We experimentally test the efficacy of indenture as a self-enforced contract device. In an indenture game, the principal signals the intention of payment-on-delivery, by tearing a banknote and giving the agent half of it as “prepayment”; the agent receives the completing half after delivering the service. By forward induction, cooperation is incentive-compatibly self-enforcing. The indenture pe...

The status of ethical considerations in the provision of health care has undergone a substantial evolution over the past 50 years. This development was partially a response to particular abuses of human rights that had occurred in the name of health research,* 1 but it was also a manifestation of the wider consumer rights movement that arose in a number of countries over the same time period. T...

groups. The above mentioned proof-of-concept trials demonstrate that optimal intraoperative management of patients not only have an important role in reducing the incidence of POCD, particularly in elderly patients, but also may lead to an improvement in outcome generally following major surgery. It would be very unfortunate if such an excellent review left anaesthetists feeling that POCD was n...

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems refer to “intelligent systems that will assist elderly individuals for a better, healthier and safer life in the preferred living environment and covers concepts, products and services that interlink and improve new technologies and the social environment” [1]. AAL systems address socio-political issues created by the demographic development in Europe: care...

Although the European Respiratory Society (ERS) strongly supports and prioritises research on asthma, the publication should NOT be interpreted as an official opinion of the ERS. The ERS took part in this summit and decided, based on exclusive sponsorship of Merck Sharpe and Dohme (Hoddesdon, UK), to cease further participation. The whole project was financially supported by the Asthma, Allergy...