„Infotainment“ in der Presse

This paper answers, by means of a content analysis of three regional daily papers, the question of whether political journalism in regional newspapers is more entertaining today than it was in 1980. On the level of articles, increased entertainment can consist of using specific design elements. On the thematic level, topics that are entertaining per se (e. g. human interest topics) can take the place of or occur in addition to political information. In all the papers that were examined, political articles possess a larger potential for entertainment today than they did in 1980. Additionally, the percentage of political information has decreased, while the number of articles on human interest topics has increased. Finally, this paper discusses how that result is to be evaluated from the point of view of the theory of democracy: “Infotainment” can be beneficial in some circumstances. Therefore, entertainment should not be disparaged in general; one needs to be careful when assessing it normatively.     

Cost and mortality impact of an algorithm-driven sepsis prediction system

Aims: To compute the financial and mortality impact of InSight, an algorithm-driven biomarker, which forecasts the onset of sepsis with minimal use of electronic health record data.

Methods: This study compares InSight with existing sepsis screening tools and computes the differential life and cost savings associated with its use in the inpatient setting. To do so, mortality reduction is obtained from an increase in the number of sepsis cases correctly identified by InSight. Early sepsis detection by InSight is also associated with a reduction in length-of-stay, from which cost savings are directly computed.

Results: InSight identifies more true positive cases of severe sepsis, with fewer false alarms, than comparable methods. For an individual ICU with 50 beds, for example, it is determined that InSight annually saves 75 additional lives and reduces sepsis-related costs by $560,000.

Limitations: InSight performance results are derived from analysis of a single-center cohort. Mortality reduction results rely on a simplified use case, which fixes prediction times at 0, 1, and 2?h before sepsis onset, likely leading to under-estimates of lives saved. The corresponding cost reduction numbers are based on national averages for daily patient length-of-stay cost.

Conclusions: InSight has the potential to reduce sepsis-related deaths and to lead to substantial cost savings for healthcare facilities.     

Successive Oligopolies,Vertical Downstream Integration and Foreclosure

Vertically integrated firms have repeatedly been accused of abusing a dominant position by refusing to sell the intermediate product to non-integrated downstream producers and thus to practice foreclosure. To evaluate the merit of such an accusation requires an adequate theory of vertical integration which allows to decide whether a refusal to sell follows straightforwardly from profit maximization or is driven by an intent to monopolize. We investigate whether in the case of successive oligopolies vertical integration is profitable for the participating firms and to what extent cross deliveries between integrated and non-integrated firms can be expected to arise. By contrast to the previous literature where at the downstream level Cournot competition has been assumed to prevail between integrated firms and non-integrated downstream producers, we propose a model where integrated firms and non-integrated upstream suppliers meet in Cournot competition and take as given the inverse demand function for both the final and the intermediate product. Game theory is invoked to examine whether an integrated firm will participate in the intermediate market. If marginal costs at the downstream level are constant and identical as between integrated and non-integrated firms, integrated firms will never wish to sell to non-integrated downstream producers they can, however, be expected to buy from non-integrated upstream suppliers. Utilizing theoretical implications regarding pass through of changes in marginal costs we find empirical evidence supporting the applicability of our model to the gasoline industry in Germany. We finally examine to what extent issues of competition policy and public regulation arise.JEL classification: D43, L1, L22, L42, L71*We gratefully acknowledge helpful suggestions from Horst Albach, Alexandra Gross-Schuler, Otto Hass, Michael Niederalt, Felix Schuler, Achim Wambach, Christian Winkler, and unknown referees of the JICT. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Environmental impact management of ship based tourism to Antarctica

Tourist visits and landings on the ice free areas of Antarctica is the most recent large scale human activity on this continent. More than 98 per cent of tourists visit by cruiseship, which means less than two per cent of tourism is land based. Environmental impacts are generally transient with pressure placed on repeatedly visited shore based attractions. This article investigates the effects of tourism on the environment in Antarctica, legislation as well as liability issues and how they are being managed.     

Marianne Grewe-Partsch (6.1.1913–22.2.2004)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Approaches towards nature based tourism policies in Australia and New Zealand

Increases in environmental consciousness in western countries caused the emergence of nature based tourism. Australia and New Zealand are good examples of nature based tourism destinations. This investigation looks at the private and public sector input into this aspect of tourism activity. Both countries are focusing strongly on marketing efforts to increase visitor numbers and less to managing the effects on tourism. The private sector currently provides the impetus in the development of sustainable practices.     

Social Media Activities of Political Communication Practitioners: The Impact of Strategic Orientation and In-Group Orientation

The question of why political communication practitioners use social media for strategic political communication activities has rarely been investigated. By using well-established theoretical approaches of communication research, such as the influence of presumed influence approach, this study sought to determine the extent to which the subjective perceptions of German political communication practitioners explain their professional social media activities. The results of a survey (N = 1,067) indicate that the more political communication practitioners perceived that other political communication practitioners used and were influenced by Facebook and Twitter, the more often they used social media themselves. In contrast, the presumed reach of Facebook and Twitter among politicians, journalists, and citizens, as well as the presumed influence of both media on these groups, were not related to the practitioners’ social media activities. These findings suggest that the practitioners’ social media activities are driven more by an in-group orientation toward their colleagues and less by a strategic orientation toward external stakeholders.