A potential approach to solutions for set games

Concerning the solution theory for set games, the paper introduces a new solution by allocating, to any player, the items (taken from an universe) that are attainable for the player, but can not be blocked (by any coalition not containing the player). The resulting value turns out to be an utmost important concept for set games to characterize the family of set game solutions that possess a so-called potential representation (similar to the potential approaches applied in both physics and cooperative game theory). An axiomatization of the new value, called Driessen--Sun value, is given by three properties, namely one type of an efficiency property, the substitution property and one type of a monotonocity property

A uniform approach to semi-marginalistic values for set games

Concerning the solution theory for set games, the paper focuses on a family of solutions, each of which allocates to any player some type of marginalistic contribution with respect to any coalition containing the player. Here the marginalistic contribution may be interpreted as an individual one, or a coalitionally one. For any value of the relevant family, an axiomatization is given by three properties, namely one type of an efficiency property, the substitution property and one type of a monotonocity property. We present two proof techniques, each of which is based on the decomposition of any arbitrary set game into a union of either simple set games or elementary set games, the solutions of which are much easier to determine. A simple respectively elementary set game is associated with an arbitrary, but fixed item of the universe respectively coalition

Multiround private information retrieval: Capacity and storage overhead

Private information retrieval (PIR) is the problem of retrieving one message out of $K$ messages from $N$ non-communicating replicated databases, where each database stores all $K$ messages, in such a way that each database learns no information about which message is being retrieved. The capacity of PIR is the maximum number of bits of desired information per bit of downloaded information among all PIR schemes. The capacity has recently been characterized for PIR as well as several of its variants. In every case it is assumed that all the queries are generated by the user simultaneously. Here we consider multiround PIR, where the queries in each round are allowed to depend on the answers received in previous rounds. We show that the capacity of multiround PIR is the same as the capacity of single-round PIR. The result is generalized to also include $T$ -privacy constraints. Combined with previous results, this shows that there is no capacity advantage from multiround over single-round schemes, non-linear over linear schemes or from $\epsilon$ -error over zero-error schemes. However, we show through an example that there is an advantage in terms of storage overhead. We provide an example of a multiround, non-linear, $\epsilon$ -error PIR scheme that requires a strictly smaller storage overhead than the best possible with single-round, linear, zero-error PIR schemes

The Capacity of Linear Computation Broadcast

The two-user computation broadcast problem is introduced as the setting where user 1 wants message W1 and has side information W0 1 , user 2 wants message W2 and has side information W0 2, and (W1;W0 1 ;W2;W0 2) may have arbitrary dependencies. The goal is to minimize the entropy H(S) of the broadcast information S that simultaneously satisfies both users' demands. It is shown that H(S) H(W1jW0 1) + H(W2jW0 2) min I(W1;W2;W0 2jW0 1 ); I(W2;W1;W0 1jW0 2 ) . Furthermore, for the linear computation broadcast problem, where W1;W0 1;W2;W0 2 are comprised of arbitrary linear combinations of a basis set of independent symbols, the bound is shown to be tight

The capacity of symmetric Private information retrieval

Private information retrieval (PIR) is the problem of retrieving as efficiently as possible, one out of K messages from N non-communicating replicated databases (each holds all K messages) while keeping the identity of the desired message index a secret from each individual database. Symmetric PIR (SPIR) is a generalization of PIR to include the requirement that beyond the desired message, the user learns nothing about the other K - 1 messages. The information theoretic capacity of SPIR (equivalently, the reciprocal of minimum download cost) is the maximum number of bits of desired information that can be privately retrieved per bit of downloaded information. We show that the capacity of SPIR is 1-1/N regardless of the number of messages K, if the databases have access to common randomness (not available to the user) that is independent of the messages, in the amount that is at least 1/(N - 1) bits per desired message bit, and zero otherwise

Onset of unsteady horizontal convection in rectangle tank at Pr=1Pr=1

The horizontal convection within a rectangle tank is numerically simulated. The flow is found to be unsteady at high Rayleigh numbers. There is a Hopf bifurcation of $Ra$ from steady solutions to periodic solutions, and the critical Rayleigh number $Ra_c$ is obtained as $Ra_c=5.5377\times 10^8$ for the middle plume forcing at $Pr=1$, which is much larger than the formerly obtained value. Besides, the unstable perturbations are always generated from the central jet, which implies that the onset of instability is due to velocity shear (shear instability) other than thermally dynamics (thermal instability). Finally, Paparella and Young's [J. Fluid Mech. 466 (2002) 205] first hypotheses about the destabilization of the flow is numerically proved, i.e. the middle plume forcing can lead to a destabilization of the flow.Comment: 4pages, 6 figures, extension of Chin. Phys. Lett. 2008, 25(6), in pres

Generalized linear isotherm regularity equation of state applied to metals

A three-parameter equation of state (EOS) without physically incorrect oscillations is proposed based on the generalized Lennard-Jones (GLJ) potential and the approach in developing linear isotherm regularity (LIR) EOS of Parsafar and Mason [J. Phys. Chem., 1994, 49, 3049]. The proposed (GLIR) EOS can include the LIR EOS therein as a special case. The three-parameter GLIR, Parsafar and Mason (PM) [Phys. Rev. B, 1994, 49, 3049], Shanker, Singh and Kushwah (SSK) [Physica B, 1997, 229, 419], Parsafar, Spohr and Patey (PSP) [J. Phys. Chem. B, 2009, 113, 11980], and reformulated PM and SSK EOSs are applied to 30 metallic solids within wide pressure ranges. It is shown that the PM, PMR and PSP EOSs for most solids, and the SSK and SSKR EOSs for several solids, have physically incorrect turning points, and pressure becomes negative at high enough pressure. The GLIR EOS is capable not only of overcoming the problem existing in other five EOSs where the pressure becomes negative at high pressure, but also gives results superior to other EOSs.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure