Approaches to liberalizing services

Inly since completion of the Uruguay Round have developing countries in East AsOnly since completion of the Uruguay Round have developing countries in East Asia and the Western Hemisphere shown interest in liberalizing services. Ambitious effortsare now being made to incorporate services in liberalization objectives of both sub-regional and regional integration efforts, including in the Asia-Pacific region under APEC and in the Western Hemisphere under the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process. At the sub-regional level, member countries of both ASEAN (in East Asia) and MERCOSUR (in Latin America) have chosen to follow the liberalization model set forth in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and to open their services markets gradually and piecemeal. In the Western Hemisphere, Mexico has successfully promoted the NAFTA model of a more comprehensive liberalization of services markets - and several Latin American countries have adopted the same approach. Regionally, APEC has chosen a concerted voluntary approach to liberalizing services markets. Within the Western Hemisphere, participants are defining which approach they will use in the negotiations on services launched as part of the FTAA in April 1998. In all these efforts, a stated desire to promote more efficient services markets is often hindered by reluctance to open services markets rapidly or comprehensively because of historically entrenched protectionism in the sector and ignorance of the regulatory measures that impede trade in services. Presumably it would be easier to liberalize services at the sub-regional level, among countries at similar stages of development (although the liberalization's economic value there might be questioned). Liberalizing services at the broader regional level is a difficult and ambitious goal, given the diversity of countries involved in such efforts. Thus liberalization will probably move more slowly at the regional than at the sub-regional level - perhaps even more slowly than at the multilateral level. It is possible that the new round of multilateral talks on services scheduled to begin under the WTO in 2000 may well eclipse the recently begun regional efforts.Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Decentralization,Enterprise Development&Reform,ICT Policy and Strategies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Trade and Services,Governance Indicators,ICT Policy and Strategies

The resident-as-teacher educational challenge: a needs assessment survey at the National Autonomous University of Mexico Faculty of Medicine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The role of residents as educators is increasingly recognized, since it impacts residents, interns, medical students and other healthcare professionals. A widespread implementation of resident-as-teacher courses in developed countries' medical schools has occurred, with variable results. There is a dearth of information about this theme in developing countries. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Faculty of Medicine has more than 50% of the residency programs' physician population in Mexico. This report describes a needs assessment survey for a resident as teacher program at our institution.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional descriptive survey was developed based on a review of the available literature and discussion by an expert multidisciplinary committee. The goal was to identify the residents' attitudes, academic needs and preferred educational strategies regarding resident-as-teacher activities throughout the residency. The survey was piloted and modified accordingly. The paper anonymous survey was sent to 7,685 residents, the total population of medical residents in UNAM programs in the country.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a 65.7% return rate (5,186 questionnaires), a broad and representative sample of the student population. The residents felt they had knowledge and were competent in medical education, but the majority felt a need to improve their knowledge and skills in this discipline. Most residents (92.5%) felt that their role as educators of medical students, interns and other residents was important/very important. They estimated that 45.5% of their learning came from other residents. Ninety percent stated that it was necessary to be trained in teaching skills. The themes identified to include in the educational intervention were mostly clinically oriented. The educational strategies in order of preference were interactive lectures with a professor, small groups with a moderator, material available in a website for self-learning, printed material for self-study and homework, and small group web-based learning.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There is a large unmet need to implement educational interventions to improve residents' educational skills in postgraduate educational programs in developing countries. Most perceived needs of residents are practical and clinically oriented, and they prefer traditional educational strategies. Resident as teachers educational interventions need to be designed taking into account local needs and resources.</p

Focal Spot, Fall 1978

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/focal_spot_archives/1021/thumbnail.jp

Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in the Emergency Department

Background/Purpose: Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) represent a diverse group of infections varying in clinical presentation and degree of severity. The International Classification of Diseases codes for patients presenting with cellulitis or abscess account for $5.5 billion in annual health care costs and 1.4% of all hospital admissions nationally. Data are needed to inform admission and management decisions. The purpose of this study is to examine relationships among sociodemographic, physical examination findings, and treatment modality and management in patients with SSTIs. Theoretical/Conceptual Framework: Web of Causation Theoretical Framework explores multiple causative factors treated with equal prominence, thus facilitating a non- linear evaluative approach for an understanding of the etiology and patient specific characteristics as influential factors to any process disease and its management. Method: Retrospective, cohort design. Data were extracted from the electronic health records of a convenience sample (N = 857), aged 18 and older diagnosed with an upper or lower extremity SSTI, receiving Emergency Department services at a high-volume Southern California rural ED, January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2018. Descriptive and inferential analyses. Results: Average age 45.65 + 17.17 years, 67.1% male, 75% Hispanic origin. Final diagnosis: 56.9% cellulitis, 40.1% abscess, 2.2% both cellulitis and abscess, 0.7% other SSTI; 97.7% discharged home; 2.3% admitted; 8.8% returned within 24 hours of discharge. Age was significantly different for patients’ final diagnosis, Welch\u27s F(3, 20) = 24.30, p \u3c .001; younger age for abscess (M = 40.69, SD = 13.61) compared to cellulitis (M = 49.60, SD = 18.55); abscess and cellulitis (M = 35.00, SD = 11.00) compared to cellulitis (M = 49.60, SD = 18.55) and final disposition F(1, 855) = 6.78, p = .009; older age significantly increased for those admitted to the hospital (M = 55.50, SD = 13.95) compared to discharged home (M = 45.42, SD = 17.17). Conclusions and Implications: Age and heart rate should be included when evaluating and treating a patient with SSTIs. Study findings within this rural community support the consideration and incorporation of sociodemographic factors and social determinents of health as central for standardized care within all communities

Assessment of Neuropsychological Trajectories in Longitudinal Population-Based Studies of Children

This paper provides a strategy for the assessment of brain function in longitudinal cohort studies of children. The proposed strategy invokes both domain-specific and omnibus intelligence test approaches. In order to minimise testing burden and practice effects, the cohort is divided into four groups with one-quarter tested at 6-monthly intervals in the 0–2-year age range (at ages 6 months, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 years) and at annual intervals from ages 3–20 (one-quarter of the children at age 3, another at age 4, etc). This strategy allows investigation of cognitive development and of the relationship between environmental influences and development at each age. It also allows introduction of new domains of function when age-appropriate. As far as possible, tests are used that will provide a rich source of both longitudinal and cross-sectional data. The testing strategy allows the introduction of novel tests and new domains as well as piloting of tests when the test burden is relatively light. In addition to the recommended tests for each age and domain, alternative tests are described. Assessment methodology and knowledge about child cognitive development will change over the next 20 years, and strategies are suggested for altering the proposed test schedule as appropriate

The Broadband Adoption Index: Improving Measurements and Comparisons of Broadband Deployment and Adoption

Countries around the world are increasingly concerned as to whether the adoption of broadband technology by their respective citizens is sufficient to support economic growth and social development. Unfortunately, such concerns are often expressed in terms of where a country ranks among its peers by means of raw adoption numbers. Such raw data are often misleading and incomplete. In this Article, we propose a different and more policy-relevant approach to adoption measurement. We develop a value-based Broadband Adoption Index (BAI) that compares the actual value to society that results from the adoption of broadband technology to a target level of adoption value. This target level will vary from country to country and is a function of the social value of broadband connectivity, measured as the difference in the social benefits and the costs of broadband. The BAI is specifically designed to accommodate and include the value of different connection modalities, like mobile broadband, into a single index-something that merely summing the number of connections cannot do. We believe that policymakers can adopt aspects of the BAI approach immediately, with particular attention to collecting and using proper information for policy decisions

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

COCAINE SEIZURES AND CRIME: DATA ANALYTICS USING BIG DATA TOOLS

Includes Supplementary MaterialColombia's status as the largest cocaine producer in the world has prompted its government's strategies to combat drug trafficking. One of these strategies is to seize cocaine in the Colombian jurisdictional territory. The unintended consequences of this strategy on crime rates, particularly homicides, remain uncertain. Web scraping methods and big data tools were used to gather and construct a time series dataset on cocaine seizures from three distinct websites, while the homicides dataset was supplied by the Colombian Ministry of Defense (MDN). This study aims to investigate, from a quantitative standpoint, whether there is a link between cocaine seizures and homicides in the Colombian Pacific region, utilizing an exploratory data analysis (EDA) method and machine learning techniques. The study recognizes the constraints of the sample size and opts to reveal valuable insights through data analysis and modeling instead. Despite the constraints, two models were developed to partially explicate the significance of this correlation. The study's findings provide value for policymakers, military personnel, government officials, and academics, offering essential perspectives to devise improved policies and strategies to mitigate drug trafficking in the Colombian Pacific region without exacerbating homicide rates. Future research endeavors could consider expanding the sample size of the cocaine seizure time-series dataset to conduct a more robust correlation analysis.Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.Outstanding ThesisCapitan de Corbeta, Colombian National Nav

AMCIS 2017 Panel Report: Experiences in Online Education

In this AMCIS 2017 online education panel, five experienced business school professors from differently sized public and private institutions in three different countries (USA, Mexico, and Spain) discussed how online education (i.e., eLearning, technology-mediated knowledge transfer) occurred in their institutions. They presented low-budget and high-budget examples and described what they have found to be best practices in eLearning at both the institution and the instructor level. They also demonstrated that one can accomplish online education in many different ways and with varying budgets, but, as long as one bases it on solid educational principles and mastery of the technology, it can be as effective as (if not more than) traditional face-to-face education. This report builds on their presentations and additional information gathered from the literature