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OBJECTIVES—To evaluate the impact of the United States Tobacco Price Support Program (TPSP) on domestic cigarette consumption and the potential political impact of the TPSP on efforts to reduce smoking. DATA SOURCES—Published studies known to the authors and a search of AGRICOLA from 1980 to 1996. STUDY SELECTION—Studies published in a refereed journal or research reports published by an accredited university or institution. DATA SYNTHESIS—The TPSP decreases cigarette use by increasing the price of cigarettes. The price increase resulting from the TPSP, however, is small—about one cent per pack. The resulting decrease in cigarette consumption is also very modest—an estimated 0.23%. However, the TPSP creates tobacco quota owners, who have a strong financial interest in opposing measures to reduce smoking. The TPSP also changes the political influence of tobacco farmers by keeping a large number of small farmers in tobacco production. CONCLUSIONS—The negative impact of the TPSP (opposition to tobacco control measures) is probably greater than the positive impact of the programme (reducing smoking). Therefore, the net impact of the TPSP on tobacco control efforts is likely to be negative. Keywords: cigarette consumption; Tobacco Price Support Program; United States

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the direct effect of the tobacco price support program on domestic cigarette consumption. METHODS: We developed an economic model of demand and supply of US tobacco to estimate how much the price support program increases the price of tobacco. We calculated the resultant increase in cigarette prices from the change in the tobacco price and the quantity of domestic tobacco contained in US cigarettes. We then assessed the reduction in cigarette consumption attributable to the price support program by applying the estimated increase in the cigarette price to assumed price elasticities of demand for cigarettes. RESULTS: We estimated that the tobacco price support program increased the price of tobacco leaf by $0.36 per pound. This higher tobacco price translates to a $0.01 increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes and an estimated 0.21% reduction in cigarette consumption. CONCLUSION: Because the tobacco price support program increases the price of cigarettes minimally, its potential health benefit is likely to be small. The adverse political effect of the tobacco program might substantially outweigh the potential direct benefit of the program on cigarette consumption.

Mit dem zunehmenden Einsatz von schutzzaunlosen Roboteranwendungen ist eine effiziente und durchgängige Planung erforderlich. Es entstehen dabei neue Planungsaufgaben und -aspekte, die bei den konventionellen Automatisierungslösungen bisher kaum berücksichtigt wurden. Die entsprechenden Anforderungen an die Planungsmethodik müssen zuerst identifiziert und beschrieben werden. Im Beitrag wird eine konzeptionelle Umsetzung der Anforderungen in einer Planungssoftware aufgezeigt.
 
An efficient and consistent planning is necessary with the increasing applications of fenceless robot operations. There are new planning tasks and aspects to be considered, which are hardly be done so far for conventional automatic solutions. At first, the relevant requirements for the planning methodology must be identified and described. In this paper, a conceptual implementation of the requirements into a planning-software is shown.

At present, social and economic development has entered a new era. The establishment of the Ministry of Natural Resources has strengthened the functions of the natural resources department to provide the government and the public with standard, accurate, authoritative and reliable geomatics data recognized by various sectors, and has also put forward higher requirements for the quality of geomatics data. The definition of some elements in the geomatics standards is ambiguous or even contradictory, which interferes with the work level of production personnel, affects the ability of quality inspectors to determine quality problems accurately and efficiently, reduces the consistency of geographic information data, and limits the promotion and use of the products. The fundamental way to solve this problem is to unify the understanding of products, quality inspection and application, to comprehensively consider different scales, different terrain types and different types of results, and to define geomatics elements precisely, clearly and uniformly so that practitioners in different links can reach a consensus and have no ambiguity in the understanding of the elements. This work is not only conducive to reducing friction among products, quality inspection and application, but also the basis for realizing the co-construction and sharing of geographic information data among various sectors.

At present, social and economic development has entered a new era. The establishment of the Ministry of Natural Resources has strengthened the functions of the natural resources department to provide the government and the public with standard, accurate, authoritative and reliable geomatics data recognized by various sectors, and has also put forward higher requirements for the quality of geomatics data. The definition of some elements in the geomatics standards is ambiguous or even contradictory, which interferes with the work level of production personnel, affects the ability of quality inspectors to determine quality problems accurately and efficiently, reduces the consistency of geographic information data, and limits the promotion and use of the products. The fundamental way to solve this problem is to unify the understanding of products, quality inspection and application, to comprehensively consider different scales, different terrain types and different types of results, and to define geomatics elements precisely, clearly and uniformly so that practitioners in different links can reach a consensus and have no ambiguity in the understanding of the elements. This work is not only conducive to reducing friction among products, quality inspection and application, but also the basis for realizing the co-construction and sharing of geographic information data among various sectors.

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) affects 113.9 million people in China, the largest number of any country in the world (JAMA 310:948-59, 2013). T2DM prevalence has risen dramatically from around 1 % in the 1980s to now over 10 % and is expected to continue rising. Despite the growing disease burden, few people with T2DM are achieving adequate management targets to prevent complications. Health system infrastructure in China is struggling to meet these gaps in care, and innovative, cost-effective and affordable solutions are needed. One promising strategy that may be particularly relevant to the Chinese context is improving support for lay family members to care for their relatives with T2DM. Methods: We hypothesise that an interactive mobile health management system can support lay family health promoters (FHP) and healthcare staff to improve clinical outcomes for family members with T2DM through medical assessment, regular monitoring, lifestyle advice and the prescribing of guidelines recommended medications. This intervention will be implemented as a cluster randomised controlled trial involving 80 communities (40 communities in Beijing and 40 rural villages in Hebei province) and 2000 people with T2DM. Outcome analyses will be conducted blinded to intervention allocation. The primary outcome is the proportion of patients achieving ≥2 "ABC" goals (HbA1c <7.0 %, blood pressure (BP) <140/80 mmHg and LDL cholesterol <100 mg/dl or 2.6 mmol/L) at the end of follow-up (Diabetes Care 36(Supplement 1):S11-S66, 2013). Secondary outcomes include the proportion of patients achieving individual ABC targets; mean changes in HbA1c, BP, LDL, renal function (serum creatinine and urinary albumin), body mass index, quality of life (QOL, EQ-5D), and healthcare utilisation from baseline; and cost-effectiveness/utility of intervention. Trial outcomes will be accompanied by detailed process and economic evaluations. Discussion: The Chinese government has prioritised prevention and treatment of diabetes as 1 of 11 ...

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) affects 113.9 million people in China, the largest number of any country in the world (JAMA 310:948-59, 2013). T2DM prevalence has risen dramatically from around 1 % in the 1980s to now over 10 % and is expected to continue rising. Despite the growing disease burden, few people with T2DM are achieving adequate management targets to prevent complications. Health system infrastructure in China is struggling to meet these gaps in care, and innovative, cost-effective and affordable solutions are needed. One promising strategy that may be particularly relevant to the Chinese context is improving support for lay family members to care for their relatives with T2DM. Methods: We hypothesise that an interactive mobile health management system can support lay family health promoters (FHP) and healthcare staff to improve clinical outcomes for family members with T2DM through medical assessment, regular monitoring, lifestyle advice and the prescribing of guidelines recommended medications. This intervention will be implemented as a cluster randomised controlled trial involving 80 communities (40 communities in Beijing and 40 rural villages in Hebei province) and 2000 people with T2DM. Outcome analyses will be conducted blinded to intervention allocation. The primary outcome is the proportion of patients achieving ≥2 "ABC" goals (HbA1c <7.0 %, blood pressure (BP) <140/80 mmHg and LDL cholesterol <100 mg/dl or 2.6 mmol/L) at the end of follow-up (Diabetes Care 36(Supplement 1):S11-S66, 2013). Secondary outcomes include the proportion of patients achieving individual ABC targets; mean changes in HbA1c, BP, LDL, renal function (serum creatinine and urinary albumin), body mass index, quality of life (QOL, EQ-5D), and healthcare utilisation from baseline; and cost-effectiveness/utility of intervention. Trial outcomes will be accompanied by detailed process and economic evaluations. Discussion: The Chinese government has prioritised prevention and treatment of diabetes as 1 of 11 National Basic Public Health Services. Despite great promise for mHealth interventions to improve access to effective health care, there remains uncertainty about how this can be successfully achieved. The findings are likely to inform policy on a scalable strategy to overcome sub-optimal access to effective health care in China. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02726100