Compensation Events Research Articles

Hypogammaglobulinemia Class G Is Present in Compensated and Decompensated Patients with Propionate Defects, Independent of Their Nutritional Status.

Propionate defects (PDs) mainly include methylmalonic (MMA) and propionic acidemia (PA) defects. Lifelong PD patients progress from the compensated to the decompensated stages, the latter of which are characterized by life-threatening acidemia and hyperammonemia crises. PD patients can suffer immunocompromise, especially during the decompensation stage. There is a significant gap in the research regarding the humoral immune response in PD patients. Here, we analyzed serum immunoglobulin concentrations and hemograms across compensated and decompensated stages in PD patients. Nutritional status and crisis triggers of decompensation were also explored. Twenty patients were studied, and 25 decompensation events (DE) and 8 compensation events (CE) were recorded. Compared with those in the CE group, the IgG levels in the DE group (513.4 ± 244.5 mg/dL) were significantly lower than those in the CE group (860.8 ± 456.5 mg/dL) (p < 0.0087). The mean hemoglobin concentration was significantly lower in the DE group (11.8 g/dL) than in the CE group (13.4 g/dL) (p < 0.05). The most frequent (48%) possible decompensation trigger factor was infection. Most of the events were registered in eutrophic patients (87.9%), despite which 65.2% and 50% of patients who experienced decompensated and compensated events, respectively, presented with hypogammaglobulinemia G. These findings provide evidence of the immunodeficiency of PD patients, independent of their nutritional status. We suggest that PD patients be managed as immunocompromised independently of their nutritional status or metabolic state (compensated or decompensated).

VARIATION ORDERS DURING EXECUTION OF CONSTRUCTION INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS: CASE STUDY OF AN ELECTRICITY COMPANY

Electricity plays a fundamental role in efforts towards sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The South African government resolved to build new power-generating plants, but the completion of these projects has been affected by different variation orders. An investigation was conducted using the compensation events and variation committee records from different stations in the SAP database to determine the trend of the variation orders that were raised during the execution of the new stations and at existing plants. The results showed that factors such as scope change, integration between packages, design errors, and expedited schedules contributed to the variation orders during the execution of the infrastructure projects.

Development of risk inventory for hospitals in India

Introduction With the ever-increasing hazards and associated risks in healthcare, the healthcare facilities should have a comprehensive enterprise risk management program. Risk management in Indian Healthcare is nascent and not structured. With the increasing potentially compensable events, workplace violence, cybersecurity threats, complex accreditation standards, old infrastructure and ever-changing legal and political scenarios, the risk inventory is expanding, leading to litigations due to lack of mitigation strategies. This study focuses on developing a comprehensive organization wide enterprise risk inventory for the healthcare facilities in India. Method Secondary data from published studies were collated and 25 risk factors were identified. Interviews with 12 domain experts further identified 38 context and country-specific risks. The identified 63 risks were sent to 20 senior healthcare risk managers. Forty-three risks were unique and were validated by the senior healthcare risk managers. Twenty risks out of 63 identified had similar meaning. These 20 risks were reworded, rephrased and merged into eight risks by the senior healthcare risk managers. The 51 risks were endorsed by the 12 domain experts. The identified risk factors were surveyed among the risk managers from various hospitals to understand the importance and ranking of the risk in the Indian context. Results Sentinel events/Never events appeared in different rank orders and seems to be among the top five risks as perceived by professionals in India. Second highest ranked risk was ‘Staff attrition’. The data analysis showed the different attributes of survey participants, such as the size of the organization with respect to bed capacity and length of time working in the field of risk management. Conclusion The results provide valuable insights into the perception of risk based on hospital size and the educational background of risk managers. This inventory may help hospitals develop strategies for mitigating, controlling and monitoring risks for better hospital management.

Interpreting Contractual Rights to COVID-19 Remedies: An Analysis of Cases

The construction industry has been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic including significant delays on projects and outbreaks of COVID-19 on site. UK legal cases interpreting contractual rights to COVID-19 remedies are analyzed in this paper. The analysis of UK legal cases regarding potential contractual rights to COVID-19 remedies including change in law, force majeure, and frustration has revealed the barriers to recovery of losses. Instead, construction companies could consider focusing on more commonly used contract provisions, for example, extensions of time and prolongation claims or compensation events. The UK Supreme Court has ruled on the possibility of payment from business interruption insurance. Even the UK government has failed to comply with public procurement law under pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic. The High Court in London has ruled that landlords are entitled to recover rent and service charges owed to them by tenants whose businesses were mandated to close by coronavirus restrictions.

Housing demolition and financial market investment: evidence from Chinese household data

ABSTRACT This paper estimates the impact of housing demolitions on households’ investment behaviour in financial markets in China using a large microeconomic data set. This study provides new evidence on the effect of demolitions on families’ investment behaviour from a natural experiment created by housing demolition and compensation events. We find that housing demolitions significantly increase households’ participation in risky financial markets. Households’ portfolio choices in responses to demolitions vary substantially across household characteristics. The affected households in urban areas and those with cash compensation are more likely to participate in risky asset markets, while the affected low-income families decrease investment in financial markets. To understand the underlying mechanisms, we propose a framework of how housing demolitions increase households’ financial asset allocation. Our results indicate that changes in precautionary motive for savings and risk preference hold substantial importance.

Downtime Distribution, Risk Volatility, and Optimal Backup VMs Allocation in Cloud Services

Service Level Agreement (SLA) is an important basis to ensure the availability of cloud service. Cloud service providers seek to not only fulfill the SLA, but also simultaneously minimize the risk uncertainty. Under such a mechanism, service providers look forward to determine the optimal number of backup virtual machines (VMs) to minimize operational costs. In this paper, we propose a data-driven risk measurement method under multi-stage SLA and empirically portray the likelihood and risk values of compensation events at different stages under several service periods. Furthermore, a multi-objective optimization function is established to balance the provisioning cost and risk volatility for cloud service providers with different risk preferences. This paper provides a practical method to cloud service providers by addressing the risk uncertainty in multi-stage SLA from cloud computing resource management perspective.

Utilizing Worker's Compensation Claims to Assess sars-cov-2 Transmission in Healthcare Workers at a Large Health System

BackgroundHealthcare workers may be at an increased risk for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) transmission due to prolonged, close contact with infectious patients. Therefore, it is imperative that healthcare organizations develop effective control measures to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2, including the use of personal protective equipment. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of control measures implemented at our health system through evaluation of worker's compensation reported exposures and accepted claims.MethodsWorkplace exposure and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was determined using a communicable disease reporting process through worker's compensation between March 1, 2020 and August 31, 2020 at a multicenter health system. The total number of employees positive for SARS-CoV-2 was extracted from Employee Health laboratory reports.ResultsA total of 693 COVID-19 related exposures were reported from 3/1/2020 to 8/31/2020. Of those, 85 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Through the worker's compensation event investigation and physician review, 51 employees (7.4% of reported exposures) were determined to have, on a medically more probable than not basis, acquired SARS-CoV-2 from a workplace exposure (26 patient exposures, 14 co-worker exposures, 6 patient and co-worker exposures, and 5 unknown exposures). The overall number of employee positives during the study time period was 441. Workplace acquisition accounted for 11.6% of the employee cases.ConclusionsOf the reported COVID-19 exposures, 7.4% resulted in workplace transmission, indicating that control measures implemented by the health system are effective at limiting virus transmission in the workplace. Additionally, workplace associated cases accounted for 11.5% of overall employee positives, suggesting that employees are acquiring the virus in settings other than the workplace. This data reinforces the effectiveness of the hierarchy of controls in preventing workplace hazards and emphasizes the need for healthcare workers to practice infection prevention measures both in and outside of the workplace to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Secondary prevention of variceal bleeding in adults with previous oesophageal variceal bleeding due to decompensated liver cirrhosis: a network meta-analysis.

Secondary prevention of variceal bleeding in adults with previous oesophageal variceal bleeding due to decompensated liver cirrhosis: a network meta-analysis.

MPTP Proteins Regulated by Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Mellitus Are Effectively Involved in the Processes of Maintaining Myocardial Metabolic Adaptation.

Mitochondrial permeability transition pores (mPTPs) have become an important topic in investigating the initiation and signaling pathways involved in cardioprotection. Experimental streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus (D) was shown to provide sufficient protection to the myocardium via compensatory mechanisms enabling mitochondria to produce energy under pathological conditions during the acute phase. The hypothesized involvement of mPTPs in these processes prompted us to use liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis to investigate the effects of the acute-phase D condition on the structural and regulatory components of this multienzyme complex and the changes caused by compensation events. We detected ADT1, ATP5H, ATPA, and ATPB as the most abundant mPTP proteins. The between-group differences in protein abundance of the mPTP complex as a whole were significantly upregulated in the D group when compared with the control (C) group (p = 0.0106), but fold changes in individual protein expression levels were not significantly altered except for ATP5H, ATP5J, and KCRS. However, none of them passed the criterion of a 1.5-fold change in differential expression for biologically meaningful change. Visualization of the (dis-)similarity between the C and D groups and pairwise correlations revealed different patterns of protein interactions under the C and D conditions which may be linked to endogenous protective processes, of which beneficial effects on myocardial function were previously confirmed.

Briefing: Time-bar provisions of NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract clause W1.3

This briefing expounds on the time-barring mechanism of the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract, which has been used incorrectly to time-bar contractors from referring to adjudication claims for payment of the precise amount of money due to the contractor. This briefing demonstrates that such claims may be referred to adjudication within 2 to 4 weeks of the notification of the dispute given at any time, provided that the notice of the compensation event arising from the project manager’s negligent assessment of the amount due is given before the defects date.

Identification and Assessment of Compensation Events under Public Procurement Authoritys Conditions of Contract for Medium Contracts: Consultant, Client and Contractors Perspective

This article which is the first in the compensation events series identified significant compensation events in relation to construction time from the perspective of the consultant, client and contractor. Significant compensation events under cost and profit will be looked at in the subsequent papers. Quantitative research approach was espoused and purposive sampling was used to determine the respondents. Twenty-five identified compensation events were significantly tested and ranked in order of importance using the relative importance index. Inexperience, poor communication and clients with no technical background were identified to be the most significant. Factor analysis carried out indicated that variables had common underlying factors. The significant common factors of compensation events identified after reduction analysis were work interruptions, inconsistent instructions and late implementation. It was also revealed that compensation events tend to drag most construction projects. Hence, their origination must be assessed and solutions implemented for a successful project completion.

Identification and assessment of compensation events under Public Procurement Authority's conditions of contract for medium contracts: consultant, client and contractor's perspective

This article which is the first in the compensation events series identified significant compensation events in relation to construction time from the perspective of the consultant, client and contractor. Significant compensation events under cost and profit will be looked at in the subsequent papers. Quantitative research approach was espoused and purposive sampling was used to determine the respondents. Twenty-five identified compensation events were significantly tested and ranked in order of importance using the relative importance index. Inexperience, poor communication and clients with no technical background were identified to be the most significant. Factor analysis carried out indicated that variables had common underlying factors. The significant common factors of compensation events identified after reduction analysis were work interruptions, inconsistent instructions and late implementation. It was also revealed that compensation events tend to drag most construction projects. Hence, their origination must be assessed and solutions implemented for a successful project completion.

14. L’éducation de la SS et de la police à la « vision du monde » dans la guerre d’extermination contre l’Union soviétique

How did SS men and police officers become executors of the “final solution”? The article examines the role of anti-Semitic incitement as part of a complex bundle of factors which marked the transition to genocide at the beginning of the campaign in Russia. The men acted in the context of fundamental beliefs and patterns of thought which had been solidly engrained into the organisational structure of the troop apparatus and which were geared towards group-specific and individual levels of expectations in their focus on “enemies of the Reich”. Training in the “Jewish question” provided a frame of reference that helped to legitimise and integrate various components of anti-Jewish practice. Himmler’s training officers used a range of methods in which elements of modern pedagogy were mixed with the cultivation of prejudices, compensation events and camaraderie cult.

Secondary prevention of bleeding in people with previous oesophageal variceal bleeding due to decompensated liver cirrhosis: a network meta-analysis

Secondary prevention of bleeding in people with previous oesophageal variceal bleeding due to decompensated liver cirrhosis: a network meta-analysis

Regeneration of the germline in the annelid Capitella teleta

The germline is essential for sexual reproduction and survival of the species. In many metazoans, the developmental potential to generate a distinct germline is segregated from somatic cell lineages early in embryogenesis, suggesting that the unique features of the germline must be established from its onset. Previous studies suggest that germ cells cannot regenerate once removed from the embryo, but few animals have been experimentally tested. We investigated the ability of the germline to regenerate in a lophotrochozoan, the segmented worm Capitella teleta, which has a stereotyped cell lineage program by deleting the germline precursor (cell 3D) in early stage embryos using an infrared laser. Larvae and juveniles resulting from germline deletions were examined for presence of multipotent progenitor cells (MPCs), stem cells that form the germ cells and somatic stem cells. In contrast to control deletions of a non-germline macromere, most larvae resulting from deletion of cell 3D lacked MPCs as assayed by expression of germline markers CapI-vasa, CapI-nanos and Ct-piwi1, but showed persistent expression of these markers in the somatic posterior growth zone. However, approximately 13% of experimental larvae had MPCs, indicative of some germline regeneration. In contrast, by two weeks post-metamorphosis, all juveniles resulting from deletion of cell 3D had MPCs, as detected by CapI-vasa expression. Furthermore, when raised to adulthood, most animals developed reproductive structures and were fertile. In another set of deletions, both the D quadrant mesodermal and germline progenitors were removed. These juveniles also regenerated MPCs. Surprisingly, this deletion caused substantial ectopic expression of CapI-vasa and CapI-nanos in other larval tissues. Our results indicate that C. teleta can regenerate the germline following removal of the germline progenitors in the early embryo. The dramatic difference in ability to regenerate the germline between the larval and adult stages suggests that there are two distinct compensation events at two phases of the life cycle: a regulative event in the early stage larva and a stem cell transition event after metamorphosis, when the animals are capable of substantial body regeneration.

High-resolution, millennial-scale patterns of bed compensation on a sand-rich intraslope submarine fan, western Niger Delta slope

Near-seafloor core and seismic-reflection data from the western Niger Delta continental slope document the facies, architecture, and evolution of submarine channel and intraslope submarine fan deposits. The submarine channel enters an 8 km long x 8 km wide intraslope basin, where more than 100 m of deposits form an intraslope submarine fan. Lobe deposits in the intraslope submarine fan show no significant downslope trend in sand presence or grain size, indicating that flows were bypassing sediment through the basin. This unique dataset indicates that intraslope lobe deposits may have more sand-rich facies near lobe edges than predicted by traditional lobe facies models, and that thickness patterns in intraslope submarine fans do not necessarily correlate with sand presence and/or quality. Core and radiocarbon age data indicate that sand beds progressively stack southward during the late Pleistocene, resulting in the compensation of at least two lobe elements. The youngest lobe element is well characterized by core data and is sand-rich, ~ 2 km wide x 6 km long, > 1 m thick, and was deposited rapidly over ca. 4,000 yr, from 18-14 ka. Sand beds forming an earlier lobe element were deposited on the northern part of the fan from ca. 25 to 18 ka. Seafloor geomorphology and amplitudes from seismic reflection data confirm the location and age of these two compensating lobe elements. A third compensation event would have shifted sand deposition back to the northern part of the fan, but sediment supply was interrupted by rapid sea level rise during Meltwater Pulse 1-A at ca. 14 ka, resulting in abandonment of the depositional system.

Compensation events in NEC3 contracts: case studies from South Africa

Compensation events can have significant consequences on project objectives. However, not much systematic research has been done on the occurrence of NEC compensation event in projects for the purpose of controlling and minimising their impact. The specific objectives of this study are to conduct a systematic review of literature on NEC compensation events and to conduct a systematic analysis of compensation events in four NEC-procured projects in South Africa to examine their extent, effects and sources. Publications mentioning ‘compensation events’ were reviewed based on papers by academic researchers, articles by practitioners in the NEC Users’ Group Newsletter and papers by construction lawyers published by the UK Society of Construction Law. The 84 publications demonstrate 15 operational aspects of compensation events. Thereafter the data on compensation events in four NEC-procured building projects in South Africa (the largest being £9 million) are analysed based on final accounts. The findings demonstrate a significant number of compensation events (165 altogether) with most arising from incomplete or late work information. Employers wishing to control and minimise compensation events on projects should be more decisive about their requirements and implement professional service agreements that incentivise members of the professional team to perform their role timelier and efficiently.

Late disputes and the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract

Surveys show growing use of the third edition of the New Engineering Contract (NEC3) family of contracts. One of the reasons for project owners’ choice of the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract is the avoidance of the risk of claims and disputes long after project completion. In several cases not involving NEC3 contracts, UK courts have been presented with difficult questions concerning adjudication after project completion and delayed reference of adjudicated disputes to the applicable final tribunal. This paper critically examines these questions, the courts’ answers to them and their implications for the NEC3 family of contracts. It concludes that the drafters of future editions of the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract should consider provisions targeted at: ensuring that the test of awareness for the purposes of the clause 61.3 time-bar is on an objective basis; conclusive evidence clauses that impose a disincentive against seriously delayed challenges to assessment of compensation events and payment; and providing that the decision of an adjudicator becomes finally binding if the dispute decided is not referred to the tribunal within a stated period.

The association between employee obesity and employer costs: evidence from a panel of U.S. employers.

To estimate the employer costs associated with employee obesity. The study used cross-sectional analysis of employee health-risk assessment, disability, workers' compensation, and medical claims data from 2006 to 2008. The study took place in the United States from 2006 to 2008. A panel database with 29,699 employees drawn from a panel of employers and observed for 3 years each (N = 89,097) was used. Workdays lost owing to illness and disability; the cost of medical, short-term disability, and workers' compensation claims; and employees' adjusted body mass indices (BMI) were measured. We model the number and probability of workdays lost from illness, short-term disability, and workers' compensation events; short-term disability and workers' compensation payments; and health care spending as a function of BMI. We estimate spline regression models and fit results using a third-degree fractional polynomial. Probability of disability, workers' compensation claims, and number of days missed owing to any cause increase with BMI above 25, as do total employer costs. The probability of a short-term disability claim increases faster for employees with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or diabetes. Normal weight employees cost on average $3830 per year in covered medical, sick day, short-term disability, and workers' compensation claims combined; morbidly obese employees cost more than twice that amount, or $8067, in 2011 dollars. Obesity is associated with large employer costs from direct health care and insurance claims and indirect costs from lost productivity owing to workdays lost because of illness and disability.

Serious adverse events and compensation in registration trials: a review of data from a Japanese university hospital.

BackgroundClinical trials leading to regulatory approval, or registration trials, play a central role in the development of drugs and medical devices. The contribution of support staff, such as the clinical research coordinator (CRC) and administrative officers, in registration trials is now widely recognized. Attending to serious adverse events is an important duty of the CRC and investigators alike, and managing these complications and compensation constitutes a key responsibility. We retrospectively examined the frequency of serious adverse events and compensation events reported from 2007 through 2011 at Tokushima University Hospital, an academic hospital in rural Japan. We present herein the results of our analysis.ResultsOver the five-year period, 284 subjects participating in 106 registration trials experienced a total of 43 serious adverse events, and eight compensation events were documented. Among the serious adverse events, 35 (81.4%) were considered not related to the investigational drug, and 17 (39.5%) resulted in withdrawal of the study drug. Patients with malignant diseases experienced serious adverse events significantly more frequently compared to those with non-malignant diseases (28.3% versus 8.2%, respectively; P < 0.01).ConclusionsThe CRC should be vigilant for serious adverse events in oncology clinical trials due to the generally higher frequency of these complications in subjects with malignancy. However, on an individual basis, the CRC may be seldom involved in the process for compensating serious adverse events. Therefore, the CRC’s ability to share such experiences may serve as an opportunity for educating clinical trial support staff at the study site as well as those at other sites. However, further study is warranted to determine the role of the clinical trial support staff in optimizing methods for managing adverse events requiring compensation in registration trials.