Some Considerations Regarding the Problem of Multidimensional Utility

The concept of 'utility' is often used in ambiguous ways in economics, from having substantive psychological connotations to being a formal placeholder representing a person's preferences. In the accounts of the early utilitarians, it was a multidimensional measure that has been condensed during the marginalist revolution into the unidimensional measure we know today. But can we compare different pleasures? This paper assesses the evidence from psychology and neurosciences on how to best conceive of utility. It turns out that empirical evidence does not favor a view of multidimensional utility. This does not eliminate the possibility to make a normative argument supporting a multidimensional notion of utility.utility, pleasures, neuroeconomics, multidimensionality of utility

The Neglected Dimension of Well-Being: Analyzing the Development of "Conversion Efficiency" in Great Britain

In Amartya Sen's capability approach, policy makers can focus on different levels to influence the well-being of a society. We argue that improving capability to function as well as absolute levels of functioning achievement should be complemented by attention given to improving individuals' "conversion efficiency", i.e. the efficiency with which individual resources are converted into well-being. In order to examine effects of policies on conversion efficiency and to better understand the trajectories of human well-being over time, it is necessary to measure the development of conversion efficiency. We suggest an intertemporal index of conversion efficiency estimated via a nonparametric order-m approach borrowed from the production efficiency literature to analyze this development of our welfare measure. We exemplify this approach using micro level data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), tracking conversion efficiency for a set of basic functionings in Great Britain from 1991 to 2006. We find that under 30% of the British populace were efficient in their conversion of resources into functionings during the sample horizon. Moreover, age, education and self-employment increase an individual's conversion efficiency, while living in London, being disabled and being separated, divorced or widowed all decrease conversion efficiency. Being married also decreases the conversion efficiency and we find few evidence of gender disparities in conversion efficiency.capability approach, conversion efficiency, efficiency analysis, intertemporal development

Applying a Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis to Measure Conversion Efficiency in Great Britain

In the literature on Sen’s capability approach, studies focussing on the empirical measurement of conversion factors are comparatively rare. We add to this field by adopting a measure of "conversion efficiency" that captures the efficiency with which individuals convert their resources into achieved functioning. We use a nonparametric efficiency procedure borrowed from production theory and construct such a measure for a set of basic functionings, using data from the wave 2006 of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). In Great Britain, 49.88% of the individuals can be considered efficient while the mean of the inefficient individuals reaches one fifth less functioning achievement. An individual's conversion efficiency is positively affected by getting older, being self-employed, married, having no health problems and living in the London area. On the other hand, being unemployed, separated/divorced/widowed and (self-assessed) disabled decrease an individual's conversion efficiency.conversion efficiency, welfare measurement, robust nonparametric efficiency analysis, functioning production

Conversion Efficiency as a Complementing Measure of Welfare in Capability Space

In the capability literature, studies on the empirical measurement in the functionings space are abundant and a few studies even measure capability to function. We suggest adopting a third measure of welfare relevant to economists, namely the "conversion efficiency" measuring the efficiency with which individuals convert their resources into achieved functioning. We use a nonparametric efficiency procedure and construct such a measure for a basket of basic functioning achievement, using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS).conversion efficiency, welfare measurement, robust nonparametric efficiency analysis, functioning production

Mining SOM expression portraits: Feature selection and integrating concepts of molecular function

Background: 
Self organizing maps (SOM) enable the straightforward portraying of high-dimensional data of large sample collections in terms of sample-specific images. The analysis of their texture provides so-called spot-clusters of co-expressed genes which require subsequent significance filtering and functional interpretation. We address feature selection in terms of the gene ranking problem and the interpretation of the obtained spot-related lists using concepts of molecular function.

Results: 
Different expression scores based either on simple fold change-measures or on regularized Students t-statistics are applied to spot-related gene lists and compared with special emphasis on the error characteristics of microarray expression data. The spot-clusters are analyzed using different methods of gene set enrichment analysis with the focus on overexpression and/or overrepresentation of predefined sets of genes. Metagene-related overrepresentation of selected gene sets was mapped into the SOM images to assign gene function to different regions. Alternatively we estimated set-related overexpression profiles over all samples studied using a gene set enrichment score. It was also applied to the spot-clusters to generate lists of enriched gene sets. We used the tissue body index data set, a collection of expression data of human tissues, as an illustrative example. We found that tissue related spots typically contain enriched populations of gene sets well corresponding to molecular processes in the respective tissues. In addition, we display special sets of housekeeping and of consistently weak and highly expressed genes using SOM data filtering. 

Conclusions:
The presented methods allow the comprehensive downstream analysis of SOM-transformed expression data in terms of cluster-related gene lists and enriched gene sets for functional interpretation. SOM clustering implies the ability to define either new gene sets using selected SOM spots or to verify and/or to amend existing ones

The selective enforcement of human rights? The international response to violent humanitarian crises and gross violations of human rights in the Post-Cold-War era

"How did the international community respond to violent humanitarian crises and gross violations of human rights after the end of the Cold War? While from an optimistic perspective on global governance it is argued that humanitarian crises have been increasingly addressed, skeptics maintain that this response has been highly selective. However, we know very little about the actual extent of selectivity, since so far the international community's reaction to humanitarian crises has not been systematically analyzed. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap by empirically examining the extent and nature of the selectivity. To do so, I identify the most severe humanitarian crises in the Post-Cold War era and examine whether and how the international community has responded to these crises. Concerning response, different modes of action, ranging from humanitarian aid to military intervention, and different actors, viz. states, international institutions, and NGOs, will be taken into account. This approach leads to a more precise picture of selectivity: While the international community responded inconsistently to human suffering, the extent of selectivity is smaller than often claimed, and none of the crises identified here remained completely unaddressed. At a more theoretical level this means that humanitarian norms matter though their impact varies significantly. Why? To understand the politics of selectivity it does thus not suffice to show that humanitarian norms matter: rather, we need to understand why and under what circumstances they do so and, conversely, why and under what circumstances they do not. Therefore, factors that are likely to impact upon the strength of norms-countervailing power considerations, economic interests and institutional path dependencies-will be taken into account in further research on selectivity." (author's abstract)"Aus einer optimistischen Global Governance Perspektive wird häufig argumentiert, dass die internationale Gemeinschaft humanitäre Notlagen nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges stärker bearbeitet hat, als in den Jahrzehnten zuvor. Skeptischere Diagnosen verweisen hingegen darauf, dass diese Bearbeitung in hohem Maße selektiv geblieben ist. Allerdings wissen wir sehr wenig über das tatsächliche Ausmaß und die Beschaffenheit von Selektivität, da die Reaktion auf humanitäre Notlagen bislang nicht systematisch untersucht worden ist. Das Ziel dieses Papiers ist es, diese Lücke zu schließen. Dazu werden in einem ersten Schritt die schwerwiegendsten gewaltassoziierten humanitären Krisen nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges identifiziert und auf eine Bearbeitung durch die internationale Gemeinschaft hin untersucht. Diese Untersuchung schließt zum einen unterschiedliche Formen der Bearbeitung mit ein, die von der Erbringung humanitärer Hilfe bis zum Einsatz militärischer Gewalt reichen. Zum anderen werden nicht nur Reaktionen von Staaten, sondern auch von transnationalen gesellschaftlichen Akteuren und internationalen Institutionen berücksichtigt. Als Muster zeigt sich, dass humanitäre Notlagen zwar in der Tat selektiv bearbeitet wurden, zugleich das Ausmaß an Selektivität insgesamt aber geringer ist als häufig behauptet, und keine der schwerwiegendsten humanitären Krisen komplett unbearbeitet blieb. Damit, so wird argumentiert, haben 'humanitäre' Normen immer ein gewisses Maß an Wirkungskraft entfaltet, das gleichwohl erheblich variiert. Um den Gründen für diese Varianz künftig besser auf die Spur zu kommen, genügt es folglich nicht zu zeigen, dass humanitäre Normen wirken. Vielmehr muss herausgearbeitet werden warum und unter welchen Bedingungen solche Normen ihre Wirkung voll entfalten können und inwiefern andere Faktoren - Macht, Interessen, Institutionen - die Wirkkraft humanitärer Normen konterkarieren." (Autorenreferat

The politicization of international security institutions: the UN Security Council and NGOs

"This paper examines the politicization of the United Nations Security Council (SC) and seeks to explore the causes and effects of this process. I will first demonstrate that the SC has expanded both its scope and authority after the end of the Cold War. With the SC becoming more powerful I then consider whether the Council has become the target of politicization and has met with criticism and resistance. I find that there is an on-going, observable process of politicization although the SC is significantly less contested than a number of other international organizations. Regarding the possible effects of politicization, the paper examines whether and to what extent the Security Council has adapted its institutional design. I find that the Council has - hesitantly - opened up to civil society actors, although interaction with NGOs is limited to an informal consultation process coupled with broad discretionary power of the SC's Permanent Members. In the concluding part of the paper I briefly examine how this outcome might be best explained and offer some hypotheses for further research." (author's abstract)"Das vorliegende Papier untersucht die Politisierung des UN-Sicherheitsrats und beleuchtet Bedingungsfaktoren und Effekte dieses Prozesses. Dazu wird zunächst gezeigt, dass der Sicherheitsrat nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges deutlich an Bedeutung gewonnen hat und nicht nur seinen Kompetenzbereich ausgeweitet hat, sondern auch zunehmend tief in nationale Gesellschaften hineinregiert. Anschließend wird beleuchtet, ob der Sicherheitsrat im Zuge dieses Machtzuwachses zur Zielscheibe von Kritik und Widerstand wurde. Es zeigt sich, dass sich ein Prozess der Politisierung feststellen lässt, der gleichwohl deutlich unter Schwelle von Protesten bleibt wie sie von anderen internationalen Organisationen bekannt sind. Hinsichtlich möglicher Effekte von Politisierung wird gefragt, ob das Gremium sein institutionelles Design angepasst und sich für zivilgesellschaftliche Akteure geöffnet hat. Es wird deutlich, dass sich der Sicherheitsrat zwar in der Tat zunehmend für NGOs öffnet, dass diese Öffnung aber auf informelle Konsultationen beschränkt bleibt, deren Zustandekommen zudem stark dem Willen der Ständigen Mitglieder unterworfen ist. Der letzte Teil des Papier fragt schließlich, wie ein solcher Prozess der partiellen Öffnung erklärt werden kann und formuliert einige Hypothesen für künftige Forschung." (Autorenreferat

Smile or die: Can subjective well-being increase survival in the face of substantive health impairments?

A robust relationship between subjective well-being and mortality has been established in the literature. While this relationship has been confirmed for many measures and data sets, few studies address how it is affected by concrete diseases. In this paper we assess for the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data set from 1991-2008 how life satisfaction interacts with twelve concrete health impairments. Specifically, we analyze whether subjective well-being predicts longer survival in the panel for individuals having the respective impairments. We find that cancer, chest pains and diabetes consistently decrease survival in our sample, even controlling for the severity of health problems. But our results cast doubt on strong claims for the benefits of well-being on mortality: while life satisfaction generally predicts longer survival in the data set, this finding is not robust to controlling for the endogeneity of subjective well-being, and we do not find significant interactions between substantive health impairments and life satisfaction. Higher subjective well-being may keep you healthy, but once you have gotten sick, it does not predict your survival

A Monte Carlo study of surface critical phenomena: The special point

We study the special point in the phase diagram of a semi-infinite system, where the bulk transition is in the three-dimensional Ising universality class. To this end we perform a finite size scaling study of the improved Blume-Capel model on the simple cubic lattice with two different types of surface interactions. In order to check for the effect of leading bulk corrections we have also simulated the spin-1/2 Ising model on the simple cubic lattice. We have accurately estimated the surface enhancement coupling at the special point of these models. We find $y_{t_s}=0.718(2)$ and $y_{h_s}=1.6465(6)$ for the surface renormalization group exponents of the special transitions. These results are compared with previous ones obtained by using field theoretic methods and Monte Carlo simulations of the spin-1/2 Ising model. Furthermore we study the behaviour of the surface transition near the special point and finally we discuss films with special boundary conditions at one surface and fixed ones at the other.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures. figure 1 replaced, various typos correcte