Sharif Digital Repository

This thesis focuses on design of various strategies to maximize sellers’ profits in different social markets where agents’ behaviors and decisions are greatly influenced by their network friends. We introduce different social networks with various properties and present models to analyze the agents’ behaviors. We also study different pricing strategies for each model and design algorithms for sellers in order to maximize their profits. Furthermore, we study the prediction markets where agents with different points of views participate in the market. Each agent invests in the market with respect to her information. We propose a model for these markets which are both predictable and... 

In this research, we consider the problem of guarding orthogonal polygon with sliding cameras. This problem is originated from the well-known Art Gallery problem. In the Art Gallery problem the goal is to guard the polygon with minimum number of guards. Each guard is considered as a point and can guard all the points inside the polygon that are in its visibility area. In sliding camera version, each guard is modeld as a horizontal or vertical segment which is entirely in the polygon. The guarding area of each camera is defined by its segment and its power. In 0-transmitter model, the guarding area of each camera is limited by the edges of polygon, but in the k-transmitter model cameras can... 

In this thesis, we present different algorithms for path simplification. We first study this problem under area measures. We present an approximation algorithm for sum-area measure and an optimal algorithm for diff-area measure. Both of these algorithms can be applied on general paths. Moreover, we study the homotopic path simplification. We present a general framework for path simplification which work for desired error measure. We first present a strongly homotopic simplification algorithm for x-monotone paths. Also, we study the strongly homotopic simplification for general paths. We present a geometric tree data structure and present an algorithm based on this data structure.... 

In process of making prosthetic limb, each of the prosthetic limbs must be costume fitted and built since each amputation of the patient is unique. The design and fabrication process of artificial limb consists of several different steps and begins with a precise measurement process that will be used to design the prosthetic limb. If possible, a prosthetist begins taking measurements before the patient's limb is even amputated, so that the fabrication process can get started. Today, much research which has been done in Augmented Reality and 3D scanning technologies shows that these technologies can help people with disabilities to have better experience in their life by using them in... 

Taking into account the fast and ever-increasing pace of data growth, clustering algorithms emerge as the key tools for data analysis in new researches. Clustering remain as a method for decomposing data into clusters, in such a way that similar data coalesce in the same group. Different algorithms conduct clustering according to a series of initial hypotheses, without being informed about the clusters’ form and aims. Hence, in case with no conformity between initial hypothesis and the clustering aim, one cannot expect adequate response from the clustering algorithm. Exploitation of side information in clustering can play an impactful role in introduction of real models into clustering... 

The topic of influencing and regulating the behavior of communities is one which has always gathered attention by various governments, civic institutions, organizations and individuals. Research in this topic has recently been accelerated with the expansion of large scale online social networks. The massive moment of user data which exists in such settings has led to various researchers investigating methods to create new social behaviors such as habits, values and norms, with the core of these methods being the flow of ideas between social actors in order to create such social habits and behaviors.In this context, social norms are a core concept in social sciences and play a critical role... 

Scheduling algorithms are responsible for allocation of various types of resources, interference management, and choosing the times and paths through which messages are to be delivered in a communication network. We consider certain fundamental problems in network scheduling. Any scheduling algorithm, to be practical, must have tractable computational complexity and tolerable delay. In the first part of the thesis, we address the following question: “for a given class of networks, does there exist a scheduling algorithm that performs polynomially many computations (in terms of the network dimensions), while keeping the expected delay of the network polynomially bounded (again in terms of the... 

let Mn n be a positive semmi definite matrix and M:= (U; B) be a matroid. Consider the problem of finding S 2 B such that det(MS;S) is maximized, in witch MS; S is the submatrix of M, restricted to rows and columns of S. This problem has a variety of applications including page ranking algorithms. The problem above is an NP-hard problem in the general case. However, there are several approximating and estimating algorithms for some special cases, which are interesting. Also, exactly solving the problem is NP-hard, even for some special matroids. As an example, one can consider the uniform matroids. Khachiyan introduced a greedy algorithm with dd approximation factor. Afterward, Di summa et... 

In this study, a smart grid algorithm based on pricing and by considering a model in the electricity market is presenting, which is focused on reducing the cost of production for the supplier as well as increase the utility for the electricity consumer. The algorithm has been also modeling by considering multiple suppliers. The model has been designing by taking the home subscribers in to account and to increase their social welfare. The difference between the following developing model compared to the other ones, which are presented so far, is the consideration of the competition between suppliers and the real-time pricing conditions. In fact, in this model, the price of electricity has... 

Payment channel networks (PCNs) are a promising technology to improve the scalability of cryptocurrencies. Users can send instant and almost free transactions via payment channel networks and, at the same time, enjoy the security guarantees of Blockchains. In order to open a mutual payment channel, two users should send a ``channel creation" transaction to the underlying Blockchain. Through this transaction, two parties deposit some money on the Blockchain. This money, which we call the channel's capacity, can be used to send off-chain transactions between the two users. After the channel creation, the channel-holders can send each other off-chain transactions by forwarding the money back...