This paper examines the strategic behavior of hospitals in one of their primary output markets: inpatient surgical procedures. High levels of learning-by-doing in surgical fields may act as a barrier to entry. I investigate whether incumbent hospitals facing prospective entry in a procedure market manipulate their procedure volumes to produce such a barrier. I derive straightforward empirical t...

This paper examines the strategic behavior of hospitals in one of their primary output markets: inpatient surgical procedures. High levels of learning-by-doing in surgical fields may act as a barrier to entry. I investigate whether incumbent hospitals facing prospective entry in a procedure market manipulate their procedure volumes to produce such a barrier. I derive straightforward empirical t...

This paper presents the motivation behind the new joint NIST/IEEE Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition (VMAC). This competition strives to take the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) user community driven requirements and turn them into a low-entry-barrier competition. The objectives, scoring, performance metrics, and operation of the competition are explained. In addition, the entry-barrie...

Pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) express a cation current, ISOC (store-operated calcium entry current), which when activated permits calcium entry leading to inter-endothelial cell gap formation. The large molecular weight immunophilin FKBP51 inhibits ISOC but not other calcium entry pathways in PAECs. However, it is unknown whether FKBP51-mediated inhibition of ISOC is sufficient to ...

Exchange between the nucleus and the cytoplasm occurs through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) embedded in the double membrane of the nuclear envelope. NPC permeability barrier restricts the entry of inert molecules larger than 5 nm in diameter but allows facilitated entry of selected cargos, whose size can reach up to 39 nm. The translocation of large molecules is facilitated by nuclear transport...

ing against Microsoft on the claim that the company’s monopoly in operating systems is protected by an “applications barrier to entry” made up of 70,000 Windows-based software programs. Without an entry barrier, any dominant producer that seeks to restrict sales in order to raise prices above competitive levels will find its market share eroded as new entrants capture pricesensitive customers. ...