Strategic vs Non-Strategic Motivations of Sanctioning

We isolate strategic and non-strategic motivations of sanctioning in a repeated public goods game. In two experimental treatments, subjects play the public goods game with the possibility to sanction others. In the STANDARD sanctions treatment, each subject learns about the sanctions received in the same round as they were assigned, but in the SECRET sanctions treatment, sanctions are announced only after the experiment is finished, removing in this way all strategic reasons to punish. We find that sanctioning is similar in both treatments, giving support for nonstrategic explanations of sanctions (altruistic punishment). Interestingly, contributions to the public good in both treatments with sanctioning are higher than when the public goods game is played without any sanctioning, irrespective of announcing the sanctions to their receivers during the play of the game, or only after the game is finished. The mere knowledge that sanctions might be assigned increases cooperation: subjects correctly expect that nonstrategic sanctioning takes place against freeriders.altruistic punishment;nonstrategic sanctions;strategic sanctions;public goods;economic experiment

CP, T and CPT Violations in the K^0 - bar{K^0} System -- Present Status --

Possible violation of CP, T and CPT symmetries in the K^0 - bar{K^0} system is studied in a way as phenomenological and comprehensive as possible. For this purpose, we first introduce parameters which represent violation of these symmetries in mixing parameters and decay amplitudes in a convenient and well-defined way and, treating these parameters as small, derive formulas which relate them to the experimentally measured quantities. We then perform numerical analyses to derive constraints to these symmetry-violating parameters, with the latest data reported by KTeV Collaboration, NA48 Collaboration and CPLEAR Collaboration, along with those compiled by Particle Data Group, used as inputs. The result obtained by CPLEAR Collaboration from an unconstrained fit to a time-dependent leptonic asymmetry, aided by the Bell-Steinberger relation, enables us to determine or constrain most of the parameters separately. It is shown among the other things that (1) CP and T symmetries are violated definitively at least at the level of 10^{-4} in 2 pi decays, (2) CP and T symmetries are violated at least at the level of 10^{-3} in the K^0 - bar{K^0} mixing, and (3) CPT symmetry is at present tested to the level of 10^{-5} at the utmost.Comment: 20 page

Optical and CO Radio Observations of Poor Cluster Zwicky 1615.8+3505

The cluster Zwicky 1615.8+3505 is considered to be a dynamically young poor cluster. To investigate the morphology and star-formation activity of galaxies under the environment of a dynamically young poor cluster, we have performed V, R, and I surface photometry, optical low-resolution spectroscopy, and 12CO (J=1-0) line observations for member galaxies. Our data show that more than 90% of the observed galaxies show regular morphologies and no star-formation activities, indicating that the environment does not affect these galaxy properties. Among sixteen galaxies observed, only NGC 6104 shows a significant star-formation activity, and shows a distorted morphology, indicating a tidal interaction. This galaxy contains double knots, and only one knot possesses Seyfert activity, though the sizes and luminosities are similar to each other; we also discuss this feature.Comment: LaTeX manuscript (text.tex, use PASJ style files), four PS figures (fig[a-d].ps), and three PASJ style files. text.tex, figb.ps, and figd.ps are up-dated. To be appeared in The Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Vol. 51, No. 3 (1999 June issue

Lentiviral manipulation of gene expression in human adult and embryonic stem cells

Human stem cells could revolutionize the field of medicine by providing a diverse range of cell types for tissue replacement therapies and drug discovery. To achieve this goal, genetic tools need to be optimized and developed for controlling and manipulating stem cells ex vivo. Here we describe a lentiviral delivery system capable of high infection rates in human mesenchymal and embryonic stem cells. The lentiviral backbone was modified to express mono- and bi-cistronic transgenes and was also used to deliver short hairpin ribonucleic acid for specific silencing of gene expression in human stem cells. We show that lentiviral transduction can be used to alter gene expression without altering the genes' ability to differentiate in vitro. These vectors will enable rapid analysis of gene function in stem cells and permit the generation of knock-in / knock-out models of human disease in the rapidly developing field of gene therapy

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay, the Inverted Hierarchy and Precision Determination of theta(12)

Ruling out the inverted neutrino hierarchy with neutrinoless double beta decay experiments is possible if a limit on the effective mass below the minimal theoretically possible value is reached. We stress that this lower limit depends strongly on the value of the solar neutrino mixing angle: it introduces an uncertainty of a factor of 2 within its current 3 sigma range. If an experiment is not background-free, a factor of two in effective mass corresponds to a combined factor of 16 improvement for the experimental parameters running time, detector mass, background level and energy resolution. Therefore, a more precise determination of theta(12) is crucial for the interpretation of experimental results and the evaluation of the potential and requirements for future experiments. We give the required half-lifes to exclude (and touch) the inverted hierarchy regime for all double beta decay isotopes with a Q-value above 2 MeV. The nuclear matrix elements from 6 different groups and, if available, their errors are used and compared. We carefully put the calculations on equal footing in what regards various convention issues. We also use our compilation of matrix elements to give the reachable values of the effective mass for a given half-life value.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures. v2: error corrected (misprint in paper we took a value from), slightly modifying the result

Monoidal Hom-Hopf algebras

Hom-structures (Lie algebras, algebras, coalgebras, Hopf algebras) have been investigated in the literature recently. We study Hom-structures from the point of view of monoidal categories; in particular, we introduce a symmetric monoidal category such that Hom-algebras coincide with algebras in this monoidal category, and similar properties for coalgebras, Hopf algebras and Lie algebras.Comment: 25 pages; extended version: compared to the version that appeared in Comm. Algebra, the Section Preliminary Results and Remarks 5.1 and 6.1 have been adde

Anisotropic magnetic properties of CeAg2_2Ge2_2 single crystal

In order to investigate the anisotropic magnetic properties of CeAg$_2$Ge$_2$, we have successfully grown the single crystals, for the first time, by high temperature solution growth (flux) method. We have performed a detailed study of the grown single crystals by measuring their electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat and magnetoresistance. A clear anisotropy and an antiferromagnetic transition at $T_{\rm N}$ = 4.6 K have been observed in the magnetic properties. The magnetic entropy reaches $R$ ln 4 at 20 K indicating that the ground state and the first excited state are very closely spaced (a quasi-quartet state). From the specific heat measurements and crystalline electric field (CEF) analysis of the magnetic susceptibility, we have found the level splitting energies as 5 K and 130 K. The magnetization measurements reveal that the a-axis is the easy axis of magnetization and the saturation moment is $\mu_{\rm s}$ = 1.6 $\mu_{\rm B}$/Ce, corroborating the previous neutron diffraction measurements on a polycrystalline sample.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.