This paper proposes new concepts of strong and coalition-proof correlated equilibria where agents form coalitions at the interim stage and share information about their recommendations in a credible way. When players deviate at the interim stage, coalition-proof correlated equilibria may fail to exist for two-player games. However, coalitionproof correlated equilibria always exist in dominance-...

Optimally, interim analyses are incorporated as part of the original study design. However, unforeseen circumstances may require a protocol to be amended after study initiation to include an interim analysis. It is important to strike a balance between selecting the optimum timepoint to perform the interim analysis based on the operating characteristics of the futility rule, and the logistics o...

This study evaluates the temporal variability of the Antarctic surface mass balance, approximated as precipitation minus evaporation (P 2 E), and Southern Ocean precipitation in five global reanalyses during 1989–2009. The datasets consist of the NCEP/U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project 2 reanalysis (NCEP-2), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) 25-year Re...

The stratospheric mean-meridional circulation (MMC) and eddy mixing are compared among six meteorological reanalysis data sets: NCEP-NCAR, NCEP-CFSR, ERA-40, ERA-Interim, JRA-25, and JRA-55 for the period 1979–2012. The reanalysis data sets produced using advanced systems (i.e., NCEP-CFSR, ERA-Interim, and JRA55) generally reveal a weaker MMC in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) compared with those ...

This paper investigates the potential of using global reanalysis datasets as input for hydrological modelling in the data-scarce Sudano-Sahel region. To achieve this, we used two global atmospheric reanalyses (Climate Forecasting System Reanalysis and European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA-Interim) datasets and one global meteorological forcing dataset WATCH Forcing Data...

of an interim report on a 10 year

BACKGROUND The interim restorative materials should have certain mechanical properties to withstand in oral cavity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hardness and wear resistance of interim restorative materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fifteen identical rectangular shape specimens with dimensions of 2 mm × 10 mm × 30 mm were made from 7 interim materials (TempSpan, Protemp 3 Garant, Re...

Risk-adapted lymphoma treatment requires early and accurate assessment of prognosis. This investigation prospectively assessed the value of positron emission tomography with 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG-PET) after two cycles of chemotherapy for prediction of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Seventy-seven consecutive, newly diagnosed pat...

Mutual funds’ performance rankings are widely publicized in the media and have a strong impact on fund flows (see, e.g., Sirri and Tufano, 1998). In this paper, we study risk taking incentives of mutual fund managers who have ranking objectives (as in a tournament). First, in a two-period model, we analyze the game played by two risk-neutral fund managers with ranking objectives. We show that i...

The evolution of left ventricular dysfunction in 36 patients with coronary artery disease and no interim surgical intervention was studied over a mean interval of 26 months (range 6-71 months). The ejection fraction decreased 0.08 (p < 0.001) on the average in patients with coronary artery disease progression. However, progression of coronary artery disease was not accompanied by a decrease in ...