18,977 research outputs found
On Colorful Bin Packing Games
We consider colorful bin packing games in which selfish players control a set
of items which are to be packed into a minimum number of unit capacity bins.
Each item has one of colors and cannot be packed next to an item of
the same color. All bins have the same unitary cost which is shared among the
items it contains, so that players are interested in selecting a bin of minimum
shared cost. We adopt two standard cost sharing functions: the egalitarian cost
function which equally shares the cost of a bin among the items it contains,
and the proportional cost function which shares the cost of a bin among the
items it contains proportionally to their sizes. Although, under both cost
functions, colorful bin packing games do not converge in general to a (pure)
Nash equilibrium, we show that Nash equilibria are guaranteed to exist and we
design an algorithm for computing a Nash equilibrium whose running time is
polynomial under the egalitarian cost function and pseudo-polynomial for a
constant number of colors under the proportional one. We also provide a
complete characterization of the efficiency of Nash equilibria under both cost
functions for general games, by showing that the prices of anarchy and
stability are unbounded when while they are equal to 3 for black and
white games, where . We finally focus on games with uniform sizes (i.e.,
all items have the same size) for which the two cost functions coincide. We
show again a tight characterization of the efficiency of Nash equilibria and
design an algorithm which returns Nash equilibria with best achievable
performance
Autocatalytic plume pinch-off
A localized source of buoyancy flux in a non-reactive fluid medium creates a
plume. The flux can be provided by either heat, a compositional difference
between the fluid comprising the plume and its surroundings, or a combination
of both. For autocatalytic plumes produced by the iodate-arsenous acid
reaction, however, buoyancy is produced along the entire reacting interface
between the plume and its surroundings. Buoyancy production at the moving
interface drives fluid motion, which in turn generates flow that advects the
reaction front. As a consequence of this interplay between fluid flow and
chemical reaction, autocatalytic plumes exhibit a rich dynamics during their
ascent through the reactant medium. One of the more interesting dynamical
features is the production of an accelerating vortical plume head that in
certain cases pinches-off and detaches from the upwelling conduit. After
pinch-off, a new plume head forms in the conduit below, and this can lead to
multiple generations of plume heads for a single plume initiation. We
investigated the pinch-off process using both experimentation and simulation.
Experiments were performed using various concentrations of glycerol, in which
it was found that repeated pinch-off occurs exclusively in a specific
concentration range. Autocatalytic plume simulations revealed that pinch-off is
triggered by the appearance of accelerating flow in the plume conduit.Comment: 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys Rev E. See also
http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/nonlinear/papers_chemwave.htm
Relating on-shell and off-shell formalism in perturbative quantum field theory
In the on-shell formalism (mostly used in perturbative quantum field theory)
the entries of the time ordered product T are on-shell fields (i.e. the basic
fields satisfy the free field equations). With that, (multi)linearity of T is
incompatible with the Action Ward identity. This can be circumvented by using
the off-shell formalism in which the entries of T are off-shell fields. To
relate on- and off-shell formalism correctly, a map sigma from on-shell fields
to off-shell fields was introduced axiomatically by Duetsch and Fredenhagen. In
that paper it was shown that, in the case of one real scalar field in N=4
dimensional Minkowski space, these axioms have a unique solution. However, this
solution was given there only recursively. We solve this recurrence relation
and give a fully explicit expression for sigma in the cases of the scalar,
Dirac and gauge fields for arbitrary values of the dimension N.Comment: The case of gauge fields was added. 16 page
Measuring public perceptions of sex offenders: reimagining the Community Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) scale
The Community Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) scale is an 18-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure respondents’ attitudes toward sex offenders. Its original factor structure has been questioned by a number of previous studies, and so this paper sought to reimagine the scale as an outcome measure, as opposed to a scale of attitudes. A face validity analysis produced a provisional three-factor structure underlying the CATSO: ‘punitiveness,’ ‘stereotype endorsement,’ and ‘risk perception.’ A sample of 400 British members of the public completed a modified version of the CATSO, the Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders scale, the General Punitiveness Scale, and the Rational-Experiential Inventory. A three-factor structure of a 22-item modified CATSO was supported using half of the sample, with factors being labeled ‘sentencing and management,’ ‘stereotype endorsement,’ and ‘risk perception.’ Confirmatory factor analysis on data from the other half of the sample endorsed the three-factor structure; however, two items were removed in order to improve ratings of model fit. This new 20-item ‘Perceptions of Sex Offenders scale’ has practical utility beyond the measurement of attitudes, and suggestions for its future use are provided
Averaged Energy Inequalities for the Non-Minimally Coupled Classical Scalar Field
The stress energy tensor for the classical non-minimally coupled scalar field
is known not to satisfy the point-wise energy conditions of general relativity.
In this paper we show, however, that local averages of the classical stress
energy tensor satisfy certain inequalities. We give bounds for averages along
causal geodesics and show, e.g., that in Ricci-flat background spacetimes, ANEC
and AWEC are satisfied. Furthermore we use our result to show that in the
classical situation we have an analogue to the phenomenon of quantum interest.
These results lay the foundations for analogous energy inequalities for the
quantised non-minimally coupled fields, which will be discussed elsewhere.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX4. Minor typos corrected; version to appear in Phys
Rev
Potential infectious etiologies of atherosclerosis: a multifactorial perspective.
Coronary heart disease (CHD) contributes substantially to illness and death worldwide. Experimental studies demonstrate that infection can stimulate atherogenic processes. This review presents a spectrum of data regarding the link between CHD and infection. In addition, the need for improved diagnostic tools, the significance of multiple pathogens, and potential intervention strategies are discussed
Clinical and economic evaluation of laparoscopic surgery compared with medical management for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease : 5-year follow-up of multicentre randomised trial (the REFLUX trial)
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