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Collective decision-making is ubiquitous, and majority-voting and the Condorcet Jury Theorem pervade thinking about collective decision-making. Thus, it is typically assumed that majority-voting is the best possible decision mechanism, and that scenarios exist where individually-weak decision-makers should not pool information. Condorcet and its applications implicitly assume that only one kind of error can be made, yet signal detection theory shows two kinds of errors exist, ‘false positives’ and ‘false negatives’. We apply signal detection theory to collective decision-making to show that majority voting is frequently sub-optimal, and can be optimally replaced by quorum decision-making. While quorums have been proposed to resolve within-group conflicts, or manage speed-accuracy trade-offs, our analysis applies to groups with aligned interests undertaking single-shot decisions. Our results help explain the ubiquity of quorum decision-making in nature, relate the use of sub- and super-majority quorums to decision ecology, and may inform the design of artificial decision-making systems. Editorial note: This article has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review. The Reviewing Editor's assessment is that all the issues have been addressed (see decision letter ).

Spring returns and with it the birds. But it also brings throngs of birders who emerge, binoculars in hand, to catch a glimpse of a rare or previously unseen species or to simply lay eyes on a particularly fine specimen of a familiar type. In a delightful meditation that unexpectedly ranges from the Volga Delta to Central Park and from Charles Dickens's Hard Times to a 1940s London burlesque show, Jeremy Mynott ponders what makes birds so beautiful and alluring to so many people. Princeton Shorts are brief selections taken from influential Princeton University Press books and produced exclusively in ebook format. Providing unmatched insight into important contemporary issues or timeless passages from classic works of the past, Princeton Shorts enable you to be an instant expert in a world where information is everywhere but quality is at a premium.

Carnegie Mellon University is a private, global research university, and one of the world's most renowned educational institutions. Carnegie Mellon enrolls approximately 16,780 students and granted some 6,410 master's, and around 2,270 doctoral degrees. About 75% of undergraduate students are from the US. International students comprise some 25% of undergraduate. Carnegie Mellon was founded by philanthropist and industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who established the Carnegie Technical Schools in 1900 for the sons and daughters of Pittsburgh's blue-collar workers.

\"I was kind of disappointed,\" [Joseph Wolf] said of the defeat. \"I was out-campaigned. I never had a good feel for why I lost. \"Its important that you learn how to establish relationships with people when you work on boards with them,\" he said, adding that he considers himself a good listener who \"actually hears\" the concerns of others. Now he wants to use those listening skills to make changes in Sugar Grove government. \"This recession will be over in two or three years and we have to be ready,\" he added. \"I feel there needs to be changes in the way we operate.\"

\"This is an important day not just for the exchange but for the financial community in Israel as a whole,\"said Ester Levanon, CEO of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at the FTSE ceremony in London. \"The upgrade places the Israeli capital market on the same level with the leading countries in Europe.\" \"We view the re-classification in a decidedly mixed fashion. There do remain advantages in our view, from an investment perspective, in being considered an emerging market, even if not a pure one,\" said Joseph Wolf, an analyst at Lehman Brothers. \"In a word, emerging markets are 'HOT' and Israel has benefited from that trend.\" \"In the case of the Israeli capital market, it is better to be the king of the foxes [a big fish in a smaller pond] than the lion's tail [a small fish in a much bigger pond],\" said Erez Britt, CEO of Tandem Capital. \"Once the euphoria expected in the market calms down, we will see that it [re-classification] will hurt the local market and the flow of foreign investment since many investors will view Israel as a high-risk choice. If foreign funds invest in Israel classified as a developed country, they will not engage in stock picking but invest in the 5 to l0 large companies in the economy.\"

Shares of Delek Group rose 1.4 percent to NIS 713.80 Monday fueled by comments from UBS analyst Joseph Wolf, who initiated coverage of the stock with a \"buy\" recommendation and a NIS 820 price target.

Adrian's family will receive friends Friday, May 20, 2005, from 4 until 7 p.m. at Phillips Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 17 W. Pulteney St., Corning, NY.