A two-stage incentive mechanism for rebalancing free-floating bike sharing systems: Considering user preference

Free-floating bike sharing (FFBS) provides citizens with a flexible way for traveling. The operational performance of such systems is impacted by the imbalance problem of demand and supply. This paper proposes the first two-stage incentive mechanism to improve the service quality of FFBS. While inspired by the user-based rebalancing approach in station-based bike sharing (SBBS), our work is different from existing studies because location optimization is a new problem in FFBS and user preference is considered for the first time. We propose three mechanisms that are pick-up incentives, drop-off incentives, and two-stage incentives. When modeling users’ behavioral responses to incentive mechanisms, we think users prefer drop-off incentives to pick-up incentives, which is supported by a survey study. Each incentive offer is composed of a location and a price. To decide the suggested origin or destination, we first figure out the supply and demand of all valid locations based on Radiant Service Theory (RST) and then search the most problematic location comparing current inventory and future demand. The pricing scheme is modified Budgeted Procurement using Upper Confidence Bounds (BP-UCB). Simulation experiments validate the effectiveness of incentive mechanisms based on historical data from Capital BikeShare program. Results show that the service level of bike sharing systems can be significantly improved by three incentive mechanisms. The two-stage incentive mechanism unexpectedly shows no advantage over pick-up incentives. Sensitivity analysis further indicates that user preference will influence the ranking of two single-stage incentive mechanisms.     

Behavioral Activation Disseminated by Non–Mental Health Professionals,Paraprofessionals, and Peers: A Systematic Review

There is a striking disparity between the number of individuals with significant mental health concerns and those who are able to access care globally. One promising solution to expanding the mental health taskforce is task-sharing, or employing nonspecialists in the delivery of evidence-based interventions. Behavioral activation (BA), a brief intervention that focuses on scheduling rewarding activities into one’s daily life, may have promise for delivery using task-sharing approaches due to its straightforward, flexible nature. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the current state of the literature on non-specialist-delivered BA and evaluate the evidence base of this approach. Three databases (Pubmed, PsycInfo, and Cochrane) were searched, and all articles were screened for inclusion criteria by two research assistants, included the review of titles, abstracts, and full-text. The final dataset consisted of 13 research studies, represented through 15 articles. A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the overall pooled effects of peer-delivered BA on depressive symptoms (the most widely examined clinical outcome). Studies reported on effectiveness and implementation outcomes of non-specialist-delivered BA for depression, substance use, loneliness, trauma survivors, and individuals with comorbid physical health conditions. Results provide initial support for the effectiveness of BA utilizing a task-sharing approach, and highlight the feasibility and acceptability of using nonspecialists to deliver BA in a variety of contexts, including low-resource settings.     

Measuring the impact of informal caring

A factor-analysis of caregiving impact appraisals amongst a community-derived sample of informal carers of elderly people revealed two negative (care work strain and relationship dissatisfaction) and two positive (care work satisfaction and care lifestyle satisfaction) scales. Validity was assessed by means of concurrent correlations with levels of assistance with daily living tasks provided by carers and levels of behaviour problems exhibited by elderly dependents. Criterion validity was considered in relation to two important carer outcomes; willingness to care and a standardized measure of strain. Each of the four scales was significantly associated with concurrently assessed willingness to care. Care work strain and relationship dissatisfaction were associated with concurrently measured strain symptomology. Evidence of 6-month predictive validity was obtained for the care work strain scale.     

Informal Caregiving to Persons with AIDS in the United States: Caregiver Burden Among Central Cities Residents Eighteen to Forty-Nine Years Old

Characteristics and caregiving experiences of friends and family members caring for people with AIDS (PWAs) were examined. Based on a probability sample of informal AIDS caregivers ages 18–49 living in central cities of the United States (n = 260), analyses were conducted to (a) identify the sociodemographic characteristics of young central city caregivers; and (b) examine the effects of caregiver characteristics (relationship to PWA, gender, race/ethnicity, income, sexual orientation, HIV status, perceived susceptibility), and level of objective caregiving demands, on subjective caregiver burden. Results indicate that the largest group of caregivers in this age category are male friends of the PWA—a group not typically found among caregivers to persons with other types of illnesses. In general, gay or bisexual caregivers, caregivers who have traditional family ties to the PWA, men relative to women, and lower income caregivers, report the greatest burden. While level of caregiving demands represents the most influential predictor of caregiver burden, white and male caregivers experience greater burden, independent of level of involvement and other caregiver characteristics. Receiving instrumental support with caregiving buffers the impact of high objective demands on subjective burden.     

My place,your place,and no place: Behavior settings as a risk factor for HIV-related injection practices of drug users in Baltimore,Maryland

Information is sparse on the social context of illicit drug injection behaviors and their relationship to HIV infection. This study examined relationships between injection settings, injecting with others, and HIV risk behaviors of sharing needles and not cleaning contaminated needles in a sample of 630 inner-city injecting drug users in Baltimore, MD. Through open-ended interviews, five primary settings of injection behavior were identified. These settings included one's own, friends' and mother's residence, shooting galleries, and semipublic areas. Most participants reported injecting in their own residence (92%) and friends' residence (86%) in the prior 6 months. In a multiple regression analysis, injecting at friends' residence, in shooting galleries, and in semipublic areas and frequency of injecting with others were significantly associated with frequency of sharing uncleaned needles, “slipping” (i.e., failure to disinfect shared needles), and not always cleaning used needles before injecting. Results suggest that interventions may benefit from targeting settings as well as behaviors to reduce the spread of HIV. This research was supported by grants DA04334, DA05911, DA06313, and DA08985 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.     

The design and evaluation of a worksharing system for experimental group living

Failure to share household chores equitably may be a major cause of the high failure rate of experimental group-living arrangements. A behavioral approach to worksharing based on a point system was implemented in one experimental group and its most important components experimentally evaluated. Experiment I showed that awarding credits produced more work than not awarding credits. Experiment II showed that making credits contingent on the outcome of a detailed inspection produced more work than awarding credits noncontingently. Experiment III demonstrated that awarding rent reductions contingent on credit earnings produced more work than awarding rent reductions noncontingently. Other evaluative data suggest that the resulting living arrangement is cheaper, more effective, and more satisfactory to the residents when compared to the most popular alternative living arrangements.     

Producing a change from competition to sharing: effects of large and adjusting response requirements

Pairs of high-school students matched-to-sample for money. On each trial, the first pair member to complete a fixed ratio of knob-pulling responses could work the matching problem on that trial. Competition occurred when both pair members responded for the problem. Sharing occurred when only one pair member responded on each trial, and the subjects alternated trials. Hence, sharing requires less responding and still allows a moderate number of reinforcers for each subject. Recent research has shown that increasing the response requirement to the point that it may have aversive properties will produce a change from competition to sharing. A related variable is an adjusting schedule that adjusts the subjects' response requirements so that their abilities to take reinforcers are equal. In this way, subjects might learn that competition requires more responding but produces no more reinforcers. However, recent research also suggests that competition decreases over sessions without experimental manipulations. Because of this possibility of a time-related variable, ratio size and an adjusting schedule were studied in a group design. Competition did decrease for all groups over sessions, but the large-ratio groups switched from competition to sharing sooner than the low-ratio groups. The adjusting schedule had a similar but smaller effect.     

The motivations for using bike sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from Lisbon

Urban mobility has been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with public transport (PT) particularly affected due to infection risks and fears. The promotion of alternative modes of transport such as bike sharing systems (BSS) has gained a new drive as a possible way of providing an alternative to PT and limit a potential surge in private car use.In this study, we provide insights on the motivations for using bike sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic through a survey to the BSS users of Lisbon (entitled GIRA). Before the coronavirus pandemic, the most influential motivations were those connected to the BSS’ Service Coverage & Quality (such as the convenient location of BSS stations near the users’ destinations or the availability of shared e-bikes) as well as to the Personal Interests & Well-being of BSS users (namely the pleasure of cycling as well as the perceived environmental and health benefits). With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the motivations of Service Coverage & Quality continue to be the most valued by respondents, the motivations associated with using BSS to avoid PT and to maintain a social distance during the trip are now as important as the motivations linked to Personal Interests & Well-being. Furthermore, new users who have joined bike sharing during COVID-19 give more importance to the Social Influence (such as seeing other people using the system or the influence of their social circle) comparatively to those who were already users before the pandemic and continue to use BSS.This research provides evidence on the importance of bike sharing to the resilience of urban transport systems, particularly during disruptive public health crises. It supports that BSS should continue to operate during the coronavirus pandemic as such systems offer a transport alternative to PT that is perceived to be capable of preserving a physical distance.     

Triggering Creative Self-Efficacy to Increase Employee Innovation Behavior in the Hospitality Workplace

This study investigated how creative personality, psychological empowerment, and job stress affect creative self-efficacy and innovative behavior in hospitality employees. A hypothesized moderating role of knowledge-sharing role in the relationship between creative self-efficacy and innovative behavior was also tested. Three hundred and thirty-nine employees and 89 supervisors employed by International Tourist Hotels in Taiwan participated in the study. A structural equation modeling analysis indicated that creative self-efficacy significantly mediates the effects of creative personality and psychological empowerment on innovative behavior in the hospitality industry. The positive effect of creative self-efficacy on innovative behavior was larger in high knowledge-sharing work environments than in low knowledge-sharing work environments. Theoretical and practical implications are further discussed.     

Attachment and resource sharing

In three studies we examined the associations between resource sharing (RS) and attachment, and the enhancement of RS using attachment security primes. In Study 1, we showed that attachment avoidance was negatively associated with RS. We also identified differences and similarities between RS and pro‐sociality. In Studies 2 and 3, we showed that research participants were more likely to share their monetary resources after they were primed with attachment security. Study 3 further revealed that security priming affected mainly people low on state attachment anxiety. Our findings extend previous work on pro‐sociality into the specific realm of RS, provide behavioral evidence, and tie attachment and close relationships in with game theory and research on economic decision making.