1,720,988 research outputs found
Budget Feasible Mechanisms on Matroids
Full text linkMotivated by many practical applications, in this paper we study budget feasible mechanisms with the goal of procuring an independent set of a matroid. More specifically, we are given a matroid M= (E, I). Each element of the ground set E is controlled by a selfish agent and the cost of the element is private information of the agent itself. A budget limited buyer has additive valuations over the elements of E. The goal is to design an incentive compatible budget feasible mechanism which procures an independent set of the matroid of largest possible value. We also consider the more general case of the pair M= (E, I) satisfying only the hereditary property. This includes matroids as well as matroid intersection. We show that, given a polynomial time deterministic algorithm that returns an α-approximation to the problem of finding a maximum-value independent set in M, there exists an individually rational, truthful and budget feasible mechanism which is (3 α+ 1) -approximated and runs in polynomial time, thus yielding also a 4-approximation for the special case of matroids
(1 + ε)-approximate incremental matching in constant deterministic amortized time
Full text linkWe study the matching problem in the incremental setting, where we are given a sequence of edge insertions and aim at maintaining a near-maximum cardinality matching of the graph with small update time. We present a deterministic algorithm that, for any constant ε > 0, maintains a (1 + ε)-approximate matching with constant amortized update time per insertion
The ring design game with fair cost allocation
Full text linkIn this paper we study the network design game when the underlying network is a ring. In a network design game we have a set of players, each of them aims at connecting nodes in a network by installing links and equally sharing the cost of the installation with other users. The ring design game is the special case in which the potential links of the network form a ring. It is well known that in a ring design game the price of anarchy may be as large as the number of players. Our aim is to show that, despite the worst case, the ring design game always possesses good equilibria. In particular, we prove that the price of stability of the ring design game is at most 3/2, and such bound is tight. Moreover, we observe that the worst Nash equilibrium cannot cost more than 2 times the optimum if the price of stability is strictly larger than 1. We believe that our results might be useful for the analysis of more involved topologies of graphs, e.g., planar graphs
Budget feasible mechanisms on matroids
No full textMotivated by many practical applications, in this paper we study budget feasible mechanisms where the goal is to procure independent sets from matroids. More specifically, we are given a matroid M = (E,I) where each ground (indivisible) element is a selfish agent. The cost of each element (i.e., for selling the item or performing a service) is only known to the element itself. There is a buyer with a budget having additive valuations over the set of elements E. The goal is to design an incentive compatible (truthful) budget feasible mechanism which procures an independent set of the matroid under the given budget that yields the largest value possible to the buyer. Our result is a deterministic, polynomial-time, individually rational, truthful and budget feasible mechanism with 4-approximation to the optimal independent set. Then, we extend our mechanism to the setting of matroid intersections in which the goal is to procure common independent sets from multiple matroids. We show that, given a polynomial time deterministic blackbox that returns α-approximation solutions to the matroid intersection problem, there exists a deterministic, polynomial time, individually rational, truthful and budget feasible mechanism with (3α + 1)-approximation to the optimal common independent set
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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