24,327 research outputs found
Enhancing reuse of data and biological material in medical research : from FAIR to FAIR-Health
The known challenge of underutilization of data and biological material from biorepositories as potential resources
formedical research has been the focus of discussion for over a decade. Recently developed guidelines for improved
data availability and reusabilityâentitled FAIR Principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and
Reusability)âare likely to address only parts of the problem. In this article,we argue that biologicalmaterial and data
should be viewed as a unified resource. This approach would facilitate access to complete provenance information,
which is a prerequisite for reproducibility and meaningful integration of the data. A unified view also allows for
optimization of long-term storage strategies, as demonstrated in the case of biobanks.Wepropose an extension of the
FAIR Principles to include the following additional components: (1) quality aspects related to research reproducibility
and meaningful reuse of the data, (2) incentives to stimulate effective enrichment of data sets and biological
material collections and its reuse on all levels, and (3) privacy-respecting approaches for working with the human
material and data. These FAIR-Health principles should then be applied to both the biological material and data. We
also propose the development of common guidelines for cloud architectures, due to the unprecedented growth of
volume and breadth of medical data generation, as well as the associated need to process the data efficiently.peer-reviewe
Consumer protection in the Kenyan financial sector: A case for a Twin Peaks model of financial regulation
Magister Legum - LLMThe dynamic character of the financial services industry necessitates frequent appraisal of the
regulation of the sector. The main objectives for regulation of the financial sector include
financial stability, promotion of competition and protection of the consumers. In ensuring
consumer protection, there is need to balance this with all the other objectives to ensure optimal
protection in the entire financial sector. This can be difficult as it is mostly dependent on the
regulatory framework in the financial sector for the basic reason that most of the failures are
associated with regulation. Key to the challenges is that consumer protection is served by
measures that ensure proper conduct on the part of the service providers. Interests of the
providers of the financial services may thus not be sufficiently aligned with those of the
consumers of the products.
There are three common models of financial regulation. They are the sectoral model, unified or
integrated model and the Twin Peaks model. The financial sector in Kenya follows a sectoral model. It is a hodgepodge of institutional and functional regulation. There are five (5)
government agencies that regulate specific segments of the financial sector with each of the
regulators being established to operate independently within the permits of an Act of Parliament.
This is without mentioning the many other segments that have no specific regulators
Current policy issues in the governance of the European patent system
The European Parliament has been working towards building a discussion platform and a resource for further policy actions in the field of intellectual property rights. The Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel has set the goal of further enlarging the area of investigation in light of recent policy developments at the European level. In particular, the current study covers current policy issues in the governance of the European patent system, such as the backlog issue, the enhancement of patent awareness within the European Parliament, patent enforcement, the regional dimension of intellectual property in Europe, patents and standardisation, the use of existing patents, and patents and competition. These issues were discussed in the conference with stakeholders from European to national patent offices, from private to public sector actors. As a result of the conference, it was stated the need for an IP strategy for Europ
An Efficient Rule-Hiding Method for Privacy Preserving in Transactional Databases
One of the obstacles in using data mining techniques such as association rules is the risk of leakage of sensitive data after the data is released to the public. Therefore, a trade-off between the data privacy and data mining is of a great importance and must be managed carefully. In this study an efficient algorithm is introduced for preserving the privacy of association rules according to distortion-based method, in which the sensitive association rules are hidden through deletion and reinsertion of items in the database. In this algorithm, in order to reduce the side effects on non-sensitive rules, the item correlation between sensitive and non-sensitive rules is calculated and the item with the minimum influence in non-sensitive rules is selected as the victim item. To reduce the distortion degree on data and preservation of data quality, transactions with highest number of sensitive items are selected for modification. The results show that the proposed algorithm has a better performance in the non-dense real database having less side effects and less data loss compared to its performance in dense real database. Further the results are far better in synthetic databases in compared to real databases
In Search of a Feasible EU-Mercosul Free Trade Agreement. CEPS Working Document No. 378, 25 February 2013
This paper aims at identifying ways to pursue the EUâMercosul negotiations leading to a free trade agreement (FTA). After reviewing their already long history, it outlines a basic framework, in goods, services and other themes, judged possible. The main point is that, given the prevailing conditions on both sides, an agreement to be signed within a reasonable time must be modest, i.e. along the described lines. It then clearly sets up the decisions confronting the negotiators: either to pursue the modest, feasible option or to terminate negotiations under the FTA heading. The latter, however, does not imply an end to the dialogue. Many actions and measures may be taken â which are easier to discuss and fix â that could pave the way for, in due time, a closer-to-ideal FTA to be considered again. These are the subjects of a last section
- âŠ