2,182,209 research outputs found
Industrial Actions in Germany - Realistic in an International Context?
In the EU, transborder collective action exists in theory but not in practice. Which would be the conditions to cooperate and even fight together? One should know each other, especially the underlying economic interest, the institutions, the traditions and the mentality of the other labour movement. The article tries to give concrete information about labour relations in Germany. Viewed from other European countries, it seems to be a very specific case today. This myth will be modified, if not destroyed
Algebraic Anosov actions of Nilpotent Lie groups
In this paper we classify algebraic Anosov actions of nilpotent Lie groups on
closed manifolds, extending the previous results by P. Tomter. We show that
they are all nil-suspensions over either suspensions of Anosov actions of Z^k
on nilmanifolds, or (modified) Weyl chamber actions. We check the validity of
the generalized Verjovsky conjecture in this algebraic context. We also point
out an intimate relation between algebraic Anosov actions and Cartan
subalgebras in general real Lie groups.Comment: 40 page
Distributed Online Learning via Cooperative Contextual Bandits
In this paper we propose a novel framework for decentralized, online learning
by many learners. At each moment of time, an instance characterized by a
certain context may arrive to each learner; based on the context, the learner
can select one of its own actions (which gives a reward and provides
information) or request assistance from another learner. In the latter case,
the requester pays a cost and receives the reward but the provider learns the
information. In our framework, learners are modeled as cooperative contextual
bandits. Each learner seeks to maximize the expected reward from its arrivals,
which involves trading off the reward received from its own actions, the
information learned from its own actions, the reward received from the actions
requested of others and the cost paid for these actions - taking into account
what it has learned about the value of assistance from each other learner. We
develop distributed online learning algorithms and provide analytic bounds to
compare the efficiency of these with algorithms with the complete knowledge
(oracle) benchmark (in which the expected reward of every action in every
context is known by every learner). Our estimates show that regret - the loss
incurred by the algorithm - is sublinear in time. Our theoretical framework can
be used in many practical applications including Big Data mining, event
detection in surveillance sensor networks and distributed online recommendation
systems
Context Trees: Augmenting Geospatial Trajectories with Context
Exposing latent knowledge in geospatial trajectories has the potential to
provide a better understanding of the movements of individuals and groups.
Motivated by such a desire, this work presents the context tree, a new
hierarchical data structure that summarises the context behind user actions in
a single model. We propose a method for context tree construction that augments
geospatial trajectories with land usage data to identify such contexts. Through
evaluation of the construction method and analysis of the properties of
generated context trees, we demonstrate the foundation for understanding and
modelling behaviour afforded. Summarising user contexts into a single data
structure gives easy access to information that would otherwise remain latent,
providing the basis for better understanding and predicting the actions and
behaviours of individuals and groups. Finally, we also present a method for
pruning context trees, for use in applications where it is desirable to reduce
the size of the tree while retaining useful information
Norm Monitoring under Partial Action Observability
In the context of using norms for controlling multi-agent systems, a vitally
important question that has not yet been addressed in the literature is the
development of mechanisms for monitoring norm compliance under partial action
observability. This paper proposes the reconstruction of unobserved actions to
tackle this problem. In particular, we formalise the problem of reconstructing
unobserved actions, and propose an information model and algorithms for
monitoring norms under partial action observability using two different
processes for reconstructing unobserved actions. Our evaluation shows that
reconstructing unobserved actions increases significantly the number of norm
violations and fulfilments detected.Comment: Accepted at the IEEE Transaction on Cybernetic
First come, first served: an analysis of pioneer and follower firms' market and nonmarket actions in the European mobile telephone industry
This study examines the relationship between erosion of the first-mover's market share and the differences in competitive behaviour of pioneer firms and followers. Particularly, we pay particular attention to market actions related to innovation, pricing and promotion, and to non-market actions related to judicial issues. The empirical study has been carried out with companies that are present in a dynamic context, such as the European mobile telephone industry. Our results show that when followers take more non-market actions than pioneers the negative effect on the firstentrant's advantage is more significant. On the contrary, we have not found a significant impact of innovating and pricing actions
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