On The Steps Of The Great White Capital : Stood Martha And George

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/2326/thumbnail.jp

Sequential pivotal mechanisms for public project problems

It is well-known that for several natural decision problems no budget balanced Groves mechanisms exist. This has motivated recent research on designing variants of feasible Groves mechanisms (termed as `redistribution of VCG (Vickrey-Clarke-Groves) payments') that generate reduced deficit. With this in mind, we study sequential mechanisms and consider optimal strategies that could reduce the deficit resulting under the simultaneous mechanism. We show that such strategies exist for the sequential pivotal mechanism of the well-known public project problem. We also exhibit an optimal strategy with the property that a maximal social welfare is generated when each player follows it. Finally, we show that these strategies can be achieved by an implementation in Nash equilibrium.Comment: 19 pages. The version without the appendix will appear in the Proc. 2nd International Symposium on Algorithmic Game Theory, 200

When Analysis Fails: Heuristic Mechanism Design via Self-Correcting Procedures

Computational mechanism design (CMD) seeks to understand how to design game forms that induce desirable outcomes in multi-agent systems despite private information, self-interest and limited computational resources. CMD finds application in many settings, in the public sector for wireless spectrum and airport landing rights, to Internet advertising, to expressive sourcing in the supply chain, to allocating computational resources. In meeting the demands for CMD in these rich domains, we often need to bridge from the theory of economic mechanism design to the practice of deployable, computational mechanisms. A compelling example of this need arises in dynamic combinatorial environments, where classic analytic approaches fail and heuristic, computational approaches are required. In this talk I outline the direction of self-correcting mechanisms, which dynamically modify decisions via “output ironing" to ensure truthfulness and provide a fully computational approach to mechanism design. For an application, I suggest heuristic mechanisms for dynamic auctions in which bids arrive over time and supply may also be uncertain.Engineering and Applied Science

Public Good Overprovision by a Manipulative Provider

We study contracting between a public good provider and users with private valuations of the good. We show that, once the provider extracts the users' private information, she benefits from manipulating the collective information received from all users when communicating with them. We derive conditions under which such manipulation determines the direction of distortions in public good provision. If the provider is non-manipulative, the public good is always underprovided, whereas overprovision occurs with a manipulative provider. With overprovision, not only high-valuation users, but also low-valuation users may obtain positive rents—users may prefer facing a manipulative provider.Peer Reviewe

Numerical analysis of the radio-frequency single-electron transistor operation

We have analyzed numerically the response and noise-limited charge sensitivity of a radio-frequency single-electron transistor (RF-SET) in a non-superconducting state using the orthodox theory. In particular, we have studied the performance dependence on the quality factor Q of the tank circuit for Q both below and above the value corresponding to the impedance matching between the coaxial cable and SET.Comment: 14 page

Party-group relations in new southern European democracies in the crisis era

UID/CPO/04627/2013 PTDC/IVC-CPO/1864/2014publishersversionpublishe

Accelerated theta burst stimulation for the treatment of depression: a randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: Theta burst pattern repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TBS) is increasingly applied to treat depression. TBS's brevity is well-suited to application in accelerated schedules. Sizeable trials of accelerated TBS are lacking; and optimal TBS parameters such as stimulation intensity are not established. METHODS: We conducted a three arm, single blind, randomised, controlled, multi-site trial comparing accelerated bilateral TBS applied at 80 % or 120 % of the resting motor threshold and left unilateral 10 Hz rTMS. 300 patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) were recruited. TBS arms applied 20 bilateral prefrontal TBS sessions over 10 days, while the rTMS arm applied 20 daily sessions of 10 Hz rTMS to the left prefrontal cortex over 4 weeks. Primary outcome was depression treatment response at week 4. RESULTS: The overall treatment response rate was 43.7 % and the remission rate was 28.2 %. There were no significant differences for response (p = 0.180) or remission (p = 0.316) across the three groups. Response rates between accelerated bilateral TBS applied at sub- and supra-threshold intensities were not significantly different (p = 0.319). Linear mixed model analysis showed a significant effect of time (p < 0.01), but not rTMS type (p = 0.680). CONCLUSION: This is the largest accelerated bilateral TBS study to date and provides evidence that it is effective and safe in treating TRD. The accelerated application of TBS was not associated with more rapid antidepressant effects. Bilateral sequential TBS did not have superior antidepressant effect to unilateral 10 Hz rTMS. There was no significant difference in antidepressant efficacy between sub- and supra-threshold accelerated bilateral TBS.Leo Chen, Elizabeth H.X.Thoma, Pakin Kaewpijit, Aleksandra Miljevic, Rachel Hughes, Lisa Hahn ... et al