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Yu Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Yu Zhang.

At least 1,693 records · Page 94Linked to original sources
arXiv2011

Technology ready use of single layer graphene as a transparent electrode for hybrid photovoltaic devices

Graphene has been used recently as a replacement for indium tin oxide (ITO) for the transparent electrode of an organic photovoltaic device. Due to its limited supply, ITO is considered as a limiting factor for the commercialization of organic solar cells. We explored the use of large-area graphene grown on copper by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and then transferred to a glass substrate as an alternative transparent electrode. The transferred film was shown by scanning Raman spectroscopy measurements to consist of >90% single layer graphene. Optical spectroscopy measurements showed that the layer-transferred graphene has an optical absorbance of 1.23% at a wavelength of 532 nm. We fabricated organic hybrid solar cells utilizing this material as an electrode and compared their performance with ITO devices fabricated using the same procedure. We demonstrated power conversion efficiency up to 3.98%, higher than that of the ITO device (3.86%), showing that layer-transferred graphene promises to be a high quality, low-cost, flexible material for transparent electrodes in solar cell technology.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2011

Program Equivalence in Linear Contexts

Program equivalence in linear contexts, where programs are used or executed exactly once, is an important issue in programming languages. However, existing techniques like those based on bisimulations and logical relations only target at contextual equivalence in the usual (non-linear) functional languages, and fail in capturing non-trivial equivalent programs in linear contexts, particularly when non-determinism is present. We propose the notion of linear contextual equivalence to formally characterize such program equivalence, as well as a novel and general approach to studying it in higher-order languages, based on labeled transition systems specifically designed for functional languages. We show that linear contextual equivalence indeed coincides with trace equivalence - it is sound and complete. We illustrate our technique in both deterministic (a linear version of PCF) and non-deterministic (linear PCF in Moggi's framework) functional languages.

cs.PL↗
arXiv2011

Production and Network Formation Games with Content Heterogeneity

Online social networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube) provide a popular, cost-effective and scalable framework for sharing user-generated contents. This paper addresses the intrinsic incentive problems residing in social networks using a game-theoretic model where individual users selfishly trade off the costs of forming links (i.e. whom they interact with) and producing contents personally against the potential rewards from doing so. Departing from the assumption that contents produced by difference users is perfectly substitutable, we explicitly consider heterogeneity in user-generated contents and study how it influences users' behavior and the structure of social networks. Given content heterogeneity, we rigorously prove that when the population of a social network is sufficiently large, every (strict) non-cooperative equilibrium should consist of either a symmetric network topology where each user produces the same amount of content and has the same degree, or a two-level hierarchical topology with all users belonging to either of the two types: influencers who produce large amounts of contents and subscribers who produce small amounts of contents and get most of their contents from influencers. Meanwhile, the law of the few disappears in such networks. Moreover, we prove that the social optimum is always achieved by networks with symmetric topologies, where the sum of users' utilities is maximized. To provide users with incentives for producing and mutually sharing the socially optimal amount of contents, a pricing scheme is proposed, with which we show that the social optimum can be achieved as a non-cooperative equilibrium with the pricing of content acquisition and link formation.

cs.SI↗
arXiv2011

Strategic Learning and Robust Protocol Design for Online Communities with Selfish Users

This paper focuses on analyzing the free-riding behavior of self-interested users in online communities. Hence, traditional optimization methods for communities composed of compliant users such as network utility maximization cannot be applied here. In our prior work, we show how social reciprocation protocols can be designed in online communities which have populations consisting of a continuum of users and are stationary under stochastic permutations. Under these assumptions, we are able to prove that users voluntarily comply with the pre-determined social norms and cooperate with other users in the community by providing their services. In this paper, we generalize the study by analyzing the interactions of self-interested users in online communities with finite populations and are not stationary. To optimize their long-term performance based on their knowledge, users adapt their strategies to play their best response by solving individual stochastic control problems. The best-response dynamic introduces a stochastic dynamic process in the community, in which the strategies of users evolve over time. We then investigate the long-term evolution of a community, and prove that the community will converge to stochastically stable equilibria which are stable against stochastic permutations. Understanding the evolution of a community provides protocol designers with guidelines for designing social norms in which no user has incentives to adapt its strategy and deviate from the prescribed protocol, thereby ensuring that the adopted protocol will enable the community to achieve the optimal social welfare.

cs.LG↗
arXiv2011

Reputation-based Incentive Protocols in Crowdsourcing Applications

Crowdsourcing websites (e.g. Yahoo! Answers, Amazon Mechanical Turk, and etc.) emerged in recent years that allow requesters from all around the world to post tasks and seek help from an equally global pool of workers. However, intrinsic incentive problems reside in crowdsourcing applications as workers and requester are selfish and aim to strategically maximize their own benefit. In this paper, we propose to provide incentives for workers to exert effort using a novel game-theoretic model based on repeated games. As there is always a gap in the social welfare between the non-cooperative equilibria emerging when workers pursue their self-interests and the desirable Pareto efficient outcome, we propose a novel class of incentive protocols based on social norms which integrates reputation mechanisms into the existing pricing schemes currently implemented on crowdsourcing websites, in order to improve the performance of the non-cooperative equilibria emerging in such applications. We first formulate the exchanges on a crowdsourcing website as a two-sided market where requesters and workers are matched and play gift-giving games repeatedly. Subsequently, we study the protocol designer's problem of finding an optimal and sustainable (equilibrium) protocol which achieves the highest social welfare for that website. We prove that the proposed incentives protocol can make the website operate close to Pareto efficiency. Moreover, we also examine an alternative scenario, where the protocol designer aims at maximizing the revenue of the website and evaluate the performance of the optimal protocol.

cs.AI↗
arXiv2011

A derivative formula for the free energy function

We consider bond percolation on the ${\bf Z}^d$ lattice. Let $M_n$ be the number of open clusters in $B(n)=[-n, n]^d$. It is well known that $E_pM_n / (2n+1)^d$ converges to the free energy function $κ(p)$ at the zero field. In this paper, we show that $σ^2_p(M_n)/(2n+1)^d$ converges to $-(p^2(1-p)+p(1-p)^2)κ'(p)$.

math.PR↗
arXiv2011

Social Norms for Online Communities

Sustaining cooperation among self-interested agents is critical for the proliferation of emerging online social communities, such as online communities formed through social networking services. Providing incentives for cooperation in social communities is particularly challenging because of their unique features: a large population of anonymous agents interacting infrequently, having asymmetric interests, and dynamically joining and leaving the community; operation errors; and low-cost reputation whitewashing. In this paper, taking these features into consideration, we propose a framework for the design and analysis of a class of incentive schemes based on a social norm, which consists of a reputation scheme and a social strategy. We first define the concept of a sustainable social norm under which every agent has an incentive to follow the social strategy given the reputation scheme. We then formulate the problem of designing an optimal social norm, which selects a social norm that maximizes overall social welfare among all sustainable social norms. Using the proposed framework, we study the structure of optimal social norms and the impacts of punishment lengths and whitewashing on optimal social norms. Our results show that optimal social norms are capable of sustaining cooperation, with the amount of cooperation varying depending on the community characteristics.

cs.SI↗
arXiv2011

Peer-to-Peer Multimedia Sharing based on Social Norms

Empirical data shows that in the absence of incentives, a peer participating in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network wishes to free-riding. Most solutions for providing incentives in P2P networks are based on direct reciprocity, which are not appropriate for most P2P multimedia sharing networks due to the unique features exhibited by such networks: large populations of anonymous agents interacting infrequently, asymmetric interests of peers, network errors, and multiple concurrent transactions. In this paper, we design and rigorously analyze a new family of incentive protocols that utilizes indirect reciprocity which is based on the design of efficient social norms. In the proposed P2P protocols, the social norms consist of a social strategy, which represents the rule prescribing to the peers when they should or should not provide content to other peers, and a reputation scheme, which rewards or punishes peers depending on whether they comply or not with the social strategy. We first define the concept of a sustainable social norm, under which no peer has an incentive to deviate. We then formulate the problem of designing optimal social norms, which selects the social norm that maximizes the network performance among all sustainable social norms. Hence, we prove that it becomes in the self-interest of peers to contribute their content to the network rather than to free-ride. We also investigate the impact of various punishment schemes on the social welfare as well as how should the optimal social norms be designed if altruistic and malicious peers are active in the network. Our results show that optimal social norms are capable of providing significant improvements in the sharing efficiency of multimedia P2P networks.

cs.MM↗
arXiv2010

Formation of Hydrogenated Graphene Nanoripples by Strain Engineering and Directed Surface Self-assembly

We propose a new class of semiconducting graphene-based nanostructures: hydrogenated graphene nanoripples (HGNRs), based on continuum-mechanics analysis and first principles calculations. They are formed via a two-step combinatorial approach: first by strain engineered pattern formation of graphene nanoripples, followed by a curvature-directed self-assembly of H adsorption. It offers a high level of control of the structure and morphology of the HGNRs, and hence their band gaps which share common features with graphene nanoribbons. A cycle of H adsorption/desorption at/from the same surface locations completes a reversible metal-semiconductor-metal transition with the same band gap.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2010

Efficient Relay Beamforming Design with SIC Detection for Dual-Hop MIMO Relay Networks

In this paper, we consider a dual-hop Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) relay wireless network, in which a source-destination pair both equipped with multiple antennas communicates through a large number of half-duplex amplify-and-forward (AF) relay terminals. Two novel linear beamforming schemes based on the matched filter (MF) and regularized zero-forcing (RZF) precoding techniques are proposed for the MIMO relay system. We focus on the linear process at the relay nodes and design the new relay beamformers by utilizing the channel state information (CSI) of both backward channel and forward channel. The proposed beamforming designs are based on the QR decomposition (QRD) filter at the destination node which performs successive interference cancellation (SIC) to achieve the maximum spatial multiplexing gain. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed beamformers that fulfil both the intranode array gain and distributed array gain outperform other relaying schemes under different system parameters in terms of the ergodic capacity.

cs.NI↗
arXiv2010

Lifted Heegaard Surfaces and Virtually Haken Manifolds

In this paper, we give infinitely many non-Haken hyperbolic genus three 3-manifolds each of which has a finite cover whose induced Heegaard surface from some genus three Heegaard surface of the base manifold is reducible but can be compressed into an incompressible surface. This result supplements [CG] and extends [MMZ].

math.GT↗
arXiv2009

Quantum phase transitional patterns in the SD-pair shell model

Patterns of shape-phase transition in the proton-neutron coupled systems are studied within the $SD$-pair shell model. The results show that some transitional patterns in the $SD$-pair shell model are similar to the $U(5)-SU(3)$, $U(5)-SO(6)$ transitions with signatures of the critical point symmetry of the interacting boson model.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2008

A simple proof of exponential decay in the two dimensional percolation model

Kesten showed the exponential decay of percolation probability in the subcritical phase for the two-dimensional percolation model. This result implies his celebrated computation that $p_c=0.5$ for bond percolation in the square lattice, and site percolation in the triangular lattice, respectively. In this paper, we present a simpler proof for Kesten's theorem.

math.PR↗
arXiv2008

Property of the low-lying states at the critical point of the phase transition in U(4) vibron model

We study the properties of the low-lying states at the critical point of the phase transition from U(3) to O(4) symmetry in the U(4) vibron model in detail. By analyzing the general characteristics and comparing the calculated results of the energy spectra and the E1, E2 transition rates in E(3) symmetry, in $r^4$ potential model and the finite boson number case in boson space, we find that the results in the $r^4$ potential demonstrates the characteristic of the classical limit at the critical point well and the E(3) symmetry over-predict the energy levels and under-predict the E1 and E2 transition rates of the states at the critical point. However, the E(3) symmetry may describe part of the properties of the system with boson number around 10 to 20. We also confirm that the 12C+12C system is an empirical evidence of the state at the critical point of the phase transition in the U(4) model when concerning the energies of the low-lying resonant states.

nucl-th↗