On the Convenience to Form Coalitions or Partnerships in Simple Games

A partnership in a cooperative game is a coalition that possesses an internal structure and, simultaneously, behaves as an individual member. Forming partnerships leads to a modification of the original game which differs from the quotient game that arises when one or more coalitions are actually formed. In this paper, the Shapley value is used to discuss the convenience to form either coalitions or partnerships. To this end, the difference between the additive Shapley value of the partnership in the partnership game and the Shapley alliance value of the coalition, and also between the corresponding value of the internal and external players, are analysed. Simple games are especially considered. Research partially supported by Grant BFM 2003-01314 of the Science and Technology Spanish Ministry and the European Regional Development Fund.     

On the group extension of the transformation associated to non-archimedean continued fractions

Summary Let F_q be a finite field with q elements. We consider formal Laurent series of F_q -coefficients with their continued fraction expansions by F_q -polynomials. We prove some arithmetic properties for almost every formal Laurent series with respect to the Haar measure. We construct a group extension of the non-archimedean continued fraction transformation and show its ergodicity. Then we get some results as an application of the individual ergodic theorem. We also discuss the convergence rate for limit behaviors.     

Study of the gas-phase parameters affecting the silicon-oxide film deposition induced by an ArF laser

A study of the gas-phase parameters involved in ArF laser induced chemical vapour deposition of silicon-oxide thin films is presented. A complete set of experiments has been performed showing the influence of the concentration of the precursor gases, N₂O and SiH₄, and their influence on total and partial pressures on film growth and properties. In this paper we demonstrate the ability of this LCVD method to deposit silicon oxide films of different compositions and densities by appropriate control of gas composition and total pressure. Moreover, a material specific calibration plot comprising data obtained using different preparation techniques is presented, allowing determination of the stoichiometry of SiO _x films by using FTIR spectroscopy independently of the deposition method. For the range of processing conditions examined, the experimental results suggest that chemical processes governing deposition take place mainly in the gas phase.     

Vector potential theory on nonsmooth domains in R<Superscript>3</Superscript> and applications to electromagnetic scattering

We study boundary value problems for the time-harmonic form of the Maxwell equations, as well as for other related systems of equations, on arbitrary Lipschitz domains in the three-dimensional Euclidean space. The main goal is to develop the corresponding theory for L^p-integrable bounday data for optimal values of p's. We also discuss a number of relevant applications in electromagnetic scattering.     

Developing models of decision making

Studies that focus on the decision making process can be classified in (at least) two ways: by psychological content and by contextual content. The first describes the degree to which the analysis focuses on the mental processes associated with decision making and the second deals with the degree to which the analysis is dependent upon the study's context. Several studies are examined in terms of where they fall in this two-dimensional taxonomy. Two analyses of maritime command and control conducted by the authors are examined more fully within this taxonomy. Both are context full, but are at opposite ends of the psychological content spectrum. These categorizations are useful in focusing future research aimed at developing models of decision making.     

Success and survival of operational research groups—A review

Operational Research groups were established in private and public sector organizations following on from their success supporting the military in the Second World War. In the early years their numbers grew rapidly but by the mid-1970s evidence started to accumulate that they were being viewed less favourably. Many organizations chose not to set up OR groups. Established groups were closed down or dispersed to operating units in organizations, particularly during the recessionary periods. In 1993 following on the closures of some major OR groups in the UK, the Operational Research Society decided to fund research to examine those factors influencing a group's success and survival. This review, which forms part of the research, first examines the history of OR groups in the UK and North America, arguing that in practice they were one of a number of internal organizational consultancies. As such they were judged by their competitive performance. Despite the intent of the founding fathers of OR many groups found their scope was limited to mainly tactical problems using analytical model based approaches although there were exceptions that were successful in making major contributions at the strategic level also. Within their chosen fields of activity however many groups flourished whilst some failed. This review presents a comprehensive list of influences on success and survival. They include changes in the external environment, together with shifts in managerial style and culture, organizational factors, and the OR group itself. The review concludes that, while OR groups can do much to protect themselves from closure, organizational changes within a hostile managerial culture demand a creative response that acknowledges new requirements. Areas where an OR group has greatest influence over its effectiveness include its leadership and personnel, project balance and management. In addition, to be successful OR groups need to positively develop and market their services in an increasingly competitive managerial climate.     

Development of high-speed video cameras for Dynamic PIV

The most promising next generation Image Velocimtry (IV) is the high-speed Dynamic PIV. It requires the development of innovative high-speed video camera sensors. We started by specifying the required performance of these new sensors, for measurements in air and water flows. These criteria founded on the most recent developments in PIV algorithms and incorporate results from a large questionnaire survey of users of high-speed video cameras in Japan. The results suggest that the followings are required: (1) frame rate of 1,000,000 fps, (2) pixel count of 1,000,000 pixels, (3) frame storage capacity of 100–200 frames for tracing a single event and 10,000 frames for turbulent measurements, (4) gray levels of 4–8 bits for PTV; 12 bits for observation. Finally, we reviewed the state of the art of high-speed video-image sensors. Currently the standard parallel-readout sensors can operate at 1 Kfps with a pixel count of approximately 1 Kpixels. The In-situ Storage Image Sensor (ISIS) developed by the authors has recently achieved frame rates of 1 Mfps.     

Infinite dimensional quadratic forms admitting composition

Composition algebras with a unit element constitute a well-known class of algebras. In this paper, those composition algebras with a one-sided unit element are characterized and examples are given of arbitrary infinite dimension.