Rational Model Research Articles

Commutative families in W∞, integrable many-body systems and hypergeometric τ-functions

We explain that the set of new integrable systems, generalizing the Calogero family and implied by the study of WLZZ models, which was described in arXiv:2303.05273, is only the tip of the iceberg. We provide its wide generalization and explain that it is related to commutative subalgebras (Hamiltonians) of the W1+∞ algebra. We construct many such subalgebras and explain how they look in various representations. We start from the even simpler w∞ contraction, then proceed to the one-body representation in terms of differential operators on a circle, further generalizing to matrices and in their eigenvalues, in finally to the bosonic representation in terms of time-variables. Moreover, we explain that some of the subalgebras survive the β-deformation, an intermediate step from W1+∞ to the affine Yangian. The very explicit formulas for the corresponding Hamiltonians in these cases are provided. Integrable many-body systems generalizing the rational Calogero model arise in the representation in terms of eigenvalues. Each element of W1+∞ algebra gives rise to KP/Toda τ-functions. The hidden symmetry given by the families of commuting Hamiltonians is in charge of the special, (skew) hypergeometric τ-functions among these.

Imperfect Surrogate Users: Understanding Performance Implications of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems through Bounded Rationality, Human Error, and Interruption Modeling

Nonspeaking individuals with motor disabilities frequently rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems that allow users to communicate through a text entry interface coupled with a speech synthesizer. Such systems are notoriously difficult to evaluate with end-users. However, recent research has proposed envelope analysis as a method to estimate text entry rates and keystroke savings by simulating the interaction of an expert surrogate user entering sentences on a conceptual word-predictive text entry system. While only a part of the evaluation process of an AAC system, this method enables AAC designers to benefit from quantitative insights early on in the design process. This paper extends prior work by (1) demonstrating how to incorporate natural language generation, such as sentence generation, in such analyses; (2) presenting a model of an imperfect surrogate user that incorporates bounded rationality, human error, and interruptions to provide a more realistic simulation of text entry behavior; and (3) demonstrating how to estimate model parameters by observing users' actual typing behavior. We validate the model with data collected from eight participants using an AAC system on a touchscreen.

Investigation of Landslide Susceptibility Decision Mechanisms in Different Ensemble-Based Machine Learning Models with Various Types of Factor Data

Machine learning (ML)-based methods of landslide susceptibility assessment primarily focus on two dimensions: accuracy and complexity. The complexity is not only influenced by specific model frameworks but also by the type and complexity of the modeling data. Therefore, considering the impact of factor data types on the model’s decision-making mechanism holds significant importance in assessing regional landslide characteristics and conducting landslide risk warnings given the achievement of good predictive performance for landslide susceptibility using excellent ML methods. The decision-making mechanism of landslide susceptibility models coupled with different types of factor data in machine learning methods was explained in this study by utilizing the Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. Furthermore, a comparative analysis was carried out to examine the differential effects of diverse data types for identical factors on model predictions. The study area selected was Cenxi, Guangxi, where a geographic spatial database was constructed by combining 23 landslide conditioning factors with 214 landslide samples from the region. Initially, the factors were standardized using five conditional probability models, frequency ratio (FR), information value (IV), certainty factor (CF), evidential belief function (EBF), and weights of evidence (WOE), based on the spatial arrangement of landslides. This led to the formation of six types of factor databases using the initial data. Subsequently, two ensemble-based ML methods, random forest (RF) and XGBoost, were utilized to build models for predicting landslide susceptibility. Various evaluation metrics were employed to compare the predictive capabilities of different models and determined the optimal model. Simultaneously, the analysis was conducted using the interpretable SHAP method for intrinsic decision-making mechanisms of different ensemble-based ML models, with a specific focus on explaining and comparing the differential impacts of different types of factor data on prediction results. The results of the study illustrated that the XGBoost-CF model constructed with CF values of factors not only exhibited the best predictive accuracy and stability but also yielded more reasonable results for landslide susceptibility zoning, and was thus identified as the optimal model. The global interpretation results revealed that slope was the most crucial factor influencing landslides, and its interaction with other factors in the study area collectively contributed to landslide occurrences. The differences in the internal decision-making mechanisms of models based on different data types for the same factors primarily manifested in the extent of influence on prediction results and the dependency of factors, providing an explanation for the performance of standardized data in ML models and the reasons behind the higher predictive performance of coupled models based on conditional probability models and ML methods. Through comprehensive analysis of the local interpretation results from different models analyzing the same sample with different sample characteristics, the reasons for model prediction errors can be summarized, thereby providing a reference framework for constructing more accurate and rational landslide susceptibility models and facilitating landslide warning and management.

Boundedly rational bidding decision for land auctions during the transformation of real estate markets

Real estate developers in China exhibit different boundedly rational behaviors when bidding in different land auction formats, resulting in deviation from fully rational bidding, and the transformation of China’s real estate industry has intensified this deviation. To address this problem, this study establishes a reference utility model and a subjective decision probability model under the framework of incomplete information game to characterize developers’ utility distortion and winning probability distortion in open-bid auctions and sealed-bid auctions for land, respectively. The results show that the deviation between bounded rational bidding and fully rational bidding increases as developer competition intensifies. The equilibrium bidding of cost-disadvantaged developers in the boundedly rational model deviates less from the standard model. Moreover, in sealed-bid auctions, the "hiding degree" of cost-advantaged developers is greater, showing size effects, while the bids in open-bid auctions are more complex and affected by market conditions and developers’ risk preferences. Thus, this study characterizes boundedly rational bidding in land auctions and interprets the deviation from fully rational bidding, which can provide a more real basis for land auction mechanism design.

The use of self-reports in economics: Methodological barriers and their overcoming

The paper analyzes the history of the use of self-reports in economics in order to study the logic of overcoming methodological barriers in recent decades that previously limited the use of such data in economics. The two most widely used types of self-reported data in economics were considered: first, data on subjective expectations, intentions, and attitudes; second, data on subjective wellbeing, happiness, and life satisfaction. It is concluded that the main reasons for the changes can be identified as the transformations that took place in economics at the turn of the century: an increase in the prestige of applied research (the so-called “applied” turn), the fragmentation of the discipline, and a decrease in the importance of rational choice models compared to experimental and quasiexperimental methods. The prospects for the future use of self-reported data in economics are promising due to the methodological changes that have taken place, the expansion of interdisciplinary cooperation, and the rapid development of methods for collecting and processing data.

Using the transportation problem to build a congestion/threshold constrained spatial accessibility model

As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, congestion is an important component in access to medical care. This study expands congestion-based accessibility research by imposing upper limits on demand levels and introducing minimum demand thresholds at individual facilities using the bounded transportation problem to develop different variants of congestion/threshold constrained accessibility metrics. The results of these models were compared against the rational agent access model (RAAM) (Saxon and Snow, 2020) for measuring access to intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the state of Illinois. First, congestion constrained models have more demand sites with a flow link to a single facility resulting in more equalization of costs at these demand sites. Second, one form of these models is guaranteed to have lower objective costs with respect to congestion and travel times than the RAAM model. Third, these methods can flatten the congestion curve across facilities more than the RAAM model. Finally, the inclusion of a lower threshold on the number of potential patients is viewed as a more realistic assumption as hospital services must operate at a minimum operating level to be economically feasible. Congestion/threshold constrained accessibility metrics show important tradeoffs between the even distribution of congestion/thresholds at facilities and travel times with respect to demand sites.

Retrieving Surface Deformation of Mining Areas Using ZY-3 Stereo Imagery and DSMs

Measuring surface deformation is crucial for a better understanding of spatial-temporal evolution and the mechanism of mining-induced deformation, thus effectively assessing the mining-related geohazards, such as landslides or damage to surface infrastructures. This study proposes a method of retrieving surface deformation by combining multi-temporal digital surface models (DSMs) with image homonymous features using China’s ZY-3 satellite stereo imagery. DSM is generated from three-line-array images of ZY-3 satellite using a rational function model (RFM) as the imaging geometric model. Then, elevation changes in deformation are extracted using the difference of DSMs acquired at different times, while planar displacements of deformation are calculated using image homonymous features extracted from multi-temporal digital orthographic maps (DOMs). Scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) points and line band descriptor (LBD) lines are selected as two kinds of salient features for image homonymous features generation. Cross profiles are also extracted for deformation in typical regions. Four sets of stereo imagery acquired in 2012 to 2022 are used for deformation extraction and analysis in the Fushun coalfield of China, where surface deformation is quite distinct and coupled with rising and descending elevation together. The results show that 21.60% of the surface in the study area was deformed from 2012 to 2017, while a decline from 2017 to 2022 meant that 17.19% of the surface was deformed with a 95% confidence interval. Moreover, the ratio of descending area was reduced to 6.44% between 2017 and 2022, which is lower than the ratios in other years. The slip deformation area in the west open pit mine is about 1.22 km2 and the displacement on the south slope is large, reaching an average of 26.89 m and sliding from south to north to the bottom of the pit between 2012 and 2017, but elevations are increased by an average of about 16.35 m, involving an area of about 0.86 km2 between 2017 and 2022 due to the restoration of the open pit. The results demonstrate that more quantitative features and specific surface deformation can be retrieved in mining areas by combining image features with DSMs derived from ZY-3 satellite stereo imagery.

A Pure Data-Driven Method for Online Inertia Estimation in Power Systems Using Local Rational Model Approach

This paper presents an online data-driven method to estimate the inertia constant of synchronous generators (SGs) and the virtual inertia of converter-based resources (CBRs), which enables time-dependent inertia tracking in the normal operation of a power system. The proposed method is based on continuous monitoring of frequency response functions (FRFs) of SGs and CBRs, which are identified by ambient wide-area measurements of phasor measurement units (PMUs). To identify FRFs, a novel non-parametric approach, namely the local rational model (LRM), is used which does not require correct model order selection. LRM approach has a low computational burden and requires a short window of data, both of which are essential for estimating time-dependent inertia using ambient data. The applicability of the proposed method is evaluated in the IEEE 39-bus system and an actual system. The results demonstrate the accuracy, robustness to noise, and effectiveness of the proposed method in estimating the time-dependent inertia of power systems.

Modern Approaches to Quantitative Assessment of Habit Formation Based on Consumer Demand Research. On the Example of Alejandro Tatsuo Moreno Okuno (2010) Price competition in mixed strategies in markets with habit formation

This article examines the impact of consumer habit formation on the competition of differentiated product firms based on the analysis of the article "Price competition in mixed strategies in markets with habit formation". The work consists of six parts, including consideration of related methodological approaches, the author’s position, the results of the study, as well as ways to expand the author’s model. The distribution of habits for the use of certain products is studied, as well as the characteristics of these habits are studied, taking into account the influence of the psychological aspect on the behavior of an economic agent. This paper considers the "rational maximizer model", models that take into account the influence of social and psychological factors on economic decision-making by agents, models that take into account social welfare and its components, differences in economies in terms of participation in market exchange. The presented study analyzes the linear city model underlying this and other works on this topic. The presented study offers a new look at the phenomena described by other economists and operates not only with theoretical models, but also with digital solutions. Computer technology allows us to model complex economic processes where standard theoretical methods are powerless. However, the weakness of this work lies in the same approach: a large number of prerequisites that do not have a detailed theoretical justification narrow the scope of the research results, thereby leveling their usefulness. The main conclusion is that it is advantageous for firms competing in the habit formation market to differentiate their product as much as possible, taking into account the structure of the consumer’s utility function. The presented research includes the works of the Theory of Consumer Behavior, models of the Theory of Industrial Markets and the Theory of Games.

Three episodes of Triassic volcanism in the Eastern Kunlun Orogen, NW China: constraints for evolution of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean

ABSTRACT The Eastern Kunlun Orogenic Belt (EKOB), located north of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, recorded voluminous late Palaeozoic – early Mesozoic intermediate-acid volcanic rocks. The tectonic evolution of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean from initial subduction and final closure and post-collision extension has been hotly debated. This study examines the petrogenesis of Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic volcanic rocks at six locations: Xiahe, Elashankou, Jirimai, Harizha, Nagengkangqieer, and Yazigounan. The investigation involves detailed field observations, petrology, zircon U-Pb geochronology, Lu-Hf isotopes, and whole-rock geochemical analysis. The rocks analysed represent three episodic volcanic events. The ca. 257–245 Ma volcanic rocks were derived from magma mixing response to the subduction. The ca. 227–220 Ma highly fractionated I-type volcanics were derived from partial melting of the ancient lower crust, with varying contribution proportions of mantle materials. The ca. 216 Ma A-type volcanic rocks derived from partial melting of the juvenile crust. In this study, using existing regional geological data and spatiotemporal distribution of the magmatic region, combined with our new data, we attempt to propose more rational models to reveal the tectonic evolution of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean, and we recognize three significant time nodes: (1) Ca. 240 Ma marks the final closure time of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean. (2) Ca. 230 Ma indicates the vital tectonic regime transition from compression to extension response to slab break-off and continued lithospheric delamination. (3) Ca. 216 Ma mark the beginning of the final stage of orogeny in the EKOB, and mild magmatism lasts to ca. 200 Ma in response to the mountain collapse.

Electric Vehicle Charging Service System

The energy crisis is that new energy vehicles have become popular. Electric vehicle charging infrastructure investment is expanding to balance the supply and demand of infrastructure. The project is divided into two parts: research and design results. I have conducted in-depth research on user groups, markets, and technology, and the research results guide my design. After the team's field visit, it was found that the problem of parking and charging electric vehicles has brought difficulties. I designed a service design that balances the basic structure, improving people's congestion in peak periods. Balance the contradiction between supply and demand between electric vehicles and infrastructure and realize the service model of resource rationalization with open community as the core.

Un Üreticilerinde Örgütsel Performans Değerlendirme: Hıdıroğlu Un Üreticisi Örneği

This study aims to examine how flour producers implement Organizational Theory Principles to their process and to define which organizational environmental and structural factors, culture and systems are appropriate for flour companies in order to improve companies’ success and entreprenuerial skills. For this purpose, this study analyzes a flour company and provides implications of the findings and limitations for the organization, its members, environment and stakeholders. 
 In this study, while examining on flour companies, a clear hierarchy in the organizations is observed in general. The flour producer HIDIROĞLU FLOUR MILLS taken as an example in the study gives importance to measurement, documentation and information systems management. The control mechanism is improved and the stability can be observed in every stages on the organizational structure. High standardization is a main feature of the company. 
 As a result of analyses of the flour producer taken as an example, the study come up with the idea: “it is crucial for flour producers to set standards and procedures, and have clear task definition in a plain hierarchy to achieve constant success”. On the other hand, the system boundary for this study is among Organizational Theory Principles whether Internal Process Model or Rational Goal Model is more suitable for flour producers and their entrepreneurial facilities.

Key residues identified by random mutagenesis enhanced indole hydroxylation efficiency of the flavin-containing monooxygenase from Corynebacterium glutamicum

Utilization of substrate promiscuity in oxygenases to engineer indole hydroxylation activity for indigoid production has been actively pursued. Indole alkaloids such as indigo and indirubin are plants derived natural products with textile dyeing and pharmaceutical applications. While the precision of protein design has been enhanced by structural prediction tools, random mutagenesis can offer surprising insight into key residues involved in binding and function that are difficult to identify through rational models. Using mutagenesis coupled to screening of blue-hue forming colonies, here we identified two important residues M185 and V402 of the flavin-containing monooxygenase from Corynebacterium glutamicum (CgFMO) and generated a spectrum of variants with enhanced indole hydroxylation activity. The best performing mutant M185L/V402A exhibited nearly 10 fold higher catalytic efficiency toward indole compared to wild type CgFMO, with greater improvement in the kcat level. Mutation M185L sits on the FMO identifying motif while V402A locates near the presumed substrate binding cavity. Reversion checks revealed that while V402A plays a more influential role, presence of both mutations is required for the observed improvement. Final accumulation of indigo and indirubin using the engineered CgFMO reached 0.8 g/L and 0.4 g/L respectively, demonstrating by far the highest indirubin titer and ratio without supplementation of cysteine using FMO. This study provides insight into the CgFMO active site and helps future design of FMO biocatalysts.

Provocation, Bargaining, and War

The rationalist bargaining literature explains how public statements and military mobilizations can signal resolve. But recent political psychology scholarship shows how such actions can “provoke” targets, increasing their resolve by arousing emotions among their leaders and public. While rationalist models have largely omitted provocation, psychological approaches have neglected its strategic consequences. We model provocation in bargaining, assuming that a challenger’s signals endogenously increase the target’s resolve. Our model shows that introducing provocation can make signals of resolve more credible precisely because their provocative effects make them more costly to send. Moreover, against the prevailing intuition that provocation uniformly promotes conflict, the information from these signals can mitigate their provocative effects and elicit more generous offers than not signaling. Thus, in contrast to psychological accounts, we show that taking provocative actions can be rational and necessary for reaching peaceful bargains. We illustrate these findings with the 1911 Agadir Crisis.

Space use in Central Business District of emerging economies: Regulation or rationale?

The Central Business District (CBD)[1] mimics a jungle where businesses and people compete for the best space and use because of its socioeconomic and political roles in a city. This zone attracts many users and uses, making it a focus of regulative planning, which is perceived as a useful behavioural control tool. However, whether a CBD's space user behaviour and use patterns are attributable solely to zoning guidelines and planning standards is not established. Using a case study design with Kumasi's CBD as the geographic scope, the study explored the patterns in space use within the lens of Ghana's Zoning Guidelines and Planning Standards and the factors informing user behaviour. The study found that space use in the CBD conforms extensively to the permissible activities enshrined in the guidelines, though open spaces and recreational parks are going extinct. However, some use prohibitions outlined in the Zoning Guidelines disconnect from reality and user rationality amid space use competitions. The study suggests that profit maximisation is the critical factor informing use patterns and user behaviour, aside factors like location, statutory demand, inheritance, social influence, and family decisions. The paper concludes that users’ subjective profit motives inform the user behaviour in CBDs of developing economies as against the perceived behavioural control embedded in guidelines and planning standards. It is recommended that attaining and maintaining inclusive and operative space use in the CBDs should integrate routine updating of regulatory frameworks and guidelines underpinned by rational choice models.[1] Central Business District.

Emergent Lag Phase in Flux-Regulation Models of Bacterial Growth

Lag phase is observed in bacterial growth during a sudden change in conditions: growth is inhibited whilst cells adapt to the environment. Bi-phasic, or diauxic growth is commonly exhibited by many species. In the presence of two sugars, cells initially grow by consuming the preferred sugar then undergo a lag phase before resuming growth on the second. Biomass increase is characterised by a diauxic growth curve: exponential growth followed by a period of no growth before a second exponential growth. Recent literature lacks a complete dynamic description, artificially modelling lag phase and employing non-physical representations of precursor pools. Here, we formulate a rational mechanistic model based on flux-regulation/proteome partitioning with a finite precursor pool that reveals core mechanisms in a compact form. Unlike earlier systems, the characteristic dynamics emerge as part of the solution, including the lag phase. Focussing on growth of Escherichia coli on a glucose–lactose mixture we show results accurately reproduce experiments. We show that for a single strain of E. coli, diauxic growth leads to optimised biomass yields. However, intriguingly, for two competing strains diauxic growth is not always the best strategy. Our description can be generalised to model multiple different microorganisms and investigate competition between species/strains.

Bureaucratic Structure and Compliance with International Agreements

AbstractWhy do some states comply with international agreements while others flout them? In this article, I introduce a previously unconsidered explanation: bureaucratic structure. I develop a rational choice model examining the impact of bureaucratic structure on compliance, suggesting that the existence of several distinct bureaucracies can mute compliance with an international agreement by insulating some bureaucrats from pressure to comply. I examine this theory through newly coded data on a 2001 OECD agreement designed to decrease the percentage of aid that is “tied” to donor‐state products and services—a practice that is popular among special interests but which decreases foreign aid's effectiveness. I find that non–development‐oriented bureaucracies, such as departments of interior, labor, and energy, were significantly less likely to comply with the agreement than traditional development bureaucracies. This aggregates to the state level as well, where states with many aid agencies were less compliant than states with a streamlined bureaucracy.

Persuadable or Dissuadable Altruists? The Impact of Information of Recipient Characteristics on Giving

Abstract We investigate how information about recipients’ characteristics affects donors’ giving as opposed to when no information is available. In a rational model in which information causes a donor to update their assessment of the recipient's deservingness, we introduce the idea that altruism can be ‘persuadable’ (‘dissuadable’) by information about positive (negative) characteristics. We report data from three experiments in which donors are provided information regarding three recipient characteristics: alcoholism, attending courses, and disability. Across different characteristics, our results are broadly consistent with the predictions of persuadable altruism. Overall, we find a positive net impact of providing information on aggregate giving.

Modeling crushable soils incorporating density effects via coordination number

A rational constitutive model of crushable soils is proposed based on a novel evolution law for the grading index, which incorporates the effect of packing density on the particle crushing phenomena through the coordination number as an intermediate variable. The evolution law of the grading index reasonably combines the increase in the coordination number due to an increase in packing density; and the increase in the crushing resistance due to the increase in the coordination number. The effect of particle crushing on the stress–strain response is incorporated by lowering the critical state specific volume with the changing grading due to crushing. The validity of the proposed constitutive model was verified with an extensive series of elementary tests and DEM. The proposed model properly predicted two seemingly contradictory experimental evidence for crushable soils that: densely packed soil exhibits lesser crushing than loosely packed one under the same effective stress paths; densely packed soil is more likely to crush than loosely packed one when it is sheared. This approach can predict the stress–strain response of crushable soils under different packing densities and stress paths, offering valuable insights for comprehending the crushing responses.

GPCR activation and GRK2 assembly by a biased intracellular agonist.

Phosphorylation of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) by GPCR kinases (GRKs) desensitizes G-protein signalling and promotes arrestin signalling, which is also modulated by biased ligands1-6. The molecular assembly of GRKs on GPCRs and the basis of GRK-mediated biased signalling remain largely unknown owing to the weak GPCR-GRK interactions. Here we report the complex structure of neurotensin receptor 1 (NTSR1) bound to GRK2, Gαq and the arrestin-biased ligand SBI-5537. The density map reveals the arrangement of the intact GRK2 with the receptor, with the N-terminal helix of GRK2 docking into the open cytoplasmic pocket formed by the outward movement of the receptor transmembrane helix 6, analogous to the binding of the G protein to the receptor. SBI-553 binds at the interface between GRK2 and NTSR1 to enhance GRK2 binding. The binding mode of SBI-553 is compatible with arrestin binding but clashes with the binding of Gαq protein, thus providing a mechanism for its arrestin-biased signalling capability. In sum, our structure provides a rational model for understanding the details of GPCR-GRK interactions and GRK2-mediated biased signalling.