The Medieval Chinese Oligarchy

Prolegomenon to the Study of Medieval Chinese Buddhist Literature

Co-orbital Oligarchy

We present a systematic examination of the changes in semi-major axis caused by the mutual interactions of a group of massive bodies orbiting a central star in the presence of eccentricity dissipation. For parameters relevant to the oligarchic stage of planet formation, dynamical friction keeps the typical eccentricities small and prevents orbit crossing. Interactions at impact parameters great...

An 'oligarchy' rules neural development.

Recent reports show that Olig genes, which encode the basic helix-loop-helix Olig transcription factors, are essential for development of oligodendrocytes. Surprisingly, Olig function is also required for formation of somatic motor neurons. These findings alter our views of how the oligodendrocyte lineage is generated and raise further questions about the underlying developmental relationships ...

Inefficient lobbying, populism and oligarchy

This paper analyses the efficiency consequences of lobbying in a production economy with imperfect commitment. We first show that the Pareto efficiency result found for truthful equilibria of common agency games in static exchange economies no longer holds under these more general conditions. We construct a model of pressure groups where the set of efficient truthful common-agency equilibria ha...

Absence of Geometric Models in Medieval Chinese Astronomy

In 718 A.D., Ch’üt’an Hsi-ta (Gautama Siddhārtha), an Indian astronomer who was appointed an“astronomer royal” in the T’ang court compiled a compendium of omens and divinations, called K’aiyüan Chan-ching, analogous to Varahamihira’s Br .hatsam. hita. The 104th volume of this work, Chiu-chih li (Nine Upholders Calendrical System) on astronomy was entirely based on the Indian astronomy of the 7t...