Intrafirm Conflicts and Interfirm Price Competition

We study interfirm price competition in the presence of horizontal and vertical intrafirm conflicts in each firm. Intrafirm conflicts are captured by a principal-agent framework with firms employing more than one agent and implementing a tournament incentive scheme. The principals offer premium incentives in the sense of revenue shares to which agents react by proposing a sales price. Introducing such intrafirm conflicts results in higher prices and lower effort levels. Increasing the number of agents lowers the optimal surplus share of the agents as well as the individual effort and the sales prices. Firm profits first increase and then decrease when employing more and more agents suggesting that principals should employ an intermediate number of agents.Price competition, Agency theory

Equity versus Efficiency? - Evidence from Three-Person Generosity Experiments -

In two-person generosity games the proposer's agreement payoff is exogenously given whereas that of the responder is endogenously determined by the proposer's choice of the pie size. Earlier results for two-person generosity games show that participants seem to care more for efficiency than for equity. In three-person generosity games equal agreement payoffs for two of the players are either exogenously excluded or imposed. We predict that the latter crowds out - or at least weakens - efficiency seeking. Our treatments rely on a 2x3 factorial design differing in whether the responder or the third (dummy) player is the residual claimant and whether the proposer's agreement payoff is larger, equal, or smaller than the other exogenously given agreement payoff.generosity game, equity, efficiency, experiment

B-Spline meshing for high-order finite element analyses of multi-physics problems

Multi-physics problems often involve differential equations of higher-order, which cannot be solved with standard finiteelement methods. B-splines as finite element basis functions provide the required continuity and smoothness. However, the meshgeneration for arbitrarily shaped domains is non-intuitively and traditional techniques often lead to distorted elements.Here a strategy is presented to design isoparametric B-spline based meshes for curves, surfaces, and volumes. The error of thehomeomorphic transformation into curved boundaries is estimated. For selected two and three-dimensional shapes, the knotvectors and the control points are calculated.Exemplarily, a finite element analysis of a helical structure subjected to a chemo-mechanical deformation with phase decompositionis performed

Glass Studio

p. 843-847The Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design has for many years been actively engaged in the research and development of advanced glass structures and systems, including long-span glass arches, adhesively-constructed glass domes, switchable glazing elements, and reinforced glass. In the summer semester of 2008 the institute held an interdisciplinary workshop for students from the faculties of Civil Engineering and Architecture, with technical guidance provided by the glass fabrication shop at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. During the workshop new possibilities were explored in the use of glass as a material. The students gained insight into the theoretical foundations of glass while simultaneously accumulating practical experience working with the material. Different fabrication approaches and technologies were used to create glass objects which reveal new design qualities beyond the aspect of transparency. During the studio, lamination techniques were used to embed optical fibres between two glass panes, generating three-dimensional light images; glass rod structures were created with smooth, pure glass joints achieved through local heating; horizontal slats of glass were layered vertically to achieve a visual superposition of direct and reflected views; glass shards were fused at different temperatures to generate sharp-edged and fragile, or smoothedged and sturdy objects; different thermal treatments were applied to produce flexible glass hybrid materials combining metal wires and glass shards, or slumped glass panes which recall the design vocabulary of lightweight structures. A detailed description of the different techniques employed and the various objects created follows in this article.Puller, K.; Heinz, P.; Frettlöhr, B.; Sobek, W. (2010). Glass Studio. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/695

Fallstudie "Häg-Ehrsberg und Fröhnd (Südschwarzwald)"

Die kleinen Südschwarzwald-Gemeinden Fröhnd und Häg-Ehrsberg im Landkreis Lörrach liegen in einem dünn besiedelten Gebiet und sind wegen ihrer Nähe zum gewerblich prosperierenden unteren Wiesental und zu Basel trotz überwiegend sehr kleiner landwirtschaftlicher Betriebe ökonomisch und demographisch stabil. Die Landschaft ist geprägt von einem Wechsel von Wald und Offenland sowie einem klassischen Intensitätsgradienten zum Rand der Gemarkungen. Das Offenland besteht zum größten Teil aus extensiv beweideten, großflächigen Allmenden. Das Landschaftsbild ist von einer Eigenart und Schönheit geprägt, die es außerhalb der Alpen nirgendwo sonst in Deutschland gibt. Die Landschaft soll in ihrer traditionellen Form erhalten werden, und zwar durch bürgerschaftliches Engagement (mechanische Pflege durch Vereine), traditionell organisierten Bürgernutzen auf der aufgeteilten Allmende (Weide), „Frondienste“ (mechanische Pflege), die Mitwirkung eines Weide- und Landschaftspflegeverbandes sowie durch modifizierte, an Pacht gebundene Weidekonzepte, verbunden mit stärkerer individuellen Nutzung der Allmende, und Pflege durch die Gemeinde.The small Black Forest municipalities of Fröhnd and Häg-Ehrsberg in the rural district of Lörrach are situated in a thinly populated area. Owing to their proximity to the commercially prosperous lower Wiesen valley and to Basel they are economically and demographically stable, despite the predominance of very small agricultural enterprises. The landscape is characterised by an alternation between wood and open land as well as a classic intensity gradient towards the edge of the municipal areas. The open land consists mostly of extensively grazed large-scale commons. The landscape has a unique character and beauty that, other than in the Alps, is to be found nowhere in Germany. The traditional form of this landscape should be preserved through civic involvement (mechanical upkeep by associations), traditionally organised resident use of the divided commons (meadowland), “socage” (mechanical upkeep), the involvement of a meadowland and landscape conservation association, and modified meadowland concepts tied to leaseholds, all combined with strengthened individual use of the commons and conservation by the municipality