Accountable Care Organizations and Transaction Cost Economics

Using a Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) approach, this paper explores which organizational forms Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) may take. A critical question about form is the amount of vertical integration that an ACO may have, a topic central to TCE. We posit that contextual factors outside and inside an ACO will produce variable transaction costs (the non-production costs of care) such that the decision to integrate vertically will derive from a comparison of these external versus internal costs, assuming reasonably rational management abilities. External costs include those arising from environmental uncertainty and complexity, small numbers bargaining, asset specificity, frequency of exchanges, and information impactedness. Internal costs include those arising from human resource activities including hiring and staffing, training, evaluating (i.e., disciplining, appraising, or promoting), and otherwise administering programs. At the extreme, these different costs may produce either total vertical integration or little to no vertical integration with most ACOs falling in between. This essay demonstrates how TCE can be applied to the ACO organization form issue, explains TCE, considers ACO activity from the TCE perspective, and reflects on research directions that may inform TCE and facilitate ACO development

The influence of consumers' goals on selective attention to product features.

Although attention is a key construct in models of marketing communications and consumer choice, its selective nature has rarely been examined in the time-pressured conditions that consumers face everyday. We investigate how consumers' goals influence selective attention to product features under such conditions. Specifically, we focus on the role of goal salience, that is, the readiness with which particular goals (e.g., personalized customer service) are brought to mind by consumers in relation to a given product category (e.g., banks). Study1 demonstrated that when product feature information was presented rapidly, individuals for whom the goal of personalized customer service had high chronic or habitual salience displayed selective attention in terms of their elevated recall of a target feature (a bank's 'friendly employees'). Also, as expected, individual differences in chronic goal salience affected judgments of the target product. Study2 showed that when subjects were additionally informed about a specific product usage situation (e.g., being new in town or experiencing difficulty in balancing a checkbook), selective attention was no longer affected by individuals' chronic tendencies. Instead, both feature recall and judgments were influenced by the relevance of the target feature to the goals made salient by the situational context. Discussion emphasizes the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings regarding the role of goal salience in selective attention to product features.Product;

Benefit salience and consumers' selective attention to product features.

Although attention is a key construct in models of marketing communication and consumer choice, its selective nature has rarely been examined in common time-pressured conditions. We focus on the role of benefit salience, that is, the readiness with which particular benefits are brought to mind by consumers in relation to a given product category. Study I demonstrated that when product feature information was presented rapidly, individuals for whom the benefit of personalised customer service had high habitual salience displayed selective attention as evidenced by elevated recall and recognition of a target feature (a bank's ''friendly employees''). Also, as expected, individual differences in habitual benefit salience affected judgements of the target product. Study 2 showed that when subjects were additionally informed about a specific product usage situation, selective attention was primarily influenced by the relevance of the target feature to benefits made salient by the usage situation; individual differences played a less important role. Discussion emphasises theoretical aspects of the findings as well as managerial implications with respect to person-situation approaches to benefit segmentation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.attention; benefit segmentation; individual construct accessibility; usage context; involvement; segmentation; substitution; experiences; memory; recall; choice; link;

Genetic correlations among psychiatric and immune-related phenotypes based on genome-wide association data [preprint]

Individuals with psychiatric disorders have elevated rates of autoimmune comorbidity and altered immune signaling. It is unclear whether these altered immunological states have a shared genetic basis with those psychiatric disorders. The present study sought to use existing summary-level data from previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) to determine if commonly varying single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are shared between psychiatric and immune-related phenotypes. We estimated heritability and examined pair-wise genetic correlations using the linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) and heritability estimation from summary statistics (HESS) methods. Using LDSC, we observed significant genetic correlations between immune-related disorders and several psychiatric disorders, including anorexia nervosa, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, smoking behavior, and Tourette syndrome. Loci significantly mediating genetic correlations were identified for schizophrenia when analytically paired with Crohns disease, primary biliary cirrhosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and ulcerative colitis. We report significantly correlated loci and highlight those containing genome-wide associations and candidate genes for respective disorders. We also used the LDSC method to characterize genetic correlations amongst the immune-related phenotypes. We discuss our findings in the context of relevant genetic and epidemiological literature, as well as the limitations and caveats of the study

Geomorphic classification of coral reefs in the north-western Australian shelf

Coral reefs occur extensively along the northwest Australian continental shelf in the Kimberley Bioregion (KIM), forming major geomorphic features along and just off the coast. These reefs have not been studied in as much detail as the offshore reefs and are poorly known due to the coastal conditions, including extremely high tide regimes, high turbidity and complex coastline morphology. This study aims to establish a regional-scale distribution map of exposed and intertidal reefs of the KIM and to classify the Kimberley reefs into types, adopting widely recognised reef classification and typology schemes. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used in this study to process and produce digital maps as well as to provide some of the first detailed spatial analysis of reef distribution. Outcomes of this study showed that the Kimberley reefs possess strong morphological complexity and clear regional patterns. The study revealed that the number of Kimberley reefs and their area are considerably (60%) greater than previously thought; the total combined reefal area is approximately 1,950 km2. Fringing reefs have been identified as the dominant reef type and are widely distributed throughout the KIM. It was also found that tidal range affected the distribution of reef geomorphologies. The outcomes of this study will contribute to a better understanding of the Kimberley reefs, and provide marine park managers with essential and quality scientific information so that better management decisions can be made in this area

Wideband Characteristic Basis Functions in Radiation Problems

In this paper, the use of characteristic basis function (CBF) method, augmented by the application of asymptotic waveform evaluation (AWE) technique is analyzed in the context of the application to radiation problems. Both conventional and wideband CBFs are applied to the analysis of wire and planar antennas