Replacement Investment: Optimal Economic Life Under Uncertainty

Replacement investment is essentially a regenerative optimal stopping problem; that is, the key decision concerns when to terminate the life of existing plant – and hence when to start over again. This paper examines this optimisation problem within a continuous time framework and studies the qualitative and quantitative impact of uncertainty on the timing of new investment (and the criteria that should be used for terminating the life of existing plant).     

On efficiency of the ratio estimator

Summary The exact mean square error for the ratio estimator of a finite population total based on simple random sampling without replacement is shown to have an expected value less than that of the variance of the ratio estimator based on Midzuno’s scheme, under a usual super-population model.     

同步生物除磷脱氮新工艺探讨

近十年来,同步生物除磷脱氮一直是城市污水处理的新热点,磷氮排放标准严,除磷脱氮研究步步深入,除磷脱氮新工艺不断涌现。文章列出了当前城市污水同步生物除磷脱氮的几种新工艺流程及其一些特点,初步讨论了“工况交替”、“固液分离”和“曝气形式”有关问题。     

广州-茂名铁路换碴施工技术

文章介绍了有关在广州-茂名铁路运用大型养路机械进行更换石碴施工的技术和经验。     

高技术企业的权变治理、管理者更替与企业永续发展

高技术企业的治理与规范化公司的治理存在很大的差异,甚至是本质上的差异。这种差异主要来自于高技术企业的人力资本价值和团队合作价值。但从企业长期发展来看,高技术企业必须平衡权威治理和企业永续发展的关系问题。本文运用企业权力主体竞争力模型分析高技术企业控制权结构,剖析了高技术企业的“两人治理结构”现象,揭示出保持高技术企业永续发展的两大主题——权变治理和管理者更替问题。     

Comparing post-operative resource consumption following transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and conventional aortic valve replacement in the UK

Objective:

To define the in-hospital and 6-month post-discharge resource use, following Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) and conventional Aortic Valve Replacement (AVR) surgery within a single UK hospital.

Methods:

A local service evaluation of patients undergoing TAVI or AVR between January 2011 and May 2012 captured data until 6-months post-procedure, collected from hospital records and via a General Practitioner questionnaire. The main end-points were mortality, time in ITU/HDU, hospital length of stay (LoS), discharge destination, re-admission, and post-discharge primary/secondary care resource use. Sub-group analyses were performed for AVR patients aged ≥80 (AVR?≥?80) and with EuroSCORE of ≥10 (AVR ES?≥?10) to allow more direct comparison with ‘TAVI type’ patients.

Results:

Results are given as means (standard deviation) for TAVI (n?=?51), AVR (n?=?188), AVR?≥?80 (n?=?48), and AVR ES?≥?10 (n?=?47), respectively, unless otherwise stated. Age in years was 83.0 (8.1), 71.2 (13.1), 84.1 (2.7), 79.4 (7.1); EuroSCORE was 24.7 (11.9), 8.1 (6.4), 12.0 (6.0), and 16.5 (6.6); post-operative LoS (days) was 11.5 (11.2), 10.9 (10.8), 14.3 (16.7), and 15.2 (17.7). For discharged patients, 0%, 7%, 13%, and 9% had unplanned cardiac-related re-admissions within 30-days of discharge. Time to first readmission was 74.6 (34.0), 35.0 (34.2), 20.8 (9.7), and 22.6 (14.3) days.

Limitations:

This was a single-center retrospective evaluation, not prospectively powered to confirm differences in outcomes.

Conclusions:

Despite TAVI being performed in an older, higher risk population, LoS was similar to AVR. Most strikingly there were no cardiac-related re-admissions within 30-days for TAVI and time to first re-admission was significantly longer. This evaluation suggests that TAVI is clinically appropriate and provides economic advantages in both the hospital and post-discharge setting in this high risk group. Many patients undergoing TAVI are considered unfit for surgery and, hence, TAVI offers a treatment that delivers similar results to traditional AVR without the high risk associated with surgery.     

Price determinants of bred heifers: Do reputations matter?

Replacement brood cows are among the most significant investments for cow-calf operations, thus crucial to profitability. Many cow-calf producers find it cost effective to purchase replacements from a reliable replacement heifer seller, though by doing so they increase risk of reproductive inefficiency due to unknown characteristics of the heifers. When important information about a product is missing to buyers, a seller can build a reputation over time that acts as signal for quality. Previous work has explored reputation effects in feeder cattle markets, but to our knowledge we are the first to explore reputation effects in bred replacement cattle markets. Using data from an annual replacement heifer sale, we analyze the values of heifer characteristics and test for premiums from reputation development. After controlling for reproductive practices, breed, and other characteristics, we find reputation does not play the role that Shapiro theorized. In this sale, the lot order is strategically chosen and may indicate bred heifer quality to buyers, replacing the need for reputation as a signal. This study highlights the importance of quality signals and regional preferences in bred replacement cattle marketing and lays the empirical groundwork for future studies to test Shapiro's theory.     

灌砂法检测路基压实度技术探讨

鉴于灌砂法在路基压实度检测中的广发应用,本文从室内和现场两个角度探讨了灌砂法相关技术问题,为公路工程建设提供参考。     

浅谈换填垫层法在软基处理中的实际运用

详细阐述了有关换土垫层法处理软弱地基的基本性能、计算设计方法,并介绍了该方法处理软弱地基的应用实例,对以后的设计有一定的参考意义。     

利益集团、行为偏好与黄宗羲定律——中国封建王朝更替动因的经济学分析

中国封建社会特殊的社会结构下,封建王朝在其演进过程中,农民集团和官僚集团之间的利益博弈对税赋改革的影响会导致＂黄宗羲定律＂的形成。税赋愈改愈重使得农民在当朝所能获得的效用随时间的推移而降低,从而导致农民预期起义成本的降低,当这种预期成本下降到一定水平后,农民集团会采取有效的集团行动并转向对新的政治体制的寻求,最终完成朝代的更替。这一过程可以运用经济学的基本理论,并建立适当模型,从而对中国社会特有的王朝更替现象进行解释。