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The fuzzy integral (FI) is an extremely flexible and powerful tool for data and information aggregation. The FI is parametrized by the fuzzy measure (FM), a normal and monotone capacity. Based on the selection of FM, the FI produces different aggregation operators. In recent years, a number of FI extensions have been put forth relative to different types of uncertain information, e.g., real-, interval- and set-valued (under various constraints). Herein, we study the applicability and behavior of different extensions of the fuzzy Choquet integral for fusing homogeneous possibility and probability distributions. This analysis is of great utility in terms of understanding what extensions and under what conditions it is possible to aggregate and maintain homogeneity within uncertain information. We show that two extensions, gFI and NDFI, can aggregate both probability and possibility distributions. While these extensions do not always maintain homogeneity, they do under certain conditions. Last, while we specifically focus on the aggregation of homogeneous uncertain information, the propositions put forth also shed light into heterogeneous information aggregation via the gFI and the NDFI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the Hegselmann-Krause model for opinion dynamics and study the evolution of the system under various settings. We first analyze the termination time of the synchronous Hegselmann-Krause dynamics in arbitrary finite dimensions and show that the termination time in general only depends on the number of agents involved in the dynamics. To the best of our knowledge, that is the sharpest bound for the termination time of such dynamics that removes dependency of the termination time from the dimension of the ambient space, and connects the convergence speed of the dynamics to the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of the connectivity graph in the Hegselmann-Krause dynamics. This answers an open question in the paper by Bhattacharyya et al. on how to obtain a tighter upper bound for the termination time. Furthermore, we study the asynchronous Hegselmann-Krause model from a novel game-theoretic approach and show that the evolution of an asynchronous Hegselmann-Krause model is equivalent to a sequence of best response updates in a well-designed potential game. We then provide a polynomial upper bound for the expected time and expected number of switching topologies until the dynamic reaches an arbitrarily small neighborhood of its equilibrium points, provided that the agents update uniformly at random. This is a step toward analysis of heterogeneous Hegselmann-Krause dynamics. Finally, we consider the heterogeneous Hegselmann-Krause dynamics and provide a necessary condition for the finite termination time of such dynamics. In particular, we sketch some future directions toward more detailed analysis of the heterogeneous Hegselmann-Krause model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The homogeneous isotropic Boltzmann equation (HIBE) is a fundamental dynamic model for many applications in thermodynamics, econophysics and sociodynamics. Despite recent hardware improvements, the solution of the Boltzmann equation remains extremely challenging from the computational point of view, in particular by deterministic methods (free of stochastic noise). This work aims to improve a deterministic direct method recently proposed [V.V. Aristov, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001] for solving the HIBE with a generic collisional kernel and, in particular, for taking care of the late dynamics of the relaxation towards the equilibrium. Essentially (a) the original problem is reformulated in terms of particle kinetic energy (exact particle number and energy conservation during microscopic collisions) and (b) the computation of the relaxation rates is improved by the DVM-like correction, where DVM stands for Discrete Velocity Model (ensuring that the macroscopic conservation laws are exactly satisfied). Both these corrections make possible to derive very accurate reference solutions for this test case. Moreover this work aims to distribute an open-source program (called HOMISBOLTZ), which can be redistributed and/or modified for dealing with different applications, under the terms of the GNU General Public License. The program has been purposely designed in order to be minimal, not only with regards to the reduced number of lines (less than 1000), but also with regards to the coding style (as simple as possible). Program summary: Program title: HOMISBOLTZ Catalogue identifier: AEGN_v1_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEGN_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen''s University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU General Public License No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 23 340 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 7 635 236 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Tested with Matlab version ⩽6.5. However, in principle, any recent version of Matlab or Octave should work Computer: All supporting Matlab or Octave Operating system: All supporting Matlab or Octave RAM: 300 MBytes Classification: 23 Nature of problem: The problem consists in integrating the homogeneous Boltzmann equation for a generic collisional kernel in case of isotropic symmetry, by a deterministic direct method. Difficulties arise from the multi-dimensionality of the collisional operator and from satisfying the conservation of particle number and energy (momentum is trivial for this test case) as accurately as possible, in order to preserve the late dynamics. Solution method: The solution is based on the method proposed by Aristov (2001) [1], but with two substantial improvements: (a) the original problem is reformulated in terms of particle kinetic energy (this allows one to ensure exact particle number and energy conservation during microscopic collisions) and (b) a DVM-like correction (where DVM stands for Discrete Velocity Model) is adopted for improving the relaxation rates (this allows one to satisfy exactly the conservation laws at macroscopic level, which is particularly important for describing the late dynamics in the relaxation towards the equilibrium). Both these corrections make possible to derive very accurate reference solutions for this test case. Restrictions: The nonlinear Boltzmann equation is extremely challenging from the computational point of view, in particular for deterministic methods, despite the increased computational power of recent hardware. In this work, only the homogeneous isotropic case is considered, for making possible the development of a minimal program (by a simple scripting language) and allowing the user to check the advantages of the proposed improvements beyond Aristov''s (2001) method [1]. The initial conditions are supposed parameterized according to a fixed analytical expression, but this can be easily modified. Running time: From minutes to hours (depending on the adopted discretization of the kinetic energy space). For example, on a 64 bit workstation with Intel CoreTM i7-820Q Quad Core CPU at 1.73 GHz and 8 MBytes of RAM, the provided test run (with the corresponding binary data file storing the pre-computed relaxation rates) requires 154 seconds. References: [[1]] V.V. Aristov, Direct Methods for Solving the Boltzmann Equation and Study of Nonequilibrium Flows, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The problem studied is the diffraction of a plane wave by a wedge with impedance boundary conditions imposed on the faces of the wedge. A method developed by the author is used to solve this problem. It involves a Green’s function representation of the field, the so-called extinction theorem and Fourier transforms. The method also provides a check on the numerical accuracy of the results. Some representative curves are given for the far-field scattering pattern. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]