In this paper we use catastrophe theory to analyse situations in which agents with similar characteristics and objectives and facing identical or similar environments make choices which are considerably different. We first provide two simple analytical examples of this phenomenon and then set up a general framework to which we apply the classification theorem of catastrophe theory.

Certain regulatory proteins influence the polymerization dynamics of microtubules by inducing catastrophe with a rate that depends on the microtubule length. Using a discrete formulation, here we show that, for a catastrophe rate proportional to the microtubule length, the steady-state probability distributions of length decay much faster with length than an exponential decay as seen in the abs...

We illustrate the model with an example motivated by catastrophe insurance contracts. In a particular market, at each of the event times of a Poisson process J with a constant intensity η, a catastrophe occurs that causes losses throughout a population of consumers who are potential buyers of protection. Each of a continuum of consumers in the given insurance market has a property that experien...

BACKGROUND Although health outcomes may have fundamentally nonlinear relationships with relevant behavioral, psychological, cognitively, or biological predictors, most analytical models assume a linear relationship. Furthermore, some health outcomes may have multimodal distributions, but most statistical models in common use assume a unimodal, normal distribution. Suitable nonlinear models shou...

Recent evidence indicates that CXCR2 signaling is crucial for cancer progression, and its antagonist SB225002 induces apoptosis in Wilms' tumor cells. Here, we investigated the effect of SB225002 on cell cycle progression and apoptosis induction in vitro, using CDDP-sensitive and -resistant OVCA cell lines with different p53 status (wild type, mutant or null). Adenovirus infection of wild-type ...