Online Pandora's Boxes and Bandits

We consider online variations of the Pandora's box problem (Weitzman. 1979), a standard model for understanding issues related to the cost of acquiring information for decision-making. Our problem generalizes both the classic Pandora's box problem and the prophet inequality framework. Boxes are presented online, each with a random value and cost drew jointly from some known distribution. Pandora chooses online whether to open each box given its cost, and then chooses irrevocably whether to keep the revealed prize or pass on it. We aim for approximation algorithms against adversaries that can choose the largest prize over any opened box, and use optimal offline policies to decide which boxes to open (without knowledge of the value inside). We consider variations where Pandora can collect multiple prizes subject to feasibility constraints, such as cardinality, matroid, or knapsack constraints. We also consider variations related to classic multi-armed bandit problems from reinforcement learning. Our results use a reduction-based framework where we separate the issues of the cost of acquiring information from the online decision process of which prizes to keep. Our work shows that in many scenarios, Pandora can achieve a good approximation to the best possible performance

Beyond the village headman: transformations of the local polity in central Myanmar (1750s-2010s)

This dissertation is an anthropological study of how village headship became an ambiguous position of power in Myinmilaung village tract of central Myanmar. Based on twenty months of fieldwork between 2014 and 2019 and on archival research, it explores headship as a matter of craftmanship and personality through the evolving relationship between the government and villagers. It focuses specifically on the making of the local polity of Gawgyi, the village which controlled the headship of Myinmilaung tract during most of my stay, and shows how, besides factionalism and clientelism, a group of bigmen took care of village affairs with or without the presence of the headman. They embodied notions of propriety and upheld an ethics based on earlier models of power. They also kept their distance from the state which, after having forcefully tried to bring about socialism in the countryside, was a more disengaged presence during my stay. Myinmilaung headship is an ambiguous position because it sits at the juncture between village government, village affairs and family relations, the balance depending on who embodies the position and at which time. The historical part of the thesis explores the fashioning of Myinmilaung tract and the way this brought about debates over conceptions of power, on the transformation of land relations and on contestations about local history. In these debates, headmen are described as either usurpers of precolonial chiefs, as servants of a foreign state, as buffers against state demands, as charismatic patrons anchored in a local, as corrupt officials, or as political entrepreneurs. However, as much as headship is debated in history, its everyday practice goes beyond the institution and requires the ability of navigating relationships and gauging obligations. I argue the authority of a village headman is based on craftmanship and that diverse forms of engagements pervade social processes and leadership such as the transmission of inheritance, the making of ceremonies and the caretaking of village affairs. Showing how each of these forms of engagement is shot through with ambiguity, this thesis suggests that the questions of responsibility, obligation and morality are crucial to local politics insofar as the temporality of relationships is accounted for. In doing so, this research renews the literature on local politics in Myanmar from an ethnographic starting point and combines history and anthropology of uncertainty and of morality; it contributes to political anthropology at large by exploring key concepts – power, authority, headship, bigmen, patronage – and the way they play out in the Burmese context; and to a wider set of debates about gift-giving, ethics, masculinities, land tenure, colonialism and the state

Southern Accent September 2005 - April 2006

Southern Adventist University\u27s newspaper, Southern Accent, for the academic year of 2005-2006.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/southern_accent/1083/thumbnail.jp

The evolution of regulatory strategies in relation to nicotine products and their implications for product innovation and harm reduction

The current "smoking epidemic" is a global problem for governments and organisations concerned with public health. Recently, this problem has been conceptualised as one of regulation. Within the tobacco control community, there has been growing concern that the division of regulatory responsibility for conventional tobacco products (i.e. cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco) and alternative modes of nicotine delivery (nicotine replacement therapy products such as gums, patches and inhalers) is having adverse effects on the innovation of new medicinal products and on providing smokers with acceptable alternatives to cigarettes, the most harmful and widely used nicotine product. The 'alternatives' are mainly regulated as pharmaceuticals; therefore, must reach safety standards comparable with those required for medications rather than being compared with the known harm caused by tobacco smoking. Whilst a number of commentary and position pieces have discussed this problem, there has been little empirical work on how the current UK regulatory set-up evolved and what impacts it has. This research gap is addressed using semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis to analyse empirically the evolution and implications of divided regulatory responsibility for nicotine products in England. Adopting an actor-network theory approach, I investigate the actor-networks assembled around key non-human actors - tobacco and nicotine - focussing on developments from the 1970s until the present. In particular, I investigate the relationship between the regulatory regime and harm reduction ideas, and how they impact on the development of new medicinal nicotine products within the pharmaceutical industry. I underline the way that the regulatory regimes both shape and are shaped by the heterogeneous networks in which they are enmeshed. The thesis concludes by considering whether there are alternative approaches to regulation that would be more efficient and effective. I suggest that the regulation of recreational drug use is underpinned by 'deep conflicts in values' (Prosser 2006) and propose that further debate over the aims and limits of nicotine regulation is needed. The thesis deals with developments up until and including the 30th of November 2010

The evolution of regulatory strategies in relation to nicotine products and their implications for product innovation and harm reduction

The current "smoking epidemic" is a global problem for governments and organisations concerned with public health. Recently, this problem has been conceptualised as one of regulation. Within the tobacco control community, there has been growing concern that the division of regulatory responsibility for conventional tobacco products (i.e. cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco) and alternative modes of nicotine delivery (nicotine replacement therapy products such as gums, patches and inhalers) is having adverse effects on the innovation of new medicinal products and on providing smokers with acceptable alternatives to cigarettes, the most harmful and widely used nicotine product. The 'alternatives' are mainly regulated as pharmaceuticals; therefore, must reach safety standards comparable with those required for medications rather than being compared with the known harm caused by tobacco smoking. Whilst a number of commentary and position pieces have discussed this problem, there has been little empirical work on how the current UK regulatory set-up evolved and what impacts it has. This research gap is addressed using semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis to analyse empirically the evolution and implications of divided regulatory responsibility for nicotine products in England. Adopting an actor-network theory approach, I investigate the actor-networks assembled around key non-human actors - tobacco and nicotine - focussing on developments from the 1970s until the present. In particular, I investigate the relationship between the regulatory regime and harm reduction ideas, and how they impact on the development of new medicinal nicotine products within the pharmaceutical industry. I underline the way that the regulatory regimes both shape and are shaped by the heterogeneous networks in which they are enmeshed. The thesis concludes by considering whether there are alternative approaches to regulation that would be more efficient and effective. I suggest that the regulation of recreational drug use is underpinned by 'deep conflicts in values' (Prosser 2006) and propose that further debate over the aims and limits of nicotine regulation is needed. The thesis deals with developments up until and including the 30th of November 2010

The cult of Criterion : the Criterion Collection as a commercial canon

The rise of home video gave to the rise of the home video collector. For the last forty plus years, consumers have purchased their own copies of films, and amassed libraries. Within this group, The Criterion Collection has stood as the advance guard for the possibilities of what home video could offer its audience. Tracing the company’s history, back to its inception in 1983, consistency in quality has been a trademark for Criterion. Constantly innovating what home video could offer its audience -- through the creation of supplemental features, providing uncut films, and having personal relationships with directors -- Criterion has been able to continue its quality through differentiation. Looking at the distinct historical periods within this company has operated, a history can be formed that answers questions to how the company deals with questions of canon formation, authorship, film history, etc. As the technology continues to radically change the market, Criterion remains adamant about providing the best quality product for its customer, and expanding its idea of what home video should be to a larger market.Radio-Television-Fil

God's Own Blacksmiths: working with Keralan blacksmiths to investigate microstructural analysis

The skills and techniques of past metal smiths are gauged through the analysis of the microstructures of artifacts using standard metallography. Little or no work has been carried out to test or verify microstructural observations through ethnographic and experimental re-enactment of techniques. This study will offer a way to establish the veracity of this approach to studying iron objects and will draw on direct practical engagement with remnant Keralan blacksmithing communities. In addition, controlled experimental re-enactment, deconstruction of techniques and comparative microstructural analysis will be carried out. How local agricultural tools are forged and what makes up the smithing toolkit will be assessed as well as how each forging space is utilized. This research aims to conduct the study using a range of methods that includes experimental re-enactment in a manner that assesses their applicability to other regions and periods