In this dissertation, we focus on solving Nonlinear Least Squares problems using a supervised approach. In particular, we developed a Supervised Descent Method (SDM), performed thorough theoretical analysis, and demonstrated its effectiveness on optimizing analytic functions, and four other real-world applications: Inverse Kinematics, Rigid Tracking, Face Alignment (frontal and multi-view), and...

BACKGROUND Shared decision-making (SDM) is defined as a process by which a healthcare choice is made by practitioners together with the patient. Although many diagnostic and therapeutic processes in primary care integrate more than one type of health professional, most SDM conceptual models and theories appear to be limited to the patient-physician dyad. The objectives of this study are to deve...

According to the social decision-making (SDM) network hypothesis, SDM is encoded in a network of forebrain and midbrain structures in a distributed and dynamic fashion, such that the expression of a given social behaviour is better reflected by the overall profile of activation across the different loci rather than by the activity of a single node. This proposal has the implicit assumption that...

The goal of this project was to measure directly the volatilization of gas phase polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from stabilized dredged material (SDM) in a • laboratory scale flux chamber. This study complements earlier field observations (Phase I) to estimate PCB fluxes from SDM being applied to a landfill (Korfiatis et. al., 2003, Miskewitz et al, 2004). Phase I included measurements of the...

Measuring clinicians' shared decision-making (SDM) performance is a key requirement given the intensity of policy interest in many developed countries - yet it remains one of the most difficult methodological challenges, which is a concern for many stakeholders. In this Viewpoint Article, we investigate the development of existing patient-reported measures (PRMs) of SDM identified in a recent r...

BACKGROUND Shared decision making (SDM), a process by which health professionals and patients go through the decision-making process together to agree on treatment, is a promising strategy for promoting diet-related decisions that are informed and value based and to which patients adhere well. The objective of the present study was to identify dietitians' salient beliefs regarding their exercis...

BACKGROUND A foundation of care within a Patient-centered Medical Home (PCMH) is respect for patients' values and preferences. Shared decision making (SDM) involves a set of principles and approaches to working with patients that integrates medical information and data with the preferences, values, and support systems of individual patients facing medical decisions. The value of SDM is increasi...

BACKGROUND Despite growing recognition that shared decision making (SDM) is central for patient-centred primary care, adoption by physicians remains limited in routine practice. OBJECTIVE To examine the characteristics of physicians, patients and consultations associated with primary care physicians' SDM behaviours during routine care. METHODS A multicentre cross-sectional survey study was ...

Shared decisionmaking (SDM) has been promoted for improving patientcentered care, specifically ensuring that decisions are made after careful consideration of the pros and cons of options, patients’ underlying values and preferences, and patients are actively involved in shared conversations with their clinicians.1–3 Despite international support for the concept of SDM, challenges to achieving ...