Topic-aware Incentive Mechanism for Task Diffusion in Mobile Crowdsourcing through Social Network

Crowdsourcing has become an efficient paradigm to utilize human intelligence to perform tasks that are challenging for machines. Many incentive mechanisms for crowdsourcing systems have been proposed. However, most of existing incentive mechanisms assume that there are sufficient participants to perform crowdsourcing tasks. In large-scale crowdsourcing scenarios, this assumption may be not applicable. To address this issue, we diffuse the crowdsourcing tasks in social network to increase the number of participants. To make the task diffusion more applicable to crowdsourcing system, we enhance the classic Independent Cascade model so the influence is strongly connected with both the types and topics of tasks. Based on the tailored task diffusion model, we formulate the Budget Feasible Task Diffusion ( BFTD ) problem for maximizing the value function of platform with constrained budget. We design a parameter estimation algorithm based on Expectation Maximization algorithm to estimate the parameters in proposed task diffusion model. Benefitting from the submodular property of the objective function, we apply the budget-feasible incentive mechanism, which satisfies desirable properties of computational efficiency, individual rationality, budget-feasible, truthfulness, and guaranteed approximation, to stimulate the task diffusers. The simulation results based on two real-world datasets show that our incentive mechanism can improve the number of active users and the task completion rate by 9.8% and 11%, on average.

An initial ‘snapshot’ of sensory information biases the likelihood and speed of subsequent changes of mind

We often need to rapidly change our mind about perceptual decisions in order to account for new information and correct mistakes. One fundamental, unresolved question is whether information processed prior to a decision being made (‘pre-decisional information’) has any influence on the likelihood and speed with which that decision is reversed. We investigated this using a luminance discrimination task in which participants indicated which of two flickering greyscale squares was brightest. Following an initial decision, the stimuli briefly remained on screen, and participants could change their response. Using psychophysical reverse correlation, we examined how moment-to-moment fluctuations in stimulus luminance affected participants’ decisions. This revealed that the strength of even the very earliest (pre-decisional) evidence was associated with the likelihood and speed of later changes of mind. To account for this effect, we propose an extended diffusion model in which an initial ‘snapshot’ of sensory information biases ongoing evidence accumulation.

Dynamic Pricing for New Products Using a Utility-Based Generalization of the Bass Diffusion Model

The Bass Model (BM) has an excellent track record in the realm of new product sales forecasting. However, its use for optimal dynamic pricing or advertising is relatively limited because the Generalized Bass Model (GBM), which extends the BM to handle marketing variables, uses only percentage changes in marketing variables, rather than their actual values. This restricts the GBM’s prescriptive use, for example, to derive the optimal price path for a new product, conditional on an assumed launch price, but not the launch price itself. In this paper, we employ a utility-based extension of the BM, which can yield normative prescriptions regarding both the introductory price and the price path after launch, for the new product. We offer two versions of this utility-based diffusion model, namely, the Bass-Gumbel Diffusion Model (BGDM) and the Bass-Logit Diffusion Model (BLDM), the latter of which has been previously used. We show that both the BGDM and BLDM handily outperform the GBM in forecasting new product sales using empirical data from four product categories. We discuss how to estimate the BGDM and BLDM in the absence of past sales data. We compare the optimal pricing policy of the BLDM with the GBM and derive optimal pricing policies that are implied by the BLDM under various ranges of model parameters. We illustrate a dynamic pricing approach that allows managers to derive optimal marketing policies in a computationally convenient manner and extend this approach to a competitive, multiproduct case. This paper was accepted by Gui Liberali for the Management Science Special Issue on Data-Driven Prescriptive Analytics.

Assessment of Boron Diffusivities in Nickel Borides by Two Mathematical Approaches

In the work of this contribution, two kinetics models have been employed to assess the boron diffusivities in nickel borides in case of Inconel 718 alloy. The first approach, named the alternative diffusion model (ADM), used the modified version of mass conservation equations for a three-phase system whilst the second one employed the mean diffusion coefficient (MDC) method. The boron diffusivities in nickel borides were firstly evaluated in the interval of 1123 to 1223 K for an upper boron concentration of 11.654 wt% in Ni4B3. The boron activation energies in the three phases (Ni4B3, Ni2B and Ni3B) were secondly deduced by fitting the values of boron diffusivities with Arrhenius relations. Finally, these values of energy were compared with the results from the literature for their experimental validation.

Numerical Studies of Atomic Three-Step Photoionization Processes with Non-Monochromatic Laser Fields

The atomic selective multi-step photoionization process is a critical step in laser isotope separation. In this article, we have studied three-step photoionization processes with non-monochromatic laser fields theoretically based on the semi-classical theory. Firstly, three bandwidth models, including the chaotic field model, de-correlation model and phase diffusion model, are introduced into the density matrix equations. The numerical results are made comparisons comprehensively. The phase diffusion model is selected for further simulations in terms of the correspondence degree to physical practice. Subsequently, numerical calculations are carried out to identify the influences of systematic parameters, including laser parameters (Rabi frequencies, bandwidths, relative time delays, frequency detunings) and atomic Doppler broadening, on photoionization processes. In order to determine the optimum match between different systematic parameters, ionization yield of resonant isotope and selectivity factor are adopted as evaluation indexes to guide the design and optimization process. The results in this work can provide a rewarding reference for laser isotope separation.

Neural Substrates of the Drift-Diffusion Model in Brain Disorders

Many studies on the drift-diffusion model (DDM) explain decision-making based on a unified analysis of both accuracy and response times. This review provides an in-depth account of the recent advances in DDM research which ground different DDM parameters on several brain areas, including the cortex and basal ganglia. Furthermore, we discuss the changes in DDM parameters due to structural and functional impairments in several clinical disorders, including Parkinson's disease, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and schizophrenia. This review thus uses DDM to provide a theoretical understanding of different brain disorders.