Discrete Choice Models and Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Predicting the Determinants of Transport Mode Choice--A Systematic Review

Forecasting travel demand requires a grasp of individual decision-making behavior.However,transport mode choice(TMC)is determined by personal and contextual factors that vary from person to person.Numerous characteristics have a substantial impact on travel behavior(TB),which makes it important to take into account while studying transport options.Traditional statistical techniques frequently presume linear correlations,but real-world data rarely follows these presumptions,which may make it harder to grasp the complex interactions.Thorough systematic review was conducted to examine how machine learning(ML)approaches might successfully capture nonlinear correlations that conventional methods may ignore to overcome such challenges.An in-depth analysis of discrete choice models(DCM)and several ML algorithms,datasets,model validation strategies,and tuning techniques employed in previous research is carried out in the present study.Besides,the current review also summarizes DCM and ML models to predict TMC and recognize the determinants of TB in an urban area for different transport modes.The two primary goals of our study are to establish the present conceptual frameworks for the factors influencing the TMC for daily activities and to pinpoint methodological issues and limitations in previous research.With a total of 39 studies,our findings shed important light on the significance of considering factors that influence the TMC.The adjusted kernel algorithms and hyperparameter-optimized ML algorithms outperform the typical ML algorithms.RF(random forest),SVM(support vector machine),ANN(artificial neural network),and interpretable ML algorithms are the most widely used ML algorithms for the prediction of TMC where RF achieved an R2 of 0.95 and SVM achieved an accuracy of 93.18%;however,the adjusted kernel enhanced the accuracy of SVM 99.81%which shows that the interpretable algorithms outperformed the typical algorithms.The sensitivity analysis indicates that the most significant parameters influencing TMC are the age,total trip time,and the number of drivers.

The Ethical Choice of Business English Interpreters under Chesterman’s Model of Translation Ethics

This paper explores the ethical challenges encountered by business English interpreters using Chesterman’s Model of Translation Ethics,set against the context of economic globalization and the“Belt and Road”initiative.With the increasing demand for interpreters,the paper delves into the ongoing discussion about the role of AI in translation and its limitations,especially concerning cultural subtleties and ethical issues.It highlights the importance of human interpreters’cross-cultural understanding and the ethical principles that inform their work,such as the Ethics of Representation,Service,Communication,Norm-based Ethics,and Commitment.Moreover,the paper examines how these ethical models are applied in practical business situations,including business banquets,business negotiations,business talks and business visits,etc.,and investigates the cultural misunderstandings that may occur during these interactions.The study concludes that although AI provides efficiency and cost savings,human interpreters are essential for their capacity to handle the intricacies of cross-cultural communication with cultural awareness and ethical discernment.

Editor-in-Chief articles of choice and comments at the year-end of 2023

As the Editor-in-Chief of World Journal of Gastroenterology,every week prior to a new issue’s online publication,I perform a careful review of all encompassed articles,including the title,clinical and/or research importance,originality,novelty,and ratings by the peer reviewers.Based on this review,I select the papers of choice and suggest pertinent changes(e.g.,in the title)to the Company Editors responsible for publication.This process,while time-consuming,is very important for assuring the quality of publications and highlighting important articles that Readers may revisit.

The Influence of Social Media on College Choice among Undergraduates Majoring in Big Data Management and Application in China:Taking Guilin University of Electronic Technology as an Example

This study aims to investigate the influence of social media on college choice among undergraduates majoring in Big Data Management and Application in China.The study attempts to reveal how information on social media platforms such as Weibo,WeChat,and Zhihu influences the cognition and choice process of prospective students.By employing an online quantitative survey questionnaire,data were collected from the 2022 and 2023 classes of new students majoring in Big Data Management and Application at Guilin University of Electronic Technology.The aim was to evaluate the role of social media in their college choice process and understand the features and information that most attract prospective students.Social media has become a key factor influencing the college choice decision-making of undergraduates majoring in Big Data Management and Application in China.Students tend to obtain school information through social media platforms and use this information as an important reference in their decision-making process.Higher education institutions should strengthen their social media information dissemination,providing accurate,timely,and attractive information.It is also necessary to ensure effective management of social media platforms,maintain a positive reputation for the school on social media,and increase the interest and trust of prospective students.Simultaneously,educational decision-makers should consider incorporating social media analysis into their recruitment strategies to better attract new student enrollment.This study provides a new perspective for understanding higher education choice behavior in the digital age,particularly by revealing the importance of social media in the educational decision-making process.This has important practical and theoretical implications for higher education institutions,policymakers,and social media platform operators.

澳洲坚果主导品种Own Choice的品种配置研究

为了明确澳洲坚果园主导品种Own Choice(O.C)的最适配置品种,选择HAES863、D、D4、HAES816、HAES906、HAES294、HAES900、A4等8个品种为O.C授粉,统计分析不同授粉处理的着果率、杂交不亲和性程度指数、着果花序率、每果序着果数、落果率、壳果横径等指标。结果表明,以着果率及着果花序率统计的杂交不亲和性程度指数发现,HAES863、D、D4、HAES816、HAES906与O.C的杂交亲和性高于A4、HAES294、HAES900。供试品种处理的着果率与着果花序率之间存在正相关关系,初步推断可使用着果花序率代替着果率评价O.C与不同品种的杂交不亲和性程度;8个授粉处理的平均着果花序率为40.60%,可以此推断O.C与不同授粉品种的田间杂交不亲和性程度。综合分析推断,澳洲坚果主导品种O.C的最适配置品种为HAES863和D4,根据小气候可选择性搭配种植D、HAES906、HAES816。

Learning and learning choice in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an attractive model organism to study the behavioral plasticity for its simple system and ability to respond to diverse environmental stimuli, such as touch, smell, taste and temperature. Learning in C. elegans encompasses both non-associative learning and associative learning. Till now, themotaxis and chemotaxis are two major paradigms for associative learning and there are at least 6 forms of chemotaxis-mediated associative learning. Three research systems have also been explored to study the mechanism of learning choice in worms. This review will discuss the forms, research models, genetic and molecular regulation of learning and learning choice in C. elegans.

On developing multiple-choice and the washback-Taking cloze as an example

There are several types of cloze. The MC cloze is widely used in national examinations. MC cloze is similar to multiple choice, but not exactly the same. To develop an MC cloze, a suitable passage should be chosen first, then some of the words should be deleted, and finally the distractors for each item are set. To test whether the cloze is validable and reliable, the students are asked to take a pretest. The results are analyzed by GITEST. The data demonstrates that the difficulty level and the discrimination are not good enough. Some of the distractors are too tricky while some others are too weakly distractive.

Potato farmers’ preference for agricultural insurance in China: An investigation using the choice experimental method

Potato insurance plays an important role in transferring agricultural risks to promote the potato staple strategy. Understanding farmers’ real preferences for potato insurance attributes is important to improve the potato insurance. In this study, a choice experiment was designed with attributes such as peril, minimum compensation ratio for production loss, types of crops covered by insurance, annual premium per mu after subsidy, and complexity of claims procedures. We constructed a mixed logit model based on a questionnaire survey of 362 potato farmers’ choices of insurance attributes from 24 villages in Dingxi City of Gansu Province using random sampling. The results show that:(1) farmers prefer agricultural insurance with widely perils including output price drop and input cost risk;(2) farmers who have suffered plant disease and insect and pest damage are willing to pay a high premium for the insurance with a high compensation ratio and several types of crops covered;full-time farmers and large-scale farmers preferred insurance products with low complexity of claims procedures. Therefore, new potato insurance design could be considered specifically for different farmer groups such as those who had previous disaster experiences, and large-or small-scale farm operations.

Modeling the criminal's location choices in urban areas

With the method of dynamic programming, two spatial variables,the expected utility and the probability of success of each crime, are used to model the criminal's location choices in urban areas in this paper.The modeling results show that a criminal optimizes his crime locations according to the expected utility and the success probability during his planned period A criminal usually commits his first offense in the district that has the highest probability of success but a lower expected utility, and commits his last crime in the district where the expected utility is the highest and success probability is lower.If a location has both an expected utility and a higher probability of success, the criminal might commit all his offenses in thes place. The model also suggests that crime prevention measures should be adopted in accordance with local conditions. 'Covering' measures, such as patrolling, should be taken in the poor residential districts or juvenile delinquency districts, while more sophisticated and advanced measures should be introduced in the richer districts or the districts where professional criminals haunt.

HAZARD REGRESSION WITH PENALIZED SPLINE:THE SMOOTHING PARAMETER CHOICE AND ASYMPTOTICS

In this article, we use penalized spline to estimate the hazard function from a set of censored failure time data. A new approach to estimate the amount of smoothing is provided. Under regularity conditions we establish the consistency and the asymptotic normality of the penalized likelihood estimators. Numerical studies and an example are conducted to evaluate the performances of the new procedure.

Choice of Adaptation Strategies to Climate Variability among Smallholder Farmers in the Maize Based Cropping System in Namutumba District, Uganda

Smallholder farmers in Namutumba district draw on a combination of adaptation strategies to respond to effects of climate variability. However, there is limited scholarly evidence and explanation that has been conducted on the factors that influence the choice of alternative sets of strategies that smallholder farmers use in response to climate variability specific stress and literature that disentangles climatic stressors specific adaptation options. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select the study area and household respondents. The study used cross-sectional research design to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Household data was collected from 160 respondents with a structured questionnaire supported by key informant interviews. Multinomial logit modeling (MNL) was used to determine the relative influence of selected household socio-demographic factors on the choice of adaptation strategies against the dry spell. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to create weighted adaptation index for categorizing various similar adaptation strategies. In order to respond to the impact of climate variability stresses, smallholder farmers have adapted growing drought-resistant crops (12.2%), extension of the agricultural frontier into wetlands during the dry spells (37%), whereas use of crop rotation (9.8%) is the most dominant strategies used to manage pest and diseases, similarly soil and water conservation (15.3%) and climate-smart planning basin (11%) are the most dominant adaptation strategies use to manage flood. Empirical results from multinomial logit modeling showed that predictor variables gender, level of education, years of farming, house size, access to credit, and own radio have a significant influence on the choice of adaptation strategies with differences significant level during the dry spell. The study recommends that future policies should focus on strengthening the existing extension training package, strengthening the existing farmer’s groups and cooperatives, encouraging informal social networks in order to boost smallholder farmers’ adaptation to climate variability.

Driving factors and the implications of work choices of rural laborers in ecologically vulnerable areas in North China

Using rural survey data for the year 2009,we provide evidence of work choices of rural laborers in ecologically vulnerable areas in North China,and model these choices as a function of characteristics of individuals,households,and land endowments.The findings reveal large differences between males and females,and between non-farm employment and part-time farming engagement Land scarcity is still an important driving factor in non-farming participation of rural laborers in the study area;and in the current case of land productivity and the total amount of land,there are still surplus rural labor forces in the study area.Diversification of livelihood reduces the pressure on land,thus facilitating ecosystem conservation.So,the paper concludes with the argument that establishing coordination mechanisms among non-farm employment of rural laborers,agricultural production,and restoration of ecosystems are essential for mitigating the conflicts of ecological security,agricultural production,and rural development in mis area.

Portfolio Choice under the Mean-Variance Model with Parameter Uncertainty

Assuming the investor is uncertainty-aversion,the multiprior approach is applied to studying the problem of portfolio choice under the uncertainty about the expected return of risky asset based on the mean-variance model. By introducing a set of constraint constants to measure uncertainty degree of the estimated expected return,it built the max-min model of multi-prior portfolio,and utilized the Lagrange method to obtain the closed-form solution of the model,which was compared with the mean-variance model and the minimum-variance model; then,an empirical study was done based on the monthly returns over the period June 2011 to May 2014 of eight kinds of stocks in Shanghai Exchange 50 Index. Results showed,the weight of multi-prior portfolio was a weighted average of the weight of mean-variance portfolio and that of minimumvariance portfolio; the steady of multi-prior portfolio was strengthened compared with the mean-variance portfolio; the performance of multi-prior portfolio was greater than that of minimum-variance portfolio. The study demonstrates that the investor can improve the steady of multi-prior portfolio as well as its performance for some appropriate constraint constants.

A Freight Mode Choice Analysis Using a Binary Logit Model and GIS: The Case of Cereal Grains Transportation in the United States

Mode choice is important in shipping commodities efficiently. This paper develops a binary logit model and a regression model to study the cereal grains movement by truck and rail in the United States using the publically available Freight Analysis Framework (FAF2.2) database and U.S. highway and networks and TransCAD, a geographic information system with strong transportation modeling capabilities. The binary logit model and the regression model both use the same set of generic variables, including mode split probability, commodity weight, value, network travel time, and fuel cost. The results show that both the binary logit and regression models perform well for cereal grains transportation in the United States, with the binary logit model yielding overall better estimates with respect to the observed truck and rail mode splits. The two models can be used to study other commodities between two modes and may produce better results if more mode specific variables are used.

A Gender Analysis on the Participation and Choice of Improved and Local Haricot Bean (<i>Phaseolus vulgaris L</i>.) by Farmers in Cameroon

Men and women farmer participation and choice of variety could guide breeding and drive the adoption of different haricot bean varieties. Thus, understanding how gender influences participation and choice of bean cultivation and marketing is fundamental. The study sought to analyse how socio-cultural norms determine women and men, participation and choice of variety for cultivation and sale in Cameroon’s West region. A mixed-method was used in collecting data from men and women farmers in six subdivisions in the West region of Cameroon in 2019. Result reveals that women provide most of the labour on haricot bean production than men, who are more involved in selling to national and regional markets. Participation and role were driven by socio-cultural norms of what is expected of men and women in a society where women provide food and men income for household upkeep. Women preferred varieties that were less labour intensive and food taste for household consumption while men went for labour intensive as long as they were market-oriented and high yielding. Thus, breeders should develop varieties that are mostly preferred by women, which meet the market and household demand.

Reproductive health and rights in the COVID-19 era:Why and how are rights and choices still the answer?

Amidst the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic,the concern over the potential‘baby boom’or‘baby bust’had drawn renewed attention across the globe[1-3].However,historically alarmism over fertility rates gave rise to restrictive and coercive policies with an aim of‘controlling the population’that violated people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights(SRHR).In this perspective,the author argued that whether countries of the world face a COVID-19-induced short-term baby boom or bust,the solution lies in prioritizing the rights and choices of all people,especially their SRHR;not in adopting target-oriented population policies or coercive family planning programs.

Game theory model of exit selection in pedestrian evacuation considering visual range and choice firmness

Exit choice is one of the most important pedestrian behaviors during evacuation.Distance to the exit is a generally recognized factor influencing expected moving time to the exit.Visual range determines how much information a pedestrian can perceive,thus the number of pedestrians within the visual field can be used to estimate waiting time at the exit.Besides,the choice firmness that reflects the degree to which a pedestrian would persist in his/her previous choice of exit is proposed.By integrating game theory into a cellular automata simulation framework,the pedestrian exit choice mechanism is investigated and explicitly modeled in this paper.A systematic analysis of the key factors influencing pedestrian evacuation is conducted,including visual radius and choice firmness of a pedestrian,initial crowd distribution of the room,exit layout as well as exit width.It is found that low choice firmness level can lead to unnatural pedestrian behavior such as wandering,which is adverse to evacuation.The longer the pedestrian's visual radius,the earlier the pedestrian can determine his/her final selection of the exit.Compared with the scenario where the pedestrians are randomly distributed,pedestrians clustered together in a corner of the room lead to high crowd density and imbalanced use of exits.Furthermore,the exit layout and exit width also have a certain influence on pedestrian evacuation process.The results of this paper may be of benefit to the formulation of behavioral rules in other pedestrian simulation models.

Female mate choice and the potential for ornament evolution in túngara frogs Physalaemus pustulosus

The potential for ornament evolution in response to sexual selection rests on the interaction between the permissive- ness or selectivity of female preferences and the constraints on male development of signaling related traits. We investigate the former by determining how latent female preferences either exaggerate the magnitude of current traits （i.e. elaborations） or favor novel traits （i.e. innovations）. In tt^ngara frogs, females prefer complex mating calls （whine-chucks） to simple calls （whine only）. The whine is critical for mate recognition while the chuck further enhances the attractiveness of the call. Here we use a combina- tion of synthetic and natural stimuli to examine latent female preferences. Our results show that a diversity of stimuli, including conspecific and heterospecific calls as well as predator-produced and human-made sounds, increase the attractiveness of a call when added to a whine. These stimuli do not make simple calls more attractive than a whine-chuck, however. In rare cases we found stimuli that added to the whine decrease the attractiveness of the call. Overall, females show strong preferences for both elaborations and innovations of the chuck. We argue that the emancipation of these acoustic adornments from mate recognition allows such female permissiveness, and that male constraints on signal evolution are probably more important in explaining why males evolved their specific adornment. Experimentally probing latent female preferences for stimuli out of the species＇ range is a useful means to gain insights about the potential of female choice to influence signal evolution and thus the astounding diversity in male sexually-selected traits [Current Zoology 56 （3）： 343-357, 2010].

Travel modal choice analysis for traffic corridors based on decision-theoretic approaches

The rapid development of multimodal transportation system prompts travellers to choose multiple transportation modes, such as private vehicles or taxi, transit(subways or buses), or park-and-ride combinations for urban trips. Traffic corridor is a major scenario that supports travellers to commute from suburban residential areas to central working areas. Studying their modal choice behaviour is receiving more and more interests. On one hand, it will guide the travellers to rationally choose their most economic and beneficial mode for urban trips. On the other hand, it will help traffic operators to make more appropriate policies to enhance the share of public transit in order to alleviate the traffic congestion and produce more economic and social benefits. To analyze the travel modal choice, a generalized cost model for three typical modes is first established to evaluate each different travel alternative. Then, random utility theory(RUT) and decision field theory(DFT) are introduced to describe the decision-making process how travellers make their mode choices. Further, some important factors that may influence the modal choice behaviour are discussed as well. To test the feasibility of the proposed model, a field test in Beijing was conducted to collect the real-time data and estimate the model parameters. The improvements in the test results and analysis show new advances in the development of travel mode choice on multimodal transportation networks.

Psychological Influence Factors Analysis of the New Generation Employees’ Moral Choices from the Perspective of Cognitive Neurology

At present,the academic researches on moral choices focus mainly on the individuals’external behaviors,without fully considering the influences of the individuals’internal psychological factors.Based on the model of complete information static games in the Non-cooperative Game theory,the present research has designed a“Red and Blue Experiment”to explore the psychological influencing factors of the new generation employees’moral choices.The research has conducted psychoanalysis on the new generation employees through experiments and interviews with 118 data sources,and concluded the characteristics in relation to the different stages of psychological processes and moral choices of the experimental population.Through comparative analysis,it is found that:the psychological factors,such as trust,doubt,and guilt will influence the new generation employees’moral choices,guiding them to make choices,such as risk aversion and mutual benefit and win-win,in the process.Additionally,the research has also provided effective scientific evidence for the new generation employees’mental health development and career planning.