Critical resource supply chains are vulnerable to manipulation because of the un-substitutability of their goods. When a monopoly controls all or part of a market, it has the ability to profit from a reduction in supply of a critical resource. We model this complex adaptive system (CAS) using an agent-based model (ABM) and investigate a strategy to mitigate the potential for exploitation of a m...

Pertaining to Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE), this work presents two models for the rise and downfall of speculative bubbles through an exchange price fixing based on a double auction mechanism. The first model is based in a finite time horizon context where total expected dividends decrease along with time. The second model follows the greater fool hypothesis: an agent behaviour dep...

‎A set of vertices $S$ of a graph $G$ is called a fixing set of $G$‎, ‎if only the trivial automorphism of $G$ fixes every vertex in $S$‎. ‎The fixing number of a graph is the smallest cardinality of a fixing‎ ‎set‎. ‎The fixed number of a graph $G$ is the minimum $k$‎, ‎such that ‎every $k$-set of vertices of $G$ is a fixing set of $G$‎. ‎A graph $G$‎ ‎is called a $k$-fixed graph‎, ‎if its fix...

Why are retailers less likely to vary sale prices of food products when the price paid to the farmer falls than when it rises? As far as perishable goods are concerned, this behavior is usually related to the retailer’s bargaining power. With a view to analyzing the question in greater depth, this study presents a simplified framework considering an ideal scenario in which the retailer wishes t...

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In [17, 18] we presented a pairing based DAA protocol in the asymmetric setting, along with a “security proof”. Jiangtao Li has pointed out to us an attack against this published protocol, thus our prior work should not be considered sound. In this paper we give a repaired version, along with a highly detailed security proof. A full paper will be made available shortly. However in the meantime ...

Until recently, electronic markets were dominated by the combination of static offer schemes and fixed pricing. Static offer schemes such as online catalogues apparently bear the risk of not matching the requirements of all potential buyers. But fixing a price also imposes another risk to the seller the price might not always reflect the current market balance of supply and demand and the speci...

Six hens pecked a key (Experiment 1) or pushed a door (Experiment 2) to obtain food reinforcement. In both experiments and as an analogue of price changes, the response requirements were varied in two ways: by increasing the number of responses required and by increasing the required force of each response. The two price manipulations (response number and response force) had different effects o...