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We document a novel bidding pattern observed in procurement auctions from Japan: winning bids tend to be isolated, and there is a missing mass of close losing bids. This pattern is suspicious in the following sense: its extreme forms are inconsistent with competitive behavior under arbitrary information structures. Building on this observation, we develop systematic tests of competitive behavior in procurement auctions that allow for general information structures as well as nonstationary unobserved heterogeneity. We provide an empirical exploration of our tests, and show they can help identify other suspicious patterns in the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we investigate the challenges in designing a communication network robust against earthquake-induced disasters. Due to the heterogeneity of local geology conditions, an earthquake may cause different devastating effects on network links at different locations. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop a network design method that, based on actual seismic hazard information, finds appropriate geographical routes for network links under a cost constraint to maximize the robustness of the network. We carried out experiments on local as well as nationwide networks considering many possible earthquake scenarios in Japan. The results suggest that the shortest route is often the optimal route, and, in some cases, long detour routes can significantly reduce the average endto- end disconnection probability compared to the shortest route solutions. This gives a network operator guidelines to design a network that is resilient against earthquake disasters at the lowest possible cost. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]