Suppose an agency awards a ...xed number of prizes to applicants in di¤erent categories such that the applicant-to-winner ratio is constant by category. It is demonstrated in a simple theoretical model that the number of awards in a category will typically be positively related to the degree of applicant uncertainty. The theoretical ...ndings are related to awards data from the Social Sciences ...

Exchangeable representations of complex random structures are useful in several ways, in particular providing a moderately general way to derive continuum limits of discrete random structures. I shall describe an old example (continuum random trees) and a more recent example (dense graph limits). Thinking this way about road routes suggests challenging new problems in the plane. Mathematics Sub...

In many jurisdictions, organ allocation is done on the basis of the health status of the patient, either explicitly or implicitly. This paper presents a self-promoting priority queueing model for patient waiting times which takes into account changes in health status over time. In this model, most patients arrive as “regular” customers to the queue, but as the health of a patient degrades, thei...

Using time series analysis on data from 1979-2004, Baker and McPhedran (2006) argue that the stricter gun laws introduced in the National Firearms Agreement (NFA) post1996 did not affect firearm homicide rates, and may not have had an impact on the rate of gun suicide or accidental death by shooting. We revisit their analysis, and find that their results are not robust to: (a) using a longer ti...

We examine anticipatory prcxiuct standards intended to improve the strategic position of fInns in an international patent race where fInns do R&D to develop products that are close substitutes. The effects of a standard are shown to depend on the way the standard is specified, which ftnn develops which product, and on the order in which products are discovered. Simple standards are, in general,...