Automated Abstractions for Patrolling Security Games

Recently, there has been a significant interest in studying security games to provide tools for addressing resource allocation problems in security applications. Patrolling security games (PSGs) constitute a special class of security games wherein the resources are mobile. One of the most relevant open problems in security games is the design of scalable algorithms to tackle realistic scenarios. While the literature mainly focuses on heuristics and decomposition techniques (e.g., double oracle), in this paper we provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first study on the use of abstractions in security games (specifically for PSGs) to design scalable algorithms. We define some classes of abstractions and we provide parametric algorithms to automatically generate abstractions. We show that abstractions allow one to relax the constraint of patrolling strategies' Markovianity (customary in PSGs) and to solve large game instances. We additionally pose the problem to search for the optimal abstraction and we develop an anytime algorithm to find it

Asynchronous Multi-Robot Patrolling against Intrusions in Arbitrary Topologies

Use of game theoretical models to derive randomized mobile robot patrolling strategies has recently received a growing attention. We focus on the problem of patrolling environments with arbitrary topologies using multiple robots. We address two important issues cur rently open in the literature. We determine the smallest number of robots needed to patrol a given environment and we compute the optimal patrolling strategies along several coordination dimensions. Finally, we experimentally evaluate the proposed techniques

Outer crust of a cold non-accreting magnetar

The outer crust structure and composition of a cold, non-accreting magnetar is studied. We model the outer crust to be made of fully equilibrated matter where ionized nuclei form a Coulomb crystal embedded in an electron gas. The main effects of the strong magnetic field are those of quantizing the electron motion in Landau levels and of modifying the nuclear single particle levels producing, on average, an increased binding of nucleons in nuclei present in the Coulomb lattice. The effect of an homogeneous and constant magnetic field on nuclear masses has been predicted by using a covariant density functional, in which induced currents and axial deformation due to the presence of a magnetic field that breaks time-reversal symmetry have been included self-consistently in the nucleon and meson equations of motion. Although not yet observed, for $B\gtrsim 10^{16}$G both effects contribute to produce different compositions and to enlarge the range of pressures typically present in common neutron stars. Specifically, in such a regime, the magnetic field effects on nuclei favor the appearance of heavier nuclei at low pressures. As $B$ increases, such heavier nuclei are also preferred up to larger pressures. In the most extreme case, the whole outer crust is almost made of ${}_{40}^{92}$Zr$_{52}$.Comment: Published versio

Algorithms to Find Two-Hop Routing Policies in Multiclass Delay Tolerant Networks

Most of the literature on delay tolerant networks (DTNs) focuses on optimal routing policies exploiting a priori knowledge about nodes mobility traces. For the case in which no a priori knowledge is available (very common in practice), apart from basic epidemic routing, the main approaches focus on controlling two-hop routing policies. However, these latter results commonly employ fluid approximation techniques, which, in principle, do not provide any theoretical bound over the approximation ratio. In our work, we focus on the case without a priori mobility knowledge and we provide approximation algorithms with theoretical guarantees that can be applied to cases where the number of hops allowed in the routing process is arbitrary. Our approach is rather flexible allowing us to address heterogeneous mobility patterns and transmission technologies, to consider explicitly the signaling and transmission costs, and to include also nodes discarding packets after a local timeout. We then provide a comprehensive performance evaluation of our algorithms, showing that two-hop routing provides the best tradeoff between delay and energy and that, in this case, they find solutions very close to the optimal ones with a low overhead. Finally, we compare our methods against some state-of-the-art approaches by means of a DTN simulation environment in realistic settings

The pseudo GTPase CENP-M drives human kinetochore assembly

Basilico, Federica et al.Kinetochores, multi-subunit complexes that assemble at the interface with centromeres, bind spindle microtubules to ensure faithful delivery of chromosomes during cell division. The configuration and function of the kinetochore–centromere interface is poorly understood. We report that a protein at this interface, CENP-M, is structurally and evolutionarily related to small GTPases but is incapable of GTP-binding and conformational switching. We show that CENP-M is crucially required for the assembly and stability of a tetramer also comprising CENP-I, CENP-H, and CENP-K, the HIKM complex, which we extensively characterize through a combination of structural, biochemical, and cell biological approaches. A point mutant affecting the CENP-M/CENP-I interaction hampers kinetochore assembly and chromosome alignment and prevents kinetochore recruitment of the CENP-T/W complex, questioning a role of CENP-T/W as founder of an independent axis of kinetochore assembly. Our studies identify a single pathway having CENP-C as founder, and CENP-H/I/K/M and CENP-T/W as CENP-C-dependent followers.AM acknowledges funding by the European Union's 7th Framework Program ERC agreement KINCON and the Integrated Project MitoSys. FH is supported by the Bavarian Research Center of Molecular Biosystems and by a LMU excellent junior grant.Peer reviewe