Auditory perceptual decision-making based on semantic categorization of environmental sounds.

Discriminating complex sounds relies on multiple stages of differential brain activity. The specific roles of these stages and their links to perception were the focus of the present study. We presented 250ms duration sounds of living and man-made objects while recording 160-channel electroencephalography (EEG). Subjects categorized each sound as that of a living, man-made or unknown item. We tested whether/when the brain discriminates between sound categories even when not transpiring behaviorally. We applied a single-trial classifier that identified voltage topographies and latencies at which brain responses are most discriminative. For sounds that the subjects could not categorize, we could successfully decode the semantic category based on differences in voltage topographies during the 116-174ms post-stimulus period. Sounds that were correctly categorized as that of a living or man-made item by the same subjects exhibited two periods of differences in voltage topographies at the single-trial level. Subjects exhibited differential activity before the sound ended (starting at 112ms) and on a separate period at ~270ms post-stimulus onset. Because each of these periods could be used to reliably decode semantic categories, we interpreted the first as being related to an implicit tuning for sound representations and the second as being linked to perceptual decision-making processes. Collectively, our results show that the brain discriminates environmental sounds during early stages and independently of behavioral proficiency and that explicit sound categorization requires a subsequent processing stage.

Decision-making in pediatrics: a practical algorithm to evaluate complementary and alternative medicine for children.

We herein present a preliminary practical algorithm for evaluating complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for children which relies on basic bioethical principles and considers the influence of CAM on global child healthcare. CAM is currently involved in almost all sectors of pediatric care and frequently represents a challenge to the pediatrician. The aim of this article is to provide a decision-making tool to assist the physician, especially as it remains difficult to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in the field. The reasonable application of our algorithm together with common sense should enable the pediatrician to decide whether pediatric (P)-CAM represents potential harm to the patient, and allow ethically sound counseling. In conclusion, we propose a pragmatic algorithm designed to evaluate P-CAM, briefly explain the underlying rationale and give a concrete clinical example.

The database search problem: a question of rational decision making

This paper applies probability and decision theory in the graphical interface of an influence diagram to study the formal requirements of rationality which justify the individualization of a person found through a database search. The decision-theoretic part of the analysis studies the parameters that a rational decision maker would use to individualize the selected person. The modeling part (in the form of an influence diagram) clarifies the relationships between this decision and the ingredients that make up the database search problem, i.e., the results of the database search and the different pairs of propositions describing whether an individual is at the source of the crime stain. These analyses evaluate the desirability associated with the decision of 'individualizing' (and 'not individualizing'). They point out that this decision is a function of (i) the probability that the individual in question is, in fact, at the source of the crime stain (i.e., the state of nature), and (ii) the decision maker's preferences among the possible consequences of the decision (i.e., the decision maker's loss function). We discuss the relevance and argumentative implications of these insights with respect to recent comments in specialized literature, which suggest points of view that are opposed to the results of our study.

A Local DLP-GIS-LP system for geographically decentralized wood procurement planning and decision making

Summary

PEASANT AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ON PLANOSOLS AS A SOURCE OF MATERIALS IN THE MAKING OF NON-INDUSTRIAL POTTERY

Ethnopedological studies have mainly focused on agricultural land uses and associated practices. Nevertheless, peasant and indigenous populations use soil and land resources for a number of additional purposes, including pottery. In the present study, we describe and analyze folk knowledge related to the use of soils in non-industrial pottery making by peasant potters, in the municipality of Altinho, Pernambuco State, semiarid region at Brazil. Ethnoscientific techniques were used to record local knowledge, with an emphasis on describing the soil materials recognized by the potters, the properties they used to identify those soil materials, and the criteria employed by them to differentiate and relate such materials. The potters recognized three categories of soil materials: “terra” (earth), “barro” (clay) and, “piçarro” (soft rock). The multi-layered arrangement of these materials within the soil profiles was similar to the arrangement of the soil horizon described by formal pedologists. “Barro vermelho” (red clay) was considered by potters as the principal ceramic resource. The potters followed morphological and utilitarian criteria in distinguishing the different soil materials. Soils from all of these sites were sodium-affected Alfisols and correspond to Typic Albaqualf and Typic Natraqualf in the Soil Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 2010).

Shared decision making development in Switzerland: room for improvement!

In Switzerland there is a strong movement at a national policy level towards strengthening patient rights and patient involvement in health care decisions. Yet, there is no national programme promoting shared decision making. First decision support tools (prenatal diagnosis and screening) for the counselling process have been developed and implemented. Although Swiss doctors acknowledge that shared decision making is important, hierarchical structures and asymmetric physician-patient relationships are still prevailing. The last years have seen some promising activities regarding the training of medical students and the development of patient support programmes. Swiss direct democracy and the habit of consensual decision making and citizen involvement in general may provide a fertile ground for SDM development in the primary care setting.