On Measuring Influence in Non-Binary Voting Games

In this note, we demonstrate using two simple examples that generalization of the Banzhaf measure of voter influence to non-binary voting games that requires as starting position a voter’s membership in a winning coalition is likely to incompletely reflect the influence a voter has on the outcome of a game. Generalization of the Banzhaf measure that takes into consideration all possible pivot moves of a voter including those moves originating from a losing coalition will, on the other hand, result in a measure that is proportional to the Penrose measure only in the ternary case.Penrose measure, Banzhaf index, ternary games, multicandidate weighted voting games

Revisiting Charmless Hadronic B_{u,d} Decays in QCD Factorization

Within the framework of QCD factorization (QCDF), we consider two different types of power correction effects in order to resolve the CP puzzles and rate deficit problems with penguin-dominated two-body decays of B mesons and color-suppressed tree-dominated $\pi^0\pi^0$ and $\rho^0\pi^0$ modes: penguin annihilation and soft corrections to the color-suppressed tree amplitude. We emphasize that the electroweak penguin solution to the $B\to K\pi$ CP puzzle via New Physics is irrelevant for solving the CP and rate puzzles related to tree-dominated decays. While some channels e.g. $K^-\pi^+,K^-\rho^0,\pi^+\pi^-,\rho^\pm\pi^\mp$ need penguin annihilation to induce the correct magnitudes and signs for their CP violation, some other decays such as $B^-\to K^-\pi^0,\pi^-\eta, K^-\eta$ and $\bar B^0\to \bar K^{*0}\eta,\pi^0\pi^0$ require the presence of both power corrections to account for the measured CP asymmetries. In general, QCDF predictions for the branching fractions and direct CP asymmetries of $\bar B\to PP,VP,VV$ decays are in good agreement with experiment. The predictions of pQCD and soft-collinear effective theory are included for comparison.Comment: 51 pages, 1 figur

Regional Indexes of Activity: Combining the Old with the New

This paper proposes a framework to construct indexes of activity which links two strands of the index literature – the traditional business cycle analysis and the latent variable approach. To illustrate the method, we apply the framework to Australian regional data, namely to two resource-rich and two service-based states. The results reveal differences in the evolution and drivers of economic activity across the four states. We also demonstrate the value of the Index in a broader context by using a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) approach to analyse the effects of shocks from the US and from China. This Index-SVAR approach facilitates a richer analysis because the unique feature of the index method proposed here allows impulse responses to be traced back to the components.Regional economic activity, coincident indicators, dynamic latent factor model

[Review of] Louis Chu. Eat a Bowl of Tea

Louis Chu’s Eat a Bowl of Tea is the most recent addition (and a most welcome one) to the series of Asian-American classics that the University of Washington Press is reprinting in paperback format. Other titles in this series that come to mind are the uncompromisingly naturalistic memoirs of the Filipino-American Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart, and the gripping novel about a Japanese-American who resists the World War II draft, John Okada’s No-No Boy. Louis Chu’s novel, which had first appeared in 1961 to unappreciative and uncomprehending notices, is every bit as essential to the canon of Asian America as the works of Okada or Bulosan

Angiotensin II induces TIMP-1 production in rat heart endothelial cells

AbstractAngiotensin II (AII) was found to upregulate tissue inhibitor of metalloproteineses-1 (TIMP-1) gene expression in rat heart endothelial cells in a dose and time-dependent manner. The maximal stimulation of TIMP-1 mRNA was achieved by 2 h after the addition of AII. This effect was blocked by losartan, an AT1 receptor antagonist and by calphostin C, a protein kinase C inhibitor. Addition of cycloheximide superinduced and actinomycin D abolished the induction. These results suggest that AII stimulates TIMP-1 production by a protein kinase C dependent pathway which is dependent upon de novo RNA synthesis. Immunoprecipitation experiment showed an enhanced band of 28 kDa from the conditioned medium of AII-treated cultures. Immunoblot analysis revealed that TIMP-1 was detectable in the conditioned medium 4 h after AII stimulation. Since endothelial cells line the blood vessels and sense the rise in AII associated with hypertension, the TIMP-1 released by these cells may provide an initial trigger leading to cardiac fibrosis in angiotensin-renin dependent hypertension