A Survey of Multitasking by Northern California Commuters: Description of the Data Collection Process

An empirical study investigated whether multitasking could affect the utility of travel. This report describes the survey instruments and data collection process that yielded a rich dataset

Trust Transfer and the Intention to Use App-enabled Carpooling Service

In China, with the rapid dissemination of mobile communications technology along with congested traffic and increasingly expensive transportation costs, consumers are turning to smartphone-enabled, ride-sharing services. Sharing economy requires trust in strangers. Based on trust transfer theory and a dyadic conceptualization of trust from cognitive to affective, the purpose of this study is to examine trust building through the use of Didi, a third-party, ride-sharing platform that mediates exchanges among strangers

Security Enhancement of IoT and Fog Computing Via Blockchain Applications

Blockchain technology is now becoming highly appealing to the next generation because it is better tailored to the information age. Blockchain technologies can also be used in the Internet of Things (IoT) and fog computing. The development of IoT and Fog Computing technologies in different fields has resulted in a major improvement in distributed networks. Blockchain technology is now becoming highly appealing to the next generation because it is better tailored to the information age. Blockchain technologies can also be used in IoT and fog computing.  The blockchain principle necessitates a transparent data storage mechanism for storing and exchanging data and transactions throughout the network. In this paper, first, we explained Blockchain, its architecture, and its security. Then we view Blockchain application in IoT security. Then we explained Fog computing, Generic Security Requirements for Fog Computing, and we also discuss Blockchain applications that enhance Fog Computing Security. Finally, we conduct a review of some recent literature on using Blockchain applications to improve the security of IoT and fog computing and a comparison of the methods proposed in the literature

When Transportation Meets Communication: V2P over VANETs

30th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems, ICDCS 2010, Genova, 21-25 June 2010Information interaction is a crucial part of modern transportation activities. In this paper, we propose the idea of Vehicle-to-Passenger communication (V2P), which allows direct, instant, and flexible communication between moving vehicles and roadside passengers. With pocket wireless devices, passengers can easily join VANETs as roadside nodes, and express their travel demands, e.g., taking a free ride or calling a taxi via radio queries over VANETs. Once a matched vehicle is found through the disseminated queries, the driver can decide whether to provide corresponding services, especially the carrying of passengers and goods. We investigate the main challenges in vehicle calling, establish a trip history model to predict vehicle movement, and develop typical query dissemination schemes to match the target vehicle in vehicular networks. With V2P over VANETs, vehicle transportation is capable of open and efficient P2P information interaction, and thus benefits from relevant efficiency improvement. Based on a realistic travel survey and simulation, we prove that vehicle calling is effective and efficient in casual carpooling and taxi-calling.Department of ComputingRefereed conference pape

Multi-Agent Systems

This Special Issue ""Multi-Agent Systems"" gathers original research articles reporting results on the steadily growing area of agent-oriented computing and multi-agent systems technologies. After more than 20 years of academic research on multi-agent systems (MASs), in fact, agent-oriented models and technologies have been promoted as the most suitable candidates for the design and development of distributed and intelligent applications in complex and dynamic environments. With respect to both their quality and range, the papers in this Special Issue already represent a meaningful sample of the most recent advancements in the field of agent-oriented models and technologies. In particular, the 17 contributions cover agent-based modeling and simulation, situated multi-agent systems, socio-technical multi-agent systems, and semantic technologies applied to multi-agent systems. In fact, it is surprising to witness how such a limited portion of MAS research already highlights the most relevant usage of agent-based models and technologies, as well as their most appreciated characteristics. We are thus confident that the readers of Applied Sciences will be able to appreciate the growing role that MASs will play in the design and development of the next generation of complex intelligent systems. This Special Issue has been converted into a yearly series, for which a new call for papers is already available at the Applied Sciences journal’s website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/special_issues/Multi-Agent_Systems_2019

Peer-to-peer mobility innovations: their adoption, use, and associated emissions impacts

The private ownership and use of cars has negative environmental, social, and economic impacts. Peer-to-peer (P2P) mobility innovations challenge the relationship between private ownership and use of cars and could contribute to a more sustainable mobility system. The research conducted for this PhD explored the adoption and diffusion of P2P mobility innovations and the potential impacts on CO₂ emissions in the UK. P2P ride sharing and P2P car sharing were used as two case study P2P mobility innovations. First, adopter characteristics and the ways in which adopters perceive the attributes of P2P mobility innovations were explored through a survey of 600 adopters and non-adopters. Second, seven in-depth focus groups were conducted with each of the adopter groups identified in the first research chapter. Third, the current emissions impacts of P2P mobility innovations were quantified for each identified type of adopter, and the potential emission reductions under different future scenarios were explored. Results from the surveys revealed that there are heterogenous groups of adopters of each innovation. These groups differ from each other and from the mainstream population in their sociodemographic and personality characteristics, how they use P2P mobility innovations, and how they perceive the attributes of P2P mobility innovations. Identifying these distinct groups establishes differences in the market potential for P2P mobility innovations. Results from the focus groups revealed that each group differed in how they regard and place importance on the mechanisms of building trust (peer-reputation and reviews, inter-personal relationships, and validation checks), and the targets of trust (trust in peers, trust in the platform, and trust in the product). Users of P2P car sharing placed more importance on trust in the platform, whereas users of P2P ride sharing placed more importance on trust in other people. Trust is vital to the diffusion of P2P mobility innovations and understanding how the identified adopter groups perceive and value trust differently has implications for diffusion strategies. Results from the emissions quantifications revealed that for some adopter groups (commuters using P2P ride sharing), the largest emissions reductions come from using P2P mobility innovations instead of private car use, whereas for other groups (peer-users of P2P car sharing) the largest emissions reductions arise due to forgone vehicle purchases. Results from the future scenario exploration revealed potential emissions reductions of four to seven times larger than current estimates in a high-trust and high-institutional-support future. The scenario analysis contributes to knowledge about how to maximise the largest potential emissions reductions for different adopter groups. This thesis contributes novel empirical insights into the adopters of P2P mobility innovations. The diffusion potential of P2P mobility innovations is examined and the importance of understanding the diversity of adopters, and their unique contexts, motivations, and perceptions is illustrated. The value of these insights to maximise the potential emissions reductions of P2P mobility are highlighted, and recommendations to platforms and for policy are provided to this end

When do followers perceive their leaders as ethical? A relational models perspective of normatively appropriate conduct

In the aftermath of various corporate scandals, management research and practice have taken great interest in ethical leadership. Ethical leadership is referred to as “normatively appropriate conduct” (Brown et al. in Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 97(2):117–134, 2005), but the prescriptive norms that actually underlie this understanding constitute an open question. We address this research gap by turning to relational models theory (Fiske in Structures of social life: the four elementary forms of human relations, Free Press, New York, 1991), which contextualizes four distinct moralities in four distinct interactional norms (i.e., the relational models). We expect that the norms inherent in each model dictate the type of leader relationship that followers deem ethical. Specifically, we hypothesize that, for each norm, followers will perceive leaders as less ethical the more discrepant, i.e., the more incongruent, followers’ ideal relational norm is with the perceived norm that they attribute to their actual leader–follower interaction. We tested the respective incongruence hypothesis in a cross-sectional survey of 101 Dutch employees. Polynomial regression and surface response analyses provide support for the hypothesized incongruence effects in each of the four relational models, suggesting that normatively appropriate conduct should not be limited to caring (i.e., community-oriented) behaviors. Indeed, all four relational models can predict ethical leadership perceptions. We discuss the implications in the context of ethical leadership research and managerial practice

Sustainable goods delivery through a community-based bicycle service

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Page 151 blank.Includes bibliographical references (p. 140-150).Each day, in any given urban area, hundreds of thousands of small goods are distributed from their points-of-sale to their final destinations. The 'travel demand that is generated from this activity has a significant impact on congestion, pollution and the maintenance of infrastructure in cities. As such, and as the number of items distributed through urban areas continues to rise, city governments are showing increasing interest in strategies that can reduce these negative effects. Most of these strategies treat inner-city goods transportation as optimization issues, whereby an existing delivery system is made to operate more efficiently and effectively - oftentimes through utilizing advances in distributed digital technologies. What is proposed in this thesis, however, is an alternative approach -- a new type of service called FriendFreight, that exploits the untapped freight capacity of personal mobility vehicles, and the real-time location information of people and goods, to enable citizens to deliver items for others while moving through the city themselves. The success of such a service relies not only on the ability to transport goods in an optimal manner but also on an understanding of how and why people might deliver goods for each other. Thus, trust and reciprocity play an important role in the service design. In this thesis, the feasibility of FriendFreight is explored within the specific context of Copenhagen where I propose that the 175,000 bicycles that move through the city each day can be harnessed to deliver small items that people need regularly.(cont.) The mechanisms for building trust and reciprocity are determined through examining the theories of gift and market exchange. Special attention is also paid to our current sociological condition - what Manuel Castells calls the Network Society - whereby a rapid rise in digital electronic technologies has powered a transformation in social and operational exchange networks. Lastly, in collaboration with a colleague, Francesco Calabrese of the Senseable City Lab at MIT, a Matlab computer model has been developed as a framework for understanding a best-case scenario of the FriendFreight service and its potential effect on the efficient delivery of items given a particular scenario. This work shows that digital information can be harnessed in a bottom-up way to address urban issues in cities. Additionally it uncovers how and why exchange occurs between people, which results in a single framework for the FreindFreight service that maximizes reciprocity, trust and continued growth. Finally, it is found that a significant reduction in travel demand is achievable through using FriendFreight for certain types of goods in the context of Copenhagen.by Christine Outram.S.M