For decades, governmental public health in the united States has been relegated to operating at the margins of the country's massive healthcare system that drives nearly 20% of the uS economy.1 Further buffeted in recent years by a variety of external forces (including the 2008 economic recession, shifting demographics, a high and complex population burden of chronic disease, and a rapidly changing health care delivery system), public health leaders and policymakers increasingly recognize that the existing practice models are no longer adequate for the task of protecting and promoting the public's health.2 put simply, uS public health risks moving from being marginalized to becoming irrelevant if public health practice is not transformed.the challenges embedded in changing public health practice are multiple, and are made more complex by the decentralized structure of public health in the united States. public health here is a federated enterprise that includes national entities such as the Center for Disease Control and prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and others; state and local governmental health departments; non-governmental organizations at the national, state, and community levels that are organized around single or multiple health-related issues; and public and private colleges and universities that provide education and training to the multiple disciplines making up the public health workforce. National study committees convened by the National Academy of Science's institute of Medicine over the past 30 years3-5 have consistently found the uS public health system to be in a state of disarray: misunderstood by elected policymakers and the general public; under-resourced in financial, technological, and workforce spheres; and highly variable in practice and services provided by over 2500 state and local governmental public health departments.For more than 20 years, the robert Wood Johnson Foundation (rWJF) has made significant investments in advancing public health in the united States. this includes multi-million dollar, flagship investments in public health accreditation and in public health systems and services research, with both efforts broadly directed toward improving the quality and impact of public health practice. it also includes more recent, and more narrowly concentrated, investments in engaging public health leaders in focused dialogues on critical operational issues as well as on more aspirational strategic thinking about how to catalyze and support transformational change in public health practice. three current examples of these strategic investments include:1. Building consensus around a set of core and foundational public health capabilities and services;2. developing an aspirational vision for uS public health in 2030; and3. identifying leadership and educational preparation needed to prepare the public health workforce of the future.Foundational Capabilitiesrecognition of the significant variability in the type, amount and financing of public health services led the institute of Medicine in 2012 to call for a '... minimum package of public health services, which includes the foundational capabilities and an array of basic programs no health department can be without...'.5 through funding a public Health Leadership Forum (pHLF), rWJF convened a diverse group of federal, state, and local public health leaders and stakeholders in April 2013 to review this recommendation and operationalize it. over the course of the next nine months, the group developed consensus around a foundational capabilities and services framework6 (see Figure 1) and operationalized them with enough specificity that a costing model is now being developed. the framework is being systematically vetted with the broader uS public health community by way of presentations at multiple conferences, webinars, and social media. once vetted, it is hoped that the foundational capabilities and services framework will be utilized by state, local, and federal policymakers and result in increased resources for public health while decreasing variability in practice and, ultimately, improve population health outcomes. âŠ
Matthew S. Murphy, Alberto FernĂĄpndez, Antonio Daponte
the death of General Francisco Franco on 20th November 1975 and the subsequent transition to democracy was a seminal moment in Spanish history, laying the groundwork for important administrative and institutional changes. one of the most important changes during this time period was the establishment of a right to health care in the Constitution of 1978. previously, the Spanish health system had granted access based on employment status, with financing via payroll taxes managed by the Social Security Administration. With the passage of the Constitution of 1978 and subsequently the General Health Law of 1986, Spain developed a national health system which guaranteed universal access to the population and was financed through general taxation. At the same time, the country began to move away from a strongly centralized administration through a devolution process which granted administrative responsibility for governing areas such as education and health to the 17 autonomous communities of Spain. the process began with Cataluna in 1981, followed several years later by Andalucia and was completed in 2002.Both of these elements are essential to understanding the role and organization of the country's public health workforce. the universal nature of the Spanish health care system is regarded as the most significant guarantor of the country's health and wellbeing. At the same time, the central government has a very limited role in the management and organization of the health system. in fact, during the process of devolution, the field of public health was the first administrative element that was turned over to the autonomous communities. As it involved limited financial resources and infrastructure at the time, it was viewed as easily transferable. However, the government has struggled since then to organize and coordinate public health initiatives between the different autonomous communities. the principal coordination mechanism for health- related issues is a body called the Consejo Interterritorial de Salud where the 17 health ministers from the different communities as well as national professional groups meet with the national Minister of Health. Here, they plan the response to disease outbreaks or discuss the effects of new legislation on regional health systems. one of their major initiatives now is standardizing national preventive programs such as population screening procedures and the paediatric vaccine calendar in response to important intercommunal variations in initiatives and resources. ultimately, the Consejo has little legal authority and acts more as a facilitator for collaboration than a regulatory agency.As a result of the decentralization of the administration of health services and the early devolution of the responsibility to ensure public health reaches the autonomous communities, it is difficult to discuss a national public health workforce. there are no national databases or registries of the public health workforce in Spain. each community has developed its workforce based on its history, political philosophy and perceived health needs. Additionally, there is no national accrediting body for public health professionals in Spain, something that is essential for professional regulation and political importance in the workplace. However, there are important professional associations at the national and regional level that fall under the umbrella group SeSpAS, or the Spanish Society of public Health and Health Administration. these associations include groups such as the Spanish Network of primary Healthcare, the Spanish Association of epidemiology and the Spanish Society of environmental Health among others.the national government does play a central role in insuring compliance with european legislation and regulations, particularly in areas of occupational health, environmental health and food safety. As a result, the public health workforce is organized around these areas and usually includes a diverse set of professional profiles. âŠ
We use Bitcoin and S&P 500 Index daily return data to examine relative volatility using detrended ratios. We then model Bitcoin market returns with selected economic variables to study the drivers of Bitcoin market returns. We report strong evidence to suggest that Bitcoin volatility is internally (buyer and seller) driven leading to the conclusion that the Bitcoin market is highly speculative at present.
This Article investigates an increasingly important yet under-developed body of law: regulation of virtual currency. At its peak in March of 2014, the daily volume of Bitcoin transactions in United States dollars exceeded $575,000,000. The growing mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin, however, is best illustrated by the growing number of leading merchants that have decided to accept Bitcoin payments. While Bitcoinâs rise as an alternative payment method is well-chronicled, Bitcoinâs impact extends further due to its use as an investment vehicle and its ability to spur the growth of an industry of Bitcoin-based businesses. Despite increasingly widespread use, Bitcoin (and other virtual currencies) have largely operated without the burden of regulation. Why? Like the potentially transformative innovations that preceded Bitcoin, virtual currency raises unique challenges for which existing legal models may be unprepared. As policymakers struggle to catch-up, the effort to develop an appropriate regulatory regime for virtual currency is at a critical juncture.The response in the United States has thus far involved regulatory bodies acting independently to clarify the treatment of virtual currency under a variety of different laws designed to regulate traditional payment systems, financial services, and investments. This Article argues, contrary to this approach, that a narrow focus on the technical application and extension of existing law creates a deficient regulatory regime. Instead, we suggest that policymakers should: (1) engage the various agency stakeholders to promote cross-communication; (2) think more globally about the wide spectrum of issues arising from virtual currency; and (3) embrace the unique and distinct characteristics of virtual currency. In support of this proposition, we show that refocusing on the collection of policy goals advanced by existing law offers policymakers an additional tool to aid in the development of a comprehensive, cohesive, and appropriately-scaled virtual currency regulatory model.
Social media comprises a set of new technologies that enable richer data exchange in highly decentralized, dynamic, and loosely structured versatile virtual environments. Social media technology is expected to enhance participation, learning, and knowledge production in government settings, aligning traditional structural and authority boundaries while also challenging them. We examine the extent to which local governments in the United States are coupling social media technology with two types of participative tasks: collaborative work inside the organization and participative interaction with external stakeholders. We also explore how these two technologyâtask couples are associated with managerial perceptions of the positive and negative outcomes of technology use. We use survey data from five departmentsâcommunity development, finance, police, mayorâs office, and parks and recreationâin 500 U.S. cities. Findings show that social media and their use for specific tasks have limited impact on either positive or negative perceived outcomes. These non-findings may demonstrate that the implementation cost of social media technologies outweighs the managerial benefits they realize; that technologyâtask applications substitute for traditional approaches to the same task, but no effect is incurred; or that social media technologies are relatively new to local governments, and efforts to effectively utilize them for internal work tasks and external engagement are in their infancy.
Bitcoin is the first decentralised, peer-to-peer network that allows for the proof and transfer of ownership of virtual currencies without the need for a trusted third party. The purpose of this article is to address how we can capture Bitcoinâs potential benefits for the economy while addressing new regulatory challenges.
You canât hold a bitcoin in your hand, but you can
spend one. Bitcoins are digital representations of
value, a fiat currency based on cryptographyâthe
use of encryption to store and transfer value securely.
Transactions using bitcoins are decentralized
in that they are validated and certified through a
network of users rather than one central administrative
site.
The present paper seeks to effectively address the following question: What Bitcoin looks like? To do so, we regress Bitcoin price on a number of variables (Bitcoin fundamentals recorded in the literature) by applying an ARDL Bounds Testing approach for daily data covering the period from December 2010 to June 2014. Our findings highlight the speculative nature of Bitcoin. We also provide insightful evidence that Bitcoin may be used for economic reasons but there is any sign of being a safe haven. By considering the Chinese trading bankruptcy and the closing of Road Silk by FBI, the contribution of usersâ interest stills sharply dominant, indicating the robustness of our results.
Zero-knowledge proofs provide a means for a prover to convince a verifier that some claim is true and nothing more. The ability to prove statements while conveying zero information beyond their veracity has profound implications for cryptography and, especially, for its applicability to privacy-enhancing technologies. Unfortunately, the most common zero-knowledge techniques in the literature suffer from poor scalability, which limits their usefulness in many otherwise promising applications. This dissertation addresses the problem of designing communication- and computation-efficient protocols for zero-knowledge proofs and arguments of propositions that comprise many "simple" predicates. In particular, we propose a new formal model in which to analyze batch zero-knowledge protocols and perform the first systematic study of systems for batch zero-knowledge proofs and arguments of knowledge. In the course of this study, we suggest a general construction for batch zero-knowledge proof systems and use it to realize several new protocols suitable for proving knowledge of and relationships among large batches of discrete logarithm (DL) representations in prime-order groups. Our new protocols improve on existing protocols in several ways; for example, among the new protocols is one with lower asymptotic computation cost than any other such system in the literature. We also tackle the problem of constructing batch proofs of partial knowledge, proposing new protocols to prove knowledge of a DL that is equal to at least k-out-of-n other DLs, at most k-out-of-n other DLs, or exactly k-out-of-n other DLs. These constructions are particularly interesting as they prove some propositions that appear difficult to prove using existing techniques, even when efficiency is not a primary consideration. We illustrate the applicability of our new techniques by using them to construct efficient protocols for anonymous blacklisting and reputation systems.
Off-Chain transactions allow for the immediate transfer of Cryptocurrency between two parties, without delays or unavoidable transaction fees. Such capabilities are critical for mainstream Cryptocurrency adaption. They allow for the "Coffee-Coin Criteria"; under which a customer orders a coffee and pays for that coffee in bitcoins. This is not possible with On-Chain transactions today. Unfortunately, all existing Off-Chain transaction protocols are notoriously unreliable The current generation of third-party facilitators are vulnerable to hacker-based attacks. As Mt. Gox tragically demonstrated, centralized-transaction institutions are easy targets for Cryptocurrency thieves. The slightest security flaw in a third-party system will pounced on by hackers, who will proceed to devour it like ants devouring a crab. Under such circumstances, it no wonder that the Public treats most Cryptocurrency services with a constant shadow of suspicion. For Bitcoin to flourish, its anti-hierarchy principles must be applied to safe Off-Chain transactions. First and foremost, we need a new hacker-proof protocol that can easily be executed by any experienced developer. Preferably, the protocol will be open-sourced for full reliability and transparency. This paper presents one such procedure, which allows for he safe transmission of Bitcoin private key control by way of Cryptocubic transactions.
Across the Asian region, models of health administration vary from centralized management arrangements to more open decentralized systems. Utilizing a historical perspective, this review compares and contrasts health systems transition in seven countries (the Democratic Peopleâs Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Timor Leste, Bhutan, Mongolia, Cambodia and the Philippines) against the background of macro-political and economic reform, and then considers the implications of these findings for approaches to health policy analysis. Four management areas are presented to demonstrate variation in health system design over the last 40 years: centralization and decentralization, human resource management, health financing and constituency emergence. Historical records illustrate that these functions have evolved through political reform eras of centralist, early reform, established reform and pluralist models of administration, with the main driver of system change being periodic historical shifts in the design of the macro-political and socio-economic order. The cross referencing of management variables with these stages of transition illustrates the degree to which health policy parameters are reset by periodic historical shifts in the political and social order. The findings in these case studies call for a more nuanced classificatory system for health systems and policy analysis that unites a technical perspective with a wider social and political field of vision, and, in doing so, builds a more comprehensive picture of the way in which health systems function in the real world.
Digital PCR (dPCR) exploits limiting dilution of a template into an array of PCR reactions. From this array the number of reactions that contain at least one (as opposed to zero) initial template is determined, allowing inferring the original template concentration. Here we present a novel protocol to efficiently infer the concentration of a sample and its optimal dilution for dPCR from few targeted qPCR assays. By taking advantage of the real-time amplification feature of qPCR as opposed to relying on endpoint PCR assessment as in standard dPCR prior knowledge of template concentration is not necessary. This eliminates the need for serial dilutions in a separate titration and reduces the number of necessary reactions. We describe the theory underlying our approach and discuss experimental moments that contribute to uncertainty. We present data from a controlled experiment where the initial template concentration is known as proof of principle and apply our method on directly monitoring transcript level change during cell differentiation as well as gauging amplicon numbers in cDNA samples after pre-amplification.
Open access
Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation
In the Global South, the restrictive realities with which the Left contends are typically more numerous and onerous than those encountered by European socialists in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For instance, in The Great Transformation , with its European and specifically British focus, Karl Polanyi could take for granted certain societal features and potential remedies that his counterparts in the Global South must treat as problematical. Polanyi could assume effective states able to maintain order and implement complex policies, class-divided but fairly cohesive societies, strong and autonomous organizations of the subaltern classes (especially labor), a lengthy democratic tradition, the rule of law, and national economies that not only would be shielded from volatile capital flows but also yielded sizable fiscal resources for redistribution. Some or all of these conditions do not obtain in the developing world, depending on the country. In addition, Polanyi might retain confidence until his death in 1964 that a form of democratic planning could replace market societies and maximize freedom. But we are much more aware today of the limitations and dangers of central planning. Even modern notions of âparticipatoryâ and decentralized planning are probably doomed to failure (except at the local level). But this recognition presents yet another dilemma. On the one hand, markets now appear indispensable in complex, globally integrated economies. On the other hand, markets are cultural as well as economic institutions. The marketâs ever deeper penetration of societies breeds an individualistic, consumerist mentality that is inimical to the solidarity principles associated with the Left. Dealing with this contradictory reality involves difficult choices.
Jim Vaught, Akin Abayomi, Tim Peakman, Peter H. Watson · 6 authors
Biobanking for clinical or research purposes includes the collection, processing, storage, and analysis of biological specimens. It is now well recognized that biobanking involves a complex array of technical and ethical/regulatory considerations. Biobanking policies and procedures are often documented by best practices that are usually voluntary but may be supplemented and reinforced by strict rules and regulations that govern informed consent, privacy, QC, and other critical issues. As biobanking has emerged as a global endeavor, with national networks and international collaboration becoming the norm, it has become even more critical that practices are coordinated and that quality standards are developed. Biobanking is also often a business endeavor, in that formal strategic and business plans need to be developed to ensure the long-term survival of the associated research programs. As new technologies are developed for using biospecimens to diagnose and treat disease, as well as to evaluate genetic risks, patients are becoming more aware of the importance and benefits of biobanking as part of the medical infrastructure. As a result, patients who donate biospecimens are becoming more interested in learning more about their own sample's use and in seeing the actual results of the research. One of the aspects of these evolving attitudes toward biobanking was addressed in a previous Q&A concerning biospecimen âownershipâ in the January 2011 issue of Clinical Chemistry (Gronowski et al.; Clin Chem 57:540â4). From the broad array of issues that could be addressed, this Q&A focuses on a few critical issues that many biobanks are facing today: quality management, biobank network design, long-term sustainability, conveying the importance of biobanking to the public, and the return of research results to biospecimen donors. Five experts who are engaged in national and international biobanking programs discuss these complex issues here. What are some of the important issues related to quality management in sample collection, processing, and storage? Tim Peakman: Biobanks should aim to collect and store samples and associated data in the form most useful for scientific research. This means that they should represent the biological environment at the time of collection as closely as possible, and the introduction of variation through the way they are collected and processed should be avoided as much as possible. Where cases and controls come from different sources, this problem may be particularly acute (with the exception of purely genetic studies). In studies where samples are shipped to a different location for processing, the time delay between collection and stabilization may lead to loss of some unstable markers. Where samples are processed at local sites, maintenance of consistent intersite processing can be challenging. Odds ratios for many exposures are typically 1.2â1.5, so that introduction of uncontrolled or unmeasured variation may lead to weak associations' being overlooked, spurious associations' being further investigated, or significantly greater cost as sample size is increased to enhance power of the study. For many studies the greatest source of variation is at the preanalytical stage, in other words the collection, transport, and processing before stabilization at low temperature or on matrices such as blood spot cards. This can be managed by the implementation of a proper quality program that aims to make the collection and processing of samples as consistent as possible. Formal quality schemes such as ISO 9001:2008 may be suitable for larger studies, but whether a formal accreditation is obtained or a laboratory-based approach is taken, the quality management process should include full documentation of the sample processing trail (including dates, times, temperatures, location, operator, etc.), use of standard operating procedures (SOPs),7 training, audits, critical materials review, and so on. Practical steps to reduce introduced variability can be taken that aim to ensure the time from collection from the volunteer to stabilization is as consistent as possible across all samples and any preprocessing (such as clotting time for serum tubes) is standardized. Finally, quality of sample annotation should be ensured using approaches such as bar codes that maintain accuracy of sample attribution and avoid the risk of misidentification that can result in false positives. It is also important to empirically determine the stability of the samples under the particular collection protocol and whether this is sufficient for the intended purpose. Many analytes are quite stable in blood if they are transported and processed at 4 °C and, with a few exceptions, those analytes that aren't stable only degrade a small amount over 24 h. Establishing systems and processes to avoid this marginal loss may be expensive and unnecessary. Peter Watson and Lise Matzke: Quality management (QM) is an essential component of operating and maintaining a biobank. At the end of the day, it's âgarbage-in, garbage-out,â or so they say. Operationally, biobanks must be able to track each biospecimen that is collected, processed, stored, and distributed from the facility to manage biospecimen quality and ensure effective future use. Quality is managed by an established system that verifies biospecimens are handled appropriately. Such quality systems involve the creation and maintenance of accurate process protocols, SOPs, and the activities that verify these protocols' being followed by biobank personnel (staff education and training). Further, standards and best practices set by international organizations such as the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories and the National Cancer Institute set guidance around the issues, provide a reference point for content of this documentation, and facilitate harmonization by national organizations and down to individual projects. Implementation of QM activities requires dedicated time and a resourcing strategy which can be very costly. Therefore the scope and scale of the program should be dictated by the scope and scale of the biobank and the nature of the research it is intended to support. A biobank supporting basic discovery research may choose a primary QM focus different from that chosen by a biobank that is intended to support multicenter validation studies. Adequate training and education of biobank personnel and a tracking mechanism to ensure training is current and role specific are essential parts of the overall QM strategy. This helps to ensure consistent and informed application of both quality assurance and QC measures. The process of review of a QM system allows for evaluation around what is and what is not working in the QM and the ability to make changes. There are several types of external assurance programs that are offered on the international stage that are complementary strategies to raise the standards across the discipline of biobanking. Some define an upper standard and use an external assessment process and measurement of product quality, while the focus for other programs is to define a minimal standard and concentrate on education. An example of the latter approach, which ties all these components of QM together, is the concept of biobank certification, which is broadly applicable for all entities handling biospecimens and is offered by the Canadian Tumour Tissue Repository and UBC Biobank Resource Centre. Helen Moore: Quality can mean very different things to different people. One might think of quality management as the process followed to determine that, in the end, you got what you set out to get. For biobanking, quality management would follow the complex set of procedures undertaken to enroll a research participant in biobanking and collect, process, annotate, and store biospecimens, and determine whether that process yielded biospecimens and associated data sufficient for the purpose collected. Foundational elements would include well-documented SOPs that are understood and accepted by those who are collecting, processing, and storing biospecimens, as well as training on SOPs and annotation of deviations from SOPs. Quality criteria must be set at the outset and suitable metrics and analytical tests used to evaluate the processes and determine whether the quality criteria have been met. Having a quality management plan in place for biobanking does not mean that perfection is expected; in fact, it is important that quality management be reasonable in scope and that errors be expected. For example, some level of biospecimen degradation may be unavoidable in some circumstances. Awareness of this possibility and being able to measure relative degradation is part of the quality management plan. Good quality management in biobanking at best can translate to higher quality and reproducibility of research results using the biospecimens. Akin Abayomi: In Africa, where extreme ambient temperatures are the order of the day in conjunction with potentially large geographical distances that samples may need to travel, attention to detail is critical. Clear and comprehensible SOPs and frequent training activities, particularly at sample acquisition research sites, are key to ensuring sample integrity. The emphasis is shifting towards minimizing preanalytical variables, which necessitates the need to have the capacity to bring the process of stabilizing the physiology of the sample closer to the donor. This is possible with good logistics and strategic team activity dovetailing with synchronized operations between the researchers and the biobanking teams. Communication is critical in this process. Kit development and dispatch to sites of collection with good training and harmonized operational activity all along the route of the sample until it gets to its final storage site are mandatory in this process. Where cell-line creation is part of the menu of operations, then the sooner the blood mononuclear cells are isolated and either frozen or processed the better the outcome. This process can start at the collection site to stabilize the cells and completed at a central facility. Staffing at peripheral collection sites will need to be upskilled and infrastructure adapted to this objective. Use of emerging room temperature storage and transportation technology to stabilize the whole sample at time of collection or soon after isolation of nucleic acids may be useful options in some environments. What are the advantages and disadvantages of centralized vs individual/local biobanks? Tim Peakman: There is no right or wrong answer to whether a study should adopt centralized or local sample processing and archiving. This will depend upon factors such as size of the study, daily volunteer recruitment rates and sample acquisition, sample processing throughput, complexity of the processing protocols, available budget, and the expertise of the study team. As a general rule, once studies reach a certain size and certain sample accrual rate, centralized biobanking offers a number of advantages but this does depend upon the study. Use of automation allows much higher numbers of samples to be processed on a daily basis much more consistently and with a robust, secure anonymized data trail. Quality data are recorded as part of the process and, if sample storage and retrieval are automated, samples can be stored and retrieved quickly from very stable, low-temperature environments with complete accuracy. Balanced against this, central services cost a lot to establish and maintain and often samples need to be shipped from collection centers that introduce delays in processing (although the effects of this can be largely mitigated using temperature-controlled shipping conditions) and increase transport costs significantly. Smaller single-site studies may benefit from local processing which is as quick as possible (and is therefore likely to preserve as many analytes as possible), is suitable for very complex protocols, and doesn't incur high setup or transport costs. This approach is limited to relatively small numbers of and can with process and variability the and requires maintenance of a data trail for studies with recruitment From that the cost sample for large studies is also increased with local need to the and of each for their study in their with an of the stability of the samples they are and processing and the costs of different Peter of At the biobanks are the of a complex activity biobanking, and some components of biobanking need increased to reduce research that of and biospecimen while need more to quality processing and and other components need both of networks can be centralized in but with distributed from and at the level are many quality, and factors that what is a facing organizations and research whether to or their A of these and the many and have often been to of the by the to in research is an essential and but of around infrastructure is The types of biobanks and research to be are other important is no only important considerations. as around issues such as reproducibility in research and the need for increased scale and quality in biobanks can only come with implementation of and the need for more components and of many types of biobanks Helen Moore: biobanks can advantages of increased of biospecimens, with systems for quality management, data management, and or local biobanks may provide advantages in and One way of these is biobanks so that individual biobanks use the or at and approaches to biobanking, the of biospecimens across different sites in a or biobank. An quality management program across the system would be an important of such a network and would include to different collection sites and a of collection and storage that might be in place at different It would be important to where approaches and processes could be at different sites, and for (and such where they could A network would good and education about the of the to answer such are to What is the of the is harmonization of approaches and quality management important to the final facilitate better biospecimens and better research through this Akin Abayomi: In Africa, where infrastructure is and can be through is an with a more central biobanks with effective to peripheral collection processing sites would the of the research team and ensure samples are as to that of the volunteer as possible. This would and The centralized more to the emerging of and biobanking being more to the of and able to to samples before of scale can be with and on of or This approach also to the of researchers biobanking which can have on and sample that are becoming more now and for future of biological The ability to focus more on good with to collaboration between studies and larger size studies, which are use of biospecimens for and studies. What are some of the issues facing biobanks in of long-term Peter Watson and Lise Matzke: Biobanks are expensive to and From collection of biospecimens to processing, storage, and activities, the of activities in a biobank is a biobanks are the biobanks in their and Further, as a research biobanks a complex and that is with biobank Biobank is therefore a of and usually the the importance of other aspects or should not be biobanks are often as not being secure they on or it is the complexity and variation of and that is the most important of this and it is the metrics to evaluate the relative importance of individual biobanks and the importance of biobanks other of research infrastructure that the critical of research are and all focus on the of research should in biobanks if the scope and need are not the for any and is very and not and the research to biobanking is recognized as an important part of particularly in the research their in to the research and then to a is At the end, the to to a set of the and standards by which biobanks should be able to at to ensure research quality, is the greatest to of individual The good is that these issues are now a part of an in the biobanking the of new strategies to these issues. Helen Moore: are often collected for specific research the research have been the research may be the biospecimens may have for research use. to the of biospecimen and the to support their storage and can be challenging. A greater emphasis on to the about the of biobanks in and to about the of biobanking, will be important to in biobanking. is about the actual costs of biobanking. The National Cancer Institute is a on the aspects of biobanking. The data will be in and in an that will be able to for about the costs associated with biobanking. Akin Abayomi: In environments with a of in and for the greatest for or is in and on to provide that can either as or as a strategy. Biobanking is not high on the and in environments its return in of and of a is not research that biobanking strategies have the of in to their research In such external can be used as to which will as a for the need to establish national and the right environment to the biobanking, and national research can biobanks better their to researchers and the Peter Watson and Lise Matzke: the of a biobank requires the biobank to be on and and key other words the of the For the the and to key is to researchers and the will the that is in biospecimen for while to the the emphasis is on the end biobanks are working for better these requires a different strategy from vs scientific to each in the design, and of a biobank. Helen Moore: Biobanks are an essential of the medical research and the for and in biobanks must be upon and It is important for the to that of research biospecimens, as well as the by biobanks of the biospecimens for current and future is to medical that may benefit the research and their In the the concept of for the good is to or who are for their they are to whether they would be to donate in the of an It is important now to the about of biospecimens for research. Such education must be across and Akin Abayomi: Communication in the of has to the and of national to and and to the from which samples will be requires a different strategy and of to the in The greatest will be from the of the and are important to effective and The in at the different can be quite and should not be For the national the importance of the is to bring to the advantages to be through not in of of its but also the of the benefits of biobanks requires the the of are critical in an strategy and form an important of overall An aware and informed is to but with this the evolving of The engaged is more and requires to on the emerging and role of biobanks in the return of research results to biospecimen and the that will result from review of and by Peter The issue of of research has become of the most and issues facing research and research in are in of data and the scale and of research data as by the in the of data from biospecimens. The complexity and of different are and the of of the and of biobanks that in between the and the research of the has an all an important issue and is often in the research by its nature and must be and to some from clinical There are both and to to this research biobanks not the clinical and should be to the for return of research is not the as an to raise issues or in the process of return of results from research and become to the biobank. Helen Moore: In larger and larger of research have become part of medical and technologies for and an important role in biospecimens. Such as well as established analysis approaches such as review, can some results that are as to the research In some cases the are of no or clinical but in other cases the may have clinical be such if in a research a clinical to be and researchers or biobanks not to be for the to research their as more is about and studies are for medical the between research and clinical are The of researchers and to return is a of much are the of what are and the benefits and of the to the research their Akin Abayomi: This is a complex clinical that will closer to the of as the concept of more of an It is to potentially useful from a or the the are and the ability to and data in an to the donors. The concept of will as a more to as and to patients more through on or or emerging issues that you will have on the future of biobanking. Tim Peakman: One of the for biobanks will be data This is likely to come from from use of the studies data and samples to other researchers and typically this involves the return of research data to the biobank once the is The of this is that it the for future of the of scientific that can be using these and the technologies used to biobanks will need to data data quality, and data are stored and in a data large biobanks are their expertise and to to large data on their sample For example, Biobank is the is about in the and of the whole and is an approach to collect data on people. data are very large and and of storage, and use. both from such as genetic and new analytical approaches and from by will be a data management in the of the of large biobanks is the of studies can use the should be taken to avoid using the of in a way that in the data It was on this basis that Biobank to the with the that in or it will be to the of all of the people. This a of the so that the can be used for other types of emerging are approaches for the and Helen Moore: across biobanks and research programs will be very important in the future of medical research to better individual in of disease, and to such data while the of individual research is a for the A better of biospecimen the effects of different biospecimen collection, processing, and storage on the of biospecimens, is need to attention to now so that can biospecimen practices for different analysis also need to be the by which biospecimens are and storing this with the biospecimens in This approach will be even more important in the future so that will be some assurance that collected and stored biospecimens are suitable or for for research and of specific as analysis technologies Akin Abayomi: will become an important of the future as a means of tracking samples and related can ensure the ability to track samples from to and to the use of in the should be able to a biological from a research site to primary or and the benefit that is in to a This will become particularly important with the use of cell-line technology in of both a quality assurance and a means of tracking and It will also as a means to in the scientific process and start the for on a standard operating quality
Open access
Ethics in Clinical Research
Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
David GarcĂa, Claudio J. Tessone, Pavlin Mavrodiev, Nicolas Perony
What is the role of social interactions in the creation of price bubbles? Answering this question requires obtaining collective behavioural traces generated by the activity of a large number of actors. Digital currencies offer a unique possibility to measure socio-economic signals from such digital traces. Here, we focus on Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has experienced periods of rapid increase in exchange rates (price) followed by sharp decline; we hypothesise that these fluctuations are largely driven by the interplay between different social phenomena. We thus quantify four socio-economic signals about Bitcoin from large data sets: price on on-line exchanges, volume of word-of-mouth communication in on-line social media, volume of information search, and user base growth. By using vector autoregression, we identify two positive feedback loops that lead to price bubbles in the absence of exogenous stimuli: one driven by word of mouth, and the other by new Bitcoin adopters. We also observe that spikes in information search, presumably linked to external events, precede drastic price declines. Understanding the interplay between the socio-economic signals we measured can lead to applications beyond cryptocurrencies to other phenomena which leave digital footprints, such as on-line social network usage.
Iterative learning controller is studied for three-phase pulse width modulation voltage source rectifier. In any bounded initial input conditions, the designed controller can repetitively update input according to output error-tracking until it converges to zero. The controller is able to deal with dynamic systems with imperfect knowledge and has strong robustness and immunity. The convergence of the learning control rules in iteration domain is guaranteed with rigorous proof, and the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented method.
This dissertation aims to explain the nature, cause, and consequence of informal fiscal decentralization in China since 1994. The 1994 tax reforms intended to strengthen the central government taxing power by increasing tax revenue through the tax assignment system. China also prohibited local government debt taking, while increasing intergovernmental transfers between the central government and local government. These series of China's centralization reforms in 1994 have realized uneven success. Central government tax revenue was improved significantly. However, local government still takes debt through the financial platform companies. The increased intergovernmental transfers did not decrease regional disparity, which is one of the goals of the central government. These are the unintended consequence of the centralization reform that this study tries to account for. This study shows that revenue centralization unintentionally aggravates problems of local public finance. While maintaining the budget balance according to budget law, local government has carried out competitive economic growth and expenditure management. The ability to manage expenditure and attract investment is the criteria employed to evaluate the accomplishment of local leaders. This study finds that prohibition of local government debt in China is constrained by their social network. This norm influences the strategy of local governments to increase their debt taking beyond the realm of formal rules under the competitive environment. This study also demonstrates that centralization of revenue made local governments increasingly resort to intergovernmental transfers, which in turn fail to reduce inequality across jurisdictions. This study argues that an informally decentralized state reduces the merits of the decentralization. The informal consequence of the political and fiscal systems in China result in local leaders that acquire the medium level of change in power, while pursuing fiscal decentralization and maintaining political centralization. However, the unintended consequence is the retreat of the fiscal system, such as the increased fiscal instability and large gaps across jurisdictions.
The article is dedicated to critical analysis of competitive conceptual approaches to determining the essence of financial system. The system establishing element of the financial system resource concept is understanding finance as economic relations of formation, allocation and use of financial resource funds with the purpose of performing functions and tasks of the state/company and provision of conditions for expanded reproduction. According to this approach, the notion «financial system» is further determination of finance and shall be interpreted as the totality of relatively separated but mutually related spheres and links of relations, in the process of which centralized and decentralized financial resource funds are created and used. The institutional concept of the financial system considers finance as a social institution that organizes determined ways of interactions between individuals or their separate groups in the society. Its target purpose is to minimize transaction expenses arising at exchange of binding requirements for real resources in the economy. Under this approach, the financial system is understood as an aggregate of means â financial institutions and markets â which result from the evolution of social contracts and with the help of which intertime decisions and interactions are fulfilled and coordination of savings and investments in the economy is performed. The article shows that the alternative theoretical models of financial system contain structural elements heterogeneous by content and nature of interrelations, with various properties. The differences between them concern methodological approach to distinguishing qualitative signs which determine the essential nature and structure of the financial system; mechanism of formation and functioning of financial relations; nature of distribution and scheme of financial resources flow; the nature of functions of the financial system in the economic environment; special mechanism of effect of the financial system upon the economic system. Considering the theoretical and methodological differences between the resource and institutional concepts of the financial system, the author offers to divide them into two theoretical models â financial system concept and the concept of the system of finance
The Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a one of the requirements which was required by the Automotive Industries Action Group (AIAG) to all the automotive suppliers and manufacturers worldwide through the TS16949 Quality System. There were a lot of dicrepencies detected on implementing the FMEA which directly related to the user experinces and knowledge. The descrepencies cause the FMEA not meeting the objectives of it. Conceptually, Poka Yoke is able to fit into the Process FMEA. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) helps predict and prevent problems through proper control or detection methods. Mistake proofing emphasizes detection and correction of mistakes before they become defects. Poka Yoke helps people and processes work correctly the first time. It refers to techniques that make mistakes impossible to commit. These techniques eliminate defects from products and processes as well as substantially improve their quality and reliability. Poka Yoke can be considered an extension of FMEA. The use of simple Poka Yoke ideas and methods in product and process design eliminates both human and mechanical errors. Ultimately, both FMEA and Poka Yoke methodologies result in zero defects and benefit either the end or the next-in-line customer. The first concept of Poka Yoke emphasizes elimination of the cause or occurrence of the error that creates the defects by concentrating on the cause of the error in the process. The defect is prevented by stopping the line or the machine when the root cause of the defect is triggered or detected. The second concept of Poka Yoke focuses on the effectiveness of the detection system. The foolproof detection system eliminates the defect or detects the error that causes defects. The implementation of the Poka Yoke concept in a foolproof detection system eliminates the possibility that error or defects will slip through the process and reach the customer.