Balanced Competition Research Articles

An Extension of Two Species Lotka-Volterra Competition Model

Limiting resource is a angular stone of the interactions between species in ecosystems such as competition, prey-predators and food chain systems. In this paper, we propose a planar system as an extension of Lotka-Volterra competition model. This describes two competitive species for a single resource which are affected by intra and inter-specific interference. We give its complete analysis for the existence and local stability of all equlibria and some conditions of global stability. The model exhibits a rich set of behaviors with a multiplicity of coexistence equilibria, bi-stability, tri-stability and occurrence of global stability of the exclusion of one species and the coexistence equilibrium. The asymptotic behavior and the number of coexistence equilibria are shown by a saddle-node bifurcation of the level of resource under conditions on competitive effects relatively to associated growth rate per unit of resource. Moreover, we determine the competition outcome in the situations of Balanced and Unbalanced intra-inter species competition effects. Finally, we illustrate results by numerical simulations.

Gamification in Non-Formal Adult Educational Practices

The presented article reveals and generalizes the experience of using gamification in the context of non-formal adult educational practices. From this perspective, the basic understanding of gamification is defined, priorities are set for the use of gamification components, the non-game context as a basis for gamification of training course programs is analysed. An empirical study of extrapolated game mechanics in non-formal adult educational practices of Adult Education Centres has been carried out. Definitions are given regarding consideration of social and psychological types of adult students for application of gamification of non-formal education. In the article the gamified educational non-game context is formulated as non-imitation with apreserved invariable content of educational activity at changingthe way of organization of this activity. Among the most common game mechanics found to meet the priority needs of adult students are those in which reward was offered for the task; balanced competition was stimulated; different types of interaction were envisaged; an opportunity was provided to share results and achievements outside of training; quick feedbackwas provided. Variability of extrapolation of game mechanics into non-formal educational practices of adults concerns the following main didactic categories of educational programs: learning objectives; the forms of training organization; teaching methods; learning motivation; control of learning outcomes.

Cooperation bias in regional policy: Is competition neglected?

Rising market power across the OECD countries raises the question how industrial policies address the role of competition, including on the regional level. Based on a multifaceted understanding of competition and cooperation between firms in the conceptual literature, this article examines the role of competition-enhancing interventions in regional innovation policies under the smart specialisation approach. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative analysis of the strategic orientation of smart specialisation strategies in 18 European regions, the article finds that regional policies apply a range of competition-enhancing interventions but still fall short of seizing the ample room for encouraging intraregional interfirm competition. While theory suggests that competition and cooperation are complements in promoting regional innovation, the limited focus of regional policies on interfirm competition might imply a bias in favour of cooperation at the expense of the productivity-enhancing role of interfirm competition. Hence, we argue that regional policies could benefit from a rebalancing by considering the use of more competition-enhancing interventions. This finding is particularly relevant for the process of smart specialisation since balancing competition and cooperation provides an additional rationale for calls in the literature to prevent rent-seeking by incumbent firms in the policymaking process.

The Impact of Article 17 – A Study into its Effects on the Music Industry's Innovation Processes

Abstract The recent adoption of article 17 in the EU's new Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market has led to much debate. Proponents believe it will facilitate fair and balanced competition, while opponents fear increased censorship and surveillance on the Internet. Based on comprehensive document analysis, the paper explores the relationship between regulation and innovation. Through a study into article 17's implementation in Denmark, this paper investigates how article 17 will affect the innovation processes in the European music industry. The paper argues that although article 17 strengthens the rightsholders’ negotiation position, it does not decrease its dependence on the external IT Sector and its innovations.

Spatial transcriptomic and single-nucleus analysis reveals heterogeneity in a gigantic single-celled syncytium.

In multicellular organisms, the specification, coordination, and compartmentalization of cell types enable the formation of complex body plans. However, some eukaryotic protists such as slime molds generate diverse and complex structures while remaining in a multinucleate syncytial state. It is unknown if different regions of these giant syncytial cells have distinct transcriptional responses to environmental encounters and if nuclei within the cell diversify into heterogeneous states. Here, we performed spatial transcriptome analysis of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum in the plasmodium state under different environmental conditions and used single-nucleus RNA-sequencing to dissect gene expression heterogeneity among nuclei. Our data identifies transcriptome regionality in the organism that associates with proliferation, syncytial substructures, and localized environmental conditions. Further, we find that nuclei are heterogenous in their transcriptional profile and may process local signals within the plasmodium to coordinate cell growth, metabolism, and reproduction. To understand how nuclei variation within the syncytium compares to heterogeneity in single-nucleus cells, we analyzed states in single Physarum amoebal cells. We observed amoebal cell states at different stages of mitosis and meiosis, and identified cytokinetic features that are specific to nuclei divisions within the syncytium. Notably, we do not find evidence for predefined transcriptomic states in the amoebae that are observed in the syncytium. Our data shows that a single-celled slime mold can control its gene expression in a region-specific manner while lacking cellular compartmentalization and suggests that nuclei are mobile processors facilitating local specialized functions. More broadly, slime molds offer the extraordinary opportunity to explore how organisms can evolve regulatory mechanisms to divide labor, specialize, balance competition with cooperation, and perform other foundational principles that govern the logic of life.

IMPLEMENTASI ALGORITMA CLUSTERING DAN ANALITYCAL HIERARCHY PROCESS UNTUK MENENTUKAN PESERTA LATIHAN DASAR ORGANISASI KEMAHASISWAAN TERBAIK

In a training activity, a strategy is needed to form groups and assess the best participants. Also like the Student Organization Basic Training (LDOK) at Satya Negara Indonesia University or elsewhere, good group division will increase the competitiveness of each group. Personality theory and the K-Mean method can provide options for forming training groups with equal distribution of participants' characters. With a balanced competition, it is hoped that the scores achieved by the participants can be optimal in each group. Selection of the best participants using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method can be used for this purpose by determining the level of importance of each activity being assessed. The results of this study indicate that these two methods can be used as an option by the implementing committee to optimize the results of the training activities .

The Asia Pacific Chessboard: Alignment of Regional and Extra-Regional Players

The paper aims to analyze the alignment of regional and extra-regional players on the Asia Pacific Chessboard through the lens of Balance of Power theory. China and USA are identified as the chief players of this chessboard which have employed different strategies of hard and soft balancing to counter the influence of other. Using the analogy of Chess game, different roles can be associated with the regional and extra regional players. Under the Trump administration America has resorted towards a hard balancing strategy against rising Chinese threat while China on the other hand is still relying on the soft balancing strategy. The future of Sino-American balancing competition in the region of Asia Pacific depends upon the leadership style of President Biden and whether the current administration continues to identify China as a major threat or not. China has no interest in developing military bases or forging a military alliance at the moment but American strategies can incite China to do so. If needed China could add the military component in its economic and infrastructure initiative of BRI. Hence the American approach and Chinese counter-approach in next few years would determine the fate of the Sino-American balancing competition in the region of Asia Pacific.

Binarizing Weights Wisely for Edge Intelligence: Guide for Partial Binarization of Deconvolution-Based Generators

This article explores the weight binarization of the deconvolution-based generator in a generative adversarial network (GAN) for memory saving and speedup of image construction on the edge. This article suggests that different from convolutional neural networks (including the discriminator) where all layers can be binarized, only some of the layers in the generator can be binarized without significant performance loss. Supported by theoretical analysis and verified by experiments, a direct metric based on the dimension of deconvolution operations is established, which can be used to quickly decide which layers in a generator can be binarized. Our results also indicate that both the generator and the discriminator should be binarized simultaneously for balanced competition and better performance during training. The experimental results on CelebA dataset with DCGAN and original loss functions suggest that directly applying state-of-the-art binarization techniques to all the layers of the generator will lead to $2.83\times $ performance loss measured by sliced Wasserstein distance compared with the original generator, while applying them to selected layers only can yield up to $25.81\times $ saving in memory consumption, and $1.96\times $ and $1.32\times $ speedup in inference and training, respectively, with little performance loss. Similar conclusions can also be drawn on other loss functions for different GANs.

The Urgency of Regional Regulation Bill of Serdang Bedagai Regency on Trading Business

This study aims to discuss the urgency of regional regulation bill of serdang bedagai regency on trading business. Various problems regulated in this regulation include: The quality that is owned between modern retail and traditional retail is not comparable in terms of capital, management to human resources; The increasing number of modern retailers has made it difficult for traditional retailers to develop because they have to deal directly with modern retailers with better quality; There are no strict sanctions against retailers who violate the relevant provisions; Unilateral determination of the types, sizes and prices of trading terms to retail; and The incomplete application of regulations and criminal provisions whose content is not yet optimal. Currently, the gap between modern trading businesses and traditional trading businesses lies in the distribution chain that is digitally integrated in modern trading businesses, creating synergies among its users. Meanwhile, traditional trading business entrepreneurs are usually cash based and have limited integration with suppliers or banks to manage purchases, supplies and payments. Based on this condition, it is very necessary to form a regulation to create a balanced competition between traditional trading businesses and modern trading businesses, regulations that are able to bring justice to all entrepreneurs, not only provide protection for traditional trading businesses and forget about modern trading businesses that also have a very positive impact on the existence of the regional and national economy or vice versa. The regulation is in the form of a Trade Business Regional Regulation. Regional Regulation Bill of Serdang Bedagai Regency on Trading Business

Pressure controllable aptamers picking strategy by targets competition

Selection of aptamers with high affinity and good specificity requires multiple rounds of alternating steps of separation and PCR amplification. Herein, we proposed a novel high-efficiency aptamers picking strategy: One-round pressure controllable selection (OPCS). OPCS integrates four types of screening superiority, high-efficiency separation, one-round selection and PCR amplification, synchronous negative selection and targets competition. The controllable screening pressure can be achieved through two approaches, balanced competition by the regulation of protein concentration, and dominant competition by introducing a predatory protein with high concentration. In OPCS process, two proteins were co-incubated with one ssDNA library, and each protein bound its favorable sequences specifically and formed protein-ssDNA complex respectively. Meanwhile, one protein could supply/suffer the picking pressure of affinity and specificity to/from another, which eliminated weakly bound or unbound sequences for each other. Two complexes could be separated and collected conveniently, and aptamers for two proteins obtained synchronously with high affinity and good specificity. This strategy not only provides a more effective way for aptamers selection, but shows great potential in other ligands or drugs selection.

Migration and City Competitiveness: A Comparative Analysis with Surat as a Special Case

This article provides a brief sketch of the size, composition and spatial pattern of migration in Surat city based on discussions in the existing literature, anecdotal evidences and interactions with the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) officials during field trips. It sheds light on migration ‘specificity’ of Surat compared with migration flows in other major cities. The article builds a competitiveness index to rank the four cities in our project: Surat, Pune, Kochi and Ludhiana using the principal component analysis (PCA) technique and interprets the role of migration in building a city’s competitiveness. While migration adds strains on urban resources (e.g., growth of slums) and makes it more ‘vulnerable’, it enriches a city’s supply chains by easing labour market tightness and making it more ‘competitive’ economically. It finds a positive link between migration and a city’s competitiveness in general. Competitiveness is here taken to be a composite of several socio-economic variables, over and above what is generally meant by ‘economic’ competitiveness. Based on the commonalities of the variables that explain the principal components (PC) most (have significant loadings in the component), the PCs are redefined as ‘Absorption Spillover’ and ‘Strength of Pull’. It finds that though Surat is placed in the 2nd rank in terms of overall competitiveness, its competitiveness is primarily driven by ‘Strength of Pull’ rather than ‘Absorption Spillover’. The policy implication is that urban adaptive mechanisms should be redesigned on this dimension to achieve a balanced, inclusive and sustainable competitiveness.

Methane dry reforming over activated carbon supported Ni-catalysts prepared by solid phase synthesis

The catalysts for methane dry reforming were commonly confronted with the problems of metal component agglomeration and carbon deposition. The catalysts made by solid-phase synthesis could effectively overcome these problems. In this paper, methane dry reforming was catalyzed over activated carbon supported Ni-catalysts prepared by solid-phase synthesis. Through this method, the catalysts exhibited a uniform metal dispersion over the carrier, with particle size at the nanoscale of 4.69 nm. Catalytic performance of the prepared catalysts was tested, and the results showed that the catalysts could effectively catalyze methane dry reforming, due to little metal agglomeration and the balanced competition between carbon deposition and carbon consumption. In the catalytic performance testing initiated at 900 °C, the conversions of CH4 and CO2 were maintained at 80.3% and 97.5% after the testing, respectively. It was also noticed the syngas generated in the testing process had a favorable H2/CO ratio, at around 1. The syngas was considered to be beneficial to the synthesis of methanol, ammonia and oxygen-containing chemicals by Fischer-Tropsch process. It should be emphasized the reactant gases conversions presented an upward trend when the testing arrived at about 2 h, revealing an enhancement of catalyst activity. In totally, the catalysts prepared by solid-phase synthesis could avoid the agglomeration of active component and the serious carbon deposition, thus slowing down the catalyst deactivation. Through this work, it was demonstrated solid-phase method could open up new possibilities for the synthesis of highly active and stable catalysts for methane dry reforming.

Markets for ideas: prize structure, entry limits, and the design of ideation contests

AbstractI develop an empirical model of idea generation contests with heterogeneous participants and endogenous entry, fit the model to data from a platform used by major advertisers, and simulate counterfactual contest designs. The empirical model resolves ambiguous predictions yielded by contest theory about the effects of different prize structures on contest outcomes. Simulations reveal the impact of strategies that hold fixed total award and balance competition by handicapping advantaged participants. Increasing the number of prizes while restricting the number of prizes per participant can improve outcomes for the platform. The results provide guidance for the design of large contests.

Invasive Chromolaena odorata species specifically affects growth of its co-occurring weeds.

Plant-plant interaction is essential to weed invasion success and is related to impacts on the environment. To understand interactions of the well-known invasive plant siamweed (Chromolaena odorata) and its neighbors (exotic Praxelis clematidea and native cadillo) in South China, and their competitive mechanisms above- and belowground, a multicultivation experiment was conducted. Competitive indices, plant morphological traits, soil nutrient contents, enzyme activities, and microbial biomass were measured. Competitive balance index and morphological traits revealed balanced competition between P. clematidea and siamweed, and suppressive effect of siamweed on cadillo. In coculture of siamweed and P. clematidea, the branch length of siamweed slightly lengthened, while the branch number of P. clematidea increased compared with their respective monocultures accordingly. Overall impacts of the two invaders on soil properties were near averages of their single impacts. In coculture of siamweed and cadillo, siamweed was more competitive in both light and nutrient capture; soil urease activity and acid phosphatase activity were magnified and mitigated compared with the averages of those in their respective monocultures, respectively. The species-specific results of siamweed competing with its co-occurring weeds would contribute to a better understanding of mechanism in synergistic effect of siamweed with the other invasive plants.

Coherent generation and manipulation of entangled stationary photons based on a multiple degrees of freedom quantum memory.

We propose a quantum memory, each subsystem of which is comprised of two double M-type systems of cold atoms, for the first generation of entangled stationary photons (ESPs). Through the active operation of two pairs of counter-propagating controlling fields in time, the reversible transfer of entanglement between photons and atomic ensembles is realized, and the ESPs can be created due to the tight coupling and balanced competition between the corresponding retrieved signal photons. The reduced density matrix in the photon-polarization basis, which provides the lower bound for any purported entanglement, is constructed for discussing the dynamics evolution of the entanglement in terms of the concurrence. We show that the present scheme can be employed for the entangled photons encoded in degrees of freedom (DOFs) of polarization and orbital angular momentum. Such a multiple DOFs dependent scheme, with many benefits over that in a single one, could pave the way toward quantum nonlinear optics without a cavity and could greatly enhance the tunability and capacity for the quantum information processing.

Coherent generation and manipulation of stationary light pulses encoded in degrees of freedom of polarization and orbital angular momentum

We propose a double-$\mathsf{M}$ system of cold atoms for realizing the reversible storage and manipulation of signal fields encoded in degrees of freedom (DOFs) of polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM). By employing two pairs of counterpropagating controlling fields, we show that the system exhibits dark state polaritons relating to the polarization and propagation direction of the light fields. Through the active operation of the controlling fields in time, stationary light pulses with polarizations and OAM information can be generated due to the tight coupling and balanced competition between the retrieved signal fields, and can be manipulated coherently and all-optically. Another advantage of our proposed scheme is that the two polarization components of the signal field can be decoupled and thus be independently retrieved from the atomic ensemble, and then the scheme can be employed to realize polarization-dependent beam splitting. Such a multiple DOF-dependent scheme could pave the way toward quantum nonlinear optics without a cavity, and could greatly enhance the tunability and capacity for both classical and quantum information processing.

Improvement of partial nitrification endogenous denitrification and phosphorus removal system: Balancing competition between phosphorus and glycogen accumulating organisms to enhance nitrogen removal without initiating phosphorus removal deterioration

The novel partial nitrification endogenous denitrification and phosphorus removal (PNEDPR) process can achieve deep-level nutrient removal from low carbon/nitrogen municipal wastewater without extra carbons. However, its performance is limited by long hydraulic retention time (HRT) and low specific endogenous denitrification rate (rNO2). This study aimed at investigating the effects of two improving strategies on PNEDPR. One was decreasing both anaerobic and anoxic reaction time for shortening HRT from 55 h to 17.5 h. The other was temporarily discharging orthophosphate-rich supernatant for balancing the competition between phosphorus and glycogen accumulating organisms to further raise rNO2 without deterioration of phosphorus removal. Results revealed that, desirable nutrient removal was obtained, as average effluent concentrations of total nitrogen and orthophosphate were 8.4 and 0.5 mg/L with their average removal efficiencies of 86.8% and 90.9%. High-throughput sequencing analysis revealed that, Candidatus_Competibacter conducted nitrogen removal endogenous denitrification and Candidatus_Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera ensured phosphorus removal.

Internal Balance and International Competitiveness: Sports Leagues Decision Models

In this paper, we consider the sports industry and in particular we focus our study on the European Football. In this market, the more the league is balanced with good teams and the more it becomes profitable. However, empirical data suggest that the top teams involved in more balanced national championships have less probability to win the international competitions. Starting from these considerations, we propose a model which examines, from the point of view of a profit-maximizer sports league, the opportunity to introduce measures in order to foster a balanced internal championship, taking into due account the competitiveness of the internal teams in the international competitions. Then we extend the model in order to include strategic interactions between more leagues in a non-cooperative game setting, and compare the Nash Equilibrium of the game with the cooperative outcome, in which the leagues maximize their joint expected profits.

Finite-Size Effects in Metasurface Lasers Based on Resonant Dark States.

The quest for subwavelength coherent light sources has recently led to the exploration of dark-mode based surface lasers, which allow for independent adjustment of the lasing state and its coherent radiation output. To understand how this unique design performs in real experiments, we need to consider systems of finite size and quantify finite-size effects not present in the infinite dark-mode surface laser model. Here we find that, depending on the size of the system, distinct and even counterintuitive behavior of the lasing state is possible, determined by a balanced competition between multiple loss channels, including dissipation, intentional out-coupling of coherent radiation, and leakage from the edges of the finite system. The conclusions are crucial for the design of future experiments that will enable the realization of ultrathin coherent light sources.

Nuances in the Interplay of Competition and Cooperation: Towards a Theory of Coopetition

Progress in coopetition research is impeded by two problems in the literature: (a) superficial conceptualization of simultaneity and outcomes and (b) lack of theorizing about core properties of coopetition and how they influence outcomes. This paper addresses these interrelated problems and charts a path towards a theory of coopetition. We systematically analyze competition and cooperation and illuminate how the interplay between specific aspects of competition and cooperation manifests through unique coopetition mechanisms. We explicate a range of possible outcomes from coopetition—joint value creation for all firms, value creation for individual firms, and value destruction—and suggest that coopetition mechanisms help explain how and why coopetition may lead to varying outcomes. Furthermore, we explain how effective navigation of simultaneity and value creation intent, two fundamental elements of coopetition, may be instrumental in deriving beneficial outcomes. Navigating simultaneity involves balancing competition and cooperation and maintaining both at moderately strong levels, and navigating value creation consists of managing the trade-off between joint value creation and firm value creation without compromising overall value creation. By explaining how coopetition manifests, what its unique underlying properties are, and how such properties influence outcomes, our paper provides a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and progresses the literature towards a theory of coopetition.