We present the application of real options analysis (ROA) to a managerial decision-making problem. A case study was developed to illustrate the mathematical steps required to apply ROA. The results of this model show that a net present value analysis, which is most often used in practice, would have led to a sub-optimal decision, as it does not take into account the value of future options and ...

The onset of fatal and near-fatal asthma attacks can be rapid. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and clinical characteristics of rapid-onset asthma (ROA) in patients suffering fatal and near-fatal crises. Two-hundred and twenty patients with fatal or near-fatal attacks were enrolled in a multicentre, prospective study. ROA was defined as a crisis developing in < or =2 h...

OBJECTIVES To investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between systemic bone mineral density (BMD), subchondral BMD (sBMD) and knee cartilage thickness in older adults with or without radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA). METHODS A prospective cohort of 158 randomly selected subjects (mean 63 years, 48% women) including 69 non-ROA and 89 ROA subjects were studied at baseline and...

BACKGROUND Accurate quantification of mitral regurgitation (MR) is important for patient treatment and prognosis. Three-dimensional echocardiography allows for the direct measure of the regurgitant orifice area (ROA) by 3D-guided planimetry of the vena contracta area (VCA). We aimed to (1) establish 3D VCA ranges and cutoff values for MR grading, using the American Society of Echocardiography-r...

The existing literature on audit opinion shopping provides inconsistent evidence on whether such shopping has any association with abnormal audit fees. In this paper, we hypothesize that firms engage in audit opinion shopping and pay an abnormal audit fee only when their degree of accounting quality is low. To examine the issue, we group firms on the basis of their change in return on assets (R...

We read with deep interest the article by Atukorala et al aimed at determining if synovitis precedes the development of radiographic knee osteoarthritis (ROA). This nested case–control study suggested that effusion-synovitis and Hoffa-synovitis strongly predicted the development of incident ROA. We really appreciate the work which was done by the authors. The findings supported the potential ro...

BACKGROUND The purposes of the study were to determine the relevance and validity of in vivo non-invasive radiographic assessment of the CCLT (Cranial Cruciate Ligament Transection) rabbit model of osteoarthritis (OA) and to estimate the pertinence, reliability and reproducibility of a radiographic OA (ROA) grading scale and associated radiographic atlas. METHODS In vivo non-invasive extended...

In the recent debate on the use of averages of ratios (AoR) and ratios of averages (RoA) for the compilation of field-normalized citation rates, little evidence has been provided on the different results obtained by the two methods at various levels of aggregation. This paper provides such an empirical analysis at the level of individual researchers, departments, institutions and countries. Two...

An important stage in the development of any new therapeutic agent is establishment of the optimal dosage and route of administration. This can be particularly challenging when the treatment is a biologic agent that might exert its therapeutic effects via complex or poorly understood mechanisms. Multiple preclinical and clinical studies have shown paradoxical results, with inconsistent findings...

We present a general formulation for estimation of the region of attraction (ROA) for nonlinear systems with parametric uncertainties using a combination of the polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) theorem and the sum of squares (SOS) method. The uncertain parameters in the nonlinear system are treated as random variables with a probability distribution. First, the decomposition of the uncertain no...