Explicit Decision Research Articles

Syntactic gender processing in the human brain: A review and a model

Despite the increasing number of neuroimaging studies of syntactic gender processing no model is currently available that includes data from visual and auditory language comprehension and language production. This paper provides a systematic review of the neural correlates of syntactic gender processing. Based on anatomical information from cytoarchitectonic probability maps it is argued that the left BA 44 plays a central role for the active use of gender information, e.g., for explicit decisions as well as for subsequent morphological encoding. The left BA 45 is involved in the strategic generation of morphological cues that facilitate gender processing. Model implications for aphasic patients with lesions including or excluding parts of Broca’s speech region are discussed.

Spatially explicit decision support for selecting translocation areas for Mojave desert tortoises

Spatially explicit decision support systems are assuming an increasing role in natural resource and conservation management. In order for these systems to be successful, however, they must address real-world management problems with input from both the scientific and management communities. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, has expanded its training area, encroaching U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service critical habitat set aside for the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), a federally threatened species. Of all the mitigation measures proposed to offset expansion, the most challenging to implement was the selection of areas most feasible for tortoise translocation. We developed an objective, open, scientifically defensible spatially explicit decision support system to evaluate translocation potential within the Western Mojave Recovery Unit for tortoise populations under imminent threat from military expansion. Using up to a total of 10 biological, anthropogenic, and/or logistical criteria, seven alternative translocation scenarios were developed. The final translocation model was a consensus model between the seven scenarios. Within the final model, six potential translocation areas were identified.

Shem Tov ibn Falaquera: From Logic to Ethics; A Redefinition of Poetry in the Thirteenth Century

Shem Tov ibn Falaquera:From Logic to Ethics; A Redefinition of Poetry in the Thirteenth Century Aurora Salvatierra Ossorio (bio) In the prologue to his Sefer ha-mevaqqesh [Book of the Seeker], the thirteenth-century philosopher and poet Shem ibn Falaquera proudly presents himself as the author of more than 20,000 verses, of which at least 10, 000 are extant.1 Likewise, throughout the book, he repeatedly calls attention to his mastery of poetry. In some other works, however, Ibn Falaquera exhibits a radically different attitude as he describes himself as an ex-poet who, once his youth has passed, has renounced poetry in order to devote himself to wisdom. The following line from Sefer ha-mevaqqesh is an illustrative example of this second attitude: "I dispatch the Muses from my presence. / This treatise is [their] bill of divorcement."2 While the two self-assessments are certainly conflicting, scholars have generally lent credibility to and have taken at face value Ibn Falaquera's explicit decision to abandon completely all efforts to create poetry in order to devote himself to wisdom.3 Ibn Falaquera's works abound in reflections on the art of poetry and include small collections of poems, a fact that reveals his great interest in verse. Poetry appears in the prologues to some of his works, such as Reshit [Beginning of Wisdom] and Sefer ha-ma'alot [Book of Degrees].4 Similarly, in some other works, such as Sefer ha-mevaqqesh and Iggeret ha-musar [Treatise on Ethics], poetry is interspersed throughout a rhymed prose narrative.5 Ibn Falaquera's poems, however, were never collected in a dīwān [poetic corpus]. In fact, the first attempts to retrieve and gather his poetic production date back no further than modern scholarship. Specifically, Leopold Zunz attributed to Ibn Falaquera some liturgical poems in the style of those composed by Ibn Gabirol, and published one of his poems-the prologue to Sefer ha-ma'alot-as an independent religious [End Page 165] hymn.6 Following in his footsteps, Israel Davidson gathered some seventy poems attributed to Ibn Falaquera in his Thesaurus of Mediaeval Hebrew Poetry.7 Davidson's list is far from comprehensive, as he did not draw on the entirety of Ibn Falaquera's works. In fact, most of the seventy poems collected by him in his Thesaurus come from the Sefer ha-mevaqqesh. To these, Davidson adds the poems opening Ibn Falaquera's Reshit and Moreh ha-moreh [Guide to the Guide], as well as some other examples included in Sefer ha-ma'alot and ha-yagon [Balm for Sorrow]. In spite of these efforts, Raphael Jospe-who wrote a magnificent monograph on Ibn Falaquera's works entitled Torah and Sophia-is correct in arguing that most scholars have actually followed the position of the nineteenth-century historian A. H. Graetz, according to whom Ibn Falaquera exhibited "poor proof of poetic ability."8 In his works, Ibn Falaquera explicitly acknowledges that he writes in Hebrew on account of the "pedagogical" value of this language and his co-religionists' better understanding of it. In the prologue to his Sefer ha-ma'alot, Ibn Falaquera affirms having written in the holy language "to extend its usefulness" and the same idea is also expressed in Reshit and in the prologue to Moreh ha-moreh.9 In a similar vein, he attributes his decision to write poetry to its value as an instrument to facilitate the acquisition and diffusion of knowledge. In this regard, he affirms in Bate hanhagat guf ha-bari', Bate hanhagat ha-nefesh [Verses on the Regimen of the Healthy Body, Verses on the Regimen of the Soul] that "things said in verse in a restrained manner are more amenable to people and are easier to remember."10 This assertion is particularly true in texts written by some of his Andalusi Jewish predecessors, such Abraham ibn Ezra's poem on dietary norms, Judah version of a health regimen in verse included in Maimonides' Moreh nevukhim, and Joseph ibn Zabarra's poem on anatomy, Bate hanefesh [Verses on the Soul].11 Modern scholars seem to have given much credit to Ibn Falaquera's explanation of his reasons to write...

A Spatially Explicit Decision Support System for Watershed-Scale Management of Salmon

Steel, E. Ashley, A. Fullerton, Y. Caras, M. B. Sheer, P. Olson, D. Jensen, J. Burke, M. Maher, and P. McElhany 2008. A spatially explicit decision support system for watershed-scale management of salmon. Ecology and Society 13(2): 50. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02515-130250

Automatisation d'un processus de conception par transformations de modèles

This article aims at showing how model driven engineering can be used to make explicit design decisions all along a complex software design process. We build the implementation of a communication component from an abstract (and incomplete) specification by a sequence of model transformations. All design decisions (data structure, placement, replication, etc.) are expressed with the transformation language Kermeta.

Teoria dos Sistemas de Niklas Luhmann e os desafios para a efetivação jurisdicional do direito à saúde em matéria de medicamentos

This essay deals with some of the limits and risks related to the essential performance of the judiciary in the control of the public medicine supply in defence of the right to health and dignity of the human being. This question relates to the necessity of making explicit legal decisions and submitting them to evaluations based on latent economic interests and diverging social expectations in regard to the interpretation of the Fundamental Right to Health, considered here from a re-reading of Niklas Luhmann’s Systems Theory, adjusted to the historical evolution of Brazilian social systems and to the identification of the 1988 Federal Constitution as a point of convergence of their comunications processes, not restricted, in any way, by judical and political systems. From this perspective, new ways must be sought to support judicial proceedings in which the duty of the state to supply medicines in defense of the concrete rights and dignity of human beings and advances in social rights is established as well to reduce the risks of possible attacks by the pharmaceutical industry and the mass medication of modern society.

Using the forced metaphor-elicitation technique (FMET) to meet animal companions within self

This article describes research tools that permit zoomorphistic explications of self-viewing of human self-behavior in terms of the behavior of animals. Transference theory, archetypal, culture, and early experiences propositions also serve to inform the etic interpretations of an informant's zoomorphistic self-report. The article describes applications of the forced metaphor-elicitation technique (FMET) that provides case–study data including storytelling and paradox resolution by informants. The article closes with advocating acceptance of Gigerenzer's proposal that method can drive theory advancement. The discussion reviews relevant literature on examining dual thinking processes by humans—implicit and explicit beliefs, attitudes, decision processes, and behavior. The research evidence helps to decode consumers' implicit thinking and behavior toward products and brands; such evidence serves to inform ourselves and brand executives of consumers' dreams about brands and how such dreams become reality—or what prevents consumers from buying the brands playing roles in consumers' stories crafted through implicit thinking.

The public and professional interface with priority setting in the National Health Service

The agenda of purchasers of health care in the National Health Service (NHS) is increasingly dominated by the issue of priority setting. This is a consequence of the interplay of limited budgets, increasing demands on health care services and a contracting process that makes explicit resource decisions that were previously implicit through clinical discretion. Purchasers are increasingly concerned to show that their decisions are rationally informed and embody a professional and public consensus. This paper examines literature that suggests variables, other than rational determinants, play a part in the process of priority setting at the purchaser and provider level. The interface of public, political and professional agendas in this process help explain the lack of national uniformity in both setting priorities and their translation into practice. Consequently, there is a need for more comprehensive exploration of the relationship between the setting of priorities and their effect on practice.

Unintended and perverse consequences of ignoring linkages in fisheries systems

Abstract Degnbol, P., and McCay, B. J. 2006. Unintended and perverse consequences of ignoring linkages in fisheries systems. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 793–797. The development of fisheries management strategies within institutions such as national governments, the EU, and ICES includes explicit or implicit decisions on longer term management objectives and performance criteria, on the relevant knowledge base for tactical management decisions, on decision rules regarding fisheries in the current or forthcoming fishing season, and on the implementation framework. These decisions, moreover, must be relevant to the characteristics of the fisheries and the stocks being exploited. The development of management strategies must be based, therefore, on an understanding of the overall fisheries system and linkages among its components. Based on recent examples in Europe and North America, we discuss how a failure to understand the linkages in the fisheries system may lead to management strategies that fail to achieve their objectives, and how an understanding of these linkages can inform the development of strategies that are more likely to achieve policy objectives.

Congress and MedPAC Weigh Options for Medicare Physician Payment Reform

Congress and MedPAC Weigh Options for Medicare Physician Payment Reform

The Influence of Default Options on the Expression of End-of-Life Treatment Preferences in Advance Directives

Advance directives promise to preserve patient autonomy, but research indicates that end-of-life preferences can be influenced by the way in which questions are posed. To determine whether preferences expressed by geriatric patients on advance directives are influenced by the default response inherent in the question. Mailed survey containing 1 of 3 versions of an advance directive. General internal medicine outpatient medical practice. Outpatients aged 65 or older (n = 106, response rate = 27%). In the "withhold" version of the survey, participants indicated situations where they would want treatments withheld (i.e., the default preference was in favor of treatment). In the "provide" version, participants indicated situations where they would want treatment provided (i.e., the default preference was against treatment). In the forced-choice control version, participants made an explicit decision to withhold or provide treatment for each situation. Participants' treatment preferences. Preferences differed by condition, F(2, 103) = 3.61, MSE = 0.09, eta2 = .07, p = .03. Participants tended to express the default preference, and thus, were more likely to favor treatment in the "withhold" condition than in the "provide" condition. Preferences in the forced-choice control condition were intermediate. The default inherent in a question can impact preferences for medical treatment. This default effect limits the utility of advance directives.

A generic tool for optimising land-use patterns and landscape structures

We present a flexible and easy to use genetic algorithm-based library for optimising the spatial configurations of land-use. LUPOlib, the Land- Use Pattern Optimisation- library, can be applied to a variety of spatial planning problems to derive target-driven scenarios that identify trade-offs between conflicting objectives and solve optimum allocation problems (e.g. allocation of reserve sites or management actions). A major novelty is that spatial changes are performed according to a patch topology that allows to simultaneously integrate changes of different landscape elements (e.g. in agricultural fields and linear changes along corridors). The objective function evaluation is based on a grid representation of the landscape where neighbourhood dependencies like lateral flows or the landscape pattern can explicitly be considered. A parameter file allows the user to control the optimisation, the modelled land-use changes, objective weightings and constraints as well as input data. Only the case study-specific objective function needs to be specified in the source code. LUPOlib has been applied so far in two case studies to find optimum trade-offs between habitat requirements of three different bird species and to analyse cost-effectiveness of management actions for species conservation. The results suggest that LUPOlib can be a useful tool to support management decisions. It could be used as an extension to a GIS and for spatially explicit decision support tools.

Decision or No Decision: How Do Patient–Physician Interactions End and What Matters?

BackgroundA clearly stated clinical decision can induce a cognitive closure in patients and is an important investment in the end of patient–physician communications. Little is known about how often explicit decisions are made in primary care visits.ObjectiveTo use an innovative videotape analysis approach to assess physicians’ propensity to state decisions explicitly, and to examine the factors influencing decision patterns.DesignWe coded topics discussed in 395 videotapes of primary care visits, noting the number of instances and the length of discussions on each topic, and how discussions ended. A regression analysis tested the relationship between explicit decisions and visit factors such as the nature of topics under discussion, instances of discussion, the amount of time the patient spoke, and competing demands from other topics.ResultsAbout 77% of topics ended with explicit decisions. Patients spoke for an average of 58 seconds total per topic. Patients spoke more during topics that ended with an explicit decision, (67 seconds), compared with 36 seconds otherwise. The number of instances of a topic was associated with higher odds of having an explicit decision (OR = 1.73, p < 0.01). Increases in the number of topics discussed in visits (OR = 0.95, p < .05), and topics on lifestyle and habits (OR = 0.60, p < .01) were associated with lower odds of explicit decisions.ConclusionsAlthough discussions often ended with explicit decisions, there were variations related to the content and dynamics of interactions. We recommend strengthening patients’ voice and developing clinical tools, e.g., an “exit prescription,” to improving decision making.

Forest planning using co-evolutionary cellular automata

The spatial distribution of forest management activities has become increasingly important with, most notably, rising concerns for biodiversity. Addressing both timber production and non-timber goals requires planning tools that support spatially explicit decision-making. The paper examines the capability of a co-evolutionary cellular automata (CA) approach to address forest planning objectives that are both spatial and temporal with global constraints. In this decentralized self-organizing planning framework, each forest stand and its associated management treatment over the planning horizon is represented as a cellular automaton. The landscape management goals are achieved through a co-evolutionary decision process between interdependent stands. A novel, computationally efficient CA algorithm for asynchronous updating of stand states is developed. The specific problem considered in the paper is maximization of cumulative harvest volume and amount of clustered late-seral forest. The global constraints considered are stable harvest flow and minimum amount of late-seral stands in each period of the planning horizon. Applied to a test area from the Northeastern forest region of Ontario, Canada, the model demonstrates short computation time and consistent results from multiple runs. It also compares favorably with outputs from a simulated annealing search. The CA-based algorithm developed in the paper successfully identifies sustainable forest outputs over the planning horizon. It shows sensitivity to both local constraints, strategic goals and strategic constraints and generates spatially explicit forest plans.

Changing dynamics in the Canadian voluntary sector: challenges in sustaining organizational capacity to support healthy communities

The voluntary sector is recognized, by citizens, industry and government, as an increasingly vital contributor to healthy communities within Canadian society, called upon to provide front-line service delivery in areas of community support that were in the past often served by government and or religious charity. (The voluntary sector is large, consisting of an estimated 180,000 non-profit organizations [of which 80,000 are registered as charities] and hundreds of thousands more volunteer groups that are not incorporated [Statistics Canada, 2002].) The dynamics of the sector have changed considerably over the past decade, as government has pulled back the level of core organizational funding support and the role of the church has diminished. As community health is directly related to the organizational health of service-providing non-profits and charities, these organizations are looking increasingly towards corporate and individual donors, along with new self-financing approaches that generate revenues. They are also facing challenges in attracting and retaining skilled and motivated volunteers. As the scope of the voluntary sector and its overall influence grows, so do the organizational and financial challenges it faces. This article will address in particular the issue of funding support for healthy communities and examine a number of potential and existing best practices for sustaining community health in Canada. We will also look at the issue of volunteerism and human resource capacity challenges for organizations. This is an area in which the Canadian government has decided to focus as a result of explicit policy decisions taken in the late 1990s.

Endogenous Opioid Blockade and Impulsive Responding in Alcoholics and Healthy Controls

The opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (NTX) is one of few approved treatments for alcoholism, yet the mechanism by which it reduces drinking remains unclear. In rats, NTX reduces morphine-induced impulsive choice bias; however, nothing is known about the drug's effect on discrete aspects of impulsive behavior in humans, such as decision-making and inhibitory control. Here, we used a modified delay discounting procedure to investigate whether NTX improves decision-making or inhibitory control in humans. We measured the effect of acute NTX (50 mg) on choice between smaller sooner (SS) and larger later monetary rewards and on response errors (motor mismatch) in a high conflict condition in a group of abstinent alcoholics (AA) and healthy control subjects (CS). We previously reported that AA selected the SS option significantly more often than did CS in this paradigm. If the choice bias of AA is due to enhanced endogenous opioid signaling in response to potential reward, NTX should reduce such bias in the AA group. We found that NTX did not reliably reduce impulsive choice in the AA group; however, NTX's effect on choice bias across individuals was robustly predictable. NTX's effect on choice bias was significantly correlated with scores on Rotter's Locus of Control (LOC) scale; increasingly internal LOC scores predicted increasing likelihood of impulsive choices on NTX. In addition, we found that NTX significantly enhanced control of motor responses, particularly within the CS group. These results suggest that endogenous opioids may impair response selection during decision-making under conflict, and that NTX's effects on explicit decision-making are personality-dependent. Determining the biological basis of this dependence could have important implications for effective alcoholism treatment.

Regulatory fit as input for stop rules.

Three experiments show that the motivational effects of regulatory fit (consistency between regulatory state and strategic means) are context dependent. With no explicit decision rule about when to stop (Experiment 1) or an explicit enjoyment stop rule (Experiments 2 and 3), participants exerted more effort on tasks when experiencing regulatory fit than when experiencing regulatory nonfit. With an explicit sufficiency stop rule (Experiments 2 and 3), participants exerted less effort when experiencing regulatory fit than when experiencing regulatory nonfit. The interactive effect of regulatory fit and stop rules can be explained by misattribution of rightness feelings from regulatory fit; the effect was eliminated by drawing participants' attention to an earlier event as a source of rightness feelings (Experiments 1 and 3).

Combining the cost of reducing uncertainty with the selection of risk assessment models for remediation decision of site contamination

The decision as to whether a contaminated site poses a threat to human health and should be cleaned up relies increasingly upon the use of risk assessment models. However, the more sophisticated risk assessment models become, the greater the concern with the uncertainty in, and thus the credibility of, risk assessment. In particular, when there are several equally plausible models, decision makers are confused by model uncertainty and perplexed as to which model should be chosen for making decisions objectively. When the correctness of different models is not easily judged after objective analysis has been conducted, the cost incurred during the processes of risk assessment has to be considered in order to make an efficient decision. In order to support an efficient and objective remediation decision, this study develops a methodology to cost the least required reduction of uncertainty and to use the cost measure in the selection of candidate models. The focus is on identifying the efforts involved in reducing the input uncertainty to the point at which the uncertainty would not hinder the decision in each equally plausible model. First, this methodology combines a nested Monte Carlo simulation, rank correlation coefficients, and explicit decision criteria to identify key uncertain inputs that would influence the decision in order to reduce input uncertainty. This methodology then calculates the cost of required reduction of input uncertainty in each model by convergence ratio, which measures the needed convergence level of each key input's spread. Finally, the most appropriate model can be selected based on the convergence ratio and cost. A case of a contaminated site is used to demonstrate the methodology.

Agreement between physicians and patients about what constitutes shared decision making

6065 Background: Involving patients in making decisions about their own care is increasingly desirable for patients with serious illness. Shared decision making is one such model, the attributes of which have been well defined (Charles et al., Soc Sci Med,1997,1999). However, it is unclear whether physicians and patients agree on what constitutes a SDM interaction. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 21 medical and radiation oncologists and 14 cancer patients attending a regional cancer centre. Participants were asked what they thought it meant for the patient and physician to share in DM. Responses were compared to the theoretical constructs of SDM defined by Charles et al: information exchange (flow, direction, type, amount), deliberation, and who makes the decision. Two analysts independently reviewed the interviews for patient and physician definitions of SDM and compared these with the Charles et al. model of SDM using explicit classification decision rules. There were few discrepancies between analysts and agreement was reached in all cases. Results: 71% of physicians and 29% of patients described a two-way flow and direction of information exchange as necessary for SDM. Only 24% of physicians and 21% of patients described the exchange of both medical and personal information. All participants indicated that more than the minimum legally required amount of information was needed. 67% of physicians and 36% of patients described both patient and physician involvement in deliberation about treatment as a component of SDM. 48% of physicians and 21% of patients identified both patients and physicians are involved in deciding what treatment to implement in a shared approach. Overall, none of the participant definitions identified all the components of the SDM model. Physicians in their definitions, identified more components than did patients. Conclusions: Physicians appear to have a stronger understanding of the elements involved in SDM. These differences may lead to different expectations about patient involvement in DM. Physicians have a responsibility for ensuring that patients are invited to contribute to all components of SDM in the oncology consultation. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Towards an explicit design decision process: the case of the structural frame

Decisions made during the briefing and conceptual design stages of a building project are critical to its success. One of the earliest major decisions which can have a significant effect on downstream events and results is the selection of the structural frame. Given its importance to the efficacy of the finished building, the structural frame selection process should arguably be objective and transparent, the final decision being based on the frame's ability to perform against a range of criteria appropriate to the scheme in question. However, the heuristics underpinning such decisions tend not to be explicit and thus, are difficult for inexperienced clients to understand. This article reports on research which examined the criteria used by clients, structural engineers, architects and main contractors when selecting structural frames. These were established via a postal questionnaire survey of a stratified sample of design professionals, contractors and client organizations. The analysis reveals marked differences in the perceived importance of the criteria identified amongst the respondents, which may result in conflicts between design and construction advisers and their clients should they be made explicit in the design process. Nevertheless, it is important that such differences are revealed within the decision‐making process if more appropriate design decisions are to be made in the future.