EAGER: Improving Resource Utilization Through Peer-to-Peer Resource Sharing Systems

一种提高资源效率的新方法是通过利用现有的闲置容量。对等资源共享系统是指将个人拥有的资源集体共享给一组用户的系统。共享资源可以是物理资源(如电钻)或人力资源(如执行任务的能力)。通过专注于访问而不是所有权，这些系统允许将实物资产作为服务和任务由独立的个人完成。这些系统的一个基本特征是，供应和需求都来自独立的自由职业用户。因此，在这些系统中，为了使供应与需求相匹配，通常需要一个顺序过程。中央机制向分散的用户推荐一组可用的备选方案，然后分散的用户根据用户对备选方案的评估来选择一个备选方案(或者根本不选)。这一早期概念探索性研究(AGUGER)奖支持基础研究，以了解如何通过允许用户选择的中央机制有效地匹配独立的个人。通过这项研究获得的新知识可以导致更好地理解、设计和操作对等资源共享系统，这可能会对交通拥堵、人口增长和有限的自然资源等重要的系统性社会问题产生积极影响。由于年轻一代是这些系统的早期采用者，这项研究与教育和推广活动的结合有可能激发新一代工程师的兴趣。这项研究将提高对如何建模独立自由职业用户行为并将其纳入优化框架的理解，并引入一类新的问题，该问题考虑中央机制如何向分散的用户推荐一组可供选择的方案。它将开发高保真模型，结合推荐系统和消费者选择模型领域的理论和方法来描述对等资源共享系统中的用户偏好和选择行为。分散用户选择的一个结果是，供需一对一的匹配并不总是发生。因此，将探索如何确定纠正已被拒绝或具有重复选择的需求请求和供应空位的最佳方式的新理解。在这样做的过程中，将回答一些关于将分散的供应与需求相匹配的顺序、同时和混合协议的设计问题。

A novel way to increase resource efficiency is through the use of existing, idle capacity. A Peer-to-Peer Resource Sharing System is one where a resource owned by an individual is collectively shared with a group of users. The shared resource can be a physical resource (like a power drill) or a human resource (like the ability to perform a task). By focusing on access over ownership, these Systems allow physical assets to be consumed as services and tasks to be completed by independent individuals. A fundamental characteristic in these Systems is that both supply and demand originate from independent freelance users. Therefore, to match supply with demand in these Systems, a sequential process is common. A central mechanism recommends a set of available alternatives to decentralized users, who then select an alternative (or none at all) based on the user's valuation of the alternatives. This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award supports fundamental research to understand how to effectively match independent individuals through a central mechanism that allows for user selection. The new knowledge gained through this research can lead to Peer-to-Peer Resource Sharing Systems that are better understood, designed, and operated, which has the potential to positively impact important systemic societal issues such as transportation congestion, rising population increases, and limited natural resources. As the younger generation is early adopters of these systems, the integration of this research with educational and outreach activities has the potential to excite a new generation of engineers.The research will improve understanding of how to model and incorporate independent freelance user behavior into an optimization framework and introduce a new class of problems that considers how a central mechanism recommends a set of alternatives to decentralized users for selection. It will develop high fidelity models that incorporate theories and methods from the fields of recommender systems and consumer choice models to describe user preferences and selection behaviors in Peer-to-Peer Resource Sharing Systems. An outcome of decentralized user selection is that a 1-to-1 match of supply to demand does not always occur. Thus, a new understanding on how to determine the best way to rectify the demand requests and supply slots that have either been rejected or have duplicate selections will be explored. In doing so, a number of questions about the design of sequential, simultaneous, and hybrid protocols that match decentralized supply with demand will be answered.