When All is Said and Done, How Should You Play and What Should You Expect?

Modern game theory was born in 1928, when John von Neumann published his Minimax Theorem. This theorem ascribes to all two-person zero-sum games a value–what rational players may expect–and optimal strategies–how they should play to achieve that expectation. Seventyseven years later, strategic game theory has not gotten beyond that initial point, insofar as the basic questions of value and optimal strategies are concerned. Equilibrium theories do not tell players how to play and what to expect; even when there is a unique Nash equilibrium, it it is not at all clear that the players “should” play this equilibrium, nor that they should expect its payoff. Here, we return to square one: abandon all ideas of equilibrium and simply ask, how should rational players play, and what should they expect. We provide answers to both questions, for all n-person games in strategic form.

Sum Rules of the Multiple Giant Dipole States

Various sum rules for multiple giant dipole resonance states are derived. For the triple giant dipole resonance states, the energy-weighted sum of the transition strengths requires a model to be related to those of the single and double giant dipole resonance states. It is also shown that the non-diagonal matrix elements of the double commutator between the dipole operator and the nuclear Hamiltonian give useful identities for the excitation energy and transition strength of each excited state. Using those identities, the relationship between width of the single dipole state and those of the multiple ones is qualitatively discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, using PTPTeX styl

One-dimensional multimode and multistate oscillator: A concept

Device's voltage amplitude distribution is similar to that of standing waves on transmission line. It can be used for fast, efficient information encoding, decoding, and memory. Device operates in response to brief tone burst setting up standing-wave mode of oscillation which is unique for each possible burst frequency

Hires and beyond

The High-Resolution image construction program (HiRes) used at IPAC is based on the Maximum Correlation Method. After HiRes intensity images are constructed from IRAS data, additional images are needed to aid in scientific interpretation. Some of the images that are available for this purpose show the fitting noise, estimates of the achieved resolution, and detector track maps. Two methods have been developed for creating color maps without discarding any more spatial information than absolutely necessary: the 'cross-band simulation' and 'prior-knowledge' methods. These maps are demonstrated using the survey observations of a 2 x 2 degree field centered on M31. Prior knowledge may also be used to achieve super-resolution and to suppress ringing around bright point sources observed against background emission. Tools to suppress noise spikes and for accelerating convergence are also described

Deep convective clouds at the tropopause

Data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the EOS Aqua spacecraft each day show tens of thousands of Cold Clouds (CC) in the tropical oceans with 10 μm window channel brightness temperatures colder than 225 K. These clouds represent a mix of cold anvil clouds and Deep Convective Clouds (DCC). This mix can be separated by computing the difference between two channels, a window channel and a channel with strong CO<sub>2</sub> absorption: for some cold clouds this difference is negative, i.e. the spectra for some cold clouds are inverted. We refer to cold clouds with spectra which are more than 2 K inverted as DCCi2. Associated with DCCi2 is a very high rain rate and a local upward displacement of the tropopause, a cold "bulge", which can be seen directly in the brightness temperatures of AIRS and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) temperature sounding channels in the lower stratosphere. The very high rain rate and the local distortion of the tropopause indicate that DCCi2 objects are associated with severe storms. Significant long-term trends in the statistical properties of DCCi2 could be interesting indicators of climate change. While the analysis of the nature and physical conditions related to DCCi2 requires hyperspectral infrared and microwave data, the identification of DCCi2 requires only one good window channel and one strong CO<sub>2</sub> sounding channel. This suggests that improved identification of severe storms with future advanced geostationary satellites could be accomplished with the addition of one or two narrow band channels

Early results from AIRS on the EOS

The Atmospheric IR Sounder (AIRS) on the EOS Aqua spacecraft is an IR spectrometer/radiometer which covers the 650-2700 cm^(-1) region of the spectrum with 2378 spectral channels. The EOS Aqua was launched on 4 May 2002 from Vandenburg AFB, California, in to a 705km high, sun synchronous orbit. First test of the radiometric calibration using the analysis of (observed-calculated) for data from a single, relatively cloud free 2500×2500 km area of the subtropical Atlantic ocean confirm absolute radiometric accuracy of better than 0.5K. The spectral information in the data also suggests that the analyzed region contained more moisture than the NCEP analysis. Based on these results we expect that the assimilation of AIRS data into the forecast to result in major medium range weather forecast improvements and that the data set recorded by AIRS during its nominal seven year lifetime will be a major resource for climate studies

Simulation studies of improved sounding systems

Two instrument designs for indirect satellite sounding of the atmosphere in the infrared are represented by the High Resolution Infra-Red Sounder, Model 2 (HIRS-2) and by the Advanced Meteorological Temperature Sounder (AMTS). The relative capabilities of the two instruments were tested by simulating satellite measurements from a group of temperature soundings, allowing the two participants to retrieve the temperature profiles from the simulated data, and comparing the results with the original temperature profiles. Four data sets were produced from radiosondes data extrapolated to a suitable altitude, representing continents and oceans, between 30S and 30N. From the information available, temperature profiles were retrieved by two different methods, statistical regression and inversion of the radiative transfer equation. Results show the consequence of greater spectral purity, concomitant increase in the number of spectral intervals, and the better spatial resolution in partly clouded areas. At the same time, the limitation of the HIRS-2 without its companion instrument leads to some results which should be ignored in comparing the two instruments. A clear superiority of AMTS results is shown

Creation of ventricular septal defects on the beating heart in a new pig model

Background/ Aims: So far, surgical and interventional therapies for muscular ventricular septal defects ( mVSDs) beyond the moderator band have had their limitations. Thus, alternative therapeutic strategies should be developed. We present a new animal model for the evaluation of such strategies. Methods: In a pig model ( n = 9), anterolateral thoracotomy was performed for exposure of the left ventricle. mVSDs were created under two- and three- dimensional echocardiography with a 7.5- mm sharp punch instrument, which was forwarded via a left ventricular puncture without extracorporeal circulation. Results: Creation of mVSDs was successful in all animals ( n = 9) confirmed by echocardiography, hemodynamic measurements and autopsy. The defects were located in the midmuscular ( n = 4), apical ( n = 1), inlet ( n = 2) and anterior part ( n = 2) of the muscular septum. All animals were hemodynamically stable for further procedures. The diameter and shunt volume of the mVSDs were 4.8 - 7.3 mm ( mean: 5.9 mm) and 12.9 - 41.3% ( mean: 22.1%), respectively. Autopsy confirmed in all animals the creation of a substantial defect. Conclusion: The described new technique for creation of an mVSD on the beating heart in a pig model is suitable for the evaluation of new therapeutic strategies for mVSD closure. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

Neutron radioactivity—Lifetime measurements of neutron-unbound states

A new technique to measure the lifetime τ of a neutron-radioactive nucleus that decays in-flight via neutron emission is presented and demonstrated utilizing MonteCarlo simulations. The method is based on the production of the neutron-unbound nucleus in a target, which at the same time slows down the produced nucleus and the residual nucleus after (multi-) neutron emission. The spectrum of the velocity difference of neutron(s) and the residual nucleus has a characteristic shape, that allows to extract the lifetime. If the decay happens outside the target there will be a peak in the spectrum, while events where the decay is in the target show a broad flat distribution due to the continuous slowing down of the residual nucleus. The method itself and the analysis procedure are discussed in detail for the specific candidate 26O. A stack of targets with decreasing target thicknesses can expand the measurable lifetime range and improve the sensitivity by increasing the ratio between decays outside and inside the target. The simulations indicate a lower limit of measurable lifetime τ∼0.2 ps for the given conditions