Real option valuation has traditionally been concerned with investment under project value uncertainty while assuming the agent has perfect confidence in a specific model. However, agents do not generally have perfect confidence in their model and this model uncertainty affects their decisions. In this work, we introduce a simple model for real option valuation to account for the agent’s aversi...

Within the framework proposed by Mussa and Rosen (1978) for modelling quality differentiation, we allow consumers to buy simultaneously different variants of the same indivisible good. We call this the ”joint purchase option”. We show that this option dramatically affects price competition: while a unique equilibrium always prevails when consumers are assumed to make mutually exclusive purchase...

We investigate decision-making behaviour in all four non-human great ape species. Apes chose between a safe and a risky option across trials of varying expected values. All species chose the safe option more often with decreasing probability of success. While all species were risk-seeking, orangutans and chimpanzees chose the risky option more often than gorillas and bonobos. Hence all four spe...

BACKGROUND The anti-angiogenic Sorafenib is the only approved systemic therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, acquired resistance limits its efficacy. An emerging theory to explain intrinsic resistance to other anti-angiogenic drugs is 'vessel co-option,' ie, the ability of tumors to hijack the existing vasculature in organs such as the lungs or liver, thus limiting the n...

OBJECTIVE To compare one-year outcomes of women started on antiretroviral therapy (ART) during pregnancy in the pre-Option B+ era to those in the Option B+ era. METHODS A retrospective chart review was performed at three sites in Malawi. Women were included in the 'pre-Option B+' cohort if they started ART during pregnancy for a CD4 count < 350 cells/mm3 or WHO 3/4 condition and in the 'Optio...

AIMS To evaluate a new method being used by some states for motivating interlock installation by requiring it as a prerequisite to reinstatement of the driver's license. DESIGN The driving records of Florida DWI offenders convicted between July 2002 and June 2008 were analyzed to determine the proportion of offenders subject to the interlock requirement who installed interlocks. SETTING Mos...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to better characterize and evaluate drunk driving for governmental reference in order to further reduce alcohol-impaired driving. METHOD This article reports the characteristics of 1226 alcohol-positive drivers with blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or over the legal limit of 0.20 mg/mL involved in nonfatal traffic accidents in Shanghai, China, from...

We show that termination of a class of linear loop programs is decidable. Linear loop programs are discrete-time linear systems with a loop condition governing termination, that is, a while loop with linear assignments. We relate the termination of such a simple loop, on all initial values, to the eigenvectors corresponding to only the positive real eigenvalues of the matrix defining the loop a...

This study developed a scale to measure 502 Taiwan traffic police officers' perceived ability to detect, detain, and intercept those vehicles whose drivers are driving while intoxicated (DWI) when conducting sobriety checkpoints. Through factor analysis, the officers' enforcement ability was found to consist of two component latent traits: detecting ability (DA) and detaining and intercepting a...