scholarly journals Simulating the best and worst of times: The powers and perils of emotional simulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Wardell ◽  
Matthew D. Grilli ◽  
Daniela Palombo

We are remarkably capable of simulating events that we have never experienced. These simulated events often paint an emotional picture to behold, such as the best and worst possible outcomes that we might face. This review synthesizes dispersed literature exploring the role of emotion in simulation. Drawing from work that suggests that simulations can influence our preferences, decision making, and prosociality, we argue for a critical role of emotion in informing the consequences of simulation. We further unpack burgeoning evidence suggesting that the effects of emotional simulation transcend the laboratory. We propose avenues by which emotional simulation can be harnessed for both personal and collective good in applied contexts. We conclude by offering important future directions.

Author(s):  
Venesser Fernandes

This chapter provides a detailed literature review exploring the importance of data-driven decision-making processes in current Australian school improvement processes within a context of evidence-based organizational change and development. An investigation into the concept of decision-making and its effect on organizational culture is conducted as change and development are considered to be the new constants in the current discourse around continuous school improvement in schools. In a close examination of literature, this chapter investigates how key factors such as collaboration, communication, and organizational trust are achieved through data-driven decision-making within continuous school improvement processes. The critical role of leadership in sustaining data cultures is also examined for its direct impact on continuous school improvement processes based on evidence-based organizational change and development practices. Future implications of data-driven decision-making to sustain continuous school improvement and accountability processes in Australian schools are discussed.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rawat ◽  
Kadian ◽  
Gupta ◽  
Kumar ◽  
Chain ◽  
...  

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies, accounting for more than 45,750 deaths annually in the U.S. alone. The aggressive nature and late diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, coupled with the limitations of existing chemotherapy, present the pressing need for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Recent reports have demonstrated a critical role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the initiation, progression, and metastasis of cancer. Furthermore, aberrant expressions of miRNAs have often been associated with the cause and consequence of pancreatic cancer, emphasizing the possible use of miRNAs in the effective management of pancreatic cancer patients. In this review, we provide a brief overview of miRNA biogenesis and its role in fundamental cellular process and miRNA studies in pancreatic cancer patients and animal models. Subsequent sections narrate the role of miRNA in, (i) cell cycle and proliferation; (ii) apoptosis; (iii) invasions and metastasis; and (iv) various cellular signaling pathways. We also describe the role of miRNA’s in pancreatic cancer; (i) diagnosis; (ii) prognosis and (iii) therapeutic intervention. Conclusion section describes the gist of review with future directions.


2019 ◽  
pp. bmjebm-2019-111247
Author(s):  
David Slawson ◽  
Allen F Shaughnessy

Overdiagnosis and overtreatment—overuse—is gaining wide acceptance as a leading nosocomial intervention in medicine. Not only does overuse create anxiety and diminish patients’ quality of life, in some cases it causes harm to both patients and others not directly involved in clinical care. Reducing overuse begins with the recognition and acceptance of the potential for unintended harm of our best intentions. In this paper, we introduce five cases to illustrate where harm can occur as the result of well-intended healthcare interventions. With this insight, clinicians can learn to appreciate the critical role of probability-based, evidence-informed decision-making in medicine and the need to consider the outcomes for all who may be affected by their actions. Likewise, educators need to evolve medical education and medical decision-making so that it focuses on the hierarchy of evidence and that what ‘ought to work’, based on traditional pathophysiological, disease-focused reasoning, should be subordinate to what ‘does work’.


Author(s):  
Robert S. Gutzwiller ◽  
Kimberly J. Ferguson-Walter ◽  
Sunny J. Fugate

We report on whether cyber attacker behaviors contain decision making biases. Data from a prior experiment were analyzed in an exploratory fashion, making use of think-aloud responses from a small group of red teamers. The analysis provided new observational evidence of traditional decision-making biases in red team behaviors (confirmation bias, anchoring, and take-the-best heuristic use). These biases may disrupt red team decisions and goals, and simultaneously increase their risk of detection. Interestingly, at least part of the bias induction may be related to the use of cyber deception. Future directions include the development of behavioral measurement techniques for these and additional cognitive biases in cyber operators, examining the role of attacker traits, and identifying the conditions where biases can be induced successfully in experimental conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-75
Author(s):  
Dale Stephens

Abstract International humanitarian law (ihl) primarily applies to govern the conduct of individuals in the most desperate time of human endeavour, namely armed conflict, in order to ameliorate violence. However, understanding how ihl is disseminated, trained and actually applied in the battlespace is, remarkably, a relatively underexplored area. There are countless volumes dedicated to analyzing and parsing the myriad of words and formulas that comprise this burgeoning body of law. However, there is very little empirical analysis undertaken on effective training strategies and even less on tracking nuanced compliance and decision-making processes in actual armed conflict. Against this background, the 2018 icrc study ‘The Roots of Restraint in War’ offers an insightful account of how to best frame training strategies and how to optimize compliance in the battlespace. It consciously adopts an inter-disciplinary approach. It accepts fully the role of social, ethical and moral factors that can orientate decision making in a manner that combines with the applicable law. The goal is restraint in war, of a type that comes not from clinical compliance with complex legal formulas and interpretative rectitude but is derived from a deeper sense of professional self-identity. It acknowledges the risks inherent in its approach and yet, compellingly, offers a blueprint for melding principles of ihl with a sense of personal commitment. Such an approach is to be celebrated for the audacity and courage that it exhibits.


1992 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Werth

One of the issues arising out of the increasing incidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is whether or not suicide may be considered to be a rational choice for a person with AIDS. In an effort to address this dilemma, this article begins by reviewing the literature pertaining to suicide and persons with terminal illnesses. Then, after recounting the suicide rate for persons with AIDS, it explores some of the physical and psychosocial factors that may be a part of a decision by a person with AIDS to commit suicide. Siegel's criteria for a rational suicide are applied to the case of a person with AIDS. In addition, the role of the psychotherapist in the decision-making process is critically examined, as are some arguments against allowing suicide. Finally, suggestions for future directions by counseling psychologists are offered.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 247054701770476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chadi G Abdallah ◽  
Paul Geha

Pain and stress share significant conceptual and physiological overlaps. Both phenomena challenge the body’s homeostasis and necessitate decision-making to help animals adapt to their environment. In addition, chronic stress and chronic pain share a common behavioral model of failure to extinguish negative memories. Yet, they also have discrepancies such that the final brain endophenotype of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and chronic pain appears to be different among the three conditions, and the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis remains unclear in the physiology of pain. Persistence of either stress or pain is maladaptive and could lead to compromised well-being. In this brief review, we highlight the commonalities and differences between chronic stress and chronic pain, while focusing particularly on the central role of the limbic brain. We assess the current attempts in the field to conceptualize and understand chronic pain, within the context of knowledge gained from the stress literature. The limbic brain—including hippocampus, amygdala, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex—plays a critical role in learning. These brain areas integrate incoming nociceptive or stress signals with internal state, and generate learning signals necessary for decision-making. Therefore, the physiological and structural remodeling of this learning circuitry is observed in conditions such as chronic pain, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder, and is also linked to the risk of onset of these conditions.


Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Alghazali ◽  
Uthman M. Ageeli

The ERP is the main source of business data while store mobile inventory management is one of very important modules in ERP that cover a critical role for retail organizations such as Panda retail company. The goal of this study is to show the high correlation between information and effective decision-making process. Descriptive analysis research method was used in this study where theoretical data collected from published papers, in Jeddah city (60) employees of mobile inventory management system users participated the survey and statistical techniques such as frequency tables, Percentages, Average value, standard deviation, etc. This used survey consists of 3 companies namely the effectiveness of information to support decision making, the effectiveness of store mobile inventory management at Panda retail company, the effectiveness of ERP for organizations. The key results of this study clarifies that it’s very important to have as much as possible data and the relationships between data at any point of time to identify problems, analyze them in order to make the most effective decisions and role of ERP in providing such information at any point of time. Recommendations had been provided such as the importunacy of ERP, modern business applications, and technology to improve business outcomes and provide continues learning and development culture for employees to increase their competencies to use these digital tools.


Author(s):  
Susan Wanjiku Muchiri ◽  
Serges Claver Nzisabira

Gender affects the kind of opportunities and constraints faced in life; human beings are constantly divided into hierarchies. In looking at poverty reduction in Burundi, we can see the critical role that gender plays. In Burundi, among the poor are many women as a result of being primary caretakers. The focus of this paper is to examine the interconnection between gender and poverty reduction as well as the role of social work, if there is to be any reduction in poverty. Social workers need to work with women who are at the forefront of poverty through encouragement of more opportunities for women in education, business and in areas of decision-making. In many areas women are regarded as unable to participate with men in decision-making as they are considered not to be on the same level with men, intellectually, socially, economically or politically. When a woman is educated, she is better able to provide for her children. This means that the future generations are also protected against poverty. Social workers have the role of educating women and men in Burundi about the importance of women in poverty reduction. This paper presents a brief review of literature on gender disparities and poverty as well as the role of social work in poverty reduction in Burundi.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 47-64
Author(s):  
Kerk Kee ◽  
Prasad Calyam ◽  
Hariharan Regunath

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global emergency. Clinicians and medical researchers are suddenly thrown into a situation where they need to keep up with the latest and best evidence for decision-making at work in order to save lives and develop solutions for COVID-19 treatments and preventions. However, a challenge is the overwhelming numbers of online publications with a wide range of quality. We explain a science gateway platform designed to help users to filter the overwhelming amount of literature efficiently (with speed) and effectively (with quality), to find answers to their scientific questions. It is equipped with a chatbot to assist users to overcome infodemic, low usability, and high learning curve. We argue that human-machine communication via a chatbot play a critical role in enabling the diffusion of innovations.


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