4,539 research outputs found
Explaining the Health Information Technology Paradox
Excerpt] The substantial gap between the promise inherent in upgrading information systems in health care and the documented reality has baffled health care scholars. Why is a technology so clearly capable of creating efficiencies, increasing safety, and promoting greater information sharing and coordination across professionals failing to live up to expectations
Online Dispute Resolution Through the Lens of Bargaining and Negotiation Theory: Toward an Integrated Model
[Excerpt] In this article we apply negotiation and bargaining theory to the analysis of online dispute resolution. Our principal objective is to develop testable hypotheses based on negotiation theory that can be used in ODR research. We have not conducted the research necessary to test the hypotheses we develop; however, in a later section of the article we suggest a possible methodology for doing so. There is a vast literature on negotiation and bargaining theory. For the purposes of this article, we realized at the outset that we could only use a small part of that literature in developing a model that might be suitable for empirical testing. We decided to use the behavioral theory of negotiation developed by Richard Walton and Robert McKersie, which was initially formulated in the 1960s. This theory has stood the test of time. Initially developed to explain union-management negotiations, it has proven useful in analyzing a wide variety of disputes and conflict situations. In constructing their theory, Walton and McKersie built on the contributions and work of many previous bargaining theorists including economists, sociologists, game theorists, and industrial relations scholars. In this article, we have incorporated a consideration of the foundations on which their theory was based. In the concluding section of the article we discuss briefly how other negotiation and bargaining theories might be applied to the analysis of ODR
ILR Impact Brief - Itâs a Paradox: Union Workers Less Satisfied but Less Likely to Quit
[Excerpt] Existing economic models of human behavior do not adequately deal with the seeming inconsistency between union membersâ attitudes about their jobs and their subsequent actions. A more promising explanation might derive from job satisfaction theory, which suggests that union members have a particular set of values, expectations, and frames of reference that they use to evaluate the outcomes of their work effort. Individuals who join unions may place higher value on wages and benefits, which are the focus of most collectively- bargained contracts, than do non-union workers; historically, unions have delivered in this regard. Unionized workers may be more dissatisfied because of a more adversarial climate (e.g., testy supervisory and interpersonal relations, narrowly-defined jobs) but are less likely to quit because the things they value mostâgood wages and benefitsâare provided
Information and Entropy
What is information? Is it physical? We argue that in a Bayesian theory the
notion of information must be defined in terms of its effects on the beliefs of
rational agents. Information is whatever constrains rational beliefs and
therefore it is the force that induces us to change our minds. This problem of
updating from a prior to a posterior probability distribution is tackled
through an eliminative induction process that singles out the logarithmic
relative entropy as the unique tool for inference. The resulting method of
Maximum relative Entropy (ME), which is designed for updating from arbitrary
priors given information in the form of arbitrary constraints, includes as
special cases both MaxEnt (which allows arbitrary constraints) and Bayes' rule
(which allows arbitrary priors). Thus, ME unifies the two themes of these
workshops -- the Maximum Entropy and the Bayesian methods -- into a single
general inference scheme that allows us to handle problems that lie beyond the
reach of either of the two methods separately. I conclude with a couple of
simple illustrative examples.Comment: Presented at MaxEnt 2007, the 27th International Workshop on Bayesian
Inference and Maximum Entropy Methods (July 8-13, 2007, Saratoga Springs, New
York, USA
From Information Geometry to Newtonian Dynamics
Newtonian dynamics is derived from prior information codified into an
appropriate statistical model. The basic assumption is that there is an
irreducible uncertainty in the location of particles so that the state of a
particle is defined by a probability distribution. The corresponding
configuration space is a statistical manifold the geometry of which is defined
by the information metric. The trajectory follows from a principle of
inference, the method of Maximum Entropy. No additional "physical" postulates
such as an equation of motion, or an action principle, nor the concepts of
momentum and of phase space, not even the notion of time, need to be
postulated. The resulting entropic dynamics reproduces the Newtonian dynamics
of any number of particles interacting among themselves and with external
fields. Both the mass of the particles and their interactions are explained as
a consequence of the underlying statistical manifold.Comment: Presented at MaxEnt 2007, the 27th International Workshop on Bayesian
Inference and Maximum Entropy Methods (July 8-13, 2007, Saratoga Springs, New
York, USA
Updating Probabilities with Data and Moments
We use the method of Maximum (relative) Entropy to process information in the
form of observed data and moment constraints. The generic "canonical" form of
the posterior distribution for the problem of simultaneous updating with data
and moments is obtained. We discuss the general problem of non-commuting
constraints, when they should be processed sequentially and when
simultaneously. As an illustration, the multinomial example of die tosses is
solved in detail for two superficially similar but actually very different
problems.Comment: Presented at the 27th International Workshop on Bayesian Inference
and Maximum Entropy Methods in Science and Engineering, Saratoga Springs, NY,
July 8-13, 2007. 10 pages, 1 figure V2 has a small typo in the end of the
appendix that was fixed. aj=mj+1 is now aj=m(k-j)+
Organizational Conflict Resolution and Strategic Choice: Evidence from a Survey of Fortune 1000 Companies
In this paper we develop the argument that a firmâs ADR strategies are likely to be associated with a firmâs use of one conflict resolution option or the other. More specifically, we examine whether a firmâs use of either arbitration or mediation is a function of (1) the extent to which the use of either of these dispute resolution processes aligns with the goals and objectives management is seeking to advance, and (2) the extent of the firmâs commitment to the use of these practices. We expect to find that an organizationâs use of either mediation or arbitration may be governed by different underlying strategic objectives as well as the firmâs broader commitment to ADR. In what follows, we further develop this strategic choice argument
Investment Prices and Exchange Rates: Some Basic Facts
This paper documents four basic facts about investment goods and investment prices. First, investment has a very significant nontradable component in the form of construction services. Second, distributions services (wholesaling, retailing, and transportation) are much less important for investment than for consumption. Third, the import content of investment is much larger than that of consumption. Finally, in the aftermath of three large devaluations, the rate of exchange rate pass-through is, perhaps not surprisingly, highest for imported equipment and lowest for construction services.
Organizational Strategies for the Adoption of Electronic Medical Records: Toward an Understanding of Outcome Variation in Nursing Homes
[Excerpt] An important element in president-elect Obama\u27s economic stimulus proposal is his plan to invest a significant proportion of federal dollars in installing electronic medical records (EMR) in U.S. healthcare institutions. In emphasizing the need for EMR, Obama is following the advice of numerous healthcare experts who have pointed out that the healthcare sector lags behind other industries in the use of computer technology. They believe the widespread use of EMR would help reduce medical errors, control the costs of healthcare, and lead to significant improvements in the quality of care Americans receive.
In this paper we present preliminary results of an ongoing study of the introduction of EMR in 20 nursing homes in the New York City area. Although most observers believe EMR holds great promise for the improvement of healthcare, in fact recent studies have found mixed evidence regarding the effect of EMR on patient outcomes. The evidence we have gathered to date suggests that whether EMR has beneficial effects on the costs and quality of healthcare depends very much on the purposes and objectives nursing home managers and administrators intend to achieve through its use. That is, management strategy and style, we believe, strongly influences healthcare outcomes associated with technological innovation
The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle
A novel prediction is derived by the Two-State-Vector-Formalism (TSVF) for a
particle superposed over three boxes. Under appropriate pre- and
postselections, and with tunneling enabled between two of the boxes, it is
possible to derive not only one, but three predictions for three different
times within the intermediate interval. These predictions are moreover
contradictory. The particle (when looked for using a projective measurement)
seems to disappear from the first box where it would have been previously found
with certainty, appearing instead within the third box, to which no tunneling
is possible, and later re-appearing within the second. It turns out that local
measurement (i.e. opening one of the boxes) fails to indicate the particle's
presence, but subtler measurements performed on the two boxes together reveal
the particle's nonlocal modular momentum spatially separated from its mass.
Another advance of this setting is that, unlike other predictions of the TSVF
that rely on weak and/or counterfactual measurements, the present one uses
actual projective measurements. This outcome is then corroborated by adding
weak measurements and the Aharonov-Bohm effect. The results strengthen the
recently suggested time-symmetric Heisenberg ontology based on nonlocal
deterministic operators. They can be also tested using the newly developed
quantum router.Comment: Accepted to Nature Scientific Report
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