Prior Commitment Research Articles

COVID-19, school closures and the retreat from educational aspirations.

As a shared external shock, the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) impacted health and well-being around the world. Mitigation strategies employed in many locations included school closures and travel restrictions. These strategies directly impacted educational access and opportunities and created economic stressors for families. This study examines how these direct impacts also altered educational aspirations for children and adolescents, an important predictor of educational attainment. We estimate multilevel regression models using two waves of data, collected in 2017-18 and 2020-21, from 1294 children and adolescents (Mean age = 13.1, SD = 2.8; 50.3% female) in Jalisco, Mexico, and 2201 children and adolescents (Mean age = 14.7, SD = 2.6; 49.1% female) in Chitwan Nepal. We examine changes in educational aspirations between the two waves (pre- and post-COVID-19 onset). Initial aspirations are positively associated with household wealth, caregiver education, and prior commitment to education. Multilevel regression models predicting changes in educational aspirations demonstrate these resources are important for maintaining high educational aspirations. But children and adolescents in households that experienced more economic loss following the external shock of the pandemic had lowered aspirations over time. Disruptions to schooling and economic shocks to households curtailed educational aspirations among children and adolescents in a similar way in two disparate settings. These results raise concerns about the educational attainment of children in the face of external shocks and the possibility that educational progress will stall in low resourced environments among the most vulnerable youth.

Effects of distance flown on pilot decision making in continued flight into deteriorating weather conditions

Introduction: Continuing flight into adverse weather remains a significant problem in general aviation (GA) safety. A variety of experiential, cognitive, and motivational factors have been suggested as explanations. Previous research has shown that adverse weather accidents occur further into planned flights than other types of accident, suggesting that previous investment of time and effort might be a contributing factor. The aim of this study was to experimentally determine the effect of prior commitment on general aviation pilots’ decision-making and risk-taking in simulated VFR flights. Method: Thirty-six licensed pilots ‘flew’ two simulated flights designed to simulate an encounter with deteriorating coastal weather and a developing extensive cloud base underneath the aircraft as it crossed a mountain range. After making a decision to continue or discontinue the flight, pilots completed a range of risk perception, risk taking, and situational awareness measures. Results: Visual flight rules were violated in 42% of the flights. Prior commitment, in terms of distance already flown, led to an increased tendency to continue the flight into adverse weather in the coastal ‘scud running’ scenario. Continuing pilots perceived the risks differently and showed greater risk tolerance than others. These ‘bolder’ pilots also tended to be more active and better qualified than the others. Conclusions: There are undoubtedly multiple factors underlying any individual decision to continue or discontinue a flight. The willingness to tolerate a higher level of risk seems to be one such factor. This willingness can increase with time invested in the flight and also seems to be related to individual flight qualifications and experience. Practical Applications: All pilots might benefit from carefully structured simulator sessions designed to safely teach practical risk management strategies with clear and immediate feedback.

Green Trust: How Consumer Demographics Moderate Environmental Commitment in Latin America

Trust in “green” practices emerges as a crucial determinant in consumer decision-making, reflecting the value placed on a hotel’s sustainability endeavors. This study investigates the factors influencing trust in green hotels by analyzing demographic data obtained from 172 participants in Latin America. Employing statistical methods, including ANOVA and SEM, the research explores the relationship between trust in green practices and demographic variables, with a focus on identifying potential significant differences. The findings highlight the pivotal role of age, particularly the 18–24 years old, in fostering greater environmental commitment. Additionally, the study reveals that prior experience, knowledge, and commitment significantly explain green trust levels. This study offers insights into the Latin American consumer profile, thereby aiding hoteliers and environmental practitioners in comprehending consumer behavior toward eco-friendly lodging options.

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Locke, Active Power, and a Puzzle about Ascription

Locke holds that the experience of voluntary action is the sole origin of the concept of causal power. What is it about this experience that compels Locke to draw this conclusion? I think this question should puzzle scholars a great deal more than it has. There are three existing interpretations of Locke’s position. The first explanation holds that Locke appeals to voluntary action because he takes this experience to reveal a necessary connection between volition and action; the second holds that Locke is driven to this view by a prior commitment to the claim that mind is inherently active or that only mind is active; and the third holds that Locke takes reflection on the experience of voluntary action to reveal that in virtue of which volition brings about action. However, as I argue, these readings of Locke are inconsistent with the parsimony of his theory of causation and ignore the methodological demands of his empiricism. I submit that, according to Locke, the experience of acting voluntarily, or, equally, the feeling of bringing about change in the world, is a uniquely suitable origin in that its purely qualitative features mirror the characteristics that he deems essential to the concept of causal power.

Friends don’t let friends drop out

ABSTRACT We combine administrative data from a regional public university with a novel revealed-preference indicator of student friendships to show that socially connected first-year university students are more likely to be retained into their second year. The impact of friends on retention is statistically and economically significant: each friend raises the probability of retention by about 0.6 percentage points, an effect size roughly equivalent to 66 SAT points. This effect occurs in the presence of a robust set of explanatory variables, including unique indicators of a student’s prior commitment to the university, and applies to wide variety of student subgroups.

Role of a medical student neuro-society organized neurosurgical conference: The Glasgow neuro experience.

Entering neurosurgical training in the United Kingdom demands extensive prior commitment and achievement, despite little to no exposure to the specialty in medical school. Conferences run by student "neuro-societies" offer a means to bridge this gap. This paper describes one student-led neuro-society's experience of curating a 1-day national neurosurgical conference supported by our neurosurgical department. A pre-and post-conference survey was distributed to attendees to ascertain baseline opinions and conference impact using a five-point Likert Scale, and free text questions explored medical students' opinions of neurosurgery and neurosurgical training. The conference offered four lectures and three workshops; the latter provided practical skills and networking opportunities. There were also 11 posters displayed throughout the day. 47 medical students participated in our study. Post-conference, participants were more likely to understand what a neurosurgical career involves and how to secure training. They also reported increased knowledge about neurosurgery research, electives, audits, and project opportunities. Respondents enjoyed the workshops provided and suggested the inclusion of more female speakers in future. Neurosurgical conferences organized by student neuro-societies successfully address the gap between a lack of neurosurgery exposure and a competitive training selection. These events give medical students an initial understanding of a neurosurgical career through lectures and practical workshops; attendees also gain insight into attaining relevant achievements and have an opportunity to present research. Student neuro-society-organized conferences have the potential to be adopted internationally and used as a tool to educate on a global level and greatly aid medical students who are aspiring neurosurgeons.

Quadratic Signaling With Prior Mismatch at an Encoder and Decoder: Equilibria, Continuity, and Robustness Properties

We consider communications through a Gaussian noise channel between an encoder and a decoder which have subjective probabilistic models on the source distribution. Although they consider the same cost function, the induced expected costs are misaligned due to their prior mismatch, which requires a game-theoretic approach. We consider two approaches: a Nash setup, with no prior commitment, and a Stackelberg solution concept, where the encoder is committed to a given announced policy <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">a priori</i> . We show that the Stackelberg equilibrium cost of the encoder is upper semicontinuous, under the Wasserstein metric, as encoder’s prior approaches the decoder’s prior, and it is also lower semicontinuous with Gaussian priors. For the Stackelberg setup, the optimality of affine policies for Gaussian signaling no longer holds under prior mismatch, and thus, team-theoretic optimality of linear/affine policies are not robust to perturbations. We provide conditions under which there exist informative Nash and Stackelberg equilibria with affine policies. Finally, we show existence of fully informative Nash and Stackelberg equilibria for the cheap talk problem under an absolute continuity condition.

Evaluation of the Oral Health Knowledge Network's Impact on Pediatric Clinicians and Patient Care.

Oral disease has a major impact on the overall health of US children, with dental caries being the most prevalent chronic disease in this age group. Given nationwide shortages of dental professionals, interprofessional clinicians and staff with proper training can influence oral health access. The American Academy of Pediatrics created the Oral Health Knowledge Network (OHKN) in 2018 to bring together pediatric clinicians via monthly virtual sessions to learn from experts, share resources, and network. The Center for Integration of Primary Care and Oral Health partnered with the American Academy of Pediatrics to evaluate the OHKN in 2021. The mixed method evaluation included an online survey and qualitative interviews among program participants. They were asked to provide information on their professional role and prior commitment to medical-dental integration as well as feedback on the OHKN learning sessions. Of the 72 program participants invited, 41 (57%) completed the survey questionnaire and 11 took part in the qualitative interviews. Analysis showed that OHKN participation supported both clinicians and nonclinicians in integrating oral health into primary care. The greatest clinical impact was incorporating oral health training for medical professionals (cited by 82% of respondents), while the greatest nonclinical impact was learning new information (cited by 85% of respondents). The qualitative interviews highlighted the participants' prior commitment to medical-dental integration as well as drivers for their current medical-dental integration work. Overall, the OHKN had a positive impact on pediatric clinicians and nonclinicians and, as a learning collaborative, successfully educated and motivated health care professionals to improve their patients' access to oral health through rapid resource sharing as well as clinical practice change.

Malaria outbreak along the India-Bhutan border town of Saralpara, Assam, India.

A remarkable progress is being made in the South-East Asia region in reducing the burden of malaria. While all countries are committed to malaria elimination, continued transmission at and across international borders poses a threat to achieving this goal. We investigated an outbreak of malaria in the India-Bhutan border area in a district of Assam state, India. A line listing of cases occurring during the outbreak period was made and a house-to-house survey was carried out to identify additional cases in the community. Entomological investigation consisted of light trap collection of vectors. Patients and health workers were interviewed to obtain information on the possible mode of transmission and ongoing inter-country collaboration across the border. Between October 21 to November 18 2022, 37 cases of malaria (all Plasmodium vivax), were diagnosed in Saralpara area of Kokrajhar district of Assam, bordering Bhutan. Of these four were diagnosed in Sarpang hospital, Bhutan. Median age was 20 years (range 3 to 70 years). Male to female ratio was 1:1.2. In addition, 6 individuals with asymptomatic malaria were detected in the community through an active case finding campaign. No cases were however reported on Bhutan side of the border. Anopheles culicifacies and An. annularis were identified from light trap collection. Saralpara is a remote and forested area where most of the residents are poor and engaged predominantly in farming activities. Being a harvesting season, they tend to stay overnight to protect their harvest from elephants. The health authorities in India and Bhutan exchanged information regularly at district-to-district level on the outbreak including through available and easy modes such as WhatsApp, telephone as well as electronic mail and collaborated in coherently implementing preventive measures on both sides and in managing the cases. The outbreak of malaria in Saralpara demonstrates the risk of malaria outbreak in remote and forested areas, with possibility of spill over to the other side of the border. The fact that two countries had excellent inter-country cross-border collaboration and prior commitment thereby preventing further transmission of malaria to Bhutan can serve as a best practice for cross-border control of malaria and other communicable diseases.

THEORIZING AREAS OF LAW: A TAXONOMY OF SPECIAL JURISPRUDENCE

ABSTRACTThis paper provides a taxonomy of the different kinds of theory that may be offered of an area of law. We distinguish two basic types of philosophical accounts in special jurisprudence: nonnormative accounts and normative accounts. Section II explains the two central subspecies of nonnormative accounts of areas of law: (i) conceptual and ontological theories and (ii) reason-tracking causal theories. Section III explores normative theories of areas of law. Normative accounts subdivide into detached and committed normative accounts. Detached or committed normative accounts can be subdivided further into the following cross-cutting categories: (i) pro tanto or all-things-considered, (ii) hyper-reformist or practice-dependent, (iii) taxonomical or substantive. Section IV shows that our taxonomy does not presume a prior commitment to any particular school in general jurisprudence. This paper clarifies methodological confusion that exists in theorizing about areas of law, and contributes to the subfield of thinking generally about special jurisprudence.

Prosocial modelling matters: the association between parent and faculty involvement in fighting COVID-19 with medical students’ career commitment

Background Role models are essential in medical education, yet empirical research is relatively insufficient on the influence of prosocial modelling on medical students’ career commitment. The prosocial behaviour of medical staff involved in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at the beginning of 2020 presents an opportunity to fill the research gap. We explored and compared the different associations of the two most important role models for medical students – parents and faculty- with medical students’ career commitment. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted with 99,559 undergraduate students majoring in clinical medicine in mainland China. Questions were asked to collect information about participants in the battle against COVID-19, medical students’ determination to practice medicine after graduation, as well as students’ socio-demographic characteristics. Chi-square tests and hierarchical regressions were performed to examine the associations between parent and faculty involvement and students’ career commitment. Results The results showed statistically significant associations between prosocial modelling during the COVID-19 pandemic in China and students’ intention to pursue medical careers. The association of faculty involvement (OR = 1.165, p < .001) with students’ career commitment was greater than that of parents (OR = 0.970, p > .05). For faculty involvement, the association was stronger among male students (OR = 1.323, p < .001) and students who were already determined to be doctors (OR = 1.219, p < .001) before the pandemic. Conclusions Our study provides new evidence on the potential roles of parents and faculty in shaping medical students’ career commitment. Encouraging faculty to act as positive role models could help medical students increase their intention to become doctors. KEY MESSAGES Prosocial modelling could enhance students’ intention to pursue medical careers. The association of prosocial behaviour of faculty is larger than that of parents on medical students. Those who have prior medical career commitment are much more likely to persist in the medical profession, and prosocial modelling of faculty is positively associated with their medical career commitment.

Followers forever: Prior commitment predicts post-scandal support of a social media celebrity

When learning about wrongdoings of others, people are quick to condemn them and make negative inferences about their character. This tends to not be the case, however, when they hold strong positive feelings toward a transgressor, or consider this person to be part of their ingroup. We investigated the extent to which followers of a social media celebrity, Logan Paul, would still support him after a highly publicized scandal, thus exploring whether they would remain loyal given their prior commitment, or instead, feel especially betrayed and therefore revise their previously positive evaluation of him. Using Distributed Dictionary Representations on a large dataset of YouTube followers (N = 36,464) who commented both before and after the scandal, we found that the more often a person had publicly expressed their approval of the protagonist prior to the scandal, the stronger their post-scandal support was. Similarly, prior engagement was also associated with fewer negative moral emotions, and more positive emotions and attempts to defend the transgressor. Furthermore, compared to non-followers of the celebrity, followers were substantially more supportive of him after the scandal. Thus, highly committed fans failed to update existing moral character evaluations even in light of an extreme moral norm violation, a pattern that is consistent with attempts to reduce cognitive dissonance to maintain a positive evaluation of self and transgressor.

Modernisation in isolation: the nature and roots of Eritrea’s defining economic ideology

In 1994, with the establishment of the Popular Front for Democracy and Justice as Eritrea’s sole political party, the government of Eritrea proclaimed a bold new economic policy to create a private sector-led, export-oriented, free market economy. This appeared to be a marked departure from Eritrean political elites’ prior Marxist-Leninism and commitment to isolationist, state-led development. However, we argue that this new policy, rather than evidence of ideological vacuity, was consistent with a deeper set of ideological principles. This ideology assigns a pre-eminent role to the society's political elite, valorises almost autarkic economic independence, and reproduces a specific variant of radical ‘high’ modernism through mass mobilisation and root-and-branch transformation. However, in contrast to past high modernist development ideologies, Eritrea’s particular constellation of policies is part of a new pattern of illiberal modernisation ideology visible across a number of countries in 21st Century Africa, such as Rwanda and Ethiopia. We trace Eritrea’s history of adherence to international self-reliance and societal dominance through the long years of insurgent struggle that led to the establishment of the government of liberated Eritrea. This reveals how ideology is indispensable in understanding the state and policymaking and how particular political ideas constitute key defining influences on the Eritrean state.

Ideological bias in constitutional judgments: Experimental analysis and potential solutions

AbstractDespite the importance and neutrality of constitutional rights, empirical research suggests that ideological inclinations unduly affect their assessment and application. In this study, we conducted two experiments in order to investigate the nature of the ideological bias in a constitutionally relevant decision (right‐to‐demonstration), and how to mitigate it. We find that ideological bias is driven by in‐group favoritism. In addition, we find that prior commitment, through a signed declaration, to be impartial or to prioritize constitutional rights encourages participants not to disfavor out‐groups. On the other hand, we do not find evidence that using a temporary blinding procedure mitigates the ideological bias.

Design and Analysis of Field-of-View Independent k-Space Trajectories for Magnetic Resonance Imaging

This manuscript describes a method of three-dimensional k-space sampling that is based on a generalised form of the previously introduced “Seiffert Spirals,” which exploits the equality between undersampling and the reconstruction of a field of view which is larger than what is represented by the primary sampling density, leading to an imaging approach that does not require any prior commitment to an imaging field of view. The concept of reconstructing arbitrary FOVs based on a low-coherently sampled k-space is demonstrated analytically by simulations of the corresponding point spread functions and by an analysis of the noise power spectrum of undersampled datasets. In-vivo images highlight the feasibility of the presented approach by reconstructing white noise governed images from an undersampled datasets with a smaller encoded FOV. Beneficial properties are especially given by an artefact behaviour, which is widely comparable to the introduction of white noise in the image domain. Furthermore, these aliasing properties provide a promising precondition for the combination with non-linear reconstruction techniques such as Compressed Sensing. All presented results show dominant low-coherent aliasing properties, leading to a noise-like aliasing behaviour, which enables parameterization of the imaging sequence according to a given resolution and scan-time, without the need for FOV considerations.

Convergences: Canon and Catholicity

Convergences: Canon and Catholicity

The problem of low expectations and the principled politician

AbstractNobel laureate James Buchanan downplays any theory of ethical politicians, focusing instead on rules which economize personal restraint, setting lower moral expectations. Through a constructive critique of James Buchanan’s work, I argue these lowered expectations come at a cost: degraded character in politicians, leading to constitutional decay. Buchanan lacks a theory to address choices between (a) action which furthers the politician’s self-interest and (b) action which protects some already accepted, good rule, but which does not further their self-interest. I generate a theory of the Principled Politician, an agent characterized by a prior commitment to fair play.

Determinants of Weight Loss and Obesity Control Behaviors Among Women Based on the Pender’s Health Promotion Model

Background: Lifestyle changes, advertising, and access to high-calorie, low-value foods have led to an increase in the prevalence of obesity and overweight, and women are at greater risk in this regard. The aim of the present study was to identify the determinants of weight loss and obesity control behaviors based on Pender’s health promotion model (HPM) among women referring to the healthcare centers of Shahrekord, Iran. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 500 women aged 18-49 years with a body mass index (BMI)≥25 in 2019. The cluster sampling method was performed on the healthcare centers, and women were selected using simple random sampling. The data collection instrument included a researcher-made questionnaire, the reliability and validity of which were approved, and finally, data were analyzed using analytical tests in SPSS 22 and Stata14. Results: The mean (±standard deviation) of the women’s age was 34.33±8.2 years. A total of 57.8% of women had no history of weight loss and obesity control behaviors. Variables such as age, education level, and marital status were statistically significantly related to weight loss and obesity control behaviors (P≤0.05). Moreover, the constructs of prior related behaviors, interpersonal influences, and commitment to a plan of action were among the predictors of weight loss and obesity control behaviors and predicted 6.6% of behavioral changes (R2 : 6.6, P&lt;0.05). Conclusion: Overall, prior related behaviors, interpersonal influences, and commitment to a plan of action are predictors of weight loss and obesity control behaviors, and thus it is suggested to place more on these constructs while designing relevant health-promotion interventions.

Examining the effects of prior Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) treatment among anxious cancer survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has presented population-wide novel stressors. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) may be potent for coping with novel, unpredictable stressors, but it is unknown whether pre-pandemic ACT treatment conferred protective benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsParticipants (N = 73) from a previous randomized controlled trial of ACT (seven 2-h group sessions) versus minimally-enhanced usual care (MEUC) for anxious cancer survivors completed measures of anxiety symptoms, fear of cancer recurrence, and emotional approach coping during the trial and again during the pandemic in May, June/July, and November 2020, an average of 2.71 years after completing ACT or MEUC. We estimated hierarchical linear models to test overall and conditional differences over the trial timepoints, in the interval between the trial and May 2020, and between the pandemic timepoints. ResultsCompared to MEUC, ACT led to greater improvement on the outcomes during the 8-month trial follow-up, consistent with the main trial findings. Across the entire sample, anxiety symptoms and emotional approach coping worsened from the final trial assessment timepoint to May 2020 (ps < .001). During this period, ACT participants worsened significantly more on emotional approach coping (p = .035) than MEUC participants. No significant condition differences emerged at later pandemic timepoints. ConclusionsTreatment with ACT several years earlier did not provide protective benefit to anxious cancer survivors during the pandemic, relative to MEUC. ACT interventions may need to be targeted to pandemic-specific stressors, or booster sessions may be required for prior ACT treatment completers when faced with novel stressors.