An Imbalance Of Power: The Readability Of Internet Privacy Policies

The gap is growing. While collection techniques by today’s business marketing professionals are becoming increasingly sophisticated, there is also an alarming lack of knowledge by Internet sur-fers about how companies track their online movements and use the information. The privacy policy is the document that provides the information regarding how the organization handles the dataflow in their organizations. The policy should answer the consumer’s question, “What is being done with the information that I provide when I am on the Internet?” But how understandable are these policies? This research project is a multiple case study in which the privacy policies of three organizations are evaluated in terms of their readability and their user-friendliness. The three online organizations selected include PrivacyAlliance.org, Dell.com, and Amazon.com

The Ethics Of Data Privacy In An Electronic Marketplace: The Incorporation Of Fair Information Practice Principles Into Privacy Policies

Electronic commerce will be pivotal to the economy in the current information age.  With the dawn of electronic commerce, some consumers have become concerned about the disclosure, transfer, and sale of information that businesses have collected about them.  These concerns allegedly are slowing the rate of expansion of electronic commerce, consequently putting the future growth of the New Economy at risk.  This research project is a multiple case study of the incorporation of Fair Information Practice Principles in the privacy policies of three online organizations: Amazon.com, Dell.com, and PrivacyAlliance.org.  While many individuals prefer anonymity, most are willing to give out their personal details in order to receive some service or product.  The majority of consumers take offense when their personal information is mistreated.  However, what is the right way to treat personal information?  What should be the foundation of a good privacy strategy?  How does an organization promote trust in their data practices utilizing a privacy policy notice?  How does the privacy policy disclosure effectively incorporate notice, choice, access, and security—the four key elements of fair information practices?  The purpose of this study was to investigate these questions.  This study focuses on the market for personal information used for advertising and marketing purposes.  This market is affected by most of the regulatory and legislative proposals now under consideration.  While much of the research is focused on electronic information gathered over the Internet, the analysis applies to off-line information as well.  Additionally, recommendations for future research in the areas of data privacy based on information discovered in this project are identified in this paper.

Neutron Diffraction Study on the Magnetic Structure of Pr6Fe13Sn

We have successfully prepared a Pr6Fe13Sn sample by employing argon arc melting. The crystal structure of the sample has been examined by an x-ray diffraction. The x-ray pattern reveals that the sample crystallize in the tetragonal Nd6Fe13Si structure type with space group I4/mcm. Neutron diffraction at 150K performed on a powder sample shows a collinear antiferromagnetic ordering of the Fe and Pr sublattices with the wave vector (0, 0, 1) and an Ip type magnetic lattice with anti-centering translation. The main axis of antiferromagnetism is restricted to the (0 0 1) plane. The average refined Fe moments at 150 K is (2.0±0.4) µB whereas the Pr moments are (2.1±0.4) and (1.9±0.4) µB for the 8f and 16l sites, respectively.  Received: 20 November 2009; Revised: 3 April 2010; Accepted: 20 April 201

Linkages Between the Phenologies of Jack Pine \u3ci\u3e(Pinus Banksiana)\u3c/i\u3e Foliage and Jack Pine Budworm (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

A field study conducted in 2001 and 2002 in the Michigan Upper Peninsula investigated seasonal associations between the development of jack pine, Pinus banksiana Lamb., and larvae of the jack pine budworm Choristoneura pinus Freeman (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). There was almost no active relationship between post-diapause emerging second instars and elongation of vegetative shoots. Early instars were not closely synchronized with the flushing of current-year needle fascicles, which is required to optimize larval feeding. How- ever, there were close feeding and shelter relationships between early instars and year-2 pollen cone development. Associations with, and larval damage to, year-2 seed cones were dependent upon larval population size and posed only minimal and periodic threats to jack pine seed production. As a consequence, early instar jack pine budworm relied almost exclusively on pollen cones for survival. Third to fifth instars vacated pollen cones as soon as they became desiccated. Only then did these larvae start close associations with vegetative shoots. First, they excised partially emerged needles at their base, and when the needle-pairs completely escaped their fascicle sheath, the larvae fed routinely on the complete needle lamina. Late instars, pupae and adults were associated with previous years’ and current-year foliage without any apparent bias. This study has shown that it might be more practical to time insecticide strategies, which are intended to manage jack pine budworm larvae, to the tree’s phenology rather than jack pine budworm larval indices

A pilot study of the S-MAP (Solutions for Medications Adherence Problems) intervention for older adults prescribed polypharmacy in primary care: Study protocol

Background: Adhering to multiple medications as prescribed is challenging for older patients (aged ≥ 65 years) and a difficult behaviour to improve. Previous interventions designed to address this have been largely complex in nature but have shown limited effectiveness and have rarely used theory in their design. It has been recognised that theory ('a systematic way of understanding events or situations') can guide intervention development and help researchers better understand how complex adherence interventions work. This pilot study aims to test a novel community pharmacy-based intervention that has been systematically developed using the Theoretical Domains Framework (12-domain version) of behaviour change. Methods: As part of a non-randomised pilot study, pharmacists in 12 community pharmacies across Northern Ireland (n = 6) and London, England (n = 6), will be trained to deliver the intervention to older patients who are prescribed ≥ 4 regular medicines and are non-adherent (self-reported). Ten patients will be recruited per pharmacy (n = 120) and offered up to four tailored one-to-one sessions, in the pharmacy or via telephone depending on their adherence, over a 3-4-month period. Guided by an electronic application (app) on iPads, the intervention content will be tailored to each patient's underlying reasons for non-adherence and mapped to the most appropriate solutions using established behaviour change techniques. This study will assess the feasibility of collecting data on the primary outcome of medication adherence (self-report and dispensing data) and secondary outcomes (health-related quality of life and unplanned hospitalisations). An embedded process evaluation will assess training fidelity for pharmacy staff, intervention fidelity, acceptability to patients and pharmacists and the intervention's mechanism of action. Process evaluation data will include audio-recordings of training workshops, intervention sessions, feedback interviews and patient surveys. Analysis will be largely descriptive. Discussion: Using pre-defined progression criteria, the findings from this pilot study will guide the decision whether to proceed to a cluster randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of the S-MAP intervention in comparison to usual care in community pharmacies. The study will also explore how the intervention components may work to bring about change in older patients' adherence behaviour and guide further refinement of the intervention and study procedures. Trial registration: This study is registered at ISRCTN: https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN7383153

Appropriate Polypharmacy and Medicine Safety: When Many is not Too Many

The use of multiple medicines (polypharmacy) is increasingly common in middle-aged and older populations. Ensuring the correct balance between the prescribing of ‘many’ drugs and ‘too many’ drugs is a significant challenge. Clinicians are tasked with ensuring that patients receive the most appropriate combinations of medications based on the best available evidence, and that medication use is optimised according to patients’ clinical needs (appropriate polypharmacy). Historically, polypharmacy has been viewed negatively because of the associated medication safety risks, such as drug interactions and adverse drug events. More recently, polypharmacy has been identified as a risk factor for under-prescribing, such that patients do not receive necessary medications and this can also pose risks to patients’ safety and well-being. The negative connotations that have long been associated with the term polypharmacy could potentially be acting as a driving factor for under-prescribing, whereby clinicians are reluctant to prescribe necessary medicines for patients who are already receiving ‘many’ medicines. It is now recognised that the prescribing of ‘many’ medicines can be entirely appropriate in patients with several chronic conditions and that the risks of adverse drug events that have been associated with polypharmacy may be greatly reduced when patients’ clinical context is taken into consideration. In this article, we outline the current perspectives on polypharmacy and make the case for adopting the term ‘appropriate polypharmacy’ in differentiating between the prescribing of ‘many’ drugs and ‘too many’ drugs. We also outline the inherent challenges in doing so and provide recommendations for future clinical practice and research

Theory-Based Interventions to Improve Medication Adherence in Older Adults Prescribed Polypharmacy: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Previous interventions have shown limited success in improving medication adherence in older adults, and this may be due to the lack of a theoretical underpinning. OBJECTIVE: This review sought to determine the effectiveness of theory-based interventions aimed at improving medication adherence in older adults prescribed polypharmacy and to explore the extent to which psychological theory informed their development. DATA SOURCES: Eight electronic databases were searched from inception to March 2015, and extensive hand-searching was conducted. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Interventions delivered to older adults (populations with a mean/median age of ≥65 years) prescribed polypharmacy (four or more regular oral/non-oral medicines) were eligible. Studies had to report an underpinning theory and measure at least one adherence and one clinical/humanistic outcome. REVIEW METHODS: Data were extracted independently by two reviewers and included details of intervention content, delivery, providers, participants, outcomes and theories used. The theory coding scheme (TCS) was used to assess the extent of theory use. RESULTS: Five studies cited theory as the basis for intervention development (social cognitive theory, health belief model, transtheoretical model, self-regulation model). The extent of theory use and intervention effectiveness in terms of adherence and clinical/humanistic outcomes varied across studies. No study made optimal use of theory as recommended in the TCS. CONCLUSIONS: The heterogeneity observed and inclusion of pilot designs mean conclusions regarding effectiveness of theory-based interventions targeting older adults prescribed polypharmacy could not be drawn. Further primary research involving theory as a central component of intervention development is required. The review findings will help inform the design of future theory-based adherence interventions. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40266-016-0426-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

On Statistical Mechanics Developments of Clan Concept in Multiparticle Production

Clan concept has been introduced in multiparticle dynamics in order to interpret the wide occurrence of negative binomial (NB) regularity in n-charged particle multiplicity distributions (MDs) in various high energy collisions. The centrality of clan concept led to the attempt to justify its occurrence within a statistical model of clan formation and evolution. In this framework all thermodynamical potentials have been explicitly calculated in terms of NB parameters. Interestingly it was found that NB parameter k corresponds to the one particle canonical partition function. The goal of this paper is to explore a possible temperature and volume dependence of parameter k in various classes of events in high energy hadron-hadron collisions. It is shown that the existence of a phase transition at parton level from the ideal clan gas associated to the semihard component with k>1 to the ideal clan gas of the hard component with k<1 implies a discontinuity in the average number of particles at hadron level.Comment: 20 pages, latex, no figures; v2: the description of the framework has been considerably expanded, and the main body has been reorganized for clarit