scholarly journals An Asymptotically Optimal VCG Redistribution Mechanism for the Public Project Problem

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingyu Guo
Keyword(s):  
Efficiency Ratio ◽  
Public Project ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Asymptotically Optimal ◽  
Total Utility ◽  
The Public ◽  
Optimal Mechanism ◽  
Technical Assumption ◽  
Worst Case Ratio ◽  
A Minor

We study the classic public project problem, where a group of agents need to decide whether or not to build a non-excludable public project.  We focus on efficient, strategy-proof, and weakly budget-balanced mechanisms (VCG redistribution mechanisms). Our aim is to maximize the worst-case efficiency ratio --- the worst-case ratio between the achieved total utility and the first-best maximum total utility. Previous studies have identified the optimal mechanism for 3 agents.  It was also conjectured that the worst-case efficiency ratio approaches 1 asymptotically as the number of agents approaches infinity.  Unfortunately, no optimal mechanisms have been identified for cases with more than 3 agents. We propose an asymptotically optimal mechanism, which achieves a worst-case efficiency ratio of 1, under a minor technical assumption: we assume the agents' valuations are rational numbers with bounded denominators.  We also show that if the agents' valuations are drawn from identical and independent distributions, our mechanism's efficiency ratio equals 1 with probability approaching 1 asymptotically.  Our results significantly improve on previous results. The best previously known asymptotic worst-case efficiency ratio is 0.102.  For non-asymptotic cases, our mechanisms also achieve better ratios than all previous results.  

scholarly journals Average-Case Approximation Ratio of Scheduling without Payments

Algorithmica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Mechanism Design ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Computer Science ◽  
Approximation Ratio ◽  
Approximation Schemes ◽  
Worst Case Analysis ◽  
Algorithmic Mechanism Design ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Average Case ◽  
Optimal Mechanism

AbstractApart from the principles and methodologies inherited from Economics and Game Theory, the studies in Algorithmic Mechanism Design typically employ the worst-case analysis and design of approximation schemes of Theoretical Computer Science. For instance, the approximation ratio, which is the canonical measure of evaluating how well an incentive-compatible mechanism approximately optimizes the objective, is defined in the worst-case sense. It compares the performance of the optimal mechanism against the performance of a truthful mechanism, for all possible inputs. In this paper, we take the average-case analysis approach, and tackle one of the primary motivating problems in Algorithmic Mechanism Design—the scheduling problem (Nisan and Ronen, in: Proceedings of the 31st annual ACM symposium on theory of computing (STOC), 1999). One version of this problem, which includes a verification component, is studied by Koutsoupias (Theory Comput Syst 54(3):375–387, 2014). It was shown that the problem has a tight approximation ratio bound of $$(n+1)/2$$ ( n + 1 ) / 2 for the single-task setting, where n is the number of machines. We show, however, when the costs of the machines to executing the task follow any independent and identical distribution, the average-case approximation ratio of the mechanism given by Koutsoupias (Theory Comput Syst 54(3):375–387, 2014) is upper bounded by a constant. This positive result asymptotically separates the average-case ratio from the worst-case ratio. It indicates that the optimal mechanism devised for a worst-case guarantee works well on average.

Will Nurses’ Work Still be Valued after the COVID-19 Pandemic?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasquot L ◽  
◽  
Giorgetta S ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infection Rate ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Public Places ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Infection ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Second Wave

Many are the aspects we should ponder on, after 17 months from the burst of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as nurses. Due to the numerous cuts to the public health sector in the last decades in Italy, the sanitary emergency has been a great sacrifice for health professionals, as public health was completely unprepared to withstand it. The Italian government reacted to this lack of preparation with exceptionally urgent measures. Although, these measures were implemented long after the initial state of confusion and of inappropriate management, they brought about stability and led to a containment strategy for the spread of the virus across the nation [1]. The reduction in the number of COVID-19 diagnoses was mainly achieved through social distancing. At first this was only required to a small number of communities affected by high infection rates, but was eventually extended to the rest of the country from March 2020 [2]. The national lockdown during the first COVID-19 wave (from March to May 2020), was replaced by regional lockdowns in the second wave (from November 2020). As of now, regional lockdowns are integrated by the vaccine campaign and Green Pass enforcement. In November 2020 the Italian Prime Minister at the time, issued legislative measures to enforce regional lockdowns, limiting nonessential movements, cafes, restaurants and other public places opening hours. This legislation established to classify the national territory in different levels of restriction based on the infection rate: red zones - highest risk of infection, orange zones - medium high risk and yellow zones with a minor risk of infection. A later legislation introduced the white zone for territories with the lowest risk of infection (DPCM-14th January 2021). The infection rate has been important to establish a region’s tier status; however, it is not the defining parameter anymore. A new legislation from July 2021 (n.105 - 23rd July 2021), opted to classify a region’s tier status according to the hospital bed’s occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients in intensive care and other medical areas.

scholarly journals Early contractor involvement approaches in public project procurement

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulos Abebe Wondimu ◽  
Ali Hosseini ◽  
Jadar Lohne ◽  
Ola Laedre
Keyword(s):  
Success Factors ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Public Project ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Treat All ◽  
First Time ◽  
Project Procurement ◽  
Depth Interviews

Purpose Early contractor involvement (ECI) faces many barriers when it is implemented in public procurement, given that it is different from traditional business practices. Primarily, public owners face a major challenge, as they should treat all bidders equally. The purpose of this paper is to explore suitable ECI approaches that public owners could use. Design/methodology/approach In addition to a literature and document study, 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews with key personnel from 11 cases selected from Norwegian public bridge projects were carried out. Findings In all, 23 unique approaches of ECI were identified during this research (16 from literature and 7 new from case projects). The findings provide a new direction to ECI through introducing new approaches of ECI from the case projects. Originality/value This paper for the first time presents several alternatives of ECI approaches for public owners with the intention of illustrating ECI is actually possible in the public project procurement. Furthermore, it presents for the first time success factors of ECI with the intention of increasing the understanding of ECI concept from a public procurement perspective.

scholarly journals Optimal Purely Functional Priority Queues

1996 ◽  
Vol 3 (37) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerth Stølting Brodal ◽  
Chris Okasaki
Keyword(s):  
Data Structure ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Priority Queues ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Minimum Element ◽  
Asymptotically Optimal ◽  
Running Time ◽  
Recursive Structures ◽  
Functional Setting

Brodal recently introduced the first implementation of imperative priority queues to support findMin, insert, and meld in O(1) worst-case time, and deleteMin in O(log n) worst-case time. These bounds are asymptotically optimal among all comparison-based priority queues. In this paper, we adapt<br />Brodal's data structure to a purely functional setting. In doing so, we both simplify the data structure and clarify its relationship to the binomial queues of Vuillemin, which support all four operations in O(log n) time. Specifically, we derive our implementation from binomial queues in three steps: first, we reduce the running time of insert to O(1) by eliminating the possibility of cascading links; second, we reduce the running time of findMin to O(1) by adding a global root to hold the minimum element; and finally, we reduce the running time of meld to O(1) by allowing priority queues to contain other<br />priority queues. Each of these steps is expressed using ML-style functors. The last transformation, known as data-structural bootstrapping, is an interesting<br />application of higher-order functors and recursive structures.

Public Involvement in the Design of Public Projects

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-79
Author(s):  
Emad S. Mushtaha ◽  
Omar Hassan Omar ◽  
Dua S. Barakat ◽  
Hessa Al-Jarwan ◽  
Dima Abdulrahman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Public Project ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Building Program

The involvement of the public in the decision-making process is essential, especially in the early stages of a design process. This study aims to achieve the development of an architectural program for a memorial public project, using the outcomes of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on public opinion. It employs a novel approach that sharply focuses on public involvement in the design process, using a quantitative methodology for the development of a suitable building program and selecting a memorial form that meets the public's needs in a practical way. The study drew on data from various memorial projects to identify possible spaces and their selection criteria. A written questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 105 members of the public, to narrow down the number of spaces according to public response. Then, a hearing (spoken) questionnaire was conducted on a sample of 20 to produce the program for development by generating the most strongly preferred form of memorial. The results contradicted the existing norm for a memorial as a sculpture; it was revealed that most of the public preferred memorial landscapes to buildings and great structures. The study concluded that AHP could be used to further involve the relevant stakeholders in the decision-making process of the design of a public project.

Beyond Scandinavia: Washington Consensus to Market Corruption

2019 ◽  
pp. 230-258
Author(s):  
Avner Offer ◽  
Gabriel Söderberg
Keyword(s):  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Internal Validity ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Washington Consensus ◽  
The Public ◽  
Empirical Performance ◽  
A Minor

This chapter reveals that Scandinavia was but a sideshow in a larger plot in which market-liberal advocates strove to capture the command of policy worldwide with the ‘Washington Consensus’. Their doctrines are viewed here from three aspects: internal validity, empirical performance, and unintended consequences. In brief, these doctrines were inconsistent, failed repeatedly, and engulfed the public domain in a miasma of corruption, in developed countries as well as ‘emerging’ ones. The reason, the chapter argues, is that these doctrines were founded on deficient models of reality. The Nobel Prize played a part in all of this, if only a minor one.

The Crisis of Public Health as a Media Event

2016 ◽  
pp. 78-89
Author(s):  
Valentina Marinescu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public System ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Narratives ◽  
A Minor ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Media Event

The focus of the present article is on the analysis of the influence exercised by media narratives on the Romanian audience's reconstructions of social movements from January-February 2012. The analysis was interested to show what are the aspects involved in the publicizing of this media event in Romania, by focusing on the event narrative built in such a way to transmit a particular significance related to the protest movements related to the crisis of the health public system in Romania. Two research methods were used in collecting the data: a survey on two hundreds Romanian respondents and quantitative content analysis of five national Romanian newspapers. As the results show, the high consumption of mass media messages does not determine whether the public adopts the media narratives concerning the events from the beginning of year 2012. At the same time, the analysis shows that in the case of the media events that took place in Romania in January-February 2012 the impact of the media narrative on the way in which the audience from Romania rebuilt those protests was a minor one and other factors had played a major role in triggering massive mass protests in Romania.

IV. Note on the Origin of Lord John Russell's Despatch of Oct. 16, 1839, on the Tenure Of Crown Offices in the Colonies

1928 ◽  
Vol 2 (03) ◽  
pp. 248-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. M. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mother Country ◽  
Responsible Government ◽  
Public Record ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
A Minor ◽  
British Colonies ◽  
Colonial Office

No system of self-government at all resembling the practice of the mother country was possible in the British colonies so long as the heads of the colonial departments and the members of Governors' councils held their offices nominally during His Majesty's pleasure, but actually for life. Hence it has been generally recognised that Lord John Russell's despatch of October 16, 1839, to Governor-General Poulett Thomson, which put an end to this state of affairs, marks a stage of immense importance in the transition to Responsible Government. The Colonial Office papers in the Public Record Office show that the pronouncement of the new principle, made at a turning-point of Canadian history, originated in a decision on a minor incident in a remote and lately colonised part of the empire.

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