Prize Sharing in Collective Contests

The characteristics of endogenously determined sharing rules and the group-size paradox are studied in a model of group contest with the following features: (i) The prize has mixed private-public good characteristics. (ii) Groups can differ in marginal cost of effort and their membership size. (iii) In each group the members decide how much effort to put without observing the sharing rules of the other groups. It is shown that endogenous determination of group sharing rules completely eliminates the group-size paradox, i.e. a larger group always attains a higher winning probability than a smaller group, unless the prize is purely private. In addition, an interesting pattern of equilibrium group sharing rules is revealed: the group attaining the lower winning probability is the one choosing the rule giving higher incentives to the members.collective contest, mixed public-good prize, endogenous sharing rules, the group-size paradox

An archaeological investigation of hybridization in Bantenese and Dutch colonial encounters: food and foodways in the Sultanate of Banten, Java, 17th to early 19th century

The constant mutability of cultures as they meet and mix provides an ongoing laboratory in which to explore human dynamics. In this dissertation, I analyze the process and results of one indigenous-colonial encounter in Dutch Indonesia, using archaeological evidence from Banten, Java that illuminates interactions between Bantenese elites and Dutch East India Company (VOC) soldiers in the 17th to early 19th century. Banten, a global trade center and the focal point of Dutch expansion in Asia, had a cosmopolitan and multinational society of long standing, already apparent when the Dutch arrived in 1596. My research shows that a kind of "reverse" colonialism occurred here. Bantenese cultural influences penetrated more deeply into Dutch culture than the other way around, so that colonial Dutch culture took on a new, hybridized identity. Utensils and vessels necessary for preparing and serving meals from excavations in the indigenous Sultan's Surosowan Palace, its surrounding Fort Diamond manned by VOC soldiers, and the Dutch headquarters at Fort Speelwijk provide the evidence. Petrographic and archaeological study indicate that the Dutch used locally produced Bantenese-style cooking vessels and lids, rather than import European tripod pots to accommodate their traditional open-fire cooking. Local Bantenese continued to use cooking stoves without tripod vessels, maintaining their culinary habits. VOC archives revealed a change in Dutch staple food from bread to rice. Hired male cooks and local women who prepared home meals (as wives and concubines) acted as cultural conduits, while vibrant local manufacturing and trade made local goods readily available. Thus Dutch cooking became hybridized with locally available vessels and ingredients. The Banten results differed from the Dutch Cape Colony in South Africa but were similar to the Dejima trading post in Japan where the Dutch relied on local products. I conclude that proximity and daily interactions with the host society were crucial for shaping Dutch responses to the new environments and creating hybrid culture, instead of replicating their homeland. This study places Banten on the global map of cross-cultural interactions and colonial discourse; I hope to stimulate other researchers to test my hypotheses and build on these interpretations.2016-12-31T00:00:00

Cost Sharing in Collective Contests

This paper studies collective contests with endogenous cost sharing, general effort costs and intra-group heterogeneity of prize-valuation. Our objective is to clarify the relationship between cost sharing, intra-group heterogeneity within the competing groups and the elasticity of the marginal cost of effort incurred by the individual contestants. We also wish to stress the significance of intra-group heterogeneity in comparing the performance of cost sharing relative to prize sharing as a means of resolution of the collective action problem faced by the competing groups and present preliminary results for such comparisons. Our main results ascertain that unequal valuations of the contested prize within a group tend to result in a low degree of cost sharing. That is, intra-group heterogeneity prevents the group from establishing strong cost-sharing selective incentives

Intra-group heterogeneity in collective contests

Collective contests are examined permitting heterogeneity of stakes within every competing group. Our first concern is whether unequal distribution of stakes in a group can enhance its win probability. Our second concern is whether a large stake in a group can be individually disadvantageous. We find that if a contest is sufficiently hard for a group, the answers to these questions are positive under plausible conditions. In such situations, monopoly of the private stake is most effective in enhancing the group's performance. Ironically, in the same cases, the welfare of many group members would be negatively related to the size of their individual stake

How to Factor N_1 and N_2 When p_1=p_2 mod 2^t

Let $N_1=p_1q_1$ and $N_2=p_2q_2$ be two different RSA moduli. Suppose that $p_1=p_2 \bmod 2^t$ for some $t$, and $q_1$ and $q_2$ are $\alpha$ bit primes. Then May and Ritzenhofen showed that $N_1$ and $N_2$ can be factored in quadratic time if $$t \geq 2\alpha+3.$$ In this paper, we improve this lower bound on $t$. Namely we prove that $N_1$ and $N_2$ can be factored in quadratic time if $$t \geq 2\alpha+1.$$ Further our simulation result shows that our bound is tight

Thermoelectric properties of delafossite-type layered oxides AgIn1–xSnxO2

The thermoelectric properties of delafossite-type layered oxides AgIn1–xSnxO2 that consist of alternating layers of Ag and In1–xSnxO2 were investigated to elucidate their potential as a thermoelectric material. Polycrystalline materials of the AgIn1–xSnxO2 were prepared by a cation exchange reaction between NaIn1–xSnxO2 and AgCl. The solubility limit of the Sn atoms on the In sites was approximately x=0.05. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient were measured between 373 and 673 K in air. Undoped AgInO2 was an n-type semiconductor with conductivities of 10–4–10–2 –1 cm–1, and the electron carriers were generated via the formation of oxygen vacancies. AgIn0.95Sn0.05O2 was an n-type degenerate semiconductor with conductivities of 100–101 –1 cm–1 where the Sn atoms acted as electron donors. This drastic increase in the electrical conductivity increased the thermoelectric power factor by approximately two orders of magnitude to 10–6–10–5 W m–1 K–2

Paths to Power in the Early Stage of Colonialism: An Archaeological Study of the Sultanate of Banten, Java, Indonesia, the Seventeenth to Early Nineteenth Century

This article discusses the results of our archaeological research at an important global pepper-trading center located in west Java, Indonesia, to examine the sultan’s power and the transition processes from the year 1682 when the Dutch East India Company effectively took political and economic control over the sultanate, until the official end of the Sultanate of Banten in 1813. Through the study of prestige goods and food used at the court, we critically explore power relationships in this early stage of colonialism. The results of our study suggest that European cultural influence was limited to the public domain and most aspects of the sultan’s daily life largely remained unchanged. However, the changing political structure was one factor in the eventual decline of the sultan’s power. The archaeological focus on foodways in the study presented here reveals a more nuanced understanding of these gradual political changes than has been suggested by previous archaeological research primarily based on monumental architecture and major historical events

An Experimental Study on the Diffusion Characteristics of Turbulent Flow in a Low Speed Wind Tunnel

This paper describes the results of a study on diffusion characteristics of turbulent flow in a wind tunnel, in which the turbulent flow was obtained by a grid. The lateral turbulent velocity deviation ranged from 1.01 to 1.14 times the longitudinal turbulent velocity deviation for mean wind velocities from 2 to 8 m/sec and mesh sizes of grid from 4.5 to 13.5 cm, and the isotropic condition was almost satisfied. The decay of turbulence was expressed with the equation /U＝m(x/M)⁻α, where : longitudinal turbulent velocity variance, U : mean wind velocity, x : distance from the grid, M : mesh size of the grid, and α, m are constants. From 11 tracer gas experiments, we obtained the Lagrangian correlation coefficient and found the Lagrangian and Eulerian correlation coefficients had similar shapes within the range of time-lag from 0 to 400 milliseconds. The ratios of the Lagrangian to Eulerian time scale, β, were between 4 and 11

シェア関数アプローチの公共経済学への応用に関する研究

2020南山大学シェア関数アプローチの公共経済学への応用に関する研究2017～2020年度科学研究費助成事業 (基盤研究 (C) (一般)) 研究成果報告