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Proceedings of the biosimilars workshop at the International Symposium on Oncology Pharmacy Practice 2019.
The International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners organized a workshop to create learning opportunities on biosimilars in pharmacy practice on 10 October 2019. The topics that were covered included (i) the development and testing of biosimilars, (ii) the challenges of bringing biosimilars to market, and (iii) real-world data on patient safety and perceptions during biosimilar implementation. The development of biosimilars can take up to eight years and the extensiveness of the process depends on several factors, such as the complexity of the production process and regulatory requirements. Compared to generic products of small-molecule drugs, there is a higher barrier to market entry for biosimilars, explaining the small number of biosimilars in the market. Appraisal of biosimilars for inclusion in hospital formularies is also different from the review process of originator biologics, where the former is usually institution-led and has fewer restrictions on use. When several biosimilar products are available, factors that should be considered besides cost are licensed indications, supply chain confidence, clinical data, and product attributes. Real-world data have shown that biosimilars are well-tolerated and have safety data that are comparable to that of the originator product. Oncology pharmacists from the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Canada also presented their respective experiences with biosimilar use. Different countries at varying stages of biosimilar implementation faced distinct challenges. Nevertheless, resources to assist biosimilar implementation can potentially be shared between different regions. International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners is well-positioned to foster professional cooperation at an international level to drive biosimilar implementation
Optimization of Analytic Window Functions
Analytic functions represent the state-of-the-art way of performing complex
data analysis within a single SQL statement. In particular, an important class
of analytic functions that has been frequently used in commercial systems to
support OLAP and decision support applications is the class of window
functions. A window function returns for each input tuple a value derived from
applying a function over a window of neighboring tuples. However, existing
window function evaluation approaches are based on a naive sorting scheme. In
this paper, we study the problem of optimizing the evaluation of window
functions. We propose several efficient techniques, and identify optimization
opportunities that allow us to optimize the evaluation of a set of window
functions. We have integrated our scheme into PostgreSQL. Our comprehensive
experimental study on the TPC-DS datasets as well as synthetic datasets and
queries demonstrate significant speedup over existing approaches.Comment: VLDB201
Learning to Navigate Cloth using Haptics
We present a controller that allows an arm-like manipulator to navigate
deformable cloth garments in simulation through the use of haptic information.
The main challenge of such a controller is to avoid getting tangled in, tearing
or punching through the deforming cloth. Our controller aggregates force
information from a number of haptic-sensing spheres all along the manipulator
for guidance. Based on haptic forces, each individual sphere updates its target
location, and the conflicts that arise between this set of desired positions is
resolved by solving an inverse kinematic problem with constraints.
Reinforcement learning is used to train the controller for a single
haptic-sensing sphere, where a training run is terminated (and thus penalized)
when large forces are detected due to contact between the sphere and a
simplified model of the cloth. In simulation, we demonstrate successful
navigation of a robotic arm through a variety of garments, including an
isolated sleeve, a jacket, a shirt, and shorts. Our controller out-performs two
baseline controllers: one without haptics and another that was trained based on
large forces between the sphere and cloth, but without early termination.Comment: Supplementary video available at https://youtu.be/iHqwZPKVd4A.
Related publications http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~karenliu/Robotic_dressing.htm
Coordination in a Digital Platform Organization
A digital platform (DP) generates value by facilitating direct interactions between two or multiple platform sides. While previous studies have expounded upon how platform sides can be coordinated at a collective level (i.e., by pricing strategy and modular architecture), digital platform owners must not neglect the dynamics within the platform sides and their interactions. Through an in-depth case study of one of the largest e-commerce platforms worldwide, we develop a process model that explains digital platform coordination in terms of the mechanisms that describe the emergence of coordination issues as a result of the enactment of the platform sides’ agency and how these issues can be circumvented. This study makes two contributions. First, this study challenges the existing DP literature concerning the assumption of exogenous platform sides, highlighting the agency of the sides as a source of misalignment that must be managed. Second, the model complements the platform coordination literature focusing on enabling/constraining the actions of sides by conceptualizing a digital orienting mechanism. By adopting a meta-organizational view of digital platforms, this empirical work is among the few studies that report from the inside of a digital platform organization and adopt a processual account
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