We give a function h : {0, 1} → {0, 1} such that every deMorgan formula of size n3−o(1)/r2 agrees with h on at most a fraction of 1 2 + 2 −Ω(r) of the inputs. This improves the previous average-case lower bound of Komargodski and Raz (STOC, 2013). Our technical contributions include a theorem that shows that the “expected shrinkage” result of H̊astad (SIAM J. Comput., 1998) actually holds with v...

In this work we study the list-decoding size of Reed-Muller codes. Given a received word and a distance parameter, we are interested in bounding the size of the list of Reed-Muller codewords that are within that distance from the received word. Previous bounds of Gopalan, Klivans and Zuckerman [4] on the list size of Reed-Muller codes apply only up to the minimum distance of the code. In this w...

We present trigonometric parallax observations of GD 362 obtained over seven epochs using the MDM 2.4m Hiltner Telescope. The existence of a dust disk around this possibly massive white dwarf makes it an interesting target for parallax observations. The measured parallax for GD 362 places it at a distance of 50.6 −3.1 pc, which implies that its radius and mass are ≈ 0.0106R⊙ and 0.71M⊙, respect...

We give the first explicit construction of deterministic extractors for affine sources over F2, with entropy k ≥ log n for some large enough constant C, where n is the length of the source. Previously the best known results are by Bourgain [Bou07], Yehudayoff [Yeh11] and Li [Li11b], which require the affine source to have entropy at least Ω(n/ √ log log n). Our extractor outputs one bit with er...

BACKGROUND In military men, performance such as gun-shooting precision relies on factors such as the ability to resist visual illusion, and this misperception of visual stimulus might be linked with sensation seeking related personality. METHODS We have invited 103 male military men and 104 age-matched university male students to undergo the experiment of the Brentano version of the Müller-Ly...

Interpersonal cognitive consistency is a driving force in group behavior. In this article, we propose a new model of interpersonal cognitive consistency in collective decision making. Building on ideas from the mutual enhancement model (Wittenbaum, Hubbell, & Zuckerman, 1999), we argue that group members evaluate one another more positively when they mention information confirming each other's ...

This research presents a review of the psychometric measures on boredom that have been developed over the past 25 years. Specifically, the author examined the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS; R. Farmer & N. D. Sundberg, 1986), the job boredom scales by E. A. Grubb (1975) and T. W. Lee (1986), a boredom coping measure (J. A. Hamilton, R. J. Haier, & M. S. Buchsbaum, 1984), 2 scales that assess leis...

We consider the problem of constructing randomness extractors that are locally computable; that is, read only a small number of bits from their input. As recently shown by Lu (CRYPTO ‘02 ), locally computable extractors directly yield secure private-key cryptosystems in Maurer’s bounded storage model (J. Cryptology, 1992). We suggest a general “sample-then-extract” approach to constructing loca...

The aim of this study was to compare the psychometric properties (normal distribution values, reliabilities and factor structure) of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) and the Temperament and Character Inventory revised (TCI-R). The total sample consisted of 482 subjects (53.1% men and 46.9% women) from diverse age. Results showed somewhat better psychometric propert...