INFLUENCES OF HUMAN CAPITAL AND FARM CHARACTERISTICS ON FARMERS' RISK ATTITUDES

We have two objectives for this paper. The first is to develop an index reflective of farmers' attitudes towards risk. In addition, we show how the risk indices are distributed by size of farm and other farm and operator characteristics, providing information as to how risk management tools may be used, and farm policies targeted. This information will be useful to help explain agricultural sector structural change, such as complex business arrangements arising in agriculture, and household portfolio investment choices.Farm Management, Labor and Human Capital, Risk and Uncertainty,

Let me decide: The importance of user autonomy in accepting online recommendations

The ubiquity of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms has increased interest in the willingness of online users to accept the recommendations generated by recommendation system (RSs). The present study advances the discourse on how to facilitate the adoption and acceptance of such algorithms and systems by emphasizing the importance of user autonomy. As a first step, the hypothesis that user autonomy increases recommendation acceptance was tested in a controlled online experiment, in which we varied the number of recommendations presented to the user. A total of 240 participants used an online website, specifically developed for this study, to describe their vacation preferences and then chose their preferred vacation. Results show that users are more likely to accept recommendations when more recommendations are presented, highlighting the importance of user autonomy to the acceptance of RS and AI, while informing vendors about ways to tweak their algorithms to increase user compliance. Keywords: Recommendation, Autonomy, Decision making, Online experiment

A Necessity-Based Method for Product Requirement Elicitation and Classification

A new necessity-based method for the elicitation and classification of requirements in the early phases of the product design process is presented. The purpose is to guide a design engineer through the process of requirement elicitation so as to compile a more appropriate requirement list and avoid under- and over-constraining a product. The new method is based on the extended Form, Fit and Function approach. Its steps are derived from an in-depth analysis of literature sources. The applicability of the method is shown on a case study on residential solar panels. The method is validated by a case study on an air ventilation register box and by expert opinion. The necessity-based method fills the gap in the well-established methods for requirement elicitation and classification. It gives an insight into which requirements are important for certain product. The elicitation part of the new method reminds a design engineer of important case-related requirements. The classification part helps establishing rules on mandatory requirements

A networked voting rule for democratic representation

We introduce a general framework for exploring the problem of selecting a committee of representatives with the aim of studying a networked voting rule based on a decentralized large-scale platform, which can assure a strong accountability of the elected. The results of our simulations suggest that this algorithm-based approach is able to obtain a high representativeness for relatively small committees, performing even better than a classical voting rule based on a closed list of candidates. We show that a general relation between committee size and representatives exists in the form of an inverse square root law and that the normalized committee size approximately scales with the inverse of the community size, allowing the scalability to very large populations. These findings are not strongly influenced by the different networks used to describe the individuals interactions, except for the presence of few individuals with very high connectivity which can have a marginally negative effect in the committee selection process.Comment: Submitted for publicatio

Changes in Emotion Drive Perceptual Level Shifts: Global vs. Local Processing

Different emotional states have been implicated in bringing about specific changes in attention, with positive emotions globalizing attention and negative emotions localizing attention (Fredrickson, 2004). Biases in attentional processes have been associated with the development and maintenance of emotional disorders, anxiety being the most common. Previous studies have shown that anxious individuals present with a bias toward negative information and more readily employ localized attentional processes (Macleod, 2002). This finding demonstrated a link between perceptual levels of attention with higher order conceptual attention, which in turn influences emotional states. Many researchers have explored this relationship, including Fredrickson (2004), who developed the Broaden-and-Build hypothesis, demonstrating how positive mood broadens attentional, increases thought-action repertoires and creativity. However, other studies have presented different findings, with positive emotion allowing for both global and local attentional scopes (Baumann & Kuhl, 2002). The main aim of the study was to demonstrate how specific emotions, specifically fear and amusement, bring about perceptual level shifts in attention (global vs. local). The primary hypothesis is that fear will lead to more localized perceptual attention and that positive emotions like amusement will lead to more globalized perceptual attention

Community college transfer student identity, development and engagement: a constructivist grounded theory approach

The purpose of this constructivist grounded theory study was to explore community college transfer student identity, development, and engagement at four-year institutions due to the lack of literature in these areas. Relational maps and interview questions were crafted as part of the research design to explore meaning making, painting a holistic picture of the population\u27s experiences at four-year institutions and taking into account the intersections between identity, development, and engagement. Twenty five (n=25) participants were interviewed from two four-year institutions located on the eastern seaboard until data saturation was reached. Findings revealed three theories, suggesting that community college transfer students develop an alter ego, attempt to fit the entire four-year college experience in two years ( fitting four in two ), and use applicable engagement at their four-year institutions. These theories are the mechanisms that the population uses to cope with their feelings of conflict experienced at four-year institutions, leading to the desire for self-improvement over time. The results of this study are presented in two articles. Connections to the current literature, implications for policy, practice, and research, and the study\u27s limitations are discussed throughout both articles

Integrated assessment and valuation of ecosystem services - Guidelines and experiences

EU FP7 OpenNESS project deliverable D33 & D4

A Free Exchange e-Marketplace for Digital Services

The digital era is witnessing a remarkable evolution of digital services. While the prospects are countless, the e-marketplaces of digital services are encountering inherent game-theoretic and computational challenges that restrict the rational choices of bidders. Our work examines the limited bidding scope and the inefficiencies of present exchange e-marketplaces. To meet challenges, a free exchange e-marketplace is proposed that follows the free market economy. The free exchange model includes a new bidding language and a double auction mechanism. The rule-based bidding language enables the flexible expression of preferences and strategic conduct. The bidding message holds the attribute-valuations and bidding rules of the selected services. The free exchange deliberates on attributes and logical bidding rules for automatic deduction and formation of elicited services and bids that result in a more rapid self-managed multiple exchange trades. The double auction uses forward and reverse generalized second price auctions for the symmetric matching of multiple digital services of identical attributes and different quality levels. The proposed double auction uses tractable heuristics that secure exchange profitability, improve truthful bidding and deliver stable social efficiency. While the strongest properties of symmetric exchanges are unfeasible game-theoretically, the free exchange converges rapidly to the social efficiency, Nash truthful stability, and weak budget balance by multiple quality-levels cross-matching, constant learning and informs at repetitive thick trades. The empirical findings validate the soundness and viability of the free exchange

Preference-based Search using Example-Critiquing with Suggestions

We consider interactive tools that help users search for their most preferred item in a large collection of options. In particular, we examine example-critiquing, a technique for enabling users to incrementally construct preference models by critiquing example options that are presented to them. We present novel techniques for improving the example-critiquing technology by adding suggestions to its displayed options. Such suggestions are calculated based on an analysis of users current preference model and their potential hidden preferences. We evaluate the performance of our model-based suggestion techniques with both synthetic and real users. Results show that such suggestions are highly attractive to users and can stimulate them to express more preferences to improve the chance of identifying their most preferred item by up to 78%

Commodity definition and content validity in stated preference valuation: a meta-analysis of water quality welfare estimates

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013This paper applies a meta-analysis to investigate variation in willingness to pay estimates that arise from the use of different commodity descriptions in stated preference valuation surveys. To maintain commodity consistency, the data set for this meta-analysis is composed of willingness to pay estimates from contingent valuation, conjoint analysis, and choice experiment studies valuing water quality change in surface water bodies in the United States. The analysis uses an ordinary least squares regression with a cluster command to correct for potential correlation between observations drawn from the same study. The primary contribution of this study is the identification of systematic variation across stated preference studies resulting from changes in how the environmental commodity is presented and defined. By identifying the directional effect of these differences, this analysis provides insight into interpreting stated preference estimates and guidance for producing well-designed stated preference studies capable of eliminating bias and context effects