Periodic attractors of random truncator maps

This paper introduces the \textit{truncator} map as a dynamical system on the space of configurations of an interacting particle system. We represent the symbolic dynamics generated by this system as a non-commutative algebra and classify its periodic orbits using properties of endomorphisms of the resulting algebraic structure. A stochastic model is constructed on these endomorphisms, which leads to the classification of the distribution of periodic orbits for random truncator maps. This framework is applied to investigate the periodic transitions of Bornholdt's spin market model.Comment: 8 pages, presented at APFA

Hierarchical Economic Agents and their Interactions

We present a new type of spin market model, populated by hierarchical agents, represented as configurations of sites and arcs in an evolving network. We describe two analytic techniques for investigating the asymptotic behavior of this model: one based on the spectral theory of Markov chains and another exploiting contingent submartingales to construct a deterministic cellular automaton that approximates the stochastic dynamics. Our study of this system documents a phase transition between a sub-critical and a super-critical regime based on the values of a coupling constant that modulates the tradeoff between local majority and global minority forces. In conclusion, we offer a speculative socioeconomic interpretation of the resulting distributional properties of the system.Comment: 38 pages, 13 figures, presented at the 2013 WEHIA conference; to appear in Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, to appear in Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordinatio

Accounting for hospices: Palliative care at risk

This paper is based on a presentation given at the British Accounting and Finance Association 46th Annual Conference in 30 March to 1 April 2010 at Cardiff City HallThis article is concerned with how the Government’s end of life care strategy seeks to draw upon the capacity and additional choice provided by voluntary charitable hospices in England. Constructing a hospice financial business model we consider the extent to which the policy intersection outlined in the Governments End of Life Care Strategy between Primary Care Trust (PCT) commissioning and the contribution of voluntary hospices is robust or fragile going forward