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Journal articles on the topic 'Financial advice, agent'
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1
Ferrell, Tara, Aaron Crowson, and Christopher Mayhorn. "How We Perceive and Trust Advice from Virtual Humans: The Influence of Voice Quality." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 66, no. 1 (September 2022): 1189–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1071181322661440.
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Due to the increase in virtual humans as a pedagogical agent, this study investigates how perceptions of virtual humans are affected by voice quality in understanding a budgeting scenario where trust is essential to learning and application. Eighty-six participants were randomly assigned to three conditions where voice quality for a virtual human varied (human voice, low quality text-to-speech, high quality text-to-speech) when narrating a financial literacy course. Measures of trust and course comprehension were collected. Results of the learning assessment suggest no difference in comprehension based on voice quality of a virtual human. No differences were observed between the voice quality groups in participants' perception of trust, the abilities to facilitate learning, credibility of the agent, human-likeness of the agent, or how engaging the agent was. This is possibly due to the lower age demographic who have become increasingly exposed to virtual human voices through popular platforms such as Tik-Tok.).
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Oldham, Matthew. "Understanding How Short-Termism and a Dynamic Investor Network Affects Investor Returns: An Agent-Based Perspective." Complexity 2019 (July 3, 2019): 1–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/1715624.
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The unexplained and inconsistent behavior of financial markets provides the motivation to engage interdisciplinary approaches to understand its intricacies better. A proven approach is to consider investors as heterogeneous interacting agents who form information networks to inform their investment decisions. The rationale is that the topology of these networks has contributed to a better understanding of the erratic behavior of financial markets. Introducing investor heterogeneity also allows researchers to identify the characteristics of higher performing investors and the implications of investors exhibiting short-termism, a feature recognized by some as detrimental to the performance of the economy. To address these topics, an agent-based artificial stock market is implemented, where investors utilize various information sources, including advice from investors in their network, to inform their investment decisions. Over time investors update their trust in their information sources and evolve their network by connecting to outperforming investors—Oracles—and discarding poor advisers, thereby simulating the evolution of an investor network. The model’s most significant finding is uncovering how the market’s behavior is materially affected by the time-horizon of investors, with short-term behavior resulting in greater volatility in the market. Another finding is the reason why short-term investors generally outperform their long-term counterparts, particularly in more volatile environments. By providing significant insights into the formation of an investor network and its ramifications for market volatility and wealth creation (destruction), this paper provides crucial clues regarding the empirical data that needs to be collected, assessed, and tracked to ensure policymakers and investors better understand the dynamics of financial markets.
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Wyper, Amanda. "Pensions Auto-Enrolment: Unintended Consequences of Regulation and Private Law Remedies." Edinburgh Law Review 21, no. 3 (September 2017): 352–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/elr.2017.0434.
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The introduction of auto-enrolment (AE) into workplace pensions in 2012 requires employers to enrol workers into a pension. Employers have significant discretion in this process and rely on the financial services industry to ensure compliance with AE minimum standards. Employers may not always have pension expertise and will engage pension providers for advice on establishing compliant pension arrangements or modifying existing schemes to use for AE. Whilst this policy benefits many, there are a number of negative consequences flowing from the introduction of AE. Examples include employers choosing poorly performing schemes, insufficient protection of free choice and poor default positions replacing active decision making, all of which result in poor value for some employees. The parties' interests may not always be aligned. Despite the minimum criteria, there can be significant variations between fund costs and scheme quality as private sector pensions are frequently used for compliance. Whilst the ability of employees to opt-out provides legitimacy for the regime, the form of implementation and use of defaults erodes the exercise of choice and there are no provisions to encourage engagement and active decision-making by individuals. In addition to this, inadequate advice impacts on the effects of AE for many. For some this means that they pay in less overall than they would have if they had voluntarily chosen to contribute to a plan. This article explores whether further statutory change to the AE regime is required or whether existing private law remedies, with a focus on Scots law, afford sufficient remedies for those suffering loss. If fiduciary, agency, contractual or delictual obligations arise from the AE relationship then this may provide adequate remedies. This article will consider whether fiduciary duties are owed to employees, particularly by the employer (as an agent) to the employee, and the extent of duties owed under the contract of employment.
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Pariyar, J. "Gestational trophoblastic disease in Nepalese women managed in B. P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital." Journal of Clinical Oncology 27, no. 15_suppl (May 20, 2009): e16570-e16570. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2009.27.15_suppl.e16570.
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e16570 Background: Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) is potentially curable disease. Its incidence varies in different countries with high incidence reported in Japan (2/1000 pregnancies) and Mexico (2.5/1000 pregnancies). No studies have been reported regarding epidemiology, management and outcome of GTD in Nepal. Methods: The study was a descriptive case series. Case records of GTD patients attending B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Nepal from 2001 to 2007 were analyzed. The main outcomes were measured in terms of duration, antecedent pregnancy, investigations, treatment and follow-up. Results: A total of 45 cases of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) were received from 26 districts of Nepal. The age of the patients ranged from 16 to 50 years with a mean age of 29.1 years (SD 9.4 years). Out of 45 cases 19 (43%) were of Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group and 15 (33%) belonged to Indo-Aryan ethnic group. There were 17 cases (37.8%) of hydatidiform mole, 6 were invasive mole (13.35%), 4 of persistent gestational trophoblastic tumour (8.8%) and 22 patients (48.8%) of choriocarcinoma. In 7 cases (15.5%) molar pregnancy had occurred in the first conception, another 7 cases (15.5%) had previous molar pregnancy and in 16 (35.5%) cases GTD had occurred following abortion. The most common presenting symptom was vaginal bleeding and 26 (57.8%) patients had anaemia. Theca Leuteal cyst was present in 11 (24.5%), 17 (37.8%) cases had lung metastasis, 4 (8.9%) had brain metastasis and another 4 (8.9%) had disseminated disease detecteted radiologically. Among the 45 cases 6 (13.3%) were treated with suction evacuation only; 9 (20%) underwent hysterectomy for uterine perforation, excessive hemorrhage and invasive mole. 28 (62.2%) cases underwent adjuvant chemotherapy among which 12 (26.6%) received single agent chemotherapy and 15 (33.3%) received EMA-CO regimen. Brain irradiation was required in a case with brain metastasis. Five (11.1%) cases with disseminated disease and high WHO risk score left the hospital against medical advice. There were 3 (6.7%) mortalities. 37 (82.1%) cases are in remission and follow-up. Conclusions: Early diagnosis of disease and proper management strongly influences the outcome of GTD. Even in disseminated state GTD can be cured. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Van Tonder, Estelle. "Trust And Commitment As Mediators Of The Relationship Between Quality Advice And Customer Loyalty." Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR) 32, no. 1 (December 31, 2015): 289. http://dx.doi.org/10.19030/jabr.v32i1.9538.
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<p>Insurance agents globally struggle with clients who do not understand the importance of disciplined savings and of meeting with them at least once a year to make necessary adjustments to their financial plans. The purpose of the study was to provide assistance to these agents and explore trust and commitment as mediators of the relationship between quality advice and customer loyalty. The context of the study was clients of independent insurance agents (N=242), and self-administered surveys were used to test the research hypotheses formulated. It appears imperative for insurance agents providing clients with quality advice to focus strongly on building trust and commitment. These mediating variables contribute to a 27% change in the adjusted R² value, and resulted in a much higher R² value of 0.77 in the final model. The findings of the study could also assist larger organisations focusing on consultative selling practices and help them create solid client relationships with the potential to deliver great profit. </p>
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Santos, Guilherme, and Sílvio Parodi Oliveira Camilo. "Financial Innovation Solutions from Blockchain Technology in the Perception of Financial Market Agents." International Journal for Innovation Education and Research 7, no. 12 (December 31, 2019): 658–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol7.iss12.2120.
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The phenomenon of financial innovation (FI) found, in the fast-contemporary technological advance, the possibility of disseminating solutions that are intended to fill market gaps, promoting profound changes in the traditional financial structure. This finding can be explained by the perceptible movement of different agents interested in exploring the applications of blockchain technology in recent years. Considering this scenario of changes and expectations the present work aims to analyze perceptions of financial market agents about the possibility of blockchain technology influence in the creation of FI solutions. From the point of view of the research strategy, it constitutes a field research. We operated through interviews with the participation of twelve managers of institutions that operate in the financial environment. The results point to blockchain impacting the financial environment of organizations, whether in its technology platforms, investments, internal structures, people, governance, business conceptions. Likewise, by the existence of opportunities to solve market problems, affecting, through deeper changes in the financial system, from the disintermediation. It reveals the emergence of new business models and the possibility of consumers and managers less dependent on a centralized financial environment.
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Santos, Guilherme, and Sílvio Parodi Oliveira Camilo. "Financial Innovation Solutions from Blockchain Technology in the Perception of Financial Market Agents." International Journal for Innovation Education and Research 7, no. 12 (December 31, 2019): 677–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol7.iss12.2121.
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The phenomenon of financial innovation (FI) found, in the fast-contemporary technological advance, the possibility of disseminating solutions that are intended to fill market gaps, promoting profound changes in the traditional financial structure. This finding can be explained by the perceptible movement of different agents interested in exploring the applications of blockchain technology in recent years. Considering this scenario of changes and expectations the present work aims to analyze perceptions of financial market agents about the possibility of blockchain technology influence in the creation of FI solutions. From the point of view of the research strategy, it constitutes a field research. We operated through interviews with the participation of twelve managers of institutions that operate in the financial environment. The results point to blockchain impacting the financial environment of organizations, whether in its technology platforms, investments, internal structures, people, governance, business conceptions. Likewise, by the existence of opportunities to solve market problems, affecting, through deeper changes in the financial system, from the disintermediation. It reveals the emergence of new business models and the possibility of consumers and managers less dependent on a centralized financial environment.
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Maree, Charl, and Christian W. Omlin. "Can Interpretable Reinforcement Learning Manage Prosperity Your Way?" AI 3, no. 2 (June 13, 2022): 526–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ai3020030.
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Personalisation of products and services is fast becoming the driver of success in banking and commerce. Machine learning holds the promise of gaining a deeper understanding of and tailoring to customers’ needs and preferences. Whereas traditional solutions to financial decision problems frequently rely on model assumptions, reinforcement learning is able to exploit large amounts of data to improve customer modelling and decision-making in complex financial environments with fewer assumptions. Model explainability and interpretability present challenges from a regulatory perspective which demands transparency for acceptance; they also offer the opportunity for improved insight into and understanding of customers. Post-hoc approaches are typically used for explaining pretrained reinforcement learning models. Based on our previous modeling of customer spending behaviour, we adapt our recent reinforcement learning algorithm that intrinsically characterizes desirable behaviours and we transition to the problem of prosperity management. We train inherently interpretable reinforcement learning agents to give investment advice that is aligned with prototype financial personality traits which are combined to make a final recommendation. We observe that the trained agents’ advice adheres to their intended characteristics, they learn the value of compound growth, and, without any explicit reference, the notion of risk as well as improved policy convergence.
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Winecoff, William Kindred. "Global finance as a politicized habitat." Business and Politics 19, no. 2 (June 2017): 267–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/bap.2017.7.
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AbstractPredominant models of financial regulation based on representative agents—in both the public interest and public choice traditions—assume that competitive pressures in financial markets undermine prudential behavior by firms in the absence of regulation. One empirical expectation of these models is behavioral: firms should adjust their risk-taking behaviors in response to the regulatory environment they face but should not over-comply with regulations. That is, the central tendency of bank behaviors should hew closely to regulatory minima and the variance should be small. I first demonstrate that this expectation is not borne out by the empirical record and then advance a theoretical argument that does not rely on a representative agent model. I argue that firms face a range of incentives from markets and governments that condition their risk-taking behaviors, and firms choose a “preferred habitat” within a market structure. Some of these incentives are towards greater risk-taking, while others are in the direction of greater prudence. This framework provides opportunities for examining financial market actors in a realistic context, and offers ways to unify micro-level and structural analyses of the political economy of global finance.
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Nechitailo, Vladimir, and Henry Penikas. "Agent-based modeling for benchmarking banking regulation regimes: Application for the CBDC." Model Assisted Statistics and Applications 16, no. 4 (December 20, 2021): 261–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/mas-210540.
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COVID-19 pandemic challenges the sustainability of the modern financial system. International central bankers claim that banks are solid. They have accumulated significant capital buffers. Those buffers should be further more augmented by 2027 in line with Basel III reforms. However, disregarding such a consecutive rise in the banking capital adequacy requirements, the US financial authorities undertook an unprecedented step. First time in the country history they lowered the reserve requirement to zero at the end of March 2020. Friedrich von Hayek demonstrated the fragility of the modern fractional reserve banking systems. Together with Ludwig von Mises (von Mises, 1978) he was thus able to predict the Great Depression of 1929 and explain its mechanics much in advance. Thus, we wish to utilize the agent-based modeling technique to extend von Hayek’s rationale to the previously unstudied interaction of capital adequacy and reserve requirement regulation. We find that the full reserve requirement regime even without capital adequacy regulation provides more stable financial environment than the existing one. Rise in capital adequacy adds to modern banking sustainability, but it still preserves the system remarkably fragile compared to the full reserve requirement. We also prove that capital adequacy regulation is redundant when the latter environment is in place. We discuss our findings application to the potential Central Bank Digital Currencies regulation.
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Khantanapoka, Khammapun. "Web Intelligent for Forecasting Exchange Rate Currency using Clever Extraction Agent Combine with Financial Data Mining." International Journal of Mathematics and Computers in Simulation 15 (March 29, 2021): 1–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.46300/9102.2021.15.1.
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From the current economic climate results in fluctuations of currency exchange rates in all countries. Since the most countries use USD as the reference exchange rate. The exchange rate will change from day to day so variety of factors which affect the exchange rate forecasting in the exchange rates in advance are critical to evaluate for the impact of the economic system of each country. It is important for investment decisions, exports, and profitability in the money market. It was reported on website (www) in the daily exchange rate changes. We use clever search agent (CSA) gather information from financial website generate to financial data mining. Kohonen Neural Networks is the method to determine similarity of internet documents using pattern index of financial document. And Ontology Structure of Sentence is the method to determine keyword using pattern index of financial content. Both are important components of Financial Data Mining. It is analyzed for exchange rate forecasting about USD/ Pounds. Our experimental forecast exchange rates for currency's USD / Great Britain Pounds by compare three algorithms as fallows GA, Meiosis Genetic Algorithms (MGA). This research propose new algorithm is called Dash Predator Swarm Optimization (DP2SO) which are accurate in prediction than other methods in generation of Genetic algorithm (GA) 35.83-41.52% which it depend on the accuracy of the information in each factor which are important finance dataset. It will present the future trends of exchange rate to the individual website.
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Ojugo, Arnold Adimabua, and Oghenevwede Debby Otakore. "Intelligent Peer-To-Peer Banking Framework: Advancing The Frontiers of Agent Banking For Financial Inclusion In Nigeria Via Smartphones." Quantitative Economics and Management Studies 1, no. 5 (August 22, 2020): 300–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.35877/454ri.qems140.
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The advent of the retail point of sale (POS) system as a critical component of the traditional retail infrastructure seeks to advance client payment-ease for goods and services rendered by vendors as well as the effective collection of funds by the vendor. It also aids the vendor to collect in advance monies that the client may wish to spend later on goods and services. Thus, the POS has since become a necessity in modern retail stores as its increased usage has seen a transformation from a single machine to a cloud and smart platforms. Our study seeks to model a conceptual framework for decentralized POS as adapted to smartphones. This will enhance cashless transaction irrespective of a customer’s location globally and locally. Built around the block-chain technology, it seeks to minimize challenge(s) of time, installation requirements incurred with the adoption of automatic teller machine (ATM), location and citing of agent-banking in a rural area with low tele- and tech-penetration.
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Ojugo, Arnold Adimabua, and Oghenevwede Debby Otakore. "Intelligent Peer-To-Peer Banking Framework: Advancing The Frontiers of Agent Banking For Financial Inclusion In Nigeria Via Smartphones." Quantitative Economics and Management Studies 1, no. 5 (August 22, 2020): 300–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.35877/454ri.qems140.
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The advent of the retail point of sale (POS) system as a critical component of the traditional retail infrastructure seeks to advance client payment-ease for goods and services rendered by vendors as well as the effective collection of funds by the vendor. It also aids the vendor to collect in advance monies that the client may wish to spend later on goods and services. Thus, the POS has since become a necessity in modern retail stores as its increased usage has seen a transformation from a single machine to a cloud and smart platforms. Our study seeks to model a conceptual framework for decentralized POS as adapted to smartphones. This will enhance cashless transaction irrespective of a customer’s location globally and locally. Built around the block-chain technology, it seeks to minimize challenge(s) of time, installation requirements incurred with the adoption of automatic teller machine (ATM), location and citing of agent-banking in a rural area with low tele- and tech-penetration.
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Joshi, Smita, S. Shrestha, U. Timothy, AK Jha, and DP Thapa. "Health Seeking Behavior and Cost of Care of Chronic Dermatophytosis: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study." Nepal Medical College Journal 22, no. 3 (November 2, 2020): 181–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/nmcj.v22i3.32656.
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Recent trend in onslaught of chronic and recurrent dermatophytosis not amenable to conventional dose and duration of antifungal agents has been observed in Nepal and India. The major factor implicated behind this surge is use of over-the-counter fixed drug combination containing topical steroids. This study aimed to examine the health seeking behavior, pattern of drug use and cost of care of chronic dermatophytosis in Nepalese population. Ninety-one patients with the diagnosis of chronic dermatophytosis of skin willing to participate in the study were recruited in a hospital-based, cross-sectional study. Information regarding demographic profile, health seeking behavior and cost incurred in the treatment of their dermatophytosis were recorded in a preset proforma. Mean age of study population was 30.49±13.50 years with M:F ratio of 2.25:1. Mean duration of illness was 20.68±6.44 months, with groin as the initial site of involvement in nearly half of cases. Commonest diagnoses were extensive dermatophytosis, followed by tinea cruris et corporis and tinea cruris. Nearly three-forth of patients reported seeking advice from local pharmacy and two-third reported using steroid containing topical agents for their skin problem. On an average, patients spent NPR 6,488.70 in a six months period and 3.03% of their income in the treatment of chronic dermatophytosis. This study highlighted the tendency of patients to seek advice from pharmacy dispensers, use of topical steroid containing agents in chronic dermatophytosis and substantial financial burden borne by patients in the treatment of the condition.
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Zheng, Mingyang, and Marguerite DeLiema. "I Mind My Own Business and Expect Others to Do the Same: Conversations About Declining Financial Capacity." Innovation in Aging 5, Supplement_1 (December 1, 2021): 322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igab046.1255.
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Abstract Introduction: One of the smartest ways to prepare for declines in financial decision making capacity is to appoint an agent under power of attorney for finances and to share important financial information and preferences with trusted family or friends. Yet only 12% of older Americans with children think that they’ll need help with their finances as they age, and more than half are uncomfortable talking about their finances with children. Method: We conducted four in-depth interviews with older adults and four focus groups with Black, Latino, low income, and low-middle income adults aged 65 and older. An average of 9 participants were in each 2-hour focus group. Results: Barriers included lack of awareness, denial of future changes in capacity, lack of trustworthy surrogate decision-makers, shame about one’s financial situation, desire for privacy, fear of being a burden, and resistance to overtures by children. Barriers differed by ethnicity and socioeconomic status, with lower income older adults having less knowledge of advance planning and Powers of Attorney. Implications: Significant education is needed around Powers of Attorney and how to begin the advance planning process. Study findings informed the Thinking Ahead Roadmap, a guide to facilitate planning and communication around future money management. The Roadmap uses an empowerment framework to motivate individuals to appoint trusted financial advocates and prepare them for a smooth transition in money management, thereby reducing risk of exploitation, costly mistakes, and family conflict.
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Palmieri, Rudi, and Johanna Miecznikowski. "Predictions in economic-financial news." Argumentation in Journalism 5, no. 1 (March 24, 2016): 48–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jaic.5.1.03pal.
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Compared to other domains of media discourse, economic-financial news contain a considerable amount of speech acts regarding future events, in particular predictions. This can be explained by their specific institutional context, financial markets, where investors constantly seek to single out gain opportunities and to correctly assess their risk. One of the crucial factors making economic-financial predictions worthy of being considered in investment decisions is argumentation, in particular the extent to which the predicted proposition follows from a plausible and acceptable reasoning. Starting from a corpus of 50 articles of the Italian economic-financial press, we consider the inferential dimension of prediction-oriented arguments, focusing on the locus, i.e. the ontological relation on which the connection between the argument(s) and the predictive conclusion rests. All predictions found in the corpus were manually annotated with the software UAM Corpus Tool. For each of them we identified the source, which could be either the journalist him/herself or a third party, typically financial analysts or corporate actors. We distinguished mere predictive opinions from predictive standpoints, i.e. predictions for which the journalist advances one or more supportive arguments (either confirmatory of refutatory). For the latter category, we identified the locus referring to an adaptation of the taxonomy outlined by Rigotti (2009). The findings highlight in particular the following three interesting aspects: (1) in predictions, journalists reinforce their stance by plausible justifications, but weaken it at the same time by marking it as uncertain and/or by using reported speech or evidential means to reduce their responsibility for the predictive speech act; (2) the justification of a predictive standpoint, by the journalist or by third parties, is mostly based on loci of causality, in particular on the locus from efficient cause, the locus from final cause and complex forms of causality where the involvement of rational agents is implied but defocused; (3) moreover, journalists refer to the predictive opinions of experts or corporate insiders to activate the locus from authority, either by explicit argumentation or implicitly, by reporting speech from reliable sources. Our study suggests that the role of predictions in financial news is not so much that of giving any straightforward advice to investors, but rather that of providing chunks of sound argumentative reasoning, including both supportive evidence and rebuttals or refutatory moves, that the investor-reader might apply and combine in the highly uncertain context of financial markets. Overall, our findings shed light on how financial journalists fulfil the function of information intermediaries in finance.
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SP, Bhavana Gowda, and Rashmi R. "An Analysis of Effectiveness of Bancassurance among Customers as an Alternative Distribution Channel in Bangalore." Indian Journal of Finance and Banking 3, no. 2 (September 20, 2019): 27–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.46281/ijfb.v3i2.397.
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In this study we had conducted a survey among Customers of Bank in order to know whether they are aware of the concept of Bancassurance and exploring the reasons why customer would like to buy insurance products from banks. Customer attitude to two different distribution channels was calculated by getting the mean of 24 statements on Likert scale. 74% of the sample was aware of the fact that their banks sell insurance products. It was reported that the reference (56%) and bank employees (54%) are the two main information sources for these customers. The respondents emphasized Trust, convenience in terms of location as the main reasons for buying the insurance products from banks instead of Insurance agents and after analyzing 24 statements administered among target sample population we can conclude: Customers feel that insurance agents have more expertise in insurance products than bank employees and can give better advice. It was also found that banks employees give them all the information needed than insurance agents and customers trust bank more than insurance company for all their financial requirements. Therefore, banks in India should try to exploit the existing opportunities to cross-sell insurance products through their branch network.
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Dyrdahl-Young, Ruhiyyih, Emilie Cole, Marisol Quintanilla Tornel, Richard Weldon, and Peter DiGennaro. "Economic assessment of nematode biological control agents in a potato production model." Nematology 22, no. 7 (July 24, 2020): 771–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685411-00003339.
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Summary Nematode parasitism is a yield limiting factor in many cropping systems, including potato production, which can translate into substantial economic losses. These impacted financial returns are simply calculated by subtracting the cost of production from total revenue (yield times the price per yield of potatoes). The production costs can include, but are not limited to, chemical and biological control agents. To assess economic returns associated with different nematode management strategies, we evaluated complete cost estimations for a representative commercial potato farm in central Michigan, USA. Economic returns were calculated using stochastic parameters for two biological control agents (MeloCon and Majestene), six chemical controls (Mocap, Movento, Nimitz, Velum and Vydate), and two soil amendments (poultry and dairy manure). Evaluated costs included stochastic estimations for price per unit weight of potatoes, fuel, labour and production land rent. Yield data from three field trials were used to create empirical distributions. Using yield data and stochastic cost estimations, we generated 500 simulations of net returns per treatment. The top three average returns were obtained from the use of Mocap, Nimitz and poultry manure. Velum, Movento, dairy manure and Vydate also gave returns significantly higher than no treatment at all; however, the biological nematicide, Majestene, showed negative returns. This simple financial model is a crucial layer of analysis on the performance of nematicides that can be adapted to advise growers through Agricultural Extension activities and needs to include the evaluation of biological control agents.
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Kuhn, John R., James F. Courtney, and Bonnie Morris. "A theory of complex adaptive inquiring organizations: application to continuous assurance of corporate financial information." Knowledge Engineering Review 30, no. 3 (May 19, 2014): 265–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0269888913000428.
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AbstractDrawing upon the theories of complexity and complex adaptive systems and the Singerian inquiring system from C. West Churchman's seminal workThe Design of Inquiring Systems, the study herein develops a systems design theory for continuous auditing systems. The discussion focuses on the two foundational theories, development of the theory of Complex Adaptive Inquiring Organizations (CAIO) and associated design principles for a continuous auditing system supporting a CAIO, and instantiation of the CAIO theory. The instantiation consists of an agent-based model depicting the marketplace for Frontier Airlines that generates an anticipated market share used as an integral component in a mock auditor going concern opinion for the airline. As a whole, the study addresses the lack of an underlying system design theory and comprehensive view needed to build upon and advance the continuous assurance movement and addresses the question of how continuous auditing systems should be designed to produce knowledge – knowledge that benefits auditors, clients, and society as a whole.
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Holmström, Bengt. "Pay For Performance and Beyond." American Economic Review 107, no. 7 (July 1, 2017): 1753–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.107.7.1753.
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Incentives are often associated with narrow financial rewards such as bonuses or executive stock options. But in general such rewards are just a small part of the design of incentives. Properly designed incentive systems have to take into account the full portfolio of activities that the agent can engage in, the array of instruments, many nonfinancial, that are available to influence individuals and consider the factors that motivate them in different settings. Thinking about incentives as a system of interacting instruments and influences has been a major advance in the economics of incentives in recent years. In this lecture I will describe the path from pay for performance to the broader view of incentive systems. (JEL D21, D82, D86, J33, J41, M12, M52)
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Widmaier, Wesley. "Lawyers, Gender, and Money: Consensus, Closure, and Conflict in the Global Financial Crisis." Politics & Gender 11, no. 02 (May 29, 2015): 265–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1743923x15000033.
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How did the interplay of intellectual overconfidence, gender, and professional socialization limit economic policy debate over the subprime boom and global financial crisis? In this article, I integrate historical institutionalist and feminist institutionalist insights to make sense of the interplay of gender and professional socialization in limiting the scope for precrisis regulation and postcrisis reform. First, drawing on historical institutionalist perspectives, I highlight the scope for inefficiency in the use of information, arguing that policy success over time can engender tendencies to misplace confidence and intellectual closure. Secondly, drawing on feminist institutionalist perspectives, I stress the role of professional and gender socialization in enabling agents to resist such inefficiencies and so limit the scope for intellectual closure. In empirical terms, I then advance three case studies addressing the roles of Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Brooksley Born, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Sheila Bair, and Troubled Asset Relief Program Congressional Oversight Panel Chair Elizabeth Warren in challenging the precrisis deregulatory consensus. In the conclusion, I address theoretical and policy implications, stressing the social dynamics that may spur women toward increased professional and intellectual risk taking.
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Gomez-Mejia, Luis R., Ionela Neacsu, and Geoffrey Martin. "CEO Risk-Taking and Socioemotional Wealth: The Behavioral Agency Model, Family Control, and CEO Option Wealth." Journal of Management 45, no. 4 (August 18, 2017): 1713–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0149206317723711.
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We combine behavioral agency and family business literature to analyze the role of dominant firm principals in constraining the managerial agent’s (CEO’s) response to equity-based pay. Behavioral agency research has made progress in understanding CEO risk behavior in response to equity-based incentives and family firm risk behavior driven by concentrated socioemotional and financial firm-specific risk bearing. However, both literatures have evolved independently, which has limited our understanding of how the risk bearing of agent and principal influences the predictions of the behavioral agency model (BAM). We combine these literatures in order to enhance BAM’s predictive validity with regard to firm risk-taking as a function of both agent and principal risk preferences. Our findings suggest that family principals are more likely than nonfamily principals to constrain CEO risk behavior that is perceived as immoderate (excessively risk averse or excessively risk seeking). We also offer evidence that CEO ties to the family influence the CEO’s response to equity-based incentives. In doing so, we offer refinements to BAM’s formulation and advance our understanding of the unique nature of agency problems within family firms.
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Kuznetsova, A. A., T. E. Timashkova, and N. V. Repetskaya. "The concept of the formation and development of a multi-communication logistics system for an enterprise." Management and Business Administration, no. 3 (October 19, 2022): 114–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.33983/2075-1826-2022-3-114-124.
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The purpose of the article. The urgency of the research is based on the need to ensure the objectivity and transparency of contractual relations in all parts of the logistic chain, on the one hand, and the possibility of using the synergistic effect of the participants’ experience grounded in interconnected business-possesses, which can be achieved by introducing the principles of multi-agent technologies into the logistics management, on the other hand. The purpose is to work out an algorithm for creating and developing a multi-communication logistics system for a business structure. Materials and methods. A systematic approach, economic methods for processing special data, a method for analyzing dataset are used. Results. The paper presents a methodology for the development of a virtual enterprise in supply and marketing spheres of an industrial company, based on the author's methodology of financial micro-logistics. The core of the proposed algorithm for developing a multi-communication logistics system is focused on two aspects. The first is a combination of financial transparency and objectivity with the help of the proposed information support for logistics management of supply and sales. The second is a use of voluntary symbiosis of all logistics resources (material, financial, human, organizational capital). Conclusions. The authors believe that the obtained algorithm of the logistics portal for an enterprise will both advance and speed up business relations and make them more transparent.
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O’Brien, Peter, Phil O’Neill, and Andy Pike. "Funding, financing and governing urban infrastructures." Urban Studies 56, no. 7 (February 14, 2019): 1291–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0042098018824014.
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This Special Issue aims to further understanding and explanation of the funding, financing and governing of urban infrastructure amidst its engagements with contemporary financialisation. Drawing upon empirical material from international cases from Europe, North America, Africa and Asia, it identifies critical issues to advance work in this area. These themes concern: the impacts of financialisation upon shifting the definitions and conceptualisations of urban infrastructure; the worth of adopting more actor-oriented and grounded approaches to financialisation; the importance of affording greater recognition to national and local states as the objects and agents of financialising relations, processes and practices; the substance and ramifications of the emergent informalisation of infrastructure policy-making and governance; and, the implications of financialisation for the evolving and uneven landscapes of urban infrastructure provision. The arguments are, first, that how infrastructure is funded, financed and governed is integral to explaining socially and spatially uneven infrastructural provision and its urban development ramifications; and second, the engagements of urban infrastructure with contemporary financialisation have become central in such accounts. Future research avenues are identified. These comprise: identifying exactly how revenues are generated from infrastructure assets; specifying the relations of financialisation with other processes such as ‘assetisation’, ‘marketisation’ and privatisation; extending the geographical and comparative reach of current studies; elaborating the spaces of regulation in negotiating and accommodating infrastructure financialisation; and, scrutinising the roles of decentralised powers and resources in financialising urban infrastructure and exploring its alternatives.
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Du, Cong. "Research on the Risk Management Issues of VAM Agreements in Private Equity Financing." Proceedings of Business and Economic Studies 5, no. 1 (February 28, 2022): 27–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.26689/pbes.v5i1.3729.
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At present, the biggest obstacle that growing enterprises may encounter in their development process is insufficient funds. Private equity financing does not only solve the capital problem of enterprises, but also provide enterprises with professional management concepts and even help growing enterprises to go public in advance. However, high returns must be accompanied by high risks. For example, private equity financing has information asymmetry risks, principal-agent risks, etc., and these risks make it impossible to maximize the advantages of private equity financing. Therefore, in order to reduce the risks brought by financing, investment and financing parties should choose to sign gambling contracts to reduce the risk. In recent years, the use of VAM agreements has become more in China. However, according to incomplete statistics, less than 30% of VAM agreements are successful, and this result is mainly due to the insufficient depth and breadth of research on VAM agreements. Therefore, this article will comprehensively analyze the problems that need to be paid attention to when signing a gambling agreement by introducing the case of Anda Technology, and the issue of targeted risk prevention will also be discussed in this paper.
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Diamantino, Filipa, and Ana Ferreira. "Perspectivas futuras no tratamento da psoríase: novidades em terapêutica biológica." Acta Médica Portuguesa 24, no. 6 (June 20, 2012): 997. http://dx.doi.org/10.20344/amp.1416.
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Psoriasis is an immune-mediated chronic, inflammatory disease. Due to the chronic nature of the disease, patients suffer from substantial psychological and financial burdens, thus adding to a significantly impaired quality of life. Current understanding of the pathophysiology of this condition has produced very encouraging new medical developments. The biologic therapies target precise elements of the immune cascade and their introduction to clinical practice was a significant advance in the management of refractory moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Biological therapies for the treatment of psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis are defined by their mode of action and are classified into the following categories: T-cell modulating agents, inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα blockers) and inhibitors of interleukin (IL) 12 and IL-23. This article reviews the recent progress in the understanding of the molecular and immunologic basis of psoriasis and how this contributed to the introduction of new targeted therapies. It is provided an overview of the TNFα inhibitors golimumab and certolizumab, and also other agents such as ustekinumab, briacinumab, tasocitinib, sipilizumab and abatacept.
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Feldman, Jonathan Michael. "From the “Greta Thunberg Effect” to Green Conversion of Universities: The Reconstructive Praxis of Discursive Mobilizations." Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education 12, no. 1 (May 29, 2021): 121–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/dcse-2021-0009.
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Abstract This paper investigates how one could envision a discursive mobilization process to transform protest movements into agents that help reconstruct the universities as agents supporting material mobilizations leading to ecological reconstruction. After reviewing universities’ ecological footprints, the author shows how theories of mobilization and conjunctures could contribute to understanding how this transformation could occur. Discursive mobilizations advance values or ideas but stop short of innovation and production system changes. Material mobilizations affect deployment of human, technological, industrial and financial resources. Conjunctures involve linkages of political activity to spaces implicated in both kinds of mobilizations in a given historical time frame. The study shows many nations having both extensive climate activism and concentrations of university students creating a possibility for greening education centers based on various models for doing so. Yet, two key problems emerge. First, some nations lag in climate activism. Second, interest in a Green Deal or Green New Deal does not always match the level of attention to leading activist Greta Thunberg. The paper illustrates how such problems can be addressed by university-based campaigns linking activist cohorts, mobilization supporting green conversion of higher education and solidaristic, mutual aid exchanges among regions.
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Rubenstein, M., P. Tsui, K. A. Christensen, and P. Guinan. "Effect of bispecific antisense oligos on prostate cancer cell growth." Journal of Clinical Oncology 25, no. 18_suppl (June 20, 2007): 14034. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2007.25.18_suppl.14034.
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14034 Background: Antisense oligos against TGF-a (MR1), EGFR (MR2), and bcl-2 (MR4) are efficacious against prostate tumors. Methods: To enhance activity “bispecifics” were constructed. A pair recognized TGF-a and EGFR mRNA binding sites (TGF-a/EGFR [MR12] and EGFR/TGF-a [MR21]), another pair EGFR and bcl-2 (EGFR/bcl-2 [MR24] and bcl-2/EGFR [MR42]). Pairs differ in 5’ to 3’ binding site orientation, and were tested in vitro against prostate tumor cells. Following cell attachment, incubations were for 2 days with the agents followed by 2 days in their absence. Results: Bispecifics (6.25uM) are at least as effective as monospecifics and EGFR contributed to most first pair activity. Against PC-3 and LNCaP cells, MR2, MR4, MR12, MR21, MR24 and MR42 significantly inhibited growth. PC-3 cells were then incubated ± a chemotherapeutic agent. With LD50 Cytoxan, MR2, MR4, MR24, MR42 significantly inhibited 47.3, 45.7, 68.3 and 64.9%; with LD50 Taxol MR2, MR4, MR24, MR42 significantly inhibited 49.8, 45.8, 64.1 and 59.2%; and with LD50 DES MR2, MR4, MR24, MR42 significantly inhibited 66.6, 67.6, 64.3 and 67.2% respectively. Each agent significantly increased the inhibition produced by either oligo alone. LNCaP cells were also incubated with mono- and bispecific oligos ± chemotherapeutics. MR2, MR4, MR24, MR42 produced significant inhibitions of 57.4, 58.4, 69.4 and 68.6% for Cytoxan; 70.4, 70.1, 73.6 and 74.0% for Taxol; and 49.8, 50.1, 59.6 and 53.9% respectively for DES. A complete PC-3 experiment compared MR1, MR2, MR4, MR12, MR21, MR24 and MR42 in the presence of LD50 Cytoxan. Each oligo combined with Cytoxan significantly inhibited: MR1 by 51.0, MR2 by 55.0, MR4 by 58.0; MR12 by 56.0; MR21 by 61.1, MR24 by 65.5 and MR42 by 66.0%. Bispecifics directed against two different pathways, MR24 and MR42 were the most effective. A complete LNCaP experiment compared the same series of oligos in the presence of LD50 Cytoxan. Each oligo combined with Cytoxan significantly inhibited: MR1 by 49.0, MR2 by 50.0, MR4 by 53.0; MR12 by 52.0; MR21 by 58.6, MR24 by 53.9 and MR42 by 58.0%. Conclusions: Bispecific oligos significantly advance antisense technology and could play a role treating prostate cancer, particularly when combined with chemotherapy. Bispecifics against proteins associated with different growth pathways may be best. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Akerley, W. L. "Erlotinib as first-line treatment for untreated advance stage NSCLC with good prognosis." Journal of Clinical Oncology 24, no. 18_suppl (June 20, 2006): 7178. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2006.24.18_suppl.7178.
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7178 Background: Erlotinib demonstrated improved survival in previously treated NSCLC, but did not affect survival in untreated NSCLC when used with concurrent chemotherapy. A potential hypothesis for this paradox is erlotinib may be more effective for patients with less aggressive tumors (i.e. those still surviving after multiple chemotherapy treatments). The current trial was designed to evaluate erlotinib before initial chemotherapy in a population of patients with less aggressive tumors based on clinical criteria. Methods: Eligibility criteria included stage IIIB/IV or recurrent NSCLC, no prior chemotherapy for systemic disease, PS = 0–1, weight loss less than 10%, and no urgent symptoms. Patients received erlotinib 150 mg po/day until objective or symptomatic progression before they were switched to chemotherapy. The 10 endpoint was time-to-progression after 1st chemotherapy. Results: 40 patients have been accrued. The median age was 65, 35 had PS = 1, 8 were never-smoker, and 23 were former smokers. Histologies were: Adeno 20, BAC 2, Sq 6, NSCLC 11, Other 1. The major toxicity was rash (Gr0 in 4, Gr1in 15, Gr2 in 14, Gr3 in 3, 4 too early. Other toxicity included liver (Gr 1 in 2, Gr2 in 1), mucositis (Gr1 in 1, Gr2 in 1) and diarrhea (liver (Gr1 in 10, Gr2 in 1, Gr3 in 2). 34 have been followed long enough for response evaluation, which identified 4 (12%) with PR (median 37 wks), 8 with stable (median 20 wk) and 22 with progression. At progression only 2 patients were too ill to start chemotherapy due to inadequate performance status. The median time on erlotinib was 8 wks overall: for rash Gr 0–1 8 wks, Gr 2–3=43 wks (p = 0.03). The median and 6-month PFS for chemotherapy are 22 wks and 45% with17 still on treatment. The median and 1-yr survivals are 50 wks and 47% with 24 pts still alive. Conclusions: Mid-term safety analyses exceeded expectations. Rash predicts duration of erlotinib effectiveness. Preliminary results suggest single agent, erlotinib may be as effective (PFS and survival) as initial chemotherapy with less toxicity and merits randomized testing as first treatment for advanced lung cancer. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Hobbs, Brian P., Nan Chen, and J. Jack Lee. "Controlled multi-arm platform design using predictive probability." Statistical Methods in Medical Research 27, no. 1 (January 12, 2016): 65–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0962280215620696.
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The process of screening agents one-at-a-time under the current clinical trials system suffers from several deficiencies that could be addressed in order to extend financial and patient resources. In this article, we introduce a statistical framework for designing and conducting randomized multi-arm screening platforms with binary endpoints using Bayesian modeling. In essence, the proposed platform design consolidates inter-study control arms, enables investigators to assign more new patients to novel therapies, and accommodates mid-trial modifications to the study arms that allow both dropping poorly performing agents as well as incorporating new candidate agents. When compared to sequentially conducted randomized two-arm trials, screening platform designs have the potential to yield considerable reductions in cost, alleviate the bottleneck between phase I and II, eliminate bias stemming from inter-trial heterogeneity, and control for multiplicity over a sequence of a priori planned studies. When screening five experimental agents, our results suggest that platform designs have the potential to reduce the mean total sample size by as much as 40% and boost the mean overall response rate by as much as 15%. We explain how to design and conduct platform designs to achieve the aforementioned aims and preserve desirable frequentist properties for the treatment comparisons. In addition, we demonstrate how to conduct a platform design using look-up tables that can be generated in advance of the study. The gains in efficiency facilitated by platform design could prove to be consequential in oncologic settings, wherein trials often lack a proper control, and drug development suffers from low enrollment, long inter-trial latency periods, and an unacceptably high rate of failure in phase III.
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Kim, Min-Seung, Chan-Ho Lee, Ji-Hye Choi, Yong-Ju Jang, Jeong-Hee Lee, Jaesik Lee, and Tae-Eung Sung. "A Study on Intelligent Technology Valuation System: Introduction of KIBO Patent Appraisal System II." Sustainability 13, no. 22 (November 16, 2021): 12666. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su132212666.
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Technology finance, which has attracted worldwide attention for the successful business development of small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) or start-ups, has advanced an innovation or stagnation way-out resolution strategy for companies in line with the low-growth economic trends. Although the development of new technologies and the establishment of active R&D and commercialization strategies are essential factors in a company’s management sustainability, the activation of the technology market in practice is still in progress for its golden age. In this study, to promote a technology transfer-based company’s growth and to run technology-based various financial support activities, we develop and propose a new intelligent, deep learning-based technology valuation system that enables technology holders to estimate the economic values of their innovative technologies and further to establish a firm’s commercialization strategy. For the last years, the KIBO Patent Appraisal System (KPAS-II) herein proposed has been advanced by KIBO as a web-based, artificial intelligence (AI) and evaluation data applications valuation system that automatically calculates and estimates a technology’s feasible economic value by utilizing both the intrinsic and extrinsic index information of a patent and the commercialization entity’s business capabilities, and by applying to the discounted cash flow (DCF) method in valuation theory, and finally integrating with deep learning results based on the in-advance previously established patent DB and the financial DB. The KPAS-II proposed in this study can be said to have dramatically overcome the long-term preparation period and high levels of R&D and commercialization costs in terms of the limitations that the existing technology valuation method possesses by enhancing the reliability of approximate economic values from the deep learning results based on financial data and completed valuation data. In addition, it is expected that technology marketing coordinators, researchers, and non-specialty business agents, not limited to valuation experts, can easily estimate the economic values of their patents or technologies, and they can be actively utilized in a technology-based company’s decision-making and technologically dependent financial activities.
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Palmeri, S., J. Bergh, L. Bergmann, S. W. Hansen, J. M. Moraleda, M. Marty, J. H. Schellens, et al. "The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) guideline on oncology drug development." Journal of Clinical Oncology 25, no. 18_suppl (June 20, 2007): 6636. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2007.25.18_suppl.6636.
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6636 Background: The scientific assessment and positive opinion of the EMEA is mandatory for the approval of new oncology drugs in the European Union. One of the tasks of the EMEA is to provide guidance on the conduct of the various tests and trials necessary for approval. The EMEA has recently revised its guideline on the clinical development of new anticancer drugs. The revised version includes specific guidance on the development of non-cytotoxic (i.e., cytostatic) agents ( http://www.emea.europa.eu/pdfs/human/ewp/020595en.pdf ). Specific guidance is given about methodological issues using progression-free survival (PFS) as primary endpoint in confirmatory trials for registration ( http://www.emea.europa.eu/pdfs/human/ewp/26757506en.pdf ). Methods: The key elements of the revised guideline are described with particular reference to requirements for approval. Results: The early stages of clinical drug development have to be tailored according to the assumed pharmacology of the individual compound as defined in non-clinical studies. The integration of information from exploratory (phase I-II) and confirmatory (phase III) studies is of primary importance. In general, phase III trials should be designed with the aim of establishing the benefit risk balance of the drug, in a well-characterized target population. These studies should be randomized controlled and, where possible, blinded or include blinded evaluation. Acceptable primary endpoints include overall survival (OS) and PFS or disease-free survival (DFS). It is acknowledged that there are situations where PFS can be considered as a primary endpoint that measures clinical benefit. Adherence to protocol-defined schedules for tumor assessments, typically by imaging techniques, is important and deviations should be reported. Independent, blinded review and confirmation of best tumor response and progression should be undertaken if PFS is the primary endpoint. Conclusions: The current revision of the EMEA guideline provides useful clinical regulatory guidance for the development of cytostatic agents. When recommended guidelines are considered suboptimal, sponsors are encouraged to seek regulatory scientific advice. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Mattos, Débora Pereira de, Daiane Rodrigues dos Santos, Alberto Eduardo Besser Freitag, Osvaldo Quintella Jr, and Fabrício da Costa Dias. "BRAZILIANS' PERSPECTIVE ON CRYPTOCURRENCIES." International Journal for Innovation Education and Research 10, no. 6 (June 1, 2022): 130–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol10.iss6.3778.
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The advance in science and technology combined with the development of the Internet offers new options for the use of money. Economic agents are beginning to lose physical contact with money and carry out transactions through electronic channels. The debate on the subject is of international relevance and foresees the manifestation of the monetary authority, which shows the importance of the subject. This paper sought to present the theories of demand for cryptocurrencies, discuss the perspective of Brazilians in relation to digital assets, and show the role of cryptocurrencies in the current economy. This study aimed to identify how the growth in demand for cryptocurrencies can impact the financial system and the globalized economy. The methodology employed is bibliographical, documental, and field research on the monetary evolution and the perspective of Brazilians in relation to crypto assets. Based on the online questionnaire conducted with 170 respondents who answered about what they understand by digital assets, it was observed that most of them are not used to the theme in question, however, there is a great interest in learning. It is concluded that compared to sovereign currencies, cryptocurrency meets monetary demand in isolation, in each context and period.
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El-Moamly, Amal. "Malaria elimination: needs assessment and priorities for the future." Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 7, no. 11 (November 15, 2013): 769–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.3855/jidc.3079.
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When the World Health Organization announced the goal of global eradication of malaria in 2007, questions were raised about the naivety of this proposition. Since then, experts have been divided about this goal. Some scientists suggest that when defeating malaria, elimination is a worthy and challenging aim, but this has to be done with modesty and thorough analysis. Others believe that it is time to repeat the experience of smallpox eradication and to open a whole new era for public health, the eradication of many diseases. The opposing view suggests that raising expectations and failing again may set malaria control back, rather than advance its cause. This literature review focuses on malaria elimination. It summarizes the history of malaria elimination, its success factors and reasons for failure, and the controversial issues in malaria elimination. The collected articles on the challenges of elimination, and the technical and financial feasibility that countries must appreciate before proceeding, are identified. Also, this review discusses the current global strategy to eliminate malaria and highlights the main concerns for future plans aimed at elimination. These plans foresee improving currently available diagnostic methods, therapeutic and prophylactic agents and protocols, vector control procedures, vaccine development progress, and other operational tools and approaches. Finally, this review addresses a number of research priorities in the present stage of the fight against malaria.
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Dave, R. I., U. Tripathi, S. Shah, and K. M. Patel. "Poly TLR agonist polyantigenic vaccine (Mycobacterium w) in palliative therapy of head and neck cancer." Journal of Clinical Oncology 24, no. 18_suppl (June 20, 2006): 12512. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2006.24.18_suppl.12512.
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12512 Background: Poly TLR poly-antigenic vaccine containing Mycobacterium w (Mw) is found useful in the management of lung cancer and bladder cancer when used along with standard therapy1,2 but not in Head and Neck cancer3–4. This study was carried out to evaluate its efficacy as a single agent in advanced head & neck cancer. Methods: In a prospective study consecutive 75 symptomatic patients with advanced head & neck cancer (squamous cell) attending hospital for palliative care following failure of standard therapy were administered Mw once a week for 8 weeks. Results: Of 75 patients 43 were male & 32 females with 76% between the ages of 31 to 60). 18 had buccal mucosa tumor, 12 alveolar and 11 at base of the tongue. Partial response was seen in 27. It was associated with Pain relief (27/27), Healing of ulcer/fistula (4/5), improvement in dysphagia (7/15), improvement in voice(5/19). All 27 showed improvement in constitutional symptoms also. No systemic side effects were seen. Conclusions: Mw vaccine is useful in palliative care of head & neck cancer. Reference 1Sur PK, Dastidar AG. Role of mycobacterium w as adjuvant treatment of lung cancer. J Indian Med Assoc. 2003;101:118, 120. 2Chaudhuri P, Mukhopadhyay S. Bladder preserving approach for muscle invasive bladder cancer–role of mycobacterium w. J Indian Med Assoc. 2003;101:559–60 3M. C. Pant, R. Hadi, R. Prasad, D. Dalela, et al. Role of immuno-therapy as a adjuvant treatment in advance head & neck cancer, patient receiving chemo radiotherapy. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2005; 23, (16S Part 1): 190S 4S. K. Sarkar, C. Dasgupta. Role of Mycobacterium W as an adjuvant treatment of Head & Neck Cancer_A Randomised trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2005; 23, (16S Part 1): 521 s. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Akogbe, G. O., N. Anumenechi, and C. A. Ezigbo. "Cancer prevention among residents: Practice and patterns." Journal of Clinical Oncology 29, no. 4_suppl (February 1, 2011): 33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2011.29.4_suppl.33.
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33 Background: At least a third of all cancer cases are preventable. Prevention offers the most cost-effective long- term strategy for the control of cancer; especially in resource deprived areas of the world. Tobacco is the single largest preventable cause of cancer in the world today. Dietary modification is another important approach to cancer control. Infectious agents are responsible for almost 22% of cancer death in the developing world and 6% in industrialized countries. This number is on the rise as result of HIV/AIDS pandemic, life style change and malnutrition. Residents constitute a very important arm of specialized cares in tertiary health institutions. They are the “gate-keepers” who are often the first to come in contact with patients that will benefit from cancer preventive measures. The purpose of this study is therefore, to examine the awareness, attitude and practice of cancer prevention by residents. Methods: Randomly selected residents from the major clinical oncology departments answered questionnaire that addressed these cancer prevention domains; awareness of behavioral modification and early screening, discussing cancer prevention with patients, and participating in screening for common cancer risk factors. Results: 77 out 100 questionnaire distributed were completed and returned; 77% response rate. 97% of the respondents are aware of cancer preventive measures but only 73% of these discussed the measures with patients. 9% of the respondents do not advise patient to quit smoking/not to smoke, only 22% advocate protection against sun, 23% do not advocate for early screening, and only 25% of the respondents themselves are screened for any of the common cancer risk factors while 74% are not. Conclusions: There is significant awareness of cancer prevention measures but not all put this knowledge to practice. Only a quarter of the respondents are themselves screened. Further studies are needed to determine interventions that can improve resident's attitude to cancer prevention in resource deprived economy with rising prevalence of cancer. With improved training opportunities for cancer control among professionals, more cancers will be diagnosed via early screening and detection. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Manser Payne, Elizabeth H., James Peltier, and Victor A. Barger. "Enhancing the value co-creation process: artificial intelligence and mobile banking service platforms." Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing 15, no. 1 (February 1, 2021): 68–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jrim-10-2020-0214.
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Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships that influence the value co-creation process and lead to consumer comfort with artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile banking (AIMB) service platforms. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model was developed to investigate the value-in-use perceptions of AI-based mobile banking applications via five antecedents: baseline perceptions of current bank service delivery; service delivery configuration benefits; general data security; safety perceptions of specific mobile banking services; and perceptions of AI service delivery. Data were collected from 218 respondents and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings This study highlights the role and importance of the sequential relationships that impact the assessment of AIMB. The findings suggest that service delivery and the customer’s role in value co-creation change as AI is introduced into a digital self-service technology channel. Furthermore, AIMB offers transaction-oriented (utilitarian) value propositions more so than relationship-oriented (hedonic) value propositions. Research limitations/implications The sample consisted on digital natives. Additional age cohorts are needed. Practical implications As financial institutions redirect their business models toward digital self-service technology channels, the need for customers to feel comfortable while interacting with an AI agent will be critical for enhancing the customer experience and firm performance. Originality/value The authors extend the service-dominant logic (SDL) literature by showing that value co-creation is a function of both firms’ technologies and consumers’ value-in-use, a finding that appears to be unique in the literature. The authors advance the digital transformation literature by evaluating AIMB as an interactive process that requires an understanding of key technology constructs, including perceptions of baseline service relationships, desired service configurations, security and safety issues and whether AI is useful for value co-creation. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first SDL framework that investigates interactive and structural relationships to explain value-in-use perceptions of AIMB.
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Dunleavy, K., B. R. Healey Bird, S. Pittaluga, N. Grant, M. Shovlin, R. Little, R. Yarchoan, et al. "Efficacy and toxicity of dose-adjusted EPOCH-rituximab in adults with newly diagnosed Burkitt lymphoma." Journal of Clinical Oncology 25, no. 18_suppl (June 20, 2007): 8035. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2007.25.18_suppl.8035.
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8035 Background: Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) is a rare and highly aggressive lymphoma, characterized by a high tumor proliferation rate. While the standard therapy of BL is highly effective, it involves intensive, multi-agent chemotherapy that is associated with considerable treatment-related toxicity and mortality, especially in older patients. We hypothesized that the regimen DA-EPOCH may be effective in BL, based on the observation that it overcomes the adverse effect of high proliferation in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Methods: We investigated DA-EPOCH-rituximab (R) in untreated BL in an attempt to maintain the high cure rates of standard therapy with minimal treatment related toxicity. Eligible patients had a diagnosis of untreated BL and could be HIV negative or positive with HIV negative patients (n=13) receiving 6 cycles of DA-EPOCH-R as previously described (Blood 99: 2685, 2002) and HIV positive (n=6) patients receiving 3–6 cycles of DA- EPOCH-R for 1 cycle beyond CR for a minimum of 3 cycles. All patients received intrathecal methotrexate prophylaxis and outpatient therapy where possible. Results: The characteristics of 19 enrolled patients are: median age (range) 29 (18–66) and ECOG PS 1(1–3); stage III/IV 10 (53%); LDH > N 11 (61%); male sex 15 (79%); extranodal sites 13 (68%) and ileocecal disease 13 (68%). No patients so far had CNS involvement at diagnosis. Response is CR/CRu in 100% of patients with one patient receiving consolidative radiotherapy to a site of residual disease. OS and PFS are both 100% and EFS 93.3% at a median potential follow-up time of 29 months. Toxicities were fever/neutropenia in 16%, grade 4 neutropenia in 47% and grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia in 22% of cycles. There was one case of tumor lysis syndrome and no treatment related deaths. Conclusions: DA-EPOCH-R is highly effective in BL. It appears to be associated with much lower toxicity compared to standard high-dose regimens and may significantly advance the therapeutic index of BL treatment. Accrual continues. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Leaver, Adam, and Keir Martin. "‘Dams and flows’: boundary formation and dislocation in the financialised firm." Review of Evolutionary Political Economy 2, no. 3 (November 2, 2021): 403–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s43253-021-00057-0.
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Abstract Mainstream economic theories of the firm argue that the boundary between firm and market is determined by efficiency-enhancing logics which optimise coordination or bargaining outcomes. Drawing on social anthropological work, this paper critiques these accounts, arguing instead that firms are socially embedded and that firm boundary formation should therefore be understood as an attempt to fix the limits of certain relational rights and obligations that are moral in their conception. Consequently, boundaries are often contested and subject to renegotiation. We employ the parsimonious concepts of ‘dams and flows’ to examine how attempts to curtail the claims of some stakeholders and extend the claims of others at any one historical moment produce boundaries of different kinds. To illustrate this, we first trace the moral arguments used to advance limited liability rights to shareholders during the Companies Act in the mid-nineteenth century, which cut or ‘dammed’ obligations at a particular point and moment, directing new flows of obligation and wealth. We then explore the different moral reasoning of agency theory—the foundation of the financialised firm—which foregrounds the property rights of shareholder principles and obligations of managerial agents to them. We argue that this moral reasoning led to new dams and flows that have changed corporate governance and accounting practice, producing—counterintuitively—a reinvigorated form of managerialism, leaving the firm financially and morally unstable; its boundaries increasingly unable to contain its relational tensions.
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van den Brink, Marieke. "“Reinventing the wheel over and over again”. Organizational learning, memory and forgetting in doing diversity work." Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal 39, no. 4 (April 25, 2020): 379–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/edi-10-2019-0249.
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PurposeOne of the urgent questions in the field of diversity is the knowledge about effective diversity practices. This paper aims to advance our knowledge on organizational change toward diversity by combining concepts from diversity studies and organizational learning.Design/methodology/approachBy employing a social practice approach to organizational learning, the author will be able to go beyond individual learning experiences of diversity practices but see how members negotiate the diversity knowledge and how they integrate their new knowledge in their day-to-day organizational norms and practices. The analysis draws on data collected during a longitudinal case study in a financial service organization in the Netherlands.FindingsThis study showed how collective learning practices took place but were insufficiently anchored in a collective memory. Change agents have the task to build “new” memory on diversity policies and gender inequality as well as to use organizational memory to enable diversity policies and practices to be implemented. The inability to create a community of practice impeded the change agenda.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could expand our knowledge on collective memory of knowledge on diversity further and focus on the way employees make use of this memory while doing diversity.Practical implicationsThe current literature often tends to analyze the effectiveness of diversity practices as linear processes, which is insufficient to capture the complexity of a change process characterized with layers of negotiated and politicized forms of access to resources. The author would argue for more future work on nonlinear and process-based perspectives on organizational change.Originality/valueThe contribution is to the literature on diversity practices by showing how the lack of collective memory to “store” individual learning in the organization has proven to be a major problem in the management of diversity.
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Jalali, Alireza, Mastura Jaafar, and Thurasamy Ramayah. "Entrepreneurial orientation and performance: the interaction effect of customer capital." World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 10, no. 1 (January 24, 2014): 48–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/wjemsd-05-2013-0030.
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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to advance research on entrepreneurial orientation (EO), resource-based view (RBV), customer (relational) capital, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by examining how the interaction effect of customer capital shapes the relationship between EO and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – This research is considered as a correlational rather than a casual study with 150 questionnaire returned from manufacturing SMEs. This cross-sectional study tested all hypotheses that are related to the research questions and use statistical software SPSS 17 to analyze data. Findings – The study found that a high customer capital strengthens the link between two dimensions of EO (innovativeness and risk taking) and weakens the link between another dimension of EO (proactiveness) and firm performance. Research limitations/implications – First, future studies would benefit from an enhanced development in the measurement of EO dimensions, which relies on richer and more refined conceptualizations. Second, a single informant who was asked to evaluate EO may potentially increase the degree of subjectivity and bias in the responses. Obtaining more than one respondent for the survey from each organization is always highly desirable. Practical implications – The results of the current study cover the limitation of the previous study by independently examining the moderating effect of customer capital as an intangible resource in the relationship between innovativeness and risk taking on firm performance. The paper expands this line of work by adding the idea that the intangible resources of a firm are more likely to contribute to sustaining superior firm performance when they are used with other factors simultaneously. Social implications – Environmental factors, such as government financial aid and protection of organizations outside the industry, may affect the relationship between SMEs and the agents. Establishing extra ties between Iranian firms and agents may be expensive for Iranian manufacturing firms, and they may not be able to create these ties without government support. Originality/value – A research gap exists in understanding how customer capital operates and endows benefits to firms that are beyond their start-up phase and are embarking on international activities. The current study tries to overcome a number of limitations of the previous framework by combining RBV and customer capital. Particularly, “the RBV's lack of specificity have raised questions as to its status as a legitimate theory, and make it difficult to design and test empirically.”
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Koziuk, Viktor. "Digital currencies: a problem of trust." Ekonomìčna teorìâ 2021, no. 2 (June 16, 2021): 93–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.15407/etet2021.02.093.
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The rising cryptocurrencies have revived discussion about the prospects of monetary order and the central bank’s role in it. Functionality is in the core of the competition between the forms of money and the payment landscape could be fractionalized affecting further decline in the efficiency of monetary policy. Central bank digital currency (CBDC) is looked by monetary authorities as a way to respond to technological challenge and fulfill the gap of the market failure related to some imperfections of privately issued digital money. The success of each money form is dependent on the trust as a collective experience. The paper raises the question if the central banks are more credible than private digital money when probable change in the age structure matters for the spread of fintech. Based on empirical analysis, it is found that economic agents differentiate digital money of central banks from those of private issuers. Private cryptocurrencies are considered more reliable when inflationary experience is stronger, while central banks’ independence level and financial stability are not factors of higher trust to CBDC. Also, a country’s institutional features do not indicate that successful central banks can use the “the umbrella” of trust to their own cryptocurrencies while the factors of technological advance fail to show a clear significance. Social capital better contributes to the trust to private digital money. At the same time, the age structure is the strong factor due to which digital currencies are more reliable in younger societies. It is concluded that in the case then trust in cryptocurrencies is not grounded on institutional factors that historically contributed to stability of the monetary order, preconditions for the latter’s higher vulnerability are likely to rise. With the growing role of age structure as a factor of higher trust to digital money, the quality of social interactions will become a very important institutional precondition for the stability of monetary order.
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Sankaranarayanan, S., V. Sokolovskiy, V. Voloshin, M. Aliev, V. Zubikov, D. Nisichenko, and A. Sokolovskiy. "Does neo-adjuvant chemotherapy increase the risk of infection after limb salvage surgery for bone tumors?" Journal of Clinical Oncology 25, no. 18_suppl (June 20, 2007): 20532. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2007.25.18_suppl.20532.
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20532 Background: Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy is commonly used to eradicate the micro metastases and to prepare the patient for limb-salvage surgery. It helps the surgeon to get good oncological margin intraoperatively. Methods: Between the period of 1992 - 2005, 321 patients underwent limb salvage surgery for bone tumors at the Department of General Oncology (Bone & Soft tissue tumors), N. N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center & Moscow Regional Clinical Research Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation. 230/321 patients (Group A) received neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. The course of chemotherapy ranges from 2 to 11 cycles. 95/321 patients (Group B) did not receive neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. The histological diagnoses were: 155 - High grade osteosarcoma, 38 - Giant cell tumor, 36 - Malignant fibrous histiocytoma, 29 - Chondrosarcoma, 25 - Periosteal osteosarcoma, 21 - Metastasis from other organs and 17 - Ewing's tumor. Results: In Group A, 27 patients (11.7%) and in Group B, 7 (7.3%) had infection of endoprosthetic bed. Suppression of the immune system by chemotherapeutic agents is the main reason for the higher incidence of infection in Group A. All the 27 patients in Group A and 2 patients in Group B had revisional endoprosthetic replacement. In group A 7/27 and in Group B none of the 7 patients died of post operative infection. The follow-up ranged from 1 - 13 years (mean follow-up 6 years). Discussion: In our opinion, it has a major disadvantage, i.e. it increases the risk of postoperative infection. How best to combine this drug is still unknown. In the future, therapy for bone tumors should be enhanced by advances in pharmacology, immunology, and molecular genetics that will lead to more efficacious, specific and less toxic treatments. An interdisciplinary team approach is needed in order to advance the goal of local tumor control, limb salvage with optimum extremity function, minimal morbidity and improved long term survival. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Aldape, K. D., G. Jones, M. Wang, M. Hegi, R. C. Janzer, R. Stupp, M. P. Mehta, and M. R. Gilbert. "MGMT methylation testing in RTOG 0525: A phase III trial of newly diagnosed glioblastoma." Journal of Clinical Oncology 27, no. 15_suppl (May 20, 2009): 2051. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2009.27.15_suppl.2051.
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2051 Background: MGMT promoter methylation has been described as a prognostic marker in glioblastoma (GBM) and may be associated with chemosensitivity to alkylating agents. This study determined the feasibility of real-time determination of MGMT promoter methylation testing in a large international phase III clinical trial. Methods: Paraffin tumor blocks were obtained from patients registered onto RTOG 0525 then distributed to one of two central pathology labs: MD Anderson (Houston TX, K. Aldape) or CHUV (Lausanne, CH, R. Janzer). After histologic confirmation of GBM, unstained slides (40 microns of tumor tissue) were sent to the testing laboratories. Results were used for randomization into a treatment arm. MGMT methylation was assessed using methylation specific real-time PCR (MSP). The assay determined the number of copies of both methylated MGMT and of beta-actin (ACTB) in the sample. The ACTB copy number was used to assess the quality and quantity of the sample DNA. Results: Results were available for 995 samples. Following MSP samples were categorized into one of five possible results: failed (2, 0.2%), methylated (302, 30.2%), non-methylated (602, 60.2%), indeterminate (62, 6.2%), and invalid (27, 2.7%). Among cases that were evaluable as either methylated or unmethylated (n = 904) the MGMT promoter methylation rate in newly diagnosed GBM was approximately 1/3 (33.4%), a rate that is somewhat lower than prior reports. The average time from receipt of sample at the central pathology laboratory to reporting of results was 9.3 days. The time required decreased over the course of the clinical trial. This was due, in part, to training of the sites to deliver samples just before the start of runs. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the feasibility of performing real-time MGMT methylation testing, a tumor based assay, as a stratification factor in a multinational clinical trial. This study confirms that treatment decisions based on the molecular characteristics of the tumor are feasible, thereby providing opportunities to develop more molecularly-based tumor stratification or selection, a major advance in developing personalized treatment regimens. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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Gupta, Ramesh. "Pension Reforms in India: Unresolved Issues and Policy Choices." Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers 28, no. 1 (January 2003): 11–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0256090920030102.
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Ageing populations with increased life expectancy, low mortality rates, and decreasing and volatile returns in financial markets have made old age financial security difficult. Further, escalating costs of the pension system are forcing the Indian government to re- evaluate its programmes providing social security to its employees. The government has so far received three official reports (namely, OASIS, IRDA, and Bhattacharya) which have examined the issue and suggested several measures to provide a safety net to the ageing population. This paper examines the recommendations made in these reports and analyses the potential effects of them. It is organized around five policy questions: Should the reformed system create individual (funded defined-contribution) accounts or should it remain a single collective fund with a defined-benefit formula? The policy issue is who bears the risk - individual or society collectively. If individual accounts are adopted, should public or private agencies administer the reformed system? The issues that need to be resolved are: the magnitude of intermediation costs, agency problem (principal-agent fiduciary relationship), and the costs to administer the plan. Should fund managers of retirement savings be allowed to invest in a diversified portfolio that includes shares and private bonds? Equity markets are highly volatile and go through long periods of feasts and famine. Guarantees need to be provided in the form of minimum return or providing minimum basic pension on retirement and the bearer of these conjectural liabilities needs to be decided. What should be the level of government fiscal support in the form of tax subsidy, foregone tax collections, grants, administrative costs incurred by its agencies, and level of assumed contingent liabilities in case the government guarantees minimum pension? The crucial question is: how much and to whom is this subsidy accruing? Should the government move toward advance funding of its pension obligations for its employees or should these obligations continue to be financed on pay-as-you-go basis? The present problem in the government pension system is due to successive governments behaving like Santa Clauses ignoring the cost to the exchequer. Mere privatization would not be able to solve these problems. An all-embracing pension reform is not possible overnight. Efforts should be made to find ways of supporting new systems that may supplement existing systems. Suggested measures include: A tax-financed and means-tested system for lower income groups. To build second pillar, continue publicly managed public system for people earning less than Rs 6,500 a month; and for others who can bear the risk, appoint an independent regulator to help develop and supervise private sector in offering risk- return efficient pension products with tax subsidy already available under Section B0CCC. There is no moral justification in India for providing tax benefits to privileged groups to build third pillar. Government should refrain from frequent tinkering of tax laws to benefit a few. This paper also suggests specific fiscal and other measures for implementing a feasible and viable pension system in lndian conditions. For the present, the least that the government can do is to appoint an independent regulator who would also act as developer and make EPFO an independent agency having professional experts on its board.
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Culkin, Nigel. "Entrepreneurial universities in the region: the force awakens?" International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research 22, no. 1 (March 7, 2016): 4–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijebr-12-2015-0310.
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Purpose – The growth in popularity of the regional innovation system approach has, in part, been driven by the need for economies to respond to the after shocks of the global financial crisis. At the same time, the author sees the term anchor institutions are used increasingly to describe organisations that have an important presence in the local community and make some strategic contribution to the local economy. The purpose of this paper is to consider the needs of the micro and small business (MSB) ecosystem through the lens of the entrepreneurial university as a regional anchor institution. Design/methodology/approach – Asheim et al. (2011) refers to regional innovation systems as, an emphasis on economic and social interaction between agents, spanning the public and private sectors to engender and diffuse innovation within regions embedded in wider national and global systems. According to Doloreux and Parto (2005) three dimensions underpin the use of the regional innovation systems concept, namely: the interactions between different actors in the innovation process, the role of institutions and the use of regional systems analysis to inform policy decisions. The author has drawn on contemporary literature on the entrepreneurial university, regional systems of innovation and institutions to explore some key qualities and problems around anchor Institutions, networks and national and local policy. Findings – Following the Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review in November 2015 and post the changes in the Department of Business Innovation and Skills remit the author wants to highlight the way universities can take a lead role as an anchor institution within their region. The author argues that this role should include providing a wider range of formal and informal support, knowledge and resource for MSBs, alongside the usual SME suspects (Hart and Anyadike-Danes, 2014; Witty, 2013; Wilson, 2012). Based on my analysis and involvement in the the work of the eight Entrepreneurial Universities of the Year Award winners – during the author’s time as President of ISBE – He suggested four different ways in which collaboration might be enhanced to ensure MSBs make maximum use of the advice and support on offer from universities playing this anchor role. Originality/value – The results emerging from this work suggest a need for regional policy makers to embrace a innovation-supportive culture, which actually enables firms and systems to evolve over time would be far more effective than those proposed in the latest Comprehensive Spending Review. The outcomes of which will see some of the most robustly evaluated programmes, designed to support small firm growth, closed down and replaced by a commitment (by government) to secure a strong, growing economy, cutting of more red tape and extending small business rate relief for an extra year (Mole, 2015).
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Zhao, Xiangyu, Xuying Pei, Xiaojun Huang, Ying-Jun Chang, Lanping Xu, Xiaohui Zhang, and Kaiyan Liu. "First-Line Therapy with Donor Derived HCMV-Specific T Cells Reduce Persistent HCMV Infection after Allogenic Stem Cell Transplantation." Blood 132, Supplement 1 (November 29, 2018): 727. http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2018-99-113923.
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Abstract Background: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, especially persistent HCMV infection, is an important cause of morbidity and mortality after allogenic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Antiviral agents remain the mainstay of treatment and are recommend as the first-line therapy for HCMV. However, drugs are associated with significant toxicity, and their efficacy is limited in the absence of cell-mediated immunity. In recent years, adoptive immunotherapy with HCMV-specific T cells (CTLs) has been developed as an alternative option for HCMV, and data from previous studies have indicated that infusion of CTLs at early-stage of HCMV infection may have better benefits compared to salavage therapy. However, because CTLs remains time consuming and cost-intensive, so far there have no reports of first-line therapy with CTLs for HCMV infection, and the mechanisms driving the sustained antiviral immunity induced by adoptive T cells transfer remain undetermined. Our previous study had demonstrated that patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) were at high risk to develop persistent HCMV infection. Therefore, in the current study, we selected patients who developed aGVHD before HCMV reactivated and started CTLs generation in advance. This risk-stratified measure successfully selected patients who had high risk resisting to conventional anti-HCMV therapy , and spared low risk patients as well, making it feasible and financially viable to use CTLs as a first-line therapy. Aims: To provide robust support for the safety and efficacy of CTLs given as a first-line therapy for HCMV infection after allo-SCT, and gain some insight into the underlying mechanisms. Methods: Firstly, using humanized HCMV infected mice model, we explored where the adoptive transferred CTLs cells trafficked, evaluated the antiviral efficacy of CTLs and investigated the recovery of HCMV-specific immunity after T cell transfer. Secondly, we conducted a prospective clinical trial enrolled 35 allo-SCT patients who diagnosed with acute GVHD and had high risk developing persistent HCMV infection, intervened with antiviral agents combined with CTLs as first-line therapy and evaluated the long-term safety and durability of antiviral responses. As controls, we selected a cohort of 70 high-risk patients as well as another cohort of 70 low-risk patients who only received antiviral agents as first-line therapy without CTLs. We also evaluated the immune response after infusion and analyzed the association between immune recovery and HCMV clearance. Results: i) In humanized HCMV infection mice, adoptive infused CTLs had the ability to homing to organs, and effectively combated systemic HCMV infection by promoting the restoring of stem cell derived endogenous HCMV-specific immunity. ii) In clinical trial, first-line therapy with CTLs significantly reduced the rate (2.86% vs. 20.00%, P=0.018) and the cumulative incidence (HR=7.60, 95%CI=1.22-10.15, P=0.020) of persistent HCMV infection, and showed a lower one-year treatment related mortality (TRM) (HR=6.83, 95%CI=1.16-8.90, P=0.030) and a better one-year overall survival (OS) (HR=6.35, 95%CI=1.05-9.00, P=0.040) compared to high-risk control cohort. The cumulative incidence of persistent HCMV infection, one-year TRM and OS in CTL cohort were comparable to those in low-risk control cohort. Moreover, first-line therapy with CTLs promoted the quantitative and functional recovery of CTLs in patients, which was associated with HCMV clearance. Conclusion: In this study, we firstly demonstrated the safety and efficacy of CTLs administration as a first-line therapy for HCMV infection in humanized HCMV infection mice, and in a large clinical cohort study. The data provided robust support for the benefits of donor derived CTLs in treating HCMV infection as a first-line therapy, and suggested that infused CTLs might probably stimulate the recovery of donor derived HCMV-specific immunity. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02985775. Figure. Figure. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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Dam, Leena B., and Deepa Pillai. "Crafting Virtual Community of Indigenous Entrepreneurs: Case in Social Entrepreneurship." South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 10, no. 1 (March 22, 2021): 111–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2277977921991916.
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Facebook has voyaged a significant distance since its launch in 2004 as a web-based social media connector. What initially started off as a way to socially associate people at an individual level has in its journey become a platform for doing business easily. It is currently a huge ring to associate and network across the globe. Sonia Konjeti Agarwal has weaved a comparable success story utilizing Facebook. Her story, like that of Facebook, started with a motive to socially connect people of a geographical area. She created a Facebook group for women in Pune and christened it PULA (Pune Ladies Association), which has now become a vibrant business platform. Research Questions: i. Social entrepreneurs are change agents. In the context of social entrepreneurship which is most important: initiation of an idea, transmission of idea or creating a sustainable impact? ii. Social media is a powerful tool for networking. How did PULA strategically leverage social media for real time interactions and entrepreneurial ventures? Link to Theory: This case draws linkage to Social Cognitive Theory. Social Cognitive theory depicts bidirectional character of causation where behavior, cognitive, emotional factors and environment persistently and jointly persuade each other. Role of the protagonist in creating an exciting platform for indigenous entrepreneurs through the path of social entrepreneurship is linked here. Phenomenon Studied: Social entrepreneurship is a promising field with diverse interpretations. As a social entrepreneur, Sonia’s efforts are directed towards strengthening the identity of indigenous entrepreneurs. She initiated small venture creations within social network. Growth of indigenous entrepreneurs ignites self dependency and magnetizes new investments. Success of the virtual community to hone entrepreneurial skills is studied. Case context - As a social entrepreneur, the protagonist used Facebook to create virtual community of indigenous (women) entrepreneurs. PULA enhanced visibility, reach, network and prominence of indigenous entrepreneurs at low cost. Opportunity to interact with buyers directly expanded vendor registration in the group. It also created level playing field for first generation entrepreneurs. Findings: This case depicts pragmatism of the social entrepreneur. PULA unified the virtual community and resources fostering entrepreneurship. This virtual community signifies uniqueness of domain, novel practices and policies. PULA was initially constituted for social networking. Gradually members discovered business opportunities. Efficacy of social media for virtual engagement and small venture creation resulted in financial independence for women. Status of women transitioned to indigenous entrepreneur from homemaker. Growth of indigenous entrepreneurs being contagious, a wave of first generation entrepreneurs was born. Discussions: PULA encouraged individuals hitherto in the veil of self imposed life situations to become entrepreneurs. Sonia was zealous about empowering women, to create opportunities for them to succeed and advance in lives. As a social influencer her actions are directed towards social well being. Her primary objective is to leverage the trust shown by two hundred forty-five thousand plus members and six thousand five hundred plus verified sellers. Non existence of tangible and quantifiable metrics for measuring the performance of the social entrepreneur creates a challenge. Sonia is exploring new social media engagement strategies for creating a sustainable virtual community.
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Hammoudeh, Rawan, Yaser Alkhatib, and Qutaiba Sabha. "Major Bleeding Outcomes for Admitted Immune Thrombocytopenia Patients with Platelets Less Than 10K: A Single Center Experience." Blood 136, Supplement 1 (November 5, 2020): 21–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2020-140162.
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Introduction Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is one of the most common causes of thrombocytopenia in adults. Majority of patients are asymptomatic or might have symptoms primarily related to mucocutaneous or minor bleeding events, while severe bleeding is uncommon. ITP patients who develop severe bleeding require urgent hospitalization, but asymptomatic/minor bleeding patients might be successfully treated as outpatient. In several occasions, the latter group of patients are admitted to the hospital to initiate treatment when their platelets are very low (i.e. less than 10K). In this study we aimed to evaluate the incidence of major bleeding and medical necessity for admitting this group to the hospital. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of 559 charts with an ICD code of ITP between March 2017 to March 2020. We excluded all patients who presented with a platelet above 10K, other co-existing hematological disorders or malignancies, first presentation with platelets less than 10K with no prior known history of ITP, and charts of patients who left against medical advice prior to initiation of treatment. The definition of major bleeding included intracranial hemorrhage, or any bleeding with more than 1 gm hemoglobin drop. Minor bleeding included epistaxis, gum bleeding, hematuria, vaginal or minor GI bleeding that didn't result in hemoglobin drop. We found a total of 66 ITP patients who were admitted to the hospital because of platelet count of less than 10K, of which 54 had minor or no bleeding episode, while 12 patients presented with major bleeding episode. Results Between the period of March 2017 to March 2020, a total of 66 patients with a known history of ITP were admitted to the hospital with platelet count of less than 10K, of which 54 patients (82%) had either only minor bleeding (n=10), or no evidence of bleeding (n=44) and 12 patients (18%) presented with major bleeding. The major bleeding events were distributed as follows: Hematuria due to kidney stone (n=1), traumatic ICH ((n=4), spontaneous ICH (n=1), and GI bleed (colon mass (n=1), erosive gastropathy(n=1), angiodysplasia (n=1), esophageal varices (n=2), and gastric ulcer (n=1)). None of the asymptomatic/minor bleeding patients developed any major bleeding event before, during or after hospitalization. The average LOS for asymptomatic/minor bleeding patients was 4.65 days (range 1-45 days), compared to 9.14 days (range 2-20 days) for patients with major bleeding. All the 12 patients (100%) with major bleeding received platelet transfusions during hospitalization, while 23 asymptomatic/minor bleeding patients (42%) received platelet transfusion. Discussion Major bleeding in patients with acute ITP is usually a clear indication for hospitalization, however there is lack of data to support admitting asymptomatic/minor bleeding ITP patients when platelets are less than 10K. Our data showed that no major bleeding event has developed in asymptomatic/minor bleeding patients at time of presentation, during hospitalization or after discharge. All 12 patients with major bleeding presented with a bleeding event that warranted their admission, of which 1 patient had spontaneous bleeding, while the rest had a clear medical reason for the major bleeding, which was likely exacerbated by thrombocytopenia. Since assessing the risk of bleeding is an important step in considering prophylactic platelet transfusion for those with platelets less than 10K, 42% of asymptomatic/minor bleeding patients received platelet transfusion during admission indicating that more than half didn't have high risk features. Inpatient hospitalization carries a high financial burden on both the patient and the healthcare system, increases the risk of hospital acquired infections and in-hospital complications. Asymptomatic/Minor bleeding patients in our study had average LOS of 4.65 days, and all were treated with regimens that can be given as an outpatient including steroids, IVIG, and in some occasions Rituximab and/or thrombopoietin stimulating agents increasing the cost of their hospital stay. Based on our observation, we are able to conclude that this particular group of patients would possibly benefit from close monitoring of signs and symptoms, labs, and treatment all in the outpatient setting. Further studies are needed to evaluate the cost effectiveness and long-term outcome in these patients. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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Oliva, Esther Natalie, Raqeebah Agberemi, and Sophie Wintrich. "Assessing Needs for Support in MDS Patients." Blood 132, Supplement 1 (November 29, 2018): 2313. http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2018-99-112967.
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Abstract Background: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a group of hematological malignancies that prevail in elderly patients. MDS patients require regular monitoring and personalised treatment, which is generally not curative. Access to specialized MDS centers is warranted. In the UK, the level of support to improve quality of care and quality of life (QoL) for such patients is poorly understood. We performed a survey in MDS patients to better evaluate the level of satisfaction of current care and unmet needs. Materials and Methods: A paper based survey was conducted in the UK in MDS patients referring to the MDS UK Patient Support Group. Total of 962 questionnaires were distributed (862 by newsletter; 100 posted to a random set of MDS UK members). Patients willing to take part sent back the completed survey by prepaid envelope. The survey covered 139 items on demographics, referrals, access to health care, financial impact, disease information, treatment and patient reported outcomes (PRO), including the instrument QOL-E. Results: One hundred seventy one patients of mean age 69±10 years (95 males, 76 females) completed the survey. Median duration of MDS was 3 (IQR 1-5) years. Level of education was secondary school in 30%, college degree in 33%, and university degree in 37%. Sixty-six percent was living with a spouse, 12% with others, while 23% lived alone. Seventy-eight percent was retired. Thirty-four percent lived in rural vs 67% in urban areas. Thirty-three percent had other long-standing illness. While most patients were referred to hematologists within 8 weeks, 13% had a referral > 26 weeks from first signs and symptoms. Most saw a hematologist after 1 to 3 visits but for 25% of patients this required at least 4 General Practitioner (GP) visits. With GPs unfamiliar with MDS, 35% took 4 or more visits to refer their patients. One third of patients does not know or recall their initial diagnosis and 38 continue to not know their MDS subtype. Knowledge of disease type and prognosis was poorer in those with lower incomes. Staff explained MDS as bone marrow failure to 62%, a blood disorder to 42% and refractory anemia to 29%, while the terms pre-leukemia/blood cancer/malignant condition was used for only 43%. Satisfaction with the level of verbal information at diagnosis was experienced in 39%, associated with income (p=0.048). Most patients received written information and found it useful. Change of employment due to MDS occurred in 19% and 15 cases retired because of disease. At the time of the survey, almost half of the patients referred absence of symptoms or only mild symptoms that did not impact on abilities while 15% required assistance. However, 65% referred symptoms at diagnosis that consisted of fatigue in 76%, dyspnea in 62%, bruising in 32%, infections in 18%, and bleeding in 12%. Ninety seven cases had received transfusions and 60 were red blood cell transfusion dependent (RBC-TD) at the time of the survey, declaring compromised abilities, compared to 41% of the transfusion free (RBC-TF) patients (p<0.0001). Further, RBC-TD patients were spending more time worrying about MDS compared to RBC-TF (p=0.007) with a higher emotional burden (p=0.004). Treatments were growth factors (38%) and erythropoiesis stimulating agents (67%), 17% received iron chelation and high risk MDS treatment was given in 25%. QOL-E showed good reliability in all domains (Cronbach alfa >0.7) except sexual domain. Scores were significantly lower (worse QoL) in RBC-TD patients in all domains. Physical issues caused by MDS as perceived by patients strongly correlated with all QOL-E domains (P<0.0001). Duration of MDS correlated with QOL-E functional well-being (p=0.01). Conclusions: Overall, MDS patients in the UK were dissatisfied with the verbal information provided at diagnosis, leading them to look up potentially unreliable information online. However, written information was useful. Most patients stated that their GP was unfamiliar with MDS at diagnosis thus increasing time to referral. RBC-TD patients experienced MDS as a worrisome disease, with a high emotional burden, resulting in a significantly worse QoL. TD patients have unmet needs requiring additional support and time from staff, but also carers and support groups, showing a clear demand for more discussions between healthcare staff, patients and support sources, to maximise the care and advice available. Disclosures Oliva: Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Other: Royalties, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Sanofi: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; La Jolla: Consultancy. Agberemi:Novartis: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding. Wintrich:Janssen: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.