Agent-based Simulation of Online Trading

AbstractIt is evident that sustained cooperation among online traders is absolutely essential for ensuring the success of electronic markets. This research tries to explore the underlying relationship between reputation engineering system and cooperation level by employing ‘Agent Based Simulation Modeling’ approach. It attempts to establish a trust based reputation system and analyze its effect on the sustainability of mutual cooperation between online traders by taking into account key factors such as level of gullibility of online traders and the weight of influence given to their past behavior. The simulation result reveals the correlation between the Smoothing Constant and the Probability of Imitation. The maximum permissible probability of imitation to maintain full cooperation decreases with the increase in the smoothing constant. The mean trader profit decreases as the smoothing constant increases

Water pollutant fingerprinting tracks recent industrial transfer from coastal to inland China: a case study

In recent years, China’s developed regions have transferred industries to undeveloped regions. Large numbers of unlicensed or unregistered enterprises are widespread in these undeveloped regions and they are subject to minimal regulation. Current methods for tracing industrial transfers in these areas, based on enterprise registration information or economic surveys, do not work. The authors have developed an analytical framework combining water fingerprinting and evolutionary analysis to trace the pollution transfer features between water sources. We collected samples in Eastern China (industrial export) and Central China (industrial acceptance) separately from two water systems. Based on the water pollutant fingerprints and evolutionary trees, we traced the pollution transfer associated with industrial transfer between the two areas. The results are consistent with four episodes of industrial transfers over the past decade. The results also show likely types of the transferred industries - electronics, plastics, and biomedicines - that contribute to the water pollution transfer