743 research outputs found
Optimal Design of Robust Combinatorial Mechanisms for Substitutable Goods
In this paper we consider multidimensional mechanism design problem for
selling discrete substitutable items to a group of buyers. Previous work on
this problem mostly focus on stochastic description of valuations used by the
seller. However, in certain applications, no prior information regarding
buyers' preferences is known. To address this issue, we consider uncertain
valuations and formulate the problem in a robust optimization framework: the
objective is to minimize the maximum regret. For a special case of
revenue-maximizing pricing problem we present a solution method based on
mixed-integer linear programming formulation
The Power of Non-Determinism in Higher-Order Implicit Complexity
We investigate the power of non-determinism in purely functional programming
languages with higher-order types. Specifically, we consider cons-free programs
of varying data orders, equipped with explicit non-deterministic choice.
Cons-freeness roughly means that data constructors cannot occur in function
bodies and all manipulation of storage space thus has to happen indirectly
using the call stack.
While cons-free programs have previously been used by several authors to
characterise complexity classes, the work on non-deterministic programs has
almost exclusively considered programs of data order 0. Previous work has shown
that adding explicit non-determinism to cons-free programs taking data of order
0 does not increase expressivity; we prove that this - dramatically - is not
the case for higher data orders: adding non-determinism to programs with data
order at least 1 allows for a characterisation of the entire class of
elementary-time decidable sets.
Finally we show how, even with non-deterministic choice, the original
hierarchy of characterisations is restored by imposing different restrictions.Comment: pre-edition version of a paper accepted for publication at ESOP'1
On the Trace of the Real Author
In pre-Revival Croatian literature there are works that so far have not been ascribed to any particular author. It is now clear that their real authors can not be identified simplyon the basis of general stylistic impression, as the late 19th century scholar Armin Pavić believed. The approach of Kolendić, who at the start of this century introduced the method of hapaxes (words evidenced only in the corpus of one known author) seemed much more promising. Trying to prove Vetranović‚s authorship of a part of the mythological drama Orfeo, he pointed out several words for which he claimed to be the hapaxes of the said poet. Even if the tenability of his conclusions about the Orfeo can be easily dismissed simply by using the Historical Dictionary of Croatian Language, the national literary historiography has accepted Kolendić‚s attribution. However, another attribution, based on the same method and proposed by the author of the present article, was rejected.Namely, after having found hapaxes of Zoranić‚s Planine in a pastoral eclogue by an unknown author, he attributed the eclogue to the same poet.
The conclusion is self-evident. Every new method should be thoroughly tested. But, if no objection is found, in the following period it must be valid for all the cases, wherever it can be competently applied
Holography for Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theories from generalized dimensional reduction
We show that a class of Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton (EMD) theories are related
to higher dimensional AdS-Maxwell gravity via a dimensional reduction over
compact Einstein spaces combined with continuation in the dimension of the
compact space to non-integral values (`generalized dimensional reduction').
This relates (fairly complicated) black hole solutions of EMD theories to
simple black hole/brane solutions of AdS-Maxwell gravity and explains their
properties. The generalized dimensional reduction is used to infer the
holographic dictionary and the hydrodynamic behavior for this class of theories
from those of AdS. As a specific example, we analyze the case of a black brane
carrying a wave whose universal sector is described by gravity coupled to a
Maxwell field and two neutral scalars. At thermal equilibrium and finite
chemical potential the two operators dual to the bulk scalar fields acquire
expectation values characterizing the breaking of conformal and generalized
conformal invariance. We compute holographically the first order transport
coefficients (conductivity, shear and bulk viscosity) for this system.Comment: v2, Important additions: (1) discussion of the entropy current, (2)
postulated zeta/eta bound is generically violated. Some comments and
references added, typos corrected. 50 page
Shortest Reconfiguration of Matchings
Imagine that unlabelled tokens are placed on the edges of a graph, such that
no two tokens are placed on incident edges. A token can jump to another edge if
the edges having tokens remain independent. We study the problem of determining
the distance between two token configurations (resp., the corresponding
matchings), which is given by the length of a shortest transformation. We give
a polynomial-time algorithm for the case that at least one of the two
configurations is not inclusion-wise maximal and show that otherwise, the
problem admits no polynomial-time sublogarithmic-factor approximation unless P
= NP. Furthermore, we show that the distance of two configurations in bipartite
graphs is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the size of the
symmetric difference of the source and target configurations, and obtain a
-factor approximation algorithm for every if
additionally the configurations correspond to maximum matchings. Our two main
technical tools are the Edmonds-Gallai decomposition and a close relation to
the Directed Steiner Tree problem. Using the former, we also characterize those
graphs whose corresponding configuration graphs are connected. Finally, we show
that deciding if the distance between two configurations is equal to a given
number is complete for the class , and deciding if the diameter of
the graph of configurations is equal to is -hard.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figure
No association between ACTN3 R577X and ACE I/D polymorphisms and endurance running times in 698 Caucasian athletes
Background: Studies investigating associations between ACTN3 R577X and ACE I/D genotypes and endurance athletic status have been limited by small sample sizes from mixed sport disciplines and lack quantitative measures of performance. Aim: To examine the association between ACTN3 R577X and ACE I/D genotypes and best personal running times in a large homogeneous cohort of endurance runners.
Methods: We collected a total of 1064 personal best 1500, 3000, 5000 m and marathon running times of 698 male and female Caucasian endurance athletes from six countries (Australia, Greece, Italy, Poland, Russia and UK). Athletes were genotyped for ACTN3 R577X and ACE ID variants.
Results: There was no association between ACTN3 R577X or ACE I/D genotype and running performance at any distance in men or women. Mean (SD) marathon times (in s) were for men: ACTN3 RR 9149 (593), RX 9221 (582), XX 9129 (582) p = 0.94; ACE DD 9182 (665), ID 9214 (549), II 9155 (492) p = 0.85; for women: ACTN3 RR 10796 (818), RX 10667 (695), XX 10675 (553) p = 0.36; ACE DD 10604 (561), ID 10766 (740), II 10771 (708) p = 0.21. Furthermore, there were no associations between these variants and running time for any distance in a sub-analysis of athletes with personal records within 20% of world records.
Conclusions: Thus, consistent with most case-control studies, this multi-cohort quantitative analysis demonstrates it is unlikely that ACTN3 XX genotype provides an advantage in competitive endurance running performance. For ACE II genotype, some prior studies show an association but others do not. Our data indicate it is also unlikely that ACE II genotype provides an advantage in endurance running
Phase I–II study of irinotecan (CPT-11) plus nedaplatin (254-S) with recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor support in patients with advanced or recurrent cervical cancer
Combination chemotherapy with irinotecan (CPT-11) and platinum compounds is effective for treating cervical cancer. Nedaplatin (254-S) is a new cisplatin analogue that achieves a high response rate (53%) in patients with primary cervical cancer. We performed a phase I–II study of combination chemotherapy with CPT-11 plus 254-S for advanced or recurrent cervical cancer. The inclusion criteria were stage IV disease or recurrence. CPT-11 and 254-S were administered intravenously on day 1, while rhG-CSF (50 μg) was given on days 3–12. This regimen was repeated after 4 weeks. Dose escalation was carried out in tandem (CPT-11/254-S: 50/70, 50/80, and 60/80 mg m−2). A total of 27 patients (stage IV=seven, recurrence=20) were enrolled. The phase I study enrolled eight patients. At dose levels 1 and 2, no dose-limiting toxicities were observed. At dose level 3, the first two patients developed DLTs. The maximum tolerated dose of CPT-11 and 254-S was 60 and 80 mg m−2, respectively, and the recommended doses were 50 and 80 mg m−2. Grade 3/4 haematologic toxicity occurred in 67% in phase II study, but there were no grade 3 nonhaematologic toxicities except fot nausea or lethargy. In all 27 patients, there were two complete responses (7%) and 14 Partial responses (52%), for an overall response rate of 59% (95% confidence interval: 39–78%). Among the 12 responders with recurrent disease, the median time to progression and median survival were 161 days (range: 61–711 days) and 415 days (range: 74–801 days). This new regimen is promising for cervical cancer
Search for New Particles Decaying to top-antitop in proton-antiproton collisions at squareroot(s)=1.8 TeV
We use 106 \ipb of data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab to
search for narrow-width, vector particles decaying to a top and an anti-top
quark. Model independent upper limits on the cross section for narrow, vector
resonances decaying to \ttbar are presented. At the 95% confidence level, we
exclude the existence of a leptophobic \zpr boson in a model of
topcolor-assisted technicolor with mass M_{\zpr} 480 \gev for natural
width = 0.012 M_{\zpr}, and M_{\zpr} 780 \gev for =
0.04 M_{\zpr}.Comment: The CDF Collaboration, submitted to PRL 25-Feb-200
A Measurement of the Differential Dijet Mass Cross Section in p-pbar Collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV
We present a measurement of the cross section for production of two or more
jets as a function of dijet mass, based on an integrated luminosity of 86 pb^-1
collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Our dijet mass spectrum is
described within errors by next-to-leading order QCD predictions using CTEQ4HJ
parton distributions, and is in good agreement with a similar measurement from
the D0 experiment.Comment: 18 pages including 2 figures and 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. D
Rapid Communication
A Study of B0 -> J/psi K(*)0 pi+ pi- Decays with the Collider Detector at Fermilab
We report a study of the decays B0 -> J/psi K(*)0 pi+ pi-, which involve the
creation of a u u-bar or d d-bar quark pair in addition to a b-bar -> c-bar(c
s-bar) decay. The data sample consists of 110 1/pb of p p-bar collisions at
sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV collected by the CDF detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
collider during 1992-1995. We measure the branching ratios to be BR(B0 -> J/psi
K*0 pi+ pi-) = (8.0 +- 2.2 +- 1.5) * 10^{-4} and BR(B0 -> J/psi K0 pi+ pi-) =
(1.1 +- 0.4 +- 0.2) * 10^{-3}. Contributions to these decays are seen from
psi(2S) K(*)0, J/psi K0 rho0, J/psi K*+ pi-, and J/psi K1(1270)
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