Explore the vast range of titles available.

We describe interviewers’ actions in phone calls recruiting sample members. We illustrate (1) analytic challenges of studying how interviewers affect participation and (2) actions that undergird the variables in our models. We examine the impact of the interviewer’s disfluencies on whether a sample member accepts or declines the request for an interview as a case study. Disfluencies are potentially important if they communicate the competence or humanity of the interviewer to the sample member in a way that affects the decision to participate. Using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we find that although as they begin, calls that become declinations are similar to those that become acceptances, they soon take different paths. Considering all recruitment actions together, we find that the ratio of disfluencies to words does not predict acceptance of the request for an interview, although the disfluency ratio before the turning point – request to participate or a declination – of the call does. However, after controlling for the number of actions, the disfluency ratio no longer predicts participation. Instead, when we examine actions before and after the first turning point separately, we find that the number of actions has a positive relationship with participation before and a negative relationship after.

This chapter first presents a review of the post hoc approach to studying interviewer effects that are associated with the characteristics of interviewers, including an original example of how that approach can easily be carried out. It then presents examples of a priori approaches including the results of an original experiment that the authors conducted in 2015 to investigate interviewer effects in the administration of an experiment involving a telephone survey introduction. The chapter addresses issues related to interviewer effects in post hoc designs so as to illustrate interviewer‐related experimental analyses using existing datasets gathered for another purpose than the experimental analyses. The authors recognize through their past experience, and their experience with the original experiment they conducted for the chapter, that implementing interviewer‐administered experiments presents many operational challenges, some of which may be so severe as to threaten or even undermine the integrity of the experiment.

According to the total survey error theory, most survey errors are stemming from non-sampling error—errors such as response and non-response. This chapter discusses the importance of questionnaire design and specific question phrasing and how they affect response rate and quality of response. Providing a detail account of the various stages in preparing a valid and reliable questionnaire provides the readers with a helpful tool that will guide researchers through the complex and daunting task from single item phrasing to the presentation of an entire questionnaire.

This paper reports the results of a stated preference survey of regular transit users’ willingness to ride and concerns about driverless buses in the Philadelphia region. As automated technologies advance, driverless buses may offer significant efficiency, safety, and operational improvements over traditional bus services. However, unfamiliarity with automated vehicle technology may challenge its acceptance among the general public and slow the adoption of new technologies. Using a mixed logit modeling framework, this research examines which types of transit users are most willing to ride in driverless buses and whether having a transit employee on board to monitor the vehicle operations and/or provide customer service matters. Of the 891 surveyed members of University of Pennsylvania’s transit pass benefit program, two-thirds express a willingness to ride in a driverless bus when a transit employee is on board to monitor vehicle operations and provide customer service. By contrast, only 13% would agree to ride a bus without an employee on board. Males and those in younger age groups (18–34) are more willing to ride in driverless buses than females and those in older age groups. Findings suggest that, so long as a transit employee is onboard, many transit passengers will willingly board early generation automated buses. An abrupt shift to buses without employees on board, by contrast, will likely alienate many transit users.

We examine how the entry of gig-economy platforms influences local entrepreneurial activity. On the one hand, such platforms may reduce entrepreneurial activity by offering stable employment for the unemployed and underemployed. On the other hand, such platforms may enable entrepreneurial activity by offering work flexibility that allows the entrepreneur to redeploy resources strategically in order to pursue the nascent venture. To resolve this tension, we examine the entry of the ridesharing platform Uber X into local areas. We use two measures of entrepreneurial activity: crowdfunding campaign launches at Kickstarter, the world’s largest reward-based crowdfunding platform, and levels of self-employment from the Current Population Survey. Results indicate a negative and significant relationship between platform entry and both measures of entrepreneurial activity. Importantly, the effect manifests primarily amongst unsuccessful Kickstarter campaigns and unincorporated entrepreneurial ventures, suggesting that gig-economy platforms predominantly reduce lower quality entrepreneurial activity, seemingly by offering viable employment for the unemployed and underemployed. These relationships are corroborated with a first-hand survey conducted with gig-economy service providers. This paper was accepted by Anandhi Bharadwaj, information systems.

PurposeThe steady development of biotechnology-derived therapeutic biologics over the last few decades has generated drugs that are now standard medical treatments for a range of indications. While the development of protein products has surged in recent years, the formulation and delivery of these complex molecules have relied on drug-specific studies and, in some instances, data from non-proteinaceous drug products. The commonalities, trends, and gaps in excipient technologies used to support the development of therapeutic proteins largely remain unexplored due to the drug-specific nature of many formulations.MethodsUsing a comprehensive and relational database approach, we aimed to provide a scientific survey of all approved or licensed biotechnology-derived drug products with the goal of providing evidence-based information on common attributes and trending features in protein product excipients. We examined 665 formulations, and 395 unique formulations based on having unique excipients within them, that supported 211 therapeutic proteins as of June 2020.ResultsWe report the prevalence of each excipient class and excipient chemical used in eight different drug types including monoclonal antibodies, antibody conjugates, cytokines and growth factors, enzymes, polypeptide hormones, pulmonary surfactants, recombinant fusion proteins, and toxins. We also report the prevalence by excipient type among all therapeutic proteins, in the context of each drug’s recommended pH range, concentration ranges for excipients, and route of administration.ConclusionsThe results of our analyses indicate certain excipients common to monoclonal antibodies, cytokines, and polypeptide hormones. We also report on excipients unique to protein drug products, such as amino acids, solubilizers, and lyoprotectants. Overall, our report summarizes the current landscape of excipients used in marketed biotechnology-derived therapeutic biologic products.

Knowing which species will become invasive has been the holy grail of invasion biology. A survey of woody plants was conducted in 2001 on an island (Isla Victoria) where 135 non-native woody plant species had been introduced 80 years previously. The survey showed that nearly 10% of introduced species had spread further than 100 m from the original sites. For some introduced species on this island longer time lags between introduction and invasion (or further spread) could be at play. To test if new invasions have begun since the original survey or if ongoing invasions have spread further, we repeated the survey a decade later. The proportion of introduced species that became invasive did not increase between surveys, suggesting that longer time lags may not reveal major invasions from new species on this island. However, we found that the relative frequency of taller individuals (above 2 m) has increased, suggesting a change in age structure of these invasive populations. Further, we found that woody invader densities and maximum heights have increased since the original survey, suggesting that woody plant invasion is progressing, and for some species even accelerating. These results highlight the importance of research on how long invasions of long-lived woody plants can take, providing key data to guide long-term monitoring of sites with multiple non-native plant introductions.

Aim Woody plants were not widely considered to be important invasive alien species until fairly recently. Thousands of species of trees and shrubs have, however, been moved around the world. Many species have spread from planting sites, and some are now among the most widespread and damaging of invasive organisms. This article presents a global list of invasive alien trees and shrubs. It discusses taxonomic biases, geographical patterns, modes of dispersal, reasons for introductions and key issues regarding invasions of non-native woody plants around the world. Location Global. Methods An exhaustive survey was made of regional and national databases and the literature. Correspondence with botanists and ecologists and our own observations in many parts of the world expanded the list. Presence of invasive species was determined for each of 15 broad geographical regions. The main reasons for introduction and dissemination were determined for each species. Results The list comprises 622 species (357 trees, 265 shrubs in 29 plant orders, 78 families, 286 genera). Regions with the largest number of woody invasive alien species are: Australia (183); southern Africa (170); North America (163); Pacific Islands (147); and New Zealand (107). Species introduced for horticulture dominated the list (62% of species: 196 trees and 187 shrubs). The next most important reasons for introduction and dissemination were forestry (13%), food (10%) and agroforestry (7%). Three hundred and twenty-three species (52%) are currently known to be invasive in only one region, and another 126 (20%) occur in only two regions. Only 38 species (6%) are very widespread (invasive in six or more regions). Over 40% of invasive tree species and over 60% of invasive shrub species are bird dispersed. Main conclusions Only between 0.5% and 0.7% of the world's tree and shrub species are currently invasive outside their natural range, but woody plant invasions are rapidly increasing in importance around the world. The objectively compiled list of invasive species presented here provides a snapshot of the current dimensions of the phenomenon and will be useful for screening new introductions for invasive potential.