Reliable Preference Research Articles

Sex-related communicative functions of voice spectral energy in human chorusing.

Music is a human communicative art whose evolutionary origins may lie in capacities that support cooperation and/or competition. A mixed account favouring simultaneous cooperation and competition draws on analogous interactive displays produced by collectively signalling non-human animals (e.g. crickets and frogs). In these displays, rhythmically coordinated calls serve as a beacon whereby groups of males 'cooperatively' attract potential female mates, while the likelihood of each male competitively attracting an actual mate depends on the precedence of his signal. Human behaviour consistent with the mixed account was previously observed in a renowned boys choir, where the basses-the oldest boys with the deepest voices-boosted their acoustic prominence by increasing energy in a high-frequency band of the vocal spectrum when girls were in an otherwise male audience. The current study tested female and male sensitivity and preferences for this subtle vocal modulation in online listening tasks. Results indicate that while female and male listeners are similarly sensitive to enhanced high-spectral energy elicited by the presence of girls in the audience, only female listeners exhibit a reliable preference for it. Findings suggest that human chorusing is a flexible form of social communicative behaviour that allows simultaneous group cohesion and sexually motivated competition.

Contradicted by the Brain: Predicting Individual and Group Preferences via Brain-Computer Interfacing

We investigate inferring individual preferences and the contradiction of individual preferences with group preferences through direct measurement of the brain. We report an experiment where brain activity collected from 31 participants produced in response to viewing images is associated with their self-reported preferences. First, we show that brain responses present a graded response to preferences, and that brain responses alone can be used to train classifiers that reliably estimate preferences. Second, we show that brain responses reveal additional preference information that correlates with group preference, even when participants self-reported having no such preference. Our analysis of brain responses carries significant implications for researchers in general, as it suggests an individual's explicit preferences are not always aligned with the preferences inferred from their brain responses. These findings call into question the reliability of explicit and behavioral signals. They also imply that additional, multimodal sources of information may be necessary to infer reliable preference information.

The non-unitary nature of information preference

Factors affecting information-seeking behaviour can be task-endogenous (e.g., probability of winning a gamble), or task-exogenous (e.g., personality trait measures). Various task-endogenous factors affecting non-instrumental information-seeking behaviour have been identified, but it is unclear how task-exogenous factors affect such behaviour, and if they interact with task-endogenous factors. In an online information seeking experiment (N = 279), we focus on the role that outcome probability, as a task-endogenous factor, has on information preferences. We find reliable preference for advance information on highly probable gains and low preference for highly probable losses. Comparisons with individual trait measures of information preference (e.g., intolerance of uncertainty scale, obsessive-compulsive inventory, information preferences scale) reveal minimal association between these task-exogenous factors with choice task performance. We also find minimal interaction between outcome probability and individual trait measures. Despite the choice task and trait measures purportedly tapping the same (or similar) construct, the absence of clear relationships ultimately suggests a multi-dimensional nature of information preference.

Adjective Ordering Across Languages

Adjective ordering preferences stand as perhaps one of the best candidates for a true linguistic universal: When multiple adjectives are strung together in service of modifying some noun, speakers of different languages—from English to Mandarin to Hebrew—exhibit robust and reliable preferences concerning the relative order of those adjectives. More importantly, despite the diversity of the languages investigated, the very same preferences surface over and over again. This tantalizing regularity has led to decades of research pursuing the source of these preferences. This article offers an overview of the findings and proposals that have resulted.

Individuals with ventromedial frontal damage display unstable but transitive preferences during decision making

The ventromedial frontal lobe (VMF) is important for decision-making, but the precise causal role of the VMF in the decision process has not been fully established. Previous studies have suggested that individuals with VMF damage violate transitivity, a hallmark axiom of rational decisions. However, these prior studies cannot properly distinguish whether individuals with VMF damage are truly prone to choosing irrationally from whether their preferences are simply more variable. We had individuals with focal VMF damage, individuals with other frontal damage, and healthy controls make repeated choices across three categories—artworks, chocolate bar brands, and gambles. Using proper tests of transitivity, we find that, in our study, individuals with VMF damage make rational decisions consistent with transitive preferences, even though they exhibit greater variability in their preferences. That is, the VMF is necessary for having strong and reliable preferences, but not for being a rational decision maker. VMF damage affects the variability with which value is assessed, but not the consistency with which value is sought.

Impact Of High Dose Metformin Versus Teneligliptin as add together on to Metformin on Glycemic Control of T2DM Patients

Introduction: Hyperglycaemia and abnormalities in simple carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism are the characteristic feature of the metabolic disorder, Diabetes Mellitus. Diabetes mellitus treatment is achieved by modifications in diet, sleep pattern, regular physical activity followed by addition of anti-hyperglycemic drugs like metformin if HbA1C levels stays more than 7.0%.Materials and Methods The study period was from April 2019 – September 2019. The total duration of study was 24 weeks. Total 160 patients were screened; among them 100 participants were selected as per the inclusion criteria. Out of 100 patients, only 91 patients have completed the study. Conclusion To conclude DPP-4 inhibitor Teneligliptin 20mg OD exemplifies to be a pertinent add-on to Metformin 500mg BD to enhance the glycaemic control and could be an operative and reliable medication preference in T2DM through decent patient acceptability.

Impact of High Dose Metformin Versus Teneligliptin as add together on to Metformin on Glycemic Control of T2DM Patients

Introduction: Hyperglycaemia and abnormalities in simple carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism are the characteristic feature of the metabolic disorder, Diabetes Mellitus. Diabetes mellitus treatment is achieved by modifications in diet, sleep pattern, regular physical activity followed by addition of anti-hyperglycemic drugs like metformin if HbA1C levels stays more than 7.0%.Materials and Methods The study period was from April 2019 – September 2019. The total duration of study was 24 weeks. Total 160 patients were screened; among them 100 participants were selected as per the inclusion criteria. Out of 100 patients, only 91 patients have completed the study. Conclusion To conclude DPP-4 inhibitor Teneligliptin 20mg OD exemplifies to be a pertinent add-on to Metformin 500mg BD to enhance the glycaemic control and could be an operative and reliable medication preference in T2DM through decent patient acceptability.

Conventionalization of Iconic Handshape Preferences in Family Homesign Systems

Variation in the linguistic use of handshapes exists across sign languages, but it is unclear how these iconic handshape preferences arise and become conventionalized. In order to understand the factors that shape such handshape preferences in the earliest stages of language emergence, we examined communication within family homesign systems. Homesigners are deaf individuals who have not acquired a signed or spoken language and who innovate unique gesture systems to communicate with hearing friends and family (“communication partners”). We analyzed how characteristics of participants and stimulus items influence handshape preferences and conventionalization. Participants included 11 deaf homesigners, 24 hearing communication partners (CPs), and 8 hearing non-signing adults from Nicaragua. Participants were asked to label items using gestures or signs. The handshape type (Handling, Object, or combined Handling + Object) was then coded. The participants and groups showed variability in iconic handshape preferences. Adult homesigners’ families demonstrated more conventionalization than did child homesigners’ families. Adult homesigners also used a combined Handling+Object form more than other participants. Younger CPs and those with fewer years of experience using a homesign system showed greater conventionalization. Items that elicited a reliable handshape preference were more likely to elicit Handling rather than Object handshapes. These findings suggest that similarity in terms of handshape type varies even within families, including hearing gesturers in the same culture. Although adult homesigners’ families were more conventionalized than child homesigners’ families, full conventionalization of these handshape preferences do not seem to appear reliably within two to three decades of use in a family when only one deaf homesigner uses it as a primary system.

An insurance mechanism for electricity reliability differentiation under deep decarbonization

Securing an adequate supply of dispatchable resources is critical for keeping a power system reliable under high penetrations of variable generation. Strategic reserves have been used by a range of jurisdictions to procure investment in additional generation reserves given the missing money problem in energy only market designs. Given the growing flexibility and heterogeneity of load enabled by advancements in distributed resource and control technology, strategic reserve procurement needs to be able to reflect the different preferences of energy consumers. To address this challenge this paper develops an insurance risk mechanism for the procurement of strategic reserves that is adapted to a future with variable generation and flexible demand. The proposed design introduces a central insurance scheme with prudential requirements that align diverse consumer reliability preferences with the financial objectives of an insurer-of-last-resort. We illustrate the benefits of the scheme in (i) differentiating load by usage to enable better management of the system during times of extreme scarcity, (ii) incentivizing incremental investment in generation infrastructure that is aligned with consumer reliability preferences and (iii) improving overall reliability outcomes for consumers.

ФОРМАЛИЗОВАННЫЙ ПОДХОД К СИНТЕЗУ АРХИТЕКТУРЫ СИСТЕМЫ АДАПТИВНОГО ГРУППОВОГО УПРАВЛЕНИЯ РОБОТОТЕХНИЧЕСКИМИ КОМПЛЕКСАМИ В УСЛОВИЯХ НЕДЕТЕРМИНИРОВАННОЙ ДИНАМИЧЕСКОЙ СРЕДЫ

The rapid development of "multi-agent systems" as an independent and multifaceted sectionof artificial intelligence attracts many researchers in various fields of activity. The pace of progressin the development of information technologies, distributed information systems, and computertechnology determines the possibilities of using robotics technologies in the Armed Forces ofthe Russian Federation. The factors presented in the article authorize the need to introduce newintelligent technologies into the troops - autonomous robotic complexes (systems). The developmentof artificial intelligence methods makes it possible to take a new step towards changing thestyle of interaction of complexes with each other as part of a robotic system. The idea of creatingso-called "autonomous complexes" arose, which gave rise to a new style of adaptive group management.Instead of interaction initiated by the user-operator through commands and direct manipulations,complexes are independently involved in the joint process of solving a common problemin a non-deterministic dynamic environment. The article proposes a formalized approach tothe design of architectures for group interaction of autonomous robotic complexes in a systembased on the law of open control, i.e. induced and reliable preferences of each complex for action,satisfying the conditions of perfect coordination of their activities, by identifying parameters atwhich the objective function is maximized in various modes of functioning of the robotic system. Aformalized formulation of the problem of synthesis of the adaptive group control system of autonomousrobotic complexes under conditions of a priori uncertainty is presented. The architecture ofgroup interaction of complexes is adaptively built based on the conditions of the external environmentand the internal state of the system, in which each complex of the group functions to achievea common goal (solving a system problem) at the time under consideration.

Expression of stable and reliable preference and aversion phenotypes following place conditioning with psychostimulants.

Drug-seeking behavior occurs more readily in some individuals than others. This phenomenon is considered in studies of drug self-administration in which high drug-seeking/taking individuals can be identified. In contrast, studies of conditioned place preference (CPP) often involve a random sample of drug-naïve rodents that includes phenotypes not considered relevant to addiction. The main objective of the current studies was to determine if a priori identification of different conditioning phenotypes could improve the validity and sensitivity of CPP expression as a preclinical test for vulnerability to addiction. Analysis of cocaine place conditioning data from 443 Swiss-Webster mice revealed a trimodal distribution with peaks corresponding to means of k = 3 clusters. The cluster means occurred at high, low, or negative preference scores, the latter suggesting a phenotype acquiring conditioned place aversion (CPA). The same clusters were identified in mice conditioned with methamphetamine, MDPV, or amphetamine, and these clusters remained stable and reliable during three additional expression tests spaced at 24h. A meta-analysis of effect sizes obtained from CPP literature revealed a positively skewed distribution affected by sample size, consistent with the existence of a CPA phenotype within the populations tested. A dopamine receptor antagonist, flupentixol, blocked cocaine CPP expression in a group containing all phenotypes, but sensitivity improved markedly when CPA phenotypes were excluded from the dataset. These studies suggest that taking phenotype into consideration when designing place conditioning studies will improve their application as a preclinical tool in addiction biology and drug discovery.

Infants’ intention-based evaluations of distributive actions

Recent research revealed that infants attend to agents’ intentions when they evaluate helping actions. The current study investigated whether infants also consider agents’ intentions when they evaluate distributive actions. In Experiment 1, 9-month-old infants were first shown two failed attempts to perform a distribution. In the “failed equal distribution,” the distributor first tried to reach one of the recipients to deliver an apple, failed, and then attempted to reach the other possible recipient to deliver a different apple and also failed. In the “failed unequal distribution,” a different distributor always tried unsuccessfully to reach the same beneficiary. Then, in the test phase, infants were presented with the two distributors side by side, and infants’ spontaneous preferential looking and reaching actions were recorded. We found a reliable preference for the equal distributor in both the visual and manual responses. Experiments 2 and 3 helped to rule out alternative explanations based on perceptual cues and affiliative biases. Overall, these findings suggest that infants’ ability to evaluate distributive actions relies not only on the outcomes but also on the distributors’ intentions.

Heterogeneous Route Choice Model Incorporating Group Segmentation Based on Travel Experience

Travelers make different choices about their routes based on the perceived travel time. This study aims to analyze the route choice behaviors by grouping them according to their perceived travel times. Reliability preference is a behavioral characteristic for travelers' on-time arrival according to stochastic travel time, and it is used to classify the travelers into four groups. From Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) data in Daegu, 9,758 travelers are observed to analyze their route choice behaviors. A stochastic model with generated sets of choices is developed using the probabilistic characteristics of travel times. A route-choice model is also estimated for each group, and the travelers' route-choice behaviors are analyzed using a mixed path-size correction logit (MPSCL) model. The statistical analysis indicates that there are different route-choice behaviors among the four groups. The different behaviors concerning the routes are analyzed by comparing the magnitude of the different coefficients. This study contributes to constructing different strategies for acquiring information considering the route-choice behaviors of each group. Providing travel information that considers individual preferences in travel choice is essential in smart mobility transportation systems.

Reliable trajectory-adaptive routing strategies in stochastic, time-varying networks with generalized correlations

This paper focuses on the problem of finding optimal trajectory-adaptive routing strategies in stochastic time-varying networks with generalized spatio-temporal correlations. A representation for jointly distributed continuous link travel times across the entire network with time-varying distributions and correlation structures is presented, and the crucial characteristics and methodological difficulties of the problem are discussed. The paper presents a generalized 2-stage path and strategy finding solution approach that can serve for finding both exact and approximate solutions with the tuning of a risk-level tolerance parameter. The first stage of the solution approach generates eligible paths, where the risk-level parameter is used to eliminate paths that are likely to be inefficient. The second stage finds reliable trajectory-adaptive strategies, using the eligible paths only, based on one or multiple reliability-based optimality conditions. Thus, the approach allows the user to determine the optimal strategy for one or multiple groups of travelers with different reliability preferences. Numerical experiments show that the average running time of the algorithm reduces super-linearly with the increase of the risk-tolerance parameter ∊, while incurring some loss to the objective function relative to the exact solution. Thus, the heuristic can offer significant benefits in reducing the run time of the solution algorithm, while finding adaptive strategy solutions that consistently maintain better objective function values compared to the a priori (i.e., non-adaptive) solutions.

(2007-6020) A consistency-driven approach to construction of Z-number-valued pairwise comparison matrices

The notion of consistency is used to estimate the quality of preference knowledge and its stability for reliable evaluation of decision alternatives. It is well-known that a set of strict consistency conditions are used to keep the rationality of preference intensities between compared elements. These requirements are not achievable in the real situations when decision maker has limited rationality and partially reliable preferences. In this study, we propose an approach to deriving consistency-driven preference degrees for such kind of situations. A preference degree is described by a Z-number to reflect imprecision and partial reliability of preference knowledge. An optimization problem with Z-number valued variables is used to formulate design of consistent preferences. A real-world decision making problem is considered to illustrate application of the proposed method and conduct comparison with an existing technique.

The economic value of unsupplied electricity: Evidence from Nepal

Employing two complementary pieces of information from a nationally-representative sample of grid-connected consumers in Nepal - revealed coping behavior and stated willingness to pay (WTP) - this paper analyzes the demand for electricity reliability. First, ex-ante WTP values are estimated for households and firms under different electricity tariff categories. The results indicate substantial heterogeneity in needs and preferences for electricity reliability across and within residential and non-residential tariff categories. The obtained WTP values are then regressed on a set of household- and firm-level observable characteristics to determine the predictors of demand for reliability. Third, predictions by ex-ante WTP estimates are validated using ex-post changes in electricity consumption levels due to countrywide reliability improvements in Nepal. For policy-making purposes, the findings highlight the importance of conducting a detailed analysis of households' preferences and firms' opportunity costs when evaluating the costs and benefits of electricity reliability investments.

Computational and motivational mechanisms of human social decision making involving close others

Every day, human beings make decisions with social consequences. These social consequences matter most when they impact those closest to us. Recent research has shown that humans exhibit reliable preferences when deciding between conflicting outcomes involving close others – for example, prioritizing the interests of one's family member over one's friend. However, virtually nothing is known about the mechanisms that drive these preferences. We conducted a pre-registered study in a large (maximum N = 375) sample to quantify the computational and motivational mechanisms of human social decision-making preferences involving close others. By pairing assessment techniques from behavioral economics and psychological science with computational modeling and random coefficient regression, we show that value-based cognitive computations (e.g., risk and loss aversion) drive social decision-making preferences involving financial outcomes, whereas socioemotional motivations (e.g., relationship quality) underlie preferences involving social outcomes. These results imply mechanistic heterogeneity, underscoring a need for greater attention to contextual specificity in social decision-making.

Patient-Preferred Prosthetic Ankle-Foot Alignment for Ramps and Level-Ground Walking

Patient preference of lower limb prosthesis behavior informally guides clinical decision making, and may become increasingly important for tuning new robotic prostheses. However, the processes for quantifying preference are still being developed, and the strengths and weaknesses of preference are not adequately understood. The present study sought to characterize the reliability (consistency) of patient preference of alignment during level-ground walking, and determine the patient-preferred ankle angle for ascent and descent of a 10° ramp, with implications for the design and control of robotic prostheses. Seven subjects with transtibial amputation walked over level ground, and ascended and descended a 10° ramp on a semi-active prosthetic ankle capable of unweighted repositioning in dorsiflexion and plantarflexion. Preferred ankle angle was measured with an adaptive forced-choice psychophysics paradigm, in which subjects walked on a randomized static ankle angle and reported whether they would prefer the ankle to be dorsiflexed or plantarflexed. Subjects had reliable preferences for alignment during level-ground walking, with deviations of 1.5° from preference resulting in an 84% response rate preferring changes toward the preference. Relative to level walking, subjects preferred 7.8° (SD: 4.8°) of dorsiflexion during ramp ascent, and 5.3° (SD: 3.8°) plantarflexion during ramp descent. As the ankle angle better matched the ramp angle, socket pressures and tibial progression (shank pitch) both more closely mirrored those during level walking. These findings provide baseline behaviors for prosthetic ankles capable of adapting to slopes based on patient preference, and provide strong evidence that people with transtibial amputation can finely perceive ankle alignment.

A techno-economic and environmental assessment of residential rooftop solar - Battery systems in grid-connected households in Lagos, Nigeria

We developed a techno-economic model to simulate the performance of residential solar-battery systems as a means of reducing the reliance on backup generators in grid connected households in Lagos, Nigeria. We compared the economic and environmental performance of solar-battery systems to the technology options in households that may currently rely on backup generators to supplement unreliable grid service. Our analysis shows that solar-battery systems are economically profitable for households who rely on their backup generators to ensure at least 8-h of reliable service daily. We also show that the solar-battery systems could offer a cost-effective alternative for households intending to increase the level of the electricity services they receive without greater demand from backup generators. Finally, installing the solar-battery system lowers annual air emissions from households by 15 %–87 %. The paper proposes that policymakers provide access to low interest loans to improve the economic attractiveness of solar-battery systems across all the reliability preference levels.

On the Smaller Number of Inputs for Determining User Preferences in Recommender Systems

One of the most popular applications for the recommender systems is a movie recommendation system that suggests a few movies to a user based on the user’s preferences. Although there is a wealth of available data on movies, such as their genres, directors and actors, there is little information on a new user, making it hard for the recommender system to suggest what might interest the user. Accordingly, several recommendation services explicitly ask users to evaluate a certain number of movies, which are then used to create a user profile in the system. In general, one can create a better user profile if the user evaluates many movies at the beginning. However, most users do not want to evaluate many movies when they join the service. This motivates us to examine the minimum number of inputs needed to create a reliable user preference. We call this the magic number for determining user preferences. A recommender system based on this magic number can reduce user inconvenience while also making reliable suggestions. Based on user, item and content-based filtering, we calculate the magic number by comparing the accuracy resulting from the use of different numbers for predicting user preferences.