(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

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

Self-duality of bounded monotone boolean functions and related problems

AbstractIn this paper we examine the problem of determining the self-duality of a monotone boolean function in disjunctive normal form (DNF). We show that the self-duality of monotone boolean functions with n disjuncts such that each disjunct has at most k literals can be determined in O(2k2k2n) time. This implies an O(n2logn) algorithm for determining the self-duality of logn-DNF functions. We also consider the version where any two disjuncts have at most c literals in common. For this case we give an O(n4(c+1)) algorithm for determining self-duality

Computational Ontologies and Information Systems II: Formal Specification

This paper extends the study of ontologies in Part I of this study (Volume 14, Article 8) in the context of Information Systems. The basic foundations of computational ontologies presented in Part I are extended to formal specifications in this paper. This paper provides a review of the formalisms, languages, and tools for specifying and implementing computational ontologies Directions for future research are also provided

Identifying and Evaluating the Demand Side Factors Influencing the Choice of Software-As A Service: An Integrative Framework

The ever increasing internet bandwidth and the fast changing needs of businesses for effectiveness and integration within and with the partners and the distributed /mobile employee force is leading organizations to adopt information systems infrastructures that are cost effective as well as flexible. The question seems to be: what is driving organizations to go in for SAAS rather than the SWS model of software provisioning? Some of the major drawbacks of SWS model of software provisioning are the high upfront and implementation costs. Also the software is difficult and costly to maintain and upgrade. Long lead times, high costs, complex planning sessions and deployment delays inherent to SWS, make SAAS a viable may to overcome these challenges and provide easy-to-use and cost-effective tools for system integration. Whereas there have been studies reporting technology, cost, quality ,network externalities and process as the main variables in the utility function of the user , but most of the studies have modeled either one or two in the their models . The study is an attempt to create an integrative framework with a comprehensive list of factors which affect choice of SAAS .The proposed framework is also tested on an initial sample of 15 respondents and the relative importance and the weights of the factors identified

Study of thyroid function in patients with metabolic syndrome

Background: Thyroid disease and the metabolic syndrome are both associated with cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to explore the study of thyroid function in patients with metabolic syndrome. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at department of physiology, M P shah medical college Jamnagar, Gujarat. It included 200 patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) (National Cholesterol Education Program’s-Adult Treatment Panel III Criteria) in the study group and 100 subjects without metabolic syndrome in the control group. Anthropometric variables and blood pressure were taken using standardized technique and body mass index was calculated. Fasting blood sample was analyzed for total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDL-C), blood glucose (FBG) and TSH, T4 and T3 were measured using electro-chemiluminescence immuno assay. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS windows version 20.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois).Results: The overall prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with MetS was 41.5% with high prevalence of sub clinical hypothyroidism (27%). TSH (P<0.001) was significantly higher in the study group than in control group (P <0.01) but T3 and T4 values of study group were significantly lower than those of control group (P< 0.01). Metabolic components waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose and triglycerides were significantly higher in metabolic subject (P<0.001), while HDL-C was significantly lower in study group (P<0.001) then control group. Conclusion:  Hypothyroidism brawny associated with components of metabolic syndrome, therefore increased multifaceted risk of cardiovascular disorders with elevate TSH levels