Are drug companies living up to their human rights responsibilities? The perspective of the former United Nations Special Rapporteur (2002-2008).

BACKGROUND TO THE DEBATE: The human rights responsibilities of drug companies have been considered for years by nongovernmental organizations, but were most sharply defined in a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, submitted to the United Nations General Assembly in August 2008. The "Human Rights Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies in relation to Access to Medicines" include responsibilities for transparency, management, monitoring and accountability, pricing, and ethical marketing, and against lobbying for more protection in intellectual property laws, applying for patents for trivial modifications of existing medicines, inappropriate drug promotion, and excessive pricing. Two years after the release of the Guidelines, the PLoS Medicine Debate asks whether drug companies are living up to their human rights responsibilities. Sofia Gruskin and Zyde Raad from the Harvard School of Public Health say more assessment is needed of such responsibilities; Geralyn Ritter, Vice President of Global Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility at Merck & Co. argues that multiple stakeholders could do more to help States deliver the right to health; and Paul Hunt and Rajat Khosla introduce Mr. Hunt's work as the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, regarding the human rights responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies and access to medicines

The human right to medicines

This article considers the component of the right to the highest standard of health that relates to medicines, including essential medicines. Using the right-to-health analytical framework that has been developed in recent years, the first section focuses on the responsibilities of States. The second section provides a brief introduction to the responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies

CoPs-Centered Knowledge Management

Rajiv Khosla is an Associate Professor at School of Business, La Trobe University. He is the director of externally funded Business Intelligence Institute-Business Systems and Knowledge Modelling research laboratory. Rajiv has a multi-disciplinary background in management, engineering and computer science. He has published over 120 refereed journal and conference papers. He has also authored four books (research monographs) in the area of Emotional Intelligence, Human-Centred e-Business, Multimedia based Socio-technical Information systems, Intelligent Hybrid Multi-agent Systems. Rajiv is the Associate editor of the International Journal of Pattern Recognition, Regional editor of Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing (Springer-verlag), and Action Editor of Journal of Cognitive Systems Research. He has been a project leader of over a dozen industry projects and has commercialised four IT products in Australia. Associate Professor Rajiv Khosla Business Intelligence Institute and Business Systems Knowledge Modeling Laboratory (http://www.latrobe.edu.au/bskm) School of Business, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria – 3086, Australia E-Mail: [email protected] of the primary reasons identified for the failure of existing knowledge management solutions has been that knowledge management tools and research have primarily been designed around technology push-models as against strategy pull-models. In an era where organizations are undergoing rapid and discontinuous change it is imperative that knowledge management systems and organizational entities like CoPs that facilitate knowledge management and organizational transformation are more closely aligned with business strategies and goals of an organization. This would enable organizations to respond more quickly to changing business environments and corresponding change in their knowledge management needs from time to time. This seminar presents a strategy-pull approach for Modeling and Design of CoPs-centered Knowledge Management Systems to facilitate organizational transformation. Among other aspects the seminar will focus on definition of dimensions and criteria for defining CoPs in an organization, application of fuzzy integral techniques to rank 16 criteria employed by CoPs to engage in knowledge management. From a knowledge management and organizational transformation perspective this approach will enable a more direct relationship between business strategy, CoPs and Knowledge Management solutions.published_or_final_versionCentre for Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kon

Quantum optomechanics beyond the quantum coherent oscillation regime

Interaction with a thermal environment decoheres the quantum state of a mechanical oscillator. When the interaction is sufficiently strong, such that more than one thermal phonon is introduced within a period of oscillation, quantum coherent oscillations are prevented. This is generally thought to preclude a wide range of quantum protocols. Here, we introduce a pulsed optomechanical protocol that allows ground state cooling, general linear quantum non-demolition measurements, optomechanical state swaps, and quantum state preparation and tomography without requiring quantum coherent oscillations. Finally we show how the protocol can break the usual thermal limit for sensing of impulse forces.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

On-orbit assembly using superquadric potential fields

The autonomous on-orbit assembly of a large space structure is presented using a method based on superquadric artificial potential fields. The final configuration of the elements which form the structure is represented as the minimum of some attractive potential field. Each element of the structure is then considered as presenting an obstacle to the others using a superquadric potential field attached to the body axes of the element. A controller is developed which ensures that the global potential field decreases monotonically during the assembly process. An error quaternion representation is used to define both the attractive and superquadric obstacle potentials allowing the final configuration of the elements to be defined through both relative position and orientation. Through the use of superquadric potentials, a wide range of geometric objects can be represented using a common formalism, while collision avoidance can make use of both translational and rotation maneuvers to reduce total maneuver cost for the assembly process

India’s energy and emissions future: an interpretive analysis of model scenarios

As a significant emitter of greenhouse gases, but also as a developing country starting from a low emissions base, India is an important actor in global climate change mitigation. However, perceptions of India vary widely, from an energy-hungry climate deal-breaker to a forerunner of a low carbon future. Developing clarity on India's energy and emissions future is challenged by the uncertainties of India's development transitions, including its pathway through a demographic and urban transition within a rapidly changing policy context. Model-based scenario analyses provide widely varying projections, in part because they make differing assumptions, often implicit, about these transitions. To address the uncertainty in India's energy and emissions future, this Letter applies a novel interpretive approach to existing scenario studies. First, we make explicit the implied development, technology and policy assumptions underlying model-based analysis in order to cluster and interpret results. In a second step, we analyse India's current policy landscape and use that as a benchmark against which to judge scenario assumptions and results. Using this interpretive approach, we conclude that, based on current policies, a doubling of India's CO2 energy-related emissions from 2012 levels is a likely upper bound for its 2030 emissions and that this trajectory is consistent with meeting India's Paris emissions intensity pledge. Because of its low emissions starting point, even after a doubling, India's 2030 per capita emissions will be below today's global average and absolute emissions will be less than half of China's 2015 emissions from the same sources. The analysis of recent policy trends further suggests a lower than expected electricity demand and a faster than expected transition from coal to renewable electricity. The Letter concludes by making an argument for interpretive approaches as a necessary complement to scenario analysis, particularly in rapidly changing development contexts

Development and climate policy synergies: insights from global modelling studies

India's approach to climate policy is based on amplifying synergies between sustainable development ad climate outcomes, or co-benefits. However, the evidence base for the magnitude of these synergies remains limited. This brief summarizes the result of global models, which provide strong evidence of complementarities between climate mitigation outcomes, reduced air pollution and enhanced energy security. These results are robust across a wide range of models. They suggest there are considerable gains across multiple objectives of development policy from pursuing India's stated co-benefits approach to climate policy