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Zlto(zlah-toh) is a project to provide secure validation of credentials for young people. Many African youth find it difficult to obtain jobs because of a lack of formal qualification, but they have a breath of informal skills. In this paper we will describe how we implement the Zlto system to provide proof of skills completed through a peer-to-peer evaluation mechanism and stored using blockchain. Since its first deployment in 2016, Zlto has processed over 1 million transactions. We present simulation and analysis of the reputation protocol used to verify work, and further evaluate the peer review process using a think a loud focus group method with a group of peer reviewers in order to improve the system.

The oceans play a key role in global issues such as climate change, food security, and human health. Given their vast dimensions and internal complexity, efficient monitoring and predicting of the planet’s ocean must be a collaborative effort of both regional and global scale. A first and foremost requirement for such collaborative ocean observing is the need to follow well-defined and reproducible methods across activities: from strategies for structuring observing systems, sensor deployment and usage, and the generation of data and information products, to ethical and governance aspects when executing ocean observing. To meet the urgent, planet-wide challenges we face, methods across all aspects of ocean observing should be broadly adopted by the ocean community and, where appropriate, should evolve into “Ocean Best Practices.” While many groups have created best practices, they are scattered across the Web or buried in local repositories and many have yet to be digitized. To reduce this fragmentation, we introduce a new open access, permanent, digital repository of best practices documentation (oceanbestpractices.org) that is part of the Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS). The new OBPS provides an opportunity space for the centralized and coordinated improvement of ocean observing methods. The OBPS repository employs user-friendly software to significantly improve discovery and access to methods. The software includes advanced semantic technologies for search capabilities to enhance repository operations. In addition to the repository, the OBPS also includes a peer reviewed journal research topic, a forum for community discussion and a training activity for use of best practices. Together, these components serve to realize a core objective of the OBPS, which is to enable the ocean community to create superior methods for every activity in ocean observing from research to operations to applications that are agreed upon and broadly adopted across communities. Using selected ocean observing examples, we show how the OBPS supports this objective. This paper lays out a future vision of ocean best practices and how OBPS will contribute to improving ocean observing in the decade to come.

Earthquakes around the world are unnecessarily lethal and destructive, adversely affecting the health and well-being of affected populations. Most immediate deaths and injuries are caused by building collapse, making search and rescue (SAR) an early priority. In this review, we assess the SAR response to earthquake disasters. First, we review the evidence for the majority of individuals being rescued locally, often by relatives and neighbours. We then summarise evidence for successful live rescues by international SAR (ISAR) teams, along with the costs, ethics and other considerations of deployment. Finally, we propose an alternative approach to postdisaster ISAR, with the goal of reducing overall morbidity and mortality.

This study investigates the perception of Information Technology (IT) professionals and IT managers towards deployment of environmental-friendly practices in Collaborative Enterprise (CE). Through literature review this study develops a model based on Perceived Organizational e-Readiness Theory (POER) and Process-Virtualization-Theory (PVT) to investigate the factors that influence IT professionals’ and IT managers intention to deploy Green IT/IS practices which are based on the current environmental-friendly initiatives deployed in CE. Data was collected using questionnaire and results indicate that the POER factors influence CE’s perception towards Green IT/IS. Moreover, results also reveal that PVT initiatives are influenced by the current environmental-friendly initiatives.

We present a case study of Mooqita, a platform to support learners in online courses by enabling them to earn money, gather real job task experiences, and build a meaningful portfolio. This includes placing optional additional assignments in online courses. Learners solve these individual assignments, provide peer reviews for other learners, and give feedback on each review they receive. Based on these data points teams are selected to work on a final paid assignment. Companies offer these assignments and in return receive interview recommendations from the pool of learners together with solutions for their challenges. We report the results of a pilot deployment in an online programming course offered by UC BerkeleyX. Six learners out of 158 participants were selected for the paid group assignment paying $600 per person. Four of these six were invited for interviews at the participating companies Crowdbotics (2) and Telefonica Innovation Alpha (2).

The drowning impact that musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) have on Soldier readiness, deployability, and escalating health care costs is growing. These injuries are associated with approximately 25 million lost duty days each year. The need to curb costs and improve efficacy and efficiency of health care delivery is pressing. This requires the consideration of new paradigms for clinical pathways and health care delivery processes. Soldiers returning from a deployment go through a screening process to ensure any medical, dental, and administrative issues are adequately addressed. This is a great opportunity to influence optimal musculoskeletal (MSK) care, as nonbattle MSI are the most common injury sustained during a combat deployment. These screening processes usually consist of high throughput in short periods, taxing the usual flow of care through the associated medical clinic. Because the highest percentage of medical visits are related to MSK complaints, a dedicated clinic with specialty providers seeing these patients directly may improve the quality and efficiency of care.This report provides the details related to the implementation of a MSK specialty clinic such as this at Madigan Army Medical Center, for the return of a U.S. Army Reservist Brigade Combat Team of approximately 4,000 Soldiers. It provides a framework for determining patient flow and triaging of patients to expedited appropriate care directly from the screening site. We report on the demographics and types of injuries seen after deployment, and the patient satisfaction associated with those that were seen in this specialty clinic.Comparison to usual care were outside the scope of this report, however the patient satisfaction with the process was recorded, and was very high for all 284 patients that received care through this expedited care pathway.This article provides a framework for an expedited clinical care pathway for patients returning from deployment that have MSI. It provides a platform for future feasibility testing and prospective studies related to the economic impact of this model when compared to usual care.

Software architects seek efficient support for planningand designing models at multiple levels of abstraction andfrom different perspectives. For this it is desirable that softwaredesign tools support both informal and formal representation ofdesign, and also support their combination and the transitionbetween them. Furthermore, software design tools should beable to provide features for collaborative work on the design.OctoUML supports the creation of software models at variouslevels of formality, collaborative software design, and multi-modalinteraction methods. By combining these features, OctoUML isa prototype of a new generation software design environmentthat aims to better supports software architects in their actualsoftware design and modelling processes. Demo video URL: https://youtu.be/fsN3rfEAYHw. OctoUML Project URL: https://github.com/Imarcus/OctoUML. © 2017 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.

The demands of military service, including the intensity and frequency of military operations, can have numerous effects on military families. Evidence suggests that spousal support may play an imp...

The Current Topics in Military Tropical Medicine series provides focused reviews addressing specific questions faced by operational military medical personnel. This issue in the series explores the diagnosis and management of persistent diarrhea in deployed service members.

Total force fitness is an emerging concept defined as a state in which the individual, family, and organization can sustain optimal well-being and performance under all conditions. Medical and environmental fitness are two of the component domains in the total force fitness framework. These domains have purposely been combined as they are inextricably intertwined: a warfighter must be able to function, free of any anticipated medical condition that could compromise either individual or unit effectiveness, while potentially confronting multiple environmental challenges. Medical fitness, best described as a state of general mental and physical well-being, is determined by medical metrics. Environmental fitness is defined as the ability to perform mission-specific duties in any environment and withstand the multiple stressors of deployment and war. This article defines the domains of medical and environmental fitness, describes the benefits of a medically and environmentally fit force, and identifies...

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in war time deployments for military service members. How have young children been affected by single and multiple Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) deployments? We found young children with a deployed parent showed increased behavior problems during deployment and increased attachment behaviors at reunion compared with children whose parents had not experienced a recent deployment. Child behavior problems were related to many individual child and family characteristics, such as child age and temperament, length of the deployment, total time deployed parent was absent, number of moves, and number of stressors reported by parent. Child attachment behaviors were related to the length of the deployment, number of deployments, and the number of stressors faced by the parent. Soldiers and spouses of soldiers who chose not to re-enlist more often described themselves as depressed, and had children with many more behavior problems at reunion.

This study examined problems pertaining to the health and well-being of Army spouses during deployment, comparing those whose experienced extensions of their partners' deployments with those whose partners returned home on time or early. It used data from a 2004 survey of 798 spouses of active duty personnel. Controlling for demographic and deployment characteristics, spouses who experienced extensions fared worse on an array of measures, including mental well-being (e.g., feelings of depression), household strains (e.g., problems with household and car maintenance), and some areas of their jobs (having to stop work or to work fewer hours). There were no statistically significant differences regarding problems pertaining to their overall health, marriage, other work issues, finances, relationships with Army families, or safety. However, spouses who experienced extensions were more likely to perceive the Army negatively during deployment. These findings suggest that deployment extensions may exacerbate certain problems and frustrations for Army spouses.

It is often assumed that open access repositories and peer-reviewed journals are in competition with each other and therefore will in the long term be unable to coexist. This paper takes a critical look at that assumption. It draws on the available evidence of actual practice which indicates that coexistence is possible at least in the medium term. It discusses possible future models of publication and dissemination which include open access, repositories, peer review and journals. The paper suggests that repositories and journals may coexist in the long term but that both may have to undergo significant changes. Important areas where changes need to occur include: widespread deployment of repository infrastructure, development of version identification standards, development of value-added features, new business models, new approaches to quality control and adoption of digital preservation as a repository function.

Because of the worldwide engagement of the German armed forces, tropical diseases may come to the attention of their medical services. In particular, acquired malarial infections, which sometimes become symptomatic only months or even years after soldiers return from military operations, need to be addressed. Other forces, such as the British, U.S., Australian, and Italian armed forces, reported cases of vivax malaria up to approximately 20 months after soldiers returned from military operations. The importance of a sound history and rapid diagnosis, leading to appropriate treatment, is emphasized in this case report of a 27-year-old German soldier who reported for sick call in his unit complaining of a flu-like illness, which later proved to be vivax malaria. The special parasitological features of Plasmodium vivax infection are discussed.

Each time a deployed military member has an exacerbation of a pre-existing chronic disease there is a potential risk to mission success, individual health, and the safety of the unit. Currently, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member nations employ different approaches to assessing an individual's medical fitness for deployment.To set the minimum medical standards for NATO deployments.A seven nation task group met periodically from 2008 to 2012 to develop guidelines for frontline military physicians to assess medical fitness for deployment.A medical deployment guide for 31 specific diseases/conditions using a rational, standardized and algorithmic approach based on a red-yellow-green risk stratification.If adopted as a NATO policy, this guide could then be kept up-to-date through a process that allows nations to track individuals with known chronic disease who were deployed into a theater of operations, allowing the guide to become increasingly evidence-based, and also more accurate in quantifying the risk of exacerbation based on individual and disease characteristics, as well as the nature and length of the deployment.

As countries worldwide, and particularly in Europe, move to increase deployment of low carbon energy sources, significant investments in new transmission networks are planned. However, past cases of public opposition – both to power line siting and large-scale renewable energy projects – indicate the importance of understanding public beliefs and acceptance, and using such knowledge to inform policy making and planning. This study conducted a comparative analysis of public beliefs across three European countries (UK, Norway and Sweden) drawing on representative samples of adults in each context (total n = 5107). Findings show significant differences between countries, notably lower levels of acceptance and trust in the UK, but also similarities, for example that local residents are considered to have little involvement in planning- and decision-making processes. The results indicate two important principles: that acceptance can be empirically distinguished from support, and that general acceptance of energy projects is higher than local acceptance. Potential geographical, socio-historical and political explanations for the results are proposed and future research needs recommended. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Electricity grids Networks Public beliefs Public acceptance National comparisons Norges forskningsråd 207774 Andre Statnett SF

Background: Expeditionary military facilities care for deployed military personnel. They deploy with limited equipment and personnel to austere environments. Female military personnel are deployed forward in a support capacity. Under these conditions, ectopic pregnancy continues to be a potential catastrophe leading to maternal death. Cases: We report three cases of ectopic pregnancy in forward-deployed personnel. The random occurrence and different clinical presentations emphasize the importance of early diagnosis and management. Conclusion: During austere remote deployments, early diagnosis and evacuation of patients with ectopic pregnancy may make the difference between excellent outcomes and maternal death.

An 18-month-old boy with partial and full thickness burns to his upper face and scalp was treated by an interdisciplinary team at the Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit in Kandahar. A novel approach to his burn management is presented, highlighting some of the issues and constraints that military surgeons are faced with while on operational deployment in a theater of conflict.

Learning Objective - Readers will be able to answer the following question in such a manner as to be of significant use in their official duties: Question: When do I give antibiotics in the setting of traveler's diarrhea while deployed?

The Canadian Forces Dental Services utilizes a dental classification system to identify those military members dentally fit for an overseas deployment where dental resources may be limited. Although the Canadian Forces Dental Services dental classification system is based on NATO standards, it differs slightly from the dental classification systems of other NATO country dental services. Data collected by dental teams on overseas deployments indicate a low rate of emergency dental visits by Canadian Forces members who were screened as dentally fit to deploy.

Following the Gulf War (GW), large numbers of individuals reported illness that they attributed to exposures encountered during the GW deployment. In response, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense established programs and registries for the evaluation and documentation of GW-related illness. We obtained registrants' medical records, which contained information on outpatient encounters during the 1-year period before their GW deployment, to determine whether registrants with multisymptom illness (cases) have patterns of predeployment health care seeking that are different from those of well registrants (controls). We found that subjects had significantly more predeployment outpatient visits than controls, but this varied by type of visit. Although the number of certain types of predeployment outpatient visits is significantly associated with subsequent multisymptom illness, these associations will have limited predictive value. These findings increase our understanding of multisymptom illness, especially its chronic nature, and justify doing additional studies.

In 1998, the Royal Netherlands Army introduced a new examination system, which is based on the "workload-capability" model, to replace the old system, which focused on diagnosis and was solely based on the detection of diseases and infirmities. In a randomized controlled study, we found that soldiers recruited under the new system displayed a statistically significant higher number of days fit-for-duty and incurred lower medical costs than solders recruited under the old system. To gain a better understanding of the reasons for these differences, we studied the association between these results and information collected about the soldiers. In the course of the study, we collected various types of information about the study participants (e.g., education, deployment). During the study, soldiers were asked to complete a questionnaire twice a year, its content based in part on a periodic occupational health examination questionnaire commonly used in The Netherlands. We found that the following factors influenced fitness for duty and medical consumption: education, injuries, actual operational deployment, and the examination system itself. The superior performance of the new RNLA Basic Medical Requirements (BMEKL) system seems partly attributable to the assessment of the ability to meet the task-specific requirements. The primary mechanism is as yet undiscovered.

Evaluation of group support is a complex task and its design must be carefully planned in order to produce useful results. Many factors may influence evaluation design, some of which have been suggested in the literature. However, in a particular evaluation context, additional factors may arise, influencing and even compromising the evaluation design. We argue that preliminary evaluations must be performed before they are conducted in a real setting in order to verify if its design will provide the expected measurements and results. This paper presents the evaluation process of awareness information resources within software diagram peer reviews. The paper describes the evaluation context, objectives, plan and design together with enactment of a preliminary case study following this design. From this preliminary study, we outline issues that arose during its enactment that influenced refinement of the evaluation design.

In the last few years, there has been a strong increase in the interest in and usage of so-called “Personal e-Transporters” (PeTs), also referred to as micro-mobility devices. Empirical research on the usage of PeTs as a transport mode is virtually non-existent, especially within Europe. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating people’s motivations and barriers to the use of PeTs. To this end, a behavioural survey was conducted in nine European cities. A representative sample of approximately 250 respondents per city was collected, resulting in a dataset, after data cleaning, of 2159 observations. Generally, respondents’ perceptions of PeTs are not (yet) very favourable. Respondents’ perceptions related to cost and safety received the lowest scores. The results from the transtheoretical model of behavioural change show that a variety of factors influence the stage of behavioural change in which the respondents can be situated. These factors include cycling norms, current walking behaviour, walking attitudes, pro-environmental orientation, gender, PeTs possession, cycling obstacles and subscription to a bicycle sharing service. An important strength of this study lies in the international nature and the size of the data collection, ensuring the reliability and transferability of the results to other cities. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first large-scale survey to investigate people’s travel behaviour related to the usage of PeTs and possibly the only large-scale investigation that took place before the deployment of shared e-scooters in many European cities. Furthermore, an explicit link is made with other modes of active transport (walking and cycling).