Peer-to-peer systems, multi-agent systems, and ad hoc networks aim at exploiting synergies that result from cooperation. Yet, these systems are composed of autonomous entities that are free to decide whether to cooperate or not. Hence, incentives are indispensable to induce cooperation between autonomous entities. In this paper, we introduce incentive patterns as a means of systematically conce...

Background The dearth of health workers in rural settings in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) and other developing countries limits healthcare access and outcomes. In evaluating non-wage financial incentive packages as a potential policy option to attract health workers to rural settings, understanding the expected costs and effects of the various programs ex antecan assist policy-makers ...

In most application scenarios for Peer-to-Peer systems, in order to achieve an overall acceptable system performance an incentive scheme is required that motivates users to share as much as possible of their free resources Today most peers use connections of asymmetric links, such as A-DSL or cable modems. Therefore, users have significantly more download bandwidth than their available upload b...

We allocate agents to three kinds of hierarchical positions: top, medium, and low. No monetary transfers are allowed. We solve for the incentive-compatible (IC) mechanisms that maximize a family of weighted social welfares that includes utilitarian and Rawlsian welfares. When the market is tough (all agents bear positive risk of obtaining a low position in any IC and feasible mechanism), then t...

Background: Resistive Inspiratory Muscle Training (RIMT) is a well-known technique for rehabilitation of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Incentive spirometry is another technique with potential viability for this application, but there is limited evidence in support of its efficacy in the rehabilitation of COPD patients. Aim: The objective of this study was to compar...