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Simon French

Bio: Simon French is an academic researcher from University of Warwick. The author has contributed to research in topics: Decision analysis & Decision support system. The author has an hindex of 45, co-authored 172 publications receiving 10626 citations. Previous affiliations of Simon French include University of Leeds & University of Manchester.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of expert judgement in web-based group decision support, e-participation and e-democracy applications is presented, with a focus on the textbook problem.
Abstract: In a paper written some 25 years ago, I distinguished three contexts in which one might wish to combine expert judgements of uncertainty: the expert problem, the group decision problem and the textbook problem. Over the intervening years much has been written on the first two, which have the focus of a single decision context, but little on the third, though the closely related field of meta-analysis has developed considerably. With many developments in internet technology, particularly in relation to interactivity and communication, the textbook problem is gaining in importance since data and expert judgements can be made available over the web to be used by many different individuals to shape their own beliefs in many different contexts. Moreover, applications such as web-based decision support, e-participation and e-democracy are making algorithmic 'solutions' to the group decision problem attractive, despite many results showing we know that such solutions are, at best, rare and, at worst, illusory. In this paper I survey developments since my earlier paper and note some unresolved issues. Then I turn to how expert judgement might be used within web-based group decision support, as well as in e-participation and e-democracy contexts. The latter points to a growing importance of the textbook problem and suggests that Cooke's principles for scientific reporting of expert judgement studies may need enhancing for such studies to be used by a wider audience. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

73 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The underlying rationale of a family of methods known collectively as interactive multi-objective programming is presented, albeit as seen by a devil's advocate, but the validity of these methods is questioned because their assumptions are not supported by the empirical results of behavioural decision theory.
Abstract: The past decade has seen a considerable development of techniques designed to help decision makers faced with problems involving conflicting objectives. In particular, a family of methods known collectively as interactive multi-objective programming has come to the fore. This paper presents the underlying rationale of such methods, albeit as seen by a devil's advocate, briefly surveys some areas of application, but then questions the validity of these methods because their assumptions are not supported by the empirical results of behavioural decision theory.

60 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The following manifesto has been prepared by five prominent workers in the field of MCDA as discussed by the authors, who are currently preparing a special issue on the issues that they raise (see Call for Papers on p. 128).
Abstract: The following manifesto has been prepared by five prominent workers in the field of MCDA. We are currently preparing a special issue on the issues that they raise (see Call for Papers on p. 128). We invite you to contribute to the debate in that issue, either in the form of a paper or a letter to the Editor.

59 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A natural language generator is developed that explains and justifies the advice of a decision support system for nuclear emergencies and outputs two reports that give an overall assessment of the decision model and describes the effect of varying a decision parameter.
Abstract: This paper describes a method for generating explanations in decision analytic contexts. Unlike other approaches, we use natural language generation techniques. The novelty of the work stems from the development of a library of text plans that structure the explanation messages conveyed. This makes our approach generic and easily adjusted to different contexts. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the method, we have developed a natural language generator that explains and justifies the advice of a decision support system for nuclear emergencies. The generator outputs two reports: a comparative report that explains the rationale behind the ranking of the alternatives and a sensitivity analysis report that gives an overall assessment of the decision model and describes the effect of varying a decision parameter.

59 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The challenges that have to be addressed and overcome if e-participation is to be a valid tool within a modern democracy are discussed and a program of research and debate is outlined in which the professional decision analysis community should engage.
Abstract: Decision analytic methods are being increasingly used to help to articulate and structure debate and deliberations among citizens and stakeholders in societal decisions. Methods vary, but, essentially, a public authority or agency, when faced with a significant set of issues, may organise one or more workshops with stakeholders and citizens as participants. Such methods of public engagement and participation are, by and large, conducted face to face. However, the advent of the World Wide Web brings the possibility of conducting citizen and stakeholder interactions in a distributed, possibly asynchronous fashion. In this paper we discuss the challenges that have to be addressed and overcome if such e-participation is to be a valid tool within a modern democracy. The difficulties are many and varied, but the pressures towards e-government, and better regulation in general, mean that such methods will be used in the near future. Thus, we outline a program of research and debate in which we believe that the professional decision analysis community should engage.

56 citations


Cited by
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Book
01 Nov 2008
TL;DR: Numerical Optimization presents a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the most effective methods in continuous optimization, responding to the growing interest in optimization in engineering, science, and business by focusing on the methods that are best suited to practical problems.
Abstract: Numerical Optimization presents a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the most effective methods in continuous optimization. It responds to the growing interest in optimization in engineering, science, and business by focusing on the methods that are best suited to practical problems. For this new edition the book has been thoroughly updated throughout. There are new chapters on nonlinear interior methods and derivative-free methods for optimization, both of which are used widely in practice and the focus of much current research. Because of the emphasis on practical methods, as well as the extensive illustrations and exercises, the book is accessible to a wide audience. It can be used as a graduate text in engineering, operations research, mathematics, computer science, and business. It also serves as a handbook for researchers and practitioners in the field. The authors have strived to produce a text that is pleasant to read, informative, and rigorous - one that reveals both the beautiful nature of the discipline and its practical side.

17,420 citations

Book
30 Jun 2002
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-anatomy of the multi-Criteria Decision Making process, which aims to provide a scaffolding for the future development of multi-criteria decision-making systems.
Abstract: List of Figures. List of Tables. Preface. Foreword. 1. Basic Concepts. 2. Evolutionary Algorithm MOP Approaches. 3. MOEA Test Suites. 4. MOEA Testing and Analysis. 5. MOEA Theory and Issues. 3. MOEA Theoretical Issues. 6. Applications. 7. MOEA Parallelization. 8. Multi-Criteria Decision Making. 9. Special Topics. 10. Epilog. Appendix A: MOEA Classification and Technique Analysis. Appendix B: MOPs in the Literature. Appendix C: Ptrue & PFtrue for Selected Numeric MOPs. Appendix D: Ptrue & PFtrue for Side-Constrained MOPs. Appendix E: MOEA Software Availability. Appendix F: MOEA-Related Information. Index. References.

5,994 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Confirmation bias, as the term is typically used in the psychological literature, connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a h...
Abstract: Confirmation bias, as the term is typically used in the psychological literature, connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a h...

5,214 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presents an overview of the major phenix.refine features, with extensive literature references for readers interested in more detailed discussions of the methods.
Abstract: phenix.refine is a program within the PHENIX package that supports crystallographic structure refinement against experimental data with a wide range of upper resolution limits using a large repertoire of model parameterizations. It has several automation features and is also highly flexible. Several hundred parameters enable extensive customizations for complex use cases. Multiple user-defined refinement strategies can be applied to specific parts of the model in a single refinement run. An intuitive graphical user interface is available to guide novice users and to assist advanced users in managing refinement projects. X-ray or neutron diffraction data can be used separately or jointly in refinement. phenix.refine is tightly integrated into the PHENIX suite, where it serves as a critical component in automated model building, final structure refinement, structure validation and deposition to the wwPDB. This paper presents an overview of the major phenix.refine features, with extensive literature references for readers interested in more detailed discussions of the methods.

4,380 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of the authors' brain’s wiring.
Abstract: In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.

4,351 citations