A Theory of Financial Services Competition, Compliance and Regulation

Do financial regulation advisors help their clients become more profitable? In this paper, we present a model where financial service firms may add to their own compliance teams or hire outside compliance advisors. We derive the conditions under which a financial services firm will want to hire a compliance services company, and show how much money they should spend. Financial services firms in competitive locations like Hong Kong and Singapore will particularly benefit (at least in the short run) from their services. We also show that their advice may lead to an embarrass de riches – whereby the lower compliance costs and higher profit advantages they confer may lead to more regulation. Regulators may furthermore tighten regulation – with the expectation that financial service firms will adapt somehow. We present a fresh perspective on the Menon Hypothesis, deriving conditions under which financial regulations help the competitiveness of an international financial centre. We provide five potential policy responses for dealing with ever ratcheting financial regulations.postprin

Young men’s views towards the barriers and facilitators of internet-based Chlamydia trachomatis screening: a qualitative study

Background: There is a growing number of Internet-based approaches that offer young people screening for sexually transmitted infections. Objective: This paper explores young men’s views towards the barriers and facilitators of implementing an Internet-based screening approach. The study sought to consider ways in which the proposed intervention would reach and engage men across ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Methods: This qualitative study included 15 focus groups with 60 heterosexual young men (aged 16-24 years) across central Scotland, drawn across age and socioeconomic backgrounds. Focus groups began by obtaining postcode data to allocate participants to a high/low deprivation category. Focus group discussions involved exploration of men’s knowledge of chlamydia, use of technology, and views toward Internet-based screening. Men were shown sample screening invitation letters, test kits, and existing screening websites to facilitate discussions. Transcripts from audio recordings were analyzed with "Framework Analysis". Results: Men’s Internet and technology use was heterogeneous in terms of individual practices, with greater use among older men (aged 20-24 years) than teenagers and some deprivation-related differences in use. We detail three themes related to barriers to successful implementation: acceptability, confidentiality and privacy concerns, and language, style, and content. These themes identify ways Internet-based screening approaches may fail to engage some men, such as by raising anxiety and failing to convey confidentiality. Men wanted screening websites to frame screening as a serious issue, rather than using humorous images and text. Participants were encouraged to reach a consensus within their groups on their broad design and style preferences for a screening website; this led to a set of common preferences that they believed were likely to engage men across age and deprivation groups and lead to greater screening uptake. Conclusions: The Internet provides opportunities for re-evaluating how we deliver sexual health promotion and engage young men in screening. Interventions using such technology should focus on uptake by age and socioeconomic background. Young people should be engaged as coproducers of intervention materials and websites to ensure messages and content are framed appropriately within a fast-changing environment. Doing so may go some way to addressing the overall lower levels of testing and screening among men compared with women

Piezoelectric osteotomy in hand surgery: first experiences with a new technique

BACKGROUND: In hand and spinal surgery nerve lesions are feared complications with the use of standard oscillating saws. Oral surgeons have started using a newly developed ultrasound bone scalpel when performing precise osteotomies. By using a frequency of 25–29 kHz only mineralized tissue is cut, sparing the soft tissue. This reduces the risk of nerve lesions. As there is a lack of experience with this technique in the field of orthopaedic bone surgery, we performed the first ultrasound osteotomy in hand surgery. METHOD: While performing a correctional osteotomy of the 5th metacarpal bone we used the Piezosurgery(® )Device from Mectron [Italy] instead of the usual oscillating saw. We will report on our experience with one case, with a follow up time of one year. RESULTS: The cut was highly precise and there were no vibrations of the bone. The time needed for the operation was slightly longer than the time needed while using the usual saw. Bone healing was good and at no point were there any neurovascular disturbances. CONCLUSION: The Piezosurgery(® )Device is useful for small long bone osteotomies. Using the fine tip enables curved cutting and provides an opportunity for new osteotomy techniques. As the device selectively cuts bone we feel that this device has great potential in the field of hand- and spinal surgery

Psychotherapy in historical perspective

This article will briefly explore some of the ways in which the past has been used as a means to talk about psychotherapy as a practice and as a profession, its impact on individuals and society, and the ethical debates at stake. It will show how, despite the multiple and competing claims about psychotherapy’s history and its meanings, historians themselves have, to a large degree, not attended to the intellectual and cultural development of many therapeutic approaches. This absence has the potential consequence of implying that therapies have emerged as value-free techniques, outside of a social, economic and political context. The relative neglect of psychotherapy, by contrast with the attention historians have paid to other professions, particularly psychiatry, has also underplayed its societal impact. This article will foreground some of the instances where psychotherapy has become an object of emerging historical interest, including the new research that forms the substance of this special issue of History of the Human Sciences

Location, location, location: Insights for advertising placement on the web

Journal of Advertising Research4147-2