We characterize dominant-strategy incentive compatibility with multi-dimensional types. A deterministic social choice function is dominant-strategy incentive compatible if and only if it is weakly monotone (W-Mon). W-Mon is the following requirement: if changing one agent’s type (while keeping the types of other agents fixed) changes the outcome under the social choice function, then the result...

Under which conditions can a network of pulse-coupled oscillators sustain stable collective activity states? Previously, it was shown that stability of the simplest pattern conceivable, i.e., global synchrony, in networks of symmetrically pulse-coupled oscillators can be decided in a rigorous mathematical fashion, if interactions either all advance or all retard oscillation phases ("mono-intera...

For firms remanufacturing their products, the total life-cycle costs and revenues from new and remanufactured products determine their profitability. In many firms, manufacturing/sales and remanufacturing/remarketing operations are carried out in different divisions. Each division is responsible for only part of the product’s life cycle. Practices regarding transfer pricing across divisions var...

We survey here some recent studies concerning what we call mean-field models by analogy with Statistical Mechanics and Physics. More precisely, we present three examples of our mean-field approach to modelling in Economics and Finance (or other related subjects. . . ). Roughly speaking, we are concerned with situations that involve a very large number of “rational players” with a limited inform...

A crisis is a global bifurcation in which a chaotic attractor has a discontinuous change in size or suddenly disappears as a scalar parameter of the system is varied. In this Letter, we describe a global bifurcation in three dimensions which can result in a crisis. This bifurcation does not involve a tangency and cannot occur in maps of dimension smaller than 3. We present evidence of unstable ...

Problem-solving is a useful way to view product development. In many cases, design teams iterate through a generate-test cycle until a successful design is found. The time required to find a successful design is influenced by the testing strategy. In particular, the amount of time spent generating a solution affects the probability of passing the test. This paper introduces a novel model of the...

One of the most time consuming activities in new product development is associated with reliability assessment and qualification. This is defined as a process to verify whether the anticipated reliability is indeed achieved under actual life cycle loads for some specified length of time. Reliability assessment and qualification is usually accomplished by testing under accelerated loads to achie...

Continuous product development and market introduction of new products are central to sustaining company performance, and information systems (IS) development project managers face increasing pressure for quicker product delivery, despite cost constraints. To respond to these challenges, virtual and distributed (V&D) teams are formed, which present a unique environment to foster collaboration a...