Intensity Of Preference Research Articles

Who Cares More? Allocation with Diverse Preference Intensities

Goods and services---public housing, medical appointments, schools---are often allocated to individuals who rank them similarly but differ in their preference intensities. We characterize optimal allocation rules when individual preferences are known and when they are not. Several insights emerge. First-best allocations may involve assigning some agents between high- and low-ranked goods. When preference intensities are private information, second-best allocations always involve such lotteries and, crucially, may coincide with first-best allocations. Furthermore, second-best allocations may entail disposal of services. We discuss a market-based alternative and show how it differs.

Who Cares More? Allocation with Diverse Preference Intensities

Goods and services---public housing, medical appointments, schools---are often allocated to individuals who rank them similarly but differ in their preference intensities. We characterize optimal allocation rules when individual preferences are known and when they are not. Several insights emerge. First-best allocations may involve assigning some agents between high- and low-ranked goods. When preference intensities are private information, second-best allocations always involve such lotteries and, crucially, may coincide with first-best allocations. Furthermore, second-best allocations may entail disposal of services. We discuss a market-based alternative and show how it differs.

Production and sensory evaluation of dried mango

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to determine the best osmotic dehydration (OD) condition for slices of mango cv. Espada through a factorial experiment, evaluating water loss and water activity during the process, and then perform convective drying at different temperatures to sensorially evaluate the obtained dried mango. An experiment was conducted in a 23 factorial experiment, with three central points, to evaluate the influence of thickness (1; 1.5 and 2 cm), sucrose concentration (35; 45 and 55 ºBrix) and temperature (30, 40 and 50 ºC) on water loss and water activity during the process. Convective drying was carried out in a tray dryer at temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 ºC, with an air speed of 1.5 m s-1. The optimal OD condition was found for slices with 1 cm thickness, sucrose concentration of 55 °Brix and temperature of 50 °C. Dried mangoes produced at temperatures of 50 and 60 °C were the most accepted among the tasters for the attributes of color, appearance, odor and taste, intensity of hardness, preference and purchase intention, and can be a promising alternative for utilization of Espada mango.

Mobilising the Next Generation of Stated-Preference Studies: the Association of Access Device with Choice Behaviour and Data Quality.

Literature reviews show stated-preference studies, used to understand the values individuals place on health and health care, are increasingly administered online, potentially maximising respondent access and allowing for enhanced response quality. Online respondents may often choose whether to use a desktop or laptop personal computer (PC), tablet or smartphone, all with different screen sizes and modes of data entry, to complete the survey. To avoid differences in measurement errors, frequently respondents are asked to complete the surveys on a PC despite evidence that handheld devices are increasingly used for internet browsing. As yet, it is unknown if or how the device used to access the survey affects responses and/or the subsequent valuations derived. This study uses data from a discrete choice experiment (DCE) administered online to elicit preferences of a general population sample of females for a national breast screening programme. The analysis explores differences in key outcomes such as completion rates, engagement with the survey materials, respondent characteristics, response time, failure of an internal validity test and health care preferences for (1) handheld devices and (2) PC users. Preferences were analysed using a fully correlated random parameter logit (RPL) model to allow for unexplained scale and preference heterogeneity. One thousand respondents completed the survey in its entirety. The most popular access devices were PCs (n = 785), including Windows (n = 705) and Macbooks (n = 69). Two-hundred and fifteen respondents accessed the survey on a handheld device. Most outcomes related to survey behaviour, including failure of a dominance check, 'flat lining', self-reported attribute non-attendance (ANA) or respondent-rated task difficulty, did not differ by device type (p > 0.100). Respondents accessing the survey using a PC were generally quicker (median time to completion 14.5min compared with 16min for those using handheld devices) and were significantly less likely to speed through a webpage. Although there was evidence of preference intensity (taste) or variability (scale) heterogeneity across respondents in the sample, it was not driven by the access device. Overall, we find that neither preferences nor choice behaviour is associated with the type of access device, as long as respondents are presented with question formats that are easy to use on small touchscreens. Health preference researchers should optimise preference instruments for a range of devices and encourage respondents to complete the surveys using their preferred device. However, we suggest that access device characteristics should be gathered and included when reporting results.

Reciprocal rewards promote the evolution of cooperation in spatial prisoner's dilemma game

To investigate the incentive mechanisms of cooperation, we propose an other-regarding preference based reciprocal rewarding mechanism by incorporating the dynamic adjustment of link weight into the spatial prisoner's dilemma game. Under the influence of other-regarding preference, players are willing to sacrifice personal payoff to reward the cooperative neighbor who has the greatest link weight. The reciprocal reward is dynamically adjusted according to the adaptive adjustment of link weight and the intensity of other-regarding preference. Extensive simulations reveal that the proposed rewarding mechanism significantly promotes the evolution of cooperation. Both the dynamic adjustment of link weight and the other-regarding preference impact factor play an essential role in the emergence of cooperative behavior. To further validate the above outcome, the evolution of cooperators' density and the alteration of average payoff and fitness are explored in a microscopic perspective.

Myeloablative Conditioning for Allogeneic Transplantation Results in Superior Disease-Free Survival for Acute Myelogenous Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes with Low/Intermediate but not High Disease Risk Index: A Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research Study

Compared with reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC), myeloablative conditioning (MAC) is generally associated with lower relapse risk after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). However, disease-specific risk factors in AML/MDS can further inform when MAC and RIC may yield differential outcomes. We analyzed HCT outcomes stratified by the Disease Risk Index (DRI) in 4387 adults (age 40 to 65 years) to identify the impact of conditioning intensity. In the low/intermediate-risk DRI cohort, RIC was associated with lower nonrelapse mortality (NRM) (hazard ratio [HR], .74; 95% confidence interval [CI], .62 to .88; P < .001) but significantly greater relapse risk (HR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.35 to 1.76; P < .001) and thus inferior disease-free survival (DFS) (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.33; P=.001). In the high/very high-risk DRI cohort, RIC was associated with marginally lower NRM (HR, .83; 95% CI, .68 to 1.00; P=.051) and significantly higher relapse risk (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.41; P=.002), leading to similar DFS using either RIC or MAC. These data support MAC over RIC as the preferred conditioning intensity for patients with AML/MDS with low/intermediate-risk DRI, but with a similar benefit as RIC in high/very high-risk DRI. Novel MAC regimens with less toxicity could benefit all patients, but more potent antineoplastic approaches are needed for the high/very-high risk DRI group.

Morphology, Food and Feeding Habit of Goby Fish, Parachaeturichthys ocellatus from the Creeks of Mumbai

Goby fish Parachaeturichthys ocellatus, native to the creeks of Mumbai coast forms a major part of creek fishery for the fishing community inhabiting areas near the creeks. The food and feeding habits of the fish were studied by collecting fish samples every month in from June 2010 to September 2011 from the creeks of Mumbai. The length of the fishes studied ranged between 66mm to 185mm.The body morphology of fish revealed it to be carnivorous benthic and predatory fish. The gut contents of the fish showed the presence of crustaceans as basic food, mollusc and pisces formed the secondary food while detritus formed obligatory food and planktons and other miscellaneous food (larvae of insects, worms, rotiferons, dinoflegellates foraminiferons etc.) were incidental food. An analysis of seasonal variation in food preference and feeding intensity reveal that the male and female P.ocellatus had the same preference throughout the seasons but was different for the juveniles. In P.ocellatus cannibalism was observed, but its occurrence was not regular in the general diet. The relative gut length was 0.68 in male, 0.70 in female and 0.79 in juvenile. The empty guts of P.ocellatus seem to indicate predatory mode of feeding. P.ocellatus occupy the position of secondary and tertiary consumers in the food chain determined by the size and type of the food consumed by the fish.

Partial strategyproofness: Relaxing strategyproofness for the random assignment problem

We present partial strategyproofness, a new, relaxed notion of strategyproofness for studying the incentive properties of non-strategyproof assignment mechanisms. Informally, a mechanism is partially strategyproof if it makes truthful reporting a dominant strategy for those agents whose preference intensities differ sufficiently between any two objects. We demonstrate that partial strategyproofness is axiomatically motivated and yields a parametric measure for “how strategyproof” an assignment mechanism is. We apply this new concept to derive novel insights about the incentive properties of the probabilistic serial mechanism and different variants of the Boston mechanism.

Vote Trading in Power-Sharing Systems: A Laboratory Investigation

Vote trading in power-sharing systems -i.e., systems in which a voter's utility with respect to the election's outcome is proportional to the vote share of her favourite party- is, in theory, welfare improving. However, trading votes for money in majoritarian systems may have detrimental welfare effects, especially when voters' preference intensities are similar (Casella et al., 2012). We use a laboratory experiment to test the effect of vote trading in each of these popular electoral systems on voter welfare and find strong evidence in support of the above intuitions: vote trading in power-sharing systems boosts aggregate welfare across all considered specifications, but it is not welfare improving in majoritarian systems. Importantly, and contrary to theoretical predictions, a substantial share of subjects consistently lose from vote trading even in power-sharing systems, indicating that its welfare effects are not unambiguous.

Vote Trading in Power-Sharing Systems: A Laboratory Investigation

Abstract Vote trading in power-sharing systems—i.e., systems in which a voter’s utility with respect to the election’s outcome is proportional to the vote share of her favourite party—is, in theory, welfare improving. However, trading votes for money in majoritarian systems may have detrimental welfare effects, especially when voters’ preference intensities are similar (Casella et al., 2012). We use a laboratory experiment to test the effect of vote trading in each of these popular electoral systems on voter welfare and find strong evidence in support of the above intuitions: vote trading in power-sharing systems boosts aggregate welfare across all considered specifications, but it is not welfare improving in majoritarian systems. Importantly, and contrary to theoretical predictions, a substantial share of subjects consistently loses from vote trading even in power-sharing systems, indicating that its welfare effects are not unambiguous.

Probabilistic projection of the sex ratio at birth and missing female births by State and Union Territory in India

The sex ratio at birth (SRB) in India has been reported to be imbalanced since the 1970s. Previous studies have shown there is a great variation in the SRB between geographic locations across India till 2016. Considering the enormous population and regional heterogeneity of India, producing probabilistic SRB projections at the state level is crucial for policy planning and population projection. In this paper, we implement a Bayesian hierarchical time series model to project the SRB across India by state. We generate SRB probabilistic projections from 2017 to 2030 for 29 States and Union Territories (UTs) in India, and present results for 21 States/UTs with data available from the Sample Registration System. Our analysis takes into account two state-specific factors that contribute to sex-selective abortion in India, resulting in sex imbalances at birth: the intensity of son preference and fertility squeeze. We project that the highest deficits in female births will occur in Uttar Pradesh, with a cumulative number of missing female births of 2.0 (95% credible interval [1.9; 2.2]) million from 2017 to 2030. The total female birth deficits during 2017–2030 for the whole of India is projected to be 6.8 [6.6; 7.0] million.

A Laboratory Experiment for Analyzing Electors’ Strategic Behavior in a First-Past-the-Post System

As it is well acknowledged that the electoral system is one of the fundamental rocks of our modern society, the behavior of electors engaged in a voting system is of the utmost importance. In this context, the goal of the study is to model the behavior of voters in a first-past-the-post system and to analyze its consequences on a party system. Among the assumptions of this study is Duverger’s law, which states that first-past-the-post systems favor a two-party system as the voters engage in tactical voting, choosing to vote in favor of a less preferred candidate who has better odds of winning. In order to test this assumption and to better analyze the occurrence of the strategic behavior, a laboratory experiment was created. A total of 120 persons participated in the study. An asymmetrical payoff function was created to value the voters’ preference intensity. As a result, it was observed that as voters got used to the voting system, they engaged in more tactical voting behavior in order to either maximize the gain or minimize the loss of their choice. Moreover, the iterations where voters started displaying tactical behavior featured a clustering around two main choices. The obtained results are consistent with both the empirical results of real-life elections and Duverger’s law. A further discussion regarding the change in voters’ choice completes the analysis on the strategic behavior.

Majoritarian Bargaining over Budgetary Divisions and Policy

We report the results of a field-in-the-lab experiment in which subjects bargain over a two-dimensional agenda: a donation to a political interest group and the division of a sum of money. We show that subjects sacrifice monetary gains to secure preferred policies and that behaviorally elicited preference intensity correlates with bargaining behavior. We find an ideological majority advantage and a status quo premium. Minorities benefit most from negotiating on two dimensions because the budgetary division problem allows compromise. Finally, we show that induced preferences over artificial policies fail to capture the bargaining dynamics that arise when real ideological choices are involved.

The effects of pre-play communication in a coordination game with incomplete information

The effects of pre-play communication in a battle-of-the-sexes game with incomplete information regarding players’ intensity of preferences is compared to the game with no communication. Pre-play communication significantly increases payoffs and the probability of coordination, while reducing miscoordination. Communication is largely informative. A key prediction of the theory, that when two players send different messages, they coordinate on the preferred action of the agent sending the higher message, is generally satisfied. As predicted, communication becomes more informative as the cost of miscoordination increases.

Preferred Service Investment in the Dual-Channel Supply Chain: Leader-Follower Relationships and Product Characteristics

This paper examines the influence that members’ preferred service investments have on their decision-making and profits in a dual-channel supply chain. We discuss changes in the supplier’s and retailer’s decision-making and optimal profits with reference to their different preferred service investment combination modes and their different leader-follower relationships. We also provide classified comparisons of the supplier’s and retailer’s optimal profits by referring to four types of product characteristics combination modes that are assessed across two channels. By providing classifications and comparisons, we put forward operational insights for the supplier and retailer who have direct implications for their optimal decisions and profits, including selling products with higher homogeneity between two channels, choosing the retailer as the leader of the supply chain, and confirming appropriate preference combination mode under a certain product characteristics. We analyze the influences of the preferred service investment levels as well as preference intensities of the supplier and retailer on their strategies and profits in their respective advantaged states and obtain some enlightenment about the cooperation strategies and relationship-building methods of the supplier and retailer in the actual process of their participation in the dual-channel supply chain operation.

Co-production or DIY: an analytical model of consumer choice and social preferences

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how consumers choose among three different options offered by a firm in a monopolistic setting, namely, to buy a standard product with a non-customizable design, to ask the firm to customize a product using the consumer’s ideal design or to do the entire design task by themselves. The authors also investigate how social preference intensity and the possibility of reselling a product influence a consumer’s decision.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop an analytical (game theoretical) consumer choice framework and incorporate a psychological factor into the model. The authors also empirically validate the analytical findings using simulations.FindingsThe authors find that as social preference intensity increases, the number of co-producers can either decrease or increase. The authors offer a closed-form solution and interval graphs showing that when the setup price is large (small), the proportion of the market that chooses to do-it-yourself (DIY) is large (small) and an increase in social preference intensity leads to a decrease (increase) in co-production.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to incorporate a social factor into an economic model in a consumer behavior setting. It is also the first paper to explain how customers’ preferences among possible options, such as DIY (without the firm’s help), co-production (with the firm’s help) and a standard product might change while considering other people’s preferences, as well as given associated costs.

Ranking trapezoidal fuzzy numbers using a parametric relation pair

Huynh et al. introduced a probability-based fuzzy relation for comparing fuzzy numbers (see V. Huynh, Y. Nakamori and J. Lawry (2008) [40]), but they did not detail how to compute it. Here, we will consider this fuzzy relation as a probability-based preference intensity index and present closed formulas for the integrals needed to compute this index for fuzzy sets that have trapezoidal membership functions. Also, we will propose an algorithm to compute this index and a numerical method to approximate it. The comparison of two fuzzy numbers should also be able to capture the situation where the order of the fuzzy numbers cannot be judged; and so, their order may be considered as being indifferent. Here, using the probability-based preference intensity index, we will introduce two crisp relations, which have a common parameter, over a collection of fuzzy sets that have trapezoidal membership functions. Next, we will show that - depending on the parameter value - one of them is a strict order relation and the other one may be interpreted as a relation that expresses the order indifference of fuzzy numbers. We will call this latter one the order indifference relation. Lastly, we will demonstrate how these two relations can be utilized to rank a collection of fuzzy sets that have trapezoidal membership functions.

Intensity of preferences for bivariate risk apportionment

Bivariate risk apportionment is the preference for dispersing risks associated with two aspects of individuals’ well-being into different states of the world. In this paper, we propose an intensity measure of this preference by extending to the bivariate case the concept of marginal rate of substitution between risks of different orders introduced in the univariate case by Liu and Meyer (2013). We show that the intensity measure of the preference for bivariate risk apportionment is characterized by bivariate risk attitudes in the sense of Ross. The usefulness of our measures to understand economic choices is illustrated by the analysis of two specific decisions: savings under environmental risk and medical treatment in the presence of diagnostic risks.

Deep Match to Rank Model for Personalized Click-Through Rate Prediction

Click-through rate (CTR) prediction is a core task in the field of recommender system and many other applications. For CTR prediction model, personalization is the key to improve the performance and enhance the user experience. Recently, several models are proposed to extract user interest from user behavior data which reflects user's personalized preference implicitly. However, existing works in the field of CTR prediction mainly focus on user representation and pay less attention on representing the relevance between user and item, which directly measures the intensity of user's preference on target item. Motivated by this, we propose a novel model named Deep Match to Rank (DMR) which combines the thought of collaborative filtering in matching methods for the ranking task in CTR prediction. In DMR, we design User-to-Item Network and Item-to-Item Network to represent the relevance in two forms. In User-to-Item Network, we represent the relevance between user and item by inner product of the corresponding representation in the embedding space. Meanwhile, an auxiliary match network is presented to supervise the training and push larger inner product to represent higher relevance. In Item-to-Item Network, we first calculate the item-to-item similarities between user interacted items and target item by attention mechanism, and then sum up the similarities to obtain another form of user-to-item relevance. We conduct extensive experiments on both public and industrial datasets to validate the effectiveness of our model, which outperforms the state-of-art models significantly.

Contracting Emissions Reduction Supply Chain Based on Market Low-Carbon Preference and Carbon Intensity Constraint

Carbon emissions reduction has become a frequently discussed topic in industry and academia. However, how can reduction effects be enhanced with dominant brand and downstream manufacturer? This paper incorporates emissions reduction into a green supply chain which considers consumers’ low-carbon preference behavior and government intensity regulations, in order to discuss the impacts of consumers’ environmental awareness and government constraints on optimal emissions reduction and profit, respectively. The paper first constructs three reduction models on the basis of reality: independent reduction by manufacturer, contractual reduction by brand and collaborative reduction by both. Then it concludes the optimal decisions and compare the models. The results show that both the profits and emissions reduction will be decreased with the strengthened carbon intensity constraint, but the cost-sharing contract can mitigate this negative effect on dominant brand and society. Meanwhile, the acceptable range of cost-sharing ratio will be smaller with a lower cost coefficient of emissions reduction and a higher consumers’ preference. Furthermore, government should design the incentive method or regulate the carbon market to improve the social welfare level. Lastly, a numerical study is conducted, the impact of several key factors on supply chain performance and model selection are presented for management decisions.