A Markov Model of Referral-Based Hiring and Workplace Segregation

I construct a Markov model of referral hiring to look at two issues: inequality between groups and workplace segregation. The model differs from most models of referral hiring in that it explicitly considers a firm structure where employment opportunities arise. The model suggests that referral hiring does not directly produce inequality between groups at the population level, even though firms have a bias toward hiring workers from the same group they already employ. The result highlights a difference between outcomes of referral hiring at the population and individual levels in that individual firm biases balance out when aggregated. However, referral hiring does produce segregation of groups across firms in a given industry, and the degree of segregation monotonically increases in the amount of referral hiring.     

Projecting average family size in rural India by the analytic hierarchy process

In this study, cultural, economic as well as certain crucial demographic factors are considered as the determinants for projecting the average family size in rural India. We use the Analytic Hierarchy Process to analyze influences of the factors which enter implicitly in a rural couple's decision‐making to determine the number of children they want to have as time goes by. We did not attempt to make distinctions among the regional differences in rural India. The outcome projected in our analysis compares favorably with the results of other demographic studies.     

Formulation of commons dilemma: Dawes model reconsidered

This paper examines Dawes (1975) model on commons dilemma (CD) situation and proposes an alternative model which formulates CD. Firstly, it makes clear that Dawes model does not have the characteristics of CD. Secondly, it specifies “resource unit condition” which models of commons dilemma must satisfy. Thirdly, it presents CD model, which is obtained by setting the condition in Dawes model. And lastly, it examines some nature of the proposed model and find that in CD situation, fine is distributed proportionally to each player's property.     

Academic maturity of students in an extended programme in mathematics

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the students who are registered in the University of Pretoria’s academic development programme, named the Four-year Programme (FYP). The programme was introduced as a gateway for students who are underprepared but have the potential to succeed and then continue their studies into the mainstream science programmes. Our research focuses on measuring the change in the academic maturity of these students. In the theoretical framework that we developed, academic maturity is subdivided into two components namely non-subject based maturity and subject based maturity (mathematical maturity). This paper focuses on measuring non-subject based academic maturity. The survey used for this purpose is called the Student Academic Readiness Survey (STARS), taken at the beginning of the year and after the first semester respectively. The results of the surveys are compared to measure the change in students’ views. Results show that in all constructs there is a surprising decline in students’ perceptions regarding their own abilities over the first semester at university. We use the Dunning–Kruger effect to explain this unexpected decline, in that students seem to develop a more realistic view of their own maturity, which in itself can be seen as a growth in academic maturity.     

基于FDI收益分成视角的FTA网络演化

本文假定双边自由贸易协定(bilateral free trade agreement,简称FTA)包含着无限制对外直接投资(foreign direct investment,简称FDI),并且通过FDI销售到非FTA伙伴国的收益按照一定比例在母国和东道国之间进行分配。基于Goyal和Joshi^[1],本文构建了FTA网络形成博弈模型。本文发现,FTA网络演化过程分为两个阶段:第一阶段,从空FTA网络到星状FTA网络,存在一条路径使得个体国家福利、世界总福利均改善,在此过程中,国家福利存在不对称性;第二阶段,从星状FTA网络到全连接FTA网络,存在一条路径使得个体国家福利改善,在此过程中,世界总福利不变,国家福利不对称性逐步消除。     

政府奖励对报废汽车回收模式选择的作用机制研究——基于企业社会责任视角

随着我国报废汽车数量的增多,由其造成的交通隐患、环境污染和资源浪费已成为重要社会问题,而如何设计合理可行的回收模式成为解决问题的关键。以制造商主导为前提,提出了基于企业社会责任的报废汽车回收模型,构建了制造商回收、销售商回收和第三方回收模式下的回收流程和数学模型,通过实例对考虑和不考虑企业社会责任两种情况下的回收模型进行了分析,探讨了不同政府奖励下报废汽车回收模式的策略选择。通过研究发现:(1)不论是否考虑企业社会责任,随着政府奖励的增加,制造商最终都会选择由自己进行回收;(2)当考虑企业社会责任时,政府奖励和决策者经济责任偏好都会导致决策的改变,随着政府奖励和赋予经济责任权重的同步增加,制造商的决策由第三方企业回收模式或销售商回收模式变成了制造商回收模式,表明政府奖励和企业社会责任对报废汽车回收模式选择具有显著影响。     

一种基于无监督学习的社交网络流量快速识别方法

在分析了社交网络的发展和研究现状后,结合现有的网络流量识别方法和社交网络流量特征属性,提出了一种基于KMeans聚类算法的无监督学习社交网络流量识别方法.为了提高处理的高效性、实时性,利用开源云计算平台如doop上提供的M印Reduce架构进行分布式并行处理.对比实验结果表明,提出的方法能快速、高效的识别社交网络流量,并且识别准确率有显著提高.     

数据稀疏环境下基于用户主题偏好的协同过滤算法

在B2C电子商务中,user-based协同过滤算法是一种重要的推荐方法,但用户共同评价项目数据稀疏影响了user-based协同过滤算法的应用。鉴于此,在考虑用户消费水平的基础上,利用关联规则挖掘形式化描述商品间的替代相似性;利用基于时间的贝叶斯概率描述商品间的关联关系构建商品网络,通过社会网络分析中的成份分析方法对商品网分析,得到面向用户主题偏好的商品间互补性关系,进而利用这两种商品间关系构建用户主题偏好项目集,最后在数据极度稀疏的环境下通过F₁方法和多样性测量方法与传统推荐算法进行对比实验分析,实验结果显示提高了推荐结果的准确性与新颖性。研究用的所有数据均采集于京东商城网站。本文为缓解数据稀疏问题提出了一种新的方法,扩展了整体网分析方法在商品关系分析中的应用,含有理论与实践双重意义。     

Dissonance Minimization as a Microfoundation of Social Influence in Models of Opinion Formation

Models of opinion formation are used to investigate many collective phenomena. While social influence often constitutes a basic mechanism, its implementation differs between the models. In this article, we provide a general framework of social influence based on dissonance minimization. We only premise that individuals strive to minimize dissonance resulting from different opinions compared to individuals in a given social network. Within a game theoretic context, we show that our concept of dissonance minimization resembles a coordination process when interactions are homogeneous. We further show that different models of opinion formation can be represented as best response dynamics within our framework. Thus, we offer a unifying perspective on these heterogeneous models and link them to rational choice theory.     

Ideological Complex Systems: Mathematical Theory

The goal of this article is to build an abstract mathematical theory rather than a computational one of the process of transmission of ideology. The basis of much of the argument is Patten's Environment Theory that characterizes a system with its double environment (input or stimulus and output or response) and the existing interactions among them. Ideological processes are semiotic processes, and if in Patten's theory, the two environments are physical, in this theory ideological processes are physical and semiotic, as are stimulus and response. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 47–65, 2015