Social Network Games with Obligatory Product Selection

Recently, Apt and Markakis introduced a model for product adoption in social networks with multiple products, where the agents, influenced by their neighbours, can adopt one out of several alternatives (products). To analyze these networks we introduce social network games in which product adoption is obligatory. We show that when the underlying graph is a simple cycle, there is a polynomial time algorithm allowing us to determine whether the game has a Nash equilibrium. In contrast, in the arbitrary case this problem is NP-complete. We also show that the problem of determining whether the game is weakly acyclic is co-NP hard. Using these games we analyze various types of paradoxes that can arise in the considered networks. One of them corresponds to the well-known Braess paradox in congestion games. In particular, we show that social networks exist with the property that by adding an additional product to a specific node, the choices of the nodes will unavoidably evolve in such a way that everybody is strictly worse off.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2013, arXiv:1307.416

Paradoxes in Social Networks with Multiple Products

Recently, we introduced in arXiv:1105.2434 a model for product adoption in social networks with multiple products, where the agents, influenced by their neighbours, can adopt one out of several alternatives. We identify and analyze here four types of paradoxes that can arise in these networks. To this end, we use social network games that we recently introduced in arxiv:1202.2209. These paradoxes shed light on possible inefficiencies arising when one modifies the sets of products available to the agents forming a social network. One of the paradoxes corresponds to the well-known Braess paradox in congestion games and shows that by adding more choices to a node, the network may end up in a situation that is worse for everybody. We exhibit a dual version of this, where removing available choices from someone can eventually make everybody better off. The other paradoxes that we identify show that by adding or removing a product from the choice set of some node may lead to permanent instability. Finally, we also identify conditions under which some of these paradoxes cannot arise.Comment: 22 page

Case studies of personalized learning

Deliverable 4.1, Literature review of personalised learning and the Cloud, started with an evaluation and synthesis of the definitions of personalized learning, followed by an analysis of how this is implemented in a method (e-learning vs. i-learning, m-learning and u-learning), learning approach and the appropriate didactic process, based on adapted didactic theories. From this research a list of criteria was created needed to implement personalised learning onto the learner of the future. This list of criteria is the basis for the analysis of all case studies investigated. – as well to the learning process as the learning place. In total 60 case studies (all 59 case studies mentioned in D6.4 Education on the Cloud 2015 + one extra) were analysed. The case studies were compared with the list of criteria, and a score was calculated. As a result, the best examples could be retained. On average most case studies were good on: taking different learning methods into account, interactivity and accessibility and usability of learning materials for everyone. All had a real formal education content, thus aiming at the core-curriculum, valuing previous knowledge, competences, life and work skills, also informal. Also the availability of an instructor / tutor or other network of peers, experts and teachers to guide and support the learning is common. On the other hand, most case studies lack diagnostics tests as well at the start (diagnostic entry test), during the personalized learning trajectory and at the end (assessment at the end). Also most do not include non-formal and informal learning aspects. And the ownership of personalized learning is not in the hands of the learner. Five of the 60 case studies can as a result be considered as very good examples of real personalized learning

On the Appetite Trail

The article recounts actions oriented at experiencing and reliving culinary traditions, undertaken by the Local Action Group of the “Mroga” Society for the Local Community Development. The Society operates in five communes: Koluszki, Brzeziny, Dmosin, Jeżów and Rogów, located in the north-eastern part of the current Łódź voivodeship, east of the city of Łódź. In the past, this area, which bordered regions whose characteristic features indicated their distinct regional identities (the Łęczyca Land and the Łowicz Principality from the north, the Rawa Land from the east, the Opoczno and Piotrków Lands from the south, and Łódź from the west), was devoid of definite features typical to folk culture. Currently it is still an area which, due to the absence of a consistent and enduring cultural foundation to refer to, cannot be described in the categories of an ethnographic or geographic region. By following the tourist trail laid by the Society, known as the “Appetite Trail”, I reconstruct the vision of what the community resident in the five communes covered by the activity of the “Mroga” Local Action Group defines as the region’s culinary tradition, and I deconstruct the Group’s actions that reduce the tradition to the level of a tourist attraction

Soft power and its audiences: Tweeting the Olympics from London 2012 to Sochi 2014

The ‘Tweeting the Olympics’ project (the subject of this special section of Participations) must be understood in the context of efforts by host states, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other actors involved in the Games to cultivate and communicate a set of meanings to audiences about both the Olympics events and the nations taking part. Olympic Games are not only sporting competitions; they are also exercises in the management of relations between states and publics, at home and overseas, in order to augment the attractiveness and influence or the soft power of the states involved. Soft power is most successful when it goes unnoticed according to its chief proponent Joseph Nye. If so, how can we possibly know whether soft power works? This article reviews the state of the field in thinking about public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and soft power in the period of this project (2012-14), focusing particularly on how the audiences of soft power projects, like the London and Sochi Games, were conceived and addressed. One of the key questions this project addresses is whether international broadcasters such as the BBCWS and RT used social media during the Games to promote a cosmopolitan dialogue with global audiences and/or merely to integrate social media so as to project and shape national soft power. We argue first that the contested nature of the Olympic Games calls into question received theories of soft power, public and cultural diplomacy. Second, strategic national narratives during the Olympics faced additional challenges, particularly due to the tensions between the national and the international character of the Games. Third, the new media ecology and shift to a network paradigm further threatens the asymmetric power relations of the broadcasting paradigm forcing broadcasters to reassess their engagement with what was formerly known as ‘the audience’ and the targets of soft power

Being religious - A Question of Incentives?

Studies of the relationship between religion and economics can be divided into three major lines of research: behavioural economics of religion (microeconomic approach), macroeconomic consequences of religion and religious explanations of economic phenomena. Except for the third line strong evidence has been found on the microeconomic level of individuals and households that economic behaviour and outcome correlate with religion. Furthermore the role of religion on the macroeconomic level, e.g. the impact on economic growth, has been analyzed, too. However, only a few models integrating these two levels exist. In order to exemplify such an integrated model, the first step of the analysis has to be the examination of the decisions taken on the microeconomic level. For this purpose this paper focuses on rational incentives to be religious and to take part in religious activities without taking into account the benefits derived from religious believes itself.religion, incentives, individual religiosity

Training Competences in Industrial Risk Prevention with Lego® Serious Play®: A Case Study

This paper proposes the use of the Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) methodology as a facilitating tool for the introduction of competences for Industrial Risk Prevention by engineering students from the industrial branch (electrical, electronic, mechanical and technological engineering), presenting the results obtained in the Universities of Cadiz and Seville in the academic years 2017–2019. Current Spanish legislation does not reserve any special legal attribution, nor does it require specific competence in occupational risk prevention for the regulated profession of a technical industrial engineer (Order CIN 351:2009), and only does so in a generic way for that of an industrial engineer (Order CIN 311:2009). However, these universities consider the training in occupational health and safety for these future graduates as an essential objective in order to develop them for their careers in the industry. The approach is based on a series of challenges proposed (risk assessments, safety inspections, accident investigations and fire protection measures, among others), thanks to the use of “gamification” dynamics with Lego® Serious Play®. In order to carry the training out, a set of specific variables (industrial sector, legal and regulatory framework, business organization and production system), and transversal ones (leadership, teamwork, critical thinking and communication), are incorporated. Through group models, it is possible to identify dangerous situations, establish causes, share and discuss alternative proposals and analyze the economic, environmental and organizational impact of the technical solutions studied, as well as take the appropriate decisions, in a creative, stimulating, inclusive and innovative context. In this way, the theoretical knowledge which is acquired is applied to improve safety and health at work and foster the prevention of occupational risks, promoting the commitment, effort, motivation and proactive participation of the student teams.Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities / European Social Fund: Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2017-22222

Training Competences in Industrial Risk Prevention with Lego (R) Serious Play (R): A Case Study

This paper proposes the use of the Lego (R) Serious Play (R) (LSP) methodology as a facilitating tool for the introduction of competences for Industrial Risk Prevention by engineering students from the industrial branch (electrical, electronic, mechanical and technological engineering), presenting the results obtained in the Universities of Cadiz and Seville in the academic years 2017-2019. Current Spanish legislation does not reserve any special legal attribution, nor does it require specific competence in occupational risk prevention for the regulated profession of a technical industrial engineer (Order CIN 351:2009), and only does so in a generic way for that of an industrial engineer (Order CIN 311:2009). However, these universities consider the training in occupational health and safety for these future graduates as an essential objective in order to develop them for their careers in the industry. The approach is based on a series of challenges proposed (risk assessments, safety inspections, accident investigations and fire protection measures, among others), thanks to the use of "gamification" dynamics with Lego (R) Serious Play (R). In order to carry the training out, a set of specific variables (industrial sector, legal and regulatory framework, business organization and production system), and transversal ones (leadership, teamwork, critical thinking and communication), are incorporated. Through group models, it is possible to identify dangerous situations, establish causes, share and discuss alternative proposals and analyze the economic, environmental and organizational impact of the technical solutions studied, as well as take the appropriate decisions, in a creative, stimulating, inclusive and innovative context. In this way, the theoretical knowledge which is acquired is applied to improve safety and health at work and foster the prevention of occupational risks, promoting the commitment, effort, motivation and proactive participation of the student teams

Evaluation of Parties and Coalitions After Parliamentary Elections

Five leading German political parties and their coalitions are evaluated with regard to party manifestos and results of the 2005 parliamentary elections. For this purpose, the party manifestos are converted into Yes/No answers to 95 topical questions (Relax the protection against dismissals? Close nuclear power plants? etc.). On each question, every party represents its adherents as well as those of the parties with the same position. Therefore, a party usually represents a larger group than its voters. The popularity of a party is understood to be the percentage of the electorate represented, averaged on all the 95 questions. The universality of a party is the frequency of representing a majority of electors. The questions are considered either unweighted, or weighted by an expert, or weighted by the number of GOOGLE-results for given keywords (the more important the question, the more documents in the Internet). The weighting however plays a negligible role because the party answers are backed up by the party ``ideology'' which determines a high intra-question correlation. The SPD (Social-Democratic Party) did not receive the highest percentage of votes, remains nevertheless the most popular and the most universal German party. A comparison of the election results with the position of German Trade Union Federation (DGB) reveals its high representativeness as well. Finally, all coalitions with two and three parties are also evaluated. The coalition CDU/SPD (which is currently in power) is the most popular, and the coalition SPD/Green/Left-Party (which failed due to personal conflicts) is the most universal.Parliamentary Election, Fractions, Coalitions, Theory of Voting, Mathematical Theory of Democracy, Indices of Popularity and Universality, German Trade Union Federation (DGB)