Can Centralized Sanctioning Promote Trust in Social Dilemmas? A Two-level Trust Game with Incomplete Information

The problem of trust is a paradigmatic social dilemma. Previous literature has paid much academic attention on effects of peer punishment and altruistic third-party punishment on trust and human cooperation in dyadic interactions. However, the effects of centralized sanctioning institutions on decentralized reciprocity in hierarchical interactions remain to be further explored. This paper presents a formal two-level trust game with incomplete information which adds an authority as a strategic purposive actor into the traditional trust game. This model allows scholars to examine the problem of trust in more complex game theoretic configurations. The analysis demonstrates how the centralized institutions might change the dynamics of reciprocity between the trustor and the trustee. Findings suggest that the sequential equilibria of the newly proposed two-level model simultaneously include the risk of placing trust for the trustor and the temptation of short-term defection for the trustee. Moreover, they have shown that even a slight uncertainty about the type of the newly introduced authority might facilitate the establishment of trust and reciprocity in social dilemmas.published_or_final_versio

Joint Effects of Asymmetric Payoff and Reciprocity Mechanisms on Collective Cooperation in Water Sharing Interactions: A Game Theoretic Perspective

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The Transformation Of Trust In China’s Alternative Food Networks: Disruption, Reconstruction, And Development

Food safety issues in China have received much scholarly attention, yet few studies systematically examined this matter through the lens of trust. More importantly, little is known about the transformation of different types of trust in the dynamic process of food production, provision, and consumption. We consider trust as an evolving interdependent relationship between different actors. We used the Beijing County Fair, a prominent ecological farmers’ market in China, as an example to examine the transformation of trust in China’s alternative food networks. We argue that although there has been a disruption of institutional trust among the general public since 2008 when the melamine-tainted milk scandal broke out, reconstruction of individual trust and development of organizational trust have been observed, along with the emergence and increasing popularity of alternative food networks. Based on more than six months of fieldwork on the emerging ecological agriculture sector in 13 provinces across China as well as monitoring of online discussions and posts, we analyze how various social factors—including but not limited to direct and indirect reciprocity, information, endogenous institutions, and altruism—have simultaneously contributed to the transformation of trust in China’s alternative food networks. The findings not only complement current social theories of trust, but also highlight an important yet understudied phenomenon whereby informal social mechanisms have been partially substituting for formal institutions and gradually have been building trust against the backdrop of the food safety crisis in China.published_or_final_versio

Thermodynamic and economic assessments of a hybrid PVT-ORC combined heating and power system for swimming pools

T he thermodynamic and economic performance of a solar combined heat and power (S - CHP) system based on an array of hybrid photovoltaic - thermal (PVT) collectors and an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) engine is considered for the provision of heating and power to swimming pool facilities . Priority is given to meet ing the thermal demand of the swimming pool , in order to ensure a comfortable condition for swimmers in cold er weather conditions, while excess thermal output from the collector s at high er temperatures is converted to electricity by the ORC engine in warm er weather conditions. The thermodynamic performance of this system and its dynamic characteristics are analysed on the basis of a transient thermodynamic model. Various heat losses and gains are considered in accordance to environmental and user - rela ted factors for both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. A case study is then performed for the swimming pool at the University Sport Centre (USC) of Bari, Italy. The r esults show that employing a zeotropic mixture of R245fa/ R227ea (30/70%) as the ORC working fluid allows such an ORC system to generate ~50% more power than when using pure R236ea due to the better temperature match of the cycle to the low - temperature hot - water heat source from the output of the PVT collectors . Apart from generating electricity, the ORC engine also alleviates PVT collector overheating , and reduc es the required size of the hot - water storage tank. With an installation of 2000 m 2 of PVT collectors, e nergetic analyses indicate that the proposed S - CHP system can cover 84 - 9 6 % of the thermal demand of the swimming pool during the warm summer months and 61 % of its annual ly integrated total thermal demand. In addition, the system produces a combined (from the collectors and ORC engine) of 328 MWh of electricity per year, corresponding to 36% of the total electricity demand of the USC , with ~4% coming from the ORC engine . The analysis suggests a minimum payback time of 12. 7 years with a n optimized tank volume of 125 m

Cholesterol cholelithiasis in pregnant women: pathogenesis, prevention and treatment

Epidemiological and clinical studies have found that gallstone prevalence is twice as high in women as in men at all ages in every population studied. Hormonal changes occurring during pregnancy put women at higher risk. The incidence rates of biliary sludge (a precursor to gallstones) and gallstones are up to 30 and 12%, respectively, during pregnancy and postpartum, and 1-3% of pregnant women undergo cholecystectomy due to clinical symptoms or complications within the first year postpartum. Increased estrogen levels during pregnancy induce significant metabolic changes in the hepatobiliary system, including the formation of cholesterol-supersaturated bile and sluggish gallbladder motility, two factors enhancing cholelithogenesis. The therapeutic approaches are conservative during pregnancy because of the controversial frequency of biliary disorders. In the majority of pregnant women, biliary sludge and gallstones tend to dissolve spontaneously after parturition. In some situations, however, the conditions persist and require costly therapeutic interventions. When necessary, invasive procedures such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy are relatively well tolerated, preferably during the second trimester of pregnancy or postpartum. Although laparoscopic operation is recommended for its safety, the use of drugs such as ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and the novel lipid-lowering compound, ezetimibe would also be considered. In this paper, we systematically review the incidence and natural history of pregnancy-related biliary sludge and gallstone formation and carefully discuss the molecular mechanisms underlying the lithogenic effect of estrogen on gallstone formation during pregnancy. We also summarize recent progress in the necessary strategies recommended for the prevention and the treatment of gallstones in pregnant women