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Keywords Drug addiction; Valuation; Neuroimaging; Neurobiology; Cycle of Addiction Highlights * Decision-making during dependency is functional but focused on drugs. * Drugs valued as reward of choice for pleasure seeking and pain avoidance. * Motivation for drugs may change but goal-directedness remains. * Dopaminergic system and brain-wide networks involved in drug valuation. * The cycle of addiction can be viewed as oscillations in hedonic set point. Abstract Over the years, various models have been proposed to explain the psychology and biology of drug addiction, built primarily around the habit and compulsion models. Recent research indicates drug addiction may be goal-directed, motivated by excessive valuation of drugs. Drug consumption may initially occur for the sake of pleasure but may transition to a means of escaping withdrawal, stress and negative emotions. In this hypothetical paper, we propose a value-based neurobiological model for drug addiction. We posit that during dependency, the value-based decision-making system in the brain is not inactive but has instead prioritized drugs as the reward of choice. In support of this model, we consider the role of valuation in choice, its influence on pleasure and punishment, and how valuation is contrasted in impulsive and compulsive behaviours. We then discuss the neurobiology of value, beginning with the dopaminergic system and its relationship with incentive salience before moving to brain-wide networks involved in valuation, control and prospection. These value-based neurobiological components are then integrated into the cycle of addiction as we consider the development of drug dependency from a valuation perspective. We conclude with a discussion of cognitive interventions utilizing value-based decision-making, highlighting not just advances in recalibrating the valuation system to focus on non-drug rewards, but also areas for improvement in refining this approach.

Keywords Consumer decision-making; Process-tracing; Bibliometric analysis; Eye tracking; Consumer neuroscience; Verbal protocol Abstract Eye tracking has been used for decades to provide insight into the cognitive processes that underlie consumers' decision-making. Since there is a wide variety of tools, ranging from information display boards to functional magnetic resonance imaging, that can be used to better understand these processes, eye tracking should not be viewed in isolation. In order to understand the roots, current developments, and future research avenues of eye-tracking research, it is necessary to focus on process-tracing research on consumer decision-making. This paper addresses this issue by quantitatively analyzing 347 articles, along with their 17,798 cited references, by means of factor and social network analysis. Six distinct, but to varying extents interconnected, key research streams dominate the field's research agenda. Revealing the emergence and growth of these research streams shows how their prevalence has changed over time. Several conclusions, based on the results, are drawn and used to indicate possible future research.

Whilst child protection systems are concerned with removal of children from their families in the interests of safety, the capacity of child welfare systems to return children safely to their families of origin is of central importance. The multidimensional standardised assessment tool, the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale -- Reunification (NCFAS-R) was used by practitioners to assess family strengths and needs in case planning and reunification decision making. The current paper examined (1) whether NCFAS-R domain ratings at intake and closure differ by characteristics of parents and children; and (2) whether reunification is predicted by NCFAS-R score at closure. The study sample consists of 145 children aged 0-12years from 84 families, who presented at Barnardos temporary care services in two metropolitan areas in Australia. This excludes children who had missing values on NCFAS-R or reunification outcome. Participants continuously entered the study over the four year study period, the study window being 18months since intake. Ordinary least squared (OLS) regression was used to examine whether NCFAS-R scores at intake and closure were predicted by demographic variables, primary reason in care, and placement circumstance. To examine the relationship between NCFAS-R scores at closure and reunification outcome, a logistic regression model was used. At intake, the average score was highest for the Child Well-Being domain and lowest for the Parental Capabilities domain. NCFAS-R scores were increased at closure on all domains, with the biggest improvement on the domains of Family Safety and Child Well-Being. At intake, NCFAS-R scores did not differ significantly by independent variables examined except for the Child Well-Being domain. Children who were placed with their siblings displayed 0.45 points higher scores on the Child Well-Being domain. At closure, NCFAS-R scores differed significantly by some family variables and a placement variable. In general, mothers being 25years or younger, mothers having Year 11 or a higher level of education, or children being placed with their siblings were significantly associated with higher scores on various NCFAS-R domains at closure. Overall NCFAS-R scores at closure significantly predicted reunification with parents or kin. One unit increase in overall NCFAS-R score at closure increased the odds of reunification by a factor of 8.39. Findings contribute to an evolving evidence base on decision making and facilitating reunification outcomes for children and families. Article History: Received 16 January 2013; Revised 8 May 2013; Accepted 8 May 2013 Article Note: (footnote) [star] This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Remediation methods for contaminated sites cover a wide range of technical solutions with different remedial efficiencies and costs. Additionally, they may vary in their secondary impacts on the environment i.e. the potential impacts generated due to emissions and resource use caused by the remediation activities. More attention is increasingly being given to these secondary environmental impacts when evaluating remediation options. This paper presents a methodology for an integrated economic decision analysis which combines assessments of remediation costs, health risk costs and potential environmental costs. The health risks costs are associated with the residual contamination left at the site and its migration to groundwater used for drinking water. A probabilistic exposure model using first- and second-order reliability methods (FORM/SORM) is used to estimate the contaminant concentrations at a downstream groundwater well. Potential environmental impacts on the local, regional and global scales due to the site remediation activities are evaluated using life cycle assessments (LCA). The potential impacts on health and environment are converted to monetary units using a simplified cost model. A case study based upon the developed methodology is presented in which the following remediation scenarios are analyzed and compared: (a) no action, (b) excavation and off-site treatment of soil, (c) soil vapor extraction and (d) thermally enhanced soil vapor extraction by electrical heating of the soil. Ultimately, the developed methodology facilitates societal cost estimations of remediation scenarios which can be used for internal ranking of the analyzed options. Despite the inherent uncertainties of placing a value on health and environmental impacts, the presented methodology is believed to be valuable in supporting decisions on remedial interventions.

Demands for public participation in technical decision-making are currently high on the agenda of Science & Technology Studies. It is assumed that the democratisation of technical decision-making processes generally leads to more socially desirable and acceptable outcomes. While this may be true in certain cases, this assumption cannot be generalised. I will discuss the case of the so-called 'South African AZT debate'. The controversy started when President Thabo Mbeki, after reading some scientific papers on the toxicity of AZT, decided to bar the use of the drug in the public health sector as a means to reduce the transmission of HIV from mothers to children. While the scientific mainstream accepts the effectiveness of AZT in reducing the risk of vertical HIV transmission, a few maverick scientists reject the clinical evidence and argue that the risks of using AZT by far outweigh its benefits. Based on various textual sources and using the 'Periodic Table of Expertises' developed by Collins and Evans, Mbeki's expertise at the time of his intervention into the technical question whether AZT is a medicine or a poison can be classified as primary source knowledge. It is shown that this type of expertise is insufficient for technical decision-making. Mbeki's primary source knowledge legitimated his presentation of the claims of maverick scientists as a serious contribution to the debate -- with tragic consequences for tens of thousands of babies.

Most Americans obtain access to health insurance through an employer. In this paper, we ask how the link between health insurance and employment affects labor market choices such as whether to work full-time. To understand the effect of the incentives embedded in the employer-based insurance system, we study the joint decision-making of husbands and wives that determines the household's access to health insurance. We estimate the effect on a wife's (husband's) labor market outcomes of husband's (wife's) health insurance, allowing the health insurance of both spouses to be endogenous. Obtaining unbiased estimates of such effects is complicated by the likelihood that positive assortative mating creates correlations between a couple's characteristics and the possibility that there are important unobservable household income effects. Our innovation is to measure these biases by examining a second fringe benefit, paid sick leave, in addition to health insurance. We find that, as predicted, spouse's insurance has statistically significant negative effects on being offered own employer insurance as well as on the probability of working full-time with health insurance.

This paper describes an assessment of the seriousness of (clusters of) diseases in two rounds, one with the criteria which are predominant for policy makers, and one with the criteria of the patients. The project was carried out in a Group Decision Room by 12 high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport in The Netherlands. The evaluation remained manageable by a context-related scaling technique which accelerated the decision process and enhanced the consistency of the evaluators.