90,501 research outputs found
Computing large market equilibria using abstractions
Computing market equilibria is an important practical problem for market
design (e.g. fair division, item allocation). However, computing equilibria
requires large amounts of information (e.g. all valuations for all buyers for
all items) and compute power. We consider ameliorating these issues by applying
a method used for solving complex games: constructing a coarsened abstraction
of a given market, solving for the equilibrium in the abstraction, and lifting
the prices and allocations back to the original market. We show how to bound
important quantities such as regret, envy, Nash social welfare, Pareto
optimality, and maximin share when the abstracted prices and allocations are
used in place of the real equilibrium. We then study two abstraction methods of
interest for practitioners: 1) filling in unknown valuations using techniques
from matrix completion, 2) reducing the problem size by aggregating groups of
buyers/items into smaller numbers of representative buyers/items and solving
for equilibrium in this coarsened market. We find that in real data
allocations/prices that are relatively close to equilibria can be computed from
even very coarse abstractions
Contracts for Abstract Processes in Service Composition
Contracts are a well-established approach for describing and analyzing
behavioral aspects of web service compositions. The theory of contracts comes
equipped with a notion of compatibility between clients and servers that
ensures that every possible interaction between compatible clients and servers
will complete successfully. It is generally agreed that real applications often
require the ability of exposing just partial descriptions of their behaviors,
which are usually known as abstract processes. We propose a formal
characterization of abstraction as an extension of the usual symbolic
bisimulation and we recover the notion of abstraction in the context of
contracts.Comment: In Proceedings FIT 2010, arXiv:1101.426
Optimal infinite scheduling for multi-priced timed automata
This paper is concerned with the derivation of infinite schedules for timed automata that are in some sense optimal. To cover a wide class of optimality criteria we start out by introducing an extension of the (priced) timed automata model that includes both costs and rewards as separate modelling features. A precise definition is then given of what constitutes optimal infinite behaviours for this class of models. We subsequently show that the derivation of optimal non-terminating schedules for such double-priced timed automata is computable. This is done by a reduction of the problem to the determination of optimal mean-cycles in finite graphs with weighted edges. This reduction is obtained by introducing the so-called corner-point abstraction, a powerful abstraction technique of which we show that it preserves optimal schedules
Apes with a Moral Code? Primatology, Moral Sentimentalism, and the Evolution of Morality in The Planet of the Apes
This essay examines the recent Planet of the Apes films through the lens of recent research in primatology. The films lend imaginary support to primatologist Frans de Waalâs evolutionary moral sentimentalism; however, the movies also show that truly moral motions outstrip the cognitive capacities of the great apes. The abstract moral principles employed by the ape community in the movie require the ability to understand and apply a common underlying explanation to perceptually disparate situations; in contrast, recent research in comparative psychology demonstrates that the great apes lack this capacity. Since the capacity for abstraction is required on even the most basic version of moral sentimentalismâShaun Nicholsâ sentimental rules accountâthe lack of the capacity for abstraction reveals a qualitative distinction between primate social behavior and human morality
On Formal Consistency between Value and Coordination Models
In information systems (IS) engineering dierent techniques for modeling
inter-organizational collaborations are applied. In particular, value models
estimate the profitability for involved stakeholders, whereas coordination models
are used to agree upon the inter-organizational processes before implementing
them. During the execution of inter-organizational collaboration, in addition, event
logs are collected by the individual organizations representing another view of the
IS. The combination of the two models and the event log represent the IS and they
should therefore be consistent, i.e., not contradict each other. Since these models
are provided by dierent user groups during design time and the event log is
collected during run-time consistency is not straight forward. Inconsistency occurs
when models contain a conflicting description of the same information, i.e.,
there exists a conflicting overlap between the models. In this paper we introduce
an abstraction of value models, coordination models and event logs which allows
ensuring and maintaining alignment between models and event log. We demonstrate
its use by outlining a proof of an inconsistency resolution result based on
this abstraction. Thus, the introduction of abstractions allows to explore formal
inter-model relations based on consistency
Playing with the future: social irrealism and the politics of aesthetics
In this paper we wish to explore the political possibilities of video games. Numerous scholars now take seriously the place of popular culture in the remaking of our geographies, but video games still lag behind. For us, this tendency reflects a general response to them as imaginary spaces that are separate from everyday life and 'real' politics. It is this disconnect between abstraction and lived experience that we complicate by defining play as an event of what Brian Massumi calls lived abstraction. We wish to short-circuit the barriers that prevent the aesthetic resonating with the political and argue that through their enactment, video games can animate fantastical futures that require the player to make, and reflect upon, profound ethical decisions that can be antagonistic to prevailing political imaginations. We refer to this as social irrealism to demonstrate that reality can be understood through the impossible and the imagined
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