The power of focal points is limited: Even minor payoff asymmetry yields massive coordination failures

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuval Rottenstreich ◽  
Uri Gneezy
Keyword(s):  
Focal Points ◽  
Coordination Failures ◽  
Payoff Asymmetry

scholarly journals The Power of Focal Points Is Limited: Even Minute Payoff Asymmetry May Yield Large Coordination Failures

2008 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 1443-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent P Crawford ◽  
Uri Gneezy ◽  
Yuval Rottenstreich
Keyword(s):  
Focal Points ◽  
Coordination Failures ◽  
Team Reasoning ◽  
Symmetric Games ◽  
Payoff Asymmetry ◽  
Special Case

Since Schelling, it has often been assumed that players make use of salient decision labels to achieve coordination. Consistent with previous work, we find that given equal payoffs, salient labels yield frequent coordination. However, given even minutely asymmetric payoffs, labels lose much of their effectiveness and miscoordination abounds. This raises questions about the extent to which the effectiveness of focal points based on label salience persists beyond the special case of symmetric games. The patterns of miscoordination we observe vary with the magnitude of payoff differences in intricate ways that suggest nonequilibrium accounts based on “level-k” thinking and “team reasoning.” (JEL C72, C92)

Empathy choice in physicians and non-physicians

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daryl Cameron ◽  
Michael Inzlicht
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
Potential Risk ◽  
Behavioral Assessment ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Patient Interactions ◽  
Trait Empathy ◽  
Physician Empathy ◽  
Physician Patient

Empathy in medical care has been one of the focal points in the debate over the bright and dark sides of empathy. Whereas physician empathy is sometimes considered necessary for better physician-patient interactions, and is often desired by patients, it also has been described as a potential risk for exhaustion among physicians who must cope with their professional demands of confronting acute and chronic suffering. The present study compared physicians against demographically matched non-physicians on a novel behavioral assessment of empathy, in which they choose between empathizing or remaining detached from suffering targets over a series of trials. Results revealed no statistical differences between physicians and non-physicians in their empathy avoidance, though physicians were descriptively more likely to choose empathy. Additionally, both groups were likely to perceive empathy as cognitively challenging, and perceived cognitive costs of empathy associated with empathy avoidance. Across groups, there were also no statistically significant differences in self-reported trait empathy measures and empathy-related motivations and beliefs. Overall, these results suggest that physicians and non-physicians were more similar than different in terms of their empathic choices and in their assessments of the costs and benefits of empathy for others.

Fortuna and the Republic

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Miano
Keyword(s):  
Focal Points ◽  
The Public ◽  
Republican Period ◽  
Roman Imperialism ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Greek East

This chapter studies all the public temples of Fortuna at Rome in the Republican period. The main focal points of the chapter are the precise historical circumstances for the vow, construction, and dedication of each temple, and the connection between these circumstances and the epithets attributed to the goddess. One of the main points made by this chapter is that there is a very solid connection between Republican temples of Fortuna and the plebeian aristocracy, which suggests that Fortuna was characterized as a deity closely associated with the plebs. Another point concerns Fortuna Publica, a deity that during the Roman conquest of the Greek East was associated with Roman imperialism through her translation as Tyche, following a debate on the merits of Roman conquest of which we can read traces in Polybius.

scholarly journals The usability of Jordan stillbirths and neonatal deaths surveillance (JSANDS) system: results of focus group discussions

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yousef S. Khader ◽  
Khulood K. Shattnawi ◽  
Nihaya Al-Sheyab ◽  
Mohammad Alyahya ◽  
Anwar Batieha
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
System Performance ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Neonatal Deaths ◽  
Technical Issues

Abstract Background Jordan Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths Surveillance system (JSANDS) is a newly developed system and is currently implemented in five large hospitals in Jordan. This study aimed at exploring the healthcare professionals’ perception about the usability of JSANDS. Methods A descriptive qualitative approach, using focus group discussions, was adopted. A total of 5 focus groups including 23 focal points were conducted in five participating hospitals in Jordan. Results Data analysis identified nine main issues related to the JSANDS system: the system usefulness, the system performance, data quality, the system limitations, human rights, female empowerment, nurses’ competencies strengthened, the sustainability of the JSANDS, and COVID-19 impact on the system. Users reported that JSANDS data were useful, the system was simple and easy to use, and the data were accurate and complete. However, some users reported that some technical issues need to be enhanced. Conclusions JSANDS was perceived positively by the current users. According to them, it provides a formative and comprehensive data on stillbirths and neonatal deaths and their causes, and therefore, was recommended to be adopted by its users and scaled up.

scholarly journals Governmental human rights focal points in federal contexts: The implementation of the Istanbul convention in Switzerland as a case study

2021 ◽  
pp. 092405192110169
Author(s):  
Matthieu Niederhauser
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Federal States ◽  
International Human

The implementation of international human rights law in federal States is an underexplored process. Subnational entities regularly enjoy a degree of sovereignty, which raises questions such as whether they implement obligations of international law and how the federal level may ensure that implementation takes place at the subnational level. This article aims to answer these questions, using the implementation of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Convention) in Switzerland as a case study. To implement the Convention at the cantonal level, federal actors decided to use networks of civil servants in charge of domestic violence issues, who act as governmental human rights focal points (GHRFPs). This article is based on original empirical data, on 25 interviews with State officials who participate in this implementation. The findings show how complex GHRFPs networks work in practice to implement the Convention and highlight the role played by numerous non-legal State actors in this process. As a result, the article argues that international human rights law implementation becomes more diversified both within and across federal States.

Effect of defocus combined with rotation on the optical performance of trifocal toric IOLs

2021 ◽  
pp. 112067212110021
Author(s):  
Javier Ruiz-Alcocer ◽  
Irene Martínez-Alberquilla ◽  
Amalia Lorente-Velázquez ◽  
José F Alfonso ◽  
David Madrid-Costa
Keyword(s):  
Visual Quality ◽  
Optical Quality ◽  
Refractive Errors ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Modulation Transfer ◽  
Optical Analysis ◽  
Toric Intraocular Lens ◽  
Toric Iols ◽  
Reference Situation

Purpose: To objectively analyze the optical quality of the FineVision Toric intraocular lens (IOL) with two cylinder powers when different combinations of rotations and residual refractive errors are induced. Methods: This study assessed the FineVision Toric IOL with two different cylinder powers: 1.5 and 3.0 diopters (D). Three different rotation positions were considered: centered, 5° and 10° rotated. An optical bench (PMTF) was used for optical analysis. The optical quality of the IOLs was calculated by the modulation transfer function (MTF) at five different focal points (0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00 D). Results: The MTF averaged value of the reference situation was 38.58 and 37.74 for 1.5 and 3.0 D of cylinder, respectively. For the 1.5 D cylinder, the combination of 5° of rotation with a defocus of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.0 D induced a decrease on the MTF of 12.39, 19.94, 23.43, 24.23 units, respectively. When induced rotation was 10°, the MTF decrease was 17.26, 23.40, 24.33, 24.48 units, respectively. For the 3.0 D cylinder, the combination of 5° with 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.0 D of defocus, induced a decrease on the MTF of 12.51, 18.97, 22.36, 22.48 units, respectively. When induced rotation was 10°, the MTF decrease was: 18.42, 21.57, 23.08, and 23.61 units, respectively. Conclusion: For both FineVision Toric IOLs there is a certain optical tolerance to rotations up to 5° or residual refractive errors up to 0.25 D. Situations over these limits and their combination would affect the visual quality of patients implanted with these trifocal toric IOLs.

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