Diagnosis of Public Programs focused on Herbal Medicines in Brazil

The present study is aimed to diagnose the current public programs focused on herbal medicines in Brazil by means of in loco visits to 10 programs selected by means of questionnaires sent to 124 municipalities that count on herbal medicine services. The main purpose of the implementation of program programs is related to the development of medicinal herbs. 70% of them are intended for the production of herbal medicines and 50% are aimed to ensure the access of the population to medicinal plants and or herbal medicines. The initiative of the implementation of these programs was related to the managers (60%). The difficulties in this implementation were due to the lack of funding (100%) of the programs. In 60% of the programs, the physicians did not adhere to herbal medicine services due to the lack of knowledge of the subject. Training courses were proposed (80%) to increase the adhesion of prescribers to the system. Some municipalities use information obtained from patients to assess the therapeutic efficiency of medicinal plants and herbal medicines. of the programs underway, cultivation of medicinal plants was observed in 90% and 78% of them adopt quality control. In most programs, this control is not performed in accordance with the legal requirements. The programs focused on medicinal plants and herbal medicines implemented in Brazil face sonic chronic problems of infrastructure, management, operational capacity and self-sustainability, which can be directly related to the absence of a national policy on medicinal plants and herbal medicines.

Information society and public ICT policies in the Caribbean: a review of advances and challenges, policy instruments and country experiences

Includes bibliography

A "Beyond WTO" Scenario for Swiss Agriculture: Consequences for Income Generation and the Provision of Public Goods

The conclusion of the Doha Round negotiations is likely to influence Swiss agricultural policy substantially. The same goes for a free trade agreement in agriculture and food with the European Communities. Even though neither of them will bring about duty-free and quota-free market access, or restrict domestic support measures to green box compatible support, both would represent a big step in that direction. There is no empirical evidence on the effect of such a counterfactual scenario for Swiss agriculture. We therefore use a normative mathematical programming model to illustrate possible effects for agricultural production and the corresponding agricultural income. Moreover, we discuss the results with respect to the provision of public goods under the assumption of continuing green box-compatible direct payments. The aim of our article is to bring more transparency into the discussion on the effects of freer and less distorted trade on the income generation by a multifunctional agriculture. The article will be organized as follows. In the first Section we specify the background of our study. In the second section, we focus on the problem statement and our research questions. In Section 3, we describe in detail a counterfactual scenario of “duty-free, quota-free and price support-free” agriculture from an economic as well as a legal perspective. Our methodology and the results are presented in Section 4 and 5 respectively. In Section 6, we discuss our results with respect to economic and legal aspects of multifunctional agriculture.

The New Concept of Universal Service in a Digital Networked Communications Environment

Digitization, sophisticated fiber-optic networks and the resultant convergence of the media, communications and information technology industries have completely transformed the communications ecosystem in the last couple of decades. New contingent business and social models were created that have been mirrored in the amended communications regimes. Yet, despite an overhaul of the communications regulation paradigm, the status of and the rules on universal service have remained surprisingly intact, both during and after the liberalization exercise. The present paper looks into this paradox and examines the sustainability of the existing concept of universal service. It suggests that there is a need for a novel concept of universal service in the digital networked communications environment, whose objectives go beyond the conventional internalizing and redistributional rationales and concentrate on communication and information networks as a public good, where not only access to infrastructure but also access to content may be essential.

Regulatory Objectives for Contemporary Electronic Communications : Talking Business or Talking Culture?

The common mantra in telecommunications regulatory fora (be it national, regional or international) now goes along the lines of 'deregulation-good; regulation-bad' and competition is said to be the ultimate answer to basically every question. A generalised dictum like this is in itself suspicious and even more so, when it refers to a sector such as telecommunications, which has a history of heavy regulation and has been the very epitome of state intervention. In the contemporary environment of vibrant communications, subcribing to a purely 'black-or-white' aproach may be, to put it mildly, unsafe. Before answering the question of appropriate regulatory model for communications markets, it is essential to figure out what goals are to be pursued in order to consider what kind of measures could bring about their attainment. In the words of Robert Bork, 'only when the issue of goals has been settled is it possible to frame a coherent body of substantive rules'. Against this backdrop, the present paper looks into the goals and objectives of telecommunications regulation, their complexity and inherent tension between commercial and public interests.

International Regulation of Postal Communications

The article provides a concise overview of the rules applicable to postal communications at the international level. Particular attention is paid to the regulations of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as the relationship between the two. Outlook on possible future developments accounting for the rapid technological advances and the liberalisation of markets wraps the analysis up. This is a 2010 update that takes into consideration the changes made in the UPU acts in 2008, as well as the latest developments in the WTO's Doha Round negotiations.

Book Review: Public Service Media and Policy in Europe

Much has happened in the past fifty years, and the broadcasting system and in fact the entire media landscape have changed in many significant ways. Yet, the debate on the role of public service media and the involvement of the state in them still perseveres. It has indeed been reinvigorated due to the tectonic shifts in media production, distribution, access and consumption caused by digital technologies in general, and the Internet in particular. The gist of the debates has however curiously remained almost the same and is still focused on a set of economic arguments that call for state intervention in public media, and not unimportantly, on the various political interpretations of these economic arguments. In Europe, the debate has another essential core too, as Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) has been traditionally entrusted to serve some higher goals intrinsically related to key democratic and cultural processes. Accordingly, PSB in Western Europe has developed as the core media institution at the national level and has become deeply embedded in many facets of the nation’s economic, political, social and cultural life. Against the backdrop of PSB’s history, its vital tasks in society, as well as the dramatic changes brought about by the digitally networked environment, the question on the future of PSB and its transition into Public Service Media (PSM) is very interesting, to say the least, and highly challenging at the same time. The book by Karen Donders, Public Service Media and Policy in Europe (Palgrave, 2012), makes an essential contribution to these complex debates, and more importantly, adds some new value to an otherwise saturated discourse.

Postal Communications, International Regulation

The article provides a concise overview of the rules applicable to postal communications at the international level. Particular attention is paid to the regulations of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as the relationship between the two. Outlook on possible future developments accounting for the rapid technological advances, in particular the Internet, and the liberalisation of markets wraps up the analysis. This is a 2013 update that takes into consideration the changes made in the UPU acts in 2012, as well as the latest developments in the WTO's Doha Round negotiations.

Digital signage application : developing a public venue multimedia touch-screen

La señalización digital o digital signage es una tecnología de comunicaciones digital que se está usando en los últimos años para reemplazar a la antigua publicidad impresa. Esta tecnología mejora la presentación y promoción de los productos anunciados, así como facilita el intercambio de información gracias a su colocación en lugares públicos o al aire libre. Las aplicaciones con las que cuenta este nuevo método de publicidad son muy variadas, ya que pueden variar desde ambientes privados en empresas, hasta lugares públicos como centros comerciales. Aunque la primera y principal utilidad de la señalización digital es la publicidad para que el usuario sienta una necesidad de adquirir productos, también la posibilidad de ofrecer más información sobre determinados artículos a través de las nuevas tecnologías es muy importante en este campo. La aplicación realizada en este proyecto es el desarrollo de un programa en Adobe Flash a través de lenguaje de programación XML. A través de una pantalla táctil, el usuario de un museo puede interactivamente acceder a un menú en el que aparecen los diferentes estilos de arte en un determinado tiempo de la historia. A través de una línea de tiempo se puede acceder a información sobre cada objeto que esté expuesto en la exhibición. Además se pueden observar imágenes de los detalles más importantes del objeto que no pueden ser vistos a simple vista, ya que no está permitido manipularlos. El empleo de la pantalla interactiva sirve para el usuario de la exhibición como una herramienta extra para recabar información sobre lo que está viendo, a través de una tecnología nueva y fácil de usar para todo el mundo, ya que solo se necesita usar las propias manos. La facilidad de manejo en aplicaciones como estas es muy importante, ya que el usuario final puede no tener conocimientos tecnológicos por lo que la información debe darse claramente. Como conclusión, se puede decir que digital signage es un mercado que está en expansión y que las empresas deben invertir en el desarrollo de contenidos, ya que las tecnologías avanzan aunque el digital signage no lo haga, y este sector podría ser muy útil en un futuro no muy lejano, ya que la información que es capaz de transmitir al espectador en todos los lugares es mucho más válida y útil que la proporcionada por un simple póster impreso en una valla publicitaria. Abstract The Digital signage is a digital communications technology being used in recent years to replace the old advertising printed. This technology improves the presentation and promotion of the advertised products, and makes easy the exchange of information with its placement in public places or outdoors. The applications that account this new method of advertising are several; they can range from private rooms in companies, to public places like malls. Although the first major utility of Digital signage is the advertising that makes the user feel and need of purchasing products. In addition, the chance of providing more information about certain items through new technologies is very important in this field. The application made in this project is the development of a program in Adobe Flash via XML programming language. Through a touch-screen, a museum user can interactively access a menu in which different styles of art in a particular time in history appears. Through a timeline you can access to information about each object that is exposed on display. Also you can see pictures of the most important details of the object that can not be seen with the naked eye, since it is not allowed to manipulate it. The use of the interactive screen serves to the user exhibition as an extra tool to gather information about what is seeing through a new technology and easy to use for everyone, since only need to use one’s own hands. The ease of handling in applications such as this is very important as the end user may not have expertise technology so the information should be clearly. As conclusion, one can say digital signage is an expansion market and companies must invest in content development, as although digital technologies advance digital signage does not, and this sector could be very useful in a near future, because information that is able of transmitting the everywhere viewer is much more valid and useful than that provided by a simple printed poster on a billboard.

Resilience in Cloud Computing for Critical Systems. Resilience, Dependability, Reliability in the use of Cloud Computing in Critical Systems in Public Organizations.

La informática se está convirtiendo en la quinta utilidad (gas, agua, luz, teléfono) en parte debido al impacto de Cloud Computing en las mayorías de las organizaciones. Este uso de informática es usada por cada vez más tipos de sistemas, incluidos Sistemas Críticos. Esto tiene un impacto en la complejidad internad y la fiabilidad de los sistemas de la organización y los que se ofrecen a los clientes. Este trabajo investiga el uso de Cloud Computing por sistemas críticos, centrándose en las dependencias y especialmente en la fiabilidad de estos sistemas. Se han presentado algunos ejemplos de su uso, y aunque su utilización en sistemas críticos no está extendido, se presenta cual puede llegar a ser su impacto. El objetivo de este trabajo es primero definir un modelo que pueda representar de una forma cuantitativa las interdependencias en fiabilidad y interdependencia para las organizaciones que utilicen estos sistemas, y aplicar este modelo en un sistema crítico del campo de sanidad y mostrar sus resultados. Los conceptos de “macro-dependability” y “micro-dependability” son introducidos en el modelo para la definición de interdependencia y para analizar la fiabilidad de sistemas que dependen de otros sistemas. ABSTRACT With the increasing utilization of Internet services and cloud computing by most organizations (both private and public), it is clear that computing is becoming the 5th utility (along with water, electricity, telephony and gas). These technologies are used for almost all types of systems, and the number is increasing, including Critical Infrastructure systems. Even if Critical Infrastructure systems appear not to rely directly on cloud services, there may be hidden inter-dependencies. This is true even for private cloud computing, which seems more secure and reliable. The critical systems can began in some cases with a clear and simple design, but evolved as described by Egan to "rafted" networks. Because they are usually controlled by one or few organizations, even when they are complex systems, their dependencies can be understood. The organization oversees and manages changes. These CI systems have been affected by the introduction of new ICT models like global communications, PCs and the Internet. Even virtualization took more time to be adopted by Critical systems, due to their strategic nature, but once that these technologies have been proven in other areas, at the end they are adopted as well, for different reasons such as costs. A new technology model is happening now based on some previous technologies (virtualization, distributing and utility computing, web and software services) that are offered in new ways and is called cloud computing. The organizations are migrating more services to the cloud; this will have impact in their internal complexity and in the reliability of the systems they are offering to the organization itself and their clients. Not always this added complexity and associated risks to their reliability are seen. As well, when two or more CI systems are interacting, the risks of one can affect the rest, sharing the risks. This work investigates the use of cloud computing by critical systems, and is focused in the dependencies and reliability of these systems. Some examples are presented together with the associated risks. A framework is introduced for analysing the dependability and resilience of a system that relies on cloud services and how to improve them. As part of the framework, the concepts of micro and macro dependability are introduced to explain the internal and external dependability on services supplied by an external cloud. A pharmacovigilance model system has been used for framework validation.

A public key cryptosystem based on block upper triangular matrices

We propose a public key cryptosystem based on block upper triangular matrices. This system is a variant of the Discrete Logarithm Problem with elements in a finite group, capable of increasing the difficulty of the problem while maintaining the key size. We also propose a key exchange protocol that guarantees that both parties share a secret element of this group and a digital signature scheme that provides data authenticity and integrity.

Le développement du public jeune universitaire pour la musique classique à Montréal

Des recherches au Québec (Garon, 2009), en France (Donnat, 2011) et aux États-Unis (Kolb, 2001) confirment un état de fait général: le vieillissement du public de la musique classique. Si le public du répertoire est reconnu pour posséder un haut niveau d’études, pourquoi les étudiants universitaires de nos jours ne sont-ils pas plus présents dans les salles de concert ? Cette étude explore cette problématique d’abord par une recherche historique et par des entrevues auprès de certains des organismes de musique classique à Montréal, et ce afin de comprendre leurs stratégies de développement des publics concernés de 2004 à 2014. Ensuite, par un sondage auprès de 555 étudiants universitaires de la ville, pour faire un portrait de leur relation avec la musique à l’heure actuelle. Notre analyse, appuyée par une bibliographie en sociomusicologie et en sociologie des pratiques culturelles, confirme des tendances comme celle de l’«omnivorisme culturel» et l’éclectisme musical des jeunes universitaires. Elle nous montre aussi une réception positive des œuvres classiques, quoiqu’incompatible avec les critères esthétiques des genres musicaux favoris. À partir de ce paradoxe, nous étudions la force des motivations extramusicales qui les amènent aux concerts, leurs formats préférés, l’impact de l’éducation musicale, l’influence des parents, de l’internet, des nouvelles technologies. Finalement, nous constatons le nombre peu élevé d’initiatives des organismes musicaux dans le milieu universitaire à Montréal qui, pourtant, se montre un bassin au grand potentiel pour le renouvellement des publics de la musique classique.