Unequal Distribution of Innovation Efforts for Neglected Tropical Diseases: The Role of Funding Evaluation Criteria

Background: International research and innovation efforts for neglected tropical diseases have increased in recent decades due to disparities in overall health research funding in relation to global burden of disease. However, within the field of neglected tropical diseases some seem far more neglected than others. In this research the aim is to investigate the distribution of resources and efforts, as well as the mechanisms that underpin funding allocation for neglected tropical diseases. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted to establish a comprehensive overview of known indicators for innovation efforts related to a wide range of neglected tropical diseases. Articles were selected based on a subjective evaluation of their relevance, the presence of original data, and the breadth of their scope. This was followed by thirteen in-depth open-ended interviews with representatives of private, public and philanthropic funding organizations, concerning evaluation criteria for funding research proposals. Results: The findings reveal a large difference in the extent to which the individual diseases are neglected with notable differences between absolute and relative efforts. Criteria used in the evaluation of research proposals relate to potential impact, the probability of success and strategic fit. Private organizations prioritize strategic fit and economic impact;philanthropic organizations prioritize short-term societal impact;and public generally prioritize the probability of success by accounting for follow-up funding and involvement of industry. Funding decisions of different types of organizations are highly interrelated. Conclusions: This study shows that the evaluation of funding proposals introduces and retains unequal funding distribution, reinforcing the relative neglect of diseases. Societal impact is the primary rationale for funding but application of it as a funding criterion is associated with significant challenges. Furthermore, current application of evaluation criteria leads to a primary focus on short-term impact. Through current practice, the relatively most neglected diseases will remain so, and a long-term strategy is needed to resolve this.

Research funding and citations in papers of Nobel Laureates in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine, 2019-2020

Purpose:The goal of this study is a comparative analysis of the relation between funding(a main driver for scientific research)and citations in papers of Nobel Laureates in physics,chemistry and medicine over 2019-2020 and the same relation in these research fields as a whole.Design/methodology/approach:This study utilizes a power law model to explore the relationship between research funding and citations of related papers.The study here analyzes 3,539 recorded documents by Nobel Laureates in physics,chemistry and medicine and a broader dataset of 183,016 documents related to the fields of physics,medicine,and chemistry recorded in the Web of Science database.Findings:Results reveal that in chemistry and medicine,funded researches published in papers of Nobel Laureates have higher citations than unfunded studies published in articles;vice versa high citations of Nobel Laureates in physics are for unfunded studies published in papers.Instead,when overall data of publications and citations in physics,chemistry and medicine are analyzed,all papers based on funded researches show higher citations than unfunded ones.Originality/value:Results clarify the driving role of research funding for science diffusion that are systematized in general properties:a)articles concerning funded researches receive more citations than(un)funded studies published in papers of physics,chemistry and medicine sciences,generating a high Matthew effect(a higher growth of citations with the increase in the number of papers);b)research funding increases the citations of articles in fields oriented to applied research(e.g.,chemistry and medicine)more than fields oriented towards basic research(e.g.,physics).Practical implications:The results here explain some characteristics of scientific development and diffusion,highlighting the critical role of research funding in fostering citations and the expansion of scientific knowledge.This finding can support decision-making of policymakers and R&D managers to improve the effectiveness in allocating financial resources in science policies to generate a higher positive scientific and societal impact.

Strategies for Cultivating Public Funded Targeted Normal Students Based on Goal Management Theory : A Case Study of East, West and North Guangdong

Public funded targeted normal students are an important component of China's teacher team construction.Since its implementation in 2007,a large number of outstanding rural teachers who have been striving on the front line of education have been trained.Based on the theory of goal management,this paper explores the problems and countermeasures in the training of public funded targeted normal students.It strives to solve the problems of low willingness to teach and high default rates among public funded normal students,and hopes that the suggestions proposed in this paper can further promote the effective implementation of policies for public funded normal students.

The relation between funding by the National Institutes of Health and the burden of disease

Background:The Institute of Medicine has proposed that the amount of disease-specific research funding provided by the National Institutes of Health(NIH)be systematically and consistently compared with the burden of disease for society.Methods:We performed a cross-sectional study comparing estimates of disease-specific funding in 1996 with data on six measures of the burden of disease.

The relation between funding by the National Institutes of Health and the burden of disease

Background:The Institute of Medicine has proposed that the amount of disease-specific research funding provided by the National Institutes of Health(NIH)be systematically and consistently compared with the burden of disease for society.Methods:We performed a cross-sectional study comparing estimates of disease-specific funding in 1996 with data on six measures of the burden of disease.The measures were total mortality,years of life lost,and number of hospital days in 1994 and incidence,prevalence,and disability-adjusted life-years(one disability-adjusted life-year is defined as the loss of one year of healthy life to disease)in 1990.With the use of these measures as explanatory variables in a regression analysis,predicted funding was calculated and compared with actual funding.

Aortic Dissection Research in China:Analysis of Studies Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

Objective The National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)has made great progress in promoting the development of aortic dissection research in recent years.This study aimed to examine the development and research status of aortic dissection research in China so as to provide references for future research.Methods The NSFC projects data from 2008 to 2019 were collected from the Internet-based Science Information System and other websites utilized as search engines.The publications and citations were retrieved by Google Scholar,and the impact factors were checked by the InCite Journal Citation Reports database.The investigator’s degree and department were identified from the institutional faculty profiles.Results A total of 250 grant funds totaling 124.3 million Yuan and resulting in 747 publications were analyzed.The funds in economically developed and densely populated areas were more than those in underdeveloped and sparsely populated areas.There was no significant difference in the amount of funding per grant between different departments’investigators.However,the funding output ratios of the grants for cardiologists were higher than those for basic science investigators.The amount of funding for clinical researchers and basic scientific researchers in aortic dissection was also similar.Clinical researchers were better in terms of the funding output ratio.Conclusion These results suggest that the medical and scientific research level of aortic dissection in China has been greatly improved.However,there are still some problems that urgently need to be solved,such as the unreasonable regional allocation of medical and scientific research resources,and the slow transition from basic science to clinical practice.

Sri Lanka Gets Closer To IMF Funds After China Support

This October,International Monetary Fund(IMF)staff and the Sri Lankan authorities reached a stafflevel agreement on economic policies to conclude the first review of the 48-month Extended Fund Facility(EFF)-supported programme.Sri Lanka will have access to Special Drawing Right(SDR)254 million(about US$330 million)in financing once the review is approved by IMF Management and IMF Executive Board.

Making Sense of Anything thru Analytics: Employees Provident Fund (EPF)

Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has always been a hot topic, from the previous Government permitted “withdrawals” during the pandemic to the present Government disallowing further withdrawals (afraid it would lead to a financial crisis) and allowing emergency loans through an EPF collateral agreement. The latter used median studies to “contribute” MYR 500 to EPF members with less than RM 10,000 in their accounts. Baffled/bewildered by the current Government’s generosity and highlighted in this paper, I used Monte Carlo simulation, a method used by analysts when determining the size of a client’s portfolio to support their desired retirement lifestyle, to establish a reference-type table displaying ideal savings when reaching 50. The Government could use the table mentioned above to give more meaningful contributions to EPF members, apart from EPF active and inactive members, knowing where they stand concerning their current EPF savings.

Strategies for China’s Response to and Improvement of Third-Party Funding in International Investment Arbitration

China should prioritize the establishment and enhancement of a third-party funding system.It should actively refine the existing arbitration rules,addressing any loopholes in the current regulatory framework.Comprehensive measures should be implemented to regulate third-party funding,aligning with international trends.This is crucial not only to safeguard the foreign investment of the Chinese government and enterprises but also to position China as a globally influential arbitration center.

The Impact of Population Aging on the Expenditure of Medical Insurance Fund for Urban Workers in China

Objective To explore the impact of population aging on the expenditures of medical insurance funds against the background that great changes in population structure influences economic development.Methods Through analyzing the impact of the population aging,the income and accumulated balance of the medical insurance fund,and other related factors on the expenditure of the medical insurance fund,development status of the medical insurance fund for urban employees in China since 2003 was obtained.Stata 16.0 was used to perform multiple linear regression analysis on related factors to determine the correlation between population aging and the change in medical insurance expenditures.Results and Conclusion The factors that have a greater impact on the expenditure of the medical insurance fund are the amount of income from the medical insurance,followed by the number of people over the age of 65 in China and the urban retired employees participating in medical insurance.We should focus on the sustainable development of the urban employee medical insurance fund to deal with the threat of aging.

Research on Accounting Issues of the Pension Insurance Fund for Urban Employees

Pension insurance is a vital component of China's social security system,ensuring the welfare of the general publie.This study centers on the revenue and expenses of City S's urban employee basic pension insurance fund.It introduces and analyzes the fund's accounting status from four key perspectives:fund raising.expenditure,financial statement system,and accounting information disclosure.The research identifes existing problems in City S's accounting system and conducts in-depth research on these issues.Furthermore,an empirical analysis is conducted on the management of the pension insurance fund.Through this empirical study,the paper aims to offer insights and recommendations for promoting stable and healthy development measures for City S'8 urban employee basic pension insurance fund.

‘Smart’copycat mutual funds:on the performance of partial imitation strategies

Using a novel measure of stock-level trade imitation,we uncover‘smart’copycats:fund managers that use their own information when beneficial,and otherwise imitate other managers’better trades.Contrary to previous research,we find that these partial imitation strategies lead to outperformance.Our‘Copycat Score’combines the propensity to imitate and to lead trades.Funds at the high and low ends of the score outperform all others.The Copycat Score is persistent in time,related to other measures of skill,and a good predictor of fund performance.We conclude that smart copycatting is another skill of successful fund managers.

An overview of Fintech applications to solve the puzzle of health care funding:state-of-the-art in medical crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is emerging as an alternative form of funding for medical purposes,with capital being raised directly from a broader and more diverse audience of investors.In this paper,we have systematically researched and reviewed the literature on medical crowdfunding to determine how crowdfunding connects with the health care industry.The health care industry has been struggling to develop sustainable research and business models for economic systems and investors alike,especially in pharmaceuticals.The research results have revealed a wealth of evidence concerning the way crowdfunding is applied in real life.Patients and caregivers utilize web platform–based campaigns all over the world to fund their medical expenses,generally on a spot basis,using donation-based or even reward-based schemes,regardless of the health care system archetype(public,private insurance-based or hybrid).Academics have also focused on funding campaigns and the predictors of success(which range from social behaviour and environment to the basic demographics of the campaigners and their diseases)and on social and regulatory concerns,including heightened social inequality and stigma.While equity crowdfunding is disrupting the way many ventures/businesses seek capital in the market,our research indicates that there are no relevant or consistent data on the practice of medical equity crowdfunding in health care,apart from a few anecdotal cases.

Investigating the Islamic and Conventional Mutual Fund Performance: Evidence From Malaysia Equity Market

The phenomena of financial crisis (2007-2008) shows a significant breakdown of US$16 trillion in conventional financial industry. This provides an opportunity for Islamic capital market to drive the global asset growth investments to investors. Previous studies signal mixture results on Islamic mutual fund (IMF) and conventional mutual fund (CMF) performance. This study aims to analyze the performance of 200 IMFs and CMFs from 2007 to 2015. The sub-sample period of 2007 to 2015 will be compared to the era of financial crisis from 2007-2008. Findings show all types of mutual funds are performed throughout 2007 until 2015. The results provide information that would benefit the investors and market players in asset funds selection.

Realizing profits immediately:disposition effect of open-end fund investors in China

This paper explores the disposition effect, the tendency of investors to hold losing investments too long and sell winning investments too soon, by analyzing a unique data set that consists of the buying and selling positions of open-end fund investors in China. Results show that investors' buying and selling behaviors are significantly affected by fund performance. The reasons that lie behind such results are mainly related to the non-persistence of fund performance. When fund performance is non-persistent, investors are not clear about the future returns on funds. So, investors, especially individual investors, would have to realize the profits on hand immediately. Meanwhile, fund investors are highly sensitive to fund age and loading fees, but not sensitive to management fees charged by funds when they buy or sell fund shares.

Fund budget model for multipurpose transit smart card systems

The fund budget of multipurpose transit smart card systems is studied by stochastic programming to assign limited funds to different applications reasonably. Under the constraints of a gross fund, models of chance-constrained and dependentchance for the fund budget of multipurpose transit smart card systems are established with application scale and social demand as random variables, respectively aiming to maximize earnings and satisfy the service requirements the furthest; and the genetic algorithm based on stochastic simulation is adopted for model solution. The calculation results show that the fund budget differs greatly with different system objectives which can cause the systems to have distinct expansibilities, and the application scales of some applications may not satisfy user demands with limited funds. The analysis results indicate that the forecast of application scales and application future demands should be done first, and then the system objective is determined according to the system mission, which can help reduce the risks of fund budgets.

The Observation of Trends and Impacts of States Funding on Higher Education in America

The adequacy of state funding for higher education in America is vital to cultivate the qualified workforce and help in developing the state’s economy.With the economy downturn situation,whether the current state funding is adequate to the need of institutions and students is a valuable question to be investigated.This research reviewed the whole trends of state and federal support of the higher education,having analyzed the data of higher education funding for the whole state,for the institution development,and for the students and their families.With the enrollment increasing and the inflation growing,the state fund was dropping.Although states supply a greater part of funding to public universities,most of the state funding goes to community colleges and non-research public institutions.The public research institutions and undergraduate education are important components in higher education,generating changing the development for the entire society.The state should make some adjustments in distributing funding in order to keep up with the most urgent needs of the higher education and ease pressure on the institutions,and ease the financial burden on students and their families.

Market efficiency of gold exchange-traded funds in India

Background:Gold exchange-traded funds,since introduction,are primarily aimed at tracking the price of physical gold in the financial market.This,a category of exchange-traded funds,whose units represent physical gold,is traded on exchanges like any other financial instrument.In the Indian financial market,gold exchange traded funds were introduced a decade ago to facilitate ordinary households'participation in the bullion market.They were also designed to assist in the price discovery mechanism of the bullion market.Presentation of the hypothesis:In this paper,it is attempted to check if one of the constituents of price discovery mechanism,informational efficiency,has been achieved in gold exchange-traded funds’market.Information efficiency becomes evident only when all available information is reflected in the market price of the instrument.Testing the hypothesis:Therefore,in order to assess the weak-form efficiency of the gold exchange-traded funds market,the daily returns of five gold exchangetraded funds traded on the Indian Stock Exchange over the period March 22,2010,to August 28,2015,were used.The non-parametric runs test,the parametric serial correlation test,and the augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test are employed.Implications of the hypothesis:The test results provide evidence that the efficient market hypothesis does not hold for the gold exchange-traded funds’market in India.Further,the test results address several underlying issues with respect to price discovery in the market under study and suggest that the Indian market for this derivative is not weak-form efficient.Hence,the factors affecting gold exchange traded-funds’market warrant the attention of the country’s regulatory bodies,as appropriate legislation in support of market efficiency is needed.

An Alternative Funding Model for Agribusiness Research in Canada

Canadian governments have moved towards a matching funding model for agricultural research. Agricultural organizations can take advantage of this if Canadian Controlled Private Corporations are established to fund research through matching grants, tax credits and investments. A low risk options strategy is presented which uses index options and is a diagonal put spread where an in-the-money put is bought which expires in 1 to 2 years and out-of-the-money puts are sold which expire monthly. In summary, “A small Canadian Controlled Private Corporation can, for a $100,000 up front initial investment, generate at least $100,000 annually in research funding, in perpetuity”.

Hedge fund replication using strategy specific factors

Hedge funds have traditionally served wealthy individuals and institutional investors with the promise of delivering protection of capital and uncorrelated positive returns irrespective of market direction,allowing them to better manage portfolio risk.However,the financial crisis of 2008 has heightened investor sensitivity to the high fees,illiquidity,lack of transparency,and lockup periods typically associated with hedge funds.Hedge fund replication products,or clones,seek to answer these challenges by providing daily liquidity,transparency,and immediate exposure to a desired hedge fund strategy.Nonetheless,although lowering cost and adding simplicity by using a common set of factors,traditional replication products might offer lower risk-reward performance compared to hedge funds.This research explores hedge fund replication further by examining the importance of constructing clones with specific factors relevant to each hedge fund strategy,and then compares the strategy specific clone risk and reward performance against both actual hedge fund performance and hedge fund clones constructed using a more general set of common factors.Testing shows that using strategy specific factors to replicate common hedge fund strategies can offer superior risk-reward performance compared to previous general model clones.