550 research outputs found
Scaling laws of strategic behaviour and size heterogeneity in agent dynamics
The dynamics of many socioeconomic systems is determined by the decision
making process of agents. The decision process depends on agent's
characteristics, such as preferences, risk aversion, behavioral biases, etc..
In addition, in some systems the size of agents can be highly heterogeneous
leading to very different impacts of agents on the system dynamics. The large
size of some agents poses challenging problems to agents who want to control
their impact, either by forcing the system in a given direction or by hiding
their intentionality. Here we consider the financial market as a model system,
and we study empirically how agents strategically adjust the properties of
large orders in order to meet their preference and minimize their impact. We
quantify this strategic behavior by detecting scaling relations of allometric
nature between the variables characterizing the trading activity of different
institutions. We observe power law distributions in the investment time
horizon, in the number of transactions needed to execute a large order and in
the traded value exchanged by large institutions and we show that heterogeneity
of agents is a key ingredient for the emergence of some aggregate properties
characterizing this complex system.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
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Molecular Regulation of Gene Expression in Chondrocytes by Inflammatory Mediators
Statistical Properties of Business Firms Structure and Growth
We analyze a database comprising quarterly sales of 55624 pharmaceutical
products commercialized by 3939 pharmaceutical firms in the period 1992--2001.
We study the probability density function (PDF) of growth in firms and product
sales and find that the width of the PDF of growth decays with the sales as a
power law with exponent . We also find that the average
sales of products scales with the firm sales as a power law with exponent
. And that the average number products of a firm scales
with the firm sales as a power law with exponent . We
compare these findings with the predictions of models proposed till date on
growth of business firms
Heads or tails? Structural events and molecular mechanisms that promote mammalian sperm acrosomal exocytosis and motility
Sperm structure has evolved to be very compact and compartmentalized to enable the motor (the flagellum) to transport the nuclear cargo (the head) to the egg. Furthermore, sperm do not exhibit progressive motility and are not capable of undergoing acrosomal exocytosis immediately following their release into the lumen of the seminiferous tubules, the site of spermatogenesis in the testis. These cells require maturation in the epididymis and female reproductive tract before they become competent for fertilization. Here we review aspects of the structural and molecular mechanisms that promote forward motility, hyperactivated motility, and acrosomal exocytosis. As a result, we favor a model articulated by others that the flagellum senses external signals and communicates with the head by second messengers to affect sperm functions such as acrosomal exocytosis. We hope this conceptual framework will serve to stimulate thinking and experimental investigations concerning the various steps of activating a sperm from a quiescent state to a gamete that is fully competent and committed to fertilization. The three themes of compartmentalization, competence, and commitment are key to an understanding of the molecular mechanisms of sperm activation. Comprehending these processes will have a considerable impact on the management of fertility problems, the development of contraceptive methods, and, potentially, elucidation of analogous processes in other cell systems.Fil: Buffone, Mariano Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Instituto de BiologĂa y Medicina Experimental (i); Argentina. University of Pennsylvania; Estados UnidosFil: Ijiri, Takashi W.. University of Pennsylvania; Estados UnidosFil: Cao, Wenlei. University of Pennsylvania; Estados UnidosFil: Merdiushev, Tanya. University of Pennsylvania; Estados UnidosFil: Aghajanian, Haig K.. University of Pennsylvania; Estados UnidosFil: Gerton, George L.. University of Pennsylvania; Estados Unido
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