Sequential Bilateral Bargaining and the Shapley value

We extend Ilya Segal's work on bilateral contracting in the presence of externalities to the case of bilateral bargaining in the presence of externalities. Similarly to Segal's work, we prove our results for highly general settings, and provide examples of applications.Bargaining, Non-cooperative foundations of cooperative game theory

Vertical Integration in the Presence of Upstream Competition

We analyse vertical integration when there is upstream competition and compare outcomes to the case where upstream assets are owned by a single agent (i.e., upstream monopoly). In so doing, we make two contributions to the modelling of strategic vertical integration. First, we base industry structure – namely, the ownership of assets – firmly within the property rights approach to firm boundaries. Second, we model the potential multilateral negotiations using a fully specified non-cooperative bargaining model designed to easily compare outcomes achieved under upstream competition and monopoly. Given this, we demonstrate that vertical integration can alter the joint payoffs of integrating parties in ex post bargaining; however, this bargaining effect is stronger for firms integrating under upstream competition than upstream monopoly. We also consider the potential for integration to internalise competitive externalities in manner that cannot be achieved under non-integration. We demonstrate that ex post monopolization is more likely to occur when there is an upstream monopoly than when there is upstream competition. Our general conclusion is that the simple intuition that the presence of upstream competition can mitigate and reduce the incentives for socially undesirable vertical integration is misplaced and, depending upon the strength of downstream competition (i.e., product differentiation), the opposite could easily be the case.vertical integration, foreclosure

Vertical Integration in the Presence of Upstream Competition

We analyze vertical integration in the case of upstream competition and compare outcomes to the case where upstream assets are owned by a single agent (i.e., upstream monopoly). In so doing, we make two contributions to the modelling of strategic vertical integration. First, we base industry structure – namely, the ownership of assets – firmly within the property rights approach to firm boundaries. Second, we model the potential multilateral negotiations using a fully specified, non-cooperative bargaining model designed to easily compare outcomes achieved under upstream competition and monopoly. Given this, we demonstrate that vertical integration can alter the joint payoff of integrating parties in ex post bargaining; however, this bargaining effect is stronger for firms integrating under upstream competition than upstream monopoly. We also consider the potential for integration to internalize competitive externalities in a manner that cannot be achieved under non-integration; i.e., by favouring internal over external supply. We demonstrate that ex post monopolization is more likely to occur when there is an upstream monopoly than when there is upstream competition. Our general conclusion is that the simple intuition that the presence of upstream competition can mitigate and reduce the incentives for socially undesirable vertical integration is misplaced and, depending upon the strength of downstream competition (i.e., product differentiation), the opposite could easily be the case. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Number: L42vertical integration, foreclosure, monopolization, bargaining,competition.

A Practical Attack on the MIFARE Classic

The MIFARE Classic is the most widely used contactless smart card in the market. Its design and implementation details are kept secret by its manufacturer. This paper studies the architecture of the card and the communication protocol between card and reader. Then it gives a practical, low-cost, attack that recovers secret information from the memory of the card. Due to a weakness in the pseudo-random generator, we are able to recover the keystream generated by the CRYPTO1 stream cipher. We exploit the malleability of the stream cipher to read all memory blocks of the first sector of the card. Moreover, we are able to read any sector of the memory of the card, provided that we know one memory block within this sector. Finally, and perhaps more damaging, the same holds for modifying memory blocks

Best Effort and Practice Activation Codes

Activation Codes are used in many different digital services and known by many different names including voucher, e-coupon and discount code. In this paper we focus on a specific class of ACs that are short, human-readable, fixed-length and represent value. Even though this class of codes is extensively used there are no general guidelines for the design of Activation Code schemes. We discuss different methods that are used in practice and propose BEPAC, a new Activation Code scheme that provides both authenticity and confidentiality. The small message space of activation codes introduces some problems that are illustrated by an adaptive chosen-plaintext attack (CPA-2) on a general 3-round Feis- tel network of size 2^(2n) . This attack recovers the complete permutation from at most 2^(n+2) plaintext-ciphertext pairs. For this reason, BEPAC is designed in such a way that authenticity and confidentiality are in- dependent properties, i.e. loss of confidentiality does not imply loss of authenticity.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, TrustBus 201

UTILIZATION OF DILATED EYE EXAMS AMONG ADULTS WITH DIABETES

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the utilization rate of dilated eye exams among adults with diabetes, and to examine the differences in receiving dilated eye exams by predisposing, need, and enabling factors. Methods: National survey data from the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Univariate, weighted bivariate, and logistic regression analyses were performed. Independent variables include demographic information. The dependent variable is the receipt of a dilated eye exam. Results: Some characteristics of individuals who were more likely to receive a dilated eye exam include adults 65 or older, non-Hispanic Blacks, individuals with a health plan, individuals who had a physical exam within the past year, individuals with some type of formal diabetes education, and individuals earning at least $50,000 annually. Conclusion: The Andersen Behavior Model that predisposing, need, and enabling factors are positively associated to the receipt of a dilated eye examination was supported. All enabling factors used in our study are strong predictors of receiving a dilated eye examination. Developing effective recommendations and guidelines for dilated eye exam utilization targeting at-risk adults with diabetes may be beneficial for increasing the number of adults with diabetes who receive annual dilated eye exams

Preparation and magnetisation of a silica-magnetite inverse ferrofluid

We introduce an ‘inverse ferrofluid’ comprising sterically stabilized, colloidal silica spheres and oleic acid stabilized magnetite particles. The preparation is described as well as magnetisation measurements which turns out to be a linear function of the silica volume fraction

'It just has to click':Internists' views of: what constitutes productive interactions with chronically ill patients

Background: According to the Chronic Care Model, productive interactions are crucial to patient outcomes. Despite productive interactions being at the heart of the Model, however, it is unclear what constitutes such an interaction. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of physician views of productive interactions with the chronically ill. Method: We conducted a qualitative study and interviewed 20 internists working in an academic hospital. The data were analyzed using a constructivist approach of grounded theory. To categorize the data, a coding process within which a code list was developed and tested with two other coders was conducted. Results: The participants engaged in goal-directed reasoning when reflecting on productive interactions. This resulted in the identification of four goal orientations: (a) health outcome; (b) satisfaction; (c) medical process; and (d) collaboration. Collaboration appeared to be conditional for reaching medical process goals and ultimately health outcome and satisfaction goals. Achieving rapport with the patient ('clicking,' in the term of the participants) was found to be a key condition that catalyzed collaboration goals. Clicking appeared to be seen as a somewhat unpredictable phenomenon that might or might not emerge, which one had to accept and work with. Goal orientations were found to be related to the specific medical context (i.e., a participant's subspecialty and the nature of a patient's complaint). Conclusions: The participants viewed a productive interaction as essentially goal-directed, catalyzed by the two parties clicking, and dependent on the nature of a patient's complaint. Using the findings, we developed a conceptual process model with the four goal orientations as wheels and with clicking in the center as a flywheel. Because clicking was viewed as important, but somewhat unpredictable, teaching physicians how to click, while taking account of the medical context, may warrant greater attention