The universal high temperature regime of pinned elastic objects

We study the high temperature regime within the glass phase of an elastic object with short ranged disorder. In that regime we argue that the scaling functions of any observable are described by a continuum model with a $\delta$-correlated disorder and that they are universal up to only two parameters that can be explicitly computed. This is shown numerically on the roughness of directed polymer models and by dimensional and functional renormalization group arguments. We discuss experimental consequences such as non-monotonous behaviour with temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Feasibility Tests for Recurrent Real-Time Tasks in the Sporadic DAG Model

A model has been proposed in [Baruah et al., in Proceedings of the IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium 2012] for representing recurrent precedence-constrained tasks to be executed on multiprocessor platforms, where each recurrent task is modeled by a directed acyclic graph (DAG), a period, and a relative deadline. Each vertex of the DAG represents a sequential job, while the edges of the DAG represent precedence constraints between these jobs. All the jobs of the DAG are released simultaneously and have to be completed within some specified relative deadline. The task may release jobs in this manner an unbounded number of times, with successive releases occurring at least the specified period apart. The feasibility problem is to determine whether such a recurrent task can be scheduled to always meet all deadlines on a specified number of dedicated processors. The case of a single task has been considered in [Baruah et al., 2012]. The main contribution of this paper is to consider the case of multiple tasks. We show that EDF has a speedup bound of 2-1/m, where m is the number of processors. Moreover, we present polynomial and pseudopolynomial schedulability tests, of differing effectiveness, for determining whether a set of sporadic DAG tasks can be scheduled by EDF to meet all deadlines on a specified number of processors

The Engagement of Arab Gulf States in Egypt and Tunisia since 2011: Rationale and Impact

This study documents the various forms and measures of political and economic assistance provided by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar to Egypt and Tunisia since the upheavals of 2011. It also analyzes the impact Gulf donor countries had on political and economic development within Egypt and Tunisia, particularly with regard to democratization and inclusive socio-economic change. Economically, efforts undertaken by the Gulf states were intended to stabilize the two countries, for example by helping them overcome budget deficits. While their business investments are not trickling down to the economically marginalized segments of society, some of the Gulf-funded development projects have been geared toward fueling more inclusive growth. Due to limited coordination between Arab and Western donor countries, however, there has thus far been little alignment of projects taking place in the same sectors. As a result, the potential for synergies between these projects has remained untapped. In political terms, as was expected, the Gulf states did not engage in efforts to promote more democratization. Indeed, in Egypt the assistance provided by Saudi Arabia and the UAE even contributed to a return to the pre-2011 order. For Germany and its partners to engage the Gulf states more intensively on governance matters and to create incentives, deeper knowledge is required about how political decisions are made in the Gulf. This is also essential for developing Germany’s much-needed general strategy toward the Gulf states, which is currently lacking. The Deauville Partnership is a useful forum for improving and increasing future coordination

Ökonomische Wirkungen der Missbrauchsbesteuerung bei Anteilsveräußerung nach Sacheinlage in eine Kapitalgesellschaft

Im Fall einer steuerneutralen Einbringung von Betriebsvermögen in eine Kapital-gesellschaft kommt bei anschließender Anteilsveräußerung innerhalb einer Sieben-jahresfrist die Missbrauchsvorschrift des § 22 Abs. 1 UmwStG zur Anwendung. Diese beinhaltet Elemente der Besteuerung eines Asset-Deals. Ein Vergleich der Nettoend-vermögen des Einbringenden mit und ohne Anwendung der Missbrauchsvorschrift zeigt, dass der Veräußerer im Vergleich zur regulären Besteuerung des Share-Deals keine steuerbedingte Vermögenseinbuße hinnehmen muss, soweit der Barwert der Steuerersparnisse der aus der Missbrauchsregelung resultierenden zusätzlichen Abschreibungen ausreichend hoch ist und dieser im Kaufpreis vergütet wird. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung belegen zudem, dass die Missbrauchsvorschrift nicht zu rechtfertigen ist. Für viele Steuersatzkonstellationen wäre bereits die nicht sanktionierte Einbringung mit anschließender Anteilsveräußerung gegenüber dem Asset-Deal nachteilig, so dass der vom Gesetzgeber unterstellte Missbrauch nicht vorliegt. Auch unter den Aspekten der Transparenz und Vereinfachung der Besteuerung ist die Missbrauchsregelung abzulehnen. -- In cases of contribution of assets into a corporation and subsequent sale of the participation by the shareholder within a retention period of seven years, the anti-abuse provision of article 22 paragraph 1 UmwStG is applied. Underlying the effects of the anti-abuse regulation on marginal share prices, the analysis shows no tax induced disadvantage in comparison with conventional law, provided that the present value of tax savings resulting from the increase in depreciation caused by the anti-abuse regulation is high enough and compensated in the purchase price. In terms of transparency and tax-law simplification, rejection of this anti-abuse provision is required.

Increasing speed scheduling and Flow scheduling

Network flows and scheduling have been studied intensely, but separately. In many applications a joint optimization model for routing and scheduling is desireable. Therefore, we study flows over time with a demand split into jobs. The objective is to minimize the weighted sum of completion times of these jobs. This is closely related to preemptive scheduling on a single machine with a processing speed increasing over time. For both, flow scheduling and increasing speed scheduling, we provide an EPTAS. Without release dates we can proof a tight approximation factor of (sqrt{3}+1)/2 for Smith's rule, by fully characterizing the worst case instances. We give exact algorithms for some special cases and a dynamic program for speed functions with a constant number of speeds. We can proof a competitive ratio of 2 for the online version. We also study the class of blind algorithms, i.e., those which schedule without knowledge of the speed function. For both online, and blind algorithm we provide a lower bound

Finite-temperature and finite-time scaling of the directed polymer free-energy with respect to its geometrical fluctuations

We study the fluctuations of the directed polymer in 1+1 dimensions in a Gaussian random environment with a finite correlation length {\xi} and at finite temperature. We address the correspondence between the geometrical transverse fluctuations of the directed polymer, described by its roughness, and the fluctuations of its free-energy, characterized by its two-point correlator. Analytical arguments are provided in favor of a generic scaling law between those quantities, at finite time, non-vanishing {\xi} and explicit temperature dependence. Numerical results are in good agreement both for simulations on the discrete directed polymer and on a continuous directed polymer (with short-range correlated disorder). Applications to recent experiments on liquid crystals are discussed