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This paper theoretically studies the interaction between an informed borrower and an uninformed lender facing possible default of a loan application. The lender is motivated to invest cognitive resources before making a lending decision. If the regulatory fine is weak, it is impossible for a bad-debt borrower to fully disclose his situation in the application. In this case, when the likelihood of a bad debt is low, the borrower always claims that nothing in the application is wrong. Otherwise, the borrower randomizes between full disclosure and information suppression. The transaction cost of the lender's pre-lending cognition increases with the default probability, as the default probability is small and decreases thereafter. Evidence from a peer-to-peer lending platform with 816,274 observations between 2012 and 2015 in the United States is largely consistent with our model implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This paper presents updated prevalence estimates of awareness, ever‐use, and current use of nicotine vaping products (NVPs) from 14 International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project) countries that have varying regulations governing NVP sales and marketing. Design, Setting, Participants and Measurements: A cross‐sectional analysis of adult (≥ 18 years) current smokers and ex‐smokers from 14 countries participating in the ITC Project. Data from the most recent survey questionnaire for each country were included, which spanned the period 2013–17. Countries were categorized into four groups based on regulations governing NVP sales and marketing (allowable or not), and level of enforcement (strict or weak where NVPs are not permitted to be sold): (1) most restrictive policies (MRPs), not legal to be sold or marketed with strict enforcement: Australia, Brazil, Uruguay; (2) restrictive policies (RPs), not approved for sale or marketing with weak enforcement: Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand; (3) less restrictive policies (LRPs), legal to be sold and marketed with regulations: England, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, United States; and (4) no regulatory policies (NRPs), Bangladesh, China, Zambia. Countries were also grouped by World Bank Income Classifications. Country‐specific weighted logistic regression models estimated adjusted NVP prevalence estimates for: awareness, ever/current use, and frequency of use (daily versus non‐daily). Findings NVP awareness and use were lowest in NRP countries. Generally, ever‐ and current use of NVPs were lower in MRP countries (ever‐use = 7.1–48.9%; current use = 0.3–3.5%) relative to LRP countries (ever‐use = 38.9–66.6%; current use = 5.5–17.2%) and RP countries (ever‐use = 10.0–62.4%; current use = 1.4–15.5%). NVP use was highest among high‐income countries, followed by upper–middle‐income countries, and then by lower–middle‐income countries. Conclusions: With a few exceptions, awareness and use of nicotine vaping products varied by the strength of national regulations governing nicotine vaping product sales/marketing, and by country income. In countries with no regulatory policies, use rates were very low, suggesting that there was little availability, marketing and/or interest in nicotine vaping products in these countries where smoking populations are predominantly poorer. The higher awareness and use of nicotine vaping products in high income countries with moderately (e.g. Canada, New Zealand) and less (e.g. England, United States) restrictive policies, is likely due to the greater availability and affordability of nicotine vaping products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective --Failure to prearrange one's funeral may lead to financial hardship on one's family members. Despite the importance of a funeral plan, little is known regarding the awareness level among Muslims regarding the Islamic Preneed Funeral Plan (IPFP). Because of the dearth of academic research on the awareness among Muslims regarding IPFP, this paper aims to assess the awareness level of Muslims regarding IPFP and to develop an awareness model that frames factors affecting IPFP awareness level. Methodology/Technique -- To achieve this, a questionnaire was used to collect the data and PLS-SEM was used to analyse the data. Results show that the level of awareness regarding IPFP is low and is similar to the result found in the USA Findings -- The results further show that marketing communication efforts and social influence are significant factors affecting awareness of IPFP. These results have practical implications for IPFP providers and should help them better market their products and mitigate the potential for financial hardship funeral costs may have on families. Novelty -- The scarcity of land for burial plots, soaring funeral costs and an increasingly aging population rate necessitates funeral prearrangements by subscribing to a pre-need funeral plan. This prearrangement is an advanced financial provision that covers funeral and burial expenses by enabling subscribers to make funeral arrangements while they are still alive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies governing the sale of raw milk-making the sales of raw milk more permissive-are gaining traction on the legislative agendas of dozens of states. This paper examines one contributor to this movement on the policy agenda: the role of competitive framing. By combining theoretical approaches from policy studies and political psychology theories of competitive framing, we offer evidence supporting the recent relative success of raw milk activists in several state legislatures. Using an Internet survey-based experiment with a sample size of 1,630 respondents from seven Midwestern states, we show that a frame emphasizing consumer choice and food freedom is more effective than the frame that dominates among the policy establishment, that emphasizing public health risks. This is true in both one-sided and competitive framing contexts. We further show that those previously aware of this issue were less influenced by the public health frame than those naïve to the issue. Our results suggest that the pro-raw milk movement may be making strides on the state policy agenda because their frames are more resonant among the public. We also highlight the advantages gained from considering psychological and policy processes simultaneously to understand policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provision of cochlear implants (CIs) for those within the criteria for implantation remains lower in the United States than in some other developed nations. When adults and children are grouped together, the rate of utilization/provision remains low at around 6%. For children, the provision rate is about 50% of those who could benefit from an implant, compared with figures of about 90% for the Flanders part of Belgium, the United Kingdom and other European countries. The probable reasons for this underprovision include: low awareness of the benefits of CIs among the population; low awareness among health-care professionals; the lack of specific referral pathways; some political issues relating to the Deaf Community; and financial issues related to health provision. Such financial issues result in situations which either fail to provide for access to implants or provide too low a level of the necessary funding, especially for low-income individuals covered by public health-care programs such as Medicaid. These issues might be mitigated by adoption and publication of standards for best clinical practices for CI provision, availability of current cost-effectiveness data, and the existence of an organization dedicated to cochlear implantation. Such an organization, the American Cochlear Implant Alliance (ACI Alliance), was recently organized and is described in the paper by Niparko et al. in this Supplement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please cite this paper as: Maurer et al. (2012) Who knew? Awareness of being recommended for influenza vaccination among US adults. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 6(4), 284-290. Background Starting with the 2010-2011 influenza season, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends annual influenza vaccination to all people aged 6 months and older unless contraindicated. Objectives To measure perceived influenza vaccination recommendation status among US adults ( n = 2122) and its association with socio-demographic characteristics and recommendation status during the 2009-2010 pandemic influenza season. Methods We analyze nationally representative data from longitudinal Internet surveys of US adults conducted in November-December 2009 and September-October 2010. Results During the 2010-2011 vaccination season, 46·2 percent (95%-CI: 43·3-49·1%) of US adults correctly reported to be covered by a government recommendation for influenza vaccination. Awareness of being covered by a government influenza vaccination recommendation was statistically significantly higher among non-working adults and adults who had been recommended for seasonal vaccination or both seasonal and H1N1 vaccination during the 2009-2010 pandemic influenza vaccination season. Conclusion Our results highlight that a majority of US adults do not know that they are recommended for annual influenza vaccination by the government. The fraction of adults who are unaware of their recommendation status is especially large among newly recommended healthy young adults. The universal vaccination recommendations will only be successful if they reach both patients and physicians and lead to changing vaccination practices. The universal nature of the new recommendation simplifies vaccination-related outreach and compliance with government vaccination guidelines considerably, as it does not require any identification of specific recommendation groups based on complex personal or health risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stop signs are the primary form of traffic control in the United States. However, they have a tendency to be much less effective than other forms of traffic control like traffic lights. This is due to their smaller size, lack of lighting, and the fact that they may become visually obscured from the road. In this paper, we offer a solution to this problem in the form of a mobile application implemented in the Android platform: Stop Watcher. It is designed to alert a driver when they are approaching a stop sign using a voice notification system (VNS). A field test was performed in a snowy environment. The test results demonstrate that the application can detect all of the stop signs correctly, even when some of them were obstructed by the snow, which in turn greatly improves the user awareness of stop signs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to determine the awareness towards ethnic foods made with traditional spices among US and Thai consumers. Design/methodology/approach - Data on the awareness and use of ethnic cuisines and spices were collected from 100 consumers in a Midwestern university town in the USA and 100 consumers in Bangkok, Thailand. Consumers were also asked to identify ethnic spice blends by tasting spice blends in rice and they ranked the perceived health benefits of 15 ethnic cuisines. Findings - The results showed that more Thai consumers (94 percent) shop at ethnic grocery stores than US consumers (55 percent). Also, Thai consumers are more likely to consume ethnic foods from nearby countries, but US consumers have tried a greater variety of ethnic foods. Neither group generally was able to identify a cuisine based only on the spice flavors, although Thai consumers were slightly better at doing so. Asian cuisines were perceived to have the greatest health benefits to both American and Thai consumers. Originality/value - The consumption of ethnic foods is on the rise around the world as consumers seek new food experiences and diversity in their diets. Manufacturers are using these traditional spices to convey an "ethnic" and "healthy" profile to their foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Space exploration is a multifaceted endeavor and will be a “grand challenge” of the 21st century. It has already become an element of the political agenda of a growing number of countries worldwide. However, the public is largely unaware of space exploration activities and in particular does not perceive any personal benefit. In order to achieve highly ambitious space exploration goals to explore robotically and with humans the inner solar system, space agencies must improve and expand their efforts to inform and raise the awareness of the public about what they are doing, and why. Therefore adopting new techniques aiming at informing and engaging the public using participatory ways, new communication techniques to reach, in particular, the younger generation will be a prerequisite for a sustainable long-term exploration program: as they will enable it and carry most of the associated financial burden. This paper presents an environmental analysis of space exploration in the United States and Europe and investigates the current branding stature of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). We discuss how improved market research and new branding methods can increase public space awareness and improve the image of NASA and ESA. We propose a new participatory approach to engage the public as major stakeholder (along governments, the industrial space sector and the science community) that may provide sufficient resources for and sustainability of a long-term space exploration program. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this study was to assess the level of awareness of prostate cancer (PCa) among the general public and PCa patients in Europe and North America. A survey was undertaken across four European countries (UK, Germany, Italy and Spain), and across the United States and Canada in late 2007. In total, 1008 men with PCa and their partners (the ‘prostate sample’), and 911 men without PCa and their partners (the ‘well sample’) participated in the survey, all aged 50 years. Interviews were conducted through telephone, pen and paper, and online. Many people surveyed (53%) thought that breast cancer is more common than PCa. Moreover, 1 in 10 people from the well sample (10%) thought that PCa affects both men and women. When the prostate sample was asked about their perceived level of risk of PCa before diagnosis, 50% believed that they/their husband or partner were previously at low or very low risk, before they were diagnosed. Awareness of the major risk factors for PCa (age and family history) was generally good, but respondents were less clear about the role of other potential factors, such as smoking and drinking alcohol. This international survey, thought to be largest of its type, shows that although patient and public awareness of PCa is generally satisfactory, there is still a considerable lack of clarity about PCa risk factors, and a danger for people to underestimate their own/their partner's perceived risk for PCa. Programmes to responsibly educate and inform men and their partners about risk factors, prevalence and screening tools for PCa are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The present paper aims to: (i) describe how the Mental Health Commission in New Zealand works and has contributed to the substantial enhancement of mental health resources and services; (ii) determine whether mental health reform policies will ever be implemented properly without an independent monitor with official influence at the highest levels of government; and (iii) demonstrate how variants on this model work in other Western countries and how it can be adapted to the Federated system in Australia.Conclusions: It is recommended that the Australian National Mental Health Plan 2003-2008 should be complemented by a long-standing national mental health commission (or similarly constituted body), which is also able to report independently from and to the government, with direct access to the Prime Minister, Premiers and Australian Health Ministers. Its aims would be to monitor service effectiveness and identify gaps in service provision, training and performance of the work force, management and government. It would be informed by consumer, carer and provider experience, and by reviews of evidence-based research regarding health needs and cost-effective services. It should accurately cost such service gaps, and advise government on a strategy for implementing them. It could also promote and advise formally on enhancing community awareness, decreasing stigma and discrimination and improving workforce recruitment and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underage drinking and its associated problems have profound negative consequences for underage drinkers themselves, their families, their communities, and society as a whole, and contribute to a wide range of costly health and social problems. There is increased risk of negative consequences with heavy episodic or binge drinking. Alcohol is a factor related to approximately 4,300 deaths among underage youths in the U.S. every year. Since the mid-1980s, the nation has launched aggressive underage drinking prevention efforts at the federal, state, and local levels, and national epidemiologic data suggest that these efforts are having positive effects. For example, since 1982, alcohol-related traffic deaths among youth aged 16-20 years have declined by 79%. Evidence-based or promising strategies for reducing underage drinking include those that limit the physical, social, and economic availability of alcohol to youth, make it illegal for drivers aged <21 years to drive after drinking, and provide mechanisms for early identification of problem drinkers. Strategies may be implemented through a comprehensive prevention approach including policies and their enforcement, public awareness and education, action by community coalitions, and early brief alcohol intervention and referral programs. This paper focuses on underage drinking laws and their enforcement because these constitute perhaps the most fundamental component of efforts to limit youth access to and use of alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]