A Method for Solving Distributed Service Allocation Problems

We present a method for solving service allocation problems in which a set of services must be allocated to a set of agents so as to maximize a global utility. The method is completely distributed so it can scale to any number of services without degradation. We first formalize the service allocation problem and then present a simple hill-climbing, a global hill-climbing, and a bidding-protocol algorithm for solving it. We analyze the expected performance of these algorithms as a function of various problem parameters such as the branching factor and the number of agents. Finally, we use the sensor allocation problem, an instance of a service allocation problem, to show the bidding protocol at work. The simulations also show that phase transition on the expected quality of the solution exists as the amount of communication between agents increases

Pointwise universal consistency of nonparametric linear estimators

This paper presents sufficient conditions for pointwise universal consistency of nonparametric delta estimators. We show the applicability of these conditions for some classes of nonparametric estimators

Exposure to “real life” professional experiences through a shadowing scheme that matches penultimate and final year students with employers

This paper reports on a learning development project undertaken during 2010 – 2011. The Work-Shadowing Scheme (WSS) was primarily developed in response to feedback following the National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS brought to light the apparent discrepancy between, the number of structured programmes City University London host that offer exposure within professional environments (for example, formal placement schemes) and the number of students looking for experience within a professional context. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the Career and Skills Development Service began thinking about how to implement a scheme that would provide City students with a unique opportunity to gain professional experience across a variety of industries. The WSS project was designed to provide students with the opportunity to shadow a guide from a sector of their choice. Typically, students requested to shadow guides in industries associated with their course, however an additional benefit of the WSS was the potential to shadow a guide within a sector that was not traditionally associated with their degree. On completion of a shadowing experience, students were given the option to shadow two more employers. This aspect of the scheme was further commended, and students reiterated the benefits of gaining „snapshots‟ of multiple sectors before making crucial career decisions

Diamagnetism around the Meissner transition in a homogeneous cuprate single crystal

The in-plane diamagnetism around the Meissner transition was measured in a Tl$_2$Ba$_2$Ca$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{10}$ single crystal of high chemical and structural quality, which minimizes the inhomogeneity and disorder rounding effects on the magnetization. When analyzed quantitatively and consistently above and below the transition in terms of the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) approach with fluctuations of Cooper pairs and vortices, these data provide a further confirmation that the observed Meissner transition is a conventional GL superconducting transition in a homogeneous layered superconductor.Comment: 5 pages, including 3 figure

A generalization of Bohr's Equivalence Theorem

Based on a generalization of Bohr's equivalence relation for general Dirichlet series, in this paper we study the sets of values taken by certain classes of equivalent almost periodic functions in their strips of almost periodicity. In fact, the main result of this paper consists of a result like Bohr's equivalence theorem extended to the case of these functions.Comment: Because of a mistake detected in one of the references, the previous version of this paper has been modified by the authors to restrict the scope of its application to the case of existence of an integral basi

Limit to the radio emission from a putative central compact source in SN1993J

SN1993J in M81 is the best studied young radio-luminous supernova in the Northern Hemisphere. We recently reported results from the analysis of a complete set of VLBI observations of this supernova at 1.7, 2.3, 5.0, and 8.4 GHz, covering a time baseline of more than one decade. Those reported results were focused on the kinematics of the expanding shock, the particulars of its evolving non-thermal emission, the density profile of the circumstellar medium, and the evolving free-free opacity by the supernova ejecta. In the present paper, we complete our analysis by performing a search for any possible signal from a compact source (i.e., a stellar-mass black hole or a young pulsar nebula) at the center of the expanding shell. We have performed a stacking of all our VLBI images at each frequency, after subtraction of our best-fit shell model at each epoch, and measured the peak intensity in the stacked residual image. Given the large amount of available global VLBI observations, the stacking of all the residual images allows us to put upper limits to the eventual emission of a putative compact central source at the level of $\sim102$ $\mu$Jy at 5 GHz (or, more conservatively, $\sim192$ $\mu$Jy, if we make a further correction for the ejecta opacity) and somewhat larger at other wavelengths.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Automatic spectral density estimation for Random fields on a lattice via bootstrap

This paper considers the nonparametric estimation of spectral densities for second order stationary random fields on a d-dimensional lattice. I discuss some drawbacks of standard methods, and propose modified estimator classes with improved bias convergence rate, emphasizing the use of kernel methods and the choice of an optimal smoothing number. I prove uniform consistency and study the uniform asymptotic distribution, when the optimal smoothing number is estimated from the sampled data.

Quantum phase transitions in fully connected spin models: an entanglement perspective

We consider a set of fully connected spins models that display first- or second-order transitions and for which we compute the ground-state entanglement in the thermodynamical limit. We analyze several entanglement measures (concurrence, R\'enyi entropy, and negativity), and show that, in general, discontinuous transitions lead to a jump of these quantities at the transition point. Interestingly, we also find examples where this is not the case.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, published versio

Predicting the expected behavior of agents that learn about agents: the CLRI framework

We describe a framework and equations used to model and predict the behavior of multi-agent systems (MASs) with learning agents. A difference equation is used for calculating the progression of an agent's error in its decision function, thereby telling us how the agent is expected to fare in the MAS. The equation relies on parameters which capture the agent's learning abilities, such as its change rate, learning rate and retention rate, as well as relevant aspects of the MAS such as the impact that agents have on each other. We validate the framework with experimental results using reinforcement learning agents in a market system, as well as with other experimental results gathered from the AI literature. Finally, we use PAC-theory to show how to calculate bounds on the values of the learning parameters