Modelling the Process of Building Digital Security in Commodity Markets using Blockchain

Blockchain technology is acquiring momentous popularity in commodity markets over the past few years. A commodity can be regarded as an article of trade between an importer and exporter nation. Several types of commodities—such as agricultural (i.e., wheat, soyabean, corn, rice, spices, oil, meal products, sugar, dairy, marine, and plantation) and non-agricultural (i.e., base metals and petroleum products)—can be traded. The process of commodity trading or shipment between nations involves several actors like exporters, customs, importer, insurance, and importer bank and activities like bills of lading, letter of credit, factoring, exporting credit, and insurance—which are paper based, interdependent, and require human involvement. Blockchain, on the other hand, is a decentralized and distributed ledger technology that is open, immutable or tamperproof, efficient, verifiable, and permanent. The integration of blockchain in commodity markets can revolutionize the entire trading or shipment process. Considering the abovementioned problems, this study attempts to offer a solution by performing business process modelling in commodity markets using blockchain. The inferences made in this study prove to be quite promising wherein paper-based trading processes can be replaced with paperless trading processes via smart contracts—self-executable codes—which operate on top of blockchain, thereby eliminating intermediaries or middlemen and improving not only efficiency but also transparency of existing trading processes

The future of public health: the importance of workforce

Health workforce has become a major concern and a significant health policy issue around the world in recent years. With recent international and national initiatives and models being developed and implemented in Australia and other countries, it is timely to understand the need and the rationale for a better trained and educated public health workforce for the future. Much more attention should also be given to evaluation and research in this field

Common mental health problems in historically disadvantaged urban and rural communities in South Africa: prevalence and risk factors

This paper reports on an epidemiological study of common mental health and substance abuse problems in a historically disadvantaged urban and rural community in South Africa. In the rural Limpopo Province of South Africa, and in a peri-urban township near Cape Town, self-report instruments were used in two random population samples and among respondents at primary care and traditional healer settings, to assess common mental health problems, substance abuse problems and associated problems in social functioning. A high prevalence of mental health and substance abuse problems was observed in both communities, with highest rates in the peri-urban township. Even higher prevalences were found among respondents at primary health care or traditional healers. The study shows that mental health and substance abuse problems constitute a considerable burden of disease among disadvantaged communities in South Africa. The study further underscores the integral role of traditional healers in the mental health care system

Simplifying intensity-modulated radiotherapy plans with fewer beam angles for the treatment of oropharyngeal carcinoma.

The first aim of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of using fewer beam angles to improve delivery efficiency for the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) with inverse-planned intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IP-IMRT). A secondary aim was to evaluate whether the simplified IP-IMRT plans could reduce the indirect radiation dose. The treatment plans for 5 consecutive OPC patients previously treated with a forward-planned IMRT (FP-IMRT) technique were selected as benchmarks for this study. The initial treatment goal for these patients was to deliver 70 Gy to > or = 95% of the planning gross tumor volume (PTV-70) and 59.4 Gy to > or = 95% of the planning clinical tumor volume (PTV-59.4) simultaneously. Each case was re-planned using IP-IMRT with multiple beam-angle arrangements, including four complex IP-IMRT plans using 7 or more beam angles, and one simple IMRT plan using 5 beam angles. The complex IP-IMRT plans and simple IP-IMRT plans were compared to each other and to the FPIMRT plans by analyzing the dose coverage of the target volumes, the plan homogeneity, the dose-volume histograms of critical structures, and the treatment delivery parameters including delivery time and the total number of monitor units (MUs). When comparing the plans, we found no significant difference between the complex IP-IMRT, simple IP-IMRT, and FP-IMRT plans for tumor target coverage (PTV-70: p = 0.56; PTV-59.4: p = 0.20). The plan homogeneity, measured by the mean percentage isodose, did not significantly differ between the IP-IMRT and FP-IMRT plans (p = 0.08), although we observed a trend toward greater inhomogeneity of dose in the simple IP-IMRT plans. All IP-IMRT plans either met or exceeded the quality of the FP-IMRT plans in terms of dose to adjacent critical structures, including the parotids, spinal cord, and brainstem. As compared with the complex IP-IMRT plans, the simple IP-IMRT plans significantly reduced the mean treatment time (maximum probability for four pairwise comparisons: p = 0.0003). In conclusion, our study demonstrates that, as compared with complex IP-IMRT, simple IP-IMRT can significantly improve treatment delivery efficiency while maintaining similar target coverage and sparing of critical structures. However, the improved efficiency does not significantly reduce the total number of MUs nor the indirect radiation dose

Variación morfológica en Bolitoglossa vallecula (Amphibia: Caudata: Plethodontidae) en la Cordillera Central de Colombia

ABSTRACT: Body size and head shape variation was quanti ed in four populations of Bolitoglossa vallecula in the Cordillera Central of Colombia. two of these four populations occurred in sympatry with B. ramosi, an ecologically similar salamander species that could potentially compete with B. vallecula for food resources. there was no evidence of sexual size or head shape dimorphism in any population, so data for males and females were pooled. the populations differed signi cantly in mean body size, but this variation was not associated with elevation. Six head shape characteristics associated with head morphology were quantified and analyzed using the ratio of each variable over the geometric median, given that this is the most preferred method in the literature for describing conformation while controlling for the effects of size. One of the populations sympatric with B. ramosi (Bello) exhibited signficant differences in conformation of head morphology when compared to the allopatric populations, while the other sympatric population did not. While the evidence for character displacement due to ecological competition was equivocal, the analyses highlight areas where further research should be directed.RESUMEN: Cuantificamos la variación en el tamaño y forma del cuerpo y cabeza de Bolitoglossa vallecula en cuatro poblaciones de la Cordillera Central de Colombia. Dos de estas cuatro poblaciones ocurren en simpatría con B. ramosi una especie de salamandra ecológicamente similar que podría potencialmente competir con B. vallecula por recursos alimenticios. En ninguna de las poblaciones encontramos evidencias de dimorfismo sexual en el tamaño o forma de la cabeza, por lo tanto los datos de hembras y machos fueron agrupados. Las poblaciones di rieron significativamente en el tamaño promedio del cuerpo, pero esta variación no estuvo asociada con la elevación. Cuantificamos seis características de la forma de la cabeza asociadas con la morfología de la misma y las analizamos utilizando las proporciones de cada variable sobre la media geométrica, debido a que esta metodología es la más utilizada en la literatura para describir conformación mientras se controla por el efecto del tamaño. Una de las poblaciones simpátricas con B. ramosi (Bello) presentó diferencias significativas en la conformación de la morfología de la cabeza cuando se comparó con las poblaciones alopátricas, mientras que la otra población simpátrica no. Aunque en este trabajo la evidencia de desplazamiento de caracteres en respuesta a la competencia ecológica no es concluyente, este análisis destaca áreas de investigación que vale la pena adelantar en el futuro

The Name of the Game: Utilizing Experiential Learning in the Classroom to Engage, Empower and Reflect on Student Learning and Assessment

In the modern post-secondary classroom, there is a push for more experiential and active learning activities for students. A variety of benefits such as engagement, improved learning and self regulated learning have ensued with these different types of learning. Studies regarding these benefits have mostly centered on experiences carefully orchestrated by instructors, rather than experiences that were created by students under the guidance of instructors. Herein is a study of the benefits and efficiency, of the latter type of activity, which requires students to generate chemical puzzles in a large post-secondary classroom. The authors determined that not only is a puzzle generation activity possible, but students’ reflections on instructor examples highlights the potential for learning and for a new form of assessment. Going forward, however, the study also shows more support and examples are required in future iterations of the puzzle framework, to help students create a meaningful experience

Regional data exchange to improve care for veterans after non-VA hospitalization: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Coordination of care, especially after a patient experiences an acute care event, is a challenge for many health systems. Event notification is a form of health information exchange (HIE) which has the potential to support care coordination by alerting primary care providers when a patient experiences an acute care event. While promising, there exists little evidence on the impact of event notification in support of reengagement into primary care. The objectives of this study are to 1) examine the effectiveness of event notification on health outcomes for older adults who experience acute care events, and 2) compare approaches to how providers respond to event notifications. METHODS: In a cluster randomized trial conducted across two medical centers within the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) system, we plan to enroll older patients (≥ 65 years of age) who utilize both VHA and non-VHA providers. Patients will be enrolled into one of three arms: 1) usual care; 2) event notifications only; or 3) event notifications plus a care transitions intervention. In the event notification arms, following a non-VHA acute care encounter, an HIE-based intervention will send an event notification to VHA providers. Patients in the event notification plus care transitions arm will also receive 30 days of care transition support from a social worker. The primary outcome measure is 90-day readmission rate. Secondary outcomes will be high risk medication discrepancies as well as care transitions processes within the VHA health system. Qualitative assessments of the intervention will inform VHA system-wide implementation. DISCUSSION: While HIE has been evaluated in other contexts, little evidence exists on HIE-enabled event notification interventions. Furthermore, this trial offers the opportunity to examine the use of event notifications that trigger a care transitions intervention to further support coordination of care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02689076. "Regional Data Exchange to Improve Care for Veterans After Non-VA Hospitalization." Registered 23 February 2016

Meta-análisis de la historia del estudio de las tortugas continentales de Colombia

Analizamos las referencias incluidas en una reciente revisión literaria sobre el estado de conocimiento de las tortugas continentales de Colombia. La tasa de publicaciones sobre estas especies ha incrementado exponencialmente desde los años 1950s, aunque muchas de éstas no podrían haber sido detectadas usando búsquedas de literatura por internet. Los tópicos más comunes de las publicaciones fueron sistemática y filo-geografía, ecología de anidación, y manejo. En los años 1970s y 1980s, la tasa de publicaciones sobre temas de ecología y genética de poblaciones ocupando el territorio colombiano, estuvo por debajo de publicaciones sobre estos dos tópicos con poblaciones de las mismas especies en otras regiones de Suramérica. Sin embargo, actualmente la producción en ambas regiones es comparable. En otros países, detectamos una tendencia temporal significativa de publicar cada vez más en inglés y en revistas de mayor impacto; esta tendencia no fue significativa para las publicaciones sobre poblaciones de tortugas colombianas. En Colombia, un número desproporcionado de las publicaciones son sobre especies de tamaños grandes que enfrentan problemas de conservación. Argumentamos que estudios futuros de las especies de tortugas continentales de Colombia relativamente bien conocidas, se deberían enfocar en evaluar la efectividad de los programas de manejo, y también debemos dar prioridad a investigaciones que aumenten el estado de conocimiento de las especies de tortugas continentales poco estudiadas en el país, especialmente de aquellas que actualmente están categorizadas por la UICN como con datos deficientes (DD).The citations contained in a recent literature review on the freshwater turtle and tortoise species of Colombia were analyzed. Publishing rates on these species have been increasing exponentially since the 1950s, although many of the publications would not be detected using internet-based literature searches. The most common topics of publications were systematics and phylogeography, nesting ecology, and management. In the 1970s and 1980s, the rate of publishing on the ecology and genetics of Colombian populations lagged behind the rate of publishing on these topics for populations of Colombian freshwater turtle and tortoise species located in other countries, but currently the production of the two regions is comparable. Also, in other countries there were trends towards publishing more over time in English and in journals with higher impact factors, but these trends were not significant for publications on Colombian populations. In Colombia, a disproportionate number of studies have been published on large-bodied species that face conservation problems. We argue that future studies of already well-studied Colombian species should focus on evaluating the effectiveness of management programs, and priority also should be given to increasing our knowledge of the many poorly-studied species in the country, especially those currently classified by the IUCN as data deficient (DD)