Fast branching algorithm for Cluster Vertex Deletion

In the family of clustering problems, we are given a set of objects (vertices of the graph), together with some observed pairwise similarities (edges). The goal is to identify clusters of similar objects by slightly modifying the graph to obtain a cluster graph (disjoint union of cliques). Hueffner et al. [Theory Comput. Syst. 2010] initiated the parameterized study of Cluster Vertex Deletion, where the allowed modification is vertex deletion, and presented an elegant O(2^k * k^9 + n * m)-time fixed-parameter algorithm, parameterized by the solution size. In our work, we pick up this line of research and present an O(1.9102^k * (n + m))-time branching algorithm

Consumer acceptance and willingness-to-pay for insect-based foods: The role of proximity of insects in the food chain

Over the last few years, the interest on alternative protein sources, such as edible insects, has been growing rapidly. However, Western consumers' acceptance of insects as a food source is very low, mainly due to unfamiliarity with insect-based food. We investigate consumers' attitude and behavior and estimate their willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for three products that vary on a between-subjects basis, the proximity of insects in the food chain. The data were collected through an online questionnaire of 451 consumers in Greece and WTP was elicited using the Contingent Valuation (CV) method. Our results show that the majority of Greek consumers are not willing to pay a premium for an insect-based energy bar and cookie; on the contrary, they would require a discount to acquire such products. On the other hand, consumer acceptance is higher for a gilt-head bream that is fed with insect-based feed. Consumers with positive WTP are on average willing to pay a premium of 15.8%, 17% and 31.8% for the energy bar, cookie and gilt-head bream, respectively, while consumers that are not WTP a premium would require discounts of 43.8%, 42.4% and 30.7%, respectively

Consumer acceptance and willingness-to-pay for insect-based foods: The role of proximity of insects in the food chain

Over the last few years, the interest on alternative protein sources, such as edible insects, has been growing rapidly. However, Western consumers' acceptance of insects as a food source is very low, mainly due to unfamiliarity with insect-based food. We investigate consumers' attitude and behavior and estimate their willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for three products that vary on a between-subjects basis, the proximity of insects in the food chain. The data were collected through an online questionnaire of 451 consumers in Greece and WTP was elicited using the Contingent Valuation (CV) method. Our results show that the majority of Greek consumers are not willing to pay a premium for an insect-based energy bar and cookie; on the contrary, they would require a discount to acquire such products. On the other hand, consumer acceptance is higher for a gilt-head bream that is fed with insect-based feed. Consumers with positive WTP are on average willing to pay a premium of 15.8%, 17% and 31.8% for the energy bar, cookie and gilt-head bream, respectively, while consumers that are not WTP a premium would require discounts of 43.8%, 42.4% and 30.7%, respectively

How Australia’s competition regulator is supporting news, but not quality

At a time when many news media businesses are collapsing or faltering, regulators globally are wrestling with how to support news and journalism. Australia’s competition (anti-trust) regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or ACCC, has developed a legislative scheme known as the ‘News Media Bargaining Code’, which seeks to enforce a compulsory arbitration process to determine how much Google and Facebook must pay for the use of news content. Highly controversial and subject to extensive redrafting, this regulatory intervention was seen as necessary because of the ‘bargaining power imbalance’ between these digital platforms and local news publishers. However, in the legislation that creates the Code, the word ‘quality’ appears only once. This seems particularly problematic given that the aim of the regulatory intervention was not simply to address unequal commercial positions, but to shore up the public benefit provided by journalism. In this chapter, we explain how key concerns around digital platforms’ effect on the capacity of Australian news providers to pursue public interest journalism have been translated into policy. We argue that by deploying the tools of competition law instead of media regulation, the Australian Government is overlooking the social utility of news and is building a scheme that could incentivize the creation of poor-quality content

Search for heavy gauge W ' bosons in events with an energetic lepton and large missing transverse momentum at root s=13TeV

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Search for massive resonances decaying in to WW,WZ or ZZ bosons in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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Search for narrow resonances in dilepton mass spectra in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV and combination with 8 TeV data

A search for narrow resonances in dielectron and dimuon invariant mass spectra has been performed using data obtained from proton–proton collisions at View the MathML sources=13 TeV collected with the CMS detector. The integrated luminosity for the dielectron sample is 2.7 fb−1 and for the dimuon sample 2.9 fb−1. The sensitivity of the search is increased by combining these data with a previously analyzed set of data obtained at View the MathML sources=8 TeV and corresponding to a luminosity of 20 fb−1. No evidence for non-standard-model physics is found, either in the 13 TeV data set alone, or in the combined data set. Upper limits on the product of production cross section and branching fraction have also been calculated in a model-independent manner to enable interpretation in models predicting a narrow dielectron or dimuon resonance structure. Limits are set on the masses of hypothetical particles that could appear in new-physics scenarios. For the View the MathML sourceZSSM′ particle, which arises in the sequential standard model, and for the superstring inspired View the MathML sourceZψ′ particle, 95% confidence level lower mass limits for the combined data sets and combined channels are found to be 3.37 and 2.82 TeV, respectively. The corresponding limits for the lightest Kaluza–Klein graviton arising in the Randall–Sundrum model of extra dimensions with coupling parameters 0.01 and 0.10 are 1.46 and 3.11 TeV, respectively. These results significantly exceed the limits based on the 8 TeV LHC data

Measurement of top quark–antiquark pair production in association with a W or Z boson in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

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