Decision Processes and Value Endogeneity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. March
Keyword(s):  
Decision Processes ◽  
Hard Problem ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Over Time ◽  
What Matters

Humans use reasons to shape and justify choices. In the process, trade-offs seem essential and often inevitable. But trade-offs involve comparisons, which are problematic both across values and especially over time. Reducing disparate values to a common metric (especially if that metric is money) is often problematic and unsatisfactory. Critically, it is not that values just shape choices, but that choices themselves shape values. This endogeneity of values makes an unconditional normative endorsement of modern decision-theoretic rationality unwise. This is a hard problem and there is no escaping the definition of good values, that is, those that make humans better. This removes the wall between economics and philosophy. If we are to adopt and enact this perspective, then greater discourse and debate on what matters and not just what counts will be useful and even indispensable.

Performance improvement, culture, and regimes

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Étienne Charbonneau ◽  
Daniel E. Bromberg ◽  
Alexander C. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Performance Improvement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Over Time

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to better understand the performance improvement outcomes that result from the interaction of a performance regime and its context over more than a decade. Design/methodology/approach – A series of partial free disposable hull analyses are performed to graph variations in performance for 13 services in 444 municipalities in one province for over a decade. Findings – There are few examples of mass service improvements over time. This holds even for relative bottom performers, as they do not catch up to average municipalities over time. However, there is also little proof of service deterioration during the same period. Research limitations/implications – A limitation results from the high churning rate of the indicators. The relevance of refining indicators based on feedback from practitioners should not be dismissed, even if it makes the task of proving performance improvement more difficult. It is possible that the overall quality of services on the ground improved, or stayed stable despite diminishing costs, without stable indicators to capture that reality. Practical implications – Not all arrangements incentives and structures of – performance regimes – are equally fruitful for one level of government to steer a multitude of other governments on the generalized path to improved performance. Social implications – With the insight that was not available to public managers putting together these performance regimes in the beginning of the 2000s, the authors offer a proposition: mass performance improvement is not to be expected out of intelligence regime. It neither levels nor improves performance for all (Knutsson et al., 2012). Though there are benefits to such a regime, a general rise in performance across all participants is not one of them. Originality/value – Performance improvements are assessed under difficult, yet common characteristics in the public sector: budgetary realities where there are trade-offs between many services, locally set priorities, no clear definition of what constitutes a good level of performance, and changes in the indicators over time.

The Distinction between [P] and [S]

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galen Strawson
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Legal Responsibility ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Over Time

This chapter examines the difference between John Locke's definition of a person [P], considered as a kind of thing, and his definition of a subject of experience of a certain sophisticated sort [S]. It first discusses the equation [P] = [S], where [S] is assumed to be a continuing thing that is able to survive radical change of substantial realization, as well as Locke's position about consciousness in relation to [P]'s identity or existence over time as [S]. It argues that Locke is not guilty of circularity because he is not proposing consciousness as the determinant of [S]'s identity over time, but only of [S]'s moral and legal responsibility over time. Finally, it suggests that the terms “Person” and “Personal identity” pull apart, in Locke's scheme of things, but in a perfectly coherent way.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUDICIAL DEFINITION OF MATERIALITY

1990 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
LuAnn Bean ◽  
Deborah W. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Court Cases ◽  
Accounting Profession ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Over Time

Determining what should be considered a material item has been a problem for both the accounting profession and the courts. By reviewing the court cases involving the issue of materiality, the authors have determined where differences in the materiality standard as applied by the courts exist. The judicial definition of materiality has developed over time, and current trends with important variations are observed. Based upon the authors' analysis, the following judicial definition of materiality, with its possible variations, is suggested: Would the reasonable (or speculative) investor (or layman) consider important (or be influenced by) this information in determining his course of action?

scholarly journals Ethical Adversaries

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-41
Author(s):  
Pieter Delobelle ◽  
Paul Temple ◽  
Gilles Perrouin ◽  
Benoit Frénay ◽  
Patrick Heymans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Equality Of Opportunity ◽  
Decision Processes ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Theoretical Considerations

Machine learning is being integrated into a growing number of critical systems with far-reaching impacts on society. Unexpected behaviour and unfair decision processes are coming under increasing scrutiny due to this widespread use and its theoretical considerations. Individuals, as well as organisations, notice, test, and criticize unfair results to hold model designers and deployers accountable. We offer a framework that assists these groups in mitigating unfair representations stemming from the training datasets. Our framework relies on two inter-operating adversaries to improve fairness. First, a model is trained with the goal of preventing the guessing of protected attributes' values while limiting utility losses. This first step optimizes the model's parameters for fairness. Second, the framework leverages evasion attacks from adversarial machine learning to generate new examples that will be misclassified. These new examples are then used to retrain and improve the model in the first step. These two steps are iteratively applied until a significant improvement in fairness is obtained. We evaluated our framework on well-studied datasets in the fairness literature - including COMPAS - where it can surpass other approaches concerning demographic parity, equality of opportunity and also the model's utility. We investigated the trade-offs between these targets in terms of model hyperparameters and also illustrated our findings on the subtle difficulties when mitigating unfairness and highlight how our framework can assist model designers.

scholarly journals Are We Closer to International Consensus on the Term ‘Food Literacy’?: A Systematic Scoping Review of Its Use in the Academic Literature (1998–2019)

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 2006
Author(s):  
Courtney Thompson ◽  
Jean Adams ◽  
Helen Anna Vidgen
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
International Agency ◽  
Original Research ◽  
International Consensus ◽  
Food Literacy ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Review Articles ◽  
Article Type ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Over Time

(1) Background: The term ‘food literacy’ has gained momentum globally; however, a lack of clarity around its definition has resulted in inconsistencies in use of the term. Therefore, the objective was to conduct a systematic scoping review to describe the use, reach, application and definitions of the term ‘food literacy’ over time. (2) Methods: A search was conducted using the PRISMA-ScR guidelines in seven research databases without any date limitations up to 31 December 2019, searching simply for use of the term ‘food literacy’. (3) Results: Five hundred and forty-nine studies were included. The term ‘food literacy’ was used once in 243 articles (44%) and mentioned by researchers working in 41 countries. Original research was the most common article type (n = 429, 78%). Food literacy was published across 72 In Cites disciplines, with 456 (83%) articles from the last 5 years. In articles about food literacy (n = 82, 15%), review articles were twice as prevalent compared to the total number of articles (n = 10, 12% vs. n = 32, 6%). Fifty-one different definitions of food literacy were cited. (4) Conclusions: ‘Food literacy’ has been used frequently and broadly across differing article types and disciplines in academic literature internationally. However, agreement on a standardised definition of food literacy endorsed by a peak international agency is needed in order to progress the field.

scholarly journals What is professionalism in occupational therapy? A concept analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 000841742199437
Author(s):  
Alexandra Lecours ◽  
Nancy Baril ◽  
Marie-Josée Drolet
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Occupational Therapists ◽  
Concept Analysis ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Analysis Design ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Extract Information

Background. Professionalism has been given different definitions over time. These are, commonly theoretical and difficult to operationalize. Purpose. This study aimed to provide an operational definition of the concept of professionalism in occupational therapy. Method. Based on a concept analysis design, a meta-narrative review was conducted to extract information from 30 occupational therapy manuscripts. Findings. Professionalism is a complex competence defined by the manifestation of distinct attitudes and behaviours that support excellence in the occupational therapy practice. In addition, professionalism is forged and evolves according to personal and environmental characteristics. The manifestation of professionalism can lead to positive consequences for occupational therapists, clients, and the discipline, notably contributing to a positive and strong professional identity. Moreover, professionalism is also subject to cultural influences, which leads to variations in its development, manifestations, and consequences. Implications. This study offers a contemporary operational definition of professionalism and levers to promote its development and maintenance.

scholarly journals “I know it when I hear it”

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 205920431878458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Larrouy-Maestri
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Repetition Effect ◽  
Large Individual ◽  
Task Repetition ◽  
Musical Performances ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
High Consistency ◽  
Effect Experiment ◽  
Over Time

Listeners regularly judge the accuracy of musical performances. However, as is true for several types of judgments (e.g., beauty or obscenity), estimating the correctness of melodies is not based on a precise definition of the object/performance but rather follows arguments such as “I know it when I hear it”. In order to clarify the definition of correctness in melodies, participants identified parametrically manipulated sung melodies as in-tune or out-of-tune, using the method of limits procedure (Experiment 1). Listeners’ tolerance with regard to mistuning was compared across melodies (Experiment 2). The potential roots of correctness perception were investigated by testing the effect of familiarity, the influence of formal musical training (Experiment 3), and the task repetition effect (Experiment 4). The results highlight a surprisingly small tolerance with regard to mistuning (half of a quarter tone), whatever the melodic context, large individual differences, but high consistency over time. This high sensitivity was mainly modulated by musical training as well as by previous exposure. In addition to defining the boundary between in- and out-of-tune melodies, this study supports the implicit development of the normative notion of “correctness” as a category that might drive listeners’ appreciation of artistic performances.

scholarly journals Evolving user needs and late-mover advantage

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrien Querbes ◽  
Koen Frenken
Keyword(s):  
User Needs ◽  
Nk Model ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
First Mover ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Late Movers

We propose a generalized NK-model of late-mover advantage where late-mover firms leapfrog first-mover firms as user needs evolve over time. First movers face severe trade-offs between the provision of functionalities in which their products already excel and the additional functionalities requested by users later on. Late movers, by contrast, start searching when more functionalities are already known and typically come up with superior product designs. We also show that late-mover advantage is more probable for more complex technologies. Managerial implications follow.

scholarly journals The level of satisfaction among orthodontic removable appliances patients

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatin Nadhirah Kamaludin Latifi ◽  
Ida Ayu Evangelina ◽  
Sri Susilawati
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Community Satisfaction ◽  
Satisfaction Index ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Removable Appliances ◽  
Over Time

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is like many other psychological concepts, it is easy to understand but hard to define. The concept of satisfaction overlaps with similar themes such as happiness, contentment, and quality of life. Satisfaction is not some pre-existing phenomenon waiting to be measured, but a judgment that people form over time as they reflect on their experience. A simple and practical definition of satisfaction would be the degree to which desired goals have been achieved. Methods: The type of this research is descriptive with survey methode. Data is collected through questionnaire with the total sample of 150 respondents. The study population was based on accidental sampling, by which the sample was selected depending on who came to Orthodontic Department of RSGM FKG UNPAD, Bandung by the researcher during the period of the research. Results: The data is then analyzed using Community Satisfaction Index (Indeks Kepuasan Masyarakat) or IKM that which shows that 13 out of 14 indicators are still in B grade and overall IKM value of 7.90%, which means that the level of satisfaction has yet not met the expectation among removable appliances patients in Orthodontic Department of RSGM FKG UNPAD, Bandung. Conclusion: The level of satisfaction among removable appliances patients 0rthodontic are still have not met the patients’ expectation.

scholarly journals Nurturing talents and creativity in youth: Challenge to contemporary world

2005 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-147
Author(s):  
Bosiljka Djordjevic ◽  
Slavica Maksic
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Gifted Children ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Adequate Education ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Over Time

The paper reviews approaches to the development of talents and creativity using surveys communicated in the 1975-2005 period at world, European and regional scientific conferences on gifted children and youth. Methods of studying and treating the gifted over the past three decades were analyzed on the basis of data available in records, proceedings of papers and other publications of the mentioned conferences as well as of personal findings of the present paper?s authors who participated in some of those conferences. In addition to identifying the subjects that captured attention of researchers and practitioners in a certain period of time, an attempt was made to describe trends in studying them and those likely ones for future work. The results indicate that the most frequent subjects under study were problems facing conception and definition of giftedness, talents and creativity, instruments for identifying gifted individuals, and manners of providing adequate education for them. Over time there was an increase in the number of studies related to identifying specific personality traits of a gifted individual and his environment, critical for his development and achievement. It is noticeable that interest in gifted children and youth is growing all the time, involving not only researchers and teachers but parents, the gifted themselves and other important social groups and institutions. It is concluded that encouraging talents and creativity in youth is a challenge to contemporary world, which will determine its future.

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