Estimating intergenerational 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 cost benefit analysis provides a means of incorporating distributional changes into the decision making calculus through the application of distributional or welfare weights. However, this practice has not been widely adopted in part due to difficulties in the estimation of distributional weights. This paper addresses this problem by using the stated preference method of choice modelling to estimate distributional weights suitable for inclusion in a cost benefit analysis framework. The findings of a choice modelling experiment designed to estimate community preferences with respect to intergenerational utility distribution illustrate the potential of this method in addressing distributional issues.

Acute effects of advertisements on children's choices, preferences, and ratings of liking for physical activities and sedentary behaviours : a randomised controlled pilot study

The acute decision prompting effects of social marketing via television (TV) advertisements promoting physical activity to children are unknown. This pilot study aimed to determine the acute effects of an Australian government-sponsored TV advertisement (called ‘Get Moving’), promoting more physical activity and less sedentary behaviour, on children's choices, preferences, and ratings of liking for physical activities and sedentary behaviours. Thirty-one children aged 10–12 years were recruited from a single public school, and randomised to one of two treatment groups or two control groups (Solomon four-group design). Treatment participants watched an episode of The Simpsons® embedded every 10 min with three 30 s Get Moving advertisements plus standard advertisements. Control participants watched the same episode plus standard advertisements, but without the Get Moving advertisements. The following dependent variables were assessed immediately before and/or after exposure: activity preference (participants selected either verbally or by pointing to one of eight picture cards depicting four physical activities and four sedentary behaviours); ratings of liking (participants rated how much they liked or disliked each of these activities/behaviours either verbally or by pointing to one of nine values with an adjacent smile or frown on a Likert-type scale); and time spent in physical activities was assessed by direct observation during a 10 min free-time session. No significant effects or trends were seen for any of the dependent variables. Further research is needed to determine whether different content and/or higher doses of exposure to physical activity promoting advertisements are needed to influence children's activity choices.

Interacting amino acid preferences of 3D pattern pairs at the binding sites of transient and obligate protein complexes

To assess the physico-chemical characteristics of protein-protein interactions, protein sequences and overall structural folds have been analyzed previously. To highlight this, discovery and examination of amino acid patterns at the binding sites defined by structural proximity in 3-dimensional (3D) space are essential. In this paper, we investigate the interacting preferences of 3D pattern pairs discovered separately in transient and obligate protein complexes. These 3D pattern pairs are not necessarily sequence-consecutive, but each residue in two groups of amino acids from two proteins in a complex is within certain °A threshold to most residues in the other group. We develop an algorithm called AA-pairs by which every pair of interacting proteins is represented as a bipartite graph, and it discovers all maximal quasi-bicliques from every bipartite graph to form our 3D pattern pairs. From 112 and 2533 highly conserved 3D pattern pairs discovered in the transient and obligate complexes respectively, we observe that Ala and Leu is the highest occuring amino acid in interacting 3D patterns of transient (20.91%) and obligate (33.82%) complexes respectively. From the study on the dipeptide composition on each side of interacting 3D pattern pairs, dipeptides Ala-Ala and Ala-Leu are popular in 3D patterns of both transient and obligate complexes. The interactions between amino acids with large hydrophobicity difference are present more in the transient than in the obligate complexes. On contrary, in obligate complexes, interactions between hydrophobic residues account for the top 5 most occuring amino acid pairings.

Short-term changes in endogenous estrogen levels and consumption of soy isoflavones affect working and verbal memory in young adult females

Estrogen is known to modulate certain cognitive functions, most notably improving working memory and verbal memory. Soy foods contain isoflavones, phytoestrogens structurally similar to estrogen that weakly bind to estrogen receptors.We investigated the effects of natural variations in estrogen levels and short-term dietary supplementation with soy isoflavones on cognitive function in 28 young women. Performance was examined across a range of cognitive tasks on three occasions during separate menstrual cycles: during a menses phase (low estrogen), during a luteal phase (highest estrogen), and once during a menses phase after a 3-day phytoestrogen-rich dietary intervention. Soy supplementation during menses led to an improvement in working memory and verbal memory. The menstrual cycle effects were mixed, with high estrogen improving performance on a verbal memory task but not on working memory. Our results suggest that soy phytoestrogens may improve working memory through estrogen-independent mechanisms.

Community pharmacists' preferences for continuing education delivery in Australia

Introduction: New technologies such as the Internet offer an increasing number of options for the delivery of continuing education (CE) to community pharmacists. Many of these options are being utilized to overcome access- and cost-related problems. This paper identifies learning preferences of Australian community pharmacists for CE and identifies issues with the integration of these into contemporary models of CE delivery.
Methods: Four focus group teleconferences were conducted with practicing community pharmacists (n = 15) using a semistructured format and asking generally about their CE and continuing professional development (CPD) experiences.
Results: Pharmacists reported preferences for CE that were very closely aligned to the principles of adult learning. There was a strong preference for interactive and multidisciplinary CE. Engaging in CPD was seen as valuable in promoting reflective learning.
Discussion: These results suggest that pharmacists have a strong preference for CE that is based on adult learning principles. Professional organizations should take note of this and ensure that new CE formats do not compromise the ability of pharmacists to engage in interactive, multidisciplinary, and problem-based CE. Equally, the role of attendance-based CE in maintaining peer networks should not be overlooked.

Identifying the drivers behind housing preferences of first time owners

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a rare insight into the motivation behind first-time buyers when looking to purchase their first home. The factors driving demand preferences for detached housing are constantly changing and difficult to measure, and often deemed to be a complex bundle of attributes.

Design/methodology/approach – The research in this paper is based on interviews with purchasers at a series of locations across Melbourne, Australia, who were actively seeking to purchase a home for the first time. The data were analysed using factor analysis to identify the core decision criteria in a new house that were most sought after.

Findings – The findings in this paper confirmed that “financial” issues accounted for approximately 30 percent of the actual decision by first-time buyers to purchase housing, where decisions relating to the timing and choice of housing are dependent on “site-specific” factors.

Research limitations/implications – The research in this paper is aimed specifically at first time buyers only and the influencing factors behind their purchasing decisions.

Practical implications – The paper shows that, if consideration is given to the characteristics that first-time owners are looking for, providers of new housing would be better equipped to meet this demand and maximise construction efficiency.

Originality/value – In the paper the emphasis was placed on identifying and analysing the decision criteria behind first-time buyers, which provided an invaluable insight into their concept of a suitable residence. Rather than analysing sales transactions after they have been completed, this research considers aspects of new houses that first-time owners are actively searching for, prior to making their purchase.

Understanding learning preferences in the business school curriculum

The authors aimed to understand the learning preferences of business school students and generally understand the teaching strategies and course contents that would be conducive to these preferences. They began by making some observations on the nature of the ideal business school curriculum, and they  present the results of a student survey on learning preferences that served to test some of these observations. They conclude by proposing a general unified approach to learning and teaching.

Ultraviolet plumage colors predict mate preferences in starlings

Avian plumage has long been used to test theories of sexual selection, with humans assessing the colors, However, many birds see in the ultraviolet (<400 nm), to which humans are blind, Consequently, it is important to know whether natural variation in UV reflectance from plumage functions in sexual signaling, We show that female starlings rank males differently when UV wavelengths are present or absent, Principal component analysis of approximate to 1300 reflectance spectra (300-700 nm) taken from sexually dimorphic plumage regions of males predicted preference under the UV+ treatment. Under UV- conditions, females ranked males in a different and nonrandom order, but plumage reflectance in the human visible spectrum did not predict choice, Natural variation in UV reflectance is thus important in avian mate assessment, and the prevailing light environment can have profound effects on observed mating preferences.

Preferences for ultraviolet partners in the blue tit

The preference of female blue tits, Parus caeruleus, is correlated with the brightness of the ultraviolet (UV) crest; there is also assortative mating with respect to the crest's UV/violet chroma. However, manipulation of plumage reflectance is necessary to infer a direct causal link between UV plumage and mate choice. We gave both male and female blue tits a choice between a W-reflecting ('UV+') partner and a partner whose UV plumage reflectance had been removed ('UV-'). Male blue tits significantly preferred UV+ females. Similarly, female blue tits tended to prefer UV-reflecting males, but their UV+ preferences were nonsignificant. Neither sex showed a preference when conspecifics were replaced by a heterospecific. This study suggests mutual mate choice but male choice may be more strongly influenced by the visual appearance of potential mates. This is one of a few studies to show male mate preferences and the first demonstration of a direct relationship between UV reflectance and;male mate choice. (C) 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Ultraviolet vision and band-colour preferences in female zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata

Zebra finches have previously been found to have preferences for particular colours of both natural and artificial traits among opposite sex conspecifics. For example, in some studies female zebra finches preferred males wearing red leg bands to orange-banded and unbanded birds and rejected light green-banded males. In other studies, females also preferred males with red beaks to orange-beaked males. However, several authors have failed to replicate these results. We show that females may fail to show a colour preference because of the absence or removal of ultraviolet light under experimental conditions. In mate-choice trials, females observing males through filters that transmitted ultraviolet preferred red-banded males but where females viewed males through ultraviolet-blocking filters, no such preference was observed. Further investigation revealed that the lack of a colour preference when ultraviolet was absent was probably due to the change in overall appearance of the bird, rather than the change in appearance of the rings themselves. This work highlights the importance of proper consideration of the sensory capabilities of animals in experimental design, particularly with regard to the role of ultraviolet light in avian colour perception. (C) 1997 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Context-dependent visual preferences in starlings and blue tits: mate choice and light environment

There is considerable interest in the role that ultraviolet (UV) cues play in the foraging and mate choice decisions of birds. However, with the exception of the zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata, it is not yet clear whether ultraviolet preferences are context specific, or whether birds show a general preference for full-avian-spectrum environments 320-700 nm) irrespective of the activity in which they are engaged. We investigated whether European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, and blue tits, Parus caeruleus, show general (nonresource based) or context-specific preferences for full-spectrum environments. We found that neither species showed a general preference for UV-present (UV+) over UV-deficient (UV-) environments, when those environments contained no resources (experiment 1). Furthermore, neither species showed a UV+ preference when cages contained food, water and perches (starlings; experiment 2) or food, perches and heterospecifics (blue tits; Hunt et al. 1999. Animal Behaviour, 58, 809-815). However, both species did show highly significant preferences for UV+ conditions when viewing potential mates. Such experiments are necessary before one can conclude that particular wavebands have specific relevance to mate choice. In fact, our results suggest that the importance of particular wavelength compositions do indeed vary with behavioural context. (C) 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.