Reexamination of Bargaining Power in the Distribution Channel under Possible Price Pass-through Behaviors of Retailers (Bayesian approaches and statistical inference)

This research aims to gain deeper insight into the determinants of relative power within the distribution channel. We formulate bilateral bargaining under the generalized Nash bargaining. However, when the retailers think retail price increase can be passed on to their customers, we expect them to engage less in vigorous bargaining. We thus allow for the possibility that the retailers can pass through the price increase negotiated with manufacturers to its customers and that the manufacturers are well aware of such behavior by the retailer. As a result, the parties' bargaining powers are determined endogenously not only from the substitution patterns of their customers but also from the willingness of their customers to accept the retail price increase triggered by the wholesale price increase negotiated between the retailer and the manufacturer. In this manuscript, we present the theoretical result on the barganing power in the distribution channel under this expanded framework

A note on no-hair properties of static black holes in four and higher dimensional spacetimes with cosmological constant

We study no-hair properties of static black holes in four and higher dimensional spacetimes with a cosmological constant. For the vanishing cosmological constant case, we show a no-hair theorem and also a no-short-hair theorem under certain conditions for the energy-momentum of matter fields. For the positive cosmological constant case, we discuss conditions for hairy static black holes to exist in terms of the energy density of matter fields evaluated at the black hole horizon and the cosmological horizon. For the negative cosmological constant case, we study conditions for hairy black holes by presenting a no-hair theorem in which the asymptotic structure is assumed to be determined by the true cosmological constant

Iron Emission Lines on the Galactic Ridge Observed with Suzaku

In order to elucidate origin of the Galactic Ridge X-ray Emission, we analyzed Suzaku data taken at various regions along the Galactic plane and studied their Fe-K emission line features. Suzaku resolved the Fe line complex into three narrow lines at ~6.4 keV,~6.7 keV and ~6.97 keV, which are K-lines from neutral (or low-ionized), He-like, and H-like iron ions, respectively. The 6.7 keV line is clearly seen in all the observed regions and its longitudinal distribution is consistent with that determined from previous observations. The 6.4 keV emission line was also found in various Galactic plane regions (b~0). Differences in flux ratios of the 6.4 keV/6.7 keV and 6.97 keV/6.7 keV lines between the Galactic plane and the Galactic center regions are studied and its implication is discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASJ Suzaku 3rd special issu

Spectroscopic estimation of the photon number for superconducting Kerr parametric oscillators

Quantum annealing (QA) is a way to solve combinational optimization problems. Kerr nonlinear parametric oscillators (KPOs) are promising devices for implementing QA. When we solve the combinational optimization problems using KPOs, it is necessary to precisely control the photon number of the KPOs. Here, we propose a feasible method to estimate the photon number of the KPO. We consider coupling an ancillary qubit to the KPO and show that spectroscopic measurements on the ancillary qubit provide information on the photon number of the KPO

Switching of Charge-Current-Induced Spin Polarization in the Topological Insulator BiSbTeSe2

The charge-current-induced spin polarization is a key property of topological insulators for their applications in spintronics. However, topological surface states are expected to give rise to only one type of spin polarization for a given current direction, which has been a limiting factor for spin manipulations. Here we report that in devices based on the bulk-insulating topological insulator BiSbTeSe2, an unexpected switching of spin polarization was observed upon changing the chemical potential. The spin polarization expected from the topological surface states was detected in a heavily electron-doped device, whereas the opposite polarization was reproducibly observed in devices with low carrier densities. We propose that the latter type of spin polarization stems from topologically-trivial two-dimensional states with a large Rashba spin splitting, which are caused by a strong band bending at the surface of BiSbTeSe2 beneath the ferromagnetic electrode used as a spin detector. This finding paves the way for realizing the "spin transistor" operation in future topological spintronic devices.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures (paper proper) + 3 pages, 4 figures (Supplemental Material); rebuttal against recent criticisms towards topological-insulator spin-detection experiments has been substantiated; accepted for publication in PR

c-RET Molecule in Malignant Melanoma from Oncogenic RET-Carrying Transgenic Mice and Human Cell Lines

Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive cancers and its incidence worldwide has been increasing at a greater rate than that of any other cancer. We previously reported that constitutively activated RFP-RET-carrying transgenic mice (RET-mice) spontaneously develop malignant melanoma. In this study, we showed that expression levels of intrinsic c-Ret, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (Gdnf) and Gdnf receptor alpha 1 (Gfra1) transcripts in malignant melanomas from RET-transgenic mice were significantly upregulated compared with those in benign melanocytic tumors. These results suggest that not only introduced oncogenic RET but also intrinsic c-Ret/Gdnf are involved in murine melanomagenesis in RET-mice. We then showed that c-RET and GDNF transcript expression levels in human malignant melanoma cell lines (HM3KO and MNT-1) were higher than those in primary cultured normal human epithelial melanocytes (NHEM), while GFRa1 transcript expression levels were comparable among NHEM, HM3KO and MNT-1. We next showed c-RET and GFRa1 protein expression in HM3KO cells and GDNF-mediated increased levels of their phosphorylated c-RET tyrosine kinase and signal transduction molecules (ERK and AKT) sited potentially downstream of c-RET. Taken together with the finding of augmented proliferation of HM3KO cells after GDNF stimulation, our results suggest that GDNF-mediated c-RET kinase activation is associated with the pathogenesis of malignant melanoma