Too Many Alternatives: Density, Symmetry and Other Predicaments

Analyzing Preference Rankings when There Are Too Many Alternatives

Consumer preferences can be measured by rankings of alternatives. When there are too many alternatives, this consumer task becomes complex. One option is to have consumers rank only a subset of the available alternatives. This has an impact on subsequent statistical analysis, as now a large amount of ties is observed. We propose a simple methodology to perform proper statistical analysis in thi...

How many "me-too" drugs is too many?

ON AUGUST 3, 2009, THE US FOOD AND DRUG ADministration (FDA) approved pitavastatin (Livalo), making it the eighth statin approved for use in the United States and seventh currently available for sale. This approval comes almost a quarter century after that for the first member of the class, lovastatin, 8 years after generic lovastatin was approved and 4 years after 2 additional statins, pravast...

Therapeutic cytapheresis: too many platelets, too many white blood cells.

Myeloproliferative disorders may present with thrombocytosis and/or leukocytosis with symptoms ranging from minor to life-threatening. Therapeutic cytapheresis (TC), the removal of excess and/or abnormal cells such as platelets and white blood cells, can be used to rapidly reduce cells in the symptomatic patient. The patient's clinical status determines the need for TC as symptoms may not corre...

too many students’ congresses, are they necessary and useful?

Too few physicians, or too many?