Organizational Design and Resource Evaluation

A crucial problem of evaluating, discovering, and creating the value of resources remains at the center of the subject of business strategy. The present article draws on reliability theory to advance an analytical platform that can address part of this problem, the evaluation of resource value. Reliability theory offers a way to model managerial ability and to derive the evaluation properties of organizations, boards, teams and committees. It is shown how the problem of resource evaluation can be remedied by proper evaluation structures. An evaluation structure that is build out of a very few agents can achieve significant improvements. A simulation of the classical n-armed bandit problem shows how evaluation structures can help managers select innovations of better economic value.Reliability theory, resource value

Evaluation of Uncertain International Markets The Advantage of Flexible Organization Structures

The present article is concerned with organizational flexibility in transnational corporations (TNCs), i.e., larger firms that operate in multiple national markets. Contrasting prior research into entry modes (e.g. joint ventures, greenfield investments, or acquisitions), the present article examines the way the organization of evaluation teams can influence entry and exit decisions of business units. Empirical studies broadly support the claim that TNCs experiment with flexible organizational structures in response to increased levels of turbulence and uncertainty in international markets. However, these advances in the description of TNCs, and more generally in the literature on new organizational forms, have been largely ignored in our theories about evaluation of market opportunities in TNCs and multi-national corporations (MNCs). To address this gap in our knowledge, the present article examines the effects of flexible evaluation teams when TNCs assess the viability of international markets characterized by high levels of uncertainty. Remarkably, we show that TNCs employing flexible teams of (very) fallible evaluators can obtain profits at levels that asymptote optimality. Our main result supports the claim advanced in recent empirical studies. Structural flexibility can help TNCs employing (very) fallible evaluators achieve high levels of performance in conditions of turbulence and uncertainty.Multinational corporations, entry modes

Detecting compact binary coalescences with seedless clustering

Compact binary coalescences are a promising source of gravitational waves for second-generation interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. Although matched filtering is the optimal search method for well-modeled systems, alternative detection strategies can be used to guard against theoretical errors (e.g., involving new physics and/or assumptions about spin/eccentricity) while providing a measure of redundancy. In previous work, we showed how "seedless clustering" can be used to detect long-lived gravitational-wave transients in both targeted and all-sky searches. In this paper, we apply seedless clustering to the problem of low-mass ($M_\text{total}\leq10M_\odot$) compact binary coalescences for both spinning and eccentric systems. We show that seedless clustering provides a robust and computationally efficient method for detecting low-mass compact binaries

Information and Communications Technology in Chronic Disease Care: Why is Adoption So Slow and Is Slower Better?

Unlike the widespread adoption of information and communications technology (ICT) in much of the economy, adoption of ICT in clinical care is limited. We examine how a number of not previously emphasized features of the health care and ICT markets interact and exacerbate each other to create barriers for adoption. We also examine how standards can address these barriers and the key issues to consider before investing in ICT. We conclude that the ICT market exhibits a number of unique features that may delay or completely prevent adoption, including low product differentiation, high switching costs, and lack of technical compatibility. These barriers are compounded by the many interlinked markets in health care, which substantially blunt the use of market forces to influence adoption. Patient heterogeneity also exacerbates the barriers by wide variation in needs and ability for using ICT, by high demands for interoperability, and by higher replacement costs. Technical standards are critical for ensuring optimal use of the technology. Careful consideration of the socially optimal time to invest is needed. The value of waiting in health care is likely to be so much greater than in other sectors because the costs of adopting the wrong type of ICT are so much higher.

The frequency and cause of shallow winter mixed layers in the Gulf of Maine

In the Gulf of Maine, regional differences in wintertime stratification have important biological and physical implications. Phytoplankton blooms linked with shallow stratification events during the winter are important because they can provide an additional food source for zooplankton and larval fish populations. Regional differences in stratification and mixed layer depth may also affect rates of air-sea gas exchange. On an annual basis, variability in wintertime air-sea CO2 exchange is significant since it can affect the entire region\u27s role as a sink or source of atmospheric carbon. Before examining how patterns in stratification affect biological and physical systems in the Gulf of Maine, it is necessary to understand the spatial and temporal variability in wintertime mixed layer depths. The cause and frequency of shallow winter mixed layers in the Gulf of Maine is investigated using salinity, temperature, and wind data. Salinity and temperature data comes from hydrographic profiles and moored, autonomous data collection buoys. Hydrographic profile data are available from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) and Coastal Ocean Observing and Analysis (COOA) databanks. Time-series salinity and temperature data are taken from Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GOMOOS) moorings. Wind data are available from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Reanalysis II model. The roles of salinity, temperature, and wind stress are quantified to identify the cause of temporal and spatial patterns in stratification. To examine spatial variability, the Gulf of Maine is divided into 5 zones; Coastal, Western, Eastern, Northern, and Georges Bank. Inter-zonal comparison of mixed layer depth reveals distinct regional differences. Cast data shows considerable changes in mixed layer depth can occur over short distances. GOMOOS mooring data show that shallow mixed layers often occur and persist through the entire winter in the coastal and eastern Gulf of Maine. In these areas upper water-column (0--20m) stratification is governed by salinity. Cast data indicate deeper mixing over Wilkinson Basin. In this area, stratification in the upper 20m is weak and often governed by temperature decrease with depth. However, in all regions salinity increase with depth is responsible for the majority of shallow winter mixed layers. Comparison of wind stress and stratification at the GOMOOS moorings shows that winter wind events do not break down salinity driven stratification

Further Evidence on Hedge Funds Performance.

In this analysis we identify dynamic hedge fund strategies quantitatively pursuing a Principal Component Analysis following Fung and Hsieh (1997). We extract five dominant hedge fund strategies each representing similar investment styles and analyse the performance of each strategy by employing a multi-factor model comprising both market indices and passive option strategies along the lines of Agerwal and Naik (2000). We find that the majority of the five homogenous strategies show superior performance. However, correcting for survivorship bias this superior performance disappears.Hedge funds; Investment in securities; Performance; Dynamic strategies; Hedge funds performance;

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationPeripheral nerve electrodes offer the potential to record and stimulate nerve fibers for the control of neuroprosthetic devices or for functional electrical stimulation. For example, nerve cuff electrodes have been successfully used in clinical applications such as sacral nerve stimulation for the treatment of bladder incontinence and peroneal nerve stimulation for the treatment of foot drop. While nerve cuff electrodes function in these applications where broad stimulation of the nerve is suitable, specific recording and stimulation of small groups of nerve fibers is only possible through the use of more invasive electrodes. However, such electrodes elicit a foreign body response which can include the recruitment of macrophages to the device interface and changes in morphometric parameters in the implanted nerve which could negatively affect the performance of the electrodes. Here, we investigated the foreign body response to chronically implanted axially penetrating arrays and their associated encapsulation cuffs, as well as encapsulating cuffs in the absence of a penetrating array, in sciatic nerve. Additionally, we investigated the validity of the commonly used method of using the contralateral nerve as an internal control to an ipsilateral procedure. We found that the implantation of axially penetrating arrays and their associated cuffs elicits an inflammatory reaction, including the recruitment of macrophages to the electrode and cuff interfaces, which is accompanied by morphometric changes in the implanted nerve, similar to other penetrating arrays. Additionally, we found that the implantation of nerve cuffs alone elicited a similar reaction which was exacerbated when using an open mesh design. These studies establish a baseline measurement of the inflammatory response to axially penetrating arrays and their associated cuffs which can be used when considering future designs. These studies also suggest that the role of encapsulating cuffs in the inflammatory response to devices which contain both a cuff and a penetrating electrode needs to be further elucidated. We also found that naturally occurring difference in morphometric parameters do exists based on nerve location, and that ipsilateral procedures can cause changes in contralateral morphometric parameters compared with naïve controls, suggesting that the use of contralateral nerves as internal controls is inappropriate