Exploring the Ethical Decision-Making Processes of Community Care Providers

While there has been a recent shift away from isolated, institutionalized living conditions, persons with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) may still experience restricted access to choice when it comes to making decisions about the basic aspects of their lives. A tension remains between protecting individuals from harm and promoting their right to independence and personal liberties. This tension creates complex questions and ethical concerns for care providers supporting persons with ID. This study explored the ethical decision-making processes of care providers and specifically, how care providers describe the balance of protecting supported individuals from harm while promoting their right to self-determination. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six care providers employed by a local community agency that supports young and older adults with ID. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and broader themes were developed following phases of open and selective coding. Results indicated that care providers described ethical decision-making processes as frequent, complex, subjective, and uncomfortable. All participants described the importance of promoting independent decision-making among the individuals they support and assisting supported individuals to make informed decisions. Participants also reported work colleagues and supervisors as primary sources of information when resolving ethical concerns. This suggests that complex ethical decision-making processes are being taken seriously by care providers and supervising staff. The results of this study are well-positioned to be applied to the development of a training program for frontline care providing staff supporting individuals in community care settings.

Stochastic processes and their applications semi-markov analysis of some inventory and queuing problems

This thesis analyses certain problems in Inventories and Queues. There are many situations in real-life where we encounter models as described in this thesis. It analyses in depth various models which can be applied to production, storag¢, telephone traffic, road traffic, economics, business administration, serving of customers, operations of particle counters and others. Certain models described here is not a complete representation of the true situation in all its complexity, but a simplified version amenable to analysis. While discussing the models, we show how a dependence structure can be suitably introduced in some problems of Inventories and Queues. Continuous review, single commodity inventory systems with Markov dependence structure introduced in the demand quantities, replenishment quantities and reordering levels are considered separately. Lead time is assumed to be zero in these models. An inventory model involving random lead time is also considered (Chapter-4). Further finite capacity single server queueing systems with single/bulk arrival, single/bulk services are also discussed. In some models the server is assumed to go on vacation (Chapters 7 and 8). In chapters 5 and 6 a sort of dependence is introduced in the service pattern in some queuing models.

Mathematical modelling of decision making processes in construction projects

Many different individuals, who have their own expertise and criteria for decision making, are involved in making decisions on construction projects. Decision-making processes are thus significantly affected by communication, in which a dynamic performance of human intentions leads to unpredictable outcomes. In order to theorise the decision making processes including communication, it is argued here that the decision making processes resemble evolutionary dynamics in terms of both selection and mutation, which can be expressed by the replicator-mutator equation. To support this argument, a mathematical model of decision making has been made from an analogy with evolutionary dynamics, in which there are three variables: initial support rate, business hierarchy, and power of persuasion. On the other hand, a survey of patterns in decision making in construction projects has also been performed through self-administered mail questionnaire to construction practitioners. Consequently, comparison between the numerical analysis of mathematical model and the statistical analysis of empirical data has shown a significant potential of the replicator-mutator equation as a tool to study dynamic properties of intentions in communication.

Inference on microsatellite mutation processes in the invasive mite, Varroa destructor, using reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo

Varroa destructor is a parasitic mite of the Eastern honeybee Apis cerana. Fifty years ago, two distinct evolutionary lineages (Korean and Japanese) invaded the Western honeybee Apis mellifera. This haplo-diploid parasite species reproduces mainly through brother sister matings, a system which largely favors the fixation of new mutations. In a worldwide sample of 225 individuals from 21 locations collected on Western honeybees and analyzed at 19 microsatellite loci, a series of de novo mutations was observed. Using historical data concerning the invasion, this original biological system has been exploited to compare three mutation models with allele size constraints for microsatellite markers: stepwise (SMM) and generalized (GSM) mutation models, and a model with mutation rate increasing exponentially with microsatellite length (ESM). Posterior probabilities of the three models have been estimated for each locus individually using reversible jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo. The relative support of each model varies widely among loci, but the GSM is the only model that always receives at least 9% support, whatever the locus. The analysis also provides robust estimates of mutation parameters for each locus and of the divergence time of the two invasive lineages (67,000 generations with a 90% credibility interval of 35,000-174,000). With an average of 10 generations per year, this divergence time fits with the last post-glacial Korea Japan land separation. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A semi-Markov multistate model for estimation of the mean quality-adjusted survival for non-progressive processes

We discuss the estimation of the expected value of the quality-adjusted survival, based on multistate models. We generalize an earlier work, considering the sojourn times in health states are not identically distributed, for a given vector of covariates. Approaches based on semiparametric and parametric (exponential and Weibull distributions) methodologies are considered. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed estimator and the jackknife resampling method is used to estimate the variance of such estimator. An application to a real data set is also included.

Filtering for discrete-time Markov jump systems with network transmitted mode

This paper is concerned with ℋ 2 and ℋ ∞ filter design for discrete-time Markov jump systems. The usual assumption of mode-dependent design, where the current Markov mode is available to the filter at every instant of time is substituted by the case where that availability is subject to another Markov chain. In other words, the mode is transmitted to the filter through a network with given transmission failure probabilities. The problem is solved by modeling a system with N modes as another with 2N modes and cluster availability. We also treat the case where the transition probabilities are not exactly known and demonstrate our conditions for calculating an ℋ ∞ norm bound are less conservative than the available results in the current literature. Numerical examples show the applicability of the proposed results. ©2010 IEEE.

Integration of cognitive and affective processes in perception and decision-making

The relationship between emotion and cognition is a topic that raises great interest in research. Recently, a view of these two processes as interactive and mutually influencing each other has become predominant. This dissertation investigates the reciprocal influences of emotion and cognition, both at behavioral and neural level, in two specific fields, such as attention and decision-making. Experimental evidence on how emotional responses may affect perceptual and attentional processes has been reported. In addition, the impact of three factors, such as personality traits, motivational needs and social context, in modulating the influence that emotion exerts on perception and attention has been investigated. Moreover, the influence of cognition on emotional responses in decision-making has been demonstrated. The current experimental evidence showed that cognitive brain regions such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are causally implicated in regulation of emotional responses and that this has an effect at both pre and post decisional stages. There are two main conclusions of this dissertation: firstly, emotion exerts a strong influence on perceptual and attentional processes but, at the same time, this influence may also be modulated by other factors internal and external to the individuals. Secondly, cognitive processes may modulate emotional prepotent responses, by serving a regulative function critical to driving and shaping human behavior in line with current goals.

Ergodicity and regularity of invariant measure for branching Markov processes with immigration

In this thesis we consider systems of finitely many particles moving on paths given by a strong Markov process and undergoing branching and reproduction at random times. The branching rate of a particle, its number of offspring and their spatial distribution are allowed to depend on the particle's position and possibly on the configuration of coexisting particles. In addition there is immigration of new particles, with the rate of immigration and the distribution of immigrants possibly depending on the configuration of pre-existing particles as well. In the first two chapters of this work, we concentrate on the case that the joint motion of particles is governed by a diffusion with interacting components. The resulting process of particle configurations was studied by E. Löcherbach (2002, 2004) and is known as a branching diffusion with immigration (BDI). Chapter 1 contains a detailed introduction of the basic model assumptions, in particular an assumption of ergodicity which guarantees that the BDI process is positive Harris recurrent with finite invariant measure on the configuration space. This object and a closely related quantity, namely the invariant occupation measure on the single-particle space, are investigated in Chapter 2 where we study the problem of the existence of Lebesgue-densities with nice regularity properties. For example, it turns out that the existence of a continuous density for the invariant measure depends on the mechanism by which newborn particles are distributed in space, namely whether branching particles reproduce at their death position or their offspring are distributed according to an absolutely continuous transition kernel. In Chapter 3, we assume that the quantities defining the model depend only on the spatial position but not on the configuration of coexisting particles. In this framework (which was considered by Höpfner and Löcherbach (2005) in the special case that branching particles reproduce at their death position), the particle motions are independent, and we can allow for more general Markov processes instead of diffusions. The resulting configuration process is a branching Markov process in the sense introduced by Ikeda, Nagasawa and Watanabe (1968), complemented by an immigration mechanism. Generalizing results obtained by Höpfner and Löcherbach (2005), we give sufficient conditions for ergodicity in the sense of positive recurrence of the configuration process and finiteness of the invariant occupation measure in the case of general particle motions and offspring distributions.

Path Dependence in Decision-Making Processes: Exploring the Impact of Complexity under Increasing Returns

The development of path-dependent processes basically refers to positive feedback in terms of increasing returns as the main driving forces of such processes. Furthermore, path dependence can be affected by context factors, such as different degrees of complexity. Up to now, it has been unclear whether and how different settings of complexity impact path-dependent processes and the probability of lock-in. In this paper we investigate the relationship between environmental complexity and path dependence by means of an experimental study. By focusing on the mode of information load and decision quality in chronological sequences, the study explores the impact of complexity on decision-making processes. The results contribute to both the development of path-dependence theory and a better understanding of decision-making behavior under conditions of positive feedback. Since previous path research has mostly applied qualitative case-study research and (to a minor part) simulations, this paper makes a further contribution by establishing an experimental approach for research on path dependence.

The Europeanization of Swiss Decision-Making Processes

Europeanization has been at the core of two research projects on decision-making processes in Switzerland that we carried out over the last decade. Interestingly enough, Europeanization was initially not supposed to be the central focus of these projects: The first was broader in scope, as it dealt with the effects of globalization and internationalization, and the second was agnostic with respect to Europeanization – it looked at the characteristics of the most important decision-making processes and structures in contemporary Switzerland, and at the related changes that have taken place since the 1970s. However, in both projects Europeanization has imposed itself as a crucial variable, if not as the most crucial variable. We use insights from these two research projects – and from a database on the legislative acts of the 1995-2006 period that emerged from these projects – to address the questions raised by the initiators of this debate and, more especially, to highlight what effects Europeanization has on decision-making processes and related power and conflict structures among actors.

Decision-Making Processes in Voluntary Football Clubs in Relation to External Counselling

Introduction Recruiting and retaining volunteers who are prepared to make a long-term commitment is a major problem for Swiss sports clubs. With the inclusion of external counselling for the change and systematisation of volunteer management, sports clubs have a possibility to develop and defuse problems in spite of existing barriers and gaps in knowledge. To what extent is external counselling for personnel problems effective? It is often observed that standardised counselling inputs lead to varying consequences for sports clubs. It can be assumed that external impulses are interpreted and transformed differently into the workings of the club. However, this cannot be solely attributed to the situational or structural conditions of the clubs. It is also important to consider the underlying decision-making processes of a club. According to Luhmann’s organisational sociological considerations (2000), organisations (sports clubs) have to be viewed as social systems consisting of (communicated) decisions. This means that organisations are continually reproduced by decision-making processes. All other (observable) factors such as an organisation’s goals, recruiting strategies, support schemes for volunteers etc., have to be seen as an outcome of the operation of prior organisational decisions. Therefore: How do decision-making processes in sports clubs work in the context of the implementation of external counselling? Theoretical Framework An examination of the actual situation in sports clubs shows that decisions frequently appear to be shaped by inconsistency, unexpected outcomes, and randomness (Amis & Slack, 2003). Therefore, it must be emphasised that these decisions cannot be analysed according to any rational decision-making model. Their specific structural characteristics only permit a limited degree of rationality – bounded rationality. Non-profit organisations in particular are shaped by a specific mode of decisionmaking that Cohen, March, and Olsen (1972) have called the “garbage can model”. As sport clubs can also be conceived as “organised anarchies”, this model seems to offer an appropriate approach to understanding their practices and analysing their decision-making processes. The key concept in the garbage can model is the assumption that decision-making processes in organisations consist of four “streams”: (a) problems, (b) actors, (c) decision-making opportunities, and (d) solutions. Method Before presenting the method of the analysis of the decision-making processes in sports clubs, the external counselling will be described. The basis of the counselling is generated by a sports clubs’ capability to change. Due to the specific structural characteristics and organisational principles, change processes in sports clubs often merge with barriers and restrictions. These need to be considered when developing counselling guidelines for a successful planning and realisation of change processes. Furthermore, important aspects of personnel management in sports clubs and especially volunteer management must be implied in order to elaborate key elements for the counselling to recruit new volunteers (e.g., approach, expectations). A counselling of four system-counselling workshops was conceptualised by considering these specific characteristics. The decision-making processes in the sports clubs were analysed during the counselling and the implementation process. A case study is designed with the appropriate methodological approach for such explorative research. The approach adopted for these single case analyses was oriented toward the research program of behavioural decision-making theory (garbage can model). This posits that in-depth insights into organisational decision-making processes can only be gained through relevant case studies of existing organisational situations (Skille, 2013). Before, during and after the intervention, questionnaires and guided interviews were conducted with the project teams of the twelve par-ticipating football clubs to assess the different components of the “streams” in the context of external counselling. These interviews have been analysed using content analysis following guidelines as for-mulated by Mayring (2010). Results The findings show that decision-making processes in football clubs occur differently in the context of external counselling. Different initial positions and problems are the triggers for these decision-making processes. Furthermore, the implementation of the solutions and the external counselling is highly dependent on the commitment of certain people as central players within the decision-mak-ing process. The importance of these relationships is confirmed by previous findings in regard to decision-making and change processes in sports clubs. The decision-making processes in sports clubs can be theoretically analysed using behavioural decision-making theory and the “garbage can model”. Bounded rationality characterises all “streams” of the decision-making processes. Moreo-ver, the decision-making process of the football clubs can be well illustrated in the framework, and the interplay of the different dimensions illustrates the different decision-making practices within the football clubs. References Amis, J., & Slack, T. (2003). Analysing sports organisations: Theory and practice. In B. Houlihan (Eds.), Sport & Society (pp. 201–217). London, England: Sage. Cohen, M.D., March, J.G., & Olsen, J.P. (1972). A garbage can model of organisational choice. Ad-ministrative Science Quarterly, 17, 1-25. Luhmann, N. (2000). Organisation und Entscheidung. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Mayring, P. (2010). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Techniken. Weinheim: Beltz. Skille, E. Å. (2013). Case study research in sport management: A reflection upon the theory of science and an empirical example. In S. Söderman & H. Dolles (Eds.), Handbook of research on sport and business (pp. 161–175). Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar.

How do sport clubs recruit volunteers? Analyzing and developing a typology of decision-making processes on recruiting volunteers in sport clubs.

Effective strategies for recruiting volunteers who are prepared to make a long-term commitment to formal positions are essential for the survival of voluntary sport clubs. This article examines the decision-making processes in relation to these efforts. Under the assumption of bounded rationality, the garbage can model is used to grasp these decision-making processes theoretically and access them empirically. Based on case study framework an in-depth analysis of recruitment practices was conducted in nine selected sport clubs. Results showed that the decision-making processes are generally characterized by a reactive approach in which dominant actors try to handle personnel problems of recruitment in the administration and sport domains through routine formal committee work and informal networks. In addition, it proved possible to develop a typology that deliver an overview of different decision-making practices in terms of the specific interplay of the relevant components of process control (top-down vs. bottom-up) and problem processing (situational vs. systematic).