Models for Budget Constrained Auctions: An Application to Sponsored Search & Other Auctions

The last decade has seen the emergence of auction mechanisms for pricing and allocating goods on the Internet. A successful application area for auctions has been sponsored search. Search firms like Google, Bing and Yahoo have shown stellar revenue growths due to their ability to run large number of auctions in a computationally efficient manner. The online advertisement market in the U.S. is estimated to be around $41 billion in 2010 and expected to grow to$50 billion by 2011 (http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/us-online-advertising-market-to-reach-50b-in-2011-3128/). The paid search component is estimated to account for nearly 50% of online advertising spend. This dissertation considers two problems in the sponsored search auction domain. In sponsored search, the search operator solves a multi-unit allocation and pricing problem with the specified bidder values and budgets. The advertisers, on the other hand, regularly solve a bid determination problem for the different keywords, given their budget and other business constraints. We develop a model for the auctioneer that allows the bidders to place differing bids for different advertisement slots for any keyword combination. Despite the increased complexity, our model is solved in polynomial time. Next, we develop a column-generation procedure for large advertisers to bid optimally in the sponsored search auctions. Our focus is on solving large-scale versions of the problem. Multi-unit auctions have also found a number of applications in other areas that include supply chain coordination, wireless spectrum allocation and transportation. Current research in the multi-unit auction domain ignores the budget constraint faced by participants. We address the computational issues faced by the auctioneer when dealing with budget constraints in a multi-unit auction. We propose an optimization model and solution approach to ensure that the allocation and prices are in the core. We develop an algorithm to determine an allocation and Walrasian equilibrium prices (when they exist) under additive bidder valuations where the auctioneer's goal is social welfare maximization and extend the approach to address general package auctions. We, also, demonstrate the applicability of the Benders decomposition technique to model and solve the revenue maximization problem from an auctioneer's standpoint

Report from Working Group 3: Beyond the standard model physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC

This is the third out of five chapters of the final report [1] of the Workshop on Physics at HL-LHC, and perspectives on HE-LHC [2]. It is devoted to the study of the potential, in the search for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, of the High Luminosity (HL) phase of the LHC, defined as $3$ ab$^{-1}$ of data taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, and of a possible future upgrade, the High Energy (HE) LHC, defined as $15$ ab$^{-1}$ of data at a centre-of-mass energy of 27 TeV. We consider a large variety of new physics models, both in a simplified model fashion and in a more model-dependent one. A long list of contributions from the theory and experimental (ATLAS, CMS, LHCb) communities have been collected and merged together to give a complete, wide, and consistent view of future prospects for BSM physics at the considered colliders. On top of the usual standard candles, such as supersymmetric simplified models and resonances, considered for the evaluation of future collider potentials, this report contains results on dark matter and dark sectors, long lived particles, leptoquarks, sterile neutrinos, axion-like particles, heavy scalars, vector-like quarks, and more. Particular attention is placed, especially in the study of the HL-LHC prospects, to the detector upgrades, the assessment of the future systematic uncertainties, and new experimental techniques. The general conclusion is that the HL-LHC, on top of allowing to extend the present LHC mass and coupling reach by $20-50\%$ on most new physics scenarios, will also be able to constrain, and potentially discover, new physics that is presently unconstrained. Moreover, compared to the HL-LHC, the reach in most observables will, generally more than double at the HE-LHC, which may represent a good candidate future facility for a final test of TeV-scale new physics

The ABC130 barrel module prototyping programme for the ATLAS strip tracker

For the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS Detector, its Inner Detector, consisting of silicon pixel, silicon strip and transition radiation sub-detectors, will be replaced with an all new 100 % silicon tracker, composed of a pixel tracker at inner radii and a strip tracker at outer radii. The future ATLAS strip tracker will include 11,000 silicon sensor modules in the central region (barrel) and 7,000 modules in the forward region (end-caps), which are foreseen to be constructed over a period of 3.5 years. The construction of each module consists of a series of assembly and quality control steps, which were engineered to be identical for all production sites. In order to develop the tooling and procedures for assembly and testing of these modules, two series of major prototyping programs were conducted: an early program using readout chips designed using a 250 nm fabrication process (ABCN-25) and a subsequent program using a follow-up chip set made using 130 nm processing (ABC130 and HCC130 chips). This second generation of readout chips was used for an extensive prototyping program that produced around 100 barrel-type modules and contributed significantly to the development of the final module layout. This paper gives an overview of the components used in ABC130 barrel modules, their assembly procedure and findings resulting from their tests.Comment: 82 pages, 66 figure

IT Consulting: A Systematic Literature Review

Part 5: Smart Solutions for the FutureInternational audienceToday information technology has become integral part of every kind of business. Organizations often need experts who have great insights in solving their business problems through information technology. This has led to development of a new field: information technology consulting (or IT consulting). This field has matured quite well in last 20 years. This study is an attempt to identify major focus of IT consulting practices and the challenges associated with them. 123 peer-reviewed academic research papers in field of IT consulting were considered for this systematic literature review. After filtering these papers, eventually 36 papers were selected. A number of major focus of IT consulting in last 20 years and challenges associated with them were identified (Education/IT Training, Auditing, Project Management, Knowledge Transfer, IT Economics, Security, Competitiveness, Applications). This review paper provides valuable information for business executives who are seeking to use IT practices for their business problems. It also provides directions for future research in IT consulting

The ABC130 barrel module prototyping programme for the ATLAS strip tracker

For the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS Detector [1], its Inner Detector, consisting of silicon pixel, silicon strip and transition radiation sub-detectors, will be replaced with an all new 100% silicon tracker, composed of a pixel tracker at inner radii and a strip tracker at outer radii. The future ATLAS strip tracker will include 11,000 silicon sensor modules in the central region (barrel) and 7,000 modules in the forward region (end-caps), which are foreseen to be constructed over a period of 3.5 years. The construction of each module consists of a series of assembly and quality control steps, which were engineered to be identical for all production sites. In order to develop the tooling and procedures for assembly and testing of these modules, two series of major prototyping programs were conducted: an early program using readout chips designed using a 250 nm fabrication process (ABCN-250) [2,2] and a subsequent program using a follow-up chip set made using 130 nm processing (ABC130 and HCC130 chips). This second generation of readout chips was used for an extensive prototyping program that produced around 100 barrel-type modules and contributed significantly to the development of the final module layout. This paper gives an overview of the components used in ABC130 barrel modules, their assembly procedure and findings resulting from their tests