8,077 research outputs found
The discriminative functional mixture model for a comparative analysis of bike sharing systems
Bike sharing systems (BSSs) have become a means of sustainable intermodal
transport and are now proposed in many cities worldwide. Most BSSs also provide
open access to their data, particularly to real-time status reports on their
bike stations. The analysis of the mass of data generated by such systems is of
particular interest to BSS providers to update system structures and policies.
This work was motivated by interest in analyzing and comparing several European
BSSs to identify common operating patterns in BSSs and to propose practical
solutions to avoid potential issues. Our approach relies on the identification
of common patterns between and within systems. To this end, a model-based
clustering method, called FunFEM, for time series (or more generally functional
data) is developed. It is based on a functional mixture model that allows the
clustering of the data in a discriminative functional subspace. This model
presents the advantage in this context to be parsimonious and to allow the
visualization of the clustered systems. Numerical experiments confirm the good
behavior of FunFEM, particularly compared to state-of-the-art methods. The
application of FunFEM to BSS data from JCDecaux and the Transport for London
Initiative allows us to identify 10 general patterns, including pathological
ones, and to propose practical improvement strategies based on the system
comparison. The visualization of the clustered data within the discriminative
subspace turns out to be particularly informative regarding the system
efficiency. The proposed methodology is implemented in a package for the R
software, named funFEM, which is available on the CRAN. The package also
provides a subset of the data analyzed in this work.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/15-AOAS861 in the Annals of
Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
The Effects of Historical Settlement Patterns on Oklahoma Student Achievement Test Scores
Labor and Human Capital,
Immirzi parameter without Immirzi ambiguity : Conformal loop quantization of scalar-tensor gravity
C.W. wishes to thank G. Immirzi and C. Rovelli for early discussions and brief correspondence respectively, and appreciates the EPSRC GG-Top Project and the Cruickshank Trust for financial support. O.V. is grateful to the Aberdeen University College of Physical Sciences for a research studentship.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Voluntary Matching Grants can Forestall Social Dumping
The European economic integration leads to increasing mobility of factors, thereby threatening the stability of social transfer programs. This paper investigates the possibility to achieve by means of voluntary matching grants both the optimal allocation of factors and the optimal level of redistribution in the presence of factor mobility. We use a fiscal competition model a la Wildasin (1991) in which states differ in their technologies and preferences for redistribution. We first investigate a simple process in which the regulatory authority progressively raises the matching grants to the district choosing the lowest transfer and all districts respond optimally to the resulting change in transfers all around. This process is shown to increase total production and the level of reditribution. However it does not guarantee that all districts gain, nor that an efficient level of redistribution is attained. Assuming complete information among districts, we first derive the willingness of each district to match the contribution of other districts and we show that the aggregate willingness to pay for matching rates converges to zero when both the efficient level of redistribution and the efficient allocation of factors are achieved. We then describe the ajustment process for the matching rates that will lead districts to the efficient outcome and guarantee that everyone will gain.
Vountary matching grants can forestall social dumping
The European economic integration leads to increasing mobility of factors, thereby threatening the stability of social transfer programs. This paper investigates the possibility to achieve by means of voluntary matching grants both the optimal allocation of factors and the optimal level of redistribution in the presence of factor mobility. We use a fiscal competition model a la Wildasin (1991) in which states differ in their technologies and preferences for redistribution. We first investigate a simple process in which the regulatory authority progressively raises the matchning grants sto the district choosing the lowest transfer and all districts respond optimally to the resulting change in transfers all around. This process is shown to increase total production and the level of redistribution. However, it does not guarantee that all districts gain, nor that an efficient level of redistribution is attained. Assuming complete information among districts, we first derive the willingness of each district to match the contribution of other districts and we show that the aggregate willingness to pay for matching rates converges to zero when both the efficient level of redistribution and the efficient outcome and guarantee that everyone will gain.Fiscal federalism, Adjustment process, Matching grants
Auctions with Costly Information Acquisition
We characterize optimal selling mechanisms in auction environments where bidders must incur a cost to learn their valuations. These mechanisms specify for each period, as a function of the bids in previous periods, which new potential buyers should be asked to bid. In addition, these mechanisms must induce the bidders to acquire information about their valuations and to reveal this information truthfully. Using a generalized Groves principle, we prove a very general full extraction of the surplus result: the seller can obtain the same profit as if he had full control over the bidders' acquisition of information and could have observed directly their valuations once they are informed. We also present appealing implementations of the optimal mechanism in special cases.
Auctions with costly information acquisition Constrained Bidders
We consider auction environments in which bidders must incur a cost to learn their valuations and study the optimal selling mechanisms in such environments. These mechanisms specify for each period, as a function of the bids in previous periods, which new potential buyers should be asked to bid. In addition, these mechanisms must induce buyers to both acquire and to reveal truthfully their valuations. Using a generalized Groves principle, we prove a very general âfull extraction of the surplusâ result: the seller can obtain the same profit as if he had full control over the buyersâ acquisition of information and could have observed directly their valuations once they are informed. We also present appealing implementations of the optimal mechanism in special cases.mechanism design, selling mechanisms, auctions, information acquisition, search procedures
Optimal Search Auctions
We study the design of profit maximizing single unit auctions under the assumption that the seller needs to incur costs to contact prospective bidders and inform them about the auction. With independent biddersâ types and possibly interdependent valuations, the sellerâs problem can be reduced to a search problem in which the surplus is measured in terms of virtual utilities minus search costs. Compared to the socially efficient mechanism, the optimal mechanism features fewer participants, longer search conditional on the same set of participants, and inefficient sequence of entry.optimal auctions, search cost, search mechanism
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