Evaluating public risk preferences in forest land-use choices using multi-attribute utility theory

Forest policy decisions inherently involve multiple attributes and risk and uncertainty as they largely deal with complex biological, ecological, and socio-political systems. Identifying risk preferences and quantifying their inter-relationships and tradeoffs are useful in formulating better forest policy. Often, technocrats and experts deal with risky decisions, but ideally, stakeholder risk characteristics should be explicitly considered in making policy decisions. This paper analysed societal risk preferences on public forest land-use attributes using multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT). The results indicate significant risk-averse behaviour towards old-growth forest conservation and forest-based recreation but less risk-averse behaviour towards native timber extraction. Overall, the respondents preferred a more conservative forest land-use option, which is consistent with their risk attitudes. The method provides insights into risk preferences of forest stakeholders, which could lead to better understanding of forest management conflicts. Moreover, the method explicitly distinguishes the technical and value components of the decision and is useful in unravelling public risk preferences in multiple-use forest planning situations.

The effects of television advertisements for junk food versus nutritious food on children's food attitudes and preferences

Television (TV) food advertising has attracted criticism for its potential role in promoting unhealthy dietary practices among children. Content analyses indicate junk food advertising is prevalent on Australian children's TV; healthy eating is rarely promoted. This paper presents (a) a cross-sectional survey examining associations between children's regular TV viewing habits and their food-related attitudes and behaviour; and (b) an experiment assessing the impact of varying combinations of TV advertisements (ads) for unhealthy and healthy foods on children's dietary knowledge, attitudes and intentions. The experimental conditions simulated possible models for regulating food ads on children's TV. Participants were 919 grade five and six students from schools in Melbourne, Australia. The survey showed that heavier TV use and more frequent commercial TV viewing were independently associated with more positive attitudes toward junk food; heavier TV use was also independently associated with higher reported junk food consumption. The experiment found that ads for nutritious foods promote selected positive attitudes and beliefs concerning these foods. Findings are discussed in light of methodological issues in media effects research and their implications for policy and practice. It is concluded that changing the food advertising environment on children's TV to one where nutritious foods are promoted and junk foods are relatively unrepresented would help to normalize and reinforce healthy eating.

Choosing ICT? A segmentation analysis of students' preferences for hybrid study mode

Students’ acceptance and use of ICT-based learning needs to be understood in terms of their preferences for alternatives such as face-to-face (FtF) or print-based learning. This paper reports on an investigation of students’ preferences for hybrid study modes. Cluster analysis was used to identify segments of students that had distinctive preferences for combinations of FtF, print and web-based study modes. Five segments were identified. These segments were distinguishable on some demographic and situational characteristics. The size and nature of the segments have implications for the hybrid modes offered by universities and the extent to which students’ may embrace the ICT-based innovations designed by educators.

Australian gp's preferences for education about depression and related disorders

OBJECTIVE: To Investigate Australian general practitioners' experiences of accessing education about depression and their preferences for future education on depression and related disorders.
METHOD: Six hundred and eight anonymous surveys were distributed to GPs through 52 rural and urban divisions of general practice; 420 were retumed.
RESULTS: Educational formats involving direct contact with people having mental health expertise were highly valued. Distance education and web based technologies were least used. In the previous year, women and older GPs had spent more time on education about depression. Most intended to undertake more such education in the future and said that education in psychosocial strategies would be very useful. General practitioners' attitudes to further education about depression were influenced by their gender, practice location, and their previous mental health training.
DISCUSSION: More face-to-face training may be desirable to take advantage of GPs' willingness to spend more time on education about depression and related disorders.

Cancer patient preferences for communication of prognosis in the metastatic setting

PURPOSE: To identify preferences for and predictors of prognostic information among patients with incurable metastatic cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty-six metastatic cancer patients seeing 30 oncologists at 12 outpatient clinics in New South Wales, Australia, participated in the study. Patients were diagnosed with incurable metastatic disease within 6 weeks to 6 months of recruitment. Patients completed a survey eliciting their preferences for prognostic information, including type, quantity, mode, and timing of presentation; anxiety and depression levels; and information and involvement preferences. RESULTS: More than 95% of patients wanted information about side effects, symptoms, and treatment options. The majority wanted to know longest survival time with treatment (85%), 5-year survival rates (80%), and average survival (81%). Words and numbers were preferred over pie charts or graphs. Fifty-nine percent (59%) wanted to discuss expected survival when first diagnosed with metastatic disease. Thirty-eight percent and 44% wanted to negotiate when expected survival and dying, respectively, were discussed. Patients with higher depression scores were more likely to want to know shortest time to live without treatment (P = .047) and average survival (P = .049). Lower depression levels were significantly associated with never wanting to discuss expected survival (P = .03). Patients with an expected survival of years were more likely to want to discuss life expectancy when first diagnosed with metastases (P = .02). CONCLUSION: Most metastatic cancer patients want detailed prognostic information but prefer to negotiate the extent, format, and timing of the information they receive from their oncologists.

The use of analytic hierarchy process to incorporate stakeholder preferences into regional forest planning

Forest management decisions are often characterised by complexity, irreversibility and uncertainty. Much of the complexity arises from the multiple-use nature of forest goods and services, difficulty in monetary valuation of ecological services and the involvement of numerous stakeholders. Under these circumstances, conventional methods such as cost-benefit analysis are ill-suited to evaluate forest decisions. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), can be useful in regional forest planing as it can accommodate conflictual, multidimensional, incommensurable and incomparable set of objectives. The objective of this paper is to examine the scope and feasibility of the AHP in incorporating stakeholder preferences into regional forest planning. The Australian Regional Forest Agreement Programme is taken as an illustrative case for the analysis. The results show that the AHP can formalize public participation in decision making and increase the transparency and the credibility of the process.

Endogenous liberalization and within-country inequality

We model and empirically test the link between income inequality and trade liberalization. We consider a society in which a median voter (MV) will make the decision as to whether the country should switch from its current regime of import substitution (IS) (which protects agriculture) to export promotion (EP). Liberalization entails starting importing the agricultural good and specializing in and exporting the manufacturing good. This will require transferring labor to manufacturing. We find that if MV is a worker, the IS-EP switch will take place regardless. If MV is a farmer, the switch will take place given (1) the relative productivity of an ex-farmer and worker in manufacturing,ß is high, and (2) the society’s tastes for agricultural goods, α, are not as strong as those for manufacturing goods. We also find that, following a switch, the income distribution too will improve if α is low and ß is high. In our empirical analysis, we find the endogenous inflection points of α and ß in our sample, at which the direction of change in income distribution alters its sign. Our results also show in a very robust fashion that, EP regimes - on average and with the presence of certain control variables - have better income distributions than IS regimes. This implies that mostly “right” countries have made the switch.

Students` pedagogical preferences in the delivery of IT capstone courses

Capstone courses are used extensively in teaching information technology to expose students to realistic, work-like situations, though in a controlled environment. The value of the experiences the student engages in, and the skills and knowledge they develop are not questioned, as they are accepted as a beneficial precursor to professional work. The pedagogical methods used to deliver capstone courses vary across academic programme, institution, country and culture. The research explores information technology students’ preferences for the delivery of capstone projects from three different pedagogical delivery approaches and suggests that students want a certain level of anonymity, but at the same time they want direction and assistance when they determine they require it. Emerging from the findings are several recommendations that developers of capstone
 projects and courses may wish to address.

Using choice modelling to investigate equity preferences

Benefit cost analysis (BCA) is a widely used method of assessing environmental policies. One of the limitations of BCA is the incorporation of equity considerations into an analysis. While this is theoretically possible through the application of distributional weights, this practice has not been generally adopted due to difficulties in determining appropriate weights. This paper suggests that one way of addressing the equity issue is through the application of a staged preference technique to the estimation of equity preferences. It is demonstrated that using choice modelling enables respondents' equity preferences to be elicited and distributional weights suitable for application in BCA to be estimated.

Estimating intergenerational utility distribution preferences

Resource management decisions influence not only the output of the economy but also the distribution of utility between groups within the community. The theory of Benefit Cost Analysis provides a means of incorporating this distributional change through the application of distributional or welfare weights. This paper reports the results of research designed to estimate distributional weights suitable for inclusion in a Benefit Cost Analysis framework. The findings of a choice modelling experiment estimating community preferences with respect to intergenerational utility distribution are presented to illustrate this innovative application of a stated preference technique.

Distribution and habitat preferences of the rufous bristlebird, Dasyornis broadbenti, in Portland, Victoria

The Rufous Bristlebird Dasyornis broadbenti is a ground-dwelling bird that is listed as nearthreatened (Lower Risk) in Victoria. The species has been observed in a variety of habitats ranging from thickets of shrubs in coastal gullies, shrubland and heathlands on limestone cliffs to sheltered gullies. This study aimed to assess the distribution and habitat preferences of a population of the species in Portland, southwest Victoria. Monthly surveys were conducted on foot in the study area for one hour following sunrise and one hour prior to sunset, and bird presence was recorded on the basis of calls and sightings. Observations outside of the survey times were also recorded to determine habitat utilisation. Vegetation floristics and structure and food availability were measured in areas where birds were present as well as surrounding areas where they were absent to determine habitat preferences. A population size of between 45 and 60 individuals was estimated in the 200ha study area. Bird presence was significantly positively correlated with increasing vegetation density. No significant associations were found between Rufous Bristlebird presence and the floristic associations. Although Rufous Bristlebirds occupy a variety of vegetation communities, results indicate that the key common factor appears to be structure of the vegetation. The findings of this study will be incorporated into a Geographic Information System to develop a spatial model of suitable habitat.