Claims are a major concern in every construction project. With the increasing complexity and size of the construction projects in India, the number and frequency of claims, also bound to increase, ...which adversely affects the construction environment. So, an early prediction of these claims is crucial to avoid their costly negative impacts. This paper aimed to develop artificial neural network models to predict the frequency of claims in construction projects. Based on a comprehensive literature review, a total of 39 factors causing claims were identified first, and then refined by Delphi interview with 10 experts. Subsequently, a questionnaire was further developed and disseminated to different owners, contractors, and consultants' organizations working in the Indian construction sector, which received 206 valid replies. The questionnaire data were then utilized to develop and validate the construction claims frequency prediction models. For this, an artificial neural network approach was used to construct the models. These models will help the construction professionals in predicting the frequency of occurrence for different types of claims throughout the course of the project and enable them to select the best strategy available to avoid or mitigate their occurrence at an early stage.
Early intervention following occupational injury can improve health outcomes and reduce the duration and cost of workers' compensation claims. Financial early reporting incentives (ERIs) for ...employers may shorten the time between injury and access to compensation benefits and services. We examined ERI effect on time spent in the claim lodgement process in two Australian states: South Australia (SA), which introduced them in January 2009, and Tasmania (TAS), which introduced them in July 2010.
Using administrative records of 1.47 million claims lodged between July 2006 and June 2012, we conducted an interrupted time series study of ERI impact on monthly median days in the claim lodgement process. Time periods included claim reporting, insurer decision, and total time. The 18-month gap in implementation between the states allowed for a multiple baseline design. In SA, we analysed periods within claim reporting: worker and employer reporting times (similar data were not available in TAS). To account for external threats to validity, we examined impact in reference to a comparator of other Australian workers' compensation jurisdictions.
Total time in the process did not immediately change, though trend significantly decreased in both jurisdictions (SA: -0.36 days per month, 95% CI -0.63 to -0.09; TAS: 0.35, -0.50 to -0.20). Claim reporting time also decreased in both (SA: -1.6 days, -2.4 to -0.8; TAS: -5.4, -7.4 to -3.3). In TAS, there was a significant increase in insurer decision time (4.6, 3.9 to 5.4) and a similar but non-significant pattern in SA. In SA, worker reporting time significantly decreased (-4.7, -5.8 to -3.5), but employer reporting time did not (-0.3, -0.8 to 0.2).
The results suggest that ERIs reduced claim lodgement time and, in the long-term, reduced total time in the claim lodgement process. However, only worker reporting time significantly decreased in SA, indicating that ERIs may not have shortened the process through the intended target of employer reporting time. Lack of similar data in Tasmania limited our ability to determine whether this was a result of ERIs or another component of the legislative changes. Further, increases in insurer decision time highlight possible unintended negative effects.
•From 1991 nutrition and health claim legislation is globally being developed.•International legislation on nutrition and health claims varies strongly.•No optimal approach in regulating nutrition ...and health claims is implemented yet.•Emerging evidence could help substantiate nutrition or nutrient function claims.•More international harmonisation will stimulate functional food innovations.
The increasing public interest in dietary health benefits led to the development of different legislative texts on nutrition and health claims worldwide. Following a review of legislation of 28 jurisdictions, three prominent differences were discerned, concerning (i) the labelling of different types of nutrition and health claims and their permission; (ii) variations arising in the (pre-marketing) authorisation procedures; and (iii) the use of the scientific minority opinion in substantiating claims. By discussing these legal differences with findings from literature concerning consumer and industry effects, this review puts these pieces of legislation into a broader perspective. The studied pieces of legislation show critical differences and although various approaches have positive points, no optimal approach to regulate nutrition and health claims has been implemented yet. It would be preferable to permit similar types of claims throughout jurisdictions, permit claims that have a lower probability of misleading consumers e.g. nutrition claims to use emerging evidence and to require pre-marketing approval of claims with higher impact. International harmonisation in these aspects should globally lead to improved pieces of legislation, stimulate industrial efforts in functional foods and enhance consumers’ opportunity to use health-enhancing products.
Over-the-counter homeopathic products are gaining market share in the United States as consumers are looking for alternatives to conventional medicines. However, most objective scientific evidence ...does not support the efficacy of these products. Therefore, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently issued an Enforcement Policy Statement mandating that an information disclosure be included in homeopathic advertisements to counteract unsubstantiated claims made by manufacturers. To evaluate the effects of these disclosures, we offer explicit hypotheses grounded in marketing and advertising theory and literature. Findings from four experiments suggest that the information disclosure in these advertisements reduces perceived efficacy, which in turn, decreases product purchase intentions. These findings support predicted mediation effects. However, the effect on purchase intentions is attenuated among consumers who have previously used the products. Results offer insights for advertising researchers, product marketers, and policy makers on the effectiveness of information disclosures on alternative medicine advertisements.
Health insurance claims (ie, receipts) record patient health care treatments and expenses and, although created for the health care payment system, are potentially useful for research. Combining ...different types of receipts generated for the same patient would dramatically increase the utility of these receipts. However, technical problems, including standardization of disease names and classifications, and anonymous linkage of individual receipts, must be addressed.
In collaboration with health insurance societies, all information from receipts (inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy) was collected. To standardize disease names and classifications, we developed a computer-aided post-entry standardization method using a disease name dictionary based on International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 classifications. We also developed an anonymous linkage system by using an encryption code generated from a combination of hash values and stream ciphers. Using different sets of the original data (data set 1: insurance certificate number, name, and sex; data set 2: insurance certificate number, date of birth, and relationship status), we compared the percentage of successful record matches obtained by using data set 1 to generate key codes with the percentage obtained when both data sets were used.
The dictionary's automatic conversion of disease names successfully standardized 98.1% of approximately 2 million new receipts entered into the database. The percentage of anonymous matches was higher for the combined data sets (98.0%) than for data set 1 (88.5%).
The use of standardized disease classifications and anonymous record linkage substantially contributed to the construction of a large, chronologically organized database of receipts. This database is expected to aid in epidemiologic and health services research using receipt information.
The goal of this study was to develop an algorithm based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), codes for classifying children with chronic ...disease (CD) according to level of medical complexity and to assess the algorithm's sensitivity and specificity.
A retrospective observational study was conducted among 700 children insured by Washington State Medicaid with ≥1 Seattle Children's Hospital emergency department and/or inpatient encounter in 2010. The gold standard population included 350 children with complex chronic disease (C-CD), 100 with noncomplex chronic disease (NC-CD), and 250 without CD. An existing ICD-9-CM-based algorithm called the Chronic Disability Payment System was modified to develop a new algorithm called the Pediatric Medical Complexity Algorithm (PMCA). The sensitivity and specificity of PMCA were assessed.
Using hospital discharge data, PMCA's sensitivity for correctly classifying children was 84% for C-CD, 41% for NC-CD, and 96% for those without CD. Using Medicaid claims data, PMCA's sensitivity was 89% for C-CD, 45% for NC-CD, and 80% for those without CD. Specificity was 90% to 92% in hospital discharge data and 85% to 91% in Medicaid claims data for all 3 groups.
PMCA identified children with C-CD (who have accessed tertiary hospital care) with good sensitivity and good to excellent specificity when applied to hospital discharge or Medicaid claims data. PMCA may be useful for targeting resources such as care coordination to children with C-CD.
•The effect of NHCs on consumer behavior are product and claim dependent.•Expectations of healthiness and reward are key drivers of consumers’ use of NHCs.•Reduction claims may trigger self-licensing ...effects and healthy = untasty intuition.•NHCs do not have a substantial effect on portion size rankings.
The impact of nutrition and health claims (NHCs) on consumers is unclear, and research in this field has provided incongruent results. By exploring the role of carrier products and claim types together with consumer characteristics this study sought to shed light on some of these contradictory results. Based on 1494 participants in an online choice experiment and portion-size experiment, the results revealed that the impact of NHCs on consumers is dependent on product and claim type, as well as consumer characteristics of perceived reward, compensatory beliefs, health motivation, subjective nutritional knowledge and weight-goals. In general, the choice of products carrying a claim was related to an increased perceived healthiness, health interest in food and a sense of reward associated with NHCs, but negatively related to subjective nutritional knowledge. Especially products perceived unhealthy with reduction claims were related to compensatory beliefs about being able to eat more of the claimed product. However, while compensatory beliefs seemed to have a small but consistent role in resulting in higher portion sizes, NHCs only played a minor role at best in portion-size decisions. Overall, the results suggest that consumer perceptions of types of claims and products need to be verified case-by-case, but some commonalities seem to exist when categorizing products according to their perceived healthiness and type of claims. Furthermore, consumers who are concerned about weight or are high in compensatory beliefs may be especially responsive to nutrition claims, while nutritional knowledge may act as a barrier against potential health halos associated with claims.
Health-related claims are statements regarding the nutritional content of a food (nutrition claims) and/or indicate that a relationship exists between a food and a health outcome (health claims). ...Their impact on food purchasing or consumption decisions is unclear. This systematic review measured the effect of health-related claims, on pre-packaged foods in retail settings, on adult purchasing decisions (real and perceived).
In September 2016, we searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO, CAB abstracts, Business Source Complete, and Web of Science/Science Citation Index & Social Science Citation Index for articles in English published in peer-review journals. Studies were included if they were controlled experiments where the experimental group(s) included a health-related claim and the control group involved an identical product without a health-related claim. Included studies measured (at an individual or population level); actual or intended choice, purchases, and/or consumption. The primary outcome was product choices and purchases, the secondary outcome was food consumption and preference. Results were standardised through calculating odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the likelihood of choosing a product when a health-related claim was present. Results were combined in a random-effects meta-analysis.
Thirty-one papers were identified, 17 of which were included for meta-analyses. Most studies were conducted in Europe (n = 17) and the USA (n = 7). Identified studies were choice experiments that measured the likelihood of a product being chosen when a claim was present compared to when a claim was not present, (n = 16), 15 studies were experiments that measured either; intent-rating scale outcomes (n = 8), consumption (n = 6), a combination of the two (n = 1), or purchase data (n = 1). Overall, 20 studies found that claims increase purchasing and/or consumption, eight studies had mixed results, and two studies found consumption/purchasing reductions. The meta-analyses of 17 studies found that health-related claims increase consumption and/or purchasing (OR 1.75, CI 1.60-1.91).
Health-related claims have a substantial effect on dietary choices. However, this finding is based on research mostly conducted in artificial settings. Findings from natural experiments have yielded smaller effects. Further research is needed to assess effects of claims in real-world settings.
PROSPERO systematic review registration number: CRD42016044042 .
This paper studies independence of higher claims and independence of irrelevant claims on the domain of bargaining problems with claims. Independence of higher claims requires that the payoff of an ...agent does not depend on the higher claim of another agent. Independence of irrelevant claims states that the payoffs should not change when the claims decrease but remain higher than the payoffs. Interestingly, in conjunction with standard axioms from bargaining theory, these properties characterize a new constrained Nash solution, a constrained Kalai–Smorodinsky solution, and a constrained Kalai solution.
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