Adversarial scheduling analysis of Game-Theoretic Models of Norm Diffusion.

In (Istrate et al. SODA 2001) we advocated the investigation of robustness of results in the theory of learning in games under adversarial scheduling models. We provide evidence that such an analysis is feasible and can lead to nontrivial results by investigating, in an adversarial scheduling setting, Peyton Young's model of diffusion of norms . In particular, our main result incorporates contagion into Peyton Young's model.evolutionary games, stochastic stability, adversarial scheduling

Adversarial Scheduling Analysis of Game Theoretic Models of Norm Diffusion

In (Istrate, Marathe, Ravi SODA 2001) we advocated the investigation of robustness of results in the theory of learning in games under adversarial scheduling models. We provide evidence that such an analysis is feasible and can lead to nontrivial results by investigating, in an adversarial scheduling setting, Peyton Young's model of diffusion of norms. In particular, our main result incorporates into Peyton Young's model

Spanning trees short or small

We study the problem of finding small trees. Classical network design problems are considered with the additional constraint that only a specified number $k$ of nodes are required to be connected in the solution. A prototypical example is the $k$MST problem in which we require a tree of minimum weight spanning at least $k$ nodes in an edge-weighted graph. We show that the $k$MST problem is NP-hard even for points in the Euclidean plane. We provide approximation algorithms with performance ratio $2\sqrt{k}$ for the general edge-weighted case and $O(k^{1/4})$ for the case of points in the plane. Polynomial-time exact solutions are also presented for the class of decomposable graphs which includes trees, series-parallel graphs, and bounded bandwidth graphs, and for points on the boundary of a convex region in the Euclidean plane. We also investigate the problem of finding short trees, and more generally, that of finding networks with minimum diameter. A simple technique is used to provide a polynomial-time solution for finding $k$-trees of minimum diameter. We identify easy and hard problems arising in finding short networks using a framework due to T. C. Hu.Comment: 27 page

INDEMICS: An Interactive High-Performance Computing Framework for Data Intensive Epidemic Modeling

We describe the design and prototype implementation of Indemics (_Interactive; Epi_demic; _Simulation;)—a modeling environment utilizing high-performance computing technologies for supporting complex epidemic simulations. Indemics can support policy analysts and epidemiologists interested in planning and control of pandemics. Indemics goes beyond traditional epidemic simulations by providing a simple and powerful way to represent and analyze policy-based as well as individual-based adaptive interventions. Users can also stop the simulation at any point, assess the state of the simulated system, and add additional interventions. Indemics is available to end-users via a web-based interface. Detailed performance analysis shows that Indemics greatly enhances the capability and productivity of simulating complex intervention strategies with a marginal decrease in performance. We also demonstrate how Indemics was applied in some real case studies where complex interventions were implemented