Improved Transferability of Data‐Driven Damage Models Through Sample Selection Bias Correction

Damage models for natural hazards are used for decision making on reducing and transferring risk. The damage estimates from these models depend on many variables and their complex sometimes nonlinear relationships with the damage. In recent years, data‐driven modeling techniques have been used to capture those relationships. The available data to build such models are often limited. Therefore, in practice it is usually necessary to transfer models to a different context. In this article, we show that this implies the samples used to build the model are often not fully representative for the situation where they need to be applied on, which leads to a “sample selection bias.” In this article, we enhance data‐driven damage models by applying methods, not previously applied to damage modeling, to correct for this bias before the machine learning (ML) models are trained. We demonstrate this with case studies on flooding in Europe, and typhoon wind damage in the Philippines. Two sample selection bias correction methods from the ML literature are applied and one of these methods is also adjusted to our problem. These three methods are combined with stochastic generation of synthetic damage data. We demonstrate that for both case studies, the sample selection bias correction techniques reduce model errors, especially for the mean bias error this reduction can be larger than 30%. The novel combination with stochastic data generation seems to enhance these techniques. This shows that sample selection bias correction methods are beneficial for damage model transfer.     

Relations Between Measures of Irritability and Contingency Detection at 6 Months

The hypothesis that irritability and contingency detection are negatively correlated was examined in thirty‐one 6‐month‐old infants. Observation and maternal report‐based assessments of irritability were correlated with both a criterion score and a continuous score of contingency detection. Results indicated that greater irritability in infants was associated with lower contingency detection scores. Discussion focuses on identifying processes by which the 2 constructs may be associated.     

The Abject Embodiment of Cancer Patients: Dignity,Selfhood, and the Grotesque Body

The body is the empirical quintessence of the self. Because selfhood is symbolic, embodiment represents the personification and materialization of otherwise invisible qualities of personhood. The body and experiences of embodiment are central to our sense of being, who we think we are, and what others attribute to us. What happens, then, when one's body is humiliating? How does the self handle the implications of a gruesome body? How do people manage selfhood in light of grotesque physical appearances? This study explores these questions in the experiences of dying cancer patients and seeks to better understand relationships among body, self, and situated social interaction.     

Consent and Informed Consent: Their Ongoing Evolutions in Clinical Care and Research on Humans

The dual concepts of 'consent' and 'informed consent' continue to have three evolutions. The primary evolution of consent in the patient–physician relationship began in Great Britain in 1767 in the British case, Slater v. Baker and Stapleton , in the judge-made law of consent. The term 'informed consent' within the patient–physician relationship entered the judicial lexicon in the 1957 California appellate case, Salgo v. Leland Stanford Junior University . In its second evolution within research on humans following the Nuremberg trials that included experimental atrocities on humans, there is a key focus on clarifying the purpose of research and specifying the reasons for the need for an even more extensive risk disclosure to individuals considering volunteering for study participation. This second evolution continues with the further refinement of the Declaration of Helsinki and, within the USA, a focus on the Belmont Report . In its third evolution in research in the social science, there has been a recognition of problems with informed consent to questionnaire research. When questionnaires involve patients with moderate or severe posttraumatic stress disorder or abused individuals, there needs to be intense consideration focused on how to best protect the participants with these conditions during the questionnaire study.