Hardness Amplification of Optimization Problems

In this paper, we prove a general hardness amplification scheme for optimization problems based on the technique of direct products. We say that an optimization problem ? is direct product feasible if it is possible to efficiently aggregate any k instances of ? and form one large instance of ? such that given an optimal feasible solution to the larger instance, we can efficiently find optimal feasible solutions to all the k smaller instances. Given a direct product feasible optimization problem ?, our hardness amplification theorem may be informally stated as follows: If there is a distribution D over instances of ? of size n such that every randomized algorithm running in time t(n) fails to solve ? on 1/?(n) fraction of inputs sampled from D, then, assuming some relationships on ?(n) and t(n), there is a distribution D\u27 over instances of ? of size O(n??(n)) such that every randomized algorithm running in time t(n)/poly(?(n)) fails to solve ? on 99/100 fraction of inputs sampled from D\u27. As a consequence of the above theorem, we show hardness amplification of problems in various classes such as NP-hard problems like Max-Clique, Knapsack, and Max-SAT, problems in P such as Longest Common Subsequence, Edit Distance, Matrix Multiplication, and even problems in TFNP such as Factoring and computing Nash equilibrium

Permanent and live load model for probabilistic structural fire analysis : a review

Probabilistic analysis is receiving increased attention from fire engineers, assessment bodies and researchers. It is however often unclear which probabilistic models are appropriate for the analysis. For example, in probabilistic structural fire engineering, the models used to describe the permanent and live load differ widely between studies. Through a literature review, it is observed that these diverging load models largely relate to the same underlying datasets and basic methodologies, while differences can be attributed (largely) to specific assumptions in different background papers which have become consolidated through repeated use in application studies by different researchers. Taking into account the uncovered background information, consolidated probabilistic load models are proposed

The Power and Politics of Media and Information Literacy

We are living in a media-saturated world. Not only we receive information, we have become prosumers and are able to communicate with the ‘world.’ This has been widely reflected in the academic texts. But is there a dark side to this ‘age of information freedom?’ My argument in this paper is that although we have gotten rid of one sort of tyranny and can more freely speak up, a more suppressive and widespread process of control and surveillance is underway. Worse than that, we the users seem to be comfort with that

Love Literacy: A Media Literacy Approach

Although research has shown that nowadays we are less likely to have a lifelong love partner, the media industry has increasingly incorporated 'love' as a guarantor of success for media products of all kinds. My argument is that, in order to sell more, the media industry has constructed a false notion of love. Worse than that, we the audiences have adopted this notion; since this is a false construct, many people have come up with unrealistic expectations of their love life. The results can be seen in the ever-increasing rate of divorce. I argue that we need something that I would call "love literacy" to appropriately respond to one evolutionary intention that exists in all of us

Iranian Celebrities on the Internet

Celebrities have gained considerable influence in the last one hundred years or so, but the advent of so-called Web 2.0 technologies has given celebrity culture a new momentum. We are living in a world in which celebrities are striving to curve their place in every niche and hence we have to become more media literate in order to avoid being exploited by celebrity media and culture. We have to be aware that celebrities promote commodities that they will never use, that they are carefully working on their image to become pleasant to us, and that if they do humanitarian work, they are mainly doing it for their reputation, and not for a real and authentic cause

Gender Differences in Motivations and Gratifications to Play Video Games: The Study of the Sims Players' Experiences

This research explores gender differences in motivations and gratifications related to playing video games such as The Sims. We analyzed both men' and women' differences in game related motivations and gratifications to identify which factors make a game more gratifying for a specific gender of players. We conducted in-depth interviews with 18 male players and 20 female players of The Sims. We also analyzed online forums of The Sims. We found that main gratifying factors related to game-playing experience include appearance, character, storyline, control and complexity, fantasy and social interaction. The findings propose that game researchers with the uses and gratifications theoretical framework should consider the importance of including game features as gratifying factors in their questionnaires. Finally, we have provided implications for future research about gender differences in motivations and gratifications based on uses and gratifications theory

Pseudo-event Construction on Instagram by the Iranian Female Micro-Celebrities

The pseudo-events -events that are created through and for the media- are one of the main opportunities to increase the visibility of micro-celebrities and to grow and maintain their audiences. This study aims to find what happens behind the scenes of pseudo-events that micro-celebrities organize. The primary purpose of this article is to study pseudo-events on social media accounts of Iranian female micro-celebrities on Instagram. Therefore, we aim to answer the following questions: What are pseudo-events on Instagram and what are their characteristics? How do Iranian female micro-celebrities create these pseudo-events? And What are the motivations behind creating these events and the way they are held? The methodology of this research is online ethnography and to answer the questions, we conducted unstructured interviews with 16 micro-celebrities and informants on micro-celebrities’ personal lives. Then, raw data were analyzed using the content analysis method. Based on the analysis, the central theme was fake events whose characteristics are: 1. participants (present and absent), 2. time (event occurrence time, event receipt time), 3. location (in real space, on virtual space), 4. etiquettes and form of performance (type of gifts, music, food, and the well-staged nature of events). The findings also showed that in these events, the represented image is more important than the event itself. In fact, these events are designed and performed for filming and display