Ethical and practical challenges in implementing informed consent in HIV/AIDS clinical trials in developing or resource-limited countries

Background/rationale: Ethical issues regarding HIV/AIDS human research in the developing world remain under continuous evaluation; a critical area of concern includes informed consent. This paper reviews several of the most important ethical and practical aspects of informed consent in HIV research in developing countries. Enhancement of overall understanding of such key issues might promote higher ethical standards of future research.Objectives: The major objective was to address informed consent in human research in non-Western societies, and specifically in HIV clinical trials of affected adults. Secondary end-points included the consent complexities in HIV research involving vulnerable patient populations in resource-limited nations, such as children, adolescents and women.Methods: A systematic review of the published literature using MEDLINE and EMBASE from 1998 until December 2008 was performed, using the search terms ‘HIV/AIDS’, ‘informed consent’, ‘clinical trials’, ‘developing world’.Results: Ethical complexities such as participants’ diminished autonomy, coercion or monetary inducement, language difficulties, illiteracy or lack of true understanding of the entire study, cultural barriers mainly due to communitarianism and social diversities were identified in the 44 studies reviewed. Informed consent of vulnerable patient populations must be tailored to their sex and developmental age, while counselling is fundamental. Children and adolescents’ assent must be ensured. Local language is to be used, while trusted community leaders and local cultural representatives may convey information.Discussion: Despite the heterogeneity of studies, similarities were  identified. Providing adequate and comprehensive information and assessing the true understanding of the research represent fundamental prerequisites. Potential solutions to the critical areas of concern include peer counselling and meetings with local community leaders or local cultural representatives. Conclusions: International investigators of HIV human research should bear in mind these ethical issues and their potential solutions, when trying to ensure ethical research conduct, based on a truly informed and culturally relevant consent

Data for: Understanding transboundary air pollution network: Emissions, depositions and spatio-temporal distribution of pollution in European region

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Dynamic Input–Output Models in Environmental Problems: A Computational Approach with CAS Software

The study of interactions between the economy and the environment has always been an interesting subject. Apart from static input–output (IO) models, environmentally extended IO analysis has resulted in dynamic IO models as well. Dynamic models are built of differential equations and, in the case of discrete models with the help of difference equations. The dynamic approach requires advanced mathematical skills especially in cases where the stability of the system under study is considered. In this paper we state some applied environmental models in discrete time based on dynamic IO analysis and we propose a computational approach in computer algebra system environments that investigates the extent and the nature of their stability. The computer codes are fully presented and can be reproduced as they are in computational-based research practice and education. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York

Visual exploration of energy use in eu 28: Dynamics, patterns, policies

The paper places emphasis on primary energy resources, their covariation, and their correlation with socioeconomic factors and aims to provide a systematic analysis of their development over time. The analysis uses evidence from European Union (EU) country-level data and is based on visual analytics techniques. Different results from the same territories show that energy consumption does not always reflect or is due to climatological or meteorological conditions. Extensive use of visualization is adopted as a means of contributing to the understanding of energy use, some involved problems and concepts, and energy consumption trends over time. We present an approach that addresses the informatics challenges based on the integration of visualization software, data integration, and cluster analysis. Our cross-sectional energy review advocates that EU energy leaders are moving towards a low-carbon economy. The correlations of energy variables with economic and pollution effects are stronger in greater levels of energy use, which means that energy use has an obvious impact on economic growth and the environment. Visual and automated methods employed for the analysis, reveal the direction, the strength, and the nature of the dependence structure, in clusters covering the range of energy use in EU 28 countries. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Understanding transboundary air pollution network: Emissions, depositions and spatio-temporal distribution of pollution in European region

The primary objective of this paper is the structural analysis of source-receptor air pollution problems in the EU region. Two views are provided for the analysis: an emission-driven view and a deposition-driven view. Different visualization modules are used to reproduce the global pollution network and identify the biggest sources and sinks of pollution. Visual modelling helps to understand the linkages and interconnections in the transboundary pollution network. Our interactive outputs give the options to bring out the crucial actions of the global source-receptor air pollution scheme and highlight the top emitters or receptors of pollution. Ranking of countries in decreasing order of pollution responsibility and/or vulnerability using graph metrics is a main result. Data sources are emissions-depositions (or source-receptor) tables of air pollutants, available online from the data repository of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Program (EMEP) of the Long-Range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe. In our computer-based visual analysis, we design custom visualizations by writing code. © 2019 Elsevier B.V

Measuring air polluters’ responsibility in transboundary pollution networks

This study proposes a new method of graph computing for environmental economics. We apply a weighted graph model that reproduces the structure of SOx emission–deposition tables. Our data apply scientific and technical data on emissions, atmospheric processes, and effects on the environment of sulfur oxides from the European Monitoring and Evaluation Program of the long-range transmission of air pollutants in Europe. Our graph metrics consider both the activity and the amount of pollution for each polluter. The results show the contribution of oxidized sulfur emitted from one country and deposited to another. The most influential node of the country-to-country blame network is tracked using indicators of centrality. Exploring options and metrics for ranking the blame for SOx pollutants, we depict the degree of the responsibility for SOx depositions in EU countries graphically. © 2017, Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature

A computer algebra system approach in gene expression analysis

The primary purpose of this study is to provide an immediate connection to analytics of biological functions and visualisation. We introduce a visual framework in the environment of a main computer algebra system (CAS), Mathematica, to picture variations and evolution schemes in gene expression. Our computational approach constructs snapshots for gene expression profiles, with the advantage of being selfevident, concise and clear. A variety of colours is employed, beyond the conventional heat map colours. We provide dynamic options to facilitate comparisons among treatments, several colour choices to perform reference gene selection tests and, thus reveal the variation of gene expression through time and/or among treatments, or genes. The performance of the programming techniques in selected case studies concerning genes involved in embryonic development of common sole (Solea solea), is presented. This work could assist researchers in biosciences with suggestions to specific gene expression mapping © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

A framework for stochastic simulation of distribution practices for hotel reservations

The focus of this study is primarily on the Greek hotel industry. The objective is to design and develop a framework for stochastic simulation of reservation requests, reservation arrivals, cancellations and hotel occupancy with a planning horizon of a tourist season. In Greek hospitality industry there have been two competing policies for reservation planning process up to 2003: reservations coming directly from customers and a reservations management relying on tour operator(s). Recently the Internet along with other emerging technologies has offered the potential to disrupt enduring distribution arrangements. The focus of the study is on the choice of distribution intermediaries. We present an empirical model for the hotel reservation planning process that makes use of a symbolic simulation, Monte Carlo method, as, requests for reservations, cancellations, and arrival rates are all sources of uncertainty. We consider as a case study the problem of determining the optimal booking strategy for a medium size hotel in Skiathos Island, Greece. Probability distributions and parameters estimation result from the historical data available and by following suggestions made in the relevant literature. The results of this study may assist hotel managers define distribution strategies for hotel rooms and evaluate the performance of the reservations management system. © 2015 AIP Publishing LLC

Evidence for Novel Structures Relating CSR Reporting and Economic Welfare: Environmental Sustainability—A Continent-Level Analysis

This paper aims to work towards a factual framework to substantiate the linkage between corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting and economic activity and between CSR reporting and CO2 pollution, continent-wide. The document summarizes the conclusions of the dynamic analysis of CSR reports and the correlation analysis between CSR reports and economic—environmental variables, always using evidence from continent-level data. We draw on growth—environmental data and CSR reports from 1999 to 2017 to perform an analysis that quantifies the direction, the strength and the nature of the dependence structure between the two variables. Continents’ position according to their CSR reporting performance, CSR report trends over time, comparative schemes among continents, compose a global view on continents’ differentiation on CSR practices and strategies. Overall, the paper contributes to the understanding of how the CSR policies have been integrated and evolved worldwide. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature

Data for: Understanding transboundary air pollution network: Emissions, depositions and spatio-temporal distribution of pollution in European region

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