Good Regulatory Lags for Price Cap and Rolling Cap contracts

Price caps are a popular form of monopoly price regulation. One of its disadvantages is the perverse incentives that regulated firms might have to scamp on cost reducing effort during the last years before a price review. In order to avoid this problem a “rolling cap†contract was introduced in the United Kingdom that overcomes this last problem. In spite of their popularity, there is scant research on the optimal regulatory lag (number of years between price reviews) of a price cap or rolling cap contract. In practice, around the world most price cap or rolling cap contracts have a lag of 4 to 5 years, but this is not based on any optimality consideration. As is well known, the regulatory lag determines the power of an incentive contract and thus the incentives to undertake cost reducing effort. Schmalensee (1989) studied the optimal power of regulatory contracts in a static model with uncertainty and asymmetric information. She finds that medium powered contracts are generally superior to the polar cases of high or low powered contracts. In this paper, we extend Schmalensee (1989) model used to study the optimal power of regulatory contracts to a dynamic framework. We use numerical simulation to study the optimal regulatory lag for different combinations of demand and cost parameters under a particular linear quadratic structure. We find that in general a 2 year lag is optimal under both a price cap and rolling cap contracts and that a benevolent regulator prefers the rolling cap over the price cap contract in almost all the casesPrice Cap, Rolling Cap, Regulatory Lag, Dynamic Programming

Can Physical Activity Reduce the Risk of Cognitive Decline in Apolipoprotein e4 Carriers? A Systematic Review

Physical activity (PA) reduces the risk of cognitive decline (CD) in the general population. However, little is known about whether the presence of the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele (APOE e4) could modify this beneficial effect. The aim of this systematic review was to analyze and synthetize the scientific evidence related to PA levels and CD risk in cognitively healthy APOE e4 carriers. Four electronic databases were analyzed. Only original articles with longitudinal study design were selected to analyze the relationship between PA and CD in APOE e4 carriers. Five studies were included in the systematic review. All studies except one stated that PA is a protective factor against CD in APOE e4 carriers. Moreover, partial support was found for the hypothesis that a greater amount and intensity of PA are more beneficial in CD prevention. The results support the idea that PA is a protective factor against CD in APOE e4 carriers. Nevertheless, it would be necessary to carry out further studies that would allow these findings to be contrasted

Evaluacion de la nodulacion y rendimiento de la soya (Glycine max (L.) Merril) en cinco sustratos diferentes bajo un sistema hidroponico

La investigación se realizó bajo un montaje hidropónico en las instalaciones de la Granja Experimental de la Universidad del Magdalena, situada a 7m.s.n.m., con una humedad relativa entre 70 y 72%, temperatura promedia de 30°C y precipitación promedia anual de 615,15mm. El ensayo se llevó a cabo entre octubre del año 2000 y enero del 2001. Se utilizó el diseño estadístico de bloques al azar, con 5 tratamientos y cuatro replicas para un total de 20 unidades experimentales. El material vegetal evaluado fue el Soyica P-31 y como inóculo se utilizó la bacteria Rhizofflum japonicum cepa 1CA J01. Como tratamientos se emplearon 5 sustratos, arena, aserrín, ladrillo molido, cuesco de palma y cascarilla de arroz. Se evaluaron los siguientes parámetros: porcentaje de germinación, días de siembra a floración, días de floración a cosecha, altura de plantas, número y peso promedio de nódulos, número de vainas por planta, número de granos por vaina, peso de cien granos y rendimiento en Kg/Ha. También se determinaron algunas propiedades físicas de los sustratos y su relación con los parámetros anteriores. La germinación fue inferior al 50% en todos los tratamientos sobresaliendo T1 (aserrín) con un 43%, y el menor valor el T4 (cuesco) con 2,4%. En cuanto al periodo vegetativo no se presentó diferencia estadística, para los parámetros días de siembra a floración y días de floración a cosecha. El mayor promedio de altura lo obtuvieron las plantas sembradas en T2 (arena), con un promedio de 31,43cm, 37,66cm, 42,2cm y 47cm para este parámetro a los 32, 42, 64 y 98 días, respectivamente, mientras que la menor correspondió a T5 (cascarilla) con 16cm, 21,02022, 26,32cm y 27,4cm. El mayor promedio de número de nódulos por planta se obtuvo en T1 (aserrín) con 56,4, mientras que el menor lo registró T3 (ladrillo) con 3,1. El mayor promedio para peso fresco y peso seco de nódulos lo presentó T1 (aserrín), con 0,9315g y 0,234g respectivamente, entre tanto, el menor valor lo manifestó T3 (ladrillo) con 0,129g y 0,043g respectivamente. El mayor promedio para el número de vainas por planta correspondió al T2 (arena) con 39,3 y el menor para TS (cascarilla) con 16 vainas. El mayor promedio para número de granos por vaina lo alcanzó T2 (arena) con 2,41, y el menor T3 (ladrillo) con 2,2. En cuanto al peso promedio de 100 semillas el mayor valor se obtuvo para el T4 (cuesco) con 14,16g, y el menor promedio para T1 (aserrín) con 12,86g. Finalmente el mayor rendimiento en Kg/Ha lo arrojó T2 (arena) con 4.894,85Kg/Ha y el menor rendimiento T5 (cascarilla) con 2.098,85Kg/Ha

Hospital volume and outcomes for acute pulmonary embolism: Multinational population based cohort study

[Objectives] To evaluate the association between experience in the management of acute pulmonary embolism, reflected by hospital case volume, and mortality.[Design] Multinational population based cohort study using data from the Registro Informatizado de la Enfermedad TromboEmbólica (RIETE) registry between 1 January 2001 and 31 August 2018.[Setting] 353 hospitals in 16 countries.[Participants] 39 257 consecutive patients with confirmed diagnosis of acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism.[Main] outcome measure Pulmonary embolism related mortality within 30 days after diagnosis of the condition.[Results] Patients with acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism admitted to high volume hospitals (>40 pulmonary embolisms per year) had a higher burden of comorbidities. A significant inverse association was seen between annual hospital volume and pulmonary embolism related mortality. Admission to hospitals in the highest quarter (that is, >40 pulmonary embolisms per year) was associated with a 44% reduction in the adjusted odds of pulmonary embolism related mortality at 30 days compared with admission to hospitals in the lowest quarter (<15 pulmonary embolisms per year; adjusted risk 1.3% v 2.3%; adjusted odds ratio 0.56 (95% confidence interval 0.33 to 0.95); P=0.03). Results were consistent in all sensitivity analyses. All cause mortality at 30 days was not significantly reduced between the two quarters (adjusted odds ratio 0.78 (0.50 to 1.22); P=0.28). Survivors showed little change in the odds of recurrent venous thromboembolism (odds ratio 0.76 (0.49 to 1.19)) or major bleeding (1.07 (0.77 to 1.47)) between the low and high volume hospitals.[Conclusions] In patients with acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism, admission to high volume hospitals was associated with significant reductions in adjusted pulmonary embolism related mortality at 30 days. These findings could have implications for management strategies.Peer reviewe

Role of a clinical prediction score in a chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension rule-out strategy

publishersversionPeer reviewe

Holistic Approach to the Restoration of a Vandalized Monument: The Cross of the Inquisition, Seville City Hall, Spain

The Cross of the Inquisition, sculpted in 1903 and raised on a column with a fluted shaft and ornamented with vegetable garlands, is located in a corner of the Plateresque façade of the Seville City Hall. The Cross was vandalized in September 2019 and the restoration concluded in September 2021. A geological and microbiological study was carried out in a few small fragments. The data are consistent with the exposure of the Cross of the Inquisition to an urban environment for more than 100 years. During that time, a lichen community colonized the Cross and the nearby City Hall façades. The lichens, bryophytes and fungi colonizing the limestone surface composed an urban community, regenerated from the remains of the original communities, after superficial cleaning of the limestone between 2008 and 2010. This biological activity was detrimental to the integrity of the limestone, as showed by the pitting and channels, which evidence the lytic activity of organisms on the stone surface. Stone consolidation was achieved with Estel 1000. Preventol RI80, a biocide able to penetrate the porous limestone and active against bacteria, fungi, lichens, and bryophytes, was applied in the restoration.The research was funded by Atelier Samthiago and the restoration of the Cross of the Inquisition was supported by the Seville City Hall