quantal response that incorporates implementation error noise and loss aversion outperforms other estimated models and tracks the observed all data patterns more closely, including the streamlining effect.