Search results for " value"

Design of Public Procurement Auctions: Evidence from Cleaning Contracts

2018

We analyze a regime change from beauty contests to first-price sealed-bid and scoring auctions, using Swedish data on public procurement of cleaning services. In beauty contests, the lowest bid often lost, leaving substantial money on the table. The procurement costs were similar before and after the regime change: (i) Entry strongly decreases the procurement cost but did not change. Entry would have decreased had the municipalities not adjusted the objects of auctions. (ii) Municipalities favored in-house suppliers in the old regime, leading to more aggressive bidding by others. With favoritism reduced, these changes balanced each other out. Peer reviewed

Shilling, Squeezing, Sniping. A further explanation for late bidding in online second-price auctions

2021

Abstract Several studies provide empirical evidence for sniping (i.e., waiting until the last few seconds to bid) in second-price internet auctions, particularly in auctions at eBay . This evidence was regarded as puzzling and an anomaly for an extended period: How could sniping be consistent with rational behaviour in second-price auctions, where theory predicts that bids’ timing plays no role and there is no incentive to bid less than one’s private value. An essential contribution to this puzzling issue has been the insight by Bose and Daripa (2017) that late bidding is itself a response to the shilling. Their paper explains well late bidding for repeating auctions. However, late bidding …

Participation Costs and Inefficiency in Takeover Contests

2010

We consider a takeover in which risk neutral bidders incur private costs to participate to the auction. Supposing that valuations for target firm are common knowledge, we study the optimal strategy of bidders and analyze the takeover result when they get or not toeholds in the target firm. We found that bidder's decision of participation is endogenous. By analyzing bidder's condition of participation, we found that the probability that the potential bidder with the highest valuation will not participate to the control, exists. We show that this probability increases with the size of toeholds possessed by the bidder with low valuation. Nevertheless, the size of toeholds possessed by the bidd…

Multiple Motivations Consequences on Bidder's Optimal Strategy in Takeover Contests

2011

This paper examines the optimal bidding strategy in takeover contests for a target firm, and the positive correlation between the bidders’ valuation. We consider risk neutral bidders who compete for the control of a target firm in which they get initial shareholdings. The bidder valuation for target firm is correlated with his motivations which determine the bidder’s strategy. We study bidder’s optimal strategy in mixed motivations setting. Since motivations are numerous, hypothesis of affiliated value in auctions allows to study bidder’s strategy. The paper shows that the impact of affiliation degree on bidder’s optimal strategy depends on their private signal and on the ratio between thei…

Thermoconvective instability and local thermal non-equilibrium in a porous layer with isoflux-isothermal boundary conditions

2014

The effects of lack of local thermal equilibrium between the solid phase and the fluid phase are taken into account for the convective stability analysis of a horizontal porous layer. The layer is bounded by a pair of plane parallel walls which are impermeable and such that the lower wall is subject to a uniform flux heating, while the upper wall is isothermal. The local thermal non-equilibrium is modelled through a two-temperature formulation of the energy exchange between the phases, resulting in a pair of local energy balance equations: one for each phase. Small-amplitude disturbances of the basic rest state are envisaged to test the stability. Then, the standard normal mode procedure is…

The effect of enriching milk-based beverages with plant sterols or stanols on the fatty acid composition of the products

2013

Five plant sterol (PS)-enriched dairy products from the Spanish market were characterised for fatty acids (FA), volatile compounds and lipid stability. The ingredients used for PS enrichment by the food industry may come from different sources, thus influencing the composition and stability of the lipid fraction. In this study, the FA profile proved highly variable among samples, not agreeing with the nutritional labelling of the products. The volatile profile was characterised. A total of 55 volatile compounds were identified in the samples by GC–MS. Concentrations of hexanal (from 1.1 to 7.5 ng/g), nonanal (from 0.9 to 1.2 ng/g) and decane (from n.d. to 11.9 ng/g) indicated a low lipid ox…

Epistemic and didactic values of the demonstrative process in different cultures: a case study in Geometry with Chinese and Italian students

2011

Thixotropy of Highly Viscous Sodium (Carboxymethyl)cellulose Hydrogels

1997

A general method to quantify the thixotropic behavior of systems with very low thixotropy is proposed. The areas enclosed by the rheograms τ=fγ. must be fitted to functions with well-determined boundary conditions. From these equations the corresponding thixotropic areas are obtained, together with the theoretical area enclosed by the rheogram corresponding to the maximum rheodestruction. The proposed method is applied to high viscosity sodium (carboxymethyl)cellulose gels.

Methods for evaluating causality in observational studies.

2019

BACKGROUND: In clinical medical research, causality is demonstrated by randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Often, however, an RCT cannot be conducted for ethical reasons, and sometimes for practical reasons as well. In such cases, knowledge can be derived from an observational study instead. In this article, we present two methods that have not been widely used in medical research to date. METHODS: The methods of assessing causal inferences in observational studies are described on the basis of publications retrieved by a selective literature search. RESULTS: Two relatively new approaches—regression-discontinuity methods and interrupted time series—can be used to demonstrate a causal relat…

Combined use of sonographic and elastosonographic parameters can improve the diagnostic accuracy in thyroid nodules at risk of malignancy at cytologi…

2019

BACKGROUND Thyroid nodules diagnosed as Thy3B at fine-needle aspiration biopsy have a relevant risk of malignancy (15-30%) and are usually addressed to surgery. However surgery will result unnecessary in most cases. The present study aims at evaluating the possible increase of diagnostic accuracy for predicting malignancy using novel sonographic and elastographic parameters. METHODS In fifty patients undergoing thyroidectomy because of a Thy3B thyroid nodule, sonographic and elastosonographic evaluation was carried out by single operator before surgery. Five sonographic parameters (echogenicity, irregular margins, microcalcifications, intra-nodule blood flow and its irregularity) and two el…