Automating decision making to help establish norm-based regulations

Norms have been extensively proposed as coordination mechanisms for both agent and human societies. Nevertheless, choosing the norms to regulate a society is by no means straightforward. The reasons are twofold. First, the norms to choose from may not be independent (i.e, they can be related to each other). Second, different preference criteria may be applied when choosing the norms to enact. This paper advances the state of the art by modeling a series of decision-making problems that regulation authorities confront when choosing the policies to establish. In order to do so, we first identify three different norm relationships -namely, generalisation, exclusivity, and substitutability- and we then consider norm representation power, cost, and associated moral values as alternative preference criteria. Thereafter, we show that the decision-making problems faced by policy makers can be encoded as linear programs, and hence solved with the aid of state-of-the-art solvers

Online Automated Synthesis of Compact Normative Systems

Peer reviewedPostprin

COST SAVINGS OF TAXING LOWER-RANKING, NON-DEPENDENT MEMBERS’ BASIC ALLOWANCE FOR HOUSING FOR COLLOCATED MILITARY COUPLES

The U.S. federal deficit continues to grow yearly and is approximately $1.719 trillion for fiscal year (FY) 2022, further increasing the national debt to approximately$31.1 trillion. Our research examines possible cost-saving measures available within the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) program, specifically a tax on the BAH of the lower-ranking, non-dependent service members within military collocated couples. We utilized data from the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) to define the population data for all military collocated couples for June 2022. Of the approximate $25.6 billion in BAH paid to service members in FY22, our estimates indicate approximately$1.25 billion is paid to the lower-ranking, non-dependent members of collocated military couples. Additionally, our estimates indicate that officers would pay a 15% higher amount in tax paid than enlisted. Our analysis suggests that potential cost savings of approximately $284.5 million annually can be achieved by instituting a tax on these members’ BAH allowances plus their base pay at a tax rate commensurate with the total of both. An alternative approach provides a cost savings of approximately$151.4 million annually attained by taxing only these service members’ BAH at a tax rate commensurate with the total of the BAH alone.Lieutenant Commander, United States NavyLieutenant Junior Grade, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Detection of Rotational Spectral Variation on the M-type asteroid (16) Psyche

The asteroid (16) Psyche is of scientific interest because it contains ~ 1% of the total mass of the asteroid belt and is thought to be the remnant metallic core of a protoplanet. Radar observations have indicated the significant presence of metal on the surface with a small percentage of silicates. Prior ground-based observations showed rotational variations in the near-infrared (NIR) spectra and radar albedo of this asteroid. However, no comprehensive study that combines multi-wavelength data has been conducted so far. Here we present rotationally resolved NIR spectra (0.7-2.5 microns) of (16) Psyche obtained with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. These data have been combined with shape models of the asteroid for each rotation phase. Spectral band parameters extracted from the NIR spectra show that the pyroxene band center varies from ~ 0.92 to 0.94 microns. Band center values were used to calculate the pyroxene chemistry of the asteroid, whose average value was found to be Fs30En65Wo5. Variations in the band depth were also observed, with values ranging from 1.0 to 1.5%. Using a new laboratory spectral calibration we estimated an average orthopyroxene content of 6+/-1%. The mass-deficit region of Psyche, which exhibits the highest radar albedo, also shows the highest value for spectral slope and the minimum band depth. The spectral characteristics of Psyche suggest that its parent body did not have the typical structure expected for a differentiated body or that the sequence of events that led to its current state was more complex than previously thought.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, published in The Astronomical Journa

The ciliary machinery is repurposed for T cell immune synapse trafficking of LCK

Upon engagement of the T cell receptor with an antigen-presenting cell, LCK initiates TCR signaling by phosphorylating its activation motifs. However, the mechanism of LCK activation specifically at the immune synapse is a major question. We show that phosphorylation of the LCK activating Y394, despite modestly increasing its catalytic rate, dramatically focuses LCK localization to the immune synapse. We describe a trafficking mechanism whereby UNC119A extracts membrane-bound LCK by sequestering the hydrophobic myristoyl group, followed by release at the target membrane under the control of the ciliary ARL3/ARL13B. The UNC119A N terminus acts as a “regulatory arm” by binding the LCK kinase domain, an interaction inhibited by LCK Y394 phosphorylation, thus together with the ARL3/ARL13B machinery ensuring immune synapse focusing of active LCK. We propose that the ciliary machinery has been repurposed by T cells to generate and maintain polarized segregation of signals such as activated LCK at the immune synapse

Amino acid metabolism conflicts with protein diversity

The twenty protein coding amino acids are found in proteomes with different relative abundances. The most abundant amino acid, leucine, is nearly an order of magnitude more prevalent than the least abundant amino acid, cysteine. Amino acid metabolic costs differ similarly, constraining their incorporation into proteins. On the other hand, sequence diversity is necessary for protein folding, function and evolution. Here we present a simple model for a cost-diversity trade-off postulating that natural proteomes minimize amino acid metabolic flux while maximizing sequence entropy. The model explains the relative abundances of amino acids across a diverse set of proteomes. We found that the data is remarkably well explained when the cost function accounts for amino acid chemical decay. More than one hundred proteomes reach comparable solutions to the trade-off by different combinations of cost and diversity. Quantifying the interplay between proteome size and entropy shows that proteomes can get optimally large and diverse