Simple and Near-Optimal Mechanisms For Market Intermediation

A prevalent market structure in the Internet economy consists of buyers and sellers connected by a platform (such as Amazon or eBay) that acts as an intermediary and keeps a share of the revenue of each transaction. While the optimal mechanism that maximizes the intermediary's profit in such a setting may be quite complicated, the mechanisms observed in reality are generally much simpler, e.g., applying an affine function to the price of the transaction as the intermediary's fee. Loertscher and Niedermayer [2007] initiated the study of such fee-setting mechanisms in two-sided markets, and we continue this investigation by addressing the question of when an affine fee schedule is approximately optimal for worst-case seller distribution. On one hand our work supplies non-trivial sufficient conditions on the buyer side (i.e. linearity of marginal revenue function, or MHR property of value and value minus cost distributions) under which an affine fee schedule can obtain a constant fraction of the intermediary's optimal profit for all seller distributions. On the other hand we complement our result by showing that proper affine fee-setting mechanisms (e.g. those used in eBay and Amazon selling plans) are unable to extract a constant fraction of optimal profit in the worst-case seller distribution. As subsidiary results we also show there exists a constant gap between maximum surplus and maximum revenue under the aforementioned conditions. Most of the mechanisms that we propose are also prior-independent with respect to the seller, which signifies the practical implications of our result.Comment: To appear in WINE'14, the 10th conference on Web and Internet Economic

Understanding aspects of alginate biosynthesis and regulation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Alginate is a medically and industrially important polymer produced by seaweeds and certain bacteria. The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa over-produces alginate during cystic fibrosis lung infections, forming biofilms, making the infection difficult to treat. Bacteria make alginate using membrane spanning multi-protein complexes. Although alginate biosynthesis and regulation have been studied in detail, there are still major gaps in knowledge. In particular, the requirement of AlgL (a periplasmic alginate degrading enzyme) and role played by MucR (an inner membrane c-di-GMP modulator) are not well understood. Here I show that AlgL and MucR are not essential for alginate production during biofilm growth. My findings suggest that while catalytically active AlgL negatively affects alginate production, expressing catalytically inactive AlgL enhances alginate yields. Furthermore, preliminary data show AlgL is not required for the stability or functionality of the alginate biosynthesis complex, suggesting that it is a free periplasmic protein dispensable for alginate production. These findings support the prediction that the primary function of AlgL is to degrade misguided alginate from the periplasm. For MucR, I show for the first time that its sensor domain mediates nitrate-induced suppression of alginate biosynthesis. This appears to occur at multiple levels in a manner only partially dependent on c-di-GMP signaling. These results indicate that MucR is associated with the negative effect of nitrate (and possibly denitrification) on alginate production. On the basis of these results, I propose a combination of nitrate (or denitrification intermediates), exogenous lyases and antimicrobial agents could be used to eliminate established chronic biofilm infections. Furthermore, catalytically inactive AlgL and/or homologs of MucR with disabled sensor motifs could be harnessed in non-pathogenic bacteria for producing tailor-made alginates

Boston University Wind Ensemble, December 7, 1995

This is the concert program of the Boston University Wind Ensemble performance on Thursday, December 7, 1995 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. Works performed were Circuits by Cindy McTee, Symphony No. 6 for Band by Vincent Persichetti, Old Wine in New Bottles by Gordon Jacob, The Path Between the Mountains by Jay Kennedy, Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russell Bennet, and Rolling Thunder by Henry Fillmore. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund