Decentralized Constraint Satisfaction

We show that several important resource allocation problems in wireless networks fit within the common framework of Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs). Inspired by the requirements of these applications, where variables are located at distinct network devices that may not be able to communicate but may interfere, we define natural criteria that a CSP solver must possess in order to be practical. We term these algorithms decentralized CSP solvers. The best known CSP solvers were designed for centralized problems and do not meet these criteria. We introduce a stochastic decentralized CSP solver and prove that it will find a solution in almost surely finite time, should one exist, also showing it has many practically desirable properties. We benchmark the algorithm's performance on a well-studied class of CSPs, random k-SAT, illustrating that the time the algorithm takes to find a satisfying assignment is competitive with stochastic centralized solvers on problems with order a thousand variables despite its decentralized nature. We demonstrate the solver's practical utility for the problems that motivated its introduction by using it to find a non-interfering channel allocation for a network formed from data from downtown Manhattan

Non-minimally coupled multi-scalar black holes

We study the static, spherically symmetric black hole solutions for a non-minimally coupled multi-scalar theory. We find numerical solutions for values of the scalar fields when a certain constraint on the maximal charge is satisfied. Beyond this constraint no black hole solutions exist. This constraint therefore corresponds to extremal solutions, however, this does not match the \kappa = 0 constraint which typically indicates extremal solutions in other models. This implies that the set of extremal solutions have non-zero, finite and varying surface gravity. These solutions also violate the no-hair theorems for N>1 scalar fields and have previously been proven to be linearly stable.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Biological Deposits Necessary for Patent Protection: An Expansion of Permissible Procedure—In re Lundak, 773 F.2d 1216, 227 U.S.P.Q (BNA) 90 (Fed. Cir. 1985)

The standard for biological deposits necessary for compliance with the enablement provisions of the Patent Act of 1952 (codified at Title 35 U.S.C.) has been altered by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in In re Lundak. Before Lundak, patent applications dependent on the use of biological materials called for the deposit of a biological sample in an independent depository, out of the inventor\u27s control, on or before the filing date. The Lundak decision now permits an inventor to retain control of the deposit during prosecution of the patent application, so long as the public is guaranteed access to the invention upon issuance of a patent grant. At first impression this modification of the deposit procedure appears to be relatively innocuous. However, the decision inserts uncertainty and potential for abuse into the protocol for biological deposits. The attractiveness of post-filing deposits is outweighed in most cases by the risk of losing foreign patent protection through failure to deposit on or before filing. In addition, the practical need to provide adequate corroborating evidence of the chain of custody of the deposit from private hands to an independent depository acts as a further disincentive to depositing after the filing date. Thus, pre-filing deposit of the biological material remains the safest route to sufficient disclosure of the patentable subject matter required for attainment of both foreign and domestic protection of proprietary rights

Contour generation by wavefront reconstruction

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/31977/1/0000019.pd

Proportional Fair Coding for Wireless Mesh Networks

We consider multi–hop wireless networks carrying unicast flows for multiple users. Each flow has a specified delay deadline, and the lossy wireless links are modelled as binary symmetric channels (BSCs). Since transmission time, also called airtime, on the links is shared amongst flows, increasing the airtime for one flow comes at the cost of reducing the airtime available to other flows sharing the same link. We derive the joint allocation of flow airtimes and coding rates that achieves the proportionally fair throughput allocation. This utility optimisation problem is non–convex, and one of the technical contributions of this paper is to show that the proportional fair utility optimisation can nevertheless be decomposed into a sequence of convex optimisation problems. The solution to this sequence of convex problems is the unique solution to the original non–convex optimisation. Surprisingly, this solution can be written in an explicit form that yields considerable insight into the nature of the proportional fair joint airtime/coding rate allocation. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the utility fair joint allocation of airtime/coding rate has been analysed, and also, one of the first times that utility fairness with delay deadlines has been considered

Decentralised Learning MACs for Collision-free Access in WLANs

By combining the features of CSMA and TDMA, fully decentralised WLAN MAC schemes have recently been proposed that converge to collision-free schedules. In this paper we describe a MAC with optimal long-run throughput that is almost decentralised. We then design two \changed{schemes} that are practically realisable, decentralised approximations of this optimal scheme and operate with different amounts of sensing information. We achieve this by (1) introducing learning algorithms that can substantially speed up convergence to collision free operation; (2) developing a decentralised schedule length adaptation scheme that provides long-run fair (uniform) access to the medium while maintaining collision-free access for arbitrary numbers of stations

Stress corrosion in titanium alloys and other metallic materials

Multiple physical and chemical techniques including mass spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, gas chromatography, electron microscopy, optical microscopy, electronic spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray analysis, conductivity, and isotopic labeling were used in investigating the atomic interactions between organic environments and titanium and titanium oxide surfaces. Key anhydrous environments studied included alcohols, which contain hydrogen; carbon tetrachloride, which does not contain hydrogen; and mixtures of alcohols and halocarbons. Effects of dissolved salts in alcohols were also studied. This program emphasized experiments designed to delineate the conditions necessary rather than sufficient for initiation processes and for propagation processes in Ti SCC

Screening and Anti-Screening Effects in J/psi Production on Nuclei

The nuclear effects in J/psi hadro- and electroproduction on nuclei are considered in framework of reggeon approach. It is shown that screening regime which holds for electroproduction at x_F > 0.7 and for hadroproduction at x_F > -(0.3-0.4) is changed with anti-screening regime for smaller x_F values.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Small changes in wordin