Optimal Divisionalization for Selling Networks of Cable Television Services

In this article, a condition for the optimal division’s number is calculated, for a market with two cable operators who offer a network service. The rationale for justifying the partial covering of the national market from the cable operators is presented. Furthermore, a problem of moral hazard is revealed, which is able to appear through the implementation of franchising schemes with independent divisions. This is particularly interesting because it can be applied to several industries such as Cable Television and Entertainment, and other activities including Internet and Computer Games Centres, which offer Internet broadband access and network games.Cable Television, Divisionalization, Franchising.

Subjective Expectations Equilibrium in Economies with Uncertain Delivery

In economies with uncertain delivery, agents trade their endowments for lists instead of bundles. A list specifies a set of bundles such that the agent has the right to receive one of them. In this paper, with continuity conditions on private beliefs about the bundle that will be delivered, we establish existence of a subjective expectations equilibrium.Private information, Uncertain delivery, Subjective expectations equilibrium, General equilibrium, Incomplete information, Real options.

Two-period economies with private state verification

Private state verification is introduced in a two-period economy with spot markets in both periods and complete futures markets for contingent delivery in the second period. Existence of equilibrium is established, under standard assumptions. An example is presented in which a complete set of contingent markets allows agents to arrive at the optimal allocation of risk-bearing, while securities are not sufficient.General equilibrium, Asymmetric information, Private state verification, Two-period economies

Prudent Expectations Equilibrium in Economies with Uncertain Delivery

In an economy with private information, we introduce the notion of objects of choice as lists of bundles out of which the market selects one for delivery. This leads to an extension of the model of Arrow-Debreu that is used to study ex-ante trade with private state verification. The model does not require agents to have complete information about the space of states, being suited to a context of Knightian uncertainty. Under the assumption that agents are prudent, equilibrium is characterized by the fact that agents consume bundles with the same utility in states that they do not distinguish.General equilibrium, Private information, Incomplete information, Knightian uncertainty, Ambiguity, Uncertain delivery, Lists of bundles.

Referencial para a caracterização de websites de hotéis de acordo com as necessidades dos consumidores

Online presence is essential for tourism organisations, and the quality of websites can influence customers. In the case of hotels, there are many studies to evaluate website performance based on functionality, usability and other factors, much less on the amount of different information available to the consumer. In the near future by using Big Data it is expected that hotel websites will be dynamic, they will adapt themselves on-the-fly, showing personalized information to each consumer. Different consumers will have different websites (information? available) from the same hotel. This paper presents a framework for the characterisation of hotel websites, focusing on the amount of information available to the consumer in each website, which was applied in a case study during the last months of 2013 to the websites of five-star hotels that operate in the tourist region of the Algarve, Portugal. The framework allowed to identify a set of exhaustive indicators for hotel website characterisation, which were then grouped into ten fundamental information dimensions. These dimensions further fell into four dimension groups. Finally, it is presented and discussed quantitative and qualitative evaluations, that illustrates which indicators and dimensions are more often considered on hotel websites to satisfy the consumer?s information needs

The fish family Muraenidae: an ideal group for testing at small-scale the coherency of Macaronesia as a biogeographic unit, with the first report on separate fishery statistics

: The present study was conceptualized to study the muraenid species (moray eels) occurring around the volcanic archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary and Cabo Verde islands (eastern-central Atlantic). The biogeographic patterns of these species were analysed and compared. We then hypothesized that this fish family is an ideal group for testing at small-scale the coherency of Macaronesia and its direct biogeographic units: i.e. the Azores, Webbnesia and Cabo Verde, as proposed in recent scientific literature. Additionally, this paper provides for the first time separate fishery statistics for this group in the region that were analysed to contrast the biogeographic results.En prensa1,00

Crisis communication in the area of risk management: the CriCoRM project

Background. During the last H1N1 pandemic has emerged the importance of crisis communication as an essential part of health crisis management. The Project aims specifically to improve the understanding of crisis communication dynamics and effective tools and to allow public health institutions to communicate better with the public during health emergencies.Design and Methods. The Project will perform different activities: i) state of the art review; ii) identification of key stakeholders; iii) communicational analysis performed using data collected on stakeholder communication activities and their outcomes considering the lessons learnt from the analysis of the reasons for differing public reactions during pandemics; iv) improvement of the existing guidelines; v) development of Web 2.0 tools as web-platform and feed service and implementation of impact assessment algorithms; vi) organization of exercises and training on this issues.Expected impact of the study for public health. In the context of health security policies at an EU level, the project aims to find a common and innovative approach to health crisis communication that was displayed by differing reactions to the H1N1 pandemic policies. The focus on new social media tools aims to enhance the role of e-health, and the project aims to use these tools in the specific field of health institutions and citizens. The development of Web 2.0 tools for health crisis communication will allow an effective two-way exchange of information between public health institutions and citizens. An effective communication strategy will increase population compliance with public health recommendations

Metabolic Footprint, towards Understanding Type 2 Diabetes beyond Glycemia

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) heterogeneity is a major determinant of complications risk and treatment response. Using cluster analysis, we aimed to stratify glycemia within metabolic multidimensionality and extract pathophysiological insights out of metabolic profiling. We performed a cluster analysis to stratify 974 subjects (PREVADIAB2 cohort) with normoglycemia, prediabetes, or non-treated diabetes. The algorithm was informed by age, anthropometry, and metabolic milieu (glucose, insulin, C-peptide, and free fatty acid (FFA) levels during the oral glucose tolerance test OGTT). For cluster profiling, we additionally used indexes of metabolism mechanisms (e.g., tissue-specific insulin resistance, insulin clearance, and insulin secretion), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). We found prominent heterogeneity within two optimal clusters, mainly representing normometabolism (Cluster-I) or insulin resistance and NAFLD (Cluster-II), at higher granularity. This was illustrated by sub-clusters showing similar NAFLD prevalence but differentiated by glycemia, FFA, and GFR (Cluster-II). Sub-clusters with similar glycemia and FFA showed dissimilar insulin clearance and secretion (Cluster-I). This work reveals that T2D heterogeneity can be captured by a thorough metabolic milieu and mechanisms profiling-metabolic footprint. It is expected that deeper phenotyping and increased pathophysiology knowledge will allow to identify subject's multidimensional profile, predict their progression, and treat them towards precision medicine.publishersversionpublishe