Who Benefits Whom in Daily Newspaper Markets?

Markets are generally thought to avoid problems, such as tyranny of the majority, that arise when allocation is accomplished through collective processes. Yet, with fixed costs, differentiated product markets deliver only products desired by substantial constituencies. When consumers share similar preferences, then additional consumers will bring forth additional products or improve the attributes or position of existing products and the consumers confer positive pecuniary preference externalities' on each other. However, if distinct groups of consumers have substantially different preferences, the groups can hurt each other through product markets. We document the pattern of preference externalities among black and white consumers of daily newspapers in the US. We find that, in their capacity as newspaper consumers, members of each group benefits themselves and either harm, or fail to benefit, each other through the product market. We document that product positioning provides the mechanism underlying our results. While Friedman (1962) argues that the use of political channels tends to strain the social cohesion essential for a stable society,' while, by contrast, widespread use of the market reduces the strain on the social fabric by rendering conformity unnecessary,' mounting evidence on media markets suggests otherwise.

The Customary International Law Supergame: Order and Law

Customary international law is an enigma. It is produced by the decentralized actions of states, and it generally lacks centralized enforcement mechanisms. Political science realists and some rationalist legal scholars argue that customary international law cannot affect state behavior: that it is “epiphenomenal.” This article develops a model of an n-player prisoner’s dilemma in the customary international law context that shows that it is plausible that states would comply with customary international law under certain circumstances. These circumstances relate to: (i) the relative value of cooperation versus defection, (ii) the number of states effectively involved, (iii) the extent to which increasing the number of states involved increases the value of cooperation or the detriments of defection, including whether the particular issue has characteristics of a commons problem, a public good, or a network, (iv) the information available to the states involved regarding compliance and defection, (v) the relative patience of states in valuing the benefits of long-term cooperation compared to short-term defection, (vi) the expected duration of interaction, (vii) the frequency of interaction, and (viii) whether there are also bilateral relationships or other multilateral relationships between the involved states. One implication of this model is to lend credence to customary international law. From a research standpoint, this model identifies a number of parameters for which data may be developed in order to test the model. From a policy standpoint, this model shows what types of contexts, including malleable institutional features, may affect the ability of states to reach stable and efficient equilibria in their customary international law relations.

Global Modeling and Prediction of Computer Network Traffic

We develop a probabilistic framework for global modeling of the traffic over a computer network. This model integrates existing single-link (-flow) traffic models with the routing over the network to capture the global traffic behavior. It arises from a limit approximation of the traffic fluctuations as the time--scale and the number of users sharing the network grow. The resulting probability model is comprised of a Gaussian and/or a stable, infinite variance components. They can be succinctly described and handled by certain 'space-time' random fields. The model is validated against simulated and real data. It is then applied to predict traffic fluctuations over unobserved links from a limited set of observed links. Further, applications to anomaly detection and network management are briefly discussed

Exact quantum quasiclassical, and semiclassical reaction probabilities for the collinear F+D_2 → FD+D reaction

Exact quantum, quasiclassical, and semiclassical reaction probabilities and rate constants for the collinear reaction F+D_2 → FD+D are presented. In all calculations, a high degree of population inversion is predicted with P^R_(03) and P^R(04) being the dominant reaction probabilities. In analogy with the F+H_2 reaction (preceding paper), the exact quantum 0→3 and 0→4 probabilities show markedly different energy dependence with PR03 having a much smaller effective threshold energy (E_T=0.014 eV) than P^R_(04) (0.055 eV). The corresponding quasiclassical forward probabilities P^R_(03) and P^R_(04) are in poor agreement with the exact quantum ones, while their quasiclassical reverse and semiclassical counterparts provide much better approximations to the exact results. Similar comparisons are also made in the analysis of the corresponding EQ, QCF, QCR, and USC rate constants. An information theoretic analysis of the EQ and QCF reaction probabilities indicates nonlinear surprisal behavior as well as a significant isotope dependence. Additional quantum results at higher energies are presented and discussed in terms of threshold behavior and resonances. Exact quantum reaction probabilities for the related F+HD → FH+D and F+DH → FD+H reactions are given and an attempt to explain the observed isotope effects is made

Large quantum effects in the collinear F+H2-->FH+H reaction

We have performed accurate quantum mechanical calculations of reaction probabilities for the collinear F+H2-->FH+H reaction as well as corresponding quasiclassical trajectory calculations. A comparison of these results shows that very significant quantum mechanical effects are present in this reaction

Gluinos condensing at the CCNI: 4096 CPUs weigh in

We report preliminary results of lattice super-Yang-Mills computations using domain wall fermions, performed at an actual rate of 1000 Gflop/s, over the course of six months, using two BlueGene/L racks at Rensselaer's CCNI supercomputing center. This has allowed us to compute the gluino condensate and string tension over a wide range of lattice parameters, setting the stage for continuum, chiral extrapolations.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, talk given at "Continuous Advances in QCD 2008," Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, May 15-18, 2008; v2: reference adde