Telling the other what one knows? Strategic lying in a modified acquiring-a-company experiment with two-sided private information

Lying for a strategic advantage is to be expected in commercial interactions. But would this be more or less obvious when lying could come from either party and question mutually profitable exchange? To explore this, we modify the acquiring-a-company game (Samuelson and Bazerman in Res Exp Econ 3:105–138, 1985) by letting both, buyer and seller, be privately informed. Specifically, the value of the company for the buyer is known only by the seller; whereas, only the buyer is aware by which proportion the sellers evaluation is lower than that of the buyer. Before bargaining, both parties can reveal what they know via cheap-talk numerical messages. Game theoretically, the pooling equilibrium may or may not allow for trade depending on the commonly known expected evaluation discrepancy. By mutually revealing what one knows, one could boost trade and efficiency. Although strategic misreporting prevails quite generally, it is higher for sellers throughout the experiment. Regarding gender, women misreport less, especially as sellers, and offer higher prices

Behavioral spillovers in local public good provision: an experimental study

In a circular neighborhood, each member has a left and a right neighbor with whom(s) he interacts repeatedly. From their two separate endowment amounts individuals can contribute to each of their two structurally independent public goods, either shared only with their left, respectively right, neighbor. If most group members are discrimination averse and conditionally cooperating with their neighbors, this implies intra- as well as inter personal spillovers which link all neighbors. Investigating individual adaptations in one’s two games with differing freeriding incentives confirms, through behavioral spillovers, that both individual contributions anchor on the local public good with the smaller free-riding incentive. Therefore asymmetry in gaining from local public goods allows to establish a higher level of voluntary cooperation

Does heterogeneity spoil the basket? The role of productivity and feedback information on public good provision

In a circular neighborhood of eight, each member contributes repeatedly to two local public goods, one with the left and one with the right neighbor. All eight two-person games provide only local feedback information and are structurally independent in spite of their overlapping player sets. Heterogeneity is induced intra-personally by asymmetric productivity in left and right games and inter-personally by two randomly selected group members who are less privileged (LP) by being either less productive or excluded from end-of-period feedback information about their payoffs and neighbors’ contributions. Although both LP-types let the neighborhood as a whole evolve less cooperatively, their spillover dynamics differ. While less productive LPs initiate “spoiling the basket” via their low contributions, LPs with no-end-of-round information are exploited by their neighbors. Furthermore, LP-positioning, closest versus most distant, affects how the neighborhood evolves

Use of a novel sharp-tip, J-shaped guidewire to facilitate transseptal catheterization

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Degradation of Promoter-bound p65/RelA Is Essential for the Prompt Termination of the Nuclear Factor κB Response

Transcription factors of the nuclear factor (NF)-κB/Rel family translocate into the nucleus upon degradation of the IκBs. Postinduction repression of NF-κB activity depends on NF-κB–regulated resynthesis of IκBα, which dissociates NF-κB from DNA and exports it to the cytosol. We found that after activation, p65/RelA is degraded by the proteasome in the nucleus and in a DNA binding–dependent manner. If proteasome activity is blocked, NF-κB is not promptly removed from some target genes in spite of IκBα resynthesis and sustained transcription occurs. These results indicate that proteasomal degradation of p65/RelA does not merely regulate its stability and abundance, but also actively promotes transcriptional termination

Structure and Dynamics of RNA Guanine Quadruplexes in SARS-CoV-2 Genome. Original Strategies against Emerging Viruses

Guanine quadruplex (G4) structures in the viral genome have a key role in modulating viruses' biological activity. While several DNA G4 structures have been experimentally resolved, RNA G4s are definitely less explored. We report the first calculated G4 structure of the RG-1 RNA sequence of SARS-CoV-2 genome, obtained by using a multiscale approach combining quantum and classical molecular modeling and corroborated by the excellent agreement between the corresponding calculated and experimental circular dichroism spectra. We prove the stability of the RG-1 G4 arrangement as well as its interaction with G4 ligands potentially inhibiting viral protein translation

Removal of metallic elements from real wastewater using zebra mussel bio-filtration process

The metallic element pollution is a serious environmental problem but still unsolved since these contaminants are released mainly by human activity, reaching all the environmental compartments. Traditional wastewater treatment plants are very efficient in removing metallic elements only when their concentration is in the order of mg/L, but are not able to remove them until \u3bcg/L, as it would be needed to cope with the water quality standards in low flow receptors. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the potential removal of some recalcitrant metallic elements to the classical treatments, by the natural process of bio-filtration performed by the invasive zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha). For this purpose we built a pilot-plant at the Milano-Nosedo wastewater treatment plant, where we placed about 40,000 D. polymorpha specimens appointed to the wastewater bio-filtration. The metallic element removal due to zebra mussel activity was evaluated in the treated wastewater with a plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Data obtained in these experiments showed an encouraging metallic element removal due to D. polymorpha activity; in particular, the total abatement (100%) of Cr after one day of bio-filtration exposure is remarkable. Therefore, this study encourages further research related with the use of bivalves as a new tool for the wastewater depuration process; in this regard, the contaminated mollusks used in the bio-filtration could be incinerated or stored in special landfills, as is also the case of traditional sewage sludge

Yet another breakdown point notion: EFSBP - illustrated at scale-shape models

The breakdown point in its different variants is one of the central notions to quantify the global robustness of a procedure. We propose a simple supplementary variant which is useful in situations where we have no obvious or only partial equivariance: Extending the Donoho and Huber(1983) Finite Sample Breakdown Point, we propose the Expected Finite Sample Breakdown Point to produce less configuration-dependent values while still preserving the finite sample aspect of the former definition. We apply this notion for joint estimation of scale and shape (with only scale-equivariance available), exemplified for generalized Pareto, generalized extreme value, Weibull, and Gamma distributions. In these settings, we are interested in highly-robust, easy-to-compute initial estimators; to this end we study Pickands-type and Location-Dispersion-type estimators and compute their respective breakdown points.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure

External Validation Of Equations To Estimate Resting Energy Expenditure In 14952 Adults With Overweight And Obesity And 1948 Adults With Normal Weight From Italy

Background & aims: We cross-validated 28 equations to estimate resting energy expenditure (REE) in a very large sample of adults with overweight or obesity. Methods: 14952 Caucasian men and women with overweight or obesity and 1498 with normal weight were studied. REE was measured using indirect calorimetry and estimated using two meta-regression equations and 26 other equations. The correct classification fraction (CCF) was defined as the fraction of subjects whose estimated REE was within 10% of measured REE. Results: The highest CCF was 79%, 80%, 72%, 64%, and 63% in subjects with normal weight, overweight, class 1 obesity, class 2 obesity, and class 3 obesity, respectively. The Henry weight and height and Mifflin equations performed equally well with CCFs of 77% vs. 77% for subjects with normal weight, 80% vs. 80% for those with overweight, 72% vs. 72% for those with class 1 obesity, 64% vs. 63% for those with class 2 obesity, and 61% vs. 60% for those with class 3 obesity. The Sabounchi meta-regression equations offered an improvement over the above equations only for class 3 obesity (63%). Conclusions: The accuracy of REE equations decreases with increasing values of body mass index. The Henry weight & height and Mifflin equations are similarly accurate and the Sabounchi equations offer an improvement only in subjects with class 3 obesity