The Role of Emotion, Tradeoff Recall, and Self-Regulation in Pre-Decisional Processing.

Three chapters demonstrate previously unexplored contextual and emotional factors that critically and systematically affect the way in which people construct value and generate choice options in the pre-decision phase of the decision process. This pre-decision phase occurs in the time before an individual makes a choice. In particular, emotions, the recall of prior tradeoffs, and self-regulation all play an important role during this pre-decision phase and consequently influence decision making. Chapter I indicates that negative, aversive emotions associated with stress and anxiety are evoked by difficult multi-attribute decisions, which some people regulate by shifting their values before making a decision. In Chapter II, recalling a past tradeoff situation leads to the activation and carry over of a valued attribute onto a subsequent, unrelated choice. This value carryover process occurs in a manner that suggests people may balance the prioritization of different values across tradeoff contexts. Chapter III reveals that under conditions of reduced inhibitory control, both younger and older adult participants become vulnerable to distracting information. In these circumstances, the distracting information is especially likely to lead to more creative construction decisions when it is relevant to the decision domain (e.g., when the distracting information is food-related and the construction decision is a creative recipe generation task). This dissertation demonstrates the importance of studying the pre-decision phase in order to better understand the decision process, and has important implications for how people construct value and choice options.PhDBusiness Administration and PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113305/1/smcarpen_1.pd

Clinical Associations of Chronotypes in Adolescents and Young Adults with Mental Disorders

Youth represents a sensitive period for the onset of both circadian disturbances and mental disorders. There are some suggestions that circadian disturbances may be an early feature or may directly contribute to the emergence, perpetuation, and recurrence of some mental disorders, particularly affective disorders. A person’s ‘chronotype’ characterises their circadian preferences for early or late bed and wake times and their peak cognitive and physical activities across the 24-hour period. In this thesis, the chronotype of young persons with various mental disorders is examined. Study 1 evaluated chronotypes, as assessed with the Horne-Östberg questionnaire, in young people with emerging anxiety, depression, bipolar, or psychotic disorders and healthy controls. Associations between Morningness-Eveningness preference and the severity of various psychiatric symptoms were assessed. Four hundred and ninety-six individuals aged 12-30 years (mean age + SD: 19.5 + 4.2) were divided according to primary diagnosis and were assessed with the Social and Occupational Functioning Scale (SOFAS), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and the Horne-Östberg Morningness-Eveningness questionnaire (ME). A significant diagnostic group effect was found for the ME (ANOVA: F (4, 491) = 9.1, p < 0.001) and remained significant after controlling for age and gender (ANCOVA: F (4, 489) = 8.2, p < 0.001). Post hoc tests showed that the anxiety (p < 0.001), depression (p < 0.001), bipolar (p < 0.001) and psychosis (p = 0.045) groups had significantly lower ME scores (i.e. higher eveningness) compared to the control group. Significant negative correlations were found between clinical scales (i.e. HDRS, BPRS, SOFAS, K10) and ME for all diagnostic groups, suggesting that participants with more pronounced eveningness had worse symptom severity than those with more pronounced morningness. 8 Study 2 examined temporal variations in chronotypes and investigated longitudinal associations between changes in Morningness-Eveningness preference and changes in symptom profiles in 133 young people (12-35 years) with primary depression or bipolar disorder. From a categorical perspective, 33% of all participants shifted to a later chronotype from baseline to follow-up (F (1, 105) = 7.5, p = 0.007). After controlling for age, gender and longitudinal period length, significant interactions showed that participants who shifted to earlier chronotypes showed more prominent longitudinal improvements in depressive (F (1, 108) = 4.6, p = 0.035) and negative (F (1, 115) = 6.6, p = 0.011) symptoms on the BPRS than participants who remained in the same chronotype category or shifted to later chronotypes. The results obtained from these studies suggest that many young persons with emerging mental disorders present with a strong eveningness preference, which is in turn associated with worse clinical profiles. Longitudinally, those persons with depression or bipolar disorder who shift towards more morningness also showed the strongest clinical improvements. Overall, these findings suggest that evening chronotypes are associated with worse psychiatric symptom severity and highly likely to be reflective of state changes across the course of mental illnesses. These findings have implications for clinical practice in young persons with emerging mental disorders. Morningness-Eveningness preference is unlikely to be a static trait in the context of youth and mental disorders. Treatment strategies targeting the circadian system are highly likely to be relevant for patients presenting with affective disorders and late chronotypes

The Strategic Orientation of Skilled Nursing Facilities

Since the early 2000s, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have operated in an environment made uncertain by changes in health care policy, growth in substitutes for nursing care, and increasing demand for services. To better understand how SNFs are strategically positioning themselves to survive and thrive, this study develops a taxonomy of strategic groups of SNFs. A conceptual framework is based in Strategic Management Theory and classification of SNFs is based on scope of business decisions including length of stay, complexity of patients, and referral networks with hospitals. Two-step, hierarchical cluster analysis finds six strategy groups of SNFs: Post-Acute Care Focus – Wide Network, Private Pay Focus – Narrow Network, High Acuity Care Focus – Wide Network, Intermediate Care Focus – Wide Network, Long-Stay Care Focus – Narrow Network, and Long-Stay Complex Care Focus – Narrow Network. Support is found for a structure-performance link between membership in a particular strategy group and financial and quality performance. A longitudinal analysis finds stability in the structure of the groups, but fluidity of movement from one strategy group to another. A comparison of strategy groups with those in prior studies suggests changes in reimbursement policies and industry trends align with shifts in strategy. This study contributes to the understanding of how SNFs adjust strategically to environmental uncertainty and provides a unique assessment of the relational dynamics of referrals to SNFs from hospitals. A better understanding of the industry structure can benefit managers as they make strategic decisions and help policymakers better target funding and policy changes to improve patient outcomes

Historiography in French Theory

This thesis examines historical writing by drawing on the works of historians, philosophers, theorists and intellectuals, from antiquity to the contemporary moment. In order to answer the demand for scholarship that assembles insights of the Annales historians with other French intellectuals, I treat historians as theorists and theorists as historians. Through the course of my analysis, I examine issues of historical writing such as the scope of historical research and the historian’s task and place; I treat theoretical questions of constructivism, potentiality, agency, causality, teleology, and politics. In order to consolidate these issues into a single analysis, my research spans across disciplinary boundaries. Through an engagement with the methodological and political criticisms of Michel Foucault and Jacques Rancière, I argue in favor of an archival research method that avoids the pitfalls of positivistic analysis and the excesses of procedural refinement, which often serve to narrow the scope of historical research

A theory and praxis of a city poetic: Jakobson, poetic function and city space: women, deixis and the narrator: a city poem: 'Shades of light: a triumph of city'

This thesis re-examines Jakobson's theory of poetic function and develops the axial model of his metaphoric and metonymic poles in order to construct a suggested iconic and poetic space, with special reference to a city poetic. The suggested model is used to develop a possible genre of a city poetic. The role of the narrator in poetry is explored with specific reference to shifters and deictics, with a view to a gendered analysis of self and place within a city poetic. The construction of space within the Jakobsonian axial model is developed with the assistance of iconicity, parallels, and movement (with reference to the Russian Formalist Movement's interest in byt). Ile question as to why women poets have not extensively explored their position within a city poetic is investigated by way of a discussion of deixis and shifters (place and self) - with special attention given to the benefits of distinct terms for these two stylistic categories. This thesis is practice-led and half is comprised of the long poem: Shades of Light: A Triumph of City. This poem is based on the Petrarchan sequence of Triumphs and interprets the woman poet, and poetry, within a city environment. It is a full length practical exploration of how the theory of a city poetic can be expressed in practice. The Commentary which accompanies the poem supplies information on the sources for the poem's background information and inspiration. The thesis and the poem are proposed as an integrated whole - theory plus practice and practice plus theory. It is hoped that this thesis, both in theory and practice, will inspire further research and work based on this presentation of: the first entire poetic sequence of Triumphs since Petrarch; a first in the use of Adobe Indesign software by a poet to construct poetry; a first diagrammatic representation of city poetic space; a first theoretical attempt to establish a genre of city poetry; and almost a first women's long poem about women in the city - in this case London

Memory for pain: recalling the quality and intensity of expected acute pain.

This thesis reports a series of studies designed to assess the extent to which the intensity and qualitative nature of expected acute pain events can be recalled. The first preliminary study assessed recall of the intensity and quality of postoperative pain following day surgery for varicose vein removal. Twenty four participants reported their expectations of pain, their actual pain experiences and their retrospective ratings of pain using the Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) and a VAS to report pain intensity. In line with prior research, recollections of pain quality appeared to be less accurate than the retrospective ratings of pain intensity. In the second preliminary study, 50 participants who had never experienced vascular surgery were required to provide estimates of the likely nature of postoperative pain following varicose vein removal, based on the information provided in one of two patient information leaflets. Although both groups of non-patient participants overestimated the intensity of the pain, both provided estimates of the qualitative nature of the pain that were similar to the reports made by the patient participants. These preliminary studies highlighted the limitations of prior research which has inferred pain recall accuracy by simply by comparing descriptions of acute pain made whilst in pain with ratings made retrospectively, and demonstrated the need to employ a more direct method of assessing memory for pain. The preliminary studies also highlighted the need to consider the influence of the participants ’ expectations of the likely nature o f a forthcoming pain and levels of anxiety on memory for pain. Finally, investigating the relative extent to which pain can be recalled relative to another sensory experience was deemed to be necessary. The main study for this thesis assessed memory for experimentally induced acute pain using the remember/know research paradigm (see Tulving, 1985). In Part One of this study, Cold Pressor (CP) pain was induced in 97 participants who provided ratings of their expectations of the CP pain, followed by reports of their actual pain experiences using the MPQ and a VAS whilst using the CP. Participants also provided ratings of anxiety and used a list of 57 descriptors to report the taste of an unusual drink. In Part Two of the study, two weeks later, participants provided retrospective ratings of the CP pain using the MPQ and a VAS, ratings of anxiety, and the taste of the drink. Participants were then asked to make ‘remember’ or ‘know ’judgements about the MPQ pain and taste descriptors that they had selected, based on the level of conscious awareness accompanying their recollections. The findings indicate that memory for the intensity of expected acute pain was reliable for at least two weeks. In addition, the data suggest that recollections of the broad defining aspects of the quality of acute pain can also be reliable, but may be more appropriately assessed at a ‘type of pain’ level rather than the fine-grained level of individual MPQ descriptors. Central to this investigation was the finding that participants were readily able to distinguish between whether their recollections reflected ‘remembering’ and ‘knowing’ about their prior experiences of both pain and taste. It is concluded that the use of the remember/know distinction allows for a more direct assessment of the participants ’ reports of their memories than inferring the likely nature of these recollective experiences, and that recollections of pain and of other sensory experiences are broadly similar. Expectations and anxiety were not related to pain recall accuracy

An analysis of amenity-led rural economic *development in northeast region: A spatial simultaneous equations approach

In a matter of just a few decades, the economic landscape of rural America has changed in fundamental ways. Industries once considered the backbone of rural economies have been transformed by globalization and marketing. Others, such as tourism and amenity-based economies or the service sector, have emerged to replace the traditional natural resource and manufacturing-based economies. These changes have invigorated some areas, and forever altered others. Consequently, Interest in an amenity focused development strategy has exploded as policymakers and community leaders realize that most of the jobs lost in recent decades will not return. Instead, these leaders are looking inside their communities for new sources of economic growth.;In an effort to analyze the role of natural and recreational amenities in rural economic growth, this study develops a simultaneous-equation system under the assumptions of profit maximization of firms and utility maximization of households as well as the neoclassical assumption of equilibrium growth in a partial lag-adjustment growth-equilibrium framework. Past studies assume that amenities have a direct and independent effect on economic growth, but in reality the availability of high amenity levels alone can only create the opportunity for economic growth. But to be an effective development tool it should be coupled with factors that can exploit its existence, encourage its use, and give it a comparative advantage.;This research extends existing studies in this area by incorporating interaction terms that account for the combined impact of amenities with proximity to metropolitan areas and accessibility (Interstate highway density). Furthermore, the study contributes to the amenity and regional growth literature by estimating a simultaneous spatial Durbin model using the two stages least square method. Historical and cultural amenities and water based recreational amenities are found to play a positive role in shaping the growth of population in the northeast region of the US. The role of natural amenities, land and winter based amenities is found to be negative or insignificant. One of the important findings of the study is the positive role of surrounding counties historical and cultural amenities in the growth of population and employment densities. Overall there is no evidence of a consistent and strong relationship and the results can be termed as mixed and inconclusive

From the machine mind to the human mind: using machine learning to understand (ir)rationality, bias and polarization in human beings

My dissertation, titled “From the machine mind to the human mind: using machine learning to understand (ir)rationality, bias and polarization in human beings,” investigates ways in which human minds operate and seeks to uncover the causes of biasedness, limited rationality, and polarization of human minds, to eventually devise tools to compensate for such human limitations. Chapter 2 of the thesis focuses on the evaluation of information and decision making under enormous information asymmetry, in the setting of patients evaluating doctors’ medical advice. Patients were found to be poor evaluators who were unable to distinguish good from bad due to their lack of medical expertise, and unable to overcome their own irrationality and bias. I emphasize the ramification of such limited rationality, which might lead to the adoption of suboptimal or bad medical opinions, and propose ways to improve this situation by redesigning some features of the platform, and/or implementing new policies to help good doctors on the platform. Chapter 3 focuses on developing a new metric that reliably measures the ideology of the US elites. This metric was developed based on congressional reports which made it unique and relatively independent from established metrics based on roll call votes, such as DW-NOMINATE. First, I leveraged a neural network-based approach to decompose the speech documents into frames and topics components, with all ideological information funneled into the frames component. Eventually, two different ideology metrics were obtained and validated: an embedding vector and an ideological slant score. Later I showed that our new metrics can predict party switchers and trespassers with high recall. In chapter 4, I applied the newly obtained metric (mainly slant scores) to investigate various aspects of the congress, such as the heterogeneity of ideology among the members, the temporal evolution of partisan division, the bill passing, and the re-election strategy of the senators

Recreation, tourism and nature in a changing world : proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 2010

Proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 201