Orphan Drug Act on congressional agenda.

In 1983, Congress passed the Orphan Drug Act to encourage development of pharmaceuticals used in the treatment or diagnosis of diseases that occur so rarely that there is no financial incentive for development of these so-called "orphan drugs." The Act established, among other things, exclusive marketing rights on unpatentable orphan drugs for a period of seven years and a tax credit equal to 50 percent of the cost of conducting human clinical trials. It also authorized the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants and enter into contracts to reduce the costs of clinical testing in orphan drug development.     

Veränderungen der Rollenstruktur von Arbeitsgruppen im Rahmen einer Software-Implementierung

Introducing new technologies in organizations often brings about tremendous changes regarding structures and processes that also impact procedures, communication and cooperation in working groups. In this study we investigate whether the structure of working teams changed in the course of a software implementation process, what kind of impact these changes had on the teams, and how these changes could be used to shape the implementation process in a positive way. To that end, working teams from different organizations and sectors were analyzed using sociometric methods prior to and after a software implementation process. Results show typical changes in role structures that can be used to shape the implementation process. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Au-delà de la nation culturelle,l'internationalisme civique

Cette contribution part de l'idée que le nationalisme est autant une invention internationale dont les origines positives remontent à la conception culturelle des nationalités du wilsonisme, qu'une dynamique interne. Elle réfléchit à deux modalités du nationalisme international, le postnationalisme et le nationalisme à distance qui, a priori, mettent en scène – et se réclament de – deux types de cultures différents: civique d'une part, ethnolinguistique d'autre part. L'auteur postule cependant que le postnationalisme ne peut pas ignorer l'incarnation nationale au profit de principes supranationaux abstraits, et que le nationalisme à distance ne se résume pas à une forme déterritorialisée du nationalisme culturel classique. Les deux modèles doivent être nuancés et ne sont convaincants que dans l'assomption d'une interaction entre les ingrédients de la culture civique, démocratique et ceux de la culture ethnolinguistique.     

Wavelet processes and adaptive estimation of the evolutionary wavelet spectrum

This paper defines and studies a new class of non-stationary random processes constructed from discrete non-decimated wavelets which generalizes the Cramér (Fourier) representation of stationary time series. We define an evolutionary wavelet spectrum (EWS) which quantifies how process power varies locally over time and scale. We show how the EWS may be rigorously estimated by a smoothed wavelet periodogram and how both these quantities may be inverted to provide an estimable time-localized autocovariance. We illustrate our theory with a pedagogical example based on discrete non-decimated Haar wavelets and also a real medical time series example.     

Scenario-Based Risk Assessment of Multi-Use Chemicals: Application to Solvents

The risk through chemical exposure is commonly characterized by ratios of exposure concentrations and effect levels (risk quotients). For chemicals with many different applications such as solvents, however, in addition to the risk quotients of different exposure situations it is useful to determine the corresponding numbers of exposed individuals, that is, not only the magnitude but also the extent of the risk. To this end, the Scenario-Based Risk Assessment (SceBRA) method has been developed that makes use of a large set of scenarios, each of which describes a typical situation regarding handling a solvent or solvent-containing product. The scenarios cover the life-cycle steps of production, distribution, and use of solvents. For each scenario, SceBRA provides the risk quotient, r, and the number of exposed individuals, N. This study investigated seven solvents that are used in large amounts in Switzerland. For each solvent, characteristic distributions of r and N values were calculated, making it possible to compare different solvents with respect to their risk profile. Graphical representations of the r, N data provide an informative way for analyzing and communicating the results of SceBRA.     

Was leistet Organisationsentwicklung?

Potentials of organization development (OD) are discussed from the perspectives of organization/client, counselling and science. The focal questions of the discussion are: What can OD achieve compared to strategy consulting? How can both forms be sensibly combined? What are the potentials of a psychologically based form of organizational counselling? Which (potentially latent) functions do organizational consulting / OD fulfil for the client organization? The discussion closes with considerations regarding a potential professionalization and the future of OD.