Design and Development of an Electronic National Registration System with Cloud Computing Case Study

Building Capacity for Mortality Statistics Programs: Perspectives from the Indonesian Experience

Reports based on national registers of congenital malformations have suggested that the birth rate of hypospadias has increased during the last few decades. Register-based information may, however, have pitfalls because of changes in diagnostics, reporting accuracy and registration system. The aim of this study was to determine the current birth rate of hypospadias in Turku University Central Hospital (TUCH) in Finland. This was a prospective study on live-born boys born in TUCH from 1997 to 1999. In the total birth cohort (n=5,798) as well as in a special subcohort group (n=1,505) 0.3% of boys had hypospadias. Only one scrotal hypospadias was found in a boy who had a chromosomal anomaly. Other hypospadias were glandular or coronal. No increase was found in the birth rate of hypospadias when comparing our result with register-based data of boys born in Finland during the years 1970 to 1986 and surgically treated for hypospadias by the age of 8 years. No difference was found either from malformation register-based data concerning the nationwide birth rate of hypospadias during the years 1993 to 1998. Due to differences in national registration systems between countries, prospective studies with equal assessment criteria are needed in order to make reliable international comparisons.

Many people do not own immovable property to offer as security but do have movable property which can be offered as security for the repayment of a debt. In today’s world where the costs of a motor car can exceed that of a house, the increasing value of movable things makes it a popular and appropriate security object. Under the common law pledge, delivery of the movable property from the pledgor (debtor) to the pledgee (creditor) has to take place in order for the pledgee to acquire a real security right in the property. Delivery of the property is aimed at ensuring compliance with the publicity principle. The principle of publicity entails that the existence of a real security must be known to the public. With the aim to promote commerce, certain countries have taken the initiative in reforming their laws on pledge to allow the debtor to retain possession of the movable property that serves as security. Furthermore, technology has advanced to a level where national registration systems which can be accessed easily and at minimal costs can be established. The South African legislature enacted the Security by Means of Movable Property Act 57 of 1993 which makes provision for a pledge without possession. This Act deemed a duly registered notarial bond over specified movable property to have been delivered as if delivery has in fact taken place thereby substituted the common law delivery requirement with registration in the Deeds Office. On 30 May 2013, the Belgian House of Representatives adopted a Belgian Pledge Act which allows for a non-possessory pledge on movable property subject to registration in a newly created public register called the Electronic Pledge Register. This article therefore examines the efficacy of the registration system of special notarial bonds in South African law and whether this form of registration complies with the publicity principle looking at the developments of a computerised registration system taking place in Belgium.

BackgroundVerbal autopsy (VA) is recognized as the only feasible alternative to comprehensive medical certification of deaths in settings with no or unreliable vital registration systems. However, a barrier to its use by national registration systems has been the amount of time and cost needed for data collection. Therefore, a short VA instrument (VAI) is needed. In this paper we describe a shortened version of the VAI developed for the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC) Gold Standard Verbal Autopsy Validation Study using a systematic approach.MethodsWe used data from the PHMRC validation study. Using the Tariff 2.0 method, we first established a rank order of individual questions in the PHMRC VAI according to their importance in predicting causes of death. Second, we reduced the size of the instrument by dropping questions in reverse order of their importance. We assessed the predictive performance of the instrument as questions were removed at the individual level by calculating chance-corrected concordance and at the population level with cause-specific mortality fraction (CSMF) accuracy. Finally, the optimum size of the shortened instrument was determined using a first derivative analysis of the decline in performance as the size of the VA instrument decreased for adults, children, and neonates.ResultsThe full PHMRC VAI had 183, 127, and 149 questions for adult, child, and neonatal deaths, respectively. The shortened instrument developed had 109, 69, and 67 questions, respectively, representing a decrease in the total number of questions of 40-55 %. The shortened instrument, with text, showed non-significant declines in CSMF accuracy from the full instrument with text of 0.4 %, 0.0 %, and 0.6 % for the adult, child, and neonatal modules, respectively.ConclusionsWe developed a shortened VAI using a systematic approach, and assessed its performance when administered using hand-held electronic tablets and analyzed using Tariff 2.0. The length of a VA questionnaire was shortened by almost 50 % without a significant drop in performance. The shortened VAI developed reduces the burden of time and resources required for data collection and analysis of cause of death data in civil registration systems.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0528-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

To assess the current state of the world's civil registration and vital statistics systems based on publicly available data and to propose strategic development pathways, including priority interventions, for countries at different levels of civil registration and vital statistics performance. We applied a performance assessment framework to publicly available data, using a composite indicator highly correlated with civil registration and vital statistics performance which we then adjusted for data incomparability and missing values. Globally, civil registration and vital statistics systems score on average 0.70 (0-1 scale), with substantial variations across countries and regions. Scores ranged from less than 0.50 in emerging systems to nearly 1.00 in the most developed systems. Approximately one fifth of the world's population live in the 43 countries with low system performance (< 0.477). Irrespective of system development, health sector indicators consistently scored lower than other determinants of civil registration and vital statistics performance. From our assessment, we provide three main recommendations for how the health sector can contribute to improving civil registration and vital statistics systems: (i)enhanced health sector engagement in birth and death notification; (ii) a more systematic approach to training cause of death diagnostics; and (iii) leadership in the implementation of verbal autopsy methods. Four different civil registration and vital statistics improvement pathways for countries at different levels of system development are proposed, that can constitute a blueprint for regional civil registration and vital statistics strengthening activities that countries can adapt and refine to suit their capabilities, resources, and particular challenges.

To evaluate Japanese occupational health services (OHSs) for small-scale enterprises (SSEs). The current Japanese OHSs for SSEs were compared with 15 recommendations of the Joint WHO/ILO Task Group. The status of OHSs was analyzed using the published papers collected by means of a computerized literature search. Thirty-five papers were used in the analysis, which was first conducted by the four authors separately, followed by discussion among the authors. Evaluation was conducted by classifying the status of Japanese OHSs for SSEs into three classes (A: good, B: average, C: poor) based on comparison with each recommendation. Six issues were evaluated as "A": establishment of a national policy for the provision of OHSs for SSEs, occupational health and safety inspection for SSEs, legislation to ensure services for SSEs and provision of financial incentives, adoption of occupational health programs using multiple channels, training in occupational health issues, and establishment of national data collection and registration systems. Nine issues were evaluated as "B": provision of OHSs for all SSEs as a part of the "national Health for ALL" strategy, intervention combining economic development and OHSs, extension of OHSs to vulnerable groups, coverage of migrant and seasonal workers by OHSs, the establishment of a national collaborative and coordinative body on OHSs, control of transfer of hazardous technology, encouragement of applied research, employers' commitment and worker participation, and integration of OHSs with primary health care. None of them was evaluated as "C". Japanese OHSs for SSEs were fairly well established in terms of compliance with the recommendations of the Joint WHO/ILO Task Group, although evaluation may be somewhat subjective and rather qualitative.

The present article describes the process of developing a national suicide registry in Iran and evaluates the obstacles in this respect. We established a systematic and uniform portal data collection system in the country and evaluated it from March 2009 for a year. The quality of database and data registration challenges were assessed from different aspects. A total number of 41,109 suicide attempts and 1,338 completed suicides were reported from an area that covered 83.6% of Iran's population in 2009. The rate of suicide attempt was 65.8 per 100,000 people. This study revealed some of the obstacles and challenges of implementing a national registration system. Nationwide suicide registry can serve as a solid foundation for conceptual work, data collection, and preventive interventions. A concerted effort between various organizations is required to efficiently collect data on suicide behaviors.

(That government authorities in Germany have employed a rigid and fearsome system of records and recording as a means of maintaining a vicious control over the populace is known. How the Nazis utilized the German national registration system as a means of police control over population is not so well known. Nor have many realized the enormous importance which these registration records can play in our post war efforts to identify war criminals and to point out their place in Germany's war guilt. In the following article Dr. Kempner describes Germany's national registration system in detail and how the records maintained can aid the alllied cause in seeing that justice is done. The author holds degrees in law and public administration, was formerly a judge in Berlin and chief legal counselor of the pre-Hitler Prussian police administration-a force comprising some 80,000 men. Back in 1930 he officially urged the dissolution of the Nazi party and the criminal prosecution of Adolf Hitler and his accomplices for high treason and perjury. In 1939 the author, now an American citizen, received appointments at the Institute of Local and State Government of the University of Pennsylvania, and later lectured at West Point, Columbia, Northwestern and other universities. He is now in Germany serving as expert consultant in German law and administration to the Departments of Justice and War.-EDIToR.)

Gun violence results in a significant number of deaths in the United States. Starting in the 1960's, the US Congress passed a series of gun control laws to regulate the sale and use of firearms. One of the most important but politically fraught gun control measures is a national gun registry. A US Senate office is currently drafting legislation that proposes the creation of a voluntary national gun registration system. At a high level, the bill envisions a decentralized system where local county officials would control and manage the registration data of their constituents. These local databases could then be queried by other officials and law enforcement to trace guns. Due to the sensitive nature of this data, however, these databases should guarantee the confidentiality of the data.In this work, we translate the high-level vision of the proposed legislation into technical requirements and design a crypto- graphic protocol that meets them. Roughly speaking, the protocol can be viewed as a decentralized system of locally-managed end-to-end encrypted databases. Our design relies on various cryptographic building blocks including structured encryption, secure multi-party computation and secret sharing. We propose a formal security definition and prove that our design meets it. We implemented our protocol and evaluated its performance empirically at the scale it would have to run if it were deployed in the United States. Our results show that a decentralized and end-to-end encrypted national gun registry is not only possible in theory but feasible in practice.

Thanks to China’s rurally focused reforms, “Three Rights Division” on rural homesteads came by – dividing collective ownership, household qualification and flexible use rights – an important policy meant to tackle inefficient problems within the rural system and make economic value come out of the land. This reform is about invigorate the sleeping rural assets, raise up the farmers’ property income and make the rural-urban integration possible. But the fact is that its success is seriously limited because there is an incomplete and unclear legal environment. This paper makes a critical review on the legal realization mechanism for this reform. It starts from explaining the theoretical and practical significance of separated ownership, qualification, and use rights to build a concept foundation for the following analysis. Then, it probes into the current legal landscape of land expropriation and acquisition and determines some prominent problems like vague property right conceptions, excessive constraints on market circulation, non-unified or ineffective registration systems, and unscientific valuation and dispute settlement. In view of the results from all the national pilot programs, the paper synthesizes practices and lessons. According to this exhaustive analysis and puts forth a systematic legal implementation mechanism: Key recommendations are to improve existing laws on the content and boundaries of each right, to develop an integrated and unified national registration and certification system, which provides legal certainty for such exchange transactions, to develop a hierarchical and regulated secondary market for the transfer of use rights (e.g., the stock and option exchanges), as well as an open and transparent system for valuing assets and distributing profits. The paper holds that to build a strong legal architectural system is not just a technical must do, it’s also a primary pre requisite to guarantee the reform success, protect farmers’ interests and realize the goal of rural revitalization strategy.

Fingerprinting was the first technology capable of accurately identifying individuals. In the Japanese puppet state of Manchuria, fingerprinting was implemented on a large scale. Why was fingerprinting considered so necessary in Manchuria despite the huge effort required? In addressing this question, this paper focuses on the complicated mobilities of workers in Manchuria. The Manchurian government faced a situation of highly complicated mobilities and thus it needed a means of the control of mobilities. Further, the fingerprinting registration of workers gradually developed into a national registration system, so this paper examines the process of the implementation of fingerprinting registration and the formation of a national citizenry in Manchuria based on the control of mobilities.

IntroductionBurn injury is a serious pathology, potentially leading to severe morbidity and significant mortality, but it also has a considerable health-economic impact. The aim of this study was to describe the European hospitalized population with severe burn injury, including the incidence, etiology, risk factors, mortality, and causes of death.MethodsThe systematic literature search (1985 to 2009) involved PubMed, the Web of Science, and the search engine Google. The reference lists and the Science Citation Index were used for hand searching (snowballing). Only studies dealing with epidemiologic issues (for example, incidence and outcome) as their major topic, on hospitalized populations with severe burn injury (in secondary and tertiary care) in Europe were included. Language restrictions were set on English, French, and Dutch.ResultsThe search led to 76 eligible studies, including more than 186,500 patients in total. The annual incidence of severe burns was 0.2 to 2.9/10,000 inhabitants with a decreasing trend in time. Almost 50% of patients were younger than 16 years, and ~60% were male patients. Flames, scalds, and contact burns were the most prevalent causes in the total population, but in children, scalds clearly dominated. Mortality was usually between 1.4% and 18% and is decreasing in time. Major risk factors for death were older age and a higher total percentage of burned surface area, as well as chronic diseases. (Multi) organ failure and sepsis were the most frequently reported causes of death. The main causes of early death (<48 hours) were burn shock and inhalation injury.ConclusionsDespite the lack of a large-scale European registration of burn injury, more epidemiologic information is available about the hospitalized population with severe burn injury than is generally presumed. National and international registration systems nevertheless remain necessary to allow better targeting of prevention campaigns and further improvement of cost-effectiveness in total burn care.

Objective:To use a range of existing information sources to develop a national snapshot of the burden of road traffic injuries in one developing country—Iran.Methods:The distribution of deaths was estimated by...

This editorial recommends 1) establish a firearm fatality reporting system in the United States; 2) firearm-related injuries should be monitored by the National Electronic Injury Reporting System; 3) questions about firearm-related injury and disability should be added to the National Healoth Interview Survey; 4) refine the National Crime Victimization Survey to provide a clearer picture of the relative frequency of firearm use in criminal versus self-defense shootings; and 5) establish a national firearm registration system to make every gun sale subject to reporting, just as every automobile sale in the U.S. is reported today.

Impact of echocardiography on one-month and one-year mortality of intertrochanteric fracture patients