On price competition with market share delegation contracts

We identify a mistake in the specification of the demand system used in the strategic delegation model based on market shares by Jansen et al. (2007), whereby the price remains above marginal cost when goods are homogeneous. After amending this aspect, we perform a profit comparison with the alternative delegation scheme à la Fershtman and Judd (1987).

On the (non) existence of a price equilibrium in delegation games with relative performance compensation

We show that Miller and Pazgal.s (2001) model of strategic delegation, in which managerial incentives are based upon relative performance, is affected by a non-existence problem which has impact on the price equilibrium. The undercutting incentives generating this result are indeed similar to those affecting the stability of price cartels.

Can Soldiers Be Peace Officers? The Waco Disaster and the Militarization of American Law Enforcement

One of the most significant trends of federal law enforcement in the last fifteen years has been its militarization. The logical, perhaps inevitable, consequence of that militarization was seen in the disaster at Waco, Texas, resulting in the deaths of four federal agents, and seventy-six other men, women, and children. In this article, we use the Waco tragedy as a starting point to examine the militarization of federal law enforcement, and similar trends at the state and local level. Part Two of this article sets forth the details and rationale of the Posse Comitatus Act--the 1878 law forbidding use of the military in law enforcement. Part Three explicates how that Act was eroded by the drug war in the 1980s. The article then discusses how the drug exception to the Posse Comitatus Act was used to procure major military support for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) raid against the Branch Davidians-even though there was no real drug evidence against them-and how the drug exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act have made such abuses endemic. Part Four examines the fifty-one day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian residence, with a focus on the destructive role played by the FBI\u27s Hostage Rescue Team, an essentially military force which has proved counterproductive in a civilian law enforcement context. In Part Five we look at the problem of groupthink, its role in the Waco tragedy, and the importance of keeping groupthink-prone institutions-like the military-out of law enforcement. Finally, Part Six offers a broader view of the problem of the militarization of federal law enforcement. We examine the proliferation of federal paramilitary units and federal efforts to promote the militarization of state and local law enforcement. After explaining the direct connection between the drug war and law enforcement militarization, we propose numerous statutory remedies to demilitarize law enforcement

Product Innovation With Partial Capacity Rollover

Dawid H, Kopel M, Kort PM. Product Innovation With Partial Capacity Rollover. Universität Bielefeld Working Papers in Economics and Management. Vol 02-2019. Bielefeld: Bielefeld University, Department of Business Administration and Economics; 2019.This paper analyzes how the transferability of production capacities from an established to a new product influences the incentives of a firm to invest in R&D. A dynamic duopoly model is considered, where initially both firms offer a homogeneous product. The firms invest in production capacities and simultaneously in R&D which determines their innovation rate. The firm that innovates first extends its product line and obtains a patent for the new product that prevents the other firm from catching up. Upon the launch of the new product, the innovator then has the option to transfer part of the capacity for the established product to the production process of the new product. If capacities can be rolled over to the new product, a trade-off can be detected in that this rollover option gives the larger firm more incentive to innovate, whereas the cannibalization effect gives the smaller firm a higher innovation incentive. As a logical consequence we find that the larger firm is expected to innovate first when the capacity transfer does not involve a too high capacity loss. However, if the losses of capacity transfer are considerable, the cannibalization effect starts to dominate and the smaller firm’s incentive to innovate is larger

Quality of Life in Children Following Treatment for a Malignant Primary Bone Tumour Around the Knee

Purpose. We report on the quality of life following treatment for a malignant primary bone tumour around the knee in skeletally immature children

Dynamic Investment Strategies and Leadership in Product Innovation

Dawid H, Keoula M, Kopel M, Kort PM. Dynamic Investment Strategies and Leadership in Product Innovation. Working Papers in Economics and Management. Vol 03-2017. Bielefeld: Bielefeld University, Department of Business Administration and Economics; 2017.We employ a dynamic market model with endogenous creation of submarkets to study the optimal product innovation strategies of incumbent firms. Firms invest in production capacity and R&D knowledge stock, where the latter determines the hazard rate of innovation. We find that under Markov Perfect Equilibrium behavior the firm with a larger market share on the established market is less likely to be the first innovator. Investment in R&D knowledge is negatively affected by the opponent's production capacity on the established market if the opponent has not innovated yet. However, this effect is reversed after the opponent has successfully introduced the new product. The firm with higher costs of adjusting capacity for the established product has a larger incentive to engage in product innovation and might even achieve higher long run profit than its more efficient competitor

Product Innovation Incentives by an Incumbent Firm: A Dynamic Analysis

Dawid H, Keoula MY, Kopel M, Kort PM. Product Innovation Incentives by an Incumbent Firm: A Dynamic Analysis. Working Papers in Economics and Management. Vol 11-2014. Bielefeld: Bielefeld University, Department of Business Administration and Economics; 2014.We study in a dynamic framework how product innovation activities of a firm are influenced by its production capacity investments for an established product and vice versa. The firm initially has capacity to sell an established product, and it also has the option to undertake an R&D project, which upon completion allows the firm to introduce a new vertically and horizontally differentiated product to the market, thereby extending its product range. The breakthrough probability of detecting the new product depends on both the value of the firm’s R&D stock and its current R&D investment. It is shown that the initial production capacity for the established product influences the intensity of R&D activities of the firm. In particular, there are constellations such that for large initial production capacity for the established product the firm never invests in R&D and the new product is never introduced. For small initial capacity the firm keeps investing in R&D implying that eventually the new product is always introduced. Finally, for an intermediate range of initial capacity levels the firm initially invests in product R&D, but then reduces these investments to zero. In this scenario the new product is introduced with a positive probability, which is however substantially smaller than 1. From a technical perspective this analysis gives the example of a new type of Skiba threshold phenomenon in the framework of a multi-mode optimization model

Comparing the Cognitive Screening Tools: MMSE and SLUMS

Practitioners have long relied upon the Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE) to quickly assess cognitive functioning in older adults. The Saint Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) exam possesses many potential psychometric advantages, however data on the relationship between scores on the SLUMS and MMSE has yet to be established. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish comparative norms between the MMSE and the SLUMS examinations. The current study hypothesized that participants would score lower on the SLUMS than the MMSE, with adults exhibiting higher levels of cognitive reserve, as measured by educational attainment, having a greater difference between the test scores. A total of 118 individuals (96 female, 21 male) with an age range from 41 to 96 (M=80.03, SD=8.71) with an average educational attainment of 14.97 years (SD= 2.68), completed both tests. Results indicate a significant difference between the mean SLUMS and MMSE scores (p\u3c.001), as well as a significant difference between those in assisted and independent living environments (p\u3c.001). The evidence did not support the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Implications and suggestions for future research will be discussed

Complexes of Silver(I) Ions and Silver Phosphate Nanoparticles with Hyaluronic Acid and/or Chitosan as Promising Antimicrobial Agents for Vascular Grafts

Polymers are currently widely used to replace a variety of natural materials with respect to their favourable physical and chemical properties, and due to their economic advantage. One of the most important branches of application of polymers is the production of different products for medical use. In this case, it is necessary to face a significant disadvantage of polymer products due to possible and very common colonization of the surface by various microorganisms that can pose a potential danger to the patient. One of the possible solutions is to prepare polymer with antibacterial/antimicrobial properties that is resistant to bacterial colonization. The aim of this study was to contribute to the development of antimicrobial polymeric material ideal for covering vascular implants with subsequent use in transplant surgery. Therefore, the complexes of polymeric substances (hyaluronic acid and chitosan) with silver nitrate or silver phosphate nanoparticles were created, and their effects on gram-positive bacterial culture of Staphylococcus aureus were monitored. Stages of formation of complexes of silver nitrate and silver phosphate nanoparticles with polymeric compounds were characterized using electrochemical and spectrophotometric methods. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activity of complexes was determined using the methods of determination of growth curves and zones of inhibition. The results of this study revealed that the complex of chitosan, with silver phosphate nanoparticles, was the most suitable in order to have an antibacterial effect on bacterial culture of Staphylococcus aureus. Formation of this complex was under way at low concentrations of chitosan. The results of electrochemical determination corresponded with the results of spectrophotometric methods and verified good interaction and formation of the complex. The complex has an outstanding antibacterial effect and this effect was of several orders higher compared to other investigated complexes

Introduction

This collected volume gives a concise account of the most relevant scientific results of the COST Action IS1104 "The EU in the new complex geography of economic systems: models, tools and policy evaluation", a four-year project supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). It is divided into three parts reflecting the different perspectives under which complex spatial economic systems have been studied: (i) the Macro perspective looks at the interactions among international or regional trading partners; (ii) the Meso perspective considers the functioning of (financial, labour) markets as social network structures; and, finally, (iii) the Micro perspective focuses on the strategic choices of single firms and households. This Volume points also at open issues to be addressed in future research