2,904 research outputs found
A lattice framework for pricing display advertisement options with the stochastic volatility underlying model
Advertisement (abbreviated ad) options are a recent development in online
advertising. Simply, an ad option is a first look contract in which a publisher
or search engine grants an advertiser a right but not obligation to enter into
transactions to purchase impressions or clicks from a specific ad slot at a
pre-specified price on a specific delivery date. Such a structure provides
advertisers with more flexibility of their guaranteed deliveries. The valuation
of ad options is an important topic and previous studies on ad options pricing
have been mostly restricted to the situations where the underlying prices
follow a geometric Brownian motion (GBM). This assumption is reasonable for
sponsored search; however, some studies have also indicated that it is not
valid for display advertising. In this paper, we address this issue by
employing a stochastic volatility (SV) model and discuss a lattice framework to
approximate the proposed SV model in option pricing. Our developments are
validated by experiments with real advertising data: (i) we find that the SV
model has a better fitness over the GBM model; (ii) we validate the proposed
lattice model via two sequential Monte Carlo simulation methods; (iii) we
demonstrate that advertisers are able to flexibly manage their guaranteed
deliveries by using the proposed options, and publishers can have an increased
revenue when some of their inventories are sold via ad options.Comment: Bowei Chen and Jun Wang. A lattice framework for pricing display
advertisement options with the stochastic volatility underlying model.
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 2015, Volume 14, Issue 6,
pages 465-479, ISSN: 1567-422
A dynamic pricing model for unifying programmatic guarantee and real-time bidding in display advertising
There are two major ways of selling impressions in display advertising. They
are either sold in spot through auction mechanisms or in advance via guaranteed
contracts. The former has achieved a significant automation via real-time
bidding (RTB); however, the latter is still mainly done over the counter
through direct sales. This paper proposes a mathematical model that allocates
and prices the future impressions between real-time auctions and guaranteed
contracts. Under conventional economic assumptions, our model shows that the
two ways can be seamless combined programmatically and the publisher's revenue
can be maximized via price discrimination and optimal allocation. We consider
advertisers are risk-averse, and they would be willing to purchase guaranteed
impressions if the total costs are less than their private values. We also
consider that an advertiser's purchase behavior can be affected by both the
guaranteed price and the time interval between the purchase time and the
impression delivery date. Our solution suggests an optimal percentage of future
impressions to sell in advance and provides an explicit formula to calculate at
what prices to sell. We find that the optimal guaranteed prices are dynamic and
are non-decreasing over time. We evaluate our method with RTB datasets and find
that the model adopts different strategies in allocation and pricing according
to the level of competition. From the experiments we find that, in a less
competitive market, lower prices of the guaranteed contracts will encourage the
purchase in advance and the revenue gain is mainly contributed by the increased
competition in future RTB. In a highly competitive market, advertisers are more
willing to purchase the guaranteed contracts and thus higher prices are
expected. The revenue gain is largely contributed by the guaranteed selling.Comment: Chen, Bowei and Yuan, Shuai and Wang, Jun (2014) A dynamic pricing
model for unifying programmatic guarantee and real-time bidding in display
advertising. In: The Eighth International Workshop on Data Mining for Online
Advertising, 24 - 27 August 2014, New York Cit
Analysis of roles and groups in blogosphere
In the paper different roles of users in social media, taking into
consideration their strength of influence and different degrees of
cooperativeness, are introduced. Such identified roles are used for the
analysis of characteristics of groups of strongly connected entities. The
different classes of groups, considering the distribution of roles of users
belonging to them, are presented and discussed.Comment: 8th International Conference on Computer Recognition Systems, CORES
201
Multi-keyword multi-click advertisement option contracts for sponsored search
In sponsored search, advertisement (abbreviated ad) slots are usually sold by
a search engine to an advertiser through an auction mechanism in which
advertisers bid on keywords. In theory, auction mechanisms have many desirable
economic properties. However, keyword auctions have a number of limitations
including: the uncertainty in payment prices for advertisers; the volatility in
the search engine's revenue; and the weak loyalty between advertiser and search
engine. In this paper we propose a special ad option that alleviates these
problems. In our proposal, an advertiser can purchase an option from a search
engine in advance by paying an upfront fee, known as the option price. He then
has the right, but no obligation, to purchase among the pre-specified set of
keywords at the fixed cost-per-clicks (CPCs) for a specified number of clicks
in a specified period of time. The proposed option is closely related to a
special exotic option in finance that contains multiple underlying assets
(multi-keyword) and is also multi-exercisable (multi-click). This novel
structure has many benefits: advertisers can have reduced uncertainty in
advertising; the search engine can improve the advertisers' loyalty as well as
obtain a stable and increased expected revenue over time. Since the proposed ad
option can be implemented in conjunction with the existing keyword auctions,
the option price and corresponding fixed CPCs must be set such that there is no
arbitrage between the two markets. Option pricing methods are discussed and our
experimental results validate the development. Compared to keyword auctions, a
search engine can have an increased expected revenue by selling an ad option.Comment: Chen, Bowei and Wang, Jun and Cox, Ingemar J. and Kankanhalli, Mohan
S. (2015) Multi-keyword multi-click advertisement option contracts for
sponsored search. ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology, 7
(1). pp. 1-29. ISSN: 2157-690
Sensing with Earables: A Systematic Literature Review and Taxonomy of Phenomena
Earables have emerged as a unique platform for ubiquitous computing by augmenting ear-worn devices with state-of-the-art sensing. This new platform has spurred a wealth of new research exploring what can be detected on a wearable, small form factor. As a sensing platform, the ears are less susceptible to motion artifacts and are located in close proximity to a number of important anatomical structures including the brain, blood vessels, and facial muscles which reveal a wealth of information. They can be easily reached by the hands and the ear canal itself is affected by mouth, face, and head movements. We have conducted a systematic literature review of 271 earable publications from the ACM and IEEE libraries. These were synthesized into an open-ended taxonomy of 47 different phenomena that can be sensed in, on, or around the ear. Through analysis, we identify 13 fundamental phenomena from which all other phenomena can be derived, and discuss the different sensors and sensing principles used to detect them. We comprehensively review the phenomena in four main areas of (i) physiological monitoring and health, (ii) movement and activity, (iii) interaction, and (iv) authentication and identification. This breadth highlights the potential that earables have to offer as a ubiquitous, general-purpose platform
A review of critical project management techniques to enhance construction SMEs project performance
Abstract: Performance is linked with implementation of project management techniques. Literature suggests that problems such as inefficiency, poor budgetary issues, improper planning, scheduling and control in projects execution are associated with inadequate implementation of the essential techniques for meeting project deliverables. These shortcomings are prevalent among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the developing countries including South Africa. Hence, the primary objective of this paper is to review the critical project management techniques for the improvement of construction project performance especially among SMEs in South Africa. The study is based on previous literature on construction SMEs project performance as well as project management techniques implementation. The literature review centered on both international and South African context. The study revealed that critical path method, work breakdown structure, and earned value management analysis were the most occurring project management techniques from the sampled literature. Findings from this study are envisaged to be beneficial to construction stakeholders in developing relevant project management techniques to improve the performance of SMEs
Understanding the College Completion Agenda on a Community College Campus: The Lived Experience of Faculty and Administrators
Former President Obama and business leaders placed community colleges at the center of a plan to avoid a shortage of skilled workers, relying heavily on the 2-year institutions to educate prospective employees and, thereby, uplift the nation's economy (Bailey, 2012) Several non-governmental organizations and charitable foundations responded by creating various national degree completion programs, known as the College Completion Agenda (CCA). In the push to increase degrees, student-learning outcomes may be overlooked and faculty roles ignored by external agencies and institutional administrators. There continues to be little empirical research focused on understanding practitioner knowledge and experiences regarding college degree attainment initiatives. The inclusion of both administrator and faculty experiences provided a rich empirical dataset relevant to an ongoing national conversation about reconciling emphasis on graduation statistics and learning outcomes in the evaluation of college completion initiatives.This case study explored the lived experiences of 5 administrators and 6 faculty members while implementing degree completion initiatives on an urban community college campus. Five themes and six sub-themes emerged from the data and revealed both the processes and possibilities for future reform initiatives. While collaborating with Achieving the Dream (AtD) coaches, participants spoke about developing a data-driven picture of the institution's strengths and weaknesses. Multiple course redesigns transpired in those programs where the greatest student attrition occurred, beginning with developmental math and English courses to college credit-bearing classes required for a degree. An outcome of these restructured courses was a "set curriculum" and assessment across all course sections. Quad-C administrators increased their dedication to increasing degrees through faculty professional development, partnering with Complete College America, and a new strategic plan. As a result, more students began to successfully complete their courses, and the institution experienced an increase in persistence and retention rates and college degrees. An open social system model was applied to the data in a post hoc fashion as a tool to examine first, the interaction between the environment and the institution and second, the interaction taking place internally between the multiple sub-systems of actors
Developing Best Practices for Successful Public-Private Partnerships
Many states and cities find themselves facing several serious longâterm public infrastructure challenges due to rising maintenance costs. Infrastructure funding gaps arose from an inefficient approach to public infrastructure development and operation. States and local governments were faced with unfunded pension obligations and as a solution, they diverted tax revenues away from the maintenance and growth of infrastructure. The 2008 economic recession occurred and compounded these problems. Budget studies indicated that states needed new policies and strategies to slow down the pace of spending on infrastructure maintenance as the recession started to subside, further exacerbating the infrastructure funding gap.1 This paper addresses the gap in infrastructure funding needs by identifying the essential role that publicâprivate partnerships (P3) are now taking in infrastructure facilities that are open to the public for use along with examining opportunities and challenges for this transformative shift in the field. Contextualizing the need of P3 programs within recent developments and tracing the expansion of publicâprivate partnerships in selected cities both successfully implemented, and failures is considered. In each city highlighted, I discuss the mutual advantages of a publicâprivate partnership while also illustrating challenges that both public and private entities encountered as they worked to develop and implement the program. Dynamics of the balancing act between the state and local government and private entities in decision making required by public officials when weighing the costs and benefits of 1 Weller, C., Estep, S., & Hendricks, G. (2019 April 2). Budgeting the Future. American Progress. Developing Best Practices for Successful PublicâPrivate Partnerships 4 accepting private donations is also considered. The paper also discusses the infrastructure funding along with a development approach that minimizes the need for new taxes. A conclusion is reached by discussing the ongoing challenges that need to be considered and addressed for publicâprivate partnerships to be successful over the long term along with the risks and benefits of having such an agreement
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