A Real Option and a Game Theoretic Approach to Corporate Investment Strategy under Competition

Presents a real options and game-theoretic approach to corporate investment strategy under competition. Analysis of aspects of competition in a microeconomic framework; Forecasting of operating cash inflows based on economic rents or excess profits; Implications of results obtained

Особливості правового регулювання ліцензування господарської діяльності у сфері обігу дорогоцінного каміння

Здійснення господарської діяльності, на сьогодні, в нашій державі постійно трансформуються залежно від встановлених і закріплених в нормативно правових актах визначених і регульованих державою процедур, зокрема, шляхом ліцензування господарської діяльності, тому державна галузева політика у сфері діяльності суб’єктів господарювання, пов’язаної з дорогоцінними металами і дорогоцінним камінням має бути відрегульована належним чином не тільки через призму ліцензування, але й з урахуванням забезпечення балансу економіки та національної економічної безпеки країни. Ключові слова: ліцензування, ліцензія, господарська діяльність, процедура, нагляд, контроль, суб’єкти господарювання, дорогоцінні метали і каміння, використання дорогоцінних металів і дорогоцінного каміння.Осуществление хозяйственной деятельности, на сегодня, в нашем государстве постоянно трансформируются в зависимости от установленных и закрепленных в нормативно-правовых актах определенных и регулируемых государством процедур, в частности, путем лицензирования хозяйственной деятельности, поэтому государственная отраслевая политика в сфере деятельности субъектов ведения хозяйства, связанной с драгоценными металлами и драгоценными камнями должена быть отрегулирована должным образом не только через призму лицензирования, но и с учетом обеспечения баланса экономики и национальной экономической безопасности государства. Ключевые слова: лицензирование, лицензия, хозяйственная деятельность, процедура, контроль, субъекты ведения хозяйства, драгоценные металлы и камни, использование драгоценных металлов и драгоценных камней.Realization of enterprising movement, nowadays, in our state constantly transformed depending on position and envisaged in the normatively-legal acts of certain and managed by the state procedures, in particular, by licensing of enterprising, that is why public branch policy in the field of activity of enterprises, related to the precious metals and jewels must be adjusted properly not only through the prism of licensing but also taking into account providing of balance of economy and national economic security of a state. Key words: licensing, license, economic activity, procedure, supervision, control, enterprises, precious metals and stones, apply of precious metals and precious stones

Two Words, One Meaning: Evidence of Automatic Co-Activation of Translation Equivalents

Research on the processing of translations offers important insights on how bilinguals negotiate the representation of words from two languages in one mind and one brain. Evidence so far has shown that translation equivalents effectively activate each other as well as their shared concept even when translations lack of any formal overlap (i.e., non-cognates) and even when one of them is presented subliminally, namely under masked priming conditions. In the lexical decision studies testing masked translation priming effects with unbalanced bilinguals a remarkably stable pattern emerges: larger effects in the dominant (L1) to the non-dominant (L2) translation direction, than vice versa. Interestingly, this asymmetry vanishes when simultaneous and balanced bilinguals are tested, suggesting that the linguistic profile of the bilinguals could be determining the pattern of cross-language lexico-semantic activation across the L2 learning trajectory. The present study aims to detect whether L2 proficiency is the critical variable rendering the otherwise asymmetric cross-language activation of translations obtained in the lexical decision task into symmetric. Non-cognate masked translation priming effects were examined with three groups of Greek (L1)–English (L2) unbalanced bilinguals, differing exclusively at their level of L2 proficiency. Although increased L2 proficiency led to improved overall L2 performance, masked translation priming effects were virtually identical across the three groups, yielding in all cases significant but asymmetric effects (i.e., larger effects in the L1 → L2 than in the L2 → L1 translation direction). These findings show that proficiency does not modulate masked translation priming effects at intermediate levels, and that a native-like level of L2 proficiency is needed for symmetric effects to emerge. They furthermore, pose important constraints on the operation of the mechanisms underlying the development of cross-language lexico-semantic links

Trends in treatment, incidence and survival of hypopharynx cancer: a 20-year population-based study in the Netherlands

Hypopharynx cancer has the worst prognosis of all head and neck squamous cell cancers. Since the 1990s, a treatment shift has appeared from a total laryngectomy towards organ preservation therapies. Large randomized trials evaluating treatment strategies for hypopharynx cancer, however, remain scarce, and frequently this malignancy is evaluated together with larynx cancer. Therefore, our aim was to determine trends in incidence, treatment and survival of hypopharynx cancer. We performed a population-based cohort study including all patients diagnosed with T1-T4 hypopharynx cancer between 1991 and 2010 in the Netherlands. Patients were recorded by the national cancer registry database and verified by a national pathology database. 2999 patients were identified. The incidence increased significantly with 4.1% per year until 1997 and decreased non-significantly afterwards. For women, the incidence increased with 1.7% per year during the entire study period. Total laryngectomy as primary treatment significantly decreased, whereas radiotherapy and chemoradiation increased. The 5-year overall survival significantly increased from 28% in 1991-2000 to 34% in 2001-2010. Overall survival for T3 was equal for total laryngectomy and (chemo)radiotherapy, but for T4-patients the survival was significantly better after primary total laryngectomy (+/- adjuvant radiotherapy). This large population-based study demonstrates a shift in treatment preference towards organ preservation therapies. The 5-year overall survival increased significantly in the second decade. The assumed equivalence of organ preservation and laryngectomy may require reconsideration for T4 diseas

Biological Subphenotypes of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Show Prognostic Enrichment in Mechanically Ventilated Patients without Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Rationale: Recent studies showed that biological subphenotypes in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) provide prognostic enrichment and show potential for predictive enrichment.Objectives: To determine whether these subphenotypes and their prognostic and potential for predictive enrichment could be extended to other patients in the ICU, irrespective of fulfilling the definition of ARDS.Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a prospective observational study of adult patients admitted to the ICU. We tested the prognostic enrichment of both cluster-derived and latentclass analysis (LCA)-derived biological ARDS subphenotypes by evaluating the association with clinical outcome (ICU-day, 30-day mortality, and ventilator-free days) using logistic regression and Cox regression analysis. We performed a principal component analysis to compare blood leukocyte gene expression profiles between subphenotypes and the presence of ARDS.Measurements and Main Results: We included 2,499 mechanically ventilated patients (674 with and 1,825 without ARDS). The cluster-derived "reactive" subphenotype was, independently of ARDS, significantly associated with a higher probability of ICU mortality, higher 30-day mortality, and a lower probability of successful extubation while alive compared with the "uninflamed" subphenotype. The blood leukocyte gene expression profiles of individual subphenotypes were similar for patients with and without ARDS. LCA-derived subphenotypes also showed similar profiles.Conclusions: The prognostic and potential for predictive enrichment of biological ARDS subphenotypes may be extended to mechanically ventilated critically ill patients without ARDS. Using the concept of biological subphenotypes for splitting cohorts of critically ill patients could add to improving future precision-based trial strategies and lead to identifying treatable traits for all critically ill patients