Sole Interest Research Articles

Social and economic determinants of pediatric health inequalities: the model of chronic kidney disease.

Purpose of this review is to deal with priorities and strategies to significantly tackle inequalities in the management of pediatric diseases in low-middle-income countries. This issue has become a focal point of epidemiological and public health, with special reference to chronic nontransmissible diseases. We will provide our readership with an essential overview of the cultural, institutional, and political events, which have occurred over the last 20 y and which have produced the current general framework for epidemiology and public health. Then the most recent epidemiological data will be evaluated, in order to quantify the interaction between the medical components of the disease profiles and their socioeconomic determinants. Finally, a focus will be added on models of pediatric chronic kidney diseases, which are in our opinion amongst the most sensitive markers of the interplay between health and society. Collaborative, pediatrician-initiated, multicentre projects in these fields should be given priority in calls for grants supported by public agencies. The involvement of a critical mass of those working in the "fringes" of pediatric care is a final, essential mean by which significant results can be produced under the sole responsibility and research interest of centers of excellence.

Asbestos: Social Legal and Scientific Controversies and Unsound Science in the Context with the Worldwide Asbestos Tragedy - Lessions to be Learned

8 to 15% of lung cancer cases and nearly all mesothelioma cases are caused by asbestos. Problems in compensation issues refer to high legal as well as insurance barriers in attesting the occupational diseases. Claiming of certain numbers of asbestos bodies or fibers in lung tissue is of special relevance in substantiating legal medical cases. Such evidence, which is disproved by a sound science, is also used by an influential US pathology department. Frequently, also epidemiological evidence with its causal relationships and exposure histories are ignored. Similar misleading arguments are currently found in industrializing countries where white asbestos which is carcinogenic and fibrogenic like other asbestos types, is efficiently promoted as less harm. As a result, the asbestos consumption is increasing in some of these countries. Beyond the worldwide asbestos tragedy a well-designed strategy of certain transnational or global acting industrial interest groups can be recognized. Their plan, hidden from the public eyes, follows rigorously sole economic interests, while leaving the resulting health harm to the public health systems.

Contextualizing Versus Internationalizing Research on Teacher Education

At our first Journal Editor's Roundtable for Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) 5 years ago at the Educational Research Association (AERA) after assuming the editorship in 2010, we engaged in discussion with various attendees about the nature of the journal and our vision for the duration of our term as editors. We received several questions about whether we accepted international manuscripts because we were perceived by many to be a unique American journal with a sole interest in research on preservice teacher (PST) education and inservice professional development in the United States. Although we were disturbed by that perception, because attracting more international contributors and readers was one of our major goals, on reflection we were not surprised. The membership of our sponsoring organization, the Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE), consists of U.S. institutions and historically has closely aligned itself to matters of national accreditation and policy. Not surprisingly, the SAGE Publisher's Report to AACTE in 2010 indicated that only 1 of over 200 manuscripts submitted from countries outside of the United States to AACTE's flagship research journal had been accepted for publication and that particular manuscript was from a Canadian author. In addition, the first author of this editorial recalled that she and a colleague had conducted a review of literature in the early part of the millennium on professional development for teachers of diverse students that had explicitly restricted the review to publications of research in the United States (Knight & Wiseman, 2006). A National Advisory Team for Professional Development for Diversity established by the Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (CREDE) guided the review. The reasoning of the group around international research appears in this quotation from one of the publications. Our search for studies for the synthesis focused on research on professional development for in-service teachers in U.S. classrooms populated by diverse students. We recognize that high-quality research on professional development in other countries exists, but our rationale for excluding international studies in this review is similar to that discussed in Richardson and Placier (2002). Studies of professional development for teachers in one country may not generalize to different nations due to differences in political and cultural structures as well as ethnic composition. The reverse would also be true, in particular when the focus is on cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity. (Knight & Wiseman, 2005, p. 391) The view that generalization of studies across national contexts is limited was prevalent as recently as a decade ago. Perhaps for this reason, although it is difficult to determine the direction of the influence, schools and colleges of education have been the least internationalized units on U.S. university campuses (Longview Foundation, 2008). The consensus that preservice and inservice teacher professional development is specific to the national context influenced the kinds of articles published in JTE for many years. Only relatively recently has interest around issues of internationalization and globalization of teacher education emerged, resulting in a standing committee on Global Diversity and a Topical Action Group on the Internationalization of Teacher Education at AACTE and the establishment of a goal for JTE to attract and publish more international research on teacher education and encourage more readers in international settings. In contrast to previous views, we now consider research on teacher education in international settings as a valuable contribution and tool for improvement of teacher education in U.S. settings and suggest that the reverse is also true. Ironically, the recognition that international research can contribute to U.S. teacher education has occurred at a time when we are questioning whether teacher preparation programs should prepare teachers for multiple settings and types of students or for more specific types of settings and students. …

Beyond carbon pricing: The role of banking and monetary policy in financing the transition to a low-carbon economy

It is widely acknowledged that introducing a price on carbon represents a crucial precondition for filling the current gap in low-carbon investment. However, as this paper argues, carbon pricing in itself may not be sufficient. This is due to the existence of market failures in the process of creation and allocation of credit that may lead commercial banks — the most important source of external finance for firms — not to respond as expected to price signals. Under certain economic conditions, banks would shy away from lending to low-carbon activities even in the presence of a carbon price. This possibility calls for the implementation of additional policies not based on prices. In particular, the paper discusses the potential role of monetary policies and macroprudential financial regulation: modifying the incentives and constraints that banks face when deciding their lending strategy — through, for instance, a differentiation of reserve requirements according to the destination of lending — may fruitfully expand credit creation directed towards low-carbon sectors. This seems to be especially feasible in emerging economies, where the central banking framework usually allows for a stronger public control on credit allocation and a wider range of monetary policy instruments than the sole interest rate.

Phagocytosis of immunoglobulin-coated emulsion droplets

Phagocytosis by macrophages represents a fundamental process essential for both immunity and tissue homeostasis. The size of targets to be eliminated ranges from small particles as bacteria to large objects as cancerous or senescent cells. Most of our current quantitative knowledge on phagocytosis is based on the use of solid polymer microparticles as model targets that are well adapted to the study of phagocytosis mechanisms that do not involve any lateral mobility of the ligands, despite the relevance of this parameter in the immunological context. Herein we designed monodisperse, IgG-coated emulsion droplets that are efficiently and specifically internalized by macrophages through in-vitro FcγR-mediated phagocytosis. We show that, contrary to solid polymeric beads, droplet uptake is efficient even for low IgG densities, and is accompagnied by the clustering of the opsonins in the zone of contact with the macrophage during the adhesion step. Beyond the sole interest in the design of the material, our results suggest that lateral mobility of proteins at the interface of a target greatly enhances the phagocytic uptake.

Trustee Liability for Breach of Trust in the Common Law World

When is a trustee liable at common law for breach of trust? Equity teaches us that a trustee’s duties are onerous and far-reaching not least because a trustee is bound in law and in conscience to give full effect to the terms of the trust in furtherance of the sole interests of the beneficiary. Liability is strict and is focused on restoring the trust fund when loss is occasioned or stripping the trustee of unauthorised gains made on the back of the fiduciary relationship, even if the beneficiaries have also gained. The quantum of damages (and, indeed, the extent of liability) typically requires some consideration of variables relating to the nature and context of the alleged breach; the form of damage suffered and its causal connection to the occasioned wrong; the involvement or non-involvement of any co-trustees in the transaction in question and their professional status; and the terms of the trust deed governing the trustees’ behaviour. In recent years, judicial consideration has been given to the degree to which it is possible for a trustee to contract out of the fiduciary obligations traditionally associated with a trust without undermining the valuable benefits bestowed by this relationship. Attention has also been focused lately on the courts’ ability to intervene and to undo discretionary decisions taken by trustees which, in hindsight, turn out to have unintended consequences for the beneficiaries concerned.This paper sets the context for traditional trustee liability outlining some of the forms, causes and general measures of liability in Part I, before exploring in Part II the recent UK Supreme Court judgment in Futter v. HMRC and its implications for trustees who, in hindsight regret decisions made. Part III considers the issue of commercial transaction trusts and the options available to corporate trustees to limit or exclude liability, concluding with an assessment of developments in common law jurisdictions outside the UK towards trustee liability, trustee forgiveness and trustee exoneration.

L’intrication des soins et de la recherche en médecine orale. Une question éthique

L’intrication des actes de soin et des actes de recherche est devenue une caractéristique majeure de la médecine et de la chirurgie orale. La première responsabilité des soignants et des chercheurs est la santé et le bien-être du patient. L’intérêt des personnes qui se prêtent à une recherche biomédicale doit toujours primer sur les seuls intérêts de la science et de la société. À partir de deux exemples issus du soin d’exception ; la greffe du visage, et du soin courant ; l’extraction dentaire, l’auteur explique comment l’éthique et les questions de santé publique prennent une dimension importante lorsque la recherche rencontre le soin. Son analyse permet de justifier ces recherches et d’en débattre, en fixant leurs limites.

401(k) Target-Date Fund Administration in Louisville, Kentucky: Are Plan Fiduciaries Acting in the Sole Interest of Plan Participants?

This article is a condensed version of the study that addresses whether plan fiduciaries make decisions regarding which target-date funds to include on their respective plan investment menus based upon a due diligence process or due to an established relationships (i.e, party-in-interest) with the target-date provider. Target-date funds are becoming the most popular default option chosen by plan fiduciaries since the passage of the Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA) Regulation (29 CFR Section 2550.404c-5), which was passed a part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The 401(k) plans reviewed in this study were administered in the Louisville, Kentucky metropolitan statistical area, had at least 1,000 participants and had at least $5,000,000 in total assets as of December 31, 2011. Twenty seven 401(k) plans in Louisville, Kentucky metropolitan statistical area (excluding any 401(k) plans from Indiana) met the criteria. The study examines these local defined contribution 401(k) plans specifically with regard to administration fees and overall performance based upon independent analysis from BrightScope, Inc., Morningstar, Inc. and Target Date Analytics, LLC.

Here Comes the Sun: Medical Professionalism and the Implications of the Sunshine Act for Gastroenterology Practice

The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, contained a number of regulations that directly affect physician practices, behavior, and relationships with others in the health care industry. One such provision is the “Physician Payment Sunshine Act,” which is the subject of this month’s Practice Management: The Road Ahead column. The authors have provided us with a detailed and enlightening review of how our relationships with pharmaceutical and medical device companies have become transparent and public. It will be important for you to understand this law and take the time to review your own data through CMS’s Enterprise Portal (http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-andGuidance/Legislation/National-Physician-Payment-Transp arency-Program/Physicians.html).

Development of mapped stress‐field boundary conditions based on a Hill‐type muscle model

Forces generated in the muscles and tendons actuate the movement of the skeleton. Accurate estimation and application of these musculotendon forces in a continuum model is not a trivial matter. Frequently, musculotendon attachments are approximated as point forces; however, accurate estimation of local mechanics requires a more realistic application of musculotendon forces. This paper describes the development of mapped Hill-type muscle models as boundary conditions for a finite volume model of the hip joint, where the calculated muscle fibres map continuously between attachment sites. The applied muscle forces are calculated using active Hill-type models, where input electromyography signals are determined from gait analysis. Realistic muscle attachment sites are determined directly from tomography images. The mapped muscle boundary conditions, implemented in a finite volume structural OpenFOAM (ESI-OpenCFD, Bracknell, UK) solver, are employed to simulate the mid-stance phase of gait using a patient-specific natural hip joint, and a comparison is performed with the standard point load muscle approach. It is concluded that physiological joint loading is not accurately represented by simplistic muscle point loading conditions; however, when contact pressures are of sole interest, simplifying assumptions with regard to muscular forces may be valid.

Design for Business & Business for Design

E-learning, knowledge sharing, creativity design and collaborative innovation are all concepts that are key elements of this case study. There is a particular focus here on the question of what role design should play in innovation. Other key topics include the role of e-learning and of long life learning. Such roles are not always easy to explain, since they differ from case to case, but Design in Italy is – and will increasingly become – a definite value and a competitive tool. Design can and must be a fundamental part of every single company's production, communication and distribution strategy. Every e-learning platform launched by Università Telematica San Raffaele Roma's “Design for Business & Business for Design” is intended to demonstrate that design is neither a sole interest nor an exclusive prerogative of large companies or those operating in sectors that have traditionally been design oriented. In fact, design-driven education and innovation is a basic lever for competitiveness and internationalization that is available in every sector. Creating an e-learning platform is an important way of building a designing and community identity; a significant chance to meet and a landmark not only for professionals, but also for creative people working outside established enterprises.

Agent-based Virtual Society Polygon for Simulation and Evaluation in Massive Mobile Services

Since there are phenomena that are too perplex to be observed through using traditional techniques of scientific investigation, there are tools allowing reconstructing them in a simplified form. Agent-Based modeling has established itself as one of these tools. Though the major analytical principle remains the same – decomposition of the complex object into primitive particles, models themselves are fluctuating from the simple ones (e.g. spatial segregation models) to those able to propose reproduction of crowds, transport/pedestrian flows and other interactions by implementing sophisticated intelligent agent architectures. However, the utilization of agent-based modeling is not limited to satisfying sole scientific interest, but may be used for the resolution of applied issues as well. A polygon focused on performing both investigative and practical tasks has been introduced to simulate collective response to the changing environmental conditions (e.g. in the course of the natural disaster). The model originally designed to be incorporated into the mobile service computational infrastructure to constitute a massive mobile service for decision-making support is described throughout the paper. The potential use of the obtained simulation results in the analysis of emerging issues under conditions of social and infrastructural disorder is discussed with special reference to natural disasters. Further perspectives of implementation of present model in decision-making assistance are outlined as well.

The perfect finance minister: Whom to appoint as finance minister to balance the budget

The role and influence of the finance minister within the cabinet are discussed with increasing prominence in the theoretical literature on the political economy of budget deficits. It is generally assumed that the spending ministers can enhance their reputation purely with new or more extensive expenditure programs, whereas it is the sole interest of the finance minister to balance the budget. Using a dynamic panel model to study the development of public deficits, we test several personal characteristics of the finance ministers that could influence budgetary performance in the German states between 1960 and 2009. Her professional background, i.e., her field experience, seems to affect budget deficits but neither her individual preferences nor her education does. During times of fiscal stress, our results can guide prime ministers in the nomination of finance ministers in order to assure sound budgeting.

Will the Department of Labor Find the Missing Fiduciary Link? Part 2

The DOL has a unique opportunity to advance the view that the sole interest rule is unsound, particularly in the investment advisory context, and this Article proposes how it should be modernized. This article analyzes a subcomponent of the “Prudent Person Rule” under ERISA Sec. 404(a)(1) (B), which is that of the duty to monitor, in this case, the investment advisor by the trustee. This Article proposes that the present Prudent Person Rule should be updated since the exclusive-benefit rule wrongfully precludes employers from also being considered beneficiaries by the Courts under ERISA. As a result of this preclusion, courts have been forced to indulge in pretense, such as the notion that benefits to employers are merely “incidental,” in order to reconcile ERISA with the economic realities of determining who should be a beneficiary and to what extent. Recognition of these requested changes will not automatically transform ERISA fiduciary law from a difficult task to an elementary one. Often, the issues will remain complex, but by using a more correct legal/financial prism by which to perceive reality, the answers may very well become strikingly more self-evident.

Will the Department of Labor Find the Missing Fiduciary Link?

Within 90 days, the Department of Labor (DOL) will substantially expand the definition of “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In large part the traditional five-part test from 1975 has been discarded, and some form of the new two-prong test will become the rule. The proposed regulations are the first such changes in almost 35 years and will drastically change the relationship of investment advisors and entities with plan sponsors subject to Title I of ERISA or plans, persons and entities subject to Sec. 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (among other amendments, ERISA added Code Sec. 4975 imposing an excise tax on certain “prohibited transactions.” The prohibited transactions described in Code Sec. 4975 are substantially similar to prohibited transactions contained in ERISA. Such prohibited transactions will greatly increase under the DOL’s proposed rule). The DOL has a unique opportunity to advance the view that the sole interest rule is unsound, particularly in this investment advisory context, and propose how it should be modernized. Furthermore, the present prudent-person rule should be updated by entitling a trustee to seek and to pay for investment advice but then inalterably devising the trustee as financial guarantor for any breaches committed by the investment advisor. In addition, the exclusive-benefit rule precludes employers from being beneficiaries under ERISA. As a result, courts have been forced to indulge in pretense, such as the notion that benefits to employers are merely “incidental,” in order to reconcile ERISA with the economic realities of who is the beneficiary and to what extent. Moreover, the proposed rule should not apply to individual retirement account rollovers, at least until these other changes have been properly incorporated into the investment, regulatory and judicial environs. This article concludes by providing such a DOL proposal in a final form.

The new steel‐glass architecture of buildings in Japan

AbstractPractical examples of modern architecture in the western hemisphere based on structural compositions of steel and glass have been presented several times in recent years. In doing so, their theoretical background has also been discussed. This paper focuses on the relevant architectural manifestations in Japan. Buildings for commercial and public use are the sole interest here – with special emphasis on the ultramodern character of their design. It is planned to consider infrastructure elements such as railway stations and airport structures in a future article.

The Role of the Corporation in Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research

A long-standing ideology in business education has been that a corporation is run for the sole interest of its shareholders. I present an alternative view where increasing concentration of economic activity and power in the world’s largest corporations, the Global 1000, has opened the way for managers to consider the interests of a broader set of stakeholders rather than only shareholders. Having documented that this alternative view better fits actual corporate conduct, I discuss opportunities for future research. Specifically, I call for research on the materiality of environmental and social issues for the future financial performance of corporations, the design of incentive and control systems to guide strategy execution, corporate reporting, and the role of investors in this new paradigm.

The health information practices of people living with chronic health conditions: Implications for health literacy

The health literacy concept is often limited to descriptions of a patient’s functional relationship with text. This description does not acknowledge the range of information sources that people draw from in order to make informed decision about their health and treatment. A socio-cultural understanding of the practice of health literacy and the construction of the health information landscape is described, and draws from two studies of people with two different but complex and life-threatening chronic health conditions: chronic kidney disease and human immunodeficiency virus. Health information is experienced by patients as a chronic health condition landscape, and develops from three information sources, namely epistemic, social and corporeal sources. Participants in both studies used activities that involved orienting and sharing activities to understand the landscape that was used to inform their decision making. These findings challenge the traditional conceptions of health literacy and suggest an approach that views the landscape of chronic illness as being socially, physically and contextually constructed. This suggests recasting health literacy away from a sole interest in skills and towards understanding how information practices facilitate people becoming health literate.

Documenting Climate Models and Their Simulations

The results of climate models are of increasing and widespread importance. No longer is climate model output of sole interest to climate scientists and researchers in the climate change impacts and adaptation fields. Now nonspecialists such as government officials, policy makers, and the general public all have an increasing need to access climate model output and understand its implications. For this host of users, accurate and complete metadata (i.e., information about how and why the data were produced) is required to document the climate modeling results. Here we describe a pilot community initiative to collect and make available documentation of climate models and their simulations. In an initial application, a metadata repository is being established to provide information of this kind for a major internationally coordinated modeling activity known as CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 5). It is expected that for a wide range of stakeholders, this and similar community-managed metadata repositories will spur development of analysis tools that facilitate discovery and exploitation of Earth system simulations.

Les indispensables pratiques pour être accrédités Cofrac « l’accréditation pour les nuls »

The publication of the13th January 2010 order makes the official accreditation necessary for all the laboratories of medical biology in France. This accreditation is delivered by a single official authority: the Cofrac. This accreditation is the acknowledgement of the ability of the laboratory to perform medico-technical acts corresponding to the scope of the accreditation. It must satisfy normative standards (Standard 15189), specific application documents of the Cofrac (SH REF 02), and legislative and regulatory rules in order to guarantee the reliability of the medical biology tests performed and the quality of the offered services in the sole interest of the patients. The accreditation is a long lasting process, which appears in a first step as very constraining. In the long term, it is experienced by the personnel as an acknowledgement of their quality and efficiency.