We generalize recent linear lower bounds for Polynomial Calculus based on binomial ideals. We produce a general hardness criterion (that we call immunity) which is satisfied by a random function and prove linear lower bounds on the size of PC refutations for a wide class of tautologies based on immune functions. As some applications of our techniques, we introduce modp Tseitin tautologies in th...

The paper concerns a model of influence in which agents make their decisions on a certain issue. We assume that each agent is inclined to make a particular decision, but due to a possible influence of the others, his final decision may be different from his initial inclination. Since in reality the influence does not necessarily stop after one step, but may iterate, we present a model which all...

Previously, we introduced the best-expert problem, and we proved a O(ln K) mistake bound for the majority vote algorithm when a perfect expert exists, i.e., there is an expert that never makes mistakes. Now let us turn to the more realistic case where there is no perfect expert among the committee. We extend the majority vote algorithm with a confidence weight. At each round, we maintain a weig...

bstract. We present an order-statistics-based vector filter for the emoval of impulsive noise from color images. The filter preserves he edges and fine image details by switching between the identity no filtering) operation and the vector median filter operation based n the robust univariate median operator. Experiments on a diverse et of images and comparisons with state of the art filters sho...

election and electing publics authorities, statemen, parliament representative and local council,s members by people is un undeniable prerequisites of democracy. a state claiming democracy but lacking institutions as electoral systems and referendum could not be found. nevertheless electoral procedures are not identical everywhere. in some countries the nominee has to obtain the landslide (simp...

If k < n, can one express the majority of n bits as the majority of at most k majorities, each of at most k bits? We prove that such an expression is possible only if k & n = n. This improves on a bound proved by Kulikov and Podolskii [KP17], who showed that k & n. Our proof is based on ideas originating in discrepancy theory, as well as a strong concentration bound for sums of independent Bern...

brain stimulation techniques are important in both basic and clinical studies. majority of well-known brain stimulating techniques have low spatial resolution or entail invasive processes. low intensity focused ultrasound (lifu) seems to be a proper candidate for dealing with such deficiencies. this review recapitulates studies which explored the effects of lifu on brain structures and its func...

In the well-studied Majority problem, we are given a set of n balls colored with two or more colors, and the goal is to use the minimum number of color comparisons to find a ball of the majority color (i.e., a color that occurs for more than n/2 times). The Plurality problem has exactly the same setting while the goal is to find a ball of the dominant color (i.e., a color that occurs most often...

The notion of conceptual structure in CA rules that perform the density classification task (DCT) was introduced by [1]. Here we investigate the role of process-symmetry in CAs that solve the DCT, in particular the idea of conceptual similarity, which defines a novel search space for CA rules. We report on two new process-symmetric onedimensional rules for the DCT which have the highest “balanc...