Incomplete Information VCG Contracts for Common Agency

We study contract design for welfare maximization in the well-known “common agency” model introduced in 1986 by Bernheim and Whinston. This model combines the challenges of coordinating multiple principals with the fundamental challenge of contract design: that principals have incomplete information of the agent’s choice of action. Our goal is to design contracts that satisfy truthfulness of the principals, welfare maximization by the agent, and two fundamental properties of individual rationality (IR) for the principals and limited liability (LL) for the agent. Our results reveal an inherent impossibility. Whereas for every common agency setting there exists a truthful and welfare-maximizing contract, which we refer to as “incomplete information Vickrey–Clarke–Groves contracts,” there is no such contract that also satisfies IR and LL for all settings. As our main results, we show that the class of settings for which there exists a contract that satisfies truthfulness, welfare maximization, LL, and IR is identifiable by a polynomial-time algorithm. Furthermore, for these settings, we design a polynomial-time computable contract: given valuation reports from the principals, it returns, if possible for the setting, a payment scheme for the agent that constitutes a contract with all desired properties. We also give a sufficient graph-theoretic condition on the population of principals that ensures the existence of such a contract and two truthful and welfare-maximizing contracts, in which one satisfies LL and the other one satisfies IR.</p

Incomplete Information VCG Contracts for Common Agency

The “common agency” model, introduced by Bernheim and Whinston in 1986 combines the fundamental challenge of the principal–agent model with the challenges of coordinating multiple principals. In “Incomplete information VCG contracts for common agency,” Alon, Talgam-Cohen, Lavi, and Shamash show that the class of common agency settings for which there exists a contract that guarantees truthfulness of all principals, welfare maximization, and the two standard properties from contract theory—limited liability for the agent and individual rationality for the principals—is identifiable by a polynomial-time algorithm. Furthermore, for these settings, the authors design a polynomial-time computable contract: given valuation reports from the principals, it returns, if possible for the setting, a payment scheme for the agent that constitutes a contract with all desired properties

Studies of the Electrochemical Behavior of LiNi0.80Co0.15Al0.05O2 Electrodes Coated with LiAlO2

In this paper, we studied the influence of LiAlO2 coatings of 0.5, 1 and 2 nm thickness prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition onto LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 electrodes, on their electrochemical behavior at 30 and 60 degrees C. It was demonstrated that upon cycling, 2 nm LiAlO2 coated electrodes displayed similar to 3 times lower capacity fading and lower voltage hysteresis comparing to bare electrodes. We established a correlation among the thickness of the LiAlO2 coating and parameters of the self-discharge processes at 30 and 60 degrees C. Significant results on the elevated temperature cycling and aging of bare and LiAlO2 coated electrodes at 4.3 V were obtained and analyzed for the first time. By analyzing of X-ray diffraction patterns of bare and 2 nm coated LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 electrodes after cycling, we concluded that cycled materials preserved their original structure described by R-3m space group and no additional phases were detected. (c) The Author(s) 2017. Published by ECS. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Exposure to Violence and Attitudes Towards Transitional Justice

Transitional justice has emerged to address victims' needs as a means of restoring relations broken by violence. Yet we know little about victims' attitudes towards different transitional justice mechanisms. Why do some victims prioritize retributive justice while others favor other forms of dealing with the violent past? What determines victims' attitudes towards transitional justice policies? To address these questions, we offer a new theoretical framework that draws upon recent insights from the field of evolutionary psychology and links both war exposure and postwar environments to transitional justice preferences. We argue that both past experiences of wartime violence and present-day social interdependence with perpetrators impact transitional justice preferences, but in divergent ways (resulting in greater support for retributive vs. restorative justice measures, respectively). To test our framework, we rely upon a 2013 representative survey of 1,007 respondents focusing on general population attitudes towards transitional justice in Bosnia two decades after the implementation of the Dayton Accords. Specifically, we examine the impact of displacement, return to prewar homes, loss of property, loss of a loved one, physical injury, imprisonment, and torture on attitudes towards transitional justice. On the whole, our findings confirm our two main hypotheses: Exposure to direct violence and losses is associated with more support for retributive justice measures, while greater present-day interdependence with perpetrators is associated with more support for restorative justice measures. While acknowledging the legacy of wartime violence, we highlight the importance of the postwar context and institutional mechanisms that support victims in reconstructing their lives

Innovative cartography standards for Web-GIS portals : case study of the 'Survey of Israel's' Web-GIS Portal

Maps have been published on the world wide web since its inception (Cartwright, 1999) and are still accessed and viewed by millions of users today (Peterson, 2003). While early webbased GIS products lacked a complete set of cartographic capabilities, the functionality within such systems has significantly increased over recent years. Functionalities once found only in desktop GIS products are now available in web-based GIS applications, for example, data entry, basic editing, and analysis. Applications based on web-GIS are becoming more widespread and the web-based GIS environment is replacing the traditional desktop GIS platforms in many organizations. Therefore, development of a new cartographic method for web-based GIS is vital. The broad aim of this project is to examine and discuss the challenges and opportunities of innovative cartography methods for web-based GIS platforms. The work introduces a recently developed cartographic methodology, which is based on a web-based GIS portal by the Survey of Israel (SOI). The work discusses the prospects and constraints of such methods in improving web-GIS interfaces and usability for the end user. The work also tables the preliminary findings of the initial implementation of the web-based GIS cartographic method within the portal of the Survey of Israel, as well as the applicability of those methods elsewhere

Insights from a Recent Workshop on Walls, Borders, and Frontier Zones in the Ancient and the Contemporary World

&lt;p&gt;This article reports on the 'Walls, Borders, and Frontier Zones in the Ancient and Contemporary World' workshop and its implications of transdisciplinary research for building comparative insights into the uses, meanings and experiences of border and wall constructions in the past and present&nbsp;&lt;br&gt;&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt

Insights from a Recent Workshop on Walls, Borders, and Frontier Zones in the Ancient and the Contemporary World

This article reports on the ‘Walls, Borders, and Frontier Zones in the Ancient and Contemporary World’ workshop and its implications of transdisciplinary research for building comparative insights into the uses, meanings and experiences of border and wall constructions in the past and present

Implementation of the Treat-to-Target Concept in Evaluation of Psoriatic Arthritis Patients

Background: The treat-to-target approach was recently adopted for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) management. Objective: To assess the implementation of the &ldquo;treat-to-target&rdquo; (T2T) concept in daily management of PsA by use of composite scores of disease activity versus clinical judgement alone. Methods: A total of 117 PsA patients from a longitudinal PsA cohort were enrolled consecutively in the study during each patient&rsquo;s first clinic visit during 2016&ndash;2017. Clinic notes from the treating rheumatologist were reviewed by an independent rheumatologist, noting clinical impression of disease activity, treatment changes based on clinical judgement, and rationale. Treatment changes were then compared to the use of formal disease activity parameters in Minimal Disease Activity (MDA) and Disease Activity Index for Psoriatic Arthritis (DAPSA) composite measures. All associations were assessed using the chi-square test or the Mann&ndash;Whitney test, as appropriate. Results: The 117 PsA patient cohort consisted of 65.5% women, mean age 58.4 &plusmn; 13.6 years. Clinical judgement of treating rheumatologist concorded with MDA and DAPSA in 76 (65.5%) and 74 (64.9%) patients, respectively. Agreement between clinical judgement and composite measure criteria did not correlate with patient age, sex, alcohol/tobacco use, or treatment regimens chosen. Disagreement between physician assessment and MDA occurred in 40 (34.5%) cases: in 30 cases, the MDA status was overestimated due to disregard of patient reported outcomes (PRO), while underestimation of MDA status occurred in 25% of cases with treatment changes made in patients with a single active joint or enthesis. Underestimation of disease activity using DAPSA occurred in 22 cases and could be attributed to disregarding tender joint count, patient pain visual analogue scale and C-reactive protein level. Conclusion: In our cohort, agreement between clinical impression and formal composite measure utilization for implementation of T2T strategy occurred in 65% of patients. Discordance resulted from physicians&rsquo; overlooking PRO and emphasizing objective findings when using clinical judgement alone