The characteristics of early-stage research into human genes are substantially different from subsequent research

Throughout the last 2 decades, several scholars observed that present day research into human genes rarely turns toward genes that had not already been extensively investigated in the past. Guided by hypotheses derived from studies of science and innovation, we present here a literature-wide data-driven meta-analysis to identify the specific scientific and organizational contexts that coincided with early-stage research into human genes throughout the past half century. We demonstrate that early-stage research into human genes differs in team size, citation impact, funding mechanisms, and publication outlet, but that generalized insights derived from studies of science and innovation only partially apply to early-stage research into human genes. Further, we demonstrate that, presently, genome biology accounts for most of the initial early-stage research, while subsequent early-stage research can engage other life sciences fields. We therefore anticipate that the specificity of our findings will enable scientists and policymakers to better promote early-stage research into human genes and increase overall innovation within the life sciences.

Public Funding of Political Parties and Rada Members in Post-Electoral Period

This study addresses the issue of the efficiency of public funding mechanisms. Using the Ukrainian experience as an example, the article covers recently introduced amendments and their effect on the overall efficiency of public funding. Further, the article analyzes possible ways for mitigating existing shortcomings of public funding mechanisms and outlines suggested solutions. Complemented with semi-structured interviews with current Members of Rada, the article strives to provide insights and suggestions to issues of political independence, political corruption, accountability, and transparency.

The Fiscal Burden of Wildfires: State Expenditures and Funding Mechanisms for Wildfire Suppression in the Western U.S. and Implications for Federal Policy

The number and size of wildfires in the western United States have increased dramatically in the last 30 years. The rising cost of wildfire suppression has become a significant concern for all levels of government, although most attention has been focused on the federal level. Much less is known about the financial impact of expenditures on states, which retain responsibility for suppression on over 480 million acres of state and private forests. This study collected data on state expenditures for wildfire suppression in the western United States from 2005 to 2015 to examine fiscal burdens and compare funding mechanisms used to cover those costs. Our analysis finds that western states expended $11.9 billion on wildfire suppression over the 11-year period and used own-source funds to cover 88 percent of these costs. States displayed a variety of mechanisms for covering their cost obligations with tradeoffs that may affect non-wildfire policy priorities.

Disruption to Transformation: Aging in the New Normal: NIA Session for Early-Career Researchers

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, supports biomedical and behavioral research with a lifespan focus. NIA research seeks to understand the basic processes of aging, improve prevention and treatment of diseases in later life, improve the health of older persons, in addition to a focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The NIA also supports the training and career development of scientists focusing on aging research and the development of research resources. This symposium, meant for junior faculty and emerging scholars, will provide an update on the latest research findings from the NIA followed by a segment on funding mechanisms and strategies. An opportunity will be provided to meet and consult with NIA extramural staff.

Unequal geographies of the Italian tertiary education system. Mapping the disparities at regional scale

In the last decade, the tertiary education system in Italy has shrinked and a larger heterogeneity has emerged among universities located in different areas of the country, with a strong concentration of increasingly scarce resources in a narrow and geographically concentrated number of institutions. The less developed areas, such as those in Southern Italy have been hit the most, in terms of enrolled students, academic staff, financial resources, courses offered.In this work we investigate these issues by adopting a cartographic approach. We highlight these polarizing dynamics, disentangling the possible causes. We focus, particularly, on the role of new regulatory policies and the funding mechanisms based on performance indicators as producers of inequalities.

Approaches to the justification of targeted subsidies for drugs in providing medical care in ambulatory conditions in military medical organizations

This study presents the results of the analysis of the funding mechanisms for drug supply of assigned contingents in the provision of outpatient medical care in military medical organizations. Existing approaches to determining methods for optimizing the need for drugs are considered. In addition, this paper presented approaches to the formation of a formulary list of medicinal products of a military medical organization. This study also showed the possibility of using pharmacoeconomic assessment in justifying targeted subsidies for drug supply. The relevance of the analysis of the assortment structure for entry into the approved list of vital and essential medicines is emphasized. A possible algorithm for substantiating a targeted subsidy for drug supply in the provision of outpatient medical care within the framework of military health care involved eight stages. First, the incidence of attached contingents entitled to drug supply at the expense of the Russian Ministry of Defense for outpatient treatment was analyzed. Second, the nomenclature of medicines was determined by comparing the incidence pattern of attached contingents with the list of medicines presented in the standards of medical care and clinical recommendations. Third, groups of drugs (with specific and wide spectrum of action) normally used are distinguished, considering the uniqueness of consumption when predicting (planning) demand. Fourth, the need for medicines were formulated using the normative method, modeling method, and logicoeconomic and other methods for determining the need, taking into account the peculiarities of their application in medical, social, and economic conditions of the military medical organization. Fifth, the created drug list was optimized based on the combined ABC-VEN analysis. Sixth, the formal list of the military medical organization was optimized by taking into account the results of pharmacoeconomic research on the treatment of specific diseases. Seventh, an analysis of the assortment structure in relation to the list of vital and essential drugs was performed to further substantiate their economic, clinical, and pharmacoeconomic effectiveness. Eighth, a targeted subsidy for drug supply was calculated, and application was filed, which contained calculations of planned costs with the appendix of the list of planned drugs for purchase, as well as commercial proposals justifying its cost.

French Musical Life

This book is a study of French musical centralization and its discontents during the period leading up to and beyond the “provincial awakening” of the Belle Époque. The book explains how different kinds of artistic decentralization and regionalism were hard won (or not) across a politically turbulent century from the 1830s to World War II. In doing so, it redraws the historical map of musical power relations in France. Based on work in more than seventy archives, chapters on conservatoires, concert life, stage music, folk music, and composition reveal how tensions of state and locality played out differently depending on the structures and funding mechanisms in place, the musical priorities of different town councils, and the presence or absence of galvanizing musicians. Progressively, the book shifts from musical contexts to musical content, exploring the pressure point of folk music and its translation into “local color” for officials who perpetually feared national division. Controlling composition, on the one hand, and the emotional intensity of folk-based musical experience, on the other, emerges as a matter of consistent official praxis. In terms of “French music” and its compositional styles, what results is a surprising new historiography of French neoclassicism, bound into and growing out of a study of diversity and its limits in daily musical life.

THE NEED TO REVIEW CULTURAL POLICIES IN BULGARIA

Cultural policy guarantees freedom of expression, creates conditions for equal participation in the cultural life of the country, preserves and promotes the culture of different ethnic groups and religions, supports education, intercultural exchange and expands intercultural communication. In this context, the influence of European cultural policies on national ones is of particular importance for the development of art and the preservation of cultural values. The choice of priorities, goals and tasks, a good set of measures, funding mechanisms, accessibility to citizens, their recognition by society are of particular importance and favors the development of culture. In the context of the social isolation caused by COVID-19, cultural policies need to be updated. This report is based on an analysis of statistics relating to the expenditure on culture and the arts at the European and national level, a comparative analysis of European cultural policies and their impact on national ones. The obtained results outline guidelines for the development of cultural policies at the regional level and can be a basis for practical application and further research in this direction.