Potential Funding Sources Research Articles

Tackling the ICT Infrastructure Gap for the Successful Implementation of E-Government Projects

This article describes how the promised transformative reform agenda of e-government is challenged particularly due to the lack or non-availability of adequate ICT infrastructure and finances to successfully develop and implement e-government projects around the world. The One Belt One Road (B&R) strategy spearheaded by the Chinese Government has been identified as a potential funding source for e-government projects through ICT infrastructure investment. Adequate ICT infrastructure investment in member countries under the Belt and Road initiatives could reduce the huge ICT infrastructure gap hampering the execution of e-government programs. This article, therefore, recommends the formation of the Belt and Road ICT Infrastructure Investment Fund (B&R ICT Infrastructure Fund) under the OBOR strategy to allow member countries to source funds for the execution of e-government projects. This will not only drastically increase the completion/success rate of e-government projects but also translate into improved public service delivery and enhanced government interaction—engagement—with citizens and businesses.

Data Science in Healthcare: Implications for Early Career Investigators.

The confluence of science, technology, and medicine in our dynamic digital era has spawned new data applications to develop prescriptive analytics, to improve healthcare personalization and precision medicine, and to automate the reporting of health data for clinical decisions.1 Data science in health care has seen recent and rapid progress along 3 paths: (1) through big data via the aggregation of large and complex data sets including electronic medical records, social media, genomic databases, and digitized physiological data from wireless mobile health devices2; (2) through new open-access initiatives that seek to leverage the availability of clinical trial, research, and citizen science data sources for data sharing3; and (3) in analytic techniques particularly for big data, including machine learning and artificial intelligence that may enhance the analyses of both structured and unstructured data.4 As new data sets are created, analyzed, and become increasingly available, several key questions emerge including the following: What is the quality of unstructured data generation? Will the use of nonstandardized methods in data processing with traditional software and hardware lead to data fragmentation and analyses that are nonreproducible? Will healthcare systems incorporate and use big data especially from new publically and patient-generated sources? How will physicians and researchers learn from new open-sourced data and big-data analytics? And ultimately, How can they acquire the skills to create a knowledge translation in data sciences?5 Practicing in an era of continuous payment reform and decline in research funding, early career investigators are challenged to keep up with the accelerating pace of change in medicine, all while being expected to provide meaningful contributions through productive clinical, educational, and research experiences.6 In this perspective, we aim to highlight how data science can catalyze professional advancement and discuss the implications of big data, open access, …

Permitting patients to pay for participation in clinical trials: the advent of the P4 trial

In this article we explore the ethical issues raised by permitting patients to pay for participation (P4) in clinical trials, and discuss whether there are any categorical objections to this practice. We address key considerations concerning payment for participation in trials, including patient autonomy, risk/benefit and justice, taking account of two previous critiques of the ethics of P4. We conclude that such trials could be ethical under certain strict conditions, but only if other potential sources of funding have first been explored or are unavailable.

Development Of The AI-312 Gas Turbine Engine For The Modernization Of The Ukrainian Gas Transport System With Import-Substituting Equipment

The article makes a generalized analysis of prospects of the European gas market and the condition of Ukraine’s gas transportation network as well as the struggle of Russia’s Gazprom to keep its position in the EU market. There is made the economic analysis of replacing gas turbine engines to gas-pumping units type GTK-10I. The article presents the advantages of employing the AI-312 gas-turbine engine in the gas transportation network of Ukraine, and considers the potential funding sources of the project. There is conducted the analysis of investment expenditures for development, and given proof of the social efficiency of the project.

Islamic social business to alleviate poverty and social inequality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify some well-set instruments in Islam that can efficiently alleviate poverty, solve social problems and reduce social inequality through a new operational framework called “Islamic social business (ISB)”. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual research that is based on Al-Quranic principles as well as contemporary social welfare philosophies, such as, augmented stakeholder theory, social enterprise and social business. Al-Quran, Al-Hadith and existing traditional and Islamic literature are consulted for this study. Findings – The study proposes an efficient system of Islamic wealth sourcing and management to make the process of poverty alleviation sustainable. Other social problems for disadvantaged people, such as, health-, shelter-, literacy- and environmental-related issues are also addressed in the proposed system. The study identifies the inefficiency in the current practices and makes some propositions that are in conformance with Islamic principles and implementable by Islamic institutions all over the world. The authors propose a theoretical framework and operational propositions for ISB. Practical implications – In following this study, social policymakers, Islamic financial institutions, Islamic social enterprises and Islamic charity organizations will find organized guidelines to initiate “new entities” or “reshape existing entities”. Social implications – The study will be effective in solving social problems, alleviating poverty and reducing social inequality. Originality/value – This is the first study that identifies all the potential Islamic sources of funding and the efficient management thereof through ISB. The study also proposes an ISB model and makes several propositions for different types of ISB.

Hospital Community Benefit in the Context of the Larger Public Health System: A State-Level Analysis of Hospital and Governmental Public Health Spending Across the United States.

Achieving meaningful population health improvements has become a priority for communities across the United States, yet funding to sustain multisector initiatives is frequently not available. One potential source of funding for population health initiatives is the community benefit expenditures that are required of nonprofit hospitals to maintain their tax-exempt status. In this article, we explore the importance of nonprofit hospitals' community benefit dollars as a funding source for population health. Hospitals' community benefit expenditures were obtained from their 2009 IRS (Internal Revenue Service) Form 990 Schedule H and complemented with data on state and local public health spending from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the National Association of County & City Health Officials. Key measures included indicators of hospitals' community health spending and governmental public health spending, all aggregated to the state level. Univariate and bivariate statistics were used to describe how much hospitals spent on programs and activities for the community at large and to understand the relationship between hospitals' spending and the expenditures of state and local health departments. Tax-exempt hospitals spent a median of $130 per capita on community benefit activities, of which almost $11 went toward community health improvement and community-building activities. In comparison, median state and local health department spending amounted to $82 and $48 per capita, respectively. Hospitals' spending thus contributed an additional 9% to the resources available for population health to state and local health departments. Spending, however, varied widely by state and was unrelated to governmental public health spending. Moreover, adding hospitals' spending to the financial resources available to governmental public health agencies did not reduce existing inequalities in population health funding across states. Hospitals' community health investments represent an important source for public health activities, yet inequalities in the availability of funding across communities remain.

Redistributive implications of open access

This article addresses the virtues of gold open access (OA) from the perspective of its impact on social science scholarly associations and their members. OA has clear and obvious virtues, including redistribution downward and outward of research findings. But it also has the potential for upward redistribution or narrowing of the realm of publication, which this author finds troubling. A central question is who will cover article processing charges. The article identifies five potential sources of the necessary funds or ways to reduce the funds that are necessary, and discusses problems with each in terms of likely gainers and losers. It also identifies two potential substantive concerns about the kinds of social science scholarship most amenable to OA. It concludes by observing that, as is often the case, an apparently narrow technological innovation opens large issues – organizationally, substantively, and even morally.

Costly conferences and steep study visits: A whistle-stop tour of funding sources for postgraduate students

Many postgraduate students experience a lack of funds to help pay for CV-boosting activities such as attending conferences and organising study visits. Often the limited nature of departmental funding forces students to seek help from external bodies. Financial help for psychology postgraduate students is available from numerous sources, but navigating these can be complicated. This article aims to shed light on potential sources of funding, and to offer some general tips for constructing applications.

"Broadband" Bioinformatics Skills Transfer with the Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP): Educational Model for Upliftment and Sustainable Development.

A shortage of practical skills and relevant expertise is possibly the primary obstacle to social upliftment and sustainable development in Africa. The “omics” fields, especially genomics, are increasingly dependent on the effective interpretation of large and complex sets of data. Despite abundant natural resources and population sizes comparable with many first-world countries from which talent could be drawn, countries in Africa still lag far behind the rest of the world in terms of specialized skills development. Moreover, there are serious concerns about disparities between countries within the continent. The multidisciplinary nature of the bioinformatics field, coupled with rare and depleting expertise, is a critical problem for the advancement of bioinformatics in Africa. We propose a formalized matchmaking system, which is aimed at reversing this trend, by introducing the Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP). Instead of individual researchers travelling to other labs to learn, researchers with desirable skills are invited to join African research groups for six weeks to six months. Visiting researchers or trainers will pass on their expertise to multiple people simultaneously in their local environments, thus increasing the efficiency of knowledge transference. In return, visiting researchers have the opportunity to develop professional contacts, gain industry work experience, work with novel datasets, and strengthen and support their ongoing research. The KTP develops a network with a centralized hub through which groups and individuals are put into contact with one another and exchanges are facilitated by connecting both parties with potential funding sources.This is part of the PLOS Computational Biology Education collection.

An ‘equal effort’ approach to assessing the North–South climate finance gap

This study employs a number of Integrated Assessment Models to determine what the optimal financial transfers between high-income and developing economies would be if climate mitigation effort, measured as mitigation costs as a share of gross domestic product, were to be divided equally across regions through a global carbon market. We find these to be larger than both current and planned international climate finance flows. Four out of six models imply that a North–South annual financial transfer of around US$400 billion is required by 2050, while the other two models imply larger sums, up to $2 trillion. However, the outlook for multi-country carbon markets is not encouraging at the moment. We thus review some potential sources of funds that might be used to fill the climate finance gap, including public aid, private investment, development banks, and special climate-related facilities. We find the shortcomings of public climate finance appear particularly hard to overcome, and argue that expanding private finance, either in the form of Foreign Direct Investment or through the issuance of ‘green bonds’, appears to be a more promising direction.Policy relevanceClimate change is a profoundly asymmetric development issue, as countries at lower stages of development are likely to suffer disproportionate climate damages and mitigation costs. High-income countries have agreed to mobilise $100 billion a year by 2020 ‘to address the needs of developing countries’. However, scaling up climate finance has been slow and, more importantly, targets have not been chosen on the basis of a ‘scientific’ assessment. This article presents a novel, model-based analysis of the ‘equal effort’ inter-regional climate finance that could provide useful insights to policy makers in future negotiations. The gap identified by comparing models’ projections to current and planned financial flows is large but not prohibitive. In particular, private investment appears to be the most likely channel to fill the gap, although various public policies need to be implemented to improve the risk/return profile of low-carbon investment opportunities.

Abstract 222: North American Kawasaki Disease Registry - Advancing Clinical Research Through Collaboration

Background: Clinical research in children with Kawasaki disease (KD), particularly those with coronary artery aneurysms (CAA), is challenging due to the limited number of patients available at any single institution. This has resulted in imperfect evidence for optimal management and considerable practice variation. Methods: The North American Kawasaki Disease Registry (NAKDR) was started in July 2013 to determine the prevalence, patient-level and pharmacological risk factors for outcomes of CAA after KD. The NAKDR enrolls KD patients diagnosed from 1999-2013 with CAA (defined as any segment with a z-score >2.5). The NAKDR and its internet-based data entry portal are maintained at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Local ethics approvals and bilateral data sharing agreements are necessary for participation. Participation in the NAKDR is currently unfunded and voluntary. In September 2014, a survey on the future of the NAKDR was sent to all participating centers (response rate: 54%). Results: 45 sites have been invited, of which 37 (82%) agreed to participate. As of September 2014, 20 sites are actively submitting data; 17 are still being initiated; 706 cases have been submitted. The majority (90%) of members indicated that they wished to continue enrolling newly diagnosed patients and continue follow-up on patients already enrolled. Members were split (45% for, 55% against) as to whether the NAKDR should be expanded to include all KD patients, regardless of CAA status. Finally, while most NAKDR members (60%) indicated that site reimbursement was not an absolute condition for future participation, most members suggested that potential funding sources should be sought to expand/facilitate activities. At term, the NAKDR is expected to comprise ~1,400 patients and, if moving forward, add ~120 new KD patients with CAA per year. Conclusions: The NAKDR is an important tool for clinical research in children with CAAs after KD, and its success represents broad support from clinicians. The next step will be to formalize the NAKDR leadership structure, create standard operating procedures, and pursue prospective studies and funding.

Why taxonomists and ecologists are not, but should be, carpooling?

Traditionally, ecologists and taxonomists have conducted mostly separated research. Ecologists have been using the well-known species groups as their model organisms for practical reasons, whereas taxonomists have focused on poorly known species groups. Extensive collaboration between these research fields has unfortunately been a rarity. We argue that increased collaboration between ecologists and taxonomists yields benefits through several pathways. Firstly, it improves the scientific quality of both disciplines through deeper insight on the study organisms and increased feasibility of the collected data. Secondly, it improves the prospects of the scientists involved and opens up potential funding sources, helping to solve the taxonomic impediment. Finally, improved collaboration could balance ecological research towards more species-rich, functionally important groups. This would increase the quality and effectiveness of nature conservation and management plans positively affecting the sustainability of environmental policy making. These obvious benefits should be swiftly acknowledged by research institutions, science leaders and funding bodies. They should actively promote for strong collaborative efforts from the present and recruited staff representing both disciplines.

MANAJEMEN FUNDRAISING LSM DALAM MENDUKUNG PENDANAAN DAN KEBERLANJUTAN ORGANISASI (Study Kasus Pada LSM Marifad Banda Aceh)

NGOs have different characteristics compared to business organizations, the main and fundamental difference lies in the way NGOs obtain funding needed to carry out various activities. In connection with raising funds to finance the program and activities of the NGO operations, fundraising is discussion among NGOs. But the evidence indicates that most of the NGOs now have not been up to doing fundraising so the impact on the lack of availability of fund. Purpose this study was to obtain an overview of the management of NGO fundraising in support of funding and sustainability of the organization through planning, implementing fundraising strategies and managing funds to NGOs Marifad in Banda Aceh. This study was conducted with a qualitative approach where data were obtained through in-depth interviews and gathering materials related material as well as direct observation at Marifad NGOs in Banda Aceh.The results showed that fundraising activities are the backbone of the organization in exploring funding. Fundraising strategy within an organization is an analysis tool to identify potential funding sources to make sustainability and existence lembaga.LSM Marifad have built systems management agency reserve funds provided for in the financial SOP. SOP financial load on system and standard financial procedures, the goal is to build financial management mechanisms that are transparent and accountable, this is all done in an effort to increase the trust to those donors that have an impact on increasing fundraising organization. Keywords: Fundraising, Funding, Sustainability, NGO.

The Effect of Flap Coverage on Length of Stay and Costs for Patients with Fractures of the Tibia

Sir: The rising costs of health care, a third of which are inpatient expenses,1 have left hospitals struggling to find ways to reduce expenses. Controlling length of stay is an effective strategy for minimizing costs while decreasing hospital resource utilization.2,3 A few studies have shown that open tibia fractures are associated with long lengths of stay,4,5 but none has quantified the length of stay and cost increases that occur when a reconstructive procedure for flap coverage is required for closure. We compared length of stay and costs for open tibia fractures requiring flap coverage with those in fractures that were closed primarily, and provide recommendations on how to improve coordination between plastic and orthopedic surgical care. After receiving institutional review board approval from Vanderbilt University, we searched the medical records database at a level I trauma center for patients with tibia fractures treated from January of 2000 to December of 2011. Current Procedural Terminology code 27759 was used to identify patients treated by intramedullary nail. Eight additional codes were queried to find patients with muscle, pedicle, or free flap coverage. Patients with closed fractures, multiple injuries, or incomplete charts were excluded. Age, sex, race, and American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification were collected. Hospital length of stay was calculated by subtracting the admission date from the discharge date at a cost of $4503 per night. A Mann-Whitney U test and linear stepwise regression adjusting for age, sex, race, and physical status classification were performed. Data were stored in an Excel database (Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.), and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (IBM Corp. Released 2012. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. Armonk, N.Y.) We found 520 patients with tibia fractures who were treated with intramedullary nail, 91 of whom had open isolated tibia or tibia fibular fractures with complete charts. Fifty-five patients received primary closure of their wounds, and 36 required subsequent flap coverage, including six free flaps. The mean length of stay for patients with tibia fractures who received primary closure was 4.5 days, with a hospitalization cost of $20,341.14. Patients who required flap coverage had a mean length of stay of 11.0 days and $49,428.28 in costs. There was a significant difference in mean length of stay and costs between patients who required flap coverage and those who received primary closure of their wounds (p < 0.001). The mean number of days between intramedullary nail and flap coverage was 2.9 days. Patients remained in the hospital for an average period of 6.5 days following reconstructive surgery (Table 1).Table 1: Mean Length of Stay and Costs Based on Type of ProcedureOur results demonstrate that improved communication between plastic and orthopedic teams can reduce length of stay and costs for patients with open tibia fractures who require flap coverage. Although we utilized a standard hospitalization cost, patients who require free flaps are monitored for a minimum of 3 days in the intensive care unit or in similar levels of care management, which leads to higher costs than reported. In these cases, early involvement by plastic surgeons with microsurgical skills can decrease the length of time from admission to surgery. Weekly conferences between orthopedic and plastic surgeons can serve to improve awareness of indications of a potential need for flap coverage, increase interdepartmental coordination of care, and accelerate patient recovery. DISCLOSURE The authors have no financial interest to declare in relation to the content of this article. There was no actual or potential source of funding in relation to this article. Rachel V. Thakore, B.S. D. Jake McClure, M.D. Vasanth Sathiyakumar, B.A. Kent K. Higdon, M.D. Manish K. Sethi, M.D. Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute Center for Health Policy Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tenn.

The CD in American banking: a retrospect and prospect

The negotiable time certificate of deposit (CD) has played an important role in the competitive struggle of commercial banks in the US since 1961, enabling them to tap sources of funds they had neglected since the banking reforms of the 1930s. The aggressive employment of the CD has already brought about various changes in banking practises, and may lead to further modifications in the functions performed by commercial banks and in the banking structure. The present article is devoted to the CD phenomenon as it affects the role of commercial banks as financial intermediaries and the structure of the banking industry. The effects of interest rate regulation on the development of the CD as a potential source of funds is also considered. The author concludes that the emergence of the CD, while overcoming some of the barriers to effective competition in the financial markets, has highlighted the continued existence of others.

Citizen and lobbyist access to Members of Congress: Who gets and who gives?

Members of Congress grant access to outsiders as a means of alleviating uncertainty over policies and elections. For those seeking access to Congress, a key factor determining their success is the appearance of usefulness, namely, the perceived ability to provide a Member of Congress with some resource that he or she desires. These resources come in a variety of forms, including votes, campaign contributions, policy expertise and public credibility. Given these assumptions, who is granted access to Congress, and which members are more likely to grant it? Previous studies have found a direct relationship between organization or Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions and access to Members of Congress, measured by the amount of contact. Some have gone a step further, finding that, while PACs play an indisputable role in access, the real driver is constituency, or at least salience to the district or state from which the Member of Congress hails. Here, we present the results of an experiment conducted in the spring and summer of 2010, in which one of the authors called the offices of each member of the Senate, first as a private citizen and then as a registered federal lobbyist, and requested a meeting with each senator to discuss a health care bill that had been languishing in committee for some time. Unsurprisingly, the registered lobbyist experienced a clear advantage over the ordinary citizen, securing 27 meetings compared to just 7 as a citizen. The lobbyist was granted more access in other measurable categories, although party affiliation or campaign contributions had little effect. While previous studies have found strong PAC contribution and constituency effects on access, one important fact stands out from our experience: only 8 of the 100 Senate offices asked whether the lobbyist had an interest in the senator’s state, and only 4 of the 27 who granted meetings did so. Perhaps the assumption that a lobbyist, whether in- or out-of-state, is a potential source of campaign funds is strong enough to override the constituency effect, but we found no compelling evidence that membership on relevant committees or a past reliance on health sector or lobbyist contributions drove access. Rather, it appears as if ‘lobbyist’ simply works as a magic word when requesting access to a Member of Congress, with power beyond the borders of a state or district. Although the results of our experiment are limited, they do suggest that several questions about citizen and lobbyist access to Congress remain and need to be addressed, especially given the normative assumption that Members of Congress should represent the people they serve.

Teaching, Learning, and Living with iPads

Tablet computers, engaging and dynamic teaching and learning tools, are increasingly prevalent in K–12 schools and university settings. To help music educators make informed technology choices for their classrooms, this article contains preservice teachers’ reflections on how they used iPads to enhance their musicianship, teacher preparation, and/or work with students in their practicum or student teaching placements. Categories of use include rehearsal/performance assistance, creating music, teaching instruments, providing virtual instruments, audio/video recording, listening resources, and organizational support. Teaching suggestions, lists of recommended apps, and potential sources of funding for the purchase of tablet computers are included.

FDA’s Pediatric Device Consortia: National Program Fosters Pediatric Medical Device Development

This article reports on the progress made in addressing pediatric medical device needs through the establishment of the Pediatric Device Consortia Grant Program. Pediatric practitioners should be aware of both the imperative for well-studied devices for children and the existence of recently created resources to help foster the development of such products. This article discusses some of the challenges associated with pediatric device development and describes the implementation of section 305 of the Pediatric Medical Device Safety and Improvement Act of 2007. This statute called for the creation of nonprofit consortia to facilitate the development, production, and distribution of pediatric medical devices. A summary of the accomplishments of the pediatric device consortia is presented. Eleven million dollars have been awarded to 5 consortia since 2009. As of July 2012, they have collectively assisted in the development of 219 pediatric device ideas. The consortia provide innovators with both mentorship and services to help advance proposed pediatric device projects, including assistance with prototyping, identification of potential funding sources, preclinical and clinical trial design, and introductions to potential manufacturers. Currently, 5 federally funded pediatric device consortia exist to help advance the development of potential pediatric devices. These consortia serve as a national resource for those with ideas for medical devices that may advance the health and well-being of children.

Collaborative public transportation feasibility study: Development of a database prototype

The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) has recognized the need for a collaborative information-based transit service that would connect users and transportation providers in the Maritime Provinces. From this need, a multi-disciplinary research partnership between the EAC and Dalhousie University was developed. The research team developed a basic functioning prototype for a web-based transit service. Four main methodological thrusts define the transit database project: first, a review of transit database precedents; second, a usability study of potential database users (n=6); third, a feasibility study reaching of transit providers (n=10); and lastly, web-expert consultation. Additionally, a number of potential funding sources for this project were identified, including community and government grants, web-based advertising and cooperative membership fees. Moreover, the identification of an effective entity under which the Go Maritimes service will be operated (i.e. multi-stakeholder cooperative or private sector enterprise) has been a high priority. This research project has equipped the EAC with the tools it needs to plan, manage, and move forward with the Go Maritimes project.

2 - Funding Higher Education in Africa: State, Trends and Perspectives

This article discusses and analyzes the state of funding higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The article, based on nine case study countries, examines the cost of higher education, current and potential funding sources and policy discourses that shaped funding trends in the region. The study further explores policies, trends and factors that hindered, as well as promoted, funding the sector in SSA and the role of external players in doing so. It also articulates poorly tapped and potential sources of funding for the higher education system. It concludes by providing some policy recommendations, taking into account the mounting challenges of expansion which are pushing the cost of higher education to unsustainable levels.