A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL APPROACH TO THE VALUE OF INFORMATION IN RISKY MARKETS

The theory of the competitive firm under price uncertainty is used to develop a money metric of a producer's willingness to pay for additional information. This concept is extended to the market by formulating ex-ante and ex-post measures of the value of a rational expectations forecast. The empirical feasibility of these measures are demonstrated by application to a simple two equation model of an agricultural market.Marketing,

A MEASURE OF THE VALUE OF INFORMATION FOR THE COMPETITIVE FIRM UNDER PRICE UNCERTAINTY

This paper addresses the problem of measuring the value of information to an agent in an environment where the agent is risk averse and choices are base on the utility of income and personal beliefs about the likelihood of uncertain outcomesRisk and Uncertainty,

A PRODUCER'S WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR INFORMATION UNDER PRICE UNCERTAINTY: THEORY AND APPLICATION

The theory of the competitive firm under price uncertainty is used to develop a money metric of a producer's willingness to pay for additional information. For a restricted class of utility functions, empirical estimates of the money using secondary data can be derived from the firm's risk averse supply or factor demand function. The procedure is illustrated by an application to an agricultural market.Marketing,

The importance of science fiction and other STEM-related mass media in young people's decisions to enrol in university STEM courses

This paper presents Australian results from the Interests and Recruitment in Science (IRIS) study with respect to the influence of STEM-related mass media, including science fiction, on students’ decisions to enrol in university STEM courses. The study found that across the full cohort (N=2999), students tended to attribute far greater influence to science-related documentaries/channels such as Life on Earth and the Discovery Channel, etc. than to science-fiction movies or STEM-related TV dramas. Males were more inclined than females to consider science fiction/fantasy books and films and popular science books/magazines as having been important in their decisions. Students taking physics/astronomy tended to rate the importance of science fiction/fantasy books and films higher than students in other courses. The implications of these results for our understanding of influences on STEM enrolments are discussed

Speed Range for Breakdown Waves

Considering the electrons as the main element in breakdown wave propagation and using a one-dimensional, steady-state, three-fluid, hydrodynamical model, previous investigations have resulted in the completion of a set of equations for conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. We will use the terms proforce and antiforce waves, depending on whether the applied electric field force on electrons is with or against the direction of wave propagation. In the case of antiforce waves, the electron gas temperature and therefore the electron fluid pressure is assumed to be large enough to sustain the wave propagation down the discharge tube. For strong discontinuity and based on the conditions existent at the leading edge of the wave, previous investigations have concluded a minimum wave velocity condition for breakdown waves. However, allowing for a temperature derivative discontinuity at the shock front, we have been able to derive a new set of conditions at the shock front and therefore a lower range of electron drift velocity. This conforms with the experimentally observed wave speeds. The solution to the set of electron fluid-dynamical equations involves a previously discovered method of integration of the equations through the sheath (dynamical transition) region. For a wide range of wave speeds, the appropriate set of electron fluid-dynamical equations has been integrated through the sheath region

Do pharmacists contribute to patients’ management of symptoms suggestive of cancer : a qualitative study

Funding This work was supported by the Sir Hugh Linstead Fellowship Award from Pharmacy Research UK. Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the consultant physicians Marianne Nicolson, Russell Petty and Les Samuel Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with patient recruitment.Peer reviewedPostprin

"The group" in integrated HIV and livelihoods programming: opportunity or challenge?

HIV care and treatment providers across sub-Saharan Africa are integrating livelihood interventions to improve food security of their clientele. Many integrated HIV and livelihood programmes (IHLPs) require the formation and use of groups of HIV-infected/affected individuals as the operational target for programme interventions, indeed, virtually without exception the group is the focal point for material and intellectual inputs of IHLPs. We sought to critically examine the group approach to programming among IHLPs in Uganda, and to explore and problematise the assumptions underpinning this model. A case study approach to studying 16 IHLPs was adopted. Each IHLP was treated as a case comprising multiple in-depth interviews conducted with staff along the livelihood programme chain. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with staff from The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), and with members of 71 HIV-infected TASO-registered client households. Our analysis reveals three important considerations in IHLP programming regarding the group-centred approach: (1) Group membership is widely held to confer benefits in the form of psycho-social and motivational support, particularly in empowering individuals to access HIV services and handle stigma. This is contrasted with the problem of stigma inherent in joining groups defined by HIV-status; (2) Membership in groups can bring economic benefits through the pooling of labour and resources. These benefits however need to be set against the costs of membership, when members are required to make contributions in the form of money, goods or labour; (3) Sharing of goods and labour in the context of group membership allow members to access benefits which would otherwise be inaccessible. In exchange, individual choice and control are diminished and problems of resources held in common can arise. While the group model can bring benefits to IHLP efficiency and by extension to food security, and other outcomes, its application needs to be carefully scrutinised at the individual programme level, in terms of whether it is an appropriate approach, and in terms of mitigating potentially adverse effects

Social media and its impact on crisis communication: Case studies of Twitter use in emergency management in Australia and New Zealand

There is a growing awareness worldwide of the significance of social media to communication in times of both natural and human-created disasters and crises. While the media have long been used as a means of broadcasting messages to communities in times of crisis – bushfires, floods, earthquakes etc. – the significance of social media in enabling many-to-many communication through ubiquitous networked computing and mobile media devices is becoming increasingly important in the fields of disaster and emergency management. This paper undertakes an analysis of the uses made of social media during two recent natural disasters: the January 2011 floods in Brisbane and South-East Queensland in Australia, and the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is part of a wider project being undertaken by a research team based at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, that is working with the Queensland Department of Community Safety (DCS) and the EIDOS Institute, and funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) through its Linkages program. The project combines large-scale, quantitative social media tracking and analysis techniques with qualitative cultural analysis of communication efforts by citizens and officials, to enable both emergency management authorities and news media organisations to develop, implement, and evaluate new social media strategies for emergency communication