On the Nature of Reciprocity: Evidence from the Ultimatum Reciprocity Measure

We experimentally show that current models of reciprocity are in- complete in a systematic way using a new variant of the ultimatum game that provides second-movers with a marginal-cost-free punish- ment option. For a substantial proportion of the population, the de- gree of rst-mover unkindness determines the severity of punishment actions even when marginal costs are absent. The proportion of these subjects strongly depends on a treatment variation: higher xed costs of punishment lead to harsher responses. The fractions of purely self- ish and inequity-averse participants are small and stable. Among the variety of reciprocity models, only one accommodates (rather than predicts) parts of our ndings. The treatment e ect is unaccounted for. We discuss ways of incorporating our ndings into the existing models.Distributional fairness, experiments, intention-based fair- ness, reciprocity, ultimatum bargaining

In a State of Exception: National and International Perceptions of Piracy in Somalia

This article investigates how international actors respond to piracy in Somalia. It is argued that the root causes of piracy must be traced back to the collapse of Siad Barre’s regime in the early 1990s, which resulted in an escalation of foreign illegal activity in Somali waters. This caused Somali entrepreneurs to set up a taxing system that eventually escalated into organized piracy. Simultaneously, the international response to the issue of piracy has gained momentum as an important element in the ‘global war on terror’ and international political actors have increasingly approached piracy as a security concern rather than a development issue. Such discourse legitimizes a radicalization of the Western response motivated by an increasingly militarized and ‘by-all-means-necessary’ approach resulting from laws that effectively suspend basic human rights. The article argues that international response towards piracy in Somalia thus serves as a significant example of modern totalitarianism as described by Giorgio Agamben, where entire categories of citizens are considered incapable of being fully integrated into the political system. In terms of reducing the number of piracy incidents, this strategy has proven successful. But simultaneously it protected important members of the global political elite to from facing judgment on their responsibility of the depletion of resources in Somalia

Determinants of director compensation in two-tier systems: evidence from German panel data

Building on a unique panel data set of German Prime Standard companies for the period 2005-2008, this paper investigates the influencing factors of both director compensation levels and structure, i.e. the probability of performance-based compensation. Drawing on agency theory arguments and previous literature, we analyze a comprehensive group of determinants, including detailed corporate performance, ownership and board characteristics. While controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, we find director compensation to be set in ways consistent with optimal contracting theory. I.e. compensation is systematically structured to mitigate agency conflicts and to encourage effective monitoring. Thus, our results indicate that similar types of agency conflicts exist in the German two-tier setting. --Director Compensation,Corporate Governance,Outside Directors,Two-tier System,Agency Costs

Pattern Catalogs using the Pattern Language Meta Language

This article focuses on the pattern language PLML. Some enhancements and corrections to it are proposed to make use of PLML in pattern catalogs. Additionally, a textual domain specific language as human-readable variant of PLML is proposed. Supporting editors, textual and graphical, which were developed using model-based techniques are presented

Declarative Models for Business Processes and UI Generation using OCL

This paper presents an approach to model business processes and associated user interfaces in a declarative way, relying on constraints. An UML-based meta-model to define processes, activities and user-interface objects is proposed. Connecting activities and user interface objects in an integrated model allows expressing interdependencies and mutual effects. Flexible execution logic for workflows and UI control flows are specified by OCL invariants. The model is constructed for the UML tool USE. Using object snapshots, USE can animate and validate business scenarios. Snapshots represent states of a process and a UI at specific times. Such animation enables business process and UI designers to discuss sensible scenarios on basis of the flexible declarative models. The intention is to create validated concrete process models in connection with UI elements that will provide a basis for the system implementation

A Systematic Comparison of Music Similarity Adaptation Approaches

In order to support individual user perspectives and different retrieval tasks, music similarity can no longer be considered as a static element of Music Information Retrieval (MIR) systems. Various approaches have been proposed recently that allow dynamic adaptation of music similarity measures. This paper provides a systematic comparison of algorithms for metric learning and higher-level facet distance weighting on the MagnaTagATune dataset. A crossvalidation variant taking into account clip availability is presented. Applied on user generated similarity data, its effect on adaptation performance is analyzed. Special attention is paid to the amount of training data necessary for making similarity predictions on unknown data, the number of model parameters and the amount of information available about the music itself. 1

Intravascular Large B-Cell Lymphoma Presenting as Dementia and Hemolytic Anemia

Background: Intravascular lymphoma (IVL) is an uncommon disease characterized by atypical lymphoid cells growing inside the lumina of small vessels. The diversity of clinical presentation due to possible involvement of multiple organs often complicates its diagnosis. Case Report: Here, we report on a case of IVL with rapidly progressive dementia and Coombs-negative hemolytic anemia. Interestingly, the erythrocytes exhibited a decreased osmotic resistance. Bone marrow histopathology revealed increased erythropoiesis and, finally, a small monoclonal B lymphocyte population. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated few micro-bleedings. Computed tomography (CT) showed bilateral ground-glass opacity of the lungs. Within a few days, the patient developed respiratory failure and died. On post-mortem examination, intravascular large B-cell lymphoma with almost complete infiltration of the brain and lungs was diagnosed. Conclusion: IVL should be considered early in situations of unexplained neuropsychiatric disease along with markedly elevated levels of lactic dehydrogenase, anemia, and hemolysis

Extending ASSL: Making UML Metamodel-based Workflows executable

ASSL is a language that enables UML developers to test and certify UML and OCL models [5]. Snapshots of system states are semi-automatically created and main parts of the UML action semantics is implemented by the language. Its interpreter is the well-known UML modeling tool USE. The article proposes a number of language extensions to ASSL. These include (sub ) procedure calls and pre- and postcondition checks on entering and exiting of operations using OCL. The paper motivates the need for these extensions as well as their usage and development along the problem of metamodel-based execution of workflow models. Executable workflow models, driven by ASSL procedures, are introduced in detail to present the usage of ASSL and our extensions

gEYEded: Subtle and Challenging Gaze-Based Player Guidance in Exploration Games

This paper investigates the effects of gaze-based player guidance on the perceived game experience, performance, and challenge in a first-person exploration game. In contrast to existing research, the proposed approach takes the game context into account by providing players not only with guidance but also granting them an engaging game experience with a focus on exploration. This is achieved by incorporating gaze-sensitive areas that indicate the location of relevant game objects. A comparative study was carried out to validate our concept and to examine if a game supported with a gaze guidance feature triggers a more immersive game experience in comparison to a crosshair guidance version and a solution without any guidance support. In general, our study findings reveal a more positive impact of the gaze-based guidance approach on the experience and performance in comparison to the other two conditions. However, subjects had a similar impression concerning the game challenge in all conditions

Eltern als Gehilfen. Überlegungen zur Rolle der Eltern in der Waldorfpädagogik

In diesem Beitrag soll der Frage nachgegangen werden, welche Rolle den Eltern von der pädagogischen Lehre her für die Praxen der Waldorfschulen zugedacht ist. Der Schulvertrag, den Eltern mit der Waldorfschule schließen, ist mehr als ein juristischer Schritt, der ein zivilrechtliches Vertragsverhältnis begründet: Anthroposophische Pädagogen werten ihn als Einverständnis für die besondere anthroposophische Interpretation dieses Verhältnisses und der Erziehung. (DIPF/Orig.