A Dynamic Macroeconomic Model for the US Telecommunications Industry

Dynamic models have been used in most businesses serving different purposes. The increased changes of the Telecommunications environment have created a dynamic industry emerging new dynamic economic models. We investigated the Telecom industry by conducting macroeconomic and infrastructure analysis. However, this paper uses recent data from the Telecommunications industry to reveal the infrastructure trends and predict the US wireless growth. The analysis is focused on several factors such as the infrastructure described by the Teledensity, the employment and the Telecom revenues in comparison with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The purpose of this analysis is to understand the industry’s behavior during a specific period of time, 1984-2003, propose an appropriate economic dynamic model, wireless oriented that identifies the current driving forces and detects the impact of some critical events and trends.Dynamic Economic Model, Macroeconomic Analysis, Telecom Act, Teledensity

Association between adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence and age at menarche in different geographic latitudes

BACKGROUND: Age at menarche is considered a reliable prognostic factor for idiopathic scoliosis and varies in different geographic latitudes. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence has also been reported to be different in various latitudes and demonstrates higher values in northern countries. A study on epidemiological reports from the literature was conducted to investigate a possible association between prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and age at menarche among normal girls in various geographic latitudes. An attempt is also made to implicate a possible role of melatonin in the above association. MATERIAL-METHODS: 20 peer-reviewed published papers reporting adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence and 33 peer-reviewed papers reporting age at menarche in normal girls from most geographic areas of the northern hemisphere were retrieved from the literature. The geographic latitude of each centre where a particular study was originated was documented. The statistical analysis included regression of the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence and age at menarche by latitude. RESULTS: The regression of prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and age at menarche by latitude is statistically significant (p < 0.001) and are following a parallel declining course of their regression curves, especially in latitudes northern than 25 degrees. CONCLUSION: Late age at menarche is parallel with higher prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Pubarche appears later in girls that live in northern latitudes and thus prolongs the period of spine vulnerability while other pre-existing or aetiological factors are contributing to the development of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. A possible role of geography in the pathogenesis of idiopathic scoliosis is discussed, as it appears that latitude which differentiates the sunlight influences melatonin secretion and modifies age at menarche, which is associated to the prevalence of idiopathic scoliosis

Determinants of FTTH tariffs: an empirical EU study

This study examines the relevant factors that determine the FTTH tariffs within the European Union (EU) zone. FTTH networks, as a relevant new technology, have a significant impact on modern economies. This is reflected by their adoption and use across EU countries along with the increasing deployment. However, FTTH tariffs, play an important role in the technology's adoption, as they are driven both by the level of adoption and the market's competition. Looking at the EU countries between 2013 and 2018, we find a consistent effect of FTTH tariffs on national economic output with diminishing returns to scale. The study reveals that market player's competition is a moderator parameter on FTTH tariffs, in addition to the technology's adoption. Finally, FTTH tariffs tend to drop overall during the study's period across all the EU countries, motivating more residents to have access to high speed Internet and develop new applications. Hence, EU countries could achieve faster their goals, with subscribers' willingness to pay for high speed service with the right market competition and service offering in place, towards the 2020 national broadband plan regarding ultrafast connectivity

HTTP TRAFFIC SIMULATION AND EVALUATION FOR MULTIPLE USERS IN AN INTRANET NETWORK

In this paper we describe the architecture and design of a network-stressing tool developed to simulate and evaluate the HTTP requests and responses of hundreds of users. There are two major issues that have to be considered when designing and implementing such a simulation tool, the reliability evaluation and the user “friendly ” environment. In our application we use a mechanism exploiting Intranet technology to stress the tested network and confirm the performance, proper operation and delay issues. We have also implemented an easy interaction with the user considering the creation of the scenarios and the presentation of the simulation results, pointing out the problems and the network’s status. Finally, we examined through a number of experiments using different simulation scenarios the behavior of the Intranet by load balancing the simulated users

A hedonic approach to estimate the price evolution of FTTH service: evidence from EU

The price paid today for broadband bundling, is determined by a number of factors, such as broadband speed, premium content, inclusive call allowances, any value-added services, and it is important that people understand their usage requirements so they can identify the one that suits their need We found strong evidence that bundling proves to have a strong effect on tariffs, a dominant operator's strategy during the study's period, 2014-2020, allowing to allocate fixed costs across a range of services. Download Speed is positively significant to tariffs and increases broadband prices, such as a 10% increase in speed raises broadband prices by around 1.4%. Although broadband prices drop around 6.9%, operators emphasize their efforts to charge higher prices on TV bundles, specifically on plans combining broadband, voice telephony and TV that are 54% more expensive over standalone's plans, compared to the 36% of a previous 2014 study. Incumbents charge higher tariffs, around 20.1% compared to the new entrants, in an effort to pay off the fiber network deployment investments, as coverage continues to grow

Clinical feasibility of NGS liquid biopsy analysis in NSCLC patients.

BackgroundAnalysis of circulating tumor nucleic acids in plasma of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients is the most widespread and documented form of "liquid biopsy" and provides real-time information on the molecular profile of the tumor without an invasive tissue biopsy.MethodsLiquid biopsy analysis was requested by the referral physician in 121 NSCLC patients at diagnosis and was performed using a sensitive Next Generation Sequencing assay. Additionally, a comparative analysis of NSCLC patients at relapse following EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (TKIs) treatment was performed in 50 patients by both the cobas and NGS platforms.ResultsAt least one mutation was identified in almost 49% of the cases by the NGS approach in NSCLC patients analyzed at diagnosis. In 36 cases with paired tissue available a high concordance of 86.11% was observed for clinically relevant mutations, with a Positive Predictive Value (PPV) of 88.89%. Furthermore, a concordance rate of 82% between cobas and the NGS approach for the EGFR sensitizing mutations (in exons 18, 19, 21) was observed in patients with acquired resistance to EGFR TKIs, while this concordance was 94% for the p.T790M mutation, with NGS being able to detect this mutation in three 3 additional patients.ConclusionsThis study indicates the feasibility of circulating tumor nucleic acids (ctNA) analysis as a tumor biopsy surrogate in clinical practice for NSCLC personalized treatment decision making. The use of new sensitive NGS techniques can reliably detect tumor-derived mutations in liquid biopsy and provide clinically relevant information both before and after targeted treatment in patients with NSCLC. Thus, it could aid physicians in treatment decision making in clinical practice