Strategic Ignorance in Bargaining

In his classic article "An Essay on Bargaining" Schelling (1956) argues that ignorance might actually be strength rather than weakness. We test and confirm Schelling's conjecture in a simple take-it-or-leave bargaining experiment where the proposer can choose between two possible offers. Option A always gives the proposer a higher payoff than option B. The payoff of the responder depends on the (randomly determined) state of nature, i.e., in state s2 payoffs of the two players are aligned while they are not in state s1. The responder is always informed about the actual state. The proposer knows the actual state in our first treatment but not in the second. We find that proposers indeed benefit from ignorance because the responders accept almost all offers (even the unfavorable ones) if the payoffs of the responder have not been transparent for the proposer. In additional treatments we investigate situations where the proposer can deliberately remain ignorant. One could assume that remaining ignorant on purpose would be punished by the responder at least if an unfavorable outcome results. Surprisingly, we find that strategically remaining ignorant tends to be beneficial for the proposer particularly if the responder does not know with certainty whether it was the proposer's intention to remain ignorant or whether it was not her intention.strategic ignorance, bargaining, intentions, experiment

Thermodynamic approach to rheological modeling and simulations at the configuration space level of description

The so-called matrix model is a general thermodynamic framework for microrheological modeling. This model has already been proven to be applicable for a wide class of systems, in particular to models formulated at the configuration tensor level of description. For models formulated at the configuration space level of description a matrix formulation is readily obtained, but for the subsequent analysis one still needs an explicit solution of the configuration space distribution functions. In the present paper we describe an approach in which this problem is solved by combining the matrix model with a Lagrangian simulation method in configuration space developed recently by Szeri and Leal. The result is a consistent and unified formulation of stress tensor expressions, including the stress averaging, and the evolution equations. This formulation is also suited for numerical simulations. In this way, the range of applicability of the matrix model is extended substantially. In order to clarify the principles of the method and some aspects of its implementation, a simple example is discussed in some detail

Indiana Federal Depository Libraries Directory

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New insights into the gene regulatory network that regulates dorsoventral axis patterning in Oncopeltus fasciatus

Toll-dependent dorsoventral axis patterning in Drosophila represents one of the best understood gene regulatory networks. However, outside the insects Toll is not known for a patterning function, but rather for a role in pathogen defense. In most other animals the dorsoventral axis is patterned by BMP signaling. How the shift from a BMP-based to a Toll-dominated mode of dorsoventral axis patterning within the insect lineage evolved has remained elusive. Previous work has shown that in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus Toll is only required to polarize a dynamic BMP signaling network, an architecture that resembles characteristics of dorsoventral axis patterning in vertebrates and other animals more than any other insect studied so far. In this work, I established an embryonic microinjection protocol to inject Toll and BMP pathway components to ectopically activate these pathways in wild-type and dorsalized Toll knockdown embryos and analyzed the induced gene expression patterns via in situ hybridizations. Together with phenotypic analysis my experiments revealed, that the transcription factor Snail is a crucial component of the BMP/Sog system of Oncopeltus and thus has an axis patterning function that is not described for any other organism. I propose a gene regulatory network including Snail that extends the previous BMP/Sog system of Oncopeltus and is able to pattern the mesoderm, ectoderm and mesectoderm. In addition, I generated transcriptomes of both wild type and RNAi-mediated knockdown embryos, targeting essential dorsoventral patterning genes of the Toll and BMP pathway. I performed RNAseq and analysed a subset of differentially expressed genes via in situ hybridizations and RNAi-mediated knockdown generation. Several expression patterns were found that have never been described before, including two markers of the serosa, an embryonic fate that lacked a distinct marker in Oncopeltus as of yet

Some accomplishments through simplification of concentrator flow-scheme

The writer came to The Cusi Mining Company in the last days of October 1921. The property and the district are just such as previously described, this company having been a high-grade producer for some years and the mill was built to handle the lower grade of mine ores and an accumulated mine dump --page 6

Hwaunsa Temple Stay

Postcard from Michaela Fujita-Conrads, during the Linfield College Semester Abroad Program at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Kore

Nesting Status of the Cooper\u27s Hawk in Iowa: 1988-1996

The Cooper\u27s Hawk was once considered a common nesting species in Iowa. Organochlorine pesticides and their residues, along with habitat loss contributed to its decline throughout the Midwest after the 1940\u27s. This species was classified as endangered in Iowa in 1984, but recent trends in nests found indicate that the population of these hawks has increased. Since April 1988, 53 nests have been discovered in Iowa. Due to the apparent population growth, this species was removed from Iowa\u27s endangered species list in 1994

Lying and Team Incentives

We investigate the influence of two widespread compensation schemes, individual piece-rates and team incentives, on participants' inclination to lie, by adapting the experimental setup of Fischbacher and Heusi (2008). Lying turns out to be more pronounced under team incentives than under individual piece-rates, which highlights a so far fairly neglected feature of these compensation schemes.compensation schemes, lying, team, experiment

People are more likely to promise to help you if you ask them in person or by phone

Synchronous communication usually gets people to say yes, but follow through will always be low, write Julian Conrads and Tommaso Reggian