The stability and breakup of nations : a quantitative analysis

This paper presents a model of nations where agents vote on the optimal level of public spending. Larger nations bene t from increasing returns in the provision of public goods, but bear the costs of greater cultural heterogeneity. This tradeo induces agents' preferences over di fferent geographical con gurations, thus determining the likelihood of secessions or unions. After calibrating the model to Europe, we identify the regions prone to secession and the countries most likely to merge. As a test of the theory, we show that the model can account for the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dynamics of its disintegration. We also provide empirical support for the use of genetic distances as a proxy for cultural heterogeneity.Financial aid from the Spanish Ministry of Science (ECO2008-01300) and the Fundación BBVA 3-04X is gratefully acknowledge

A model of the dynamics of organizational communication

We propose a model of the dynamics of organizational communication. Our model specifies the mechanics by which communication impact is fed back to communication inputs and closes the gap between sender and receiver of messages. We draw on language critique, a branch of language philosophy, and derive joint linguistic actions of interlocutors to explain the emergence and adaptation of communication on the group level. The model is framed by Te'eni's cognitive-affective model of organizational communication

SEMANTIC SHIFT ON MALAY WORDS IN CLASSICAL MALAY TEXT HIKAYAT HANG TUAH COMPARE TO MODERN MALAY ( TO CULTURAL CONTEXT

Language—like many other aspects of life—changes over time. All living languages will experience changes. The slightest indication of language change can be seen in older and younger generation. The earlier generation of language user might speak differently from the younger generation and vice versa. Because language contains form and meaning, the changes are not only limited to the form, but also to the meaning. Indonesian language, as a living language, has its periodical changes and one of them is Classical Malay. Hikayat Hang Tuah is one of the most well-known classical Malay texts. Due to language change, there are some differences in Malay language written in Hikayat Hang Tuah and Modern Malay Based on the previous explanation, it is intriguing to analyze the semantic shift in words written in Hikayat Hang Tuah compare to Indonesian Language. However, there are multi-factors triggering the change of language, including culture. Therefore, this paper will not only describe the semantic shift on Malay words in Hikayat Hang Tuah, but also the cultural context affecting the change

Naming Game on Adaptive Weighted Networks

We examine a naming game on an adaptive weighted network. A weight of connection for a given pair of agents depends on their communication success rate and determines the probability with which the agents communicate. In some cases, depending on the parameters of the model, the preference toward successfully communicating agents is basically negligible and the model behaves similarly to the naming game on a complete graph. In particular, it quickly reaches a single-language state, albeit some details of the dynamics are different from the complete-graph version. In some other cases, the preference toward successfully communicating agents becomes much more relevant and the model gets trapped in a multi-language regime. In this case gradual coarsening and extinction of languages lead to the emergence of a dominant language, albeit with some other languages still being present. A comparison of distribution of languages in our model and in the human population is discussed.Comment: 22 pages, accepted in Artificial Lif