An instrument or instrumental variable is often used in an effort to avoid selection bias in inference about the effects of treatments when treatment choice is based on thoughtful deliberation. Instruments are increasingly used in health outcomes research. An instrument is a haphazard push to...

A commonly used method for evaluating a hospital’s performance on an outcome is to compare the hospital’s observed outcome rate to the hospital’s expected outcome rate given its patient (case) mix and service. The process of calculating the hospital’s expected outcome rate given its...

With the critical worldwide energy shortage and global environment concern, lignocellulosic biomass is regarded as one of the potential renewable energy resources to substitute conventional fossil fuels. Among various thermo-chemical conversion technologies, gasification is now regarded as an...

This study proposed a polygeneration system based on coal partial gasification, in which methanol and power were generated. This proposed system, comprising chemical and power islands, was designed and its characteristics are analyzed. The commercial software Aspen Plus was used to perform the...

On 1 April 2005, the Australian Stock Exchange reduced the minimum tick size for stocks priced between $0.5 and $2. We examined the market quality of the stocks affected by the minimum tick size rule, using a comprehensive intra-day data sample and an event study methodology. We found that...