Rational Choice Research Articles

A field study on rational choice of medication: The use of Tilmicosin and Cefquinome in ovine footrot treatment

A field study on rational choice of medication: The use of Tilmicosin and Cefquinome in ovine footrot treatment

Official media use, political participation, and government trust structure. An empirical study based on the attitude of Chinese netizens

While research has explored the relationship between official media use and hierarchical government trust, there is a lack of studies that delve deeper into the relationship between official media use and government trust structure. Therefore, this study uses data from the 2017-2018 Chinese netizens’ social awareness non-tracking survey and employs rational choice theory and process-based trust mechanisms theory to empirically explore, for the first time, the relationship between official media use and government trust structure, along with its underlying mechanisms. Government trust structure is divided into four categories based on the different levels of trust in the central government and local government: paradoxical government trust, equal distrust, hierarchical government trust and equal trust. Among them, hierarchical government trust can be divided into central-distrust-local-distrust, central-trust-local-distrust, and central-trust-local-trust. The study finds that although hierarchical government trust decreases, it is the dominant form of government trust structure, and central-trust-local-distrust is the dominant form of hierarchical government trust. The transformation of other government trust structures into hierarchical government trust of central-trust-local-trust is associated with official media use, and political participation has a mediating effect in official media use and government trust structure. Our findings not only deepen the understanding of rational choice theory and process-based trust mechanism theory but also expand the comprehensive understanding of government trust structure in authoritarian regimes like China.

Rational choice? choosing the street over the shelter

ABSTRACT Introduction In this paper, we explore how individuals experiencing homelessness decide whether or not to use the available shelters in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. From a rational choice perspective, we explored the justifications of individuals who opt out of the shelter system. Method We conducted a thematic analysis of data gathered from six focus groups with 44 participants (16 women and 28 men). Result Almost all of the focus group participants had sought access to the shelter on one or more occasions. All focus group participants stated they would use the shelters if they were accessible, safe, and clean. Most participants asserted that the shelter lacked enough beds, did not provide needed services, and was unsafe and unsanitary. Negative experiences at the shelter also influenced their decisions, especially disrespectful or abusive treatment by shelter staff or the perception that the shelter's policies were unreasonable. They proposed better choices, such as camping sites or tiny houses. Conclusion Focus group participants recognized that these changes to the shelter system or access to other choices must happen through the local government and asserted that they needed community members to advocate for them.

Editorial Note

Oftentimes many individual acts lead to a significantly (dis-)valuable outcome though the performance of each act makes no valuative difference to that outcome. Such cases give rise to a dilemma. For it seemingly doesn’t matter whether one performs an act (or not) if it doesn’t make a difference. Yet it matters a great deal when many of these acts are performed, provided they bring about a significant outcome. One might think, therefore, that at least some reason favours the performance of such acts. But in the absence of a valuative difference, it is difficult to say what that reason is, exactly. The above dilemma arises in both intrapersonal and interpersonal cases. For instance, in the intrapersonal case, it seemingly makes little difference to my goal of running the marathon whether I skip a single workout. Yet it makes a significant difference to my goal of running the marathon if I skip all of my workouts. And, in the interpersonal case, it seemingly makes no difference to the bad effects of climate change if I choose to be a vegan or not. Yet it makes a significant difference to the bad effects of climate change if we all choose to be vegans. This dilemma has generated a substantial body of literature in both ethics and rational choice. Surprisingly, however, there has been little crossover between the two fields of study. The motivation for the special issue was to offer an avenue to explore new solutions or perspectives on the dilemma through the lens of one, or both of these fields.

Gaze-centered gating, reactivation, and reevaluation of economic value in orbitofrontal cortex

During economic choice, options are often considered in alternation, until commitment. Nonetheless, neuroeconomics typically ignores the dynamic aspects of deliberation. We trained two male macaques to perform a value-based decision-making task in which two risky offers were presented in sequence at the opposite sides of the visual field, each followed by a delay epoch where offers were invisible. Surprisingly, during the two delays, subjects tend to look at empty locations where the offers had previously appeared, with longer fixations increasing the probability of choosing the associated offer. Spiking activity in orbitofrontal cortex reflects the value of the gazed offer, or of the offer associated with the gazed empty spatial location, even if it is not the most recent. This reactivation reflects a reevaluation process, as fluctuations in neural spiking correlate with upcoming choice. Our results suggest that look-at-nothing gazing triggers the reactivation of a previously seen offer for further evaluation.

About the rational choice of the damper shape for an ultrasonic piezoelectric transducer

The results of the study on the influence of the geometric shape of the damper on its effectiveness and the overall efficiency of the radiation-reception system are presented. One of the possible forms of the damper is considered, where it is shaped like a truncated cone, and its generatrix has an inclination angle relative to the plane of the piezoplate. A criterion for evaluating the efficiency of the damper’s operation is proposed. The study includes the results of computational-theoretical (using the finite element method) and experimental research on the influence of the incline angle of the damper’s generatrix on the signal reflected from its rear part. The inclination angle of the generatrix, at which the minimum of parasitic signals is achieved, is determined. The radiation-reception system is investigated under water loading, and a satisfactory agreement between the theoretical and experimental results is noted.

The human health burden of climate change: Non-economic losses and ethical considerations towards achieving planetary health

Climate change presents an urgent and growing threat to the health and well-being of people and the planet. More frequent and intense heatwaves, droughts and floods are breaching critical ecosystem boundaries, causing cascading impacts that are increasingly complex to govern. Unsustainable development pathways and economic choices that are fueling the climate crisis are also directly engendering global health issues. Furthermore, the global response to climate change has been uneven and the lack of a conceptual framework for loss and damage has allowed developed countries the latitude to adopt differing takes on its framing, undermining the urgency and progression of the loss and damage mechanism to the detriment of developing countries. Current research on the governance of climate ethics posits that while economic and legal considerations largely influence climate policies, decision-making processes in climate adjacent sectors such as health need to be further grounded on ethically sound principles. Framing the health impacts of climate change as a moral issue can therefore be viewed as an effort to reshape the current political discourse with a humanistic lens and move the international community and state-level actors to action. The framing of this issue is particularly important as it recenters the focus on human health as an imperative for effective climate policies rather than as a contributor to the cache of peripheral co-benefits. It also underscores climate change as an ethical issue, in which failure to respond to the climate impacts can worsen health inequities, especially for socially and economically marginalized communities and vulnerable groups.

Ernst B. Haas, liberal nationalism and the double-edged nature of European identity

ABSTRACT While Ernst B. Haas is recognized among European integration scholars as a founding figure of neo-functionalism, his later writing on nationalism is less known to European integration scholars. I contribute to this special issue by discussing Haas’ later work on liberal nationalism and by reflecting on its insights for the study of collective identities in the European Union today. In a nutshell, Haas expected that (1) national and supranational identities are inherently rational and the expression of a deliberate choice, (2) citizens shift their identities from the national to the European level due to utilitarian considerations, (3) nationalism is not per se destructive, but it comes in many moulds and can be the basis for the international community. I argue that Haas’ emphasis on rational and deliberate identity choice clashes with our current understanding of identity as implicit and subliminal. Moreover, his optimism is challenged by the rise of radical-right-wing parties who have successfully mobilized exclusive nationalist identities against European integration. On the other hand, Haas’ emphasis on the double-edged nature of collective identity is an important reminder that also European identity, while striving to overcome exclusive nationalism, can reify its exclusiveness at the supranational level.

RESEARCHING PUBLIC SATISFACTION IN SOCIAL GOVERNANCE THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF THE FUZZY COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION METHOD

Social governance is an essential component of China's governance system and is the cornerstone of "Governance of China." In the new era, the Communist Party of China adopts the core value pursuit of "People-centered" as the rational choice for governing the country. "People-centered" is also the core concept of social governance in China. As participants in social governance, the satisfaction of the public is an important evaluation indicator for measuring the effectiveness of social governance. How to scientifically quantify and evaluate the satisfaction with social governance has always been a key issue in evaluating the effectiveness of social governance. This study constructs a scientific evaluation indicator system and uses the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to make a scientific evaluation of public satisfaction with social governance. This is also beneficial for carrying out other social governance work based on the evaluation results, thereby improving governance effectiveness.

Fabrication of chitin-fibrin hydrogels to construct the 3D artificial extracellular matrix scaffold for vascular regeneration and cardiac tissue engineering.

As the cornerstone of tissue engineering and regeneration medicine research, developing a cost-effective and bionic extracellular matrix (ECM) that can precisely modulate cellular behavior and form functional tissue remains challenging. An artificial ECM combining polysaccharides and fibrillar proteins to mimic the structure and composition of natural ECM provides a promising solution for cardiac tissue regeneration. In this study, we developed a bionic hydrogel scaffold by combining a quaternized β-chitin derivative (QC) and fibrin-matrigel (FM) in different ratios to mimic a natural ECM. We evaluated the stiffness of those composite hydrogels with different mixing ratios and their effects on the growth of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The optimal hydrogels, QCFM1 hydrogels were further applied to load HUVECs into nude mice for in vivo angiogenesis. Besides, we encapsulated human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) into QCFM hydrogels and employed 3D bioprinting to achieve batch fabrication of human-engineered heart tissue (hEHT). Finally, the myocardial structure and electrophysiological function of hEHT were evaluated by immunofluorescence and optical mapping. Designed artificial ECM has a tunable modulus (220-1380 Pa), which determines the different cellular behavior of HUVECs when encapsulated in these. QCFM1 composite hydrogels with optimal stiffness (800 Pa) and porous architecture were finally identified, which could adapt for in vitro cell spreading and in vivo angiogenesis of HUVECs. Moreover, QCFM1 hydrogels were applied in 3D bioprinting successfully to achieve batch fabrication of both ring-shaped and patch-shaped hEHT. These QCFM1 hydrogels-based hEHTs possess organized sarcomeres and advanced function characteristics comparable to reported hEHTs. The chitin-derived hydrogels are first used for cardiac tissue engineering and achieve the batch fabrication of functionalized artificial myocardium. Specifically, these novel QCFM1 hydrogels provided a reliable and economical choice serving as ideal ECM for application in tissue engineering and regeneration medicine.

Convenience propositions for white-collar offenders: Perceptions of seriousness in Romania

Perception of white-collar crime seriousness varies from unfortunate incidents that can be excused to a major crime that needs harsh punishment. Students at a university in Romania were asked about their perceptions of seriousness. On a scale from 1 (not serious) to 7 (extremely serious) most students responded by very serious (6) on most questionnaire items. Responses indicate that individual greed to benefit the person is the most serious, while a rational choice of crime is the least serious. This study concludes that students consider white-collar crime to be less serious when people involved use financial wrongdoings as a last resort to avoid personal/organizational bankruptcy. they seem more indulgent when financial crime is a result of omission/concealment of criminal activity.

Middle leaders pursuing teacher safety against learner victimization: A policy document analysis

Various scholars have confirmed that teacher safety against learner victimization is a growing concern worldwide, and this problem is exacerbated by a lack of understanding and readiness to implement policies to address this matter. In this regard, policy implementation by middle leaders (MLs) in creating safe school environments has attracted much less interest as a possible way of addressing issues of teacher safety and the prevention of learner victimization. MLs are regarded as individuals who have the potential to lead, plan, inspire and persuade, and in so doing, they are in an ideal position to translate policy into practice. As such, this paper provides a qualitative policy document analysis of The National School Safety Framework (NSSF) premised on the theory that every individual in the school experiences safety in dissimilar ways and has unique safety needs. The NSSF is endorsed by the Department of Basic Education to guide in addressing issues of violence and safety in South African schools. Underpinned by the rational choice theory and utilizing policy document analysis, texts in the NSSF were analysed and interpreted to propose transformative policy strategies that can assist MLs in managing teachers’ safety at schools more effectively. The findings suggest that administrative duties and a lack of time make it difficult for MLs to create a safe and supportive learning environment in schools. Another finding was that there is no clear plan outlined in the NSSF to guide MLs to pursue teacher safety against learner victimization in schools. To assist MLs, this paper proposes transformative policy strategies that can assist them in promoting teacher safety and preventing learner victimization in schools. The paper recommends that more explicit interpretation and implementation strategies be communicated with schools to assist them in fighting the war against violence in schools.

8 - Potentialising Traditional Peacebuilding System towards Resolution of Land Disputes in African communities

Land is a common cause of conflict in Africa. It is at the root of much social unrest and violence among family members, groups and communities. Although the state judicial system has been a major adjudicator in these instances, their case pronouncements have brought little or no recourse to peaceful co-existence among the conflicted parties. This article seeks to advance the potential of the traditional peacebuilding system as a ‘community friendly’ option especially for constructive land dispute resolution. Traditional peacebuilding is devoid of long judicial proceedings, ‘preconceived’ justice and high costs. This article argues that, unlike the state judicial system, traditional peacebuilding is not only about making resolutions through rational choice, custom knowledge, community history and social cohesion but also about enhancing restorative justice, inclusiveness and peace promotion, and developing the trust and safety that is so badly needed across African communities. It, therefore, concludes that the traditional peacebuilding system has an organisational propensity to resolve land disputes within an institutionalised structure across African communities.

The institutional nature of political power according to new directions in institutional theory

Institutional theory is one of the oldest theories used to analyze political issues and phenomena. In the classical period, this theory emphasized the constitutional and legal aspects, while paying more attention to the official institutions of the state, especially the powers (legislative, executive and judicial). In the 1950s, due to the rise and dominance of the behavioral school, this theory was ignored by researchers in the field. However, the beginning of a new phase of institutional theory in the 1970s; the emergence of all three directions (historical, social, and rational choice) was also a strong factor in attracting researchers to use institutional theory in their studies. At the same time, political power has always been of interest and debate in political analysis, although the concept has often been portrayed in the guise of an individual and a ruling group. But in fact, one of the characteristics of political power is institutionalization. For this purpose, this paper describes political power and new directions of institutional theory. On the other hand, it analyzes the nature of institutionalization and how the process of institutionalizing political power is carried out within the framework of new directions of institutional theory.

The Absurdity of Rational Choice: Time Travel, Foreknowledge, and the Aesthetic Dimension of Newcomb Problems

Nikk Effingham and Huw Price argue that in certain cases of Newcomb problems involving time travel and foreknowledge, being given information about the future makes it rational to choose as an evidential decision theorist would choose. Although the cases they consider have some intuitive pull, and so appear to aid in answering the question of what it is rational to do, we argue that their respective positions are not compelling. Newcomb problems are structured such that whichever way one chooses, one might be led by one’s preferred decision theory to miss out on some riches (riches which others obtain whilst employing their preferred decision theory). According to the novel aesthetic diagnosis we shall offer of the Newcomb dialectic, missing out in this way does not render one irrational but, rather, subject to being seen as absurd. This is a different kind of cost but not one that undermines one’s rationality.

Constitutional artisans: James Buchanan and Vincent Ostrom on artifactual man, the constitutional attitude, and the political economy of constitutional design

This paper examines the relationship between the work of James Buchanan and Vincent Ostrom. It adds to existing work by providing a comprehensive analysis of Buchanan’s and Ostrom’s changing views about how the ‘logical foundations of constitutional democracy’ should be conceptualised. The paper traces how in the 1960s and 1970s Ostrom took inspiration from the rational choice analysis of constitutional democracy in Buchanan and Tullock’s The Calculus of Consent, explaining how it shaped his reading of key texts in political theory and his analysis of public administration. It then discusses how Buchanan subsequently drew on Ostrom’s notion of artifactual man in developing his understanding of the ‘constitutional attitude’ necessary for individuals to engage in institutional design. It then explores how, from the mid-to-late 1990s, Ostrom became increasingly critical of Buchanan’s reliance on rational choice theory for his analysis of constitutional decision-making, identifying this as a key difference between their views.

Every Journalist has an Achilles’ Heel: The Interference–Vulnerability Model

ABSTRACT To what extent do journalists differ in their vulnerability to pressure from actors outside media organizations? This study complements research on such external interference by introducing the interference-vulnerability model. It typologizes three types of interference—professional, economic, and violent—that damage three basic motivations of journalists: professional status, economic status, and physical security. Further, it explains journalists’ experience of the three types of interference by their differing vulnerabilities, which stem from their value to external actors and the costs of noncompliance with interference. This argument builds on the theorized dynamic interaction between media professionals and external actors and applies the theory of routine activities and of rational choice. Multivariate regression of 567 journalists’ responses to a survey in Switzerland confirms the proposed model. Professional interference is aimed at informationally vulnerable journalists who publish on sensitive and investigative topics and have a wide reach. Economic interference is aimed at financially vulnerable journalists who cover consumer-oriented topics, have financial decision-making power, and work in economically competitive structures. Violent interference is directed against journalists who are vulnerable because of their identities: women and marginalized minorities. The model helps to explain external interference more comprehensively and to counter threats to journalistic autonomy.

Lead Fast Reactor Thermal-Hydraulic Testing Facilities in Support of the UK Advanced Modular Reactor Program

The Westinghouse lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) is a next-generation nuclear power plant whose primary mission is to reduce front-end capital costs and generate flexible and cost-competitive electricity for global markets, while offering mission versatility and satisfying the highest safety and sustainability standards. The LFR is an economical choice for carbon-free power generation to meet the ambitious goals of reducing carbon emissions. The plant utilizes passive safety systems for high reliability and public safety. The LFR testing program aims to fill the technology gaps in the key materials, components, and systems of the LFR plant. It provides demonstrations of LFR engineering that reduce the uncertainty of the LFR design and experimental data for the verification and validation of the modeling and simulation computer codes. With the support of the LFR phenomena identification and ranking table, the phenomena important to plant safety with insufficient states of knowledge have been identified and a Westinghouse testing plan developed to address them. The United Kingdom Advanced Modular Reactor Program Phase 2 was purposed to advance the level of design maturity toward eventual regulatory approval and deployment. Westinghouse and its partners have developed eight state-of-the-art test facilities within the program. Among them, the Passive Heat Removal Facility, Versatile Lead Facility, Lead Water Interaction Facility, and the Lead Freezing Facility are thermal-hydraulic testing facilities, with the other four facilities dedicated to testing lead corrosion and material mechanical behavior in lead. The design, development, and testing of the four thermal-hydraulic facilities are presented in this paper. A variety of computer codes ranging from system-level analysis, component-level analysis, and high-resolution computational fluid dynamics analysis, are utilized to support the development of the facilities. The analyses provide operational and accidental conditions in the LFR to identify major testing conditions and inform the facility design and testing matrix. With a significant amount of experimental data being generated with these highly instrumented test facilities, the computer codes and models will be benchmarked against the experimental results to improve their validation and verification status.

Recent advances on testability in economic equilibrium models

The revealed preference program started by Paul Samuelson brought a Popperian view of what constituted true scientific discovery to economic theory.11Samuelson (1938). In his Foundations, Samuelson states that “meaningful theorems” are hypotheses “about empirical data which could conceivably be refuted”.22See Samuelson (1947), p. 4. He worried that by appealing to unobservable fundamentals such as preferences, the body of economic theory built upon the premise of rational individual choice lacked a scientific foundation.While the program quickly succeeded in providing an empirical counterpart for the individual choice problem, its application to social outcomes, namely market interactions and games, proved more difficult, and only in the 1990s did the profession start to develop the testable implications of equilibrium concepts in these contexts. Carvajal et al. (2004) covered the early literature that followed the seminal contributions of Brown and Matzkin (1996) and Sprumont (2000). This survey is an update on the state of that literature covering the results of the last two decades. As the reader will see, the Journal of Mathematical Economics has played a key role in developing these ideas.

Metronomic chemotherapy in pediatric neurooncology: insight the problem. A review

Metronomic chemotherapy (MCT) is a promising direction of anticancer therapy, as well as in pediatric oncology, and its administration in patients with refractory and recurrent tumors of the central nervous system becomes increasingly relevant. Being a regimen of low doses of antitumor agents with different mechanisms of action in a continuous mode for a long time, it allows to overcome the resistance of tumor cells and to minimize the toxic effects of treatment. Today, the issues of rational choice of MCT regimens, which are dependent on the type of tumor, and the application of biomarkers of its effectiveness, remain controversial. The article discusses in detail the biological effects of MCT with an accent on antiangiogenic one, as well as the possibilities and limitations of MCT application in pediatric practice and the results of studies in tumors of the central nervous system.