139 research outputs found
Collaborative dynamic decision making: a case study from B2B supplier selection
The problem of supplier selection can be easily modeled as a multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem: businesses express their preferences with respect to suppliers, which can then be ranked and selected. This approach has two major pitfalls: first, it does not consider a dynamic scenario, in which suppliers and their ratings are constantly changing; second, it only addressed the problem from the point of view of a single business, and cannot be easily applied when considering more than one business. To overcome these problems, we introduce a method for supplier selection that builds upon the dynamic MCDM framework of Campanella and Ribeiro [1] and, by means of a linear programming model, can be used in the case of multiple collaborating businesses plan- ning their next batch of orders together.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, under contract CONT DOUT/49/UNINOVA/0/5902/1/200
Fuzzy Implications: Some Recently Solved Problems
In this chapter we discuss some open problems related to fuzzy implications, which have either been completely solved or those for which partial answers are known. In fact, this chapter also contains the answer for one of the open problems, which is hitherto unpublished. The recently solved problems are so chosen to reflect the importance of the problem or the significance of the solution. Finally, some other problems that still remain unsolved are stated for quick reference
The QCD Phase Diagram at Nonzero Temperature, Baryon and Isospin Chemical Potentials in Random Matrix Theory
We introduce a random matrix model with the symmetries of QCD at finite
temperature and chemical potentials for baryon number and isospin. We analyze
the phase diagram of this model in the chemical potential plane for different
temperatures and quark masses. We find a rich phase structure with five
different phases separated by both first and second order lines. The phases are
characterized by the pion condensate and the chiral condensate for each of the
flavors. In agreement with lattice simulations, we find that in the phase with
zero pion condensate the critical temperature depends in the same way on the
baryon number chemical potential and on the isospin chemical potential. At
nonzero quark mass, we remarkably find that the critical end point at nonzero
temperature and baryon chemical potential is split in two by an arbitrarily
small isospin chemical potential. As a consequence, there are two crossovers
that separate the hadronic phase from the quark-gluon plasma phase at high
temperature. Detailed analytical results are obtained at zero temperature and
in the chiral limit.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, REVTeX
Electroweak Phase Transitions in left-right symmetric models
We study the finite-temperature effective potential of minimal left-right
symmetric models containing a bidoublet and two triplets in the scalar sector.
We perform a numerical analysis of the parameter space compatible with the
requirement that baryon asymmetry is not washed out by sphaleron processes
after the electroweak phase transition. We find that the spectrum of scalar
particles for these acceptable cases is consistent with present experimental
bounds.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures (included), some comments added, typos corrected
and new references included. Final version to appear in PR
Inferential Transitions
This paper provides a naturalistic account of inference. We posit that the core of inference is constituted by bare inferential transitions (BITs), transitions between discursive mental representations guided by rules built into the architecture of cognitive systems. In further developing the concept of BITs, we provide an account of what Boghossian [2014] calls ‘taking’—that is, the appreciation of the rule that guides an inferential transition. We argue that BITs are sufficient for implicit taking, and then, to analyse explicit taking, we posit rich inferential transitions (RITs), which are transitions that the subject is disposed to endorse
Lattice gauge theory with baryons at strong coupling
We study the effective Hamiltonian for strong-coupling lattice QCD in the
case of non-zero baryon density. In leading order the effective Hamiltonian is
a generalized antiferromagnet. For naive fermions, the symmetry is U(4N_f) and
the spins belong to a representation that depends on the local baryon number.
Next-nearest-neighbor (nnn) terms in the Hamiltonian break the symmetry to
U(N_f) x U(N_f). We transform the quantum problem to a Euclidean sigma model
which we analyze in a 1/N_c expansion. In the vacuum sector we recover
spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry for the nearest-neighbor and nnn
theories. For non-zero baryon density we study the nearest-neighbor theory
only, and show that the pattern of spontaneous symmetry breaking depends on the
baryon density.Comment: 31 pages, 5 EPS figures. Corrected Eq. (6.1
Experimental and Theoretical Challenges in the Search for the Quark Gluon Plasma: The STAR Collaboration's Critical Assessment of the Evidence from RHIC Collisions
We review the most important experimental results from the first three years
of nucleus-nucleus collision studies at RHIC, with emphasis on results from the
STAR experiment, and we assess their interpretation and comparison to theory.
The theory-experiment comparison suggests that central Au+Au collisions at RHIC
produce dense, rapidly thermalizing matter characterized by: (1) initial energy
densities above the critical values predicted by lattice QCD for establishment
of a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP); (2) nearly ideal fluid flow, marked by
constituent interactions of very short mean free path, established most
probably at a stage preceding hadron formation; and (3) opacity to jets. Many
of the observations are consistent with models incorporating QGP formation in
the early collision stages, and have not found ready explanation in a hadronic
framework. However, the measurements themselves do not yet establish
unequivocal evidence for a transition to this new form of matter. The
theoretical treatment of the collision evolution, despite impressive successes,
invokes a suite of distinct models, degrees of freedom and assumptions of as
yet unknown quantitative consequence. We pose a set of important open
questions, and suggest additional measurements, at least some of which should
be addressed in order to establish a compelling basis to conclude definitively
that thermalized, deconfined quark-gluon matter has been produced at RHIC.Comment: 101 pages, 37 figures; revised version to Nucl. Phys.
Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX collaboration
Extensive experimental data from high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions were
recorded using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC). The comprehensive set of measurements from the first three years of
RHIC operation includes charged particle multiplicities, transverse energy,
yield ratios and spectra of identified hadrons in a wide range of transverse
momenta (p_T), elliptic flow, two-particle correlations, non-statistical
fluctuations, and suppression of particle production at high p_T. The results
are examined with an emphasis on implications for the formation of a new state
of dense matter. We find that the state of matter created at RHIC cannot be
described in terms of ordinary color neutral hadrons.Comment: 510 authors, 127 pages text, 56 figures, 1 tables, LaTeX. Submitted
to Nuclear Physics A as a regular article; v3 has minor changes in response
to referee comments. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures
for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available
at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
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