Unaffected Strangers Affect Contributions

Several recent experimental studies have confirmed that social sanctioning can enforce cooperation in public good situations. These studies consider situations where the participants, who have monetary interest in the outcome of the public good game, inflict social sanctioning. The present experimental study, however, considers behavioral effects of social sanctioning from observers with no monetary interest in the outcome of the public good game. The experiment has two treatment effects. First, each participant’s identity and contribution to the public good is revealed to the observers. Second, we introduce information likely to affect participants’ expectations regarding the observers’ approval or disapproval of contributions to the public good. The data provides some evidence that indirect social sanctioning from these monetarily unaffected observers can increase voluntary contributions to public goods, provided that the participants have reason to believe that the observers have themselves contributed substantially in a similar situation. However, the effect on cooperation is not as strong as effects found in previous studies where participants themselves, and not only monetarily unaffected observers, are able to inflict social sanctioning.cooperation, public good, social approval, social norms

Maximum matching width: new characterizations and a fast algorithm for dominating set

We give alternative definitions for maximum matching width, e.g. a graph $G$ has $\operatorname{mmw}(G) \leq k$ if and only if it is a subgraph of a chordal graph $H$ and for every maximal clique $X$ of $H$ there exists $A,B,C \subseteq X$ with $A \cup B \cup C=X$ and $|A|,|B|,|C| \leq k$ such that any subset of $X$ that is a minimal separator of $H$ is a subset of either $A, B$ or $C$. Treewidth and branchwidth have alternative definitions through intersections of subtrees, where treewidth focuses on nodes and branchwidth focuses on edges. We show that mm-width combines both aspects, focusing on nodes and on edges. Based on this we prove that given a graph $G$ and a branch decomposition of mm-width $k$ we can solve Dominating Set in time $O^*({8^k})$, thereby beating $O^*(3^{\operatorname{tw}(G)})$ whenever $\operatorname{tw}(G) > \log_3{8} \times k \approx 1.893 k$. Note that $\operatorname{mmw}(G) \leq \operatorname{tw}(G)+1 \leq 3 \operatorname{mmw}(G)$ and these inequalities are tight. Given only the graph $G$ and using the best known algorithms to find decompositions, maximum matching width will be better for solving Dominating Set whenever $\operatorname{tw}(G) > 1.549 \times \operatorname{mmw}(G)$

Solving MaxSAT and #SAT on structured CNF formulas

In this paper we propose a structural parameter of CNF formulas and use it to identify instances of weighted MaxSAT and #SAT that can be solved in polynomial time. Given a CNF formula we say that a set of clauses is precisely satisfiable if there is some complete assignment satisfying these clauses only. Let the ps-value of the formula be the number of precisely satisfiable sets of clauses. Applying the notion of branch decompositions to CNF formulas and using ps-value as cut function, we define the ps-width of a formula. For a formula given with a decomposition of polynomial ps-width we show dynamic programming algorithms solving weighted MaxSAT and #SAT in polynomial time. Combining with results of 'Belmonte and Vatshelle, Graph classes with structured neighborhoods and algorithmic applications, Theor. Comput. Sci. 511: 54-65 (2013)' we get polynomial-time algorithms solving weighted MaxSAT and #SAT for some classes of structured CNF formulas. For example, we get $O(m^2(m + n)s)$ algorithms for formulas $F$ of $m$ clauses and $n$ variables and size $s$, if $F$ has a linear ordering of the variables and clauses such that for any variable $x$ occurring in clause $C$, if $x$ appears before $C$ then any variable between them also occurs in $C$, and if $C$ appears before $x$ then $x$ occurs also in any clause between them. Note that the class of incidence graphs of such formulas do not have bounded clique-width

Social Interaction Effects in Disability Pension Participation: Evidence from Plant Downsizing

.disability; downsizing; layoffs; plant closing; social insurance; social interaction; welfare norms

Cavity-enhanced single frequency synthesis via DFG of mode-locked pulse trains

We show how to synthesize a CW, single-frequency optical field from the frequency-dispersed, pulsed field of a mode-locked laser. This process, which relies on difference frequency generation in an optical cavity, is efficient and can be considered as an optical rectification. Quantitative estimates for the output power and amplitude noise properties of a realistic system are given. Possible applications to optical frequency synthesis and optical metrology are envisaged