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Choice-based Crowdshipping for Next-day Delivery Services : A Dynamic Task Display Problem
Get PDFThis paper studies integrating the crowd workforce into next-day home delivery services. In this setting, both crowd drivers and contract drivers collaborate in making deliveries. Crowd drivers have limited capacity and can choose not to deliver if the presented tasks do not align with their preferences. The central question addressed is: How can the platform minimize the total task fulfilment cost, which includes payouts to crowd drivers and additional payouts to contract drivers for delivering the unselected tasks by customizing task displays to crowd drivers? To tackle this problem, we formulate it as a finite-horizon Stochastic Decision Problem, capturing crowd drivers’ utility-driven task preferences, with the option of not choosing a task based on the displayed options. An inherent challenge is approximating the non-constant marginal cost of serving orders not chosen by crowd drivers, which are then assigned to contract drivers. We address this by leveraging a common approximation technique, dividing the service region into zones. Furthermore, we devise a stochastic look-ahead strategy that tackles the curse of dimensionality issues arising in dynamic task display execution and a non-linear (problem specifically concave) boundary condition associated with the cost of hiring contract drivers. In experiments inspired by Singapore’s geography, we demonstrate that choice-based crowd shipping can reduce next-day delivery fulfilment costs by up to 16.9%. The observed cost savings are closely tied to the task display policies and the task choice behaviours of drivers
Skeleton-prompt : A cross-dataset transfer learning approach for skeleton action recognition
Get PDFThis paper presents Skeleton-Prompt, a novel tuning method designed to tackle cross-dataset transfer issues in skeleton action recognition models. Given the scarcity of large-scale 3D skeleton datasets and the variability in keypoint structures across datasets, existing methods often rely on training models from scratch, necessitating extensive labeled data and exhibiting high sensitivity to occlusion. Our approach aims to fine-tune pre-trained models to adapt to limited real-world skeleton data. We use 2D skeletons as inputs and leverage a large human motion dataset for 2D to 3D pose estimation to learn generalizable motion features. A lightweight prompt generator produces instance-level prompts, and we employ dynamic queries with cross-attention to refine the semantic information of the input data. Additionally, we introduce a joint-enhanced multi-stream fusion mechanism based on self-attention to improve robustness against incomplete skeletons. Skeleton-Prompt represents a significant advancement in efficient fine-tuning for skeleton action recognition, effectively addressing cross-dataset generalization challenges in a data-efficient and parameter-efficient manner
The effect of tailored reciprocity on information provision in an investigative interview
Get PDFPurpose: In their study of reciprocity in investigative interviews, Matsumoto and Hwang (2018) found that offering interviewees water prior to the interview enhanced observer-rated rapport and positively affected information provision. This paper aims to examine whether tailoring the item towards an interviewee’s needs would further enhance information provision. This paper hypothesised that interviewees given a relevant item prior to the interview would disclose more information than interviewees given an irrelevant item or no item. Design/methodology/approach: Participants (n = 85) ate pretzels to induce thirst, engaged in a cheating task with a confederate and were interviewed about their actions after receiving either no item, an irrelevant item to their induced thirst (pen and paper) or a relevant item (water). Findings: This paper found that receiving a relevant item had a significant impact on information provision, with participants who received water providing the most details, and significantly more than participants that received no item. Research limitations/implications: The findings have implications for obtaining information during investigative interviews and demonstrate a need for research on the nuances of social reciprocity in investigative interviewing. Practical implications: The findings have implications for obtaining information during investigative interviews and demonstrate a need for research on the nuances of social reciprocity in investigative interviewing. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to experimentally test the effect of different item types upon information provision in investigative interviews
Articulating place : Towards a conjunctural analysis of public health
No full text‘Place’ is again circulating as a policy solution to improve health, wealth and wellbeing. But while place-basedpolicymaking is quickly becoming ‘common sense’, we stress the need to think conjuncturally about the changing place of health. By conceptualising places as open articulations—rather than straightforwardly local territories—much wider geographies come into view. In dialogue with decentred approaches to public health which take seriously competing policy narratives, we therefore situate place-based policymaking within ongoing struggles over places and their pasts. To develop our argument, we look at public health through the lens of Wigan, north west England, which has become an unlikely ‘exemplar’ for place-based reforms. Framed by different, often contradictory, narratives of loss, control, and hope, it may be the talk of the town, but we reject the politics of self-responsibilisation implicit within recent attention towards purportedly ‘left behind’ places. Instead, we foreground how Wigan has been shaped by wider forces and relations such as de-industrialisation, postcolonialism, austerity and state restructuring, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. By locating the many crises, contradictions and antagonisms conditioning public health in this conjuncture, we can start to articulate political alternatives and identify possibilities for making policy otherwise
A qualitative exploration into the experiences of the menstrual cycle in relation to alcohol use and research
No full textIntroduction Despite approximately half of the population experiencing menstrual cycles, little is known about experiences of fluctuations in mood and behavior relating to alcohol use. Literature has investigated whether the cycle affects alcohol use, but none have explored whether individuals are conscious of effects. It is also crucial to understand what people believe is important for researchers to investigate within this topic. The aim was to qualitatively investigate experiences of the menstrual cycle and how it may affect alcohol use. The second aim was to understand what methods researchers should consider. Methods Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze 20 semi-structured interviews from individuals in the UK. Results Results showed alcohol themes: alcohol during menses (reduced consumption); motives for consumption (less social drinking during menses and drinking to cope with premenstrual symptoms); and conscious changes in alcohol use (individuals were unaware of fluctuations). For research themes: menstrual literacy (inadequate education); healthcare (inconsistencies in healthcare provision); and research topics (key areas suggested). Conclusion Overall, there are some conscious fluctuations in alcohol use, with regard to menses, and menstrual literacy was generally poor. Further research is needed for other samples (e.g., menopausal individuals and alcohol). Also, improvements in menstrual education are needed to improve menstrual literacy
“It’s Almost as if I’ve Relapsed” : An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Addiction Therapists’ Experiences With Supporting Their Clients Through Repeated Relapse
Get PDFBackground: Although addiction therapists are faced with immense pressures to effectively support clients through relapses and overdose risks, the evidence base on relapse remains significantly limited. Aims: This study aims to generate novel understandings of substance misuse relapse from a lived experience perspective of addiction therapists. Methods: Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with seven addiction therapists across specialist addiction treatment services in England, and subsequently analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: The analysis revealed three superordinate themes around the impact that supporting clients through relapse has on addiction therapists’ psychological wellbeing, their treatment approaches, and their therapeutic relationships. Conclusion: Relapse can shape how therapists perceive and engage with recovery of their clients. Although therapists sometimes consider relapse as a positive experience, they often feel negative psychological effects from it, including emotional withdrawal, self-doubt, and compassion fatigue. This paper sets out the implications for policy, practice, and research
The unfolding of conceivable practice trajectories as market-making opportunities
Get PDFRecently, scholars increasingly emphasize the role of consumers as market-makers – going beyond mere purchasing decisions. However, amidst this newfound attention to consumer-driven market-shaping acts for established markets, little attention is given to how consumers and their practices can be utilised in the making of not-yet (established) markets. This paper contends that focussing on conceivable practices as a lens to examine nascent, future markets and tracking their trajectories, is crucial for unlocking their potential as market-making precursor. To address this gap, this article examines the market-making opportunities offered by conceivable practice trajectories. Using practice theory, the authors investigate the practice trajectories of 20 German motorists following a theories-in-use approach. To understand how practices unfold, a new interview-based research method, the Futures Practice Wheel, is developed. Thereby, highlighting how prospective accounts of practice dynamics provide market-shaping opportunities through trajectory arrangements, consumer trajectory evaluations, and the trajectory level in the unfolding of practices
Non-commutative crepant resolutions of singularities via Fukaya categories
No full textWe compute the wrapped Fukaya category \mathcal{W}(T^{*}S^{1}, D) of a cylinder relative to a divisor D= \{p_{0},\dots,p_{n}\} of n+1 points, proving a mirror equivalence with the category of perfect complexes on a crepant resolution (over k\llbracket t_{0},\dots,t_{n}\rrbracket ) of the singularity uv=t_{0}t_{1}\cdots t_{n} . Upon making the base-change t_{i}= f_{i}(x,y) , we obtain the derived category of any crepant resolution of the cA_{n} singularity given by the equation uv= f_{0}\cdots f_{n} . These categories inherit braid group actions via the action on \mathcal{W}(T^{*}S^{1},D) of the mapping class group of T^{*}S^{1} fixing D . We also give geometric models for the derived contraction algebras associated to a cA_{n} singularity in terms of the relative Fukaya category of the disc
Acceleration of the CASINO quantum Monte Carlo software using graphics processing units and OpenACC
No full textWe describe how quantum Monte Carlo calculations using the CASINO software can be accelerated using graphics processing units (GPUs) and OpenACC. In particular we consider offloading Ewald summation, the evaluation of long-range two-body terms in the Jastrow correlation factor, and the evaluation of orbitals in a blip basis set. We present results for three- and two-dimensional homogeneous electron gases and ab initio simulations of bulk materials, showing that significant speedups of up to a factor of 2.5 can be achieved by the use of GPUs when several hundred particles are included in the simulations. The use of single-precision arithmetic can improve the speedup further without significant detriment to the accuracy of the calculations
Biasing from galaxy trough and peak profiles with the DES Y3 redMaGiC galaxies and the weak lensing mass map
Get PDFWe measure the correspondence between the distribution of galaxies and matter around troughs and peaks in the projected galaxy density, by comparing redMaGiC galaxies () to weak lensing mass maps from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Y3 data release. We obtain stacked profiles, as a function of angle , of the galaxy density contrast and the weak lensing convergence , in the vicinity of these identified troughs and peaks, referred to as ‘void’ and ‘cluster’ superstructures. The ratio of the profiles depend mildly on , indicating good consistency between the profile shapes. We model the amplitude of this ratio using a function that depends on cosmological parameters , scaled by the galaxy bias. We construct templates of using a suite of N-body (Gower Street) simulations forward-modelled with DES Y3-like noise and systematics. We discuss and quantify the caveats of using a linear bias model to create galaxy maps from the simulation dark matter shells. We measure the galaxy bias in three lens tomographic bins (near to far): for voids, and for clusters, assuming the best-fitting Planck cosmology. Similar values with shifts are obtained assuming the mean DES Y3 cosmology. The biases from troughs and peaks are broadly consistent, although a larger bias is derived for peaks, which is also larger than those measured from the DES Y3 -point analysis. This method shows an interesting avenue for measuring field-level bias that can be applied to future lensing surveys