Comparing variants of strategic ability: how uncertainty and memory influence general properties of games

Alternating-time temporal logic (ATL) is a modal logic that allows to reason about agents’ abilities in game-like scenarios. Semantic variants of ATL are usually built upon different assumptions about the kind of game that is played, including capabilities of agents (perfect vs. imperfect information, perfect vs. imperfect memory, etc.). ATL has been studied extensively in previous years; however, most of the research focused on model checking. Studies of other decision problems (e.g., satisfiability) and formal meta-properties of the logic (like axiomatization or expressivity) have been relatively scarce, and mostly limited to the basic variant of ATL where agents possess perfect information and perfect memory. In particular, a comparison between different semantic variants of the logic is largely left untouched. In this paper, we show that different semantics of ability in ATL give rise to different validity sets. The issue is important for several reasons. First, many logicians identify a logic with its set of true sentences. As a consequence, we prove that different notions of ability induce different strategic logics. Secondly, we show that different concepts of ability induce different general properties of games. Thirdly, the study can be seen as the first systematic step towards satisfiability-checking algorithms for ATL with imperfect information. We introduce sophisticated unfoldings of models and prove invariance results that are an important technical contribution to formal analysis of strategic logics.     

A case study of factor influencing role improvisation in crisis response teams

Common characteristics of crisis situations are ambiguous and unplanned for events. The need for improvised roles can therefore be an imperative factor for the success of an operation. The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of the processes taking place during improvised work “as it happens”. A case study of a crisis management team at work is presented and provides an in-depth analysis of the information and communication flow of persons acting in improvised roles, including contextual factors influencing the task at hand. The analysis suggests that three main factors lay behind decreased performance by the team when some of its members were forced to take on roles for which they lacked professional training; lack of language skills, lack of domain knowledge and insufficient organizational structure of the tasks. Based on the observations from this case study, we suggest three ways of improving a team’s performance and hence resilience when forced to improvise due to lack of personnel in one or more required competence areas. These are training to take on the responsibility for tasks or roles outside ones professional area of specialization, developing formal routines for changes in roles and tasks and developing and using tools and routines for information sharing.     

Two computational regimes of a single-compartment neuron separated by a planar boundary in conductance space

Recent in vitro data show that neurons respond to input variance with varying sensitivities. Here we demonstrate that Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) neurons can operate in two computational regimes: one that is more sensitive to input variance (differentiating) and one that is less sensitive (integrating). A boundary plane in the 3D conductance space separates these two regimes. For a reduced HH model, this plane can be derived analytically from the V nullcline, thus suggesting a means of relating biophysical parameters to neural computation by analyzing the neuron's dynamical system.     

A combined dislocation—cohesive zone model for fracture in a confined ductile layer

The collective dislocation behavior near a crack tip in a ductile layer sandwiched between two brittle solids is analyzed via two-dimensional dislocation dynamics (DD) simulations that incorporate a cohesive zone (CZ) model. The cohesive crack tip is treated as part of a much larger finite crack confined in the ductile layer. The underlying boundary value problem is formulated with a set of boundary integral equations and numerically evaluated with a collocation method. The fracture energy of the layered composite material is shown to be strongly correlated with the layer thickness and is directly influenced by the cohesive strength of the ductile layer (Hsia KJ et al. (1994) J Mech Phys Solids 6 877–896).     

Polycrystalline silicon films on glass grown by amorphous-liquid-crystalline transition at temperatures below 330 °C

An approach to deposit polycrystalline silicon layers on amorphous substrates is presented. It is shown that metastable amorphous silicon can be transformed into its more stable microcrystalline structure at a temperature below 330 °C via an intermediate liquid solution stage. In particular, the interaction of liquid indium nanodroplets in contact with amorphous silicon is shown to lead to the formation of circular polycrystalline domains. Crystallinity of these domains is analyzed by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The droplet size necessary for the onset of crystallization is related to the temperature of the film. Full coverage of the substrate with microcrystalline silicon has been obtained at 320 °C within less than one hour. These films might act as seeding layers for further enlargement by steady-state liquid phase epitaxy.     

Kinetik und Mechanismus der Photolyse von Aryldiazoniumsalzen in Methanol. Ermittlung absoluter Geschwindigkeitskonstanten einiger Teilreaktionen

Kinetics and Mechanism of Aryldiazonium Salt Photolysis in Methanol. Determination of Absolute Rate Constants of Some Reaction Steps For benzene diazonium tetrafluoroborate and some p-substituted derivatives, the following values are determined:

• velocity constants for the photochemical electron transfer from pyrene and benzanthracene to aryl diazonium salts in acetonitrile solution (determination by quenching the donor fluorescence).
• velocity constants for electron transfer under the condition of pulse radiolysis in tert.-butanol-water solution;
• quantum yields and product composition (ArOMe, ArF and ArH, respectively) for the photolyses in methanol in the presence of varying concentrations of 2-methyl-2-nitroso-propane as a quencher of the thermal chain reaction.

The electron transfer reaction comes out be a diffusion controlled reaction, k_E = 2 …︁ 3 × 10¹⁰ M⁻¹ s⁻¹. For the total reaction a kinetic model is set up which affords absolute velocity constants from the experimental results for the following steps: Hydrogen transfer within the case radical pair \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \overline {{\rm Ar} - {\rm N} = {\rm N}{\rm . CH}_{\rm 3} {\rm OH}{\rm .}} {\rm }^ \oplus $\end{document} (formation of ArH) k_H ≈ 10¹¹ s⁻¹; Maximal values for the photo-solvolyses (formation of Ar^⊕ → ArOMe and ArF, respectively), k_s ≲ 10⁻¹; Trapping of aryl radicals outside of the solvent cage by t-BuNO, k_q ≈ 2 × 10⁷ M⁻¹ s⁻¹. The results are discussed in the light of the kinetic model and some other facts.     

The development of an open-network digital circuit multiplication equipment system

This paper discusses the systematization effort undertaken to generate an equipment specification of an extremely detailed and new nature for DCMEs in accordance with the INTELSAT specification IESS-501. The main areas of importance addressed are additional to what has already been defined within the IESS-501. A discussion of important aspects when introducing DCME into actual network conditions is also contained and results based on simulations of performance under simulated network environments are included.