Intensity Of Preference Research Articles

Value-driven preference disaggregation analysis for uncertain preference information

Multiple criteria decision aiding aims to recommend decisions that are consistent with the decision-maker's value system by making trade-offs among multiple criteria to measure the performance of alternatives. A challenge is that decision-makers may be unable to provide certain information about their preferences. This study focuses on the preference disaggregation analysis of uncertain pairwise comparisons between reference alternatives familiar to the decision-maker. Probabilistic linguistic preference relations are introduced to portray uncertain preference information, in which linguistic terms and subjective probabilities are used to express the intensities of preferences and corresponding belief degrees, respectively. The preference information is converted into constraints on value functions by triangular fuzzy numbers, and the value functions compatible with the preference information are estimated by linear programming to model the decision-maker's value system. We conduct a consistency analysis of probabilistic linguistic preference information as well as a robustness analysis of compatible value functions based on Monte Carlo simulations. Based on the data collected from Amazon.com, the proposed model is applied to laptop recommendations where the decision-maker is a single person and treadmill recommendations where the decision-maker is a group. The comparative analysis verifies the effectiveness of the proposed model in dealing with the uncertainties and intensities of preferences.

Joint effects of female preference intensity and frequency-dependent predation on the polymorphism maintenance in aposematic sexual traits.

Maintenance of variation in aposematic traits within and among populations is paradoxical because aposematic species are normally under positive frequency‐dependent predation (PFD), which is expected to erode variation. Aposematic traits can evolve in an ecological context where aposematic traits are simultaneously under mate choice. Here, we examine how the mate preference intensity affects the permissiveness of polymorphism in sexually selected aposematic traits under different PFD regimes. We use the haploid version of the classical sexual selection model and show that strong mate preferences can substantially increase the permissiveness of polymorphism in aposematic traits under different PFD regimes. The Fisher process can interact with PFD, and their interaction can promote the maintenance of polymorphism within populations when mate preferences are strong. We show that the same selective conditions that promote the maintenance of polymorphism within populations reduce the likelihood of divergence in aposematic traits among populations.

The consistent background color preference highlights the personality in the lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus

Background color in aquaculture has been paid more attention due to the effect on fish growth, survival, health, and reproduction. In the present study, we evaluated the background color preference of the lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) and its relationship with personality. Preference was assessed over 10 consecutive days through allowing the lined seahorse to freely choose six different colored compartments, i.e., white, red, green, black, yellow, and blue backgrounds. To minimize the spurious preference response, the individual preference index (PI) was applied to calculate the preference intensity of the background colors. Preference reliability was further verified by a binary choice test through the choice for the most preferred or non-preferred color. Preference consistency under stress situation was assessed by a “knock-at-the-door” test as confining the seahorse in a transparent circle after a 30-s air exposure and measuring the proportion of knock toward different colored backgrounds. The personality was conjointly analyzed by new environment test and novel object test. Overall, the lined seahorse showed a general preference for white and blue while avoidance of black and red backgrounds at either unstressed or stressed situations. The shyer the seahorse was, the more preference for white background it displayed. Thus, white and blue background colors are recommended for culturing the lined seahorse. Furthermore, white color preference is a potential indicator in personality study of the lined seahorse.

Performance Quality Preference Heterogeneity in Major League Baseball

With few exceptions, the sports attendance demand literature assumes the intensity of fan responses to home and visiting team quality are homogeneous across the markets in a league. However, the theory of sports leagues makes no such assumption. In this paper, we empirically investigate heterogeneity in fan win preference intensity using Major League Baseball attendance. Using a generalized linear mixed model, we find evidence of substantial fan preference heterogeneity, toward both home and visiting team quality, across Major League Baseball markets. In addition to the demonstrated importance for empirical analysis, we detail how this also matters for league policy design.

Report-Dependent Utility and Strategy-Proofness

Despite the truthful dominant strategy, participants in strategy-proof mechanisms submit manipulated preferences. In our model, participants dislike rejections and enjoy the confirmation from getting what they declare desirable. Formally, the payoff from a match decreases in its position in the submitted ranking such that a strategic trade-off between preference intensity and match probability arises. This trade-off can trigger the commonly observed self-selection strategies. We show that misrepresentations can persist for arbitrarily small report-dependent components. However, honesty is guaranteed to be optimal if and only if there is no conflict between the quality and feasibility of a match. We substantiate the theory with already existing evidence and provide novel testable predictions. This paper was accepted by Yan Chen, behavioral economics and decision analysis. Funding: This work was supported by UniCredit and Universities Foundation [Modigliani Research Grant 2020/2021] and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [Grant 280092119]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4504 .

Using Conjoint Experiments to Analyze Election Outcomes: The Essential Role of the Average Marginal Component Effect

AbstractPolitical scientists have increasingly deployed conjoint survey experiments to understand multidimensional choices in various settings. In this paper, we show that the average marginal component effect (AMCE) constitutes an aggregation of individual-level preferences that is meaningful both theoretically and empirically. First, extending previous results to allow for arbitrary randomization distributions, we show how the AMCE represents a summary of voters’ multidimensional preferences that combines directionality and intensity according to a probabilistic generalization of the Borda rule. We demonstrate why incorporating both the directionality and intensity of multi-attribute preferences is essential for analyzing real-world elections, in which ceteris paribus comparisons almost never occur. Second, and in further empirical support of this point, we show how this aggregation translates directly into a primary quantity of interest to election scholars: the effect of a change in an attribute on a candidate’s or party’s expected vote share. These properties hold irrespective of the heterogeneity, strength, or interactivity of voters’ preferences and regardless of how votes are aggregated into seats. Finally, we propose, formalize, and evaluate the feasibility of using conjoint data to estimate alternative quantities of interest to electoral studies, including the effect of an attribute on the probability of winning.

Comparisons of High Intensity Interval Training and Continuous Training on Metabolomic Alteration and Cardiac Function in Male Adolescent Rats.

Background: Comparisons between high intensity interval training (HIIT) and continuous training (CT) regarding improvements of adolescents’ cardiac function are scarce and the preferred intensity for cardiac improvement with restricted myocardial damage remains unknown. This study conducted a 4-weeks training in male adolescent rats under moderate (MI) or high intensity (HI) HIIT and CT programs, aiming to discover and compare exercise-induced myocardial adaptations towards these two training methods. Methods: 39 male adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats (aged 4 weeks) were randomly assigned to high intensity HIIT (HI-HIIT, n = 8), moderate intensity HIIT (MI-HIIT, n = 8), high intensity CT (HI-CT, n = 8), moderate intensity CT (MI-CT, n = 8) and sedentary control (SC, n = 7) groups. Rats in training groups were trained for 4 weeks and echocardiography was performed at baseline and after the final training. Serum creatine kinase myocardial band (CK-MB), cardiac troponin T (cTn-T) and untargeted metabolomics analysis were measured from blood samples collected 24 h after the final training. Results: HIIT groups had greater cardiac output improvement than CT groups while no significant difference was found between the HI-HIIT and the MI-HIIT groups. HI-CT group showed higher serum CK-MB and cTn-T levels compared to MI-HIIT, MI-CT and control groups. Untargeted metabolomics analysis identified eleven HI-HIIT-related metabolites, five MI-HIIT-related metabolites and two HICT-related metabolites. The majority of the identified metabolites were phospholipid-related. Phosphatidylglyceride 18 level was significantly different between the HI-CT and MI-CT groups, and was negatively associated with cTn-T in CT groups. Conclusion: HIIT and CT improve cardiac function of adolescent rats while the HIIT demonstrates better improvement and less myocardial damage. High and moderate training intensities in HIIT exert similar cardiac benefits. HI-CT induced myocardial damage might be associated with serum phospholipids.

SCHOOL AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE FOR RANKING HIGH SCHOOLS: SOME EVIDENCE FROM ITALY

This paper aims to investigate and compare the performance of Italian public high schools (HS) to provide a ranking among different typologies of HS. In this paper, seven criteria that refer to students’ school and academic performance were considered. The sample includes 263 high schools in all Italian regions, grouped into 6 different types of schools and 3 geographic areas. Assuming that all criteria have the same weights, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to derive the ranking among the typologies of schools both at a national level and within each geographic area. The main results show that there are significant differences between HS according to criteria related to school and academic performance both within and between geographic areas. The ranking does not vary, but the intensity of preferences may be different according to the area and/or the criterion considered. The application of PROMETHEE to the same problem confirms the results obtained by the AHP.

SMAA-Choquet-FlowSort: A novel user-preference-driven Choquet classifier applied to supplier evaluation

The Choquet integral has been used as an aggregation operator to deal with interacting criteria in different types of problems. For ordinal classification problems, the majority of Choquet integral-based models proposed in the literature are built upon a supervised machine learning perspective, where a training data set is considered. Despite the effectiveness of these classification algorithms, their training-data-dependency may be considered a drawback in some decision-making problems. Our goal is then to propose a new multiple criteria Choquet classifier to conduct sorting based on user preference information. The classifier is built inside the FlowSort framework and, as such, aggregates intensity of preferences with respect to pairs of criteria instead of directly aggregating the criteria evaluations. This characteristic allows criteria and limiting profiles to be assessed by heterogeneous scales. In addition, we apply the Stochastic Multi-criteria Acceptability Analysis to the proposed classifier in order to elicit the Choquet capacities, model uncertain input data and analyze robustness of the results. The proposed classifier is applied to a real decision problem regarding the evaluation of pharmaceutical suppliers.

An examination of the effects of distress intolerance and rating of perceived exertion on changes in mood and anxiety following aerobic exercise among treatment-seeking smokers

ABSTRACT Aerobic exercise is frequently used as an intervention for depression and smoking cessation because of its antidepressant and anxiolytic effects. Distress intolerance (DI) is a proposed individual difference factor that, coupled with a higher rating of perceived exertion during exercise, may significantly impact the acute mood and anxiolytic effects of exercise. The current study examined the interactive effect of maximum rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and DI on change in mood and anxiety. Treatment-seeking smokers (M age = 45.32; 72% female) with elevated depressive symptoms completed a 1-mile treadmill walk at their preferred intensity and self-reported their RPE during the test. Analyses were conducted to examine whether there was an interactive effect of maximum RPE and DI on change in self-reported mood and anxiety from before to after the walk test. Findings indicate a significant moderating effect of RPE at lower ratings. Individuals reporting a low maximum RPE and higher DI exhibit a greater change in mood over the course of an exercise session, whereas individuals reporting a low maximum RPE and a lower DI exhibit smaller changes in mood. These results indicate that the subjective effects of exercise within a population of cigarette smokers could be improved by tailoring exercise intensity to individual characteristics. Mild to moderate-intensity exercise, as compared to high-intensity exercise, may result in greater changes in mood for individuals endorsing difficulty tolerating affective and physical distress.

In situ observations of fish attraction to light-emitting diodes on an undersea observation deck

Many fisheries employ fishing lights to manipulate the behaviors of target fish and to attract them toward the light; however, relatively few long-time observations of fish attraction have been performed in the field. Here, an underwater observation deck was used to examine the differences in the fish-attracting effect of light-emitting diode (LED) lights on the number of attracted fish and on their behavior in the field, using white-edged rockfish as the target species. A total of 604 ± 324, 307 ± 203 and 171 ± 106 white-edged rockfish individuals were attracted to the observation window when it was illuminated with blue, green, and red light, respectively. Under the blue light, fish remained for 133.6 ± 129.8 s around the window, while under the for green and red light, they stayed for 72.5 ± 76.7 s and 45.7 ± 52.2 s, respectively. The longer time spent under the blue light may have result in an increase in the number of fish counted, and this would be related both to the transparency of this wavelength underwater and to the visual sensitivity of white-edged rockfish. Other light environments produced by the blue LED may have been suitable for this species, both in terms of preferred light intensity and optimal feeding environment. The results presented in this study contribute to a better understanding of the ecology of white-edged rockfish and suggest a selective and efficient use of this species in fisheries.

Post-rolling annealing of a multilayered Brass/IFS/Brass composite: An evaluation of anisotropy, formability, and mechanical properties

The multilayered Brass/IFS/Brass composite was produced through the cold roll bonding (CRB) process and was then subjected to annealing treatments at different temperatures. The microstructure, texture, anisotropy, formability, and mechanical properties of the composite were investigated as a function of annealing temperature. The results revealed that the annealing of the composite at 500 and 650 °C led to full recrystallization in Brass and IFS layers, respectively; this resulted in significant changes in the mechanical properties of the composite. Formation of equiaxed, recrystallized grains instead of elongated, rolled grains led to a decrease in preferred orientation intensity, and consequently, lower anisotropy. In addition, the occurrence of recrystallization and formation of (111) || RD fiber in the fully recrystallized IFS layer were the parameters effective on the higher formability of the annealed composites. Annealing of the composite also led to a decrease in strength and increase in the elongation of the composite. Annealing at 500 and 600 °C was more effective on these variations due to the full recrystallization of the Brass and IFS layers. Moreover, the annealing of the composite resulted in the variation of the fracture from a brittle to a ductile mode.

Sex Differences in Mate Choice Preference Characteristics of Aequidens rivulatus.

Simple SummaryGenerally, animals prefer mating with partners of the opposite sex with specific features, which suggests that animals tend to choose mates with particular phenotypic traits. However, there are some differences in mate choice behavior and criteria between males and females. This study analyzed these differences between males and females in Aequidens rivulatus by quantifying body size, behavioral intention, and appearance. The results showed that males paid more attention to preference degree and female attractiveness, whereas females focused on ability and physical strength displays. Consequently, males who chose to mate were primarily associated with body size, behavioral intention, and appearance, whereas the preferences of females were body size, appearance, and behavioral intention. Collectively, our initial findings revealed that males and females have different criteria for mate choice, which is vital in determining successful mating and improving artificial mating.The mating roles of males and females, to a certain extent, are dynamic and variable. Several factors influence the mate choice process. Nonetheless, the main preference features have not yet been fully understood in Aequidens rivulatus. In this study, because of its natural pairing characteristics, A. rivulatus was selected to explore the mate choice preferences of different sexes. Specifically, male and female behavioral performances were described and quantified through a “no-choice paradigm” during mate choice. A total of 12 behavioral performances were defined in male mate choice (experiment 1), whereas 14 behavioral performances were defined in female mate choice (experiment 2). According to the obtained results, unselected females did not display any proactive behaviors in experiment 1, whereas unselected males exhibited proactive behaviors in experiment 2, including quivering, nipping, tail beating, swimming up and down, and aggression. It was also found that both male and female individuals tend to express dislike rather than like. Those behaviors with higher frequencies (e.g., quivering) often mean less energy expenditure, thus easier repeatability. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to extract and identify mate choice preference features. Preliminary results indicated that male preferences for a mate were mainly associated with body size, behavioral intention, and appearance, whereas the intensity of female preferences was in the order of body size, appearance, and behavioral intention. In addition, sex hormone levels were associated with mate choices.

Integration Costs and Missing Women in Firms around the World

Where social norms favor gender segregation, firms may find it costly to employ both men and women. If the costs of integration are largely fixed, firms will integrate only if their expected number of female employees under integration exceeds some threshold. We use the distribution of female employment to estimate the share of firms with binding integration costs. Using global survey data, we find evidence for these binding integration costs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and South Asia but not in other regions. We also show that the intensity of gender segregation preferences is correlated with these integration costs in the MENA region.

Social Relationship Prediction Integrating Personality Traits and Asymmetric Interactions.

Social networks have become an important way for users to find friends and expand their social circle. Social networks can improve users’ experience by recommending more suitable friends to them. The key lies in improving the accuracy of link prediction, which is also the main research issue of this study. In the study of personality traits, some scholars have proved that personality can be used to predict users’ behavior in social networks. Based on these studies, this study aims to improve the accuracy of link prediction in directed social networks. Considering the integration of personality link preference and asymmetric interaction into the link prediction model of social networks, a four-dimensional link prediction model is proposed. Through comparative experiments, it is proved that the four-dimensional social relationship prediction model proposed in this study is more accurate than the model only based on similarity. At the same time, it is also verified that the matching degree of personality link preference and asymmetric interaction intensity in the model can help improve the accuracy of link prediction.

When do privatizations have popular support? A voting model

We consider a general equilibrium model with vertical preferences, where workers and consumers are differentiated respectively by their sensitivity to effort and their intensity of preference for quality. We consider a public monopoly, i.e. which is owned equally by all individuals. The question is under which conditions the firm will be privatized and at which rate/price. The decisions are taken through majority vote in a plurality system. When the firm is controlled by the State, the price is determined through a vote among all the population. Otherwise, the price is the one which maximizes the profit. We prove that, when the maximum disutility of working in the firm is higher than the maximum utility of consuming its output, privatization may emerge as a possible choice of the majority, even if no hypothesis is made on the efficiency of a private management relative to a public one.

Growth of Gracilaria manilaensis Yamamoto et Trono (Rhodophyta) under different light intensities, salinities and pH

Previous studies have demonstrated that the seaweed, Gracilaria manilaensis, has a high potential of producing agar for the food industry, and is a promising candidate as a dietary supplement for treating cancer and neurological disorders. Unfortunately, not many farms culturing G. manilaensis existed particularly in Malaysia. One of the reasons is limited knowledge of suitable environmental conditions needed for efficient production of the seaweed. Therefore, this study was carried out to identify the best growth conditions for G. manilaensis under different light intensities, salinities and pH. To achieve this objective, Gracilaria sp. was collected from a farm and identified based on morphological characteristics before being subjected to three environmental variables simultaneously: light intensities (100 and 1000 lux), salinities (15, 20, 25 and 30 psu) and pH (7.6, 7.8 and 8.0) simultaneously. Specific growth rates were determined for all the treatments. The results showed that G. manilaensis preferred high light intensity (1000 lux), with the growth rate of 1.69 ± 0.08 g/days at the salinity of 15 psu and pH 7.6. No significant differences were found between salinity and growth rate, indicating that G. manilaensis can tolerate a wide range of salinity. The knowledge gained from this study can be used as a guide to increasing the production of G. manilaensis in indoor farming systems. This will ensure sustainable research for G. manilaensis and production.

Measuring preferences for energy efficiency in ACI and EU nations and uncovering their impacts on energy conservation

Energy efficiency, commonly interpreted as the ratio of output of performance, service, goods or energy, to input of energy, is of critical importance for reducing dependence on oil, controlling greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and mitigating environmental damages in order to achieve a sustainable global energy system. In this paper, for the first time to the best of our understanding, we measure the (hidden) preferences for energy efficiency and capture their impacts on energy conservation in a panel of ASEAN countries, China and India (in short, the ACI nations) from 1985 to 2020. We apply the state-space models to estimate country-specific preferences for energy efficiency as a latent variable and then explore their impacts on the demand for renewable energy using an efficient generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator for the panel of chosen countries. We find strong evidence that intensities of preferences for energy efficiency increase the demand for renewable energy in ACI nations. In an extension of our study, we replicate our analysis for leading European Union (EU) nations using clean energy to arrive at interesting comparative insights. We gain further insights into the understanding of how structural breaks can influence the impacts of preferences for energy efficiency on the demand for renewables for ACI nations.

The evolution of R&D collaboration in inter-organizational project networks: Effects of reference points for competitive preference

This study examines the evolution of R&D collaboration in inter-organizational project networks by simulating the play of an appropriate game model. We assume that players display reference-dependent competitive preferences, in that each player’s utility is the sum of a material payoff and a subjective utility that depends on the difference between her material payoff and those of her neighbors. Some players, called max-players, are aggressively competitive, comparing their payoffs to the maximum payoff of their neighbors; the others, called min-players, are prudent, comparing their payoffs to their neighbors’ minimum. In each period, a player decides whether to share a high level or a low level of knowledge with her neighbors. We find that the mean collaboration level across the network decreases as a parameter representing the ability to make use of a partner’s knowledge increases. When the majority of decision-makers are min-players, a higher competitive preference intensity induces greater average collaboration, but the level of collaboration decreases as preference heterogeneity increases. In contrast, a high intensity of competitive preference prevents the diffusion of collaboration when most decision-makers are max-players, and increased competitive preference heterogeneity leads to greater collaboration. Furthermore, increasing the fraction of max-players leads to a decrease in the total payoff of the entire network. Collaboration in an inter-organizational network is more robust when most decision-makers are max-players. Nonetheless, max-players and min-players are equally likely to collaborate when either type is in the majority.

Predictors of Problematic Social Media Use in a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents in Luxembourg.

Social media use has increased substantially over the past decades, especially among adolescents. A proportion of adolescents develop a pattern of problematic social media use (PSMU). Predictors of PSMU are insufficiently understood and researched. This study aims to investigate predictors of PSMU in a nationally representative sample of adolescents in Luxembourg. Data from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in Luxembourg were used, in which 8687 students aged 11–18 years old participated. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. A range of sociodemographic, social support, well-being and media use predictors were added to the model in four blocks. The predictors in the final model explained 22.3% of the variance in PSMU. The block of sociodemographic predictors explained the lowest proportion of variance in PSMU compared with the other blocks. Age negatively predicted PSMU. Of the predictors related to social support, cyberbullying perpetration was the strongest predictor of PSMU. Perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints positively predicted PSMU. The intensity of electronic media communication and preference for online social interaction were stronger predictors of PSMU than the other predictors in the model. The results indicate that prevention efforts need to consider the diverse range of predictors related to PSMU.