A Streetcar Named “Derousal”? A Psychophysiological Examination of the Desire–Arousal Distinction in Sexually Functional and Dysfunctional Women

Research indicates that desire and arousal problems are highly interrelated in women. Therefore, hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) and female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) were removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), and a new diagnostic category, female sexual interest/arousal disorder (FSIAD), was created to include both arousal and desire difficulties. However, no research has tried to distinguish these problems based on psychosocial-physiological patterns to identify whether unique profiles exist. This study compared psychosocial-physiological patterns in a community sample of 84 women meeting DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2000 American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) criteria for HSDD (n = 22), FSAD (n = 18), both disorders (FSAD/HSDD; n = 25), and healthy controls (n = 19). Women completed self-report measures and watched neutral and erotic films while genital arousal (GA) and subjective arousal (SA) were measured. Results indicated that GA increased equally for all groups during the erotic condition, whereas women with HSDD and FSAD/HSDD reported less SA than controls or FSAD women. Women in the clinical groups also showed lower concordance and greater impairment on psychosocial variables as compared to controls, with women with FSAD/HSDD showing lowest functioning. Results have important implications for the classification and treatment of these difficulties.     

On vendor part delivery dates in a stochastic assembly system

This paper describes the development of a model for the determination of optimal mean part delivery dates in a stochastic assembly system for the objective of minimizing the expected cost of subassembly and part inventory. Parts are assembled at each station to a subassembly. The part delivery and processing times at assembly stations follow known probability distributions. An approximate solution technique based on the optimization of individual stations in isolation is developed. The approximation applies a correction factor, as a function of the variability in part delivery and processing time, cost parameters and number of stations, to the decisions from the single station solutions to compensate for interdependence between stations. Results indicate that this is an effective approach and yields good near-optimal solutions with very little computational effort. Insights regarding the effect of the type of distribution used, random processing times, variance of the distribution used and cost parameter values on part delivery dates are also reported.     

Optimal orthogonal block designs for four-mixture components in two blocks based on F-squares for Becker's models and K-model

Orthogonal block designs in mixture experiments have been extensively studied by various authors. Aggarwal et al. [M.L. Aggarwal, P. Singh, V. Sarin, and B. Husain, Mixture designs in orthogonal blocks using F-squares, METRON – Int. J. Statist. LXVII(2) (2009), pp. 105–128] considered the case of components assuming the same volume fractions and obtained mixture designs in orthogonal blocks using F-squares. In this paper, we have used the class of designs presented by Aggarwal et al. and have obtained D-, A- and E-optimal orthogonal block designs for four components in two blocks for Becker's mixture models and K-model, respectively. Orthogonality conditions for the considered models are also given.     

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF AN APPROACH FOR EVALUATING MULTIATTRIBUTE ALTERNATIVES

In this paper the results of an extensive simulation study are reported to provide empirical evidence on the Evaluation and Bound approach. Some rules for implementing the procedure interactively on a computer are also examined and compared experimentally. The results suggest that the Evaluation and Bound procedure, in conjunction with an appropriate strategy of implementing it, would reduce considerably the information requirement of the decision maker in the choice of a preferred multiattribute alternative.     

Evaluating Time Streams of Income: Discounting What?

For decisions whose consequences accrue over time, there are several possible techniques to compute total utility. One is to discount utilities of future consequences at some appropriate rate. The second is to discount per-period certainty equivalents. And the third is to compute net present values (NPVs) of various possible streams and to then apply the utility function to these net present values. We find that the best approach is to first compute NPVs of various possible income streams and then take the utility of such NPVs. We show the drawbacks of other alternative models of evaluating income streams. The article discusses the advantages of the power and logarithmic forms in the modeling of time preference. These are the only forms for which utility of income and utility of consumption are strategically equivalent. Further, these forms permit the flexibility in the choice of a time period (e.g., monthly or quarterly) without modifying the utility function, thus simplifying analysis.     

Equal Processing Time Bicriteria Scheduling on Parallel Machines

We consider the problem of scheduling jobs on parallel, identical machines so as to minimize a primary and a secondary criteria. All the jobs are assumed to have identical processing times. Polynomial time algorithms, that generate optimal solutions, are presented for various combinations of primary and secondary criteria.     

Comparative Ignorance and the Ellsberg Paradox

We investigate the evaluation of known (where probability is known) and unknown (where probability is unknown) bets in comparative and non-comparative contexts. A series of experiments support the finding that ambiguity avoidance persists in both comparative and non-comparative conditions. The price difference between known and unknown bets is, however, larger in a comparative evaluation than in separate evaluation. Our results are consistent with Fox and Tversky's (1995) Comparative Ignorance Hypothesis, but we find that the strong result obtained by Fox and Tversky is more fragile and the complete disappearance of ambiguity aversion in non-comparative condition may not be as robust as Fox and Tversky had supposed.     

Fair Processes for Societal Decisions Involving Distributional Inequalities

We investigate fair processes for societal decisions that involve different risks and benefits to different groups. A fair decision-making process is particularly important for decisions such as siting hazardous facilities. We experimentally evaluate the impact of alternative decision processes on the final choice of hypothetical facility sites and the resulting benefit and risk distribution to groups. The experimental task required choice among many alternative sites for a hazardous facility. Sites differ by the distribution of risks and benefits to each of two communities, and in the attractiveness of the sites to each community. Subjects were divided into three groups: individuals who judged the best site in the role of arbitrators, pairs of negotiators with one person representing each of the two communities, and trios who identified the best site in the role of a siting jury. We found the choices of negotiating and siting jury groups tended to emphasize the communities'preferences compared to the individual arbitrators who tended to focus on balancing the distribution of risks and benefits. Also, undergraduate psychology students, regardless of the dispute resolution mechanism, tended to display more emphasis on the risks and benefits, and graduate business students tended to focus more on the communities'preferences.     

Constructing Near Optimal Schedules for the Flow-Shop Lot Streaming Problem with Sublot-Attached Setups

Lot streaming—the process of splitting a production lot into sublots—has been a common practice in flow-shop systems during the past decade. Nevertheless, a major limiting assumption has been made in the analysis of these systems in that the setup time is, at most, lot-attached but not sublot-attached. In this paper, we consider the single and multiple batch flow-shop lot-streaming problems with sublot-attached setup times. A fast, optimal solution algorithm for the single batch problem is presented. For the multiple batch problem, we propose a near optimal solution procedure which is optimal in two-machine flow-shops. Computational results are also presented for the multiple batch problem which indicate both the efficiency and effectiveness of this procedure.     

A Social Decision Analysis of the Earthquake Safety Problem: The Case of Existing Los Angeles Buildings

In this paper we propose a framework for conducting a decision analysis for a societal problem such as earthquake safety. The application deals with the formulation and evaluation of alternative policies for the seismic safety problem faced by the city of Los Angeles with regard to its old masonry buildings. A social decision analysis compares the costs and benefits of the alternative policies from the viewpoints of the impacted constituents. The emphasis is on identifying acceptable policy that considers the interests of the impacted constituents and provides incentives for their cooperation. Alternatives ranging from strict regulation to free market are examined. In order to evaluate the trade-offs between additional cost and savings in lives, a direct willingness-to-pay and an economic approach, based on property value differential, are used. Recommendations range from strict regulation for the residential and critical buildings (schools, hospitals, fire stations, etc.) to simply informing the occupants (in the case of commercial and industrial buildings) of the risks involved.