On computing ELECTRE's credibility indices under partial information

The ELECTRE family of decision aid methods is a well‐known approach to help decision makers (DMs) advance in a decision process. Among the most recent methods in the family, ELECTRE IS, III, and TRI compute fuzzy indices for the credibility of a given action outranking some other. We consider the case when the DMs are unsure which values each parameter should take, which may result from insufficient, imprecise or contradictory information, as well as from different preferences among a group of DMs. In the framework of a robustness analysis approach, where DMs provide only partial information on the parameter values (through constraints on acceptable combinations), we study how to find whether an outranking among two actions in an ELECTRE method is robust. In this context, we study the resulting nonlinear problems of optimizing a credibility index (under the type of constraints that we consider to appear in practice) and present some examples. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

父亲参与教养对小学生攻击行为的影响:母亲育儿压力的部分中介效应

本研究旨在考察父亲参与教养对小学生攻击行为的影响以及母亲育儿压力在二者之间的中介作用,采用同伴提名法和问卷法对604名1~6年级小学生及其家长进行调查。潜变量结构方程模型拟合检验结果显示：父亲参与教养（互动性、可及性、责任性）对小学生攻击行为（身体攻击、关系攻击）具有显著的负向预测作用;在父亲参与教养与小学生关系攻击之间,母亲的育儿愁苦和亲子互动失调具有显著的部分中介作用;在父亲参与教养与小学生身体攻击之间,只有母亲的育儿愁苦具有显著的部分中介作用。上述结果表明,父亲参与教养可以通过减少母亲的育儿愁苦来降低儿童的关系攻击和身体攻击,还能通过减少母子互动失调来降低儿童的关系攻击。     

Event-related Desynchronization of Mu Rhythms During Concentric and Eccentric Contractions

The purpose of this study was to compare the electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns and reaction times (RTs) of muscle activation between concentric and eccentric biceps brachii contractions under the RT paradigm and to evaluate how the EEG patterns and RTs changed with practice. Sixteen subjects performed 3 sets of 30 repetitions of submaximal voluntary concentric and eccentric biceps contractions. RT, event-related desynchronization (ERD) patterns of mu rhythm onset, and ERD amplitudes were selectively analyzed. Mental demand decreased as familiarity with the motor action increased due to practice regardless of contraction type. However, the 2 types of muscle contractions still have differences in brain activity regardless of decreased mental demand: eccentric contractions require earlier preparation than concentric contractions.     

Cultural Lens on Mental Illness: Four Clients Share Their Perspectives

People served by mental health providers represent diverse cultural groups. In-depth qualitative interviews were used to collect data to examine: “How do people, diagnosed with a mental illness, perceive their experience in a partial care mental health program from the perspective of their cultural context?” Four participants described cultural identities that included ethnic, health status, and sexual orientation identities. The participants' way of participating in the world was often in conflict with cultural values and expectations of the family and counselors. Cultural competence must include understanding how complex, multiple cultural contexts interact and influence a person's participation in the therapeutic process.     

Effect of Sensory Deprivation on Maximal Force Abilities from Local to Non-local Digits

Abstract

The present study investigates the effect of sensory deprivation of the index and middle finger on motor function of all digits during maximal voluntary force production tasks. A total of 27 subjects performed maximal isometric pressing tasks by using different instructed finger combinations. Subjects completed the same tasks in two visits: a control visit when they had normal sensory feedback in all fingers, and an anesthesia visit when digital nerve blocks were performed on their right index and middle fingers. We evaluated three aspects of motor adaptation on both local (anesthetized) and non-local (non-anesthetized) digits during maximal force production: (1) task-relevant and overall force magnitude, (2) force directional application, and (3) digital individuation and force sharing. Our results indicate that selective digital anesthesia resulted in decreased maximal force magnitude, changed direction of force production, and significant changes extended to non-local digits. The motor weakness and inefficiency revealed in the non-local digits implies that sensory information from each digit can be shared across the digits to assist motor execution within the same hand.     

Contraction: On the Decision-Theoretical Origins of Minimal Change and Entrenchment

We present a decision-theoretically motivated notion of contraction which, we claim, encodes the principles of minimal change and entrenchment. Contraction is seen as an operation whose goal is to minimize loses of informational value. The operation is also compatible with the principle that in contracting A one should preserve the sentences better entrenched than A (when the belief set contains A). Even when the principle of minimal change and the latter motivation for entrenchment figure prominently among the basic intuitions in the works of, among others, Quine and Ullian (1978), Levi (1980, 1991), Harman (1988) and Gärdenfors (1988), formal accounts of belief change (AGM, KM – see Gärdenfors (1988); Katsuno and Mendelzon (1991)) have abandoned both principles (see Rott (2000)). We argue for the principles and we show how to construct a contraction operation, which obeys both. An axiom system is proposed. We also prove that the decision-theoretic notion of contraction can be completely characterized in terms of the given axioms. Proving this type of completeness result is a well-known open problem in the field, whose solution requires employing both decision-theoretical techniques and logical methods recently used in belief change.     

Subdirectly Irreducible Residuated Semilattices and Positive Universal Classes

CRS(fc) denotes the variety of commutative residuated semilattice-ordered monoids that satisfy (x ⋀ e)^k ≤ (x ⋀ e)^k+1. A structural characterization of the subdi-rectly irreducible members of CRS(k) is proved, and is then used to provide a constructive approach to the axiomatization of varieties generated by positive universal subclasses of CRS(k). Dedicated to the memory of Willem Johannes Blok     

Rethinking the Control of Nuisance Variables in Theory Testing

In testing hypotheses, researchers frequently have used multiple regression analysis to control for nuisance variables (i.e., potential confounding variables that are correlated with hypothesized causal variables). In this paper, we highlight limitations of this control strategy, and we discuss fundamental issues that should be considered in deciding whether to use it. Ultimately, we suggest the use of multiple regression analysis sometimes may not improve causal understanding and may actually limit the generalizability of results. Instead of the common practice of controlling for nuisance variables, we suggest that looking at shared variance frequently is a more appropriate test of a theoretical hypothesis.     

Extensions of the partial credit model

The partial credit model, developed by Masters (1982), is a unidimensional latent trait model for responses scored in two or more ordered categories. In the present paper some extensions of the model are presented. First, a marginal maximum likelihood estimation procedure is developed which allows for incomplete data and linear restrictions on both the item and the population parameters. Secondly, two statistical tests for evaluating model fit are presented: the former test has power against violation of the assumption about the ability distribution, the latter test offers the possibility of identifying specific items that do not fit the model.The authors are indepted to professor Wim van der Linden and Huub Verstralen for their helpful comments.     

RESEARCH ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GENERALIZATION AND MAINTENANCE IN EXTRA-THERAPY RESPONDING1

Many authors have reported that the development of programs for producing durable extra-therapy responding lags behind the development of programs for producing initial behavior change. In Experiment I, responding was recorded continuously in both the therapy and extra-therapy settings. The results showed that one child did not generalize to the extra-therapy setting, but that other children did. However, for the children who generalized, extra-therapy responding was not maintained. Therefore, in Experiment II two variables affecting the durability of extra-therapy responding were assessed and found to be influential: (a) the use of partial reinforcement schedules in the original treatment environment; and (b) the presence of noncontingent reinforcers in the extra-therapy environment. The results suggest that there are two distinct parameters of extra-therapy responding: generalization and maintenance. A technology for producing durable extra-therapy responding is discussed in terms of different treatment procedures required for different deficits in extra-therapy responding.