7,971 research outputs found
Differential Privacy of Aggregated DC Optimal Power Flow Data
We consider the problem of privately releasing aggregated network statistics
obtained from solving a DC optimal power flow (OPF) problem. It is shown that
the mechanism that determines the noise distribution parameters are linked to
the topology of the power system and the monotonicity of the network. We derive
a measure of "almost" monotonicity and show how it can be used in conjunction
with a linear program in order to release aggregated OPF data using the
differential privacy framework.Comment: Accepted by 2019 American Control Conference (ACC
Young's integral inequality with upper and lower bounds
Young's integral inequality is reformulated with upper and lower bounds for
the remainder. The new inequalities improve Young's integral inequality on all
time scales, such that the case where equality holds becomes particularly
transparent in this new presentation. The corresponding results for difference
equations are given, and several examples are included. We extend these results
to piecewise-monotone functions as well.Comment: 8 page
Does Community and Environmental Responsibility Affect Firm Risk? Evidence from UK Panel Data 1994-2006
The question of how an individual firmâs environmental performance impacts its firm risk has not been examined in any empirical UK research. Does a company that strives to attain good environmental performance decreases its market risk or is environmental performance just a disadvantageous cost that increases such risk levels for these firms? Answers to this question have important implications for the management of companies and the investment decisions of individuals and institutions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between corporate environmental performance and firm risk in the British context. Using the largest dataset so far assembled, with Community and Environmental Responsibility (CER) rankings for all rated UK companies between 1994 and 2006, we show that a companyâs environmental performance is inversely related to its systematic financial risk. However, an increase of 1.0 in the CER score is associated with only a 0.02 reduction in firmâs risk and cost of capital.
Seller strategies on eBay: Does size matter?
We examine seller strategies in 1177 Internet auctions on eBay, to understand the diversity of strategies used, and their impacts. Dimensions of strategic choice include the use of a âBuy it Nowâ option, the level of the starting price, and the use of a secret reserve price. A major focus of our analysis is on differences across sellers with different volumes of sales. The largest volume sellers (termed âretailersâ) in our sample employ uniform selling strategies, but lower volume sellers exhibit a wide variety of strategic choices. While some components of sellersâ strategies appear important in raising seller revenue, including starting the auction with a âBuy it Nowâ offer, the overall impact of seller strategy choices on the outcome appears to be quite small. We interpret this as evidence for the competitiveness of the online auction market for frequently traded items with conventional retail alternatives. An exception is provided by the use of a secret reserve price, which raises the winning bid conditional on a sale, but reduces the probability of a sale. Depending on sellersâ risk aversion and impatience, this may also be an efficient outcome
Somalia and the Pirates. ESF Working Paper No. 33, 18 December 2009
Piracy is defined by The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies as an "act of boarding or attempting to board any ship with the apparent intent to commit theft or any other crime and with the apparent intent or capability to use force in furtherance of that act." And it is estimated that from 1995 to 2009, around 730 persons were killed or are presumed dead, approximately 3,850 seafarers were held hostage, around 230 were kidnapped and ransomed, nearly 800 were seriously injured and hundreds more were threatened with guns and knives. (See paper by Rob de Wijk). In November 2009, CEPS held a European Security Forum seminar, in collaboration with the Institute for Strategic Studies, the Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, to focus on the issue of Somalia and the Pirates, chaired by Francois Heisbourg. Four eminent specialists in this field: David Anderson, Rob de Wijk, Steven Haines and Jonathon Stevenson looked at the links with Somalia, and the historical, legal, political and security dimensions of the troubling success of piracy in todayâs world. Their conclusions and recommendations for future action are brought together in this ESF 33 Working Paper
System Level Synthesis
This article surveys the System Level Synthesis framework, which presents a
novel perspective on constrained robust and optimal controller synthesis for
linear systems. We show how SLS shifts the controller synthesis task from the
design of a controller to the design of the entire closed loop system, and
highlight the benefits of this approach in terms of scalability and
transparency. We emphasize two particular applications of SLS, namely
large-scale distributed optimal control and robust control. In the case of
distributed control, we show how SLS allows for localized controllers to be
computed, extending robust and optimal control methods to large-scale systems
under practical and realistic assumptions. In the case of robust control, we
show how SLS allows for novel design methodologies that, for the first time,
quantify the degradation in performance of a robust controller due to model
uncertainty -- such transparency is key in allowing robust control methods to
interact, in a principled way, with modern techniques from machine learning and
statistical inference. Throughout, we emphasize practical and efficient
computational solutions, and demonstrate our methods on easy to understand case
studies.Comment: To appear in Annual Reviews in Contro
Explant Analysis of Total Disc Replacement
Explant analysis of human disc prostheses allow early evaluation of the host response to the prosthesis and the response of the prosthesis from the host. Furthermore, early predictions of failure and wear can be obtained. Thus far, about 2-3% of disc prostheses have been removed. Observed wear patterns are similar to that of appendicular prostheses including abrasions/scratching, burnishing, surface deformation, fatigue, and embedded debris. Chemically the polymeric components have shown little degradation in short-term implantation. In metal on metal prostheses the histologic responses consist of large numbers of metallic particles with occasional macrophages and giant cells. Only rare cases of significant inflammatory response from polymeric debris have been seen
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