Ethical Concerns of and Risk Mitigation Strategies for Crowdsourcing Contests and Innovation Challenges: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Crowdsourcing contests (also called innovation challenges, innovation contests, and inducement prize contests) can be used to solicit multisectoral feedback on health programs and design public health campaigns. They consist of organizing a steering committee, soliciting contributions, engaging the community, judging contributions, recognizing a subset of contributors, and sharing with the community. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review describes crowdsourcing contests by stage, examines ethical problems at each stage, and proposes potential ways of mitigating risk. METHODS: Our analysis was anchored in the specific example of a crowdsourcing contest that our team organized to solicit videos promoting condom use in China. The purpose of this contest was to create compelling 1-min videos to promote condom use. We used a scoping review to examine the existing ethical literature on crowdsourcing to help identify and frame ethical concerns at each stage. RESULTS: Crowdsourcing has a group of individuals solve a problem and then share the solution with the public. Crowdsourcing contests provide an opportunity for community engagement at each stage: organizing, soliciting, promoting, judging, recognizing, and sharing. Crowdsourcing poses several ethical concerns: organizing-potential for excluding community voices; soliciting-potential for overly narrow participation; promoting-potential for divulging confidential information; judging-potential for biased evaluation; recognizing-potential for insufficient recognition of the finalist; and sharing-potential for the solution to not be implemented or widely disseminated. CONCLUSIONS: Crowdsourcing contests can be effective and engaging public health tools but also introduce potential ethical problems. We present methods for the responsible conduct of crowdsourcing contests

Ciclo de Vida das Destinações Turísticas: Vila Flores, RS: ‘Terra da Fé, Pão e Vinho’ / Life cycle of Tourist Destinations: Vila Folres, RS, Brazil. Faith, Bread and Wine Land

O turismo surge como alternativa de desenvolvimento para muitas localidades. Estas, quando possuem produtos turísticos integrados e uma área geográfica definida, formam uma destinação turística. Essa destinação passa por diversas fases desde o seu nascimento, podendo chegar ao declínio ou ao rejuvenescimento. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é identificar em qual fase do ciclo de vida das destinações turísticas, proposto por Butler (1980), se encontra a destinação “Terra da Fé, Pão e Vinho”, município de Vila Flores, RS. Para isso foi realizado um estudo de caso exploratório de caráter quali-quantitativa, através de entrevista semiestruturada com a iniciativa pública e com a privada. Utilizou-se o programa estatístico IBM SPSS Estatísticas 21 para tratar os dados e verificar a fase que mais se destacava no destino em questão. Através dessas informações foi possível inferir que a destinação encontra-se mais próxima da fase do envolvimento, na qual a população começa a despertar para o turismo adotando medidas locais para que este comece a se desenvolver de forma eficiente. Palavras-chave: Turismo. Destinações Turísticas. Ciclo de vida das Destinações Turísticas. Vila Flores, RS. Life cycle of Tourist Destinations: Vila Folres, RS, Brazil. Faith, Bread and Wine Land - Tourism is a development alternative for many localities. When the local is integrated by tourism products and a defined geographical area, there is a tourist destination. This destination goes through many stages from birth up to and decline or rejuvenation. The aim of this work is to identify in which stage of the life cycle of tourism destinations, as proposed by Butler (1980), is the municipality of Vila Flores, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. For this, an exploratory case study of qualitative and quantitative approach was carried out through semi-structured interviews with public and private initiatives. Subsequently, we used the statistical program SPSS Statistics 21, so that the same treat the data, and thus it was possible to verify most prominent phase at the destination in question. With this information it was possible to infer that the destination is the closest to the stage of involvement, in which the population begins to awaken to tourism sites and adopt measures so that it begins to develop efficiently. Keywords: Tourism. Tourist Destinations. Life Cycle of Tourist Destinations. Vila Flores, RS, Brazil. Tauana Macedo de Paula – Mestranda no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Turismo e Hospitalidade da Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, RS, Brasil. Currículo:http://lattes.cnpq.br/8351215569200694. E-mail:[email protected] Veridiana Stein – Mestranda no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Turismo e Hospitalidade da Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, RS, Brasil. Currículo:http://lattes.cnpq.br/3521165247336783. E-mail:[email protected] Salete Mecca – Doutor. Professor, pesquisador e orientador no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Turismo e Hospitalidade da Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, RS, Brasil Currículo: http://lattes.cnpq.br/7671104429839034 E-mail: [email protected]

ARRANJOS PRODUTIVOS LOCAIS: UMA ANÁLISE DO SETOR METAL-MECÂNICO NA REGIÃO DOS VALES DO RIO PARDO E TAQUARI

Este artigo buscou interpretar os objetivos e o andamento do presente projeto, considerando que assuntos relacionados a cooperação, desenvolvimento regional, vantagens competitivas têm se tornado cada vez mais importantes no âmbito nacional e internacional. Assim, analisou-se a prática do APL como forma de reorganizar a conjuntura atual, frente a esses grandes atores do mercado que impedem a inserção e/ou a sobrevivência de pequenas empresas

Identifying high risk subgroups of MSM: a latent class analysis using two samples.

BACKGROUND: Latent class analyses (LCA) are increasingly being used to target specialized HIV interventions, but generalizability of emergent population structures across settings has yet to be considered. We compare LCA performed on two online samples of HIV negative Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) to detect more generalizable latent class structures and to assess the extent to which sampling considerations impact the validity of LCA results. METHODS: LCAs were performed on an 1) nationwide online survey which involved no in-person contact with study staff and a 2) sentinel surveillance survey in which participants underwent HIV and syphilis testing in the city of Guangzhou, both conducted in 2014. Models for each sample were informed by risk factors for HIV acquisition in MSM that were common to both datasets. RESULTS: An LCA of the Guangzhou sentinel surveillance data indicated the presence of two relatively similar classes, differing only by the greater tendency of one to report group sex. In contrast an LCA of the nationwide survey identified three classes, two of which shared many of the same features as those identified in the Guangzhou survey, including the fact that they were mainly distinguished by group sex behaviors. The final latent class in the nationwide survey was composed of members with notably few risk behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Comparisons of the latent class structures of each sample lead us to conclude that the nationwide online sample captured a larger, possibly more representative group of Chinese MSM comprised of a larger, higher risk group and a small yet distinct lower group with few reported behaviors. The absence of a lower risk group in the Guangzhou sentinel surveillance dataset suggests that MSM recruited into studies involving free HIV/STI testing may oversample MSM with higher risk behaviors and therefore greater risk perception. Lastly, two types of higher risk MSM were emergent across both samples distinguished largely by their recent group sex behaviors. Higher odds not only of self-reported HIV infection but also of closeted tendencies and gender fluid identities in this highest risk group suggest that interacting factors drive individual and structural facets of HIV risk

Correction to: Identifying high risk subgroups of MSM: a latent class analysis using two samples.

Following publication of the original article [1], the author reported his family name has been marked as the first name. His given name is M. Kumi and his family name is Smith

Tobacco Addiction and Smoking Status in Heroin Addicts under Methadone vs. Buprenorphine Therapy

Aims of the present investigation were: (i) to assess the prevalence of current smokers and relative smoking status among a large number of heroin addicts attending opioid-substitution therapy prevalence; (ii) to evaluate the relationship between the type (methadone, buprenorphine) and dosage of opioid substitution therapy and nicotine dependence. Three hundred and five (305) heroin addicts under opioid-substitution therapy were recruited at five Addiction Units. All participants completed a questionnaire assessing sociodemographic information, type and dose of opioid-substitution therapy, smoking history and status, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and the Zung Self-Rating Depression scale (SDS). 298 subjects, out of 305 (97.2%) were smokers, with an average of 20.5 cigarette/day and a median FTND of 6. Our data confirmed the high prevalence of smokers among heroin addicts, the highest described in the literature to date among heroin addicts under substitution therapies, without any significant difference between methadone vs. buprenorphine therapy groups. There was no correlation between dose of methadone or buprenorphine and average number of cigarettes/day. Patients in substance abuse treatment very frequently smoke cigarettes and often die of tobacco-related diseases. Substance abuse treatment programs too often ignore tobacco use. We hope that these findings will help to incorporate smoking cessation in substance abuse treatments

Thrombolysis for massive pulmonary embolism in pregnancy: a case report

Mortality from pulmonary embolism (PE) in pregnancy might be related to challenges in targeting the right population for prevention. Such targeting could help ensure that the correct diagnosis is suspected and adequately investigated, and allow the initiation of the timely and best possible treatment of this disease. In the literature to date only 18 case reports of thrombolysis in pregnant women with PE have been reported, and showed beneficial effects for both mother and fetus in terms of mortality and complications with acceptable bleeding risks. We present here the case of a pregnant patient with massive PE who underwent successful thrombolysis. A 26-year-old pregnant (at 24 weeks) woman was admitted 4 h after onset of sudden acute dyspnea and chest pain. An immediate electrocardiogram showed a typical S1-Q3-T3 pattern. The echocardiogram showed a distended right ventricle with free-wall hypokinesia and displacement of the interventricular septum toward the left ventricle. Thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (alteplase 10 mg bolus, then 90 mg over 2 h) was administered. Pelvic examination and ultrasound showed regular fetal heart beat, and regular placental and liquid presence. No problems developed for the mother or fetus in the subsequent days or at discharge. In conclusion, in pregnant patients with life-threatening massive PE, thrombolytic therapy can be administered, and the use of echocardiographic, laboratory, and clinical data can be useful tools to achieve a rapid diagnosis and make a therapeutic decision, but additional studies need to be performed to further define its use

Faster and Riskier? Online Context of Sex Seeking Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in China.

BACKGROUND: Many men who have sex with men (MSM) seek sex partners online, creating barriers and opportunities for human immunodeficiency virus prevention. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of MSM and the risks associated with seeking sex through websites, gay apps, and both platforms in China. METHODS: Data were collected through a cross-sectional online survey from September through October 2014 from 3 large gay Web portals. Sociodemographic information, sexual behaviors, and online sex seeking behaviors were measured. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to compare sexual risk behaviors among website users, gay app users, and men who used both platforms. RESULTS: Of the 1201 participants, 377 (31.4%) were website-only users, 487 (40.5%) were gay app-only users, and 337 (28.0%) were men who used both platforms. These 3 MSM subgroups have distinct sociodemographic characteristics. Overall, 57.6% of participants reported having engaged in condomless anal sex with their last male partner in the past 6 months, but there was no significant difference in condomless sex between the 3 groups. Men who used both platforms viewed more sexually transmitted disease-related messages than website-only users (adjusted odds ratio, 2.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.57-3.05). CONCLUSIONS: Condom usage behaviors were unaffected by the medium through which sexual partners were found. However, the high frequency of condomless sex suggests that websites and gay apps are both risk environments. This study suggests using multiple platforms for human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted disease social media interventions may be useful

Architectures for Multinode Superconducting Quantum Computers

Many proposals to scale quantum technology rely on modular or distributed designs where individual quantum processors, called nodes, are linked together to form one large multinode quantum computer (MNQC). One scalable method to construct an MNQC is using superconducting quantum systems with optical interconnects. However, a limiting factor of these machines will be internode gates, which may be two to three orders of magnitude noisier and slower than local operations. Surmounting the limitations of internode gates will require a range of techniques, including improvements in entanglement generation, the use of entanglement distillation, and optimized software and compilers, and it remains unclear how improvements to these components interact to affect overall system performance, what performance from each is required, or even how to quantify the performance of each. In this paper, we employ a `co-design' inspired approach to quantify overall MNQC performance in terms of hardware models of internode links, entanglement distillation, and local architecture. In the case of superconducting MNQCs with microwave-to-optical links, we uncover a tradeoff between entanglement generation and distillation that threatens to degrade performance. We show how to navigate this tradeoff, lay out how compilers should optimize between local and internode gates, and discuss when noisy quantum links have an advantage over purely classical links. Using these results, we introduce a roadmap for the realization of early MNQCs which illustrates potential improvements to the hardware and software of MNQCs and outlines criteria for evaluating the landscape, from progress in entanglement generation and quantum memory to dedicated algorithms such as distributed quantum phase estimation. While we focus on superconducting devices with optical interconnects, our approach is general across MNQC implementations.Comment: 23 pages, white pape