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One Finding (one + finding)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	33%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	33%

Selected Abstracts

Reverse Auctions with Multiple Reinforcement Learning Agents,

DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 1 2008
Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay
ABSTRACT Reverse auctions in business-to-business (B2B) exchanges provide numerous benefits to participants. Arguably the most notable benefit is that of lowered prices driven by increased competition in such auctions. The competition between sellers in reverse auctions has been analyzed using a game-theoretic framework and equilibria have been established for several scenarios. One finding of note is that, in a setting in which sellers can meet total demand with the highest-bidding seller being able to sell only a fraction of the total capacity, the sellers resort to a mixed-strategy equilibrium. Although price randomization in industrial bidding is an accepted norm, one might argue that in reality managers do not utilize advanced game theory calculations in placing bids. More likely, managers adopt simple learning strategies. In this situation, it remains an open question as to whether the bid prices converge to the theoretical equilibrium over time. To address this question, we model reverse-auction bidding behavior by artificial agents as both two-player and n -player games in a simulation environment. The agents begin the game with a minimal understanding of the environment but over time analyze wins and losses for use in determining future bids. To test for convergence, the agents explore the price space and exploit prices where profits are higher, given varying cost and capacity scenarios. In the two-player case, the agents do indeed converge toward the theoretical equilibrium. The n -player case provides results that reinforce our understanding of the theoretical equilibria. These results are promising enough to further consider the use of artificial learning mechanisms in reverse auctions and other electronic market transactions, especially as more sophisticated mechanisms are developed to tackle real-life complexities. We also develop the analytical results when one agent does not behave strategically while the other agent does and show that our simulations for this environment also result in convergence toward the theoretical equilibrium. Because the nature of the best response in the new setting is very different (pure strategy as opposed to mixed), it indicates the robustness of the devised algorithm. The use of artificial agents can also overcome the limitations in rationality demonstrated by human managers. The results thus have interesting implications for designing artificial agents in automating bid responses for large numbers of bids where human intervention might not always be possible. [source]

Re-inscribing Gender in New Modes of Medical Expertise: The Investigator,Coordinator Relationship in the Clinical Trials Industry

GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 2 2010
Jill A. Fisher
This article analyses the ways in which research coordinators forge professional identities in the highly gendered organizational context of the clinic. Drawing upon qualitative research on the organization of the clinical trials industry (that is, the private sector, for profit auxiliary companies that support pharmaceutical drug studies), this article explores the relationships between predominantly male physician-investigators and female research coordinators and the constitution of medical expertise in pharmaceutical drug development. One finding is that coordinators actively seek to establish relationships with investigators that mirror traditional doctor,nurse relationships, in which the feminized role is subordinated and devalued. Another finding is that the coordinators do, in fact, have profound research expertise that is frequently greater than that of the investigators. The coordinators develop expertise on pharmaceutical products and diseases through their observations of the patterns that occur in patient,participants' responses to investigational drugs. The article argues, however, that the nature of the relationships between coordinators and investigators renders invisible the coordinators' expertise. In this context, gender acts as a persistent social structure shaping both coordinators' and investigators' perceptions of who can be recognized as having authority and power in the workplace. [source]

Recent advances in vertebrate aging research 2009

AGING CELL, Issue 3 2010
Steven Austad
Summary Among the notable trends seen in this year's highlights in mammalian aging research is an awakening of interest in the assessment of age-related measures of mouse health in addition to the traditional focus on longevity. One finding of note is that overexpression of telomerase extended life and improved several indices of health in mice that had previously been genetically rendered cancer resistant. In another study, resveratrol supplementation led to amelioration of several degenerative conditions without affecting mouse lifespan. A primate dietary restriction (DR) study found that restriction led to major improvements in glucoregulatory status along with provocative but less striking effects on survival. Visceral fat removal in rats improved their survival, although not as dramatically as DR. An unexpected result showing the power of genetic background effects was that DR shortened the lifespan of long-lived mice bearing Prop1df, whereas a previous report in a different background had found DR to extend the lifespan of Prop1df mice. Treatment with the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, rapamycin, enhanced the survival of even elderly mice and improved their vaccine response. Genetic inhibition of a TOR target made female, but not male, mice live longer. This year saw the mTOR network firmly established as a major modulator of mammalian lifespan. [source]

Neuroeconomics: Using Neuroscience to Make Economic Predictions,

THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 519 2007
Colin F. Camerer
Neuroeconomics seeks to ground economic theory in detailed neural mechanisms which are expressed mathematically and make behavioural predictions. One finding is that simple kinds of economising for life-and-death decisions (food, sex and danger) do occur in the brain as rational theories assume. Another set of findings appears to support the neural basis of constructs posited in behavioural economics, such as a preference for immediacy and nonlinear weighting of small and large probabilities. A third direction shows how understanding neural circuitry permits predictions and causal experiments which show state-dependence of revealed preference , except that states are biological and neural variables. [source]

Recovering from the psychological impact of intensive care: how constructing a story helps

NURSING IN CRITICAL CARE, Issue 6 2009
Susan Lecky Williams
ABSTRACT Background: Numerous studies have demonstrated both the risk of post-traumatic stress as a result of intensive care unit (ICU) treatment and the efficacy of successful narrative processing for recovery from psychological trauma. Aim: This article is based on recent doctoral research exploring the impact of unanticipated life threats after admission to hospital. It examines the difficulties ICU patients have with constructing coherent narratives of their illness experience and the significance of those difficulties for psychological recovery from critical illness. Methods: The original research used a qualitative design blending discourse, narrative, and phenomenological approaches guided by hermeneutical sensitivity to the evolving language of narrative processing. Patients chosen from ICU discharge summaries showing a critical life-threatening event after admission to hospital were interviewed soon after discharge from hospital and then again 1 year later. Unstructured interviews explored participant experience of a critical event and its aftermath. Results: This article focuses in particular on one finding from the doctoral research. Unanticipated critical illness presented some patients with difficulties in accomplishing the fundamental human task of constructing a narrative of their experience. Risk factors were observed identifying specific vulnerabilities. The extent to which difficulties were overcome impacted positively on the patient's sense of well-being 1 year after discharge. Conclusions: In order to recover psychologically, some ICU patients need help overcoming obstacles to their ability to construct an adequately coherent narrative of their experience. Relevance to clinical practice: ICU follow-up clinics could gain increased clarity of purpose from this narrative conceptual framework, eventually evaluating and validating benchmarks for assessing psychological recovery in relation to specified dimensions of narrative processing. Practice development informed by narrative process theory could also enhance ICU nursing communication. Since story construction is central to a person's core identity processes, person-centred nursing would also be implicated. [source]

Helping parents by working with their children in individual child therapy

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 3 2001
Kate Wilson
ABSTRACT The paper describes a small scale pilot process and outcome study that was undertaken at the University of York. The study is based on accounts of treatment interventions with children conducted by trainee play therapists studying on the University's programme in non-directive play therapy. These are being used to develop a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of non-directive play therapy as an intervention for distressed and maltreated children. The focus of this paper is on one finding of the study, namely that play therapy undertaken with individual children, in addition to bringing about improvements in the children's problems, may improve their parents' parenting behaviour if they are appropriately involved in the therapy. The paper describes the cases and their outcomes at a 6-month follow-up. It illustrates the finding of changes in parenting behaviour through three case studies, and discusses the kinds of changes, possible reasons for them, and necessary practice requirements if these changes are to take place. The paper concludes that engaging parents in a broadly collaborative effort may be facilitated by a primary initial focus on their children. [source]