Wise Choices Research Articles

Comparison of Master Sigmoidal Curve and Markov Chain Techniques for Pavement Performance Prediction

Recently, highway agencies have become in need to enhance their pavement management systems (PMSs) using sound engineering and economic principles that find more prudent solutions to support wise investment choices and preserve the value of infrastructure assets. As pavement performance prediction models are one of the most important and fundamental components in any PMS, this paper focuses on comparing the master sigmoidal curve-based model as a deterministic technique with the Markov chain-based model as a probabilistic technique for the prediction of the international roughness index (IRI) as a pavement performance indicator. The IRI data obtained from the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) program were used to evaluate and compare both methods. In this paper, 44 flexible pavement sections from the GPS-1 experiment incorporating 432 IRI measurements ranging from 0.32 to 5.12 m/km were selected. Results showed that the predictive ability of the investigated models for the selected LTPP data was good with a reasonable coincidence ratio of about 65 percent between the predicted results of the two modeling techniques.

Education of the Post-Industrial Era: Setting on Person and Intelligence

The article discusses theoretical background and empirical premises for supplementing the goals of education with orientation to individual actor as the “assemblage point” of the educational result in a constantly changing reality. The article has an interdisciplinary modus, its theoretical basis is the D. Bell’s concepts of the post-industrial society, the “liquid modernity” of Z. Bauman and the idea of C.S. Dweck about the ability of personality’s sets “plants for growth” or “for granted” to influence intellect and achievement of goals. The work proceeds from the understanding of the fact that the “spreading” state of education is due to the specifics of the transition to some post-state of the society that is not yet clear. It is characterized by the fundamental ambiguity of circumstances and tendencies when centralized management of complex systems is difficult or erroneous, and this makes it necessary to reduce the level of decision making to self-organizing local social forms, giving them greater autonomy, in this case – to an individual and his autonomy. However, in our culture we have a lack of confidence to the individual and his ability to make wise choices, as well as, wittingly or unwittingly, reduce the setting for growth and primacy. But if students are offered well-organized research practices instead of imitations of scientific work, then they form the true key competencies necessary for modern society – a willingness to be in search, continuously learn and create new solutions for new tasks, contribute to the development of good conceptual language, cooperation in group work, courage in posing problems, readiness to work with complex problems. The article presents a kind of a case analysis of such work. The article also poses the problem of exploiting the cognitive status and well-being of teachers in super-formalized labor practices.

Phronesis, praxis and autotelic acts in physical education teaching

ABSTRACT Inspired by theory from research on professions and literature, wherein Aristotelian perspectives on professional knowledge are examined, a student’s narrative of social exclusion in physical education (PE) class in upper secondary school is used to discuss a theoretical issue of what characterizes teachers’ professional practice that results in a positive change as experienced by this student. The student told that the teacher helped her so that she started participating in the PE classes and experienced constructive learning processes after being excluded socially in the class. The analysis reveals that the student’s story implies a narrative about a teacher’s autotelic acts, as well as phronesis and praxis. Autotelic acts are closely connected to phronesis and praxis, which are Aristotelian concepts. Professional knowledge and practice that includes phronesis and praxis, means the ability to promote what is good for each individual and make wise choices of actions, but not only for a teacher him- or herself. Phronesis and praxis are here understood as moral and intellectual ‘goods’, which are fundamental for moral awareness in a disposition to do the right things in the right place and time and in the right way for the student in the PE teaching. These acts are autotelic. Moreover, a closer look is taken at the knowledge base for professional practice in PE to substantiate phronesis, praxis and autotelic acts. Here it is argued that practical synthesis is constructivist for in-depth discussions on phronesis, praxis and autotelic acts. It avoids reductionist effects, opens up the discussion and gives additional fruitful directions for further research on these Aristotelian perspectives on professional knowledge in PE.

Sustainability as a Matrix of Experiential Marketing

Recent years have highlighted a significant increase in the relevance of environmental protection and sustainability to consumers, firms, and society as a whole. Taking this new situation into account, most organizations are aware of this change and wish to be seen as taking steps to improve behaviors in this regard. This challenge requires managers to make wise strategic choices and for organizations to be more flexible in adapting to changes in the economy, in the environment and in the “whims” of consumers. The aim of the present study is to examine the potential role of sustainability as a matrix of experiential marketing to understand how a memorable, emotional and responsible connection between consumer and sustainable brand can generate customer loyalty and affect the purchase decision. Taking a case study approach, this study analyzes an ecological campaign called “The Fun Theory”, contributing to strengthening this new theory, according to which “fun” is the best way to change the bad habits of people in responsible and sustainable manner.

American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Prevention Committee topical update: Impact of community violence exposure, intimate partner violence, hospital-based violence intervention, building community coalitions and injury prevention program evaluation.

An effective injury prevention program is an important component of a successful trauma system. Maintaining support for a hospital-based injury prevention program is challenging, given competing institutional and trauma program priorities and limited resources. In light of those pressures, the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma mandates that trauma centers demonstrate financial support for an injury prevention program as part of the verification process, recognizing that hospital administrators might see such support as discretionary and ripe as a target for expense reduction efforts. This Topical Update from the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Injury Prevention Committee focuses on strategies to be more effective with the limited resources that are allocated to hospital-based injury prevention programs. First, this review tackles two of the many social determinates of violence, including activities aimed at mitigating the impact of both community violence exposure and intimate partner/domestic violence. Developing or participating in coalitions for injury prevention, both in general with any injury prevention initiative, and specifically while developing a hospital-based violence intervention program, efficiently extends the hospital's efforts by gaining access to expertise, resources, and influence over the target population that the hospital might otherwise have difficulty impacting. Finally, the importance of systematic program evaluation is explored. In an era of dwindling resources for injury prevention, both at the national level and the institutional level, it is important to measure the effectiveness of injury prevention efforts on the target population, and when necessary, make changes to programs to both improve their effectiveness and to assist organizations in making wise choices in the use of their limited resources.

Dechlorination of carbon tetrachloride by Nanoscale Nickeled Zero‐Valent Iron @ Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes: Impact of reaction conditions, kinetics and mechanism

The nanoscale nickeled zero‐valent iron @ multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (NF@MWCNTs) were synthesized, characterized and used to dispose carbon tetrachloride (CT) in aqueous solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X‐ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) gas sorptometry measurements were conducted to characterize the microstructure of the NF@MWCNTs. And batch experiments under different operation parameters were conducted to investigated the activity of NF@MWCNTs on degrading CT, including the content of NF@MWCNTs composites, temperature, catalyst dosage, initial pH and different anions. The experimental results showed that 4% nickel content of Ni/Fe bimetal and 2:1 doping ratio of Fe/MWCNTs were the wise choices in this study, which provided excellent degradation efficiency of CT when compared with nanoscale zero‐valent iron (nZVI) (97.44% and 55.28%, respectively). That was benefited from the fact that MWCNTs as an excellent support material could reduce the activation energy of 7.952 kJ/mol, and the nickel metal further reduced the reaction activation energy of 11.022 kJ/mol as presented in the conceptual model. Beyond that, NF@MWCNTs showed good reusability after five times consecutive reaction. Based on these, the reaction mechanism and degradation pathway also had been discussed.

Economics’ Wisdom Deficit and How to Reduce It

As is well understood, the values inherent in the dominant neoclassical economic paradigm are self-interest and optimization. These are the values that guide individuals and policymakers in advanced capitalist economies in their economic decision making. As a consequence, the economics discipline, arguably, is insufficiently oriented to helping people and organizations make wise choices, choices about what is really and truly in people’s best interests. In other words, there is strong reason to believe that economics has a wisdom deficit. This paper draws on great philosophers such as Aristotle to explain what wisdom is and why, although economics is concerned with the normative aspect of decision making, economics has too infrequently been used to help people or their societies make wise decisions. This paper is also concerned with how a society’s economic decision-making processes can be improved in order that these processes incorporate a much greater dose of wisdom. One relevant question here is: can we learn with the help of philosophers, psychologists, and organization researchers how to make economic decisions that apply the practical wisdom that Aristotle advocated? This paper’s overall purpose is first to point the way toward greater decision-making wisdom, and second to propose one method for improving the wisdom of important economic related decision making. Hopefully, this paper will serve to put the issue of decision-making wisdom higher on the agenda of economists and, as a consequence, lead to wiser decisions in the economic sphere, thereby reducing the wisdom deficit.

A modified particle swarm optimization algorithm for parameter estimation of a biological system

BackgroundMathematical modeling has achieved a broad interest in the field of biology. These models represent the associations among the metabolism of the biological phenomenon with some mathematical equations such that the observed time course profile of the biological data fits the model. However, the estimation of the unknown parameters of the model is a challenging task. Many algorithms have been developed for parameter estimation, but none of them is entirely capable of finding the best solution. The purpose of this paper is to develop a method for precise estimation of parameters of a biological model.MethodsIn this paper, a novel particle swarm optimization algorithm based on a decomposition technique is developed. Then, its root mean square error is compared with simple particle swarm optimization, Iterative Unscented Kalman Filter and Simulated Annealing algorithms for two different simulation scenarios and a real data set related to the metabolism of CAD system.ResultsOur proposed algorithm results in 54.39% and 26.72% average reduction in root mean square error when applied to the simulation and experimental data, respectively.ConclusionThe results show that the metaheuristic approaches such as the proposed method are very wise choices for finding the solution of nonlinear problems with many unknown parameters.

Food- and water-borne diseases in travellers

As Catherine Brewer describes, the practice nurse should be an integral part of educating the traveller in wise food and water choices to optimise their health during their trip and reduce the likelihood of contracting diseases from abroad

Making Wise Choices in Health Provision: Initial Exploration of Nurse Perceptions in Israel.

Overuse of health services drives up costs while affecting quality of care. It can also harm patients physically and psychologically through invoking duplicate testing, unnecessary procedures, and psychological stress. The purpose of this study was to understand nurses' perceptions of health care overuse. Nurses perceived that physicians' main considerations when ordering tests are to get additional data to strengthen the diagnosis and "just to be safe." Fear of litigation and patients' desires were important factors. Implementing interventions to reduce overuse will create a more efficient and effective system.

Comparing the usefulness and applicability of different water footprint methodologies for sustainable water management in agriculture

AbstractThe lack of sustainability of our water resources threatens food security in many places worldwide. Different water footprint (WF) methodologies were investigated for their ability to improve water management at various scales. Methodologies according to the Water Footprint Network (WFN), life cycle assessment (LCA) and hydrological‐based approaches were assessed, and a working example is given for apples produced in South Africa. A fundamental viewpoint was defined and the knowledge hierarchy applied to investigate the approaches and information generated. WFs reported simply as a volume of water used per mass of crop produced cannot indicate the sustainability of the water use unless interpreted within the local hydrological and environmental context. The WFN methodology appears most useful to resource managers due to its quantitative nature and ability to compare blue and green water consumption versus water availability. The LCA approach may be best for comparisons of the impact of different products. None of the methodologies provides a single metric that can be used to inform wise consumer choices as it is not possible to incorporate all the complexities associated with water use into a single number that can be used to inform sustainable water use. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Government Reward-Penalty Mechanism in Closed-Loop Supply Chain Based on Dynamics Game Theory

The paper discusses the government reward-penalty mechanism (RPM) between two competing manufacturers and a recycler in closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) under asymmetric information. According to the dynamics game theory and principal-agent theory, three decision-making models are built: (1) decentralized dynamics game model without RPM, (2) decentralized dynamics game model with carbon emission RPM, and (3) decentralized dynamics game model with carbon emission RPM and recovery ratio RPM. The results show that (1) the carbon emission RPM increases product sale price, while it decreases the WEEE buy-back price and the WEEE recovery ratio, besides the profit of recycler. To some extent, it cannot motivate WEEE recycling. (2) Recovery ratio RPM improves the WEEE recovery ratio and lowers the product sale price; it also benefits manufacturer-1’s and recycler’s profits and consumers’ surplus. So it strongly proved effectiveness in guiding WEEE recycling. (3) In any case, the product sale price of manufacture-1 is lower than that of manufacturer-2. Similarly, the WEEE buy-back price and WEEE recovery ratio with H type are higher than those of L type, respectively. Apparently, it is suggested that the manufacturer participating in WEEE recycling and remanufacturing can gain competitive advantages; meanwhile, the recycler with high fixed cost has the scale advantages. (4) The competition can benefit improving WEEE recovery ratio. A numerical simulation is given to examine the theoretical results. According to the main conclusions, we propose that taking active part in recycling and remanufacturing WEEE and choosing the recycler with high fixed cost to cooperate are the wise choices for manufacturers. The recycler should expand fixed recovery cost investment, which will contribute to getting the scale effect; the government needs to balance the carbon emission RPM and recovery ratio RPM so as to cut down environmental pollution and guide the CLSC into WEEE recycling and remanufacturing. The most important carbon emission reward-penalty intensity should be set appropriately in case of discouraging members of CLSC recycling WEEE.

Nexus between financial literacy and financial inclusion

PurposePremised on the argument that cognition structures the way how individuals think and make decisions, the purpose of this paper is to test the interaction effect of cognition in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion of the poor in rural Uganda.Design/methodology/approachThe study used cross-sectional research design and quantitative data were collected and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Baron and Kenny guidelines were adopted to test for existence of moderating effect of cognition in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion of the poor in rural Uganda. Furthermore, ModGraph excel software was used to establish the magnitude of moderating effect of cognition in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion of the poor in rural Uganda.FindingsThe results revealed that cognition significantly moderate the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion of the poor in rural Uganda. In addition, both cognition and financial literacy also have direct effects on financial inclusion of the poor in rural Uganda.Research limitations/implicationsThe study adopted cross-sectional research design and data were collected by use of only questionnaires. Future studies through longitudinal research design may be employed. Besides, further studies using interviews may be adopted. Furthermore, this study collected data from only tier 3 financial institutions, thus, ignoring the other financial institutions. Future studies could focus on financial institutions under the other tiers.Practical implicationsThe findings from the study enlightens policy-makers, managers of financial institutions, and financial inclusion advocates on the importance of cognition in enhancing financial literacy among the poor, especially in rural Uganda. Cognition combined with financial literacy helps the poor to make wise financial decisions and choices toward consuming financial services and products provided by formal financial institutions. This leads to increased scope of financial inclusion of the poor in rural Uganda. Therefore, advocates of financial literacy should assess community cultural cognition and utilize them to design and fashion effective financial literacy interventions that can promote financial inclusion.Originality/valueThe study uses Baron and Kenny and ModGraph excel software to test for the interaction effect of cognition in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion of the poor in rural Uganda. While several studies exist worldwide on financial inclusion, this study is the first to test the interaction effect of cognition in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion of the poor in rural areas in a developing country context.

Athletes and Supplements: Prevalence and Perspectives.

In elite sport, where opponents are evenly matched, small factors can determine the outcome of sporting contests. Not all athletes know the value of making wise nutrition choices, but anything that might give a competitive edge, including dietary supplements, can seem attractive. Between 40% and 100% of athletes typically use supplements, depending on the type of sport, level of competition, and the definition of supplements. However, unless the athlete has a nutrient deficiency, supplementation may not improve performance and may have a detrimental effect on both performance and health. Dietary supplements are classified as a subcategory of food, so manufacturers are not required to provide evidence of product safety and efficacy, nor obtain approval from regulatory bodies before marketing supplements. This creates the potential for health risks, and serious adverse effects have been reported from the use of some dietary supplements. Athletes who compete in sports under an anti-doping code must also realize that supplement use exposes them to a risk of ingesting banned substances or precursors of prohibited substances. Government systems of regulations do not include specific laboratory testing for banned substances according to the WADA list, so a separate regulatory framework to evaluate supplements for their risk of provoking a failed doping test is needed. In the high-performance culture typical of elite sport, athletes may use supplements regardless of possible risks. A discussion around medical, physiological, cultural, and ethical questions may be warranted to ensure that the athlete has the information needed to make an informed choice.

Dosing wisely: caffeine and the preterm infant

Caffeine is widely used in preterm infants to treat apnea of prematurity and decrease ventilator dependence. It has similar effects as theophylline with a favorable safety profile because of a larger window between the range of therapeutic and toxic drug levels. Over time, there has been a trend among neonatologists to use higher doses, but this may be problematic because caffeine clearance changes rapidly in the first postnatal weeks and obtaining drug levels may not be feasible in all neonatal intensive care units. In this volume of The Journal, Koch et al apply mathematical models of caffeine clearance to estimate trough concentrations derived from several currently recommended loading and maintenance doses. The study showed that caffeine doses should be adjusted every 1-2 weeks during the first 8 postnatal weeks to maintain a steady trough level within the therapeutic range and avoid potentially toxic levels. Although this study is an improvement on our current knowledge of caffeine dosing, it will be important to verify this model with drug levels in preterm patients of different gestational ages. This study also should raise awareness of the general need for more data on drug dosing in preterm infants, so that neonatologists can make wise choices that optimize both clinical effects and safety. Article page 50 ▶ Caffeine Citrate Dosing Adjustments to Assure Stable Caffeine Concentrations in Preterm NeonatesThe Journal of PediatricsVol. 191PreviewTo identify dosing strategies that will assure stable caffeine concentrations in preterm neonates despite changing caffeine clearance during the first 8 weeks of life. Full-Text PDF

Acknowledging the Archetypal Elements of Grief

The universality of grief as a soul-aching experience within the human condition is evident in even the oldest recorded stories and myths around the world. Theories and scientific studies in the past few decades have attempted to understand the phenomenon of grief, forming a significant body of research and a myriad of ideas and guidelines for the grieving process. Acknowledgment and appreciation of the archetypal elements of grief broadens our understanding of the painful emotions that arise as part of a natural reaction in the aftermath of loss and can assist helping professionals to make wise choices for therapeutic interventions in clinical practice.

Robust and efficient multi-frequency temporal phase unwrapping: optimal fringe frequency and pattern sequence selection.

Temporal phase unwrapping (TPU) is an essential algorithm in fringe projection profilometry (FPP), especially when measuring complex objects with discontinuities and isolated surfaces. Among others, the multi-frequency TPU has been proven to be the most reliable algorithm in the presence of noise. For a practical FPP system, in order to achieve an accurate, efficient, and reliable measurement, one needs to make wise choices about three key experimental parameters: the highest fringe frequency, the phase-shifting steps, and the fringe pattern sequence. However, there was very little research on how to optimize these parameters quantitatively, especially considering all three aspects from a theoretical and analytical perspective simultaneously. In this work, we propose a new scheme to determine simultaneously the optimal fringe frequency, phase-shifting steps and pattern sequence under multi-frequency TPU, robustly achieving high accuracy measurement by a minimum number of fringe frames. Firstly, noise models regarding phase-shifting algorithms as well as 3-D coordinates are established under a projector defocusing condition, which leads to the optimal highest fringe frequency for a FPP system. Then, a new concept termed frequency-to-frame ratio (FFR) that evaluates the magnitude of the contribution of each frame for TPU is defined, on which an optimal phase-shifting combination scheme is proposed. Finally, a judgment criterion is established, which can be used to judge whether the ratio between adjacent fringe frequencies is conducive to stably and efficiently unwrapping the phase. The proposed method provides a simple and effective theoretical framework to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of a practical FPP system in actual measurement conditions. The correctness of the derived models as well as the validity of the proposed schemes have been verified through extensive simulations and experiments. Based on a normal monocular 3-D FPP hardware system, our method enables high-precision unambiguous 3-D shape measurement with the highest fringe frequency up to 180 by using only 7 fringe patterns achieving a depth precision ∼ 38μm across a field of view of 400 × 300 × 400 mm.

Paving the way for digital food literacy: A critical review of the literature

The relationship between consumers and food is complex and dynamic. Moreover, different factors have been argued to variously affect the behaviors of consumers when food-related decisions are concerned, including: culture, beliefs, past experiences and knowledge. Food literacy is achieving a growing popularity as a determinant of wise food-related choices. In particular, food literacy could be understood as the individual ability to access, understand, process and use basic food and nutrition information, and to navigate the food system properly. In light of the negative health and social consequences, which are attached to limited food literacy, the enhancement of the individual ability to navigate the food system is crucial to improve individual and collective well-being. To contribute in the enhancement of the knowledge in the field of food literacy, this paper provides a review of the existing scientific literature. A critical approach is adopted to systematize the current understanding of food literacy and pave the way for further developments. Digital tools turn out to be a viable solution to improve individual food-related skills and contribute in wise consumer behaviors. From this point of view, digital food literacy emerges as a key issue inspiring future research in the fields of food education and health promotion.

Comment on “Proposals for a Democracy of the Future” by Bruno Frey

Bruno Frey in a recent article on the future of Democracy has given us some insights about how to extend democracy. My comments on the article suggest that important deficits of democracy need to be addressed. In particular are citizens knowledgeable enough to make wise choices. The recent election of Donald Trump, as president of the US, suggests otherwise.

Advising Biology Majors about Career Choices: Resources & Information for Biology Instructors

It is essential that undergraduate biology majors are made aware of and receive guidance on career possibilities. The authors, who actively advise and teach biology majors (and future majors) at both the high school and undergraduate levels, collaborated to identify resources and methods to advise biology majors about their career choices. Multiple resources were identified. Current advising theory recommends a method of supporting students to make wise choices by considering personal vision, the kinds of professional successes desired, and individual talent development. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, and National Science Foundation data were analyzed to identify potential jobs that biology majors can attain. These resources and strategies should help faculty advisors and instructors inform biology majors about possible career paths.