1,721,045 research outputs found
Practical issues in conducting a discrete choice experiment
No full textThis chapter walks the reader through the stages of a discrete choice experiment (DCE) application drawing on concepts introduced in Chapters 1 and 2. A case study eliciting women’s preferences for prenatal screening is used to illustrate the points (Ryan et al., 2005). It should be noted that this data was collected several years ago, and therefore adopted old methods of experimental design. The sample size is also small.We have chosen it because it demonstrates nicely the many potential uses of a DCE, it addressed a policy-relevant question at the time, and it represents one of the few studies in health economics where the scientists (geneticists) worked with the evaluators (economists) and implementers (obstetricians) to look at development, evaluation and implementation of prenatal screening programmes. <br/
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Case study: a realistic contaminated site remediation and different scenarios of intervention
No full textVariations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Public stated preferences for pharmaceutical funding decisions
No full textDissertação de mestrado em Health Economics and PolicyIntroduction: In Portugal, the pharmaceutical consumption is subsidized by public
funds. The rising NHS expenditures and the recent need of cost containment policies
emphasize the discussion on priority setting in health care and raise questions of
which criteria are appropriate to support funding decisions. Decision-makers base
the pharmaceutical funding grant on clinical and economical evidence. Vulnerable
sub groups, such as chronically ill and elderly with low income, benefit of higher
financing rates than the general population. Little is known about the preferences
of the public for pharmaceutical funding criteria in Portugal. Discrete Choice
Experiments (DCEs) are suitable for the estimation of stated preferences as they
measure of benefit that describes the good through a bundle of attributes and levels
and it is based on the assumption that an individual’s valuation depends upon
the levels of these attributes. DCE have the potential to contribute to outcome
measurement for use in economic evaluation, uniquely allowing the investigation
of diverse questions, such as clinical, economic and ethical. Aim: This work
seeks to investigate criteria considered important by the Portuguese public for allocating
resources for pharmaceuticals. In particular, we estimate the importance
of the severity of the disease for which the treatment is indicated, the prevalence
of the disease in Portugal, the efficacy of the pharmaceutical and the government
costs per person treated. Method: A self-completion DCE survey, with 18 binary
choice sets, was administered to two samples of the general population. Choice
data are used to consider the relative importance of changes across attribute levels,
and to model utility scores and relative probabilities. Results: A total of 90
individual completed the DCE. For the levels and units presented in the DCE, all
attributes were statistically significant, in both samples. The attributes “severity
of the disease for which the pharmaceutical is indicated” and “efficacy of the new
pharmaceutical” had the higher utility values. The coefficient for the cost attribute
was negative. Conclusions: This is the first DCE in Portugal that extends the discussion
of prioritization in the health care sector, namely on the pharmaceutical
funding decision, to the general population. This study sets foundation for future
research and supports the acceptability of the public for DCEs.Introdução: O consumo de medicamentos em Portugal, é em parte, financiado pelo
Estado, através de um sistema de comparticipação de medicamentos. O aumento
da despesa do SNS e a recente necessidade de implementação de políticas para
a contenção da despesa pública enfatizam a discussão sobre os critérios apropriados
para fundamentar as decisões de priorização e financiamento dos cuidados de
saúde. Atualmente, a decisão para atribuição de comparticipação de medicamentos
baseiam-se na evidência de benefício clinico e económico. No entanto, nenhum estudo
investigou as preferências sociais para o financiamento de medicamentos em
Portugal. A metodologia selecionada, escolha discreta, tem o potencial de contribuir
de forma única para a avaliação económica na saúde, englobando critérios clínicos,
económicos e éticos. Objetivo: O presente trabalho tem como objetivo investigar
critérios considerados importantes pela população portuguesa para o financiamento
de medicamentos. Em particular, estimou-se a importância dos atributos: severidade
da doença para o qual o medicamento está indicado, prevalência da doença em Portugal,
eficácia do medicamento e custo para o estado por pessoa tratada. Método: Foi
administrado um questionário, DCE, com 18 pares de alternativas, a duas amostras
da população de Braga.
Resultados: No total, 90 indivíduos responderam ao questionário. Os atributos severidade
da doença para o qual o medicamento está indicado e eficácia do medicamento
obtiveram os valores de utilidade mais elevados. Para os níveis apresentados,
todos os atributos fora estatisticamente significativos, em ambas as amostras. O
coeficiente para o atributo “custo para o estado por pessoa tratada” foi negativo.
Conclusão: Este é o primeiro estudo português a estender a discussão do financiamento
de medicamentos à população geral. Este estudo contribui para o desenvolver
de investigações futuras e evidencia a aceitabilidade dos DCE junto da população
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
- …
