Abstract: A job scheduler may schedule concurrent distributed jobs in a computer cluster by assigning tasks from the running jobs to compute nodes while balancing fairness with efficiency. Determining which tasks to assign to the compute nodes may be performed using a network flow graph. The weights on at least some of the edges of the graph encode data locality, and the capacities provide constraints that ensure fairness. A min-cost flow technique may be used to perform an assignment of the tasks represented by the network flow graph. Thus, online task scheduling with locality may be mapped onto a network flow graph, which in turn may be used to determine a scheduling assignment using min-cost flow techniques. The costs may encode data locality, fairness, and starvation-freedom.

Abstract: A query log includes a list of queries and a count for each query representing the number of times that the query was received by a search engine. In order to provide differential privacy protection to the queries, noise is generated and added to each count, and queries that have counts that fall below a threshold are removed from the query log. A distribution associated with a function used to generate the noise is referenced to determine a distribution of a number of times that a hypothetical query having a zero count would have its count exceed the threshold after the addition of noise. Random queries of an amount equal to a sample from the distribution of number of times are added to the query log with a count that is greater than the threshold count.

Abstract: To use market clearing methods to determine market equilibrium, a market clearing situation is established by determining a number of items to be sold at the market price and allotting a number of pseudo items assignable to bids below the market price. Once bids are received for the items, using the number of pseudo items and the actual items as the supply side, and the total funds bid as the demand side, a market clearing price is determinable using a market clearing equilibrium model. Funds assigned to pseudo items are returned or not charged. Further, by selling items only to bids exceeding the market clearing price, such as by setting the market price incrementally above the market clearing price, bidders are encouraged to submit bid prices bid reflecting what the items are worth to them instead of attempting to bid strategically to guess or set the market price.

Abstract: A system for answering sets of queries on a set of private data while providing differential privacy protection is provided. The set of queries is received and applied to the set of private data to generate a set of results or answers. A geometric representation of the set of queries is generated. Example geometric representations include polytopes. Error values are generated for the set of queries using a K-norm mechanism based on values sampled from the geometric representation. The sampled values are added to the set of results to provide the differential privacy protection. By generating the error values based on the set of queries rather than the set of results or the set of private data, the amount of error added to the generated results to achieve a level of differential privacy protection is reduced.

Abstract: A query log includes a list of queries and a count for each query representing the number of times that the query was received by a search engine. In order to provide differential privacy protection to the queries, noise is generated and added to each count, and queries that have counts that fall below a threshold are removed from the query log. A distribution associated with a function used to generate the noise is referenced to determine a distribution of a number of times that a hypothetical query having a zero count would have its count exceed the threshold after the addition of noise. Random queries of an amount equal to a sample from the distribution of number of times are added to the query log with a count that is greater than the threshold count.

Abstract: Auction prices for a quantity of items, the quantity of which is not determined prior to auction, are equilibrated among bidders to reflect supply and demand for the items. For example, in auctioning Internet advertising opportunities, the first available opportunities are auctioned to a high bidder. Later in the course of the auction period, once the high bidder's budget has been exhausted, the price for advertising opportunities is reduced. The difference in price paid by the high bidder and the reduced price for the quantity of advertising opportunities purchased is credited to the high bidder's account. Once the high bidder's account regains a level sufficient to acquire additional advertising opportunities, the high bidder may continue to acquire advertising opportunities. Other bidders similarly are credited the difference between prices previously paid and the current price. An equilibrium price is reached based on the recursive adjustment of prices paid by the bidders.

Abstract: A job scheduler may schedule concurrent distributed jobs in a computer cluster by assigning tasks from the running jobs to compute nodes while balancing fairness with efficiency. Determining which tasks to assign to the compute nodes may be performed using a network flow graph. The weights on at least some of the edges of the graph encode data locality, and the capacities provide constraints that ensure fairness. A min-cost flow technique may be used to perform an assignment of the tasks represented by the network flow graph. Thus, online task scheduling with locality may be mapped onto a network flow graph, which in turn may be used to determine a scheduling assignment using min-cost flow techniques. The costs may encode data locality, fairness, and starvation-freedom.

Abstract: To use market clearing methods to determine market equilibrium, a market clearing situation is established by determining a number of items to be sold at the market price and allotting a number of pseudo items assignable to bids below the market price. Once bids are received for the items, using the number of pseudo items and the actual items as the supply side, and the total funds bid as the demand side, a market clearing price is determinable using a market clearing equilibrium model. Funds assigned to pseudo items are returned or not charged. Further, by selling items only to bids exceeding the market clearing price, such as by setting the market price incrementally above the market clearing price, bidders are encouraged to submit bid prices bid reflecting what the items are worth to them instead of attempting to bid strategically to guess or set the market price.

Abstract: A virtual machine distribution system is described herein that uses a multiphase approach that provides a fast layout of virtual machines on physical computers followed by at least one verification phase that verifies that the layout is correct. During the fast layout phase, the system uses a dimension-aware vector bin-packing algorithm to determine an initial fit of virtual machines to physical hardware based on rescaled resource utilizations calculated against hardware models. During the verification phase, the system uses a virtualization model to check the recommended fit of virtual machine guests to physical hosts created during the fast layout phase to ensure that the distribution will not over-utilize any host given the overhead associated with virtualization. The system modifies the layout to eliminate any identified overutilization. Thus, the virtual machine distribution system provides the advantages of a fast, automated layout planning process with the robustness of slower, exhaustive processes.

Abstract: A method for packing virtual machines onto host devices may calculate scarcity values for several different parameters. A host's scarcity for a parameter may be determined by multiplying the host's capacity for a parameter with the overall scarcity of that parameter. The sum of a host's scarcity for all the parameters determines the host's overall scarcity. Hosts having the highest scarcity are attempted to be populated with a group of virtual machines selected for compatibility with the host. In many cases, several different scenarios may be evaluated and an optimal scenario implemented. The method gives a high priority to those virtual machines that consume scarce resources, with the scarcity being a function of the available hardware and the virtual machines that may be placed on them.

Abstract: In auctioning items, pseudo bids are determined based on the bid price and auction budget submitted by a bidder. The bid associated with the highest pseudo bid is identified as the winning bid. A consistent pseudo bid function is applied to determine the pseudo bids for each of the bids, or a variable pseudo bid function is selectively applied to some bids. The pseudo bid increases with increased bid prices and/or increased auction budgets. When a winning bid is identified, the winner's auction budget is debited the price of the item won, and the pseudo bid is recalculated using the remaining auction budget. Bidders submitting higher auction budgets are rewarded by being able to win more items because their auction budgets increase their pseudo bids. Recalculating pseudo bids based on remaining auction budgets allows different bidders to alternately win successive rounds as previous winners'auction budgets are reduced.

Abstract: To use market clearing methods to determine market equilibrium, a market clearing situation is established by determining a number of items to be sold at the market price and allotting a number of pseudo items assignable to bids below the market price. Once bids are received for the items, using the number of pseudo items and the actual items as the supply side, and the total funds bid as the demand side, a market clearing price is determinable using a market clearing equilibrium model. Funds assigned to pseudo items are returned or not charged. Further, by selling items only to bids exceeding the market clearing price, such as by setting the market price incrementally above the market clearing price, bidders are encouraged to submit bid prices bid reflecting what the items are worth to them instead of attempting to bid strategically to guess or set the market price.

Abstract: Techniques are provided that identify near-duplicate items in large collections of items. A list of (value, frequency) pairs is received, and a sample (value, instance) is returned. The value is chosen from the values of the first list, and the instance is a value less than frequency, in such a way that the probability of selecting the same sample from two lists is equal to the similarity of the two lists.

Abstract: Documents that are near-duplicates may be determined using techniques involving consistent uniform hashing. A biased bit may be placed in the leading position of a sequence of bits that may be generated and subsequently used in comparison techniques to determine near-duplicate documents. Unbiased bits may be used in subsequent positions of the sequence of bits, after the biased bit, for use in comparison techniques. Samples may be used collectively, as opposed to individually, in the generation of biased bits. Sequences of bits may thus be produced not on a single sample basis, but for multiple samples, thereby amortizing the cost of generating randomness for the samples. Less than one bit of randomness per sample may be used.

Abstract: Advertising slots on a search engine results page may be determined based on keywords and/or results to a user query. Advertisers may use the keywords and/or the results to the query to place their ads into the advertising slots. Rules may be applied to determine how ads are displayed or not displayed. For example, a larger set of keywords may be inferred from the initial set of keywords on which the ad provider placed her bids. This greatly increases the potential reach of an advertiser's ad campaign or a search engine provider's revenue from ad placement.

Abstract: Techniques for contingency table release provide an accurate and consistent set of tables while guaranteeing that privacy is preserved. A positive and integral database is constructed that corresponds to these tables. Therefore, a database can be generated that preserves low-order marginals up to a small error. Moreover, a gracefully degrading version of the results is provided as a database can be computed such that the error in the low-order marginals is small, and increases smoothly with the order of the marginal.

Abstract: Documents that are near-duplicates may be determined using techniques such as min-hashing. Randomness that is used in these techniques may be based on sequences of bits. The sequences of bits may be generated from a string of bits, with the sequences determined by parsing the string at each occurrence of a particular value, such as the value “1”.

Abstract: Techniques are provided that identify near-duplicate items in large collections of items. A list of (value, frequency) pairs is received, and a sample (value, instance) is returned. The value is chosen from the values of the first list, and the instance is a value less than frequency, in such a way that the probability of selecting the same sample from two lists is equal to the similarity of the two lists.

Abstract: AND/OR graphs representative of database transactions are leveraged to facilitate in providing transaction deadlock resolutions with a guarantee in performance. In one instance, predominantly OR-based transaction deadlocks are resolved via killing a minimum cost set of graph nodes to release associated resources. This process can be performed cyclically to resolve additional deadlocks. This allows a minimal impact approach to resolving deadlocks without requiring wholesale cancellation of all transactions and restarting of entire systems. In another instance, a model is provided that facilitates in resolving deadlocks permanently. In an AND-based transaction case, a bipartite mixed graph is employed to provide a graph representative of adversarially schedulable transactions that can acquire resource locks in any order without deadlocking.

Abstract: Click-based algorithms are leveraged to provide protection against fraudulent user clicks of online advertisements. This enables mitigation of short term losses due to the fraudulent clicks and also mitigates long term advantages caused by the fraud. The techniques employed utilize “expected click wait” instead of CTR to determine the likelihood that a future click will occur. An expected click wait is based on the number of events that occur before a certain number of clicks are obtained. The events can also include advertisement impressions and/or sale and the like. This flexibility allows for fraud detection of other systems by transforming the other systems to clock-tick fraud based systems. Averages, including weighted averages, can also be utilized with the systems and methods herein to facilitate in providing a fraud resistant estimate of the CTR.