A power-law distribution for tenure lengths of sports managers

We show that the tenure lengths for managers of sport teams follow a power law distribution with an exponent between 2 and 3. We develop a simple theoretical model which replicates this result. The model demonstrates that the empirical phenomenon can be understood as the macroscopic outcome of pairwise interactions among managers in a league, threshold effects in managerial performance evaluation, competitive market forces, and luck at the microscopic level.     

Wait-and-switch stochastic model of the non-Debye relaxation. Derivation of the Burr survival probability

Stochastic mechanism of relaxation, in which a dipole waits until a favourable condition for reorientation exists, is discussed. Assuming that an imposed direction of a dipole moment may be changed when a migrating defect reaches the dipole, we present a mathematically rigorous scheme relating the local random characteristics of a macroscopic system to its effective relaxation behaviour. We derive a relaxation function (the Burr survival probability) that is characterized by the stretched exponential or the power-law behaviour.     

Heavy tails for an alternative stochastic perpetuity model

In this paper we consider a stochastic model of perpetuity-type. In contrast to the classical affine perpetuity model of Kesten (1973) and Goldie (1991) all discount factors in the model are mutually independent. We prove that the tails of the distribution of this model are regularly varying both in the univariate and multivariate cases. Due to the additional randomness in the model the tails are not pure power laws as in the Kesten–Goldie setting but involve a logarithmic term.     

Free energy and states of fractional-order hereditariness

Complex materials, often encountered in recent engineering and material sciences applications, show no complete separations between solid and fluid phases. This aspect is reflected in the continuous relaxation time spectra recorded in cyclic load tests. As a consequence the material free energy cannot be defined in a unique manner yielding a significative lack of knowledge of the maximum recoverable work that can extracted from the material. The non-uniqueness of the free energy function is removed in the paper for power-laws relaxation/creep function by using a recently proposed mechanical analogue to fractional-order hereditariness.     

On power-law fluids with the power-law index proportional to the pressure

In this short note we study special unsteady flows of a fluid whose viscosity depends on both the pressure and the shear rate. Here we consider an interesting dependence of the viscosity on the pressure and the shear rate; a power-law of the shear rate wherein the exponent depends on the pressure. The problem is important from the perspective of fluid dynamics in that we obtain solutions to a technologically relevant problem, and also from the point of view of mathematics as the analysis of the problem rests on the theory of spaces with variable exponents. We use the theory to prove the existence of solutions to generalizations of Stokes’ first and second problem.     

Discrete solitons in nonlinear Schrödinger lattices with a power-law nonlinearity

We study the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger lattice model with the onsite nonlinearity of the general form, |u|^2σu. We systematically verify the conditions for the existence and stability of discrete solitons in the one-dimensional version of the model predicted by means of the variational approximation (VA), and demonstrate the following: monostability of fundamental solitons (FSs) in the case of the weak nonlinearity, 2σ+1<3.68; bistability, in a finite range of values of the soliton’s power, for 3.68<2σ+1<5; and the presence of a threshold (minimum norm of the FS), for 2σ+1≥5. We also perform systematic numerical simulations to study higher-order solitons in the same general model, i.e., bound states of the FSs. While all in-phase bound states are unstable, stability regions are identified for antisymmetric double solitons and their triple counterparts. These numerical findings are supplemented by an analytical treatment of the stability problem, which allows quantitively accurate predictions for the stability features of such multipulses. When these waveforms are found to be unstable, we show, by means of direct simulations, that they self-trap into a persistent lattice breather, or relax into a stable FS, or sometimes decay completely.     

Semiclassical information from deformed and escort information measures

Escort distributions are a well established but (for physicists) a relatively new concept that is rapidly gaining wide acceptance in world. In this work we wish to revisit the concept within the strictures of the celebrated semiclassical Husimi distributions (HDs) and thereby investigate the possibility of extracting new semiclassical information contained, not in the HD themselves, but in their associated escort Husimi distributions. We will also establish relations, for various information measures, between their deformed versions [J. Naudts, Physica A 316 (2002) 323] and those built up with escort HDs. Bounds on the concomitant power exponents will be determined.     

Broad distributions from resource partitioning

We present a model describing a generic process in which a finite resource is partitioned and distributed among agents. Through numerical simulation we show that the model considered is able to originate, within a unifying approach, a variety of broad distributions and provides an interpretation of empirical properties of distributions observed in the real world. In particular it allows to relate the exponent of the power-law part of the distributions to resource abundance and accessibility, while the left-end exponential behavior, observed in many distributions, is related to the presence of dissipative effects.     

A modular attachment mechanism for software network evolution

A modular attachment mechanism of software network evolution is presented in this paper. Compared with the previous models, our treatment of object-oriented software system as a network of modularity is inherently more realistic. To acquire incoming and outgoing links in directed networks when new nodes attach to the existing network, a new definition of asymmetric probabilities is given. Based on this, modular attachment instead of single node attachment in the previous models is then adopted. The proposed mechanism is demonstrated to be able to generate networks with features of power-law, small-world, and modularity, which represents more realistic properties of actual software networks. This work therefore contributes to a more accurate understanding of the evolutionary mechanism of software systems. What is more, explorations of the effects of various software development principles on the structure of software systems have been carried out, which are expected to be beneficial to the software engineering practices.