Formal Agreements Research Articles

Knowledge spillovers, R&D partnerships and innovation performance

A prime motive for innovative firms to seek collaboration is to gain access to knowledge resources. Firms that already benefit from knowledge spillovers without establishing formal collaborative agreements, may abstain from embarking on such agreements as they are costly. The propensity to (start to or continue to) collaborate with other business partners (customers, suppliers, competitors) will be associated with whether firms already benefit from access to knowledge resources, either through existing collaboration or otherwise. This research studies the interplay of formal collaboration and incoming spillovers by distinguishing four collaboration-spillovers scenarios: ‘connected’, ‘detached’, ‘informed’ or ‘extraneous’. Using a large panel data set of Spanish firms during the period 2004–2016 we examine effects of the four scenarios on firms' propensity for continuing or starting collaboration. We subsequently estimate the effect of these scenarios on firm innovation performance. Our findings suggest that incoming knowledge spillovers may amplify or limit collaboration, but that they only partly substitute formal collaboration when it comes to impact on performance.

The Maternal Covenant role and function of the mother in the social field

ABSTRACT Juliet Mitchell suggested the need for a principle to intervene at the level of sibling murderousness and called it the law of the mother in reference to Jacques Lacan’s law of the father. While binding the mother and the child to an agreement, this principle does not possess all the properties of a Law. This type of formal agreement has existed in legal thinking since the highest antiquity and is called a covenant. The covenant is not universal, it is valid only for the two parties who commit to it and its transgression is not penalised by a third party representative of the Other. I have called this regulatory principle the Maternal Covenant. It’s power rests on a metonymic process, in which the mother invokes kinship while hiding the unconscious object of her desire. I call this process the Maternal Metonymy. The concepts of Maternal Covenant and Maternal Metonymy are useful tools for the understanding and treatment of issues such as the pathological use of violence, unbearable rivalry both within the family and in the social group, failure or dysfunctional socialisation and the consequences of indecent or shameful behaviours.

Association Between Interorganizational Collaboration in Opioid Response and Treatment Capacity for Opioid Use Disorder in Counties of Five States: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background:Local governments on the front lines of the opioid epidemic often collaborate across organizations to achieve a more comprehensive opioid response. Collaboration is especially important in rural communities, which can lack capacity for addressing health crises, yet little is known about how local collaboration in opioid response relates to key outputs like treatment capacity.Purpose:This cross-sectional study examined the association between local governments’ interorganizational collaboration activity and agonist treatment capacity for opioid use disorder (OUD), and whether this association was stronger for rural than for metropolitan communities.Methods:Data on the location of facilities providing buprenorphine and methadone were merged with a 2019 survey of all 358 counties in 5 states (CO, NC, OH, PA, and WA) that inquired about their collaboration activity for opioid response. Regression analysis was used to estimate the effect of a collaboration activity index and its constituent items on the capacity to provide buprenorphine or methadone in a county and whether this differed by urbanicity.Results:A response rate of 47.8% yielded an analytic sample of n = 171 counties, including 77 metropolitan, 50 micropolitan, and 44 rural counties. Controlling for covariates, a 1-unit increase in the collaboration activity index was associated with 0.155 (95% CI = 0.005, 0.304) more methadone facilities, ie, opioid treatment programs (OTPs), per 100 000 population. An interaction model indicated this association was stronger for rural (average marginal effect = 0.354, 95% CI = 0.110, 0.599) than for non-rural counties. Separate models revealed intergovernmental data and information sharing, formal agreements, and organizational reforms were driving the above associations. Collaboration activity did not vary with the capacity to provide buprenorphine at non-OTP facilities. Spatial models used to account for spatial dependence occurring with OUD treatment capacity showed similar results.Conclusion:Rural communities may be able to leverage collaborations in opioid response to expand treatment capacity through OTPs.

International Economic Law and Racialized “Others”

This essay seeks to show how racialized histories of global political economy have shaped core issues in international economic law. The essay begins by noting challenges to framing the topic of racialized “others,” and then turns to the case study of cotton, showing how U.S. domestic production subsidies—long a focal point of international trade law in both formal dispute settlement and agreement negotiations—have affected persons of African heritage in the United States and internationally. The essay concludes by considering the U.S. and international contexts more generally, both to demonstrate where integral structural biases are at play, and to locate areas of contingency and change.

Employer Cooperation, Productivity, and Wages: New Evidence from Inter-Firm Formal Network Agreements

Employer Cooperation, Productivity, and Wages: New Evidence from Inter-Firm Formal Network Agreements

A Survey of the Operational Environment and Regulations of Hospital Owned Helipads at Level I Trauma Centers

<h3>Introduction</h3> The Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) estimates that 400,000 patients per year are transported by rotor wing aircraft. Despite the frequent utilization of air medical transport, little is known about the operational environment and regulations of hospital owned helipads. We sought to understand the environment and regulations of hospital helipads, hypothesizing that the majority of these facilities have strict rules regarding who may use their facilities and how aircraft approach and depart. <h3>Methods</h3> We developed a 23-item survey to explore the operational environment and regulations surrounding the use of helipads at level I trauma centers in the United States. Flight crew members and administration, as well as hospital administrators, were invited to complete a multiple choice and free text survey hosted by a secure online data collection tool. The survey was publicized through relevant professional organizations, social media, and individual invitation. Descriptive statistics were calculated. <h3>Results</h3> We received 138 responses and analyzed survey data for 87 adult and pediatric level I trauma centers representing 34 states after excluding surveys that did not name a specific center, level II trauma centers, and duplicates for a facility already enrolled. The mean (SD) number of helipads controlled by a center is 2 (1) with the majority (84%) being rooftop helipads. 17/87 (20%) of facilities require a formal agreement with a transport program prior to use of their helipad. Of that group, 8/17 (47%) indicate pre-specified consequences for violation of the agreement and 7/8 (88%) of those consequences include loss of landing privileges. A minority of facilities (9%) require CAMTS accreditation as a prerequisite for helipad use, and the most common restrictions in place are specific approach paths (67%), specific departure paths (64%) and aircraft type and weight restrictions (64%). 74/87 (85%) of facilities require 10-15 minute notification prior to arrival, while only 13/87 (15%) require notification prior to departure. <h3>Conclusion</h3> There is significant variation in the operational environment and regulations surrounding the use of hospital owned helipads at level I trauma centers, with a minority requiring formal agreement for use of the helipad or specifying repercussions for violation of the agreement.

Evaluation of the Swedish school-based program “tobacco-free DUO” in a cluster randomized controlled trial (TOPAS study). Results at 2-year follow-up

Friends' and parents' tobacco use are strong predictors of tobacco uptake among adolescents, however the effectiveness of interventions based on public commitments and agreements to remain tobacco-free are not established.Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of the school-based Swedish program Tobacco-Free Duo (T-Duo) in preventing adolescents from initiating tobacco use (TOPAS study).T-Duo is a multi-component intervention witha formal agreement between a student and an adult partner to remain tobacco-free during the entire 3-year study period as core component. The standardized educational component of the same program was used as comparator (control).Primary outcome was the probability to “remain a non-user” of i) cigarettes and secondary outcomes ii) other types of tobacco at second (21-month) follow-up. Analysis was conducted according to Intention To Treat. In total 1776 adolescents (51% female) aged 12–13 in grade 7 from 34 participating high schools in Sweden were included at baseline in 2018, of which 1489 were retained after 21 months. The Risk Ratio (RR) of not having tried cigarettes 21-months after initiation of the intervention was 1.03(CI 0.98–1.08), Bayes Factor(BF) = 0.93, Absolute Risk Difference(ARD) = 3.1%. Similar associations were found for never smoked a whole cigarette and never use of other tobacco/nicotine products.There was a minimal reduction of tobacco use initiation among Swedish adolescents assigned to a multi-component intervention (T-Duo) compared to those assigned to standardized classroom education after 2 schoolyears. However, for most outcomes' findings were inconclusive and not reliably different from zero.Trial registration: ISRCTN5285808 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN52858080); Study protocol: DERR1-https://doi.org/10.2196/21100.Registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN52858080 Date: January 4, 2019, retrospectively registered.Protocol: Galanti, M.R., Pulkki-Brännström, A.-M., Nilsson, M., 2020. Tobacco-free duo adult-child contract for prevention of tobacco use among adolescents and parents: protocol for a mixed-design evaluation. JMIR Res. Protoc. 9, e21100. doi:10.2196/21100.

On feature-based vocabulary selection mechanisms in late insertion: third person number agreement in the French future tense

We propose that feature bundles in syntactic computations coactivate subset vocabulary items in content-based access. Thus, in French, an inflectional node for the future tense bearing [Number: Plural] activates third-person singular -a underspecified for [Number: Ø] and third- person plural -ont specified for [Number: Plural]. These activations compete in externalization. [Number: Ø/Plural] defines a &amp;lt;-ont, -a&amp;gt; scale where plural-marked -ont carries more information than -a, allowing scalar inferencing in form selection. Given an activated Plural-marked -ont, -a (3ps.sg) is automatically interpreted as [–Plural] via scalar inferencing and becomes unsuitable for insertion. Thus, -ont (3ps.pl) must be selected when -a (3ps.sg) is eliminated. We tested our model assuming an interaction of cross-domain inferencing with morphological selection, using two experiments. In forced-paced reading and listening tasks, 19 native speaker subjects per task classified picture probes accompanying matching and mismatching subject-verb future tense agreement. Classification times for pictures semantically linked to the verb probed for an interaction between the processing of agreement morphology and the ongoing conceptual processing of the sentence. Classification times were modulated by the type of morphological mismatch. Singular verb form mangera (eat-fut.3ps.sg) in plural contexts slowed down picture classifications, whereas plural verb form mangeront (eat-fut.3ps.pl) in singular contexts did not. This specific interaction between purely formal agreement and conceptual-structure processing is unexplained by superset models of late insertion, or by interface relations, frequency, load of stored information, and phonological cohort activation. It suggests that domain-general principles of inference enrich domain-specific feature-based computations accessing vocabulary items through the coactivation of features.

Implementing COVID-19 surveillance through inter-organizational coordination: a qualitative study of three cities in Colombia.

Introducing comprehensive surveillance is recommended as an urgent public health measure to control and mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide. However, its implementation has proven challenging as it requires inter-organizational coordination among multiple healthcare stakeholders. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of soft and hard mechanisms in the implementation of inter-organizational coordination strategies for COVID-19 surveillance within Colombia, drawing on evidence from the cities of Bogotá, Cali and Cartagena. The study used a case study approach to understand the perspectives of local and national authorities, insurance companies and health providers in the implementation of inter-organizational coordination strategies for COVID-19 surveillance. Eighty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted between June and November 2020. The data were analysed by codes and categorized using New NVivo software. The study identified inter-organizational coordination strategies that were implemented to provide COVID-19 surveillance in the three cities. Both soft (e.g. trust and shared purpose) and hard mechanisms (e.g. formal agreements and regulations) acted as mediators for collaboration and helped to address existing structural barriers in the provision of health services. The findings suggest that soft and hard mechanisms contributed to promoting change among healthcare system stakeholders and improved inter-organizational coordination for disease surveillance. The findings contribute to evidence regarding practices to improve coordinated surveillance of disease, including the roles of new forms of financing and contracting between insurers and public and private health service providers, logistics regarding early diagnosis in infectious disease and the provision of health services at the community level regardless of insurance affiliation. Our research provides evidence to improve disease surveillance frameworks in fragmented health systems contributing to public health planning and health system improvement.

The Critical Path for Alzheimer’s Disease (CPAD) Consortium: A platform for pre‐competitive data sharing, standardization, and analysis to support quantitative tools for AD drug development

AbstractBackgroundThe primary objective of the Critical Path for Alzheimer’s Disease (CPAD) consortium, a pre‐competitive consortium of the Critical Path Institute, is to promote, support, and manage pre‐competitive data and knowledge sharing from Alzheimer disease (AD) drug development stakeholders. Since 2019, CPAD has embarked on a new data sharing initiative to acquire fluid and imaging biomarker‐rich data sources for development of novel tools to quantify Alzheimer’s Disease progression across the AD continuum.MethodPatient‐level data from contemporary Phase2/Phase3 AD clinical trials and observational studies is acquired through formal data contribution agreements within CPAD, curated in collaboration with data contributors, standardized to common structure and terminology, and input into a relational data model (RDM) tool to generate analysis subsets. Data standardization is being accomplished using Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) standards. The RDM was developed using the open‐source software R and converts CDISC structure to analysis ready files for quantitative analyses through user defined primary keys, i.e. unique identifying variables for extracting information. The RDM includes a front‐end data interrogator that provides users with versatile capabilities to visualize and tabulate the data.ResultAs of October 2020, CPAD’s database (https://codr.c‐path.org/) contains 41 studies, standardized to the AD CDISC standards, of which three datasets were used to generate analysis subsets. Four additional datasets were recently acquired and are being standardized. Execution of Data Contribution Agreements (DCAs) is in progress for two contemporary datasets rich in key fluid and imaging biomarkers. Nine additional prioritized datasets are targeted for acquisition. The RDM is currently being used to transform the CDISC standardized data into analysis ready subsets containing patient demographics (age, sex), fluid biomarker information (Aβ 40/42), and clinical outcome assessments (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale – Sum of Boxes).ConclusionThe data acquisition and analysis platform developed is stimulating pre‐competitive efforts to generate quantitative tools for advancing AD drug development. Previously developed tools, including a regulatory endorsed clinical trial simulation tool, help optimize trial design and advance drug development in AD.

Vin nacvalsaxelis mravlobiti ricxvis sakitxisatvis tanamedrove kartulshi /ვინ ნაცვალსახელის მრავლობითი რიცხვის საკითხისათვის თანამედროვე ქართულში [On the Issue of the Plural Form of the Pronoun ‘vin’ (‘who’) in Modern Georgian

The pronoun ‘vin’ (‘who’) is an ancient lexical item. It has neither a complete paradigm of declension nor a category of number; abundance can be expressed by doubling the stem: vin movida? – vin da vin movidnen? (tamari da nino movidnen) (Who came? – Who and who came? (Tamar and Nino came). From the 19th century, the –‘eb’ form of the pronoun ‘vin’ – ‘vinebi’ (‘whos’) emerges in the mountainous dialects of the Georgian language, as “ an attempt to create a plural form’’ of the ‘vin’ pronoun (A. Shanidze). From the following period, ‘vinebi’ (the ‘whos’) spread to other dialects, in general, to the Georgian language, and here and there even in fiction. Today it is especially noticeable in the speech of young people and children. It seems that the media, social network, and other means of communication also contribute to this process. In our opinion, the basis for the emergence and further spread of the ‘vinebi’ can be: 1. The need for formal agreement (apart from the semantic one) of the pronoun ‘vin’ (‘vints’) (who ([the one] who) with the verb and the corresponding word (vin iq’o stumari -vin iq’o stumrebi&gt;vin iq’vnen stumrebi || vin da vin iq’vnen stumrebi || vinebi iq’vnen stumrebi) (Who was the guest – Who was the guests &gt; Who were the guests || Who and who were the guests || Whos were the guests); 2. The analogy of the production of other pronouns formed with the suffix -eb (ra - ra-n-i, ra da ra || raebi. (‘what’) Cf. vin-vin and vin || vinebi (‘who’); also dialect forms: amaebi, magaebi, magnebi, agenebi, eseebi, isebi/isnebi… (these/those); 3. The general regularity of a language involves giving more space to organic production compared to the descriptive one and facilitating the pronunciation, etc. (ra da ra moitkhoves? vin da vin ts’avidnen? Cf. raebi moitkhoves? vinebi ts’avidnen?). (What and what did they demand? Who and who went? Cf. What did they demand? Who left?). The form ‘vinebi’ (‘whos’) which is incorrect for the literary language is a new reality. Its future will probably be determined by the language itself. საკვანძო სიტყვები: ქართული ენის მორფოლოგია, ნაცვალსახელის წარმოება, ნაცვალსახელის მრავლობითი რიცხვის გამოხატვა. Keywords: Morphology of the Georgian language, pronoun formation, expressing plural in pronouns.

PECULIARITIES OF TRANSLATION OF TEXTS OF GERMAN-SPEAKING OFFICIAL AND BUSINESS DISCOURSE

The purpose of our article was to analyze the peculiarities of the translation of texts of German-language official business discourse. The object of our research is international agreements between Ukraine and Germany (German and Ukrainian), and the subject is the peculiarities of their translation. It should be noted that the documents of interstate nature on the legal basis of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Ukraine, which are posted on the website of the Embassy of Ukraine in Germany (Botschaft der Ukraine in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kyiv Києві (Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Kiew). In our study, we used general scientific methods (induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis), methods of linguistic analysis, such as communicative-pragmatic and interpretive analysis of the text, as well as contrastive translation analysis, which is considered the main method of comparing the original text and translated text. The article describes the lexical, grammatical and stylistic features of the texts of international agreements, taking into account the specifics of the official business style in the German and Ukrainian language pictures of the world. The texts of the analyzed agreements are the sphere of concentration of nationally marked vocabulary and features of the socio-political state of the country. The level of translation of formal agreements implies the preservation of the stylistic features of the original text as much as possible. The study found that current trends in the translation of official business discourse, including international agreements, show that the typological features of the German and Ukrainian languages impose restrictions on the use of translation transformations such as tracing, preferring lexical-semantic transformations (concretization) and grammatical substitutions (replacement of grammatical category, replacement of grammatical form, syntactic transformations of sentence structure). At the same time, for the transfer of non-equivalent vocabulary there is an increasing tendency to use the nominations established for the practice of translation and international communication in the framework of equivalent translation, transliteration, to a lesser extent - transcription. Within the framework of text units, complex transformations are often more obvious when translated into Ukrainian. Key words: official business discourse, German-Ukrainian international agreements, professional translation, translation strategies.

A Survey on Improving QoS in Service Level Agreement for Cloud Computing Environment

Cloud computing is considered one of the most important techniques in the field of distributed computing which contributes to maintain increased scalability and flexibility in computer processing. This is achieved because it, using the Internet, provides different resources and shared services with minimum costs. Cloud service providers (CSPs) offer many different services to their customers, where the customers’ needs are met seeking the highest levels of quality at the lowest considerate prices. The relationship between CSPs and customers must be determined in a formal agreement, and to ensure how the QoS between them will be fulfilled, a clear Service Level Agreement (SLA) must be called for. Several previously-proposed models used in the literature to improve the QoS in the SLA for cloud computing and to face many of the challenges in the SLA are reviewed in this paper. We also addressed the challenges that are related to the violations of SLAs, and how overcoming them will enhance customers’ satisfaction. Furthermore, we proposed a model based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) and an enhanced DRL agent (EDRLA). In this model, and by optimizing the learning process in EDRLA, proposed agents would be able to have optimal CSPs by improving the learning process in EDRLA. This improvement will be reflected in the agent's performance and considerably affect it, especially in identifying cloud computing requirements based on the QoS metrics.

Engaging North Korea: The Warming-up Phase

North Korea and the United States are edging towards re-engagement. They agree in principle on pursuing a phased approach to negotiations but disagree on how to begin and what the end goal should be. A warming-up phase can allow states to informally explore specific options for future engagement. By participating in activities such as table-top exercises, simulations and familiarisation visits, the participants develop a more specific understanding of the purpose and format of the activities and verification measures that might follow a formal agreement. This process engages the technical and military bureaucracies at an early stage. It provides a private setting to raise concerns and address misunderstandings. It is an opportunity to demonstrate goodwill and interest in engagement that does not require concessions. Drawing on past examples, this article suggests specific options for a warming-up phase involving North Korea and the United States.

Formal and informal contract farming in Mozambique: Socially embedded relations of agricultural intensification

AbstractThis paper explores the role of contract farming arrangements in agricultural intensification in sub‐Saharan Africa, combining secondary literature and original case material from Mozambique. The paper extends the scope of “contract farming” beyond the formal contracts between large companies and small‐scale producers to include less formal credit agreements between farmers and traders. It argues that such informal contract arrangements are evidence of farmers' agency in “real markets.” In the studied cases, farmers use contract farming opportunities to intensify agricultural production by investing in irrigation and inputs. While informal contracts typically concern locally consumed crops, thus with more possibilities for side selling than formal contracts for export crops with company‐controlled markets, informal contract compliance reflects closely knit social ties between the contracting parties. In both formal and informal contracts, purchasers tend to seek out producers who are already irrigating, thus obtaining gains from farmers' earlier investments. This also implies contract farming as a mechanism for accelerating social differentiation arising from unequal access to irrigation. The paper argues that the significance of informal contracts in the studied cases raises the possibility that informal contract farming by local traders plays a more important role in agrarian transformation in Africa than formal contract farming by large companies.

The use of Real-World Data (RWD) by Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies

Abstract Issue There are divergent views between HTA bodies and pharmaceutical industry on the potential for RWD to inform determination of added benefit or value for money of new medicines. However, exploration of use of RWD is now essential as more high-cost innovative therapies come to market with short-term uncontrolled trials. Description of problem Payers are increasingly seeing use of RWD to fill evidence gaps in clinical development programmes, including external control arms or collection of RWD after initial assessment to determine real-life effectiveness or duration of benefit. An international multi-stakeholder initiative, RWE4Decisions, led by the Belgian Payer - RIZIV/INAMI - has explored these issues over the past few years. They have proposed that all stakeholders including industry, clinicians, regulators, patients and methodologists need to be involved to determine what questions can be answered by RWD and ensuring data is of sufficient quality to generate robust real-world evidence (RWE). Alongside this, the IMPACT HTA Project has reviewed use of RWD in specific rare disease case studies. Results Several HTA/Payers have implemented RWD collection schemes, but few have been successful in delivering sufficient evidence to enable re-assessment of treatment value. Italy is an exception, with a national web-based registry system. Other countries prefer to rely on secondary use of health system data and links to clinical registries, but curating and analysing these data can be complex. The case studies show how more recently some countries are overcoming these challenges by entering into more formal agreements with stakeholders to ensure purposive data collection. Lessons There is a need to publish protocols and reports related to RWD collection in an international portal. If possible, dialogues among bodies should happen in advance to align RWD collection requirements and facilitate data analysis.

Supply chain roles and performance measurement procedures: evidence from Brazilian agribusiness companies

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent to which companies’ roles in supply chain coordination mechanisms affect supply chain (S.C.) performance measurement processes. It addresses the gap in the S.C. performance measurement literature for empirical studies of participant roles across whole supply chains. A survey of 114 individual agribusiness companies was undertaken in Brazil, and it was found that both performance measurement process and performance indicators selection were statistically related to the role played by companies in supply chain coordination mechanisms. Usage of performance indicators regarding new customers and quality was also statistically related to the role played by companies in supply chain mechanisms, as was the overall usage of internal processes performance indicators. The findings also suggest that the specificities of an S.C. coordination mechanism could be related to the design and implementation of S.C. management control practices, rather than being based only on contracts and formal long term agreements.

Infections and multiple sclerosis: Recommendations from the French Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Viral, bacterial, or fungal infections are suspected of triggering multiple sclerosis (MS) and promoting relapses of the disease and are likely to be promoted by immune-active treatments. This raises questions about the infectious workup and preventive treatment of these infections prior to their initiation. To establish recommendations on infections and MS. Provide information to patients and healthcare professionals on the minimal infectious workup to be performed in an MS patient at diagnosis and prior to initiation of immuno-active therapy in MS. The recommendation attempts to answer four main questions about infections and MS. The French Group for Recommendations in Multiple Sclerosis (France4MS) did a systematic review of articles from PubMed and universities databases (from January 1975 to June 2020), using the RAND/UCLA formalized consensus method. The RAND/UCLA method has been developed to synthesize the scientific literature and expert opinions on health care topics and was used for reaching a formal agreement. Twenty-three experts contributed to the detailed review and a group of 63 multidisciplinary health professionals validated the final version of 36 recommendations. It is recommended that MS patients undergo a minimal infectious workup, check their vaccination status at diagnosis, and repeat it during follow-up and before starting immunotherapy. Screening and preventive treatment of viral (group Herpes virus, HPV, JCV, HCV, HBV), bacterial (mycobacteria) and fungal (Cryptococcus) infections is recommended prior to the initiation of certain immuno-active MS therapies. At diagnosis of MS and prior to the choice of therapeutic strategy, it is recommended to update the vaccination schedule of MS patients in reference to the HCSP vaccination schedule and the SFSEP recommendations. Before starting immunosuppressive treatment, it is recommended to inform patients of the risks of infections and to look for a constitutive or acquired immune deficiency. Health professionals and patients should be informed of the updated recommendations on infections and MS.

The Role of Large Dams in a Transboundary Drought Management Co-Operation Framework—Case Study of the Kabul River Basin

Hydrologic drought is a frequent phenomenon in the transboundary Kabul River Basin (KRB), the vital resource shared between the two nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the KRB has vast water resources, these resources are subject to extreme hydrologic events and, as a result, are not adequately managed to deal with the stress during drought conditions in the transboundary setting with no formal agreement or treaty. Rapid population growth and increases in agricultural land will require balanced water distribution to meet the array of needs. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is used to evaluate distribution options for flow frequencies under existing and proposed large dams in the headwaters of the KRB. The calibrated SWAT streamflow results are employed for statistical analyses of the Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI) and Annual Cumulative Deficit Volume (ACDV) to investigate hydrologic drought time series and identify the role of proposed dams to be used for drought mitigation. Based on the SSI, proposed dams can provide additional storage that will partially address hydrologic droughts in the future. At the same time, restrictions on agricultural land expansion and water intakes are other measures to facilitate balanced water resource availability. This study discusses the intricacies of transboundary conflict and cooperation, water rights, and drought risk management; as well, recommendations for a KRB transboundary Drought Task Force (DTF) between Afghanistan and Pakistan are provided, to develop a science-based policy for using the stored waters in large dams for drought relief, fairly and transparency.

A Common Space of International Work: Disability Activism, Socialist Internationalism, and the Russian Union of the Blind

After the Second World War, blind activists in Eastern Europe were busy rebuilding their prewar advocacy movements and integrating them in the administrative structure and ideological apparatus of the emerging socialist states. As they set up their new national programs, these activists also attributed great significance to international cooperation. They recognized the value that could be derived from international relations not only with the Soviet Union but also across the entire socialist camp, and moved fast to build an intra‐socialist, shared space of blind advocacy. In particular, blind activists from East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary launched a series of initiatives aimed at cementing their commonality of goals and making the exchange of disability knowledge practically possible among them. These included International Sport Competitions of Blind Youth, blind vacationers' exchange programs, and formal agreements of cultural collaboration. All their international work, however, would have been of little use had the Russian Blind Union refused to be involved in it. Analyzing the personal letters, internal reports, and official public statements written by various Russian and East European blind activists, in this article I discuss the ways in which the Russian Blind Union entered the international scene of socialist blind activism and shaped its development. In the context of Khrushchev's broader shifts to revamp the domestic and international realities of Soviet life, Russian blind activists joined the network of contacts that their Eastern European colleagues had built and took up a commanding role in it. They began to use international work both to advance the propaganda goals of their government and to improve their own national advocacy movement. In doing that, they significantly augmented the meaning of socialist blind internationalism as a theater of cultural diplomacy, while also reinforcing its framing as a socialist learning space, an opportunity that would benefit the blind people of the socialist world. Their encounters with Eastern European colleagues allowed Russian activists to compare notes and expand their conceptual horizons; they exposed both the achievements and the limits of the Soviet approach to disability; and they suggested that there was much that Russians could learn from other countries. Studying these processes, historians can not only better assess Soviet claims of superiority and the paradoxes of socialist cultural exchanges, but also think about the specific meaning of these contacts for blind activist–a group that we rarely associate with internationalism during the Cold War. Ultimately, as I argue in this article, transnational socialist encounters taught Russian blind activists to balance their identity as state officers and cultural diplomats with their motives as disability advocates.