The Relationship between Media and Political Agendas : Variations across Decision-Making Phases

Previous studies have demonstrated that the extent to which media coverage influences the issue priorities of policy makers is contingent on the type of issue, media, and political agenda. This article contends that the relationship between media and political agendas varies across the phases of the decision-making process. Based on a comprehensive dataset on issue attention in media coverage and various policy-making channels covering the years 1996-2003, the article analyses the level of media coverage and, more importantly, the distribution and correspondence of issue attention between media and political agendas across the four successive phases of the decision-making process (initiation, preparatory, parliamentary, and referendum phases) in Switzerland. Despite inversely distributed levels of attention for successive decision-making phases, both media and political agendas are concentrated on fewer issues in the initiation and referendum phases, and they are more strongly correlated in the most decisive stages of the process, that is, the preparatory and referendum phases.

A Clinical Decision Support using a Terminology Server to improve Patient Safety.

Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are software applications that support clinicians in making healthcare decisions providing relevant information for individual patients about their specific conditions. The lack of integration between CDSS and Electronic Health Record (EHR) has been identified as a significant barrier to CDSS development and adoption. Andalusia Healthcare Public System (AHPS) provides an interoperable health information infrastructure based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that eases CDSS implementation. This paper details the deployment of a CDSS jointly with the deployment of a Terminology Server (TS) within the AHPS infrastructure. It also explains a case study about the application of decision support to thromboembolism patients and its potential impact on improving patient safety. We will apply the inSPECt tool proposal to evaluate the appropriateness of alerts in this scenario.

Decision Support Methods for Global Optomization

Immobile location-allocation (LA) problems is a type of LA problem that consists in determining the service each facility should offer in order to optimize some criterion (like the global demand), given the positions of the facilities and the customers. Due to the complexity of the problem, i.e. it is a combinatorial problem (where is the number of possible services and the number of facilities) with a non-convex search space with several sub-optimums, traditional methods cannot be applied directly to optimize this problem. Thus we proposed the use of clustering analysis to convert the initial problem into several smaller sub-problems. By this way, we presented and analyzed the suitability of some clustering methods to partition the commented LA problem. Then we explored the use of some metaheuristic techniques such as genetic algorithms, simulated annealing or cuckoo search in order to solve the sub-problems after the clustering analysis

Quality uncertainty and allocation of decision rights in the European protected designation of origin

The paper considers some issue in the governance of the European Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). The PDO systems are the outcomes of both farmers and consumers expectations and connect the valorisation of the agricultural and rural resources of given territories to the quality of typical products. A critical point in the governance of the PDO systems is represented by the connection between the quality strategies and the uncertainty. The paper argues that the PDO systems can be thought of as strictly coordinated subsystems in which the ex post governance play a critical role in coping with quality uncertainty. The study suggests that the society's inducements given raise to complex organizational systems in which the allocation of decision rights to PDO collective organizations play a major role. The empirical analysis is carried out by examining ten Italian PDO systems in order to identify the decision rights allocated.

Entrepreneurial decision-making using the knightian uncertainty approach

The article discusses the behavioral aspects that affect the entrepreneurs' decision making under the Knightian uncertainty approach. Since the profit arising from entrepreneurial activity represents the reward of an immeasurable and subjective risk, it has been hypothesized that innovative entrepreneurs have excessive optimism and confidence, which leads them to invest in high-risk activities. A behavioral model of decision making under uncertainty is used to test the hypothesis of overconfidence. This model is based on Bayesian inference, which allows us to model the assumption that these entrepreneurs are overconfident. We conclude that, under the hypothesis of overconfidence, these entrepreneurs decide to invest, despite the fact that the expected utility model indicates the contrary. This theoretical finding could explain why there are a large number of business failures in the first years of activity.

Iowa College Student Aid Commission, Agency Performance Plan

Annual Report, Agency Performance Plan

Iowa Federal Family Education Loan Program Division, Iowa College Student Aid Commission, June 30, 2002

State Agency Audit Report

Iowa College Student Aid Commission Annual Report, 2002-2003

Annual report for Iowa College Student Aid Commission

Iowa Federal Family Education Loan Program Division, Iowa College Student Aid Commission - Independent Auditor's Reports Basic Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, June 30, 2003

State Agency Audit Report

Approche interdisciplinaire de la decision de don d'organes: l'experience lausannoise [An interdisciplinary approach of the organ donation decision: the Lausanne's experience].

Since 2007, the Interdisciplinary Ethics Platform (Ethos) of the University of Lausanne is leading an interdisciplinary reflection on the organ donation decision. On this basis, the project "Organ transplantation between the rhetoric of the gift and a biomedical view of the body" studies the logics at stake in the organ donation decision-making process. Results highlight many tensions within practices and public discourses in the field of organ donation and transplantation and suggest lines of inquiry for future adjustments.

EU cohesion aid to Spain: a data set. Part II: 1994-99 planning period

In this paper we construct a data set on EU cohesion aid to Spain during the planning period 1994-99. The data are disaggregated by region, year and function and attempt to approximate the timing of actual executed expenditure on assisted projects.

List-based decision problems

When encountering a set of alternatives displayed in the form of a list, the decision maker usually determines a particular alternative, after which she stops checking the remaining ones, and chooses an alternative from those observed so far. We present a framework in which both decision problems are explicitly modeled, and axiomatically characterize a stop-and-choose rule which unifies position-biased successive choice and satisficing choice.

Decision-support tools to manage drug incompatibilities: evaluation by nurses

Introduction Preventing drug incompatibilities has a high impact onthe safety of drug therapy. Although there are no internationalguidelines to manage drug incompatibilities, different decision-supporttools such as handbooks, cross-tables and databases are available.In a previous study, two decision-support tools have been pre-selectedby pharmacists as fitting nurses' needs on the wards1. The objective ofthis study was to have these both tools evaluated by nurses todetermine which would be the most suitable for their daily practice.Materials & Methods Evaluated tools were:1. Cross-table of drug pairs (http://files.chuv.ch/internet-docs/pha/medicaments/pha_phatab_compatibilitessip.pdf)2. Colour-table (a colour for each drug according to the pH: red =acid; blue = basic; yellow = neutral; black = to be infused alone)2Tools were assessed by 48 nurses in 5 units (PICU, adult andgeriatric intensive care, surgery, onco-hematology) using a standardizedform1. The scientific accuracy of the tools was evaluated bydetermining the compatibility of five drugs pairs (rate of correctanswers according to the Trissel's Handbook on Injectable Drugs,chi-square test). Their ergonomics, design, reliability and applicabilitywere estimated using visual analogue scales (VAS 0-10; 0 =null, 10 = excellent). Results are expressed as the median and interquartilerange (IQR) for 25% and 75% (Wilcoxon rank sum test).Results The rate of correct answers was above 90% for both tools(cross-table 96.2% vs colour-table 92.5%, p[0.05).The ergonomics and the applicability were higher for the crosstable[7.1 (IQR25 4.0, IQR75 8.0) vs 5.0 (IQR25 2.7, IQR75 7.0), p =0.025 resp. 8.3 (IQR25 7.4, IQR75 9.2) vs 7.6 (IQR25 5.9, IQR75 8.8)p = 0.047].The design of the colour-table was judged better [4.6 (IQR25 2.9,IQR75 7.1) vs 7.1 (IQR25 5.4, IQR75 8.4) p = 0.002].No difference was observed in terms of reliability [7.3 (IQR25 6.5,IQR75 8.4) vs 6.7 (IQR25 5.0, IQR758.6) p[0.05].The cross-table was globally preferred by 65% of the nurses (27%colour-table, 8% undetermined) and 68% would like to have thisdecision-support tool available for their daily practice.Discussion & Conclusion Both tools showed the same accuracy toassess drug compatibility. In terms of ergonomics and applicabilitythe cross-table was better than the colour-table, and was preferred bythe nurses for their daily practice. The cross-table will be implementedin our hospital as decision-support tool to help nurses tomanage drug incompatibilities.