Determining matchdays in sports league schedules to minimize rest differences

Many sports leagues first announce the games to be played in each round and then determine their matchdays as the season progresses. This study focuses on the fairness criterion of minimizing the total rest difference among opposing teams to find the matchdays for an announced schedule. We show that the problem is decomposable into optimizing the rounds separately. We also provide a polynomial-time exact algorithm for canonical schedules.     

利他偏好下供应链效率和公平度动态演进研究

根据零售商利他偏好信息非对称性和动态演进特征,将零供博弈信息结构分为4个演进过程,采用逆向归纳法求解各个过程中供应链主观效率和客观效率、以"公平熵"计算供应链主观公平度和客观公平度,从主观与客观2个维度分析供应链利他偏好行为对供应链效率和公平度动态演进的影响.通过对比分析得出:信息对称下零售商利他偏好行为不改变供应链利润但会改变各个成员在供应链中的利润分配比例,起到"供应链利润分配机制"的作用;供应链主观效率总是不低于客观效率,供应链主观公平度总是不低于客观公平度;从主观评价供应链能够实现协调且供应链能够兼顾效率和公平.     

A Universal DNA Aptamer that Recognizes Spike Proteins of Diverse SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern

We report on a unique DNA aptamer, denoted MSA52, that displays universally high affinity for the spike proteins of wildtype SARS-CoV-2 as well as the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Kappa, Delta and Omicron variants. Using an aptamer pool produced from round 13 of selection against the S1 domain of the wildtype spike protein, we carried out one-round SELEX experiments using five different trimeric spike proteins from variants, followed by high-throughput sequencing and sequence alignment analysis of aptamers that formed complexes with all proteins. A previously unidentified aptamer, MSA52, showed K_d values ranging from 2 to 10 nM for all variant spike proteins, and also bound similarly to variants not present in the reselection experiments. This aptamer also recognized pseudotyped lentiviruses (PL) expressing eight different spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 with K_d values between 20 and 50 pM, and was integrated into a simple colorimetric assay for detection of multiple PL variants. This discovery provides evidence that aptamers can be generated with high affinity to multiple variants of a single protein, including emerging variants, making it well-suited for molecular recognition of rapidly evolving targets such as those found in SARS-CoV-2.     

Algorithms for fair k-clustering with multiple protected attributes

We study fair center based clustering problems. In an influential paper, Chierichetti, Kumar, Lattanzi and Vassilvitskii (NIPS 2017) consider the problem of finding a good clustering, say of women and men, such that every cluster contains an equal number of women and men. They were able to obtain a constant factor approximation for this problem for most center based k-clustering objectives such as k-median, k-means, and k-center. Despite considerable interest in extending this problem for multiple protected attributes (e.g. women and men, with or without citizenship), so far constant factor approximations for these problems have remained elusive except in special cases. We settle this question in the affirmative by giving the first constant factor approximation for a wide range of center based k-clustering objectives.     

Invariant smoothness measures for surfaces

Two novel smoothness measures for surfaces are presented in this paper. The second and third order smoothness are defined as the squared normal curvature and the squared variation in normal curvature integrated over all directions in the tangent plane. Both quantities are truly geometric in the sense that they are invariant with respect to the actual parametrization of the surface. All the same, all formulae are derived in terms of an arbitrary parametrization. In addition to providing a basis for variational surface construction, the second and third order smoothness can also be used for evaluation and assessment of the quality of an existing surface. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Constructing Invariant Fairness Measures for Surfaces

The paper proposes a rational method to derive fairness measures for surfaces. It works in cases where isophotes, reflection lines, planar intersection curves, or other curves are used to judge the fairness of the surface. The surface fairness measure is derived by demanding that all the given curves should be fair with respect to an appropriate curve fairness measure. The method is applied to the field of ship hull design where the curves are plane intersections. The method is extended to the case where one considers, not the fairness of one curve, but the fairness of a one parameter family of curves. Six basic third order invariants by which the fairing measures can be expressed are defined. Furthermore, the geometry of a plane intersection curve is studied, and the variation of the total, the normal, and the geodesic curvature and the geodesic torsion is determined.     

Aspects of Rich Accessibility User Experiences

We present an approach to providing broad-based accessibility to graphical applications by employing the capabilities of the Eclipse platform and aspect-oriented programming (AOP) in a way that leverages the strengths of each. We first describe the Eclipse platform and the variety of frameworks that can be useful to the effort. We also present the advantages of aspect-oriented programming and contrast aspect-oriented programming with object-oriented programming (OOP). Then, we discuss how to use the Eclipse frameworks and AOP in the design of accessible Eclipse-based applications and share some situations of when to leverage these frameworks and when we do not from the perspective of robustness and efficiency.     

The Evolution of Fairness in the Ultimatum Game

The article presents a model on the evolution of strategies in the Ultimatum game. In particular, the model considers the effect of role turnover and interaction structure. Past experimental studies showed that subjects behave more fairly than would be predicted by classical game theory. The goal of this model is to illuminate how fairness emerges in evolution when role turnover and preferential association are in effect. Simulation shows that evolution towards strategies of fairness is plausible. Some empirical implications are also discussed.     

公平偏好下基于批发价契约的供应链 协调研究

文中基于Nash讨价还价博弈思想建立公平偏好框架,构建公平偏好效用体系,以此为基础对采用批发价契约的报童模型展开行为研究,采用数理模型和数值分析方法分析了零售商和供应商的公平偏好行为对零售商和供应链系统最优订货量的影响,即零售商和供应商同时关注公平时,零售商和供应链系统的最优订货量趋于保守;并发现零售商和供应链系统的最优订货量随零售商的公平偏好程度增加而递减,但随着供应商公平偏好程度增加而递增,且供应链系统最优订货量变化趋势比零售商明显．然后,在此基础上分析比较得到,无论供应商和零售商是否偏好公平,批发价契约都不能实现供应链协调．最后,对批发价、零售价、供应商生产成本、零售商缺货成本和供应商缺货成本进行敏感度分析．     

食品接触材料检测技术新进展

由食品接触材料中高关注物质迁移而导致的食品安全问题已成为当今社会的重点关注领域.这些有意添加物和非有意添加物具有种类复杂、无标准谱图和标准品等特点,使其识别鉴定、定量检测与安全评估面临着众多技术挑战.发展快速、准确、灵敏的食品接触材料检测技术,实现高关注迁移物的准确定量检测是食品接触材料安全研究和管理的关键.该文简要介...