Decision Elements Research Articles

Hip and Knee Total Joint Arthroplasty Online Resources for Patients and Health Care Professionals: A Canadian Environmental Scan

Purpose: To appraise the quality of publicly available online Canadian resources for patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis considering total joint arthroplasty (TJA) and health care professionals participating in TJA decision-making processes. Method: An environmental scan. Two independent authors appraised: a) patient resources against the International Patient Decision Aids Standards (IPDAS) criteria and the Patient Education Material Evaluation Tool (PEMAT); and b) health care professional resources against six appropriateness criteria for TJA and eight elements of shared decision-making. Analysis was descriptive. Results: Of 84 included resources, 71 were for patients, 11 for health care professionals, and 2 for both. For patient resources, the median number of IPDAS defining criteria met was 2 of 7, median PEMAT understandability score was 83%, and median PEMAT actionability score was 60%. For health care professional resources, the median number of appropriateness criteria was 3 of 6, and the median number of shared decision-making elements was 3 of 8. Conclusions: Only four of 73 patient resources were structured to help patients consider their options and reach a decision based on their preferences. Health care professional resources were limited to traditional criteria for determining TJA appropriateness (evidence of osteoarthritis, use of conservative treatments) and poorly met key elements of shared decision-making.

Treatment decision making in psychiatry: Formulating patients' perspectives in outpatient psychiatric consultations.

Seeking and understanding patients' values and preferences is one of the essential elements in shared decision making, which is associated with treatment adherence in psychiatry. However, negotiating treatment in psychiatric contexts can be challenging with patients whose ability to evaluate treatment recommendations rationally may be impaired. This article attempts to examine a conversational practice that psychiatrists use to deal with patients' views and perspectives by formulating what the patients have said related to treatment. Taking the naturally occurring, face-to-face outpatient psychiatric consultations as the data, the present study uses conversation analysis (CA) as a method to demonstrate in a fine-grained detail what functions formulations of patients' perspectives serve in psychiatric contexts. We found that by eliciting patients' views and perspectives toward treatment, this type of formulation is not only used to achieve mutual understanding and establish the grounds for treatment decisions, but may also be used to challenge the legitimacy of patients' position, steering treatment decision to the direction preferred by the psychiatrists. We argue that in the process of treatment decision making, psychiatrists do not simply impose their perspectives upon the patients, instead, they attempt to achieve consensus with patients by balancing their institutional authority and orientation to the patients' perspectives. Data are in Chinese with English translation.

From the first studies of the unconscious mind to consumer neuroscience: A systematic literature review

Our brain has nearly 100 billion nerve cells, responsible for sensory perception and serving as a memory for all the information processed by the body. The brain is, therefore, the basis of cognition and emotions. This article aims to present the origins and the development timeline of neuromarketing from the first studies of the unconscious mind to the use of neurosciences techniques in the consumer behavior field. Therefore, the research method used in this paper is a systematic literature review based on a multidisciplinary theoretical exploration of events concerning the development of neuromarketing from 2010 to 2018. The paper theoretically proves that neuromarketing is the only field of research that induces the existence of unconscious, implicit, subliminal, and emotional processes that cannot be approached without the contribution of neurosciences. Still, its ethical nature limits its use and requires researchers to comply with specific regulations to protect consumers from possible risks of illegal exploitation. The results of this systematic literature review have shown that using neurosciences in marketing is crucial since it allows researchers to consider the unconscious and automatic elements in consumer decision-making.

Understanding the value of autonomous vehicles – an empirical meta-synthesis

ABSTRACT Value of Time (VOT) is a key element in transport infrastructure planning decisions. It is widely believed that travellers using autonomous vehicles (AVs) will have a lower VOT than conventional vehicles (CVs) because of improved road safety, increased road capacity, engagement in productive activity during travel and increased mobility. A number of researchers have measured VOT effects of AVs though no consolidation of this evidence has been undertaken to date. This is the first study to provide a quantitative summary and synthesis of the estimated VOT of AV travel including a synthesis of factors affecting AV VOT. Meta-analyses of 24 studies show that mean VOTs for conventional cars, private AVs and shared AVs are respectively 17.3, 12.1 and 19.4 AU$/hr. However, wide variations in these estimates are evident and 12 factors have been identified with statistically significant effects on these variations including geographical context, study experimental characteristics, trip characteristics and socio-economic factors. We found that AV VOT estimates are lower when animated videos are used to demonstrate AV capabilities. Private AVs have the lowest VOT estimates as do commute trips and morning peak periods. Young adults (18–30 years) and people with current driving experience consistently report lower AV VOT while those with higher educational status and higher-incomes report having higher AV VOT. Implications of findings for policy and future research are presented.

La subordinación como elemento necesario en la existencia de la relación laboral

The objective of this article is to identify how subordination is integrated as a decision-making element in the employment relationship within labor law; Accordingly, documentary - legal review was used on this subject, with the use of a qualitative methodological approach and the application of methods such as analytical - synthetic and descriptive, those that allowed to fulfill the objective of the investigation, finding that, from the analysis of the different modalities of work, although apparently, they are autonomous jobs not subject to any subordination, in certain cases they can be framed in a relationship of dependency, thus configuring the employment relationship. An analysis of subordination / dependence is proposed as a primary element, for consideration by the judge, when they are raised to his knowledge within a legal contest, where the emphasis on other predominant sources of law is required as the application of the principle of primacy of reality, to determine the situation adjusted to the facts and thereby extend the simple recognition or not of the role of employer of one of the parties, after a labor test, with the so-called reality contract.

The new civic epistemology of data proof: A case study of knowledge disputes in the formulation of China's fertility policy

A variety of knowledge-related disputes emerged during the formulation of China's fertility policy. As the core epistemological element of policy decision-making, the reliability of data proof was gradually confirmed in this process. In this study, we find that data proof became a crucial consideration when the Chinese government initiated a one-child policy in the 1980s. The government used Song Jian's population cybernetics and the centennial projection of Chinese population growth as decisive support for the promulgation of this policy. The government subsequently planned to introduce a two-child policy in 2011. During this process, fierce competition arose between the knowledge claims advanced by Zhai Zhenwu and Wang Guangzhou, who differed significantly on the measurement of the fertility rate and the willingness of women to bear children. The accuracy of data proof came to be gradually realized by both the government and the public. By drawing on a co-productionist analysis of the interactions among the stakeholders, epistemology and China's agenda in this process, we conclude that a new civic epistemology of data proof for public policymaking was created in the formulation of the two public policies on fertility. This has transformed knowledge production as well as political institutions, identities and representations.

Patient and Family Opioid Decision-Making for Pain Management in Sickle Cell Disease: A Qualitative Study

Pain is a significant symptom experienced frequently by individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD). Pain management includes strategies such as oral rehydration, non-pharmacological therapies (eg, massage, relaxation), and oral analgesics and opioids. Shared decision-making around pain management is emphasized repeatedly in recent guidelines; however, research is sparse regarding factors to be considered in shared decision-making approaches including the perceived risks and benefits of opioids. This qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore perspectives of decision-making for opioid medications in SCD. We conducted 20 in-depth interviews with caregivers of children with SCD and individuals with SCD to elucidate the decision-making processes around home use of opioid therapy for pain management at a single center. Themes were identified in the domains of the Decision Problem (Alternatives and Choices; Outcomes and Consequences; Complexity), the Context (Multilevel Stressors and Supports; Information; Patient-Provider Interactions), and the Patient (Decision-Making Approaches; Developmental Status; Personal and Life Values; Psychological State). Key findings indicated opioid management for pain in SCD is important yet complex and requires collaboration among patients, families, and providers. Elements of patient and caregiver decision-making identified in this study may be applied to shared decision-making strategies in the clinical setting and future study. PerspectiveThis study illustrates the factors involved in decision-making around home opioid use for pain management in children and young adults with SCD. These findings can be applied to determining shared decision-making approaches around pain management between providers and patients, in accordance with recent SCD pain management guidelines.

Surgical Decision-Making for Individuals with Differences of Sex Development: Stakeholders' views.

Advocacy and human rights organizations have called for a moratorium on elective surgical procedures until the patient is able to fully participate in the decision-making process. Due to the controversial nature surrounding surgery in differences of sex development (DSD) care, we aimed to assess the factors that teens and adults with DSD, parents, healthcare providers and other allied professionals consider pertinent to complex surgical decisions in DSD. Stakeholders (n=110) in DSD care participated in semi-structured interviews exploring features and potential determinants of successful healthcare outcomes. Audio-recordings were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using qualitative data software. Codes for "Process of Decision-Making" and "Successful Outcome-Surgery/Appearance/Function" were further searched using keywords "surgery," "procedure," and "timing." Several themes were identified: 1) The nature or type of the decision being made; 2) Who should be involved in the decision-making process; 3) Timing of conversations about surgery; 4) Barriers to decision-making surrounding surgery; 5) The elements of surgical decision-making; and 6) The optimal approach to surgical decision-making. Many stakeholders believed children and adolescents with DSD should be involved in the process as developmentally appropriate. DSD include a wide range of diagnoses, some of which may require urogenital reconstruction to relieve obstruction, achieve continence, and/or address other anatomical differences whether cosmetic or functional. Adolescents and adults with DSD desired autonomy and to be part of the decision-making process. Parents were divided in their opinion of who should be involved in making elective surgical decisions: the child or parents as proxy medical decision-makers. Providers and other professionals stressed the importance of process and education around surgical decisions. Ongoing research examines how decision-makers evaluate tradeoffs associated with decision options.

FriC-PM: Machine Learning-based road surface friction coefficient predictive model using intelligent sensor data

Providing a robust traffic management system is a given for road authorities today, for safer mobility and reliable day-to-day operations. Therefore, to improve traffic management procedures in order to provide an open road for road users at all times, understanding road surface friction measurement is crucial. Currently, the automatic prediction model of road surface friction measurement (FriC-PM) is highly demanded by road transport owners and operators. The prediction accuracy of road surface friction is linked to several external variables related to the weather conditions, road surface micro- and macro-texture, tire properties, driving speed and behaviour of road users. This paper presents a trained novel predictive model developed for the measurement of road surface friction considering a big dataset of 18 months with daily records through novel intelligent road-based passive sensor measurement, on a Spanish highway section. The trained predictive model is developed on the machine learning (ML) approaches, namely support vector machine (SVM), and validated with the K-Fold cross-validation (CV) algorithm taking into account various kernels. In addition, error evaluation strategies are applied to the trained model in order to identify the efficiency, accuracy, and reliability of the predictive model. The main purpose of the proposed prediction model is to provide comprehensive knowledge about predictive road surface friction coefficient, and to support decision-making elements to road owners or operators for reliable predictive maintenance process.

Multicriteria Decision Making as Interdisciplinary Research

In their excellent recounting of the development of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) from its early history to the 21st century, Koksalan et al. (2011) proposed that MCDM is both old and new. It is old because decision makers have always had to make tradeoffs with objectives when making decisions; the authors refer to Benjamin Franklin’s approach to making decisions by trading off benefits and costs during the 1700’s. However, MCDM as an important sub-field of Management Science or Operations research is rather new and began in the late 1950s. The elements of decision making fundamentally consist of the “decision”, a “decision-maker” and a “decision analysis methodology.” This is the reason that the MCDM field is inherently interdisciplinary.

Wearables and Machine Learning for Improving Runners' Motivation from an Affective Perspective.

Wearable technology is playing an increasing role in the development of user-centric applications. In the field of sports, this technology is being used to implement solutions that improve athletes' performance, reduce the risk of injury, or control fatigue, for example. Emotions are involved in most of these solutions, but unfortunately, they are not monitored in real-time or used as a decision element that helps to increase the quality of training sessions, nor are they used to guarantee the health of athletes. In this paper, we present a wearable and a set of machine learning models that are able to deduce runners' emotions during their training. The solution is based on the analysis of runners' electrodermal activity, a physiological parameter widely used in the field of emotion recognition. As part of the DJ-Running project, we have used these emotions to increase runners' motivation through music. It has required integrating the wearable and the models into the DJ-Running mobile application, which interacts with the technological infrastructure of the project to select and play the most suitable songs at each instant of the training.

Integrated Decision-Making in the Treatment of Colon-Rectal Cancer: The Case of KRAS-Mutated Tumors.

In recent years, precision medicine has taken an increasing place in various branches of medical oncology, including colorectal cancer. Among the potentially relevant mutations for this cancer is the KRAS mutation, initially defined as "untargetable"; today, we see the birth of new molecules that target one of the variants of the KRAS mutation, KRAS G12C, having a significant impact on the therapeutic options for other malignancies, such as metastatic lung cancer. This fundamental step forward has stimulated scientific research on other potential targets of KRAS, both indirect and direct, and combination treatments aiming to overcome the mechanisms of resistance to these drugs that decrease in efficacy in colorectal cancer. What was once a negative predictive marker of response to anti-EGFR drugs today has become a potential target for targeted treatments. In turn, the prognostic role of the mutation has become extremely interesting, making it a potentially useful element in therapeutic decision-making, not only regarding oncological treatments but also in a more complex and complete manner within a global vision of the patient, involving other figures on the multidisciplinary team, such as surgeons, radiotherapists, and interventional radiologists.

Utilizing co-production to improve patient-centeredness and engagement in healthcare delivery: Lessons from the Patient and Family-Centered I-PASSstudies.

Utilizing co-production to improve patient-centeredness and engagement in healthcare delivery: Lessons from the Patient and Family-Centered I-PASSstudies.

A qualitative exploration of managerial mothers' flexible careers: The role of multiple contexts

This study explores the lived career experiences of women managers with children in Sweden. Drawing on existing theory on flexible careers which proposes that multiple contexts – institutional, organizational and individual - shape employees' career decisions, we present findings from a study of 34 career mothers in dual-income households within a large engineering company in Sweden. We show that the institutional context in Sweden, with its shared parental leave, is an important element in the women's career decisions by directly mandating the fathers' engagement with childcare and home roles and indirectly fostering a family-supportive organizational culture. We theorize that the family context needs to be incorporated into existing theoretical models and specifically demonstrate how continuing shared childcare roles between the parents is critical to mothers' career outcomes. We evidence the various ways in which fathers engage with home responsibilities and how that influences the mothers' career decisions. Furthermore, we argue that the institutional environment has consequences which cascade down to each of the other contextual levels and that the importance of the different contexts can vary according to the work-care regime. We therefore challenge recent research which claims that the industry ecosystem is the crucial force in shaping women's careers.

Overview of sclerocornea.

Sclerocornea is a rare non-progressive, non-inflammatory usually bilateral congenital corneal opacity that can be associated with both ocular and systemic abnormalities. It could be inherited in 50% of cases. Ill-defined limbal architecture and vascularization in association with ocular comorbidities results in poor outcomes with corneal transplantation. This narrative review summarizes the current literature on etiology and clinical presentation in sclerocornea. With regards to keratoplasty, it focusses on key elements in decision making, highlights the role of investigations and discusses practical surgical pearls to enhance outcome of keratoplasty in these eyes.

Analysis of the relevance of the location of quarrying surfaces by using a multi-criteria decision support tool taking into account the sustainable territorial development (Case of Settat – Morocco)

The cohabitation between the material extraction activity and its receiving environment requires a conciliation between the three dimensions of sustainable development, namely the economic, social and environmental aspects. Given that the reasons for the existence of this extractive industry are economic, it feeds the pillar sectors of the economy (civil engineering, buildings ...) or, social it creates employment and contributes significantly to the revenue of local communities through taxes but it has disadvantages on the receiving ecosystem. The problem is to know how to make this sector a vector of economic development without compromising the environment in order to guarantee and ensure simultaneously economic growth and social equity and environmental protection and to make the territory more attractive and sustainable to investments in this field. Therefore, it has become necessary to take into account these three pillars when locating this activity. The said location is an essential decision, the fact of favoring one of the three aspects over the other aspects will undoubtedly have consequences on the environment where the activity is hosted (either more positive or more negative, conditioned by its choice). Indeed, the choice of quarry sites is a multi-criteria issue since we must reconcile the three imperatives of sustainable development which are often contradictory. In this sense this work has opted for a decision-making approach designed from a decision-making tool process of hierarchical analysis (AHP), said approach is based on the three axes of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental) which are subdivided into 16 criteria and apply on options (15 careers). The choice of criteria families, criteria and options was made while respecting the imperatives of sustainable development and according to their distributions and typologies at the level of the study area. Once these decision elements were identified, the attractiveness of the options on each criterion was evaluated, weighted according to the concerns and preferences presented by the decisionmakers and then aggregated by the AHP method in order to produce a hierarchy of the criteria and options. The implementation of this method allows for the evaluation of existing quarry operations in the study area and the forecasting of future optimization of quarry facilities

КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНИЙ АСПЕКТ ПРИЙНЯТТЯ ДЕРЖАВНОУПРАВЛІНСЬКИХ РІШЕНЬ У СФЕРІ ДЕРЖАВНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ

In today's conditions of public administration transformation, in accordance with systemic changes in all spheres of social and economic life, the quality of governance and management processes in public authorities in the implementation of development strategies in achieving the goals of management decisions is of particular importance. The main trend of changes in management in public institutions in European countries has been the transfer of management methods and technologies from the commercial sphere to the public sphere. Management approaches and technologies developed in commercial firms are being implemented in the management practice of public organizations: participatory management replaces authoritarian management, and the monopoly on service provision is replaced by competition, competition in service provision, the mechanism of bureaucracy is transformed into the mechanism of the market. At the same time, the transition of management in government agencies from the traditional bureaucratic model to a new management model focused on finding effective solutions to problems is characterized by a greater focus on goals and mission, as opposed to focusing on rules and procedures. The purpose of the study is to form an effective mechanism for making public administration decisions in the field of state security. The article defines the essence of public administration mechanisms for making public administration decisions in the field of state security, namely: legal - in compliance of the decision with the provisions of security legislation, organizational - in establishing a rational sequence of actions of public administration bodies when making an informed decision, structural and functional - in determining the optimal structure of the decision in accordance with the functions and tasks of public administration bodies to ensure state security, which, together with other mechanisms, can be used to make a decision on the basis of the decision. The author summarizes the main elements of a public administration decision, in particular, the plan of action (direction of concentration of the main efforts, sequence and methods of achieving the goal of actions by partial tasks, areas and terms), tasks for security structures, organization of interaction between them, organization of management and support of their actions in crisis conditions.

An investigation of big life decisions

Abstract What are life’s biggest decisions? In Study 1, I devised a taxonomy comprising 9 decision categories, 58 decision types, and 10 core elements of big decisions. In Study 2, I revealed people’s perceptions of and expectations for the average person’s big life decisions. In the flagship Study 3, 658 participants described their 10 biggest past and future decisions and rated each decision on a variety of decision elements. This research reveals the characteristics of a big life decision, which are the most common, most important, and most positively evaluated big life decisions, when such decisions happen, and which factors predict ‘good’ decisions. This research contributes to knowledge that could help people improve their lives through better decision-making and living with fewer regrets.

ПОДХОДЫ К ПРОЦЕССУ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ ПРИНЯТИЕМ РЕШЕНИЯ В ОБЛАСТИ ОКАЗАНИЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЕЙ СЕРВИСНЫХ УСЛУГ В ТРАНСПОРТНОЙ СФЕРЕ В УСЛОВИЯХ ЦИФРОВЫХ РИСКОВ

In this article, the authors identified and characterized the reasons for uncertainty in the provision of services in the transport sector. The article proposes to consider approaches to the process of managing decision-making in the field of providing services in the transport sector in the context of digital risks based on building a concept for managing digital risks of service services in the transport sector and formulates the author’s interpretation of the concept. The authors formulated approaches to the structure of the main elements of the decision-making management process in the field of providing services in the transport sector in the digital environment, which include the functions of making management decisions; elements of a management decision, including methods of making a management decision; factors influencing the development of management decisions; conditions for making management decisions, including the author’s view of the features of digital risks; principles of management decision making. The author’s approach to the process of making management decisions in the field of providing services in the transport sector in the context of the manifestation of digital risks is revealed. The main goals of building a concept for managing digital risks of service in the transport sector are formulated and detailed. The main tasks facing the developed concept are specified. Criteria for making management decisions are proposed and characterized, which make it possible to simplify the decision-making process with minimal acceptable digital risks.

Accessibility Measures in Modal Choice Models: A Proof of Concept Applied to Freight Transport

Modal choice models applied to interregional or international freight transportation network models are often based on rather coarse origin-destination matrices, containing annual transported tonnages between (sub)regions, for instance. Generally, only basic (sometimes constructed) independent variables (transportation costs or transit times) are used because other variables such as shipment sizes, service frequencies, etc. are not available. Using origin-destination matrices and an assignment model, it is also possible to compute spatial accessibility measures that can further be used as additional explanatory variables. Indeed, several published studies have identified network accessibility as an important element in the mode-choice decision. This paper also shows that the inclusion of an accessibility measure in the utility functions of a logit model substantially improves the performance of a transportation network model, both in the modal choice and the assignment levels of the classical four-step model. Consequently, the assignment of the estimated modal demands results in more accurate estimated traffic on the networks. The model presented in this paper is to be considered as a proof of concept because its workflow should further be streamlined to make it easily useable by modelers.