Generalized backward induction: Justification for a folk algorithm

I introduce axiomatically infinite sequential games that extend Kuhn’s classical framework. Infinite games allow for (a) imperfect information, (b) an infinite horizon, and (c) infinite action sets. A generalized backward induction (GBI) procedure is defined for all such games over the roots of subgames. A strategy profile that survives backward pruning is called a backward induction solution (BIS). The main result of this paper finds that, similar to finite games of perfect information, the sets of BIS and subgame perfect equilibria (SPE) coincide for both pure strategies and for behavioral strategies that satisfy the conditions of finite support and finite crossing. Additionally, I discuss five examples of well-known games and political economy models that can be solved with GBI but not classic backward induction (BI). The contributions of this paper include (a) the axiomatization of a class of infinite games, (b) the extension of backward induction to infinite games, and (c) the proof that BIS and SPEs are identical for infinite games

Training for preservation management

In August 1997 the first of a series of summer schools in Preservation Management was held at the Archivschule in Marburg (Germany). The school was organised by the ECPA, the LIBER Division on Preservation, ICA and the Archivschule itself and was aimed at archivists and librarians in management positions from European institutions. It dealt with managerial, organisational and financial aspects of preservation and required active participation by those attending. Apart from introductory sessions by the teaching staff at the Archivschule, a large part of the course took the form of working groups, discussions, assignments and role play, to which participants were expected to take their own experience and problems. The school was conducted in German. Topics, spread over five days, ranged from preservation in the context of the core activities of libraries and archives; planning of preservation projects; general management issues, such as resource management, budgeting, priority setting, communication and effecting change; to more detailed considerations of day-to-day issues, such as storage, disaster control, microfilming and digitising, mass conservation processes, and moulds and fungi

The enforcement of child custody orders by contempt remedies

Family law statutes in every state govern the child-related issues that arise at the time of divorce. As a general rule, these statutes require the divorce courts to enter coercive orders that will govern the residential and decisionmaking aspects of post-divorce parent-child relationships. The laws in many states also set out the remedies, including civil and criminal contempt, available to enforce court-ordered parenting plans in the event of parental noncompliance. This area of statutory regulation, which touches the lives of millions of families every year, is in many ways sui generis. At the same time, the coercive nature of the court-ordered terms of post-divorce parenting plans, and the availability of enforcement by civil or criminal contempt remedies, place custody and visitation orders in a larger doctrinal context. This Article analyzed child custody and visitation laws against this backdrop of the law of injunctions and the law of contempt. The family law system assigns priority to the maintenance of established relationships between children and both of their parents following the parents' divorce. This priority leads to certain variations from the general model of injunctive remedies in many child custody cases. For example, divorce courts formulate the initial coercive parenting orders, which become immediately enforceable by contempt remedies upon violation by one parent, without making any determination of prior wrongdoing by either parent. Furthermore, the courts routinely enter coercive orders addressing the residential and decisionmaking aspects of post-divorce parenting, even though the anticipated period of judicial regulation is lengthy (until the children's ages of majority), and despite evidence of likely compliance problems. Finally, in the event of parental noncompliance, judicial enforcement via contempt remedies may involve the entry of orders that vary significantly from the classic contempt model, especially when the contempt remedy is civil rather than criminal in nature. Parenting plan orders typically set out specific responsibilities for both parents, to be performed over a period of years until the children become adults. The nature of these orders, involving recurring patterns of family behavior, and the importance of the interests that they seek to protect have shaped many of the family law doctrines discussed in this Article. These doctrines have molded the general law of injunctions to fit a unique legal context, the creation and enforcement of post-divorce custody orders

Conceptual modelling and the quality of ontologies: A comparison between object-role modelling and the object paradigm

Ontologies are key enablers for sharing precise and machine-understandable semantics among different applications and parties. Yet, for ontologies to meet these expectations, their quality must be of a good standard. The quality of an ontology is strongly based on the design method employed. This paper addresses the design problems related to the modelling of ontologies, with specific concentration on the issues related to the quality of the conceptualisations produced. The paper aims to demonstrate the impact of the modelling paradigm adopted on the quality of ontological models and, consequently, the potential impact that such a decision can have in relation to the development of software applications. To this aim, an ontology that is conceptualised based on the Object Role Modelling (ORM) approach is re-engineered into a one modelled on the basis of the Object Paradigm (OP). Next, the two ontologies are analytically compared using the specified criteria. The conducted comparison highlights that using the OP for ontology conceptualisation can provide more expressive, reusable, objective and temporal ontologies than those conceptualised on the basis of the ORM approach

Behaviour of composite floor slabs under fire conditions

This paper is concerned with the ultimate behaviour of composite floor slabs during fire scenarios. Steel/concrete composite structures are increasingly common in the UK and worldwide, particularly for multi-storey construction. The popularity of this construction form is mainly due to the excellent efficiency offered in terms of structural behaviour, construction time and material usage all of which are attractive given the ever-increasing demands for improved sustainability in construction. In this context, the engineering research community has focused considerable effort in recent years towards understanding the response of composite structures during fires. In particular, the contribution made by the floor slab system is of crucial importance as its ability to undergo secondary load-carrying mechanisms (e.g. membrane action) once conventional strength limits have been reached may be the key to preventing disproportionate collapse of the overall structure. Researchers have focused on developing the fundamental understanding of the complex behaviour of floor slabs and also improving the methods of analysis. Building on this work, the current paper describes the development and validation of a finite element model which can simulate the response of floor slab systems until failure, both at ambient and elevated temperature. The model can represent the complexities of the behaviour including the temperature-dependent material and geometric nonlinearities. It is first developed at ambient temperature and validated using a series of experiments on isolated slab elements. The most salient parameters are identified and studied. Thereafter, the model is extended to include the effects of elevated temperature and is employed to investigate the behaviour under these conditions. Comparisons with current design procedures are assessed and discussed

Implementing CSR through partnerships: Understanding the selection, design and institutionalisation of nonprofit-business partnerships

Partnerships between businesses and nonprofit organisations are an increasingly prominent element of corporate social responsibility implementation. The paper is based on two in depth partnership case studies (Earthwatch-Rio Tinto and Prince’s Trust-Royal Bank of Scotland) that move beyond a simple stage model to reveal the deeper level micro-processes in the selection, design and institutionalisation of business-NGO partnerships. The suggested practice-tested model is followed by a discussion that highlights management issues within partnership implementation and a practical Partnership Test to assist managers in testing both the accountability and level of institutionalisation of the relationship in order to address any possible skill gaps. Understanding how CSR partnerships are implemented in practice contributes to the broader CSR and partnership literatures a context specific level of detail in a systematic way that allows for transferable learning in both theory and practice

Neon abundances in mercury-manganese stars: Radiative accelerators and non-LTE calculations

We make new non-local thermodynamic equilibrium calculations to deduce the abundances of neon from visible-region echelle spectra of selected Ne i lines in seven normal stars and 20 HgMn stars. We find that the best strong blend-free Ne line that can be used at the lower end of the effective temperature Teff range is λ6402, although several other potentially useful Ne i lines are found in the red region of the spectra of these stars. The mean neon abundance in the normal stars (log A=8.10) is in excellent agreement with the standard abundance of neon (8.08). However, in HgMn stars neon is almost universally underabundant, ranging from marginal deficits of 0.1–0.3 dex to underabundances of an order of magnitude or more. In many cases, the lines are so weak that only upper limits can be established. The most extreme example found is υ Her with an underabundance of at least 1.5 dex. These underabundances are qualitatively expected from radiative acceleration calculations, which show that Ne has a very small radiative acceleration in the photosphere, and that it is expected to undergo gravitational settling if the mixing processes are sufficiently weak and there is no strong stellar wind. According to theoretical predictions, the low Ne abundances place an important constraint on the intensity of such stellar winds, which must be less than 10−14 M⊙ yr−1 if they are non-turbulent

Orthogonality constrained gradient reconstruction for superconvergent linear functionals

The post-processing of the solution of variational problems discretized with Galerkin finite element methods is particularly useful for the computation of quantities of interest. Such quantities are generally expressed as linear functionals of the solution and the error of their approximation is bounded by the error of the solution itself. Several a posteriori recovery procedures have been developed over the years to improve the accuracy of post-processed results. Nonetheless such recovery methods usually deteriorate the convergence properties of linear functionals of the solution and, as a consequence, of the quantities of interest as well. The paper develops an enhanced gradient recovery scheme able to both preserve the good qualities of the recovered gradient and increase the accuracy and the convergence rates of linear functionals of the solution

Business model requirements and challenges in the mobile telecommunication sector

The telecommunications business is undergoing a critical revolution, driven by innovative technologies, globalization, and deregulation. Cellular networks and telecommunications bring radical changes to the way telecom businesses are conducted. Globalization, on the other hand, is tearing down legacy barriers and forcing monopolistic national carriers to compete internationally. Moreover, the noticeable progress of many countries towards deregulation coupled with liberalization is significantly increasing telecom market power and allowing severe competition. The implications of this transition have changed the business rules of the telecom industry. In addition, entrants into the cellular industry have had severe difficulties due to inexistent or weak Business Models (BMs). Designing a BM for a mobile network operator is complex and requires multiple actors to balance different and often conflicting design requirements. Hence, there is a need to enhance operators’ ability in determining what constitutes the most viable business model to meet their strategic objectives within this turbulent environment. In this paper, the authors identify the main mobile BM dimensions along with their interdependencies and further analysis provides mobile network operators with insights to improve their business models in this new ‘boundary-less’ landscape

The current state of E-commerce in Jordan: Applicability and future prospects

This study aimed at determining the current state of e-commerce in Jordan, as well as its future prospects. The research population consisted of all Jordanian industrial, service and/or trade companies that have a registered website. The population size was 712 companies. A total of 118 questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected companies and 95 were returned. Cronbach alpha measure was used to test the reliability of the organizational questionnaire and was calculated to be 0.80 reflecting stability and consistency of the scale and indicating the goodness of the measure. Other statistical tests were used to test the research hypotheses such as One-Sample t-test, Independent-Samples t-test, One-Way ANOVA, Chi-Square and Bivariate Correlations (Pearson). The research indicated that Jordan has adequate and efficient e-commerce requirements in general, but there is no suitable and appropriate Community Culture in order to reach E-commerce Readiness Stage. Some recommendations are then made based on research findings