5,210 research outputs found
An incentive scheme for non-cooperative social networks under the Independent Cascade Model
Session 20: Intelligent e-Technology IIn this paper we analyze influence maximization for noncooperative social networks under the Independent Cascade Model. We propose a model of noncooperative nodes and prove some interesting properties of this model. Based on this, we further develop a game-theoretic model to characterize the behavior of noncooperative nodes, and design a Vickrey-Clarke-Groves-like scheme to incentivise cooperation. An advertiser can resolve the negative effect of noncooperation with our proposed solution. Evaluation on large social networks demonstrates the importance of cooperation and the effectiveness of our proposed incentive scheme in maximizing influence. We also discuss the budget allocation between seed nodes activation and incentives to non-seed nodes.published_or_final_versio
Coreness of Cooperative Games with Truncated Submodular Profit Functions
Coreness represents solution concepts related to core in cooperative games,
which captures the stability of players. Motivated by the scale effect in
social networks, economics and other scenario, we study the coreness of
cooperative game with truncated submodular profit functions. Specifically, the
profit function is defined by a truncation of a submodular function
: if and
otherwise, where is a given threshold. In this paper, we
study the core and three core-related concepts of truncated submodular profit
cooperative game. We first prove that whether core is empty can be decided in
polynomial time and an allocation in core also can be found in polynomial time
when core is not empty. When core is empty, we show hardness results and
approximation algorithms for computing other core-related concepts including
relative least-core value, absolute least-core value and least average
dissatisfaction value
Energy-Aware Competitive Power Allocation for Heterogeneous Networks Under QoS Constraints
This work proposes a distributed power allocation scheme for maximizing
energy efficiency in the uplink of orthogonal frequency-division multiple
access (OFDMA)-based heterogeneous networks (HetNets). The user equipment (UEs)
in the network are modeled as rational agents that engage in a non-cooperative
game where each UE allocates its available transmit power over the set of
assigned subcarriers so as to maximize its individual utility (defined as the
user's throughput per Watt of transmit power) subject to minimum-rate
constraints. In this framework, the relevant solution concept is that of Debreu
equilibrium, a generalization of Nash equilibrium which accounts for the case
where an agent's set of possible actions depends on the actions of its
opponents. Since the problem at hand might not be feasible, Debreu equilibria
do not always exist. However, using techniques from fractional programming, we
provide a characterization of equilibrial power allocation profiles when they
do exist. In particular, Debreu equilibria are found to be the fixed points of
a water-filling best response operator whose water level is a function of
minimum rate constraints and circuit power. Moreover, we also describe a set of
sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of Debreu equilibria
exploiting the contraction properties of the best response operator. This
analysis provides the necessary tools to derive a power allocation scheme that
steers the network to equilibrium in an iterative and distributed manner
without the need for any centralized processing. Numerical simulations are then
used to validate the analysis and assess the performance of the proposed
algorithm as a function of the system parameters.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figures, to appear IEEE Trans. Wireless Commu
Data Dissemination And Information Diffusion In Social Networks
Data dissemination problem is a challenging issue in social networks, especially in mobile social networks, which grows rapidly in recent years worldwide with a significant increasing number of hand-on mobile devices such as smart phones and pads. Short-range radio communications equipped in mobile devices enable mobile users to access their interested contents not only from access points of Internet but also from other mobile users. Through proper data dissemination among mobile users, the bandwidth of the short-range communications can be better utilized and alleviate the stress on the bandwidth of the cellular networks. In this dissertation proposal, data dissemination problem in mobile social networks is studied. Before data dissemination emerges in the research of mobile social networks, routing protocol of finding efficient routing path in mobile social networks was the focus, which later became the pavement for the study of the efficient data dissemination. Data dissemination priorities on packet dissemination from multiple sources to multiple destinations while routing protocol simply focus on finding routing path between two ends in the networks. The first works in the literature of data dissemination problem were based on the modification and improvement of routing protocols in mobile social networks. Therefore, we first studied and proposed a prediction-based routing protocol in delay tolerant networks. Delay tolerant network appears earlier than mobile social networks. With respect to delay tolerant networks, mobile social networks also consider social patterns as well as mobility patterns. In our work, we simply come up with the prediction-based routing protocol through analysis of user mobility patterns. We can also apply our proposed protocol in mobile social networks. Secondly, in literature, efficient data dissemination schemes are proposed to improve the data dissemination ratio and with reasonable overhead in the networks. However, the overhead may be not well controlled in the existing works. A social-aware data dissemination scheme is proposed in this dissertation proposal to study efficient data dissemination problem with controlled overhead in mobile social networks. The data dissemination scheme is based on the study on both mobility patterns and social patterns of mobile social networks. Thirdly, in real world cases, an efficient data dissemination in mobile social networks can never be realized if mobile users are selfish, which is true unfortunately in fact. Therefore, how to strengthen nodal cooperation for data dissemination is studied and a credit-based incentive data dissemination protocol is also proposed in this dissertation. Data dissemination problem was primarily researched on mobile social networks. When consider large social networks like online social networks, another similar problem was researched, namely, information diffusion problem. One specific problem is influence maximization problem in online social networks, which maximize the result of information diffusion process. In this dissertation proposal, we proposed a new information diffusion model, namely, sustaining cascading (SC) model to study the influence maximization problem and based on the SC model, we further plan our research work on the information diffusion problem aiming at minimizing the influence diffusion time with subject to an estimated influence coverage
Considering Human Aspects on Strategies for Designing and Managing Distributed Human Computation
A human computation system can be viewed as a distributed system in which the
processors are humans, called workers. Such systems harness the cognitive power
of a group of workers connected to the Internet to execute relatively simple
tasks, whose solutions, once grouped, solve a problem that systems equipped
with only machines could not solve satisfactorily. Examples of such systems are
Amazon Mechanical Turk and the Zooniverse platform. A human computation
application comprises a group of tasks, each of them can be performed by one
worker. Tasks might have dependencies among each other. In this study, we
propose a theoretical framework to analyze such type of application from a
distributed systems point of view. Our framework is established on three
dimensions that represent different perspectives in which human computation
applications can be approached: quality-of-service requirements, design and
management strategies, and human aspects. By using this framework, we review
human computation in the perspective of programmers seeking to improve the
design of human computation applications and managers seeking to increase the
effectiveness of human computation infrastructures in running such
applications. In doing so, besides integrating and organizing what has been
done in this direction, we also put into perspective the fact that the human
aspects of the workers in such systems introduce new challenges in terms of,
for example, task assignment, dependency management, and fault prevention and
tolerance. We discuss how they are related to distributed systems and other
areas of knowledge.Comment: 3 figures, 1 tabl
Equilibrium in Labor Markets with Few Firms
We study competition between firms in labor markets, following a
combinatorial model suggested by Kelso and Crawford [1982]. In this model, each
firm is trying to recruit workers by offering a higher salary than its
competitors, and its production function defines the utility generated from any
actual set of recruited workers. We define two natural classes of production
functions for firms, where the first one is based on additive capacities
(weights), and the second on the influence of workers in a social network. We
then analyze the existence of pure subgame perfect equilibrium (PSPE) in the
labor market and its properties. While neither class holds the gross
substitutes condition, we show that in both classes the existence of PSPE is
guaranteed under certain restrictions, and in particular when there are only
two competing firms. As a corollary, there exists a Walrasian equilibrium in a
corresponding combinatorial auction, where bidders' valuation functions belong
to these classes.
While a PSPE may not exist when there are more than two firms, we perform an
empirical study of equilibrium outcomes for the case of weight-based games with
three firms, which extend our analytical results. We then show that stability
can in some cases be extended to coalitional stability, and study the
distribution of profit between firms and their workers in weight-based games
- …