An investigation of the trading agent competition : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

The Internet has swept over the whole world. It is influencing almost every aspect of society. The blooming of electronic commerce on the back of the Internet further increases globalisation and free trade. However, the Internet will never reach its full potential as a new electronic media or marketplace unless agents are developed. The trading Agent Competition (TAC), which simulates online auctions, was designed to create a standard problem in the complex domain of electronic marketplaces and to inspire researchers from all over the world to develop distinctive software agents to a common exercise. In this thesis, a detailed study of intelligent software agents and a comprehensive investigation of the Trading Agent Competition will be presented. The design of the Risker Wise agent and a fuzzy logic system predicting the bid increase of the hotel auction in the TAC game will be discussed in detail

Blocks of group algebras are derived simple

A derived version of Maschke's theorem for finite groups is proved: the derived categories, bounded or unbounded, of all blocks of the group algebra of a finite group are simple, in the sense that they admit no nontrivial recollements. This result is independent of the characteristic of the base field.Comment: 8 page

Proposed Method for Distinguishing Majorana Peak from Other Peaks: Tunneling Spectroscopy with Ohmic Dissipation using Resistive Electrodes

We propose a scheme to distinguish zero-energy peaks due to Majorana from those due to other effects at finite temperature by simply replacing the normal metallic lead with a resistive lead (large R k\Omega) in the tunneling spectroscopy. The dissipation effects due to the large resistance change the tunneling conductance significantly in different ways. The Majorana peak remains increase as temperature decreases G T^(2r-1) for r=e^2 R/h<1/2. The zero-energy peak due to other effects splits into two peaks at finite temperature and the conductance at zero voltage bias varies with temperature by a power law. The dissipative tunneling with a Majorana mode belongs to a same universal class as the unstable critical point of the case with a non-Majorana mode.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, and supplementary information. Phys. Rev. Lett. in Pres