Bargaining in Supply Chains (Long Version)

We study experimentally bargaining in a multiple-tier supply chain with horizontal competition and sequential bargaining between tiers. Our treatments vary the cost differences between firms in tiers 1 and 2. We measure how these underlying costs influence the efficiency, negotiated prices and profit distribution across the supply chain, and the consistency of these outcomes with existing theory. We find that the structural issue of cost differentials dominates personal characteristics in explaining outcomes, with profits in a tier generally increasing with decreased competition in the tier and increasing with decreased competition in alternate tiers. The Balanced Principal model of supply chain bargaining does a good job explaining our data, and outperforms the common assumption of leader-follower negotiations. We find a significant anchoring effect from a firm's first bid but no effect of the sequence of those bids, no evidence of failure to close via escalation of commitment, and mixed results for a deadline effect. We also find an interesting asymmetry between the buy and sells sides in employed bidding strategy. The buy side makes predominantly concessionary offers after the initial anchor, but a significant number of sell side firms engage in aggressive anti-concessionary bidding, a strategy that is effective in that it increases prices while not compromising closure rates.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109717/1/1259_Lovejoy.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109717/4/1259_Lovejoy_Mar2015.pdfDescription of 1259_Lovejoy_Mar2015.pdf : Long Version March 201

Designing Incentives in Startup Teams: Form and Timing of Equity Contracting

Entrepreneurial teams assign equity positions in their startups using a term sheet that details equity splits and conditions for being granted those splits. It is conventional wisdom in the entrepreneurial press that equal splits are poor choices. The conventional logic is that by not connecting rewards to contribution level equal split contracts can encourage free-riding behaviors. We experimentally test this conventional wisdom, among other entrepreneurial contracting hypotheses. Our results confirm the relationship between equal splits and depressed effort and contribution, but suggest a different causal sequence relative to conventional wisdom. Rather than the contract form being the primitive and the behavior the derived consequence, our results suggest the reverse. The differences in contract performance are driven primarily by the sorting of high contributors into non-equal contracts and of low contributors into equal contracts. However, delaying the contracting mitigates these sorting effects, reducing the effort gap between contracts. Taken together, our results suggest that both investors and founders should pay as much (or more) attention to personality type as they do to contract form, but if one is stuck with a given set of personalities delayed contracting (more so than contract form) can improve performance.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138118/1/1372_Kagan.pd

Characteristics of Local Health Departments Associated with Their Implementation of Electronic Health Records and Other Informatics System

Background: Information technology and information systems (IT/IS) play a critical role in the daily operation of local health departments (LHDs). Assessing LHDs’ informatics capacities is important, especially within the context of broader, system-level health reform efforts. Research Objective: This study assesses a nationally representative sample of LHDs’ level of adoption of information systems, technology, and the factors associated with adoption/implementation. Specifically, five areas of public health informatics were examined: electronic health records (EHRs), health information exchange (HIE), immunization registry (IR), electronic disease reporting system (EDRS), and electronic lab reporting (ELR). Data Sets and Sources: Data from NACCHO’s 2013 National Profile of LHDs was used. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression were performed for the five implementation-oriented outcome variables of interest, with three levels of implementation. Independent variables included infrastructural capacity, financial capacity, and other characteristics theoretically associated with informatics capacity. Study Design: This study uses a cross-sectional survey research design. Principal Findings: Thirteen percent of LHDs had implemented HIEs. About 22 % had implemented EHRs, 47% ELR, 72.2% EDRS, and 82% had implemented Immunization Registry. Significant determinants of health informatics adoption included provision of greater number of clinical services, greater per capita public health expenditures, having health information system specialists on staff, having larger population size, having decentralized governance system, having one and more local boards of health, and having top executive with greater number of years in the job. Conclusions: The capacity of LHDs to use real-time, local data and information is critical. Many LHDs do not have this capacity. This may be due to lack of specialized staff, availability of data systems, or a host of other political or organizational constraints. This is especially the case for smaller jurisdictions. Cross-jurisdictional sharing or regionalization of some informatics and surveillance functions may be a reasonable approach to address these shortfalls. Implications for Public Health Practice and Policy: A combination of investment in public health informatics infrastructure, additional training of new informatics staff and existing epidemiologists, and better integration with healthcare systems is needed to augment LHD informatics capacity and ensure governmental public health can meet the information needs of the 21st century

What Do We Expect from Our Friends?

Published in Journal of the European Economic Association, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.tb00497.x</p

Spent fuel waste form characteristics: Grain and fragment size statistical dependence for dissolution response

The Yucca Mountain Project of the US Department of Energy is investigating the suitability of the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, NV, for a high-level nuclear waste repository. All of the nuclear waste will be enclosed in a container package. Most of the nuclear waste will be in the form of fractured UO{sub 2} spent fuel pellets in Zircaloy-clad rods from electric power reactors. If failure of both the container and its enclosed clad rods occurs, then the fragments of the fractured UO{sub 2} spent fuel will be exposed to their surroundings. Even though the surroundings are an unsaturated zone, a possibility of water transport exists, and consequently, UO{sub 2} spent fuel dissolution may occur. A repository requirement imposes a limit on the nuclide release per year during a 10,000 year period; thus the short term dissolution response from fragmented fuel pellet surfaces in any given year must be understood. This requirement necessitates that both experimental and analytical activities be directed toward predicting the relatively short term dissolution response of UO{sub 2} spent fuel. The short term dissolution response involves gap nuclides, grain boundary nuclides, and grain volume nuclides. Analytical expressions are developed that describe the combined geometrical influences of grain boundary nuclides and grain volume nuclides on the dissolution rate of spent fuel. 7 refs., 1 fig

Efficacy of transdermal 4% lidocaine patches for postoperative pain management after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: a prospective trial.

Background: Postoperative pain management continues to be a challenging aspect of patient care. Lidocaine patches have shown efficacy in reducing pain in other surgical specialties and mixed results in orthopedic trials. We sought to determine the effectiveness of nonprescription lidocaine patches in reducing postoperative pain after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Methods: Patients undergoing primary arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were recruited from 3 surgeons at a single institution. All patients of each surgeon were randomized to a lidocaine patch or control group, with crossover occurring at the midpoint. Experimental group patients received 26 4% lidocaine gel-patches. They were provided written and visual instructions to begin wearing the lidocaine patches during daytime on postoperative day (POD) 2. They were to be switched every 8 hours and removed overnight. Control group patients received normal standard of care but did not receive a placebo control. Exclusion criteria included workmen\u27s compensation claims, ageyears, history of myocardial infarction, and history of lidocaine or adhesive allergies. The American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons shoulder survey was completed preoperatively and 2-, 6-weeks, 3-, 4.5-, and 6-months postoperatively. A 14-day visual analog scale pain and medication log was completed three times daily following repair. All patients received interscalene nerve block with bupivacaine and general anesthesia. Results: 80 (40 control, 40 lidocaine) patients were enrolled, with 53 completing follow-up. Groups were demographically similar in age (P = .22), gender (P = .20), and body mass index (P = .77). They were similar in tear pattern (P = .95), concomitant acromioplasty (P = .44), concomitant biceps tenodesis (P = .07), and number of anchors used (P = .25). There was no difference in American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores at any time points (range P = .28-P = .97). Reported 14-day pain logs were not different between study groups at any time points (range P = .07-P = .99). There was no difference in opioid consumption in the first 14 days after surgery (P = .38). The lidocaine group reported less satisfaction with their pain management beginning in the evening of POD 2 (P = .05). This continued until the afternoon of POD 8 (P = .03). Conclusion: Transdermal 4% lidocaine patches are not effective in reducing pain or opioid consumption after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and were associated with reduced patient satisfaction

F.J. Turner’s ‘frontier thesis’: the ruse of American ‘character'

American society was transformed by the expansion of capital Westward and the explosion in opportunities that ensued for land grabbing and agricultural and industrial investment. In Turner’s (1961) frontier thesis this was portrayed as resulting in the emergence of ‘the new man’ i.e. the fulfilment of American character. The frontier thesis is a neo-Darwinian contribution. It posits exceptionalism and transcendence as the keys to American character. The gene pool of the Americans, thriving in a new geographical and social environment, is depicted as achieving a higher level of development than the stratified societies of Old Europe. What the thesis ignores is the importance of orthodox Eurocentric strategies of colonization and land appropriation. Turner portrays pioneer/settler society as a heroic departure, but in many ways, it is a continuation of European precedents. Analogously, the proposition that the push West crystallized American character obscures the role of personality, especially in urban-industrial settings, in establishing the parameters of American life. Turner conceived of character as emerging from a struggle with the spatial frontier. But the struggles of personality with the social frontier of repression and establishment values is no less significant. The paper examines the tensions between character and personality by using some ideas developed by Carl Schmitt on the significance of ‘the opportunity’ in competitive advantage. The importance of the opportunity and personality in developing the American way of life are examined by the vaudeville and celebrity traditions. The exploitation of contingency for personal advantage, the use of melodrama to engineer social impact, the social validation of forthright behaviour are examined in the context of the careers of the film actress Mae West and the comedian Bob Hope

Characteristics of Local Health Departments Associated with Implementation of Electronic Health Records and Other Informatics Systems

Objective: Assessing local health departments’ (LHDs’) informatics capacities is important, especially within the context of broader, systems-level health reform. We assessed a nationally representative sample of LHDs’ adoption of information systems and the factors associated with adoption and implementation by examining electronic health records, health information exchange, immunization registry, electronic disease reporting system, and electronic laboratory reporting. Methods: We used data from the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ 2013 National Profile of LHDs. We performed descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression for the five implementation-oriented outcome variables of interest, with three levels of implementation (implemented, plan to implement, and no activity). Independent variables included infrastructural and financial capacity and other characteristics associated with informatics capacity. Results: Of 505 LHDs that responded to the survey, 69 (13.5%) had implemented health information exchanges, 122 (22.2%) had implemented electronic health records, 245 (47.5%) had implemented electronic laboratory reporting, 368 (73.0%) had implemented an electronic disease reporting system, and 416 (83.8%) had implemented an immunization registry. LHD characteristics associated with health informatics adoption included provision of greater number of clinical services, greater per capita public health expenditures, health information systems specialists on staff, larger population size, decentralized governance system, one or more local boards of health, metropolitan jurisdiction, and top executive with more years in the job. Conclusion: Many LHDs lack health informatics capacity, particularly in smaller, rural jurisdictions. Cross-jurisdictional sharing, investment in public health informatics infrastructure, and additional training may help address these shortfalls