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Smart services' data-intensive nature means their convenience for users comes with privacy concerns. This poses challenges for the supply of smart services. This paper analyses the impact of user-differentiated privacy costs on smart service supply strategies. It also discusses the effects of privacy protections and data utilisation capabilities on the improvement of smart service levels. We find that providers tend to segment the market based on user privacy sensitivity to capture the maximum consumer surplus. Strict privacy protection requirements may cause providers to sacrifice service quality. Privacy protection is conducive to improving the level of smart services only when users fully recognise these services' value. Interestingly, our study finds improvements in service levels by providers are driven by two factors. On the one hand, providers choose to improve their service levels to obtain more data and create more profits. On the other hand, to reduce the opportunity costs of early investments to develop services, providers need to improve their capabilities to utilise the value of data, ultimately leading to improved service levels. This study brings a new perspective to the supply of smart services and offers suggestions for how to resolve the contradiction between smart service use and privacy preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of decision-making for companies buying transportation services has increased due to the presence of more options and pricing schedules for transportation. Many companies make transportation and inventory decisions in an uncoordinated way and select only one transportation mode, missing opportunities for logistics cost savings. The experimental study in this paper is based on a real-world decision problem faced by a Scandinavian company that distributes fast-moving consumer goods and wants to determine its transportation strategy. We propose a novel multi-mode lot-sizing model with dynamic deterministic demand to illustrate the cost impact of accurately modelling piecewise-linear transportation costs and allowing a more flexible usage of transportation modes when planning order replenishments. We compare three transportation strategies with increasing degrees of flexibility: two single mode strategies, where one strategy is more flexible than the other, and a multi-mode strategy. We conclude that managers can significantly reduce costs by increasing the flexibility of mode selection in transportation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study compares the costs of a school-based online credit recovery model to more traditional teacher-directed credit recovery using rigorous cost analysis methods. Findings indicate that differences in the comprehensive costs for online and teacher-directed credit recovery classes are small. However, cost differences across the two models of specific types of resources are substantial and statistically significant. Online credit recovery classes resulted in higher district-incurred costs largely due to the purchase of online curricula and required technology. The online model incurred lower opportunity costs to teachers stemming from less out-of-class time devoted to grading, lesson planning, and developing course materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted an experiment designed to increase demand for academic support services among more than 2,100 students at a large U.S. public university. The intervention shifted student attention and increased service use, but also revealed behavioral biases. Structural estimates using the experimental variation suggest that transaction costs well in excess of plausible opportunity costs explain relatively low service use. Moreover, one-third of students are never attentive to student services. Message characteristics also matter. Several common nudging techniques—such as text messages, lottery-based economic incentives, and repeated messages—either had no effect or in some cases reduced the effectiveness of messaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OVERVIEW: This study examines the temporal attributes, barriers, and outcomes of slack time in R&D organizations. The study findings indicate that slack time has a waved occurrence, organically arising from downtimes in core work and uptimes in personal creativity. Endemic overcommitment of employees and high perceived opportunity costs prevent slack time from being used effectively in many organizations, resulting in merely rhetorical slack time. The findings suggest that genuine slack time requires formally allocating resources to pay for discretionary time and insulating employees from urgent demands. The study identifies three main outcomes of genuine slack time: (1) It diversifies creativity sources, leading to a spectrum of innovativeness and applications; (2) it increases employee motivation through autonomy and empowerment; and (3) it functions as a cultural lever signaling trust. The study contributes a nuanced conceptualization of slack time grounded in practitioner experiences and offers insights for managing slack time to foster innovation and employee engagement. PRACTITIONER TAKEAWAYS: Slack time manifests as pockets of free time that arise opportunistically during slow periods in regular work and when employees experience personal momentum. Genuine slack time requires that employees are not 100 percent committed to core work and that they are protected from urgent demands during slack time usage. Slack time boosts employee motivation and retention and can contribute to a balanced early-stage innovation portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cash holding decision‐making is one of the main corporate challenges for family firms (FFs), with significant consequences for their growth and survival. It is closely connected to key financial decisions such as financing, investments, and dividends. The motivations behind adjusting cash holdings vary, encompassing precautionary, risk avoidance, opportunity cost considerations, and the spending hypothesis. In our study, we aim to integrate specific motivations for cash holding decisions that stem from the influence of family dynamics within these businesses since FFs have unique characteristics, which affect their financial choices. Therefore, we analyze the impact of family involvement in management and the generational stage of FFs on their level of cash holdings. The results of the partial least squares–structural equation modeling, which was estimated on a sample of 7269 unlisted Spanish FFs, show that the higher the level of family involvement in management, as well as the higher the generational stage, the higher the level of cash holdings, with this having a positive effect on the firm's performance. In addition, we find that the positive relationship between family involvement in management and the level of cash holdings is strengthened by family ownership and weakened by family governance. These findings are relevant for a better understanding of the complexity of cash holding decision‐making in FFs and have practical implications not only for the FFs themselves but also for the entities related to them due to the important links between a firm's liquidity and its risk of default and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most widely researched macroeconomic relationships is money demand stability, which helps monetary authorities understand what motivates economic agents hold real money balances and whether it can predict inflation. However, endogenous structural shocks to macroeconomic fundamentals have often been criticized for distorting the equilibrium relationship among economic variables. These shocks usually stem from socioeconomic and political changes, behavior of economic agents, and random shocks. We examine the presence of cointegrating relationships between money demand and scale and opportunity cost variables while allowing for multiple endogenous structural breaks in the cointegrating vectors in the Indian context for the period 1996:Q2–2021:Q2. We utilize the Narayan and Popp (J Appl Stat 37(9):1425–1438, 2010) test to identify the break dates in each series and then employ the Maki (Econ Model 29(5):2011–2015, 2012) cointegration approach to establish the presence of long-run relationships between money demand and its covariates. Our study finds the presence of stable long-run relationships in the money demand function, implying that monetary authorities may target narrow and broad monetary aggregates as an indicator or treat them as an information variable to anchor the inflation expectations of economic agents under the current flexible inflation-targeting framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practice, capital‐constrained third‐party logistics (3PL) firms usually obtain bank financing (BF) to invest in logistics technology to enhance the consumer shopping experience. The emergence of financial innovation has prompted the adoption of alternative financing modes by 3PLs, including e‐commerce platform financing (EPF) and fourth‐party logistics financing (4PF). To clarify the differences among the three financing modes at the operational management level, we develop a Stackelberg game model to capture the strategic interactions between the 3PL and creditors. We examine a platform‐based supply chain where a manufacturer sells products through an e‐commerce platform to consumers, with the logistics services for the supply chain provided by the 3PL and fourth‐party logistics (4PL) firms. The analysis results reveal that the equilibrium interest rates under EPF and 4PF share a similar pattern regarding the logistics service cost coefficient, the commission rate, and the 4PL service fee. The difference is that under EPF (4PF), the logistics service level increases in the commission rate (4PL service fee) but decreases under the other financing strategy. Furthermore, the 3PL is inclined to invest in logistics technology only when the fixed investment cost is low, and these financing modes are complementary rather than alternative. The 3PL and manufacturer can benefit from 4PF (BF) when the logistics service cost coefficient is large and the market size is small (large); otherwise, EPF can enhance their profits. We also find that when the opportunity costs of capital are homogeneous, both the 4PL and the platform are consistently willing to act as financiers themselves. However, when considering heterogeneity in the opportunity costs of capital, they may be reluctant to provide financing. Each financing mode may achieve Pareto improvements under specific conditions. Finally, we also analyze the impact of technology R&D risks and endogenous 4PL service fee, yielding some valuable insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed by my secondment to the UK Parliament in 2015-2016, and the production and reception of The Good Parliament report--which offered a blueprint for a diversity-sensitive House of Commons--this article reflects on my experiences becoming a feminist academic critical actor. This new type of critical actor extends the conceptualization first developed by Childs and Krook (2006, 2008). A distinctiveness vis. Chappell and Mackay's (2021) concept of the "feminist critical friend" is also drawn: In addition to researching institutional change and supporting others in their reform work, the feminist academic critical actor is essential to instigate and institute institutional change. In this, the feminist academic critical actor is engaged in quotidian persuasion work and is both the agent as well as the analyst of research, critically reflecting on the dynamics and actors of institutional status, change, and resistance, including their own acts, in situ and after. In making the case for the feminist academic critical actor, the academic is recognized as doing something different, begging important questions of responsibility and accountability, and the opportunities and costs of engaging in such acts, particularly for minoritized and/or precarious academics. In the latter part of the article, I sketch out some of the dilemmas located in the questioning of my authority and legitimacy, and concerning the harm that I faced as a relatively privileged aspirant feminist academic critical actor, acting to rework the highly masculinized institution that is the UK House of Commons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate an inverse relationship between women's financial equality status with men (as proxied by gender wage gap), and women's entrepreneurship participation at the U.S. state level. Gender wage gap affects women's opportunity cost of the entrepreneurship decision. In states where women's status is lower, women's opportunity cost of becoming an entrepreneur is lower because their wages are lower, increasing women's entrepreneurship participation. We also demonstrate that states' demographics are important factors, but only education is specific to women. Collectively, we find that women choose to be entrepreneurial when their status is lower, which reflects women's economic resiliency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autologous Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is an amalgam of fibrin mesh, platelets and growth factors that favour wound healing. It can be easily used as a graft material in myringoplasty, making it a promising, easy to harvest and cost effective alternative compared to cartilage or fascia graft used in conventional myringoplasty. 50 patients of small to medium, dry central perforation underwent myringoplasty using PRF graft (Group 1). Results were compared to 50 patients with similar small to medium perforations who underwent conventional transcanal myringoplasty using temporalis fascia graft (Group 2): Outcome of surgery was measured by closure of perforation and improvement in hearing at 3 months. In group 1, overall closure rate was 70% while in group 2 it was 96%. For both small and medium perforations healing was significantly higher in group 2 compared to group 1, (100% vs 87.5%) for small perforations and (95.45% vs 66.67%) for medium perforations. Hearing gain was comparable in both groups in patients in whom healing of perforation occurred. PRF stands as a suitable graft material for closure of small perforations, but, lack of rigidity and early disintegration of the graft makes it less suitable for larger perforations compared to other conventional grafts such as temporalis fascia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the design and analysis of experiments conducted on a set of units over multiple time periods in which the starting time of the treatment may vary by unit. The design problem involves selecting an initial treatment time for each unit in order to most precisely estimate both the instantaneous and cumulative effects of the treatment. We first consider nonadaptive experiments, in which all treatment assignment decisions are made prior to the start of the experiment. For this case, we show that the optimization problem is generally NP-hard, and we propose a near-optimal solution. Under this solution, the fraction entering treatment each period is initially low, then high, and finally low again. Next, we study an adaptive experimental design problem, in which both the decision to continue the experiment and treatment assignment decisions are updated after each period's data are collected. For the adaptive case, we propose a new algorithm, the precision-guided adaptive experiment algorithm, which addresses the challenges at both the design stage and the stage of estimating treatment effects, ensuring valid post-experiment inference, accounting for the adaptive nature of the design. Using realistic settings, we demonstrate that our proposed solutions can reduce the opportunity cost of the experiments by more than 50%, compared with static design benchmarks. This paper was accepted by George Shanthikumar, data science. Funding: S. Athey and G. Imbens were supported by the Office of Naval Research [Grant N00014-19-1-2468]. M. Bayati was supported by the National Science Foundation [Grant CMMI 1554140]. Supplemental Material: The e-companion and data are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4928. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The EXOFFIT study compared the effectiveness of three time‐matched exercise interventions in women with obesity for improving cardiorespiratory fitness. To best inform future research, evaluation of the interventions' acceptability is needed. Previous research has been inconsistent with methods and reporting of acceptability. Thus, the theoretical framework of acceptability (TFA) can be utilized to ensure that all aspects of acceptability are evaluated. No study to date in women with obesity has utilized the TFA in conjunction with quantitative data (i.e., frequencies of themes) to highlight the aspects of interventions that may be most important for participants. Objective: This study aimed to examine the acceptability of the EXOFFIT program and gain insight into the participants' experience of participation, their perspective on the acceptability of trial procedures and interventions and gather their feedback on program changes. Methods: A mixed‐methods approach was employed. Thirty‐eight participants who completed the exercise interventions were interviewed and completed a self‐reported exit questionnaire. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed in three phases: emergent themes were agreed upon, then mapped to the TFA constructs and the frequencies of each construct and theme were presented as counts. Data collected from the exit questionnaire were collated and reported using descriptive statistics. Results: All seven TFA constructs were identified in the analysis. The EXOFFIT program was found to have a high level of acceptability, with affective attitude, perceived effectiveness and self‐efficacy being the most reported constructs. The burden and opportunity costs associated with the program were mainly related to family commitments and support needed to participate. Any negative impact of participation was noted to be outweighed by the perceived benefits. Conclusions: The results of this study will inform the development of future programs with women with obesity and support the consideration of the TFA constructs from the outset of study design. Clinical Trial Registration Number: ISRCTN13517067 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interconnectors play a crucial role in electric power systems. They contribute to balancing demand and supply in real-time, guaranteeing efficient dispatch in wide geographic regions, and increasing competition by creating large markets. However, interconnector capacity is a scarce resource because vertically integrated utilities were required to have generating capacity enough to supply most customers within their operating region under a regulated monopoly. Hence, identifying the efficient allocation method is essential, particularly after recent electricity market restructuring. This study evaluates the competitive effect of the implicit auction on the interconnector transmission capacity. The implicit auction allocates all the interconnector capacity simultaneously with electric energy in the day-ahead market. This method prevents market participants from strategically withholding the physical interconnector capacity ex ante to exercise market power, as allowed under the first come, first served rule. This study empirically shows how the capacity was withheld from the day-ahead market under the first come, first served rule using detailed reservation data. Next, I show that the implicit auction increases interconnector capacity available at the day-ahead market and trade volume. I use machine-learning methods, such as random forest and deep neural networks, to predict the counterfactual market outcomes without implicit auction. I find that the gain from trade under the implicit auction is more than US$55 million per year in Japan, which is more than 100 times the implementation cost of the implicit auction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Israel, coverage of health needs is delivered by four health maintenance organizations (HMOs), which are budgeted by the government according to the recommendations of the National Drug Formulary (NDF) Committee. For medications not listed in the NDF, individuals may request to cover the costs by the HMO Exemptions Committee (DEC). The objectives of the current study, a first of its kind, are to document the DEC decision process, to identify its components and to determine the decisions' clinical outcome. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all members (≥ age 18) of the Maccabi Healthcare Service (MHS) who submitted a request to the DEC between June 2017 and December 2018. Collected data include patient demographics, clinical information and components of the decision process. Decision success (i.e., clinical outcome correlated with DEC decision) was determined by clinical outcome over at least one-year follow-up. Results: A total of 335 requests were included. Strong evidence and rare disease were positively associated with approvals, while the availability of alternative treatments and costs were negatively associated. The majority of decisions (75%) met predicted clinical outcomes. Only estimated costs were found to be associated with decision success. Conclusions: Factors that reduce the potential costs of a requested drug are significantly associated with higher odds for drug approval, but only when the evidence supports potential benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: In March 2022, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) released the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/AAMI ST91:2021, their latest update on comprehensive, flexible, and semirigid endoscope reprocessing. These updated standards recommend the sterilization of high-risk endoscopes when possible and provide new recommendations for the precleaning, leak testing, manual cleaning, visual inspection, automated reprocessing, drying, storage, and transport of endoscopes. Methods: ANSI/AAMI ST91:2021 was compared with ANSI/AAMI ST91:2015 for major reprocessing differences that result in either time and/or cost increases. Time estimates were captured by explicit recommendation inclusion or taken from the literature. All the costs were estimated using publicly available resources. Results: The updated standards represent a potential 24.3-minute and 52.35 to 67.57 United States dollars increase per procedure in terms of reprocessing time and spending, respectively, not including capital investments. Capital costs per procedure were highly dependent on the procedure volume of the facility. Conclusions: The new AAMI standards recommend several major changes, such as sterilization, for facilities to reprocess and manage endoscopes between uses. As more facilities increase their reprocessing methods to reflect the updated standards, they do so at a cost and introduce several delays. As the reprocessing landscape evolves, facilities should consider their true costs and alternative solutions, such as single-use endoscopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong commercial ties promote peace as states shun the opportunity costs of economic disruption. However, trade also enriches and empowers states, rendering them more capable of enforcing long-term settlements. Given economic disruption does not last forever, countries can be incentivized to trade short-term economic losses for long-term political or territorial gains. This trade-off can restrict or even reverse the pacifying effect of commerce as it renders states incapable of committing to existing peaceful deals. I argue the scope condition hinges on the existing power imbalance and the security externalities of trade, defined as states' abilities to translate trade gains into (potential) military power. For countries where the existing power gap is not extreme, the impact of bilateral strategic trade is contingent upon a country's trade externality relative to its opponent's. Although increased bilateral trade can be peace-promoting when the relative externality is small, the pacifying effects can dissipate as a relatively weaker state becomes more capable of exploiting trade gains. Building on recent work in network analysis, I propose a new measurement of trade externalities to test the above theory and find supporting results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western states have provided billions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine to help it in its war against Russia. Yet, despite numerous discussions of the ethical issues raised by the war, there has been little discussion of the opportunity costs of this military assistance. Is it right that the West has prioritized military assistance to Ukraine, when the conflict in Ukraine is just one of numerous challenges facing the world, from forced displacement to global poverty, preventable disease to climate change? This article offers the first detailed engagement with this issue, taking seriously the nonideal feasibility constraints that states face. It firsts set out the prima facie case against assisting Ukraine militarily due to the opportunity costs. It then explores—and largely rejects—two responses: that military assistance is required to protect Ukrainian self-determination and that it is needed to stop the march of authoritarianism. It argues that the opportunity costs objection has serious force and counts against much of the provision of military assistance to Ukraine (although not all). This argument has broader implications for the extent to which states should prioritize military aid over other means of addressing global challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread adoption of electric buses (EB) is hampered by battery degradation. Battery degradation refers to the phenomenon of lithium batteries shrinking in capacity and eventually becoming unusable due to the extensive charging and discharging behavior. This paper proposes a joint optimization of EBs vehicle scheduling and charging strategies that considers both explicit charging cost and implicit battery degradation cost. First, we construct a mathematical optimization model through the graph theory. Then, the battery degradation cost is computed by investigating the relationship between battery degradation and state of charge (SoC) during charging/discharging. Finally, the proposed model is linearized and solved efficiently. Numerical results show that 7.45% of the battery degradation cost and 6% of the total cost can be saved just by simply adjusting the vehicle scheduling and charging strategies. The battery degradation cost is much larger than the charging cost, which emphasizes the need to consider battery degradation. The results also provide some practical suggestions for operators. The lowest possible initial SoC can reduce battery degradation, while increasing the number of buses has little impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship network between enterprises will change their adoption behavior of AI technology and this micro-decision-making mechanism will eventually decide whether AI technology can diffuse and the extent of diffusion on the macro level. However, the existing AI technology diffusion research mostly focuses on the integration of AI technology with other industries from the industrial level, ignoring the complexity of the micro-complex game process and interactions within the enterprise network on the macro technology diffusion. In this regard, this paper builds a game model of AI technology diffusion in core and non-core enterprises from the levels of market competition and policy incentives based on complex network evolutionary game theory. It does this through simulation analysis that examines the mechanism of key factors affecting the diffusion of AI technology, as well as the influence and combination effects of pertinent policies. The study shows that (1) AI technology diffuses more effectively in non-core enterprises than it does in core enterprises; (2) changes in parameters like technology cost and policy regimes have a more evident impact on core enterprises than non-core ones; (3) in market competition, increasing the network average degree, the proportion of AI technology products in the mainstream market, the opportunity cost, the cost reduction factor, or decreasing the cost of AI technology can all promote the diffusion of AI technology; (4) under policy incentives, increasing the proportion of AI technology subsidies and the influence of high-tech identification of enterprises can both promote the diffusion of AI technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic effectiveness can be viewed as a biological commons since one individual's current use may decrease future effectiveness for everyone else. The value of the biological commons declines when the targeted bacteria develop antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a global threat to health and development, causing serious economic damage and loss of human lives. The greatest share of antibiotics is used in livestock production, leading to concerns that such use may threaten human health. While various policies are in place to promote judicious use of antibiotics, their effectiveness is unclear. One key challenge in antibiotics management is the uncertainty surrounding various decisions related to antibiotic use, including whether a suspect case has an infection, how likely an infection will spread, and how effective antibiotics can be if used. We develop a disease management model that incorporates linkages among diagnostic testing decisions, antibiotic use decisions, and alternative treatment costs. We show that many unintended consequences may arise from policies designed to promote judicious antibiotic use. Antibiotics and self-tests are complements (substitutes) whenever antibiotic cost is high (low), implying that a self-test subsidy can plausibly increase expected antibiotic use. With regard to a prescription regulation (PR) that switches an antibiotic from over-the-counter to prescription, we show that while PR can reduce therapeutic antibiotic use as intended it may not achieve the social optimum. In a simple real-world application, we find that PR induces excessive veterinary service demand but does not reduce antibiotic use among typical U.S. dairy farms. PR also leads to the substitution of veterinary services for self-tests in obtaining information. We discuss how our analytical framework can be applied to other contexts, including antibiotics for human use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I am critical of the absence of a coherent theory of costs. I criticize existing cost concepts that define cost externally, through an objectified phenomenon (input price, scarcity of goods, the value/utility of the alternative which is forgone or sacrificed) and similar Böhm-Bawerk´s attempts derived from the value of a marginal product. The critique of the opportunity costs concept, which are regarded as an agent´s economic costs regardless of the fact that they are forever lost in the alternative course of history, is under scrutiny as well. The initial proposal for a modification of the cost theory is presented. The proposal is based on the introduction of the concept of individual utility as a mental structure, called an Idea of Economic Orientation. Agent defines how something should be desirable as well as possible, and thus creates the Idea. It is reflected in reality in the form of an agent’s portfolio of goods. The individual utility is based on a structural coincidence of an Idea as a mental structure with the real economic state of affairs of an agent. I claim that an integral part of the individual utility is the structure of cost, which is reflected in reality as one part of an agent´s portfolio of goods. The cost structure thus has its factual status (recorded by accounting operations), which is at the same time influenced by the opportunistic (counterfactual) consideration of the cost structuring; so, what is contrafactual shapes the factual. The proposal thus enables the synthesis of some vital elements of previous cost theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Most cryptocurrency spot trading occurs on centralized crypto exchanges, where offers for buying and selling are organized via an order book. In liquid markets, the price achieved for buying and selling deviates only slightly from the assumed reference price, that is, trading is associated with low implicit costs. However, compared to traditional finance, crypto markets are still illiquid, and consequently, the reduction of implicit costs is crucial for any trading strategy and of high interest, especially for institutional investors. This paper describes the design and implementation of Athena, a system that automatically splits orders across multiple exchanges to minimize implicit costs. For this purpose, order books are collected from several centralized crypto exchanges and merged into an internal unified order book. In addition to price and quantity, the entries in the unified order book are enriched with information about the exchange. This enables a smart order routing algorithm to split an order into several slices and execute these on several exchanges to reduce implicit costs and achieve a better price. An extensive evaluation shows the savings of using the smart order routing algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paid parental leave has become a part of family policies in an increasing number of Western societies. Parental leave benefits may create varying incentives which can lead to heterogeneous fertility responses. The aim of this study is to examine whether and how the changes in second- and third-order fertility associated with the 2004 parental leave reform in Estonia vary depending on mothers' education and ethnic background. The study draws on data from Estonian administrative registers on women born between 1960 and 1999, who had their first or second child between 1993 and 2014. Mixture cure models are estimated for the transitions to second and third births. We find that women with high educational attainment exhibit a stronger response, both in terms of accelerating the tempo and increasing the quantum of fertility, to the introduction of earnings-related parental leave benefits, than their counterparts with less schooling. In terms of fertility quantum, Estonian women show a stronger response than women from other ethnic groups. Regarding the tempo of childbearing, the results pertaining to ethnic differences are mixed. The study suggests that changes in fertility behavior associated with the introduction of earnings-related parental leave benefits are more pronounced among women with higher opportunity costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of CSR value under a real-option framework suggest that the payment of dividends serves as an opportunity cost. One of the resulting predictions is that the value of CSR spending is lower for dividend paying firms. We examine this prediction empirically. While we find that CSR is positively related to firm value for both dividend payers and non-payers, CSR is roughly 50% less valuable to dividend payers than non-dividend payers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essence of credit guarantee financing (CGF) is the risk sharing between the guarantor and financial institution. Inspired by the case of the CGF of Evergrowing Bank, this study aims to explore the risk compensation strategies and guarantee decisions for guarantors under CGF and provide decision support for the efficient operation of the supply chain CGF. Considering three kinds of risk compensation contracts, namely cost-sharing, revenue-sharing, and quantity-flexibility, the Stackelberg game method is used to construct the supplier CGF model under the retailer's financial constraints. The results show that additional contract parameters, interest rate, debtor's initial capital, and implicit bankruptcy cost are the main factors affecting the credit guarantee coefficient decision. Besides, we find optimal additional contract parameters that can optimize the profits of supply chain members and complete the contract parameter design. The quantity-flexibility contract is the most effective strategy for the supplier to compensate for guarantee risk. However, the retailer's choice of additional contract depends on the initial capital or implicit bankruptcy cost. The main innovation of this study is that it endogenizes the credit guarantee decision and explores the details of the risk compensation contract. Further, the impact of implicit bankruptcy cost on CGF decision is also mentioned for the first time in supply chain finance. Our findings lead to recommendations for the optimal credit guarantee scheme and contract design of compensation for guarantee risk in the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding meaning in life is a fundamental human motivation. Along with pleasure, meaning is a pillar of happiness and well-being. Yet, despite the centrality of this motive, and despite firms' attempts to appeal to this motive, scant research has investigated how the pursuit of meaning influences consumer choice, especially in comparison to the study of pleasure. While previous perspectives would suggest that the pursuit of meaning tilts consumers toward high-quality products, we predicted and found the opposite. As compared to a pleasure or (no goal) baseline condition, six studies demonstrate that the pursuit of meaning causes people to consider how they can otherwise use their money (opportunity costs) which in turn leads to a preference for less expensive goods. This effect is robust across multiple product categories and usage situations, including both experiential and material purchases, and is obtained even when the more expensive product is perceived to deliver greater meaning. For participants pursuing meaning, making opportunity costs salient has no effect on their choices, and encouraging opportunity cost neglect increases their willingness to pay for a more expensive item. This research thus provides an initial answer as to how the pursuit of meaning shapes consumer choice processes and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platform owners regularly make decisions regarding whether, when, and how to upgrade their platforms as they compete with other platforms. These decisions must consider how platform complementors and rivals are likely to respond to various changes because a platform suffers in competition when the quantity or quality of its complementors is low. This paper analyzes such interactions in the US videogame industry. We show how a combined design rule-comparative adjustment, transaction, and opportunity cost framework can help to explain and predict these interactions in this industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to observe and evaluate the economic viability of Serbian farms engaged in different types of farming on the basis of data obtained from the Serbian Farm Accountancy Data Network of 2021. Farm economic viability was assessed using the opportunity costs of the main factors of production in agriculture (namely labour, land, and capital). The share of unpaid labour was found highest in the livestock farms specialising in milk production and grazing livestock. The farms specialising in permanent crops and horticulture had the largest share of their own utilized agricultural land, representing a very intensive type of farming usually organized on small acreages. The highest share of economically viable farms was recorded in the field crop farming system, followed by horticulture and permanent crops. In the viable group, the field crop farms were dominant with the largest coefficients of short- and long-term viability, which increased with the economic size of the farm. In general, the farms engaged in plant production exhibited much higher economic viability levels than the livestock farms (excluding the granivore farms). The most endangered were the farms specialising in grazing livestock, with the largest proportion of non-viable farms and the lowest coefficients of economic viability. A notable number of these farms lack economic justification for agriculture. However, ceasing agricultural production may not be the best solution for them, particularly as farms in remote rural areas are managed by elderly and low-skilled farmers.

Why do human rights INGOs choose to work on some issues and not others? This article contends that, since the 1990s, the proliferation of issues within the remit of human rights INGOs has increased the moral opportunity costs of selection decisions. Growth in the number and diversity of issues has led to a "selection dilemma" where decision-makers face onerous ethical choices among a significant menu of options. To explain how decision-makers deal with this dilemma, the article builds on existing theoretical work on INGOs, primarily by constructivists, proposing that heuristic-led judgment on the part of key decision-makers is a central determinant in the (non-)adoption of issues. This explanation is examined empirically using a within-case paired analysis of decision-making in Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The article's findings provide preliminary evidence that heuristics shape selection outcomes in INGOs, adding further weight to IR scholarship, which stresses the influence of psychology and leaders in organizational and group decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental markets are a rapidly emerging tool to mobilize private funding to incentivize landholders to undertake more sustainable land management. How units of biodiversity in these markets are measured and subsequently traded creates key challenges ecologically and economically because it determines whether environmental markets can deliver net gains in biodiversity and efficiently lower the costs of conservation. We developed and tested a metric for such markets based on the well‐established principle of irreplaceability from systematic conservation planning. Irreplaceability as a metric avoids the limitations of like‐for‐like trading and allows one to capture the multidimensional nature of ecosystems (e.g., habitats, species, ecosystem functioning) and simultaneously achieve cost‐effective, land‐manager‐led investments in conservation. Using an integrated ecological modeling approach, we tested whether using irreplaceability as a metric is more ecologically and economically beneficial than the simpler biodiversity offset metrics typically used in net gain and no‐net‐loss policies. Using irreplaceability ensured no net loss, or even net gain, of biodiversity depending on the targets chosen. Other metrics did not provide the same assurances and, depending on the flexibility with which biodiversity targets can be achieved, and how they overlap with development pressure, were less efficient. Irreplaceability reduced the costs of offsetting to developers and the costs of ecological restoration to society. Integrating economic data and systematic conservation planning approaches would therefore assure land managers they were being fairly rewarded for the opportunity costs of conservation and transparently incentivize the most ecologically and economically efficient investments in nature recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since Varela and Maturana proposed the concept of autopoiesis as the minimal requirement for life, there has been a focus on cellular systems that erect topological boundaries to separate themselves from their surrounding environment. Here, we reconsider whether the existence of such a spatial boundary is strictly necessary for self-producing entities. This work presents a novel computational model of a minimal autopoietic system inspired by dendrites and molecular dynamic simulations in three-dimensional space. A series of simulation experiments where the metabolic pathways of a particular autocatalytic set are successively inhibited until autocatalytic entities that could be considered autopoietic are produced. These entities maintain their distinctness in an environment containing multiple identical instances of the entities without the existence of a topological boundary. This gives rise to the concept of a metabolic boundary which manifests as emergent self-selection criteria for the processes of self-production without any need for unique identifiers. However, the adoption of such a boundary comes at a cost, as these autopoietic entities are less suited to their simulated environment than their autocatalytic counterparts. Finally, this work showcases a generalized metabolism-centered approach to the study of autopoiesis that can be applied to both physical and abstract systems alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study used Blomquist's Project Management Self-Efficacy assessment to collect data about student's perceived project management competence before taking a graduate level project management course. The research utilized the PMSE assessment to measure actual and retrospective pre-course project management self-efficacy. No industry is immune to the need for skilled project managers. Our question is "how do you know...they know...what they say they know?" In recent years, PMI's focus was The Project Economy. In the new project economy individuals need to transform ideas into reality and deliver value to stakeholders by collaborating in teams to successfully complete projects and support organizational value streams. Findings showed that individuals with previous project management experience were more likely to overestimate their skillset before taking the class than those without previous project management experience. This gap in project management skill insight puts employers at risk for missed opportunities and unrealized cost savings. Through the application of project management tools and templates, the students learn project life-cycle approaches used in industry today and demonstrate application through completion of actual projects in a team-based setting. The real-world application of ideas allows students to bridge the gap between their conceptual knowledge and their ability to effectively manage a project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supply of electrical energy in Indonesia is predominantly reliant on fossil fuels due to their abundant availability, ease of extraction, and lower cost. However, the continued use of fossil fuels increases CO2 emissions, contributing to the greenhouse effect. Additionally, fossil fuel prices are rising, their reserves are finite, and they require extensive replenishment time. Consequently, a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is imperative. The Indonesian government has designated Sumba Island as a pilot project under the Sumba Iconic Island (SII) program. Waingapu in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is notable for its significant Diesel Power Plant (PLTD) capacity of 9,450 kW, supplemented by a 2,000 kWp Solar Power Plant (PLTS). This study presents a techno-economic analysis of implementing Wind Power Plants (PLTB) and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) to reduce reliance on PLTD operations. The HOMER software is utilized for system optimization, allowing for design, optimization, and evaluation from both technical and economic perspectives. Sensitivity analysis assesses the impact of fuel price increases on the optimal system configuration under current and future conditions, with a total daily energy demand of 115.6 MWh/day. The economic analysis reveals that the existing scenario has a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of $0.254/kWh. Incorporating wind turbines and BESS reduces the LCOE to $0.136/kWh. Achieving 100% renewable energy penetration with a PVWind-BESS configuration generates an LCOE of $0.221/kWh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. is currently the country with the highest number of COVID-19 deaths. By the second week of October 2021, over 700,000 people in the U.S. had died after contracting the virus. When estimating the cost and benefit of a COVID-19 prevention measure, the value of a statistical life (VSL) has been widely used as an approximation for the value of a lost life. However, VSL arguably overstates the costs of deaths caused by COVID-19 because VSL captures the private individual's benefit, and it is the same for everyone regardless of where they live, their productivity, their age, and their gender. In this study, rather than looking at the cost of life loss due to COVID-19, we focus on the opportunity costs of COVID-19 deaths to society. The opportunity cost of COVID-19 deaths is defined as the combination of direct medical costs and the costs of lost potential lifetime earnings. Our analysis focuses on the period from March 2020 to October 2021. We then quantify the average opportunity cost of COVID-19 deaths across the U.S. and by state level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, permanent magnet (PM)-free or hybrid PM machines have been extensively researched to find an alternative for high cost rare-earth PM machines. Brushless wound rotor synchronous machines (BL-WRSMs) are one of the alternatives to these PM machines. BL-WRSMs have a lower torque density compared to PM machines. In this paper, a new topology is introduced to improve the torque producing capability of the existing BL-WRSM by utilizing the vacant spaces in the rotor slots. The new topology has two harmonic windings placed on the rotor which induce separate currents. A capacitor is used between the two harmonic windings to bring the currents in phase with each other. The harmonic winding currents are fed to the rectifier which is also placed on the rotor. Due to additional harmonic winding, the overall field current fed to the rotor field winding has been increased and hence the average torque has also increased. Finite element analysis (FEA)-based simulations are performed using ANSYS Maxwell to validate the proposed topology. The results show that the average torque of the machine has been significantly increased compared to the reference model. The detailed comparison results are provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of their ordinary enforcement activities, tax authorities around the world use letters and other forms of personalised communications to elicit tax compliance at a low cost. The literature shows that the impact of a threat-of-audit letter (TAL) depends critically on the credibility of the letter which, in turn, depends on the information disclosed to the taxpayer. We study a TAL that is credible because it also uses third-party information to target a form of cost manipulation but, at the same time, incentivises alternative forms of cost manipulation by not targeting them. We find that the direct impact on the targeted cost manipulation is stronger than the strategic increase in other costs, and therefore the overall effect of the TAL on taxable income is positive. Our approach can be applied to any letter or enforcement action that reveals information to taxpayers and thus prompts their strategic responses. By observing the taxpayers' responses along all relevant dimensions, the tax authority can evaluate the impact of the strategy and also obtain valuable information to target future enforcement activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflecting on the limitations of a study is a crucial part of the research process. In software engineering studies, this reflection is typically conveyed through discussions of study limitations or threats to validity. In current practice, such discussions seldom provide sufficient insight to understand the rationale for decisions taken before and during the study, and their implications. We revisit the practice of discussing study limitations and threats to validity and identify its weaknesses. We propose to refocus this practice of self-reflection to a discussion centered on the notion of trade-offs. We argue that documenting trade-offs allows researchers to clarify how the benefits of their study design decisions outweigh the costs of possible alternatives. We present guidelines for reporting trade-offs in a way that promotes a fair and dispassionate assessment of researchers' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural distance between the acquiring and acquired firms is a double-edged sword in cross-border high-tech acquisitions. It magnifies the ‘combination potential’ of the acquisition but also poses severe integration challenges. Scholars have highlighted that the retention of acquired CEOs in combined entities is an effective integration action to address these challenges but have generally considered it from the acquiring firms’ perspective only. In this study, we also take into account the acquired CEOs’ perspective and find that the permanence of acquired CEOs in the post-acquisition organization depends on the balance between the acquiring firms’ incentives to retain the acquired CEOs and the acquired CEOs’ opportunity costs to remain in the company. Specifically, we argue that both sides increase with the cultural distance between the acquiring and acquired firms and that the acquired CEOs’ personal characteristics and context-specific conditions also influence this balance. We test our hypotheses using a sample of 447 cross-border acquisitions of small high-tech firms by large listed firms between 2001 and 2014. Our findings confirm our expectations and highlight the role of micro-foundational characteristics in shaping the effect of key macro-level factors on the integration of high-tech acquisitions in international contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the recent improvements, there is still a problem of access to WASH services. This problem access is linked to poverty and inequality, which in turn cause difficulties in accessing water, thus creating a vicious cycle. This article analyses this vicious cycle using data from international organisations related to these issues. These data show how the lack of water access leads to limitations for households, which are deprived of employment or/and education due to the difficulty in obtaining water. This opportunity cost is the main mechanism through which the feedback between lack of access to water and economic poverty occurs. Not being able to obtain employment or/and education makes it impossible to get out of a precarious situation, which prevents the wider society to benefit from any economic gain, which in turn slows down the achievement of the goal of guaranteeing access to water for all. The responsibility lies with national and international institutions, which should not only focus on obtaining the necessary financial resources for infrastructure improvements, but also on having adequate governance to ensure water sustainability and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses covenant violations as a quasi-natural experimental setting to examine creditors' roles in shaping corporate cost behavior. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that cost stickiness experiences a sharp decline following debt covenant violations when control rights are transferred to creditors. The cost stickiness effect is more substantial for borrowers with lower credit ratings and when creditors possess greater bargaining power. The effect is also more pronounced during industry downturns when borrowers have fewer alternative sources of finance. Results are consistent when I use alternative measures of cost stickiness and alternative research designs. Overall, my evidence indicates that creditors play a monitoring role in firms' cost behaviors and identifies a specific channel (loan covenants) through which the misalignment of incentives can impact cost asymmetry. JEL Classifications: D24; G32; M41. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, I‐III‐VI semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have shown significant improvements that have unlocked new capabilities and end markets. Some typical examples of I‐III‐VI QDs are CuAlS2 (blue), AgInS2 (green), CuInSe2 (red) CuInSe2 (near‐IR), but other compositions and alloys are possible. These materials exhibit tunable photoluminescence (PL) emissions, and can achieve near unity PL quantum yield. They can have efficient broad emission, but also can have narrow emission, large Stokes shifts, and high optical extinction coefficients. These materials are often more stable, safer, and lower cost than alternatives such as CdSe, InP, and PbS or PbSe QDs. In this work, we discuss industrialization and scale‐up of I‐III‐VI QDs, starting with critical end uses related to spectrum optimization for greenhouses and solar energy. We also update on recent progress narrowing the emission linewidth (full‐width at half maximum) of I‐III‐VI QDs to the point that they are becoming competitive with legacy QDs used in displays and lighting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the question of the relative contribution of spouses to the long-term care (LTC) needs of their dependent parents and parents in-law. Starting from a theoretical model and using SHARE data, the paper focuses on the role of gender and blood relationships as well as the effect of differential opportunity costs within the couple. The results tend to confirm the existence of gender and blood biases in the level of informal care provided by each spouse, while their wage does not seem to play a large role. When we consider the relative level of informal care by spouses, the gender and blood biases are confirmed. Furthermore, the wage ratio is negatively related to the informal care ratio. These results imply that informal care and private insurance coverage may depend on the gender composition of children, which may justify differentiated public LTC transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]