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Decision-making Rules (decision-making + rule)
Selected AbstractsThe use of field,based social information in eusocial foragers: local enhancement among nestmates and heterospecifics in stingless beesECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 3 2003E. Judith Slaa Abstract. 1. Foragers of social insects can be guided to profitable food sources by social information transfer within the nest. This study showed that in addition to such an information-centre strategy, social information in the field also plays an important role in individual foraging decisions. The effect of the presence of a nestmate on individual decision-making on where to forage was investigated in six species of stingless bee that differ in their recruitment system. Some species preferred to feed close to a nestmate (local enhancement) whereas other species actively avoided landing close to a nestmate. The term local inhibition is introduced for this avoidance behaviour. 2. Local enhancement and local inhibition were species specific but were not related to the species' recruitment system. 3. Local enhancement and local inhibition were affected by the individual's experience with the food source. Newly recruited foragers of Trigona amalthea showed local enhancement whereas experienced foragers showed local inhibition. 4. These individual decision-making rules explained accurately the spatial distribution of recruited nestmates: foraging groups of T. amalthea, which shows local inhibition, were more dispersed than foraging groups of Oxytrigona mellicolor, which shows local enhancement. 5. The effect of heterospecifics on stingless bee flower choice was investigated for 18 species combinations. Landing decisions were influenced significantly by the aggressiveness and the body size of the resident bee. Larger and more aggressive heterospecifics were avoided, whereas in some cases less aggressive bees acted as an attraction cue. [source] Introduced species as evolutionary trapsECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 3 2005Martin A. Schlaepfer Abstract Invasive species can alter environments in such a way that normal behavioural decision-making rules of native species are no longer adaptive. The evolutionary trap concept provides a useful framework for predicting and managing the impact of harmful invasive species. We discuss how native species can respond to changes in their selective regime via evolution or learning. We also propose novel management strategies to promote the long-term co-existence of native and introduced species in cases where the eradication of the latter is either economically or biologically unrealistic. [source] Credible Commitment in Non-Independent Regulatory Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of the European Agencies for Pharmaceuticals and FoodstuffsEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 5 2004Sebastian Krapohl Usually, these agencies evolve from EU committees and take over most of their structures. Accordingly, like most EU committees and the Commission, regulatory agencies are not independent, but act under the control of the member states. The question is, how far do they indicate a credible commitment of the Member States to long-term policy goals like health and consumer protection. This article compares the institutional structures and decision-making rules of the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products and of the newly established European Food Safety Authority, in order to clarify the extent of credible commitment that the Member States show through the setting-up of these agencies. It concludes that the commitment of the Member States in the foodstuff sector is not as deep as in the pharmaceutical sector, and that the creation of the European Food Safety Authority will not lead to a success story similar to that of the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products. [source] Towards a general and unified characterization of individual and collective choice functions under fuzzy and nonfuzzy preferences and majority via the ordered weighted average operatorsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 1 2009Janusz Kacprzyk A fuzzy preference relation is a powerful and popular model to represent both individual and group preferences and can be a basis for decision-making models that in general provide as a result a subset of alternatives that can constitute an ultimate solution of a decision problem. To arrive at such a final solution individual and/or group choice rules may be employed. There is a wealth of such rules devised in the context of the classical, crisp preference relations. Originally, most of the popular group decision-making rules were conceived for classical (crisp) preference relations (orderings) and then extended to the traditional fuzzy preference relations. In this paper we pursue the path towards a universal representation of such choice rules that can provide an effective generalization,for the case of fuzzy preference relations,of the classical choice rules. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Decision making beyond arrow's "impossibility theorem," with the analysis of effects of collusion and mutual attractionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 1 2009Hung T. Nguyen In 1951, K.J. Arrow proved that, under certain assumptions, it is impossible to have group decision-making rules that satisfy reasonable conditions like symmetry. This Impossibility Theorem is often cited as a proof that reasonable group decision-making is impossible. We start our article by remarking that Arrow's result covers only those situations when the only information we have about individual preferences is their binary preferences between the alternatives. If we follow the main ideas of modern decision making and game theory and also collect information about the preferences between lotteries (i.e., collect the utility values of different alternatives), then reasonable decision-making rules are possible, e.g., Nash's rule in which we select an alternative for which the product of utilities is the largest possible. We also deal with two related issues: how we can detect individual preferences if all we have is preferences of a subgroup and how we take into account the mutual attraction between participants. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Individual versus Household Migration Decision Rules: Gender and Marital Status Differences in Intentions to Migrate in South AfricaINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 1 2009Bina Gubhaju This research tests the thesis that the neoclassical microeconomic and the new household economic theoretical assumptions on migration decision-making rules are segmented by gender, marital status, and time frame of intention to migrate. Comparative tests of both theories within the same study design are relatively rare. Utilizing data from the Causes of Migration in South Africa national migration survey, we analyse how individually held "own-future" versus alternative "household well-being" migration decision rules effect the intentions to migrate of male and female adults in South Africa. Results from the gender and marital status specific logistic regressions models show consistent support for the different gender-marital status decision rule thesis. Specifically, the "maximizing one's own future" neoclassical microeconomic theory proposition is more applicable for never married men and women, the "maximizing household income" proposition for married men with short-term migration intentions, and the "reduce household risk" proposition for longer time horizon migration intentions of married men and women. Results provide new evidence on the way household strategies and individual goals jointly affect intentions to move or stay. [source] Decision support for simulating the car park activity in an urban areaJOURNAL OF ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION, Issue 2 2009Jean-Marie Boussier Abstract Complexity of car park activity is reproduced from a concurrent execution of behaviour of various drivers. This paper presents a step in the development of a multimodal traffic simulator based on multi-agent paradigm and designed as a decision aid tool as well as a video game. The user-player has the opportunity to test different scenarios. We propose an approach for designing the decision-making rules and the learning mechanism for a car driver agent. For that, a panel of methods such as stated preference modelling, Design Of Experiments and data fusion is used. Initial behavioural models, based on similar preferences, are developed for specified categories. Each agent will adapt its behaviour after executing its learning process. Our approach can be used in order to optimize needs of road network users and those of people in charge of traffic regulation. A demonstrator has been developed to test parking policies in an urban area as well as changes of car park characteristics. [source] | ||||||||||