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Over the years, policy learning has emerged as a theoretical lens to provide an alternative understanding of powering-based approaches to the policy process and policy outcomes. This has been a success story, with policy learning gaining presence among theoretical frameworks on the policy process. However, the puzzling-powering dichotomy is reductive. In real-world policy processes, we find both puzzling and powering. Also, we cannot reduce the value of learning to what is not explained by power alone. This Introduction shows how puzzling and powering interact and with what consequences on policy processes, moving beyond the dichotomy. We present how the four contributions of this Special Issue explore this territory and suggest how to approach the design of governance architectures for learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physicians' empathy and ambiguity tolerance have recently become a focus of medical education. However, the association between the two concepts remains unclear. This study examined the association between empathy and ambiguity tolerance in the clinical context among medical trainees. We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional study in 12 institutions: 2 universities for medical students and 10 hospitals for residents. We assessed ambiguity tolerance using the Japanese version of the Tolerance of Ambiguity in Medical Students and Doctors scale. The outcome variable was empathy, measured using the Japanese translation of the Jefferson Scales of Empathy (JSE). Data from 100 medical students and 135 residents were analyzed. After adjustment for possible confounders, the factor scores of 'tolerance for things that are not black or white in medicine' showed a dose-dependent association with the JSE. There was no clear trend in the association between the total scores or other factor scores and empathy. This nationwide multicenter study showed that the factor scores of 'tolerance for things that are not black or white in medicine' were associated with empathy among medical trainees. Our findings may be helpful for developing interventions in the field of medical education to nurture empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because schools as educational institutions have the task of empowering today’s students (as future citizens) to lead their lives responsibly, current social changes (such as digitalisation) suggest that uncertainty may be a particularly important dimension of educational activities. In this manuscript, a systematic review of 43 references dealing with the topic of uncertainty in the field of physical education (PE) is presented. As a result, one can identify three dimensions of the phenomenon of uncertainty: (1) uncertainty as an opportunity to foster processes of deep learning (Bildung) among students in the PE classroom, (2) uncertainty as a challenge for PE teachers and preservice teachers and (3) uncertainty as a characteristic of movement, games and sports. The paper discusses the consequences of these findings for teaching and teacher education in PE. In distinguishing these three dimensions of the phenomenon of uncertainty in the field of one subject (here PE), the article suggests a structure for analysing uncertainty in other subjects, as well as with respect to wider fields of research such as research on professionalism or school development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Forest-based communities are embedded in complex and uncertain global processes. We aim to understand the repercussions of uncertainty on forest-based livelihoods through a focus on implications in terms of access to resources for inhabitants of forest concessions. Uncertainty is conceptualized as unpredictability (not knowing), limited knowledge (knowing too little), and ambiguity (knowing too much, too differently). This research is based on document analysis and a case study in Zambezia Province, Mozambique. In-depth interviews and observations were conducted in local communities and triangulated with interviews with NGOs, researchers, and government officials. The findings indicate that multiple actors draw on formal and informal institutions to mediate access to forest-derived resources, which exacerbates uncertainties. Unpredictability, limited knowledge, and ambiguity undermine access to such resources for local communities. This paper contributes to an understanding of uncertainty and suggests a collaborative approach to reduce and cope with different uncertainties in the quest toward sustainable forest-based livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we demonstrate the effects of Information Theory measures on the processing of polysemous nouns and reveal that the sensitivity to multiple related senses can be learned from the linguistic context. We collected large-scale data and applied a correlation design to show that an increase in sense uncertainty (or sense diversity) is followed by a faster visual lexical decision. The facilitatory effect of sense uncertainty was revealed by the predictive power of entropy, followed by the additional analysis, which revealed that both the number of senses and the balance of sense probabilities affected processing. For the first time, the balance of sense probabilities was described via redundancy to demonstrate the effect of the numerical description of the balance of sense probabilities. Finally, we crossed distribution semantics and discrimination learning to show that polysemy effects can arise as a consequence of the principles of error-driven learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing environmental crises due to climate change calls for bridging the research and operational logics of spatial planning and humanitarian response. This article explores how long-term spatial planning and short-term humanitarian responses relate to three facets of uncertainty that are particularly relevant in developmental contexts, namely epistemic uncertainty, ontic uncertainty, and ambiguity. The authors explore these facets through a case study of uncertainty, that of unexpected monsoon floods in 2018 and 2019 in Wayanad, a peri-urban hill district in Kerala, India. Through the case, they show that compounded uncertainty leads to ambiguity in action, but that this ambiguity can be ameliorated by a contextualised contingency planning approach. The authors conclude the article by outlining the approach in spatial planning that prioritises flexible and adaptable decision-making to enhance iterative organisational learning and action, as well as cross-sectoral dialogue to deal with uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pricing practices of firms are an important yet the least studied aspect of the price phenomenon in sociology. This paper answers the question: why do firms, even in the same market, tend to use different pricing practices – value-informed, competition-informed, or cost-informed pricing – to set prices? To that end, this study constructs a formal dynamic flocking model to investigate the inter-dynamics between market uncertainties and the viability of the three pricing practices. The model is a substantial revision and extension of Harrison White's static W(y) market model by reformulating the latter into a dynamic one and by explicitly incorporating different market uncertainties into the model as variables. The study shows that each kind of pricing practice is only viable under certain distributions of market uncertainties. The theory is then used to explain the distribution of pricing practices among firms in the Burgundy wine market. Theoretical and methodological innovations and the implications for firms and for sociological research on markets and uncertainties are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the comparative statics of an optimal portfolio choice problem for an investor with both expected return and volatility ambiguity about the financial market. The optimal holding of the risky asset depends on risk preference, expected return and volatility ambiguity, yielding a general comparative statistics analysis for all investors with linearly growing absolute risk tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human–robot interactions are increasingly taking place between a robot agent and a human observer who, unable to witness all aspects of the robot's behaviour, is uncertain as to how the robot will behave. This uncertainty has serious consequences when it concerns the normative aspects of machine behaviour: that is, whether the robot's actions are morally permissible. Bringing together distinct threads from robotic design and machine ethics, we demonstrate the importance of conveying ethical understanding and commitment in order to reduce moral ambiguity and how this can demand a behavioural demonstration. We provide a framework that structures these considerations in the form of a broad constraint on robot behaviour: roughly, to avoid behaviour, even if it is permissible, if that behaviour could appear impermissible. Thus, we formalise a model of communicative-behavioural ethics in human–robot interactions. We apply this constraint to a series of example cases demonstrating how it can be modified to incorporate different sources of information including preferences and probabilities. This reveals the complexity of less idealised cases and highlights how the constraint can be fine-tuned along a number of dimensions to take into account, amongst other thing, risk attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presented two-input two-output fourth-order integrated (TITO-FOI) DC–DC converter is capable of regulating DC-bus voltage and low voltage source current with only two switches and four energy storage elements. Each switch duty control signal in TITO-FOI converter system will affect the two output variables causing interactions. These interactions must be measured for proper controller structure selection. Interactions measurements may not be accurate for a converter system as some methods suggest centralized and some other suggest decentralized control schemes. Hence, there is an ambiguity in selection of suitable controller architectures. To overcome such an ambiguity a centralized interaction independent controller was designed for TITO-FOI DC–DC converter using H ∞ loop-shaping design procedure. The effectiveness of TITO-FOI converter along with this centralized controller for the regulation of load division and bus voltage is demonstrated with simulation studies using a 36 V/12 V to 24 V, 100 W, prototype DC power distribution system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on uncertainty management theory (Lind & Van den Bos, 2002; Van den Bos & Lind, 2002), we explored whether uncertainty in the workplace (role ambiguity) as well as off the workplace (economic hardship) moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' job burnout. Using survey method, we obtained 458 valid responses from employees in a transportation company in Taiwan. The results of moderated hierarchical regression showed that both role ambiguity and economic hardship induce the positive relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' job burnout. Abusive supervision related more strongly to job burnout when subordinates perceived higher role ambiguity (higher uncertainty) or higher economic hardship (higher uncertainty). As predicted, high uncertainty increases subordinates' attentions to the injustice from abusive supervision and thus strengthens the negative psychological consequences of abusive supervision, regardless of whether the source of uncertainty corresponds to the source of (in)justice perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communicating scientific uncertainty about public health threats is ethically desirable but challenging due to its tendency to promote avoidance of choice options with unknown probabilities-a phenomenon known as "ambiguity aversion." This study examined this phenomenon's potential magnitude, its responses to different communication strategies, and its mechanisms. In a factorial experiment, 2701 adult laypersons in Spain read one of three versions of a hypothetical newspaper article describing a pandemic vaccine-preventable disease (VPD), but varying in scientific uncertainty about VPD risk and vaccine effectiveness: No-Uncertainty, Uncertainty, and Normalized-Uncertainty (emphasizing its expected nature). Vaccination intentions were lower for the Uncertainty and Normalized-Uncertainty groups compared to the No-Uncertainty group, consistent with ambiguity aversion; Uncertainty and Normalized-Uncertainty groups did not differ. Ambiguity-averse responses were moderated by health literacy and mediated by perceptions of vaccine effectiveness, VPD likelihood, and VPD severity. Communicating scientific uncertainty about public health threats warrants caution and further research to elucidate its outcomes, mechanisms, and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we study a robust optimal investment and reinsurance problem for a general insurance company which holds shares of an insurance company and a reinsurance company. Assume that the claim process described by a Brownian motion with drift, the insurer can purchase proportional reinsurance, and both the insurer and the reinsurer can invest in a risk-free asset and a risky asset. Besides, the general insurance company’s manager is an ambiguity-averse manager (AAM) who worries about model uncertainty in model parameters. The AAM’s objective is to maximize the minimal expected exponential utility of the weighted sum surplus process of the insurer and the reinsurer. By using techniques of stochastic control theory, we first derive the closed-form expressions of the optimal strategies and the corresponding value function, and then the verification theorem is given. Finally, we present numerical examples to illustrate the effects of model parameters on the optimal investment and reinsurance strategies, and analyze utility losses from ignoring model uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) has been understood as a dispositional tendency to view the presence of negative events as unacceptable and threatening, regardless of the likelihood of those events occurring. The preference over the 12-item vs. 27-item of the IUS has been central to debate. The goals of the present study were to evaluate two competing models of measuring IU with model-fitting analyses and explore model invariance of gender (e.g. men vs. women). A sample of 980 individuals completed an online IUS survey. Results indicated that the two-factor short-form model provided better fit to the data compared to the full-length two-factor model proposed by. Results also indicated that the short-form IUS is gender invariant, suggesting acceptable use among men and women. These findings provide further support of a two-factor structure and suggest that the IUS is appropriate for men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The success of the lean production system in Japan has led other companies to attempt to adopt it. Yet lean production system initiatives have seen a low success rate. This study draws on the theory of causal ambiguity and its role in the transfer of knowledge to argue that causal ambiguity can impede interfirm transfer of knowledge during lean production system implementation. The authors argue that causal ambiguity undermines motivation during lean production system implementation. Several variables are proposed as moderating the relationship. The findings of a survey are presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Attitudes to risk (known probabilities) and attitudes to ambiguity (unknown probabilities) are separate constructs that influence decision making, but their development across adolescence remains elusive. We administered a choice task to a wide adolescent age-range (N = 157, 10–25 years) to disentangle risk- and ambiguity-attitudes using a model-based approach. Additionally, this task was played in a social context, presenting choices from a high risk-taking peer. We observed age-related changes in ambiguity-attitude, but not risk-attitude. Also, ambiguity-aversion was negatively related to real-life risk taking. Finally, the social context influenced only risk-attitudes. These results highlight the importance of disentangling risk- and ambiguity-attitudes in adolescent risk taking. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public policy is increasingly facing human-made risks in various domains (technology, environment, energy, food, health, security, etc.) that pose new challenge for risk governance. These risks induce cognitive, evaluative and normative challenges that result from uncertainty and ambiguity. This necessitates a new interplay between the state, experts, stakeholder groups, and the public at large. We confront the notion of risk governance with theories of deliberative democracy: How can societies develop deliberative institutions and processes for governing risks more effectively and how can society be better involved in risk governance? We argue that a deliberative system with a functional division of labor that assigns specific tasks to and recognizes specific competences in experts, stakeholder groups, and citizens facilitates an appropriate integration of scientific and experiential substance. We argue that the integration of expertise and experience can be conveyed by differentiated deliberation by expert, stakeholders, and the public, which produces better outcomes than the classical risk analysis approach in many regulatory systems. To this end, we combine theory, normative conceptualization, and institutional practicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As governmental tasks are decentralised (transferred from central government to administrative agencies and local governments), inspectorates are expected to strengthen their regulatory role and tackle social problems. This is difficult, however, when they must assess complex, uncertain or ambiguous situations in which the pre-defined assessment criteria that inspectorates normally use are either unavailable or contested by the actors involved. In this article, we explore the challenges faced by a partnership of five Dutch inspectorates that carried out a joint inspection on tackling the consequences of youth poverty. This is based on a 20-month ethnographic study, conducted between June 2009 and March 2011. To analyse the data, we applied a theoretical framework based on characterisation and governance of risks. Our study shows that, like many other social problems, poverty among children was associated with complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. Complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity were tolerated to some degree, for example, during stakeholder participation to provide diverse options for improvement. However, inspectors often did not persist with such participatory processes. The pressure to act that was associated with a strict regulatory role and the regulatory context led the inspectorates to hide the lack of certainty by constructing poverty as a simple problem. As a result, little benefit was derived from increasing participation. We highlight how meeting the two expectations – strengthening the regulatory role and tackling social problems – posed important dilemmas for the inspectorates, especially in situations where knowledge was not available and roles were unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In three experiments we compared 5- and 6-year-old children's understanding of multiple interpretations arising from an ambiguous figure (e.g., the duck/rabbit) and other ambiguous partial input. Children found it equally easy to switch between alternative interpretations of ambiguous figures and partial views (Experiment 1, N = 19) and more difficult to accept two characters' conflicting interpretations of ambiguous figures, than partial views (Experiment 2, N = 29). Children found it more difficult to accept explicitly that one stimulus could simultaneously give rise to two interpretations, than to switch between them (Experiment 3, N = 40). Children's handling of multiple interpretations was not primarily affected by the type of input, but results suggest that there are two distinct stages in children's handling of multiple interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a novel method for establishing the preferred interpretation of ambiguities in spoken sentences. It makes use of the phoneme restoration effect (Warren, 1970): when noise replaces phoneme(s) in a word, listeners report that they perceive the word as intact and congruent with the context. If the word disambiguates a potentially ambiguous sentence, the word that is 'heard' reveals which interpretation listeners assigned. The advantage of this method is its naturalness: no deliberative judgements, no interrupting task, no attention drawn to the ambiguity, and no reliance on anomalous sentences. Our experiments examined the contribution of prosodic phrasing to syntactic ambiguity resolution, using three different tasks to probe what participants thought they had heard: Visual Word Choice, Sentence Repetition, and Speech Shadowing. All three tasks showed a powerful effect of prosody on the resolution of two syntactic ambiguities in Bulgarian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keynesian concepts of probability and uncertainty emphasize the basis of knowledge available to economic decision makers. Conditions of uncertainty, which involve missing evidence or doubtful arguments, are distinguished from probable risk. Beyond this, on the basis of the claim that the future is yet to be created, some authors argue for further distinctions among different kinds of uncertainty. The paper reviews this particular argument, distinguishing it from Keynesian uncertainty theory generally, and provides a critique of its implication that, due to innovation, objective distributions of possible events do not generally exist at the time of economic decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers his comments regarding Heinz Kohut's discussion of an analyst's reactions to idealizing and mirroring transferences. According to the author, Kohut's approach is to combine the views on understanding of psychoanalytical process with his experience in dealing with subjective tensions in interaction with analysands. He suggests that Kohut's concerns may contribute to the effectiveness of patient treatment.

Medical practice is inherently ambiguous and uncertain. The physicians’ ability to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty has been proved to have a great impact on clinical practice. The primary aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that higher degree of physicians’ ambiguity and uncertainty intolerance and higher need for cognitive closure will predict higher work stress. Two hundred and twelve physicians (mean age = 42.94 years; SD = 10.72) from different medical specialties with different levels of expertise were administered a set of questionnaires measuring perceived levels of work-related stress, individual ability to tolerate ambiguity, stress deriving from uncertainty, and personal need for cognitive closure. A linear regression analysis was performed to examine which variables predict the perceived level of stress. The regression model was statistically significant [R2 = .32; F(10,206) = 8.78, p ≤ .001], thus showing that, after controlling for gender and medical specialty, ambiguity and uncertainty tolerance, decisiveness (a dimension included in need for closure), and the years of practice were significant predictors of perceived work-related stress. Findings from the present study have some implications for medical education. Given the great impact that the individual ability to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty has on the physicians’ level of perceived work-related stress, it would be worth paying particular attention to such a skill in medical education settings. It would be crucial to introduce or to empower educational tools and strategies that could increase medical students’ ability to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty. Abbreviations:JSQ: Job stress questionnaire; NFCS: Need for cognitive closure scale; PRU: Physicians’ reactions to uncertainty; TFA: Tolerance for ambiguity [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]