It is well-established that, when confronted with a decision to be taken under risk, individuals use reference payoff levels as important inputs. The purpose of this paper is to study which reference points characterize decisions in a setting in which there are several plausible reference levels of payoff. We report an experiment, in which we investigate which of four potential reference points: (1) a population average payoff level, (2) the announced expected payoff of peers in a similar decision situation, (3) a historical average level of earnings that others have received in the same task, and (4) an announced anticipated individual payoff level, best describes decisions in a decontextualized risky decision making task. We find heterogeneity among individuals in the reference points they employ. The population average payoff level is the modal reference point, followed by experimenter's stated expectation of a participant's individual earnings, followed in turn by the average earnings of other participants in previous sessions of the same experiment. A sizeable share of individuals show multiple reference points simultaneously. The reference point that best fits the choices of the individual is not affected by a shock to her income.

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The present study aimed to apply the framing effects in prospect theory to examine college students¡¦ risk tendencies under the context of educational marketing. Prospect theory proposes that framing effects result in a preference for risk-averse choices in gain situations and risk-seeking choices in loss situations. Frame in this research was treated as a between-subjects factor. Participants were randomly assigned to either the gain or loss condition with the counter-balanced method. The decision tasks consisted of four domains of marketing mix, i.e., product, price, place, and promotion. The results showed that participants¡¦ risk tendencies were in accordance with the predictions from the perspective of framing effects. Reference points were employed by participants to determine gain or loss framing. Specifically, risk-averse tendencies were more prominent in gain situations than those in loss situations, whereas risk-seeking tendencies were more pronounced in loss situations than those in gain situations. Hence, in order to produce desirable outcomes of marketing mix in educational marketing, marketers in higher education should take the influences of reference point and framing effects on decision-making into consideration.

Consumers’ purchase decisions typically involve two brands: the manufacturer brand (the “what brand to buy” decision) and the retailer brand (the “where to buy” decision). While extant research suggests that consumers’ product evaluation is affected by both, much less is known about how the two brands jointly affect consumers’ preferences. Building upon prospect theory and mental accounting principles, I hypothesize that the joint effect of the two brands on consumers’ evaluation of different products depends on the reference point evoked, and whether each of the two brands is perceived as a gain or loss relative to the reference point. Five lab experiments provide empirical support for the hypothesized effects. Study 1 reveals that the joint effect of manufacturer and retailer brands depends on the reference product in a manner consistent with prospect theory and mental accounting principles. The results of Study 2 and 3 show that the majority of participants use a reputable brand sold at a reputable retailer as their reference product. For this group, there is a positive interaction effect of the manufacturer and retailer brands on consumers’ willingness to pay. Study 4 extends the results of Study 3 by testing the theoretical framework using a non-price measure of consumers’ product evaluation (i.e., attitude toward the offer). The results provide converging support for H1 and H2 and demonstrate the mediating role of gain and loss feelings, thus providing preliminary evidence for the proposed cognitive process. Finally, Study 5 provides supporting evidence for the predictions through the use of a priming method. This research contributes to the literature on behavioral decision theory and branding by extending the study of mental accounting from quantitative information (e.g., money, time) to qualitative information such as that derived from brand reputation. The findings have prescriptive implications as they can help managers understand how their brands can be leveraged, how consumers react to reference products available in the marketplace, and how to best price products across different outlets depending on the reputation of their brands and the reputation of the outlets.

It has been widely accepted that people do not always behave rationally when making decisions. However, cognitive biases are still of interest to a relatively small group (mostly working in the area of psychology) even though they have been introduced to a wider audience by Tversky and Kahneman&rsquo / s article in Science in 1974. It has already been shown that behavioral biases affect most decisions of people / therefore, they have an important role in a wide range of fields, from financial marketing to gambling. The purpose of this study is to investigate some cognitive biases (anchoring, reference point, probability judgment and risk propensity) in Turkey. In brief, anchoring bias is the fallacious effect of anchor values on decision making process, the presence of reference point bias proves that people are excessively affected by comparisons, probability judgment bias is the erroneous evaluation of probabilities, and risk propensity bias is the fallacious effect of the risk propensity levels on decision making processes. The relationships of these biases with individual cognitive ability levels and socioeconomic variables are also inspected. The data are collected by using a survey that is composed of the related measures which are taken from previous surveys in the literature. The sample is composed of a large number of participants (1575) from a wide range of socioeconomic statuses, from students to working professionals to retired individuals. The results lend support to the presence of a reference point bias, and an effect of risk propensity levels on decisions. However, an evidence which supports anchoring and probability judgment biases are failed to be found at a significant level. A significant relationship between cognitive ability level and risk propensity level is found. Moreover, demographic variables are also found to have an effect on the selected biases and cognitive ability.

Diabetes is associated with increased fracture risk, which leads to increased morbidity and eventual mortality with a substantial financial burden. Type 2 Diabetics also have increased fracture risk, despite having the same or higher BMD as non-diabetics with a low fracture risk. One hypothesis for this is increased modifications made to the extra-cellular matrix via non-enzymatic glycation (NEG) that can occur in a hyperglycemic environment, such as with diabetes. The accumulation of NEG products, known as advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) can possibly lead to microdamage and eventual weakening of the bone itself. We developed a time-response model in order to induce a wide range of AGEs in a manner that would sustain the mineral integrity of the bone and could be applied to a variety of bone sample types. This was performed on 65 rat tibias, distributed amongst 8 groups (3,7,10, & 14 days) for both ribose and control. Secondly, the protocol was performed on human cortical beam samples cut from 10 donor tibias with 3,5 and 7 day time points for ribose and control groups. All samples were incubated in a 0.6 M ribose solution or 0.0 M ribose control solution. There was a 7, 4, and 5-fold increase in AGEs at the 7, 10, and 14 day time points respectively over controls in the rat tibia study. There was no significant variation in cortical porosity, however TTMD was significantly less dense in the 14-day ribose treated groups. There was a trend toward higher AGEs with time in the human cortical beam specimens, but no significant increase. The AGEs values in the human cortical beam specimens were much lower than expected based on previous trials and reports in the literature. We were able to establish a time-response model for AGE accumulation in bone. However, the effects of AGEs on bone material properties remains inconclusive.

Today represents vibration analysis an inseparable part of the product design, especially aeronautical components, machine tools etc. One of the vibration analysis methods is the so-called modal analysis, which determines the modal parameters of the researched structure. This paper deals with a comparison of two commonly used approaches, namely „Single Input Multiple Output“ (SIMO) and „Multiple Input Multiple Output“ analysis (MIMO). A MIMO procedure of measurement is developed and discussed. Both analyses are executed by the same conditions on the milling machine based on parallel kinematics in order to objective comparison. The results show that the choice of the so-called reference points is very important. In case both references are appropriately selected, the MIMO analysis gives better results that the SIMO one.

Loss aversion is a theory which states that losses loom larger than gains. Negative outcomes are weighted heavier than positive outcomes in decision making but could this weight change when different prospects are evaluated? This thesis focuses on how the loss aversion changes toward different magnitudes of a loss for young individuals when they are faced with a 50/50 chance of winning or losing a gamble. The loss aversion is tested toward six different magnitudes of a potential loss ranging from 100 kr to 4 000 kr. The loss aversion toward these six different magnitudes is then compared to examine how the loss aversion changes. This data was collected using a survey experiment that was digitally distributed to economics students at Linnaeus University in Växjö.The results from the subsequent analysis showed that the loss aversion was not constant towards all six losses. The loss aversion was different in ten out of fifteen pairwise comparisons. Respondents became more loss averse when the loss increased but the loss aversion did however seem to be less sensitive to increases in losses above the 1 000 kr mark.

Stress fractures are common in the limb bones of human and equine athletes alike. Repetitive skeletal loading can lead to remodeling and the accumulation of microdamage in bone, which only becomes grossly evident during catastrophic fracture of the bone due to the accumulated microdamage. Though various metrics attempting to quantify bone health exist, none have distinguished themselves as early predictors of the susceptibility of bone to fracture. In this exploratory study, we examine the ability of several evaluation methods to distinguish between third metacarpal (MC3) bones from racehorses that have experienced a limb-bone fracture and from those that have not. Third metacarpal bones were harvested from deceased Thoroughbred racehorses and categorized into four groups: MC3 bones from horses whose cause of death was not related to skeletal fracture (Control group, n = 20), MC3 bones form horses that were euthanized after fracturing proximal sesamoid bones (Sesamoid group, n = 20), MC3 bones from horses that were euthanized after fracturing a non-MC3 long bone (Long Bone group, n = 19), and MC3 bones from horses that were euthanized after fracturing an MC3 (MC3 group, n = 5). Each MC3 bone underwent testing using a variety of tools and methods at the proximal, midshaft, and distal levels of the lateral, dorsal, and medial surfaces. All tools and methods (OsteoProbe reference point indentation, BioDent reference point indentation, x-ray, micro-CT, and pQCT) exhibited some capability in differentiating between control and fracture groups. The long-term objective of this project is to create a model that will utilize data from a set of evaluations and output the susceptibility of the horse to fracture a bone, a long bone, or the MC3, specifically. Although the sample size in this study is not sufficient to create a reliably predictive logistic regression model, promising results from preliminary models provide incentive to further explore the possibility of creating one. While clinical practicality will be a vital consideration for a model in the future, establishing this basis for the capability of each evaluation at hand is a necessary first step in predicting and preventing fracture in bone.

Today represents vibration analysis an inseparable part of the product design, especially aeronautical components, machine tools etc. One of the vibration analysis methods is the so-called modal analysis, which determines the modal parameters of the researched structure. This paper deals with a comparison of two commonly used approaches, namely „Single Input Multiple Output“ (SIMO) and „Multiple Input Multiple Output“ analysis (MIMO). A MIMO procedure of measurement is developed and discussed. Both analyses are executed by the same conditions on the milling machine based on parallel kinematics in order to objective comparison. The results show that the choice of the so-called refer-ence points is very important. In case both references are appropriately selected, the MIMO analysis gives better results that the SIMO one.