Effective conservation of rare species requires approaches that extend beyond protected areas and integrate the perspectives of diverse landowners. We synthesized results from rare plant assessments with landowner perceptions and conservation values in landscapes with a mix of ownership and management types to produce an integrated framework for maximizing stewardship effectiveness. We combined field surveys of rare plant species across five landownership types (private, provincial, federal, non-profit and leaseholder) with semi-structured interviews of representatives of these groups in the Redberry Lake Biosphere Region of Canada to identify conservation values, landowner attitudes, perceived challenges, preferred incentives and legislative awareness across ownership types. Derived from the results, our framework drew attention to ecological priority and social feasibility as key elements of integrated conservation management. The framework provided operational definitions for each element and highlighted that even regional conservation strategies must account for variation in landownership and values. This framework therefore serves as a cohesive approach to applying both ecological and social evidence to inform decision-making for biodiversity conservation in mosaic landscapes. Our experience suggests that bringing together evidence from the natural and social sciences offers novel insights, and the framework we propose may be transferable across a range of conservation contexts.

The relationship between “policy tools” and “policy styles” in literature is often implicit, resting on the assumption that governments’ characteristic ways of doing business shape their tool choices, without clarifying what a “style” is or how it connects to those choices. Resolving this ambiguity requires distinguishing two conceptions of policy style: a process-oriented one, describing how governments make decisions, and an output-oriented one, describing what kinds of instruments they characteristically deploy. Building on this distinction, the article introduces a three-level typology comprising a tool’s “genre,” “variation,” and “calibration” to specify at which level of abstraction a policy style exerts its influence on tool choice. Governance modes generate durable preferences primarily at the genre level – for broad categories such as regulation, public enterprises, or treasury-based instruments – rather than for specific design variations or finer calibrations. Making these linkages explicit advances understanding of policy continuity and improves prediction of future instrument choices.

How the odds of winning a casino game are presented impacts whether individuals understand and how they perceive those odds. When framed in terms of what the player will win (return to player), younger and middle-aged adults have lower comprehension and higher perceived chances of winning than when the same odds are framed in terms of what the casino will keep (house edge), suggesting a classic framing effect. In the current study, we tested whether older (mean age = 69.01, SD = 3.02) and younger adults (mean age = 23.50, SD = 3.02) differ in their susceptibility to this framing effect and how measures of positivity, risk propensity, and financial exploitation vulnerability impact understanding and perceptions. Across both age groups, comprehension was lower and perceived chances of winning were higher in the return-to-player condition. Age alone did not predict comprehension, but older adults were less optimistic about coming out ahead, were less risk seeking, and self-reported lower financial exploitation vulnerability than younger adults. Exploratory mediation analyses revealed that lower financial exploitation vulnerability partially explained older adults’ reduced belief that they would win, particularly in the return-to-player frame. Together, these findings suggest that age differences in gambling perceptions reflect trait-level differences in financial vigilance and affective outlook rather than chronological age alone .

Health technology assessment (HTA) has become an essential tool for supporting evidence-based decision making in health care systems worldwide. Comprehensive HTA reports, however, are resource-intensive and time-consuming, making them impractical for many decisions that need to be made at the local or institutional level. This gap has led to the development of more pragmatic approaches that aim to balance methodological rigor with feasibility. In Norway, this challenge was addressed through the introduction of mini-HTA, which is a structured, simplified, and context-specific decision-support tool to inform local or institutional decisions about introducing new technologies, procedures, or organizational innovations. Mini-HTA provides a standardized framework for evaluating clinical effectiveness, safety, organizational impact, ethical considerations, and economic consequences while remaining feasible for clinicians and managers to apply in practice. Several key insights emerge from our experience with developing and implementing mini-HTA in Norway. First, adapting HTA approaches to local decision-making contexts increases feasibility and uptake, particularly where time and resources are limited. Second, governance structures, including clear allocation of responsibilities and leadership engagement, are crucial for the consistent use of mini-HTA in practice. Third, the Norwegian experience illustrates how a shared but flexible tool can be applied across different levels of care, including both hospitals and municipalities, while still allowing for contextual adaptation. Finally, the use of mini-HTA as a platform for collaboration across sectors highlights its potential not only as a decision-support tool, but also as a mechanism for coordinating priorities and responsibilities across organizational boundaries.

Real-world evidence (RWE) is reshaping how health technology assessment (HTA) bodies evaluate therapies, yet a critical gap persists: while transportability methods enable researchers to adapt treatment effect estimates from RWE studies in another jurisdiction to local contexts, the field remains unclear on when these analyses impact decision-making. This article synthesizes insights from HTA bodies, health technology developers (HTDs), and methodologists to clarify what is missing from today’s transportability conversation. We find that methodological progress has outpaced guidance on its utility; HTDs risk investing in transportability analyses without clear evidence that they reduce key uncertainties or affect recommendations. We identify three fundamental gaps: the absence of objective thresholds for determining whether transportability assumptions are adequately met; limited guidance on when quantitative transportability is needed versus qualitative assessment; and variation in HTA bodies’ evaluation and application of transported evidence. These gaps create a critical impasse where HTDs must decide whether to invest in such analyses, while HTA bodies lack standardized frameworks for their assessment. We argue that transportability cannot transition from academic exercise to a decision-making tool without explicit early dialogue between stakeholders, transparent reporting standards, and capacity building within HTA bodies. We present actionable recommendations to build HTA expertise, create a case study repository, and define contexts where transported RWE demonstrably impacts patient access. As evidence dossiers increasingly rely on nonlocal data, addressing these strategic and operational gaps becomes essential to help patients.

When searching for information before making a decision, one faces a fundamental trade-off. On the one hand, more information will almost always improve the decision outcome. On the other hand, spending more time, money, or effort on further information search may be more costly than that improvement is beneficial. If decision makers are adaptive, they should use their resources in information searches efficiently. Using a sampling-based decision paradigm with financial costs for each observation, we conducted five experiments to investigate whether and how participants adapt their information amount to relevant aspects of the environment. Experiment 1a (N = 67) and 1b (N = 79) focused on changes in response to different ratios of information cost and decision payoffs, revealing that participants are capable of adapting, but seem to do so mainly based on a priori planning. Experiment 2 (N = 131) assessed the role of a second process, online adjustment, by varying whether participants received feedback. Surprisingly, participants changed their behavior to the same extent irrespective of whether they received feedback. To further improve the opportunities for metacognitive monitoring and control, Experiments 3a and 3b (N = 160 and N = 318) implemented different feedback types across more decision trials for three different ratios of information cost and decision outcomes, which stayed constant per participant. Whether participants changed their sample size and efficiency across trials depended on that ratio, but not on the type of feedback. This provides crucial insights into how participants adapt and what challenges might befall the necessary metacognitive monitoring, serving as a valuable prompt for future research.

This paper examines how spatial arrangements affect digitally supported individual and group decision-making. In a controlled within-subjects study, 24 participants completed the NASA Moon Survival Task across three spatial conditions: standing at an interactive table, sitting at the same table with personal zones, and using laptops. By analysing decision quality, speed, and perceived collaboration, the study shows that spatial design meaningfully shapes decision performance, interaction dynamics, and user experience.

This study presents a simulation-based framework to analyze resource consumption and cost effects of product family design strategies. Drawing on Extended Axiomatic Design (EAD) and 53 documented design cases, we simulate empirically grounded patterns that reveal denser, more homogeneous resource use than benchmarks from cost accounting literature. The findings (1) provide a reusable dataset; (2) demonstrate the value of EAD for standardized product family design and enhanced cost transparency; and (3) support broader generalization of cost accounting insights.

Mixed Reality (MR) prototyping offers significant design opportunities but introduces complexity in prototype specification. This paper presents a card-based design tool to support designers in this specification process. The tool is based on a comprehensive taxonomy of MR prototype fidelity and foundational research into the interplay between, and value of, different physical and virtual characteristics. A validation study demonstrates that the developed tool supports and guides designer reasoning, resulting in higher quality MR prototypes with stronger rationale for their implementation.

Perpetual innovative products (PIPs) enable the reuse of components from previous generations to create new products with improved functionality and performance, supporting a circular economy. However, the concept entails uncertainties in design due to degradation and functional integration. This paper examines how testing can reveal and reduce these uncertainties through the analysis of testing activities. A four-step process is proposed that integrates testing in PIP development. The process strengthens decision-making by translating heterogeneous testing into actionable design knowledge.

This study presents a structured approach for developing new modular, size-variable product families in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), demonstrated through a case study on air filtration units. Starting from a minimum viable product (MVP), the approach provides a framework for size level definition and systematic generation of alternative modular concepts while considering product-specific design trade-offs. An evaluation combining qualitative criteria assessment with quantitative cost forecasting enables transparent concept comparison.