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Formal Systems (formal + system)
Selected AbstractsPersonal imports of drugs to Japan in 2005 , an analysis of import certificatesJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 5 2008K. Tsuji MS Summary Background:, Personal imports of unapproved drugs are made by physicians and patients in Japan. Such imports require submission of a request for an import certificate from the Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare (RBHW). So far, there have been few reports on personal imports of drugs in Japan. Objective:, To assess the extent and nature of personal imports of drugs in Japan. Methods:, The date, product name and amount of drug imported were provided by RBHW for each personal import made by physicians in 2005. All imports were classified into several groups including whether they were for ,prescription drugs for non-cosmetic use (PDNC)' or ,prescription drugs for cosmetic use (PDC)'. Identification of PDNC was made by International Non-proprietary Name (INN). All drugs were classified under therapeutic groups. For the most frequently imported unapproved drugs, the approval year in the US/EU and development status in Japan were recorded. Results:, A total of 12 196 personal imports were initiated by physicians in 2005. 5428 were for PDNCs corresponding to 242 drugs by INN. 55 PDNCs were each the subject of 10 or more imports. 11 drugs (252 imports) out of the top 55 PDNCs were available on the Japanese market during 2005 and 44 (4713 imports) were not approved. Of the 44 unapproved drugs, 11 (1019 imports) had been approved and 10 (2785 imports) were in the pre-registration phase as of December 31, 2006. Of the 44 unapproved drugs, 12 (1213 imports) were approved during 2000,2004, and 17 (3138 imports), during 1995,1999 in the US or EU. While the majority of imported drugs were antineoplastic drugs, drugs for various kinds of non-serious diseases were also imported. Conclusions:, A substantial number of unapproved drugs were being imported to Japan. A formal system for monitoring the use of those drugs should be established. [source] Central-local relations in the people's Republic of China: Trends, processes and impacts for policy implementationPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2010Linda Chelan Li Abstract Central,local relations are a matter of great importance to developmentalists because they highlight an intriguing puzzle in public administration especially in large states: how policies decided at higher echelons of the formal system can possibly be implemented by the multitude of intermediary and local actors across the system. In the case of China,the most populous nation in the world, the contrast between the authoritarian façade of the Chinese regime and yet the proliferation of implementation gaps over many policy arenas adds additional complexity to the puzzle. This article reviews changes in central,local relations in the 60 years of history of People's Republic of China (PRC) as the outcome of four co-evolving processes, and clarifies the roles of each process: state building and national integration, development efficiency, career advancement and external influences. It points out the continuous pre-dominance of administrative decentralization from 1950s to present time, and the new emphasis on institutionalized power sharing in the context of new state-market boundaries since 1980s. In conclusion, the article suggests going beyond the traditional reliance on the compliance model to understand central,local interactions and the abundant implementation gaps in a context of central,local co-agency, thereby improving policy implementation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Starting with complex primitives pays off: complicate locally, simplify globallyCOGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 5 2004Aravind K. Joshi Abstract In setting up a formal system to specify a grammar formalism, the conventional (mathematical) wisdom is to start with primitives (basic primitive structures) as simple as possible, and then introduce various operations for constructing more complex structures. An alternate approach is to start with complex (more complicated) primitives, which directly capture some crucial linguistic properties and then introduce some general operations for composing these complex structures. These two approaches provide different domains of locality, i.e., domains over which various types of linguistic dependencies can be specified. The latter approach, characterized as complicate locally, simplify globally (CLSG), pushes non-local dependencies to become local, i.e., they arise in the basic primitive structures to start with. The CLSG approach has led to some new insights into syntactic description, semantic composition, language generation, statistical processing, and psycholinguistic phenomena, all these with possible relevance to the cognitive architecture of language. In this paper, we will describe these results in an introductory manner making use of the framework of lexicalized tree-adjoining grammar (LTAG), a key example of the CLSG approach, thereby describing the interplay between formal analysis on the one hand and linguistic and processing issues on the other hand. [source] Balancing Self-interest and Altruism: corporate governance alone is not enoughCORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 2 2004Sandra Dawson Governance has become a topic of unprecedented emotional significance and fundamental importance in the boardrooms of companies, partly as a result of a confluence of early 21st century corporate scandals, stock market falls and public rage about senior executive remuneration. A simple adherence to formal systems of corporate governance, in terms of structures, rules, procedures and codes of practice, whilst a starting point, will not alone win back confidence in markets and corporations. Consideration needs to be given to how to release entrepreneurial self interest within a moral context. This focuses attention on the role of other major social institutions which may more naturally be able to nurture a moral framework as well as the role of individual citizens and the responsibility of all of us to enact a moral framework for business activities. There is no escape from individual moral responsibility, and our part in creating and sustaining social institutions beyond corporations. [source] Policies, Interventions and Institutional Change in Pastoral Resource Management in Borana, Southern EthiopiaDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2004Abdul B. Kamara The Borana rangelands of Southern Ethiopia are characterised by extensive livestock production under a communal land-use system that has evolved in response to variable rainfall and uncertain production conditions. However, the last two decades have witnessed an increasing privatisation of rangelands for crop production and private grazing. The results of a quantitative assessment are used to develop a framework for assessing the drivers of change and their long-term implications. It is concluded that certain national policies have resulted in conflicts of authority between traditional and formal systems, creating an avenue for spontaneous enclosures, associated conflicts and decreasing human welfare. [source] Trust in Financial MarketsEUROPEAN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2008Colin Mayer O16 Abstract This paper examines contemporaneous and historical evidence on the structure of ownership and control of corporate sectors in developed countries to draw lessons for development of financial markets. It records the critical role that equity markets played in the ownership and financing of corporations at the beginning of the 20th century. It notes that this occurred in the absence of formal systems of regulation and that equity markets functioned on the basis of informal relationships of trust. These were sustained through local stock markets in the UK, banks in Germany, and business coordinators and family firms in Japan. The paper explores the concept of trust that is required to promote the development of financial markets. [source] Comparing clock tests for dementia screening: naïve judgments vs formal systems,what is optimal?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 1 2002James M. Scanlan Abstract Background Clock drawing tests (CDTs) vary in format, scoring, and complexity. Herein, we compared the dementia screening performance of seven CDT scoring systems and the judgements of untrained raters. Methods 80 clock drawings by subjects of known dementia status were selected, 20 from each of four categories (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease [CERAD] defined normal, mild, moderate, and severe abnormality). An expert rater scored all clocks using published criteria for seven systems. Additionally, 20 naïve raters judged clocks as either normal or abnormal, without formal instructions. Clocks were then classified by drawers' dementia status for comparison of dementia detection across systems. Results Naïve and formal CDT systems showed 90,100% agreement in CERAD normal, moderate and severe categories, but poor agreement (mean,=,39%) for mildly impaired clocks. When CDT systems were compared for accurate dementia classification, the Mendez and CERAD systems correctly identified the greatest proportion of subjects (84,85%), and Wolf-Klein the smallest (58%). The better systems correctly identified>,70% of mildly demented individuals (CDR,=,1). In contrast, medical records from patients' personal physicians correctly identified only 24% of the mildly demented. Strikingly, naïve raters' CDT judgements were as effective as five of the seven CDT systems in dementia identification. Conclusions While the Mendez system was the most accurate overall, it was not significantly better than CERAD, which had simpler scoring rules. Untrained raters discriminated normal from abnormal clocks with acceptable accuracy for community screening purposes. Results suggest that, if used, most CDT systems would improve personal physicians' dementia recognition in difficult to detect mildly demented subjects. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The role of information in a community of hobbyist collectorsJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Charlotte P. Lee This article marries the study of serious leisure pursuits with library and information science's (LIS) interest in people's everyday use, need, seeking, and sharing of information. Using a qualitative approach, the role of information as a phenomenon was examined in relation to the leisure activity of hobbyist collecting. In the process, a model and a typology for these collectors were developed. We find that the information needs and information seeking of hobbyist collectors is best represented as an interrelationship between information and object needs, information sources, and interactions between collectors and their publics. Our model of the role of information in a particular domain of hobbyist collecting moves away from the idea of one individual seeking information from formal systems and shifts towards a model that takes seriously the social milieu of a community. This collecting community represents a layer of a social system with complex interactions and specialized information needs that vary across collector types. Only the serious collectors habitually engage in information seeking and, occasionally, in information dissemination, in the traditional sense, yet information flows through the community and serves as a critical resource for sustaining individual and communal collecting activities. [source] Managing uncertain, complex product development in high-tech firms: in search of controlled flexibilityR & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2010Daniel Olausson This paper investigates ways of managing complexity and uncertainty in R&D simultaneously. Previous research on the subject indicates that these dimensions require different approaches, but these studies tend to provide suggestions either on managing complexity in stable industries or on handling uncertainty in less complex projects. In this paper, the two dimensions are studied simultaneously in three commercial product development projects at a firm that may be viewed as an extreme case of complexity and with multiple dimensions of uncertainty. The paper illustrates that a critical issue in this kind of high-tech development is the search for and development of approaches that integrate and balance needs for formal organizational control with high levels of project flexibility. Four key elements of such integrated approaches are identified: hybrid formal systems, structured interaction in public arenas, transparent visual communication tools, and a system of participative reflection. [source] | ||||||||||||||||