ASSESSMENT OF VOTING SITUATIONS: THE PROBABILISTIC FOUNDATIONS

In this paper we revise the probabilistic foundations of the theory of the measurement of 'voting power' either as success or decisiveness. For an assessment of these features two inputs are claimed to be necessary: the voting procedure and the voters' behavior. We propose a simple model in which the voters' behavior is summarized by a probability distribution over all vote configurations. This basic model, at once simpler and more general that other probabilistic models, provides a clear conceptual common basis to reinterpret coherently from a unified point of view di.erent power indices and some related game theoretic notions, as well as a wider perspective for a dispassionate assessment of the power indices themselves, their merits and their limitations.Voting rules, voting power, decisiveness, success, power indices

How to play the games? Nash versus Berge behavior rules

Social interactions regularly lead to mutually beneficial transactions that are sometimes puzzling. The prisoner’s dilemma and the chicken and trust games prove to be less perplexing than Nash equilibrium predicts. Moral preferences seem to complement self-oriented motivations and their relative predominance in games is found to vary according to the individuals, their environment, and the game. This paper examines the appropriateness of Berge equilibrium to study several 2×2 game situations, notably cooperative games where mutual support yields socially better outcomes. We consider the Berge behavior rule complementarily to Nash: individuals play one behavior rule or another, depending on the game situation. We then define non-cooperative Berge equilibrium, discuss what it means to play in this fashion, and argue why individuals may choose to do so. Finally, we discuss the relationship between Nash and Berge notions and analyze the rationale of individuals playing in a situational perspective.

(De-)activating the growth machine for redevelopment: the case of Liede urban village in Guangzhou

This research investigates the mechanism of urban village redevelopment in south China. Through a revised typology of place entrepreneurs based on the growth machine thesis and a case study of Liede village in central Guangzhou, it illustrates how land-based interests embedded in an imbalanced power relationship can (de-)activate urban village redevelopment. The study reveals that while urban villagers, as represented by the village collective, have entrenched interests in the redevelopment process, the city government – as monopolistic land manager and place entrepreneur – plays the deciding role in forging and halting a growth machine geared towards urban village redevelopment. Although developers are also part of the process, the (de-)activation of redevelopment growth machine/coalition in Guangzhou has largely been dominated by the city government. With a comparative view on the original growth machine model, it is hoped that this study would furnish both theoretical and practical thoughts for future research

Game Theory: The Language of Social Science?

The present paper tries in a largely non-technical way to discuss the aim, the basic notions and methods as well as the limits of game theory under the aspect of providing a general modelling method or language for social sciences.

The executive toolbox:building legislative support in a multiparty presidential regime

How do presidents win legislative support under conditions of extreme multipartism?Comparative presidential research has offered two parallel answers, one relying on distributivepolitics and the other claiming that legislative success is a function of coalition formation. Wemerge these insights in an integrated approach to executive-legislative relations, also addingcontextual factors related to dynamism and bargaining conditions. We find that the twopresidential “tools” – pork and coalition goods – are substitutable resources, with porkfunctioning as a fine-tuning instrument that interacts reciprocally with legislative support. Porkexpenditures also depend upon a president’s bargaining leverage and the distribution oflegislative seats.

Contributions to distributed MPC: coalitional and learning approaches

A growing number of works and applications are consolidating the research area of distributed control with partial and varying communication topologies. In this context, many of the works included in this thesis focus on the so-called coalitional MPC. This approach is characterized by the dynamic formation of groups of cooperative MPC agents (referred to as coalitions) and seeks to provide a performance close to the centralized one with lighter computations and communication demands. The thesis includes a literature review of existing distributed control methods that boost scalability and flexibility by exploiting the degree of interaction between local controllers. Likewise, we present a hierarchical coalitional MPC for traffic freeways and new methods to address the agents' clustering problem, which, given its combinatoria! nature, becomes a key issue for the real-time implementation of this type of controller. Additionally, new theoretical results to provide this clustering strategy with robust and stability guarantees to track changing targets are included. Further works of this thesis focus on the application of learning techniques in distributed and decentralized MPC schemes, thus paving the way for a future extension to the coalitional framework. In this regard, we have focused on the use of neural networks to aid distributed negotiations, and on the development of a multi­ agent learning MPC based on a collaborative data collection

Acute Salivary Steroid Hormone Responses During Coalitional and Dyadic Competitions in Hong Kong Juvenile Children

A large body of research links testosterone and cortisol responses to competition during adulthood. Little psychoneuroendocrine research has explored salivary steroid hormone responses to competition during middle childhood. This project investigated the relationship between acute salivary steroid hormone change, performance, competitor type, and outcome effects in three different field studies, while controlling for Body Mass Index (BMI) and pubertal development, in a population of ethnically Chinese, Hong Kong juvenile children, 8-11 years of age. The relative dynamics of salivary steroid change were assessed during a 1) coalitional physical competition (soccer) in boys, 2) a non-physical mixed-sex coalitional competition (math contest), and 3) a dyadic, semi-physical competition (table-tennis) in boys. Results revealed that testosterone and estrogen were generally low and unmeasurable. The majority of boys experienced increases in dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) during both the soccer match and intra-squad soccer competitions only. DHEA and androstenedione change were related to performance during the math competition in both sexes. Androstenedione increased for the majority of boys during the soccer match competition only, where boys competed against unfamiliar competitors. This finding is consistent with previous research among a sample of boy soccer players in the U.S.A., suggesting that androstenedione may be sensitive to out-group competition. Cortisol increased during out-group competition only during the soccer competition study and cortisol and cortisol/DHEA molar ratio consistently decreased during competition involving peers during the math and table-tennis studies. Lastly, exploratory analysis revealed consistent correlational relationships emerged between pre-match adrenal hormones and adrenal hormone changes across all three studies. These data highlight how steroid hormone responses to competition differ in juvenile children when compared to adults participating in similar forms of physical and non-physical competition. Findings also reveal context-dependent factors, such as type of competition, performance, and competitor type that influence hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal (HPA) axis activity. These studies underscore the importance of taking a cross-cultural, mixed-age, and mixed-sex approach to provide a broader understanding of HPA axis activity that likely reflects an adaptive, developmentally specific, physiological response to social competition across variable contexts in preparation for adulthood