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Highlights • Transitional dynamics in an Overlapping Generations model crucially depend on expectations. • Differences between rational expectations and heuristic switching dynamics are analysed. • Heuristic switching has a stabilising effect on transitional dynamics. • In the absence of heuristic switching, dynamics can exhibit permanent oscillations. Abstract We explore the transitional dynamics in an Overlapping Generations framework with and without heuristic switching. Agents use simple heuristics to forecast the interest rate and the real wage. The fraction of agents using a specific heuristic depends on its relative forecasting performance. In the absence of heuristic switching, the results indicate that there is a lot of variation in the transitional dynamics over different parameter values and heuristics. When agents switch between heuristics, however, the variation in the transitional dynamics decreases significantly. We show that heuristic switching has a stabilising effect on transitional dynamics that would otherwise exhibit permanent oscillations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to assess to what extent Community Exchange Systems (CES), and particularly the Grenoble's SEL ( Systèmes d ' Echange Local ) which are counterparts to the Anglo-Saxon Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), constitute an alternative to neoliberal rationalisation. Our analysis is grounded in the French convention theory ( Economie des conventions ) and feeds on a long-term action research conducted on CES. This research uncovered trends in institutional isomorphism as well as strategies for resistance developed by local actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability of the built environment has been the subject of numerous articles in the literature in recent years due to its importance for society. In this article, based on applying Value-Focused Thinking methodology (VFT) and the opinion of actors who are active in the construction industry, objectives are set and action alternatives are created. This has enabled new ideas to emerge that may well contribute towards rationalizing and using raw materials in buildings, thus leading to the more efficient use of available resources which, as a result, will have a positive impact on the sustainability of companies. VFT was used in this study to create more sustainable alternatives for the use and occupation of a building. In order to identify the strategic objective and the fundamental objectives for the decision context in question, three pillars of environmental sustainability were considered: improving management and the generation of energy; rationalizing and reusing water and wastewater; and managing wastes. From the analysis of the attributes associated with the fundamental objectives, alternatives were proposed and analyzes were performed for the problem under study. This led to proposing actions that should be implemented during the design phase and construction, with a view to obtaining positive results in terms of the sustainability of the built environment. A case study was presented in a construction project that was at a design stage. As a result, the company created alternatives that were prioritized using a multicriteria method, which included technical designs, specifications of more durable materials, automation, and other matters that can be implemented during the construction stage so as to provide a more sustainable built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia's foreign policy decisions towards Ukraine in the context of the “Ukraine crisis” have been portrayed largely in a negative light which crudely paints Russia's actions as being imperialistic, evil and largely irrational. This article argues that by looking at the interplay of identity and perceptions at the foreign policymaking level, Russia's actions in Ukraine can be, to some degree, rationalized. First, Russia's Eurasian--oriented great power role identity and its perceptions of Ukraine as represent a vital national interest. Second, the European Union and the United States are perceived as embodying a Western team of anti-Russian imperialists, which led Moscow to pursue hazardous foreign policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small container ports rely on feeder services from hub ports to provide access to unitised trade flows for their hinterlands. They generally possess limited water depth and handling facilities, as investments required to handle larger vessels are not justified by their low container throughput. This paper questions the future of small ports due to larger vessels cascading down as a result of ever-larger vessels on the major trade lanes. The paper uses vessel call data to identify all world ports currently served by sub-1000 TEU vessels. Data on the dimensions of the vessel fleet and order book are analysed in conjunction with accessibility constraints at these small ports. Results show that with 15% of the sub-1000 TEU fleet currently laid up and very few on order, larger feeders with deeper drafts seem certain to serve at least some of these routes. But with 90 container ports (21%) having berth depth of less than 9.1 m and the need to accommodate design drafts of at least 8.7 m, larger vessels will threaten the viability of these ports unless they commit significant investment. A geographical analysis is also conducted, mapping the distribution of small ports across the globe and classifying coastal, estuary, river and island locations, as well as identifying clusters of small ports that could in future be served by second-tier hubs, such as Southeast Asia and the Baltic Sea. Findings suggest that, just as container ports at the larger end of the scale were rationalised as flows concentrated at major hubs, several drivers exist for the same process to occur at small ports. Consequently, the paper asks how small ports and local shippers will cope, whether such ports lose their connections entirely, if local shippers must pay for an additional handling cost to tranship a second time from large feeder to small feeder, or whether they rely on overland transport links. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research is based on the project of a free-form roofing system with double curved glass panels that are cladding the structure. One of the challenges is a load-bearing structure that follows a free-form NURBS surface. The load-bearing members are going to be manufactured from bended metal tubes. Technology of production allows bending pipes in circular shapes, therefore, initially designed free-form NURBS curvature is difficult to transfer into buildable load-bearing structure due to its complex geometry. For the fabrication purposes the curve elements needs to be simplified to a set of arcs in order to achieve profiles for bending. To solve this problem, the Genetic Algorithm had been applied for fitting arcs into initial geometry. The algorithm fits elements to minimize Deviation from an initial curve and maximize Continuity between arcs. Base set up can be modified due to other parameters such as Length or a Number of elements etc. The aim is to achieve design methodology which will give full freedom of design, on the same time, but also to reassure possibility of construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project recommences an underdeveloped conversation between the sociology of technology and classical sociology. There was a vibrant and consistent interest in technology among sociology's founders between Marx and Ogburn and revisiting this tradition is beneficial for contemporary sociological studies of technology. In addition to functioning as exemplars of excellence for the sociology of technology, classical sociology provides distinctive and important considerations and contributions, including: the potential benefits of borrowing technology (Veblen), the ecological influences on technological development and use (Cooley), the impact of technology on science (Mauss), and the rationalization of technology (Weber). Most importantly, classical sociology offers partial though unique frameworks for examining technology in society and vice versa, frameworks that are novel precisely because they are out of sync with recent trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we test whether increased salience of a tax charge increases dishonesty using a version of the die-under-cup paradigm. Participants earn money in proportion to the outcome reported and, thus, have an incentive to over-report. We find a significant increase in high outcomes in the presence of a tax frame suggesting that participants use the tax as an excuse to rationalize their dishonest act. In addition, we tested whether adding an explanation for the adoption of the tax would increase honesty. We find evidence for reversed dishonesty with participants reporting significantly more low outcomes. These results warn policy makers about the non-trivial relationship between taxation charges and dishonesty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transshipment hubs are perhaps the most critical component in container shipping networks. Transshipment enables traffic consolidation and the related scale economies in ship size, rationalization of shipping routes and adjustment of ship capacity to traffic density, and expanding the number of ports covered by the shipping network. This paper provides an assessment of the current state of transshipment with a particular reference to the potential impacts of the expansion of the Panama Canal on this activity in the Caribbean basin. While US East Coast ports are expecting an increase in the size of ships deployed on the through-Panama services following the Canal expansion from the current Panamax to post-Panamax ships, it is argued that substituting direct calling by feedering and expanded transshipment activities in Caribbean hubs is more likely. This transformation in service pattern will be gradual, however. In the first period after the expansion the present direct calling is expected to continue, since post-Panamax ships initially deployed on through-Panama services will not differ much than those on through-Suez services already calling the US. The transformation will take place mainly in the second period, 5 to 10 years after the expansion, when larger ships, defined as New Panamax (NPX), which cannot be efficiently handled by US East Coast ports, will be deployed. Accordingly, a substantial growth in transshipment in the Caribbean Region will take place especially during the second period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports on the influence of structural distortions on 4 f –4 f intensity parameters. These distortions in the first coordination sphere were applied to two complexes with similar structures, Ln(bpyO 2 ) 4 (ClO 4 ) 3 (Ln=Pr 3+ , Nd 3+ ions and bpyO 2 =2,2′-bipyridine-1,1′-dioxide). The 4 f –4 f intensity theory and the PM3/Sparkle model were used. It is concluded that larger distortions are predicted in the case of the Pr complex, and that this point might contribute to the rationalization of the much higher values of the Ω λ intensity parameters in the Pr complex than in the Nd one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using evidence from two rural wards in the Umfolozi region, this paper critically investigates the dynamics and constraints of small-scale sugarcane production under conditions of decline. The rapid decline in small-scale sugarcane production was historically underwritten by regulatory reforms that paired processes of enhanced representational inclusion with measures of rationalisation, resulting in deteriorating terms of exchange and the retraction of intensive interventions in production by sugar millers (Dubb, 2015). It is argued that, together with drought, these changes severely undermined the efficiency of capital services offered by local tractor-owning contractors and the productivity of small growers as a whole, while social grants have acted as a barrier to intensifying the exploitation of neighbours. The resultant cost-price squeeze has rendered cane an increasingly unattractive site of investment of labour and wages, and witnessed the severe decline or exit of most growers. For some, social grants have nonetheless provided a consumptive base from which to commit homestead labour without drawing down on cane proceeds, and hence enabled them to ‘hang in’ or marginally ‘creep-back’ into production. Only contractor-growers have managed to increase production, but this in turn is premised on the precarious cross-subsidization of their dual enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem service (ES) frameworks have been developed to characterize and model the relationships between ecological processes and human benefits. Some argue that these relationships should be specified through expert-derived analytical (i.e., top-down) frameworks, in order to organize accumulated knowledge and create ready-made framings for communities on the ground. In contrast, arguments for the participatory construction of ES assessments emphasize the need for place-sensitive and deliberative (i.e., bottom-up) approaches. In this paper, we draw on a novel water planning exercise in New Zealand to examine the tensions that arise when expert-produced categories intersect with diverse stakeholder worldviews and aspirations. Expert-derived ES categories and analyses intervene in local valuation contexts in a range of ways, narrowing the scope of which ecological processes might be considered as relevant or legitimate (bounding), as well as affecting how these processes are described and compared (measuring). The practices of bounding and measuring ES in scientific and planning assessments should thus be conceptualized as involving political work and not just scientific judgment. This reframes the role of ecological science and scientists in ES debates, and this presents cautions as well as opportunities for future ES work relating to policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to present a three-phase periodization of modern Western futures studies to construct historical classification. In order to reach this goal, the following intellectual traditions are introduced to review the philosophical and historical contexts that affect the very foundations of futures studies: (a) religions, (b) utopias, (c) historicism, (d) science fiction, and (e) systems thinking. The first phase (beginning in 1945 to the 1960s) was the era of scientific inquiry and rationalization of the futures characterized by the prevalence of technological forecasting, the rise of alternative futures in systematic ways, and the growth of professionalization of futures studies. In the first phase, futures had become objects of rationalization removed from the traditional approaches such as utopia, grandiose evolutionary ideas, naive prophecies, science fiction, religious attitudes, and mystical orientation. The second phase (the 1970s and the 1980s) saw the creation the global institution and industrialization of the futures. This era was marked by the rise of worldwide discourse on global futures, the development of normative futures, and the deep involvement of the business community in futures thinking. In the second phase, futures studies-industry ties were growing and the future-oriented thoughts extensively permeated the business decision-making process. The third phase (the 1990s – the present) reflects the current era of the neoliberal view and fragmentation of the futures. This phase is taking place in the time of neoliberal globalization and risk society discourses and is characterized by the dominance of foresight, the advance of critical futures studies, and the intensification of fragmentation. In the third phase, futures practice tends to be confined to the support of strategic planning, and hence is experiencing an identity crisis and loss of its earlier status of humanity-oriented futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metric rationalization of social decision rules has been intensively investigated when the social outcome is a nonempty subset of alternatives. The present paper proposes a similar framework for social welfare functions (SWFs)—that is when each social outcome is a ranking of alternatives. A metric rationalizable SWF reports as an approximation of the unanimity consensus the relative ranking of any pair of alternatives as in the closest profile where individuals all agree on those alternatives, the closeness being measured with respect to a metric on profiles. Two notions of unanimity are in consideration: top unanimity on an alternative holds when individuals all agree that it is top ranked while pairwise unanimity on a pair occurs when individuals all prefer an alternative to another. Without strong requirements on metrics, characterizations provided in both cases show that metric rationalizations of SWFs are essentially equivalent to the Pareto principle for SWFs. Furthermore, two interesting classes of metric rationalizable SWFs–multi-valued scoring SWFs and pairwise scoring SWFs–are each uniquely identified by means of some appropriate and appealing properties on metrics among which decomposability, neutrality and monotonicity are known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduction of costs incurred for supplying water and heating it for household purposes is possible by means of an application of systems recovering heat from drain water in combination with water flow limiters. Then, not only advantageous financial results can be obtained, but also positive effects in the form of reduced use of fossil fuels, improved air quality, and limited water consumption. This paper presents a calculation model that allows to assess the synergy of financial effects for different variants of an investment project consisting in mounting a water flow limiter and a DWHR unit in a shower system of a single-family building. This model has a large application potential that can be used as a tool facilitating the decision-making process both in the system design and modernization stage. A simulation test carried out for the case study involving different variants of modernization of a household shower system shows that profitability of such investment depends on the adopted modernization variant and system usage parameters. The best financial performance characterizes variants involving the use of a water flow limiter or both devices. The mounting of both devices becomes the most advantageous when the shower taking time is long. The obtained results additionally show that the most favorable financial effects can be achieved in buildings in which the total time of using shower facilities is the longest. The application of the presented solutions will be, therefore, particularly profitable in case of buildings characterized with significant water consumption and high rotation of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We provide a foundation for correlated rationalizability by means of pairwise epistemic conditions imposed only on some pairs of players. Indeed, we show that pairwise mutual belief, for some pairs of players, of (i) the game payoffs, (ii) rationality, and (iii) deeming possible only strategy profiles that receive positive probability by the actual conjectures suffice for correlated rationalizability when there is a common prior. Moreover, we show that our epistemic conditions do not require nor imply mutual belief of rationality. Finally, we discuss the relationship between correlated rationalizability and Nash equilibrium on the basis of the respective pairwise epistemic conditions for each of the two concepts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Rheumatic diseases (RDs) are among the most common chronic health problems of the Catalan adult population. They cause important problems for individuals, their families and for the society overall, with high direct and indirect economic costs. The Department of Health of Catalonia promoted the creation of a Master Plan for the rheumatic diseases, as a tool for planning an integral approach to these problems. Objective: To present the work methodology that has been used in the development of the Master Plan and its final proposals. Methods: First an analysis of the burden caused by these problems in our community was performed and the objectives of the Plan were established. Later, strategic lines were defined and work groups organized to analyze proposals for improvement, which after consensus were accepted. Results: The proposals of the Plan comprise actions in the scope of prevention, rationalization in the use of resources and the formation of professionals among others. Changes in the health care model for RDs were proposed in order to improve specialized and primary care coordination with clinics and musculoskeletal functional units. Conclusions: The Master Plan recommends actions to improve the attention of the population through operative planning and the services to different providers. The Master Plan will establish the health policy action lines directed against these disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]