Financial Implications of Regulatory Change in the Airline Industry

[No abstract

A Model of Agenda Influence on Committee Decisions

Within a range of circumstances it appears to be possible to control a group's decision by controlling only the agenda. The boundaries of the range over which the agenda is such an overwhelmingly important parameter are not yet known, and the exact principles upon which the influence rests have not been identified. However, the research results reported below provide a first step in answering these questions. Our approach to this problem originated in both practical and theoretical considerations. As a practical matter, we were involved in an important and complex committee decision. A large flying club in which we held membership was meeting to vote upon the size and composition of the aircraft fleet which would be available to the membership for flying. As members we had preferences about the fleet available to us and an opportunity to shape the agenda. Preliminary discussions and meetings had narrowed the range of possibilities greatly from hundreds of thousands of competing alternatives to a few hundred. Over these remaining possibilities, however, there were conflicting and strongly held opinions. The group was to meet once and decide the issue by majority vote

On Using the Agenda to Influence Group Decisions: Theory, Experiments, and an Application

Three general claims are made in the paper. First, the agenda or groupings in which alternatives are considered for adoption or elimination is a major parameter in determining what a group will choose. Secondly, the nature of this influence is sufficiently systematic to yield to an analytical model. Finally, it is claimed that this discovery has important practical implications. In support of these claims, the paper offers a theory of the basis of the influence together with an attempt to capture this theory within a mathematical model. The results of an application of the theory to a real situation and the results of several series of experiments are reported

Parametric Analyses In Randomized Clinical Trials

One salient feature of randomized clinical trials is that patients are randomly allocated to treatment groups, but not randomly sampled from any target population. Without random sampling parametric analyses are inexact, yet they are still often used in clinical trials. Given the availability of an exact test, it would still be conceivable to argue convincingly that for technical reasons (upon which we elaborate) a parametric test might be preferable in some situations. Having acknowledged this possibility, we point out that such an argument cannot be convincing without supporting facts concerning the specifics of the problem at hand. Moreover, we have never seen these arguments made in practice. We conclude that the frequent preference for parametric analyses over exact analyses is without merit. In this article we briefly present the scientific basis for preferring exact tests, and refer the interested reader to the vast literature backing up these claims. We also refute the assertions offered in some recent publications promoting parametric analyses as being superior in some general sense to exact analyses. In asking the reader to keep an open mind to our arguments, we are suggesting the possibility that numerous researchers have published incorrect advice, which has then been taught extensively in schools. We ask the reader to consider the relative merits of the arguments, but not the frequency with which each argument is made

Hysteresis phenomenon in deterministic traffic flows

We study phase transitions of a system of particles on the one-dimensional integer lattice moving with constant acceleration, with a collision law respecting slower particles. This simple deterministic ``particle-hopping'' traffic flow model being a straightforward generalization to the well known Nagel-Schreckenberg model covers also a more recent slow-to-start model as a special case. The model has two distinct ergodic (unmixed) phases with two critical values. When traffic density is below the lowest critical value, the steady state of the model corresponds to the ``free-flowing'' (or ``gaseous'') phase. When the density exceeds the second critical value the model produces large, persistent, well-defined traffic jams, which correspond to the ``jammed'' (or ``liquid'') phase. Between the two critical values each of these phases may take place, which can be interpreted as an ``overcooled gas'' phase when a small perturbation can change drastically gas into liquid. Mathematical analysis is accomplished in part by the exact derivation of the life-time of individual traffic jams for a given configuration of particles.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, corrected and improved version, to appear in the Journal of Statistical Physic

Revisionism Revised? Airline Deregulation and the Public Interest

Detta är en skrift om nödvändigheten av att inse, att inte bara diktaren utan också läsaren är med om att skapa litteraturens historia, och att skrivningen av denna historia därför måste omfatta både litteraturens tillkomst och dess återskapande bland ständigt nya generationer läsare. Skriftens ärende illustreras med hur bl.a. en arbetarförfattare som Leon Larson och en kvinnlig författare som Emilie Flygare-Carlen har behandlats - och oftast misshandlats - i tidiga och sena litteraturhistoriska handböcker, från Schtick & Warburg till Lönnroth & Delblanc. Om boken på några ställen anslår en skämtsam eller lättsinnig ton, är det för att ämnet är allvarligt och förtjänar skärpt uppmärksamhet. Om den inte överallt gör rättvisa åt alla nyanser i en frågeställning, är även det för att ämnet är allvarligt och behöver framställas med rena konturer. Om den dessutom här och där lockar till motsägelser, har den nått ett av målen. I bokens text finns sparsamt med referenser, ruen för den som är intresserad av något som diskuteras eller skymtar i texten, kan den avslutande litteraturförteckningen oftast erbjuda åtminstone öppningar till att gå vidare

Revisionism Revised? Airline Deregulation and the Public Interest

[No abstract