scholarly journals The Skeleton in the Closet: Faults and Strengths of Public Versus Private Genetic Biobanks

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Tozzo ◽  
Luciana Caenazzo

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing has been a major ethical controversy related to clinical utility, the availability of pre- and post-genetic counseling, privacy concerns, and the risk of discrimination and stigmatization. The development of direct-to-consumer genetic testing cannot leave aside some considerations on how the samples are managed once the analyses have been completed and the customer has received a response. The possibility that these samples are maintained by the structure for future research uses, explains the definition, which has been proposed in the literature, of these structures such as private genetic biobanks. The most relevant aspects that may impact ethical aspects, allowing a comparison between the public and private dimensions of genetic biobanks, are mainly transparency and participant/donor trust. The article aims to analyze the main line of ethical debate related to the mentioned practices and to explore whether market-based and consumer rights regarding DTC genetic testing can be counterbalanced by healthcare system developments based on policies that encourage the donation of samples in the context of public biobanks. A platform for dialogue, both technical–scientific and ethical, is indispensable between the public sector, the private sector and citizens to truly maximize both transparency and public trust in both contexts.

1986 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabius P. O'Brien ◽  
Jerald F. Robinson ◽  
G. Stephen Taylor

The effects of supervisor gender and work environment (public versus private sector) on supervisors' attitudes toward older employees were investigated. Participants attending a supervisory development institute completed questionnaires relating to performance appraisal practices in the public and private sectors. As part of this larger study, 120 participants were selected at random and combined in a balanced, 2 × 2 factorial ANOVA. Two independent variables — supervisor sex and type of work environment — were manipulated to assess their effects on supervisors' attitudes towards older employees. A significant main effect was found for type of work environment, confirming the hypothesis that public sector supervisors were more lenient in their evaluations of older employees. A main effect was also found for supervisor gender, but not in the predicted direction. Female supervisors were found to be more unfavorable in their evaluations of older employees. No interaction was found. Implications of findings and suggestions for future research are offered.


Robotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Luiz F. P. Oliveira ◽  
António P. Moreira ◽  
Manuel F. Silva

The development of robotic systems to operate in forest environments is of great relevance for the public and private sectors. In this sense, this article reviews several scientific papers, research projects and commercial products related to robotic applications for environmental preservation, monitoring, wildfire firefighting, inventory operations, planting, pruning and harvesting. After conducting critical analysis, the main characteristics observed were: (a) the locomotion system is directly affected by the type of environmental monitoring to be performed; (b) different reasons for pruning result in different locomotion and cutting systems; (c) each type of forest, in each season and each type of soil can directly interfere with the navigation technique used; and (d) the integration of the concept of swarm of robots with robots of different types of locomotion systems (land, air or sea) can compensate for the time of executing tasks in unstructured environments. Two major areas are proposed for future research works: Internet of Things (IoT)-based smart forest and navigation systems. It is expected that, with the various characteristics exposed in this paper, the current robotic forest systems will be improved, so that forest exploitation becomes more efficient and sustainable.


Author(s):  
Anna Rohunen ◽  
Jouni Markkula

Personal data is increasingly collected with the support of rapidly advancing information and communication technology, which raises privacy concerns among data subjects. In order to address these concerns and offer the full benefits of personal data intensive services to the public, service providers need to understand how to evaluate privacy concerns in evolving service contexts. By analyzing the earlier used privacy concerns evaluation instruments, we can learn how to adapt them to new contexts. In this article, the historical development of the most widely used privacy concerns evaluation instruments is presented and analyzed regarding privacy concerns' dimensions. Privacy concerns' core dimensions, and the types of context dependent dimensions, to be incorporated into evaluation instruments are identified. Following this, recommendations on how to utilize the existing evaluation instruments are given, as well as suggestions for future research dealing with validation and standardization of the instruments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1287-1291
Author(s):  
John Promise Chiparo ◽  
◽  
Marian Tukuta ◽  
Michael Musanzikwa ◽  
◽  
...  

The purpose of this paper reviews the influence of Vehicle Fleet Management Practices, (VFMP). A systematic review of papers was performed analysing 56 articles from year 2014 to 2021. Vehicle Fleet Management Practices research has garnered interest from both academics and industrialists in both the public and private sector. This is demonstrated by the increasing number of academic papers published in recent years. The article discusses interesting findings, suggests and lays down a number of directions for future research. In addition, limitations of this work are presented. The conclusion of this study provides sufficient evidence on the need for further research addressing the interaction between vehicle fleet management practices and service delivery in public entities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongtai Liu ◽  
Zhijun Yin ◽  
Zhiyu Wan ◽  
Chao Yan ◽  
Weiyi Xia ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND As direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) services have grown in popularity, the public has increasingly relied upon online forums to discuss and share their test results. Initially, users did so under a pseudonym, but more recently, they have included face images when discussing DTC-GT results. When these images truthfully represent a user, they reveal the identity of the corresponding individual. Various studies have shown that sharing images in social media tends to elicit more replies. However, users who do this clearly forgo their privacy. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the face image sharing behavior of DTC-GT users in an online environment and determine if there exists the association between face image sharing and the attention received from others. METHODS This study focused on r/23andme, a subreddit dedicated to discussing DTC-GT results and their implications. We applied natural language processing to infer the themes associated with posts that included a face image. We applied a regression analysis to learn the association between the attention that a post received, in terms of the number of comments and karma scores (defined as the number of upvotes minus the number of downvotes), and whether the post contains a face image. RESULTS We collected over 15,000 posts from the r/23andme subreddit published between 2012 and 2020. Face image posting began in late 2019 and grew rapidly, with over 800 individuals’ revealing their faces by early 2020. The topics in posts including a face were primarily about sharing or discussing ancestry composition, and sharing family reunion photos with relatives discovered via DTC-GT. On average, posts including a face received 60% (5/8) more comments than other posts, and these posts had karma scores 2.4 times higher than other posts. CONCLUSIONS DTC-GT consumers in the r/23andme subreddit are increasingly posting face images and testing reports on social platforms. The association between face image posting and a greater level of attention suggests that people are forgoing their privacy in exchange for attention from others. To mitigate the risk of face image posting, platforms, or at least subreddit organizers, should inform users about the consequence of such behavior for identity disclosure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Nesticò ◽  
Maria Rosaria Guarini ◽  
Pierluigi Morano ◽  
Francesco Sica

The second half of the 20th century was characterized by rapid growth of the urban population and lack of attention to environmental quality in the urbanizes territories. Thus, the development of many cities during that period took place through policies which, over time, resulted in a disaggregated landscape, both in morphological and functional terms. In some cases, these policies have caused the creation of land portions without a specific characterization, and the generation of urban voids that negatively affect the city’s development. To solve this problem, the public administration sectors of many countries are looking for new intervention strategies that are feasible from a social and economic point of view which are able to guarantee sustainable development. From this perspective, the execution of urban regeneration initiatives, including forestation, allows for the improvement of both environmental quality and citizens’ well-being, and promotes economic development. Considering the multiple effects that these initiatives can generate and the limited availability of public and private resources, it is appropriate to use multi-criteria decision support tools through which it is possible to evaluate the interventions’ complexity and best identify the city areas that lend themselves to be recovered and improved through the forestation. The aim of this work is to develop a support tool for public administrations aimed at identifying the optimal forestry projects’ location according to criteria that not only refer to financial type, but also their social, cultural, and environmental nature. Using Discrete Linear Programming algorithms, the model has been tested through a theoretical case study and reveals the advantages and limitations of the model, as well as future research prospects.


2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget A. Styers ◽  
Kenneth S. Shultz

Laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as well as subsequent legal sanctions, appear to have had limited success in substantially increasing the number of persons with disabilities within the employment context. Therefore, it is critical that a better understanding be developed of both the physical and attitudinal barriers persons with disabilities face with regard to gaining such employment. The present study was conducted to examine how the origin of an applicant's disability, the status of the job being applied for, and the level of test accommodation to be provided influenced perceptions of what was a reasonable pre-employment testing accommodation. Human resources testing professionals from both the public and private sectors rated how reasonable they perceived a variety of testing accommodations to be. The results reveal that origin of disability, job status, and level of accommodation all affected how reasonable a given testing accommodation was perceived to be and that there was significant interaction effects for all three factors. The results of this study also support Stone and Colella's model of the complex nature of workers' reactions to individuals with disabilities in organizations. The implications of the study, as well as needs for future research, are also discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen V. Rubin ◽  
Ashley M. Alteri

The foundational goal of civil rights legislation is to reduce discrimination, in both the public and private sector. To understand the levels of perceived discrimination in the federal government, this research note examines 9 years of data reported under the requirements of the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR Act). From 2006 to 2014, less than 1% of federal employees filed discrimination complaints each year, and the discrimination complaint rate did not significantly change over the time period. Race, color, and national origin were the most frequently claimed discrimination bases. Approximately half of all complaints alleged retaliation after filing an initial discrimination claim. In addition, federal employees most frequently claimed that discrimination occurred in the context of nonsexual harassment. This research note describes other trends in discrimination claims and proposes directions for future research.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felippe Leopoldo Dexheimer Neto ◽  
Regis Goulart Rosa ◽  
Bruno Achutti Duso ◽  
Jaqueline Sanguiogo Haas ◽  
Augusto Savi ◽  
...  

Purpose.The long-term outcomes of patients after discharge from tertiary ICUs as they relate to the public versus private healthcare systems in Brazil have not yet been evaluated.Materials and Methods.A multicenter prospective cohort study was conducted to compare the all-cause mortality and the physical functional status (PFS) 24 months after discharge from the ICU between adult patients treated in the public and private healthcare systems. A propensity score- (PS-) matched comparison of all causes of mortality and PFS 24 months after discharge from the ICU was performed.Results.In total, 928 patients were discharged from the ICU including 172 (18.6%) patients in the public and 756 (81.4%) patients in the private healthcare system. The results of the PS-matched comparison of all-cause mortality revealed higher mortality rates among the patients of the public healthcare system compared to those of the private healthcare system (47.3% versus 27.6%,P=0.003). The comparison of the PS-matched Karnofsky performance and Lawton activities of daily living scores between the ICU survivors of the public and private healthcare systems revealed no significant differences.Conclusions.The patients of private healthcare system exhibited significantly greater survival rates than the patients of the public healthcare system with similar PFS following ICU discharge.


2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina D'Aleo ◽  
Peter Stebbins ◽  
Roger Lowe ◽  
Danielle Lees ◽  
David Ham

AbstractThe present research examined the perceptions of Australian employees on dimensions of workplace stress. The sample included 664 male (n= 234) and female (n= 430) workers from the public (n= 559) and private (n= 105) sectors. Participants completed the Health and Safety Executive Indicator Tool as a measure of workplace stress. Results indicated that private sector employees rated their employers as being more effective in managing workplace stress, while employees in both sectors rated their employers as less effective in managing Job Content stressors than Job Context stressors. Compared with normative benchmarks, employees overall also reported risks of stress associated with Relationships and Role. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research were discussed.


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