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In this paper we investigate the dynamics of a duopoly game with ambiguity aversion regarding uncertainty in demand and constant expectations concerning competitor production. The focus is on an asymmetric Cournot game where players engage in robust optimization and have different beliefs about the possible realizations of the random parameters of the price function. The players' ambiguity aversion introduces multiple equilibria and instability that otherwise would not be present. The investigation of the global dynamics of the game reveals the emergence, through border-collision bifurcations, of periodic and chaotic dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension and many studies have established a relationship between plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) and sympathetic nervous activity (SNA). Furthermore, it has been suggested that climacteric women are more exposed to psychosocial stress which can produce a transient rise in blood pressure (BP) and, with time, determine a hypertensive state. Plasma NE and E levels were measured at rest and after physiological stimulation (head-up tilt test) in 20 hypertensive (BP: 146 ± 13/101 ± 4 mm Hg) and in 20 normotensive women (BP: 132 ± 7/85 ± 4 mm Hg). Women in each of these two groups were further subdivided according to their climacteric status (10 premenopausal and 10 postmenopausal women). No difference in NE values at rest was found between groups and subgroups. During head-up tilt test, Ln NE plasma values increased in normotensive and hypertensive groups; the rise was significantly higher in hypertensive than in normotensive women (P < 0.01). In climacteric subgroups, Ln NE appeared markedly increased above resting levels in pre- and postmenopausal hypertensive women when their position was changed from supine to upright (P < 0.01). Since high plasma NE levels after stimulation (head-up tilt) are associated with sympathetic overactivity, we conclude that SNA is involved in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension in climacteric women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]