How proofs are prepared at Camelot

We study a design framework for robust, independently verifiable, and workload-balanced distributed algorithms working on a common input. An algorithm based on the framework is essentially a distributed encoding procedure for a Reed--Solomon code, which enables (a) robustness against byzantine failures with intrinsic error-correction and identification of failed nodes, and (b) independent randomized verification to check the entire computation for correctness, which takes essentially no more resources than each node individually contributes to the computation. The framework builds on recent Merlin--Arthur proofs of batch evaluation of Williams~[{\em Electron.\ Colloq.\ Comput.\ Complexity}, Report TR16-002, January 2016] with the observation that {\em Merlin's magic is not needed} for batch evaluation---mere Knights can prepare the proof, in parallel, and with intrinsic error-correction. The contribution of this paper is to show that in many cases the verifiable batch evaluation framework admits algorithms that match in total resource consumption the best known sequential algorithm for solving the problem. As our main result, we show that the $k$-cliques in an $n$-vertex graph can be counted {\em and} verified in per-node $O(n^{(\omega+\epsilon)k/6})$ time and space on $O(n^{(\omega+\epsilon)k/6})$ compute nodes, for any constant $\epsilon>0$ and positive integer $k$ divisible by $6$, where $2\leq\omega<2.3728639$ is the exponent of matrix multiplication. This matches in total running time the best known sequential algorithm, due to Ne{\v{s}}et{\v{r}}il and Poljak [{\em Comment.~Math.~Univ.~Carolin.}~26 (1985) 415--419], and considerably improves its space usage and parallelizability. Further results include novel algorithms for counting triangles in sparse graphs, computing the chromatic polynomial of a graph, and computing the Tutte polynomial of a graph.Comment: 42 p

A short note on Merlin-Arthur protocols for subset sum

In the subset sum problem we are given n positive integers along with a target integer t. A solution is a subset of these integers summing to t. In this short note we show that for a given subset sum instance there is a proof of size $O^*(\sqrt{t})$ of what the number of solutions is that can be constructed in $O^*(t)$ time and can be probabilistically verified in time $O^*(\sqrt{t})$ with at most constant error probability. Here, the $O^*()$ notation omits factors polynomial in the input size $n\log(t)$.Comment: 2 page

An Analytical Assessment of Assurance Practices in Social Environmental and Sustainable Reporting in the United Kingdom and North America

The objective of this study is to continue and extend previous studies in evaluating the extent to which current assurance practices promote transparency and accountability to stakeholders. This is carried out by conducting an empirical analysis of the content of assurance statements accompanying a sample of non-financial reports short-listed for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) U.K. Sustainability Reporting Award and the CERES-ACCA Sustainability Reporting Award from 2006 to 2008. The findings of this study show that several new trends in social, environmental and sustainability assurance can be observed. Firstly, accountants tend to limit their intended readership to management only and state a disclaimer for other potential readers. This diminishes the transparency and stakeholder accountability of the reporting. Secondly, there is even stronger evidence that management has the control over the scope of the assurance engagement and over what information gets publicly disclosed. The evidence is shown in the fact that in many assurance statements prepared by accountants, only selected parts of the reports are being assured, with no indication that it is not management who selects these parts. Finally, the recent practices of assurance engagements represented by the sample in this study have not improved the transparency and stakeholder accountability of social, environmental and sustainable reporting. Similar to the two previous studies, we assert that a generally accepted standard is needed to promote assurance statements that add meaningful values to the reliability of social, environmental and sustainability reporting

Do lottery operators exploit their lottery power? Efficiency and equality considerations in optimal lottery design

We study the problem facing the operator of a lottery who is charged with raising revenue for the public finances. Demand for the lottery is a function of both disposable income and the pricing of the game. Departing from the current literature, we show that optimal lottery pricing includes corrections for the degree of inequality and skewness in the income distribution and features of the function relating lottery spend to disposable income. When gross lottery expenditure is regressive, it is optimal for the operator to improve the terms of the game by being more generous with the proportion of spend that is returned to players. The opposite result holds when gross lottery expenditure is progressive. Using results from analysis of the U.K. National Lottery\u2019s Saturday game between 1997 and 2013, we show that the effective price was about ten percentage points too low to be efficient, so that the operator was not fully exploiting its lottery power. However, we also show that, were it to have raised its price to improve efficiency, it would have increased inequality

The Pan American (1978-10)

https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/panamerican/1276/thumbnail.jp

Project Camelot and Military Sponsorship of Social Science Research: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Project Camelot was an ambitious social science research project conceived and funded by the Army, one whose scope and level of funding was unprecedented as of its inception in 1964. It was created in order to examine the potential for internal war and insurgency in the developing countries of the world, and to identify actions that the U.S. and its allies could take to prevent or suppress such insurgencies. Historians have described the Project as an event of particular importance in the history of American social science, and have argued that it is related to significant changes in their structure and function. Despite the Project\u27s grand scale and the equally grand terms in which historians have cast it, there has been a paucity of attention directed at the Project itself from within the social sciences. Furthermore, any such attention has focused primarily on issues such as the feasibility and advisability of the Project or its potential adverse effect on future foreign area-based social science research. There have been no significant analytic or interpretive studies. The present study intends to fill this gap, both because the Project is illuminating in its own right, and also because it is useful in developing a fuller understanding of social scientists\u27 current involvement in the War on Terror, involvement which ranges from developing new theories on insurgency to supporting interrogation work in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. This study utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis, rooted in the work of Foucault, to explicate some of the discursive objects, subjects, and formations underlying Camelot, to show how this discourse works to shape and constrain social scientists\u27 understanding of (and the nature of their involvement in) this military-direct work, and to trace discursive connections to the current issues highlighted above. Major discursive formations identified and analyzed include a pervasive attention to terminology selection in order to maximize its propaganda value; the use of medical and psychotherapeutic discursive tropes such as illness, prevention, cure, and symptom; and the repeated portrayal of social scientists by the military as engineers and contributors not free to negotiate the terms of their work