Date Of Purchase Research Articles

Competitive Analysis for Online Leasing Problem with Compound Interest Rate

We introduce the compound interest rate into the continuous version of the online leasing problem and discuss the generalized model by competitive analysis. On the one hand, the optimal deterministic strategy and its competitive ratio are obtained; on the other hand, a nearly optimal randomized strategy is constructed and a lower bound for the randomized competitive ratios is proved by Yao′s principle. With the help of numerical examples, the theoretical results show that the interest rate puts off the purchase date and diminishes the uncertainty involved in the decision making.

Josef Hoffmann's unknown masterpiece: the garden of Stoclet House in Brussels (1905–1911)

Art is art, and life is life, but to live life artistically: that is the art of life. Peter Altenberg 1 In June 2009 Stoclet House complete with its furnishings and its garden was declared part of ...

The Risk for Significant Creatine Kinase Elevation with Statins

The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) are effective for reducing long-term cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in both primary and secondary prevention. The most serious adverse reaction is significant elevation of creatine kinase (CK) leading to rhabdomyolysis. The incidence of CK elevation is low in randomized, controlled trials. The rate may be higher in 'real-world', less controlled settings. Data on the risks of statin-associated rhabdomyolysis in 'real-world' practice settings are limited. The aim of this study was to examine the risk for CK elevation among statin users in a clinical practice setting. Potential risk factors were identified and evaluated to quantify the risk for CK elevation with statins. This case-control study was conducted at Kaiser Permanente Colorado. Patients with prescriptions for lovastatin or simvastatin between 1 January 1999 and 30 June 2006 were identified. Cases (n = 183), i.e. patients with a CK > or =10x the upper limit of normal (ULN) while receiving a statin during this time period, were each matched on the date of statin purchase to ten control patients (n = 1830) without CK > or =10x ULN while receiving a statin. Multivariate, conditional logistic regression was used to assess the associations between the statin, statin dose, demographic, co-morbidity, laboratory, and medication factors potentially associated with CK >or =10x ULN. he mean (SD) age of patients was 64.9 (11.5) years and 56.9% were male. Overall, simvastatin use was associated with a higher likelihood for CK > or =10x ULN than lovastatin (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 4.6; 95% CI 1.1, 12.4). Using simvastatin 40 mg daily as the referent, and in the absence of interacting medications, only simvastatin 80 mg was associated with a higher likelihood for CK > or =10x ULN (OR 2.7; 95% CI 1.1, 6.9). In the presence of interacting medications, all doses of simvastatin and only lovastatin 80 mg were associated with a higher likelihood for CK > or =10x ULN. In this study, simvastatin was associated with a higher likelihood for CK > or =10x ULN than lovastatin. High-dose simvastatin, in particular, appears to confer a greater risk than lower doses of either simvastatin or lovastatin.

PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME SMOKED AND MARINATED FISH PRODUCTS

ABSTRACT The aim of this work was to determine the proximate composition and physicochemical parameters of different smoked and marinated fish to provide a database with the typical values of the parameters which best define these products. Three batches corresponding to different purchase dates of 15 commercial products were analyzed. Great variability in all parameters was observed between products and between batches of a same product, e.g., in smoked anchovy, NaCl contents varied from 7.1 to 11.8% (w/w), which led to a wide variation in the aw (from 0.877 to 0.931). These important differences found in moisture, NaCl contents, pH, aw, water holding capacity, and color, between batches would affect product shelf life and its sensory features. This variability implies that the consumer expectations would not be met. For this reason, producers should adjust the processing parameters in order to obtain smoked and marinated fish with homogeneous characteristics. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This study deals with the composition and physicochemical characterization of different smoked and marinated fish products available in the market. For these kinds of products, certain physicochemical parameters are directly related to shelf life and sensory characteristics. In this sense, the aw decrease, the NaCl content increase, and/or the pH reduction are the main responsible for prolonging the shelf life of these products. On the other hand, salt content, water holding capacity and color have an important impact on the sensory attributes, which have direct implications for consumers' acceptability. An accurate knowledge of the typical values of the main characteristics in smoked and marinated fish would allow the parameters which best define these products to be standardized, providing a reference for producers and researchers in the field of new product development.

Incidence of cancer and statin usage—Record linkage study

The consumption of statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) has been increasing, and a substantial part of the middle-aged and elderly population use them continuously. Because a large fraction of the population is exposed, even a small excess of risk with respect to cancer should be considered. We carried out a record-linkage study in Finland utilizing nationwide databases of reimbursed statin medication and cancer. The study population included all statin users in Finland who had purchased at least 1 prescription between 1996 and 2005 and who had no cancer diagnosis at the date of first purchase. A control population without statin usage was also included. Data consisted of 472,481 pairs of individuals that cumulated 4.2 million person years with an average of 8.8 years of follow-up. Fifty thousand two hundred ninety-four cancer cases were observed. Simvastatin and atorvastatin were the most used substances. The most frequent cancers were prostate, breast, lung, colon, and rectum cancer. In general, no association between the utilization of statins and cancer could be detected. In conclusion, this study adds large-scale, population-based results about the association between statin utilization and the incidence of cancer. We found neither beneficial nor harmful associations between the usage of statins and cancer.

Incidence of cancer and antidepressant medication: Record linkage study

The consumption of antidepressants, especially selective serotonine reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) has been increasing. Because a large fraction of the population is exposed, even a small excess of risk with respect to cancer should be considered. We carried out a record linkage study in Finland utilizing nationwide databases of reimbursed medication and cancer. The study population included all antidepressant drug (AD) users in Finland who had purchased at least 1 prescription between 1998 and 2005, and who had no cancer diagnosis at the date of first purchase. A control population without AD usage (matched by age and sex) was also included. Data consisted of 418,588 pairs of individuals that cumulated 3.3 million person-years with an average of 4.0 years of follow-up. 19,365 cancer cases were observed. The most frequent cancers were breast, prostate, lung, colon, and brain cancer. In general, only few associations between the utilization of AD and cancer could be detected. Over four years exposure to AD showed a weak association with increased colon and breast cancer incidence, which could have been caused by bias. As conclusion, no clear evidence of neither beneficial nor harmful association between usage of antidepressant and cancer was found.

Patient factors associated with hemoglobin A1C change with pioglitazone as adjunctive therapy in type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

To identify patient factors associated with change in hemoglobin A1C (A1C) with adjunct pioglitazone therapy in routine clinical practice. This was a retrospective analysis of adult type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in a health maintenance organization setting who were newly-initiated on pioglitazone between January 2002 and December 2005. Eligible patients were receiving at least one other oral antihyperglycemic medication prior to initiating pioglitazone and maintained a stable dose of pioglitazone for 90 days. Data on eligible patients' characteristics, pharmacy purchases, comorbidities, and A1C measurement 90 days prior to the pioglitazone purchase date (baseline) and 90 days after achieving a stable dose (follow-up) were obtained from electronic records. Multivariate regression modeling was used to assess factors independently associated with: 1) absolute change in A1C, 2) achieving a ≥1 percentage point decrease in A1C, and 3) achieving an A1C<7%. Baseline and follow-up A1Cs were available for 128 patients. At baseline, mean age was 65 years, 38% were female, mean A1C was 8.4%, and 74% had an A1C>8%. At follow-up, the mean A1C change was -1.2 percentage points (interquartile range= -0.4, -2.1), 59% achieved a ≥1 unit decrease in A1C, and 44% achieved an A1C<7%. Independent predictors in all models were baseline A1C and time (in days) between baseline and follow-up A1C measurements (p<0.05). Adjunct pioglitazone therapy in routine clinical practice was associated with clinically meaningful reductions in A1C levels. Patients with higher baseline A1C achieved the greatest absolute reduction in A1C but were less likely to achieve levels <7%.

Personal Consumption by Husbands and Wives

In wrongful death damages, personal consumption dollars represent the portion of total household expenditures that are exclusive to the decedent. Most of the personal consumption estimates in the forensic economic literature are computed from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published tables of Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) data. Those tables delineate, by household size and income, the average total dollars spent on approximately 20 summary expenditure groupings.1 Ireland and Depperschmidt (1999) presented a compilation of personal consumption articles that rely on such CEX summary table data with recent like-articles being written by Ajwa, Martin and Vavoulis (2000) and Ruble, Patton, and Nelson (2004). Trout and Foster (1993) and Scoggins (2001) both used the CEX Interview microdata to compute personal consumption estimates specific to husbands and wives. Unfortunately, those two studies ignored the Diary part of the CEX which includes significant household expenditures relevant to personal consumption and they continued to use the BLS’s summary group tabulations of each household’s expenditures. This paper uses CEX microdata to provide new personal consumption estimates for husbands and wives by their work status and by the number of children living in the home. Instead of relying on summary expenditures, all 700 micro-expenditure items within the CEX Interview and Diary surveys are incorporated into the analysis. Like Trout and Foster and Scoggins, the expenditure data is specific to husbands and wives, but this study goes further by using all of the CEX Interview and Diary microdata instead of just summary Interview data. Husband and wife specific data, by work status and number of children living at home, are important delineations in reliably computing personal consumption applicable to the loss of wage earnings of a married person. Assume the case of a wrongful death of a working married male living only with his wife. If a traditional two-person household personal consumption table were used to offset the husband’s earnings loss, such an analysis would mix the expenditure data of working and retired husbands and wives along with mixing in the data of households consisting of two single persons or one single person living with a child, etc. Another problem with studies based on summary tables is that total expenditures are usually shown to exceed income at the lower income levels. That result is not necessarily a fault of the CEX, but its presenta-

Is Actuarially Fair Insurance Pricing Actually Fair?: A Case Study in Insuring Battered Women

Is Actuarially Fair Insurance Pricing Actually Fair?: A Case Study in Insuring Battered Women

Dating the Domestic Ceramics and Pipe Smoking Related Artifacts from Casselden Place, Melbourne, Australia

This paper compares the dates of manufacture obtained for the domestic ceramic and pipe smoking related artifact assemblages from Casselden Place, Melbourne. It has previously been argued that ceramic items, because of their potentially long use-lives, may be deposited many years after their date of manufacture and purchase. This is in contrast to pipe smoking related items, which tend to have very short use-lives. However, the results presented here demonstrate that there is no significant evidence for a time lag between the date of manufacture of the ceramic items and their incorporation into the archaeological record at Casselden Place.

Anti-listerial inhibitory lactic acid bacteria isolated from commercial cold smoked salmon

The natural microflora of cold-smoked fish at the end of shelf-life are lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Some of these display a capacity to inhibit spoilage as well as several strains of pathogenic micro-organisms, e.g. Listeria monocytogenes which is isolated frequently from cold-smoked salmon (CSS). Eight batches of sliced vacuum-packed CSS from Norway, Scotland and Spain were collected at retail. Packs were stored at 5 °C and examined for chemical and microbiological characteristics, at purchase date and at expiration date. pH, water activity and salt content were similar to available data on lightly preserved fish products. There was a consistent pattern in the development of the microflora on CSS; the initial level of LAB was low on freshly produced CSS (10 2 cfu g −1); however, storage in vacuum packaging at refrigeration temperature was elective for LAB. At the end of the stated shelf-life these micro-organisms, represented mainly by Lactobacillus spp., attained ca.10 7 cfu g −1 while Enterobacteriaceae counts were consistently lower (10 5 cfu g −1), which indicates the ability of LAB to grow and compete with few carbohydrates available and in the presence of moderate salt concentrations. L. monocytogenes was not found in any sample. Forty-one percent of LAB strains isolated exhibited inhibitory capacity against Listeria innocua, in a plate assay. A majority of the inhibitory effects were non-bacteriocinogenic, but nevertheless were very competitive cultures which may provide an additional hurdle for improved preservation by natural means.

Chemical Inventory Management Solutions from CambridgeSoft

Managing a chemical inventory consists of tracking the usage, disposal, and ordering of substances that are at the heart of an enterprise’s endeavors.[...]

Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E

Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E., by Lawrence J. Mykytiuk. SBL Academia Biblica 12. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature; Leiden: Brill, 2004. Pp. xix + 327. $150.00/$42.95. ISBN 9004127240/1589830628. Lawrence Mykytiuk's monograph will provide much relief for all those who are interested in questions of biblical historicity but who are critical of maximalist or minimalist prejudices concerning historicity of biblical accounts. The main body of book comprises five chapters and is a slightly revised version of Mykytiuk's 1998 dissertation. It claims to include all Hebrew from pre-Persian era that turned up before October 1997 and in which names occur that can possibly be identified with persons named in Hebrew Bible. It also discusses Aramaic text on Tel Dan stela and Moabite Mesha Inscription. Other Northwest Semitic as well as Hebrew that were published between October 1997 and July 2002 are listed and briefly discussed in appendices. The include some longer texts on ancient monuments as well as very short texts on personal seals or impressions from personal seals on jar handles and bullae. The book omits that do not name persons that can be identified with persons named in Bible. Neither does it discuss controversial King Jehoash Inscription, which was made known to a broader public as late as January 2003. However, continuing debate about this possible forgery demonstrates how important it is to apply a sound method for making identifications. Therefore, Mykytiuk's endeavor to describe the first comprehensive system for evaluating potential identifications in Northwest Semitic inscriptions (p. xii) is more than welcome. Previous studies treat only a small number of and generally do not presuppose a method to evaluate proposed identification of persons named in with persons named in Bible. In ch. 1 Mykytiuk tries to establish an appropriate set of criteria for determining identifications. He demonstrates that some identifications by pioneer archaeologists such as W. F. Albright are now known to be erroneous. Some of these mistakes were due to limited information and absence of a sound methodology. There was not enough caution in vocalization of names; identifications were readily made even if additional identifying marks, such as patronymics and titles, were lacking, and significance of titles was sometimes misjudged. In case of some provenanced inscriptions, original dating of layer where they had been uncovered proved to be wrong and thus proposed identification was impossible. Also, importance of paleography was not yet fully recognized. Fortunately, Nahman Avigad and others gradually became more aware of potential risks when trying to identify persons named in with biblical figures. However, Avigad did not describe all factors that determine credibility of an identification. Mykytiuk tries to make his own list of criteria as comprehensive as possible, but he admits that criteria may have to be revised when new present problems. For now, he distinguishes eleven criteria. The first question is whether inscriptional data are reliable. In Mykytiuk's view, an identification is most convincing if inscription has been excavated under controlled conditions (1) and if exact find spot is known (2). If artifact looks genuine but was purchased on antiquities market, a nineteenth-century date of purchase tends to confirm authenticity of inscription. The pioneers' knowledge of paleography was not yet sufficient to determine exactly when certain letter shapes were used. This means that risk of forgery must be considered only for unprovenanced that turned up during twentieth or twenty-first centuries (3). …

A Return-Risk Evaluation of an Indexed Annuity Investment

This article focuses on a relatively new investment option, an indexed annuity account offered by at least one insurance company, which combines U.S. Treasury bonds with options on the S&amp;P 500 Index that guarantees a minimum return of 2.7% per year and a maximum return (or cap return) equal to the 52-week percentage change in the S&amp;P 500 Index following the date of purchase but no more than a return set by management which has been 8% or 9% in the past two years. (Contractually, the cap return cannot be less than 5% per year.) Using simulated investment results for 10-, 20-, and 30-year holding periods using actual rate-of-return data for the period 1946-2003, the author demonstrates that a hypothetical index annuity account does provide a relatively low-risk investment, although the cost, in terms of forgone returns on a pure equity investment, is relatively high. When the cap return was set at 9%, the index annuity account generally achieved higher returns and lower risk than did a long-term U.S. government bond investment.

Detection of genetically modified soya in a range of organic and health food products

A selection of organic/health foods containing soya beans was tested for the presence of genetically modified (GM) material. Out of 25 samples of food products containing unrefined soya ingredients, ten tested positively for the presence of GM material. This was surprising because eight out of the ten GM‐positive samples were either labelled as “GM free” and/or were labelled as “organic”, both of which imply the absence of GM ingredients. In no case did any of the foods tested reach the mandatory 1 per cent threshold required for positive labelling as GM products under current European Union legislation, although one product was close to this limit. However, there was considerable batch‐to‐batch variation in the GM soya content of some of the food products, depending on the purchase date and retailer. The paper discusses the implications of these results regarding international regulations on food labelling and use of “GM free” labels or their equivalent.

Toeholds and Bid Timing: Recognizing the Option Value of Deferral

We partition takeover bids into two groups: those that are deferred from the date of a toehold purchase, and those that are coincident with a toehold purchase. Coincident bids alone have approximately zero abnormal returns at bid/toehold, but deferred bids have negative abnormals both in the pre-bid interval (representing bid anticipation) and at announcement. Negative returns are puzzling because of the implication that intending bidders should never defer. We classify deferred bids into those that should optimally have been deferred, and those that should not by devising a risk-neutral valuation procedure to measure the value of the option to defer. The negative returns are traced to a sub-group of deferred bids that should optimally have been coincident. We conjecture why non-optimally deferring bidders should behave in this way.

Knowledge Management: A Careful Look.

During the past three decades, corporations, governments, and educational institutions in industrialized nations have adopted information technology to run their daily operations. Information technology, both computer hardware and software and communications technologies, is at the core of knowledge-based economy. Knowledgebased economy is a major driving force for the economy and society of industrialized nations [www.wkforum.org]. Knowledge management has become an important subject in this context. However, the term “knowledge management” is vaguely understood. One reason is that the term “knowledge” itself has been both overused and loosely used. To understand the technical issues and challenges in knowledge management, one must first understand the term knowledge better. In this article we will take a careful look at the term “knowledge”, and on that basis shed some light on the concept of knowledge management, and then in turn point out some major issues and challenges in knowledge management. 1 TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE The term “knowledge” is often used interchangeably with the term “information”. Although the marketing literature on some data-processing products talk of knowledge being more useful and advanced than information, and information being more useful and advanced than raw data, we do not believe there is a compelling distinction between information and knowledge. (Knowledge is also known in some philosophical circles as true or verified belief.) The term “data”, however, can be distinguished from “knowledge”. “Data” refers to uninterpreted and unprocessed raw data, while “knowledge” refers to either data or “value-added data”. “Metadata” is also “data”. Metadata is data about data, and is found in data dictionaries or system catalogs in database systems. “Value-added data” is data obtained by querying, manipulating, analyzing, and interpreting raw data. A list of customers and items they purchased from a store would be raw data. The metadata for this data describes the data, for example, customer name as a 20-byte string, purchase date in mm/dd/yy date format, purchase KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: A CAREFUL LOOK 30 JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY VOL. 2, NO. 1 items as a list of 20-byte strings, etc. A purchase pattern discovered from the list of customers and items they purchased, such as a sudden surge in the purchases of canned goods or purchases of certain combinations of items, would be knowledge. Sometimes one refers to “knowledge” as “actionable data” as a way of distinguishing data that is relevant to a given objective from one that is not. For example, the discovery of a sudden surge in the purchases of canned goods may be actionable knowledge to a retail chain, in that the retail chain may then order additional canned goods or raise the price on canned goods. However, such discovery as “most husbands are men” would not be useful to a rental car company. “Actionable data” may be raw data or data obtained from raw data; in other words, raw data, such as customer names and addresses, may be directly relevant to a given objective, such as a marketing campaign. This is why we believe knowledge should be regarded as encompassing both raw data and data obtained from raw data, rather than just data obtained from raw data. To help understand knowledge in a systematic way, we provide a taxonomy of knowledge in the Figure below. Knowledge may be either computerized or noncomputerized. Computerized knowledge is one that is stored in a computer system and is amenable to processing by computer software and hardware. Non-computerized knowledge is one that resides in human brains or is recorded in recordable, but not computer-processable, media, such as paper. In the context of “knowledge-based economy”, for example, knowledge means both computerized and non-computerized knowledge. “Knowledge management systems”, on the other hand, deal only with computerized knowledge. Computerized knowledge has two types. One is explicit knowledge and another is implicit knowledge. Explicit computerized knowledge is knowledge that is captured and stored in a computer system, such as databases, files, data warehouses, the Web, information portals, etc. Explicit knowledge in turn comes in two types. One is knowledge whose semantics are known to computer software such that the computer Taxonomy of Knowledge Computerized knowledge

Structured Settlements And The Interest Rate Switch

Abstract No abstract available.

The isolation of Campylobacter spp. from modified atmosphere packaged foods

Foodborne illness caused by Campylobacter spp. is a major public health concern in many countries. This study investigated the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in modified atmosphere packaged (MAP) foods such as fresh meat and vegetables in order to assess the risk to human health from foods packaged using this new technology, the application of which is increasing rapidly. Samples of MAP chicken meat, MAP turkey meat, MAP bacon and MAP mixed salad vegetables from two supermarkets were tested for the presence of the organism in two types of samples; those tested immediately on purchase and those stored at 4 C (+/- 2 C) and subsequently tested on the 'use by' date stated on the package. Campylobacter spp. were found to be present in a proportion of all MAP products tested: 90% of MAP turkey samples, 71.25% of MAP chicken samples, 67.5% of cured bacon samples and 22.2% of mixed salad vegetables samples were found to be contaminated with Campylobacter spp. Viable counts indicated that the level of infection varied both between food products and between different packages of the same product. Turkey meat was found to have the highest numbers of organisms present (5.2 102-3.3 103 cfu g-1) compared with 0.2-7.2 102 cfu g-1 for chicken meat and 0.1-3.1 102 g-1 for bacon. The highest count obtained from one sample of salad vegetables was 1.7 102 cfu g-1 with the majority (16 out of a total of 20 positive samples) being less than 0.8 102 cfu g-1 and all 12 of the positive samples tested on date of purchase having viable counts of less than 0.1 102 cfu g-1.

Los libros "traydos y viejos y algunos rotos" que tuvo el Bachiller Fernando de Rojas, nombrado autor de la obra llamada Celestina

An examination of the inventory of the books belonging to Fernando de Rojas, author of Celestina, which was made upon his death in 1541. Three critical steps are taken : firstly the identification of ail the items and their taxonomy ; secondly the determination of the possible purchase dates through the printing dates, and lastly these facts are related to their possible influence on his literary work.