Behavorial Effects in Individual Decisions of Network Formation

Network formation constitutes an important part of many social and economic processes, but relatively little is known about how individuals make their linking decisions. This article provides an experimental investigation of behavioral effects in individual decisions of network formation. Our findings demonstrate that individuals systematically simplify more complex components of network payoff in their linking decisions. Specifically, they focus on only part of the normative payoff, namely on their own direct payoff and tend to ignore indirect payoff and payoff for others in the network. Additionally, individuals use descriptive behavioral traits of link choice alternatives to guide their choices. They are sensitive to whether an alternative involves link deletion or creation and whether it concerns an isolated or a central node. Furthermore, we find that complexity of one type can moderate individuals’ dealing with a complex feature of another type. These behavioral effects have important implications for researchers and managers working in areas that involve network formation.Economics (Jel: A)

The Structure of Online Consumer Communication Networks

In this paper we study the structure of the bilateral communication links within Online Consumer Communication Networks (OCCNs), such as virtual communities. Compared to the offline world, consumers in online networks are highly flexible to choose their communication partners and little is known about how this affects communication exchange structures. We analyze these structures by using a general approach from the game-theoretic literature of social and economic network formation where individuals trade off the cost of forming and maintaining links against the potential rewards of doing so, which results in a stable network structure. In our analysis, a combination of aspects common to OCCNs is incorporated that has not been investigated in this literature until now. First, the negative externality of communication specificity is included in the sense that the more direct connections an individual has to maintain with other individuals, the less she is able to specify her attention per link within her total time available. Therefore, the additive value per individual of her communications declines with an increasing number of links, and she also derives less additive value per individual from others with an increasing number of links. Second, a distinction is made between the social and informational value of communication, where informational communication value is assumed to be transferable via indirect links, whereas social communication value is not transferable. Analytical results are derived by using the concept of pairwise stability. A tendency towards fragmented pairwise stable structures - consisting of small, disjoint (star) components - is discovered, which can be attributed to the joint effect of the two aspects mentioned. We demonstrate that only some of the pairwise stable structures provide optimal welfare (total payoffs), and that the relative focus on informational versus social value of communication affects this welfare.microeconomics ;

Communication network formation with link specificity and value transferability

We propose a model on strategic formation of communication networks with (i) link specificity: the more direct links somebody maintains, the less she can specify her attention per link, the lower her links’ value, while this negative externality was previously ignored in the communication context, and (ii) value transferability via indirect links for informational but not for social value from communication, while this positive externality was modeled uniformly before. Assuming only social value to isolate the impact of link specificity, the pairwise stable set includes many nonstandard networks under high or particular combinations of fully connected components under low link specificity. Allowing for social and informational value, the joint effect of link specificity and value transferability reduces the stable set to certain fragmented networks under high or the complete network under low link specificity. These extremes are beneficial for efficiency, whereas quite inefficient networks may arise for intermediate link specificity.microeconomics ;

Фактор страху в ранньомодерних теоріях держави: проект Томаса Гоббса

Стаття присвячена висвітленню трансформаційних форм та місця феномену страху в політичній теорії Т. Гоббса, значення страху в принципах державного суверенітету.Статья посвящена исследованию трансформационных форм и места феномена страха в политической теории Т. Гоббса, его значение в принципе государственного суверенитета.The article is devoted to research the transformation forms and place of the phenomenon of fear in the political theory of Thomas Hobbs, its value in the principle of state sovereignty

Enhancement of toxin- and virus-neutralizing capacity of single-domain antibody fragments by N-glycosylation

Single-domain antibody fragments (VHHs) have several beneficial properties as compared to conventional antibody fragments. However, their small size complicates their toxin- and virus-neutralizing capacity. We isolated 27 VHHs binding Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin and expressed these in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The most potent neutralizing VHH (LT109) was N-glycosylated, resulting in a large increase in molecular mass. This suggests that N-glycosylation of LT109 improves its neutralizing capacity. Indeed, deglycosylation of LT109 decreased its neutralizing capacity three- to fivefold. We also studied the effect of glycosylation of two previously isolated VHHs on their ability to neutralize foot-and-mouth disease virus. For this purpose, these VHHs that lacked potential N-glycosylation sites were genetically fused to another VHH that was known to be glycosylated. The resulting fusion proteins were also N-glycosylated. They neutralized the virus at at least fourfold-lower VHH concentrations as compared to the single, non-glycosylated VHHs and at at least 50-fold-lower VHH concentrations as compared to their deglycosylated counterparts. Thus, we have shown that N-glycosylation of VHHs contributes to toxin- and virus-neutralizing capacity

Descripción de una nueva especie del género Arganiella Giusti y Pezzoli, 1980 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Hydrobiidae) en la Península Ibérica

10 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables.[EN] A new species of Arganiella Giusti & Pezzoli, 1980, up to now a monotypic genus, thought to be endemic to the Italian Central Apennines, is described from the Iberian Peninsula. This new species, named Arganiella tartessica, is located in southwestern Spain, provinces of Huelva and Badajoz. In this paper, a detailed description of its morphological characters is given and new data of nervous system and ciliated areas in the cephalic region are provided.[ES] Se describe una especie ibérica de Arganiella Giusti y Pezzoli, 1980, un género que hasta ahora se consideraba monotípico y endémico de los Apeninos centrales italianos. Esta nueva especie, denominada Arganiella tartessica, ha sido localizada en el sureste español, en las provincias de Huelva y Badajoz. En este artículo se describen en detalle sus caracteres morfológicos y se presentan datos, hasta la fecha desconocidos en el género Arganiella, del sistema nervioso y de áreas ciliadas en la región cefálica.This work was funded by the “Fauna Ibérica” Project (DGES PB95–0235).Peer reviewe

Locally recurrent rectal cancer and distant metastases:is there still a chance ofcure?

Introduction: Patients with locally recurrent rectal cancer (LRRC) generally have poor prognosis, especially those who have (a history of) distant metastases. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of distant metastases on oncological outcomes in LRRC patients undergoing curative treatment. Methods: Consecutive patients with surgically treated LRRC between 2005 and 2019 in two tertiary referral hospitals were retrospectively analysed. Oncological survival of patients without distant metastases were compared with outcomes of patients with synchronous distant metastases with the primary tumour, patients with distant metastases in the primary-recurrence interval, and patients with synchronous LRRC distant metastases. Results: A total of 535 LRRC patients were analysed, of whom 398 (74%) had no (history of) metastases, 22 (4%) had synchronous metastases with the primary tumour, 44 (8%) had metachronous metastases, and 71 (13%) had synchronous LRRC metastases. Patients with synchronous LRRC metastases had worse survival compared to patients without metastases (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.56 [1.15–2.12]), whilst survival of patients with synchronous primary metastases and metachronous metastases of the primary tumour was similar as those patients who had no metastases. In LRRC patients who had metastases in primary-recurrence interval, patients with early metachronous metastases had better disease-free survival as patients with late metachronous metastases (3-year disease-free survival: 48% vs 22%, p = 0.039). Conclusion: LRRC patients with synchronous distant metastases undergoing curative surgery have relatively poor prognosis. However, LRRC patients with a history of distant metastases diagnosed nearby the primary tumour have comparable (oncological) survival as LRRC patients without distant metastases.</p

Co-benefits of black carbon mitigation for climate and air quality

Mitigation of black carbon (BC) aerosol emissions can potentially contribute to both reducing air pollution and climate change, although mixed results have been reported regarding the latter. A detailed quantification of the synergy between global air quality and climate policy is still lacking. This study contributes with an integrated assessment model-based scenario analysis of BC-focused mitigation strategies aimed at maximizing air quality and climate benefits. The impacts of these policy strategies have been examined under different socio-economic conditions, climate ambitions, and BC mitigation strategies. The study finds that measures targeting BC emissions (including reduction of co-emitted organic carbon, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxides) result in significant decline in premature mortality due to ambient air pollution, in the order of 4 to 12 million avoided deaths between 2015 and 2030. Under certain circumstances, BC mitigation can also reduce climate change, i.e., mainly by lowering BC emissions in the residential sector and in high BC emission scenarios. Still, the effect of BC mitigation on global mean temperature is found to be modest at best (with a maximum short-term GMT decrease of 0.02 °C in 2030) and could even lead to warming (with a maximum increase of 0.05 °C in case of a health-focused strategy, where all aerosols are strongly reduced). At the same time, strong climate policy would improve air quality (the opposite relation) through reduced fossil fuel use, leading to an estimated 2 to 5 million avoided deaths in the period up to2030. By combining both air quality and climate goals, net health benefits can be maximized