Bad Choice Research Articles

The Geometry of Dynamic Time-Dependent Best–Worst Choice Pairs

There has been increasing interest in best–worst discrete choice experiments (BWDCEs) in health economics, transportation research, and other fields over the last few years. BWDCEs have distinct advantages compared to other measurement approaches in discrete choice experiments (DCEs). A systematic study of best–worst (BW) choice pairs can be traced back to the 1990s. Recently, new ideas have been introduced to the subject. Calculating utility helps measure the attractiveness of BW choices. The goal of this paper is twofold. First, we extend the idea of the BW choice pair to include dynamic, time-dependent transition probability and capture utility at each time and for each choice pair. Second, we used the geometry of BW choice pairs to capture the correlations among them and to characterize and clarify the BW choice pairs in the network, where properties can be derived within each class. This paper discusses BWDCEs, the probability transition matrix of choices over time, and the utility function. The proposed network classification for BW choice pairs is laid out. A detailed simulated example is presented, and the results are compared with the classical K-means classification.

Decision support model for selecting construction and demolition waste management alternatives: A life cycle-based approach

Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) represents a pressing concern within the European Union, underscoring the urgent need for effective waste management strategies. The selection of these solutions constitutes a complex task, entailing the identification of efficient C&DW management strategies that balance appropriate practices, regulatory compliance, resource conservation, economic feasibility, and environmental considerations. LCA is widely utilized to assess environmental impact, yet the economic aspect has not been adequately incorporated into the LCA process in the field of C&DW management. The life cycle costing (LCC) methodology has been tailored to assess economic performance in conjunction with LCA. The selection of an appropriate multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method is vital for the C&DW system. This study proposes a novel framework for C&DW management by integrating LCA and LCC outcomes into MCDM, using AHP for weight determination, and applying TOPSIS to identify the favorable alternative. Four waste management alternatives were examined in the Lombardy region of Italy, namely (i) landfill; (ii) recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery; (iii) recycling for road construction; (iv) recycling for concrete production and road construction. We determine that, with the implementation of various scenarios, the most suitable scenario emerges to be recycled for concrete production and road construction, with a score of 0.711/1; recycling for road construction with final score 0.291/1, ranks second; recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery scores 0.002/1, ranks third; and landfill (scores: 0/1) is the worst choice, signifying it has the highest environmental impacts and the least economic benefits. Lastly, recommendations were formulated to enhance the environmental performance of the system.

Determining the Emotional Intelligence and Compassion Fatigue Among Postgraduate Dental Students Using the Emotional Intelligence Scale and the Quality of Life Scale: An Observational Study.

Introduction Compassion fatigue (CF) is a problem for professionals who work with traumatized individuals. CF manifests as reliving personal sorrow, nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, numbing or avoiding memories of the experience, and elevated physiological arousal. CF makes professionals more likely to make bad choices, such as misplacing treatments or mistreating patients. Emotional intelligence (EI) is essential to comprehending human behavior, performance, and well-being. EI is a crucial component of professional competency in medical education, as postgraduate dental students are also at risk of having CF. They are professionals and have to work with traumatized patients, so the study was conducted to evaluate their CF and EI. This study aimed to evaluate EI and CF among postgraduate dental students at Sharad Pawar Dental College and Hospital, Wardha, India. Materials The observational study was conducted at Sharad Pawar Dental College and Hospital among postgraduate dental students. The data was collected from 80 postgraduate students who responded to the Professional Quality of Life Version 5 and the Emotional Intelligence Scale questionnaires. Result A total of 80 postgraduate dental students responded to the Professional Quality of Life Version 5 and the Emotional Intelligence Scale questionnaires, and all the responses were included in the study. Findings revealed that postgraduate dental students treating patients have high levels of CF and EI. Conclusion This study indicates that there is a high level of CF and EI in postgraduate dental students. As high CF is harmful and can affect physical and mental well-being, proper management should be done through psycho-education and self-care.

A multistep strategy for polynomial system solving over finite fields and a new algebraic attack on the stream cipher Trivium

In this paper we introduce a multistep generalization of the guess-and-determine or hybrid strategy for solving a system of multivariate polynomial equations over a finite field. In particular, we propose performing the exhaustive evaluation of a subset of variables stepwise, that is, by incrementing the size of such subset each time that an evaluation leads to a polynomial system which is possibly unfeasible to solve. The decision about which evaluation to extend is based on a preprocessing consisting in computing an incomplete Gröbner basis after the current evaluation, which possibly generates linear polynomials that are used to eliminate further variables. If the number of remaining variables in the system is deemed still too high, the evaluation is extended and the preprocessing is iterated. Otherwise, we solve the system by a complete Gröbner basis computation.Having in mind cryptanalytic applications, we present an implementation of this strategy in an algorithm called MultiSolve which is designed for polynomial systems having at most one solution. We prove explicit formulas for its complexity which are based on probability distributions that can be easily estimated by performing the proposed preprocessing on a testset of evaluations for different subsets of variables. We prove that an optimal complexity of MultiSolve is achieved by using a full multistep strategy with a maximum number of steps and in turn the standard guess-and-determine strategy, which essentially is a strategy consisting of a single step, is the worst choice. Finally, we extensively study the behaviour of MultiSolve when performing an algebraic attack on the well-known stream cipher Trivium.

Consumer Preferences for Wood-Pellet-Based Green Pricing Programs in the Eastern United States

Co-firing wood pellets with coal is an attractive alternative energy generation method with economic, social, and environmental benefits for the US energy generation sector. One way to sustainably use wood pellets for co-firing is to create consumer-supported green pricing programs (GPPs). Our study surveyed residents of five states (Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) to investigate preferences for the attributes of a hypothetical GPP. The study applied the Best Worst Choice method, which employs the Best Worst Scaling (BWS) and binary choice (BC) task. The BWS analysis showed that residents of all five states most value the flexibility of contracts, the location of energy generation, and the reduction of carbon emissions as attributes of GPPs. The BC analysis, however, showed that residents are willing to pay a premium for length of contract, followed by reduction of carbon emissions and variability of payments. This study shows that the adoption of optimal GPP attributes can create real customer value. The success of GPPs will depend on increasing enrollment and public support; hence, the next step will be to increase awareness levels and green consciousness through sensitization in the form of public education exercises and media campaigns. Such measures will serve to inform and educate residents on the benefits of GPPs and lessen the gap between intrinsic value and willingness to pay for select attributes.

Extension of simple multi-attribute rating technique in uncertainty environment for 5G industry evaluation: Egyptian new administrative capital as a case study

As is well-known, multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches can aid decision-makers in identifying the optimal alternative based on predetermined criteria. However, it is a big challenge to apply this approach in complex applications such as 5th generation (5G) industry assessment because criteria are challenging and trade-offs between them are hard. Also, assessment of the 5G industry involve strong uncertainty. So, this study is the first to evaluate the 5G industry using a new neutrosophic simple multi-attribute rating technique (N-SMART). Since neutrosophic set considers truth-degree, indeterminacy-degree, and falsity-degree, it is a more accurate instrument for evaluating uncertainty. The 5G assessment issue exemplifies the validity and great performance of our proposed method as: (1) its ability to deal with uncertainty phenomena; (2) its simplicity; and (3) its enhanced capacity to discern alternatives. Also, by considering the 5G service provided in the Egyptian New Administrative capital as a case study, the results showed that Ericsson 5G is the best choice and Nokia 5G is the worst choice.

The Influence of Diet and Its Components on the Development and Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC).

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is diagnosed annually in nearly a million people worldwide, with approximately half of them being diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease. Non-infectious risk factors for the development of HCC include an unbalanced lifestyle, including poor dietary choices characterized by a low intake of antioxidants, such as vitamins E and C, selenium, and polyphenols, as well as an excessive consumption of energy and harmful substances. Repeated bad dietary choices that contribute to an unbalanced lifestyle lead to the accumulation of fatty substances in the liver and to it entering an inflammatory state, which, without intervention, results in cirrhosis, the main cause of HCC. This review of the English language literature aims to present the food components that, when included in the daily diet, reduce the risk of developing HCC, as well as identifying foods that may have a carcinogenic effect on liver cells.

Empirical mathematical model for describing anisotropic dry friction forces

The paper presents an experimental and simulative study on anisotropic dry friction. Friction force components tangential and normal to sliding velocity are measured for the corrugated cardboard-felt frictional pair. Six different curves with two-fold symmetry are analysed in terms of modelling anisotropic friction. Next, the parameters of the analysed curves are identified based on the experimental results. Friction hodograph is best described by the Gielis’ curve and the superellipse, whereas the ellipse seems to be the worst choice. The sliding potential is described best by the oval. It is shown that modelling of the sliding potential can be crucial in capturing the dynamics of the system and the superelliptical sliding rule can lead to qualitatively different results.

Dimensions of the constitution

The article is devoted to the conceptualization of the dimensions of the constitution as an important direction of modern political and legal research. It was noted that the category “dimension” combines the objective determination of the influence of the constitution on the course of social relations with its utilitarian value.
 Given the complexity and multidimensionality of society, it can be argued that there can be many dimensions of the constitution. However, it is known that the constitution to one degree or another regulates (consolidates) all four subsystems of the social system: political, economic, social, and spiritual and cultural. Therefore, the most general, system-creating dimensions of the constitution can be only four - according to the number of subsystems of the social system. All of them can be covered by the term “general or general social dimensions”.
 The author claims that from a legal point of view, we should be primarily interested in those “internal” dimensions of the constitution that characterize the significance of the constitution for the state mechanism and the national legal system. They, again conditionally, can be called “special” or “legal”. The relevant criteria should be sufficiently universal and significant, capable of being applied to states of different levels of development and different historical eras. At the same time, it should be understood that the constitution is only a legal instrument, so it can neither be blamed for a bad political choice nor praised for a good one.
 In the broadest plan, five main legal criteria for the success of the constitution are proposed – these are its endurance (permanence), legitimacy, the ability to resolve political conflicts in a legal way, the ability to limit agency costs, as well as to promote the production of public goods.
 The opinion that according to the vast majority of the dimensions listed above, the current Constitution of Ukraine of 1996 demonstrates quite high results, being an example of a modern and effective Basic Law, is justified. The main problem facing the national Constitution in this regard is the problem of limiting the so-called “agency costs”, especially in the area of corruption prevention.

The Play-Doh Brain: How Shapeable Neurons Help You Learn and Remember

Imagine that your mom just baked a pizza, and you immediately take a bite of it. Bad choice—it is really hot, and you burn your tongue! You learn a lesson from this experience, but what is happening in your brain? When the burning sensation reaches the brain, some brain cells, called neurons, become active and communicate with each other. Thanks to a process called synaptic plasticity, neurons can increase the strength of their communication and store new information. The next time your mom prepares pizza, the same neurons that were active the first time will start talking again, and you will know to wait for it to cool down before taking a bite. In this article, we will describe some properties of neurons and what happens to these cells when you create new memories. We hope that you will learn something new and share it with your friends, as neurons would do!

Akumulacija deviznih rezervi u funkciji sprečavanja valutnih kriza

The purpose of the paper is to explain the importance of foreign exchange reserves (FER) for the protection of the country from potential currency vulnerability. FER are controlled by the central monetary institution of the country - the central bank. We have witnessed many currency, financial and economic crises that have hit various parts of the world in the past three decades. If there is no appropriate and timely reaction of the central bank in crisis conditions or there is a bad choice of the exchange rate regime (ERR), it can lead to unforeseeable consequences for the economy and the entire society of the country. The paper will benefit monetary policy makers in order to review the optimality of FER and the sustainability of the current ERR.

Data management and techniques for best–worst discrete choice experiments

In this article, we present software that is suitable for use with Stata’s choice modeling suite of commands, which begin with cm. Within the context of choice models, we focus on best–worst data. In such data, respondents are presented a set of choices and are required to select a best and a worst choice from among the alternatives. Optionally, respondents may indicate an opt-out choice, in which no best or worst choice exists in the choice set. Such data are simplified versions of experiments in which respondents rank all the choices. Once best–worst data are collected, there are specific types of data expansions that analysts use to take advantage of both explicit and implicit information. The commands described in this article support data expansion and model estimation.

COMMENTARY – THE POST‐GLOBALIZATION OF SOUTH ASIA

Ironic as it may seem, one of the major victims of America's diplomatic retreat from Pakistan has been India. China has filled the void of U.S. disengagement, solidifying its grip on Pakistan and locking India in a two‐front vise that it cannot cope with on its own. India has no choice but to reach out for alliances with liberal nations it shunned in its Non‐Aligned days. This radical policy shift is capped, however, by the ideological constraints of Modi's BJPism. That is the main reason why India has refused to abort its military and economic ties with Russia. A similar anti‐liberalism led Imran Khan, the ex‐prime minister of Pakistan, to seek an anti‐Western accord with Russia. Conversely, Pakistan's current leadership is trying hard to repair its U.S. relations. Following the lead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, this extended commentary favors robust U.S. engagement with all of South Asia but qualifies that case by stressing that the wrong kind of engagement would end up serving the cause of Sino‐authoritarianism. What is needed is moral realism, which avoids the ethical blight of both Kissingeresque realism and globalist irrealism. Pakistan is ripe for this post‐globalist realism because it affords no clean and neat “right” choices yet is far too important to abandon. Such cases compel us to search for lesser evils: the best available bad choices we can locate.

A variation of the cube model for best–worst choice

In this paper, we propose a dynamical model for the best–worst choice task. The proposed model is a modification of the multi-episode Cube model proposed and studied in so-called (Mallahi-Karai and Diederich, 2019, 2021). This model postulates that best–worst choice (or more generally, ranking) task is the outcome of sequential choices made in a number of episodes. The underlying model is a multivariate Wiener process with drift issued from a point in the unit cube, where episodes are defined in terms of a sequence of stopping times. This model can also be extended to an attention-switching framework in a standard way.

“They are kids, they’re making bad choices, but they are not bad kids”: motivations and deterrents for joyriding amongst Australian youth

ABSTRACT Car theft and joyriding are becoming increasingly common in regional areas of Australia. Whilst the consequences of these actions can be fatal, surprisingly little is known about the motivations for young people who engage in these behaviours. This exploratory study draws from 17 in-depth interviews that were conducted as part of a pilot intervention program aimed at adolescents either already engaged or susceptible to car theft and joyriding behaviours. The findings suggest that joyriding predominately attracts disenfranchised youth who lack opportunities for education, employment, and leisure. For these adolescents, joyriding emerges to counterbalance disadvantage and alleviate the monotony in their lives. Interviewees also provide suggestions for deterring joyriding, such as providing young people with occupational opportunities that allow them to serve as role models to themselves and others and adrenaline-based activities to replace the thrills of joyriding.

On Becoming Fearful Quickly: A Reinterpretation of Aristotle’s Somatic Model of Socratean akrasia.

The Protagoras is the touchstone of Socrates’ moral intellectualist stance. The position in a nutshell stipulates that the proper reevaluation of a desire is enough to neutralize it.[1] The implication of this position is that akrasia or weakness of will is not the result of desire (or fear for that matter) overpowering reason but is due to ignorance. 
 Socrates’ eliminativist position on weakness of will, however, flies in the face of the common-sense experience regarding akratic action and thus Aristotle was at pains to render Socrates’ account of moral incontinence intelligible. The key improvement Aristotle makes to Socrates’s model is to underscore that the conditioning of the akratic’s body plays a critical role in determining the power of one’s appetites and, accordingly, the capacity of one to resist the temptations these appetites present for rational evaluation. As Aristotle puts it, “For the incontinent man is like the people who get drunk quickly and on little wine, i.e., on less than most people.” (1151a 3-4). Aristotle presents what I shall call a somatic paradigm (i.e. the drunkard analogy) in order to tackle the problem of akrasia and it is this somatic solution that marks a significant improvement over Socrates’s intellectualist or informational model or so the tradition tells us.
 In this paper, I wish to push back on the above Aristotelian explanation. I argue that when one fully examines Socrates’ account of weakness of will that Aristotle’s solution is less effective than is traditionally thought. In fact, Socrates can bring Aristotle’s model into his own; just as Aristotle absorbs what is right about Socrates’s model, namely, that akratic action utilizes reason but to a limited degree, Socrates in Meno (77C-78A) develops his own somatic model of weakness of will that connects to the intellectualist paradigm of the Protagoras. To achieve this rapprochement between the two models, I zero in on the description provided by Socrates of those individuals who desire bad things knowing they are bad as “ill-starred” or “bad spirited” (κακοδαίμων ). The “bad-spirited” is the coward and, in contrast to Aristotle’s drunkard, becomes fearful quickly from little danger. This additional somatic component, when connected to Socrates’s position on akrasia in Protagoras adds a new twist to Socrates’s model in the following way: while no one wishes to be ill-starred such that more harm than good will befall one, one may become so as a result of the bad choices one knowingly makes.
 
 [1] “After him came Socrates, who spoke better and further about this subject, but even he was not successful. For he used to make the virtues into sciences, and this is impossible. For the sciences all involve reason, and reason is to be found in the intellectual part of the soul. So that all the virtues, according to him arise in the rational part of the soul. The result is that in making the virtues into sciences he is doing away with the nonrational part of the soul and is thereby doing away with passion and character…” (Aristotle, Magna Moralia 1.1. 1182 a15-26)

Strengthening Character Education through Critical Culture in the Era of Revolution 5.0

The era of revolution 5.0 is a concept of society based on technology. Various challenges arise in the era of revolution 5.0 which requires each individual to have special skills and abilities, including the ability to think critically, creatively and innovatively and have good character as a control in utilizing technology. This service aims to provide strengthening of character education to every individual, especially students who are part of society so that they can have good ethics as a characteristic of Indonesian national identity. The service was carried out in the form of a scientific oration involving 55 participants who were students representing the Student Executive Board for the West Java Region. The results of the service show that critical culture as student character education is very important as a provision to face various challenges of the 5.0 revolution era. Critical culture becomes one of the traits in student character development to prevent the destruction of young morals from being degraded by bad choices

Customer preferences heterogeneity toward avocado: a latent class approach based on the best–worst scaling choice modeling

Consumption of the avocado fruit and its availability in the retail market has increased in recent decades and with it the desire to learn more about the market and consumer choices. This research aims to explore the consumers' preference heterogeneity toward avocado fruit in Italy assessing their personal eating orientation and socio-demographic factors. To achieve this purpose, the answers of 817 Italian consumer of avocado were collected using a structured questionnaire shared online at national level. A survey based on the best–worst method was conducted to assess the declared preferences of individuals toward a set of intrinsic, extrinsic and credence attributes of avocado, as well as a latent class analysis of subject preferences indexes was applied to identify different clusters of individuals. The distribution of preferences indexes was investigated among latent classes, which were regressed on the socio-demographic variables covariates using multinomial logistic regression. The results suggest that the desirable attributes for choosing avocado were taste, consistency (ready to eat) and affordable price. In addition, five consumer profiles in the Italian context were defined (named Hedonistic, Avocado fruit lovers, Sustainability sensitive, Value for money and Health sensitive) and characterized in terms of preferences and socio-demographic features. The study addresses a topic that has already been explored, but with an unexploited approach (latent class analysis combined with best–worst choice modeling). Therefore, the results help fill the gap in the existing literature by enriching it with a study that characterizes avocado consumers' preferences considering their heterogeneity in terms of perception and socio-demographic characteristics.

Best, worst, and best&worst choice probabilities for logit and reverse logit models

This paper builds upon the work of Professor Marley, who, since the beginning of his long research career, has proposed rigorous axiomatics in the area of probabilistic choice models. Our study concentrates on models that can be applied to best and worst choice scaling experiments. We focus on those among these models that are based on strong assumptions about the underlying ranking of the alternatives with which the individual is assumed to be endowed when making the choice. Taking advantage of an inclusion–exclusion identity that we showed a few years ago, we propose a variety of best–worst choice probability models that could be implemented in software packages that are flourishing in this field.

Cube model: Predictions and account for best–worst choice situations with three choice alternatives

The Cube model (Mallahi-Karai and Diederich, 2019) is a dynamic-stochastic approach for decision making situations including multiple alternatives. The underlying model is a multivariate Wiener process with drift, and its dimension is related to the number of alternatives in the choice set. Here we modify the model to account for Best–Worst settings. The choices are made in a number of episodes allowing the alternatives to be ranked from best to worst or from worst to best. The model makes predictions with respect to choice probabilities and (mean) choice response times. We show how the model can be implemented using Markov chains and test the model and a simpler variation of it on data from Hawkins et al. (2014b).