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Information Level (information + level)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting50%

Selected Abstracts

The physician,patient relationship: the impact of patient-obtained medical information

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 8 2006
Bin Xie
Abstract We investigate the impact of patient-obtained medical information (POMI) on the physician,patient relationship when patients, as a group, are heterogeneously informed and a physician's interests do not coincide with those of her patients. Introducing additional well-informed patients to the population discontinuously affects the physician's strategy, having no effect unless a sufficient quantity is added. When few patients are well informed, increasing the precision of their information level has no effect on the physician's strategy. Alternately, when a sufficient number of well-informed patients exists, increasing the precision of their information allows all patients to free-ride by receiving more appropriate treatment recommendations. Counterintuitively, we also identify circumstances under which increasing the general level of information may potentially harm patients. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Reasoning across ontologically distinct levels: Students' understandings of molecular genetics

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2007
Ravit Golan Duncan
Abstract In this article we apply a novel analytical framework to explore students' difficulties in understanding molecular genetics,a domain that is particularly challenging to learn. Our analytical framework posits that reasoning in molecular genetics entails mapping across ontologically distinct levels,an information level containing the genetic information, and a physical level containing hierarchically organized biophysical entities such as proteins, cells, tissues, etc. This mapping requires an understanding of what the genetic information specifies, and how the physical entities in the system mediate the effects of this information. We therefore examined, through interview and written assessments, 10th grade students' understandings of molecular genetics phenomena to uncover the conceptual obstacles involved in reasoning across these ontologically distinct levels. We found that students' described the genetic instructions as containing information about both the structure and function of biological entities across multiple organization levels; a view that is far less constrained than the scientific understandings of the genetic information. In addition, students were often unaware of the different functions of proteins, their relationship to genes, and the role proteins have in mediating the effects of the genetic information. Students' ideas about genes and proteins hindered their ability to reason across the ontologically distinct levels of genetic phenomena, and to provide causal mechanistic explanations of how the genetic information brings about effects of a physical nature. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 938,959, 2007 [source]

Advancing Loss Given Default Prediction Models: How the Quiet Have Quickened

ECONOMIC NOTES, Issue 2 2005
Greg M. Gupton
We describe LossCalcÔ version 2.0: the Moody's KMV model to predict loss given default (LGD), the equivalent of (1 , recovery rate). LossCalc is a statistical model that applies multiple predictive factors at different information levels: collateral, instrument, firm, industry, country and the macroeconomy to predict LGD. We find that distance-to-default measures (from the Moody's KMV structural model of default likelihood) compiled at both the industry and firm levels are predictive of LGD. We find that recovery rates worldwide are predictable within a common statistical framework, which suggests that the estimation of economic firm value (which is then available to allocate to claimants according to each country's bankruptcy laws) is a dominant step in LGD determination. LossCalc is built on a global dataset of 3,026 recovery observations for loans, bonds and preferred stock from 1981 to 2004. This dataset includes 1,424 defaults of both public and private firms , both rated and unrated instruments , in all industries. We demonstrate out-of-sample and out-of-time LGD model validation. The model significantly improves on the use of historical recovery averages to predict LGD. [source]

Information and Strategic Political Polarisation,

THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 530 2008
Juan D. Carrillo
We develop a model of electoral competition in which two opportunistic candidates select their policy position and invest in quality. Policy positions are observed and, during the campaign, the press reveals some information about quality. We demonstrate that when information is imperfect, the Black-Downs median voter theorem fails to hold. For intermediate information levels, the unique equilibrium is such that candidates propose policies different from the median voter's bliss point. By contrast, convergence to the median occurs when quality is (almost) always or (almost) never revealed. We also show that a profit-maximising press may collect more information than socially optimal. [source]