The multiple hierarchical legislatures in representative democracy

Multiple hierarchical models of representative democracies in which, for instance, voters elect county representatives, county representatives elect district representatives, district representatives elect state representatives and state representatives a president, reduces the number of electors a representative is answerable for, and therefore, considering each level separately, these models could come closer to direct democracy. In this paper we show that worst case policy bias increases with the number of hierarchical levels. This also means that the opportunities of a gerrymanderer increase in the number of hierarchical levels

The Multiple Hierarchical Legislatures in a Representative Democracy: Districting for Policy Implementation

We build a multiple hierarchical model of a representative democracy in which, for instance, voters elect county representatives, county representatives elect district representatives, district representatives elect state representatives, and state representatives elect a prime minister. We use our model to show that the policy determined by the final representative can become more extreme as the number of hierarchical levels increases because of increased opportunities for gerrymandering. Thus, a sufficiently large number of voters gives a district maker an advantage, enabling her to implement her favorite policy. We also show that the range of implementable policies increases with the depth of the hierarchical system. Consequently, districting by a candidate in a hierarchical legislative system can be viewed as a type of policy implementation device

Fuzzy Approach to Conflict Analysis

Based on the concept of fuzzy sets and fuzzy relations, in this paper, a new approach is presented for modeling and analyzing conflicts. In analyzing conflicts, it is fundamental to evaluate feasible outcomes according to the preference of each player. A fuzzy preference matrix is first defined to evaluate preference relations between outcomes for each player. Several actions and reactions of players are investigated, and a new method of stability analysis is then proposed to derive the grades of membership of stability, instability and equilibrium. The new approach determines a different set of equilibria, depending on the fuzzy environment and the threshold

The incentive for reducing the expenditures in local governments and resident migration

This paper examines the incentives for local governments to improve their own fiscal balances in an environment of interregional resident migration, and shows that whether a local government will make its fiscal balances efficient depends on the condition of population distribution. As residents migrate between regions to get a higher utility, their utility will become equal at a migration equilibrium. We obtain the following results from this property of resident migration: a local government will improve its own fiscal balance efficiently when the utility of residents in the other region increases with emigration from there. lf the residents\u27 utility in the other region decreases, a local government will have a incentive to deteriorate its own fiscal balance. However residents\u27 utility will not decrease under this incentive

Incentives for improving the public budget balance in local governments and resident migration

This paper examines the incentives for local governments to improve their own fiscal balances in an environment of inter-regional resident migration, and shows that whether a local government chooses to make its fiscal balances efficient depends on the condition of popula-tion distribution. Since residents migrate between regions in the pursuit of higher utility, their utility will become equal at a migration equilibrium. We obtain the following results from this property of resident migration: a local government in a country with two regions will improve its own fiscal balance efficiently when the utility of residents in the other region increases with emigration from there. If the residents’ utility in the other region decreases, the local gov-ernment will have an incentive to deteriorate its own fiscal balance. However, residents’ utility will not decrease under this deterioration

IoT measurements of the winter environment around Lake Izunuma, Miyagi

The Tenth Symposium on Polar Science/Ordinary sessions: [OM] Polar Meteorology and Glaciology, Wed. 4 Dec. / Entrance Hall (1st floor) , National Institute of Polar Researc

Administration of PDE4 Inhibitors Suppressed the Pannus-Like Inflammation by Inhibition of Cytokine Production by Macrophages and Synovial Fibroblast Proliferation

A marked proliferation of synovial fibroblasts in joints leads to pannus formation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Various kinds of cytokines are produced in the pannus. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the effects of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitors in a new animal model for the evaluation of pannus formation and cytokine production in the pannus. Mice sensitized with methylated bovine serum albumin (mBSA) were challenged by subcutaneous implantation of a membrane filter soaked in mBSA solution in the back of the mice. Drugs were orally administered for 10 days. The granuloma formed around the filter was collected on day 11. It was chopped into pieces and cultured in vitro for 24 hr. The cytokines were measured in the supernatants. The type of cytokines produced in the granuloma was quite similar to those produced in pannus in RA. Both PDE4 inhibitors, KF66490 and SB207499, suppressed the production of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-12, and the increase in myeloperoxidase activity, a marker enzyme for neutrophils and hydroxyproline content. Compared to leflunomide, PDE4 inhibitors more strongly suppressed IL-12 production and the increase in myeloperoxidase activity. PDE4 inhibitors also inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-α and IL-12 production from thioglycolate-induced murine peritoneal macrophages and the proliferation of rat synovial fibroblasts. These results indicate this model makes it easy to evaluate the effect of drugs on various cytokine productions in a granuloma without any purification step and may be a relevant model for evaluating novel antirheumatic drugs on pannus formation in RA. PDE4 inhibitors could have therapeutic effects on pannus formation in RA by inhibition of cytokine production by macrophages and synovial fibroblast proliferation

Numerical determination of monopole entropy in pure SU(2) QCD

金沢大学総合メディア基盤センター　We study numerically the length distributions of the infrared monopole clusters in pure SU(2) QCD. These distributions are Gaussian for all studied blocking steps of monopoles, lattice volumes and lattice coupling constant. We also investigate the monopole action for the infrared monopole clusters. The knowledge of both the length distribution and the monopole action allows us to determine the effective entropy of the monopole currents. The entropy is a descending function of blocking scale, indicating that the effective degrees of freedom of the extended monopoles are getting smaller as the blocking scale increases. © 2004 The American Physical Society

Entropy of monopoles from percolating cluster in quenched SU(2) QCD

The length distribution and the monopole action of the infrared monopole clusters are studied numerically in quenched SU(2) QCD. We determine the effective entropy of the monopole currents which turns out to be a descending function of the blocking scale, indicating that the effective degrees of freedom of the extended monopoles are getting smaller as the blocking scale increases.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, uses espcrc2.sty; Lattice2003(topology