Alcohol Use in China: Unrecorded and Recorded Bai Jiu in Three Rural Regions

In China, approximately 70% of beverage alcohol is consumed in the form of spirits. An estimated 25% of all alcohol consumed is unrecorded, mostly spirits (bai jiu), produced outside regulatory systems in small neighborhood distilleries, mostly in rural areas. Unrecorded bai jiu drinkers are generally older, male, prefer higher-strength bai jiu, and drink daily and mostly at home. To explore possible regional differences, researchers used interview data from 2919 bai jiu drinkers in rural areas in Hebei, Anhui, and Hubei provinces in China. Results confirmed that patterns varied by province. The sample in Hubei preferred unrecorded bai jiu with a more stable preference to alcohol type, tended to drink less frequently, and reported experiencing less drinking pressure, suggesting lower-risk drinking patterns in this region. The Hebei and Anhui sample reported higher frequency and greater amount of alcohol consumption, were more likely to experience drinking pressure, indicating higher-risk patterns in alcohol use in these two regions. The results provide needed details about regional differences in unrecorded bai jiu drinking patterns that are not evident in aggregated data and suggest variations in drinking patterns that may reflect local geography, local values, traditions, and ethnic differences.

Applying decision-making capacity criteria in practice: A content analysis of court judgments

Background/Objectives Many jurisdictions use a functional model of capacity with similar legal criteria, but there is a lack of agreed understanding as to how to apply these criteria in practice. We aimed to develop a typology of capacity rationales to describe court practice in making capacity determinations and to guide professionals approaching capacity assessments. Methods We analysed all published cases from courts in England and Wales [Court of Protection (CoP) judgments, or Court of Appeal cases from the CoP] containing rationales for incapacity or intact capacity(n = 131). Qualitative content analysis was used to develop a typology of capacity rationales or abilities. Relationships between the typology and legal criteria for capacity [Mental Capacity Act (MCA)] and diagnoses were analysed. Results The typology had nine categories (reliability: kappa = 0.63): 1) to grasp information or concepts, 2) to imagine/ abstract, 3) to remember, 4) to appreciate, 5) to value/ care, 6) to think through the decision non-impulsively, 7) to reason, 8) to give coherent reasons, and 9) to express a stable preference. Rationales most frequently linked to MCA criterion ‘understand’ were ability to grasp information or concepts (43%) or to appreciate (42%), and to MCA criterion ‘use or weigh’ were abilities to appreciate (45%) or to reason (32%). Appreciation was the most frequently cited rationale across all diagnoses. Judges often used rationales without linking them specifically to any MCA criteria (42%). Conclusions A new typology of rationales could bridge the gap between legal criteria for decision-making capacity and phenomena encountered in practice, increase reliability and transparency of assessments, and provide targets for decision-making support.

TYPOLOGY OF PERIPHERAL VISION

The research is based on the statement that retina produces the proper level of electrical activity, sourcing visual system. I started the research with partial darkening of different parts of the visual fields of humans to register possible psychological and physiological changes. The tested showed dramatically increasing variability and number of changes within just four exact types of darkening. More, emotional and physiological aspects of those changes were polarized into general acceptance and general rejection of a certain type of darkening in most of the individual tests. Thus the tested formed two opposite groups within every one of those types of darkening: a group with general negative reactions and a group with general positive ones. Further, those types of darkening turned out combined in pairs. General tune of reactions of most of the tested changed to strictly reverse within a pair of upper-lower types of darkening of peripheral vision and outer-inner ones as well. Between the pairs of types of darkening, there was no correspondence. The tested showed stability of their reactions during at least several months. Thus I may state a possibility of existence in the visual system of humans of two independent neuropsychological structures both having two alternative modes of functioning with a stable preference of just one of them in every individual case. If it is true, there may be a vision-based typology.

Contextual Inference in Markets: On the Informational Content of Product Lines

Context can influence decisions. This malleability of choice is usually invoked as evidence that people do not maximize stable preference orderings. In a market equilibrium, however, context conveys payoff-relevant information to consumers. Consequently, these consumers rationally violate naïve formulations of standard choice theoretic principles. I identify informational asymmetries under which apparently anomalous behaviors, namely the compromise effect and choice overload, arise as market equilibria. Firms respond to consumers' contextual inference; in case of the compromise effect, a firm may introduce premium loss leaders (expensive goods of overly high quality that increase the demand for other goods). (JEL D11, D83, M31)

Protein Preference in Protein-Malnourished Monkeys

10 protein-malnourished monkeys and 8 dietary controls were run in a preference experiment designed to look at the differences in the way the 2 groups accepted foods containing various amounts of protein. Each monkey was given choices among diets containing 2%, 3.5%, or 25% protein, and non-food objects. The protein-malnourished monkeys showed a marked preference for the high-protein food; the adequately nourished monkeys chose all foods at the same ratio. The results indicated that a rapid learning process was involved in the formation of a preference for high-protein foods. The colors of the 2% and the 25% diets were then reversed, and the protein-malnourished monkeys showed a temporary disruption in their preference behavior, but they soon established a stable preference for the high-protein food. The experimental results are consistent with the hypothesis that protein-malnourished rhesus monkeys have a specific hunger for protein.