Buyer-Option Contracts Restored: Renegotiation, Inefficient Threats, and the Hold-Up Problem

“Buyer option” contracts, in which the buyer selects the product variant to be traded and chooses whether to accept delivery, are often used to solve hold-up problems. We present a simple game that focusses sharply on subgames in which the buyer proposes inefficient actions in order to improve his bargaining position. We argue for one of several alternative ways to model this situation. We then apply that modeling choice to recent models of the foundations of incomplete contracts and show that a buyer option contract is sufficient to induce first-best outcomes.

Pd and Audio Programming in the 21st Century

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Pure Data, this essay discusses the development of audio programming up to the present, and considers the role that Pd can continue to play in the computer music of the future

2012: To be inside someone else’s dream: music for sleeping and waking minds

Music for Sleeping and Waking Minds (2011–2012) is a new, overnight work in which four performers fall asleep while wearing custom designed EEG sensors which monitor their brainwave activity. The data gathered from the EEG sensors is applied in real time to different audio and image signal processing functions, resulting in continuously evolving multi-channel sound environment and visual projection. This material serves as an audiovisual description of the individual and collective neurophysiological state of the ensemble. Audiences are invited to experience the work in different states of attention: while alert and asleep, resting and awakening

Learning and Teaching with Geomedia

International audienceThis book presents a range of educational approaches and ideas around learning with and about geomedia, taking into account the potential as well as the risks and challenges associated with the use geomedia in education. This includes understanding the inherently biasednature of maps and other spatial representations; the power of geomedia produced by institutions, as well as the power of geomedia produced by lay persons; the use of geoinformation in the control and surveillance of individuals and groups, and the opportunities of georeferenced data to foster innovative knowledge. Addressing these aspects in essence means preparing students for an emerging Geoinformation society

G91-1026 Sunflower Production in Nebraska

Seeds, seedbed preparations, fertilizing and controlling weeds in sunflowers are among the topics covered here. Sunflowers are native to Nebraska. Cultivated for centuries by native American Indians as a food crop, sunflowers were taken to Europe in the mid-16th century. Oilseed sunflowers have been a U.S. crop since 1986. Sunflower production is divided into two market classes, oil and confectionery. The oil type is by far the most commonly grown market class. Recent health trends have brought sunflower cooking oil into prominence because the oil is low in saturated fats. Confectionery types are grown for the edible roasted sunflower seed market, and are produced under strict contract guidelines. Seed size is critical, with small seeds designated for bird seed market channels. Growing the confectionery type without a contract is risky. Sunflower production of both market classes is currently around 30,000 acres in Nebraska. Recently a third market class has started to develop based on high oleic acid content, which gives products better shelf life

An analytical error model for quantum computer simulation

Quantum computers (QCs) must implement quantum error correcting codes (QECCs) to protect their logical qubits from errors, and modeling the effectiveness of QECCs on QCs is an important problem for evaluating the QC architecture. The previously developed Monte Carlo (MC) error models may take days or weeks of execution to produce an accurate result due to their random sampling approach. We present an alternative analytical error model that generates, over the course of executing the quantum program, a probability tree of the QC's error states. By calculating the fidelity of the quantum program directly, this error model has the potential for enormous speedups over the MC model when applied to small yet useful problem sizes. We observe a speedup on the order of 1,000X when accuracy is required, and we evaluate the scaling properties of this new analytical error model

A New Method for Searching for Free Fractional Charge Particles in Bulk Matter

We present a new experimental method for searching for free fractional charge in bulk matter; this new method derives from the traditional Millikan liquid drop method, but allows the use of much larger drops, 20 to 100 mm in diameter, compared to the traditional method that uses drops less than 15 mm in diameter. These larger drops provide the substantial advantage that it is then much easier to consistently generate drops containing liquid suspensions of powdered meteorites and other special minerals. These materials are of great importance in bulk searches for fractional charge particles that may have been produced in the early universe.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures in a singl PDF file (created from WORD Doc.). Submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument