National drought insurance for Malawi

Malawi has experienced several catastrophic droughts over the past few decades. The impact of these shocks has been far reaching, and the resulting macroeconomic instability has been a major constraint to growth and poverty reduction in Malawi. This paper describes a weather risk management tool that has been developed to help the government manage the financial impact of drought-related national maize production shortfalls. The instrument is an index-based weather derivative contract designed to transfer the financial risk of severe and catastrophic national drought that adversely impacts the government's budget to the international risk markets. Because rainfall and maize yields are highly correlated, changes in rainfall -- its timing, cumulative amount, and distribution -- can act as an accurate proxy for maize losses. An index has been constructed using rainfall data from 23 weather stations throughout Malawi and uses daily rainfall as an input to predict maize yields and therefore production throughout the country. The index picks up the well documented historical drought events in 2005, 1995, 1994, and 1992 and a weather derivative contract based on such an index would have triggered timely cash payouts to the government in those years. This innovative risk management instrument was pioneered in 2008/2009 by the Government of Malawi, with the assistance of the World Bank, and was a first for a sovereign entity in Africa. Several piloting seasons will be necessary to understand the scope and limitations of such contracts, and their role in the government's strategy, contingency planning, and operational drought response framework.Debt Markets,Hazard Risk Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Labor Policies,Insurance&Risk Mitigation

Relaxation of quantum states under energy perturbations

The energy-based stochastic extension of the Schrodinger equation is perhaps the simplest mathematically rigourous and physically plausible model for the reduction of the wave function. In this article we apply a new simulation methodology for the stochastic framework to analyse formulae for the dynamics of a particle confined to a square-well potential. We consider the situation when the width of the well is expanded instantaneously. Through this example we are able to illustrate in detail how a quantum system responds to an energy perturbation, and the mechanism, according to the stochastic evolutionary law, by which the system relaxes spontaneously into one of the stable eigenstates of the Hamiltonian. We examine in particular how the expectation value of the Hamiltonian and the probability distribution for the position of the particle change in time. An analytic expression for the typical timescale of relaxation is derived. We also consider the small perturbation limit, and discuss the relation between the stochastic framework and the quantum adiabatic theorem

Problematyka mobbingu w medycynie na tle przestępstwa z art. 218 § 1a kodeksu karnego

Mobbing is a phenomenon widely described in the literature, but mainly in the sphere of civil law and labor law. This publication supplements the existing literature on mobbing with considerations on the resulting criminal law protection in the article 218 § 1a of the Polish Penal Code. The subject of the article is, in particular, an analysis of the legal provisions in force in Poland regarding mobbing and jurisprudence in relation to employees of the medical sector. The choice of this sector results from the fact that in most of the world's studies health care workers are recognized as a professional group in which the level of exposure to mobbing is high.Mobbing jest zjawiskiem szeroko opisywanym w literaturze, ale przede wszystkim w sferze prawa cywilnego oraz prawa pracy. Niniejsza publikacja uzupełnia dotychczasowe piśmiennictwo dotyczące mobbingu o rozważania nt. prawnokarnej ochrony wynikającej z art. 218 § 1a kodeksu karnego. Przedmiotem artykułu jest w szczególności analiza obowiązujących w Polsce przepisów prawa dotyczących mobbingu oraz orzecznictwa w odniesieniu do pracowników sektora medycznego. Wybór tego sektora wynika, z faktu, iż w większości światowych badań pracownicy ochrony zdrowia są uznani za grupę zawodową, w której poziom narażenia na mobbing jest wysoki

Bioimpedance technique for fluid status assessment in patients in hemodialysis and peritioneal dialysis patients

W rozwoju przewlekłej choroby nerek (CKD) dochodzi do istotnego wzrostu ryzyka zgonu i wystąpienia choroby układu sercowo-naczyniowego (CVD). Wielkość przewodnienia jest częstym powikłaniem CKD i koreluje z rozwojem CVD w grupie pacjentów z rozpoznaniem CKD w 4.–5. stadium, dotychczas niedializowanych, hemodializowanych, a także dializowanych otrzewnowo. Technika wieloczęstotliwościowej bioimpedancji elektrycznej jest postulowana jako precyzyjna i coraz bardziej dostępną metoda do pomiaru wielkości przewodnienia u pacjentów z CKD w celu określenia zależności między wielkością przewodnienia a czynnikami ryzyka wystąpienia CVD.Chronic kidney disease (CKD) substantially increases the risks of death and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Fluid overload is a common phenomenon in patients with late-stage CKD and correlate with cardiovascular disease in non- dialysis-dependent patients with CKD stages 4–5, and also in patients with end stage renal disease treated on hemodialysis or peritioneal dialysis. Several observational studies have reported the association between hydration status and poor clinical outcome in dialysis population treated on hemodialysis or peritioneal dialysis. The multifrequency bioimpedance device has been postulate, as an accurate and relative available method to measure the level of overhydration in CKD patients, focusing on the association between overhydration and CVD risk factors

Volcanic forcing improves Atmosphere-Ocean Coupled General Circulation Model scaling performance

Recent Atmosphere-Ocean Coupled General Circulation Model (AOGCM) simulations of the twentieth century climate, which account for anthropogenic and natural forcings, make it possible to study the origin of long-term temperature correlations found in the observed records. We study ensemble experiments performed with the NCAR PCM for 10 different historical scenarios, including no forcings, greenhouse gas, sulfate aerosol, ozone, solar, volcanic forcing and various combinations, such as it natural, anthropogenic and all forcings. We compare the scaling exponents characterizing the long-term correlations of the observed and simulated model data for 16 representative land stations and 16 sites in the Atlantic Ocean for these scenarios. We find that inclusion of volcanic forcing in the AOGCM considerably improves the PCM scaling behavior. The scenarios containing volcanic forcing are able to reproduce quite well the observed scaling exponents for the land with exponents around 0.65 independent of the station distance from the ocean. For the Atlantic Ocean, scenarios with the volcanic forcing slightly underestimate the observed persistence exhibiting an average exponent 0.74 instead of 0.85 for reconstructed data.Comment: 4 figure

Financial and organizational aspects of the functioning of primary health care during the COVID-19 pandemic

PURPOSE: The aim of this scientific study is to analyze selected issues related to the functioning and financing of Polish Primary Health Care units in the initial period of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The following research methods were used, the historicallegal method – selected legal acts and communiques issued by public administration bodies during the initial period of the pandemic, the dogmatic-legal method – a systematic and linguistic interpretation of legal acts, reports, and information on websites was carried out.FINDINGS: The research results allow to draw de lege ferenda conclusions regarding the improvement of organizational functioning of Primary Health Care units. These conclusions will be helpful if new infectious diseases appear in the future. Making the rules for financing Primary Health Care units more stable will enable public authorities to better prepare for potential crisis situations.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Solutions regarding the financing of healthcare services provided by Polish Primary Health Care facilities in the initial phase of the pandemic had a fundamental impact on the evolution of financing these medical entities in the subsequent stages of combating the pandemic and after its end.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The article is an original analysis of actions aimed at solving the organizational and financial problems of Primary Health Care units. The article may provide an impetus for an international discussion on the organization and financing of such health care entities.peer-reviewe

The functioning of the Polish health care system during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the opinion of primary health care patients

PURPOSE: The aim of this scientific study is to analyze selected issues related to the functioning of Polish Primary Health Care units in the initial period of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The analysis focused on the access to health services provided by Primary Health Care doctors and quality of those services, as well as issues related to the so-called tele-advice. Changes introduced in this respect directly affected the provision of health services to patients in their place of residence. The surveys we conducted were aimed at identifying the problems encountered by patients of these health care units. The following research methods were used in the study: the historical-legal method – selected legal acts and communiques issued by public administration bodies during the initial period of the pandemic were analyzed; the dogmatic-legal method – a systematic and linguistic interpretation of legal acts, reports, and information on websites was carried out; the survey method – surveys conducted among patients of Primary Health Care.FINDINGS: The research results allow to draw de lege ferenda conclusions regarding the improvement of organizational functioning of Primary Health Care units. These conclusions will be helpful if new infectious diseases appear in the future. Making the rules for accessing Primary Health Care units more stable will enable public authorities to better prepare for potential crisis situations.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The conducted empirical research can be utilized by decisionmakers, individuals managing the Polish health care system, and those managing/running Primary Health Care facilities. The responses obtained from the respondents indicate the strengths and weaknesses in organizing the health care process in a non-standard situation, such as during a pandemic. With their help, it is possible to better organize the process of patient contact and treatment in a crisis situation, during so-called extraordinary states.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The article is an original analysis of patients' opinions on the access to health care services provided by Primary Health Care facilities. The results of empirical research conducted among representatives of Polish society may serve as a basis for making comparisons in this area with other countries. The article may provide an impetus for an international discussion on the scope and quality of services provided by such health care entities.peer-reviewe