Evolving Network Model with Local-Area Preference for Mobile Ad Hoc Network

To accurately describe the evolving features of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) and to improve the performance of such networks, an evolving topology model with local-area preference is proposed. The aim of the model, which is analyzed by the mean field theory, is to optimize network structures based on users' behaviors in MANETs. The analysis results indicate that the network generated by this evolving model is a kind of scale-free network. This evolving model can improve the fault-tolerance performance of networks by balancing the connectivity and two factors, i.e., the remaining energy and the distance to nodes. The simulation results show that the evolving topology model has superior performance in reducing the traffic load and the energy consumption, prolonging network lifetime and improving the scalability of networks. It is an available approach for establishing and analyzing actual MANETs.

A structural relationship between place attachment and intention to conserve landscapes–a case study of Harz National Park in Germany

Place attachment is an important motivation for people to spend more time outdoors and to protect landscapes.This study explores visitors' intention to conserve natural landscapes based on the relationship with their place attachment to National Park landscape. Structural equation modelling(SEM) was used to determine the relationship between landscape conservation and place attachment. A survey with a structured questionnaire was administered to visitors to the seven designated hiking courses of Harz National Park in Germany. The path coefficient of 0.77 revealed that place dependence positively and significantly affected place attachment, whereas place identity did not. Place attachment had a significant effect on both affective appraisals and visiting satisfaction. Higher place attachment led to higher emotional reaction to landscapes on site and higher satisfaction of visiting the park. Among the variables, visiting satisfaction, but not affective appraisals, played a statistically significant mediating role between place attachment and conservation intention. With a path coefficient of 0.86, conservation intention was highly affected by visiting satisfaction. These results suggest that the managers of National Parks should focus on increasing visiting satisfaction based on how visitors are emotionally bonded with their visiting places, in order to enhance the intentions to conserve the landscape of the visitors to National Parks.

Two of a kind or the ratings game？ Adaptive pairwise preferences and latent factor models

Latent factor models have become a workhorse for a large number of recommender systems. While these sys- tems are built using ratings data, which is typically assumed static, the ability to incorporate different kinds of subsequent user feedback is an important asset. For instance, the user might want to provide additional information to the system in order to improve his personal recommendations. To this end, we examine a novel scheme for efficiently learning （or refining） user parameters from such feedback. We propose a scheme where users are presented with a sequence of pair- wise preference questions： ＂Do you prefer item A over B？＂ User parameters are updated based on their response, and subsequent questions are chosen adaptively after incorporat- ing the feedback. We operate in a Bayesian framework and the choice of questions is based on an information gain cri- terion. We validate the scheme on the Netflix movie ratings data set and a proprietary television viewership data set. A user study and automated experiments validate our findings.

Preference transfer model in collaborative filtering for implicit data

Generally, predicting whether an item will be liked or disliked by active users, and how much an item will be liked, is a main task of collaborative filtering systems or recommender systems. Recently, predicting most likely bought items for a target user, which is a subproblem of the rank problem of collaborative filtering, became an important task in collaborative filtering. Traditionally, the prediction uses the user item co-occurrence data based on users' buying behaviors. However, it is challenging to achieve good prediction performance using traditional methods based on single domain information due to the extreme sparsity of the buying matrix. In this paper, we propose a novel method called the preference transfer model for effective cross-domain collaborative filtering. Based on the preference transfer model, a common basis item-factor matrix and different user-factor matrices are factorized.Each user-factor matrix can be viewed as user preference in terms of browsing behavior or buying behavior. Then,two factor-user matrices can be used to construct a so-called ‘preference dictionary' that can discover in advance the consistent preference of users, from their browsing behaviors to their buying behaviors. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed preference transfer model outperforms the other methods on the Alibaba Tmall data set provided by the Alibaba Group.

Comparison of Travel Mode Choice Between Taxi and Subway Regarding Traveling Convenience

In this study, we investigate travel mode choice behavior between taxi and subway with an emphasis on the influence of traveling convenience. In the first stage, we examine the Origin-Destination(OD) points of Beijing taxi trips and compare these locations with the respective nearest subway station. Statistics reveal several interesting conclusions. First, for approximately 24.89% of all trips, no convenient subway connections exist between the OD pairs. As such, a taxi becomes the only viable choice. Second, for 80.23% of the remaining 75.11%of trips(equivalent to 60.26% of all trips), access distance from either the origin or the destination to the nearest subway station is greater than 500 meters. This phenomenon indicates that walking distance plays an important role in travel mode choice. In the second stage, we examine groups of taxi trips with similar travel distances and travel times to reveal common features. We establish a preference rule in terms of travel distance and travel time.This determines whether an individual driver will take a taxi or the subway, using a pairwise comparison-based preference regression model. Tests indicate that more than 95% of taxi trips can be correctly predicted by this preference rule. This conclusion reveals that traveling convenience dominates the travel model choice between taxi and subway. All these findings shed light on the factors that influence travel mode choice behavior.

Personalized Service System Based on Hybrid Filtering for Digital Library

Personalized service systems are an effective way to help users obtain recommendations for unseen items, within the enormous volume of information available based on their preferences. The most commonly used personalized service system methods are collaborative filtering, content-based filtering, and hybrid filtering. Unfortunately, each method has its drawbacks. This paper proposes a new method which unified partition-based collaborative filtering and meta-information filtering. In partition-based collaborative filtering the user-item rating matrix can be partitioned into low-dimensional dense matrices using a matrix clustering algorithm. Recommendations are generated based on these low-dimensional matrices. Additionally, the very low ratings problem can be solved using meta-information filtering. The unified method is applied to a digital resource management system. The experimental results show the high efficiency and good performance of the new approach.

Research frameworks, methodologies, and assessment methods concerning the adaptive reuse of architectural heritage: a review

With the growing trend towards preserving global architectural heritage, the adaptive reuse of built heritagebuildings is becoming increasingly popular;as commentators have noted, this popularity can in part be attributedto the economic, cultural, and social benefits they provide to urban communities. In considering adaptive reuse,urban developers and planners seek to reach an equilibrium in the battle between time and space. Bothacademically and practically, the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings requires compatible, appropriate, andscientific means for assessing built heritage assets;however, currently, research in this area is still relatively meagre.To address this gap, this paper investigates research frameworks, methodologies, and assessment methods thatconcern the adaptive reuse of architectural heritage. In this paper, we examine the current literature on theparadigms for applying mixed methodologies: the multi-criteria decision model (MCDM) and the preferencemeasurement model (PMM). Specifically, in examining the extant literature, we explore the ways in which thesemethods are discussed, compared, and evaluated, and the positive functions of these methods are also highlighted.In addition, this review examines a range of cases to better clarify the research frameworks, methodologies, andassessment methods used in the study of the adaptive reuse of architectural heritage.

Planning and Real-time Pricing of EV Charging Stations Considering Social Welfare and Profitability Balance

This paper presents a planning and real-time pricing approach for EV charging stations(CSs).The approach takes the form of a bi-level model to fully consider the interest of both the government and EV charging station operators in the planning process.From the perspective of maximizing social welfare,the government acts as the decision-maker of the upper level that optimizes the charging price matrix,and uses it as a transfer variable to indirectly influence the decisions of the lower level operators.Then each operator at the lower level determines their scale according to the goal of maximizing their own revenue,and feeds the scale matrix back to the upper level.A Logit model is applied to predict the drivers’preference when selecting a CS.Furthermore,an improved particle swarm optimization(PSO)with the utilization of a penalty function is introduced to solve the nonlinear nonconvex bi-level model.The paper applies the proposed Bi-level planning model to a singlecenter small/medium-sized city with three scenarios to evaluate its performance,including the equipment utilization rate,payback period,traffic attraction ability,etc.The result verifies that the model performs very well in typical CS distribution scenarios with a reasonable station payback period(average 6.5 years),and relatively high equipment utilization rate,44.32%.