Optimal Accomplice-Witnesses Regulation under Asymmetric Information

We study the problem of a Legislator designing immunity for privately informed cooperating accomplices. Our objective is to highlight the positive (vertical) externality between expected returns from crime and the information rent that must be granted by the Legislator to whistleblowers in order to break their code of silence (omertà) and elicit truthful information revelation. We identify the accomplices' incentives to release distorted information and characterize the second-best policy limiting this behavior. The central finding is that this externality leads to a second-best policy that purposefully allows whistleblowers not to disclose part of their private information. We also show that accomplices must fulfill minimal information requirements to be admitted into the program (rationing), that a bonus must be awarded to accomplices providing more reliable information and that, under some conditions, rewarding a self-reporting `boss' can increase efficiency. These results are consistent with a number of widespread legislative provisions.Accomplice-witnesses, Adverse Selection, Leniency, Organized Crime

Why this text? Why now? A Case Study Involving Four NSW Stage 5 English Teachers

This study investigates the factors that influence English teachers’ selection of texts for implementation in Stage 5 (Years 9-10) English classrooms in New South Wales (NSW) secondary schools. The stated aim of the current NSW Stage 4-5 English Syllabus (2004) is to “enable students to use, understand, appreciate, reflect on and enjoy the English language in a variety of texts and to shape meaning in ways that are imaginative, interpretive, critical and powerful.” (p. 12) While the Syllabus requires the study of prose fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, media, multimedia and film, along with the experience of Shakespeare in Stage 5, it does not prescribe specific titles for use in the classroom. Therefore, the selection of texts is dependent on English teachers’ choices as part of planning and programming to address the aim and associated content of the Syllabus. The purpose of the present research was to examine the range of factors, assumptions and principles that inform teacher selection of texts for classroom study. A series of case studies involving four NSW English teachers currently teaching Stage 5 was structured around a series of qualitative interviews with each teacher. The data from these interviews were analysed and interpreted as narratives of selection aimed at highlighting the main literary and pedagogical theories impacting on each teacher’s text selection process. The significant findings of the research identify key factors that influence teachers’ selection of texts in Stage 5 English. Specifically: faculty policy; availability of texts; teachers' knowledge of a text; class ability; teachers' guiding theoretical assumptions; and the individual teacher’s own value judgments and beliefs about a text's worth, appropriateness and suitability for the particular class they are teaching. Although the findings of this research are not generalisable, they serve to illuminate a range of significant factors that shape the quality and nature of textual experiences in secondary English classrooms. The insights emerging from this study indicate a need for a more extensive and systematic focus on supporting teacher professional learning for improved practice and optimal student experience and outcomes in secondary English education

Accomplice-Witnesses, Organized Crime and Corruption: Theory and Evidence from Italy

Since 1991 the Italian Legislator grants amnesties, protection and even economic bene.ts to former mobsters cooperating with the justice. These incentives were intro- duced to break down omertà. What is the economic logic behind this policy? Did the program succeed? To address these issues we develop a model accounting for the main trade-o¤s involved in the introduction of accomplice-witnesses regulations. We argue that rewarding informants is sometimes necessary to .ght organized crime and show how the optimal amnesty varies with the e¤ectiveness of the protection program, the reliability of the informants.testimonies, the strength of external complicities, and the internal cohesion between criminal partners. The optimal policy sti.es crime, spurs prosecution and induce a negative relationship between the number of talkers and the conviction rate. The available evidence supports the model.s predictions.Accomplice-witnesses, Criminal Organizations, Leniency, Whistle-Blower

Modeling the replication of submicron-structured surfaces by micro injection molding

Abstract The replication of submicron surface structures by micro injection molding is a crucial factor in achieving advanced functionalities, such as antimicrobial resistance, in mass-produced plastic products. In this work, we investigate and model the replication quality of laser-induced periodic surface structures by micro injection molding of different bio-based polymers. A comprehensive multiscale model was developed to predict the submicron scale polymer flow, using a numerical model to analyze the polymer behavior in the mold macro cavity and determine the boundary conditions for the filling of the surface structures. The replication of the mold topography was modeled considering topographical parameters, polymer rheology and thermal behavior, and the mold surface energy, which was modified by depositing an atomic layer of alumina on the steel surface structures. The modeling approach was validated against injection molding experiments, in which the mold temperature was varied due to its well-known influence on replication. The sensitivity to polymer selection, mold surface properties, and mold temperature, was captured. A maximum error of 8% showed the accuracy of the multi-scale model

Accomplice-Witness and Organized Crime: Theory and Evidence from Italy

We develop an agency model of organized crime accounting for the main trade-offs involved by the\ud introduction of an accomplice-witness program. We characterize the optimal policy and identify its main\ud determinants in a framework where public officials can be dishonest. Our predictions are tested by using\ud data for Italy before and after the introduction of the 1991 accomplice-witness program. As predicted by\ud the model and the earlier antitrust literature, the program appears to have strengthened deterrence and\ud enhanced prosecution. Moreover, consistently with a novel prediction of our theory, the evidence suggests\ud that the program efficacy is affected by the judicial system efficiency

Exploiting Evolutionary Modeling to Prevail in Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Tournaments

The iterated prisoner’s dilemma is a famous model of cooperation and conflict in game theory. Its origin can be traced back to the Cold War, and countless strategies for playing it have been proposed so far, either designed by hand or automatically generated by computers. In the 2000s, scholars started focusing on adaptive players, that is, able to classify their opponent’s behavior and adopt an effective counter-strategy. The player presented in this paper, pushes such idea even further: it builds a model of the current adversary from scratch, without relying on any pre-defined archetypes, and tweaks it as the game develops using an evolutionary algorithm; at the same time, it exploits the model to lead the game into the most favorable continuation. Models are compact non-deterministic finite state machines; they are extremely efficient in predicting opponents’ replies, without being completely correct by necessity. Experimental results show that such player is able to win several one-to- one games against strong opponents taken from the literature, and that it consistently prevails in round-robin tournaments of different sizes

Invest in Your Mental Health, Support Your Career. Exploring the Impact of Mental Health Activities on Movement Capital and the Mediating Role of Flourishing and Career Engagement during the Transition to Work

The current theorising of career self-management advocates that personal resources that support an adaptive transition to work are bound to individual agency. Yet, research still needs to enrich the empirical exploration of how behaviours in personal life affect careers. For this reason, we explored the impact of mental-health activities—a group of self-help activities that people can perform to increase their mental health—on movement capital among Italian new entrants in the labour market. We also explored a mechanism underlying this relationship by testing the mediating role of flourishing and career engagement. We collected data from 229 Italian university students and recent graduates through an online questionnaire. Contrary to our expectations, we found no significant direct relationship between mental-health activities and movement capital, yet the results supported an indirect relationship. The findings contribute to existing evidence about how personal life behaviours affect career self-management and advance the understanding of the role of mental health activities. This work suggests ways to encourage engagement in self-help behaviours and implement public and higher education interventions to foster these behaviours’ benefits for an adaptive transition to work

Effects of Mannan Oligosaccharide and Inulin on Sharpsnout Seabream (Diplodus Puntazzo) in the Context of Partial Fish Meal Substitution by Soybean Meal

One hundred forty-four sharpsnout seabream of about 100 g initial body weight were randomly stocked in 12 experiment tanks (180 L). Testing conditions included 12 fish per tank, with triplicate tanks for treatment. The experimental period lasted 150 days. Average water temperature was 21.9±1.6°C, salinity was 30.0‰ and pH ranged from 7 to 8, throughout the experiment. A control diet (FM) was made from fish meal. One similar diet (SBM) was made with approximately 40% of the protein supplied by soybean meal. The remaining two diets (SBM-MOS and SBM-INU) were formulated adding 8 g of mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) and inulin (INU) per kg of the SBM diet, respectively. The results showed that mean final weight (average values 234.4 g), specific growth rate (average values 0.585), feed conversion rate (average values 2.05) and protein efficiency ratio (average values 1.01) were unaffected by MOS or INU supplementation to SBM diet. Body proximate composition was affected by MOS and INU supplementation. Fish fed SBM-MOS and SBM-INU diets showed the highest moisture level and the lowest lipid content. Also the total polyunsaturated fatty of the lipids was reduced by MOS and INU in comparison to SBM diet alone

Thinking BigData: Motivation, Results and a Few Recipes for a Balanced Growth of High Performance Computing in Academia

Big Data is today both an emerging research area and a real present and future demand. High Performance Computing (HPC) Centers cannot neglect this fact and have to be reshaped to fulfill this need. In this paper we share our experience of upgrading a HPC Center at Politecnico di Torino, originally designed and deployed in 2010. We believe that this issue could be common to some other existing "general purpose" HPC centers where, at least in the short term, the possibility to start from scratch a new Big Data HPC center cannot be afforded but a balanced upgrade of the existing system has to be preferre