Human-Computer Negotiations: A Systematic Evaluation of the Effects of Timespan, Tactic, and Search Mechanism

Artificial Intelligence and Computer Agents are having a substantial impact on our everyday lives. The current paper focuses on the prospects of humans negotiating with computer agents in e-commerce settings. We conducted experiments where the subjects negotiated the purchase of mobile plans with computer agents acting as sellers. Three time-based negotiation tactics and two search mechanisms were employed in synchronous vs. asynchronous sessions. The results suggest that computer agents’ negotiation tactics and search mechanisms have significant effects on both the subjective and objective outcomes of the negotiations, while timespan has marginal effects on the agreement rate of the negotiation

Modelling the effects of social networks on activity and travel behaviour

Activity-based models of transport demand are increasingly used by governments, engineering firms and consultants to predict the impact of various design and planning decisions on travel and consequently on noise emissions, energy consumption, accessibility and other performance indicators. In this context, non-discretionary activities, such as work and school, can be relatively easily explained by the traveller’s sociodemographic characteristics and generalised travel costs. However, participation in, and scheduling of, discretionary and joint activities are not so easily redicted. Understanding the social network that lies on top of the spatial network could lead to better prediction of social activity schedules and better forecasts of travel patterns for joint activities. Existing models of activity-travel behaviour do not consider joint activities in detail, except within households to a limited extent. A recent attempt developed at ETH Zurich to incorporate social networks in a single-day optimisation scheduling model did not model joint activities as such, rather rewarding individuals for scheduling activities at the same location and at the same time as their friends. Realistic social networks were also not incorporated. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to this rapidly expanding field by developing a simulation of activity and travel behaviour incorporating social processes and joint activities to investigate the effects on activity and travel behaviour over a simulated period of weeks. The model developed is intended as a proof-of-concept. In order to achieve this aim, an agent-based simulation was designed, implemented in Java, and calibrated and partly verified with real-world data. The model generates activities on a daily basis, including the time of day and duration of the activity. An interaction protocol has been developed to model the activity decision process. Data collected in Eindhoven on social and joint activities and social networks has been used for calibration and verification. Alongside the model development, several issues are addressed, such as exploring which parameters are useful and their effects, the data required for the validation of agent-based travel behaviour models, and whether the addition of social networks to models of this type makes adifference. Sensitivity testing was undertaken to explore the effects of parameters, which was applied to increasingly more complex versions of the model (starting from one day of outputs with no interactions between individuals and finishing with full interactions over many days). This showed that the model performed as expected when certain parameters were altered. Due to the components included in the model, scenarios of interest to policy makers (such as changes in population, land-use changes, and changes in institutional contexts) can be explored. Altering the structure of the in- put social networks and the interaction protocols showed that these inputs do have a difference on the outputs of the model. As a result, these elements of the model require data collection on the social network structure and the decision processes for each local instantiation. Two more "traditional" transport planning policy scenarios, an increase in free time and an increase in travel cost, showed that the model performs as expected for these scenarios. It is shown that the use of agent-based modelling is useful in permitting the incorporation of social networks. The social network can have a significant impact on model results and therefore the decisions made by planners and stakeholders. The model can be extended further in several different directions as new theories are developed and data sets are collected

Collaborative decision making in complex work settings: a process of managing inter dependencies

There exists disparity between the conceptualization and occurrence of Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) in everyday work activities of complex work settings. Current notions in the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) based on studies of decision making in groups typically portray CDM as an isolated event in which multiple personnel jointly undertake decision making. In the real world, however, decisions are made during work performance and interlaced with other processes and activities. Moreover, the complex work setting is a cooperative arrangement in which decision making is distributed. This research aims to alleviate the disparity by investigating how people in a complex working environment make decisions collaboratively. The original contribution to knowledge made by this thesis is the theory of CDM as a process of managing interdependencies. Field-studies conducted in an airport to examine the way CDM is undertaken during Air Traffic Control operations inform theory development. The study takes a qualitative approach and is guided by Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM). The findings of this research indicate that undertaking decision making in the cooperative arrangement of complex work settings requires managing the distributions and interconnections inherent in this setup. In addition, participation and contribution of personnel in decision making is found to be structured by the dependencies between their activities. These findings form the central focus of the theory leading to the depiction of CDM as a process of managing interdependencies. The theory presented in this thesis clarifies and extends existing views by explicating the differentiated process of CDM in the cooperative arrangement of a complex work setting. Based on this a new definition of CDM is formulated. In addition, a conceptual framework of ten parameters is derived to serve as a tool for analysing CDM taking place in a particular work setting. Application of this framework is demonstrated by analysing an aircraft accident report to draw insights about the occurrence of CDM in this setting

Mobile bodies : train travel and practices of movement

This thesis investigates experiences of railway travel from a passenger perspective by looking at how passengers move through and dwell within spaces of the railway journey. It responds to a lack of attention to diverse processual enactments and theorisations of processes and practices that constitute these flows. Challenging both the theory that this particular 'space of flows' constitutes a non-place that is characterised by placelessness, and theories that rely on aggregate models of movement that serve to pacify the body, this thesis speaks to the neglected transient experience that acknowledges how the railway journey is continually brought into being by passengers through practice rather than given a-priori. It is based on in-depth empirical research that focuses on long-distance, intercity journeys as a particular space of flows. It develops a descriptive, multi-method approach to investigate what a travelling body is and how a body becomes a travelling body; how and to what extent travel-time is planned, organised, used and valued; and how the experience of time and space transform over the duration of a journey. For many, and contrary to economically-productivist studies, the railway journey is not a wasted time, but is valued and put to use in a variety of different ways that fold through and are integrally-linked to the commitments, motivations and obligations of other time-spaces. The resulting heterogeneity of practices within the confined space of the railway carriage also has significant implications for the sociality and forms of responsibility that develop. However, certain parts of the journey are more valuable than others and within this space of flows are many durations of immobility and passivity. Nevertheless, and contrary to other practice-based studies that privilege the body-in-action, passivity does not necessarily constitute a weak form of inhabiting the world. This research demonstrates how multiple configurations of passivity come into play at different points during the railway journey to assist in making the process of travel easier. In sum, this thesis mobilises new ways of looking at transient spaces which attempt to move beyond a sedentary metaphysics of space