Non-competitive Environment Research Articles

Profit Maximization Incentive Mechanism for Resource Providers in Mobile Edge Computing

Mobile edge computing (MEC) has become a promising technique to accommodate demands of resource-constrained mobile devices by offloading the task onto edge clouds nearby. However, most existing works only focus on whether to offload or where to offload the task but ignore the motivations of edge clouds to offer service. To stimulate service provisioning by edge clouds, it is essential to design an incentive mechanism that charges mobile devices and rewards edge clouds. In this paper, we first propose an incentive mechanism in a non-competitive environment. We utilize market-based profit maximization pricing model to establish the relationship between the resources provided by edge clouds and the price charged to mobile devices. By solving the optimization problem, we provide a reasonable pricing strategy to not only ensure the profit of resource providers but guarantee the quality of experience (QoE) of mobile devices. Furthermore, we design an online profit maximization multi-round auction (PMMRA) mechanism for the resource trading between edge clouds as sellers and mobile devices as buyers in a competitive environment. The mechanism can effectively determine the price paid by buyers to use the resources provided by sellers and make the corresponding match between edge clouds and mobile devices. Finally, numerical results show that proposed mechanism outperforms other existing algorithms in maximizing the profit of edge clouds.

The relationship between social rank and spatial learning in pheasants, Phasianus colchicus: cause or consequence?

Individual differences in performances on cognitive tasks have been found to differ according to social rank across multiple species. However, it is not clear whether an individual’s cognitive performance is flexible and the result of their current social rank, modulated by social interactions (social state dependent hypothesis), or if it is determined prior to the formation of the social hierarchy and indeed influences an individual’s rank (prior attributes hypothesis). We separated these two hypotheses by measuring learning performance of male pheasants, Phasianus colchicus, on a spatial discrimination task as chicks and again as adults. We inferred adult male social rank from observing agonistic interactions while housed in captive multi-male multi-female groups. Learning performance of adult males was assayed after social rank had been standardised; by housing single males with two or four females. We predicted that if cognitive abilities determine social rank formation we would observe: consistency between chick and adult performances on the cognitive task and chick performance would predict adult social rank. We found that learning performances were consistent from chicks to adults for task accuracy, but not for speed of learning and chick learning performances were not related to adult social rank. Therefore, we could not support the prior attributes hypothesis of cognitive abilities aiding social rank formation. Instead, we found that individual differences in learning performances of adults were predicted by the number of females a male was housed with; males housed with four females had higher levels of learning performance than males housed with two females; and their most recent recording of captive social rank, even though learning performance was assayed while males were in a standardized, non-competitive environment. This does not support the hypothesis that direct social pressures are causing the inter-individual variation in learning performances that we observe. Instead, our results suggest that there may be carry-over effects of aggressive social interactions on learning performance. Consequently, whether early life spatial learning performances influence social rank is unclear but these performances are modulated by the current social environment and a male’s most recent social rank.

Random Mutation and Natural Selection In Competitive and Non-Competitive Environments

Random Mutation and Natural Selection In Competitive and Non-Competitive Environments

Exposure to an unpredictable and competitive social environment affects behavior and health of transition dairy cows

Social factors are important determinants of disease in humans and and laboratory animals, but less research has been done using farm animals. The objective of this study was to determine if an unpredictable and competitive social environment affects behavior and health during the transition period when dairy cows are at high risk of disease. Five weeks before calving, 64 cows were assigned to a predictable and noncompetitive social environment (predictable) or an unpredictable and competitive social environment (unpredictable) using 8 groups of 4 animals per treatment. Each group consisted of 3 multiparous and 1 primiparous cow. At first enrollment (baseline; 5 wk before calving), all groups had access to 4 electronic feed bins. At 4 wk before calving, cows in the predictable groups were given access to 6 feed bins, and cows in the unpredictable groups were moved into a new pen with 4 resident cows each trained to consume feed from one bin. Each cow in the unpredictable group was then provided access to only 1 of the 4 feed bins which they shared with 1 resident cow (resulting in 2 cows/bin), creating a competitive feeding environment. To create an unpredictable environment, access to morning feed was delayed 0, 1, 2, or 3 h every other day. On alternate days, the cows in unpredictable groups were assigned to feed from a new feed bin (and thus had to compete with a new resident partner). Feeding and social behavior were collected electronically from the feed bins. Blood was sampled at baseline (wk -5), wk -2, wk -1, and wk +1 relative to calving to measure inflammatory (haptoglobin and tumor necrosis factor-α) and metabolic (nonesterified fatty acids, β-hydroxybutyrate, calcium, and glucose) biomarkers. Uterine cytology was performed 3 to 5 wk after calving to diagnose cytological endometritis. Data were analyzed using mixed models including baseline data as a covariate, week as a repeated measure, treatment as a main effect, and a treatment by week interaction. The probability of cytological endometritis at the group level was analyzed using Mann-Whitney U tests. Parity was included in separate models to determine any parity × treatment interactions. Cows from both treatments consumed the same amount of feed, but cows in the unpredictable group spent less time feeding and had a higher rate of feed intake. Cows in the unpredictable groups also visited the feed bins less often, consumed more feed during each visit, and were involved in more social replacements at the feed bin compared with predictable groups. Cows in the unpredictable groups had higher serum concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids and tumor necrosis factor-α, but lower β-hydroxybutyrate compared with predictable groups. Multiparous cows in unpredictable groups were more likely to be diagnosed with cytological endometritis after calving compared with cows in the predictable groups, but primiparous cows in unpredictable groups showed a tendency for the opposite response. These results suggest that an unpredictable and competitive social environment before calving causes changes in feeding and social behavior, some physiological indicators of metabolism and inflammation, and increases the risk of uterine disease in multiparous cows after calving.

Cells responsible for liver mass regeneration in rats with 2-acetylaminofluorene/partial hepatectomy injury

BackgroundWhether hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs)/oval cells regenerate liver mass upon chronic liver injury is controversial in mice and has not been conclusively proven in humans and rats. In this study, we examined which cell type—hepatocytes or oval cells—mediates liver regeneration in the classic rat 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF)/partial hepatectomy (PH) injury where AAF reversibly blocks hepatocyte proliferation, thereby inducing oval cell expansion after the regenerative stimulus of PH.MethodsWe employed lineage tracing of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV, a hepatocyte canalicular enzyme)-positive hepatocytes by subjecting rats with DPPIV-chimeric livers to AAF/PH, AAF/PH/AAF (continuous AAF after AAF/PH to nonselectively inhibit regenerating hepatocytes), or AAF/PH/retrorsine injury (2-dose retrorsine after AAF/PH to specifically and irreversibly block existing hepatocytes); through these methods, we determined hepatocyte contribution to liver regeneration. To determine the oval cell contribution to hepatocyte regeneration, we performed DPPIV(+) oval cell transplantation combined with AAF/PH injury or AAF/PH/retrorsine injury in DPPIV-deficient rats to track the fate of DPPIV(+) oval cells.ResultsDPPIV-chimeric livers demonstrated typical oval cell activation upon AAF/PH injury. After cessation of AAF, DPPIV(+) hepatocytes underwent extensive proliferation to regenerate the liver mass, whereas oval cells underwent hepatocyte differentiation. Upon AAF/PH/AAF injury where hepatocyte proliferation was inhibited by continuous AAF treatment following AAF/PH, oval cells extensively expanded in an undifferentiated state but did not produce hepatocytes. By substituting retrorsine for AAF administration following AAF/PH (AAF/PH/retrorsine), oval cells regenerated large-scale hepatocytes.ConclusionsHepatocyte self-replication provides the majority of hepatocyte regeneration, with supplementary contribution from oval cells in rats under AAF/PH injury. Oval cells expand and maintain in an undifferentiated state upon continuously nonselective liver injury, whereas they can significantly regenerate hepatocytes in a noncompetitive environment.

Development of a monopoly pricing model for diffusion maximization in fuzzy weighted social networks with negative externalities of heterogeneous nodes using a case study

Today, informational structure is organized in such a way that sellers can easily employ the various capabilities of social networks, such as the analysis of positive and negative tendencies of neighbours, to maximize diffusion in the network. Therefore, in this paper we employ this approach to introduce a novel mathematical product pricing model for a monopoly product in a non-competitive environment and in the presence of heterogeneous customers. In this model, all customers are divided into various groups based on their preferences for the price, quality and need time for the product demand and also the positive and negative influences of neighbours. So, it seems customers utilize a multi-criteria decision-making model for buying a product. When a customer buys a product and additionally, persuades its neighbours to also buy the product they will receive a referral bonus from the seller. Meanwhile, the intensity of relations between neighbours in the network is incorporated into the model qualitatively. Finally, hardness of the problem justifies application of a genetic algorithm for solving the proposed pricing model and real-world dataset is used to conduct a case study that verifies its applicability.

THE POWER OF CLOUD COMPUTING: INTEGRATION AND INTELLIGENCE

This paper is based on the development of cloud computing to propose a new scenario for enterprise information systems. From a view of the cloud as an infrastructure technology, it is possible to think of inter-organization integrations in a more efficient way, in a great possibility of data mining with the data of different companies and in its later analysis of data for better decision making. For non-competitive environments, the scenario of integration and intelligence defended is extremely probable and there is already movement in this direction. However, it is understood that data privacy and copyright issues still require further study, in addition to market dominance by few players with unknown consequences.

Decision-making, financial risk aversion, and behavioral biases: The role of testosterone and stress

We examine the relation between testosterone, cortisol, and financial decisions in a sample of naïve investors. We find that testosterone level is positively related to excess risk-taking, whereas cortisol level is negatively related to excess risk-taking (correlation coefficient [r]: 0.75 and −0.21, respectively). Additionally, we find support for the dual-hormone hypothesis in a financial context. Specifically, the testosterone-to-cortisol ratio is significantly related to loss aversion. Individuals with a higher ratio are 3.4 times more likely to sell losing stocks (standard error [SE]: 1.63). Furthermore, we find a positive feedback loop between financial success, testosterone, and cortisol. Specifically, financial success is significantly related to higher post-trial testosterone and cortisol by a factor of 0.53 (SE: 0.14). Finally, we find that in a competitive environment, testosterone level increases significantly, leading to greater risk-taking than in noncompetitive environment. Overall, this study underscores the importance of the endocrine system on financial decision-making. The results of this study are relevant to a broad audience, including investors looking to optimize financial performance, industry human resources, market regulators, and researchers.

Providing Social Support for Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minority PhD Students in the Biomedical Sciences: A Career Coaching Model.

Improvement in the proportion of underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities (URMs) in academic positions has been unsatisfactory. Although this is a complex problem, one key issue is that graduate students often rely on research mentors for career-related support, the effectiveness of which can be variable. We present results from a novel academic career "coaching" intervention, one aim of which was to provide supplementary social support for PhD students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds. Coaching was delivered both within small groups and on an individual basis, with a diverse group of coaches and students coming from many universities. Coaches were provided with additional diversity training. Ninety-six semistructured interviews with 33 URM students over 3 years were analyzed using a qualitative framework approach. For most of the URM PhD students, coaching provided social support in the form of emotional, informational, and appraisal support. Coaching groups provided a noncompetitive environment and "community of support" within which students were able to learn from one another's experiences and discuss negative and stressful experiences related to their graduate school, lab, or career plans. This coached peer group model is capable of providing the social support that many URM students do not find at their home universities.

Involuntary imagery predicts athletes’ affective states

Involuntary imagery has received scant attention in the sport psychology literature, with most investigations concentrating on deliberate imagery use. This is surprising considering research has demonstrated that specific types of involuntary imagery exists and can elicit both facilitative and negative effects upon psychological and affective states. Therefore our study examined athletes’ involuntary imagery types (intrusive-spontaneous) and the subsequent relationship with recorded state levels of positive and negative affect. Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that intrusive visual imagery accounted for 6.3 per cent of the variance in participants’ negative affect scores with no further contribution to the models result observed with the introduction of spontaneous imagery. The second regression recorded that these involuntary visual imagery types contribute minimally to an athlete’s positive affect in a noncompetitive environment. In conclusion, these findings provide evidence that practitioners should be vigilant of athletes experiencing involuntary visual imagery, as some images are likely to be accompanied with negative affect.

Decision-Making, Financial Risk Aversion and Behavioral Biases: The Role of Testosterone and Stress

We examine the relation between testosterone, cortisol, and financial decisions in a sample of naive investors. We find that testosterone level is positively related to excess risk-taking, whereas cortisol level is negatively related to excess risk-taking (correlation coefficient [r]: 0.75 and -0.21, respectively). Additionally, we find support for the dual-hormone hypothesis in a financial context. Specifically, the testosterone-to-cortisol ratio is significantly related to loss aversion. Individuals with a higher ratio are 3.4 times more likely to sell losing stocks (standard error [SE]: 1.63). Furthermore, we find a positive feedback loop between financial success, testosterone, and cortisol. Specifically, financial success is significantly related to higher post-trial testosterone and cortisol by a factor of 0.53 (SE: 0.14). Finally, we find that in a competitive environment, testosterone level increases significantly, leading to greater risk-taking than in noncompetitive environment. Overall, this study underscores the importance of the endocrine system on financial decision-making. Broader implications of this study include, but are not limited to, investors looking to optimize financial performance, industry human resources, market regulators, and academia.

Coalition and Group Announcement Logic

Dynamic epistemic logics which model abilities of agents to make various announcements and influence each other's knowledge have been studied extensively in recent years. Two notable examples of such logics are Group Announcement Logic and Coalition Announcement Logic. They allow us to reason about what groups of agents can achieve through joint announcements in non-competitive and competitive environments. In this paper, we consider a combination of these logics -- Coalition and Group Announcement Logic and provide its complete axiomatisation. Moreover, we partially answer the question of how group and coalition announcement operators interact, and settle some other open problems.

The Detrimental Effects of Oxytocin-Induced Conformity on Dishonesty in Competition

Justifications may promote unethical behavior because they constitute a convenient loophole through which people can gain from immoral behavior and preserve a positive self-image at the same time. A justification that is widely used is rooted in conformity: Unethical choices become more permissible because one’s peers are expected to make the same unethical choices. In the current study, we tested whether an exogenous alteration of conformity led to a lower inclination to adhere to a widely accepted norm (i.e., honesty) under the pressure of competition. We took advantage of the well-known effects of intranasally applied oxytocin on affiliation, in-group conformity, and in-group favoritism in humans. We found that conformity was enhanced by oxytocin, and this enhancement had a detrimental effect on honesty in a competitive environment but not in a noncompetitive environment. Our findings contribute to recent evidence showing that competition may lead to unethical behavior and erode moral values.

Property in Bribes Revisited in a Cross-Disciplinary Perspective

Taking its point of departure from the decision of the United Kingdom Supreme Court in FHR European Ventures, this article seeks to bring cross-disciplinary perspectives to bear on the question whether an agent should hold the bribe he has received on constructive trust for his principal. Economising models are employed and the results interpreted by reference to the Calabresi and Melamed tripartite scheme of property rule, liability rule and inalienable right. The results are at least three-fold. First, an effective legal rule responding to the problem of harm caused by corruption must recognise and take account of differences between competitive and non-competitive environments and auditing or monitoring possibilities. Second, a property rule fails to do that. Third, ignoring such endogenous and exogenous variables, it overestimates or underestimates the harm suffered by victims of corruption.

Profit maximizing behavior of banks in Bangladesh

A well-developed financial system has been widely understood as a stimulant in accelerating economic growth by easing frictions, mobilizing savings and facilitating investment in an efficient manner (Levine 1997, Rahman 2003). The financial sector reform and its follow-up developments in Bangladesh is an ongoing process. Given the current status of the financial development, this study is intended to frame a testable hypothesis such that inter-group comparisons of marginal productivity of labor and capital of banks in Bangladesh could be tested that would allow us to see if banks in Bangladesh are employing labor and capital efficiently in their profit maximizing behavior. A panel data model - seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) is used based on yearly data covering 2006-2015 for four groups of banks, namely state-owned commercial banks (SCBs), private commercial banks (PCBs), foreign commercial banks (FCBs) and specialized banks (SBs) operating in Bangladesh.The market shares (based on 2006-2015 average figure) in deposits, advances, operating income and total manpower are dominated by the PCBs, while SCBs enjoy the second position followed by FCBs and SBs. Currently 56 scheduled banks are operating in Bangladesh, among them 6 are state-owned commercial banks (SCBs), 2 are specialized banks (SBs), 9 are foreign private banks (FCBs) and 39 are domestic private banks (PCBs) of which 8 are full-pledged Islamic banks. As of end February 2016, the total number of reported bank branches including Head Offices, Islamic Windows and SME service centers stood at 9,410 with 4,072 urban and 5,338 rural branches. Although the central bank of Bangladesh has been monitoring day-to-day development of the banking activities, there is no formal assessment of banking system's profit maximizing behavior has so far been made.This paper also examines if there is any productivity - remuneration gap in labor and capital employment to know if banks in Bangladesh are operating in a competitive environment. The estimated results from Zellner's Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) procedure indicate that none of the bank groups is employing labor and capital efficiently. Operating earnings elasticities of labor are not significantly different from zero for all groups, while the same are positive for capital. The higher capital intensive banks are making more money than those with lower capital intensity. All of the banks are operating at non-optimal level in a non-competitive environment. They are over-employing labor and under-employing capital relative to the long-run profit maximizing level. The findings of the paper also confirm that there are significant gaps between productivity - remuneration for both the inputs i.e., labor and capital employment in banks of Bangladesh.Therefore, proper policy interventions are needed to enhance competitive environment among banks to ensure efficient and optimal uses of labor and capital. Appropriate policy initiatives to improve managerial efficiency and good governance for the state owned commercial and specialized banks are also recommended.

The Strategic Behavior of Firms with Debt

We empirically study the strategic behavior of levered firms in competitive and noncompetitive environments. We find that regulation induces firms to increase leverage, and this reduces their ability to compete when deregulation occurs. Large and small levered firms adopt different strategies upon deregulation. Whereas more levered small firms charge higher prices to increase margins at the expense of market shares, highly levered large firms prey on their rivals by increasing output and reducing prices to increase their market shares. The difference in their behavior is due to differences in their probability of bankruptcy and their financing constraints.

Increases in brain activity during social competition predict decreases in working memory performance and later recall

In our fMRI experiment, participants completed a learning task in both a noncompetitive and a socially competitive learning environment. Despite reporting a preference for completing the task while competing, participants remembered significantly more during the task and later recalled more from the noncompetitive learning environment. Furthermore, during working memory maintenance, there was performance-related deactivation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the precuneus/PCC. During feedback presentation, there was greater activation in the mPFC and the precuneus/PCC while competing. Differential activation in the precuneus/PCC predicted worse later recall for information learned competitively. Since previous research suggests that the mPFC is involved in social-referencing, while the precuneus/PCC is implicated in off-task thoughts, our results suggest that receiving feedback regarding competition produces more activation in brain regions implicated in social interaction, as well as task distraction. While competition may make a task more enjoyable, the goal of winning may distract from maximizing performance. Hum Brain Mapp 38:457-471, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of Exergaming and Message Framing in School Environments on Physical Activity Attitudes and Intentions of Children and Adolescents

Although interventions targeting the health of students in schools are becoming common, few studies have examined how health messages operate at the group level in school environments. This study examines the effects of message-based health interventions (extrinsic vs. intrinsic goal framing) in group environments (exergame competitive vs. exergame noncompetitive) on eliciting attitudes and intentions toward physical activity among children and adolescents. We conducted a 7-week school-based intervention program involving 336 children and 259 adolescents in Singapore in which pre- and post-intervention responses were recorded. Our findings revealed the difference in responses between child and adolescent groups. Children who participated in noncompetitive exergames with extrinsically framed health messages and those who participated in competitive exergames with intrinsically framed health messages demonstrated more favorable attitudes toward physical activity. However, the same effects were absent in our adolescent group. These findings suggest that the integration of exergames into competitive and noncompetitive environments can serve as a gateway to traditional physical activity in schools when strategically combined with intrinsically and extrinsically framed messages. Practical and theoretical implications for schools and health educators are discussed.

How Health Care Professionals Use Social Media to Create Virtual Communities: An Integrative Review.

BackgroundPrevailing health care structures and cultures restrict intraprofessional communication, inhibiting knowledge dissemination and impacting the translation of research into practice. Virtual communities may facilitate professional networking and knowledge sharing in and between health care disciplines.ObjectivesThis study aimed to review the literature on the use of social media by health care professionals in developing virtual communities that facilitate professional networking, knowledge sharing, and evidence-informed practice.MethodsAn integrative literature review was conducted to identify research published between 1990 and 2015. Search strategies sourced electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL), snowball references, and tables of contents of 3 journals. Papers that evaluated social media use by health care professionals (unless within an education framework) using any research design (except for research protocols or narrative reviews) were included. Standardized data extraction and quality assessment tools were used.ResultsOverall, 72 studies were included: 44 qualitative (including 2 ethnographies, 26 qualitative descriptive, and 1 Q-sort) and 20 mixed-methods studies, and 8 literature reviews. The most common methods of data collection were Web-based observation (n=39), surveys (n=23), interviews (n=11), focus groups (n=2), and diaries (n=1). Study quality was mixed. Social media studied included Listservs (n=22), Twitter (n=18), general social media (n=17), discussion forums (n=7), Web 2.0 (n=3), virtual community of practice (n=3), wiki (n=1), and Facebook (n=1). A range of health care professionals were sampled in the studies, including physicians (n=24), nurses (n=15), allied health professionals (n=14), followed by health care professionals in general (n=8), a multidisciplinary clinical specialty area (n=9), and midwives (n=2). Of 36 virtual communities, 31 were monodiscipline for a discrete clinical specialty. Population uptake by the target group ranged from 1.6% to 29% (n=4). Evaluation using related theories of “planned behavior” and the “technology acceptance model” (n=3) suggests that social media use is mediated by an individual’s positive attitude toward and accessibility of the media, which is reinforced by credible peers. The most common reason to establish a virtual community was to create a forum where relevant specialty knowledge could be shared and professional issues discussed (n=17). Most members demonstrated low posting behaviors but more frequent reading or accessing behaviors. The most common Web-based activity was request for and supply of specialty-specific clinical information. This knowledge sharing is facilitated by a Web-based culture of collectivism, reciprocity, and a respectful noncompetitive environment. Findings suggest that health care professionals view virtual communities as valuable knowledge portals for sourcing clinically relevant and quality information that enables them to make more informed practice decisions.ConclusionsThere is emerging evidence that health care professionals use social media to develop virtual communities to share domain knowledge. These virtual communities, however, currently reflect tribal behaviors of clinicians that may continue to limit knowledge sharing. Further research is required to evaluate the effects of social media on knowledge distribution in clinical practice and importantly whether patient outcomes are significantly improved.

ItpkB regulates CCR7 expression on dendritic cells prior to lymph node trafficking

Abstract Dendritic cells (DC) are fundamental in the initiation of the adaptive immune response. Following antigen uptake, tissue-resident DCs undergo maturation in preparation for their migration to lymph nodes where they present processed antigen to T cells. Down-regulation of tissue-homing receptors and upregulation of lymphoid-homing receptors, including CCR7 is required for dendritic cell entry into afferent lymphatic vessels. CCR7 binding to its ligands, CCL19 and CCL21, provides the appropriate directional cues for DCs to traffic to lymph nodes. Although both maturation and migration of DCs have been extensively studied, it still remains unclear what signaling pathways are responsible for inducing CCR7 expression. We found that DCs deficient in inositol-trisphosphate 3-kinase B (ItpkB) express higher levels of CCR7. ItpkB-deficient BMDCs migrate to draining lymph nodes more efficiently in both competitive and noncompetitive environments compared to their wild-type counterparts. We have previously shown that ItpkB deficiency leads to enhanced Akt activation in NK cells. Western blot analysis showed that ItpkB-deficiency in DCs also leads to increased basal and LPS-induced Akt1 activation. To determine whether hyper-Akt activity is sufficient to trigger enhanced lymph node homing, we expressed two forms of constitutively active Akt1, Myr-Akt1 and Akt1 T308E, S473D, in wildtype DCs. Akt1 hyperactivity was sufficient to promote CCR7 expression but did not affect DC maturation. Our findings suggest that ItpkB regulates CCR7 expression on dendritic cells as they prepare to traffic to draining lymph nodes for the purpose of primary T cell responses.