(How) did attack advertisements increase affordable care act enrollments?

We examine the effects of exposure to negative information in attack advertisements in the context of Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Common Core (CC) education standards and show that they lead to an increase in the ACA enrollments and support of the CC standards. To explain this effect, we rely on the knowledge-gap theory and show that individuals who were exposed to more attack advertisements were also more likely to independently seek information, become more knowledgeable, and consequently support these subjects. In addition to an observational study, to test our hypotheses on the link between exposure to negative information, curiosity, and shifts in knowledge and support levels, we design and conduct a randomized experiment using a sample of 300 unique individuals. Our multi-methods research contributes to marketing literature by documenting a rare occasion in which exposure to attack advertisements leads to increased demand and unveiling the mechanisms through which this effect takes place

Further evidence for intra-night optical variability of radio-quiet quasars

Although well established for BL Lac objects and radio-loud quasars, the occurrence of intra-night optical variability (INOV) in radio-quiet quasars is still debated, primarily since only a handful of INOV events with good statistical significance, albeit small amplitude, have been reported so far. This has motivated us to continue intra-night optical monitoring of bona-fide radio-quiet quasars (RQQs). Here we present the results for a sample of 11 RQQs monitored by us on 19 nights. On 5 of these nights a given RQQ was monitored simultaneously from two well separated observatories. In all, two clear cases and two probable case of INOV were detected. From these data, we estimate an INOV duty cycle of $\sim$8% for RQQs which would increase to 19% if the `probable variable' cases are also included. Such comparatively small INOV duty cycles for RQQs, together with the small INOV amplitudes ($\sim$1%), are in accord with the previously deduced characteristics of this phenomenon.Comment: 15 Pages, 4 Tables, 24 Figures; Accepted in BAS

Our private data and the market for third-party providers of functionality to websites

Your personal information is out there. You did not give it out, so how did it get there? Internet websites provide visitors with different levels of interaction, ranging from delivering basic information to providing sophisticated features and tools such as profile management, interactive visual communication, and of course, advertising. Like many traditional businesses, websites turn to third-party outsourcing to offer these features and tools. Such services include functionality (password and account control, social media integration, video hosting, chat and forum services, payment services, etc.), performance (backup service, security and firewalls, responsiveness tools, etc.) and targeting/advertising (advertising, lead generation, analytics, etc.)

Doctors’ Orders or Patients’ Preferences? Examining the Role of Physicians in Patients’ Privacy Decisions on Health Information Exchange Platforms

Health information exchange (HIE) platforms could increase the efficiency of health care services by enabling providers to instantly access the medical records of their patients. However, these benefits cannot be realized unless patients disclose their information on HIE platforms. We examine actual privacy decisions made by patients on an HIE platform, study the influence of physicians’ recommendations on patients’ decisions, and explore the process through which this effect takes place. By analyzing a unique data set consisting of the privacy decisions of 12,444 patients, we show that contrary to common belief, patients do not simply follow physician recommendations, but rather carefully consider the risks and benefits of providing consent. We show that competition among medical providers does not hinder patient participation in HIEs, but that providers’ decisions to ask for consent are primarily driven by the potential benefits of HIE for themselves and their patients

THE EFFECT OF PREVENTIVE AND DETERRENT SOFTWARE PIRACY STRATEGIES ON PRODUCER PROFITS

In an attempt to protect their intellectual property and compete effectively in an increasingly dynamic marketplace, software producers have employed a number of preventive and deterrent measures to counter software piracy. Conventional wisdom suggests that reducing piracy will force consumers to legitimately acquire software, thus increasing firm profits. In this paper, we develop an analytical model, using Buchanan\u27s economic theory of clubs, to test the implications of anti-piracy measures on producer profits. Our results suggest that deterrent measures can potentially increase profits. Empirical results are also presented which support the assumptions of the analytical model

Apparent Molal Volume of Tetraalkylammonium Iodides in Dioxane-Water Mixtures of Varying Dielectric Constants

803-80

The Effect of P2P File Sharing on Music Markets: A SurvivalAnalysisofAlbums on Ranking Charts

Recent technological and market forces have profoundly impacted the music industry. Emphasizing threats from peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies, the industry continues to seek sanctions against individuals who offer significant number of songs for others to copy. Yet there is little rigorous empirical analysis of the impacts of online sharing on the success of music products. Combining data on the performance of music albums on the Billboard charts with file sharing data from a popular network, we: 1) assess the impact of recent developments related to the music industry on survival of music albums on the charts, and 2) evaluate the specific impact of P2P sharing on an album's survival on the charts. In the post P2P era, we find significantly reduced chart survival. The second phase of our study isolates the impact of file sharing on album survival. We find that sharing does not seem to hurt the survival of albums

Do recent supernovae Ia observations tend to rule out all the cosmologies?

Dark energy and the accelerated expansion of the universe have been the direct predictions of the distant supernovae Ia observations which are also supported, indirectly, by the observations of the CMB anisotropies, gravitational lensing and the studies of galaxy clusters. Today these results are accommodated in what has become the `concordance cosmology': a universe with flat spatial sections t=constant with about 70% of its energy in the form of Einstein's cosmological constant \Lambda. However, we find that as more and more supernovae Ia are observed, more accurately and towards higher redshift, the probability that the data are well explained by the cosmological models decreases alarmingly, finally ruling out the concordance model at more than 95% confidence level. This raises doubts against the `standard candle'-hypothesis of the supernovae Ia and their use to constrain the cosmological models. We need a better understanding of the entire SN Ia phenomenon in order to have cosmological consequences from them.Comment: Replaced with published versio

Compress the curve : a cross sectional study of variations in COVID-19 infections across California nursing homes

Objective Nursing homes’ residents and staff constitute the largest proportion of the fatalities associated with COVID-19 epidemic. Although there is a significant variation in COVID-19 outbreaks among the US nursing homes, we still do not know why such outbreaks are larger and more likely in some nursing homes than others. This research aims to understand why some nursing homes are more susceptible to larger COVID-19 outbreaks. Design Observational study of all nursing homes in the state of California until 1 May 2020. Setting The state of California. Participants 713 long-term care facilities in the state of California that participate in public reporting of COVID-19 infections as of 1 May 2020 and their infections data could be matched with data on ratings and governance features of nursing homes provided by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Main outcome measure The number of reported COVID-19 infections among staff and residents. Results Study sample included 713 nursing homes. The size of outbreaks among residents in for-profit nursing homes is 12.7 times larger than their non-profit counterparts (log count=2.54; 95% CI, 1.97 to 3.11; p<0.001). Higher ratings in CMS-reported health inspections are associated with lower number of infections among both staff (log count=−0.19; 95% CI, −0.37 to −0.01; p=0.05) and residents (log count=−0.20; 95% CI, −0.27 to −0.14; p<0.001). Nursing homes with higher discrepancy between their CMS-reported and self-reported ratings have higher number of infections among their staff (log count=0.41; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.51; p<0.001) and residents (log count=0.13; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.18; p<0.001). Conclusions The size of COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes is associated with their ratings and governance features. To prepare for the possible next waves of COVID-19 epidemic, policy makers should use these insights to identify the nursing homes who are more likely to experience large outbreak

Optical variability properties of high luminosity AGN classes

We present the results of a comparative study of the intra-night optical variability (INOV) characteristics of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars, which involves a systematic intra-night optical monitoring of seven sets of high luminosity AGNs covering the redshift range {\it z} $\simeq 0.2$ to {\it z} $\simeq 2.2$. The sample, matched in the optical luminosity -- redshift (M$_B$ -- z) plane, consists of seven radio-quiet quasars (RQQs), eight radio lobe-dominated quasars (LDQs), six radio core-dominated quasars (CDQs) and five BL Lac objects (BLs). Systematic CCD observations, aided by a careful data analysis procedure, have allowed us to detect INOV with amplitudes as low as 1%. Present observations cover a total of 113 nights (720 hours) with only a single quasar monitored as continuously as possible on a night. Considering cases of only unambiguous detections of INOV we have estimated duty cycles (DCs) of 17%, 12%, 20% and 72% respectively for RQQs, LDQs, CDQs, and BLs. The low amplitude and low DC of INOV shown by RQQs compared to BLs can be understood in terms of their having optical synchrotron jets which are modestly misdirected from us. From our fairly extensive dataset, no unambiguous general trend of a correlation between the INOV amplitude and the apparent optical brightness of the quasar is noticed.Comment: 36 pages, 14 Figures, due to large size Fig. 5,6,11 and 12 are not included. Intersted people contact to [email protected]. Submitted to Journal of Astrophysics and Astronom