How Algorithmic Confounding in Recommendation Systems Increases Homogeneity and Decreases Utility

Recommendation systems are ubiquitous and impact many domains; they have the potential to influence product consumption, individuals' perceptions of the world, and life-altering decisions. These systems are often evaluated or trained with data from users already exposed to algorithmic recommendations; this creates a pernicious feedback loop. Using simulations, we demonstrate how using data confounded in this way homogenizes user behavior without increasing utility

Pay-per-click advertising: A literature review

Digital marketing is being widely employed to efficiently and effectively market products/services to achieve increased sales and generate higher revenues. It allows businesses to effectively communicate desired content to their consumers. Pay-per-click (PPC) is one such form of digital marketing. PPC is often acknowledged for the different advantages it offers, and at the same time, it is notably criticised for fraud and other issues associated with its use. The literature on this subject, although limited, has invested considerable efforts in unveiling the pros and cons of employing PPC as a marketing/advertising strategy. This paper reviews 50 publications on PPC advertising to synthesise their findings and arrive at a common ground for understanding the digital presence and impact of this form of marketing. Alongside discussing the findings, observed limitations and opportunities for future research have been identified and reported

Disaster Recovery: Guidance for Donors

This guidance paper goes above and beyond what donors can learn--or already have learned--from a handful of excellent guides developed by the philanthropic community since Hurricane Katrina. Much of this literature on "disaster philanthropy" has been directed at the most effective ways for donors and their agents to deliver assistance during unfolding crises and the immediate aftermath, and how donors and their agents can help provide food, water, clothing, shelter, sanitation, health care and self-governance for masses of displaced and traumatized people. Here, we discuss innovative and under-appreciated ways that donors can help American communities recover and rebuild resiliently from disasters. The goal is to give donors a fresh perspective on supporting local efforts not only to rebuild from disasters already sustained, but also to prepare to recover from potential disasters. In both cases, there are opportunities for donors to directly fund, or pool and leverage funds for a variety of recovery and rebuilding activities, programs and services

Strategic Asymmetric Multicultural Alliances in Business

Global economics and other factors make it increasingly difficult for organizations to operate within the boundaries of one country in a rational way (e.g., leveraging best practices, profitable, achieving goals). In this study, I looked at strategic business alliances, transcending simple quid pro quo relationships to deliver ongoing partner value. I refined my study to multicultural relationships, having differing cultural identities (i.e., ideas, heritage, language, or demographics from differing geographies). Finally, I considered asymmetry (i.e., inequity in working relationship). Using a mixed-methodology design, I surveyed alliance participants and interviewed participants from selected alliances. A multi-case study addresses emergent themes of participants from these alliances, day-to-day experiences, and ways in which leaders intervened. Drawing from these experiences, observations are presented about the nature of these alliances and their increasing contemporary relevance. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible at the OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.ed

Strategic Asymmetric Multicultural Alliances in Business

Global economics and other factors make it increasingly difficult for organizations to operate within the boundaries of one country in a rational way (e.g., leveraging best practices, profitable, achieving goals). In this study, I looked at strategic business alliances, transcending simple quid pro quo relationships to deliver ongoing partner value. I refined my study to multicultural relationships, having differing cultural identities (i.e., ideas, heritage, language, or demographics from differing geographies). Finally, I considered asymmetry (i.e., inequity in working relationship). Using a mixed-methodology design, I surveyed alliance participants and interviewed participants from selected alliances. A multi-case study addresses emergent themes of participants from these alliances, day-to-day experiences, and ways in which leaders intervened. Drawing from these experiences, observations are presented about the nature of these alliances and their increasing contemporary relevance. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible at the OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.ed

Strategic Asymmetric Multicultural Alliances in Business

Global economics and other factors make it increasingly difficult for organizations to operate within the boundaries of one country in a rational way (e.g., leveraging best practices, profitable, achieving goals). In this study, I looked at strategic business alliances, transcending simple quid pro quo relationships to deliver ongoing partner value. I refined my study to multicultural relationships, having differing cultural identities (i.e., ideas, heritage, language, or demographics from differing geographies). Finally, I considered asymmetry (i.e., inequity in working relationship). Using a mixed-methodology design, I surveyed alliance participants and interviewed participants from selected alliances. A multi-case study addresses emergent themes of participants from these alliances, day-to-day experiences, and ways in which leaders intervened. Drawing from these experiences, observations are presented about the nature of these alliances and their increasing contemporary relevance. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible at the OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.ed

Framing Elite Consensus, Ideology and Theory and a ClassCrits Response

This short paper, really a thought piece, builds upon the examination begun in the Foreword of the ClassCrits VI Symposium which sought to outline a ClassCrits critique of neoclassical economic principles. It argues that neoliberal practices, theory and ideology, built on the scaffold of neoclassical economic ideas, frame an elite consensus that makes elites feel good but which are ethically, intellectually, and structurally problematic for the social well-being of most Americans. It does so, in part, by chronicling a number of recent practices of large corporations, including for example, the practice of inversion. Again, this paper takes as its specific target neoclassical economic theory and outlines in plain language a tentative ClassCrits response to it. Part I of this paper discusses the relationship between neoliberalism and neoclassical economic theory, suggesting they present feel-good ideas for elites that potentially inform their consensus. Part II examines a number of business practices that make visible the current elite consensus. It does so by chronicling the recent behavior and practices of large corporations on issues such as regulation, taxes, wages, production, job creation, outsourcing and government largess. Part III summarizes, in stylized fashion, neoclassical economic theory on how the market works; a story which, I believe, under-girds neoliberal practice and much of the described behavior of business elites. This part then takes a stab at outlining, in plain language, a basic ClassCrits response to this story. Part IV tests some of these ideas against the changes in airline travel as recently chronicled in a popular New Yorker piece by Tim Wu, in an effort to stimulate critical thinking and challenges to these hegemonic economic ideas (and practices) by examining them through everyday experience

A multi-criteria recommender system for NFT based IAP in RPG game

The market value of the gaming industry in 2021 is said to be more than 198.40 billion USD. Market value is also supported by the number of gamers, with 4.75 billion in January 2022. In today's In-App Purchase (IAP) income method has become a big trend in today's modern era models of free-to-play games, where gamers can choose or buy many items during the game to speed up the progress of the game or enjoy the full content of the game. However, sometimes players are overwhelmed with the number of items on offer, making it difficult for players to choose because the game content is too diverse. In addition, players are also worried about the security of their digital assets because, in 2021, there will be 7.5 million digital assets lost due to hacking. We propose a recommendation system to make it easier for players to choose items that suit their playstyle to solve this problem. We use the multi-criteria recommender system (MCRS) method because this method can improve the accuracy of recommendations compared to conventional recommendations that only use one criterion. In this study, we used eight criteria to calculate the recommendations. The results of our recommendation test show the accuracy value = 0.71, precision = 0.76, recall = 0.71 and F1 score = 0.66. To address security issues, we propose the implementation of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) for each item. NFT can increase security because it uses a decentralized blockchain architecture in which every transaction is encrypted. The system guarantees that the assets will remain online so that users do not risk losing ownership of their assets when the developer changes game data, or the game server closes

A multi-criteria recommender system for NFT based IAP in RPG game

The market value of the gaming industry in 2021 is said to be more than 198.40 billion USD. Market value is also supported by the number of gamers, with 4.75 billion in January 2022. In today's In-App Purchase (IAP) income method has become a big trend in today's modern era models of free-to-play games, where gamers can choose or buy many items during the game to speed up the progress of the game or enjoy the full content of the game. However, sometimes players are overwhelmed with the number of items on offer, making it difficult for players to choose because the game content is too diverse. In addition, players are also worried about the security of their digital assets because, in 2021, there will be 7.5 million digital assets lost due to hacking. We propose a recommendation system to make it easier for players to choose items that suit their playstyle to solve this problem. We use the multi-criteria recommender system (MCRS) method because this method can improve the accuracy of recommendations compared to conventional recommendations that only use one criterion. In this study, we used eight criteria to calculate the recommendations. The results of our recommendation test show the accuracy value = 0.71, precision = 0.76, recall = 0.71 and F1 score = 0.66. To address security issues, we propose the implementation of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) for each item. NFT can increase security because it uses a decentralized blockchain architecture in which every transaction is encrypted. The system guarantees that the assets will remain online so that users do not risk losing ownership of their assets when the developer changes game data, or the game server closes

F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2005

Examines national and state obesity rates and government policies. Challenges the research community to focus on major research questions to inform policy decisions, and policymakers to pursue actions to combat the obesity crisis