9,584 research outputs found
Self-Organized Routing For Wireless Micro-Sensor Networks
In this paper we develop an energy-aware self-organized routing algorithm for the networking of simple battery-powered wireless micro-sensors (as found, for example, in security or environmental monitoring applications). In these networks, the battery life of individual sensors is typically limited by the power required to transmit their data to a receiver or sink. Thus effective network routing algorithms allow us to reduce this power and extend both the lifetime and the coverage of the sensor network as a whole. However, implementing such routing algorithms with a centralized controller is undesirable due to the physical distribution of the sensors, their limited localization ability and the dynamic nature of such networks (given that sensors may fail, move or be added at any time and the communication links between sensors are subject to noise and interference). Against this background, we present a distributed mechanism that enables individual sensors to follow locally selfish strategies, which, in turn, result in the self-organization of a routing network with desirable global properties. We show that our mechanism performs close to the optimal solution (as computed by a centralized optimizer), it deals adaptively with changing sensor numbers and topology, and it extends the useful life of the network by a factor of three over the traditional approach
Mixed mode oscillations in a conceptual climate model
Much work has been done on relaxation oscillations and other simple
oscillators in conceptual climate models. However, the oscillatory patterns in
climate data are often more complicated than what can be described by such
mechanisms. This paper examines complex oscillatory behavior in climate data
through the lens of mixed-mode oscillations. As a case study, a conceptual
climate model with governing equations for global mean temperature, atmospheric
carbon, and oceanic carbon is analyzed. The nondimensionalized model is a
fast/slow system with one fast variable (corresponding to ice volume) and two
slow variables (corresponding to the two carbon stores). Geometric singular
perturbation theory is used to demonstrate the existence of a folded node
singularity. A parameter regime is found in which (singular) trajectories that
pass through the folded node are returned to the singular funnel in the
limiting case where . In this parameter regime, the model has a
stable periodic orbit of type for some . To our knowledge, it is the
first conceptual climate model demonstrated to have the capability to produce
an MMO pattern.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure
Market-Based Task Allocation Mechanisms for Limited Capacity Suppliers
This paper reports on the design and comparison of two economically-inspired mechanisms for task allocation in environments where sellers have finite production capacities and a cost structure composed of a fixed overhead cost and a constant marginal cost. Such mechanisms are required when a system consists of multiple self-interested stakeholders that each possess private information that is relevant to solving a system-wide problem. Against this background, we first develop a computationally tractable centralised mechanism that finds the set of producers that have the lowest total cost in providing a certain demand (i.e. it is efficient). We achieve this by extending the standard Vickrey-Clarke-Groves mechanism to allow for multi-attribute bids and by introducing a novel penalty scheme such that producers are incentivised to truthfully report their capacities and their costs. Furthermore our extended mechanism is able to handle sellers' uncertainty about their production capacity and ensures that individual agents find it profitable to participate in the mechanism. However, since this first mechanism is centralised, we also develop a complementary decentralised mechanism based around the continuous double auction. Again because of the characteristics of our domain, we need to extend the standard form of this protocol by introducing a novel clearing rule based around an order book. With this modified protocol, we empirically demonstrate (with simple trading strategies) that the mechanism achieves high efficiency. In particular, despite this simplicity, the traders can still derive a profit from the market which makes our mechanism attractive since these results are a likely lower bound on their expected returns
The Chicago Experience
The problems presented in a court such as the Forcible Entry and Detainer Court do not make for simple solutions. The social problems are horrendous. The great majority of the cases that find their way into the court involve indigent persons, broken homes, sub-standard buildings, overcrowded apartments and, for the most part, unrepresented minorities
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