Multicriteria Classification with Unknown Categories: A Clustering–Sorting Approach and an Application to Conflict Management

This work proposes an approach to cluster and sort a set of alternatives considering multi‐criteria categories with a partial order structure. It can be considered a heuristic approach because it does not attempt to derive an optimal partial order among all conceivable clusters of alternatives. Rather than this, it intends to be a simple approach that is transparent to the Decision Maker (DM) whose assistance is sought to help shaping the results. The approach proposed arises from the conjugation of traditional Clustering analysis and Multi‐criteria sorting tools. At the outset, the number of categories and their characteristics is unknown. First, we need to detect only the clusters themselves on the basis of a similarity measure independent of the preferences of the DM. Next, we detect potential partial order relations that might exist between them, according to the subjective preferences of the DM. Such preferences are elicited only after the DM has examined the clusters detected and deemed that these categories made sense. The new approach performs very well in a real‐world problem of management of intragroup conflicts and conflict handling strategies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

肠促胰素对2型糖尿病胰岛功能的影响

胰岛β细胞功能障碍是2型糖尿病的重要发病机制之一,而现有治疗手段保护β细胞功能作用有限。最新的研究发现,肠促胰素不仅能够改善口细胞功能,而且能够避免低血糖、体重增加等不良反应,是治疗2型糖尿病的新途径。本文通过回顾公开发表的临床研究,对2型糖尿病口细胞功能、传统治疗及肠促胰素对β细胞功能的保护及延缓疾病进展作用进行了综...     

A Comprehensive Decision Approach for Rubber Tree Planting Management in Africa

The main objective of this study is to settle a rigorous field of decision analysis for rubber tree clones selection. Nowadays, there does not exist any process based upon a rigorous method to select the best clone to be plant in order to get the highest return on investment. The only known selection method is to use the experience of different protagonists acting in the plantation. So, we need a tool that takes into account very important criteria in order to achieve the main objective. This goal is achieved by using multicriterion analysis methods to the clone selection. The ranking procedure uses Elimination and Choice Expressing the Reality (ELECTRE III). For each criterion, indifference and preference thresholds are determined after establishing the relative importance of each criterion including rubber tapping, cumulative production during 15 years, cumulative production between 15 and 25 years, wind resistance, disease resistance, physiological resistance, grafting and quality of the rubber. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

谈“酒精滥用”的诊断意义和伦理学问题

随着经济的发展,酒精使用障碍已经成为一个重大的公共卫生问题,对我国居民酒精使用现状的调查迫在眉睫。在流行病学调查中,因我国文化的差异,DSM-IV酒精滥用诊断标准在实际应用时产生分歧,本文举例说明分歧所在,并阐明文化因素在不同诊断系统中的重要影响以及伦理学问题。     

Conditions for Piagetian Stage IV search errors in a task using transparent occluders

In a Piagetian Stage IV search task in which the object was in plain view under transparent covers, Butterworth (1977) obtained errors from nearly half the infants but noted few errors when the object was uncovered. This study investigates the possibility that errors arise in the former case because novel transparent covers present a particular distraction. Butterworth's results with transparent covers were replicated under his conditions of administration, but virtually no errors were obtained when infants were familiarized with the covers prior to testing. From this and other results it is suggested that errors in search for a visible object only occur when the infant's attention is drawn by other features of the array.     

Doctrine of Scripture in Lutheran Theology—Its Missional Thrust: A Response to Lamin Sanneh's Hein‐Fry Lecture 20081

Abstract : In this article, I argue that Lutheran doctrine of Scripture is rooted in a christological centre, a centre that is coherent with Lamin Sanneh's thesis that the missionary experience must encompass both the work of the missionary who comes from ‘outside’ and, more especially, the reflections of the ‘indigenous’ peoples on Scripture in its witness to God's coming in Jesus Christ. This essential mutuality of ‘receiving’ and ‘giving’ in reading Scripture christologically undercuts imperial biblical hermeneutical practices that privilege certain cultures, languages, ethnic, racial, and class groupings as bearers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.     

A Common Framework for Describing Some Outranking Methods

Outranking methods such as ELECTRE have been proposed for aggregating preference information on several criteria into an overall preference structure in cases where the multiattribute utility approach is not appropriate or feasible. We present here a framework in which such methods may be described and, hopefully in the future, axiomatically characterized. We point out several characteristics such as independence and semiordinality which seem to be pertinent to delineate the field of application of these procedures. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.