cost of observation

[csizi]

Hi,
We want to use the cost of observation feature. We plan to set the USD cost of each observation. However, when we use the Diagnosis function, a red NOT BENEFICIAL text is displayed instead of a number in each line. What should we do to achieve the expected behavior?

[shooltz[BayesFusion]]

NOT BENEFICIAL is displayed when the diagnostic value of the observation is negative. The negative value can be calculated when the observation has an associated cost. The actual formula is

V = cross-entropy - alpha * costs

where alpha is the entropy/cost ratio, which you can modify in GeNIe's diagnostic window (it is equal to 1 by default). If you reduce the alpha, you should see your observations numbers back in black.

For more details, refer to GeNIe's manual Entropy/Cost ratio section in the Diagnosis Window chapter (currently number 6.4.6 in the PDF version).

[csizi]

Thanks. Even when I set Entropy/Cost to extremely small (0.00001) I get some NOT BENEFICIAL values in the list. I am not sure what to improve. Can you help?

[shooltz[BayesFusion]]

You can reduce the max entropy/cost ratio (the dropdown in the upper-right corner of the diagnosis window), then use the E/C slider to move the alpha to a very low value. You should see your observations appear back in black (because alpha close to zero should make the cost influence vanish in the equation).