An Inverse Prospect Theory Based-Approach for Linear Ordinal Ranking Aggregation with Its Application in Site Selection of Electric Vehicle Charging Station

Considering that it is difficult for experts to provide precise preference values for the site selection of electric vehicle charging station in risky environment, this paper develops an approach for linear ordinal ranking aggregation to validly improve the efficiency and accuracy of electric vehicle charging station site selection. At first, the inverse value function of prospect theory is applied to reduce the impact of risk. Then, through combining with the concept of information energy, the experts' weights can be derived. Besides, a consistency constraint is added to the individual ranking-based alternatives' weights deriving model, which can guarantee the consistency degree at an acceptable level. Additionally, a consensus and standard deviation-based model is established to aggregate the alternatives' weights. Finally, a numerical case about the electric vehicle charging station site selection is presented to show the usage of the approach, meanwhile, comparative analysis and sensitivity analysis are also conducted which show the robustness and practicability of the approach

Clustering alternatives in preference-approvals via novel pseudometrics

Preference-approval structures combine preference rankings and approval voting for declaring opinions over a set of alternatives. In this paper, we propose a new procedure for clustering alternatives in order to reduce the complexity of the preferenceapproval space and provide a more accessible interpretation of data. To that end, we present a new family of pseudometrics on the set of alternatives that take into account voters’ preferences via preference-approvals. To obtain clusters, we use the Ranked k-medoids (RKM) partitioning algorithm, which takes as input the similarities between pairs of alternatives based on the proposed pseudometrics. Finally, using non-metric multidimensional scaling, clusters are represented in 2-dimensional space

U.S. AND PRC STRATEGIC COMPETITION: CYBER AND RISK AVERSION

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) altered its calculations from the aftermath of the 1990 Persian Gulf war and placed emphasis on the importance of technology and information. The PRC created the Strategic Support Force (SSF), which became operational in 2015, and includes space, cyber, and electronic warfare capabilities under one command. Meanwhile, the U.S. has wrapped itself in structural and cultural limitations, which hinder operational tempo. This thesis examined how the Department of Defense can adjust its positions on Cyber Titles, authorities, permissions, and risk aversion in leadership to maintain a competitive edge against the threat of the PRC’s SSF in the cyber domain. This thesis used system dynamics to model the economies of both the U.S. and the PRC into cyber capabilities, which resulted in an understanding that allocating additional money alone will not solve the core issue. Understanding the limitations of cultural biases, and using decision-making tools such as prospect theory, leaders can make more effective decisions. Through proper education of staff officers about cyber capabilities and their effects, integration of cyber operations at combat training centers, and pushing permissions and rules of engagements down to Task Force Commanders, the U.S. can overcome the structural and cultural obstacles.Major, United States ArmyMajor, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

THE THING Hamburg:A Temporary Democratization of the Local Art Field

THE THING Hamburg was an experimental Internet platform whose vocation was to contribute to the democratization of the art field, to negotiate new forms of art in practice, and to be a site for political learning and engagement. We, the authors, were actively involved in the project on various levels. In this paper, we trace the (local) circumstances that led to the emergence of the project and take a look at its historical precursor, we reflect on the organizational form of this collectively-run and participatory platform, and we investigate the role locality can play in the development of political agency. As a non-profit Internet platform built with free software, the project also invites a reflection of the role technology can play for the creation of independent experimental spaces for social innovation and how they make a difference against the backdrop of corporate social media. Relating the project to both the conceptual innovations of the Russian avant-garde as well as media-utopian projections shows that THE THING Hamburg stands in the tradition of an art that expands its own field by invoking a self-issued social assignment. Challenging the norms and in stitutions of the art field does not remain an exercise in self-referentiality; it rather redefines the role of art as an agent for political learning and how the use of technology in society at large can be emancipatory. And just as small projects like the THE THING Hamburg draw on old utopias for their contemporary negotiations of art, they equally produce more questions than they provide answers

Irrational Exuberance for Babies: The Taste for Heterosexuality and its Conspicuous Reproduction

This article targets a flying buttress of normative heterosexuality: its physical reproduction via procreation and its symbolic propagation through parents\u27 pre-natal preferences for heterosexuality in future children. While the parental taste for heterosexuality is often asserted for the sake of future children themselves, this justification overlooks the role of parental self-interest, including anticipated social gains to parents from heterosexuality in children. Hence the taste sets the stage both for sexual orientation-based abuse of future children and the devaluation of sexual minority adults. Courts too have a taste for heterosexuality, shown here in two state court cases denying gays and lesbians the right to marry. These courts hold that homosexuals reproduce deliberately while heterosexuals may do so recklessly, leading the courts to conclude that only heterosexuals require marriage to ensure stable homes for children. These decisions subsidize normative heterosexuality and its reproduction by conferring symbolic capital on both. Apart from the burdens it places on sexual minorities, this symbolic privilege comes at a cost to heterosexuals and children alike. By privileging the reproduction of normative heterosexuality, this symbolic economy discourages heterosexuals from fully appreciating the long-term consequences of reproduction. This economy also gives them a pretext for avoiding lifestyle competition with homosexual parents, to the detriment of children who might benefit from the improved parenting technique that such competition would encourage

Duhemian Themes in Expected Utility Theory

This monographic chapter explains how expected utility (EU) theory arose in von Neumann and Morgenstern, how it was called into question by Allais and others, and how it gave way to non-EU theories, at least among the specialized quarters of decion theory. I organize the narrative around the idea that the successive theoretical moves amounted to resolving Duhem-Quine underdetermination problems, so they can be assessed in terms of the philosophical recommendations made to overcome these problems. I actually follow Duhem's recommendation, which was essentially to rely on the passing of time to make many experiments and arguments available, and evebntually strike a balance between competing theories on the basis of this improved knowledge. Although Duhem's solution seems disappointingly vague, relying as it does on "bon sens" to bring an end to the temporal process, I do not think there is any better one in the philosophical literature, and I apply it here for what it is worth. In this perspective, EU theorists were justified in resisting the first attempts at refuting their theory, including Allais's in the 50s, but they would have lacked "bon sens" in not acknowledging their defeat in the 80s, after the long process of pros and cons had sufficiently matured. This primary Duhemian theme is actually combined with a secondary theme - normativity. I suggest that EU theory was normative at its very beginning and has remained so all along, and I express dissatisfaction with the orthodox view that it could be treated as a straightforward descriptive theory for purposes of prediction and scientific test. This view is usually accompanied with a faulty historical reconstruction, according to which EU theorists initially formulated the VNM axioms descriptively and retreated to a normative construal once they fell threatened by empirical refutation. From my historical study, things did not evolve in this way, and the theory was both proposed and rebutted on the basis of normative arguments already in the 1950s. The ensuing, major problem was to make choice experiments compatible with this inherently normative feature of theory. Compability was obtained in some experiments, but implicitly and somewhat confusingly, for instance by excluding overtly incoherent subjects or by creating strong incentives for the subjects to reflect on the questions and provide answers they would be able to defend. I also claim that Allais had an intuition of how to combine testability and normativity, unlike most later experimenters, and that it would have been more fruitful to work from his intuition than to make choice experiments of the naively empirical style that flourished after him. In sum, it can be said that the underdetermination process accompanying EUT was resolved in a Duhemian way, but this was not without major inefficiencies. To embody explicit rationality considerations into experimental schemes right from the beginning would have limited the scope of empirical research, avoided wasting resources to get only minor findings, and speeded up the Duhemian process of groping towards a choice among competing theories

Identity commitment in the context of psychosis: a grounded theory study

In the context of psychosis, persons encounter problems in self-experience and in the ‘social predicament’ posed by psychiatric diagnosis and unwanted identities. This means they are concerned with self-viability: with how to ‘get along with themselves’. The aim of this study was to develop a grounded theory of how persons deal with this concern of self-viability. Using the ‘classical version’ of grounded theory methodology, data were collected through interviews with eighteen persons with experience of psychosis and psychiatric treatment as well as through examination of eleven autobiographies authored by persons who also had first-hand experience of psychosis. Data were collected and analysed according to established grounded theory research procedures of open and selective coding, memo-writing, and theoretical sampling. The essential theoretical discovery associated with this study is that identity commitment is fundamental to how persons deal with their concern for selfviability in the context of psychosis. This refers to a pattern of self-relation in which persons commit to and are committed by their self-conceptions. There are three modes of identity commitment. The first is keeping true (to) selfconceptions in which persons keep true to, and reproduce truths of, themselves. The second is struggling through with Me’s where persons endeavour to sustain or retrieve identities that are threatened or lost. And the third mode of identity commitment is engaging to identities that incorporates finding things in common with new identities and implication in binding self-attachments. These patterns of truth-keeping, struggle and engagement can inform distinctive understandings of a range of issues in the context of psychosis. Resistance to psychiatric identification, entrapment by unwanted identities, ‘downward’ and ‘upward’ acceptance are particular examples of issues that identity commitment can elucidate. Furthermore, this concept merits further inquiry in the substantive area of psychosis as well as wider fields

Best Practices for Constitutional Government Under the South Korean Framework of Democratic Experimentalism

South Korea has been one of the most successful newborn republics since 1948, and yet, since the new millennium, it has been embroiled in a controversy over the issues of constitutionalism and successful government, with the public expressing concerns about transparency, democracy, and competitiveness. Of particular concern is the public\u27s perception of constitutional government. The purpose of this study was to better understand the elements of governmental success and best practices for constitutionalism in the country\u27s framework of democratic experimentalism. Three prongs of inquiry rooted in the democratic experimentalist tradition (lessons learned from private governance, national institutions, and new concepts of rights) were examined. Dorf and Sabel\u27s theory of constitution of democratic experimentalism was used to help answer the research question, which was, how democratic experimentalism supports constitutional government in South Korea. Data were collected through interviews with 16 legal/government professionals under the age of 40, and then coded and thematically analyzed. Findings identified 9 identified key themes as vital for the success of constitutional government in South Korea. Results suggest that constitutionalism and democratic experimentation need to be considered together when seeking to understand the South Korean constitutional government. Implications for positive social change include helping future investigators to better interpret the Korean constitutional system and supporting decision makers and public servants in making better informed decisions to further more democratic and transparent government

Merger notification: the necessity for adequately defining control

Company law notions of control are not always harmonious with those of competition law, and thus the former may need to create its own jurisprudence informed by an appreciation of the purpose of merger notification under the Competition Act 89 of 1998. My research in this study will examine the definitions of control under the Competition Act (the "Act"),in terms of section 12(1) and section 12(2) comparatively to that of a company law notion of control as set out by the Companies Act, in terms of section 2, section 3, and section 123. In addition to sections 13A(3), 14A(1), 16(2) and 17, setting out merger notification and implementation, compulsory notification necessitated by large concentrations that require commission approval, as well as transactions that require tribunal approval after referral from the commission, and lastly the Competition Appeal Court merger proceedings in order to set aside a Tribunal decision to set conditions on a merger or to prohibit it. A further subtopic for examination in this study being, when parties to a merger have failed to notify the authorities, how should the administrative penalty be calculated, as well as considering the potential for criminal sanctions for failure to notify