In Absolute or Relative Terms?: How Framing Prices Affects the Consumer Price Sensitivity of Health Plan Choice

This paper provides field evidence on (a) how price framing affects consumers' decision to switch health insurance plans and (b) how the price elasticity of demand for health insurance can be influenced by policymakers through simple regulatory efforts. In 2009, in order to foster competition among health insurance companies, German federal regulation required health insurance companies to express price differences between health plans in absolute Euro values rather than percentage point payroll tax differences. Using individuallevel panel data, as well as aggregated health plan-level panel data, we find that the reform led to a sixfold increase in an individual's switching probability and a threefold demand elasticity increase.Health insurance, health plan switching, price competition, price elasticity, SOEP

In Absolute or Relative Terms? How Framing Prices Affects the Consumer Price Sensitivity of Health Plan Choice

This paper provides field evidence on (a) how price framing affects consumers' decision to switch health insurance plans and (b) how the price elasticity of demand for health insurance can be influenced by policymakers through simple regulatory efforts. In 2009, in order to foster competition among health insurance companies, German federal regulation required health insurance companies to express price differences between health plans in absolute Euro values rather than percentage point payroll tax differences. Using individual-level panel data, as well as aggregated health plan-level panel data, we find that the reform led to a sixfold increase in an individual's switching probability and a threefold demand elasticity increase.health insurance, health plan switching, price competition, price elasticity, SOEP

Investigation of velocity field (by particle image velocimetry) in turbulent flow regime within a dynamic filtration module

In : 10th European Congress of Chemical Engineering; 3rd European Congress of Applied Biotechnology and 5th European Process Intensification Conference (ECCE10+ECAB3+EPIC5), Submission-2428. Topic : ECCE10 / Fluid separations processes and technologies / process equipment characterisation and design. Nice, France, September 27th - October 1st 2015Investigation of velocity field (by particle image velocimetry) in turbulent flow regime within a dynamic filtration module . 10. European Congress of Chemical Engineering - ECCE 201

Zusatzbeiträge erhöhen die Preistransparenz: mehr Versicherte wechseln die Krankenkasse

Die 2009 implementierte Gesundheitsreform hat die Preistransparenz und somit die Verbraucherfreundlichkeit innerhalb der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung (GKV) zunächst deutlich erhöht und die Bereitschaft der Versicherten gefördert, auf Preiserhöhungen mit einem Wechsel der Krankenkasse zu reagieren. Denn mit der Einführung des Gesundheitsfonds 2009 wurden alle Beitragssätze vereinheitlicht. Preisunterschiede zwischen den Krankenkassen werden den Versicherten als Zusatzbeiträge separat in Rechnung gestellt oder als Prämie zurückerstattet. Vor allem die Zusatzbeiträge haben den Versicherten in den Jahren 2010 und 2011 ein klares Preissignal gegeben. Im Jahr 2010 hat jeder zehnte Betroffene daraufhin die Krankenkasse gewechselt, wie sich auf Basis repräsentativer Umfragedaten des SOEP zeigen lässt. Die Zusatzbeiträge bei der DAK und der KKH-Allianz haben im Vergleich zur Entwicklung der anderen Ersatzkassen zu einem Mitgliederverlust im Jahresdurchschnitt 2010 von 7,5 Prozent geführt. Die großzügige Anhebung des für alle Krankenkassen vereinheitlichten Beitragssatzes zum Jahresanfang 2011 und der damit üppig gefüllte Gesundheitsfonds haben jedoch die durch Zusatzbeiträge erreichte Preistransparenz ausgebremst. Denn 2012 wird voraussichtlich keine Krankenkasse einen Zusatzbeitrag erheben müssen. Ab 2013 könnte sich das infolge steigender Gesundheitsausgaben und einer sich abschwächenden Konjunktur wieder ändern. Doch darauf sollte sich die Politik nicht verlassen, sondern den Preiswettbewerb mit neuen Anreizen stärken: Dies könnte zum Beispiel durch eine Deckelung der Zahlungen aus dem Gesundheitsfonds an die Kassen gelingen.Health insurance, price framing, health plan switching, SOEP

Sometimes More Is Better, and Sometimes Less Is Better: Task Complexity Moderates the Response Time Accuracy Correlation

This study addresses the relationship between item response time and item accuracy (i.e., the response time accuracy correlation, RTAC) in figural matrices tests. The dual processing account of response time effects predicts negative RTACs in tasks that allow for relatively automatic processing and positive RTACs in tasks that require controlled processing. Contrary to these predictions, several studies found negative RTACs for reasoning tests. Nevertheless, it was demonstrated that the RTAC is moderated by task complexity (i.e., the interaction between person ability and item difficulty) and that under conditions of high complexity (i.e., low ability and high difficulty) the RTAC was even slightly positive. The goal of this study was to demonstrate that with respect to task complexity the direction of the RTAC (positive vs. negative) can change substantially even within a single task paradigm (i.e., figural matrices). These predictions were tested using a figural matrices test that employs a constructed response format and has a broad range of item difficulties in a sample with a broad range of ability. Confirming predictions, strongly negative RTACs were observed when task complexity was low (i.e., fast responses tended to be correct). With increasing task complexity, the RTAC flipped to be strongly positive (i.e., slow responses tended to be correct). This flip occurred earlier for people with lower ability, and later for people with higher ability. Cognitive load of the items is suggested as an explanation for this phenomenon

Local hydrodynamics investigation within a dynamic filtration unit under laminar flow

Conference: 9th International Symposium on Mixing in Industrial ProcessesLocation: Birmingham, ENGLANDDate: JUN 25-28, 2017A dynamic filtration module, called a Rotating and Vibrating Filtration (R.V.F.) module, was designed and dedicated to the treatment of highly viscous fluid, such as fermentation broth or liquid food. To this end, an experimental study was undertaken, using a laminar flow regime with a viscous Newtonian model fluid in a dynamic filtration module in order to quantify the effect of local hydrodynamics on filtration. Instantaneous velocity fields can be measured and analyzed within an R.V.F. by using Particle Image Velocimetry (P.I.V.). In this study, we applied P.I.V. to study the laminar local hydrodynamics in 3 different slices within the 3 mm gap between the membrane and the impeller and 3 vertical slices at different radial positions, with rotation speeds from 0 to 10 Hz. Radial and vertical profiles of tangential velocity were then plotted. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (P.O.D.) was applied to the P.I.V. data to discriminate between mean flow and fluctuating velocities induced by the periodic motion of the impeller. Thus, viscous shear stress profiles were deduced in terms of both mean shear stress profile and root mean squared (r.m.s.) fluctuating shear stress profile; wall values were then deduced. With this approach, we were able to quantify the distribution of viscous shear stress at the wall (membrane), in terms of mean value and r.m.s. contribution. Dynamic filtration efficiency was thus enlightened by local hydrodynamics. (C) 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers

Informalität im regionalen Wachstumsprozess. Einblick in eine „Black Box“ der Planungspraxis am Beispiel Luxemburgs

Der Beitrag behandelt die Steuerung des Siedlungsflächenwachstums im Großherzogtum Luxemburg aus der Perspektive von Informalität. Luxemburg steht unter einem hohen demographischen und ökonomischen Wachstumsdruck in allen Landesteilen (Hauptstadt, altindustrialisierter Süden, ländlicher Norden), der das Planungssystem stark herausfordert. Zugleich gibt es keine formelle Regionalplanung, allenfalls Ansätze interkommunaler Kooperation, die überwiegend freiwilliger Natur sind. Anhand von empirischen Fallstudien in zwei wachstumsstarken Gemeinden (Junglinster, Schuttrange) skizziert der Beitrag Planungsentscheidungen im institutionellen Dreieck zwischen Kommune, Staat und privaten Trägern. Informalität dient hier nicht nur zur Kompensation fehlender planerischer Steuerung, sondern auch dem Umgang mit der komplexen Rechtsmaterie des Landes. Informell kommen auch die vitalen Interessen der Grundeigentümer ins Spiel: Da ein Teil der Wohlfahrtseffekte des Landes über Grund und Boden realisiert wird, sind Spekulationsinteressen immanent, haben ein hohes Blockadepotenzial. In diesem Kontext formuliert der Beitrag erste Überlegungen für ein regionales Wachstumsmanagement, das die Lücke zwischen staatlicher Landesplanung und kommunalem Eigensinn schließen könnte

Can We Foresee Landscape Interest? Maximum Entropy Applied to Social Media Photographs: A Case Study in Madrid

Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are undervalued and poorly understood compared to other types of ecosystem services. The sociocultural preferences of the different actors who enjoy a landscape are intangible aspects of a complex evaluation. Landscape photographs available on social media have opened up the possibility of quantifying landscape values and ecosystem services that were previously difficult to measure. Thus, a new research methodology has been developed based on the spatial distribution of geotagged photographs that, based on probabilistic models, allows us to estimate the potential of the landscape to provide CES. This study tests the effectiveness of predictive models from MaxEnt, a software based on a machine learning technique called the maximum entropy approach, as tools for land management and for detecting CES hot spots. From a sample of photographs obtained from the Panoramio network, taken between 2007 and 2008 in the Lozoya Valley in Madrid (Central Spain), we have developed a predictive model of the future and compared it with the photographs available on the social network between 2009 and 2015. The results highlight a low correspondence between the prediction of the supply of CES and its real demand, which indicates that MaxEnt is not a sufficiently useful predictive tool in complex and changing landscapes such as the one studied here

Altered in-stent hemodynamics may cause erroneous upgrading of moderate carotid artery restenosis when evaluated by duplex ultrasound

ObjectiveTo assess the influence of stent application on in-stent hemodynamics under standardized conditions.MethodsOvine common carotid arteries before and after stent (6 × 40 mm, sinus-Carotid-RXt, combined open-closed cell design; Optimed, Ettlingen, Germany) application were used. Plastic tubes, 10 mm in length, simulating stenosis were placed in the middle of the applied stent to induce different degrees of stenosis (moderate 57.8% and severe 76.4%). Flow velocity and dynamic compliance were, respectively, measured with ultrasound and laser scan; proximal, in-stent, and distal to the stented arterial segment (1 cm proximal and distal) in a pulsatile ex vivo circulation system.ResultsStent insertion caused the in-stent peak systolic velocity to increase 22% without stenosis, 31% with moderate stenosis, and 23% with severe stenosis. Stent insertion without stenosis caused no significant increase in in-stent end-diastolic velocity (EDV) but a 17% increase with moderate stenosis. In severe stenosis, EDV was increased 56% proximal to the stenosis. Compliance was reduced threefold in the middle of the stented arterial segment where flow velocity was significantly increased.ConclusionsWith or without stenosis, stent introduction caused the in-stent peak systolic velocity to become significantly elevated compared with a nonstented area. EDV was also increased by stent insertion in the case of moderate stenosis. The stent-induced compliance reduction may be causal for the increase in flow velocity since the stent-induced flow velocity elevation appeared in the stented area with low compliance. Because of altered hemodynamics caused by stent introduction when measured by duplex ultrasound, caution is prudent in concluding that carotid artery stenting is associated with a higher restenosis rate than carotid endarterectomy. Mistakenly upgrading moderate to severe restenosis could result in unnecessary reintervention.Clinical RelevanceClinical experience and prior studies support the supposition that restenosis after carotid artery stenting in carotid lesions displays erroneously elevated velocity when evaluated by duplex ultrasound (DUS), thus contributing to misleading interpretation of the degree of stenosis. This study, in contrast to studies of other groups, employs exactly the same conditions to measure flow with DUS in an unstented and then stented section of the carotid artery. Since DUS is the first-choice tool for carotid artery evaluation, knowledge about inexactness of the method is essential to avoid errors in treatment or follow-up decisions

Preventing Response Elimination Strategies Improves the Convergent Validity of Figural Matrices

Several studies have shown that figural matrices can be solved with one of two strategies: (1) Constructive matching consisting of cognitively generating an idealized response, which is then compared with the options provided by the response format; or (2) Response elimination consisting of comparing the response format with the item stem in order to eliminate incorrect responses. A recent study demonstrated that employing a response format that reduces response elimination strategies results in higher convergent validity concerning general intelligence. In this study, we used the construction task, which works entirely without distractors because the solution has to be generated in a computerized testing environment. Therefore, response elimination is completely prevented. Our results show that the convergent validity of general intelligence and working memory capacity when using a test employing the construction task is substantially higher than when using tests employing distractors that followed construction strategies used in other studies. Theoretical as well as practical implications of this finding are discussed