Oil price fluctuations and U.S. dollar exchange rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lizardo, Radhames A.; Mollick, Andre V.

2010-01-01

Adding oil prices to the monetary model of exchange rates, we find that oil prices significantly explain movements in the value of the U.S. dollar (USD) against major currencies from the 1970s to 2008. Our long-run and forecasting results are remarkably consistent with an oil-exchange rate relationship. Increases in real oil prices lead to a significant depreciation of the USD against net oil exporter currencies, such as Canada, Mexico, and Russia. On the other hand, the currencies of oil importers, such as Japan, depreciate relative to the USD when the real oil price goes up. (author)

48 CFR 1652.215-70 - Rate Reduction for Defective Pricing or Defective Cost or Pricing Data.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Defective Pricing or Defective Cost or Pricing Data. 1652.215-70 Section 1652.215-70 Federal Acquisition... CLAUSES AND FORMS CONTRACT CLAUSES Texts of FEHBP Clauses 1652.215-70 Rate Reduction for Defective Pricing or Defective Cost or Pricing Data. As prescribed in 1615.407-1, the following clause shall be...

CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GRAIN, MEAT PRICES AND EXCHANGE RATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naveen Musunuru

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Understanding agricultural commodity price relationships are important as they help producers improve their awareness regarding production costs and ultimately aid in income determination. The present paper empirically examines the dynamic interrelationships among grain, meat prices and the U.S. dollar exchange rate. Johansen cointegration tests reveal no cointegrating relationships among the study variables. Majority of the commodities studied in the paper exhibited unidirectional causality except for corn and lean hogs. The vector autoregression (VAR model results indicate that the grain and meat prices are influenced by their own past prices. The role of exchange rates is found to be limited in linking the agricultural commodities.

Effects of interest rate, exchange rate and their volatilities on stock prices: evidence from banking industry of Pakistan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Tehseen JAWAID

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the effects of exchange rate, interest rates, and their volatilities on stock prices of banking industry of Pakistan. Cointegration results suggests the existance of significant negative long run relationship between exchange rate and short term interest rate with stock prices. On the other hand, positive and significant relationship exists between volatilities of exchange rate and interest rate with stock prices. Causality analysis confirms bidirectional causality between exchange rate and stock prices. Whereas, unidirectional causality runs from short term interest rate to stock prices. Sensitivity analysis confirms that the results are robust. It is suggested that investors should invest in banking sector stocks when exchange rate and interest rates are highly volatile. The result also supports the view that exchange rate and interest rate can be used as an indicator for investment decision making in banking sector stocks.

International Energy Prices(Exchange Rate and PPP)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jo, Sung Han; Yoo, Dong Heon [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

2000-11-01

Energy is to be specially important to the Korean economy. In the past the major purpose of Korea's energy policies was to ensure that the energy was supplied at the low cost to encourage and sustain economic development and growth. Therefore, energy prices are distorted by government intervention. And this was the cause of inefficiency in usage of energy. In order to improve the energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of energy consumption, new energy pricing should be needed to the energy industry and the Korean economy. It is necessary to compare the domestic energy prices with other countries to improve the energy pricing system including tax, the relative structure of energy price, etc. In order to compare the domestic energy prices to those of other countries, the exchange rate, purchasing power parity and Big Mac index are used for calculation of common currency. We select 12 countries, which are Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Mexico and England. The oil products(gasoline, diesel, heavy fuel oil and light fuel oil), natural gas and electricity are selected to compare the price. (author). 12 refs., 13 tabs.

Energy performance ratings and house prices in Wales: An empirical study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuerst, Franz; McAllister, Pat; Nanda, Anupam; Wyatt, Pete

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the effect of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings on residential prices in Wales. Drawing on a sample of approximately 192,000 transactions, the capitalisation of energy efficiency ratings into house prices is investigated using two approaches. The first adopts a cross-sectional framework to investigate the effect of EPC rating on price. The second approach applies a repeat-sales methodology to investigate the impact of EPC rating on house price appreciation. Statistically significant positive price premiums are estimated for dwellings in EPC bands A/B (12.8%) and C (3.5%) compared to houses in band D. For dwellings in band E (−3.6%) and F (−6.5%) there are statistically significant discounts. Such effects may not be the result of energy performance alone. In addition to energy cost differences, the price effect may be due to additional benefits of energy efficient features. An analysis of the private rental segment reveals that, in contrast to the general market, low-EPC rated dwellings were not traded at a significant discount. This suggests different implicit prices of potential energy savings for landlords and owner-occupiers.

The empirical relationship between energy futures prices and exchange rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sadorsky, P.

2000-01-01

This paper investigates the interaction between energy futures prices and exchange rates. Results are presented to show that futures prices for crude oil, heating oil and unleaded gasoline are co-integrated with a trade-weighted index of exchange rates. This is important because it means that there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between these four variables. Granger causality results for both the long- and short-run are presented. Evidence is also presented that suggests exchange rates transmit exogenous shocks to energy futures prices. 22 refs

Estimating the Exchange Rate Pass-Through to Prices in Mexico

OpenAIRE

Josué Fernando Cortés Espada

2013-01-01

This paper estimates the magnitude of the exchange rate pass-through to consumer prices in Mexico. Moreover, it analyzes if the pass-through dynamics have changed in recent years. In particular, it uses a methodology that generates results consistent with the hierarchy implicit in the cpi. The results suggest that the exchange rate pass-through to the general price level is low and not statistically significant. However, the pass-through is positive and significant for goods prices. Furthermo...

On a Corporate Bond Pricing Model with Credit Rating Migration Risksand Stochastic Interest Rate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Liang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper we study a corporate bond-pricing model with credit rating migration and astochastic interest rate. The volatility of bond price in the model strongly depends on potential creditrating migration and stochastic change of the interest rate. This new model improves the previousexisting models in which the interest rate is considered to be a constant. The existence, uniquenessand regularity of the solution for the model are established. Moreover, some properties includingthe smoothness of the free boundary are obtained. Furthermore, some numerical computations arepresented to illustrate the theoretical results.

Timber harvesting with variable prices, costs and interest rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penttinen, M.

2000-01-01

This papers solves the optimal harvesting time problem of a non- industrial private forest (NIPF) owner who typically has a forest management plan and merchantable forest stands. The optimal harvesting time is defined in a volatile market situation. The infinite period problem is also formulated to allow for variable stumpage prices and reforestation costs in a two-period framework, the first of which covers the near future with dynamic price and cost functions and the second the rest of the infinite future with trend price and cost functions. The existence and uniqueness of an optimal policy is demonstrated on the basis of the explicit quasi- concavity of the objective functions. First, the solutions are constructed with prices and costs dependent on stand age only. Both cases in which the same prices and costs hold for all periods and cases in which there are dynamic prices and costs in the first period and trend ones in subsequent periods are considered. Second, the age-dependent functions are multiplied separately by the calendar time dependent exponential terms. Solutions are provided both in the case with the same age-dependent functions and the case with dynamic functions for the first period and trend functions for the subsequent periods. The sensitivity and comparative static analyses are studied with respect to the interest rate, price and cost changes, both analytically and numerically. Optimal rotation solutions are presented with alternative competing volume growth functions. Final results are provided by a gross income growth function. Competing optimisation models are discussed, and alternative volume growth models and a value growth model are compared. The key notion of the research is the sensitivity and comparative static analysis of the optimal rotation solutions with respect to roundwood prices, reforestation costs and interest rates. Different local market parameter and alternative growth data estimates are applied in testing the impact of

The Pass-Through of Exchange Rate Changes to Import Prices

OpenAIRE

Ketelsen, Uwe; Kortelainen, Mika

1996-01-01

In this paper we analyze the empirical relevance of exchange rate pass-through for Finland, Sweden and Denmark during the period 1980–1994. Further, we attempt to determine if there has been a structural change in the pass-through relationship in the1990s. We find that about half the changes in exchange rates and world prices are passed through to import prices within one year, and three-quarters of such changes are passed through to import prices in two years. Moreover, there are no major di...

Time variation in European carbon pass-through rates in electricity futures prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huisman, Ronald; Kiliç, Mehtap

2015-01-01

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme is a means to price emission allowances. Electricity market prices should reflect these market prices of emission allowances as they are a cost factor for power producers. The pass-through rate is the fraction of the emission allowance price that is passed through to electricity market prices. It is often measured and presented as an average or a fixed estimate over some time period. However, we expect that the pass-through rates should actually vary over time as electricity supply curves reflect the marginal costs of different producers that differ in emission intensity. We apply a Kalman Filter approach to observe pass-through rates in Germany and U.K. and find strong support for time varying instead of fixed pass-through rates. Although policy makers are interested in the impact of a policy on average, our results indicate that one needs to be careful with the time-frame over which pass-through rates are measured for policy evaluation, as an incorrect chosen evaluation period could cause an under- or overestimation of the pass-through rate. In addition, our model helps to provide policy makers with insight in the development of pass-through rates when market circumstances change with respect to power production. - Highlights: • We analyse the time-variation of the emission pass-through rate in power prices. • We examine historical futures prices for Germany and the U.K. • We test the hypothesis by using the Kalman Filter methodology. • Strong support is found that pass-through rates vary over time. • The chosen time-frame for pass-through rates is important for policy evaluation.

Change in Visual Field Progression Following Treatment Escalation in Primary Open-angle Glaucoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Aptel, Florent; Bron, Alain M; Lachkar, Yves; Schweitzer, Cédric

2017-10-01

To evaluate the effect of treatment escalation on the rate of visual field progression in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). Multicenter database study. We reviewed the electronic records of 171 patients with POAG under medical hypotensive treatment who underwent 5 consecutive visits 6 months apart before and after medical treatment escalation or additive laser trabeculoplasty. We calculated the rate of visual field progression (mean deviation change per year) before and after treatment escalation. The mean duration of follow-up was 5.1±0.5 years and the mean number of visual field examinations was 10.2±0.2. In 139 eyes with medical treatment escalation, the rate of progression was significantly reduced [from -0.57 to -0.29 dB/y; P=0.022; intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction 11.1%]. In detail, the rate of progression was significantly reduced after escalation from mono to dual therapy, dual to triple therapy, and from mono to triple therapy (-0.35 to -0.24 dB/y, P=0.018; -1.01 to -0.48 dB/y, P=0.038; -1.04 to -0.35 dB/y, P=0.020, respectively). In 32 eyes with additive laser trabeculoplasty, the rate of progression was significantly reduced (-0.60 to -0.24 dB/y; P=0.014; IOP reduction 9.4%). Medical treatment escalation or additive laser trabeculoplasty significantly reduced the rate of visual field progression in POAG. Larger IOP reduction has a greater probability of reducing glaucoma progression.

Understanding the oil price-exchange rate nexus for the Fiji islands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Narayan, Paresh Kumar; Narayan, Seema; Prasad, Arti

2008-01-01

In this paper, we examine the relationship between oil price and the Fiji-US exchange rate using daily data for the period 2000-2006. We use the generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) and exponential GARCH (EGARCH) models to estimate the impact of oil price on the nominal exchange rate. We find that a rise in oil prices leads to an appreciation of the Fijian dollar vis-a-vis the US dollar. (author)

Do expert ratings or economic models explain champagne prices?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bentzen, Jan Børsen; Smith, Valdemar

2008-01-01

Champagne is bought with low frequency and many consumers most likely do not have or seek full information on the quality of champagne. Some consumers may rely on the reputation of particular brands, e.g. "Les Grandes Marques", some consumers choose to gain information from sensory ratings...... of champagne. The aim of this paper is to analyse the champagne prices on the Scandinavian markets by applying a hedonic price function in a comparative framework with minimal models using sensory ratings....

Empirical Studies of Exchange Rates: Price Behavior, Rate Determinationand Market Efficiency

OpenAIRE

Richard M. Levich

1983-01-01

Theoretical and empirical research completed over the last decade has dramatically increased our understanding of exchange rate behavior. The major insight to come from this decade of research is that foreign exchange is a financial asset. In an asset pricing framework, current exchange rates reflect the expected values of future exogenous variables. The purpose of this paper is to survay the empirical evidence on exchange rate behavior, market efficiency and related topics. Section 2 present...

Do Exchange Rates Really Help Forecasting Commodity Prices?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bork, Lasse; Kaltwasser, Pablo Rovira; Sercu, Piet

Chen et al. (2010) report that for ‘commodity currencies’, the exchange rate predicts the country’s commodity index but not vice versa. The commodity currency hypothesis is consistent with the Engle and West (2005) exchange rate model if the fundamental is chosen to be the country’s key export...... expectations, one should mostly observe contemporaneous correlations, not one-directional cross-predictability from one variable toward the other. Using three different data sets and various econometric techniques, we do find the contemporaneous correlations as predicted by the financial asset view......-averaged prices in the commodity index data that they use (price averaging induces spurious autocorrelation and predictability) and to features in their test procedures....

Trend Analysis of Cassava Price and Growth Rate in Nigeria | Igwe ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Trend Analysis of Cassava Price and Growth Rate in Nigeria. ... Abstract. The research work was on trend analysis of cassava output and price. The period ... There is need to encourage private sector investment on the industries to expand existing market on the price offer for cassava and encourage large scale production.

Kernel-Correlated Levy Field Driven Forward Rate and Application to Derivative Pricing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bo Lijun [Xidian University, Department of Mathematics (China); Wang Yongjin [Nankai University, School of Business (China); Yang Xuewei, E-mail: xwyangnk@yahoo.com.cn [Nanjing University, School of Management and Engineering (China)

2013-08-01

We propose a term structure of forward rates driven by a kernel-correlated Levy random field under the HJM framework. The kernel-correlated Levy random field is composed of a kernel-correlated Gaussian random field and a centered Poisson random measure. We shall give a criterion to preclude arbitrage under the risk-neutral pricing measure. As applications, an interest rate derivative with general payoff functional is priced under this pricing measure.

Are electricity prices affected by the US dollar to Euro exchange rate? The Spanish case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munoz, M. Pilar; Dickey, David A.

2009-01-01

The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationships between Spanish electricity spot prices and the US dollar/Euro (USD/Euro) exchange rate during the period 2005-2007, taking into account the study of the association between dollar and oil prices, in order to better understand the evolution of the former over time. The first finding in this study is that Spanish electricity spots prices, the USD/Euro exchange rate and oil prices are cointegrated; therefore there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between the three variables. Short-run relationships have been detected between oil prices and Spanish electricity prices and USD/Euro exchange rate in the sense that Spanish electricity prices and USD/Euro exchange rate are affected by oil prices in the short run. There is a transmission of volatility between USD/Euro exchange rate and oil prices to Spanish electricity prices; so although Spanish electricity prices are not affected in level by the movements of USD/Euro exchange rate, they are in volatility. In this kind of scenario the conclusions confirm that for countries so dependent on external causes as Spain, one possible solution for guarantying the energy security would be the promotion of the renewable energies. Therefore we cannot ignore the impact in the internal expenses of the cost of installation and generation of green energies so there must be a balance between the increase in renewables and the reasonable market price of the electricity. (author)

An estimation of the exchange rate pass-through to prices in Mexico

OpenAIRE

Josué Fernando Cortés Espada

2013-01-01

This paper estimates the magnitude of the exchange rate pass-through to consumer prices in Mexico. Moreover, it analyzes if the pass-through dynamics have changed in recent years. In particular, it uses a methodology that generates results consistent with the hierarchy implicit in the CPI. The results suggest that the exchange rate pass-through to the general price level is low and not statistically significant. However, the pass-through is positive and significant for goods prices. Furthermo...

Pricing Asian Interest Rate Options with a Three-Factor HJM Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio Henrique Barbedo

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Pricing interest rate derivatives is a challenging task that has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent decades. Portfolio and risk managers, policymakers, traders and more generally all market participants are looking for valuable information from derivative instruments. We use a standard procedure to implement the HJM model and to price IDI options. We intend to assess the importance of the principal components of pricing and interest rate hedging derivatives in Brazil, one of the major emerging markets. Our results indicate that the HJM model consistently underprices IDI options traded in the over-the-counter market while it overprices long-term options traded in the exchange studied. We also find a direct relationship between time to maturity and pricing error and a negative relation with moneyness.

On the Information in the Interest Rate Term Structure and Option Prices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, F.; Driessen, J.; Pelsser, A.

2004-01-01

We examine whether the information in cap and swaption prices is consistent with realized movements of the interest rate term structure. To extract an option-implied interest rate covariance matrix from cap and swaption prices, we use Libor market models as a modelling framework. We propose a

Palm Oil Price, Exchange Rate, and Stock Market: A Wavelet Analysis on the Malaysian Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Buerhan Saiti

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The study investigates causality between palm oil price, exchange rate and the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI based on the theory of wavelets on the basis of monthly data from the period January 1990 - December 2012. This methodology enables us to identify that the causality between these economic variables at different time intervals. This wavelet decomposition also provides additional evidence to the “reverse causality” theory. We found that the wavelet cross-correlations between stock price and exchange rate skewed to the right at all levels with negative significant correlations which implies that the exchange rate leads the stock price. In the case of stock and commodity prices, there is no significant wavelet-crosscorrelation at first four levels. However, the wavelet cross-correlations skewed to the left at level 5 which implies that the stock price leads commodity price in the long-run. Finally, there is no significant wavelet cross-correlations at all levels as long as we concern between commodity price and exchange rate. It implies that there is no lead-lag relationship between commodity price and exchange rate.

Exchange rate movement and import price of Machineries in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The empirical estimates reveal that one lag variability of import price, exchange rate, foreign cost, domestic competitors price and demand pressure proxied by GDP impact it in the long-run. However, the ECM coefficient is properly signed with -0.549. By implication, approximately 54% of the discrepancy from long run ...

Oil prices and the rise and fall of the U.S. real exchange rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amano, R.A.; Norden, S. van.

1993-12-01

It is examined whether a link exists between oil price shocks and the U.S. real effective exchange rate. Data used for the study are described and their time series properties and the long-run explanatory power of oil prices for the real exchange rate are examined. Apparent causal relationships between exchange rates and oil prices are examined. An unrestricted error correction model is reduced until an error correction model with reasonable properties is derived. Results show that the two variables appear to be cointegrated and that causality runs from oil prices to the exchange rate and not vice-versa. The single equation error correction model linking these two variables is stable and captures much of the in- and out-of-sample movement in the exchange rate in dynamic simulation. Tests are presented to show that the error correction model has significant post-sample predictive ability for both the size and sign of changes in the real effective exchange rate. The results suggest that oil prices may have been the dominant source of persistant real exchange rate shocks over the post-Bretton Woods period and that energy prices may have important implications for future work on exchange rate behaviour. 61 refs., 3 figs., 7 tabs

Mellin Transform Method for European Option Pricing with Hull-White Stochastic Interest Rate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji-Hun Yoon

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Even though interest rates fluctuate randomly in the marketplace, many option-pricing models do not fully consider their stochastic nature owing to their generally limited impact on option prices. However, stochastic dynamics in stochastic interest rates may have a significant impact on option prices as we take account of issues of maturity, hedging, or stochastic volatility. In this paper, we derive a closed form solution for European options in Black-Scholes model with stochastic interest rate using Mellin transform techniques.

Coal price prospects and availability of coal in the U.K. power generation market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parker, M.J.

1983-02-01

The availability and cost of National Coal Board coal is discussed with respect to the CEGB's economic case for Sizewell B nuclear power station. It is concluded that an investment which depended for its viability on an early or rapid escalation in international coal prices, or upon this escalation continuing indefinitely into the future, would not be sound. (U.K.)

Pricing real estate index options under stochastic interest rates

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Pu; Dai, Jun

2017-08-01

Real estate derivatives as new financial instruments are not merely risk management tools but also provide a novel way to gain exposure to real estate assets without buying or selling the physical assets. Although real estate derivatives market has exhibited a rapid development in recent years, the valuation challenge of real estate derivatives remains a great obstacle for further development in this market. In this paper, we derive a partial differential equation contingent on a real estate index in a stochastic interest rate environment and propose a modified finite difference method that adopts the non-uniform grids to solve this problem. Numerical results confirm the efficiency of the method and indicate that constant interest rate models lead to the mispricing of options and the effects of stochastic interest rates on option prices depend on whether the term structure of interest rates is rising or falling. Finally, we have investigated and compared the different effects of stochastic interest rates on European and American option prices.

An Economic Analysis of Textbook Pricing and Textbook Markets. ACSFA College Textbook Cost Study Plan Proposal

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, James V.

2006-01-01

Between 1986 and 2004, textbook prices rose 186 percent in the United States, or slightly more than six percent per year. Meanwhile, other prices rose only about three percent per year. This paper examines the economic reasons why textbook prices have escalated so briskly and what reasonable alternatives are available that might slow down these…

Binary Tree Pricing to Convertible Bonds with Credit Risk under Stochastic Interest Rates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianbo Huang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The convertible bonds usually have multiple additional provisions that make their pricing problem more difficult than straight bonds and options. This paper uses the binary tree method to model the finance market. As the underlying stock prices and the interest rates are important to the convertible bonds, we describe their dynamic processes by different binary tree. Moreover, we consider the influence of the credit risks on the convertible bonds that is described by the default rate and the recovery rate; then the two-factor binary tree model involving the credit risk is established. On the basis of the theoretical analysis, we make numerical simulation and get the pricing results when the stock prices are CRR model and the interest rates follow the constant volatility and the time-varying volatility, respectively. This model can be extended to other financial derivative instruments.

Exchange rates and individual good's price misalignment: Some preliminary evidence of long-horizon predictability

OpenAIRE

Dong, Wei; Nam, Deokwoo

2011-01-01

When prices are sticky, movements in the nominal exchange rate have a direct impact on international relative prices. A relative price misalignment would trigger an adjustment in consumption and employment, and may help to predict future movements in the exchange rate. Although purchasing-power-parity fundamentals, in general, have only weak predictability, currency misalignment may be indicated by price differentials for some goods, which could then have predictive power for subsequent re-ev...

Essays in applied macroeconomics: Asymmetric price adjustment, exchange rate and treatment effect

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Jingping

This dissertation consists of three essays. Chapter II examines the possible asymmetric response of gasoline prices to crude oil price changes using an error correction model with GARCH errors. Recent papers have looked at this issue. Some of these papers estimate a form of error correction model, but none of them accounts for autoregressive heteroskedasticity in estimation and testing for asymmetry and none of them takes the response of crude oil price into consideration. We find that time-varying volatility of gasoline price disturbances is an important feature of the data, and when we allow for asymmetric GARCH errors and investigate the system wide impulse response function, we find evidence of asymmetric adjustment to crude oil price changes in weekly retail gasoline prices. Chapter III discusses the relationship between fiscal deficit and exchange rate. Economic theory predicts that fiscal deficits can significantly affect real exchange rate movements, but existing empirical evidence reports only a weak impact of fiscal deficits on exchange rates. Based on US dollar-based real exchange rates in G5 countries and a flexible varying coefficient model, we show that the previously documented weak relationship between fiscal deficits and exchange rates may be the result of additive specifications, and that the relationship is stronger if we allow fiscal deficits to impact real exchange rates non-additively as well as nonlinearly. We find that the speed of exchange rate adjustment toward equilibrium depends on the state of the fiscal deficit; a fiscal contraction in the US can lead to less persistence in the deviation of exchange rates from fundamentals, and faster mean reversion to the equilibrium. Chapter IV proposes a kernel method to deal with the nonparametric regression model with only discrete covariates as regressors. This new approach is based on recently developed least squares cross-validation kernel smoothing method. It can not only automatically smooth

EXCHANGE RATE PASS-THROUGH, IMPORT PRICES AND INFLATION UNDER STRUCTURAL BREAKS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arintoko Arintoko

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This research estimates the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT into import prices by applying an extension of the basic model of ERPT on Indonesia. It estimates models of cointegration and error-correction mechanism (ECM, with and without structural breaks. It uses the techniques of Zivot-Andrews and of Gregory-Hansen to test for structural breaks and cointegration with the structural breaks, respectively. The results show that with the control variables, inflation affects import prices and lower the pass-through for short term, in a condition of free floating exchange rate. In the short term, with the inclusion of structural breaks, significant inflation affects import prices and lowers the ERPT coefficient.  Keywords:    Exchange rate pass-through, inflation, structural breaks, cointegration, error-correction mechanismJEL classification numbers: C22, C32, E31, F41

Global Tuition Pricing: An In-Depth Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cupp, Jason W.

2012-01-01

This study was conducted to determine if there is a relationship between select pricing schemes used throughout the world and positive social outcomes. The rising costs of college tuition and escalating student debt has raised the concern about how students should pay for financing their education and whether the current system is the most…

Impact of Oil Price Shocks and Exchange Rate Volatility on Stock Market Behavior in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adedoyin I. Lawal

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The impact of exchange rate and oil prices fluctuation on the stock market has been a subject of hot debate among researchers. This study examined the impact of both the exchange rate volatility and oil price volatility on stock market volatility in Nigeria, so as to guide policy formulation based on the fact that the nation’s economy was foreign induced and mono-cultured with heavy dependence on oil. EGARCH estimation techniques were employed to examine if either the volatility in exchange rate, oil price volatility or both experts on stock market volatility in Nigeria. The result shows that share price volatility is induced by both the exchange rate volatility and oil price volatility. Thus, it is recommended that policymakers should pursue policies that tend to stabilize the exchange rate regime on the one hand, and guarantee the net oil exporting position for the economy, that market practitioners should formulate portfolio strategies in such a way that volatility in both exchange rates and oil price will be factored in time when investment decisions are being made.

Kernel-Correlated Lévy Field Driven Forward Rate and Application to Derivative Pricing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bo Lijun; Wang Yongjin; Yang Xuewei

2013-01-01

We propose a term structure of forward rates driven by a kernel-correlated Lévy random field under the HJM framework. The kernel-correlated Lévy random field is composed of a kernel-correlated Gaussian random field and a centered Poisson random measure. We shall give a criterion to preclude arbitrage under the risk-neutral pricing measure. As applications, an interest rate derivative with general payoff functional is priced under this pricing measure

Photovoltaic systems for Malaysian islands: Effects of interest rates, diesel prices and load sizes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lau, K.Y.; Tan, C.W.; Yatim, A.H.M.

2015-01-01

Standalone diesel systems have been widely used on Malaysian islands due to the isolated locations of the islands. Nevertheless, the high diesel prices and the high cost of transporting diesel to islands cause the use of standalone diesel systems to be uneconomical. This study analyzes the feasibility of implementing PV (photovoltaic) systems as alternatives to standalone diesel systems by considering the effects of annual real interest rates, diesel prices and load sizes, using the HOMER (hybrid optimization of multiple energy resources) software. The results indicate that, at the ordinary diesel price of $ 0.61/L, low interest rates (0–3%) are desirable for the implementation of hybrid PV/diesel with battery systems over standalone diesel systems, regardless of the load sizes. Although different load sizes may affect the decisions on the implementation of PV systems at higher interest rates (6–9%), these effects become less pronounced as the price of diesel increases to $ 1.22/L or higher. Also, under high diesel prices, the choice of optimal system configurations obtained for small load sizes should be applicable for larger load sizes, albeit with different component ratings. Although the current study is intended for Malaysian islands, the findings can be generalized for other places with similar solar radiation levels. - Highlights: • Photovoltaic systems for Malaysian islands have been analyzed using HOMER. • Interest rates, diesel prices and load sizes affect optimal system configurations. • Effects of interest rates and load sizes reduce with increasing diesel prices. • Photovoltaic systems' implementation is feasible at high diesel prices. • The findings can be generalized for places with similar solar radiation levels

On the link between oil price and exchange rate: A time-varying VAR parameter approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bremond, Vincent; Razafindrabe, Tovonony; Hache, Emmanuel

2015-07-01

The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between the effective exchange rate of the dollar and the oil price dynamics from 1976 to 2013. In this context, we propose to explore the economic literature dedicated to financial channels factors (exchange rate, monetary policy, and international liquidity) that could affect the oil price dynamics. In addition to oil prices and the effective exchange rate of the dollar, we use the dry cargo index as a proxy for the real economic activity and prices for precious and industrial raw materials. Using a Bayesian time-varying parameter vector auto-regressive estimation, our main results show that the US Dollar effective exchange rate elasticity of the crude oil prices is not constant across the time and remains negative from 1989. It then highlights that a depreciation of the effective exchange rate of the dollar leads to an increase of the crude oil prices. Our paper also demonstrates the growing influence of financial and commodities markets development upon the global economy. (authors)

A Pedagogical Note on the Superiority of Price-Cap Regulation to Rate-of-Return Regulation

Science.gov (United States)

Currier, Kevin M.; Jackson, Brian K.

2008-01-01

The two forms of natural monopoly regulation that are typically discussed in intermediate microeconomics textbooks are marginal cost pricing and average cost pricing (rate-of-return regulation). However, within the last 20 years, price-cap regulation has largely replaced rate-of-return regulation because of the former's potential to generate more…

E4 - Energy efficient elevators and escalators. Elevators and escalators in Germany from an energy perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hirzel, Simon; Fleiter, Tobias; Rosende, Daniel

2010-01-31

This report aims to provide a brief introduction to the German elevator and escalator market, and gives an aggregated view of current and future developments focusing on energy consumption and energy-related emissions. This update report of January 2010 is an extended version of a report published in April 2009 before the final results from a monitoring campaign carried out within the project were available. During this campaign, 81 installations (74 elevators and 7 escalators) were monitored in terms of energy consumption. In the first section, the structure of the installed German elevator and escalator capacity is presented. The estimates1 were provided courtesy of the two main associations representing elevators and escalators in Germany: the VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau - German Engineering Federation) and the VFA-Interlift e.V. -Verband fuer Aufzugstechnik (Association for Lift Technology). This section is followed by a short description of the German construction sector and its implications for elevators and escalators. The third section describes German electricity production in terms of its environmental impact with the main focus on the carbon dioxide emissions of the national power plants. Then the energy consumption of elevators and escalators in Germany is analyzed, comparing the results to total energy production in Germany.2 The final section summarizes the different aspects and derives indications about the future development of the total energy consumption of elevators and escalators in Germany. (orig.)

Pricing Rate of Return Guarantees in Regular Premium Unit Linked Insurance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schrager, D.F.; Pelsser, A.

2004-01-01

We derive general pricing formulas for Rate of Return Guarantees in Regular Premium Unit Linked Insurance under stochastic interest rates. Our main contribution focusses on the effect of stochastic interest rates. First, we show the effect of stochastic interest rates can be interpreted as, what is

Escalation of Commitment in the Surgical ICU.

Science.gov (United States)

Braxton, Carla C; Robinson, Celia N; Awad, Samir S

2017-04-01

Escalation of commitment is a business term that describes the continued investment of resources into a project even after there is objective evidence of the project's impending failure. Escalation of commitment may be a contributor to high healthcare costs associated with critically ill patients as it has been shown that, despite almost certain futility, most ICU costs are incurred in the last week of life. Our objective was to determine if escalation of commitment occurs in healthcare settings, specifically in the surgical ICU. We hypothesize that factors previously identified in business and organizational psychology literature including self-justification, accountability, sunk costs, and cognitive dissonance result in escalation of commitment behavior in the surgical ICU setting resulting in increased utilization of resources and cost. A descriptive case study that illustrates common ICU narratives in which escalation of commitment can occur. In addition, we describe factors that are thought to contribute to escalation of commitment behaviors. Escalation of commitment behavior was observed with self-justification, accountability, and cognitive dissonance accounting for the majority of the behavior. Unlike in business decisions, sunk costs was not as evident. In addition, modulating factors such as personality, individual experience, culture, and gender were identified as contributors to escalation of commitment. Escalation of commitment occurs in the surgical ICU, resulting in significant expenditure of resources despite a predicted and often known poor outcome. Recognition of this phenomenon may lead to actions aimed at more rational decision making and may contribute to lowering healthcare costs. Investigation of objective measures that can help aid decision making in the surgical ICU is warranted.

Rate adaptation in ad hoc networks based on pricing

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Awuor, F

2011-09-01

Full Text Available that incorporates penalty (pricing) obtruded to users’ choices of transmission parameters to curb the self-interest behaviour. Therefore users determine their data rates and transmit power based on the perceived coupled interference at the intended receiver...

Stock price change rate prediction by utilizing social network activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Shangkun; Mitsubuchi, Takashi; Sakurai, Akito

2014-01-01

Predicting stock price change rates for providing valuable information to investors is a challenging task. Individual participants may express their opinions in social network service (SNS) before or after their transactions in the market; we hypothesize that stock price change rate is better predicted by a function of social network service activities and technical indicators than by a function of just stock market activities. The hypothesis is tested by accuracy of predictions as well as performance of simulated trading because success or failure of prediction is better measured by profits or losses the investors gain or suffer. In this paper, we propose a hybrid model that combines multiple kernel learning (MKL) and genetic algorithm (GA). MKL is adopted to optimize the stock price change rate prediction models that are expressed in a multiple kernel linear function of different types of features extracted from different sources. GA is used to optimize the trading rules used in the simulated trading by fusing the return predictions and values of three well-known overbought and oversold technical indicators. Accumulated return and Sharpe ratio were used to test the goodness of performance of the simulated trading. Experimental results show that our proposed model performed better than other models including ones using state of the art techniques.

Stock Price Change Rate Prediction by Utilizing Social Network Activities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shangkun Deng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Predicting stock price change rates for providing valuable information to investors is a challenging task. Individual participants may express their opinions in social network service (SNS before or after their transactions in the market; we hypothesize that stock price change rate is better predicted by a function of social network service activities and technical indicators than by a function of just stock market activities. The hypothesis is tested by accuracy of predictions as well as performance of simulated trading because success or failure of prediction is better measured by profits or losses the investors gain or suffer. In this paper, we propose a hybrid model that combines multiple kernel learning (MKL and genetic algorithm (GA. MKL is adopted to optimize the stock price change rate prediction models that are expressed in a multiple kernel linear function of different types of features extracted from different sources. GA is used to optimize the trading rules used in the simulated trading by fusing the return predictions and values of three well-known overbought and oversold technical indicators. Accumulated return and Sharpe ratio were used to test the goodness of performance of the simulated trading. Experimental results show that our proposed model performed better than other models including ones using state of the art techniques.

Learning to make collective decisions: the impact of confidence escalation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmoodi, Ali; Bang, Dan; Ahmadabadi, Majid Nili; Bahrami, Bahador

2013-01-01

Little is known about how people learn to take into account others' opinions in joint decisions. To address this question, we combined computational and empirical approaches. Human dyads made individual and joint visual perceptual decision and rated their confidence in those decisions (data previously published). We trained a reinforcement (temporal difference) learning agent to get the participants' confidence level and learn to arrive at a dyadic decision by finding the policy that either maximized the accuracy of the model decisions or maximally conformed to the empirical dyadic decisions. When confidences were shared visually without verbal interaction, RL agents successfully captured social learning. When participants exchanged confidences visually and interacted verbally, no collective benefit was achieved and the model failed to predict the dyadic behaviour. Behaviourally, dyad members' confidence increased progressively and verbal interaction accelerated this escalation. The success of the model in drawing collective benefit from dyad members was inversely related to confidence escalation rate. The findings show an automated learning agent can, in principle, combine individual opinions and achieve collective benefit but the same agent cannot discount the escalation suggesting that one cognitive component of collective decision making in human may involve discounting of overconfidence arising from interactions.

The empirical role of the exchange rate on the crude-oil price formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yousefi, A.; Wirjanto, T.S.; University of Waterloo, Ont.

2004-01-01

This paper adopts a novel empirical approach to the crude-oil price formation for the purpose of understanding the price reactions of OPEC member countries to changes in the exchange rate of the US dollar against other major currencies and prices of other members. The results are broadly consistent with the view of the absence of a unified OPEC determined price in the international crude market literature. In addition, the results also highlight a cross regional dimension of the crude oil market. (author)

Temperature escalation in PWR fuel rod simulators due to the zircaloy/steam reaction ESSI-4 ESSI-11

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagen, S.; Kapulla, H.; Malauscheck, H.; Wallenfels, K.P.; Buescher, B.J.

1985-03-01

The tests had the initial heatup rate as main parameter. The experimental arrangement consisted of a fuel rod simulator (central tungsten heater, UO 2 ring pellets and zircaloy cladding), a zircaloy shroud and the fiber ceramic insulation. A steam flow of ca. 20 g/min was introduced at the lower end of the bundle. A temperature escalation was observed in every test. The maximum cladding surface temperature in the single rod tests never exceeded 2200 0 C. The escalation began in the upper region of the rods and moved down the rods, opposite to the direction of steam flow. For fast initial heatup rates, the runoff of molten zircaloy was a limiting process for the escalation. For slow heatup rates, the formation of a protective oxide layer reduced the reaction rate. The test with less insulation thickness showed a reduction of the escalation. A stronger influence was found for the gap between shroud and insulation. This is caused by convection heat losses to the steam circulating in this gap by natural convection. Removal of the gap between shroud and insulation in essentially the same experimental arrangement produced a faster escalation. The posttest appearance of the fuel rod simulators showed that, at slow heatup rates oxidation of the cladding was complete, and the fuel rod was relatively intact. Conversely, at fast heatup rates, relatively little cladding oxidation with extensive dissolution of the UO 2 pellets and runoff of molten cladding was observed. (orig./HP) [de

Phylogenetic escalation and decline of plant defense strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Agrawal, Anurag A.; Fishbein, Mark

2008-01-01

As the basal resource in most food webs, plants have evolved myriad strategies to battle consumption by herbivores. Over the past 50 years, plant defense theories have been formulated to explain the remarkable variation in abundance, distribution, and diversity of secondary chemistry and other defensive traits. For example, classic theories of enemy-driven evolutionary dynamics have hypothesized that defensive traits escalate through the diversification process. Despite the fact that macroevolutionary patterns are an explicit part of defense theories, phylogenetic analyses have not been previously attempted to disentangle specific predictions concerning (i) investment in resistance traits, (ii) recovery after damage, and (iii) plant growth rate. We constructed a molecular phylogeny of 38 species of milkweed and tested four major predictions of defense theory using maximum-likelihood methods. We did not find support for the growth-rate hypothesis. Our key finding was a pattern of phyletic decline in the three most potent resistance traits (cardenolides, latex, and trichomes) and an escalation of regrowth ability. Our neontological approach complements more common paleontological approaches to discover directional trends in the evolution of life and points to the importance of natural enemies in the macroevolution of species. The finding of macroevolutionary escalating regowth ability and declining resistance provides a window into the ongoing coevolutionary dynamics between plants and herbivores and suggests a revision of classic plant defense theory. Where plants are primarily consumed by specialist herbivores, regrowth (or tolerance) may be favored over resistance traits during the diversification process. PMID:18645183

Calibration of short rate term structure models from bid-ask coupon bond prices

Science.gov (United States)

Gomes-Gonçalves, Erika; Gzyl, Henryk; Mayoral, Silvia

2018-02-01

In this work we use the method of maximum entropy in the mean to provide a model free, non-parametric methodology that uses only market data to provide the prices of the zero coupon bonds, and then, a term structure of the short rates. The data used consists of the prices of the bid-ask ranges of a few coupon bonds quoted in the market. The prices of the zero coupon bonds obtained in the first stage, are then used as input to solve a recursive set of equations to determine a binomial recombinant model of the short term structure of the interest rates.

FDI Inflows, Price and Exchange Rate Volatility: New Empirical Evidence from Latin America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Dal Bianco

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the impact of price and real exchange rate volatility on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI inflows in a panel of 10 Latin American and Caribbean countries, observed between 1990 and 2012. Both price and exchange rate volatility series are estimated through the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity model (GARCH. Our results obtained, employing the Fixed Effects estimator, confirm the theory of hysteresis and option value, in so far as a statistically significant negative effect of exchange rate volatility on FDI is found. Price volatility, instead, turns out to be positive but insignificant. Moreover, we show that human capital and trade openness are key for attracting foreign capital. From the policy perspective, our analysis suggests the importance of stabilization policies as well as the policy of government credibility in promoting trade openness and human capital formation.

Relationship between oil prices, interest rate, and unemployment. Evidence from an emerging market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dogrul, H. Guensel; Soytas, Ugur

2010-01-01

While the interrelation between oil price changes, economic activity and employment is an important issue that has been studied mainly for developed countries, little attention has been devoted to inquiries on fluctuations in the price of crude oil and its impact on employment for small open economies. Adopting an efficiency wage model for equilibrium employment that does not require any assumptions regarding labor supply, this paper contributes to the literature by investigating the causality between unemployment and two input prices, namely energy (crude oil) and capital (real interest rate) in an emerging market, Turkey for the period 2005:01-2009:08. Applying a relatively new technique, the Toda-Yamamoto procedure, we find that the real price of oil and interest rate improve the forecasts of unemployment in the long run. This finding supports the hypothesis that labor is a substitute factor of production for capital and energy. (author)

Stemming the Escalating Cost of Prescription Drugs: A Position Paper of the American College of Physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel, Hilary

2016-03-29

This American College of Physicians position paper, initiated and written by its Health and Public Policy Committee and approved by the Board of Regents on 16 February 2016, reports policy recommendations from the American College of Physicians to address the escalating costs of prescription drugs in the United States. Prescription drugs play an important part in treating and preventing disease. However, the United States often pays more for some prescription drugs than other developed countries, and the high price and increasing costs associated with prescription medication is a major concern for patients, physicians, and payers. Pharmaceutical companies have considerable flexibility in how they price drugs, and the costs that payers and patients see are dependent on how payers are able to negotiate discounts or rebates. Beyond setting list prices are issues of regulatory approval, patents and intellectual property, assessment of value and cost-effectiveness, and health plan drug benefits. These issues are linked, and comprehensive efforts will be needed to affect how drugs are priced in the United States.

Statistical properties of country risk ratings under oil price volatility: Evidence from selected oil-exporting countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Chang; Sun, Xiaolei; Chen, Jianming; Li, Jianping

2016-01-01

This paper focuses on the application of panel models for identification and analysis of influence of oil price volatility on statistical properties of country risk ratings which stem from uncertainty of macroeconomic fluctuations. Firstly, two statistical properties of country risk ratings, volatility clustering and asymmetrical revision were identified in a theoretical framework based on Cruces (2006). Secondly, considering the oil price volatility, numerical experiments were conducted based on extended models to test and verify specific properties of country risk ratings in selected oil-exporting countries. Empirical results suggest that properties of country risk remain comparatively steady despite oil price volatility. It is also found that the oil price volatility can obviously exaggerate the country risk volatility, as it happened during 2007–2009. Country clustering based on the properties of country risk ratings shows that the selected countries maintain a significant clustering tendency. These features are of great importance for estimating risk exposure of international trade and investments in oil export during extreme situations. - Highlights: •Relationship between oil price volatility and country risk is the focus. •An extended model based on Cruces (2006) is proposed. •Volatility clustering and asymmetrical revision of country risk ratings is explored. •Oil price volatility can obviously exaggerate properties of country risk volatility.

Nonparametric modeling of US interest rate term structure dynamics and implications on the prices of derivative securities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jiang, GJ

1998-01-01

This paper develops a nonparametric model of interest rate term structure dynamics based an a spot rate process that permits only positive interest rates and a market price of interest rate risk that precludes arbitrage opportunities. Both the spot rate process and the market price of interest rate

Increasing Use of Dose-Escalated External Beam Radiation Therapy for Men With Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swisher-McClure, Samuel; Mitra, Nandita; Woo, Kaitlin; Smaldone, Marc; Uzzo, Robert; Bekelman, Justin E.

2014-01-01

Purpose: To examine recent practice patterns, using a large national cancer registry, to understand the extent to which dose-escalated external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) has been incorporated into routine clinical practice for men with prostate cancer. Methods and Materials: We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study using the National Cancer Data Base, a nationwide oncology outcomes database in the United States. We identified 98,755 men diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer between 2006 and 2011 who received definitive EBRT and classified patients into National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) risk groups. We defined dose-escalated EBRT as total prescribed dose of ≥75.6 Gy. Using multivariable logistic regression, we examined the association of patient, clinical, and demographic characteristics with the use of dose-escalated EBRT. Results: Overall, 81.6% of men received dose-escalated EBRT during the study period. The use of dose-escalated EBRT did not vary substantially by NCCN risk group. Use of dose-escalated EBRT increased from 70.7% of patients receiving treatment in 2006 to 89.8% of patients receiving treatment in 2011. On multivariable analysis, year of diagnosis and use of intensity modulated radiation therapy were significantly associated with receipt of dose-escalated EBRT. Conclusions: Our study results indicate that dose-escalated EBRT has been widely adopted by radiation oncologists treating prostate cancer in the United States. The proportion of patients receiving dose-escalated EBRT increased nearly 20% between 2006 and 2011. We observed high utilization rates of dose-escalated EBRT within all disease risk groups. Adoption of intensity modulated radiation therapy was strongly associated with use of dose-escalated treatment

Report on waste burial charges: Escalation of decommissioning waste disposal costs at low-level waste burial facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1988-07-01

One of the requirements placed upon nuclear power reactor licensees by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is for the licensees to periodically adjust the estimate of the cost of decommissioning their plant, in dollars of the current year, as part of the process to provide reasonable assurance that adequate funds for decommissioning will be available when needed. This report, which is scheduled to be revised annually, contains the development of a formula for escalating decommissioning cost estimates that is acceptable to the NRC, and contains values for the escalation of radioactive waste burial costs, by site and by year. The licensees may use the formula, the coefficients, and the burial escalation factors from this report in their escalation analysis, or may use an escalation rate at least equal to the escalation approach presented herein. 4 refs., 2 tabs

Granger Causalities Between Interest Rate, Price Level, Money Supply and Real Gdp in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomáš Urbanovský

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The main aim of this paper is to investigate relationships between selected macroeconomic variables – interest rate, price level, money supply and real GDP – in the Czech Republic in order to find out definite implications of its interactions and give recommendations to macroeconomic policy authorities. Two implemented vector autoregression models with different lag length reached slightly different conclusions. VAR(1 suggests that three pairs of Granger causality exist, in particular between price level and interest rate, between real GDP and interest rate and between real GDP and price level. VAR(2 uncovered two more pairs of Granger causality between money supply and interest rate and between money supply and price level. Despite better prediction power of VAR(2 in case of money supply, low correlation coefficient comprising variable money supply raises doubts about the factual existence of causality between money supply and other variables. However, both models allow forecasting the direction of change in case of variables interest rate and real GDP with the same success rate nearly 82 %. Both VARs also agreed that interest rate could be changed by change of price level and that interest rate could be changed by change of real GDP. These conclusions represent potential recommendations to macroeconomic policy authorities. For the purpose of further research, exchange rate variable will be included in the model instead of interest rate, because effect of interest rate turned out to be limited in times of weakened state of Czech economy.

Exchange rate prediction with multilayer perceptron neural network using gold price as external factor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Fathian

2012-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the problem of predicting the exchange rate time series in the foreign exchange rate market is going to be solved using a time-delayed multilayer perceptron neural network with gold price as external factor. The input for the learning phase of the artificial neural network are the exchange rate data of the last five days plus the gold price in two different currencies of the exchange rate as the external factor for helping the artificial neural network improving its forecast accuracy. The five-day delay has been chosen because of the weekly cyclic behavior of the exchange rate time series with the consideration of two holidays in a week. The result of forecasts are then compared with using the multilayer peceptron neural network without gold price external factor by two most important evaluation techniques in the literature of exchange rate prediction. For the experimental analysis phase, the data of three important exchange rates of EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY are used.

Probabilistic escalation modelling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Korneliussen, G.; Eknes, M.L.; Haugen, K.; Selmer-Olsen, S. [Det Norske Veritas, Oslo (Norway)

1997-12-31

This paper describes how structural reliability methods may successfully be applied within quantitative risk assessment (QRA) as an alternative to traditional event tree analysis. The emphasis is on fire escalation in hydrocarbon production and processing facilities. This choice was made due to potential improvements over current QRA practice associated with both the probabilistic approach and more detailed modelling of the dynamics of escalating events. The physical phenomena important for the events of interest are explicitly modelled as functions of time. Uncertainties are represented through probability distributions. The uncertainty modelling enables the analysis to be simple when possible and detailed when necessary. The methodology features several advantages compared with traditional risk calculations based on event trees. (Author)

Escalating Commitment to a Relationship: The Sexual Harassment Trap.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Karen B.; Cyr, Ramona R.

1992-01-01

Studies divergent sexual harassment perceptions in a case of a perpetrator's gradual sexual advancements and a target's escalating commitment to their relationship, using 60 male and 60 female undergraduates. Males' ratings of sexual harassment decreased when female target participated in increasingly informal friendly interactions. Females'…

South Africa and United States stock prices and the Rand/Dollar exchange rate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Ocran

2010-09-01

Full Text Available This paper seeks to examine the dynamic causal relations between the two major financial assets, stock prices of the US and South Africa and the rand/US$ exchange rate. The study uses a mixed bag of time series approaches such as cointegration, Granger causality, impulse response functions and forecasting error variance decompositions.  The paper identifies a bi-directional causality from the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock price index to the rand/US$ exchange rate in the Granger sense. It was also found that the Standard & Poor’s stock price index accounts for a significant portion of the variations in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s All Share index. Thus, while causality in the Granger sense could not be established for the relationship between the price indices of the two stock exchanges it can argued that there is some relationship between them. The results of the study have implications for both business and Government.

Antipsychotic dose escalation as a trigger for Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS: literature review and case series report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Langan Julie

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background “Neuroleptic malignant syndrome” (NMS is a potentially fatal idiosyncratic reaction to any medication which affects the central dopaminergic system. Between 0.5% and 1% of patients exposed to antipsychotics develop the condition. Mortality rates may be as high as 55% and many risk factors have been reported. Although rapid escalation of antipsychotic dose is thought to be an important risk factor, to date it has not been the focus of a published case series or scientifically defined. Description We aimed to identify cases of NMS and review risk factors for its development with a particular focus on rapid dose escalation in the 30 days prior to onset. A review of the literature on rapid dose escalation was undertaken and a pragmatic definition of “rapid dose escalation” was made. NMS cases were defined using DSM-IV criteria and systematically identified within a secondary care mental health service. A ratio of titration rate was calculated for each NMS patient and “rapid escalators” and “non rapid escalators” were compared. 13 cases of NMS were identified. A progressive mean dose increase 15 days prior to the confirmed episode of NMS was observed (241.7 mg/day during days 1–15 to 346.9 mg/day during days 16–30 and the mean ratio of dose escalation for NMS patients was 1.4. Rapid dose escalation was seen in 5/13 cases and non rapid escalators had markedly higher daily cumulative antipsychotic dose compared to rapid escalators. Conclusions Rapid dose escalation occurred in less than half of this case series (n = 5, 38.5%, although there is currently no consensus on the precise definition of rapid dose escalation. Cumulative antipsychotic dose – alongside other known risk factors - may also be important in the development of NMS.

The Effects of Inflation and Pricing Policies on College Enrollments.

Science.gov (United States)

Ostar, Allan W.

Some of the effects of inflation and pricing policies on college costs are discussed, and it is shown that rising college costs have a negative effect upon student opportunity and access. Continual escalation of tuition and fees can lead to a shrinking of the higher education enterprise. Federal efforts (and state efforts to the extent that they…

Evolution of the European gas market on the long term. Organisation and price

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ouvry, V.

1998-01-01

The objective of this work is to shed light upon the future organization of the European gas market with an emphasis on price matters. There are nowadays few producers of gas on the market, most of whom hold long-term contracts with gas companies. Gas pricing is based on the net-back principle. The actual debate on liberalization of the gas market and the growing pressure from industrial customers to obtain lower prices addresses the problem of the future organisation of the market and the potential impact of the introduction of third party access. We first analyse the main actors of the gas market, their strategy and the actual market organization market. Two different logics are considered hereunder: a market approach: the competition theory provides efficient tools to analyse the evolution of competition depending on numerous factors. It appears that the strategy of all actors and particularly of producers will be the main determinant of the future competition. The oligopoly theory includes oligopolistic behaviours modelizations. The application of the Cournot's model leads to prices ranging from 1,6 to 3,7 $/MBtu; a contractual approach: today, gas is essentially exchanged through long term contracts, which allow for long-term management of investments and supply security. Two operators negotiate the price, which ultimately mirrors their respective leverage. The transaction cost theory clearly shows the necessity of including transaction costs, especially when optimizing the duration of the contract. The gas prices escalation is nowadays partially obsolete and unadapted to customer needs. Escalation on coal, electricity price or inflation should soon be considered. The theories of negotiation highlight the importance of the operators' marketing power during gas price fixation Applying Nash and Harsanyi-Selten's negotiation models results in a scale of 2,4 to 3,5 $/MBtu of the gas price at the actual supply and demand conditions. Both approaches lead to similar

Can producer currency pricing models generate volatile real exchange rates?

OpenAIRE

Povoledo, L.

2012-01-01

If the elasticities of substitution between traded and nontraded and between Home and Foreign traded goods are sufficiently low, then the real exchange rate generated by a model with full producer currency pricing is as volatile as in the data.

Effects of an oil price rise on inflation, output, and the exchange rate in the case of subsidization policy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zandi, F R

1982-01-01

Since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries raised the price of oil by 400% in 1974, the theory of supply inflation has received a great deal of attention. This study analyses the short and long run effects of an oil price rise on output, inflation, and the exchange rate. The study also analyses dynamic adjustments to the oil price rise in cases where oil-price subsidies are provided and where no subsidies are provided. In the no-subsidy case it is shown that the oil price rise can be inflationary or deflationary. The implications of the policy of subsidizing the price of oil is highlighted by taking account of a government budget constraint which in turn leads to the possibility of monetization as a source of financing the deficit, and thereby to higher output relative to the no subsidy case. As to the price level, the possibility is illustrated that subsidization can actually be more inflationary. The important element giving rise to the above possibility is the subsidy induced increase in the money supply. Exchange-rate flexibility is shown not to insulate the domestic price level against an oil price rise. In the long run the rate of inflation and exchange-rate variations are determined by the rate of growth of the money supply. The dynamic adjustment path of price and output is shown to be determined by the rate of adjustment of inflationary expectations.

Currency option pricing in a credible exchange rate target zone

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veestraeten, D.

2013-01-01

This article examines currency option pricing within a credible target zone arrangement where interventions at the boundaries push the exchange rate back into its fluctuation band. Valuation of such options is complicated by the requirement that the reflection mechanism should prevent the arbitrage

Currency option pricing in a credible exchange rate target zone

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veestraeten, D.

2012-01-01

This article examines currency option pricing within a credible target zone arrangement where interventions at the boundaries push the exchange rate back into its fluctuation band. Valuation of such options is complicated by the requirement that the reflection mechanism should prevent the arbitrage

Dose escalation using conformal high-dose-rate brachytherapy improves outcome in unfavorable prostate cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, Alvaro A; Gustafson, Gary; Gonzalez, José; Armour, Elwood; Mitchell, Chris; Edmundson, Gregory; Spencer, William; Stromberg, Jannifer; Huang, Raywin; Vicini, Frank

2002-06-01

To overcome radioresistance for patients with unfavorable prostate cancer, a prospective trial of pelvic external beam irradiation (EBRT) interdigitated with dose-escalating conformal high-dose-rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy was performed. Between November 1991 and August 2000, 207 patients were treated with 46 Gy pelvic EBRT and increasing HDR brachytherapy boost doses (5.50-11.5 Gy/fraction) during 5 weeks. The eligibility criteria were pretreatment prostate-specific antigen level >or=10.0 ng/mL, Gleason score >or=7, or clinical Stage T2b or higher. Patients were divided into 2 dose levels, low-dose biologically effective dose 93 Gy (149 patients). No patient received hormones. We used the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology definition for biochemical failure. The median age was 69 years. The mean follow-up for the group was 4.4 years, and for the low and high-dose levels, it was 7.0 and 3.4 years, respectively. The actuarial 5-year biochemical control rate was 74%, and the overall, cause-specific, and disease-free survival rate was 92%, 98%, and 68%, respectively. The 5-year biochemical control rate for the low-dose group was 52%; the rate for the high-dose group was 87% (p failure. The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Grade 3 gastrointestinal/genitourinary complications ranged from 0.5% to 9%. The actuarial 5-year impotency rate was 51%. Pelvic EBRT interdigitated with transrectal ultrasound-guided real-time conformal HDR prostate brachytherapy boost is both a precise dose delivery system and a very effective treatment for unfavorable prostate cancer. We demonstrated an incremental beneficial effect on biochemical control and cause-specific survival with higher doses. These results, coupled with the low risk of complications, the advantage of not being radioactive after implantation, and the real-time interactive planning, define a new standard for treatment.

The Effects of Oil Price Changes And Exchange Rate Volatility On Unemployment: Evidence From Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Shahidan Shaari

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The study aims to examine the effects of oil price and exchange rate on unemployment in Malaysia. The empirical analysis commence by analyzing the time series property of data. The Johansen VAR-based co-integration technique was applied to examine the long run relationship between exchange rate, oil price and unemployment and found the long run relationship does exist. The vector error correction model was performed to check the short run dynamics and found that the short run dynamics are influenced by the estimated long run equilibrium. Granger causality was done and found that oil price does not affect unemployment but exchange rate has an influence on unemployment. Therefore, putting the exchange rate under control should be implemented to control unemployment.

Soviet declaratory policy regarding the controllability of escalation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prewitt, J.L.

1991-01-01

Three variables were examined for their affect on Soviet views regarding the controllability of escalation. The first was bureaucratic affiliation. It was hypothesized that individuals affiliated with groups which directly controlled weapons would be more likely to support the controllability of escalation than those who were members of groups which did not control weapons. This hypothesis could not be rejected. The second variable was a commentator's rank. It was hypothesized that rank would act in two ways: (1) ideas regarding controlled escalation would appear at lower ranks first; and (2) unique views would be produced by specialized ranks within groups. The rank hypothesis could not be rejected. Certain escalation themes appeared to be presented first by military and civilian writers before being presented by the political leadership. The third variable, image of the West, did not appear to function as theorized. It was hypothesized that hard images of the West would be associated with the rejection of controlled escalation, whereas soft images would be associated with positions suggesting that escalation was controlled through joint US-Soviet cooperation

Research on the trend of Yen exchange rate and international crude oil price fluctuation affected by Japan’s earthquake

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoguang Li

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Whether this earthquake would become a turning point of the high oil price and whether it would have big impact on yen exchange rate are two issues to be discussed in this paper.Design/methodology/approach: To analyze deeply the internal relations between changes in yen exchange rate caused by Japan’s earthquake and price fluctuation of international crude oil, this research chooses middle rate of yen exchange rate during the 45 days around Japan’s earthquake and price data of international crude oil to do an empirical study, uses VAR model and HP trend decomposition to estimate the mutual effect of yen exchange rate change and price fluctuation of international crude oil in this period.Findings: It has been found in the empirical study with VAR model and HP filter decomposition model on the yen exchange rate and the international crude oil price fluctuation during 45 days around Japan’s earthquake that: the fluctuation of yen exchange rate around the earthquake is one of the main reasons for the drastic fluctuation of international crude oil price in that period. The fluctuation of international crude oil price directly triggered by yen exchange rate occupies 13.54% of its total variance. There is a long-term interactive relationship between yen exchange rate and international crude oil price. The upward trend of international crude oil price after the earthquake was obvious, while yen exchange rate remained relatively stable after the earthquake.Originality/value: As economic globalization goes deeper, the influence of natural disasters on international financial market and world economy will become more and more obvious. It has a great revelatory meaning to studying further each kind of natural disaster’s impacts on international financial market and world economics.

Maintenance and Safety Practices of Escalator in Commercial Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Afida Isnaini Janipha, Nurul; Nur Aina Syed Alwee, Sharifah; Ariff, Raihan Mohd; Ismail, Faridah

2018-02-01

The escalator is very crucial to transport a person from one place to another. Nevertheless, there are many cases recorded the accidents in relation to escalator. These may occur due to lack of maintenance which leads to systems breakdown, poor safety practices, wear and tear, users’ negligence and others. Thus, proper maintenance systems need to be improvised to prevent and reduce escalator accident in future. This research was aimed to determine the escalator maintenance activities and safety practices in a commercial building. Three case studies were selected within Selangor area. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for collecting data from these three case studies. To achieve the aim of this research, the study was carried out on the maintenance activities, safety practices and cost related to escalator maintenance. As one of the important means of access in building, it is very crucial to increase effectiveness of escalator particularly in commercial building. It is expected that readers will get clear information on the maintenance activities and safety practices of escalator in commercial building.

Working Paper - WP/12/08- Exchange Rate Pass-through to Import Prices, and Monetary Policy in South Africa

OpenAIRE

Janine Aron; Greg Farrell; John Muellbauer; Peter Sinclair

2012-01-01

Understanding how import prices adjust to exchange rates helps anticipate inflation effects and monetary policy responses. This paper examines exchange rate pass-through to the monthly import price index in South Africa during 1980–2009. Various short-run pass-through estimates are calculated simply without recourse to a full structural model, yet without neglecting the long-run relationships between prices or the effects of previous import price changes, and controlling for domestic and fore...

Prediction of Change in Prescription Ingredient Costs and Co-payment Rates under a Reference Pricing System in South Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Heo, Ji Haeng; Rascati, Karen L; Lee, Eui-Kyung

2017-05-01

The reference pricing system (RPS) establishes reference prices within interchangeable reference groupings. For drugs priced higher than the reference point, patients pay the difference between the reference price and the total price. To predict potential changes in prescription ingredient costs and co-payment rates after implementation of an RPS in South Korea. Korean National Health Insurance claims data were used as a baseline to develop possible RPS models. Five components of a potential RPS policy were varied: reference groupings, reference pricing methods, co-pay reduction programs, manufacturer price reductions, and increased drug substitutions. The potential changes for prescription ingredient costs and co-payment rates were predicted for the various scenarios. It was predicted that transferring the difference (total price minus reference price) from the insurer to patients would reduce ingredient costs from 1.4% to 22.8% for the third-party payer (government), but patient co-payment rates would increase from a baseline of 20.4% to 22.0% using chemical groupings and to 25.0% using therapeutic groupings. Savings rates in prescription ingredient costs (government and patient combined) were predicted to range from 1.6% to 13.7% depending on various scenarios. Although the co-payment rate would increase, a 15% price reduction by manufacturers coupled with a substitution rate of 30% would result in a decrease in the co-payment amount (change in absolute dollars vs. change in rates). Our models predicted that the implementation of RPS in South Korea would lead to savings in ingredient costs for the third-party payer and co-payments for patients with potential scenarios. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Pricing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sharifi, Reza; Anvari-Moghaddam, Amjad; Fathi, S. Hamid

2017-01-01

Dynamic pricing scheme, also known as real-time pricing (RTP), can be more efficient and technically beneficial than the other price-based schemes (such as flat-rate or time-of-use (TOU) pricing) for enabling demand response (DR) actions. Over the past few years, advantages of RTP-based schemes h...... of dynamic pricing can lead to increased willingness of consumers to participate in DR programs which in turn improve the operation of liberalized electricity markets.......Dynamic pricing scheme, also known as real-time pricing (RTP), can be more efficient and technically beneficial than the other price-based schemes (such as flat-rate or time-of-use (TOU) pricing) for enabling demand response (DR) actions. Over the past few years, advantages of RTP-based schemes...

Pricing Equity-Indexed Annuities under Stochastic Interest Rates Using Copulas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrice Gaillardetz

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We develop a consistent evaluation approach for equity-linked insurance products under stochastic interest rates. This pricing approach requires that the premium information of standard insurance products is given exogenously. In order to evaluate equity-linked products, we derive three martingale probability measures that reproduce the information from standard insurance products, interest rates, and equity index. These risk adjusted martingale probability measures are determined using copula theory and evolve with the stochastic interest rate process. A detailed numerical analysis is performed for existing equity-indexed annuities in the North American market.

Estimating the common trend rate of inflation for consumer prices and consumer prices excluding food and energy prices

OpenAIRE

Michael T. Kiley

2008-01-01

I examine the common trend in inflation for consumer prices and consumer prices excluding prices of food and energy. Both the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) indexes and the consumer price indexes (CPI) are examined. The statistical model employed is a bivariate integrated moving average process; this model extends a univariate model that fits the data on inflation very well. The bivariate model forecasts as well as the univariate models. The results suggest that the relationship betwe...

De-escalating and escalating treatments for early-stage breast cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Curigliano, G; Burstein, H J; P Winer, E

2017-01-01

The 15th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference 2017 in Vienna, Austria reviewed substantial new evidence on loco-regional and systemic therapies for early breast cancer. Treatments were assessed in light of their intensity, duration and side-effects, seeking where appropriate to escal...

Safety and clinical outcomes of carbapenem de-escalation as part of an antimicrobial stewardship programme in an ESBL-endemic setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Lew, Kaung Yuan; Ng, Tat Ming; Tan, Michelle; Tan, Sock Hoon; Lew, Ee Ling; Ling, Li Min; Ang, Brenda; Lye, David; Teng, Christine B

2015-04-01

To evaluate the safety and clinical outcomes of patients who received carbapenem de-escalation as guided by an antimicrobial stewardship programme (ASP) in a setting where ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae are endemic. Patients receiving meropenem or imipenem underwent a prospective ASP review for eligibility for de-escalation according to defined institutional guidelines. Patients in whom carbapenem was de-escalated or not de-escalated, representing the acceptance and rejection of the ASP recommendation, respectively, were compared. The primary outcome was the clinical success rate; secondary outcomes included the 30 day readmission and mortality rates, the duration of carbapenem therapy, the incidence of adverse drug reactions due to antimicrobials, the acquisition of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria and the occurrence of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD). The de-escalation recommendations for 300 patients were evaluated; 204 (68.0%) were accepted. The patient demographics and disease severity were similar. The clinical success rates were similar [de-escalated versus not de-escalated, 183/204 (89.7%) versus 85/96 (88.5%), P=0.84], as was the survival at hospital discharge [173/204 (84.8%) versus 79/96 (82.3%), P=0.58]. In the de-escalated group, the duration of carbapenem therapy was shorter (6 versus 8 days, Pcarbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii acquisition [4/204 (2.0%) versus 7/96 (7.3%), P=0.042] and there was a lower incidence of CDAD [2/204 (1.0%) versus 4/96 (4.2%), P=0.081]. This study suggests that the ASP-guided de-escalation of carbapenems led to comparable clinical success, fewer adverse effects and a lower incidence of the development of resistance. This approach is safe and practicable, and should be a key component of an ASP. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Can we avoid dose escalation for intermediate-risk prostate cancer in the setting of short-course neoadjuvant androgen deprivation?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shakespeare TP

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Thomas P Shakespeare,1,2 Shea W Wilcox,1 Noel J Aherne1,2 1Department of Radiation Oncology, North Coast Cancer Institute, 2Faculty of Medicine, Rural Clinical School, The University of New South Wales, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia Background: Both dose-escalated external beam radiotherapy (DE-EBRT and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT improve the outcomes in patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer. Despite this, there are only few reports evaluating DE-EBRT for patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer receiving neoadjuvant ADT, and virtually no studies investigating dose escalation >74 Gy in this setting. We aimed to determine whether DE-EBRT >74 Gy improved the outcomes for patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer who received neoadjuvant ADT. Findings: In our institution, patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer were treated with neoadjuvant ADT and DE-EBRT, with doses sequentially increasing from 74 Gy to 76 Gy and then to 78 Gy between 2006 and 2012. We identified 435 patients treated with DE-EBRT and ADT, with a median follow-up of 70 months. For the 74 Gy, 76 Gy, and 78 Gy groups, five-year biochemical disease-free survival rates were 95.0%, 97.8%, and 95.3%, respectively; metastasis-free survival rates were 99.1%, 100.0%, and 98.6%, respectively; and prostate cancer-specific survival rate was 100% for all three dose levels. There was no significant benefit for dose escalation either on univariate or multivariate analysis for any outcome. Conclusion: There was no benefit for DE-EBRT >74 Gy in our cohort of intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant ADT. Given the higher risks of toxicity associated with dose escalation, it may be feasible to omit dose escalation in this group of patients. Randomized studies evaluating dose de-escalation should be considered. Keywords: radiotherapy, IMRT, dose, dose escalation, dose de-escalation, androgen deprivation therapy

Can we avoid dose escalation for intermediate-risk prostate cancer in the setting of short-course neoadjuvant androgen deprivation?

Science.gov (United States)

Shakespeare, Thomas P; Wilcox, Shea W; Aherne, Noel J

2016-01-01

Both dose-escalated external beam radiotherapy (DE-EBRT) and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) improve the outcomes in patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer. Despite this, there are only few reports evaluating DE-EBRT for patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer receiving neoadjuvant ADT, and virtually no studies investigating dose escalation >74 Gy in this setting. We aimed to determine whether DE-EBRT >74 Gy improved the outcomes for patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer who received neoadjuvant ADT. In our institution, patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer were treated with neoadjuvant ADT and DE-EBRT, with doses sequentially increasing from 74 Gy to 76 Gy and then to 78 Gy between 2006 and 2012. We identified 435 patients treated with DE-EBRT and ADT, with a median follow-up of 70 months. For the 74 Gy, 76 Gy, and 78 Gy groups, five-year biochemical disease-free survival rates were 95.0%, 97.8%, and 95.3%, respectively; metastasis-free survival rates were 99.1%, 100.0%, and 98.6%, respectively; and prostate cancer-specific survival rate was 100% for all three dose levels. There was no significant benefit for dose escalation either on univariate or multivariate analysis for any outcome. There was no benefit for DE-EBRT >74 Gy in our cohort of intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant ADT. Given the higher risks of toxicity associated with dose escalation, it may be feasible to omit dose escalation in this group of patients. Randomized studies evaluating dose de-escalation should be considered.

Role of Exchange Rate Volatility in Exchange Rate Pass-Through to Import Prices: Some Evidence from Japan

OpenAIRE

Guneratne Banda Wickremasinghe; Param Silvapulle

2004-01-01

This paper investigates the effect of exchange rate volatility on the degree of exchange rate pass-through in Japan for the period January 1975 to June 1997. Although several studies put forward theoretical arguments for the volatility-domestic import price relationship, only a very few studies produced empirical evidence. The volatility of contractual currency based exchange rate index returns was modelled using GARCH-type processes with skewed student t-distribution, capturing the typical n...

In-depth investigation of escalator riding accidents in heavy capacity MRT stations.

Science.gov (United States)

Chi, Chia-Fen; Chang, Tin-Chang; Tsou, Chi-Lin

2006-07-01

In 2000, the accident rate for escalator riding was about 0.815 accidents per million passenger trips through Taipei Metro Rapid Transit (MRT) heavy capacity stations. In order to reduce the probability and severity of escalator riding accidents and enhance the safety of passengers, the Drury and Brill model [Drury, C.G., Brill, M., 1983. Human factors in consumer product accident investigation. Hum. Factors 25 (3), 329-342] for in-depth investigation was adopted to analyze the 194 escalator riding accidents in terms of victim, task, product and environment. Prevention measures have been developed based on the major causes of accidents and other related contributing factors. The results from the analysis indicated that the majority of the escalator riding accidents was caused by passengers' carrying out other tasks (38 cases, including carrying luggage 24 cases, looking after accompany persons 9 cases, and 5 others), loss of balance (26 cases, 13.4%), not holding the handrail (20 cases, 10.3%), unhealthy passengers (18 cases, 9.3%), followed by people struck by other passenger (16 cases, 8.2%). For female passengers aged 15-64 years, their rushing for trains accidents could have been prevented by wearing safer footwear or by appropriate signing being provided indicating the location and traveling direction of escalators. Female passengers aged 65 years and above whose accidents were caused by loss of balance, should be encouraged to take the elevator instead. To prevent entrapment injuries, following a stricter design code can be most effective. Further in-depth accident investigation is suggested to cover the activity of the victim prior to the accident, any involved product, the location of the accident on the escalator, any medical treatment, what went wrong, opinion of the respondent on the causes of the accident, and personal characteristics of the passengers. Also, management must trade off productivity and safety appropriately to prevent "Organizational

Interim report of image-guided conformal high-dose-rate brachytherapy for patients with unfavorable prostate cancer: the William Beaumont Phase II dose-escalating trial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez, Alvaro A.; Kestin, Larry L.; Stromberg, Jannifer S.; Gonzalez, Jose A.; Wallace, Michelle; Gustafson, Gary S.; Edmundson, Gregory K.; Spencer, William; Vicini, Frank A.

2000-01-01

Purpose: We analyzed our institution's experience treating patients with unfavorable prostate cancer in a prospective Phase II dose-escalating trial of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) integrated with conformal high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy boosts. This interim report discusses treatment outcome and prognostic factors using this treatment approach. Methods and Materials: From November 1991 through February 1998, 142 patients with unfavorable prostate cancer were prospectively treated in a dose-escalating trial with pelvic EBRT in combination with outpatient HDR brachytherapy at William Beaumont Hospital. Patients with any of the following characteristics were eligible: pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≥ 10.0 ng/ml, Gleason score ≥ 7, or clinical stage T2b or higher. All patients received pelvic EBRT to a median total dose of 46.0 Gy. Pelvic EBRT was integrated with ultrasound-guided transperineal conformal interstitial iridium-192 HDR implants. From 1991 to 1995, 58 patients underwent three conformal interstitial HDR implants during the first, second, and third weeks of pelvic EBRT. After October 1995, 84 patients received two interstitial implants during the first and third weeks of pelvic EBRT. The dose delivered via interstitial brachytherapy was escalated from 5.50 Gy to 6.50 Gy for each implant in those patients receiving three implants, and subsequently, from 8.25 Gy to 9.50 Gy per fraction in those patients receiving two implants. To improve implant quality and reduce operator dependency, an on-line, image-guided interactive dose optimization program was utilized during each HDR implant. No patient received hormonal therapy unless treatment failure was documented. The median follow-up was 2.1 years (range: 0.2-7.2 years). Biochemical failure was defined according to the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology Consensus Panel definition. Results: The pretreatment PSA level was ≥ 10.0 ng/ml in 51% of patients. The

PRICE REACTION TO CORPORATE GOVERNANCE RATING ANNOUNCEMENTS AT THE ISTANBUL STOCK EXCHANGE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aslıhan BOZCUK

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to investigate the price reaction to corporate governance rating announcements at the Istanbul Stock Exchange and to identify the factors which could be driving the results. Using an event study analysis framework, the cumulative abnormal returns (AR are calculated for various event windows surrounding the announcement day for each firm. The average AR is 0.5% on announcement day, followed by all positive average cumulative ARs for the next 18 days following the announcement. In the multivariate regression analysis, a number of variables are used to proxy for factors suggested as relevant by the agency theory and the corporate governance literature; such as the size of the Audit Committee, the size of the Board of Directors, Corporate Governance Rating of each firm, number of non-executive members on the board, percentage of firm’s stock traded on the market, number of blockholders, family ownership, the price-earnings ratio, the market-to-book ratio and firm size. Audit committee size (P: 0.012 and board size (P: 0.043 together explained 32% of the variation in announcement day returns (F: 5.215, P: 0.018. Surprisingly, the corporate governance rating per se was not found to be significant. Overall, the price reaction on announcement day tends to be higher for firms with larger boards and smaller audit committees.

Automated Decisional Model for Optimum Economic Order Quantity Determination Using Price Regressive Rates

Science.gov (United States)

Roşu, M. M.; Tarbă, C. I.; Neagu, C.

2016-11-01

The current models for inventory management are complementary, but together they offer a large pallet of elements for solving complex problems of companies when wanting to establish the optimum economic order quantity for unfinished products, row of materials, goods etc. The main objective of this paper is to elaborate an automated decisional model for the calculus of the economic order quantity taking into account the price regressive rates for the total order quantity. This model has two main objectives: first, to determine the periodicity when to be done the order n or the quantity order q; second, to determine the levels of stock: lighting control, security stock etc. In this way we can provide the answer to two fundamental questions: How much must be ordered? When to Order? In the current practice, the business relationships with its suppliers are based on regressive rates for price. This means that suppliers may grant discounts, from a certain level of quantities ordered. Thus, the unit price of the products is a variable which depends on the order size. So, the most important element for choosing the optimum for the economic order quantity is the total cost for ordering and this cost depends on the following elements: the medium price per units, the stock cost, the ordering cost etc.

Pricing long-term options with stochastic volatility and stochastic interest rates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Haastrecht, A.

2010-01-01

The markets for long-term options have expanded tremendously over the last decade. Nowadays many of these derivatives along with pension schemes and insurance products depend on joint changes in stock prices, interest rates and inflation. As a result the dependencies between the underlying assets

Empirical studies on the pricing of bonds and interest rate derivatives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Driessen, J.J.A.G.

2001-01-01

Nowadays, both large financial and non-financial institutions use models for the term structure of interest rates for risk management and pricing purposes. This thesis focuses on these two important applications of term structure models. In the first part, the empirical performance of several term

Clinical benefits of antimicrobial de-escalation in adults with community-onset monomicrobial Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species and Proteus mirabilis bacteremia.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ching-Chi; Wang, Jiun-Ling; Lee, Chung-Hsun; Hung, Yuan-Pin; Hong, Ming-Yuan; Tang, Hung-Jen; Ko, Wen-Chien

2017-09-01

The clinical benefits of an antimicrobial de-escalation strategy were compared with those of a no-switch strategy in bacteremic patients. Adults with community-onset monomicrobial Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species and Proteus mirabilis bacteremia treated empirically using broad-spectrum beta-lactams, including third-generation cephalosporins (GCs), fourth-GC or carbapenems, were treated definitively with first- or second-GCs (de-escalation group), the same regimens as empirical antibiotics (no-switch group), or antibiotics with a broader-spectrum than empirical antibiotics (escalation group). The eligible 454 adults were categorized as the de-escalation (231 patients, 50.9%), no-switch (177, 39.0%), and escalation (46, 10.1%) groups. Patients with de-escalation therapy were more often female, had less critical illness and fatal comorbidity, and had a higher survival rate than patients in the other two groups. After propensity score matching in the de-escalation and no-switch groups, critical illness at onset (Pitt bacteremia score ≥ 4; 16.5% vs. 12.7%; P = 0.34) or day 3 (2.5% vs. 2.5%; P = 1.00), fatal comorbidity (16.5% vs. 21.5%; P = 0.25), time to defervescence (4.6 vs. 4.7 days; P = 0.89), hospital stays (11.5 vs. 10.3 days; P = 0.13) and 4-week crude mortality rate (4.4% vs. 4.4%; P = 1.00) were similar. However, lower antibiotic cost (mean: 212.1 vs. 395.6 US$, P <0.001) and fewer complications of bloodstream infections due to resistant pathogens (0% vs. 5.1%, P = 0.004) were observed in the de-escalation group. De-escalation to narrower-spectrum cephalosporins is safe and cost-effective for adults with community-onset EKP bacteremia stabilized by empirical broad-spectrum beta-lactams. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

29 CFR 1917.116 - Elevators and escalators.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 7 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Elevators and escalators. 1917.116 Section 1917.116 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (CONTINUED) MARINE TERMINALS Terminal Facilities § 1917.116 Elevators and escalators. (a) “Elevator” means a permanent hoisting and lowering...

Energy efficient elevators and escalators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patrao, Carlos; Fong, Joao; Almeida, Anibal de (Dep. Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Coimbra, Coimbra (Portugal)); Rivet, Luc

2009-07-01

Elevators and escalators are the crucial element that makes it practical to live and work several floors above ground - more than 4,3 million units are installed in Europe. Due to ageing of the European population the installation of elevators in single family houses is experiencing a significant growth, as well as equipping existing buildings. Elevators use about 4% of the electricity in tertiary sector buildings. High untapped saving potentials exist with respect to energy-efficient technologies, investment decisions and behavioural approaches, in these sectors. This paper presents preliminary results from the IEE project E4, whose overall objective is the improvement of the energy performance of elevators and escalators, in tertiary sector buildings and in multi family residential buildings. The project is characterizing people conveyors electricity consumption in the tertiary sector and in residential buildings in the EU. The installed park is characterised by a survey among elevators national associations in each country. An assessment of the barriers has been made in the first phase of the project and will be presented. Monitoring campaigns in elevators and escalators are being conducted in each country according to a common developed methodology. More than fifty elevators and escalators will be audited. This will allow the collection of load curves (start up, travel up and down, travel full and empty), including the characterization of standby consumption. Standby consumption of an elevator can represent up to 80% of the total energy consumed per year, and can be drastically reduced. This paper presents the preliminary results of the first ten audits performed in Portugal by Isr-UC.

Oil prices, inflation and interest rates in a structural cointegrated VAR model for the G-7 countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cologni, Alessandro; Manera, Matteo

2008-01-01

Sharp increases in the price of oil are generally seen as a major contributor to business cycle asymmetries. Moreover, the very recent highs registered in the world oil market are causing concern about possible slowdowns in the economic performance of the most developed countries. In this paper a structural cointegrated VAR model has been considered for the G-7 countries in order to study the direct effects of oil price shocks on output and prices, and the reaction of monetary variables to external shocks. Our results can be summarized as follows: i) a stationary money demand, as suggested by the classic theory of money, can be identified for most countries; ii) according to the estimated coefficients of the structural part of the model, for all countries except Japan and U.K. the null hypothesis of an influence of oil prices on the inflation rate cannot be rejected. Inflation rate shocks are transmitted to the real economy by increasing interest rates; iii) impulse response analysis suggests, for most countries, the existence of an instantaneous, temporary effect of oil price innovations on prices; iv) impulse response functions indicate different monetary policy reactions to inflationary and growth shocks; v) the simulation exercises directed to estimate the total impact of the 1990 oil price shock indicate that for some countries (U.S.) a significant part of the effects of the oil price shock is due to the monetary policy reaction function. For other countries (Canada, France and Italy), however, the total impact is offset, at least in part, by an easing of monetary conditions. (author)

Effects of exchange rate volatility on export volume and prices of forest products

Science.gov (United States)

Sijia Zhang; Joseph Buongiorno

2010-01-01

The relative value of currencies varies considerably over time. These fluctuations bring uncertainty to international traders. As a result, the volatility in exchange rate movements may influence the volume and the price of traded commodities. The volatility of exchange rates was measured by the variance of residuals in a GARCH(1,1) model of the exchange rate. We...

A generalized one-factor term structure model and pricing of interest rate derivative securities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jiang, George J.

1997-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to propose a nonparametric interest rate term structure model and investigate its implications on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities. The nonparametric spot interest rate process is estimated from the observed short-term interest

World oil prices, precious metal prices and macroeconomy in Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soytas, Ugur; Sari, Ramazan; Hammoudeh, Shawkat; Hacihasanoglu, Erk

2009-01-01

We examine the long- and short-run transmissions of information between the world oil price, Turkish interest rate, Turkish lira-US dollar exchange rate, and domestic spot gold and silver price. We find that the world oil price has no predictive power of the precious metal prices, the interest rate or the exchange rate market in Turkey. The results also show that the Turkish spot precious metals, exchange rate and bond markets do not also provide information that would help improve the forecasts of world oil prices in the long run. The findings suggest that domestic gold is also considered a safe haven in Turkey during devaluation of the Turkish lira, as it is globally. It is interesting to note that there does not seem to be any significant influence of developments in the world oil markets on Turkish markets in the short run either. However, transitory positive initial impacts of innovations in oil prices on gold and silver markets are observed. The short-run price transmissions between the world oil market and the Turkish precious metal markets have implications for policy makers in emerging markets and both local and global investors in the precious metals market and the oil market.

Logistics: Price Rises Incurred by High Oil Price

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Lai Zhihui

2011-01-01

@@ "When the oil price grows by 100%, the logistic indus-try will see a price growth of 40%, while the logistics in-dustry a price rise of 35%, which means every price increase of 5% in the oil price will bring along that of 2% in this industry." said Liu Zongsheng, General Manager of Itochu Logistics Co., Ltd., on the seminar "Focusing on the eco-nomic consequences of raising oil price, interest rate and deposit reserve ratio", which was held recently.

Option pricing: Stock price, stock velocity and the acceleration Lagrangian

Science.gov (United States)

Baaquie, Belal E.; Du, Xin; Bhanap, Jitendra

2014-12-01

The industry standard Black-Scholes option pricing formula is based on the current value of the underlying security and other fixed parameters of the model. The Black-Scholes formula, with a fixed volatility, cannot match the market's option price; instead, it has come to be used as a formula for generating the option price, once the so called implied volatility of the option is provided as additional input. The implied volatility not only is an entire surface, depending on the strike price and maturity of the option, but also depends on calendar time, changing from day to day. The point of view adopted in this paper is that the instantaneous rate of return of the security carries part of the information that is provided by implied volatility, and with a few (time-independent) parameters required for a complete pricing formula. An option pricing formula is developed that is based on knowing the value of both the current price and rate of return of the underlying security which in physics is called velocity. Using an acceleration Lagrangian model based on the formalism of quantum mathematics, we derive the pricing formula for European call options. The implied volatility of the market can be generated by our pricing formula. Our option price is applied to foreign exchange rates and equities and the accuracy is compared with Black-Scholes pricing formula and with the market price.

Dose escalation using conformal high-dose-rate brachytherapy improves outcome in unfavorable prostate cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez, Alvaro A.; Gustafson, Gary; Gonzalez, Jose; Armour, Elwood; Mitchell, Chris; Edmundson, Gregory; Spencer, William; Stromberg, Jannifer; Huang, Raywin; Vicini, Frank

2002-01-01

Purpose: To overcome radioresistance for patients with unfavorable prostate cancer, a prospective trial of pelvic external beam irradiation (EBRT) interdigitated with dose-escalating conformal high-dose-rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy was performed. Methods and Materials: Between November 1991 and August 2000, 207 patients were treated with 46 Gy pelvic EBRT and increasing HDR brachytherapy boost doses (5.50-11.5 Gy/fraction) during 5 weeks. The eligibility criteria were pretreatment prostate-specific antigen level ≥10.0 ng/mL, Gleason score ≥7, or clinical Stage T2b or higher. Patients were divided into 2 dose levels, low-dose biologically effective dose 93 Gy (149 patients). No patient received hormones. We used the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology definition for biochemical failure. Results: The median age was 69 years. The mean follow-up for the group was 4.4 years, and for the low and high-dose levels, it was 7.0 and 3.4 years, respectively. The actuarial 5-year biochemical control rate was 74%, and the overall, cause-specific, and disease-free survival rate was 92%, 98%, and 68%, respectively. The 5-year biochemical control rate for the low-dose group was 52%; the rate for the high-dose group was 87% (p<0.001). Improvement occurred in the cause-specific survival in favor of the brachytherapy high-dose level (p=0.014). On multivariate analysis, a low-dose level, higher Gleason score, and higher nadir value were associated with increased biochemical failure. The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Grade 3 gastrointestinal/genitourinary complications ranged from 0.5% to 9%. The actuarial 5-year impotency rate was 51%. Conclusion: Pelvic EBRT interdigitated with transrectal ultrasound-guided real-time conformal HDR prostate brachytherapy boost is both a precise dose delivery system and a very effective treatment for unfavorable prostate cancer. We demonstrated an incremental beneficial effect on biochemical control and cause

Do higher-priced generic medicines enjoy a competitive advantage under reference pricing?

Science.gov (United States)

Puig-Junoy, Jaume

2012-11-01

In many countries with generic reference pricing, generic producers and distributors compete by means of undisclosed discounts offered to pharmacies in order to reduce acquisition costs and to induce them to dispense their generic to patients in preference over others. The objective of this article is to test the hypothesis that under prevailing reference pricing systems for generic medicines, those medicines sold at a higher consumer price may enjoy a competitive advantage. Real transaction prices for 179 generic medicines acquired by pharmacies in Spain have been used to calculate the discount rate on acquisition versus reimbursed costs to pharmacies. Two empirical hypotheses are tested: the discount rate at which pharmacies acquire generic medicines is higher for those pharmaceutical presentations for which there are more generic competitors; and, the discount rate at which pharmacies acquire generic medicines is higher for those pharmaceutical forms for which the consumer price has declined less in relation to the consumer price of the brand drug before generic entry (higher-priced generic medicines). An average discount rate of 39.3% on acquisition versus reimbursed costs to pharmacies has been observed. The magnitude of the discount positively depends on the number of competitors in the market. The higher the ratio of the consumer price of the generic to that of the brand drug prior to generic entry (i.e. the smaller the price reduction of the generic in relation to the brand drug), the larger the discount rate. Under reference pricing there is intense price competition among generic firms in the form of unusually high discounts to pharmacies on official ex-factory prices reimbursed to pharmacies. However, this effect is highly distorting because it favours those medicines with a higher relative price in relation to the brand price before generic entry.

Biased information processing in the escalation paradigm: information search and information evaluation as potential mediators of escalating commitment.

Science.gov (United States)

Schultze, Thomas; Pfeiffer, Felix; Schulz-Hardt, Stefan

2012-01-01

Escalation of commitment denotes decision makers' increased reinvestment of resources in a losing course of action. Despite the relevance of this topic, little is known about how information is processed in escalation situations, that is, whether decision makers who receive negative outcome feedback on their initial decision search for and/or process information biasedly and whether these biases contribute to escalating commitment. Contrary to a widely cited study by E. J. Conlon and J. M. Parks (1987), in 3 experiments, the authors found that biases do not occur on the level of information search. Neither in a direct replication and extension of the original study with largely increased test power (Experiment 1) nor under methodologically improved conditions (Experiments 2 and 3) did decision makers responsible for failure differ from nonresponsible decision makers with regards to information search, and no selective search for information supporting the initial decision or voting for further reinvestment was observed. However, Experiments 3 and 4 show that the evaluation of the previously sought information is biased among participants who were responsible for initiating the course of action. Mediation analyses show that this evaluation bias in favor of reinvestment partially mediated the responsibility effect on escalation of commitment.

Pricing long-dated insurance contracts with stochastic interest rates and stochastic volatility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Haastrecht, A.; Lord, R.; Pelsser, A.; Schrager, D.

2009-01-01

We consider the pricing of long-dated insurance contracts under stochastic interest rates and stochastic volatility. In particular, we focus on the valuation of insurance options with long-term equity or foreign exchange exposures. Our modeling framework extends the stochastic volatility model of

78 FR 67951 - Price Cap Rules for Certain Postal Rate Adjustments; Corrections

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-13

... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION 39 CFR Part 3010 [Docket No. RM2013-2; Order No. 1786] Price Cap Rules for Certain Postal Rate Adjustments; Corrections AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Correcting amendments. SUMMARY: The Postal Regulatory Commission published a document in the Federal Register...

Drilling rates and expected oil prices: The own price elasticity of US oil supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaufmann, R.K.; Gruen, W.; Montesi, R.

1994-01-01

This paper evaluates the feasibility of policies to increase exploration and development by the oil industry. To do so, the authors estimate a new model for well completions in the United States that includes the effect of price expectations from survey data, that separates exploratory from development wells, and that uses a deflator based on the cost of drilling a well. The regression results indicate that the price elasticity of drilling is considerably smaller than previous estimates. When combined with recent analyses of drilling success, the results indicate that the own price elasticity of US oil supply is relatively small. The low price elasticity of supply indicates that efforts to increase domestic oil supplies by increasing well completions may be more expensive than believed previously

Pharma Pricing & Market Access Europe 2016--Health Network Communications' Tenth Annual Conference (February 23-25, 2016--London, UK).

Science.gov (United States)

D'Souza, P

2016-03-01

Tighter national budgets and escalating drug prices continue to present challenges for pharmaceutical market access strategies and societal cost of care. As pharmaceutical companies and medical governmental advisory organizations enter tougher negotiations, hospital trusts and other dispensary firms face barriers to receiving the best medical treatment, and as a result patient access is limited. The 2016 HealthNetwork Communications' Pharma Pricing & Market Access Europe meeting brought together pharmaceutical, medical governmental advisory and stakeholders and market access/pricing consultants, to encourage discussions and negotiations into how to improve the drug pricing system and consequential market access strategies while achieving the respective reimbursement and affordability objectives. Copyright 2016 Prous Science, S.A.U. or its licensors. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive evaluation of power grid enterprises' credit rating under the reform of transmission and distribution price

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yongli; Wang, Gang; Zuo, Yi; Fan, Lisha; Wei, Jiaxiang

2017-03-01

On March 15, 2015, the central office issued the "Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Electric Power System" (in the 2015 No. 9). This policy marks the central government officially opened a new round of electricity reform. As a programmatic document under the new situation to comprehensively promote the reform of the power system, No. 9 document will be approved as a separate transmission and distribution of electricity prices, which is the first task of promoting the reform of the power system. Grid tariff reform is not only the transmission and distribution price of a separate approval, more of the grid company input-output relationship and many other aspects of deep-level adjustments. Under the background of the reform of the transmission and distribution price, the main factors affecting the input-output relationship, such as the main business, electricity pricing, and investment approval, financial accounting and so on, have changed significantly. The paper designed the comprehensive evaluation index system of power grid enterprises' credit rating under the reform of transmission and distribution price to reduce the impact of the reform on the company's international rating results and the ability to raise funds.

A Phase I-II dose escalation study of fixed-dose rate gemcitabine, oxaliplatin and capecitabine every two weeks in advanced cholangiocarcinomas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lassen, Ulrik V; Jensen, Lars Henrik; Sorensen, Morten

2011-01-01

(O) and capecitabine (C), and evaluate the safety and efficacy of this regimen in patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma (CC). Methods. In the Phase I part of the study a dose-escalation schedule of FDR G, O and C, administered every two weeks, was performed in patients with solid tumours...... and no other treatments or advanced CC. In the Phase II part response rate, toxicity, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival was evaluated in patients with newly diagnosed advanced CC. Results. Thirty-six patients entered the Phase I part and G 1 000 mg/m(2) day 1 and 15, O 60 mg/m(2) day 1...... and 15, and C 1 000 mg/m(2) BID day 1-7 and day 15-21 were established as MTD. In the Phase II part, 41 patients with advanced CC were included. Overall response rate was 34% and 51% had stable disease, resulting in a clinical benefit rate of 85%. Grade III and IV adverse events were rare. Median...

E4 - Energy efficient elevators and escalators. Barriers to and strategies for promoting energy-efficient lift and escalator technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duetschke, Elisabeth; Hirzel, Simon

2010-02-25

According to prior findings of the E4 project, considerable savings potential exists both for lifts and escalators that could be realized if appropriate technology is implemented. However, energy-efficient technology is slowly diffusing the market - a phenomenon that could be explained by barriers present in the market. A barrier is defined as a mechanism that inhibits a decision or behavior that appears to be both energy-efficient and economically efficient and thereby prevents investment in energy-efficient technologies. This document has two aims. First, it will identify influential barriers in the European lift and escalator market. This analysis is based on the literature as well as a study including interviews as well as group discussions with relevant stakeholders. Second, strategies and measures to overcome the barriers identified in the first step are outlined. Major barriers to the penetration of energy-efficient technologies identified in this paper include a lack of monitoring energy consumption of installations and a lack of awareness of as well as knowledge about energy-efficient technology. Thus, installations and components are usually chosen without a (comprehensive) assessment of their energy consumption and without considering life-cycle approaches. On top of this, split incentives are a regularly occurring barrier. Various stakeholders are influential in the decisionmaking process about an installation or its components. However, those who will later pay for the energy consumption often are not involved in this process. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that the number of new lifts and escalators installed each year is relatively low compared to the existing stock. Thus, it is very important to discuss enhancement of energy efficiency also for the existing stock. Based on our analyses, several recommendations are developed in this paper that could contribute to a market transformation in the lift and escalator market. First of all, a

Optional time-of-use prices for electricity: Analysis of PG E's experimental TOU rates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Train, K.; Mehrez, G.

1992-07-01

We examine customers' time-of-use (TOU) demand for electricity and their choice between standard and TOU rate schedules. We specify an econometric model in which the customer's demand curves determine the customer's choice of rate schedule. We estimate the model on data from Pacific Gas Electric Company's experiment with optional TOU prices in the residential sector. With the model, we compare the TOU consumption and price elasticities of customers who chose TOU rates with those who chose standard rates. We also estimate the impact of the TOU rates on the utility's revenues and costs. The analysis suggests that the TOU rates offered under PG E's experiment decreased PG E's profits and hence contributed to higher general rate levels. The model can be used, however, to design optional TOU rates that increase profits and lower general rate levels.

Verbal De-escalation of the Agitated Patient: Consensus Statement of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry Project BETA De-escalation Workgroup.

Science.gov (United States)

Richmond, Janet S; Berlin, Jon S; Fishkind, Avrim B; Holloman, Garland H; Zeller, Scott L; Wilson, Michael P; Rifai, Muhamad Aly; Ng, Anthony T

2012-02-01

Agitation is an acute behavioral emergency requiring immediate intervention. Traditional methods of treating agitated patients, ie, routine restraints and involuntary medication, have been replaced with a much greater emphasis on a noncoercive approach. Experienced practitioners have found that if such interventions are undertaken with genuine commitment, successful outcomes can occur far more often than previously thought possible. In the new paradigm, a 3-step approach is used. First, the patient is verbally engaged; then a collaborative relationship is established; and, finally, the patient is verbally de-escalated out of the agitated state. Verbal de-escalation is usually the key to engaging the patient and helping him become an active partner in his evaluation and treatment; although, we also recognize that in some cases nonverbal approaches, such as voluntary medication and environment planning, are also important. When working with an agitated patient, there are 4 main objectives: (1) ensure the safety of the patient, staff, and others in the area; (2) help the patient manage his emotions and distress and maintain or regain control of his behavior; (3) avoid the use of restraint when at all possible; and (4) avoid coercive interventions that escalate agitation. The authors detail the proper foundations for appropriate training for de-escalation and provide intervention guidelines, using the "10 domains of de-escalation."

Exchange Rate – Relative Price Nonlinear Cointegration Relationship in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Venus Khim-Sen Liew; Chee-Keong Choong; Evan Lau; Kian-Ping Lim

2005-01-01

The finding of exchange rate–relative price nonlinear cointegration relationship in Malaysia, among others, suggests that nonlinear Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) equilibrium may be regarded as reference point in judging the short run misalignment of the Ringgit currency and thereby deducing effective policy actions. Moreover, economists who wish to extend the simple PPP exchange rate model into the more complicated monetary exchange models may do so comfortably, at least in the text of Malays...

On the electrification of road transport - Learning rates and price forecasts for hybrid-electric and battery-electric vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weiss, Martin; Patel, Martin K.; Junginger, Martin; Perujo, Adolfo; Bonnel, Pierre; Grootveld, Geert van

2012-01-01

Hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are currently more expensive than conventional passenger cars but may become cheaper due to technological learning. Here, we obtain insight into the prospects of future price decline by establishing ex-post learning rates for HEVs and ex-ante price forecasts for HEVs and BEVs. Since 1997, HEVs have shown a robust decline in their price and price differential at learning rates of 7±2% and 23±5%, respectively. By 2010, HEVs were only 31±22 € 2010 kW −1 more expensive than conventional cars. Mass-produced BEVs are currently introduced into the market at prices of 479±171 € 2010 kW −1 , which is 285±213 € 2010 kW −1 and 316±209 € 2010 kW −1 more expensive than HEVs and conventional cars. Our forecast suggests that price breakeven with these vehicles may only be achieved by 2026 and 2032, when 50 and 80 million BEVs, respectively, would have been produced worldwide. We estimate that BEVs may require until then global learning investments of 100–150 billion € which is less than the global subsidies for fossil fuel consumption paid in 2009. These findings suggest that HEVs, including plug-in HEVs, could become the dominant vehicle technology in the next two decades, while BEVs may require long-term policy support. - Highlights: ► Learning rates for hybrid-electric and battery-electric vehicles. ► Prices and price differentials of hybrid-electric vehicles show a robust decline. ► Battery-electric vehicles may require policy support for decades.

Extended Power Up-rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jon Ball

2006-01-01

Full text of publication follows: Nuclear energy is a reliable and cost-competitive global source of power. With rising oil and gas prices, nuclear continues to provide economic and environmental benefits. Extended Power Up-rate (EPU) provides a means for existing nuclear assets to generate increased power and substantially reduce electrical generation costs. GE Energy's Nuclear Business is the global leader in boiling water reactor (BWR) technology. The experience-base of plants that have successfully achieved EPU includes Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and the United States. The GE experience-base includes fourteen BWRs with over fifty-eight reactor-years of operating experience at EPU conditions. Other than the expected plant modifications needed to accommodate higher steam flows, flow-induced vibration (FIV) has been identified as the major area of concern when up-rating. Two plants have experienced damage to their steam dryers that has lead to an extensive program to improve the understanding of the effects of up-rates. This program includes extensive in-plant data collection, the development of a scale model test facility to study components susceptible to FIV and improvements in analytical techniques for evaluating loading on reactor internals. As global energy demands increase, oil and gas prices escalate, and environmental concerns over greenhouse effects challenge us to find environmentally friendly sources of energy, Nuclear is the most viable and economical source of power in the world. With a focused effort on plant reliability, existing plants can undergo Extended Power Up-rate, and continue to meet the ever-increasing energy demands in the world. (author)

Phosphate rock costs, prices and resources interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Mew, M C

2016-01-15

This article gives the author's views and opinions as someone who has spent his working life analyzing the international phosphate sector as an independent consultant. His career spanned two price hike events in the mid-1970's and in 2008, both of which sparked considerable popular and academic interest concerning adequacy of phosphate rock resources, the impact of rising mining costs and the ability of mankind to feed future populations. An analysis of phosphate rock production costs derived from two major industry studies performed in 1983 and 2013 shows that in nominal terms, global average cash production costs increased by 27% to $38 per tonne fob mine in the 30 year period. In real terms, the global average cost of production has fallen. Despite the lack of upward pressure from increasing costs, phosphate rock market prices have shown two major spikes in the 30 years to 2013, with periods of less volatility in between. These price spike events can be seen to be related to the escalating investment cost required by new mine capacity, and as such can be expected to be repeated in future. As such, phosphate rock price volatility is likely to have more impact on food prices than rising phosphate rock production costs. However, as mining costs rise, recycling of P will also become increasingly driven by economics rather than legislation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cash Flow and Discount Rate Risk in Up and Down Markets: What is actually priced?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Botshekan, M.; Kraeussl, R.G.W.; Lucas, A.

2012-01-01

We test whether asymmetric preferences for losses versus gains affect the prices of cash flow versus discount rate risk. We construct a return decomposition distinguishing cash flow and discount rate betas in up and down markets. Using U.S. data, we find that downside cash flow and discount rate

Strategies for Biologic Image-Guided Dose Escalation: A Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sovik, Aste; Malinen, Eirik; Olsen, Dag Rune

2009-01-01

There is increasing interest in how to incorporate functional and molecular information obtained by noninvasive, three-dimensional tumor imaging into radiotherapy. The key issues are to identify radioresistant regions that can be targeted for dose escalation, and to develop radiation dose prescription and delivery strategies providing optimal treatment for the individual patient. In the present work, we review the proposed strategies for biologic image-guided dose escalation with intensity-modulated radiation therapy. Biologic imaging modalities and the derived images are discussed, as are methods for target volume delineation. Different dose escalation strategies and techniques for treatment delivery and treatment plan evaluation are also addressed. Furthermore, we consider the need for response monitoring during treatment. We conclude with a summary of the current status of biologic image-based dose escalation and of areas where further work is needed for this strategy to become incorporated into clinical practice

Oil price and the dollar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coudert, V.; Mignon, V.; Penot, A.

2007-01-01

Oil prices and the United States (US) dollar exchange rate are driving the evolution of the world economy. This paper investigated long-term relationships between oil prices and the US effective exchange rate. An empirical study was performed on oil prices and the dollar real effective exchange rate between 1974 to 2004. The impact of the dollar exchange rate was also explored, and the effects of oil prices on supply and demand were considered. A dynamic partial equilibrium framework study was evaluated in order to compare how other countries used revenues from oil exports in dollars. The study showed that both variables had similar evolutions when price fluctuations were low. Strong increases in the dollar were associated with lower oil prices. However, adjustment speeds of the dollar real effective exchange rate was slow. Co-integration and causality tests showed that oil prices influenced the exchange rate, and that the link between the 2 variables was transmitted through the country's net foreign asset position. It was concluded that higher oil prices improved US net foreign asset position in relation to other countries, and had a positive impact on dollar appreciation. 24 refs., 6 tabs., 1 fig

Exchange Rate – Relative Price Nonlinear Cointegration Relationship in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Venus Khim-Sen Liew; Chee-Keong Choong; Evan Lau; Kian-Ping Lim

2005-01-01

The finding of exchange rate–relative price nonlinear cointegration relationship in Malaysia, among others, suggests that nonlinear Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) equilibrium may be regarded as reference point in judging the short run misalignment of the Ringgit currency and thereby deducing effective policy actions. Moreover, economists who wish to extend the simple PPP exchange rate model into the more complicated monetary exchange models may do so comfortably, at least in the text of Mala...

SU-E-T-622: Identification and Improvement of Patients Eligible for Dose Escalation with Matched Plans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bush, K; Holcombe, C; Kapp, D; Buyyounouski, M; Hancock, S; Xing, L; Atwood, T; King, M

2014-01-01

Purpose: Radiation-therapy dose-escalation beyond 80Gy may improve tumor control rates for patients with localized prostate cancer. Since toxicity remains a concern, treatment planners must achieve dose-escalation while still adhering to dose-constraints for surrounding structures. Patientmatching is a machine-learning technique that identifies prior patients that dosimetrically match DVH parameters of target volumes and critical structures prior to actual treatment planning. We evaluated the feasibility of patient-matching in (1)identifying candidates for safe dose-escalation; and (2)improving DVH parameters for critical structures in actual dose-escalated plans. Methods: We analyzed DVH parameters from 319 historical treatment plans to determine which plans could achieve dose-escalation (8640cGy) without exceeding Zelefsky dose-constraints (rectal and bladder V47Gy<53%, and V75.6Gy<30%, max-point dose to rectum of 8550cGy, max dose to PTV< 9504cGy). We then estimated the percentage of cases that could achieve safe dose-escalation using software that enables patient matching (QuickMatch, Siris Medical, Mountain View, CA). We then replanned a case that had violated DVH constraints with DVH parameters from patient matching, in order to determine whether this previously unacceptable plan could be made eligible with this automated technique. Results: Patient-matching improved the percentage of patients eligible for dose-escalation from 40% to 63% (p=4.7e-4, t-test). Using a commercial optimizer augmented with patient-matching, we demonstrated a case where patient-matching improved the toxicity-profile such that dose-escalation would have been possible; this plan was rapidly achieved using patientmatching software. In this patient, all lower-dose constraints were met with both the denovo and patient-matching plan. In the patient-matching plan, maximum dose to the rectum was 8385cGy, while the denovo plan failed to meet the maximum rectal constraint at 8571c

Modelling the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Narayan, Paresh Kumar; Narayan, Seema

2010-01-01

The goal of this paper is to model the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices. We use daily data for the period 2000-2008 and include the nominal exchange rate as an additional determinant of stock prices. We find that stock prices, oil prices and nominal exchange rates are cointegrated, and oil prices have a positive and statistically significant impact on stock prices. This result is inconsistent with theoretical expectations. The growth of the Vietnamese stock market was accompanied by rising oil prices. However, the boom of the stock market was marked by increasing foreign portfolio investment inflows which are estimated to have doubled from US$0.9 billion in 2005 to US$1.9 billion in 2006. There was also a change in preferences from holding foreign currencies and domestic bank deposits to stocks local market participants, and there was a rise in leveraged investment in stock as well as investments on behalf of relatives living abroad. It seems that the impact of these internal and domestic factors were more dominant than the oil price rise on the Vietnamese stock market. (author)

Price and utilization: why we must target both to curb health care costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Spiro, Topher; Lee, Emily Oshima; Emanuel, Ezekiel J

2012-10-16

The United States spends nearly $8000 per person on health care annually. Even for a wealthy country, this amount is substantially more than would be expected and 2.5 times the average spent by other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The growth rate of health care spending in the United States has also far outpaced that in all other high-income OECD countries since 1970, even accounting for population growth. This increase in health spending threatens to squeeze out critical investments in education and infrastructure. To successfully develop and implement policies that effectively address both the level and growth of U.S. health care costs, it is critical to first understand cost drivers. Many health policy and economics scholars have contributed to an ongoing debate on whether to blame high prices or high utilization of services for escalating health care spending in the United States. This paper argues that price and volume both contribute to high and increasing health care costs, along with high administrative costs, supply issues, and the fee-for-service payment system. Initial strategies to contain costs might include implementation and expansion of bundled payment systems and competitive bidding.

Studying the efficacy of escalated dose conformal radiation therapy in prostate carcinoma – Pakistan experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asad Zamir

2017-11-01

Conclusion: Our data were comparable to international studies of dose escalation using 3D and beneficial as compared to conventional radiation therapy delivered by 2D in terms of biochemical failure rate and treatment related toxicity.

Temperature escalation in PWR fuel rod simulators due to the zircaloy/steam reaction: Tests ESSI-1,2,3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagen, S.; Malauschek, H.; Wallenfels, K.P.; Peck, S.O.

1983-08-01

This report discusses the test conduct, results, and posttest appearance of three scoping tests (ESSI-1,2,3) investigating temperature escalation in zircaloy clad fuel rods. The experiments are part of an out-of-pile program using electrically heated fuel rod simulators to investigate PWR fuel element behavior up to temperatures of 2000 0 C. These experiments are part of the PNS Severe Fuel Damage Program. The temperature escalation is caused by the exothermal zircaloy/steam reaction, whose reaction rate increases exponentially with the temperature. The tests were performed using different initial oxide layers as a major parameter, obtained by varying the heatup rates and steam exposure times. (orig./RW) [de

Planning ahead: Improving escalation plans before the weekend.

Science.gov (United States)

Zarkali, Angeliki; Black, Duncan; Smee, Elizabeth; Deshraj, Anshul; Smallwood, Nicholas

2014-01-01

Handover is the system by which responsibility for patient care is transferred between healthcare professionals. A significant aspect of handover is the existence of an escalation plan for each patient in case of deterioration over the weekend. According to the Royal College of Physicians, all patients should have a clear escalation plan documented in the notes before a weekend, since parent medical teams (Consultant team in charge of care) are best placed to make these decisions. If left to on-call teams, at a time of deterioration over a weekend, they might not have all available information, the patient might be unable to be involved in the decisions, and the family might not be consulted. With this is mind, we decided to analyse the existing handover process in a medium sized district general hospital, with the aim of improving the process and the documentation of escalation plans. The results from our retrospective analysis of the system in place revealed a significant lack of documentation of escalation plans in the medical notes. Three sample wards were selected to analyse the current handover system and test proposed measures before hospital-wide implementation. After trialling of a physical handover meeting in addition to the existing intranet system and a proforma for the Friday ward round, the documentation of escalation plans in the patients' notes improved from 9.1% to 41.1%. Based on these results, as well as formal feedback from junior doctors and informal feedback from other staff, the physical handover meeting and Friday ward round proforma will be implemented throughout the Trust. Our interventions led to an improvement in the documentation of escalation plans in our hospital, thus saving precious time in the event of a patient's deterioration. This also ensures that families and patients are involved in the decision making process and kept informed, and reduces the burden for the weekend on-call teams.

Optional time-of-use prices for electricity: Analysis of PG&E`s experimental TOU rates. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Train, K.; Mehrez, G.

1992-07-01

We examine customers` time-of-use (TOU) demand for electricity and their choice between standard and TOU rate schedules. We specify an econometric model in which the customer`s demand curves determine the customer`s choice of rate schedule. We estimate the model on data from Pacific Gas & Electric Company`s experiment with optional TOU prices in the residential sector. With the model, we compare the TOU consumption and price elasticities of customers who chose TOU rates with those who chose standard rates. We also estimate the impact of the TOU rates on the utility`s revenues and costs. The analysis suggests that the TOU rates offered under PG&E`s experiment decreased PG&E`s profits and hence contributed to higher general rate levels. The model can be used, however, to design optional TOU rates that increase profits and lower general rate levels.

Impact of European pharmaceutical price regulation on generic price competition: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Puig-Junoy, Jaume

2010-01-01

Although economic theory indicates that it should not be necessary to intervene in the generic drug market through price regulation, most EU countries intervene in this market, both by regulating the maximum sale price of generics (price cap) and by setting the maximum reimbursement rate, especially by means of reference pricing systems. We analyse current knowledge of the impact of direct price-cap regulation of generic drugs and the implementation of systems regulating the reimbursement rate, particularly through reference pricing and similar tools, on dynamic price competition between generic competitors in Europe. A literature search was carried out in the EconLit and PubMed databases, and on Google Scholar. The search included papers published in English or Spanish between January 2000 and July 2009. Inclusion criteria included that studies had to present empirical results of a quantitative nature for EU countries of the impact of price capping and/or regulation of the reimbursement rate (reference pricing or similar systems) on price dynamics, corresponding to pharmacy sales, in the generic drug market. The available evidence indicates that price-cap regulation leads to a levelling off of generic prices at a higher level than would occur in the absence of this regulation. Reference pricing systems cause an obvious and almost compulsory reduction in the consumer price of all pharmaceuticals subject to this system, to a varying degree in different countries and periods, the reduction being greater for originator-branded drugs than for generics. In several countries with a reference pricing system, it was observed that generics with a consumer price lower than the reference price do not undergo price reductions until the reference price is reduced, even when there are other lower-priced generics on the market (absence of price competition below the reference price). Beyond the price reduction forced by the price-cap and/or reference pricing regulation itself

Looking beyond credit ratings : Factors investors consider In pricing European asset-backed securities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fabozzi, F.; Vink, D.

2012-01-01

In this paper, we empirically investigate what credit factors investors rely upon when pricing the spread at issue for European asset-backed securities. More specifically, we investigate how credit factors affect new issuance spreads after taking into account credit rating. We do so by investigating

An accelerated dose escalation with a grass pollen allergoid is safe and well-tolerated: a randomized open label phase II trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaker, A M; Al-Kadah, B; Luther, U; Neumann, U; Wagenmann, M

2015-01-01

The number of injections in the dose escalation of subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) is small for some currently used hypoallergenic allergoids, but can still be inconvenient to patients and can impair compliance. The aim of this trial was to compare safety and tolerability of an accelerated to the conventional dose escalation scheme of a grass pollen allergoid. In an open label phase II trial, 122 patients were 1:1 randomized for SCIT using a grass pollen allergoid with an accelerated dose escalation comprising only 4 weekly injections (Group I) or a conventional dose escalation including 7 weekly injections (Group II). Safety determination included the occurrence of local and systemic adverse events. Tolerability was assessed by patients and physicians. Treatment-related adverse events were observed in 22 (36.1 %) patients in Group I and 15 (24.6 %) in Group II. Local reactions were reported by 18 patients in Group I and 11 in Group II. Five Grade 1 systemic reactions (WAO classification) were observed in Group I and 2 in Group II. Grade 2 reactions occurred 3 times in Group I and 2 times in Group II. Tolerability was rated as "good" or "very good" by 53 (86.9 %) patients in Group I and 59 (100 %) in Group II by investigators. Forty-eight patients in Group I (80.0 %) and 54 in Group II (91.5 %) rated tolerability as "good" or "very good". The dose escalation of a grass pollen allergoid can be accelerated with safety and tolerability profiles comparable to the conventional dose escalation.

Escalation and propagation of thermal detonation in the corium-water systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melikhov, O.I.; Melikhov, V.I.; Sokolin, A.V.

2001-01-01

The thermal detonation taking into account micro-interaction processes model has been applied to study thermal detonation wave escalation and propagation in the corium-water mixture. Transient escalation stage and subsequent steady-state propagation stage of the thermal detonation have been calculated. The essential decrease of the escalation length in comparison with the previous results calculated without micro-interaction concept has been obtained. (authors)

Destined to die but not to wage war: how existential threat can contribute to escalation or de-escalation of violent intergroup conflict.

Science.gov (United States)

Jonas, Eva; Fritsche, Immo

2013-10-01

War means threat to people's lives. Research derived from terror management theory (TMT) illustrates that the awareness of death leads people to defend cultural ingroups and their worldviews to attain a sense of symbolic immortality and thereby buffer existential anxiety. This can result in hostile effects of mortality salience (MS), such as derogation of outgroup members, prejudice, stereotyping, aggression, and racism, which, in turn, can lead to the escalation of violent intergroup conflict and, thus, the escalation of war. Yet, escalation of destructive conflict following MS is not automatic. Instead, research on TMT suggests that MS does not necessarily result in conflict and intolerance but can also foster positive tendencies, such as intergroup fairness or approval of pacifism, depending on how existential threat is perceived, whether the need for symbolic self-transcendence is satisfied, which social norms are salient, and how social situations are interpreted. In the present article, we review current TMT research with the aim of reconciling the seemingly contradictory findings of hostile and peaceful reactions to reminders of death. We present a terror management model of escalation and de-escalation of violent intergroup conflicts, which takes into account the interaction between threat salience and features of the social situation. We also discuss possible intervention strategies to override detrimental consequences of existential threat and argue that war is not the inevitable consequence of threat. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Exchange rate pass-through and the frequency of price adjustment across different inflation regimes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petrović Pavle

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper explores the link between the inflationary environment and the size of the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT into domestic prices, as inflation descends from an extreme, second highest and second longest hyperinflation in the 20th century, to high and then moderate inflation in Serbia. We found that ERPT decreases with a decline in the inflation level, variability and persistence, thus supplementing findings previously acquired in panel studies across countries. Our findings can be explained by surging empirical evidence on state contingent behavior of pricing, which indicates a sharp increase in the frequency of price adjustment as one moves from moderate, via high to hyperinflation, suggesting that the degree of price rigidities is a key determinant of the size and speed of ERPT. ERPT estimates are embedded in careful analysis of inflation episodes in Serbia, showing that hyper and high inflation episodes subscribe to the same, fiscal explanation, as opposed to the moderate inflation ones, where supply and demand shocks have been the main inflation drivers.

Unemployment rate and price of gasoline predict the fuel economy of purchased new vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-01

This study examined the relationship between two economic indicatorsthe : unemployment rate and the price of gasolineand the fuel economy of purchased new : vehicles. A regression analysis was performed on U.S. monthly data from October 2007 : ...

Soverign Rating Events and bank Share Prices in the Italian Market

OpenAIRE

S. Caselli; G. Gandolfi; M. Soana

2013-01-01

The paper examines the spillover effect of Eurozone sovereign rating changes announced by Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch on domestic bank share prices in the period 2002–2012. This spillover effect appears strongly negative in the case of downgrades, but insignificant for upgrades. Bank losses following sovereign downgrades are greater during the financial crisis of 2008 and in the PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain). Surprisingly, announcement of sovereign ...

Oil prices and the stock prices of alternative energy companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henriques, Irene; Sadorsky, Perry

2008-01-01

Energy security issues coupled with increased concern over the natural environment are driving factors behind oil price movements. While it is widely accepted that rising oil prices are good for the financial performance of alternative energy companies, there has been relatively little statistical work done to measure just how sensitive the financial performance of alternative energy companies are to changes in oil prices. In this paper, a four variable vector autoregression model is developed and estimated in order to investigate the empirical relationship between alternative energy stock prices, technology stock prices, oil prices, and interest rates. Our results show technology stock prices and oil prices each individually Granger cause the stock prices of alternative energy companies. Simulation results show that a shock to technology stock prices has a larger impact on alternative energy stock prices than does a shock to oil prices. These results should be of use to investors, managers and policy makers. (author)

SU-C-BRB-02: Automatic Planning as a Potential Strategy for Dose Escalation for Pancreas SBRT?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, S; Zheng, D; Ma, R; Lin, C; Zhu, X; Lei, Y; Enke, C; Zhou, S

2016-01-01

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has been suggested to provide high rates of local control for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. However, the close proximity of highly radiosensitive normal tissues usually causes the labor-intensive planning process, and may impede further escalation of the prescription dose. The present study evaluates the potential of an automatic planning system as a dose escalation strategy. Methods: Ten pancreatic cancer patients treated with SBRT were studied retrospectively. SBRT was delivered over 5 consecutive fractions with 6 ∼ 8Gy/fraction. Two plans were generated by Pinnacle Auto-Planning with the original prescription and escalated prescription, respectively. Escalated prescription adds 1 Gy/fraction to the original prescription. Manually-created planning volumes were excluded in the optimization goals in order to assess the planning efficiency and quality simultaneously. Critical organs with closest proximity were used to determine the plan normalization to ensure the OAR sparing. Dosimetric parameters including D100, and conformity index (CI) were assessed. Results: Auto-plans directly generate acceptable plans for 70% of the cases without necessity of further improvement, and two more iterations at most are necessary for the rest of the cases. For the pancreas SBRT plans with the original prescription, autoplans resulted in favorable target coverage and PTV conformity (D100 = 96.3% ± 1.48%; CI = 0.88 ± 0.06). For the plans with the escalated prescriptions, no significant target under-dosage was observed, and PTV conformity remains reasonable (D100 = 93.3% ± 3.8%, and CI = 0.84 ± 0.05). Conclusion: Automatic planning, without substantial human-intervention process, results in reasonable PTV coverage and PTV conformity on the premise of adequate OAR sparing for the pancreas SBRT plans with escalated prescription. The results highlight the potential of autoplanning as a dose escalation strategy for pancreas

SU-C-BRB-02: Automatic Planning as a Potential Strategy for Dose Escalation for Pancreas SBRT?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, S; Zheng, D; Ma, R; Lin, C; Zhu, X; Lei, Y; Enke, C; Zhou, S [University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has been suggested to provide high rates of local control for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. However, the close proximity of highly radiosensitive normal tissues usually causes the labor-intensive planning process, and may impede further escalation of the prescription dose. The present study evaluates the potential of an automatic planning system as a dose escalation strategy. Methods: Ten pancreatic cancer patients treated with SBRT were studied retrospectively. SBRT was delivered over 5 consecutive fractions with 6 ∼ 8Gy/fraction. Two plans were generated by Pinnacle Auto-Planning with the original prescription and escalated prescription, respectively. Escalated prescription adds 1 Gy/fraction to the original prescription. Manually-created planning volumes were excluded in the optimization goals in order to assess the planning efficiency and quality simultaneously. Critical organs with closest proximity were used to determine the plan normalization to ensure the OAR sparing. Dosimetric parameters including D100, and conformity index (CI) were assessed. Results: Auto-plans directly generate acceptable plans for 70% of the cases without necessity of further improvement, and two more iterations at most are necessary for the rest of the cases. For the pancreas SBRT plans with the original prescription, autoplans resulted in favorable target coverage and PTV conformity (D100 = 96.3% ± 1.48%; CI = 0.88 ± 0.06). For the plans with the escalated prescriptions, no significant target under-dosage was observed, and PTV conformity remains reasonable (D100 = 93.3% ± 3.8%, and CI = 0.84 ± 0.05). Conclusion: Automatic planning, without substantial human-intervention process, results in reasonable PTV coverage and PTV conformity on the premise of adequate OAR sparing for the pancreas SBRT plans with escalated prescription. The results highlight the potential of autoplanning as a dose escalation strategy for pancreas

Report on waste burial charges. Escalation of decommissioning waste disposal costs at low-level waste burial facilities, Revision 4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-06-01

One of the requirements placed upon nuclear power reactor licensees by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is for the licensees to periodically adjust the estimate of the cost of decommissioning their plants, in dollars of the current year, as part of the process to provide reasonable assurance that adequate funds for decommissioning will be available when needed. This report, which is scheduled to be revised periodically, contains the development of a formula for escalating decommissioning cost estimates that is acceptable to the NRC. The sources of information to be used in the escalation formula are identified, and the values developed for the escalation of radioactive waste burial costs, by site and by year, are given. The licensees may use the formula, the coefficients, and the burial escalation factors from this report in their escalation analyses, or they may use an escalation rate at least equal to the escalation approach presented herein. This fourth revision of NUREG-1307 contains revised spreadsheet results for the disposal costs for the reference PWR and the reference BWR and the ratios of disposal costs at the Washington, Nevada, and South Carolina sites for the years 1986, 1988, 1991 and 1993, superseding the values given in the May 1993 issue of this report. Burial cost surcharges mandated by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 (LLRWPAA) have been incorporated into the revised ratio tables for those years. In addition, spreadsheet results for the disposal costs for the reference reactors and ratios of disposal costs at the two remaining burial sites in Washington and South Carolina for the year 1994 are provided. These latter results do not include any LLRWPAA surcharges, since those provisions of the Act expired at the end of 1992. An example calculation for escalated disposal cost is presented, demonstrating the use of the data contained in this report

Robotic crabs reveal that female fiddler crabs are sensitive to changes in male display rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Mowles, Sophie L; Jennions, Michael D; Backwell, Patricia R Y

2018-01-01

Males often produce dynamic, repetitive courtship displays that can be demanding to perform and might advertise male quality to females. A key feature of demanding displays is that they can change in intensity: escalating as a male increases his signalling effort, but de-escalating as a signaller becomes fatigued. Here, we investigated whether female fiddler crabs, Uca mjoebergi , are sensitive to changes in male courtship wave rate. We performed playback experiments using robotic male crabs that had the same mean wave rate, but either escalated, de-escalated or remained constant. Females demonstrated a strong preference for escalating robots, but showed mixed responses to robots that de-escalated ('fast' to 'slow') compared to those that waved at a constant 'medium' rate. These findings demonstrate that females can discern changes in male display rate, and prefer males that escalate, but that females are also sensitive to past display rates indicative of prior vigour. © 2018 The Authors.

Modelling the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Narayan, Paresh Kumar [School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Deakin University, Victoria 3125 (Australia); Narayan, Seema [School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne (Australia)

2010-01-15

The goal of this paper is to model the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices. We use daily data for the period 2000-2008 and include the nominal exchange rate as an additional determinant of stock prices. We find that stock prices, oil prices and nominal exchange rates are cointegrated, and oil prices have a positive and statistically significant impact on stock prices. This result is inconsistent with theoretical expectations. The growth of the Vietnamese stock market was accompanied by rising oil prices. However, the boom of the stock market was marked by increasing foreign portfolio investment inflows which are estimated to have doubled from US$0.9 billion in 2005 to US$1.9 billion in 2006. There was also a change in preferences from holding foreign currencies and domestic bank deposits to stocks local market participants, and there was a rise in leveraged investment in stock as well as investments on behalf of relatives living abroad. It seems that the impact of these internal and domestic factors were more dominant than the oil price rise on the Vietnamese stock market. (author)

Escalator: An Autonomous Scheduling Scheme for Convergecast in TSCH.

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Sukho; Hwang, DongYeop; Kim, Ki-Hyung; Kim, Kangseok

2018-04-16

Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) is widely used in the industrial wireless sensor networks due to its high reliability and energy efficiency. Various timeslot and channel scheduling schemes have been proposed for achieving high reliability and energy efficiency for TSCH networks. Recently proposed autonomous scheduling schemes provide flexible timeslot scheduling based on the routing topology, but do not take into account the network traffic and packet forwarding delays. In this paper, we propose an autonomous scheduling scheme for convergecast in TSCH networks with RPL as a routing protocol, named Escalator. Escalator generates a consecutive timeslot schedule along the packet forwarding path to minimize the packet transmission delay. The schedule is generated autonomously by utilizing only the local routing topology information without any additional signaling with other nodes. The generated schedule is guaranteed to be conflict-free, in that all nodes in the network could transmit packets to the sink in every slotframe cycle. We implement Escalator and evaluate its performance with existing autonomous scheduling schemes through a testbed and simulation. Experimental results show that the proposed Escalator has lower end-to-end delay and higher packet delivery ratio compared to the existing schemes regardless of the network topology.

Dose escalation methods in phase I cancer clinical trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Tourneau, Christophe; Lee, J Jack; Siu, Lillian L

2009-05-20

Phase I clinical trials are an essential step in the development of anticancer drugs. The main goal of these studies is to establish the recommended dose and/or schedule of new drugs or drug combinations for phase II trials. The guiding principle for dose escalation in phase I trials is to avoid exposing too many patients to subtherapeutic doses while preserving safety and maintaining rapid accrual. Here we review dose escalation methods for phase I trials, including the rule-based and model-based dose escalation methods that have been developed to evaluate new anticancer agents. Toxicity has traditionally been the primary endpoint for phase I trials involving cytotoxic agents. However, with the emergence of molecularly targeted anticancer agents, potential alternative endpoints to delineate optimal biological activity, such as plasma drug concentration and target inhibition in tumor or surrogate tissues, have been proposed along with new trial designs. We also describe specific methods for drug combinations as well as methods that use a time-to-event endpoint or both toxicity and efficacy as endpoints. Finally, we present the advantages and drawbacks of the various dose escalation methods and discuss specific applications of the methods in developmental oncotherapeutics.

Hourly rate of direct labor - contributions to its applicability in the pricing process inserted in a competitive market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Benedito Silva Oliveira

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The detailed cost analysis is currently required as a result of increasingly competitive markets. The strategic cost management, analyzed from the optic of the target costing, can be a powerful tool for companies to keep themselves competitive. In this way, this study aimed to present a meticulous analysis of the hourly rate of direct labor in the pricing process of a new product, in order to understand if its use is appropriate in a pricing process. We used the deductive method supported in a case study, and the result achieved is that the hourly rate of direct current labor cannot be used in the pricing process, otherwise will be determined unrealistic costs to the product. It is important to highlight that this analysis applies to micro and small until large corporations.

ANALYSIS OF EXCHANGE RATE LINKED SUBSIDIES FOR NON-PRICE EXPORT PROMOTION: THE CASE OF COTTON

OpenAIRE

Paudel, Laxmi; Adhikari, Murali; Houston, Jack E.; Kinnucan, Henry W.

2002-01-01

An equilibrium displacement framework was developed to evaluate the effect of exchange rate linked subsidies for non-price export promotion for US cotton. Study results show that an increase in promotion expenditure increased the dollar value and producer welfare of cotton growers. The gross gain to the domestic cotton producers from the exchange-rate linked subsidy scheme was positive. These evidences support exchange rate linked subsidies for US cotton export promotion.

Managing Conflict: Examining Recent PLA Writings on Escalation Control

Science.gov (United States)

2016-02-01

Cleared for Public Release Managing Conflict: Examining Recent PLA Writings on Escalation Control Alison A. Kaufman, Daniel...ANSI Std. Z39.18 i Abstract This study examines how people in China’s People’s Liberation Army ( PLA ) think about and discuss...escalation control in their public writings. It draws on over two dozen PLA writings, most issued since 2008, to explore the current state of PLA

Agricultural Terrorism (Agroterror) and Escalation Theory

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gooding, Aeneas R

2007-01-01

... credibility terrorist groups must demonstrate a continued ability to conduct operations and inflict significant numbers of casualties on their enemy, maintaining a consistent, if not escalating, level of violence. This thesis uses E...

House Prices and Taxes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gjedsted Nielsen, Mads

This paper is the first to consider a large scale natural experiment to estimate the effect of taxes on house prices. We find that a 1 percentage-point increase in income tax rates lead to a drop in house prices of at most 2.2%. This corresponds to a tax capitalization for the average household...... capitalization from earlier studies. Furthermore, we find no effect of property taxes on house prices. We attribute this to the low levels of Danish municipal property tax rates compared to income tax rates....

Clinical Factors Associated With Dose Escalation of Solifenacin for the Treatment of Overactive Bladder in Real Life Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji-Youn Chun

2014-03-01

Full Text Available PurposeTo determine the baseline clinical characteristics associated with dose escalation of solifenacin in patients with overactive bladder (OAB.MethodsWe analyzed the data of patients with OAB (micturition frequency ≥8/day and urgency ≥1/day who were treated with solifenacin and followed up for 24 weeks. According to our department protocol, all the patients kept voiding diaries, and OAB symptom scores (OABSS were monitored at baseline and after 4, 12, and 24 weeks of solifenacin treatment.ResultsIn total, 68 patients (mean age, 60.8±10.0 years were recruited. The dose escalation rate by the end of the study was 41.2%, from 23.5% at 4 weeks and 17.6% at 12 weeks. At baseline, the dose escalator group had significantly more OAB wet patients (53.6% vs. 20.0% and higher total OABSS (10.2±2.4 vs. 7.9±3.5, P=0.032 than the nonescalator group. OAB wet (odds ratio [OR], 4.615; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.578-13.499; P<0.05 and total OABSS (OR, 1.398; 95% CI, 1.046-1.869; P<0.05 were found to be independently associated with dose escalation.ConclusionsPatients who have urgency urinary incontinence and high total OABSS have a tendency for dose escalation of solifenacin.

Evolution of the European gas market on the long term. Organisation and price; Evolution du marche gazier europeen a long terme. Organisation et prix

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ouvry, V

1998-01-30

The objective of this work is to shed light upon the future organization of the European gas market with an emphasis on price matters. There are nowadays few producers of gas on the market, most of whom hold long-term contracts with gas companies. Gas pricing is based on the net-back principle. The actual debate on liberalization of the gas market and the growing pressure from industrial customers to obtain lower prices addresses the problem of the future organisation of the market and the potential impact of the introduction of third party access. We first analyse the main actors of the gas market, their strategy and the actual market organization market. Two different logics are considered hereunder: a market approach: the competition theory provides efficient tools to analyse the evolution of competition depending on numerous factors. It appears that the strategy of all actors and particularly of producers will be the main determinant of the future competition. The oligopoly theory includes oligopolistic behaviours modelizations. The application of the Cournot`s model leads to prices ranging from 1,6 to 3,7 $/MBtu; a contractual approach: today, gas is essentially exchanged through long term contracts, which allow for long-term management of investments and supply security. Two operators negotiate the price, which ultimately mirrors their respective leverage. The transaction cost theory clearly shows the necessity of including transaction costs, especially when optimizing the duration of the contract. The gas prices escalation is nowadays partially obsolete and unadapted to customer needs. Escalation on coal, electricity price or inflation should soon be considered. The theories of negotiation highlight the importance of the operators` marketing power during gas price fixation Applying Nash and Harsanyi-Selten`s negotiation models results in a scale of 2,4 to 3,5 $/MBtu of the gas price at the actual supply and demand conditions. Both approaches lead to similar

E4 - Energy efficient elevators and escalators. Monitoring campaign - Germany

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hirzel, Simon; Boege, Christian

2009-12-15

A monitoring campaign was carried out within the E4 project as a contribution to improving the understanding of energy consumption and energy efficiency of elevators and escalators in Europe. The aim of this campaign is to broaden the empirical base on the energy consumption of elevators and escalators, to provide publicly available monitoring data and to find hints on system configurations using little energy. Originally, 50 installations were planned to be monitored within the project. In the end, 74 elevators and 7 escalators, i.e. a total of 81 installations, were analyzed in the four countries under study: Portugal, Poland, Italy and Germany. The aim of this document is to summarize the results of the German monitoring campaign with its 14 installations (13 elevators, 1 escalator) and to provide interested readers with some additional information on the campaign. This document has six parts: Second, after the introductory section, some general information on the monitoring methodology is provided as a background for understanding and interpreting the subsequent results. In the third part, information on the monitored elevator installations and their characteristics is given. Part four is concerned with presenting and discussing the results of the monitoring campaign for the elevators while part five shortly presents the results for the monitored escalator. Finally, some conclusions are found in the last part. (orig.)

Escalation research: Providing new frontiers for applying behavior analysis to organizational behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Goltz, Sonia M.

2000-01-01

Decision fiascoes such as escalation of commitment, the tendency of decision makers to “throw good money after bad,” can have serious consequences for organizations and are therefore of great interest in applied research. This paper discusses the use of behavior analysis in organizational behavior research on escalation. Among the most significant aspects of behavior-analytic research on escalation is that it has indicated that both the patterns of outcomes that decision makers have experienced for past decisions and the patterns of responses that they make are critical for understanding escalation. This research has also stimulated the refinement of methods by researchers to better assess decision making and the role reinforcement plays in it. Finally, behavior-analytic escalation research has not only indicated the utility of reinforcement principles for predicting more complex human behavior but has also suggested some additional areas for future exploration of decision making using behavior analysis. PMID:22478347

DOSE-ESCALATED EXTERNAL BEAM RADIOTHERAPY DURING HORMONO-RADIOTHERAPY FOR PROSTATE CANCER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu. V. Gumenetskaya

2016-01-01

studies are needed to investigate the impact of dose escalation on long-term outcomes as well as the rate and grade of late complications.

Methods of economic analysis applied to fusion research: discount rate determination and the fossil fuel price effect

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1978-09-25

In current and previous efforts, ECON has provided a preliminary economic assessment of a fusion research program. Part of this effort was the demonstration of a methodology for the estimation of reactor system costs and risk and for the treatment of program alternatives as a series of steps (tests) to buy information, thereby controlling program risk and providing a sound economic rationale for properly constructed research programs. The first phase of work also identified two areas which greatly affect the overall economic evaluation of fusion research and which warranted further study in the second phase. This led to the two tasks of the second phase reported herein: (1) discount rate determination and (2) evaluation of the effect of the expectation of the introduction of fusion power on current fossil fuel prices. In the first task, various conceptual measures of the social rate of discount were reviewed and critiqued. In the second task, a benefit area that had been called out by ECON was further examined. Long-range R and D yields short-term benefits in the form of lower nonrenewable energy resource prices because the R and D provides an expectation of future competition for the remaining reserves at the time of technology availability. ECON developed a model of optimal OPEC petroleum pricing as a function of the expectation of future competing technologies. It was shown that the existence of this expectation lowers the optimal OPEC export price and that accelerated technology R and D programs should provide further price decreases. These price reductions translate into benefits to the U.S. of at least a billion dollars.

Escalator: An Autonomous Scheduling Scheme for Convergecast in TSCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sukho Oh

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH is widely used in the industrial wireless sensor networks due to its high reliability and energy efficiency. Various timeslot and channel scheduling schemes have been proposed for achieving high reliability and energy efficiency for TSCH networks. Recently proposed autonomous scheduling schemes provide flexible timeslot scheduling based on the routing topology, but do not take into account the network traffic and packet forwarding delays. In this paper, we propose an autonomous scheduling scheme for convergecast in TSCH networks with RPL as a routing protocol, named Escalator. Escalator generates a consecutive timeslot schedule along the packet forwarding path to minimize the packet transmission delay. The schedule is generated autonomously by utilizing only the local routing topology information without any additional signaling with other nodes. The generated schedule is guaranteed to be conflict-free, in that all nodes in the network could transmit packets to the sink in every slotframe cycle. We implement Escalator and evaluate its performance with existing autonomous scheduling schemes through a testbed and simulation. Experimental results show that the proposed Escalator has lower end-to-end delay and higher packet delivery ratio compared to the existing schemes regardless of the network topology.

Lack of benefit for the addition of androgen deprivation therapy to dose-escalated radiotherapy in the treatment of intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Krauss, Daniel

2012-02-01

PURPOSE: Assessment of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) benefits for prostate cancer treated with dose-escalated radiotherapy (RT). METHODS AND MATERIALS: From 1991 to 2004, 1,044 patients with intermediate- (n = 782) or high-risk (n = 262) prostate cancer were treated with dose-escalated RT at William Beaumont Hospital. Patients received external-beam RT (EBRT) alone, brachytherapy (high or low dose rate), or high dose rate brachytherapy plus pelvic EBRT. Intermediate-risk patients had Gleason score 7, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) 10.0-19.9 ng\\/mL, or Stage T2b-T2c. High-risk patients had Gleason score 8-10, PSA >\\/=20, or Stage T3. Patients were additionally divided specifically by Gleason score, presence of palpable disease, and PSA level to further define subgroups benefitting from ADT. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 5 years; 420 patients received ADT + dose-escalated RT, and 624 received dose-escalated RT alone. For all patients, no advantages in any clinical endpoints at 8 years were associated with ADT administration. No differences in any endpoints were associated with ADT administration based on intermediate- vs. high-risk group or RT modality when analyzed separately. Patients with palpable disease plus Gleason >\\/=8 demonstrated improved clinical failure rates and a trend toward improved survival with ADT. Intermediate-risk patients treated with brachytherapy alone had improved biochemical control when ADT was given. CONCLUSION: Benefits of ADT in the setting of dose-escalated RT remain poorly defined. This question must continue to be addressed in prospective study.

Temperature escalation in PWR fuel rod simulator bundles due to the Zircaloy/steam reaction: Test ESBU-2A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagen, S.; Kapulla, H.; Malauschek, H.; Wallenfels, K.P.; Peck, S.O.

1984-07-01

This report describes the test conduct and results of the bundle test ESBU-2A, which was run to investigate the temperature escalation of zircaloy clad fuel rods. This investigation of temperature escalation is part of a series of out-of-pile experiments, performed within the framework of the PNS Severe Fuel Damage Program. The test bundle was of a 3 x 3 array of fuel rod simulators with a 0.4 m heated length. The fuel rod simulators were electrically heated and consisted of tungsten heaters, UO 2 annular pellets, and zircaloy cladding. A nominal steam flow of 0.7 g/s was inlet to the bundle. The bundle was surrounded by a zircaloy shroud which was insulated with ZrO 2 fiber ceramic wrap. The initial heatup rate of the bundle was 0.4 0 C/s. The temperature escalation began at the 255 mm elevation after 1200 0 C had been reached. At this elevation, the measured peak temperature was limited to 1500 0 C. It was concluded from different thermocouple results, that induced by this first escalation melt was formed in the lower part of the bundle. Consequently, the escalation in the lower part must be much higher, at least up to the melting temperature of zircaloy. Due to the failure in the steam production system, steam starvation in the upper region may explain the beginning of the escalation at the 255 mm elevation. The maximum temperature reached was 2175 0 C on the center rod at the end of the test. The unregularities in the steam supply may be the reason for less oxidation than expected. (orig./GL) [de

A discrete-time two-factor model for pricing bonds and interest rate derivatives under random volatility

OpenAIRE

Heston, Steven L.; Nandi, Saikat

1999-01-01

This paper develops a discrete-time two-factor model of interest rates with analytical solutions for bonds and many interest rate derivatives when the volatility of the short rate follows a GARCH process that can be correlated with the level of the short rate itself. Besides bond and bond futures, the model yields analytical solutions for prices of European options on discount bonds (and futures) as well as other interest rate derivatives such as caps, floors, average rate options, yield curv...

Deterrence Adrift Mapping Conflict and Escalation in South Asia

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-21

will paralyze India’s political leadership from authorizing Cold Start in the first place , or at the very least, force India to drastically curb its...Pakistan believes that its willingness to escalate will either deter New Delhi from cross-border adventurism in the first place or achieve some...difficulty calibrating a limited ground offensive in a way that does not precipitate an escalation spiral. In es- sence , India’s quandary reflects one of

Conflict escalation in paediatric services: findings from a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Forbat, Liz; Teuten, Bea; Barclay, Sarah

2015-08-01

To explore clinician and family experiences of conflict in paediatric services, in order to map the trajectory of conflict escalation. Qualitative interview study, employing extreme-case sampling. Interviews were analysed using an iterative thematic approach to identify common themes regarding the experience and escalation of conflict. Thirty-eight health professionals and eight parents. All participants had direct experience of conflict, including physical assault and court proceedings, at the interface of acute and palliative care. Two teaching hospitals, one district general hospital and two paediatric hospices in England, in 2011. Conflicts escalate in a predictable manner. Clearly identifiable behaviours by both clinicians and parents are defined as mild, moderate and severe. Mild describes features like the insensitive use of language and a history of unresolved conflict. Moderate involves a deterioration of trust, and a breakdown of communication and relationships. Severe marks disintegration of working relationships, characterised by behavioural changes including aggression, and a shift in focus from the child's best interests to the conflict itself. Though conflicts may remain at one level, those which escalated tended to move sequentially from one level to the next. Understanding how conflicts escalate provides clinicians with a practical, evidence-based framework to identify the warning signs of conflict in paediatrics. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Price increase

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

Please take note that after five years of stable prices at Restaurant No 1 a price increase will come into force on 1st January 2006. This increase has been agreed after discussions between the CSR (Comité de Surveillance des Restaurants) and the catering company Novae and will reflect the inflation rate of the last few years. In addition, a new children's menu will be introduced, as well as 'Max Havelaar' fair-trade coffee at a price of 1.70 CHF.

Price increase

CERN Multimedia

2005-01-01

Please take note that after five years of stable prices at Restaurant No 1 a price increase will come into force on 1st January 2006. This increase has been agreed after discussions between the CSR (Comité de Surveillance des Restaurants) and the catering company Novae and will reflect the inflation rate of the last few years. In addition, a new children's menu will be introduced as well as 'Max Havelaar' fair-trade coffee at a price of 1.70 CHF.

Clinical Outcome of Dose-Escalated Image-Guided Radiotherapy for Spinal Metastases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guckenberger, Matthias; Goebel, Joachim; Wilbert, Juergen; Baier, Kurt; Richter, Anne; Sweeney, Reinhart A.; Bratengeier, Klaus; Flentje, Michael

2009-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the outcomes after dose-escalated radiotherapy (RT) for spinal metastases and paraspinal tumors. Methods and Materials: A total of 14 patients, 12 with spinal metastases and a long life expectancy and 2 with paraspinal tumors, were treated for 16 lesions with intensity-modulated, image-guided RT. A median biologic effective dose of 74 Gy 10 (range, 55-86) in a median of 20 fractions (range, 3-34) was prescribed to the target volume. The spinal canal was treated to 40 Gy in 20 fractions using a second intensity-modulated RT dose level in the case of epidural involvement. Results: After median follow-up of 17 months, one local recurrence was observed, for an actuarial local control rate of 88% after 2 years. Local control was associated with rapid and long-term pain relief. Of 11 patients treated for a solitary spinal metastasis, 6 developed systemic disease progression. The actuarial overall survival rate for metastatic patients was 85% and 63% after 1 and 2 years, respectively. Acute Grade 2-3 skin toxicity was seen in 2 patients with no late toxicity greater than Grade 2. No radiation-induced myelopathy was observed. Conclusion: Dose-escalated irradiation of spinal metastases was safe and resulted in excellent local control. Oligometastatic patients with a long life expectancy and epidural involvement are considered to benefit the most from fractionated RT.

Clinical Outcomes With Dose-Escalated Adaptive Radiation Therapy for Urinary Bladder Cancer: A Prospective Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murthy, Vedang, E-mail: vmurthy@actrec.gov.in [Department of Radiation Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai (India); Masodkar, Renuka; Kalyani, Nikhil; Mahantshetty, Umesh [Department of Radiation Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai (India); Bakshi, Ganesh; Prakash, Gagan [Department of Surgical Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai (India); Joshi, Amit; Prabhash, Kumar [Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai (India); Ghonge, Sujata; Shrivastava, Shyamkishore [Department of Radiation Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai (India)

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess feasibility, clinical outcomes, and toxicity in patients with bladder cancer treated with adaptive, image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) for bladder preservation as a part of trimodality treatment. The role of dose escalation was also studied. Methods and Materials: Forty-four patients with localized bladder cancer were enrolled in a prospective study. They underwent maximal safe resection of bladder tumor and concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients with large tumors were offered induction chemotherapy. Radiation therapy planning was done using either 3 (n=34) or 6 (n=10) concentrically grown planning target volumes (PTV). Patients received 64 Gy in 32 fractions to the whole bladder and 55 Gy to the pelvic nodes and, if appropriate, a simultaneous integrated boost to the tumor bed to 68 Gy (equivalent dose for 2-Gy fractions assuming α/β of 10 [EQD2]{sub 10} = 68.7 Gy). Daily megavoltage (MV) imaging helped to choose the most appropriate PTV encompassing bladder for the particular day (using plan-of-the-day approach). Results: Most patients (88%) had T2 disease. Sixteen patients (36%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A majority of the patients (73%) received prophylactic nodal irradiation, whereas 55% of the patients received escalated dose to the tumor bed. With a median follow-up of 30 months, the 3-year locoregional control (LRC), disease-free survival, and overall survival (OS) were 78%, 66%, and 67%, respectively. The bladder preservation rate was 83%. LRC (87% vs 68%, respectively, P=.748) and OS (74% vs 60%, respectively, P=.36) rates were better in patients receiving dose escalation. Instances of acute and late Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) grade 3 genitourinary toxicity was seen in 5 (11%) and 2 (4%) patients, respectively. There was no acute or late RTOG grade 3 or higher gastrointestinal toxicity. Conclusions: Adaptive IGRT using plan-of-the-day approach for bladder

Clinical Outcomes With Dose-Escalated Adaptive Radiation Therapy for Urinary Bladder Cancer: A Prospective Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murthy, Vedang; Masodkar, Renuka; Kalyani, Nikhil; Mahantshetty, Umesh; Bakshi, Ganesh; Prakash, Gagan; Joshi, Amit; Prabhash, Kumar; Ghonge, Sujata; Shrivastava, Shyamkishore

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess feasibility, clinical outcomes, and toxicity in patients with bladder cancer treated with adaptive, image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) for bladder preservation as a part of trimodality treatment. The role of dose escalation was also studied. Methods and Materials: Forty-four patients with localized bladder cancer were enrolled in a prospective study. They underwent maximal safe resection of bladder tumor and concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients with large tumors were offered induction chemotherapy. Radiation therapy planning was done using either 3 (n=34) or 6 (n=10) concentrically grown planning target volumes (PTV). Patients received 64 Gy in 32 fractions to the whole bladder and 55 Gy to the pelvic nodes and, if appropriate, a simultaneous integrated boost to the tumor bed to 68 Gy (equivalent dose for 2-Gy fractions assuming α/β of 10 [EQD2] 10  = 68.7 Gy). Daily megavoltage (MV) imaging helped to choose the most appropriate PTV encompassing bladder for the particular day (using plan-of-the-day approach). Results: Most patients (88%) had T2 disease. Sixteen patients (36%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A majority of the patients (73%) received prophylactic nodal irradiation, whereas 55% of the patients received escalated dose to the tumor bed. With a median follow-up of 30 months, the 3-year locoregional control (LRC), disease-free survival, and overall survival (OS) were 78%, 66%, and 67%, respectively. The bladder preservation rate was 83%. LRC (87% vs 68%, respectively, P=.748) and OS (74% vs 60%, respectively, P=.36) rates were better in patients receiving dose escalation. Instances of acute and late Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) grade 3 genitourinary toxicity was seen in 5 (11%) and 2 (4%) patients, respectively. There was no acute or late RTOG grade 3 or higher gastrointestinal toxicity. Conclusions: Adaptive IGRT using plan-of-the-day approach for bladder preservation

A systematic methodology review of phase I radiation dose escalation trials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pijls-Johannesma, Madelon; Mastrigt, Ghislaine van; Hahn, Steve M.; De Ruysscher, Dirk; Baumert, Brigitta G.; Lammering, Guido; Buijsen, Jeroen; Bentzen, Soren M.; Lievens, Yolande; Kramar, Andrew; Lambin, Philippe

2010-01-01

Background and purpose: The purpose of this review is to evaluate the methodology used in published phase I radiotherapy (RT) dose escalation trials. A specific emphasis was placed on the frequency of reporting late complications as endpoint. Materials and methods: We performed a systematic literature review using a predefined search strategy to identify all phase I trials reporting on external radiotherapy dose escalation in cancer patients. Results: Fifty-three trials (phase I: n = 36, phase I-II: n = 17) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these, 20 used a modified Fibonacci design for the RT dose escalation, but 32 did not specify a design. Late toxicity was variously defined as >3 months (n = 43) or > 6 months (n = 3) after RT, or not defined (n = 7). In only nine studies the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was related to late toxicity, while only half the studies reported the minimum follow-up period for dose escalation (n = 26). Conclusion: In phase I RT trials, late complications are often not taken into account and there is currently no consensus on the methodology used for radiation dose escalation studies. We therefore propose a decision-tree algorithm which depends on the endpoint selected and whether a validated early surrogate endpoint is available, in order to choose the most appropriate study design.

NON-PRICE PROMOTION IMPACTS ON COTTON AND SOYBEANS EXPORTS UNDER EXCHANGE RATE LINKED SUBSIDIES

OpenAIRE

Paudel, Laxmi; Adhikari, Murali; Houston, Jack E.; Kinnucan, Henry W.

2003-01-01

Issue of exchange rate-linked subsidies for non-price export promotion has recently emerged as an area of interest among marketing researchers because of fluctuating strength of US dollars and position of US agricultural goods in export markets. One solution to mitigate these impacts was to link the federal export promotion subsidies with the changing value of US dollars. In the study, an equilibrium displacement framework was developed to analyze the effectiveness of exchange rate-linked sub...

Price setting in turbulent times

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ólafsson, Tjörvi; Pétursdóttir, Ásgerdur; Vignisdóttir, Karen Á.

This price setting survey among Icelandic firms aims to make two contributions to the literature. First, it studies price setting in an advanced economy within a more turbulent macroeconomic environment than has previously been done. The results indicate that price adjustments are to a larger...... extent driven by exchange rate fluctuations than in most other advanced countries. The median Icelandic firm reviews its prices every four months and changes them every six months. The main sources of price rigidity and the most commonly used price setting methods are the same as in most other countries....... A second contribution to the literature is our analysis of the nexus between price setting and exchange rate movements, a topic that has attracted surprisingly limited attention in this survey-based literature. A novel aspect of our approach is to base our analysis on a categorisation of firms...

EXCHANGE RATE PASS-THROUGH INTO IMPORT PRICES:EVIDENCE FROM CENTRAL ASIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gulnara Moldasheva

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper estimates the degree of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT intoimport prices for Central Asiacountries over period 1995q11-2012q11 years.The additional study was done for Kazakhstan to determine the impact ofmoney regulating policy into short-run and long-run ERPT. The study ofERPT was done by employing cointegration analysis across five central Asiacountries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.The paper analyzes three opportunities ofthe transmission of the export costinto ERPT using production price indices(PPI of three major trading partnersof Central Asia countries: PPI of Russia, PPI of Turkey and PPI of China.In case with PPI of Russia the resultsshowed, that ERPT is extended beyondof 1 for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.Incomplete ERPT is indicated forTajikistan and Turkmenistan, and zero ERPT is indicated for Uzbekistan. Incase with PPI of Turkey, the elasticitiesof extent ERPT intoimport prices aremore higher then in case with PPI ofRussia, and elasticities for all CentralAsia countries are negative and significant. In case with PPI of China,incomplete ERPT is indicated for all Central Asia countries, except theKyrgyzstan, which has extended ERPT. In all cases this study showed thesignificance of ERPT, except only two cases for Kazakhstan and Tajikistanwith PPI of China. Also interesting, those elasticities ofERPT with PPI ofChina are lower comparing with othercases. In the special study of moneyregulation policy only for Kazakhstan theshort-run and long-run elasticities ofERPT are incomplete with PPI of Russia and PPI of Turkey, and they areextended with PPI of China.

Comparison of electricity prices in major North American cities : rates effective May 1, 2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

This report presents the major findings of a comparative evaluation of electricity prices in major North American cities, by customer category, based on rates in effect on May 1, 2001. Besides Hydro-Quebec, the comparison includes 21 utilities, of which 11 serve the major cities across Canada and 10 utilities located in 10 American states. Hydro-Quebec is one of the largest electric utilities in North America with one of the most extensive systems. Of the 190 billion kilowatt-hours delivered annually, 37 billion are exported to neighbouring provinces in Canada and to the United States. 93 per cent of the generating facilities are hydroelectric. The report covers consumption levels, taxes, optional programs, location, time-of-use rates, exchange rates, and other factors that affect electricity prices such as fuel adjustment clauses for utilities that produce electricity in thermal power plants. It was noted that Hydro-Quebec has frozen its rates until April 2002, keeping them at the same level as those set on May 1, 1998. The report showed that Hydro-Quebec has maintained a competitive position at a level similar to or better than previous years. Three of the 11 Canadian utilities implemented rate increases between May 1, 2000 and May 1, 2001, and 2 utilities reduced their rates. Two utilities modified their rate structure following deregulation. During the same time period, 3 of the 10 utilities in the United States increased their rates, and one reduced them. The rates in the United States varied regardless of increases or freezes because many utilities had incorporated adjustment clauses. Quebec residential consumers enjoy the second lowest rates in North America. Only Winnipeg ranked higher. Hydro-Quebec has also remained competitive when it comes to small, medium and large power customers. It ranked fifth for small power customers, third for medium power customers, and third for large power customers. tabs., figs., appendices

Exchange rate and price dynamics in a small open economy - the role of the zero lower bound and monetary policy regimes

OpenAIRE

Gregor Bäurle; Daniel Kaufmann

2014-01-01

We analyse nominal exchange rate and price dynamics after risk premium shocks with short-term interest rates constrained by the zero lower bound (ZLB). In a small-open-economy DSGE model, temporary risk premium shocks lead to shifts of the exchange rate and the price level if a central bank implements an inflation target by means of a traditional Taylor rule. These shifts are strongly amplified and become more persistent once the ZLB is included in the model. We also provide empirical support...

Decline in oil prices and the negative interest rate policy in Japan

OpenAIRE

Yoshino, Naoyuki; Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad

2016-01-01

In April 2013, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) introduced an inflation target of 2% with the aim of overcoming deflation and achieving sustainable economic growth. But due to lower international oil prices it was unable to achieve this target and was forced to take further measures. Hence, in February 2016, the BOJ adopted a negative interest rate policy by massively increasing the money supply through purchasing long-term Japanese government bonds (JGBs). The BOJ had previously only purchased short-...

Dose Escalation Methods in Phase I Cancer Clinical Trials

OpenAIRE

Le Tourneau, Christophe; Lee, J. Jack; Siu, Lillian L.

2009-01-01

Phase I clinical trials are an essential step in the development of anticancer drugs. The main goal of these studies is to establish the recommended dose and/or schedule of new drugs or drug combinations for phase II trials. The guiding principle for dose escalation in phase I trials is to avoid exposing too many patients to subtherapeutic doses while preserving safety and maintaining rapid accrual. Here we review dose escalation methods for phase I trials, including the rule-based and model-...

Conflict escalation in paediatric services: findings from a qualitative study

OpenAIRE

Forbat, Liz; Teuten, Bea; Barclay, Sarah

2015-01-01

Objective To explore clinician and family experiences of conflict in paediatric services, in order to map the trajectory of conflict escalation. Design Qualitative interview study, employing extreme-case sampling. Interviews were analysed using an iterative thematic approach to identify common themes regarding the experience and escalation of conflict. Participants Thirty-eight health professionals and eight parents. All participants had direct experience of conflict, including physical assau...

How to Find the Price That's Right.

Science.gov (United States)

Crompton, John L.

1981-01-01

Five primary methods used by recreation and park agencies to establish a price are reviewed: (1) going-rate pricing; (2) demand oriented pricing; (3) variable cost pricing; (4) partial overhead pricing; and (5) average cost pricing. (CJ)

Does responsive pricing smooth demand shocks?

OpenAIRE

Pascal, Courty; Mario, Pagliero

2011-01-01

Using data from a unique pricing experiment, we investigate Vickrey’s conjecture that responsive pricing can be used to smooth both predictable and unpredictable demand shocks. Our evidence shows that increasing the responsiveness of price to demand conditions reduces the magnitude of deviations in capacity utilization rates from a pre-determined target level. A 10 percent increase in price variability leads to a decrease in the variability of capacity utilization rates between...

Pricing structures in US coal supply contracts

Science.gov (United States)

Kacker, Kanishka

The subject of my dissertation is the study of coal procurement by electric utilities in the US over 2 decades, from 1979 to 2000. Energy markets are typically characterized by severe contracting problems. Buyers and sellers therefore employ various instruments, such as contract length or complex pricing arrangements, to restrict these problems. Relationship specific investment, wherein buyers make investments specific to their suppliers, has been advanced as a prominent explanation for contractual length. Investment decisions are however endogenous in length or pricing, making causal identification of the role of investment specificity difficult. In my first chapter, I attempt a resolution. I use the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment as an exogenous shifter of the extent of relationship specific investment. A key feature of the Amendment's design helps me define a difference-in-difference model arguably free of the endogeneity issues discussed above. I find that the plants forced into switching - Phase I plants located in the US Midwest - are more likely to choose fixed price contracts than those that were not. Further they also write contracts of shorter terms, with the reduction being approximately 30%. Considerably little is known about the performance implications of contractual choices. These form the basis for Chapter 2. Here I find prices to be lower, by between 5% to 20% of the total transaction price, but the probability of renegotiation higher, under fixed price contracts than under escalator or cost-plus contracts. Contract choices appear consistent with a trade-off between establishing incentives ex-ante and lowering negotiation costs ex-post, with relationship specific investments in particular making such a trade-off compelling. Chapter 3 considers the regulatory environment these utilities were subject to. Both incentive based regulation as well as the restructuring of electricity generation are smaller in comparison to relationship specific investment

The CEE housing markets before, during and after the transition: an overview of property prices and home ownership rates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena IONASCU

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to investigate relevant economic aspects, which characterized housing markets from Central and Eastern European (CEE countries, to identify the factors which determine the house prices and to find the economic implications of property investments, under an international micro and macroeconomic environment. Methodological, the article uses the deduction and comparative analysis of collected statistical data, and strategic reforms in post-communist countries are qualitatively explored through content analysis. In the case of CEE region, fundamentals determinants, such as real income, real interest rate, demographic factors, play an extremely important role in explaining house price distortions. The principles of communist ideology added a special note in the evolution of prices, so the home ownership rate, the housing quality, the financial housing system, European integration represent a number of traditional factors with significant impact.

Domestic Price, (Expected) Foreign Price, and Travel Spending by Canadians in the United States

OpenAIRE

Jan Vilasuso; Fredric C. Menz

1998-01-01

In this paper, the authors develop and test a model to explain travel expenditures in the United States by Canadians. The model examines a consumer's choice problem where income is allocated between domestic and foreign consumption. Consumers do not know the foreign price level and base their spending in part on expected foreign price. In addition to expected foreign price, domestic price, exchange rates, income, and foreign price uncertainty influence travel spending. Empirically, each deter...

Consumer food choices: the role of price and pricing strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Steenhuis, Ingrid H M; Waterlander, Wilma E; de Mul, Anika

2011-12-01

To study differences in the role of price and value in food choice between low-income and higher-income consumers and to study the perception of consumers about pricing strategies that are of relevance during grocery shopping. A cross-sectional study was conducted using structured, written questionnaires. Food choice motives as well as price perceptions and opinion on pricing strategies were measured. The study was carried out in point-of-purchase settings, i.e. supermarkets, fast-food restaurants and sports canteens. Adults (n 159) visiting a point-of-purchase setting were included. Price is an important factor in food choice, especially for low-income consumers. Low-income consumers were significantly more conscious of value and price than higher-income consumers. The most attractive strategies, according to the consumers, were discounting healthy food more often and applying a lower VAT (Value Added Tax) rate on healthy food. Low-income consumers differ in their preferences for pricing strategies. Since price is more important for low-income consumers we recommend mainly focusing on their preferences and needs.

A dual theory of price and value in a meso-scale economic model with stochastic profit rate

Science.gov (United States)

Greenblatt, R. E.

2014-12-01

The problem of commodity price determination in a market-based, capitalist economy has a long and contentious history. Neoclassical microeconomic theories are based typically on marginal utility assumptions, while classical macroeconomic theories tend to be value-based. In the current work, I study a simplified meso-scale model of a commodity capitalist economy. The production/exchange model is represented by a network whose nodes are firms, workers, capitalists, and markets, and whose directed edges represent physical or monetary flows. A pair of multivariate linear equations with stochastic input parameters represent physical (supply/demand) and monetary (income/expense) balance. The input parameters yield a non-degenerate profit rate distribution across firms. Labor time and price are found to be eigenvector solutions to the respective balance equations. A simple relation is derived relating the expected value of commodity price to commodity labor content. Results of Monte Carlo simulations are consistent with the stochastic price/labor content relation.

Vertical integration, credit ratings and retail price settings in energy-only markets: Navigating the Resource Adequacy problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simshauser, Paul

2010-01-01

Energy-only markets are prone to the Resource Adequacy problem, i.e. the timely entry of new plant. The reason for this is that competitive energy-only markets struggle to be remunerative given reliability constraints and market price caps. Historically, Australia's 45,000 MW National Electricity Market has managed to navigate this well understood problem, albeit with government entities directly or indirectly responsible for a surprisingly large 73% of all new plant investments to 2007. But government involvement in direct investment has now ceased. So what will enable the industry to navigate the Resource Adequacy problem into the future? Quite simply, industrial organisation, the presence of merchant utilities with investment-grade credit ratings and setting any regulated retail prices or 'price to beat' with an LRMC floor.

Pay-what-you-want pricing schemes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kahsay, Goytom Abraha; Samahita, Margaret

this threshold, however, PWYW can lead to a lower utility. This may result in a lower purchase rate and higher average price, in line with previously unexplained evidence from field experiments. Moreover, an increase in the threshold value decreases the buyer's utility and may further lower the purchase rate......Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) pricing schemes are becoming increasingly popular in a wide range of industries. We develop a model incorporating self-image into the buyer's utility function and introduce heterogeneity in consumption utility and image-sensitivity, which generates different purchase...... decisions and optimal prices across individuals. When a good is sold at a fixed price higher than a threshold value, a price that the individual thinks is fair, the adoption of PWYW increases his utility and hence results in a weakly higher purchase rate. When a good is sold at a fixed price lower than...

Oil market prices 1989/1990

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jenkins, G.

1991-01-01

There are many oil markets. Oil Market Prices lists the markets, provides statistics on prices and the volumes of trade, analyses the price structures in the markets and provides supplementary information on ocean freight rates and oil refining margins. Oil Market Prices will serve as a permanent record of crude oil prices including those quoted on the futures and forward markets, the many wholesale prices for refined oil products, prices consumers pay and the average prices received by the oil companies. In all instances the sources of the statistics are given together with comprehensive listing of alternative sources. (Author)

Interest Rate Derivative Pricing with Stochastic Volatility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, B.

2012-01-01

One purpose of exotic derivative pricing models is to enable financial institutions to quantify and manage their financial risk, arising from large books of portfolios. These portfolios consist of many non-standard exotic financial products. Risk is managed by means of the evaluation of sensitivity

Cigarette price minimization strategies in the United States: price reductions and responsiveness to excise taxes.

Science.gov (United States)

Pesko, Michael F; Licht, Andrea S; Kruger, Judy M

2013-11-01

Because cigarette price minimization strategies can provide substantial price reductions for individuals continuing their usual smoking behaviors following federal and state cigarette excise tax increases, we examined independent price reductions compensating for overlapping strategies. The possible availability of larger independent price reduction opportunities in states with higher cigarette excise taxes is explored. Regression analysis used the 2006-2007 Tobacco Use Supplement of the Current Population Survey (N = 26,826) to explore national and state-level independent price reductions that smokers obtained from purchasing cigarettes (a) by the carton, (b) in a state with a lower average after-tax cigarette price than in the state of residence, and (c) in "some other way," including online or in another country. Price reductions from these strategies are estimated jointly to compensate for known overlapping strategies. Each strategy reduced the price of cigarettes by 64-94 cents per pack. These price reductions are 9%-22% lower than conventionally estimated results not compensating for overlapping strategies. Price reductions vary substantially by state. Following cigarette excise tax increases, the price reduction available from purchasing cigarettes by cartons increased. Additionally, the price reduction from purchasing cigarettes in a state with a lower average after-tax cigarette price is positively associated with state cigarette excise tax rates and border state cigarette excise tax rate differentials. Findings from this large, nationally representative study of cigarette smokers suggest that price reductions are larger in states with higher cigarette excise taxes, and increase as cigarette excise taxes rise.

A Comparison of Escalating versus Fixed Reinforcement Schedules on Undergraduate Quiz Taking

Science.gov (United States)

Mahoney, Amanda

2017-01-01

Drug abstinence studies indicate that escalating reinforcement schedules maintain abstinence for longer periods than fixed reinforcement schedules. The current study evaluated whether escalating reinforcement schedules would maintain more quiz taking than fixed reinforcement schedules. During baseline and for the control group, bonus points were…

Asymmetric Effects of Global Liquidity Expansion on Foreign Portfolio Inflows, Exchange Rates, and Stock Prices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong-Eun Rhee

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the effects of global liquidity expansion on advanced and emerging economies by using panel VAR methodology. The results show that global liquidity expansion tends to boost economy by increasing GDP growth and stock prices. However, we find that the effects are asymmetric. The effects of global liquidity on GDP and stock prices are greater and more persistent in emerging economies than in liquidity recipient advanced economies. Moreover, global liquidity appreciates emerging economies' exchange rates more persistently than those of advanced economies. Lastly, while global liquidity expansion increases foreign portfolio investment inflows to Asian countries and liquidity recipient advanced economies, there is no evidence for Latin American countries.

Time-frequency causality between stock prices and exchange rates: Further evidences from cointegration and wavelet analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Afshan, Sahar; Sharif, Arshian; Loganathan, Nanthakumar; Jammazi, Rania

2018-04-01

The current study investigates the relationship between stock prices and exchange rate by using wavelets approach and more focused the continuous, power spectrum, cross and coherence wavelet. The result of Bayer and Hanck (2013) and Gregory and Hansen (1996) confirm the presence of long-run association between stock price and exchange rate in Pakistan. The results of wavelet coherence reveal the dominance of SP during 2005-2006 and 2011-2012 in the period of 8-16 and 16-32 weeks cycle in approximately all the exchange rates against Pakistani rupees. For almost the entire studied period in long scale, the study evidences the strong coherence between both the series. The most interesting part of this coherence is the existence of bidirectional causality in the long timescale. The arrows in this long region are pointing both left up and left down. This suggests that during the time period, our variables are exhibiting out phase relationship with mutually leading and lagging the market. These results are in contrast with many earlier studies of Pakistan.

48 CFR 1602.170-5 - Cost or pricing data.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Cost or pricing data. 1602... Terms 1602.170-5 Cost or pricing data. (a) Experience-rated carriers. Cost or pricing data for... pricing data for community rated carriers is the specialized rating data used by carriers in computing a...

Vertical integration, credit ratings and retail price settings in energy-only markets. Navigating the Resource Adequacy problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simshauser, Paul [Level 22, 101 Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060 (Australia)

2010-11-15

Energy-only markets are prone to the Resource Adequacy problem, i.e. the timely entry of new plant. The reason for this is that competitive energy-only markets struggle to be remunerative given reliability constraints and market price caps. Historically, Australia's 45,000 MW National Electricity Market has managed to navigate this well understood problem, albeit with government entities directly or indirectly responsible for a surprisingly large 73% of all new plant investments to 2007. But government involvement in direct investment has now ceased. So what will enable the industry to navigate the Resource Adequacy problem into the future? Quite simply, industrial organisation, the presence of merchant utilities with investment-grade credit ratings and setting any regulated retail prices or 'price to beat' with an LRMC floor. (author)

Vertical integration, credit ratings and retail price settings in energy-only markets: Navigating the Resource Adequacy problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simshauser, Paul, E-mail: psimshauser@agl.com.a [Level 22, 101 Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060 (Australia)

2010-11-15

Energy-only markets are prone to the Resource Adequacy problem, i.e. the timely entry of new plant. The reason for this is that competitive energy-only markets struggle to be remunerative given reliability constraints and market price caps. Historically, Australia's 45,000 MW National Electricity Market has managed to navigate this well understood problem, albeit with government entities directly or indirectly responsible for a surprisingly large 73% of all new plant investments to 2007. But government involvement in direct investment has now ceased. So what will enable the industry to navigate the Resource Adequacy problem into the future? Quite simply, industrial organisation, the presence of merchant utilities with investment-grade credit ratings and setting any regulated retail prices or 'price to beat' with an LRMC floor.

Pay-what-you-want pricing schemes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kahsay, Goytom Abraha; Samahita, Margaret

2015-01-01

Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) pricing schemes are becoming increasingly popular. We develop a model incorporating self-image into the buyer’s utility function and introduce heterogeneity in consumption utility and image-sensitivity, generating different purchase decisions and optimal prices across...... individuals. When a good’s fixed price is lower than a threshold fair value, PWYW can lead to a lower utility. This may result in a lower purchase rate and higher average price, accounting for previously unexplained field experimental evidence. An increase in the threshold value decreases the buyer’s utility...... and may further lower the purchase rate, resulting in a further increase in purchase price....

Returns on investment in electricity producing photovoltaic systems under de-escalating feed-in tariffs. The case of Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Danchev, Svetoslav; Maniatis, George; Tsakanikas, Aggelos

2010-01-01

Under the threat of ballooning energy bills, the Greek legal framework supporting the electricity producing photovoltaic systems (PVS) changed in January 2009 from a fixed to a de-escalating feed-in tariff schedule. In this paper we investigate the internal rate of return (IRR) on investing in PVS under the new regulatory environment. We find that the new scheme favours strongly the early entry in the market. Unless there is a significant decrease in the equipment cost over the next decade, entering the market from 2015 onwards will be prohibitive. The bias of the current policy design towards early entry in a rapidly developing set of technologies entails the risk of a lock-up with sub-optimal technological option. This outlines the importance for policy design of linking the rate of feed-in-tariff de-escalation to more realistic expectations regarding the technology learning curve. (author)

New approach to brown coal pricing using internal rate of return methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bejbl, Jan; Bemš, Julius; Králík, Tomáš; Starý, Oldřich; Vastl, Jaromír

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We showed that brown coal is the substitute for black coal only at the time of the investment decision. • We compiled the model used in a calculation of the economically justified price for the productive and extractive component. • The resulting economically justified price is on a par with the current black coal price. • The proposed methodological approach is applicable to solve similar tasks not only in the energy sector. - Abstract: Brown coal is one of the dominant local strategic raw materials in Europe, used, to a large extent, in the power-generating industry. The current situation, where the price of gas and electricity precludes the efficient use of gas sources, leads to the extraction of older sources, chiefly brown coal ones. In tandem with a turning away from nuclear power, brown coal is experiencing a renaissance and the issue of brown coal price setting is, and will be, relevant. This paper deals with a proposal of a new method for determining the base price, consisting of defining the reference fuel chain for electricity and heat production based on brown coal. It builds on the notion that the degree of risk of the involved parties should be reflected in the modified amount of revenue per capital invested. The resulting price is then an economically justified price which encourages a respect for the specific features of the market in question and set the base price of the commodity in a way that is acceptable for both the extractive and the productive components of the fuel chain

Emergency Department Escalation in Theory and Practice: A Mixed-Methods Study Using a Model of Organizational Resilience.

Science.gov (United States)

Back, Jonathan; Ross, Alastair J; Duncan, Myanna D; Jaye, Peter; Henderson, Katherine; Anderson, Janet E

2017-11-01

Escalation policies are used by emergency departments (EDs) when responding to an increase in demand (eg, a sudden inflow of patients) or a reduction in capacity (eg, a lack of beds to admit patients). The policies aim to maintain the ability to deliver patient care, without compromising safety, by modifying "normal" processes. The study objective is to examine escalation policies in theory and practice. This was a mixed-method study involving a conceptual analysis of National Health Service escalation policies (n=12) and associated escalation actions (n=92), as well as a detailed ethnographic study of escalation in situ during a 16-month period in a large UK ED (n=30 observations). The conceptual analysis of National Health Service escalation policies found that their use requires the ability to dynamically reconfigure resources (staff and equipment), change work flow, and relocate patients. In practice, it was discovered that when the ED is under pressure, these prerequisites cannot always be attained. Instead, escalation processes were adapted to manage pressures informally. This adaptive need ("work as done") was found to be incompletely specified in policies ("work as imagined"). Formal escalation actions and their implementation in practice differed and varied in their effectiveness. Monitoring how escalation works in practice is essential in understanding whether and how escalation policies help to manage workload. Copyright © 2017 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A history of prices in Canada, 1840-1871: a new wholesale price index

OpenAIRE

Donald G. Paterson; Ronald A. Shearer

2003-01-01

We present a new monthly wholesale price index for Canada, 1840-71, comparing fluctuations in the Canadian macroeconomy with fluctuations in similar U.S. and British indexes. Canadian prices move through distinct phases: the 1840s rise in prices and the decline in the depression of 1848-49; the mid-century economic boom and the 1857 depression; U.S. Civil War inflation and apparent Canadian price insulation through a flexible exchange rate created by U.S. withdrawal from gold; and the non-inf...

Audience reactions to peace journalism: How supporters and critics of the Israeli policy process escalation and de-escalation oriented media frames

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanie Thiel

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on an experiment that uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a natural laboratory for studying how recipients make sense of escalation vs. de-escalation oriented news articles. The results of the study indicate that media frames and individual frames have both a direct effect and complex interaction effects on participants’ text understanding. Particularly the effect of media war frames diminishes if they are incongruent with participants’ individual frames, and the propaganda function of reports about violence and human casualties can be neutralized if framed according to a peace frame. If participants had a priori positioned themselves in favor of the perpetrator, they may produce reactance, however.

48 CFR 1615.402 - Pricing policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Pricing policy. 1615.402... Contract Pricing 1615.402 Pricing policy. Pricing of FEHB contracts is governed by 5 U.S.C. 8902(i), 5 U.S....403-4(a)(1), OPM will not require the carrier to provide cost or pricing data in the rate proposal for...

Book Industry Trends: College

Science.gov (United States)

Oda, Stephanie; Sanislo, Glenn

2009-01-01

With the cost of college said to be escalating at double the rate of inflation, parents and students have voiced frustration, some think unreasonably, about textbook prices. In 2007, higher-education publishers continued to grapple with price resistance to textbooks and competition from the used-book market. This article reports that…

Electricity prices in the Finnish retail market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehto, Eero

2011-01-01

This study focuses, firstly, on the pricing of electricity in the Finnish retail market. In particular, the impact of the ownership structure on prices is tested empirically. Secondly, the influence of low-cost electricity sources on retail prices is considered. The question about whether the average fuel costs rather than the wholesale price determine the retail prices is thus addressed. The supply side behaviour characterised may explain the passivity of client activity in the seemingly competitive Finnish market. - Research highlights: → Ownership has a strong impact on retail prices in the Finnish electricity market. → Locally owned companies' rates are 5-15 per cent lower than investor owned companies' rates. → Own low cost acquisition of electricity helps local firms to keep prices at low levels.

When Action-Inaction Framing Leads to Higher Escalation of Commitment: A New Inaction-Effect Perspective on the Sunk-Cost Fallacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Feldman, Gilad; Wong, Kin Fai Ellick

2018-04-01

Escalation of commitment to a failing course of action occurs in the presence of (a) sunk costs, (b) negative feedback that things are deviating from expectations, and (c) a decision between escalation and de-escalation. Most of the literature to date has focused on sunk costs, yet we offer a new perspective on the classic escalation-of-commitment phenomenon by focusing on the impact of negative feedback. On the basis of the inaction-effect bias, we theorized that negative feedback results in the tendency to take action, regardless of what that action may be. In four experiments, we demonstrated that people facing escalation-decision situations were indeed action oriented and that framing escalation as action and de-escalation as inaction resulted in a stronger tendency to escalate than framing de-escalation as action and escalation as inaction (mini-meta-analysis effect d = 0.37, 95% confidence interval = [0.21, 0.53]).

Optimal pricing and lot-sizing for perishable inventory with price and time dependent ramp-type demand

Science.gov (United States)

Panda, S.; Saha, S.; Basu, M.

2013-01-01

Product perishability is an important aspect of inventory control. To minimise the effect of deterioration, retailers in supermarkets, departmental store managers, etc. always want higher inventory depletion rate. In this article, we propose a dynamic pre- and post-deterioration cumulative discount policy to enhance inventory depletion rate resulting low volume of deterioration cost, holding cost and hence higher profit. It is assumed that demand is a price and time dependent ramp-type function and the product starts to deteriorate after certain amount of time. Unlike the conventional inventory models with pricing strategies, which are restricted to a fixed number of price changes and to a fixed cycle length, we allow the number of price changes before as well as after the start of deterioration and the replenishment cycle length to be the decision variables. Before start of deterioration, discounts on unit selling price are provided cumulatively in successive pricing cycles. After the start of deterioration, discounts on reduced unit selling price are also provided in a cumulative way. A mathematical model is developed and the existence of the optimal solution is verified. A numerical example is presented, which indicates that under the cumulative effect of price discounting, dynamic pricing policy outperforms static pricing strategy. Sensitivity analysis of the model is carried out.

EOQ model for perishable products with price-dependent demand, pre and post discounted selling price

Science.gov (United States)

Santhi, G.; Karthikeyan, K.

2017-11-01

In this article we introduce an economic order quantity model for perishable products like vegetables, fruits, milk, flowers, meat, etc.,with price-dependent demand, pre and post discounted selling price. Here we consider the demand is depending on selling price and deterioration rate is constant. Here we developed mathematical model to determine optimal discounton the unit selling price to maximize total profit. Numerical examples are given for illustrated.

Price discrimination in two-sided markets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Zhang

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The use of a price discrimination strategy is an important tool in competition. It can hurt firms and benefit consumers in a one-sided market. However, in two-sided markets, its primary goal is to attract more agents or increase profits. Here, the performance of a second-degree price discrimination strategy in the context of duopoly two-sided platforms is analysed. Two exogenous variables, which include the discount rate and the price discrimination threshold, are used in order to examine whether the price discrimination strategy could help two-sided platforms achieve their objective, which is to maximise their market value. Three cases are considered, and we demonstrate that the price discrimination strategy cannot attract more agents and at the same time increase the profits; a lower price discrimination threshold cannot ensure larger markets shares; a higher discount rate is detrimental to the profit of a platform. However, this is good for its market shares. Moreover, discriminative pricing increases the competition.

Asymmetric adaptations to energy price changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuper, G.H.; Van Soest, D.P.

1999-01-01

The effectiveness of policies to reduce the use of energy depend on the elasticity of substitution between the various inputs and on the rate of technological progress. This paper presents a theoretical model emphasising energy investment characteristics of uncertainty and irreversibility that result in testable hypotheses concerning the relative values of substitution parameters and rates of technological change in periods of high and increasing energy prices and in periods of low prices. Estimation results for a panel of sectors of the Dutch economy show that the elasticity of substitution between energy and other inputs is low in periods of low energy prices, whereas it is significantly higher in the preceding period of high and increasing energy prices. Furthermore, energy-saving technological progress in periods of high and increasing energy prices is also significantly higher than if energy prices are low and falling. The regression results suggest that, due this asymmetric response of firms to changes in energy prices, taxing energy in the current period of low energy prices will not yield substantial reductions in energy use of Dutch industry. 21 refs

Compound Option Pricing under Fuzzy Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiandong Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Considering the uncertainty of a financial market includes two aspects: risk and vagueness; in this paper, fuzzy sets theory is applied to model the imprecise input parameters (interest rate and volatility. We present the fuzzy price of compound option by fuzzing the interest and volatility in Geske’s compound option pricing formula. For each α, the α-level set of fuzzy prices is obtained according to the fuzzy arithmetics and the definition of fuzzy-valued function. We apply a defuzzification method based on crisp possibilistic mean values of the fuzzy interest rate and fuzzy volatility to obtain the crisp possibilistic mean value of compound option price. Finally, we present a numerical analysis to illustrate the compound option pricing under fuzzy environment.

Elephant invasion and escalated depletion of environmental ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

For decades, elephants' invasion is known to be associated with severe environmental consequences leading to escalated depletion o environmental resources (plants, water, wildlife and soil). This paper examined the effects of elephants' activity on the environmental resources inHong and Gombi Local Government areas ...

A PDE Pricing Framework for Cross-Currency Interest Rate Derivatives with Target Redemption Features

Science.gov (United States)

Christara, Christina C.; Minh Dang, Duy; Jackson, Kenneth R.; Lakhany, Asif

2010-09-01

We propose a general framework for efficient pricing via a partial differential equation (PDE) approach for exotic cross-currency interest rate (IR) derivatives, with strong emphasis on long-dated foreign exchange (FX) IR hybrids, namely Power Reverse Dual Currency (PRDC) swaps with a FX Target Redemption (FX-TARN) provision. The FX-TARN provision provides a cap on the FX-linked PRDC coupon amounts, and once the accumulated coupon amount reaches this cap, the underlying PRDC swap terminates. Our PDE pricing framework is based on an auxiliary state variable to keep track of the total accumulated PRDC coupon amount. Finite differences on uniform grids and the Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) method are used for the spatial and time discretizations, respectively, of the model-dependent PDE corresponding to each discretized value of the auxiliary variable. Numerical examples illustrating the convergence properties of the numerical methods are provided.

Investigating price clustering in the oil futures market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Narayan, Paresh Kumar [School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Deakin University (Australia); Narayan, Seema [School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne (Australia); Popp, Stephan [Department of Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)

2011-01-15

Price clustering can be a source of market inefficiency. It follows that searching for price clustering in markets have gone beyond share prices into real estate, interest rate, and exchange rate markets. In this paper, we extend this line of research to oil futures markets. In particular, we consider five different forms of oil futures contracts and test for evidence of price clustering. Our results reveal strong presence of price clustering in the oil futures market. This finding implies that price clustering can potentially be a source of oil market inefficiency, which can influence trading strategies. (author)

Investigating price clustering in the oil futures market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Narayan, Paresh Kumar; Narayan, Seema; Popp, Stephan

2011-01-01

Price clustering can be a source of market inefficiency. It follows that searching for price clustering in markets have gone beyond share prices into real estate, interest rate, and exchange rate markets. In this paper, we extend this line of research to oil futures markets. In particular, we consider five different forms of oil futures contracts and test for evidence of price clustering. Our results reveal strong presence of price clustering in the oil futures market. This finding implies that price clustering can potentially be a source of oil market inefficiency, which can influence trading strategies. (author)

International hedging under concurrent risks of input/output prices and exchange rate : The case of Korean oil refinery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yun, W C; Kim, S D [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea, Republic of)

1997-11-01

This study develops an international hedging model which accounts for the multiple risks of input and output prices and exchange rates. Considering a fixed production technology, we formulize simultaneous minimum variance hedge ratios, which reflects inter correlations among prices. To utilize the dynamic nature of prices, time-varying conditional procedures are specified to estimate the relevant variance and covariance matrix. The time-varying representations of the variance and covariance matrix are statistically appropriate, in general. The separate hedge ratios are similar to the simultaneous hedge ratios for alternative procedures. The ex post hedging effectiveness indicate that there are substantial reduction in the variance of returns for all the procedures. The contribution of foreign currency futures is minimal due to the low correlation between commodities and exchange rates. Based on the traditional definition of hedging effectiveness, the time-varying conditional procedure provide little gain to the hedgers over a constant procedure in terms of the mean and the variance reduction. However, the performance of conditional procedures could be improved by accounting for the potential problems: mis specification problem, inappropriate definition of hedging effectiveness, and conflicts between theoretical derivation and estimation of hedge ratios. (author). 39 refs., 6 tabs.

Analysis of thermal coal pricing and the coal price distortion in China from the perspective of market forces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cui, Herui; Wei, Pengbang

2017-01-01

The price of thermal coal has always been the focus of the debate between coal mining industry and electric power industry. The thermal coal price is always lower than other same quality coal, and this phenomenon of thermal coal price distortion has been existing in China for a long time. The distortion coal price can not reflect the external cost and the resource scarcity of coal, which could result in environment deteriorating and inefficient resource allocation. This paper studied the phenomenon of thermal coal price distortion through economic theoretical modeling and empirical cointegration analysis from the perspective of market forces. The results show that thermal coal price is determined by electricity price, the prediction elasticity of a electricity enterprise, price elasticity of demand of electricity, the input prediction elasticity of a electricity enterprise and the price elasticity of supply of thermal coal. The main reason of coal price distortion is the unbalance market force of coal industry and thermal coal generation industry. The distortion rate of coal price is positively related to the market force of electric power industry and negatively related to the industrial concentration of coal industry. - Highlights: • This paper studied thermal coal pricing and the coal price distortion in China. • The main reason of coal price distortion is the unbalance market force. • Thermal coal price is also influenced by electricity price and price elasticity of demand of electricity. • The distortion rate of coal price is negatively related to the industrial concentration of coal industry.

Performance Analysis of Indonesia’s Mining Sector Price Index

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hastra Reza Satyatama

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Subprime mortage’s crisis in United States 2008 giving effect to the global capital markets especially the stock price index of the mining sector Indonesia. This research analyzes the effect of BI Rate, exchange rate, world gold price, crude oil price, and Dow Jones Industrial Average on the stock price index of the mining sector. This research employs time series monthly data of 2009-2016 with Error Correction Model-Engle Granger (ECM-EG as the method. The analysis showed that the BI rate, exchange rate and world gold price, has a negative and significant effect. World oil prices affect positively but not significant meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average has a positive and significant impact on the stock price index of the mining sector. For investors in the mining sector, should pay attention to the exchange rate of the rupiah and Dow Jones Index significantly in the mining sector of the stock price index.DOI: 10.15408/sjie.v6i2.5395 

What Factors Affect the Prices of Low-Priced U.S. Solar PV Systems?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nemet, Gregory F. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Mercator Research Inst. on Global Commons and Climate Change, Berlin (Germany); O' Shaughnessy, Eric [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Wiser, Ryan [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Darghouth, Naïm R. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Barbose, Galen [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Gillingham, Ken [Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States); Rai, Varun [Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

2016-08-01

The price of solar PV systems has declined rapidly, yet there are some much lower-priced systems than others. This study explores the factors leading some systems to be so much lower priced than others. Using a data set of 42,611 residential-scale PV systems installed in the U.S. in 2013, we use quantile regressions to estimate the importance of factors affecting the installed prices for low-priced (LP) systems (those at the 10th percentile) in comparison to median-priced systems. We find that the value of solar to consumers–a variable that accounts for subsidies, electric rates, and PV generation levels–is associated with lower prices for LP systems but higher prices for median priced systems. Conversely, systems installed in new home construction are associated with lower prices at the median but higher prices for LP. Other variables have larger cost-reducing effects on LP than on median priced systems: systems installed in Arizona and Florida, as well as commercial and thin film systems. In contrast, the following have a smaller effect on prices for LP systems than median priced systems: tracking systems, self-installations, systems installed in Massachusetts, the system size, and installer experience. These results highlight the complex factors at play that lead to LP systems and shed light into how such LP systems can come about.

Financial and fiscal crises, prices and EUR/USD rate of exchange

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slawomir I. Bukowski

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to answer the following question: How did the standard and non-standard ECB policy measures influence the price level and the EUR/USD rate of exchange in the period 2008 -2013? Design/methodology/approach: We formulated the following hypothesis: Depreciation of the Euro versus American dollar exchange rate occurred in the period of financial and fiscal crisis (2008-2014. The main reasons for that included: fiscal crisis in the euro area, implementation of standard and non–standard (quantitative easing ECB monetary policy measures and growth of money supply in the euro area. In that period, the economically and statistically significant impacts of money supply aggregate M2 and differences between interest rates and rates of inflation in the euro area and USA on changes in EUR/USD rate of exchange were noted. For verification of our hypothesis we used econometric modeling - model of regression estimated using the GARCH (0.1, using the monthly data for the period 1999:01-2013:12. Results of our research confirmed the hypothesis formulated by us. Findings: Our study confirmed the formulated hypothesis; the EBC monetary policy, both standard and non-standard, in the years 2008-2014 had a significant effect on the EUR/USD exchange rate, contributing largely to the depreciation of the euro in the same period. Research limitations/implications: The same method of research could be applied to other cases of currency area and central bank monetary policy. Originality/value: The results support the existence of statistically and economically significant impact of central bank policy on the rate of exchange, by the expansion of money supply, changes of differences between interest rates and rates of inflation inside and outside the currency rate area. Those results confirm conclusion formulated based on the theory of interest rate parity and assets theory of currency rates.

Corporate debt pricing I.

OpenAIRE

Ilya, Gikhman

2007-01-01

In this article we discuss fundamentals of the debt securities pricing. We begin with a generalization of the present value concept. Though the present value is the base valuation method in the modern finance we will illustrate that this concept does not sufficiently accurate in producing instrument pricing. The incompleteness of the unique present value approach stems from variability of the interest rates. Admitting variability of the interest rates we define two present values one for buye...

PRICE AND PRICING STRATEGIES

OpenAIRE

SUCIU Titus

2013-01-01

In individual companies, price is one significant factor in achieving marketing success. In many purchase situations, price can be of great importance to customers. Marketers must establish pricing strategies that are compatible with the rest of the marketing mix. Management should decide whether to charge the same price to all similar buyers of identical quantities of a product (a one-price strategy) or to set different prices (a flexible price strategy). Many organizations, especially retai...

The Effect of Image Compatibility and Escalation of Commitment on Decision Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harris K. Turino

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This study aims at empirically examining the extent to which Image Theory, initially developed as a theoretical basis for selecting a strategy or a decision, can be a theoretical basis for predicting a decision performance in two opposite frames: positive and negative. Image compatibility are employed to operationalize such a theory and the decision under study is progress decision represented by escalation of commitment. Thus, this study also empirically examines the connection between image compatibility and escalation of commitment as well as escalation of commitment as a mediator of the relationship between image compatibility and decision performance. The research context is Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX that suffered from crisis in the past year (negative frame yet has been recovered recently (positive frame. The respondents are 229 individual investors in IDX. They are involved in day-to-day decision making (progress decision making with regard to their investment portofolio. The results of this study show that high image compatibility tends to lead to better decision performance in both frames. However, image compatibility may only positively affect the escalation of commitment in positive frame

Dose escalation of a curcuminoid formulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Crowell James

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Curcumin is the major yellow pigment extracted from turmeric, a commonly-used spice in India and Southeast Asia that has broad anticarcinogenic and cancer chemopreventive potential. However, few systematic studies of curcumin's pharmacology and toxicology in humans have been performed. Methods A dose escalation study was conducted to determine the maximum tolerated dose and safety of a single dose of standardized powder extract, uniformly milled curcumin (C3 Complex™, Sabinsa Corporation. Healthy volunteers were administered escalating doses from 500 to 12,000 mg. Results Seven of twenty-four subjects (30% experienced only minimal toxicity that did not appear to be dose-related. No curcumin was detected in the serum of subjects administered 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 6,000 or 8,000 mg. Low levels of curcumin were detected in two subjects administered 10,000 or 12,000 mg. Conclusion The tolerance of curcumin in high single oral doses appears to be excellent. Given that achieving systemic bioavailability of curcumin or its metabolites may not be essential for colorectal cancer chemoprevention, these findings warrant further investigation for its utility as a long-term chemopreventive agent.

Understanding the Emotional Aspects of Escalation of Commitment: The Role of Negative Affect

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Kin Fai Ellick; Yik, Michelle; Kwong, Jessica Y. Y.

2006-01-01

Despite the importance of understanding the emotional aspects of organizational decision making, prior research has paid scant attention to the role of emotion in escalation of commitment. This article attempts to fill this gap by examining the relationship between negative affect and escalation of commitment. Results showed that regardless of…

Role of e-WOM in Hospitality Market Pricing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kościółek Szczepan

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Aim/purpose - Online assessments are one of the main factors determining a customer's choice of accommodation. This article examines their relationship to prices in the low and high season in Cracow's hospitality market. The question of which attributes in hotel ratings explain the change in price levels was investigated. Design/methodology/approach - The inference was based on ratings and hotel room offers published on the Booking.com platform. Data were collected and estimated for the representative number of 97 hotels in Cracow. Regression analysis was then used to estimate the model. Findings - The results of the analysis showed that price levels for the high and low seasons are correlated with ratings for comfort and location. It is more precise to use these variables as an explanation for prices in the high season. Guests' perceptions of comfort and location are combined with other hotel features. Research implications/limitations - The study showed which of the hotel parameters should be enhanced when rationally increasing price levels. The limitations of the study are that it covered only one Polish city, collected data from a single website, and omitted other variables to explain the prices of hotel rooms. Originality/value/contribution - This is one of the first papers to examine the correlation between electronic consumer ratings and price levels in the Polish hospitality market and one of few investigations based on the role of e-WOM for the pricing of all objects in the sector, not just for a specific category of hotels. Keywords: consumer ratings, e-WOM, hospitality market, online reviews, pricing.

Exchange rate volatility and oil prices shocks and its impact on economic sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khuram Shaf

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Impact of exchange rate volatility has received a great attention from the last century, its importance is certain in all sectors of the economy and it affects welfare as well as social life of the economy. Exchange rate between two currencies tells the value of one currency in terms of others one. Depreciation/Appreciation of exchange rate affects economic growth in terms of trade and shifts income to/from exporting countries from/to importing countries. The factors affecting exchange rate are inflation, interest rate, foreign direct investment, government consumption expenditure and balance of trade. This research study examines the impact of oil prices and exchange rate volatility on economic growth in Germany based on 40-year annual data. Cointegration technique is applied to check the impact of macroeconomic variables on exchange rate in the long run and short run. It is estimated that imports, exports, inflation, interest rate, government consumption expenditure and foreign direct investment had significant impacts on real effective exchange rate in the long run and short run. Sin addition, Engle Granger results indicate that relationship was significant for the long run and its error correction adjustment mechanism (ECM in short a run is significant and correctly signed for Germany.

Escalation scenarios initiated by gas explosions on offshore installations. Probabilistic cause and consequence modelling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eknes, Monika Loeland

1996-12-31

This Dr. ing. thesis deals with escalation scenarios initiated by gas explosions on offshore installations. Gas explosions is one of the major hazards to such installations. The objectives were to estimate the probability of ignition and frequency of gas explosions for gas leaks on top sides of offshore installations, and to estimate the response and resistance of components that could result in escalation if they failed. Main fields considered cover risk analysis methodology, gas explosions, simplified escalation models, evaluation of structural consequences, case studies, and guidelines. 107 refs., 33 figs., 33 tabs.

EFFECTIVE ANNUAL INTEREST SIGNIFIANCE ON BANKING PRODUCTS PRICE STRUCTURE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Medar Lucian-Ion

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The importance of the products and services prices can be found in the reference price, that customer must compare it with the price of the last made acquisition. The price of the banking product, that includes the effective annual intrest rate (EAI, is a guide price including all the cost elements related to banking products and services. The price of the products promoted through lending activities, is affected by the exchange rate of national and foreign currency, available on the money market. The role of the banking fee is very important in the specific services and bank products price formation.

Pricing Strategies for CD-ROM Products.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowley, J. E.

1994-01-01

Pricing strategies for subscriptions and licenses for CD-ROMs are different for single users and networks. The basic components of pricing strategies are charges for subscription, connect line, display/print, telecommunication, session rate, special commands, and special services. Highlights selected supplier pricing strategies for single users…

Alternative pricing regimes in Ontario : exploring the impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowlands, I.H.

2006-01-01

Legislative goals were recently established in Ontario to promote reliability and quality of electricity service and to ensure that distribution rates for customers remain reasonable. This presentation explored the effect of changing electricity pricing structures on residential customers in Ontario. This study investigated a period between May to December 2005, in the town of Milton, Ontario. Monthly demand was measured for each month, and monthly weighted averages were presented. Residents with electric heating were removed from the sample. Four pricing structure scenarios were examined: (1) flat rates; (2) time-of-use pricing regimes; (3) real time pricing regimes; and (4) critical peak pricing. Average monthly consumption rates for July and August for all 4 scenarios were presented. Results for time-of-use were compared to flat rates, which showed a slight increase in monthly costs. Real time average monthly electricity costs were significantly higher. Time-of-use costs increased by 57 per cent during the periods examined. Real time pricing regimes resulted in a 196 per cent rise in costs. It was concluded that more research must be done to explore the policy implications of pricing regimes and their effect on consumer behaviour. refs., tabs., figs

Can increases in the cigarette tax rate be linked to cigarette retail prices? Solving mysteries related to the cigarette pricing mechanism in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Song; Zheng, Rong; Hu, Teh-wei

2012-11-01

To explain China's cigarette pricing mechanism and the role of the Chinese State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) on cigarette pricing and taxation. Published government tobacco tax documentation and statistics published by the Chinese STMA are used to analyse the interrelations among industry profits, taxes and retail price of cigarettes in China. The 2009 excise tax increase on cigarettes in China has not translated into higher retail prices because the Chinese STMA used its policy authority to ensure that retail cigarette prices did not change. The government tax increase is being collected at both the producer and wholesale levels. As a result, the 2009 excise tax increase in China has resulted in higher tax revenue for the government and lower profits for the tobacco industry, with no increase in the retail price of cigarettes for consumers. Numerous studies have found that taxation is one of the most effective policy instruments for tobacco control. However, these findings come from countries that have market economies where market forces determine prices and influence how cigarette taxes are passed to the consumers in retail prices. China's tobacco industry is not a market economy; therefore, non-market forces and the current Chinese tobacco monopoly system determine cigarette prices. The result is that tax increases do not necessarily get passed on to the retail price.

Oil price shocks and long run price and import demand behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kleibergen, F.; Van Dijk, H.K.; Urbain, J.P.

1997-01-01

The effect which the oil price time series has on the long run properties of Vector AutoRegressive (VAR) models for price levels and import demand is investigated. As the oil price variable is assumed to be weakly exogenous for the long run parameters, a cointegration testing procedure allowing for weakly exogenous variables is developed using a LU decomposition of the long run multiplier matrix. The likelihood based cointegration test statistics, Wald, Likelihood Ratio and Lagrange Multiplier, are constructed and their limiting distributions derived. Using these tests, we find that incorporating the oil price in a model for the domestic or import price level of seven industrialized countries decreases the long run memory of the inflation rate. Second, we find that the results for import demand can be classified with respect to the oil importing or exporting status of the specific country. The result for Japan is typical as its import price is not influenced by gnp in the long run, which is the case for all other countries. 31 refs

How do minimum cigarette price laws affect cigarette prices at the retail level?

Science.gov (United States)

Feighery, E C; Ribisl, K M; Schleicher, N C; Zellers, L; Wellington, N

2005-04-01

Half of US states have minimum cigarette price laws that were originally passed to protect small independent retailers from unfair price competition with larger retailers. These laws prohibit cigarettes from being sold below a minimum price that is set by a formula. Many of these laws allow cigarette company promotional incentives offered to retailers, such as buydowns and master-type programmes, to be calculated into the formula. Allowing this provision has the potential to lower the allowable minimum price. This study assesses whether stores in states with minimum price laws have higher cigarette prices and lower rates of retailer participation in cigarette company promotional incentive programmes. Retail cigarette prices and retailer participation in cigarette company incentive programmes in 2001 were compared in eight states with minimum price laws and seven states without them. New York State had the most stringent minimum price law at the time of the study because it excluded promotional incentive programmes in its price setting formula; cigarette prices in New York were compared to all other states included in the study. Cigarette prices were not significantly different in our sample of US states with and without cigarette minimum price laws. Cigarette prices were significantly higher in New York stores than in the 14 other states combined. Most existing minimum cigarette price laws appear to have little impact on the retail price of cigarettes. This may be because they allow the use of promotional programmes, which are used by manufacturers to reduce cigarette prices. New York's strategy to disallow these types of incentive programmes may result in higher minimum cigarette prices, and should also be explored as a potential policy strategy to control cigarette company marketing practices in stores. Strict cigarette minimum price laws may have the potential to reduce cigarette consumption by decreasing demand through increased cigarette prices and reduced

The Earnings/Price Risk Factor in Capital Asset Pricing Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Falcão Noda

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This article integrates the ideas from two major lines of research on cost of equity and asset pricing: multi-factor models and ex ante accounting models. The earnings/price ratio is used as a proxy for the ex ante cost of equity, in order to explain realized returns of Brazilian companies within the period from 1995 to 2013. The initial finding was that stocks with high (low earnings/price ratios have higher (lower risk-adjusted realized returns, already controlled by the capital asset pricing model's beta. The results show that selecting stocks based on high earnings/price ratios has led to significantly higher risk-adjusted returns in the Brazilian market, with average abnormal returns close to 1.3% per month. We design asset pricing models including an earnings/price risk factor, i.e. high earnings minus low earnings, based on the Fama and French three-factor model. We conclude that such a risk factor is significant to explain returns on portfolios, even when controlled by size and market/book ratios. Models including the high earnings minus low earnings risk factor were better to explain stock returns in Brazil when compared to the capital asset pricing model and to the Fama and French three-factor model, having the lowest number of significant intercepts. These findings may be due to the impact of historically high inflation rates, which reduce the information content of book values, thus making the models based on earnings/price ratios better than those based on market/book ratios. Such results are different from those obtained in more developed markets and the superiority of the earnings/price ratio for asset pricing may also exist in other emerging markets.

The volatility of stock market prices.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiller, R J

1987-01-02

If the volatility of stock market prices is to be understood in terms of the efficient markets hypothesis, then there should be evidence that true investment value changes through time sufficiently to justify the price changes. Three indicators of change in true investment value of the aggregate stock market in the United States from 1871 to 1986 are considered: changes in dividends, in real interest rates, and in a direct measure of intertemporal marginal rates of substitution. Although there are some ambiguities in interpreting the evidence, dividend changes appear to contribute very little toward justifying the observed historical volatility of stock prices. The other indicators contribute some, but still most of the volatility of stock market prices appears unexplained.

Threshold effect of the economic growth rate on the renewable energy development from a change in energy price. Evidence from OECD countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Ting-Huan; Huang, Chien-Ming; Lee, Ming-Chih

2009-01-01

This paper uses a panel threshold regression (PTR) model to investigate the influence that energy prices have on renewable energy development under different economic growth rate regimes. The empirical data are obtained from each of the OECD member-countries over the period from 1997 to 2006. We show that there is one threshold in the regression relationship, which is 4.13% of a one-period lag in the annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate. The consumer price index (CPI), in so far as it relates to variations in energy, is significantly positively correlated with the contribution of renewables to energy supply in the regime with higher-economic growth, but there is no relationship in the regime with lower economic growth. Therefore, countries characterized by high-economic growth are able to respond to high energy prices with increases in renewable energy use, while countries characterized by low-economic growth countries tend to be unresponsive to energy price changes when they come to their level of renewable energy. (author)

DOMESTIC AND FORIGN FACTORS FOR STOCK PRICES IN INDONESIA

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Rahajeng Cahyaning Putri Cipto

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Indonesia has been developing various sectors of its economy, and so it needs a huge amount of capital. Therefore, it has been putting a lot of efforts to develop its capital market. This paper analyzes the impacts of domestic and foreign factors on Indonesia stock price. Some considered domestic factors are interest rates, production index, and foreign exchange rates. Various considered foreign factors are Singapore and US stock prices. The paper uses Vector Error Correction Mechanism model to analyze the data. The estimation results suggest that all variables significantly influence Indonesia stock price, with Singapore stock price as the dominant factors.Keywords: Stock price, interest rates, exchange rates, production indexJEL classification numbers: G12, G15

Two experiments focusing on de-escalation oriented coverage of post-war conflicts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilhelm Kempf

2005-10-01

Full Text Available War coverage has a strong bias towards the promotion of conflict escalation and - though less pronounced - this bias often survives in post-war coverage as well. Even after the end of war, only a minority of journalists frame conflict in a firmly de-escalation oriented way. Do they have a chance to reach the public? Will their reports be respected by the audience as more balanced and unbiased? Will they have an impact on the audience's mental models of the conflict? Or will the audience continue to cling to its prejudices and reject news articles which do not affirm the enemy images that emerged during wartime? The present paper investigates these questions by means of two experimental studies. In the first experiment, news articles on three events in former Yugoslavia after the fall of Milosevic were presented to a total of n = 128 subjects, representative of the readership of the German quality press: (1 violent conflicts in Southern Serbia (December 2000, (2 the extradition of Milosevic to The Hague (June, 2001 and (3 the treaty between Serbia and Montenegro (March 2003. For each of the events, four different types of articles were used: moderately escalation oriented articles from prestigious German newspapers (Die Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung and three variants of these articles, (a with increased escalation-oriented framing, (b with moderate de-escalation oriented framing and (c with more strongly de-escalation oriented framing of the events. Each subject was asked to read one article on each of the three events in chronological order and after each article (a to narrate the reported events in their own words and (b to fill out a questionnaire designed to measure the acceptance of the articles as unbiased, well-balanced, interesting, etc. The subjects' mental models of the reported events were inferred from their narratives by means of quantitative content analysis. The second experiment measured the

Efficacy and safety of de-escalation therapy to ertapenem for treatment of infections caused by extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae: an open-label randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Rattanaumpawan, Pinyo; Werarak, Peerawong; Jitmuang, Anupop; Kiratisin, Pattarachai; Thamlikitkul, Visanu

2017-03-01

Carbapenem antibiotics are considered the treatment of choice for serious extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) infections. The study objectives were to evaluate efficacy and safety of de-escalation therapy to ertapenem for treatment of infections caused by extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. We conducted a randomized controlled trial of adult patients with documented ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae infections who had received any group 2 carbapenem for less than 96 h. In the intervention group, the previously-prescribed group 2 carbapenem was de-escalated to ertapenem. In the control group, the group 2 carbapenem was continued. During June 2011-December 2014, 32 patients were randomized to the de-escalation group and 34 to the control group. Most common sites of infection were urinary tract infection (42%). Characteristics of both groups were comparable. By using a 15% predefined margin, ertapenem was non-inferior to control group regarding the clinical cure rate (%Δ = 14.0 [95% confidence interval: -2.4 to 31.1]), the microbiological eradication rate (%Δ = 4.1 [-5.0 to 13.4]), and the superimposed infection rate (%Δ = -16.5 [-38.4 to 5.3]). Patients in the de-escalation group had a significantly lower 28-day mortality rate (9.4% vs. 29.4%; P = .05), a significantly shorter median length of stay (16.5 days [4.0-73.25] vs. 20.0 days [1.0-112.25]; P = .04), and a significantly lower defined daily dose of carbapenem use (12.9 ± 8.9 vs. 18.4 ± 12.6; P = .05). Ertapenem could be safely used as de-escalation therapy for ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae infections, once the susceptibility profiles are known. Future studies are needed to investigate ertapenem efficacy against ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae pneumonia to determine its applicability in life-threatening conditions. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01297842 . Registered on 14 February 2011. First

A Co-operative Inquiry Into Generating, Describing, and Transforming Knowledge About De-escalation Practices in Mental Health Settings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berring, Lene Lauge; Hummelvoll, J. K.; Pedersen, Liselotte

2016-01-01

De-escalation is concerned with managing violent behaviour without resorting to coercive measures. Co-operative Inquiry provided the conceptual basis for generating knowledge regarding de-escalation practices in acute mental health care settings. The research included service users and staff memb...... transforming violence management. Neighbouring mental health communities’ involvement strengthened the transformation process and assisted in validating the research results. © 2016, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.......De-escalation is concerned with managing violent behaviour without resorting to coercive measures. Co-operative Inquiry provided the conceptual basis for generating knowledge regarding de-escalation practices in acute mental health care settings. The research included service users and staff...... members as co-researchers and knowledge was generated in dynamic research cycles around an extended epistemology of knowing: experiential, presentational, propositional, and practical. Through this process, co-researchers became de-escalation learners, implementing de-escalation practices while...

Experimental Evidence on Transfer Pricing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tran Quoc H.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available We use incentivized economics experiments to test both the point predictions and comparative static predictions of optimal transfer pricing models, comparing behavior under varying conditions, including wholly versus partially-owned subsidiaries and different tariff and tax rates. As predicted, we find that transfer prices are responsive to relative tax and tariff rates as well as ownership proportions. Additionally, we examine convergence and learning in this setting. While individuals do not choose optimal transfer prices, their choices converge to optimal levels with experience. This paper thus makes two important contributions. First, by comparing behavior with theoretical predictions it provides evidence of whether (and when individuals set transfer prices optimally. Second, by comparing behavior under conditions of full and partial ownership it provides evidence on the impact of policy interventions (like regulating ownership proportions by MNEs on tax revenues.

Out-of-pile bundle temperature escalation under severe fuel damage conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagen, S.; Peck, S.O.

1983-08-01

This report provides an overview of the test conduct, results, and posttest appearance of bundle test ESBU-1. The purpose of the test was to investigate fuel rod temperature escalation due to the exothermal zircaloy/steam reaction in a bundle geometry. The 3x3 bundle was surrounded by a zircaloy shroud and 6 mm of fiber ceramic insulation. The center rod escalated to a maximum of 2,250 0 C. Runoff of the melt apparently limited the escalation. Posttest visual examination of the bundle showed that cladding from every rod had melted, liquefied some fuel, flowed down the rod, and frozen in a solid mass that substantially blocked all flow channels. A large amount of powdery rubble, probably fuel that fractured during cooldown, was found on top of the blockage. Metallographic, EMP, and SEM examinations showed that the melt had dissolved both fuel and oxidized cladding, and had itself been oxidized by steam. (orig.) [de

Prices and Price Setting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R.P. Faber (Riemer)

2010-01-01

textabstractThis thesis studies price data and tries to unravel the underlying economic processes of why firms have chosen these prices. It focuses on three aspects of price setting. First, it studies whether the existence of a suggested price has a coordinating effect on the prices of firms.

Do Canadian electricity prices reflect costs?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaccard, M.

1993-01-01

In an article by Cairns and Heyes (1993), it is argued that electricity pricing in Canada diverges from cost due to inter-class rate design that results in cross-subsidies, subsidized cost of capital, intra-class rate design that lacks time-of-use pricing, and failure to collect differential rent. Some problems with the key components of the initial assumption that prices diverge from cost are examined. The premise that inter-class rate design results in cross-subsidies may be correct, but is difficult to test since unregulated crown utilities are not required to make the necessary information public. Cairns and Heyes are on firmer ground in their assertion that provincial government backing of utility debts leads to lower costs of capital than would otherwise occur. Quebec and British Columbia governments have recently undertaken revenue collection initiatives justified under the rationale of addressing this situation. However, there are problems with the assumption that lack of time-of-use pricing indicates cost/price divergence, since such pricing is especially relevant in capacity-critical systems. Most hydroelectric systems are energy-critical and time-of-use differentials are not appropriate. Finally, recent evidence suggests reassessing the differential rent assumptions of the 1980s. The economic rents estimated in that period may be more accurately described as windfall rents existing in the short term while markets adjust to erratic fuel prices and cost changes in nuclear and hydro energy. There may be good economic efficiency arguments against short-term rent collection strategies involving erratic price adjustments. 1 ref

Ewing sarcoma localized on spine: a dose escalation study in child

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogin, G.; Marchesi, V.; Biston, M.C.; Gassa, F.; Amessis, M.; Zefkili, S.; Helfre, S.; De Marzi, L.; Lacroix, F.; Leroy, A.

2011-01-01

The authors report the study of dose escalation for the treatment of spinal in two types of Ewing tumours. They used 5 dose levels at the rate of five 1,6 Gy per week. They compare different radiotherapy techniques: three-dimensional conformation radiotherapy, static intensity-modulated conformational radiotherapy, helical tomo-therapy, volume-modulated arc-therapy (VMAT), stereotactic radiotherapy, and proton-therapy (in passive diffusion). It appears that it is possible to safely and efficiently deliver until 70,4 Gy in some Ewing tumours. In child, exclusive radiotherapy might become a local treatment option and would require a clinic trial and comparison with exclusive surgery or post-operative radiotherapy. Short communication

An Intelligent System for Aggression De-escalation Training

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosse, T.; Gerritsen, C.; de Man, J.

2016-01-01

Artificial Intelligence techniques are increasingly being used to develop smart training applications for professionals in various domains. This paper presents an intelligent training system that enables professionals in the public domain to practice their aggression de-escalation skills. The system

MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES AND STOCK PRICE VOLATILITY IN NIGERIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

OSAZEE GODWIN OMOROKUNWA

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between stock price volatility and few macroeconomic variables such as inflation, exchange rate, GDP and interest rate. Annual time series data ranging from 1980 to 2011 was used for this study. The generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH model was used in the empirical analysis. The findings of the study showed that stock prices in Nigeria are volatile. And that past information in the market have effect on stock price volatility in Nigeria. In addition, the study showed that interest rate and exchange have a weak effect on stock price volatility while inflation is the main determinant of stock price volatility in Nigeria. The authors recommend that inflation should be targeted as the main monetary policy aimed at directing the stock market.

A game-theoretical pricing mechanism for multiuser rate allocation for video over WiMAX

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chao-An; Lo, Chi-Wen; Lin, Chia-Wen; Chen, Yung-Chang

2010-07-01

In multiuser rate allocation in a wireless network, strategic users can bias the rate allocation by misrepresenting their bandwidth demands to a base station, leading to an unfair allocation. Game-theoretical approaches have been proposed to address the unfair allocation problems caused by the strategic users. However, existing approaches rely on a timeconsuming iterative negotiation process. Besides, they cannot completely prevent unfair allocations caused by inconsistent strategic behaviors. To address these problems, we propose a Search Based Pricing Mechanism to reduce the communication time and to capture a user's strategic behavior. Our simulation results show that the proposed method significantly reduce the communication time as well as converges stably to an optimal allocation.

The effects of recent volatility in international petroleum markets on Canadian wholesale and retail gasoline prices : a report prepared for the Competition Bureau

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roseman, F.

2005-03-01

This report addresses concern over high retail prices of gasoline and the low margins earned on gasoline sales in the Greater Toronto Area and in Ottawa, Ontario. The focus of this report was to understand reasons behind fluctuating prices, and to ascertain whether or not escalations in price were in fact anti-competitive acts that the Competition Bureau would have authority to take action over. Information requests were made by the author to all principal petroleum companies and to importers and marketers of gasoline. Detailed information on pricing was provided. Issues of supply and demand were responsible for spikes in prices. Information on petroleum refining and retailing of gasoline was reviewed, as well as information provided from dialogue and shareholder reports. Average refinery and retail margins in Ontario were discussed. It was concluded that fluctuating prices are the result of the petroleum industry's struggle to meet high demand. Any unscheduled maintenance or unanticipated increases in demand resulted in temporary shortfalls in supply, which led to higher prices. Exports were not a factor in increases in retail prices. In addition, domestic supply and the high cost of meeting environmental regulations with regard to sulphur levels in gasoline and diesel may have also played a role. It was also suggested that prices in Canada reflect overall pricing trends in the United States. tabs., figs

Swedish district heating - owners, prices and profitability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andersson, Sofie; Werner, S.

2001-01-01

Owners, prices and profitability are examined in this report for 152 Swedish district heating companies during 1999. Only public information available has been used: Prices from a national annual consumer study, energy supplied, lengths of district heating pipes installed, and average prices for energy supplied. These companies are responsible for 96 % of all district heat supplied in Sweden. District heating systems owned by municipalities were responsible for 65 % of all district heat supply, while the share of power companies was 34 %. Other private owners accounted for 1 %. Only 12 % of the board members are women and more than 40 % of the companies have no woman in the board. The prices gathered by the annual consumer study are good estimates of the price level of district heating in Sweden. The average revenues are only 4,1 % lower than the effective average of prices gathered. Price of district heating decrease with size and market share. Use of combined heat and power plants decrease prices slightly. Lower prices with size can mainly be explained by lower energy supply costs. Calculated rates of return in relation to calculated replacement values increase slightly by size and are almost independent of age and market share. The purport of these conclusions is that the district heating companies share the cost reduction from size with their customers, while the whole benefit from high market shares is repaid to the customers. Calculated rates of return vary among the owner groups examined. Lower rates are accepted by municipalities, while power companies have higher rates at the average costs used. Total replacement costs for the 152 companies has been estimated to 89 billion Swedish crowns or 10 billion Euro. Only correlation analyses using one dimension have been used in this study. A higher degree of quality can be obtained by using multi-dimensional analyses

THE EVOLUTION OF CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI AND INFLATION RATE IN ROMANIA IN JANUARY 2000 - DECEMBER 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ANIELA BĂLĂCESCU

2011-06-01

Full Text Available In the analysis of economic stability an important part is owned by consumer prices. The present study is devoted to an analysis of the evolution of CPI and inflation rate in the Rumanian economy. The analysis uses annual and monthly series for the period January 2000 - December 2010.

A forward look at power prices in Alberta

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reid-Carlson, D.

1999-01-01

The various components of the price of electricity, various rate design methodologies, and factors that influence cost-of-service such as types of generation and fuel, age of the physical plant, size of utility, rate of customer and load growth, funding arrangements, tax status, customer mix, and load profile are examined in an effort to predict the future price of electricity in Alberta. The prediction is that delivered prices will increase across all sectors, albeit at levels less than the increase would be without competition. Alberta pool prices in the longer term will continue to reflect the marginal cost of the last generators dispatched to meet the demand. Convergence between electricity spot prices and natural gas prices is predicted to occur over time

Modelling the implications of reducing smoking prevalence: the benefits of increasing the UK tobacco duty escalator to public health and economic outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Knuchel-Takano, Andre; Hunt, Daniel; Jaccard, Abbygail; Bhimjiyani, Arti; Brown, Martin; Retat, Lise; Brown, Katrina; Hinde, Sebastian; Selvarajah, Chit; Bauld, Linda; Webber, Laura

2017-12-06

Taxing tobacco is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking prevalence, mitigate its devastating consequential health harms and progress towards a tobacco-free society. This study modelled the health and economic impacts of increasing the existing cigarette tobacco duty escalator (TDE) in the UK from the current 2% above consumer price inflation to 5%. A two-stage modelling process was used. First, a non-linear multivariate regression model was fitted to cross-sectional smoking data, creating longitudinal projections from 2015 to 2035. Second, these projections were used to predict the future incidence, prevalence and cost of 17 smoking-related diseases using a Monte Carlo microsimulation approach. A sustained increase in the duty escalator was evaluated against a baseline of continuing historical smoking trends and the existing duty escalator. A sustained increase in the TDE is projected to reduce adult smoking prevalence to 6% in 2035, from 10% in a baseline scenario. After increasing the TDE, only 65% of female and 60% of male would-be smokers would actually be smoking in 2035. The intervention is projected to avoid around 75 200 new cases of smoking-related diseases between 2015 and 2035. In 2035 alone, £49 m in National Health Service and social care costs and £192 m in societal premature mortality and morbidity costs are projected to be avoided. Increasing the UK TDE to 5% above inflation could effectively reduce smoking prevalence, prevent diseases and avoid healthcare costs. It would deliver substantial progress towards a tobacco-free society and should be implemented by the UK Government with urgency. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Elevator and Escalator Safety Education for Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanks, Roma Stovall

1996-01-01

In eight focus groups in five cities, older adults identified their concerns about safety on elevators and escalators, often related to misunderstanding of the equipment. Their preferences for delivery of safety information included video/television, pamphlets, discussions, and posters. Educational interventions and modifications for disabilities…

Dynamic Relationship between Crude Oil Price, Exchange Rate and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DrNneka

Second, since Hamilton (1983) documented the impact of crude oil price volatility .... Hariri,2013) sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). .... is explained by identifying the relative importance of a variable in generating.

7 CFR 1000.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing... advanced pricing factors. Class prices per hundredweight of milk containing 3.5 percent butterfat, component prices, and advanced pricing factors shall be as follows. The prices and pricing factors described...

Energy pricing under uncertain supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Serra, P.J.

1997-01-01

This paper introduces a new pricing system - based on the Chilean tariff regulations - to deal with an uncertain energy supply. It consists of a basic rate for each unit actually consumed and a compensation that the utilities pay their customers for each unit of energy that they voluntarily reduce below their normal consumption during an energy shortage. Within the framework of a model that portrays the stylized facts of the Chilean electric system, and assumes risk-neutral agents, this paper shows the equivalency of the new pricing system with both contingent pricing and priority pricing. (Author)

Why monetary board: Monetary board and endogenic price flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bašić Tamara

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a model which proves that a unilateral exchange rate fixing, i.e. monetary board, as opposed to certain opinions, is an optimal policy since it increases flexibility of nominal prices, which is the ultimate goal of a flexible exchange rate policy. A suitable calibration of the model shows that the higher the initial price flexibility, the lower the difference needed for "utility increase" in getting the producers to switch from fixed to flexible prices. The results obtained in all cases indicate that exchange rate fixing increases price flexibility, which proves that a unilateral exchange rate fixing, i.e. monetary board, could be an optimal monetary policy.

Post test investigation of the single rod tests ESSI 1-11 on temperature escalation in PWR fuel rod simulators due to the Zircaloy/steam reaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagen, S.; Kapulla, H.; Malauschek, H.; Katanishi, S.

1987-03-01

This KfK-report describes the posttest investigation of the single rod tests ESSI-1 to ESSI-11. The objective of these tests was to investigate the temperature escalation behaviour of Zircaloy clad PWR-fuel rods in steam. The investigation of the temperature escalation is part of the program of out-of-pile experiments (CORA) performed within the frame work of the PNS Severe Fuel Damage Program. The experimental arrangement consisted of fuel rod simulator (central tungsten heater, UO 2 ring pellets and Zircaloy cladding), Zircaloy shroud and fiber ceramic insulation. The introductory test ESSI-1 to ESSI-3 were scoping tests designed to obtain information on the temperature escalation of zircaloy in steam. ESSI-4 to ESSI-8 were run with increasing heating rates to investigate the influence of the oxide layer thickness at the start of the escalation. ESSI-9 to ESSI-11 were performed to investigate the influence of the insulation thickness on the escalation behaviour. In these tests we also learned that the gap between removed shroud and insulation has a remarkable influence due to heat removal by convection in the gap. After the test the fuel rod simulator was embedded into epoxy and cut by a diamond saw. The cross sections were photographed and investigated by metalograph microscope, SEM and EMP examinations. (orig./GL) [de

Manifestation of conflict escalation in natural resource management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yasmi, Y.; Schanz, H.; Salim, A.

2006-01-01

Conflict escalation is one of the important aspects to be understood for constructive conflict management. It has been widely discussed in many fields of social study, in particular as it relates inter-individual conflicts. However, this is not the case for natural resource management (NRM). This

The impact of energy price shocks on the UK economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

This report describes the results of six scenarios considering the impact of energy price shocks on the UK economy. The six scenarios considered are: UK aggregate energy price scenario; pan-Europe aggregate energy price; global aggregate energy price; UK temporary gas price; UK permanent gas price; crude (Brent) oil price. As expected, shocks to aggregate energy prices cause the largest macroeconomic and energy demand effects (in terms of growth rate volatility). Shocks to gas prices produce a greater growth volatility for macroeconomic and energy demand than shocks to oil prices. In general terms, shocks specific to the UK market tend to produce more growth rate volatility than wider ranging price shocks (global or pan-European). All of the price shocks considered have a recursive effect on the main indicators, which tend to stabilise around the baseline level in the long run. The report summarises the results obtained in the different scenarios

Midwives' experiences of performing maternal observations and escalating concerns: a focus group study.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffery, Justine; Hewison, Alistair; Goodwin, Laura; Kenyon, Sara

2017-09-02

For the past decade, Maternal Mortality Reports, published in the United Kingdom every three years, have consistently raised concerns about maternal observations in maternity care. The reports identify that observations are not being done, not being completed fully, are not recorded on Early Warning Score systems, and/or are not escalated appropriately. This has resulted in delays in referral, intervention and increases the risk of maternal morbidity or mortality. However there has been little exploration of the possible reasons for non-completion of maternal observations. The aim of this study was to explore midwives' experiences of performing maternal observations and escalating concerns in rural and urban maternity settings in the West Midlands of England. A qualitative design involving a series of six focus groups with midwives and Supervisors of Midwives was employed to investigate the facilitators of, and barriers to the completion of maternal observations. Eighteen Midwives and 8 Supervisors of Midwives participated in a total of 6 focus groups. Three key themes emerged from the data: (1) Organisation of Maternal Observations (including delegation of tasks to Midwifery Support Workers, variation in their training, the care model used e.g. one to one care, and staffing issues); (2) Prioritisation of Maternal Observations (including the role of professional judgement and concerns expressed by midwives that they did not feel equipped to care for women with complex clinical needs; and (3) Negotiated Escalation (including the inappropriate response from senior staff to use of Modified Early Warning Score systems, and the emotional impact of escalation). A number of organisational and cultural barriers exist to the completion of maternal observations and the escalation of concerns. In order to address these the following actions are recommended: standardised training for Midwifery Support Workers, review of training of midwives to ensure it addresses the

The Cushing OK Crude Oil Futures Price Pass - Through to New York Harbor Reformulated RBOB Regular Gasoline Futures Price

OpenAIRE

Chu V. Nguyen

2017-01-01

This study utilizes an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model to investigate the nature of crude oil futures price pass-through since 2006. The empirical results reveal a very high but incomplete short-run pass-through rate from the crude oil futures price to the gasoline futures price of 0.849298 with a corresponding negative long-run pass-through rate of -0.2440894. These empirical findings suggest that traders in the U.S. oil and gasoline futures markets overreact to fluctuations in the crud...

Price

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1991-01-01

The price terms in wheeling contracts very substantially, reflecting the differing conditions affecting the parties contracting for the service. These terms differ in the manner in which rates are calculated, the formulas used, and the philosophy underlying the accord. For example, and EEI study found that firm wheeling rates ranged from 20 cents to $1.612 per kilowatt per month. Nonfirm rates ranged from .15 mills to 5.25 mills per kilowatt-hour. The focus in this chapter is on cost-based rates, reflecting the fact that the vast majority of existing contracts are based on rate designs reflecting embedded costs. This situation may change in the future, but, for now, this fact can't be ignored

Australian Coal Company Risk Factors: Coal and Oil Prices

OpenAIRE

M. Zahid Hasan; Ronald A. Ratti

2014-01-01

Examination of panel data on listed coal companies on the Australian exchange over January 1999 to February 2010 suggests that market return, interest rate premium, foreign exchange rate risk, and coal price returns are statistically significant in determining the excess return on coal companies’ stock. Coal price return and oil price return increases have statistically significant positive effects on coal company stock returns. A one per cent rise in coal price raises coal company returns ...

Determinants of Price Dynamics in Ethiopia

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The result also indicates that the relationship between inflation and foreign prices is rather ..... domestic and foreign borrowing to monetary finance, the level of fiscal gap .... rate and petroleum prices have no significant impact on expectation.

The Cushing OK Crude Oil Futures Price Pass - Through to New York Harbor Reformulated RBOB Regular Gasoline Futures Price

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chu V. Nguyen

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study utilizes an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model to investigate the nature of crude oil futures price pass-through since 2006. The empirical results reveal a very high but incomplete short-run pass-through rate from the crude oil futures price to the gasoline futures price of 0.849298 with a corresponding negative long-run pass-through rate of -0.2440894. These empirical findings suggest that traders in the U.S. oil and gasoline futures markets overreact to fluctuations in the crude oil futures price as evidenced by subsequent corrections made over the sample period. The result of the bounds test for a long-term relationship between these two futures prices is inconclusive. The empirical findings further suggest that U.S. futures market traders considered futures prices of gasoline three weeks earlier in determining the current trading price while taking only one week to respond completely to the shock in the crude oil futures price.  The empirical findings of this investigation may address the core elements of the price dynamics of the crude oil and gasoline futures markets and advance inquiry into assessment tools that could manage a very complex market challenge, especially for policy makers in countries with transitional economies in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.

Integrated Supply Chain Cooperative Inventory Model with Payment Period Being Dependent on Purchasing Price under Defective Rate Condition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Feng Yang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In most commercial transactions, the buyer and vendor may usually agree to postpone payment deadline. During such delayed period, the buyer is entitled to keep the products without having to pay the sale price. However, the vendor usually hopes to receive full payment as soon as possible, especially when the transaction involves valuable items; yet, the buyer would offer a higher purchasing price in exchange of a longer postponement. Therefore, we assumed such permissible delayed period is dependent on the purchasing price. As for the manufacturing side, defective products are inevitable from time to time, and not all of those defective products can be repaired. Hence, we would like to add defective production and repair rate to our proposed model and discuss how these factors may affect profits. In addition, holding cost, ordering cost, and transportation cost will also be considered as we develop the integrated inventory model with price-dependent payment period under the possible condition of defective products. We would like to find the maximum of the joint expected total profit for our model and come up with a suitable inventory policy accordingly. In the end, we have also provided a numerical example to clearly illustrate possible solutions.

Promoting de-escalation of commitment: a regulatory-focus perspective on sunk costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Molden, Daniel C; Hui, Chin Ming

2011-01-01

People frequently escalate their commitment to failing endeavors. Explanations for such behavior typically involve loss aversion, failure to recognize other alternatives, and concerns with justifying prior actions; all of these factors produce recommitment to previous decisions with the goal of erasing losses and vindicating these decisions. Solutions to escalation of commitment have therefore focused on external oversight and divided responsibility during decision making to attenuate loss aversion, blindness to alternatives, and justification biases. However, these solutions require substantial resources and have additional adverse effects. The present studies tested an alternative method for de-escalating commitment: activating broad motivations for growth and advancement (promotion). This approach should reduce concerns with loss and increase perceptions of alternatives, thereby attenuating justification motives. In two studies featuring hypothetical financial decisions, activating promotion motivations reduced recommitment to poorly performing investments as compared with both not activating any additional motivations and activating motivations for safety and security (prevention).

Alcohol Prices and Mortality Due to Liver Cirrhosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jon P. Nelson

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This study estimates a reduced-form regression model for mortality rates due to alcoholic liver diseases, with alcohol prices and income as explanatory variables. Panel data cover the years 2000-2010 for 21 member countries of the European Union. In the reduced form, prices affect mortality rates indirectly through the demand for alcohol, while income has potential direct and indirect effects. Country and time fixed effects are used to control for other factors that influence alcohol consumption and mortality. Special attention is paid to outliers in the data, and final results are based on the MS-estimator for robust regressions. Regression results for alcohol prices and income are sensitive to adjustments for stationary data and down-weighting of outliers and other influential data points. Final results indicate that alcohol prices do not affect mortality rates due to chronic liver diseases. Empirical results in the study do not lend support to broad price-based approaches to alcohol policy.

Dynamic Oligopoly Pricing: Evidence from the Airline Industry

OpenAIRE

Siegert, Caspar; Ulbricht, Robert

2014-01-01

We explore how pricing dynamics in the European airline industry vary with the competitive environment. Our results highlight substantial variations in pricing dynamics that are consistent with a theory of intertemporal price discrimination. First, the rate at which prices increase towards the scheduled travel date is decreasing in competition, supporting the idea that competition restrains the ability of airlines to price-discriminate. Second, the sensitivity to competition is substantially ...

7 CFR 1030.62 - Announcement of producer prices.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... cell adjustment rate; (g) The average butterfat, nonfat solids, protein and other solids content of... publicly the following prices and information: (a) The producer price differential; (b) The protein price....62 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING...

Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Dose-Escalation Planning Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lievens, Yolande; Nulens, An; Gaber, Mousa Amr; Defraene, Gilles; De Wever, Walter; Stroobants, Sigrid; Van den Heuvel, Frank

2011-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the potential for dose escalation with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in positron emission tomography-based radiotherapy planning for locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC). Methods and Materials: For 35 LA-NSCLC patients, three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy and IMRT plans were made to a prescription dose (PD) of 66 Gy in 2-Gy fractions. Dose escalation was performed toward the maximal PD using secondary endpoint constraints for the lung, spinal cord, and heart, with de-escalation according to defined esophageal tolerance. Dose calculation was performed using the Eclipse pencil beam algorithm, and all plans were recalculated using a collapsed cone algorithm. The normal tissue complication probabilities were calculated for the lung (Grade 2 pneumonitis) and esophagus (acute toxicity, grade 2 or greater, and late toxicity). Results: IMRT resulted in statistically significant decreases in the mean lung (p <.0001) and maximal spinal cord (p = .002 and 0005) doses, allowing an average increase in the PD of 8.6-14.2 Gy (p ≤.0001). This advantage was lost after de-escalation within the defined esophageal dose limits. The lung normal tissue complication probabilities were significantly lower for IMRT (p <.0001), even after dose escalation. For esophageal toxicity, IMRT significantly decreased the acute NTCP values at the low dose levels (p = .0009 and p <.0001). After maximal dose escalation, late esophageal tolerance became critical (p <.0001), especially when using IMRT, owing to the parallel increases in the esophageal dose and PD. Conclusion: In LA-NSCLC, IMRT offers the potential to significantly escalate the PD, dependent on the lung and spinal cord tolerance. However, parallel increases in the esophageal dose abolished the advantage, even when using collapsed cone algorithms. This is important to consider in the context of concomitant chemoradiotherapy schedules using IMRT.

Aggregated Marcoeconomic News and Price Discovery

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Brazys (Justinas)

2015-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Is there a link between asset prices and economic fundamentals? Many studies fail to find a convincing link and conclude that asset prices and economic fundamentals are disconnected. A famous example of the disconnect between exchange rates and macroeconomic

Macroeconomic variables and food price inflation, nonfood price inflation and overall inflation: A case of an emerging market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raphael T Mpofu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses the association between certain macroeconomic variables and food price inflation, non-food price inflation and overall inflation in Zimbabwe, and also seeks to determine the level of association between these variables, given food security implications and overall well-being of its citizens. The study reveals that during the 2010 to 2016 period, Zimbabwe experienced stable food prices—annual food price inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages averaged a relatively low growth rate of 0.12% monthly, while non-food inflation monthly growth rate was 0.09% and overall inflation growth rate was 0.11%. Although inflation from 2010 had been declining, of late, the increase in annual inflation has been underpinned by a rise in non-food inflation. Zimbabwe’s annual inflation remains lower than inflation rates in other countries in the region. Despite the increases lately in overall inflation, it remained below zero in January 2016, mostly driven by the depreciation of the South African rand and declining international oil prices. It should also be noted that domestic demand continued to decline in 2015, leading to the observed decline in both food and non-food prices. While food inflation has remained relatively low, it should be noted that non-food expenditures is significant component of the household budget and the rising prices result often lead to declining purchasing power and force households to make difficult choices in terms of their purchases. The findings of the study are food inflation has a low association with the independent variables under study; Zimbabwe broad money supply, rand-dollar exchange rates and the South Africa food inflation. There is, however, a very strong association between non-food inflation and these independent variables, as well as between overall inflation and the independent variables. Given the mostly rural population and the high level of unemployment in Zimbabwe, it can be surmised that

Modeling Long-term Behavior of Stock Market Prices Using Differential Equations

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaoxiang; Zhao, Conan; Mazilu, Irina

2015-03-01

Due to incomplete information available in the market and uncertainties associated with the price determination process, the stock prices fluctuate randomly during a short period of time. In the long run, however, certain economic factors, such as the interest rate, the inflation rate, and the company's revenue growth rate, will cause a gradual shift in the stock price. Thus, in this paper, a differential equation model has been constructed in order to study the effects of these factors on the stock prices. The model obtained accurately describes the general trends in the AAPL and XOM stock price changes over the last ten years.

Revisiting the cost escalation curse of nuclear power. New lessons from the French experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Escobar Rangel, Lina; Leveque, Francois

2012-01-01

Since the first wave of nuclear reactors in 1970 to the construction of Generation III+ reactors in Finland and France in 2005 and 2007 respectively, nuclear power seems to be doomed to a cost escalation curse. In this paper we reexamine this issue for the French nuclear power fleet. Using the construction costs from the Cour des Comptes report, that was publicly available in 2012, we found that previous studies overestimated the cost escalation. Although, it is undeniable that the scale-up ended up in more costly reactors, we found evidence of a learning curve within the same size and type of reactors. This result confirms that standardization is a good direction to look, in order to overcome the cost escalation curse. (authors)

Long term results of a prospective dose escalation phase-II trial: Interstitial pulsed-dose-rate brachytherapy as boost for intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lettmaier, Sebastian; Lotter, Michael; Kreppner, Stephan; Strnad, Annedore; Fietkau, Rainer; Strnad, Vratislav

2012-01-01

Purpose: We reviewed our seven year single institution experience with pulsed dose rate brachytherapy dose escalation study in patients with intermediate and high risk prostate cancer. Materials and methods: We treated a total of 130 patients for intermediate and high risk prostate cancer at our institution between 2000 and 2007 using PDR-brachytherapy as a boost after conformal external beam radiation therapy to 50.4 Gy. The majority of patients had T2 disease (T1c 6%, T2 75%, T3 19%). Seventy three patients had intermediate-risk and 53 patients had high-risk disease according to the D’Amico classification. The dose of the brachytherapy boost was escalated from 25 to 35 Gy – 33 pts. received 25 Gy (total dose 75 Gy), 63 pts. 30 Gy (total dose 80 Gy) and 34 pts. 35 Gy, (total dose 85 Gy) given in one session (dose per pulse was 0.60 Gy or 0.70 Gy/h, 24 h per day, night and day, with a time interval of 1 h between two pulses). PSA-recurrence-free survival according to Kaplan–Meier using the Phoenix definition of biochemical failure was calculated and also late toxicities according to Common Toxicity Criteria scale were assessed. Results: At the time of analysis with a median follow-up of 60 months biochemical control was achieved by 88% of patients – only 16/130 patients (12.3%) developed a biochemical relapse. Biochemical relapse free survival calculated according to Kaplan–Meier for all patients at 5 years was 85.6% (83.9% for intermediate-risk patients and 84.2% for high-risk patients) and at 9 years’ follow up it was 79.0%. Analysing biochemical relapse free survival separately for different boost dose levels, at 5 years it was 97% for the 35 Gy boost dose and 82% for the 25 and 30 Gy dose levels. The side effects of therapy were negligible: There were 18 cases (15%) of grade 1/2 rectal proctitis, one case (0.8%) of grade 3 proctitis, 18 cases (15%) of grade 1/2 cystitis, and no cases (0%) with dysuria grade 3. No patient had a bulbourethral

U.S. monetary shocks and global stock prices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laeven, L.; Tong, H.

2012-01-01

This paper studies how US monetary policy affects global stock prices. We find that global stock prices respond strongly to changes in US interest rates, with stock prices increasing (decreasing) following unexpected monetary loosening (tightening). This impact is more pronounced for sectors that

Reply to: Mounting evidence indicates that escalating doses of allopurinol are unnecessary for cardiovascular protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Coburn, Brian W; Michaud, Kaleb; Bergman, Debra A; Mikuls, Ted R

2018-05-08

We thank Dr. Bredemeier for his comments regarding our manuscript on allopurinol dose escalation and mortality. He raises important evidence to consider in support of an interesting hypothesis that dose escalation may be unnecessary for allopurinol's cardiovascular (CV) protection and may actually be related to adverse CV outcomes. While we agree that evidence exists suggesting that low doses of allopurinol may be sufficient for CV protection, we believe that the studies cited highlight a number of areas where knowledge gaps remain which preclude any definitive conclusions about the effect of dose escalation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Comparison of escalating, constant, and reduction energy output in ESWL for renal stones: multi-arm prospective randomized study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabah, Danny M; Mabrouki, Mohamed S; Farhat, Karim H; Seida, Mohamed A; Arafa, Mostafa A; Talic, Riyadh F

2017-06-01

This study was designed to find out the optimized energy delivery strategy in Shock Wave Lithotripsy (SWL) that yield to the best stone-free rate (SFR). In this clinical trial, 150 consecutive patients were randomized into three groups: (a) Dose escalation, 1500 SW at 18 kV, followed by 1500 SW at 20 kV then 1500 SW at 22 kV. (b) Constant dose, 4500 SW at 20 kV. All patients undergo plain X-ray film of the urinary tract at day 1, 14, and 90 to assess stone-free rate (SFR) which was defined as no stones or painless fragments less than 4 mm. (c) Dose reduction, 1500 SW at 22 kV, followed by 1500 SW at 20 kV and then 1500 SW at 18 kV. The three treatment groups were comparable in terms of age, sex, stone size and distribution of the kidneys, and the need for Double J stent use. On day 90, the SFR achieved was 82, 90, and 84 % in the escalating, constant, and reduction energy groups, respectively. However, this rate was not statistically significant (x 2  = 1.38, p level = 0.28). At a slow rate of 60 shocks, there was no difference in stone-free rate between different voltages at 1, 14, and 90 days. Our randomized clinical trial showed no statistically significant difference in SFR between the three groups while using the slow SWL rate. Our trial is the first randomized trial comparing the three strategies. As such, a dose adjustment strategy while delivering SWL in slow rate was not recommended.

Non-equilibrium price theories

Science.gov (United States)

Helbing, Dirk; Kern, Daniel

2000-11-01

We propose two theories for the formation of stock prices under the condition that the number of available stocks is fixed. Both theories consider the balance equations for cash and several kinds of stocks. They also take into account interest rates, dividends, and transaction costs. The proposed theories have the advantage that they do not require iterative procedures to determine the price, which would be inefficient for simulations with many agents.

Electricity pricing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wijayatunga, P.D.C.

1994-01-01

Electricity pricing in most countries, especially in the developing world, has been determined by traditional accounting criteria where it raises revenue requirements to cover the operating costs and a return on past and future capital investments in possible power systems. The use of economic principles to improve the total economic efficiency in the electricity industry is discussed. Basic marginal cost theory, long run marginal costing (LRMC) cost categories and rating periods, marginal capacity costs, marginal energy costs, consumer costs, short run marginal costing (SRMC), marginal cost of fuel, marginal cost of network losses, market clearing price, value of unserved energy and network quality of supply cost are discussed

Pass-Through to Import Prices: Evidence from Developing Countries

OpenAIRE

Miguel Fuentes

2007-01-01

In this paper I study the pass-through of nominal exchange rate changes to the price of imported goods in four developing countries. The results indicate that 75% of changes in the exchange rate are passed-through to the domestic currency price of imported goods within one quarter. Complete pass-through is attained within one year. There is no evidence that exchange rate pass-through to the price of imported goods has declined over time even in those countries that have managed to reduce infl...

Environmental factors influencing fluctuation of share prices on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Environmental factors influencing fluctuation of share prices on Nigeria stock exchange market. ... What are these environmental variables that affect the fluctuation of share prices in Nigeria? ... The results show inflation, money supply, total deficits index of industrial production, interest rate and GDP influence stock prices.

Dose Escalation and Healthcare Resource Use among Ulcerative Colitis Patients Treated with Adalimumab in English Hospitals: An Analysis of Real-World Data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher M Black

Full Text Available To describe the real-world use of adalimumab for maintenance treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC and associated healthcare costs in English hospitals.Retrospective cohort study.Analysis of NHS Hospital Episode Statistics linked with pharmacy dispensing data in English hospitals.Adult UC patients receiving ≥240mg during adalimumab treatment induction, subsequently maintained on adalimumab.Frequency and pattern of adalimumab use and dose escalation during maintenance treatment and associated healthcare costs (prescriptions and hospital visits.191 UC patients completed adalimumab treatment induction. 83 (43.46% dose escalated during maintenance treatment by ≥100% (equivalent to weekly dosing (median time to dose escalation: 139 days. 56 patients (67.47% subsequently de-escalated by ≥50% (median time to dose de-escalation: 21 days. Mean all-cause healthcare costs for all patients ≤12 months of index were £13,892. Dose escalators incurred greater mean healthcare costs than non-escalators ≤12 months of index (£14,596 vs. £13,351. Prescriptions accounted for 96.49% of UC-related healthcare costs (£11,090 of £11,494 in all patients.Within the cohort, 43.46% of UC patients escalated their adalimumab dose by ≥100% and incurred greater costs than non-escalators. The apparent underestimation of adalimumab dose escalation in previous studies may have resulted in underestimated costs in healthcare systems.

Dose Escalation for Prostate Cancer Using the Three-Dimensional Conformal Dynamic Arc Technique: Analysis of 542 Consecutive Patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jereczek-Fossa, Barbara A.; Vavassori, Andrea; Fodor, Cristiana; Santoro, Luigi; Zerini, Dario; Cattani, Federica; Garibaldi, Cristina; Cambria, Raffaella; Fodor, Andrei; Boboc, Genoveva Ionela; Vitolo, Viviana; Ivaldi, Giovanni Battista; Musi, Gennaro; De Cobelli, Ottavio; Orecchia, Roberto

2008-01-01

Purpose: To present the results of dose escalation using three-dimensional conformal dynamic arc radiotherapy (3D-ART) for prostate cancer. Methods and Materials: Five hundred and forty two T1-T3N0M0 prostate cancer patients were treated with 3D-ART. Dose escalation (from 76 Gy/38 fractions to 80 Gy/40 fractions) was introduced in September 2003; 32% of patients received 80 Gy. In 366 patients, androgen deprivation was added to 3D-ART. Radiation Therapy Oncology Group/European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer criteria and Houston definition (nadir + 2) were used for toxicity and biochemical failure evaluation, respectively. Median follow-up was 25 months. Results: Acute toxicity included rectal (G1-2 28.9%; G3 0.5%) and urinary events (G1-2 57.9%; G3-4 2.4%). Late toxicity included rectal (G1-2 15.8%; G3-4 3.1%) and urinary events (G1-2 26.9%; G3-4 1.6%). Two-year failure-free survival and overall survival rates were 94.1% and 97.9%, respectively. Poor prognostic group (GS, iPSA, T), transurethral prostate resection, and dose >76 Gy showed significant association to high risk of progression in multivariate analysis (p = 0.014, p = 0.045, and p 0.04, respectively). The negative effect of dose >76 Gy was not observed (p 0.10), when the analysis was limited to 353 patients treated after September 2003 (when dose escalation was introduced). Higher dose was not associated with higher late toxicity. Conclusions: Three-dimensional-ART is a feasible modality allowing for dose escalation (no increase in toxicity has been observed with higher doses). However, the dose increase from 76 to 80 Gy was not associated with better tumor outcome. Further investigation is warranted for better understanding of the dose effect for prostate cancer

Food consumption and food prices in Kenya : a review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meilink, H.A.

1987-01-01

Abr. sum.: This report reviews government policies concerning consumer food prices in Kenya. In respect of official food pricing, Kenya can be said to pursue a 'cheap food' policy. It was found that most foods falling under price control measures showed less price increases than the average rate of

Pass-Through of Exchange Rates to Domestic Prices in East European Countries and the Role of Economic Enviroment

OpenAIRE

Martins Bitans

2004-01-01

The paper examines the exchange rate pass-through in a set of 13 East European countries during the period of 1993–2003. The pass-through estimates are derived from a recursive VAR model in first differences, and the impact of exchange rate changes on both producer and consumer prices is studied. The estimates obtained for two sub-sample periods generally show an incomplete pass-through over a two-year horizon. In addition, the results imply a considerable cross-country variation and suggest ...

Optimal decisions of sharing rate and ticket price of different transportation modes in inter-city transportation corridor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaoping Tang

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The paper concerns competition of different transportation modes coexist in inter-city transportation corridor. The purpose of this paper is to express the competitive relationship by building mathematical model and obtain the best sharing rate and the optimal ticket price of different transportation modes. Design/methodology/approach: Firstly, analyzing influencing factors of passenger choice about transportation modes, we designed an utility function of transportation modes. Secondly, referring to the game theory and logit modle, a non-cooperative game model between railway and highway was built. Finally, the model was applied to Nanchang-Jiujiang transportation corridor in China for an empirical analysis. Findings: The results indicate that the proposed non-cooperative game model is rational and reliable, and it supplies a scientific method to determine the optimal ticket price and passenger sharing rate of different transportation modes, and can be applied to the competition study on different transportation modes in inter-city transportation corridor. Originality/value: The main contribution of this paper is to built the non-cooperative game model, which can consider the needs of different travelers, and achieve reasonable passenger divergence of different transportation modes and coordinated development of whole transport market.

De-Escalating the IT-Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghulam Muhammad Kundi

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Escalation stickins with an ailing project beyond rational justifications. This happens because in the face of negative feedback, decision makers are strangled between whether to stick with or quit the dying project. Environmental uncertainty has been identified as the root cause of the escalatory behavior. This uncertainty emanates from several sources relating to individual, group, organization and broader environmental factors. This paper argues the premise that effective communication can help create an environment whereby workforce can develop an organized action thereby distributing the responsibility across the whole workforce and not the individuals – leading to the possible reduction of escalatory behavior in IT projects.

Optimal dynamic pricing and replenishment policies for deteriorating items

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masoud Rabbani

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Marketing strategies and proper inventory replenishment policies are often incorporated by enterprises to stimulate demand and maximize profit. The aim of this paper is to represent an integrated model for dynamic pricing and inventory control of deteriorating items. To reflect the dynamic characteristic of the problem, the selling price is defined as a time-dependent function of the initial selling price and the discount rate. In this regard, the price is exponentially discounted to compensate negative impact of the deterioration. The planning horizon is assumed to be infinite and the deterioration rate is time-dependent. In addition to price, the demand rate is dependent on advertisement as a powerful marketing tool. Several theoretical results and an iterative solution algorithm are developed to provide the optimal solution. Finally, to show validity of the model and illustrate the solution procedure, numerical results are presented.

Pricing unit-linked insurance with guaranteed benefit

Science.gov (United States)

Iqbal, M.; Novkaniza, F.; Novita, M.

2017-07-01

Unit-linked insurance is an investment-linked insurance, that is, the given benefit is the premium investment out-come. Recently, the most widely marketed insurance in the industry is unit-linked insurance with guaranteed benefit. With guaranteed benefit applied, the insurance benefits form is similar to the payoff form of European call option. Thereby, pricing European call option is involved in pricing unit-linked insurance with guaranteed benefit. The dynamics of investment outcome is assumed to follow stochastic interest rate. Hence, change of measure methods is used in pricing unit-linked insurance. The discount factor with stochastic interest rate needs to be modified as well to be zero coupon bond price. Eventually, the insurance premium is calculated by equivalence principle with guaranteed benefit and insurance period explicitly given.

Pricing products: juxtaposing affordability with quality appeal.

Science.gov (United States)

1984-01-01

Choosing appropriate product prices is 1 of the most crucial steps in creating an effective contraceptive social marketing (CSM) sales campaign. The Social Marketing Forum conducted an informal survey of social marketing project managers, international contractors, and marketing consultants to determine how CSM programs cope with pricing problems and ways to circumvent some obstacles. According to Diana Altman, a family planning consultant, low prices that make products available to needy individuals are more important than the program's self sufficiency, yet if prices are too low, consumers think the products were unusable in the US and thus were dumped on local markets. Other key factors include commercial competition, spiraling inflation rates, and problems with rising prices and retailer/distributor margins. A sampling of per capita gross national products indicates the poverty level of most CSM projects' target market. Consequently, CSM projects must set low pices, regardless of program operating costs. The goal often is to increase the demand and availability for contraceptives. The fact that social marketing products must pass through retail networks to reach consumers complicates the pricing equation. To deal with the problem, India's Nirodh program gives a 25% margin to distributors/wholesalers, compared to 6% offered on most other goods. Retailers also receive a 25% margin, more than double the commercial rate. Once prices are set, increases pose hazards. Local government approval often is a prerequisite and can require lengthy negotiations. Market studies remain a valuable approach to effective pricing, according to PNA's Mallamad and other research consultants. They cite such effective research strategies as test marketing products and asking consumers how prices affect buying habits. Further, CSM projects can jump over some pricing hurdles through creative marketing. An effective pricing strategy alone cannot produce a successful CSM program. Pricing

Long- and short-run price asymmetries and hysteresis in the Italian gasoline market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bagnai, Alberto; Mongeau Ospina, Christian Alexander

2015-01-01

Using monthly data from 1994 to 2013 we study the long-run relation of the pre-tax retail prices of gasoline with crude price and the nominal exchange rate. We find a strongly significant long-run relation. We then use the nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) model to assess the asymmetries on both the short- and long-run elasticities, as well as the presence of hysteresis in the pricing behaviour. The estimation results confirm the presence of asymmetry in the long-run elasticities, with significant differences between the crude price and the exchange rate, as well as the presence of hysteresis in the relation between the retail price of gasoline and crude oil price. - Highlights: • The pass-through of crude oil prices and exchange rate into gasoline prices is examined. •We use an extended NARDL model to test for asymmetric reactions and hysteresis. • Asymmetric pricing behaviour features only in the long run. • The sign of the asymmetry differs between exchange rate and crude price changes. • The results are robust to the inclusion of several variables usually related to asymmetry

76 FR 77271 - Competitive Product Postal Price Changes

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-12

... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. CP2012-2; Order No. 997] Competitive Product Postal Price... recently-filed Postal Service request for a change in competitive products prices. The changes will take... and justification for the changes, the effective date, and a schedule of the changed rates. The price...

The social process of escalation: a promising focus for crisis management research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bergström Johan

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background This study identifies a promising, new focus for the crisis management research in the health care domain. After reviewing the literature on health care crisis management, there seems to be a knowledge-gap regarding organisational change and adaption, especially when health care situations goes from normal, to non-normal, to pathological and further into a state of emergency or crisis. Discussion Based on studies of escalating situations in obstetric care it is suggested that two theoretical perspectives (contingency theory and the idea of failure as a result of incomplete interaction tend to simplify the issue of escalation rather than attend to its complexities (including the various power relations among the stakeholders involved. However studying the process of escalation as inherently complex and social allows us to see the definition of a situation as normal or non-normal as an exercise of power in itself, rather than representing a putatively correct response to a particular emergency. Implications The concept of escalation, when treated this way, can help us further the analysis of clinical and institutional acts and competence. It can also turn our attention to some important elements in a class of social phenomenon, crises and emergencies, that so far have not received the attention they deserve. Focusing on organisational choreography, that interplay of potential factors such as power, professional identity, organisational accountability, and experience, is not only a promising focus for future naturalistic research but also for developing more pragmatic strategies that can enhance organisational coordination and response in complex events.

Stock price prediction using geometric Brownian motion

Science.gov (United States)

Farida Agustini, W.; Restu Affianti, Ika; Putri, Endah RM

2018-03-01

Geometric Brownian motion is a mathematical model for predicting the future price of stock. The phase that done before stock price prediction is determine stock expected price formulation and determine the confidence level of 95%. On stock price prediction using geometric Brownian Motion model, the algorithm starts from calculating the value of return, followed by estimating value of volatility and drift, obtain the stock price forecast, calculating the forecast MAPE, calculating the stock expected price and calculating the confidence level of 95%. Based on the research, the output analysis shows that geometric Brownian motion model is the prediction technique with high rate of accuracy. It is proven with forecast MAPE value ≤ 20%.

7 CFR 1124.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1124.50 Section 1124.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

7 CFR 1030.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1030.50 Section 1030.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

Crude oil prices: Speculation versus fundamentals

Science.gov (United States)

Kolodziej, Marek Krzysztof

Beginning in 2004, the price of crude oil fluctuates rapidly over a wide range. Large and rapid price increases have recessionary consequences and dampen long-term infrastructural investment. I investigate whether price changes are driven by market fundamentals or speculation. With regard to market fundamentals, I revisit econometric evidence for the importance of demand shocks, as proxied by dry maritime cargo rates, on oil prices. When I eliminate transportation costs from both sides of the equation, disaggregate OPEC and non-OPEC production, and allow for more than one cointegrating relation, I find that previous specifications are inconsistent with arguments that demand shocks play an important role. Instead, results confirm the importance of OPEC supply shocks. I investigate two channels by which speculation may affect oil prices; the direct effect of trader behavior and changes in oil from a commodity to a financial asset. With regard to trader behavior, I find evidence that trader positions are required to explain the spread between spot and futures prices of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The inclusion of trader positions clarifies the process of equilibrium error correction, such that there is bidirectional causality between prices and trader positions. This creates the possibility of speculative bubbles. With regard to oil as a commodity and/or financial asset, I use a Kalman Filter model to estimate the time-varying partial correlation between returns to investments in equity and oil markets. This correlation changes from negative to positive at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. The low interest rates used to rescue the economy depress convenience yields, which reduces the benefits of holding oil as a commodity. Instead, oil becomes a financial asset (on net) as the oil market changed from contango to backwardation. Contradicting simple political narratives, my research suggests that both market fundamentals and speculation drive

Gas prices and price process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Groenewegen, G.G.

1992-01-01

On a conference (Gas for Europe in the 1990's) during the Gasexpo '91 the author held a speech of which the Dutch text is presented here. Attention is paid to the current European pricing methods (prices based on the costs of buying, transporting and distributing the natural gas and prices based on the market value, which is deducted from the prices of alternative fuels), and the transparency of the prices (lack of information on the way the prices are determined). Also attention is paid to the market signal transparency and gas-gas competition, which means a more or less free market of gas distribution. The risks of gas-to-gas competition for a long term price stability, investment policies and security of supply are discussed. Opposition against the Third Party Access (TPA), which is the program to implement gas-to-gas competition, is caused by the fear of natural gas companies for lower gas prices and lower profits. Finally attention is paid to government regulation and the activities of the European Commission (EC) in this matter. 1 fig., 6 ills., 1 tab

Prevention and reversal of social stress-escalated cocaine self-administration in mice by intra-VTA CRFR1 antagonism.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Xiao; DeBold, Joseph F; Miczek, Klaus A

2017-09-01

A history of brief intermittent social defeat stress can escalate cocaine self-administration and induce long-term adaptations in the mesolimbic dopamine system. Extra-hypothalamic corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) has been shown to be closely associated with stress-induced escalation of drug use. How repeated stress modulates CRF release in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the roles of CRF receptors during different phases of stress-induced cocaine self-administration remain to be defined. The current study examines the roles of CRF and CRF receptor 1 (CRFR1) in escalated intravenous cocaine self-administration after exposure to social defeat stress in mice. First, CRFR1 antagonist (CP 376,395, 15 mg/kg, i.p.) given 30 min prior to each social defeat episode prevented later escalated cocaine self-administration. When CP 376,395 (5 and 15 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered 10 days after the last episode of social stress, the escalation of cocaine intake was dose-dependently reversed. Moreover, socially defeated mice showed increased CRF release in the VTA compared to controls. To further explore the role of CRFR1, CP 376,395 (0.5 and 1 μg/0.2 μl) was infused directly into the VTA before the cocaine self-administration session. Intra-VTA antagonism of CRFR1 was sufficient to reverse social defeat stress-escalated cocaine self-administration. These findings suggest that CRF and CRFR1 exert multiple roles in the response to social stress that are relevant to escalated cocaine self-administration.

Avoiding escalation from play to aggression in adult male rats: The role of ultrasonic calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Candace J; Kisko, Theresa M; Pellis, Sergio M; Euston, David R

2017-11-01

Play fighting is most commonly associated with juvenile animals, but in some species, including rats, it can continue into adulthood. Post-pubertal engagement in play fighting is often rougher and has an increased chance of escalation to aggression, making the use of play signals to regulate the encounter more critical. During play, both juvenile and adult rats emit many 50-kHz calls and some of these may function as play facilitating signals. In the present study, unfamiliar adult male rats were introduced in a neutral enclosure and their social interactions were recorded. While all pairs escalated their playful encounters to become rougher, only the pairs in which one member was devocalized escalated to serious biting. A Monte Carlo shuffling technique was used for the analysis of the correlations between the overt playful and aggressive actions performed and the types and frequencies of various 50-kHz calls that were emitted. The analysis revealed that lower frequency (20-30kHz) calls with a flat component maybe particularly critical for de-escalating encounters and so allowing play to continue. Moreover, coordinating calls reciprocally, with either the same call mimicked in close, temporal association or with complementary calls emitted by participants as they engage in complementary actions (e.g., attacking the nape, being attacked on the nape), appeared to be ways with which calls could be potentially used to avoid escalation to aggression and so sustain playful interactions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Oil prices without OPEC: a walk on the supply-side

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roumasset, J.; Isaak, D.; Fesharaki, F.

1983-07-01

The rapid increases of oil prices during the 1970s are commonly regarded as prima facie evidence of monopoly power. This paper applies the theory of exhaustible resources to estimate the equilibrium oil prices (also known as efficiency prices) which would have prevailed in the absence of monopoly profits. The theory incorporates an extraction cost function wherein cost is a rising function of the cumulative amount of oil extracted. The model is used to simulate efficiency price paths under a variety of assumptions about extraction costs and real interest rates which are representative of perceptions at various times in recent history. These simulations show that the price increases of 1974 and 1979 to 1980 can be explained as a response to supply-side changes, especially changes in the perceived cost of the backstop technology and the fall in real interest rates in the mid and late 1970s. Thus, while efficiency prices were high in the 1970s, relative to extraction costs, it is plausible that average monopoly profits were negligible. This situation appears to have changed in the early 1980s due to the return of real interest rates to their historic levels. In early 1982, even spot prices, already below official prices, were substantially above the estimated efficiency or competitive price level. On the other hand, efficiency prices remain far above extraction costs. Thus, even if the price-setting power of OPEC were eroded by competition, the real price of oil would not fall below the level established in 1974. 18 references, 1 figure, 2 tables.

Improving Escalation of Care: Development and Validation of the Quality of Information Transfer Tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Maximilian J; Arora, Sonal; Pucher, Philip H; Reissis, Yannis; Hull, Louise; Huddy, Jeremy R; King, Dominic; Darzi, Ara

2016-03-01

To develop and provide validity and feasibility evidence for the QUality of Information Transfer (QUIT) tool. Prompt escalation of care in the setting of patient deterioration can prevent further harm. Escalation and information transfer skills are not currently measured in surgery. This study comprised 3 phases: the development (phase 1), validation (phase 2), and feasibility analysis (phase 3) of the QUIT tool. Phase 1 involved identification of core skills needed for successful escalation of care through literature review and 33 semistructured interviews with stakeholders. Phase 2 involved the generation of validity evidence for the tool using a simulated setting. Thirty surgeons assessed a deteriorating postoperative patient in a simulated ward and escalated their care to a senior colleague. The face and content validity were assessed using a survey. Construct and concurrent validity of the tool were determined by comparing performance scores using the QUIT tool with those measured using the Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) tool. Phase 3 was conducted using direct observation of escalation scenarios on surgical wards in 2 hospitals. A 7-category assessment tool was developed from phase 1 consisting of 24 items. Twenty-one of 24 items had excellent content validity (content validity index >0.8). All 7 categories and 18 of 24 (P validity. The correlation between the QUIT and SBAR tools used was strong indicating concurrent validity (r = 0.694, P information transfer skills than nurses when faced with a deteriorating patient. A validated tool to assess information transfer for deteriorating surgical patients was developed and tested using simulation and real-time clinical scenarios. It may improve the quality and safety of patient care on the surgical ward.

Semi-analytical MBS Pricing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rom-Poulsen, Niels

2007-01-01

This paper presents a multi-factor valuation model for fixed-rate callable mortgage backed securities (MBS). The model yields semi-analytic solutions for the value of MBS in the sense that the MBS value is found by solving a system of ordinary differential equations. Instead of modelling the cond......This paper presents a multi-factor valuation model for fixed-rate callable mortgage backed securities (MBS). The model yields semi-analytic solutions for the value of MBS in the sense that the MBS value is found by solving a system of ordinary differential equations. Instead of modelling...... interest rate model. However, if the pool size is specified in a way that makes the expectations solvable using transform methods, semi-analytic pricing formulas are achieved. The affine and quadratic pricing frameworks are combined to get flexible and sophisticated prepayment functions. We show...

Dynamic pricing of electricity for residential customers. The evidence from Michigan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faruqui, A.; Akaba, L. [The Brattle Group, 201 Mission Street, Suite 2800, San Francisco, CA 94105 (United States); Sergici, S. [The Brattle Group, 44 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

2013-08-15

The rollout of smart meters has enabled the provision of dynamic pricing to residential customers. However, doubts remain whether households can respond to time-varying price signals and that is preventing the full-scale rollout of dynamic pricing and the attainment of economic efficiency. Experiments are being conducted to test price responsiveness. We analyze data from a pilot in Michigan which featured two dynamic pricing rates and an enabling technology. Unlike most other pilots, it also included a group of 'information only' customers who were provided information on time-varying prices but billed on standard rates. Similarly, unlike most other pilots, it also included two control groups, one of whom knew they were in the pilot and one of whom did not. This was designed to test for the presence of a Hawthorne effect. Consistent with the large body of experimental literature, we find that customers, including low-income participants, do respond to dynamic pricing. We also find that the response to critical peak pricing rates is similar to the response to peak time rebates, consistent with the finding of one prior experiment but inconsistent with the finding of two prior experiments. We also find that the 'information only' customers respond to the provision of pricing information but at a substantially lower rate than the customers on dynamic pricing. We find that the response to enabling technology is muted. We do not find any evidence to suggest that a Hawthorne effect existed in this experiment.

Energy consumption and energy prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bentzen, J.

1993-01-01

Data are presented on energy consumption and energy prices related to a number of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) lands covering the period 1951-1990. The information sources are described and the development of energy consumption and prices in Denmark are illustrated in relation to these other countries. The energy intensity (the relation between energy consumption and the gross national product) is dealt with. Here it is possible to follow development during the whole post-war period. It is generally understood that Denmark saved large amounts of energy after 1973-74 but, taken over the whole post-war period, savings and decline in energy-gross national product relations are less dramatic compared to conditions in other OECD countries. Energy coefficients or elasticities show the relative rise in consumption compared to the relative rise in gross national product (growth rate). This is shown to be typically unstable and an eventual connection with the amount of energy price increase and/or the growth rate of the national economy is considered. Results of Granger causuality tests on energy consumption, national income and energy prices are presented. Effective energy prices were very low in Denmark up to 1970 when they suddenly began to increase. Since the oil crisis Denmark's energy consumption has fallen whereas the other countries have used rather more energy than before. Effective promotion of energy savings must be seen in relation to the fact that the 1970 basis level of energy consumption and intensity was unusually high. The high effective energy prices have also encouraged energy savings in Denmark. (AB)

The Influence of Fundamental and Macroeconomic Analysis on Stock Price

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hari Gursida

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of fundamental and macroeconomic analysis on stock price. The research was conducted at a coal company listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Fundamental analysis measured by current ratio, debt to equity ratio (DER, earning per share (EPS, return on assets (ROA, and total assets turnover (TATO, while macroeconomic analysis is measured by inflation and exchange rate.  Current ratio (CR has a positive effect on Stock Price. Strengthening this level of liquidity can provide information to investors to decide to buy shares of companies that tend to be healthy and stable. Return on assets (ROA has a positive and significant influence on stock price. Efforts to maximize the level of profitability by increasing the value of return on assets can provide information to investors that investments invested in the company will provide good profit. The impact of stock prices will rise. While debt to equity ratio (DER, earning per share (EPS and total assets turnover (TATO have no effect on Stock Price.  Macroeconomic analysis shows: (a Inflation rate has no effect on stock price of coal company. This can be because the inflation rate in Indonesia is at the level of 6% -7% per year and included in the category of mild inflation. Mild inflation resulted in very slow economic growth, not affecting stock prices. The exchange rate has a negative and significant effect on coal company stock price. If the Rupiah is depreciated then the stock price of the coal company will decrease.

Credit price optimisation within retail banking

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2014-02-14

Feb 14, 2014 ... function. Cross and Dixit [5] state that the key to customer-centric pricing is to set prices that accurately reflect the perceived value of products per customer segment, .... 1The interest rate at which commercial banks can borrow money from the Reserve Bank. ..... following additional parameters are required:.

Defense Acquisitions: Prices of Marine Corps Spare Parts Have Increased

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2000-01-01

...) examine spare part prices to determine whether these were increasing at a rate faster than inflation and the extent to which surcharges, suppliers' prices, and other factors contributed to price increases...

Innovative design for a phase 1 trial with intra-patient dose escalation: The Crotoxin study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacques Medioni

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Crotoxin has a broad antitumor activity but has shown frequent neurotoxic toxicity. To induce tolerance and limit this toxicity, we propose a new design with intra-patient dose escalation. Methods: A new Dose Limiting Toxicity definition was used. The concept of Target Ceiling Dose was introduced. Results: Dose Limiting Toxicity was the inability to dose escalate twice. Target Ceiling Dose was the highest planned dose to be administered to a patient and could change for patients along time. Recommended Dose was defined similarly as in a (3 + 3 conventional design. Conclusion: This innovant design was used and the clinical trial is now closed for inclusions. Results will be presented later. Keywords: Clinical trial, Phase 1, Intra-patient dose escalation, Cancer

Dose-Escalated Robotic SBRT for Stage I-II Prostate Cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert eMeier

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT is the precise external delivery of very high-dose radiotherapy to targets in the body, with treatment completed in one to five fractions. SBRT should be an ideal approach for organ-confined prostate cancer because (I dose escalation should yield improved rates of cancer control; (II the unique radiobiology of prostate cancer favors hypofractionation and (III the conformal nature of SBRT minimizes high-dose radiation delivery to immediately adjacent organs, potentially reducing complications. This approach is also more convenient for patients, and is cheaper than intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT. Several external beam platforms are capable of delivering SBRT for early-stage prostate cancer, although most of the mature reported series have employed a robotic non-coplanar platform (i.e., CyberKnife. Several large studies report 5-year biochemical relapse rates which compare favorably to IMRT. Rates of late GU toxicity are similar to those seen with IMRT, and rates of late rectal toxicity may be less than with IMRT and low dose rate (LDR brachytherapy. Patient-reported quality of life (QOL outcomes appear similar to IMRT in the urinary domain. Bowel QOL may be less adversely affected by SBRT than with other radiation modalities. After five years of follow-up, SBRT delivered on a robotic platform is yielding outcomes at least as favorable as IMRT, and may be considered appropriate therapy for stage I-II prostate cancer.

Dose escalation by image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy leads to an increase in pain relief for spinal metastases: a comparison study with a regimen of 30 Gy in 10 fractions.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Jinlan; Xiao, Jianghong; Peng, Xingchen; Duan, Baofeng; Li, Yan; Ai, Ping; Yao, Min; Chen, Nianyong

2017-12-22

Under the existing condition that the optimum radiotherapy regimen for spinal metastases is controversial, this study investigates the benefits of dose escalation by image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IG-IMRT) with 60-66 Gy in 20-30 fractions for spinal metastases. In the dose-escalation group, each D50 of planning gross tumor volume (PGTV) was above 60 Gy and each Dmax of spinal cord planning organ at risk volume (PRV) was below 48 Gy. The median biological effective dose (BED) of Dmax of spinal cord was lower in the dose-escalation group compared with that in the 30-Gy group (69.70 Gy vs. 83.16 Gy, p pain responses were better in the dose-escalation group than those in the 30-Gy group ( p = 0.005 and p = 0.024), and the complete pain relief rates were respectively 73.69% and 34.29% ( p = 0.006), 73.69% and 41.38% ( p = 0.028) in two compared groups. In the dose-escalation group, there is a trend of a longer duration of pain relief, a longer overall survival and a lower incidence of acute radiation toxicities. No late radiation toxicities were observed in both groups. Dosimetric parameters and clinical outcomes, including pain response, duration of pain relief, radiation toxicities and overall survival, were compared among twenty-five metastatic spinal lesions irradiated with the dose-escalation regimen and among forty-four lesions treated with the 30-Gy regimen. Conventionally-fractionated IG-IMRT for spinal metastases could escalate dose to the vertebral lesions while sparing the spinal cord, achieving a better pain relief without increasing radiation complications.

Effect of Price Determinants on World Cocoa Prices for Over the Last Three Decades: Error Correction Model (ECM Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lya Aklimawati

2013-12-01

Full Text Available High  volatility  cocoa  price  movement  is  consequenced  by  imbalancing between power demand and power supply in commodity market. World economy expectation and market  liberalization would lead to instability on cocoa prices in  the  international  commerce.  Dynamic  prices  moving  erratically  influence the benefit  of market players, particularly  producers. The aim of this research is  (1  to  estimate  the  empirical  cocoa  prices  model  for  responding  market dynamics and (2 analyze short-term and long-term effect of price determinants variables  on cocoa prices.  This research  was  carried out by  analyzing  annualdata from 1980 to 2011, based on secondary data. Error correction mechanism (ECM  approach was  used  to  estimate the  econometric  model  of  cocoa  price.The  estimation  results  indicated  that  cocoa  price  was  significantly  affected  by exchange rate IDR-USD, world gross domestic product,  world inflation, worldcocoa production, world cocoa consumption, world cocoa stock and Robusta prices at varied significance level from 1 - 10%. All of these variables have a long run equilibrium relationship. In long run effect, world gross domestic product, world  cocoa  consumption  and  world  cocoa  stock  were  elastic  (E  >1,  while other  variables  were  inelastic  (E  <1.  Variables  that  affecting  cocoa  pricesin  short  run  equilibrium  were  exchange  rate  IDR-USD,  world  gross  domestic product,  world  inflation,  world  cocoa  consumption  and  world  cocoa  stock. The  analysis  results  showed  that  world  gross  domestic  product,  world  cocoa consumption  and  world  cocoa  stock  were  elastic  (E  >1  to  cocoa  prices  in short-term.  Whereas,  the  response  of  cocoa  prices  was  inelastic  to  change  of exchange rate IDR-USD and world inflation.Key words: Price

Robust policy choice under Calvo and Rotemberg pricing

OpenAIRE

Sienknecht, Sebastian

2012-01-01

This paper examines the robustness of welfare-based policy choices across the nonlinear Calvo and Rotemberg pricing assumptions. Comparisons between simple interest rate rules turn out to be robust and independent of the price dispersion inherent in the Calvo setting. This robustness is violated if there is a policy alternative that controls for price dispersion.

The NARLAL2 dose escalation trial: dosimetric implications of inter-fractional changes in organs at risk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoffmann, Lone; Knap, Marianne Marquard; Khalil, Azza Ahmed

2018-01-01

and an escalated treatment plan. In the escalated arm, mean doses up to 95 Gy/33 fractions (tumour) and 74 Gy/33 fractions (lymph nodes) are delivered to the most 18fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (18FDG PET) active regions. The dose distributions are limited by strict constraints to OARs...

An EPLS model for a variable production rate with stock-price sensitive demand and deterioration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roy T.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available It is observed that large piles of consumer goods displayed in supermarkets lead consumers to buy more, which generates more profit to sellers. But a large number of on-hand display of stock leaves a negative impression on the buyer. Also, the amount of shelf or display space is limited. Due to this reason, we impose a restriction on the number of on-hand display of stock and also on initial and ending on-hand stock levels. We introduce an economic production lot size model, where production rate depends on stock and selling price per unit. A constant fraction deterioration rate is considered in this model. To illustrate the results of the model, four numerical examples are established. Sensitivity analysis of the changes of parameter values is also given.

Dependence and risk assessment for oil prices and exchange rate portfolios: A wavelet based approach

Science.gov (United States)

Aloui, Chaker; Jammazi, Rania

2015-10-01

In this article, we propose a wavelet-based approach to accommodate the stylized facts and complex structure of financial data, caused by frequent and abrupt changes of markets and noises. Specifically, we show how the combination of both continuous and discrete wavelet transforms with traditional financial models helps improve portfolio's market risk assessment. In the empirical stage, three wavelet-based models (wavelet-EGARCH with dynamic conditional correlations, wavelet-copula, and wavelet-extreme value) are considered and applied to crude oil price and US dollar exchange rate data. Our findings show that the wavelet-based approach provides an effective and powerful tool for detecting extreme moments and improving the accuracy of VaR and Expected Shortfall estimates of oil-exchange rate portfolios after noise is removed from the original data.

Quantifying Correlation Uncertainty Risk in Credit Derivatives Pricing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colin Turfus

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We propose a simple but practical methodology for the quantification of correlation risk in the context of credit derivatives pricing and credit valuation adjustment (CVA, where the correlation between rates and credit is often uncertain or unmodelled. We take the rates model to be Hull–White (normal and the credit model to be Black–Karasinski (lognormal. We summarise recent work furnishing highly accurate analytic pricing formulae for credit default swaps (CDS including with defaultable Libor flows, extending this to the situation where they are capped and/or floored. We also consider the pricing of contingent CDS with an interest rate swap underlying. We derive therefrom explicit expressions showing how the dependence of model prices on the uncertain parameter(s can be captured in analytic formulae that are readily amenable to computation without recourse to Monte Carlo or lattice-based computation. In so doing, we crucially take into account the impact on model calibration of the uncertain (or unmodelled parameters.

Relating price strategies and price-setting practices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ingenbleek, P.T.M.; Lans, van der I.A.

2013-01-01

Purpose - This article addresses the relationship between price strategies and price-setting practices. The first derive from a normative tradition in the pricing literature and the latter from a descriptive tradition. Price strategies are visible in the market, whereas price-setting practices are

Preventing and De-Escalating Ethical Conflict: A Communication-Training Mediation Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Levin, Tomer T; Parker, Patricia A

2015-01-01

While ethical conflicts in the provision of healthcare are common, the current third-party mediator model is limited by a lack of expert ethical mediators, who are often not on site when conflict escalates. In order to improve clinical outcomes in situations such as conflicts at the end of life, we suggest that clinicians-physicians, nurses and social workers-be trained to prevent and de-escalate emerging conflicts. This can be achieved using a mediation model framed by a communication-training approach. A case example is presented and the model is discussed. The implication of this preventative/early intervention model for improving clinical outcomes, in particular end-of life conflict, is considered. Copyright 2015 The Journal of Clinical Ethics. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Macroeconomic Fundamentals on Stock Prices Revisited: Evidence from Indian Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pramod Kumar NAIK

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The study investigates the relationships between the Indian stock market index (BSE Sensex and five macroeconomic variables, namely, industrial production index, wholesale price index, money supply, treasury bills rates and exchange rates over the period 1994:04–2011:06. Johansen’s co-integration and vector error correction model have been applied to explore the long-run equilibrium relationship between stock market index and macroeconomic variables. The analysis reveals that macroeconomic variables and the stock market index are co-integrated and, hence, a long-run equilibrium relationship exists between them. It is observed that the stock prices positively relate to the money supply and industrial production but negatively relate to inflation. The exchange rate and the short-term interest rate are found to be insignificant in determining stock prices. In the Granger causality sense, macroeconomic variable causes the stock prices in the long-run but not in the short-run. There is bidirectional causality exists between industrial production and stock prices whereas, unidirectional causality from money supply to stock price, stock price to inflation and interest rates to stock prices are found.

Temperature escalation in PWR fuel rod simulator bundles due to the zircaloy/steam reaction: Test ESBU-1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagen, S.; Malauschek, H.; Peck, S.O.; Wallenfels, K.P.

1983-12-01

This report describes the test conduct and results of the bundle test ESBU-1. The test objective was the investigation of temperature escalation of zircaloy clad fuel rods. The investigation of the temperature escalation is part of a program of out-of-pile experiments, performed within the framework of the PNS Several Fuel Damage Program. The bundle was composed of a 3x3 array of fuel rod simulators surrounded by a zircaloy shroud which was insulated with a ZrO 2 fiber ceramic wrap. The fuel rod simulators comprised a tungsten heater, UO 2 annular pellets, and zircaloy cladding over a 0.4 m heated length. A steam flow of 1 g/s was inlet to the bundle. The most pronounced temperature escalation was found on the central rod. The initial heatup rate of 2 0 C/s at 1100 0 C increased to approximately 6 0 C/s. The maximum temperature reached was 2250 0 C. The following fast temperature decrease was caused by runoff of molten zircaloy. Molten zircaloy swept down the thin cladding oxide layer formed during heatup. The melt dissolved the surface of the UO 2 pellets and refroze as a coherent lump in the lower part of the bundle. The remaining pellets fragmented during cooldown and formed a powdery layer on the refrozen lump. The lump was sectioned posttest at several elevations: Dissolution of UO 2 by the molten zircaloy, interaction between the melt and previously oxidized zircaloy, and oxidation of the melt had occurred. (orig.) [de

Attachment and Jealousy: Understanding the Dynamic Experience of Jealousy Using the Response Escalation Paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Huelsnitz, Chloe O; Farrell, Allison K; Simpson, Jeffry A; Griskevicius, Vladas; Szepsenwol, Ohad

2018-04-01

Jealousy is a complex, dynamic experience that unfolds over time in relationship-threatening situations. Prior research has used retrospective reports that cannot disentangle initial levels and change in jealousy in response to escalating threat. In three studies, we examined responses to the Response Escalation Paradigm (REP)-a 5-stage hypothetical scenario in which individuals are exposed to increasing levels of relationship threat-as a function of attachment orientations. Highly anxious individuals exhibited hypervigilant, slow escalation response patterns, interfered earlier in the REP, felt more jealousy, sadness, and worry when they interfered, and wanted to engage in more vigilant, destructive, and passive behaviors aimed at their partner. Highly avoidant individuals felt more anger when they interfered in the REP and wanted to engage in more partner-focused, destructive behaviors. The REP offers a dynamic method for inducing and examining jealousy and introduces a novel approach to studying other emotional experiences.

Inflation and Intramarket Price Variability: Empirical Evidence from U.S. Food Products

OpenAIRE

Baek, Jungho

2010-01-01

The objective of this paper is to examine the response of relative price variability on U.S. food markets to food price inflation to identify whether such inflation influences the structure of relative prices between different food products. Results show that changes in food price inflation rate have a strong positive effect on the structure of relative prices across food products. In addition, the expected rate of inflation is found to be more important than the unexpected components as a de...

Il cambio dollaro/euro, il prezzo del petrolio e la Banca Centrale Europea (Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate, Oil Price and the European Central Bank

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Sylos Labini

2000-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper an analysis on dollar/euro exchange rate, oil price and European Central Bank monetary policy is worked out. Firstly, data on the main variables related with the exchange rate and an equation to explain the variation of the exchange rate in the period March 1998-September 2000 are presented; secondly, the consequences of oil price growth and eurodevaluation on the US and European economies are taken into account; lastly, different policy strategies to stop eurodevaluation are discussed. The European Central Bank strategy, that consists of small increases of the interest rate, is not reaching any result. An alternative strategy is based on innovative public demand, that should be financed by European bonds using "central bank excess funds" as security. Public demand of infrastructures and new technologies should aim at reducing oil dependence and would stimulate growth and sustainable development in Europe, with positive effects on the exchange rate.

The Impact of Oil Prices on Irish Inflation

OpenAIRE

O'Brien, Derry; Weymes, Laura

2010-01-01

Oil prices have been characterised by large fluctuations in recent years. Strong volatility in oil prices has important implications for the Irish economy as Ireland has a relatively poor fuel endowment and relies heavily on imported oil. Energy price increases have been one of the principal drivers behind HICP inflation rates in Ireland in recent years. This article highlights the distinctive features of the Irish energy market which render the impact of oil price changes on Irish inflation ...

7 CFR 1131.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1131.53 Section 1131.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1005.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1005.53 Section 1005.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1126.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1126.53 Section 1126.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1032.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1032.53 Section 1032.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1030.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1030.53 Section 1030.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1033.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1033.53 Section 1033.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1001.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1001.53 Section 1001.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1007.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1007.53 Section 1007.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1006.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1006.53 Section 1006.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

7 CFR 1033.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1033.50 Section 1033.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

7 CFR 1005.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1005.50 Section 1005.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

7 CFR 1001.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1001.50 Section 1001.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

7 CFR 1006.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1006.50 Section 1006.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

7 CFR 1126.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1126.50 Section 1126.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

7 CFR 1032.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1032.50 Section 1032.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

7 CFR 1131.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1131.50 Section 1131.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

7 CFR 1007.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1007.50 Section 1007.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

Negotiation of coal price in 1987

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chimura, Akira

1987-12-01

Price and amount of coking coal for the fiscal year 1987 was announced. Contracted coals were 5 types with Australia and 4 types with Canada by end Jan, 1987. Average price came down from 47.72 US dollar/t to 43.57, i.e., 4.15 US dollar/t price decline to the previous year. In addition, the number of the branded coal are negotiated with Australia is 23 cases, 5 brands with Canada, 1 with South Australia, 2 with USSR, and 3 with China. General trend of the price is as follows: Coking coal price is influenced by the decrease of the Japanese steel production as well as the world-wide surplus of coal, and all import prices have gone down except semi-caking coal of USA. Price level is very high in USA and Canada, but is low in Australia and others. Recently, strikes are frequent in South Africa and Canada; profit of coal mines is coming down; US dollar rate is sinking; contract quantity is shrinking; these give an estimate that both general coal and coking coal prices will not so easily go down further. (10 tabs)

The de-escalation of nuclear crises

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nation, J.E.

1992-01-01

Whether and by what means nations can successfully de-escalate nuclear crises - and avoid the disastrous effects of nuclear war - will remain two of the most critical challenges facing humankind. Whatever the future of superpower relations, the United States, the Soviet Union, and other nations will undoubtedly continue to possess and to threaten the use of nuclear weapons. Moreover, the number of nations with nuclear weapons seems likely to increase. This examines how nations in crises might successfully move back from the brink of nuclear war - and how confidence-building measures might help and hinder the de-escalatory process

Early termination of prostate cancer hyperfractionated dose escalation study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forman, Jeffrey D; Porter, Arthur T; Kocheril, Paul; Grignon, David; Orton, Colin

1996-01-01

Purpose: This study was initiated to determine the maximum tolerable dose of hyperfractionated radiation in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Forty-nine patients with locally advanced prostate cancer (T3-T4 Nx, 0, 1 M0 and/or Gleason Score ≥ 8) were treated on the first two steps of a prospective dose-escalation study using hyperfractionated conformal radiotherapy. The first 25 patients received a minimum dose of 78Gy to the clinical tumor volume (CTV) including the prostate, seminal vesicle and a 5mm margin at 1.3Gy b.i.d. The second group (24 patients) received a minimum dose to the CTV of 82.8Gy at 1.15Gy b.i.d. Twenty eight patients received neo-adjuvant hormonal therapy in conjunction with their radiation (8 of 25 patients at 78Gy and 20 of 24 patients at 82.8Gy). Toxicity was scored according to the RTOG grading scale. Efficacy was evaluated by PSA levels and ultrasound guided biopsies. Median follow up was 36 and 18 months for the 78Gy and 82.8Gy dose levels, respectively. Results: No grade 3 or 4 gastrointestinal (GI) or genitourinary (GU) toxicity was noted. At 36 months, the actuarial probability of Grade 2 GI and GU toxicity were 16 and 20%, respectively. Twelve to 18 months following radiation, 41 patients (86%) underwent ultrasound guided biopsy. At 78Gy, 60% of 20 patients had a biopsy which was negative or showed a marked therapeutic effect. At 82.8Gy, these combined rates were 95% in the 21 patients who had biopsies. Nine patients (50%) who did not receive neo-adjuvant hormones had positive biopsies. No patient who received neo-adjuvant hormones plus 78Gy (5 patients) or 82.8Gy (18 patients) had a positive biopsy. Conclusion: Proceeding to the next dose level (87.4Gy) was justified by the lack of severe chronic toxicity. However, in view of the high rate of histologic sterilization when hyperfractionated irradiation was given in conjunction with neo-adjuvant hormonal therapy, it was felt to be unethical to

Dose escalation without split-course chemoradiation for anal cancer: results of a phase II RTOG study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

John, Madhu; Pajak, Thomas; Kreig, Richard; Pinover, Wayne H.; Myerson, Robert

1997-01-01

PURPOSE: An attempt at radiotherapy (RT) dose escalation (from 45 Gy to 59.6 Gy) in a Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) chemoradiation protocol for advanced anal cancers had resulted in an unexpectedly high 1-year colostomy rate (23%) and local failure (The Cancer Journal from Scientific American 2 (4):205-211, 1996). This was felt to be probably secondary to the split course chemoradiation (CR) that was mandated in the protocol. A second phase of this dose escalation study was therefore undertaken without a mandatory split and with an identical RT dose (59.6 Gy) and chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty patients with anal cancers ≥2 cms were treated with a concurrent combination of 59.6 Gy to the pelvis and perineum (1.8 Gy daily, 5 times per week in 33 fractions over 6 (1(2)) weeks) and two cycles of 5 fluorouracil infusion (1000 mg/m 2 over 24 hours for 4 days) and mitomycin C (10 mg/m 2 bolus). A 10 day rest period was allowed only for severe skin reactions. A comparative analysis was made with the 47 patients in the earlier phase of this study who were treated with the identical chemoradiation course but with a mandatory 2-week break at the 36.00 Gy level. RESULTS: Predominant Grade 3 and 4 toxicities in 18 evaluable patients with dermatitis ((14(18)) or 78%), hematologic ((14(18)) or 78%), infection ((3(18)) or 17%) and gastrointestinal ((5(18)) or 28%). There were no fatalities. Nine patients (50%) completed the planned course without a break; 9 others (50%) had their treatments interrupted for a median of 11 days (range 7-19 days) at a median dose of 41.4 Gy (range 32.4 to 48.6 Gy). This compared to (40(47)) patients (85%) who had a 12 day treatment interruption at 36 Gy total dose in a planned break group. One patient had an abdomino-perineal resection (APR) for persistent disease and another for an anal fissure for (2(18)) or 11% 1-year colostomy rate. This was again favorably comparable to 23% 1-year colostomy rate for the earlier group of

Trends in prices to commercial energy consumers in the competitive Texas electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zarnikau, Jay; Fox, Marilyn; Smolen, Paul

2007-01-01

To date, the price of electricity to commercial or business energy consumers has generally increased at greater rates in the areas of Texas where retail competition has been introduced than in areas that do not enjoy competition. Trends in commercial competitive prices have largely mirrored trends in residential prices. Market restructuring has tended to increase the sensitivity of retail electricity prices to changes in the price of natural gas, the marginal fuel used for generation in Texas. Consequently, the rapid increases in the commodity price of natural gas following restructuring led to increases in competitive electric rates which exceeded the increases in areas not exposed to restructuring, where the fuel component of electric rates tend to reflect a weighted average of the utilities' fuel costs. There is some evidence that pricing behavior by competitive retailers changed when the retailers affiliated with the incumbent utilities were permitted some pricing flexibility, resulting in a reduction in prices. (author)

7 CFR 1124.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1124.53 Section 1124.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

Pricing of on-line advertising: pay-per-view or pay-per-click?

OpenAIRE

Fjell, Kenneth

2007-01-01

We analyse the choice of pay-per-view (PPV) and price-per-click (PPC) when a web publisher is a price taker in the market for advertising banners, and the number of visits is decreasing in advertising. The main result is that the web publisher should always choose either PPV or PPC. If the click-through rate is exogenous, then the optimal amount of advertising is the same for both pricing metholds and the choice of pricing method is given by the click-through rate. If the click-through rate i...

Inefficient and opaque price formation in the Japan Electric Power Exchange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakajima, Tadahiro

2013-01-01

This study examines whether the spot prices in the Japan Electric Power Exchange are efficiently formed from April 3, 2006, to March 31, 2012, using the conventional and rank-based variance-ratio tests. The results seem to reject the efficient market hypothesis in the market. Moreover, by applying Granger-causality tests, this paper investigates whether the power price is determined from the information of primary energy and exchange markets that directly affect the cost of power generation. The results indicate no Granger-causality from the prices of oil and gas and the exchange rate to the price of electricity. Finally, this paper discusses the factors that lead to inefficient and mysterious price formation. - Highlights: ► This study examines the wholesale electricity market in Japan. ► Efficient market hypothesis is rejected. ► Prices of imported fuel do not Granger-cause the prices of electricity. ► The WTI prices and the exchange rates do not Granger-cause the power prices

47 CFR 51.607 - Wholesale pricing standard.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Wholesale pricing standard. 51.607 Section 51.607 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES (CONTINUED) INTERCONNECTION Resale § 51.607 Wholesale pricing standard. The wholesale rate that an incumbent LEC may charge...

Androgen Suppression Combined with Elective Nodal and Dose Escalated Radiation Therapy (the ASCENDE-RT Trial): An Analysis of Survival Endpoints for a Randomized Trial Comparing a Low-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy Boost to a Dose-Escalated External Beam Boost for High- and Intermediate-risk Prostate Cancer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morris, W. James, E-mail: jmorris@bccancer.bc.ca [Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); BC Cancer Agency–Vancouver Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Tyldesley, Scott [Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); BC Cancer Agency–Vancouver Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Rodda, Sree [Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Halperin, Ross [Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); BC Cancer Agency–Centre for the Southern Interior, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Pai, Howard [Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); BC Cancer Agency–Vancouver Island Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); McKenzie, Michael; Duncan, Graeme [Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); BC Cancer Agency–Vancouver Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Morton, Gerard [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Hamm, Jeremy [Department of Population Oncology, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Murray, Nevin [BC Cancer Agency–Vancouver Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)

2017-06-01

Purpose: To report the primary endpoint of biochemical progression-free survival (b-PFS) and secondary survival endpoints from ASCENDE-RT, a randomized trial comparing 2 methods of dose escalation for intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer. Methods and Materials: ASCENDE-RT enrolled 398 men, with a median age of 68 years; 69% (n=276) had high-risk disease. After stratification by risk group, the subjects were randomized to a standard arm with 12 months of androgen deprivation therapy, pelvic irradiation to 46 Gy, followed by a dose-escalated external beam radiation therapy (DE-EBRT) boost to 78 Gy, or an experimental arm that substituted a low-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy (LDR-PB) boost. Of the 398 trial subjects, 200 were assigned to DE-EBRT boost and 198 to LDR-PB boost. The median follow-up was 6.5 years. Results: In an intent-to-treat analysis, men randomized to DE-EBRT were twice as likely to experience biochemical failure (multivariable analysis [MVA] hazard ratio [HR] 2.04; P=.004). The 5-, 7-, and 9-year Kaplan-Meier b-PFS estimates were 89%, 86%, and 83% for the LDR-PB boost versus 84%, 75%, and 62% for the DE-EBRT boost (log-rank P<.001). The LDR-PB boost benefited both intermediate- and high-risk patients. Because the b-PFS curves for the treatment arms diverge sharply after 4 years, the relative advantage of the LDR-PB should increase with longer follow-up. On MVA, the only variables correlated with reduced overall survival were age (MVA HR 1.06/y; P=.004) and biochemical failure (MVA HR 6.30; P<.001). Although biochemical failure was associated with increased mortality and randomization to DE-EBRT doubled the rate of biochemical failure, no significant overall survival difference was observed between the treatment arms (MVA HR 1.13; P=.62). Conclusions: Compared with 78 Gy EBRT, men randomized to the LDR-PB boost were twice as likely to be free of biochemical failure at a median follow-up of 6.5 years.

Ion Elevators and Escalators in Multilevel Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Yehia M; Hamid, Ahmed M; Cox, Jonathan T; Garimella, Sandilya V B; Smith, Richard D

2017-02-07

We describe two approaches based upon ion "elevator" and "escalator" components that allow moving ions to different levels in structures for lossless ion manipulations (SLIM). Guided by ion motion simulations, we designed elevator and escalator components based upon ion current measurements providing essentially lossless transmission in multilevel designs. The ion elevator design allowed ions to efficiently bridge a 4 mm gap between levels. The component was integrated in a SLIM and coupled to a QTOF mass spectrometer using an ion funnel interface to evaluate the m/z range transmitted as compared to transmission within a level (e.g., in a linear section). The analysis of singly charged ions of m/z 600-2700 produced similar mass spectra for both elevator and straight (linear motion) components. In the ion escalator design, traveling waves (TW) were utilized to transport ions efficiently between two SLIM levels. Ion current measurements and ion mobility (IM) spectrometry analysis illustrated that ions can be transported between TW-SLIM levels with no significant loss of either ions or IM resolution. These developments provide a path for the development of multilevel designs providing, e.g., much longer IM path lengths, more compact designs, and the implementation of much more complex SLIM devices in which, e.g., different levels may operate at different temperatures or with different gases.

The potential influence of cell protectors for dose escalation in cancer therapy: an analysis of amifostine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCumber, Linda M.

2004-01-01

The attempt to increase the therapeutic ratio in an effort to improve survival or quality of life is the goal of modern cancer therapy. It is commonly accepted that local and systemic tumor control would increase if the dose intensity of antineoplastic drugs, radiation therapy, or the combination were increased. Radiation dose escalation using intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), accelerated or hypofractionated radiation schemes, and multidrug chemotherapy regimens are being used to try to increase tumor kill while inflicting minimal injury to normal tissue. Modern chemoradiation techniques have led to improved local regional control and increased cure rates, but the potentially severe and debilitating adverse effects of the therapies prevent them from reaching the ultimate goal of curing the disease while leaving the patient with a good quality of life. Cell protectants such as amifostine function by reducing the effects of therapy on normal cells while maintaining tumor sensitivity to the therapy. In various studies, amifostine has been analyzed and appears to be a potentially powerful adjuvant to current cancer therapy. Administering amifostine may allow dose escalation with less or equal risk to surrounding normal tissues. This could improve therapeutic efficacy, survival, and quality of life for cancer patients

Strategic Generation with Conjectured Transmission Price Responses in a Mixed Transmission Pricing System. Part 1. Formulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hobbs, B.F.; Rijkers, F.A.M.

2004-05-01

The conjectured supply function (CSF) model calculates an oligopolistic equilibrium among competing generating companies (GenCos), presuming that GenCos anticipate that rival firms will react to price increases by expanding their sales at an assumed rate. The CSF model is generalized here to include each generator's conjectures concerning how the price of transmission services (point-to-point service and constrained interfaces) will be affected by the amount of those services that the generator demands. This generalization reflects the market reality that large producers will anticipate that they can favorably affect transmission prices by their actions. The model simulates oligopolistic competition among generators while simultaneously representing a mixed transmission pricing system. This mixed system includes fixed transmission tariffs, congestion-based pricing of physical transmission constraints (represented as a linearized dc load flow), and auctions of interface capacity in a path-based pricing system. Pricing inefficiencies, such as export fees and no credit for counterflows, can be simulated. The model is formulated as a linear mixed complementarity problem, which enables very large market models to be solved. In the second paper of this two-paper series, the capabilities of the model are illustrated with an application to northwest Europe, where transmission pricing is based on such a mixture of approaches

Edgeworth Price Cycles, Cost-Based Pricing, and Sticky Pricing in Retail Gasoline Markets

OpenAIRE

Michael D. Noel

2007-01-01

This paper examines dynamic pricing behavior in retail gasoline markets for 19 Canadian cities over 574 weeks. I find three distinct retail pricing patterns: 1. cost-based pricing, 2. sticky pricing, and 3. steep, asymmetric retail price cycles that, while seldom documented empirically, resemble those of Maskin & Tirole[1988]. Using a Markov switching regression, I estimate the prevalence of patterns and the structural characteristics of the cycles. Retail price cycles prevail in over 40% of ...

Children Receiving Free or Reduced-Price School Lunch Have Higher Food Insufficiency Rates in Summer.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jin; Barnidge, Ellen; Kim, Youngmi

2015-09-01

In 2012, 20% of households in the United States with children lacked consistent access to adequate food. Food insufficiency has significant implications for children, including poor physical and mental health outcomes, behavior problems, and low educational achievements. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is one policy solution to reduce food insufficiency among children from low-income families. The objective of this project was to evaluate the association between NSLP participation and household food insufficiency by examining trajectories of food insufficiency over 10 calendar months. The calendar months included both nonsummer months when school is in session and summer months when school is out of session. The study used the data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and conducted linear growth curve analyses in the multilevel modeling context. Comparisons were made between the trajectories of food insufficiencies among recipients of free or reduced-price lunch and their counterparts who are eligible but choose not to participate in the program. Heads of households that included children receiving free or reduced-price lunch (n = 6867) were more likely to be female, black, unmarried, and unemployed, and have a lower educational attainment than those whose children were eligible but did not receive free or reduced-price lunch (n = 11,396). For households participating in the NSLP, the food insufficiency rate was consistent from January to May at ∼4%, and then increased in June and July to >5%. Meanwhile, food insufficiency among eligible nonrecipients was constant throughout the year at nearly 2%. The NSLP protects households from food insufficiency. Policies should be instituted to make enrollment easier for households. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

An overview of alternative fossil fuel price and carbon regulation scenarios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiser, Ryan; Bolinger, Mark

2004-10-01

The benefits of the Department of Energy's research and development (R&D) efforts have historically been estimated under business-as-usual market and policy conditions. In recognition of the insurance value of R&D, however, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Office of Fossil Energy (FE) have been exploring options for evaluating the benefits of their R&D programs under an array of alternative futures. More specifically, an FE-EERE Scenarios Working Group (the Working Group) has proposed to EERE and FE staff the application of an initial set of three scenarios for use in the Working Group's upcoming analyses: (1) a Reference Case Scenario, (2) a High Fuel Price Scenario, which includes heightened natural gas and oil prices, and (3) a Carbon Cap-and-Trade Scenario. The immediate goal is to use these scenarios to conduct a pilot analysis of the benefits of EERE and FE R&D efforts. In this report, the two alternative scenarios being considered by EERE and FE staff--carbon cap-and-trade and high fuel prices--are compared to other scenarios used by energy analysts and utility planners. The report also briefly evaluates the past accuracy of fossil fuel price forecasts. We find that the natural gas prices through 2025 proposed in the FE-EERE Scenarios Working Group's High Fuel Price Scenario appear to be reasonable based on current natural gas prices and other externally generated gas price forecasts and scenarios. If anything, an even more extreme gas price scenario might be considered. The price escalation from 2025 to 2050 within the proposed High Fuel Price Scenario is harder to evaluate, primarily because few existing forecasts or scenarios extend beyond 2025, but, at first blush, it also appears reasonable. Similarly, we find that the oil prices originally proposed by the Working Group in the High Fuel Price Scenario appear to be reasonable, if not conservative, based on: (1) the current forward market for oil, (2

Competitive Pricing by a Price Leader

OpenAIRE

Abhik Roy; Dominique M. Hanssens; Jagmohan S. Raju

1994-01-01

We examine the problem of pricing in a market where one brand acts as a price leader. We develop a procedure to estimate a leader's price rule, which is optimal given a sales target objective, and allows for the inclusion of demand forecasts. We illustrate our estimation procedure by calibrating this optimal price rule for both the leader and the follower using data on past sales and prices from the mid-size sedan segment of the U.S. automobile market. Our results suggest that a leader-follow...

Il cambio dollaro/euro, il prezzo del petrolio e la Banca Centrale Europea (Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate, Oil Price and the European Central Bank

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Sylos Labini

2012-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper an analysis on dollar/euro exchange rate, oil price and European Central Bank monetary policy is worked out. Firstly, data on the main variables related with the exchange rate and an equation to explain the variation of the exchange rate in the period March 1998-September 2000 are presented; secondly, the consequences of oil price growth and eurodevaluation on the US and European economies are taken into account; lastly, different policy strategies to stop eurodevaluation are discussed. The European Central Bank strategy, that consists of small increases of the interest rate, is not reaching any result. An alternative strategy is based on innovative public demand, that should be financed by European bonds using "central bank excess funds" as security. Public demand of infrastructures and new technologies should aim at reducing oil dependence and would stimulate growth and sustainable development in Europe, with positive effects on the exchange rate.       JEL Codes: E58, F31Keywords: Devaluation, Exchange Rates, Monetary

Fuel switching? Demand destruction? Gas market responses to price spikes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lippe, D.

2004-01-01

This presentation defined fuel switching and addressed the issue regarding which consumers have the capability to switch fuels. In response to short term price aberrations, consumers with fuel switching capabilities reduce their use of one fuel and increase consumption of an alternative fuel. For example, natural gas consumption by some consumers declines in response to price spikes relative to prices of alternative fuels. This presentation also addressed the issue of differentiating between fuel switching and demand destruction. It also demonstrated how to compare gas prices versus alternative fuel prices and how to determine when consumers will likely switch fuels. Price spikes have implications for long term trends in natural gas demand, supply/demand balances and prices. The power generating sector represents a particular class of gas consumers that reduce operating rates of gas fired plants and increase operating rates of other plants. Some gas consumers even shut down plants until gas prices declines and relative economies improve. Some practical considerations for fuel switching include storage tank capacity, domestic refinery production, winter heating season, and decline in working gas storage. tabs., figs

48 CFR 836.606-72 - Contract price.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract price. 836.606-72 Section 836.606-72 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SPECIAL...-72 Contract price. (a) Where negotiations with the top-rated firm are unsuccessful, the contracting...

Causal Nexus between Stock Price, Demand for Money, Interest Rate, Foreign Institutional Investment, and Exchange Rates in India: A Post Subprime Crisis Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iti Vyas

2014-08-01

Full Text Available This  paper  makes  an  attempt  to  empirically  examine  the  causal  nexus  between  stock price, demand for money, interest rates, foreign institutional investment and exchange rates in India in the post subprime mortgage crisis period. The study employed Granger causality test, Vector Auto Regression and Johansen Maximum Likelihood procedure to examine the short  run  and  long  run  dynamic  interaction  among  the  above  mentioned  variables  for  the period January 1993 to May 2009. The major indings of the study are: stock return affects exchange rate return, net foreign institutional investment and growth of demand for money. Growth  of  demand  for  money,  in  turn,  affects  interest  rate.  Interest  rate  is  more  affected by exchange rate return. Foreign institutional investment also affects interest rate. The co-integration  test  conirms  that  there  does  not  exist  any  long  run  equilibrium  relationship between stock return and exchange rate return ";} // -->activate javascript

Liquidity Traps and the Price (In)Determinacy of Monetary Rules

OpenAIRE

Eagle, David M

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a new methodology for assessing price indeterminacy to supplant the discredited nonexplosive criterion. Using this methodology, we find that nominal GDP targeting and price-level targeting do determine prices when the central bank follows a sufficiently strong feedback rule for setting the nominal interest rate. However, inflation targeting leads to price indeterminacy, a result consistent with the principles of calculus. This price indeterminacy of inflation targeting ...

List prices vs. bargain prices: which solution to estimate consumer price indices?

OpenAIRE

Carlo De Gregorio

2010-01-01

Alternative approaches to CPI surveys are here evaluated, in markets where final prices are based on some sort of price listing. Three types of surveys are compared: local surveys (LOC), with small samples and a local price collection; list price surveys (LIS), with huge samples and centralised collection; mixed surveys (MXD), in which LOC and LIS are jointly used. Based on a multiplicative pricing model, some conditions are derived to establish the relative efficiency of these approaches. Th...

Impact of cigarette “price wars” in Ukraine and Moldova

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konstantin Krasovsky

2017-05-01

The tobacco industry uses “price wars” to keep customers and to press governments to adopt profitable excise rates. Tobacco companies can set price wars as they have right to determine maximum retail selling prices. If a country uses “maximum retail prices” to calculate ad valorem excise, regulations should prohibit downward changes of such prices.

Research on the waiting time of passengers and escalator energy consumption at the railway station

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, Wei-wu; Liu, Xiao-yan; Li, Liqing; Shi, Xiangnan; Zhou, Chenn Q. [School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China)

2009-12-15

Based on the Little Formula and the classical queuing model of multi-channel M vertical stroke D vertical stroke n, the relation of the average queue length, the maximum waiting time and the escalator service intensity were identified and the waiting time simulation model was established. With the passenger delivery data at A railway station in China and the probability distribution model of waiting time, a detailed analysis was made on the escalator allocation, power and energy consumption on holidays, ordinary working days and the largest-passengers-volume days; meanwhile, the fixed and variable energy consumption were compared and studied when the waiting time are 5, 10 and 30 s. The result shows that the waiting time settings affect the allocation and the energy consumption of the escalators and the fixed energy consumption takes 70%. (author)

Oil price fluctuations and the Nigerian economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ayadi, O.F.

2005-01-01

The single most important issue confronting a growing number of world economies today is the price of oil and its attendant consequences on economic output. Several studies have taken the approach of Hamilton (1983) in investigating the effect of oil price shocks on levels of gross domestic product. The focus of this paper is primarily on the relationship between oil price changes and economic development via industrial production. A vector auto regression model is employed on some macroeconomic variables from 1980 through 2004. The results indicate that oil price changes affect real exchange rates, which, in turn, affect industrial production. However, this indirect effect of oil prices on industrial production is not statistically significant. Therefore, the implication of the results presented in this paper is that an increase in oil prices does not lead to an increase in industrial production in Nigeria. (author)

Consistent Valuation across Curves Using Pricing Kernels

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Andrea Macrina

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The general problem of asset pricing when the discount rate differs from the rate at which an asset’s cash flows accrue is considered. A pricing kernel framework is used to model an economy that is segmented into distinct markets, each identified by a yield curve having its own market, credit and liquidity risk characteristics. The proposed framework precludes arbitrage within each market, while the definition of a curve-conversion factor process links all markets in a consistent arbitrage-free manner. A pricing formula is then derived, referred to as the across-curve pricing formula, which enables consistent valuation and hedging of financial instruments across curves (and markets. As a natural application, a consistent multi-curve framework is formulated for emerging and developed inter-bank swap markets, which highlights an important dual feature of the curve-conversion factor process. Given this multi-curve framework, existing multi-curve approaches based on HJM and rational pricing kernel models are recovered, reviewed and generalised and single-curve models extended. In another application, inflation-linked, currency-based and fixed-income hybrid securities are shown to be consistently valued using the across-curve valuation method.

Reducing tobacco use and access through strengthened minimum price laws.

Science.gov (United States)

McLaughlin, Ian; Pearson, Anne; Laird-Metke, Elisa; Ribisl, Kurt

2014-10-01

Higher prices reduce consumption and initiation of tobacco products. A minimum price law that establishes a high statutory minimum price and prohibits the industry's discounting tactics for tobacco products is a promising pricing strategy as an alternative to excise tax increases. Although some states have adopted minimum price laws on the basis of statutorily defined price "markups" over the invoice price, existing state laws have been largely ineffective at increasing the retail price. We analyzed 3 new variations of minimum price laws that hold great potential for raising tobacco prices and reducing consumption: (1) a flat rate minimum price law similar to a recent enactment in New York City, (2) an enhanced markup law, and (3) a law that incorporates both elements.

The nuclear power implications of OPEC prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brookes, L.G.

1975-01-01

It is generally assumed - not unreasonably - that quadrupling oil prices offers a great opportunity to nuclear power and that installation rates should now be much than if prices had stayed down. It is argued that this view is too facile: the effect of raised oil prices on Western economies is complex and longlasting; nuclear power prospects are at least as likely to be depressed as enhanced - unless more weight is given to long-term strategic factors. (author)

ECONOMICAL PLANS EFFECTS ON CHARCOAL PRICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Luiz Pereira Rezende

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Energy is essential for human needs satisfaction. With the evolution of machinery, man becomes more and more dependent on the energy stocked in fossil fuels, comparatively to the primitive economy. Wood charcoal is a thermal-reducer used in Brazilian pig iron and steel industries, and its price is formed in an oligopsonic market. Over time, the charcoal prices have varied in function of endogenous and exogenous factors, needing, therefore, to be deflated so that they can be compared in two or more points in time. This work analyzed the variations of charcoal real prices, in national currency; compared and analyzed the real charcoal price in nominal and in real US Dollar and; analyzed the real prices of charcoal, comparatively to the real oil prices. The analyses were accomplished in the period from January 1975 to December 2002. The time series of charcoal prices, in domestic currency were deflated using IGP-DI, considering august, 1994=100, and charcoal prices were also converted to American dollar and deflated using CPI, considering the period 1982-84=100. It was compared, then, the real and nominal charcoal prices. It concluded that the real charcoal prices in Brazilian domestic currency, or in American dollar, presented a decreasing tendency along time. The inflationary disarray, in the 80´s and the first half of the 90 ´s, provoked a big price variation in the period; from the beginning the XXI century, charcoal prices were more influenced by the exchange rate; in the energy crisis period, charcoal prices suffered big changes that, however, did not persist along time.

Coal Price Forecasting and Structural Analysis in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaopeng Guo

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Coal plays an important role in China’s energy structure and its price has been continuously decreasing since the second half of 2012. Constant low price of coal affected the profits of coal enterprises and the coal use of its downstream firms; the precision of coal price provides a reference for these enterprises making their management strategy. Based on the historical data of coal price and related factors such as port stocks, sales volume, futures prices, Producer Price Index (PPI, and crude oil price rate from November 2013 to June 2016, this study aims to forecast coal price using vector autoregression (VAR model and portray the dynamic correlations between coal price and variables by the impulse response function and variance decomposition. Comparing predicted and actual values, the root mean square error (RMSE was small which indicated good precision of this model. Thus this short period prediction can help these enterprises make the right business decisions.

The Temptation of Zero Price: Event-Related Potentials Evidence of How Price Framing Influences the Purchase of Bundles

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Haiying Ma

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Studies have revealed that consumers are susceptible to price framing effect, a common cognitive bias, due to their limited capacity in processing information. The effect of price framing in a bundling context and its neural correlates, however, remain not clearly characterized. The present study applied the event-related potentials (ERPs approach to investigate the role of price framing in information processing and purchase decision making in a bundling context. Three price frames were created with practically identical total prices (with a maximum difference of ¥0.1, which was about equal to 0.016 US dollars for a bundle with two components, a focal product and a tie-in product. In normal price condition (NP, both the focal and tie-in products were offered at a normal discounted price; in zero price condition (ZP, the tie-in product was offered free while the total price of the bundle remained the same as NP; whereas in low price condition (LP, the tie-in product was offered at a low token price (¥0.1, and the focal product shared the same price as the focal product of ZP. The behavioral results showed a higher purchase rate and a shorter reaction time for ZP in contrast to NP. Neurophysiologically, enlarged LPP amplitude was elicited by ZP relative to NP, suggesting that ZP triggered a stronger positive affect that could motivate decision to buy. Thus, this study provides both behavioral and neural evidence for how different price framing information is processed and ultimately gives rise to price framing effect in purchase decision making.

The Temptation of Zero Price: Event-Related Potentials Evidence of How Price Framing Influences the Purchase of Bundles.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Haiying; Mo, Zan; Zhang, Huijun; Wang, Cuicui; Fu, Huijian

2018-01-01

Studies have revealed that consumers are susceptible to price framing effect, a common cognitive bias, due to their limited capacity in processing information. The effect of price framing in a bundling context and its neural correlates, however, remain not clearly characterized. The present study applied the event-related potentials (ERPs) approach to investigate the role of price framing in information processing and purchase decision making in a bundling context. Three price frames were created with practically identical total prices (with a maximum difference of ¥0.1, which was about equal to 0.016 US dollars) for a bundle with two components, a focal product and a tie-in product. In normal price condition (NP), both the focal and tie-in products were offered at a normal discounted price; in zero price condition (ZP), the tie-in product was offered free while the total price of the bundle remained the same as NP; whereas in low price condition (LP), the tie-in product was offered at a low token price (¥0.1), and the focal product shared the same price as the focal product of ZP. The behavioral results showed a higher purchase rate and a shorter reaction time for ZP in contrast to NP. Neurophysiologically, enlarged LPP amplitude was elicited by ZP relative to NP, suggesting that ZP triggered a stronger positive affect that could motivate decision to buy. Thus, this study provides both behavioral and neural evidence for how different price framing information is processed and ultimately gives rise to price framing effect in purchase decision making.

The Temptation of Zero Price: Event-Related Potentials Evidence of How Price Framing Influences the Purchase of Bundles

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Haiying; Mo, Zan; Zhang, Huijun; Wang, Cuicui; Fu, Huijian

2018-01-01

Studies have revealed that consumers are susceptible to price framing effect, a common cognitive bias, due to their limited capacity in processing information. The effect of price framing in a bundling context and its neural correlates, however, remain not clearly characterized. The present study applied the event-related potentials (ERPs) approach to investigate the role of price framing in information processing and purchase decision making in a bundling context. Three price frames were created with practically identical total prices (with a maximum difference of ¥0.1, which was about equal to 0.016 US dollars) for a bundle with two components, a focal product and a tie-in product. In normal price condition (NP), both the focal and tie-in products were offered at a normal discounted price; in zero price condition (ZP), the tie-in product was offered free while the total price of the bundle remained the same as NP; whereas in low price condition (LP), the tie-in product was offered at a low token price (¥0.1), and the focal product shared the same price as the focal product of ZP. The behavioral results showed a higher purchase rate and a shorter reaction time for ZP in contrast to NP. Neurophysiologically, enlarged LPP amplitude was elicited by ZP relative to NP, suggesting that ZP triggered a stronger positive affect that could motivate decision to buy. Thus, this study provides both behavioral and neural evidence for how different price framing information is processed and ultimately gives rise to price framing effect in purchase decision making. PMID:29731705

Qualitative and quantitative combined nonlinear dynamics model and its application in analysis of price, supply–demand ratio and selling rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Dingju

2016-01-01

The qualitative and quantitative combined nonlinear dynamics model proposed in this paper fill the gap in nonlinear dynamics model in terms of qualitative and quantitative combined methods, allowing the qualitative model and quantitative model to perfectly combine and overcome their weaknesses by learning from each other. These two types of models use their strengths to make up for the other’s deficiencies. The qualitative and quantitative combined models can surmount the weakness that the qualitative model cannot be applied and verified in a quantitative manner, and the high costs and long time of multiple construction as well as verification of the quantitative model. The combined model is more practical and efficient, which is of great significance for nonlinear dynamics. The qualitative and quantitative combined modeling and model analytical method raised in this paper is not only applied to nonlinear dynamics, but can be adopted and drawn on in the modeling and model analysis of other fields. Additionally, the analytical method of qualitative and quantitative combined nonlinear dynamics model proposed in this paper can satisfactorily resolve the problems with the price system’s existing nonlinear dynamics model analytical method. The three-dimensional dynamics model of price, supply–demand ratio and selling rate established in this paper make estimates about the best commodity prices using the model results, thereby providing a theoretical basis for the government’s macro-control of price. Meanwhile, this model also offer theoretical guidance to how to enhance people’s purchasing power and consumption levels through price regulation and hence to improve people’s living standards.

Pengaruh Framing Effect Sebagai Determinan Escalation of Commitment Dalam Keputusan Investasi: Dampak Dari Working Experiences

OpenAIRE

Yahya, Muhammad Nur; Surya, Jen

2012-01-01

The prior of research have shown that the framing effect is one of determinant in explaining decisions to escalate commitment to failing projects. However , have not considered whether experience moderates the framing effect on escalation of commitment. This study reports the results of an experiment in which the effect of decision frame of investment performance with negative feedback informatian on judgment to continue project of experienced subjects is compared to inexperienced subjects. F...

Arbitrage Pricing, Capital Asset Pricing, and Agricultural Assets

OpenAIRE

Louise M. Arthur; Colin A. Carter; Fay Abizadeh

1988-01-01

A new asset pricing model, the arbitrage pricing theory, has been developed as an alternative to the capital asset pricing model. The arbitrage pricing theory model is used to analyze the relationship between risk and return for agricultural assets. The major conclusion is that the arbitrage pricing theory results support previous capital asset pricing model findings that the estimated risk associated with agricultural assets is low. This conclusion is more robust for the arbitrage pricing th...

Output Price Risk, Material Input Price Risk, and Price Margins: Evidence from the US Catfish Industry.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Bouras

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Aim/purpose - To develop a conceptual model for analyzing the impact of output price risk and material input price risk on price margins. Design/methodology/approach - To analyze the combined effect of output price risk and material input risk on price margins, we use a series of comparative static analyses, GARCH models, and data ranging from 1990/01 to 2012/12. Findings - The theoretical results indicate that the impact of output price risk and the impact of material input price risk on price margins are ambiguous and, to a great extent, hinge on the correlation between output price and material input price. The empirical results show that whole frozen catfish price risk and live catfish price risk negatively affect the price margin for frozen catfish. The empirical results, however, indicate that the risk of the price of live catfish affects markedly the price margin for frozen whole catfish in contrast to the impact of the risk of the price of frozen whole catfish. Research implications/limitations - The empirical results have significant implications for managerial decision-making especially when crafting strategies for improving price margins. Accordingly, in order to beef up the price margin for frozen whole catfish, catfish processors may consider engaging in vertical integration. This paper has some limitations: first, it assumes that firms operate in competitive markets; second, it assumes that firms produce and sell a single product. Originality/value/contribution - Unlike earlier studies that focused solely on the effect of output price risk on price margins, this paper analyzes theoretically and empirically the impact of output price risk and material input price risk on price margins.

Rent dissipation through electricity prices of publicly owned utilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernard, J-T.; Roland, M.

1997-01-01

Pricing policies of Canadian public utilities were examined. It was shown that under the existing set of rules the prices established are frequently below the marginal cost. This appears to be particularly true in the case of provinces that rely principally on hydroelectric resources. Study recommendations to bring electricity prices in line with marginal costs have had little success to date despite overwhelming evidence of large economic losses associated with the current institutional arrangements. This situation remains at the same time that governments apply high tax rates on incomes. By putting together two strands of economic literature, public choice and the theory of public utility pricing, this paper develops a simple model that explains why the median consumer prefers a low electricity price and a high tax rate. Hydro-Quebec survey data is used to confirm that these conditions are satisfied in Quebec. 17 refs., 1 tab

Frequency Based Real-time Pricing for Residential Prosumers

Science.gov (United States)

Hambridge, Sarah Mabel

This work is the first to explore frequency based pricing for secondary frequency control as a price-reactive control mechanism for residential prosumers. A frequency based real-time electricity rate is designed as an autonomous market control mechanism for residential prosumers to provide frequency support as an ancillary service. In addition, prosumers are empowered to participate in dynamic energy transactions, therefore integrating Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), and increasing distributed energy storage onto the distributed grid. As the grid transitions towards DERs, a new market based control system will take the place of the legacy distributed system and possibly the legacy bulk power system. DERs provide many benefits such as energy independence, clean generation, efficiency, and reliability to prosumers during blackouts. However, the variable nature of renewable energy and current lack of installed energy storage on the grid will create imbalances in supply and demand as uptake increases, affecting the grid frequency and system operation. Through a frequency-based electricity rate, prosumers will be encouraged to purchase energy storage systems (ESS) to offset their neighbor's distributed generation (DG) such as solar. Chapter 1 explains the deregulation of the power system and move towards Distributed System Operators (DSOs), as prosumers become owners of microgrids and energy cells connected to the distributed system. Dynamic pricing has been proposed as a benefit to prosumers, giving them the ability to make decisions in the energy market, while also providing a way to influence and control their behavior. Frequency based real-time pricing is a type of dynamic pricing which falls between price-reactive control and transactive control. Prosumer-to-prosumer transactions may take the place of prosumer-to-utility transactions, building The Energy Internet. Frequency based pricing could be a mechanism for determining prosumer prices and supporting

Bridging the gap between theory and practice of transmission pricing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hughes, W.R.; Felak, R.

1996-01-01

The authors describe some strategies for pricing transmission service. Traditionally, wheeling prices have been postage stamp rates based on the level of megawatt demand; a related approach would assign grid costs to customers based on their respective shares of overall megawatt-miles. Innovative regulators have recently approved transmission rates based on opportunity cost of foregone capacity and the incremental costs of additional capacity needed to enable delivery. Others determined prices designed to reflect short-run congestion costs on the grid. The authors assess these pricing approaches and their effects on the distribution of wealth and economic efficiency for both firm and interruptible services. 3 refs

A Study on Rational Pricing System for Water Supply

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moon, H.J. [Korea Environment Institute, Seoul (Korea)

2001-12-01

Reasonable pricing of water can induce optimal water use by the public by relaying the considerable costs of water provision and plays an important role of providing a basic scheme for the reasonable management of water. This study provides a reasonable pricing scheme of water that reflects the economic and social values of water as a resource by investigating reasonable bulk-water pricing and retail-water pricing. For bulk pricing, the study discuss the range of costs to be covered, design of efficient pricing structures(differentiated by source quality, loss ratios and time year), and sharing efficient costs between beneficiaries (customer groups and regions). The study also addresses the adjustment of present charging schemes for bulk water such as charges for bulk water from dam, abstraction charges, and river charges etc. Factoring in demand and available resource characteristics, the differentiated pricing mechanism is also investigated. The study proposes a differentiated pricing mechanism based on season, where the pricing structure reflects the cost structure related to fluctuated demand. In addition, implementation methods and effects of introducing seasonal pricing scheme are discussed. Another seasonal pricing mechanism, the seasonally differentiated pricing scheme in bulk pricing reflects a cost structure related to resource availability, is also investigated. Increasing block rate as a reasonable pricing scheme for water conservation, and priority pricing as a tool socially desirable water allocation in the case water shortage are designed. for practical implementation of pricing scheme, several issues are discussed: identification and calculation of costs that should be covered and the structure of costs as a basis of differentiated pricing scheme, issue of forecasting, and practical that could be happen in the implementation of increasing block rate and seasonal pricing schemes, etc. Institutional systems that implement the proposed pricing schemes

7 CFR 1000.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... advanced pricing factors. 1000.53 Section 1000.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture..., component prices, and advanced pricing factors. (a) On or before the 5th day of the month, the market... administrator for each Federal milk marketing order shall announce the following prices and pricing factors for...

Lack of motor prediction, rather than perceptual conflict, evokes an odd sensation upon stepping onto a stopped escalator

Science.gov (United States)

Gomi, Hiroaki; Sakurada, Takeshi; Fukui, Takao

2014-01-01

When stepping onto a stopped escalator, we often perceive an “odd sensation” that is never felt when stepping onto stairs. The sight of an escalator provides a strong contextual cue that, in expectation of the backward acceleration when stepping on, triggers an anticipatory forward postural adjustment driven by a habitual and implicit motor process. Here we contrast two theories about why this postural change leads to an odd sensation. The first theory links the odd sensation to a lack of sensorimotor prediction from all low-level implicit motor processes. The second theory links the odd sensation to the high-level conflict between the conscious awareness that the escalator is stopped and the implicit perception that evokes an endogenous motor program specific to a moving escalator. We show very similar postural changes can also arise from reflexive responses to visual stimuli, such as contracting/expanding optic flow fields, and that these reflexive responses produce similar odd sensations to the stopped escalator. We conclude that the high-level conflict is not necessary for such sensations. In contrast, the implicitly driven behavioral change itself essentially leads to the odd sensation in motor perception since the unintentional change may be less attributable to self-generated action because of a lack of motor predictions. PMID:24688460

Price and Income Elasticities of Russian Exports

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernardina Algieri

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The paper gauges export demand elasticities for Russia using an Error Correction technique within a cointegration framework. An extended version of the Imperfect Substitutes Model has been implemented to estimate the sensitivity of Russian exports without oil components to price and to Russian and world income. Our results suggest a robust and negative long run cointegration relationship between the real effective exchange rate, defined as the weighted average of the rouble’s exchange rates versus a basket of the three currencies with the largest share in the trade turnover adjusted to incorporate inflation rate differences (the ratio of the domestic price indices to the foreign price indices, and Russian exports. An increase in exports by 24% is caused by a real depreciation by 10%. Furthermore, a 10% growth in world income leads to a 33% rise in exports. Finally, exports drop by 14% whenever a 10% increase in domestic income occurs

Ex-vessel Fish Price Database: Disaggregating Prices for Low-Priced Species from Reduction Fisheries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Travis C. Tai

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Ex-vessel fish prices are essential for comprehensive fisheries management and socioeconomic analyses for fisheries science. In this paper, we reconstructed a global ex-vessel price database with the following areas of improvement: (1 compiling reported prices explicitly listed as “for reduction to fishmeal and fish oil” to estimate prices separately for catches destined for fishmeal and fish oil production, and other non-direct human consumption purposes; (2 including 95% confidence limit estimates for each price estimation; and (3 increasing the number of input data and the number of price estimates to match the reconstructed Sea Around Us catch database. Our primary focus was to address this first area of improvement as ex-vessel prices for catches destined for non-direct human consumption purposes were substantially overestimated, notably in countries with large reduction fisheries. For example in Peru, 2010 landed values were estimated as 3.8 billion real 2010 USD when using separate prices for reduction fisheries, compared with 5.8 billion using previous methods with only one price for all end-products. This update of the price database has significant global and country-specific impacts on fisheries price and landed value trends over time.

The impact of alternative pricing methods for drugs in California Workers' Compensation System: Fee-schedule pricing.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Leslie; Turkistani, Fatema A; Huang, Wei; Tran, Dang M; Lin, Tracy Kuo

2018-01-01

California's Workers' Compensation System (CAWCS) Department of Industrial Relations questioned the adequacy of the current Medi-Cal fee-schedule pricing and requested analysis of alternatives that maximize price availability and maintain budget neutrality. To compare CAWCS pharmacy-dispensed (PD) drug prices under alternative fee schedules, and identify combinations of alternative benchmarks that have prices available for the largest percentage of PD drugs and that best reach budget neutrality. Claims transaction-level data (2011-2013) from CAWCS were used to estimate total annual PD pharmaceutical payments. Medi-Cal pricing data was from the Workman's Compensation Insurance System (WCIS). Average Wholesale Prices (AWP), Wholesale Acquisition Costs (WAC), Direct Prices (DP), Federal Upper Limit (FUL) prices, and National Average Drug Acquisition Costs (NADAC) were from Medi-Span. We matched National Drug Codes (NDCs), pricing dates, and drug quantity for comparisons. We report pharmacy-dispensed (PD) claims frequency, reimbursement matching rate, and paid costs by CAWCS as the reference price against all alternative price benchmarks. Of 12,529,977 CAWCS claims for pharmaceutical products 11.6% (1,462,814) were for PD drugs. Prescription drug cost for CAWCS was over $152M; $63.9M, $47.9M, and $40.6M in 2011-2013. Ninety seven percent of these CAWCS PD claims had a Medi-Cal price. Alternative mechanisms provided a price for fewer claims; NADAC 94.23%, AWP 90.94%, FUL 73.11%, WAC 66.98%, and DP 14.33%. Among CAWCS drugs with no Medi-Cal price in PD claims, AWP, WAC, NADAC, DP, and FUL provided prices for 96.7%, 63.14%, 24.82%, 20.83%, and 15.08% of claims. Overall CAWCS paid 100.52% of Medi-Cal, 60% of AWP, 97% of WAC, 309.53% of FUL, 103.83% of DP, and 136.27% of NADAC. CAWCS current Medi-Cal fee-schedule price list for PD drugs is more complete than all alternative fee-schedules. However, all reimbursement approaches would require combinations of pricing benchmarks

Strategy of Using Intratreatment Hypoxia Imaging to Selectively and Safely Guide Radiation Dose De-escalation Concurrent With Chemotherapy for Locoregionally Advanced Human Papillomavirus–Related Oropharyngeal Carcinoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Nancy; Schoder, Heiko; Beattie, Brad; Lanning, Ryan; Riaz, Nadeem; McBride, Sean; Katabi, Nora; Li, Duan; Yarusi, Brett; Chan, Susie; Mitrani, Lindsey; Zhang, Zhigang; Pfister, David G.; Sherman, Eric; Baxi, Shrujal; Boyle, Jay; Morris, Luc G.T.; Ganly, Ian; Wong, Richard; Humm, John

2016-01-01

Purpose: To report a small substudy of an ongoing large, multi-arm study using functional imaging to assess pre-/intratreatment hypoxia for all head and neck cancer, in which we hypothesized that pre- and early-treatment hypoxia assessment using functional positron emission tomography (PET) imaging may help select which human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive (HPV"+) oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients can safely receive radiation de-escalation without jeopardizing treatment outcomes. Methods and Materials: Patients with HPV"+ oropharyngeal carcinoma were enrolled on an institutional review board–approved prospective study of which de-escalation based on imaging response was done for node(s) only. Pretreatment "1"8F-fluorodeoxyglucose and dynamic "1"8F-FMISO (fluoromisonidazole) positron emission tomography (PET) scans were performed. For patients with pretreatment hypoxia on"1"8F-FMISO PET (defined as a >1.2 tumor to muscle standard uptake value ratio), a repeat scan was done 1 week after chemoradiation. Patients without pretreatment hypoxia or with resolution of hypoxia on repeat scan received a 10-Gy dose reduction to metastatic lymph node(s). The 2-year local, regional, distant metastasis–free, and overall survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method. A subset of patients had biopsy of a hypoxic node done under image guidance. Results: Thirty-three HPV"+ OPC patients were enrolled in this pilot study. One hundred percent showed pretreatment hypoxia (at primary site and/or node[s]), and among these, 48% resolved (at primary site and/or node[s]); 30% met criteria and received 10-Gy reduction to the lymph node(s). At the median follow-up of 32 months (range, 21-61 months), the 2-year locoregional control rate was 100%. One patient failed distantly with persistence of hypoxia on "1"8F-FMISO PET. The 2-year distant metastasis–free rate was 97%. The 2-year OS rate was 100%. Hypoxia on imaging was confirmed pathologically

Strategy of Using Intratreatment Hypoxia Imaging to Selectively and Safely Guide Radiation Dose De-escalation Concurrent With Chemotherapy for Locoregionally Advanced Human Papillomavirus–Related Oropharyngeal Carcinoma

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Lee, Nancy, E-mail: leen2@mskcc.org [Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Schoder, Heiko [Molecular Imaging and Therapy Service, Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Beattie, Brad [Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Lanning, Ryan; Riaz, Nadeem; McBride, Sean [Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Katabi, Nora [Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Li, Duan [Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Yarusi, Brett; Chan, Susie; Mitrani, Lindsey [Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Zhang, Zhigang [Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Pfister, David G.; Sherman, Eric; Baxi, Shrujal [Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Boyle, Jay; Morris, Luc G.T.; Ganly, Ian; Wong, Richard [Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Humm, John [Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States)

2016-09-01

Purpose: To report a small substudy of an ongoing large, multi-arm study using functional imaging to assess pre-/intratreatment hypoxia for all head and neck cancer, in which we hypothesized that pre- and early-treatment hypoxia assessment using functional positron emission tomography (PET) imaging may help select which human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive (HPV{sup +}) oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients can safely receive radiation de-escalation without jeopardizing treatment outcomes. Methods and Materials: Patients with HPV{sup +} oropharyngeal carcinoma were enrolled on an institutional review board–approved prospective study of which de-escalation based on imaging response was done for node(s) only. Pretreatment {sup 18}F-fluorodeoxyglucose and dynamic {sup 18}F-FMISO (fluoromisonidazole) positron emission tomography (PET) scans were performed. For patients with pretreatment hypoxia on{sup 18}F-FMISO PET (defined as a >1.2 tumor to muscle standard uptake value ratio), a repeat scan was done 1 week after chemoradiation. Patients without pretreatment hypoxia or with resolution of hypoxia on repeat scan received a 10-Gy dose reduction to metastatic lymph node(s). The 2-year local, regional, distant metastasis–free, and overall survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method. A subset of patients had biopsy of a hypoxic node done under image guidance. Results: Thirty-three HPV{sup +} OPC patients were enrolled in this pilot study. One hundred percent showed pretreatment hypoxia (at primary site and/or node[s]), and among these, 48% resolved (at primary site and/or node[s]); 30% met criteria and received 10-Gy reduction to the lymph node(s). At the median follow-up of 32 months (range, 21-61 months), the 2-year locoregional control rate was 100%. One patient failed distantly with persistence of hypoxia on {sup 18}F-FMISO PET. The 2-year distant metastasis–free rate was 97%. The 2-year OS rate was 100%. Hypoxia on imaging was

A Clinical phase I/II trial to investigate preoperative dose-escalated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT in patients with retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma

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Roeder Falk

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Local control rates in patients with retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma (RSTS remain disappointing even after gross total resection, mainly because wide margins are not achievable in the majority of patients. In contrast to extremity sarcoma, postoperative radiation therapy (RT has shown limited efficacy due to its limitations in achievable dose and coverage. Although Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT has been introduced in some centers to overcome the dose limitations and resulted in increased outcome, local failure rates are still high even if considerable treatment related toxicity is accepted. As postoperative administration of RT has some general disadvantages, neoadjuvant approaches could offer benefits in terms of dose escalation, target coverage and reduction of toxicity, especially if highly conformal techniques like intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT are considered. Methods/design The trial is a prospective, one armed, single center phase I/II study investigating a combination of neoadjuvant dose-escalated IMRT (50–56 Gy followed by surgery and IORT (10–12 Gy in patients with at least marginally resectable RSTS. The primary objective is the local control rate after five years. Secondary endpoints are progression-free and overall survival, acute and late toxicity, surgical resectability and patterns of failure. The aim of accrual is 37 patients in the per-protocol population. Discussion The present study evaluates combined neoadjuvant dose-escalated IMRT followed by surgery and IORT concerning its value for improved local control without markedly increased toxicity. Trial registration NCT01566123

A Clinical phase I/II trial to investigate preoperative dose-escalated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) in patients with retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma

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Roeder, Falk; Hensley, Frank W; Buechler, Markus W; Debus, Juergen; Koch, Moritz; Weitz, Juergen; Bischof, Marc; Schulz-Ertner, Daniela; Nikoghosyan, Anna V; Huber, Peter E; Edler, Lutz; Habl, Gregor; Krempien, Robert; Oertel, Susanne; Saleh-Ebrahimi, Ladan

2012-01-01

Local control rates in patients with retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma (RSTS) remain disappointing even after gross total resection, mainly because wide margins are not achievable in the majority of patients. In contrast to extremity sarcoma, postoperative radiation therapy (RT) has shown limited efficacy due to its limitations in achievable dose and coverage. Although Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT) has been introduced in some centers to overcome the dose limitations and resulted in increased outcome, local failure rates are still high even if considerable treatment related toxicity is accepted. As postoperative administration of RT has some general disadvantages, neoadjuvant approaches could offer benefits in terms of dose escalation, target coverage and reduction of toxicity, especially if highly conformal techniques like intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) are considered. The trial is a prospective, one armed, single center phase I/II study investigating a combination of neoadjuvant dose-escalated IMRT (50–56 Gy) followed by surgery and IORT (10–12 Gy) in patients with at least marginally resectable RSTS. The primary objective is the local control rate after five years. Secondary endpoints are progression-free and overall survival, acute and late toxicity, surgical resectability and patterns of failure. The aim of accrual is 37 patients in the per-protocol population. The present study evaluates combined neoadjuvant dose-escalated IMRT followed by surgery and IORT concerning its value for improved local control without markedly increased toxicity. NCT01566123

Oil price shocks, stock market, economic activity and employment in Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Papapetrou, E.

2001-01-01

Using a multivariate vector-autoregression (VAR) approach, this paper attempts to shed light into the dynamic relationship among oil prices, real stock prices, interest rates, real economic activity and employment for Greece. The empirical evidence suggests that oil price changes affect real economic activity and employment. Oil prices are important in explaining stock price movements. Stock returns do not lead to changes in real activity and employment

Price discrimination in obstetric services--a case study in Bangladesh.

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