Balanced trade reduction for dual-role exchange markets

We consider dual-role exchange markets, where traders can offer to both buy and sell the same commodity in the exchange but, if they transact, they can only be either a buyer or a seller, which is determined by the market mechanism. To design desirable mechanisms for such exchanges, we show that existing solutions may not be incentive compatible, and more importantly, cause the market maker to suffer a significant deficit. Hence, to combat this problem, following McAfee's trade reduction approach, we propose a new trade reduction mechanism, called balanced trade reduction, that is incentive compatible and also provides flexible trade-offs between efficiency and defici

Entanglement and the Thermodynamic Arrow of Time

We discuss quantum entanglement in the context of the thermodynamic arrow of time. We review the role of correlations in entropy-decreasing events and prove that the occurrence of a transformation between two thermodynamic states constitutes a new type of entanglement witness, one not defined as a separating plane in state space between separable and entangled states, but as a physical process dependent on the local initial properties of the states. Extending work by Partovi, we consider a general entangled multipartite system that allows large reversals of the thermodynamic arrow of time. We describe a hierarchy of arrows that arises from the different correlations allowed in a quantum state and examine these features in the context of Maxwell's Demon. We examine in detail the case of three qubits, and also propose some simple experimental demonstrations possible with small numbers of qubits.Comment: 10 pages with 9 figure

Surface Roughness and Porosity of Hydrated Cement Pastes

. Seventy-eight graphs were plotted to describe and analyze the dependences of the height and roughness irregularities on the water-to-cement ratio and on the porosity of the cement hydrates. The results showed unambiguously that the water-to-cement ratio or equivalently the porosity of the specimens has a decisive influence on the irregularities of the fracture surfaces of this material. The experimental results indicated the possibility that the porosity or the value of the water-to-cement ratio might be inferred from the height irregularities of the fracture surfaces. It was hypothesized that there may be a similarly strong correlation between porosity and surface irregularity, on the one hand, and some other highly porous solids, on the other, and thus the same possibility to infer porosity from the surfaces of their fracture remnants

Exchange Fluctuation Theorem for correlated quantum systems

We extend the Exchange Fluctuation Theorem for energy exchange between thermal quantum systems beyond the assumption of molecular chaos, and describe the non-equilibrium exchange dynamics of correlated quantum states. The relation quantifies how the tendency for systems to equilibrate is modified in high-correlation environments. Our results elucidate the role of measurement disturbance for such scenarios. We show a simple application by finding a semi-classical maximum work theorem in the presence of correlations.Comment: Lots of new material added, a figure, and a new author, 13 pages, 1 figure, comments welcom

Developing Interventions for Children's Exercise (DICE): a pilot evaluation of school-based exercise interventions for primary school children aged 7 to 8 years.

BACKGROUND: Developing Interventions for Children's Exercise (DICE) is an initiative aimed at determining effective school-based exercise programs. To assess feasibility, we conducted a pilot study of exercise sessions which varied in duration and frequency. METHODS: Exercise interventions were delivered to Year 3 pupils (age 7-8 years; n = 73) in primary schools within Yorkshire, UK. Evaluations were conducted using focus group sessions, questionnaires and observations. RESULTS: The study revealed positive aspects of all interventions, including favorable effects on children's concentration during lessons and identified the value of incorporation of the DICE concept into curriculum lessons. Children appeared enthused and reported well-being and enjoyment. Areas requiring attention were the need for appropriate timetabling of sessions and ensuring the availability of space. CONCLUSION: The concept and sessions were well-accepted by teachers who confirmed their full support of any future implementation There appears to be potential for the encouragement and empowerment of teachers to support physical activity and healthy school environments, and to take an interest in the health of their pupils. Ultimately, these findings should assist in the design of successful exercise interventions in the school setting

Robust routing

In a network, traffic demands are known with a degree of uncertainty, traffic engineering should take into account the traffic variability. In this research work we focus on the robust routing under changing network conditions. Daily Internet traffic pattern shows that network is vulnerable to malicious attacks, denial of service attacks, worms and viruses. Oblivious routing has a substantially better performance than open shortest path first [OSPF] routing for different level of uncertainty. We propose a theoretical framework for Robust Routing aiming to improve online and offline traffic engineering approaches

Faster Born probability estimation via gate merging and frame optimisation

Outcome probability estimation via classical methods is an important task for validating quantum computing devices. Outcome probabilities of any quantum circuit can be estimated using Monte Carlo sampling, where the amount of negativity present in the circuit frame representation quantifies the overhead on the number of samples required to achieve a certain precision. In this paper, we propose two classical sub-routines: circuit gate merging and frame optimisation, which optimise the circuit representation to reduce the sampling overhead. We show that the runtimes of both sub-routines scale polynomially in circuit size and gate depth. Our methods are applicable to general circuits, regardless of generating gate sets, qudit dimensions and the chosen frame representations for the circuit components. We numerically demonstrate that our methods provide improved scaling in the negativity overhead for all tested cases of random circuits with Clifford+T and Haar-random gates, and that the performance of our methods compares favourably with prior quasi-probability simulators as the number of non-Clifford gates increases