Smooth Scheduling under Variable Rates or the Analog-Digital Confinement Game

This work considers non-terminating scheduling problems in which a system of multiple resources serves clients having variable needs. The system has m identical resources and n clients; in each time slot each resource may serve at most one client; in each such slot t each client γ has a rate, a real number ρ _γ (t), that specifies his needs in this slot. The rates satisfy the restriction ∑ _γ ρ _γ (t)≤m for any slot t. Except of this restriction, the rates can vary in arbitrary fashion. (This contrasts most prior works in this area in which the rates of the clients are constant.) The schedule is required to be smooth as follows: a schedule is Δ -smooth if for all time intervals I the absolute difference between the amount of service received by each client γ to his nominal needs of ∑ _t∈I ρ _γ (t) is less than Δ. Our objective are online schedulers that produce Δ-smooth schedules where Δ is a small constant which is independent of m and n. Our paper constructs such schedulers; these are the first online Δ-smooth schedulers, with a constant Δ, for clients with arbitrarily variable rates in a single or multiple resource system. Furthermore, the paper also considers a non-concurrent environment in which there is an additional restriction that each client is served at most once in each time slot; it presents the first online smooth schedulers for variable rates under this restriction. The above non-concurrent restriction is crucial in some applications (e.g., CPU scheduling). It has been pointed out that this restriction “adds a surprising amount of difficulty” to the scheduling problem. However, this observation was never formalized and, of course, was never proved. Our paper formalizes and proves some aspects of this observation. Another contribution of this paper is the introduction of a complete information, two player game called the analog-digital confinement game. In such a game pebbles are located on the real line; the two players, the analog player and the digital player, take alternating turns and each one, in his turn, moves some of the pebbles; the digital player moves the pebbles backwards by discrete distances while the analog player moves the pebbles forward by analog distances; the aim of the analog player is to cause one pebble (or more) to escape a pre-defined real interval while the aim of the digital player is to confine the pebbles into the interval. We demonstrate that this game is a convenient framework to study the general question of how to approximate an analog process by a digital one. All the above scheduling results are established via this game. In this derivation, the pebbles represent the clients, the analog player generates the needs of the clients and the digital player generates the schedule. Dedicated to the memory of Professor Shimon Even for his inspiration and encouragement     

新型消费文化趋势下的网络广告策略

网络技术发展和应用的日益广泛,促进了传统消费文化的快速变革,形成一种网络时代的新型消费文化。在这种新型消费文化的影响下,网络广告作为现代企业展开网络营销活动最重要的手段由此应运而生。网络广告设计理念也将具有全新的内涵,广告策略也将一改传统模式而独具特色,趋向于凝结市场、消费场所、审美情趣及生活方式等众多因素的整合,使得网络设计的视觉传达、技术应用、表现形式、运作模式等呈现出全新的面貌。     

Economic modeling of board test strategies

A long and deep recession, coupled with continuous competitive pressure to reduce costs, is forcing many companies to review their test strategies. Testing costs have become a more significant proportion of the overall manufacturing cost even though manufacturing yields have increased dramatically over the past ten or twelve years. This causes attention to be focused on testing costs as a key source of cost reduction. The increased use of DFT and the integration of design and test are very positive moves towards controlling testing costs but other methods employed can often backfire. The increased use of low priced testers is one such method. The pressure to reduce costs, higher process yields and exhortations that testing adds no value can lead the test engineering manager to take the cheap route. In reality this can often turn out to be an expensive decision. The only way to avoid expensive mistakes is to perform an economic analysis of the alternative courses of action. In most cases this is done, but not always in the right manner or with the necessary amount of detail to make the comparisons meaningful. This article discusses the need for effective cost analysis of test strategies and highlights some of the pitfalls.     

基于多分区自适应改进果蝇算法的风光燃储微电网协调控制策略

为了使微电网控制系统中PI控制器的参数能够更好地适应可再生能源的随机性和波动性,提出了基于自适应步长的四分区多策略果蝇优化算法(fruit fly optimization algorithm, FOA)对PI参数进行实时优化。首先,以风光燃储微电网不同微源控制系统中的变换器为控制对象,建立微电网整体控制系统模型,基于此模型实时调整PI参数。然后,根据不同果蝇个体的适应度值将果蝇种群分为4个区,同时考虑4个区果蝇收敛性以及多样性的差异,设计不同的自适应更新策略。最后,采用所提算法对各微源控制过程中的PI参数进行寻优,与其他3种智能算法进行对比,验证了所提算法的可行性和优越性。仿真结果表明,所提算法可以使系统变换器响应速度更快,输出更加稳定。     

Voltage Decay of Li-Rich Layered Oxides: Mechanism,Modification Strategies,and Perspectives

Li-rich layered oxides (LLOs) have been considered as the most promising cathode materials for achieving high energy density Li-ion batteries. However, they suffer from continuous voltage decay during cycling, which seriously shortens the lifespan of the battery in practical applications. This review comprehensively elaborates and summarizes the state-of-the-art of the research in this field. It is started from the proposed mechanism of voltage decay that refers to the phase transition, microscopic defects, and oxygen redox or release. Furthermore, several strategies to mitigate the voltage decay of LLOs from different scales, such as surface modification, elemental doping, regulation of components, control of defect, and morphology design are summarized. Finally, a systematic outlook on the real root of voltage decay is provided, and more importantly, a potential solution to voltage recovery from electrochemistry. Based on this progress, some effective strategies with multiple scales will be feasible to create the conditions for their commercialization in the future.     

Analytics of learning tactics and strategies in an online learnersourcing environment

Background

The use of crowdsourcing in a pedagogically supported form to partner with learners in developing novel content is emerging as a viable approach for engaging students in higher-order learning at scale. However, how students behave in this form of crowdsourcing, referred to as learnersourcing, is still insufficiently explored.

Objectives

To contribute to filling this gap, this study explores how students engage with learnersourcing tasks across a range of course and assessment designs.

Methods

We conducted an exploratory study on trace data of 1279 students across three courses, originating from the use of a learnersourcing environment under different assessment designs. We employed a new methodology from the learning analytics (LA) field that aims to represent students' behaviour through two theoretically-derived latent constructs: learning tactics and the learning strategies built upon them.

Results

The study's results demonstrate students use different tactics and strategies, highlight the association of learnersourcing contexts with the identified learning tactics and strategies, indicate a significant association between the strategies and performance and contribute to the employed method's generalisability by applying it to a new context.

Implications

This study provides an example of how learning analytics methods can be employed towards the development of effective learnersourcing systems and, more broadly, technological educational solutions that support learner-centred and data-driven learning at scale. Findings should inform best practices for integrating learnersourcing activities into course design and shed light on the relevance of tactics and strategies to support teachers in making informed pedagogical decisions.     

A survey: When moving target defense meets game theory

Moving target defense (MTD) can break through asymmetry between attackers and defenders. To improve the effectiveness of cybersecurity defense techniques, defense requires not only advanced and practical defense technologies but effective, scientific decision-making methods. Due to complex attacker–defender interaction, autonomous, automatic, accurate, and effective selection of the optimal strategy is a challenging topic in the field of MTD. The essence of cybersecurity lies in the interaction between the attacker and defender. Game theory is a useful mathematical tool for strategy selection in a competitive environment. It provides strong theoretical support for the analysis of cyberattack and defense behaviors and subsequent decision-making, and can significantly improve the decision-making ability of MTD. This study presents the basic concepts of MTD and game theory, followed by a literature review, to study MTD decision-making methods based on game theory from the dimensions of space, time, space–time, and bounded rationality. Limitations of MTD game decision-making studies are discussed, as well as research directions, to provide references for future research.     

Determinants of internal and external R&D offshoring: evidence from Spanish firms

This paper analyses the determinants of R&D offshoring of Spanish firms using information from the Panel of Technological Innovation. We find that being an exporter, international technological cooperation, continuous R&D engagement, applying for patents, being a foreign subsidiary, and firm size are factors that positively affect the decision to offshore R&D. In addition, we find that a lack of financing is an obstacle relatively more important for independent firms than for firms that belong to business groups. For these latter, we also obtain that the factors that influence the decision to offshore R&D differ depending on whether the firm purchases the R&D services within the group or through the market: a higher degree of importance assigned to internal sources of information for innovation as compared to market sources increases (decreases) the probability of R&D offshoring only through the group (market).     

面向80后的智能床设计策略

目的对25~35岁使用人群的智能床设计原则与设计策略进行研究,使产品顺应人的生活方式和行为习惯,为智能产品与传统家居产品的结合提供思路。方法通过用户旅程图、接触点分析以及问卷访谈等进行行为和需求分析,结合用户体验设计、交互设计理论与方法,形成以80后用户群体为目标的智能床设计原则和设计策略。结论通过深入的用户分析,得到智能床的设计原则和设计策略,能够为这种新兴的产品设计提供基本的参考,便于用户更快更好地接受和使用产品。