The Experience of Choice: Analyzing Choice Architecture on Mobile Shopping Websites

This study examines choice architecture techniques, or design techniques used to guide people toward or away from specific options, in digital choice environments. The term “nudge” has been used to describe the intentional design of choice environments; for example, product placement in stores nudges people toward more expensive items. Nudge-like choice architecture techniques are used by designers to guide decisions in digital environments. Such techniques can be designed to support and to manipulate users’ decision-making. The researcher created two sets of guidelines based on prior work with the goal of describing and delineating between (1) supportive or ethical and (2) manipulative or unethical intent in choice architecture. She used those guidelines to evaluate a sample of mobile shopping websites using a combination of document analysis and heuristic evaluation. This analysis seeks to provide insight into ethical questions inherent in design that balances organizational and end user needs.Master of Science in Information Scienc

Effects of Allergen Sensitization on Response to Therapy in Children with Eosinophilic Esophagitis

Background: In children with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) foods are the most common disease triggers, but environmental allergens are also suspected culprits. Objective: To determine the effects of environmental allergen sensitization on response to treatment in children with EoE in the southeastern United States. Methods: Patients 2 to 18 years old who were referred to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders Clinic from January 2012 to January 2016 were enrolled in a prospective, longitudinal cohort study with collection of demographics, clinical symptoms, medical history, allergy sensitization profiles, and response to treatment over time. Comparisons were made between complete responders (peak esophageal eosinophil count \u3c 15 per high-power field [HPF]) and nonresponders (\u3e 25 eosinophils per HPF) after treatment with diet elimination alone, swallowed corticosteroids alone, or diet elimination and swallowed corticosteroids. Sensitization patterns to environmental allergens found in the southeastern United States were analyzed for the effect on treatment response. Results: A total of 223 individuals were enrolled. Of these, 182 had environmental allergy profiling and at least one endoscopy while receiving proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy. Twenty-nine individuals had PPI-responsive EoE and were excluded from further analysis, leaving 123 individuals with none-PPI-responsive EoE who were further analyzed; 72 (58.5%) were complete responders and 33 (26.8%) were nonresponders. Seventeen individuals (13.8%) were partial responders (≥ 1 but ≤ 25 eosinophils per HPF) and excluded from further analysis. Nonresponders were more likely to be sensitized to perennial allergens (P = .02). There was no significant difference in response based on seasonal allergen sensitization. Individuals with mold or cockroach sensitization were more likely to fail combination diet and swallowed corticosteroid treatment (P = .02 and P = .002). Conclusion: Perennial allergen and mold sensitization may lead to nonresponse to EoE treatment in some patients. Additional studies are needed to further understand the effect of environmental allergens on EoE

Toxic metal(loid) speciation during weathering of iron sulfide mine tailings under semi-arid climate

Toxic metalliferous mine-tailings pose a significant health risk to ecosystems and neighboring communities from wind and water dispersion of particulates containing high concentrations of toxic metal(loid)s (e.g., Pb, As, Zn). Tailings are particularly vulnerable to erosion before vegetative cover can be reestablished, i.e., decades or longer in semi-arid environments without intervention. Metal(loid) speciation, linked directly to bioaccessibility and lability, is controlled by mineral weathering and is a key consideration when assessing human and environmental health risks associated with mine sites. At the semi-arid Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter Superfund site in central Arizona, the mineral assemblage of the top 2 m of tailings has been previously characterized. A distinct redox gradient was observed in the top 0.5 m of the tailings and the mineral assemblage indicates progressive transformation of ferrous iron sulfides to ferrihydrite and gypsum, which, in turn weather to form schwertmannite and then jarosite accompanied by a progressive decrease in pH (7.3 to 2.3). Within the geochemical context of this reaction front, we examined enriched toxic metal(loid)s As, Pb, and Zn with surficial concentrations 41.1, 10.7, 39.3 mM kg-1 (3080, 2200, and 2570 mg kg-1), respectively. The highest bulk concentrations of As and Zn occur at the redox boundary representing a 1.7 and 4.2 fold enrichment relative to surficial concentrations, respectively, indicating the translocation of toxic elements from the gossan zone to either the underlying redox boundary or the surface crust. Metal speciation was also examined as a function of depth using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The deepest sample (180 cm) contains sulfides (e.g., pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, and sphalerite). Samples from the redox transition zone (25-54 cm) contain a mixture of sulfides, carbonates (siderite, ankerite, cerrusite, and smithsonite) and metal(loid)s sorbed to neoformed secondary Fe phases, principally ferrihydrite. In surface samples (0-35 cm), metal(loid)s are found as sorbed species or incorporated into secondary Fe hydroxysulfate phases, such as schwertmannite and jarosites. Metal-bearing efflorescent salts (e.g., ZnSO4·nH2O) were detected in the surficial sample. Taken together, these data suggest the bioaccessibility and lability of metal(loid)s are altered by mineral weathering, which results in both the downward migration of metal(loid)s to the redox boundary, as well as the precipitation of metal salts at the surface.24 month embargo; published online: 7 February 2015This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Abstracts from the 8th International Conference on cGMP Generators, Effectors and Therapeutic Implications

This work was supported by a restricted research grant of Bayer AG

Human Rights and Compliance: Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development

Efforts to tackle corporate corruption and money laundering have increased exponentially in recent decades. In the United States, the USA PATRIOT Act passed in 2001, followed by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2008, have led to a significant uptick in anti-money laundering regulations and enforcement. Internationally, several entities have been created with the goal of setting global standards in compliance. For example, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, to which several US institutions such as the FDIC and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System belong, is the “primary global standard setter for prudential regulation of banks and provides a forum forregular cooperation on banking supervisory matters.” While anti-corruption practices and compliance programs have become increasingly prevalent and thorough, a question has recently been raised as to the relationship between anti-corruption and human rights. This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review website on October 5, 2020. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above

Contribution

Panel IV: Errant Encounters: Decolonizing European ArchivesSarah Casteel, Contribution to the panel ‘Errant Encounters: Decolonizing European Archives’, part of the conference Reconfiguring Cultural Inquiry, ICI Berlin, 29–1 July 2017, video recording, mp4, 20:12 <https://doi.org/10.25620/e170729_03

Human Rights and Compliance: Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development

Efforts to tackle corporate corruption and money laundering have increased exponentially in recent decades. In the United States, the USA PATRIOT Act passed in 2001, followed by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2008, have led to a significant uptick in anti-money laundering regulations and enforcement. Internationally, several entities have been created with the goal of setting global standards in compliance. For example, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, to which several US institutions such as the FDIC and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System belong, is the “primary global standard setter for prudential regulation of banks and provides a forum forregular cooperation on banking supervisory matters.” While anti-corruption practices and compliance programs have become increasingly prevalent and thorough, a question has recently been raised as to the relationship between anti-corruption and human rights. This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review website on October 5, 2020. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above

Jazz Fiction and the Holocaust: Reading History for Clues in the Novels of John A. Williams and Esi Edugyan

Abstract This article draws attention to a body of fiction that expands our understanding of the Holocaust by imaginatively reconstructing the neglected experiences of Black victims of Nazi persecution. Two key examples are John A. Williams’ Clifford’s Blues (1999) and Esi Edugyan’s Half-Blood Blues (2011), both of which recall the Black jazz musicians in wartime Europe caught up in the Nazis’ genocidal campaign. Seeking to integrate their stories into the collective memory of World War II, Williams and Edugyan combine Holocaust fiction’s documentary effect with characteristic thematic and formal strategies of jazz fiction. Williams adopts the solitary voice of the troubled bluesman, while Edugyan embraces jazz’s polyvocality. Notwithstanding the risks of Holocaust analogies that Clifford’s Blues in particular exposes, both novels illustrate the capacity of jazz fiction to produce revisionary historical narratives and intervene in memory culture.</jats:p