UNITAID can address HCV/HIV co-infection

This book is a guide to the law that applies in the three international criminal tribunals, for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, set up by the UN during the period 1993 to 2002 to deal with atrocities and human rights abuses committed during conflict in those countries. Building on the work of an earlier generation of war crimes courts, these tribunals have developed a sophisticated body of law concerning the elements of the three international crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes), and forms of participation in such crimes, as well as other general principles of international criminal law, procedural matters and sentencing. The legacy of the tribunals will be indispensable as international law moves into a more advanced stage, with the establishment of the International Criminal Court. Their judicial decisions are examined here, as well as the drafting history of their statutes and other contemporary sources

Workflow interruptions and mental workload in hospital pediatricians: an observational study

Background: Pediatricians' workload is increasingly thought to affect pediatricians' quality of work life and patient safety. Workflow interruptions are a frequent stressor in clinical work, impeding clinicians' attention and contributing to clinical malpractice. We aimed to investigate prospective associations of workflow interruptions with multiple dimensions of mental workload in pediatricians during clinical day shifts. Methods: In an Academic Children's Hospital a prospective study of 28 full shift observations was conducted among pediatricians providing ward coverage. The prevalence of workflow interruptions was based on expert observation using a validated observation instrument. Concurrently, Pediatricians' workload ratings were assessed with three workload dimensions of the well-validated NASA-Task Load Index: mental demands, effort, and frustration. Results: Observed pediatricians were, on average, disrupted 4.7 times per hour. Most frequent were interruptions by colleagues (30.2%), nursing staff (29.7%), and by telephone/beeper calls (16.3%). Interruption measures were correlated with two workload outcomes of interest: frequent workflow interruptions were related to less cognitive demands, but frequent interruptions were associated with increased frustration. With regard to single sources, interruptions by colleagues showed the strongest associations to workload. Conclusions: The findings provide insights into specific pathways between different types of interruptions and pediatricians' mental workload. These findings suggest further research and yield a number of work and organization re-design suggestions for pediatric care

Start-up Funding via Equity Crowdfunding in Germany – A Qualitative Analysis of Success Factors

Entrepreneurs often struggle to find sufficient funding for their start-ups. A relatively new way for companies to attract capital is via an internet platform, locating investors who in return receive something in return for their ventures. Equity crowdfunding is one of several types of crowdfunding, and is also known as crowdinvesting in the German-speaking realm. This article predominantly advances the scientific knowledge regarding the success factors of equity crowdfunding for German start-ups. The study conducted nine qualitative interviews with start-ups and crowdinvesting platforms. Its first result is that German start-ups select crowdinvesting because (1) it is a funding opportunity and (2) it has an expected marketing effect. To organize the results of relevant success factors, the Crowdinvesting Success Model was designed by the researchers. This supports German entrepreneurs by presenting 20 important success elements that help to increase the capital collected during a campaign. The key finding is that an attractive business model, an appropriate preparation in the pre-campaign period, ongoing activities during the campaign, and corresponding advertising activities have a positive impact on a German start-up’s crowdinvesting campaign’s chances of success. The article closes with implications for theory and practice, as well as further research suggestions

Un petit peu Trotzkist

Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Kaderpolitik der Kommunistischen Internationale vor allem im Stalinismus der 1930er Jahre. Ausgegangnen wird von der historischen Entwicklung der Kaderpolitik der VKP(b). Ihre Entwicklung von „Parteireinigungen“ in den 1920ern hin zu immer rigideren Vorgehen gegen vermeintliche innerparteiliche Fraktionen (der 1930er Jahre) sowie die Übernahme dieser Mechanismen und Techniken in die Komintern bilden den ersten Abschnitt. Beleuchtet werden dabei auch die zuständigen, teilweise neu geschaffenen Instanzen und Institutionen innerhalb der VKP(b) und der Komintern. Anschließend wird anhand von drei Beispielen, dem Übertritt in die VKP(b), der Kaderpolitik an der Internationalen Leninschule sowie den Internationalen Brigaden des Spanischen Bürgerkrieges die Praxis angewandter Kaderpolitik beleuchtet. Die Beispielfälle, aufgezeigt anhand von Dokumenten, sollen die zweifache Wirkung der Kaderpolitik – sowohl als Überwachungs- und Kontrollmechanismus als auch als Zwang zu stalinistischen Identitätskonstruktionen, zur Übernahme mehr oder weniger vorgeschriebener Identitäten, denen ein kommunistischer Kader entsprechen musste, - beleuchten. Wobei die Untersuchung der tausenden, von beinahe jedem (hier: deutschen und österreichischen) Interbrigadisten vorliegenden, Kadercharakteristiken in besonderer Weise die Kategorisierung aber auch Wirkungsweise stalinistischer Kaderpolitik beweisen. Hier wird deutlich in welch umfassenden System der Überwachung – auch unter Einbeziehung der politischen Vergangenheit – ein Parteimitglied zur Zeit des Großen Terrors stand. Allerdings wird am Beispiel der Kaderüberwachung der Interbrigaden auch auf die (nationalen) Unterschiede und Grenzen der Wirkung der institutionalisierten Beurteilung und Überwachung Bezug genommen.Topic of the work in hand primarily, is the cadre politics of the Stalinist communist international of the 1930s. The party “cleanings” in the 1920s developed more and more rigid procedures against putative factions within the party in the 1930s. Consequently, the take-over of these mechanisms and techniques into the Comintern form the first two chapters. The responsible, newly created authorities and institutions within VKP(b) and Comintern are also explained. With three examples: the defection to the VKP(b), the practice of applied cadre politics at the International Lenin School and the surveillance at the international brigades of the Spanish Civil War, the practice of cadre politics will be illustrated. The original documents provide evidence which examine the double effect of the cadre politics. The rigid supervision and control mechanism on the one side and the compulsion to comply with Stalinist identity-criteria require by the communist cadre on the other. A cadre characteristic analysis of more than 3500 German and Austrian soldiers of the International Brigades has proven that certain stalinistic cadre politics and their mode of action and categroization existed in a specific mannor. A comprehensive system of supervision during the time of the “Great Terror” and the pressure under which a party member stood, along with his political past, is here reveale

Examination of high resolution rainfall products and satellite greenness indices for estimating patch and landscape forage biomass

Assessment of vegetation productivity on rangelands is needed to assist in timely decision making with regard to management of the livestock enterprise as well as to protect the natural resource. Characterization of the vegetation resource over large landscapes can be time consuming, expensive and almost impossible to do on a near real-time basis. The overarching goal of this study was to examine available technologies for implementing near real-time systems to monitor forage biomass available to livestock on a given landscape. The primary objectives were to examine the ability of the Climate Prediction Center Morphing Product (CMORPH) and Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) rainfall products to detect and estimate rainfall at semi-arid sites in West Texas, to verify the ability of a simulation model (PHYGROW) to predict herbaceous biomass at selected sites (patches) in a semi-arid landscape using NEXRAD rainfall, and to examine the feasibility of using cokriging for integrating simulation model output and satellite greenness imagery (NDVI) for producing landscape maps of forage biomass in Mongolia’s Gobi region. The comparison of the NEXRAD and CMORPH rainfall products to gage collected rainfall revealed that NEXRAD outperformed the CMORPH rainfall with lower estimation bias, lower variability, and higher estimation efficiency. When NEXRAD was used as a driving variable in PHYGROW simulations that were calibrated using gage measured rainfall, model performance for estimating forage biomass was generally poor when compared to biomass measurements at the sites. However, when model simulations were calibrated using NEXRAD rainfall, performance in estimating biomass was substantially better. A suggested reason for the improved performance was that calibration with NEXRAD adjusted the model for the general over or underestimation of rainfall by the NEXRAD product. In the Gobi region of Mongolia, the PHYGROW model performed well in predicting forage biomass except for overestimations in the Forest Steppe zone. Cross-validation revealed that cokriging of PHYGROW output with NDVI as a covariate performed well during the majority of the growing season. Cokriging of simulation model output and NDVI appears to hold promise for producing landscape maps of forage biomass as part of near real-time forage monitoring systems

Pricing in C2C Sharing Platforms

Sharing platforms such as zilok.com enable sharing of durable goods among consumers, and seek to maximize profits by charging transaction-based platform fees. We develop a model in which consumers who have heterogeneous needs concerning the use of a durable good decide whether to purchase and share (i.e., be a lender) or borrow (i.e., be a borrower), and a monopoly sharing platform determines the platform fees. We find, first, that consumers with greater need to use a durable good purchase and share, and that consumers with lesser need borrow. Second, sharing platforms maximize profits only if the supply of a durable good matches demand—that is, the market must clear in order for platform fees to be profit maximizing. Third, the market-clearing condition requires lender and borrower fees are classic strategic complements. Fourth, to maintain the market-clearing condition, sharing platforms have to increase their lender fee or decrease their borrower fee in response to increases in the sharing price, increases in usage capacity, and decreases in the purchase price of a durable good, and vice versa. These findings indicate that commonly applied one-sided pricing models in sharing platforms can be improved

Hospital doctors' workflow interruptions and activities: an observation study

BACKGROUND Interruptions of hospital doctors' workflow are a frequent stressor, eventually jeopardising quality of clinical performance. To enhance the safety of hospital doctors' work, it is necessary to analyse frequency and circumstances of workflow interruptions. AIM To quantify workflow interruptions among hospital doctors, identify frequent sources and relate sources to doctors' concurrent activities. METHODS Within a typical hospital, 32 participant observations of doctors' full work shifts were carried out. Time-motion information was collected on types of workflow interruption and doctors' activities and analysed with logit-linear analyses. RESULTS The frequency of workflow interruptions was high, especially on the intensive care unit and emergency ward. Telephones and bleepers were the most frequently recorded type of work interruption. The combined analysis of doctors' activities and concurrent workflow interruptions revealed that the likelihood of the occurrence of certain types of interruption depended on the tasks being carried out by the doctor. CONCLUSION The present method may be useful for quantifying and distinguishing sources of hospital doctors' workflow interruptions and useful in raising awareness of organisational circumstances

The effects of improving hospital physicians working conditions on patient care: a prospective, controlled intervention study

Background: Physicians, particularly in hospitals, suffer from adverse working conditions. There is a close link between physicians' psychosocial work environment and the quality of the work they deliver. Our study aimed to explore whether a participatory work-design intervention involving hospital physicians is effective in improving working conditions and quality of patient care. Methods: A prospective, controlled intervention study was conducted in two surgical and two internal departments. Participants were 57 hospital physicians and 1581 inpatients. The intervention was a structured, participatory intervention based on continuous group meetings. Physicians actively analyzed problematic working conditions, developed solutions, and initiated their implementation. Physicians' working conditions and patients' perceived quality of care were outcome criteria. These variables were assessed by standardized questionnaires. Additional data on implementation status were gathered through interviews. Results: Over the course of ten months, several work-related problems were identified, categorized, and ten solutions were implemented. Post-intervention, physicians in the intervention departments reported substantially less conflicting demands and enhanced quality of cooperation with patients' relatives, compared to control group physicians. Moreover, positive changes in enhanced colleague support could be attributed to the intervention. Regarding patient reports of care quality of care, patient ratings of physicians organization of care improved for physicians in the intervention group. Five interviews with involved physicians confirm the plausibility of obtained results, provide information on implementation status and sustainability of the solutions, and highlight process-related factors for re-design interventions to improve hospital physicians work. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that participatory work design for hospital physicians is a promising intervention for improving working conditions and promoting patient quality of care