Problems in the choice of a system for costing and pricing of in-house computer services

The problem of pricing computer services has been discussed in the literature since the early days of computing. Costing and pricing have often been interchanged in the discussions. After a discussion of the problems of measurement of resource usage, pricing for cost recovery and for resource allocation are discussed. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research and a brief summary.     

CRIMINAL PERCEPTIONS AND VIOLENT CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION

This paper explores the relationship between various measures of prior victimization and indicators of both the perceived victimization risk and fear of crime. Equations are specified and estimated both for the fear of crime/perception of risk and for prior victimization. Since prior victimizations are exogenous to the determination of the current assessment of risk or fear of crime, it is possible to isolate the independent effects of victimization and extraneous factors, like racial neighborhood composition, in a recursive model structure. The analysis also examines the contribution that individual victimization and extraneous factors make to the overall gap between average victimization rates and average indicators of fear.
Prior victimization explains some of the rather enormous perception of future victimization, but a sizable gap between perceived risk and actual risk remains. Much of that gap appears to be related to proximity to nonwhites, a possible proxy for racial prejudices and beliefs that nonwhite neighborhoods contribute to heightened crime.     

Firm management of scientific information: an empirical update

The purpose of this paper is to extend and test a model proposed by McMillan and colleagues in 1995. That model posited that research-intensive firms that are more 'cooperative' or open in publishing their scientific findings will have higher research and development (R&D) productivity than more secretive firms. In addition, four possible predictors of this scientific information openness are proposed in lieu of two in the 1995 article. Our current effort includes an empirical examination of twenty pharmaceutical firms over thirteen years, and finds substantial support for many of the proposed relationships. In addition, interviews with field practitioners independently confirmed many of the findings. The managerial implications are also discussed.     

Conflict variables in world simulations

World modellers have neglected social and political variables in their model building, basically because of problems of quantification. Instead they have treated these factors as exogenous, which has permitted a less rigorous approach to the relationship between their inputs and the real world. Here the author introduces two sociopolitical variables—conflict and centralisation—into Forrester's World 2 model, and Boyd's modified World 2, and compares the results of a series of computer runs with the results obtained from the original models. While the propositions linking these two variables to others in the World 2 model are largely hypothetical, the stability of the modified model suggests that these linkages are authentic—and that the study's findings concerning the effect of conflict upon the world system are valid.     

Opinions about privacy: does the type of information used for marketing purposes make a difference?

The availability of personal information is at an all-time high. Technology has revolutionised the marketing industry, enabling marketers to achieve precise selectivity through database efforts. With this selectivity comes the responsibility of determining acceptable and unacceptable uses of personal information by businesses and nonprofits for marketing purposes. This paper explores opinions on information privacy by investigating the impact of education in the formulation of opinions on the use of personal information for marketing purposes. A single credit course in direct marketing does not change opinions regarding information privacy. But a series of credit marketing courses does reduce the level of restrictions desired on the availability and use of personal information for marketing. Thus, the direct marketing industry would be better served by promoting and demonstrating the ethical use of personal information through ethical marketing practices by all its practitioners rather than by attempting to educate the general public about the nature and uses of such information and data for marketing purposes. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications     

A global database of domestic and international tourist numbers at national and subnational level

We present a new, global database on tourist destinations. The database differs from other databases in that it includes both domestic and international tourists; and it contains, for the most important destinations, data at national level as well as at lower administrative levels. Missing observations are interpolated using statistical models. The data are freely accessible on the internet. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of apixaban vs low molecular weight heparin/vitamin k antagonist on hospital resource use in patients with venous thromboembolism

Background: The clinical and economic benefits associated with apixaban treatment have been established in clinical trials and published economic evaluations. The benefits associated with apixaban could extend to improving hospital efficiencies, potentially influencing hospital resource use, and bed days. The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of 6-month treatment with apixaban vs low molecular weight heparin/vitamin k antagonist (LMWH/VKA) on hospital resource use among patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE).

Methods: A model was developed to assess the impact of apixaban vs LMWH/VKA for treatment of VTE and prevention of recurrences on hospital resource use and costs. Resource use items included total hospitalizations, length of stay (LOS), and emergency department (ED) visits, estimated for all incident VTE patients in the UK over a 5-year time horizon. Rates of hospitalizations, ED visits, and LOS associated with recurrent VTE, major, and clinically relevant non-major bleeding were obtained from the AMPLIFY trial; costs were obtained from UK published sources.

Results: Over a 5-year time horizon, the model predicted that, compared to 6 months of LMWH/VKA, 6 months of apixaban led to 3,954 fewer hospitalizations (consisting of 2,341 fewer new admissions and 1,613 fewer re-admissions) and 32,214 fewer bed days, among 332,607 incident VTE patients. ED visits were reduced by 1,582. The reduction in hospital resource use led to a cost saving of ～£4.5 million in a market of patients treated with apixaban as compared to a market treated with LMWH/VKA. Sensitivity analysis indicated these findings were robust over a wide range of inputs.

Conclusions: 6-month treatment with apixaban for treatment of VTE and prevention of recurrences on hospital resource use led to a reduction in hospitalizations and LOS in comparison to LMWH/VKA. These findings can help the efforts in reducing the growing burden of preventable re-admissions to hospitals.