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The article explains how the unprecedented pandemic management decision to lock down the country came about, using the case of Norway and drawing on unique interview material from political and administrative executives. Urgency and precaution were the government's primary considerations in March 2020, with proportionality and due process only peripheral decision premises. Voices of moderation were drowned out at critical moments to pave the way for a lockdown. Moreover, Norway's lockdown decision lacked distinct and official agency, with none of the key actors able to say precisely when, where and by whom this decision of unprecedented size and scope had been taken. An interpretation using Graham Allison's analytical models shows that the rational policy model most accurately captures the case. The suggested implication is that when senior political executives take active control of an ultra-high-stakes process, decisions are unlikely to be the product of political resultants or organisational output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris summit of 1974 produced an informal agreement to renounce a previous informal agreement, the famous Luxembourg Compromise of 1966 about qualified majority voting (QMV). The dominant view within existing scholarship is that the Paris summit had no effect because the Luxembourg Compromise and its consensus norm persisted at least into the 1980s: QMV was inoperative before and remained inoperative after. Using quantitative analysis and extensive process tracing, we provide the first systematic empirical test of this conventional view and of the summit’s effects. Although superficially our null finding (no effect) appears to confirm previous accounts, it constitutes further evidence against prevailing ‘veto culture’ narratives and challenges existing theories about informal institutions and institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Railway interlocking systems are essential safety components in rail transportation, designed to prevent train collisions. They regulate the transitions between sections of a railway station using rail traffic control elements. An interlocking system can assess whether the configuration of these control elements poses a collision risk. Over the years, researchers have developed various algebraic models to tackle this issue, highlighting the potential use of computer algebra systems in implementing interlocking systems. In this work, we aim to enhance these systems' capabilities. Not only will they indicate whether a situation is dangerous, but if it is, they will also provide guidance on how to configure certain rail traffic control elements to ensure safety. In this paper, we introduce an algebraic model that represents the railway station through polynomials. This approach transforms the task of identifying dangerous situations into calculating the residue of a polynomial over a set of polynomials. The monomials contained in this residue polynomial encode all possible configurations that would render the situation safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various multi-criteria decision-making methods have been utilized in literature to address vendor selection challenges in various contexts. This study reflects on these decision-making techniques for vendor selection in the software ecosystem during software outsourcing. For the same, firstly, a requirement framework for the decision-making process for software vendor selection is proposed. Afterwards, five selected different multi-criteria decision-making techniques are compared and critically analysed against this requirement framework. This study supports software practitioners and decisionmakers by providing information about which decisionmaking method to choose, considering the trade-off between the benefits and drawbacks of adopting each method or using hybrid approaches by combining two or more techniques with fuzzy logic. It is found that decision-making techniques generally lack in modelling the problem itself and handling the conflicts and uncertainties that may prevail during the decisionmaking process. Furthermore, it has been identified that artificial neural networks (ANN) and analytic network process (ANP) can support the dependencies between alternatives and criteria while handling complex interactions in the software ecosystem. On the other hand, due to its comparative ease of use, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) can serve better in scenarios where decision-makers are not experienced, or past data to train the ANN or ANP models is unavailable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explicated the need to compare the established paradigmatic ideas in local public management and in the political science research environment. Particular attention is paid to the important issue of the project relationship establishing between the paradigmatic approach and the subject field of public management research. Essential discrepancies between the key paradigmatic approaches to local public management and policy making at the local level are revealed. Stated the necessity of essential empirical material evaluation for further research and possibly improvement of the regulatory framework for local public management. Proved that the particular author's (actors`) main reason for conducting paradigmatic discussions on local public management is the need to communicate with a powerful research tradition. It is concluded that, the success of public policies and their impact on the lives of citizens depends on an understanding of epistemic foundations. Established that different paradigmatic alternatives of public decisions are determined on the basis of scientific data. Considered the most optimal way of applying any paradigmatic approaches is the analysis of the expediency of applying the methodology and forecasting the achievement of scientific novelty or specific results of management projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gaceta Médica de Caracas is the property of Academia Nacional de Medicina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Smallholder farmers continue to face food and nutrition insecurity. The timing, scope and effectiveness of interventions is influenced by decisionmaking and roles within households and communities, yet emphasis has majorly been placed on mothers. A cross-sectional study explored the child feeding practices and extent of the father's participation in child feeding among 433 farming households with children aged 6-35 months from two rural and two peri-urban districts in Central Uganda. Diets consumed by children were inadequate with only 37% meeting the minimum dietary diversity. About 65% of fathers participated in decision-making over child feeding with 10% all the time and 24% only a few times. Additionally, 48% of fathers participated in actual child feeding, 2% all the time and 23% only a few times. Main reasons for the level of father participation included the presence or absence of money or food; concern or lack of concern over the child's health; father's physical availability; and whether child feeding is part of a father's responsibility or not. Fathers who participated in decisionmaking regarding child feeding were more likely to participate in actual child feeding (r=0.6, P<0.01). There is an opportunity for active engagement of fathers in nutrition-related interventions to enhance their participation and support in decisions concerning child feeding and actual child feeding for enhanced child and household food and nutrition security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the relation between the design of regulatory agencies and efficiency, arguing that authority concentrated to a single individual outperforms more collegial decision-making when the regulated firms' interests are aligned. The tentative explanation is that concentrated leadership reduces the risk for capture. This argument is developed from an empirical case on the markets for mobile and fixed broadband. In the mobile market, the regulated firms are similarly positioned, whereas in the fixed broadband market, the firms typically have adversarial positions, with an incumbent being challenged by entrants. A statistical analysis of regulatory agencies in 33 European countries lends support to the argument that regulation of mobile broadband benefits from having a single decision-maker whereas a bureaucratic regulation with more collegiality functions as well for the fixed broadband. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the rapid propagation characteristic of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, manual diagnostic methods cannot handle the large number of infected individuals to prevent the spread of infection. Despite, new automated diagnostic methods have been brought on board, particularly methods based on artificial intelligence using different medical data such as X-ray imaging. Thoracic imaging, for example, produces several image types that can be processed and analyzed by machine and deep learning methods. X-ray imaging materials widely exist in most hospitals and health institutes since they are affordable compared to other imaging machines. Through this paper, we propose a novel Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model (COV2Net) that can detect COVID-19 virus by analyzing the X-ray images of suspected patients. This model is trained on a dataset containing thousands of X-ray images collected from different sources. The model was tested and evaluated on an independent dataset. In order to approve the performance of the proposed model, three CNN models namely Mobile-Net, Residential Energy Services Network (Res-Net), and Visual Geometry Group 16 (VGG-16) have been implemented using transfer learning technique. This experiment consists of a multi-label classification task based on X-ray images for normal patients, patients infected by COVID-19 virus and other patients infected with pneumonia. This proposed model is empowered with Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) and Grad-Cam++ techniques for a visual explanation and methodology debugging goal. The finding results show that the proposed model COV2Net outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of decisions are guided by machine learning algorithms. In many settings, from consumer credit to criminal justice, those decisions are made by applying an estimator to data on an individual’s observed behavior. But when consequential decisions are encoded in rules, individuals may strategically alter their behavior to achieve desired outcomes. This paper develops a new class of estimator that is stable under manipulation, even when the decision rule is fully transparent. We explicitly model the costs of manipulating different behaviors, and identify decision rules that are stable in equilibrium. Through a large field experiment in Kenya, we show that decision rules estimated with our strategy-robust method outperform those based on standard supervised learning approaches.

Aviation enterprises (airports) are massive facilities with a variety of effects on the environment, yet, those influences are significantly understudied and lack structuring, leaving the airports at low levels of sustainability and with impaired management. Thus, the aim of this research was to compile the mind map to describe a system of environmental impacts and problems associated with the airports. The model (map) was created by conducting complex multi-stage expert surveys with scoping of elements of airport management system, which identified 68 factors belonging to 8 groups. The factors are related to atmospheric air, soil and water, flora and fauna, physical impacts, organisational, environmental, administrative, logistical and spatial issues, construction and technical solutions as well as social, economic and human factors. With the help of ranking based on experts' judgements, 13 most relevant (key) factors of the impact on the environment were distinguished. To build an oriented graph of the airport management system and analyse it, the approach of drawing arcs (arrows) of impact was used. It is found that the most influential factors tend to be dynamic, related to the planning stages of airports and instead of purely environmental ones are interdisciplinary. The annual passenger traffic at the airport, compliance with the standards of sanitary protection zones, airport's capacity and types of aircraft received by the airport demonstrated the highest impact on the airport environmental management system. In combination with studies of the effects of individual factors and the impact of the airport on the environment, the results of the work can be applied practically in the management and decision-making processes regarding the environmental safety of the airport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation in urban planning is important to increase accountability, transparency, and legitimacy of decisions. In this context, it is essential to establish the needs and priorities of stakeholders potentially affected by decisions. However, poor participation practices undermine the public's trust in decision-making processes and reduce the public's willingness to participate. The study aims to contribute to urban planning theory by discussing what participatory planning means. Furthermore, a systematic, objective-led, and negotiationbased decision support framework is proposed, based on a 2D/3D visualization and analytic hierarchy process for use in participatory urban planning. The framework aims to increase the legitimacy of decisions taken without ignoring the political dimension of planning. It was tested in a regeneration case study in Liverpool (UK). Testing shows that the framework enables technical issues to be addressed in a way that the public can understand. In the process, a systematic evaluation of participants' priorities is possible and negotiated participation is supported. The framework could support transferring stakeholders' priorities into plan decisions with online meetings and surveys, for example, when the possibility of physical meetings is restricted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Selçuk University Journal of Faculty of Letters is the property of Selcuk Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In order to improve the growth prospects for agro-processors, this article explores the realm of competitive intelligence practices within the agro-processing sector in Limpopo Province, South Africa. This study was inspired by the province's abundant agricultural resources, which have the potential to stimulate the growth of the agro-processing industry. Despite having a wealth of resources for value addition, the Limpopo Province has difficulties as seen by its high unemployment rates and relatively low economic growth when compared to other South African provinces. One of the main causes of this gap is the lack of growth in the agro-processing industry. To promote the development of agro-processors, the research paper focused on exploring competitive intelligence practices that are being used by the agroprocessing industry in Limpopo Province and to determine the role of competitive intelligence in strategising and decision-making in the agricultural industry. The study aimed to provide strategy enhancement and decision-making optimisation within agro-processing enterprises operating in the Limpopo Province. This study was qualitative in nature and adopted an exploratory design as well as utilising a multi-case strategy. Data was collected from eight agro-processing subsectors in Limpopo Province. Semi-structured web-based questionnaires and open-ended telephone interviews were used as data collection instruments. The study was cross-sectional in nature whereby data was collected once and over a short period of two (2) months. The research's target population was 130 agro-processors registered under the Sub-Directorate Agro-Processing and Value Addition Services within the Agribusiness Support and Development Directorate of the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The study sample comprised of twenty CEOs and twenty managers, selected through non-probability purposive sampling. CEOs responded to web-based questionnaires, while managers participated in telephone interviews. The primary data gathered underwent thematic analysis, facilitated by Atlas.ti version 28 windows computer software, which aided in data coding. The result of this research provides a thorough review of competitive intelligence practices and their functions in the agro-processing sector. The findings emphasised the various strategies used by agro-processors to successfully navigate a competitive market, and they show the significance of obtaining and applying competitive intelligence to guide strategic choices and increase growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy sustainability is a hot topic in both scientific and political circles. To date, two alternative approaches to this issue are being taken. Some people believe that increasing power consumption is necessary for countries' economic and social progress, while others are more concerned with maintaining carbon consumption under set limitations. To establish a secure, sustainable, and economical energy system while mitigating the consequences of climate change, most governments are currently pushing renewable growth policies. Energy markets are meant to provide consumers with dependable electricity at the lowest possible cost. A profit-maximization optimal decision model is created in the electric power market with the combined wind, solar units, loads, and energy storage systems, based on the bidding mechanism in the electricity market and operational principles. This model utterly considers the technological limits of new energy units and storages, as well as the involvement of new energy and electric vehicles in market bidding through power generation strategy and the output arrangement of the virtual power plant's coordinated operation. The accuracy and validity of the optimal decision-making model of combined wind, solar units, loads, and energy storage systems are validated using numerical examples. Under multioperating scenarios, the effects of renewable energy output changes on joint system bidding techniques are compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the emergence and development ofchildren’s ability to adapt their information search to differentgoals. In Study 1, 3- to 7-year-olds had to decide whether tostudy the arms or legs of two monsters to predict which wouldsucceed at a throwing vs. jumping challenge. Children’s abil-ity to adaptively select the relevant piece of information andtailor their search to the given goal increased with age, surpass-ing chance level around 4;6. Study 2 investigated additionaladaptation to distributions of, e.g., long arms in the search do-main. Preliminary results confirm the observed developmentaltrend in search adaptiveness and effectiveness, suggesting anability to tailor information search to the relevant distributionsin the environment. These studies provide first insights intothe development of adaptive information search given complexgoals, deepening our understanding of this key aspect of learn-ing, judgment and decision-making.

Word aversion is characterized by visceral disgust in responseto seeing or hearing a word. Unlike taboo words or profanity,aversive words do not seem to have an obvious historicalcontext, referent, or pejorative function that causes people toreact negatively to them. “Moist” is a prototypical example ofan aversive word: roughly 20% of American English speakersequate hearing the word with the sound of fingernailsscratching a chalkboard. Despite widespread aversion to“moist,” the word frequently appears on the packaging ofconsumer products like cake, shampoo, and towelettes. Thepresent study tests whether word aversion affects consumerbehavior. We find that moist-averse participants are less liketo choose hygiene-related, but not food-related, products thathave “moist” on the package. We discuss the implications ofthis finding for theories of language processing and disgust inthe context of consumer behavior.

The purpose of this study was to identify the predictors of quality of life (QoL) among patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Specifically, this study investigated how decision-making, personality factors, and resilience are related to the QoL of patients with CVDs. 168 patients with CVDs were selected from the Salem district of Tamil Nadu state in India through purposive sampling. Data were collected through a survey. Correlation analysis revealed that physical health, psychological health, and environmental dimensions of QoL were significantly related to extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness factors of personality. Further, multiple regression analysis revealed that resilience and certain dimensions of decision-making such as control and social resistance significantly predicted the QoL of patients with CVDs. This study provides an understanding of individual factors that predicted the QoL of CVDs patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind wandering involves internally focused attention, and isoften conceptualized as the opposite of external attention thatis oriented towards the task at hand. Individuals vary ac-cording to the amount they mind wander as well as with re-gards to the pattern of oscillations between mind wanderingthoughts and externally directed, focused thought. Assumingthat mind wandering is influenced by episodic contents, we ex-plore the proposition that mind wandering frequency is relatedto the manner in which individuals deal with the contents ofepisodic memory, as reflected by a maximizing decision mak-ing style. Based on previous studies measuring cognitive pro-cesses, we assume that mouse trajectories towards a particu-lar response on the screen are continuously updated by time-dependent and temporally-dynamic cognitive processes. Asa behavioral methodology, mouse tracking provides potentialcues to help predict mind wandering. In our experiment, a to-tal of 274 students completed a decision making questionnaire,episodic and associative memory tests (during which mousemovements were recorded) and a working memory task, dur-ing which mind wandering thoughts were assessed. We foundcertain mouse movement characteristics to be significantly pre-dictive of mind wandering. Also, a maximizing decision mak-ing style appeared to be related to a particular type of mindwandering, namely, task-related interference.

Copyright of Revista de Climatología is the property of Revista de Climatologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To meet surge capacity and to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, a regional crisis task force was established during the first pandemic wave to coordinate the even distribution of COVID-19 patients in the Amsterdam region. Based on a preexisting regional management framework for acute care, this task force was led by physicians experienced in managing mass casualty incidents. A collaborative framework consisting of the regional task force, the national task force, and the region's hospital crisis coordinators facilitated intraregional and interregional patient transfers. After hospital admission rates declined following the first COVID-19 wave, a window of opportunity enabled the task forces to create, standardize, and optimize their patient transfer processes before a potential second wave commenced. Improvement was prioritized according to 3 crucial pillars: process standardization, implementation of new strategies, and continuous evaluation of the decision tree. Implementing the novel "fair share" model as a straightforward patient distribution directive supported the regional task force's decisionmaking. Standardization of the digital patient transfer registration process contributed to a uniform, structured system in which every patient transfer was verifiable on intraregional and interregional levels. Furthermore, the regional task force team was optimized and evaluation meetings were standardized. Lines of communication were enhanced, resulting in increased situational awareness among all stakeholders that indirectly provided a safety net and an improved integral framework for managing COVID-19 care capacities. In this article, we describe enhancements to a patient transfer framework that can serve as an exemplary system to meet surge capacity demands during current and future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To analyze the usefulness or quality of annual reports formulated by the municipalities in the context of decision-making and accountability in the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Methodology: In this study, we employ a 21-index research tool designed by Beest, Braam, and Boelens (2009). Findings: The results of the study indicate that the quality of the KwaZulu-Natal municipalities' annual reports is quite satisfactory. However, there is scope for enhancement as far as the quality of the annual reports is concerned Originality/Value: This study contributes to the current body of knowledge and further contributes to the enhancement in the usefulness and quality of financial reporting in public sector and belyond. This study has also provided a very robust plan for future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the experience of nurses involved in decision‐making to transfer residents from a residential aged care facility (RACF) to their local hospital emergency department. This paper reports on the findings of the second phase of a two‐phase study. Methods: Qualitative semi‐structured interviews with 19 aged care nurses were conducted. Interviews were audio‐taped and transcribed verbatim, and a thematic analysis was carried out. Results: The analysis revealed five major themes that influenced decision‐making in relation to the transfer of a resident from the residential aged care facility to the emergency department: conflict with key stakeholders; knowledge and experience; policy and process; stakeholder perception; and recognition and support. Conclusions: Robust outreach programs, support from other health‐care professionals, and improving interdisciplinary understanding and communication between aged care nurses, paramedics and the emergency department would be advantageous to ensure effective care delivery and decision‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) refers to the use of pharmaceuticals to improve cognitive function when that use is not intended to prevent or treat disease. Those who favour a liberal approach to PCE trust users to make informed decisions about whether enhancing is in their best interest. The author argues that making informed decisions about PCE requires a nuanced risk-benefit analysis that is not accessible to many users. Presently, the PCE use of prescription medications such as methylphenidate and modafinil is widespread but most commonly happens without medical supervision. Direct and indirect barriers generate a situation where the risks and benefits of PCE are inequitably distributed; as a result, PCE is sometimes not in the user's best interest. This is likely to also be the case for future pharmaceuticals. As a result, even if PCE pharmaceuticals were equitably distributed, its associated risks and benefits would not be. The article concludes with a discussion of the prospects of the clinical consultation on one hand, and e-health solutions on the other, in ameliorating the situation, arguing for cautious optimism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine the multiple intelligence and career preferences of Grade XII students of Biabas Trade High School as the basis for career guidance orientation. The respondents of the study are the 179 grade 12 students from different tracks. A descriptive survey method type of research was used in conducting the research using an adapted multiple intelligence test survey, multiple intelligence checklist, and an adapted and modified inventory of occupational interest checklist from National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE). The results were analyzed using analysis of variance and Pearson r to determine the significant difference and significant correlation respectively. The results showed that there is no significant relationship between the multiple intelligence and career preferences of the students. This implies that students have different multiple intelligences without any regard to their career preference. It was observed that among the nine multiple intelligences, the Existential and the Kinesthetic strength are most dominant among the Grade 12 Senior High School students. On the other hand, students who fall under the Logical strength are the least dominant. In terms of career preferences, the careers that fall under the Interpersonal strength are most dominant. The least dominant preferred careers are the ones that belongs to the Existential strength. Based on the given result, it is recommended that it must be disseminated to all senior high school teachers, career guidance advocates, and school heads through conference, in-service trainings, or during LAC sessions to communicate the importance of developing multiple intelligence and career guidance orientation among senior high school students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aims to develop a classification model to predict students' decisions relating to which education stream to follow and to identify the relevant factors to such decision-making. The model created used the decision tree (DT) technique with data collected from 800 samples of year-10 students in Trang province, Thailand. Of those, 428 had decided to study in general education while the other 372 were studying vocational courses. This study identified six relevant variables, which were influential in students' decision making; comprising students' academic performance (i.e., mathematical cumulative grade point average in junior high school; science cumulative grade point average in junior high school; and grade point average for all subjects in junior high school); parents' education and profession (i.e., father's level of education; mother's occupation); and students' gender. In terms of performance and employment, the DT model has high performance regarding sensitivity and g-mean. Moreover, it has advantages compared to the other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Z-number is a more adequate construct for describing real-life information. While considering the uncertainty of the information, it also models the partial reliability of the information. It is a combination of probabilistric restriction and possibilistric restriction. In this paper, we modified the uncertainty measurement of the discrete Z-number and proposed the uncertainty measurement of the continuous Z-number. Some numerical examples are used to illustrate the calculation processes and advantages of the proposed method. An application of journey vehicle selection shows the effectiveness of the proposed uncertainty measurement in determining the weights of criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite widespread conviction that neediness should be a top priority for charitable giving, this research documents a“charity beauty premium”in which donors often choose beautiful, but less needy, charity recipients instead. The authors propose that donors hold simultaneous yet incongruent preferences of wanting to support beautiful recipients (who tend to be judged as less needy), but believing they should support needy recipients. The authors also posit that preferences for beautiful recipients are most likely to emerge when decisions are intuitive, whereas preferences for needy recipients are most likely to emerge when decisions are deliberative. These propositions are tested in several ways. First, when a beautiful recipient is included in basic choice sets, this recipient becomes the most popular option and increases donor satisfaction. Second,heightening deliberation steers choices away from beautiful recipients and toward needier ones. Third, donors explicitly state that they “want” to give to beautiful recipients but “should” give to less beautiful, needier ones. Taken together, these findings reconcile and extend previous and sometimes conflicting results about beauty and generosity.

Copyright of Education Policy Analysis Archives / Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas / Arquivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas is the property of Educational Policy Analysis Archives & Education Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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How does actively seeking explanations for one’sobservations affect information search over the course oflearning? Generating explanations could plausibly leadlearners to take advantage of the information they havealready obtained, resulting in less exploration. Alternatively,explaining could lead learners to explore more, especiallyafter encountering evidence that suggests their current beliefsare incorrect. In two experiments using a modified observe orbet task, we investigate these possibilities and find support forthe latter: participants who are prompted to explain theirobservations in the course of learning tend to explore more,especially after encountering evidence that challenges acurrent belief.

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Abstract Background Decision-making in public health and health policy is complex and requires careful deliberation of many and sometimes conflicting normative and technical criteria. Several approaches and tools, such as multi-criteria decision analysis, health technology assessments and evidence-to-decision (EtD) frameworks, have been proposed to guide decision-makers in selecting the criteria most relevant and appropriate for a transparent decision-making process. This study forms part of the development of the WHO-INTEGRATE EtD framework, a framework rooted in global health norms and values as reflected in key documents of the World Health Organization and the United Nations system. The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive overview of criteria used in or proposed for real-world decision-making processes, including guideline development, health technology assessment, resource allocation and others. Methods We conducted an overview of systematic reviews through a combination of systematic literature searches and extensive reference searches. Systematic reviews reporting criteria used for real-world health decision-making by governmental or non-governmental organization on a supranational, national, or programme level were included and their quality assessed through a bespoke critical appraisal tool. The criteria reported in the reviews were extracted, de-duplicated and sorted into first-level (i.e. criteria), second-level (i.e. sub-criteria) and third-level (i.e. decision aspects) categories. First-level categories were developed a priori using a normative approach; second- and third-level categories were developed inductively. Results We included 36 systematic reviews providing criteria, of which one met all and another eleven met at least five of the items of our critical appraisal tool. The criteria were subsumed into 8 criteria, 45 sub-criteria and 200 decision aspects. The first-level of the category system comprised the following seven substantive criteria: “Health-related balance of benefits and harms”; “Human and individual rights”; “Acceptability considerations”; “Societal considerations”; “Considerations of equity, equality and fairness”; “Cost and financial considerations”; and “Feasibility and health system considerations”. In addition, we identified an eight criterion “Evidence”. Conclusion This overview of systematic reviews provides a comprehensive overview of criteria used or suggested for real-world health decision-making. It also discusses key challenges in the selection of the most appropriate criteria and in seeking to implement a fair decision-making process.

This study modelled 'spite sensitivity', the worry that others are willing to incur a loss to hurt you, which is thought to undergird suspiciousness and persecutory ideation. Two samples performed a parametric, non-iterative trust game known as the Minnesota Trust Game (MTG). The MTG distinguishes suspicious decision-making from otherwise rational mistrust by incentivizing the player to trust in certain situations but not others. In Sample 1, 243 undergraduates who completed the MTG showed less trust as the amount of money they could lose increased. However, only for choices where partners had a financial 'dis'incentive to betray the player was variation in the willingness to trust associated with suspicious beliefs. We modified the Fehr-Schmidt (1999) inequity aversion model, which compares unequal outcomes in social decision-making tasks, to include the 'possibility for spite sensitivity'. An anticipated partner’s dislike of advantageous inequity (i.e., guilt) parameter included negative values, with negative guilt indicating 'spite'. We hypothesized that the anticipated guilt parameter would be strongly related to suspicious beliefs. Our modification of the Fehr-Schmidt model improved estimation of MTG behavior. Furthermore, the estimation of partner’s spite-guilt was highly correlated with choices associated with beliefs in persecution. We replicated our findings in a second sample. This parameter was weakly correlated with a self-reported measure of persecutory ideation in Sample 2. The “Suspiciousness” condition, unique to the MTG, can be modeled to isolate spite sensitivity, suggesting differentiation from inequity aversion or risk aversion. The MTG offers promise for future studies to quantify persecutory beliefs in clinical populations.

In this paper, we present a spiking neural model of contextdependent decision making. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays afundamental role in context dependent behaviour. We modelthe PFC at the level of single spiking neurons, to explore theunderlying computations which determine its contextual re-sponses. The model is built using the Neural EngineeringFramework and performs input selection and integration as anonlinear recurrent dynamical process. The results obtainedfrom the model closely match behavioural and neural experi-mental data obtained from macaque monkeys that are trainedto perform a context sensitive perceptual decision task. Theclose match suggests that the low-dimensional, nonlinear dy-namical model we suggest captures central aspects of contextdependent decision making in primates.

This study modelled spite sensitivity, the worry that others are willing to incur a loss to hurt you, which is thought to undergird suspiciousness and persecutory ideation. Two samples performed a parametric, non-iterative trust game known as the Minnesota Trust Game (MTG). The MTG distinguishes suspicious decision-making from otherwise rational mistrust by incentivizing the player to trust in certain situations but not others. In Sample 1, 243 undergraduates who completed the MTG showed less trust as the amount of money they could lose increased. However, only for choices where partners had a financial disincentive to betray the player was variation in the willingness to trust associated with suspicious beliefs. We modified the Fehr-Schmidt (1999) inequity aversion model, which compares unequal outcomes in social decision-making tasks, to include the possibility for spite sensitivity. An anticipated partner's dislike of advantageous inequity (i.e., guilt) parameter included negative values, with negative guilt indicating spite. We hypothesized that the anticipated guilt parameter would be strongly related to suspicious beliefs. Our modification of the Fehr-Schmidt model improved estimation of MTG behavior. Furthermore, the estimation of partner's spite-guilt was highly correlated with choices associated with beliefs in persecution. We replicated our findings in a second sample. This parameter was weakly correlated with a self-reported measure of persecutory ideation in Sample 2. The "Suspiciousness" condition, unique to the MTG, can be modeled to isolate spite sensitivity, suggesting differentiation from inequity aversion or risk aversion. The MTG offers promise for future studies to quantify persecutory beliefs in clinical populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates decision-making processes used by South Australian Project Management Offices to select and engage professional consulting services. A range of published literature was examined to determine the extent to which decision-making processes and inputs have been documented to date; the review found that while the literature discusses a variety of client-consultant interactions, it is typically viewed from a post-selection context, and provides a little evidence-based examination of the decision-making factors that precede such engagements. Research into this topic was conducted by interviewing eight project management professionals from different industry backgrounds and employment arrangements. The factors and relationships described were used to develop and promulgate a decision-making framework. Client organisations are anticipated to find this framework useful when establishing the most appropriate resourcing arrangements of their projects, or in making more generalised decisions around their use of consultant services. Consultants are also anticipated to find value from this framework as it will provide a useful reference-point of client engagement motivators and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]