Choice Problem Research Articles

Dynamic equilibrium analyses in a ride-sourcing market under travel time uncertainty

This paper proposes a dynamic equilibrium framework for the morning commute problem in the ride-sourcing market under travel time uncertainty. It is formulated as a simultaneous departure time and mode choice problem (SDTMCP) with random travel delay. Commuters are considered to choose among four travel modes: (1) driving alone, (2) taking non-shared service, (3) taking ride-sharing service, and (4) taking the metro. The equilibrium state is reached when no commuter can reduce their expected travel cost by unilaterally changing their mode or departure time. We derive the dynamic equilibrium queuing patterns analytically under certain assumptions, and develop an approach using nonlinear complementarity problem (NCP) to solve general problems where analytical results cannot be readily derived. We further explore the pricing strategy of the ride-sourcing platform, in which travel time uncertainty and the prices of ride-sourcing services jointly determine the profit performance. A mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) is formulated to search for the optimal service prices to achieve the maximum profit. The framework is then extended to investigate the pricing strategy in a two-sided ride-sourcing market and examine the metro crowdedness effect in the numerical studies.

Современные исследования нейрональных основ принятия моральных решений

<p style="text-align: justify;">The article is devoted to a review of modern research on the neuronal foundations of moral decision-making. Psychological approaches to the study of the problem of decision-making and moral choice are analyzed. The data of empirical studies of their temperamental and characterological correlates are presented. The results of neurobiological and neurophysiological studies of worldview and moral assessments, taking into account age and cross-cultural factors, are discussed. Empirical studies of the neurophysiological foundations of decision-making in persons with mental disorders are highlighted. It is concluded that different moral tasks can involve different neural mechanisms. The significance of the results of the detected activity of the brain departments for understanding the neurophysiological and psychophysiological correlates of moral decision-making, and allowing the transition to understanding higher, conscious regulators of behavior, is substantiated. The prospects of comparing the dynamics of the activity of brain structures with the personal profile and the level of subjective stress of a person for the development of prognostic and diagnostic methods for assessing behavior in life-threatening situations are indicated.</p>

Counterfactuals for the Future

Counterfactuals are often described as 'retrospective,' focusing on hypothetical alternatives to a realized past. This description relates to an often implicit assumption about the structure and stability of exogenous variables in the system being modeled --- an assumption that is reasonable in many settings where counterfactuals are used. In this work, we consider cases where we might reasonably make a different assumption about exogenous variables; namely, that the exogenous noise terms of each unit do exhibit some unit-specific structure and/or stability. This leads us to a different use of counterfactuals --- a forward-looking rather than retrospective counterfactual. We introduce "counterfactual treatment choice," a type of treatment choice problem that motivates using forward-looking counterfactuals. We then explore how mismatches between interventional versus forward-looking counterfactual approaches to treatment choice, consistent with different assumptions about exogenous noise, can lead to counterintuitive results.

Prehistory of electoral sociology in pre-revolutionary Russia: an experience of interdisciplinary analysis

The article discusses the process of the emergence of socio-electoral research in pre-revolutionary Russia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the authors make an attempt to link the emergence of scientific interest in understanding the phenomenon of electoral behaviour with the study of the institution of elections in related scientific disciplines – jurisprudence and political science. It is concluded that the practice of this kind of research led representatives of these sciences to formulate the problem of electoral choice, that was rather difficult to solve within the framework of traditional methodological directions. The appeal to sociological approaches of the theoretical and empirical levels made it possible to advance in the study of electoral issues and led researchers to the idea of separating its part into the area of special scientific research. The main stages of the formation of socio-electoral research are analysed: from the first attempts to study electoral behaviour in order to solve legal and political problems in the aspect of understanding the institution of elections to the emergence of the idea of creating a special sociological discipline, within which the phenomenon of electoral choice should be considered. The heuristic guesses of scientists of pre-revolutionary Russia are highlighted, that anticipated a number of research areas in the electoral sociology of the twentieth century. The methods of empirical electoral research, that were first tested in the practice of scientific and sociological work, are analysed. It is noted that neither the level of development of the institution of elections, nor the level of scientific methodology and methods of sociological research in pre-revolutionary Russia contributed to the formation of a special scientific discipline - electoral sociology, and subsequent political events in the country blocked this process for a long historical time.

Hedging using reinforcement learning: Contextual k-armed bandit versus Q-learning

The construction of replication strategies for contingent claims in the presence of risk and market friction is a key problem of financial engineering. In real markets, continuous replication, such as in the model of Black, Scholes and Merton (BSM), is not only unrealistic but is also undesirable due to high transaction costs. A variety of methods have been proposed to balance between effective replication and losses in the incomplete market setting. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI-based hedgers have attracted considerable interest, where particular attention is given to Recurrent Neural Network systems and variations of the Q-learning algorithm. From a practical point of view, sufficient samples for training such an AI can only be obtained from a simulator of the market environment. Yet if an agent is trained solely on simulated data, the run-time performance will primarily reflect the accuracy of the simulation, which leads to the classical problem of model choice and calibration. In this article, the hedging problem is viewed as an instance of a risk-averse contextual k-armed bandit problem, which is motivated by the simplicity and sample-efficiency of the architecture, which allows for realistic online model updates from real-world data. We find that the k-armed bandit model naturally fits to the Profit and Loss formulation of hedging, providing for a more accurate and sample efficient approach than Q-learning and reducing to the Black-Scholes model in the absence of transaction costs and risks.

Algorithms for Synthesis of Technological Operations for Manufacturing Samples of Structurally Complex Products

The aim of the study is to develop a mathematical model for the synthesis of technological operations in the structure of algorithms for a system of automated design of technological processes. When solving the problem of synthesis of technological operations in the structure of algorithms of the automated design system of technological processes for manufacturing prototypes of structurally complex products, the following algorithms are used: solving the direct choice problem; formation of a set of possible alternatives; checking possible alternatives for admissibility; formation of a set of acceptable alternatives; determining the set of desired typical technological solutions and optimizing the choice of solutions. A block diagram of the system of algorithms for the process of synthesis of technological operations, based on a combination of individual and standard technological solutions in the design of technological processes for the experimental production of prototypes of structurally complex products, has been obtained.

Improving the Effectiveness of Career Guidance in Universities: Marketing Approach

The development of the country is directly related to the quality of higher education. In times of active development of information technologies, increasing the availability of information resources and their accessibility, the problem of choice as such is acute. The complexity of the choice is especially acute at the time of choosing a future university and specialty. In this context, it becomes relevant to study the effectiveness of communications between the university and applicants, and a set of standard for universities, career guidance activities. The purpose of our research is to identify the most effective communication channels between the university and applicants in order to assist the last ones in choosing a university and specialty. The research methodology is based on marketing tools using a systematic approach. The scientific works of Russian scientists in the field of marketing research and the results of surveys of students of Baikal State University (BSU) conducted by the authors served as an informational and empirical basis. The scientific novelty consists in the systematization of communication channels in terms of their relevance and taking into account the transmitted information when deciding on admission to a university and choosing a specialty. The article describes the results of studies of the effectiveness of career guidance measures on the example of BSU. The conducted research made it possible to identify the most popular career guidance activities and to identify the motivational mechanism for choosing a university and specialty.

Personalized choice model for forecasting demand under pricing scenarios with observational data—The case of attended home delivery

Discrete choice models can forecast market shares and individual choice probabilities with different price and alternative set scenarios. This work introduces a method to personalize choice models involving causal variables, such as price, using rich observational data. The model provides interpretable customer- and context-specific preferences, and price sensitivity, with an estimation procedure that uses orthogonalization. We caution against the naïve use of regularization to deal with the high-dimensional observational data challenge. We experiment with the attended home delivery (AHD) slot choice problem using data from a European online retailer. Our results indicate that while the popular non-personalized multinomial logit (MNL) model does very well at the aggregate (day–slot) level, personalization provides significantly and substantially more accurate predictions at the individual–context level. But the ”naïve” personalization approach using regularization without orthogonalization wrongly predicts that the choice probability will increase if the slot price increases, rendering it unfit for forecasting demand with pricing scenarios. The proposed method avoids this problem. Further, we introduce features based on potential consideration sets in the AHD slot choice context that increase accuracy and allow for more realistic substitution patterns than the proportional substitution implied by MNL.

SIMULATION RESULTS OF AVIATION SEARCH FOR GROUND OBJECTS USING RADAR AND THERMAL IMAGERS

The use on aircraft of various systems for remote sensing of the earth's surface leads to a significant difference in the resolutions achievable in the optical and radar (RL) wavelength ranges. The operating ranges of radar systems and thermal imaging (TI) systems differ significantly. This complicates their integration and requires the use of special algorithms to control the positions of the regions of interest on the underlying surface (SP). Such algorithms should maximize the width of the search bandwidth and ensure that there are no unscanned sections (“dead zones”) on it. This article presents the results of modeling that are useful in solving the problems of a reasonable choice of modern radar and TI systems, their parameters and estimates of the probabilistic ranges of characteristics in their complex application for operational monitoring of traffic. The results of modeling search-detection-recognition processes make it possible to predict the probabilistic-range characteristics of detection and recognition of vehicles under various backgrounds (grass, sand, asphalt, snow, etc.) for eighty percent of weather in middle latitudes. The results of modeling the processes of detection and recognition of objects by their RL and IR contrasts using synthetic aperture RL and modern arrays of sensitive elements in TI systems are presented.

Life or Livelihood of Migrated Workers of Odisha (India) Amid Covid-19 Effect

Pandemic COVID-19 has made the lives perilous genuinely across the globe. Especially, the migrant workers faced the hardship as they are jobless in one hand and unable to come back to their native places on the other hand. Being India as the second most populous country of the world, it is most important to study the living status of migrant workers of the country. However, due to diversity in population, varying Covid rate in different states and large number of migrant workers of the country, it is tedious to ascertain the impact of Covid situation in the entire country. Therefore, we have considered one state Odisha to study the situation of migrant workers during the pandemic time. This will be helpful to study the situation of migrant workers of entire country and the world. In this paper we have devised the following approaches. It is primarily a descriptive research based on both primary and secondary data. Data collected for this study is through content analysis and telephonic in-depth interviews. For telephonic in-depth interviews, 20 migrant workers are selected on the basis of convenient sampling method. For telephonic opinions, five experts are selected on convenient sampling method. This research aims to ascertain how the migrant workers of Odisha (India) come across the complicated problem of choice between life and livelihood during socioeconomic emergency that caused due to Covid-19.

Should reputable e-retailers undertake service activities along with sales?

With the growth of e-commerce and the elevated service requirements of consumers, e-retailers should carefully evaluate the profitability of delivering product services themselves that were once provided by suppliers. Within this context, we apply game theory to construct a principal-agent model to study a sales and service choice problem faced by an e-retailer. Three strategies are proposed in our paper, pure platform strategy (as the benchmark), resale strategy, and resale plus service strategy. Through comparison and analysis, we find that the sales and service strategy preferences of the e-retailer are influenced by reputation and service costs. Additionally, highly reputable e-retailers tend to provide superior levels of service and prices rather than excessively pursue market demand under the resale plus service strategy. Furthermore, we define the ratio of quality plus service to price as the consumer's performance ratio. Interestingly, reputable e-retailer may bring bad consumer's performance ratio. Moreover, the win-win situation occurs when the e-retailer provides the resale strategy or when the supplier prefers the resale plus service strategy. Our study suggests that e-retailers should make tradeoff between control over services and service costs, and make full use of the advantage of reputation to adjust their income strategy, avoiding blindly pursuing low prices and ignoring the service. In addition, for the supplier, it is appropriate to transfer the service to the e-retailer according to his own conditions.

Problem of surgical priority choice at combined pathology of lumbar spine and hip joint (literature review)

Pathological processes that affect the hip joint and the lumbar spine often coexist, leading to a significant loss of quality of life. Therefore, the problem of surgical treatment of degenerative diseases of the lumbar spine with conditions of hip joint arthritis is actual. Objective. To analyze the available scientific information regarding the priority of choosing a surgical intervention under the conditions of a combined pathology of the lumbar spine and hip joint. Methods. The research material was an analysis of relevant literature in specialized sources over the past 10 years. Results. The opinion of specialists about the possibility of direct influence of instability and sagittal spine balance on the functional orientation of acetabulum and, therefore, on the risk of impingement and dislocation of the hip joint was found. Conversely, flexion contracture in the hip joint can affect the sagittal balance of the spine and cause back pain. The indication for priority surgical treatment of the spine, in addition to acute or rapidly progressive neurological deficits, is the loss of sagittal balance, in particular, lumbar lordosis with subsequent changes in the sagittal profile. When, under the conditions of the hip joint arthritis, the pelvic tilt and the lordosis of the lumbar spine increase combined with the stenosis, spinal surgery is preferred. The combination of lumbar stenosis with hip joint arthritis may be a factor in increasing the risk of neurological deficits after hip arthroplasty. However, some authors in the case of combined pathology in any case recommend performing total joint arthroplasty in the first place because of its obvious excellent results, others did not find the best variant of the sequence of intervention based on the assessment of quality of life. Conclusions. Despite the long history of the study, the practical issues of treatment of the combined pathology of the lumbar spine and hip joint, the choice of optimal treatment tactics remain debatable and require further study

Abstract Value Encoding in Neural Populations But Not Single Neurons.

An important open question in neuroeconomics is how the brain represents the value of offers in a way that is both abstract (allowing for comparison) and concrete (preserving the details of the factors that influence value). Here, we examine neuronal responses to risky and safe options in five brain regions that putatively encode value in male macaques. Surprisingly, we find no detectable overlap in the neural codes used for risky and safe options, even when the options have identical subjective values (as revealed by preference) in any of the regions. Indeed, responses are weakly correlated and occupy distinct (semi-orthogonal) encoding subspaces. Notably, however, these subspaces are linked through a linear transform of their constituent encodings, a property that allows for comparison of dissimilar option types. This encoding scheme allows these regions to multiplex decision related processes: they can encode the detailed factors that influence offer value (here, risky and safety) but also directly compare dissimilar offer types. Together these results suggest a neuronal basis for the qualitatively different psychological properties of risky and safe options and highlight the power of population geometry to resolve outstanding problems in neural coding.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT To make economic choices, we must have some mechanism for comparing dissimilar offers. We propose that the brain uses distinct neural codes for risky and safe offers, but that these codes are linearly transformable. This encoding scheme has the dual advantage of allowing for comparison across offer types while preserving information about offer type, which in turn allows for flexibility in changing circumstances. We show that responses to risky and safe offers exhibit these predicted properties in five different reward-sensitive regions. Together, these results highlight the power of population coding principles for solving representation problems in economic choice.

TO THE QUESTION OF GAS FLARE OPTIMAL TEMPERATURE SELECTING ACCORDING TO SATELLITE DATA

The problem of calculating the flare temperature of maximal aerosol amount generation is analyzed.
 The problem of the optimal choice of the gas flare temperature, at which the aerosol emission of elemental carbon type can be reduced in comparison with the calculated maximal generation level, is formulated and solved. An analytical expression for calculation of flare main indicators, ensuring the maximal level of aerosol generation during hydrocarbon gas combustion is given.

Modern inhibitor of sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 – ertugliflozin

Diabetes mellitus, a well-known risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) Hyperglycemia has been found to be an increased risk of coronary heart disease and mortality. In real clinical practice, physicians are faced with the problem of choice when prescribing new hypoglycemic drugs in patients with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk. Modern possibilities and approaches to the treatment of DM2 have contributed to the creation of a promising class of hypoglycemic drugs that block renal glucose reabsorption - inhibitors of the sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 (iSGLT-2). The unique mechanism of SGLT2 inhibition not only improves glycemic control, but also has cardio- and nephroprotective effects in patients with DM2 and at high cardiovascular risk. According to current recommendations, when choosing the tactics of treating patients with DM2 and the presence of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases or confirmed atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, preference is given to GLP-1 and/or iSGLT-2 receptor agonists in combination with the first-line drug, metformin. This article presents the main results of the efficacy and safety of ertugliflozin in a number of clinical studies and its beneficial effect not only on glycemic control, but also on cardio- and nephroprotective effects. The article also reflects the key results of an extensive program of randomized clinical trials VERTIS (acronym for eValuation of ERTugliflozinefficacy and Safety; evaluation of the efficacy and safety of ertugliflozin): including patients with type 2 diabetes and established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (VERTIS CV), with type 2 diabetes and CKD 3rd stage (VERTIS RENAL), as well as VERTIS MONO, VERTIS MET, VERTIS SITA, VERTIS SU and VERTIS FACTORIAL.

A traveler-centric mobility game: Efficiency and stability under rationality and prospect theory.

In this paper, we study a routing and travel-mode choice problem for mobility systems with a multimodal transportation network as a "mobility game" with coupled action sets. We formulate an atomic routing game to focus on the travelers' preferences and study the impact on the efficiency of the travelers' behavioral decision-making under rationality and prospect theory. To control the innate inefficiencies, we introduce a mobility "pricing mechanism," in which we model traffic congestion using linear cost functions while also considering the waiting times at different transport hubs. We show that the travelers' selfish actions lead to a pure-strategy Nash equilibrium. We then perform a Price of Anarchy and Price of Stability analysis to establish that the mobility system's inefficiencies remain relatively low and the social welfare at a NE remains close to the social optimum as the number of travelers increases. We deviate from the standard game-theoretic analysis of decision-making by extending our mobility game to capture the subjective behavior of travelers using prospect theory. Finally, we provide a detailed discussion of implementing our proposed mobility game.

Reconsidering patient centred care: Between autonomy and abandonment. By Pilnick, Alison, Emerald. 2022. 168pp. £65 (hbck). ISBN: 9781800717442

Sociology of Health & IllnessEarly View BOOK REVIEW Reconsidering patient centred care: Between autonomy and abandonment. By Pilnick, Alison, Emerald. 2022. 168pp. £65 (hbck). ISBN: 9781800717442 Eleanor Kashouris, Corresponding Author Eleanor Kashouris [email protected] Department of sociology and criminology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UKSearch for more papers by this author Eleanor Kashouris, Corresponding Author Eleanor Kashouris [email protected] Department of sociology and criminology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 04 May 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13646Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. REFERENCES Heritage, J. (2011). The interaction order and clinical practice: Some observations on dysfunctions and action steps. Patient Education and Counseling, 84(3), 338– 343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2011.05.022 Mol, A. (2008). The logic of care: Health and the problem of patient choice. Routledge. Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue ReferencesRelatedInformation

Measuring Learning Loss Due to Disruptions from COVID-19: Perspectives from the Concept of Fractions

Ineffective learning during Covid-19 can be a major cause of learning loss. Through polytomous item response theory analysis, this study seeks to identify learning loss of fractions and investigate the reliability and validity of the DINA model diagnostic test. This study involved 177 Grade 8 students from six junior high schools in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, to obtain information about the validity and reliability of the diagnostic test and learning loss of fraction due to Covid-19. The research was conducted by designing diagnostic test, expert validation, and empirical testing. Multiple choice problems with polytomous options were developed. This study produced 20 valid problems based on the level of item discriminant, item difficulty, and slip and guess, with a reliability of 0.899. This study revealed that learning loss was experienced by 62 students from low-level junior high schools (100%), 51 students from middle-level junior high schools (98%), and 54 students from high-level junior high schools (85.7%). It can be said that low-level schools have the highest percentage of students with learning loss. It is recommended that future studies evaluate the effectiveness of diagnostic tests in identifying learning weaknesses in mathematics before semester exams using the items generated in this study.

Professional choice as a moral dilemma for doctors in the context of COVID-19

Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic has added new semantic trend to the problem of the professional choice of doctors through a change in the conditions of their activities in the direction of intensifying tasks, complicating the possibilities for their implementation, and multiplying the uncertainty of the efforts made.
 The purpose of the study. Assessing the professional choice of doctors in the context of COVID-19 when solving moral dilemmas.
 Material and methods. The total sample size was four hundred twenty nine people (doctors of various surgical and therapeutic specialties) aged of 25–32 years. All doctors had at least 1.5 years of practical experience in COVID-19 conditions. The study was conducted using a questionnaire developed by the author, containing 24 moral dilemmas related to professional decision-making.
 Results. Regardless of the doctor’s profile, professional choice is made in favour of patients of the same gender as the doctor. At the same time, both male and female doctors strive to save young patients (up to 50 years old) with chronic diseases. At the same time, it should be noted that the profile (therapeutic or surgical) of a doctor and his specialty also influence the criteria for choosing professional decisions. Clear criteria in the situation of moral choice have not been established only in the group of ophthalmologists.
 Limitations. Excluded from participation in the study were pediatricians and dentists, as well as doctors who lack professional experience in the context of COVID-19. 
 Conclusion. As a result of the study, it was found that regardless of the working conditions (in the red zone for COVID-19, in the green zone), both male and female doctors choose in favour of patients of the same gender. At the same time, doctors working in the red zone on COVID-19 make a professional choice in a situation of moral choice in favour of young patients of the same gender with chronic diseases. Physicians working in the green zone make the choice to rescue elderly patients of the same gender as physicians.

Assessing an ovarian reserve and risk factors for premature ovarian failure as part of pre-abortion counseling for women under 40 planning to terminate own first pregnancy

Introduction. The problem of artificial pregnancy termination is of global importance. Any woman faced with the problem of reproductive choice is vulnerable, needs both to be advised by an obstetrician-gynecologist and high-quality psychological support. At the stage of pre-abortion counseling, it seems possible to influence a decision to keep pregnancy by identifying risk factors for premature ovarian failure (РОF), laboratory and ultrasound criteria for reducing ovarian reserve (OR).Aim: optimization of the pre-abortion counseling algorithm by introducing an assessment of OR. Materials and Methods. A retrospective study was conducted, which included 58 women under 40 living in the Volgograd region and planning to terminate own first pregnancy. In order to identify factors of early decrease in OR, anamnestic data of patients were evaluated. A comprehensive assessment of the main OR parameters was performed by assessing blood serum level of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and inhibin B, ultrasound counting the number of antral follicles.Results. In the main group of patients, 8 (13.8 %) of the examined patients had a birth weight of about 2800 g, 6 (10.3 %) – with a history of ovarian surgery and ovarian cysts were found after menarche. A relationship was also found between OR laboratory parameters in primigravida and the age of menopause in paired mothers: 2 (3.4 %) – 45 years, 8 (13.8 %) – 48–50 years. According to the diagnostic results, 10 (17.2%) patients showed a decrease in ОR and 48 (82.8%) patients had a normal OR. Taking into account the data obtained, a modified project of pre-abortion counseling was developed for the first time devoted to РОF.Conclusion. The modified section of pre-abortion counseling takes into account the specifics of maternal OR and can improve quality of medical care for women planning to terminate own pregnancy due to more comprehensive information as well as affect the awareness of reproductive plans in the future.