Controlling a Population

We introduce a new setting where a population of agents, each modelled by a finite-state system, are controlled uniformly: the controller applies the same action to every agent. The framework is largely inspired by the control of a biological system, namely a population of yeasts, where the controller may only change the environment common to all cells. We study a synchronisation problem for such populations: no matter how individual agents react to the actions of the controller, the controller aims at driving all agents synchronously to a target state. The agents are naturally represented by a non-deterministic finite state automaton (NFA), the same for every agent, and the whole system is encoded as a 2-player game. The first player chooses actions, and the second player resolves non-determinism for each agent. The game with m agents is called the m-population game. This gives rise to a parameterized control problem (where control refers to 2 player games), namely the population control problem: can playerone control the m-population game for all m in N whatever playertwo does? In this paper, we prove that the population control problem is decidable, and it is a EXPTIME-complete problem. As far as we know, this is one of the first results on parameterized control. Our algorithm, not based on cut-off techniques, produces winning strategies which are symbolic, that i they do not need to count precisely how the population is spread between states. We also show that if the is no winning strategy, then there is a population size cutoff such that playerone wins the m-population game if and only if m< cutoff. Surprisingly, cutoff can be doubly exponential in the number of states of the NFA, with tight upper and lower bounds

Global Heimat Germany : migration and the transnationalization of the nation-state

The article explores the increasing gap between the cultural dynamics of transnationalization in Germany and the national self-perception of the German society. While concepts of “in-migration” (Zuwanderung) and ”integration” still stick to notions of the nation-state as being a ”container” embracing and controlling a population and a culture of its own, the various processes of material and imaginary mobility across the national borders contradict and challenge this notion as well as its political implications. By drawing on the transnational lifeworlds and the cultural productivity of migrants, anthropological research has made important contributions to render visible this challenge. It is argued, however, that an all too exclusive focus on migration may, in fact, rather conceal the wider effects of transnationalisation and cultural globalisation on the society and its cultural fabric as a whole

Landscapes Of Power In The South Caucasus (1500-600 Bce): Gis And Phenomenological Approaches

This research focuses on the relationship between natural landscapes and the built environment in the Urartian Empire, which controlled parts of the South Caucasus, northwestern Iran and eastern Turkey from 800-600 BCE. In particular, this dissertation uses a combination of landscape phenomenology, a qualitative method, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), a quantitative method, to study landscapes before and during the rise of Urartu. These analyses found that the Urartian Empire founded or reused sites that had a higher degree of visual and physical accessibility compared to what was typical for earlier cultures, suggesting a desire for greater engagement with subject populations. These differences can be observed both subjectively through in-person experiences at the site, and through GIS analysis of Viewsheds and Least Cost Paths. Urartian leaders faced the challenge of controlling a population of largely mobile pastoralists in a mountainous landscape. One way they could have done this would have been by bringing sites physically closer to these populations, and by making them more visually prominent and impressive. The results of this dissertation support previous research on the role of architecture, site location, and natural features in the construction of an Urartian imperial ideology that was based on bombastic displays of power. They also demonstrate the utility of combining qualitative and quantitative approaches for a more complete understanding of landscapes

“Backdoor to Eugenics”?: the Risks of Prenatal Diagnosis for Poor, Black Women

This article is situated at the intersection of three of the conference’s stated subject areas: Race and Healthcare, Reproductive Rights, and Race and the Family. My recent research has focused on the manner in which pregnant women who learn of fetal genetic abnormalities prenatally receive counseling as they decide whether to terminate or bring their fetuses to term. The decision whether to terminate on genetic grounds is particularly vexing because it often turns on speculative medical information, and it can result in elevated rates of grief, depression, and post-traumatic stress. Though the prenatal genetic counseling offered to expectant women learning of a fetal abnormality exists ostensibly to provide them with objective information rather than to encourage or discourage pregnancy terminations, the reality is that such counseling is often coercive in the direction of aborting genetic anomalous fetuses. Because genetic counseling tends to consider family factors such as wealth and perceived preparedness to raise a child with a persistent medical condition or disability—and because the vast majority of genetic counselors are highly educated white women—the pro-termination norms of prenatal genetic counseling disproportionately impact nonwhite, non-affluent pregnancies. This observation is consistent with prior state and private practices aimed at controlling black reproduction. Because the detection of prenatal genetic abnormalities will soon rise sharply due to advances in technology and increased access to prenatal genetic analysis under the Patent Protection and Affordable Care Act, far more poor, black pregnant women will receive genetic counseling that will make them more likely to abort their fetuses in future years. This article describes the scale and scope of this potentially far- reaching problem and offers suggestions for how to eliminate racial and class bias in prenatal genetic counseling

Uncertainty in conflicts

This paper theoretically assesses the role that uncertainty plays in the intensity of conflicts. The standard two-player rent-seeking contest model (Tullock, 1980) is extended to allow for privately known subjective values of the prize. The conflict is modeled as a Bayesian game on which each player´s valuation is drawn independently from arbitrary distributions. We find sufficient conditions for when first-order and second-order stochastic refinements in the distributions cause predictable movements in the conflict´s dissipation. We focus on arbitrary contest success functions and arbitrary independent distributions for each player, allowing us to extend our analysis beyond the case of symmetric equilibria.conflict, uncertainty, monotone comparative statics, Bayesian games

DAMPAK KEBIJAKAN PEREKONOMIAN ERA ORDE BARU TERHADAP PEMBANGUNAN DI INDONESIA

Metode yang digunakan dalam penulisan skripsi ini adalah dengan menggunakan metode penulisan sejarah yaitu, dengan metode studi literatur yang meliputi pengidentifikasian, penjelasan, penguraian secara sistematis dari sumbersumber yang mengandung informasi yang berkaitan dengan masalah yang akan diteliti. Adapun langkah-langkah yang dilakukan dalam penulisan ini terdiri dari pemilihan judul, Heuristik, kritik sumber, interpretasi, dan Historiografi. Hasil dari penulisan skripsi ini yaitu bahwa era Orde baru menekankan pada prioritas pembenahan sektor ekonomi dan politik. Pentingnya aspek pemerataan juga disadari betul dalam masa ini. Repelita (Rencana Pembangunan Lima Tahun) adalah sebutan untuk program yang dibuat oleh Soeharto. Program Repelita tersebut menunjukan hasil yang signifikan dalam proses pembangunan ekonomi, terbukti pada tahun 1984 Indonesia berhasil swasembada beras, menurunkan angka kemiskinan, meningkatkan partisipasi pendidikan, penurunan angka kematian bayi, dan meningkatkan sektor industri. Selain itu, terdapat pula keberhasilan dalam mengendalikan jumlah penduduk melalui program Keluarga Berencana (KB)

Desynchronization of large-scale neural networks by stabilizing unknown unstable incoherent equilibrium states

In large-scale neural networks, coherent limit cycle oscillations usually coexist with unstable incoherent equilibrium states, which are not observed experimentally. We implement a first-order dynamic controller to stabilize unknown equilibrium states and suppress coherent oscillations. The stabilization of incoherent equilibria associated with unstable focus and saddle is considered. The algorithm is demonstrated for networks composed of quadratic integrate-and-fire (QIF) neurons and Hindmarsh-Rose neurons. The microscopic equations of an infinitely large QIF neural network can be reduced to an exact low-dimensional system of mean-field equations, which makes it possible to study the control problem analytically.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Fear, Failure and Paranoia

I am concerned with the effects sound has on our ability to navigate the world in which we exist. My work explores sonic warfare and fear, where the lines of both of these ideas are blurred between preparedness and the unexpected. I seek out examples of an authoritarian use of sound and dissect the hierarchy within. Sound has the ability to control populations and guide them through their environment whether they are willing participants or not. I am interested in this process, particularly when it falls into the hands of any figure with the power to inflict it upon civilians as means of controlling a population. Within this body of work, I am exploring the relationship between sound, fear, failure, and paranoia, contextualizing sonic functions in a political atmosphere. This thesis encompasses my paranoid perspectives on sound's ability to inflict an experience on human beings. The artwork reclaims our sonic environment by transforming our experience with the aural into one that is more empowering. &nbsp;</p