Blog

We all know about anorexia and bulimia. Those are problems that have long been documented and that the health community — more or less — knows how to define and treat.

But untold people out there clearly have issues with food that aren’t so easily labeled. Take the case of Abby Ellin, author of Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs in on Living Large, Losing Weight and How Parents Can (and Can’t) Help. As a young adult who’d spent years attending summer fat camps, she strictly monitored her calorie intake one day only to go crazy eating whatever she wanted the next.

The Ednos problem

People with problems like Ellin’s these days are usually diagnosed as having Ednos, an acronym for eating disorder not otherwise specified. Meaning there’s clearly something wrong but it doesn’t fit into the standard definitions of what an eating disorder looks like.

Ednos is so common it’s now diagnosed more often than anorexia or bulimia, with about 4 percent of American women been labeled with the disorder every year. Some of the disorders that fall under Ednos include:

• binge eating without purging
• picky eating
• chewing food but spitting it out before swallowing
• night eating
• compulsive exercising
• orthorexia

As you can imagine, many in the medical community think that Ednos is much too big and vague a category. For one thing, there’s no way you’d treat a picky eater in the same way you’d treat someone who binges frequently. Labeling someone as Ednos doesn’t really help them understand the problem and doesn’t provide a certain solution to their particular issue.

The definition of Ednos is set to be revised in the 2013 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, perhaps with some of the subsets of the disorder given their own definitions.

Not good enough for a real disorder

The label of Ednos sometimes gets people thinking that they’re not good enough to have a “real” eating disorder and that they need to try harder to lose more weight to get a more definite diagnosis. Many people with Ednos are normal weight or even a little overweight, so they might not seek treatment as quickly as someone with a more easily recognizable disorder.

Another problem is that insurance often doesn’t pay for treatments related to Ednos, while it might pay for anorexia or bulimia treatments.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

How to help people with non-textbook eating disorders?

So maybe that big health-care bill won’t pass. Either that, or the Dems will have to thread the legislative needle even as opposition to the bill is running high. That’s the gist of this morning’s Washington coverage (e.g. WSJ, Washington Post, New York Times, Politico).

The key points:

• Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts means the Dems no longer have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. That means Republicans could (and almost certainly would) block any wholesale changes to the Senate health-care bill.
• The House could pass the same version of the health-care bill that already passed the Senate, and send it to the President’s desk. Some further tweaks to the health-care overhaul could be made under a process known as reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate.
• Or House Dems could balk, both because they don’t like some of the provisions in the Senate bill, and because of popular opposition to the health-care overhaul. Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Dem who had earlier pushed for a single-payer system, seems to be in this camp. “I don’t think I can vote for the Senate bill, and I don’t think there are the votes in the House for the Senate bill,” he said, according to the WSJ.

Intuition through time: what does the seer see?

“OBJECTIVE: A great deal of human activity is involved in anticipating the future, from predicting the next influenza strain to the expectations that underlie the placebo effect. Most models of anticipation take for granted that events unfold in a unidirectional flow of time, from past to future. Two experiments were conducted to test this assumption. DESIGN: Pupillary dilation, spontaneous blinking, and eye movements were tracked before, during, and after participants viewed photographs with varying degrees of emotional affect. RESULTS: Data contributed by 74 unselected volunteers in two experiments showed that: (a) pupillary dilation and spontaneous blinking were found to increase more before emotional versus calm photos (combined P = .00009), (b) horizontal eye movements indicated a brain hemisphere asymmetry before viewing photos, appropriate to both the emotionality (P = .05) and the valence of the future images (P = .01), (c) participants selected for independently obtaining significant differential effects in pupillary dilation showed positive correlations between their eye movements before versus during exposure to randomly selected photos (P = .002), and (d) a possible “transtemporal interference” effect was observed when the probability of observing future images was varied (P = .05 [two-tailed])… …CONCLUSIONS: These studies, which replicate conceptual similar experiments, suggest that sometimes seers do see the future.”

Thanks to Fred for today’s ROFL!

Sony’s still unnamed motion controller for the PS3, originally believed to be set for a Spring 2010 release, has been given a new release window.

Despite accounts that Carnaby’s black cockatoos have started feeding on canola, a new report has shown that predation by the birds has almost no impact on canola crops.

Research conducted by the University of Sydney found that Carnaby’s black cockatoos damaged an average of 0.003% of each farmer’s crop, a total value of just $6.50 for each grower participating in the study.

The report was commissioned by the Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo Recovery Project – a joint initiative of Birds Australia WA, WWF-Australia and the Department of Environment and Conservation. The research was funded by WWF.

“We were concerned about reports that Carnaby’s black cockatoos have begun to include canola in their diets,” said Carnaby’s cockatoo spokesperson for WWF, Katherine Howard.

“They’re intelligent birds, and as their natural food supply has decreased due to extensive land clearing both in the wheatbelt and on the coast, they have learned to exploit non-native species such as pine trees, the weed wild radish, and canola. This has the potential to bring this already endangered species into conflict with farmers, so we knew we had to look into it.”

The total population of Carnaby’s black cockatoos, found only in the Southwest corner of Western Australia, has collapsed by as much as 50% in the past 45 years. The species has disappeared from at least a third of its former nesting range. The main cause of this decline is loss of habitat.

Chris Jackson, Masters Researcher for the University of Sydney, said “Our research found that, over the 2008 season, the damage caused by Carnaby’s cockatoos to canola crops was negligible. We suspect that the populations of Carnaby’s cockatoos in the wheatbelt are so small, they are unlikely to become a significant problem for canola growers in the future”.

“Canola damage is much more commonly caused by other bird species, most notably galahs, corellas and Australian ringnecks.”

Birds Australia works with farmers to protect nesting and feeding habitats on private land by providing funds to fence and manage priority remnant vegetation. To date the project has protected over 1500 hectares of Carnaby’s black cockatoo habitat such as salmon gum and wandoo woodland through fencing, conservation covenants and voluntary management agreements.

A link to the report, ‘Assessing and Quantifying Canola Crop Damage by Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris in the south-west of Western Australia’ can be found on the Birds Australia website at the bottom of the page.

Interested in protecting your remnant bush to help Carnaby’s cockatoos? Contact Raana Scott, Project Manager, Birds Australia on 0427 707 047 or [email protected].

Media Inquires: Alvin Stone,WWF-Australia. Ph: 02 8202 1259. Mbl: 0410 068 410. Email: [email protected]

There are MMA shirts for the ripped, built guys (or guys who like to pretend that they are.) There are MMA shirts for those who want to show their undying loyalty to their fighter. There are MMA shirts for tiny women who want to show off a lot of skin.

But that hardly encompasses all MMA fans. That’s where our friends from Fightlinker come in.

One shirt is an homage to the quintessential MMA fan, "Just Bleed Guy." The other shirt is an homage to the fact that quite a few of us MMA fans also like to imbibe. How can you not love these shirts? Get the Just Bleed shirt and Ultimate Drinker shirt for $18 each plus shipping and handling at Fightlinker’s store. 

Filed under: Performance, Motorcycle

When you think of American motorcycles, what comes to mind? We’d bet that 99-plus percent of you instantly thought of Harley-Davidson – and with good reason. The Motor Company has long occupied the fantasies of a very large portion of the United States population at large. There’s a growing (and generally younger) group of cyclists, though, who want something considerably more sporty than what HD has to offer.

Motus Motorcycles, a new startup motorcycle manufacturer based here in the United States, has some grand plans in the works to change the perception – right or wrong as the sentiment may be – that American motorcycles are slow, rumbly, V-twin powered behemoths. The first salvo fired by Motus will be a new sport touring motorcycle called the MTS-01, which will be powered by an all-American V4 engine. Much of the architecture of that powerplant will be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the classic American V8.

Katech, a Michigan-based firm that supplies engines to General Motors and its Pratt and Miller Corvette racers, designed and engineered the cam-in-block (pushrods instead of overhead cams), two valve per cylinder, 1650cc engine, and it is expected to put out around 140 horsepower and possibly as much as 120 pound-feet of torque. Modern updates to the tried-and-true design are capped off by gasoline direct injection technology for improved performance and cleaner emissions. We look forward to finding out more on Motus’ new powerplant and motorcycle in the coming months.

[Source: The Kneeslider]

Motus Motorcycles details new V4 engine, MTS-01 sport tourer originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Erickson et al. / Cerebral Cortex

A cutaway image shows four brain structures studied in the video-game research. the caudate nucleus (blue), putamen (red), nucleus accumbens (orange spot) and hippocampus (green). Researchers found linkages between game performance and the first three structures, but no linkage involving the hippocampus.

Does playing video games improve your brain? Or do bigger brains make it easier to learn video games?

Psychologists say they can predict how well you’ll do on a video game by looking at the size of just three little structures inside your brain. If those structures are bigger, you’ll probably catch on more quickly and do better.

But don’t start bragging about how gamers are naturally brainier just yet. The psychologists have more puzzles to solve before they level up.

“We’re really at the tip of the iceberg in understanding how all this gets put together,” said the University of Pittsburgh’s Kirk Erickson, the study’s principal author.

After 15 years with Square Enix and a top-caliber résume under his belt, composer Masashi Hamauzu has left the publisher for reasons still unspecified. Hamauzu, whose latest output includes Final Fantasy XIII, joins the growing list of

Do you need sign-off from headquarters when you want to make decisions? Or can you undertake capital investments, hire new employees, introduce new products, and otherwise exercise managerial independence in your daily work? In the age of globalization, the extent of firm decentralization and the reasons behind it are still something of a mystery, leading HBS professor Raffaella Sadun and colleagues to wonder whether product competition is one factor spurring the trend toward decentralization. The basic idea is this: Local managers’ information might be increasingly valuable as more products crowd the marketplace.

To test this proposition Sadun, Nicholas Bloom, and John Van Reenen analyzed data on nearly 4,000 firms across 12 countries in Europe, North America, and Asia. “We find that competition does indeed seem to foster greater decentralization,” they write in their working paper, “Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms to Decentralize?” [PDF]

The results by geography were also telling: “Intriguingly, we found that firms in developing countries (Brazil, China, and India), tended to be the most centralized, with almost all major decisions taken by the owners in the corporate headquarters. Japanese firms were also relatively centralized. In contrast, firms in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries (Canada, Germany, Sweden, UK, and US) were relatively decentralized. The rest of Europe (e.g. France, Italy, and Poland) tended to be in the middle of the decentralization ranking.” Developing countries might experience tighter control from HQ due to less product competition, the authors suggest.

— Martha Lagace

Working Papers

Contracting in the Self-reporting Economy (revised)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of accounting on the use of intellectual property. We analyze the licensing of intellectual property in exchange for royalties that depend on the self-report of a licensee. Self-reporting gives rise to demand for auditing by the licensor or third-party attestation by the licensee. We characterize the optimal royalty contract, accounting system choice by the licensee, and audit strategy choice by the licensor. We show when the owner prefers to license the property in exchange for a royalty and when it prefers to use the property directly. We find that variable royalty arrangements that depend on either audited self-reports or third-party attestation become more attractive as accounting information system costs decrease and as the benefits from outsourcing the use of intellectual property increases. We also examine how the variability of payoffs to effort affects the optimal way the owner of the intellectual property uses it.

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-100.pdf

Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms to Decentralize?

Abstract

There is a widespread sense that over the last two decades firms have been decentralizing decisions to employees further down the managerial hierarchy. Economists have developed a range of theories to account for delegation, but there is less empirical evidence, especially across countries. This has limited the ability to understand the phenomenon of decentralization. To address the empirical lacuna we have developed a research program to measure the internal organization of firms—including their decentralization decisions—across a large range of industries and countries. In this paper we investigate whether greater product market competition increases decentralization. For example, tougher competition may make local manager’s information more valuable, as delays to decisions become more costly. Since globalization and liberalization have increased the competitiveness of product markets, one explanation for the trend towards decentralization could be increased competition. Of course there are a range of other factors that may also be at play, including human capital, information and communication technology, culture, and industrial composition. To tackle these issues we collected detailed information on the internal organization of firms across nations. The few datasets that exist are either from a single industry or (at best) across many firms in a single country. We analyze data on almost 4,000 firms across 12 countries in Europe, North America, and Asia. We find that competition does indeed seem to foster greater decentralization.

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-052.pdf

Accountability and Control as Catalysts for Strategic Exploration and Exploitation: Field Study Results

Abstract

This paper reports the collective finding from 102 field studies that look at the relationship between two organization design variables: span of control and span of accountability. Clustering the data yields propositions suggesting that the relationship between these variables may be an important determinant of strategic exploitation and exploration activities. Data from the field studies suggest that, in accordance with the controllability principle, accountability and control are tightly aligned for exploitation activities. However, this result was found in only a small number of tasks and functions. In the majority of situations, spans of accountability were wider than spans of control. This “Entrepreneurial Gap” is posited to be a result of management’s desire for innovation and exploration—and used as a catalyst for changing strategy, creating high levels of customer satisfaction, or motivating people to navigate complex matrix organizations.

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-051.pdf

Substitution Patterns of the Random Coefficients Logit

Abstract

Previous research suggests that the random coefficients logit is a highly flexible model that overcomes the problems of the homogeneous logit by allowing for differences in tastes across individuals. The purpose of this paper is to show that this is not true. We prove that the random coefficients logit imposes restrictions on individual choice behavior that limit the types of substitution patterns that can be found through empirical analysis, and we raise fundamental questions about when the model can be used to recover individuals’ preferences from their observed choices. Part of the misunderstanding about the random coefficients logit can be attributed to the lack of cross-level inference in previous research. To overcome this deficiency, we design several Monte Carlo experiments to show what the model predicts at both the individual and the population levels. These experiments show that the random coefficients logit leads a researcher to very different conclusions about individuals’ tastes depending on how alternatives are presented in the choice set. In turn, these biased parameter estimates affect counterfactual predictions. In one experiment, the market share predictions for a given alternative in a given choice set range between 17% and 83% depending on how the alternatives are displayed both in the data used for estimation and in the counterfactual scenario under consideration. This occurs even though the market shares observed in the data are always about 50% regardless of the display.

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-053.pdf