WorldWideScience

Sample records for accessibility home funding

  1. Quasi-markets targets and the evaluation of nursing-home funding in the Valencian Region

    OpenAIRE

    Fuenmayor Fernández, Amadeo; Granell Pérez, Rafael; Tortosa Chuliá, María Ángeles

    2016-01-01

    Spanish long term care is in danger, therefore we propose a change in the nursing home funding system. We use as an example the extremely complex nursing home financing system of Valencian Region. In this region, there are many funding mechanisms: two types of public subsidies, two different accessibility plans, a voucher scheme and a cash benefit approach related to residential service. We evaluate these methods through the quasi-market theory. We find that these approaches have negative imp...

  2. Vascular access for home haemodialysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Shakarchi, Julien; Day, C; Inston, N

    2018-03-01

    Home haemodialysis has been advocated due to improved quality of life. However, there are very little data on the optimum vascular access for it. A retrospective cohort study was carried on all patients who initiated home haemodialysis between 2011 and 2016 at a large university hospital. Access-related hospital admissions and interventions were used as primary outcome measures. Our cohort consisted of 74 patients. On initiation of home haemodialysis, 62 individuals were using an arteriovenous fistula as vascular access, while the remaining were on a tunnelled dialysis catheter. Of the 12 patients who started on a tunnelled dialysis catheter, 5 were subsequently converted to either an arteriovenous fistula ( n = 4) or an arteriovenous graft ( n = 1). During the period of home haemodialysis use, four arteriovenous fistula failed or thrombosed with patients continuing on home haemodialysis using an arteriovenous graft ( n = 3) or a tunnelled dialysis catheter ( n = 1). To maintain uninterrupted home haemodialysis, interventional rates were 0.32 per arteriovenous fistula/arteriovenous graft access-year and 0.4 per tunnelled dialysis catheter access-year. Hospital admission rates for patients on home haemodialysis were 0.33 per patient-year. Our study has shown that home haemodialysis can be safely and independently performed at home within a closely managed home haemodialysis programme. The authors also advocate the use of arteriovenous fistulas for this cohort of patients due to both low complication and intervention rates.

  3. Funding and Implementing Universal Access

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    The principles for the subsidy awards are based not only on the experience of ... the best-practice model for special funding to support access to communications .... Malaysia, Russia, Mongolia and elsewhere).5 The Ugandan model uses the ...... services or serve additional areas, access to radio spectrum and lower taxes.

  4. Needs-based Funding for Home Care and Community Support Services in Ontario: A New Approach Based on Linked Survey and Administrative Data

    OpenAIRE

    Jeremiah Hurley; Brian Hutchison; Gioia Buckley; Christel Woodward

    2003-01-01

    1.0 Background Since 1994, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care (MOHLTC) has used an equity funding formula to allocate new funding for the delivery of long-term care (LTC) community services, which includes home care services and community support services in the province.[Ontario Ministry of Health 2000] The objective of the formula is to reduce historical disparities in funding among Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) regions by allocating new funds on the basis of the relati...

  5. The influences on women who choose publicly-funded home birth in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catling, Christine; Dahlen, Hannah; Homer, Caroline S E

    2014-07-01

    to explore the influences on women who chose a publicly-funded home birth in one Australian state. a constructivist grounded theory methodology was used. a publicly-funded home birth service located within a tertiary referral hospital in the southern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. data were collected though semi-structured interviews of 17 women who chose to have a publicly-funded home birth. six main categories emerged from the data. These were feeling independent, strong and confident, doing it my way, protection from hospital related activities, having a safety net, selective listening and telling, and engaging support. The core category was having faith in normal. This linked all the categories and was an overriding attitude towards themselves as women and the process of childbirth. The basic social process was validating the decision to have a home birth. women reported similar influences to other studies when choosing home birth. However, the women in this study were reassured by the publicly-funded system׳s 'safety net' and apparent seamless links with the hospital system. The flexibility of the service to permit women to change their minds to give birth in hospital, and essentially choose their birthplace at any time during pregnancy or labour was also appreciated. women that choose a publicly-funded home birth service describe strong influences that led them to home birth within this model of care. Service managers and health professionals need to acknowledge the importance of place of birth choice for women. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Accessing International Funding for Climate Change Adaptation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Lars; Ray, Aaron D.; Smith, Joel B.

    of international public funding sources dedicated to adaptation investments (Chapter 3) • Seven fundamental eligibility criteria for accessing international public funding and guidance on how to apply these concepts to project ideas (Chapter 3) • A template (built on the abovementioned seven fundamental...

  7. Bringing healthcare closer to home: one province's approach to home care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witmer, E

    2000-01-01

    Ontario is implementing a number of steps to address the growing need for home care and continuing care. One of these steps is the establishment of Ontario's network of 43 Community Care Access Centres (CCACs). Responsible for aiding Ontario residents who seek community-based long-term healthcare, CCACs coordinate access to home services such as nursing and homemaking, manage placement to long-term care facilities and provide information and referral services. In 2000/01 the Ontario government announced 92.5 million Canadian dollars in new funding for long-term community services. This new funding includes 70.1 million Canadian dollars for CCACs. During this time, the provincial government will spend more than 1.6 billion Canadian dollars for long-term-care community-based services. Of this amount, 1.1 Canadian dollars billion will go to CCACs. Community Care Access Centres served more than 400,000 people in 1998/99 and are estimated to serve more than 420,000 in 2000/01. The administrative funds saved by this province-wide system are reinvested in front-line health services.

  8. Performance indicators for SMEs accessing EU funds

    OpenAIRE

    Popa Adina-Simona

    2013-01-01

    Being the best supporters of national economies Small and Medium Sized Enterprises are actively searching alternative sources of finance for sustaining their goals and their performances. European Union is sustaining the SMEs access to finance by direct funding: grants from the European Commission and indirect funding: financial intermediaries in the SMEs origin country. Considering the importance of SMEs for national and European economy we will analyze the relationship between the EU fundin...

  9. Institutional open access funds: now is the time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckman, Charles D; Weil, Beth T

    2010-05-25

    To date, the Berkeley OA fund has ensured that 43 articles are free to be read immediately upon publication and 44 additional articles are now in the pipeline. The full scope of OA publishing during this period was significantly larger, at least by a factor of four. The OA fund allocation will continue to be carefully managed over the coming years. We are tracking our potential liability assuming the OA landscape grows with additional publishers and OA options. The amount predicted as necessary to maintain the fund based on the initial 18-month uptake data is US$45,000. This is less than 1% of the US$6.2 million the library invests in subscribing to closed-access digital journals. We are paying attention in particular to the attempts by the California Digital Library, which negotiates major journal publisher licenses on behalf of the UC campuses, to include terms within the licenses that enable UC authors to take advantage of publishers'hybrid OA options [16]. And it comes with far less of the myriad overhead costs associated with those closed-access subscriptions because that subscription price doesn't tell the full story of the actual cost of maintaining the subscription. Those subscriptions involve staff-intensive license negotiations. Institutions develop and maintain systems architectures in order to ensure that only authorized users have access and respond to challenges from publishers of the content when actual or potential breaches of the licenses are identified (publishers invest hugely in monitoring use of their content in order to ensure the license terms are not breached and are quite willing to contact the institutional subscriber when any untoward activity appears on their logs). They must, in certain instances, maintain the confidentiality of certain clauses in the licenses and increasingly respond to freedom of information, public records act requests related to the investments of public resources in those contracts. The need to experiment is

  10. Restricting access to publications from funded research: ethical issues and solutions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manikandan, S; Vani, N Isai

    2010-01-01

    India is becoming one of the hubs of clinical research. Commensurate with these advances, the government funding for biomedical research in thrust areas is also increasing. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Department of Science and Technology (DST) are some of the government organizations which provide financial support for various research projects. The results of the funded research projects are published in various international journals. Most of these journals have an access to paid subscribers only. Hence it is unethical to use the research grants from government (people's money) and not allow the scientific community free access to the results of the study. To tackle such issues, these agencies should sign the Berlin declaration and create open access repositories. A public access policy should be formulated and listed in JULIET. The funding bodies in India should also join Pubmed Central (PMC) to form PMC India so that every investigator who has received grants would submit the full text of the paper published from his study and these can be made freely accessible to everyone. Universities and research institutions should also develop institutional open access repositories. The public access policy has definitive advantages and should be implemented.

  11. Restricting access to publications from funded research: Ethical issues and solutions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manikandan S

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available India is becoming one of the hubs of clinical research. Commensurate with these advances, the government funding for biomedical research in thrust areas is also increasing. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR, Department of Biotechnology (DBT, Department of Science and Technology (DST are some of the government organizations which provide financial support for various research projects. The results of the funded research projects are published in various international journals. Most of these journals have an access to paid subscribers only. Hence it is unethical to use the research grants from government (people′s money and not allow the scientific community free access to the results of the study. To tackle such issues, these agencies should sign the Berlin declaration and create open access repositories. A public access policy should be formulated and listed in JULIET. The funding bodies in India should also join Pubmed Central (PMC to form PMC India so that every investigator who has received grants would submit the full text of the paper published from his study and these can be made freely accessible to everyone. Universities and research institutions should also develop institutional open access repositories. The public access policy has definitive advantages and should be implemented.

  12. Access to patient-centered medical home among Ohio's Children with Special Health Care Needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conrey, Elizabeth J; Seidu, Dazar; Ryan, Norma J; Chapman, Dj Sam

    2013-06-01

    Medical homes deliver primary care that is accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family centered, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective. Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) require a wide range of support to maintain health, making medical home access particularly important. We sought to understand independent risk factors for lacking access. We analyzed Ohio, USA data from the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (2005-2006). Among CSHCN, 55.6% had medical home access. The proportion achieving each medical home component was highest for having a personal doctor/nurse and lowest for receiving coordinated care, family-centered care and referrals. Specific subsets of CSHCN were significantly and independently more likely to lack medical home access: Hispanic (AOR=3.08), moderate/high severity of difficulty (AOR=2.84), and any public insurance (AOR=1.60). Efforts to advance medical home access must give special attention to these CSHCN populations and improvements must be made to referral access, family-centered care, and care coordination.

  13. Barriers to nursing home staff accessing CPD must be broken down.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-29

    A study on priorities for the professional development of registered nurses (RNs) in nursing homes published in Age and Ageing ( page 6 ) has identified that staff shortages, lack of access to NHS courses and lack of paid study time are the main reasons why RNs do not access continuing professional development (CPD) activities. Specialist gerontological education for care home nurses was, however, seen as a means to ensure that care home nursing attracts the best people.

  14. Integration of QoS provisioning in home and access networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Popov, Mikhail; Gavler, A.; Sköldström, P.

    2010-01-01

    Approaches for QoS provisioning using UPnP for home networks and GMPLS for access networks are described. A solution for interworking the UPnP and the GMPLS at the residential gateway is proposed.......Approaches for QoS provisioning using UPnP for home networks and GMPLS for access networks are described. A solution for interworking the UPnP and the GMPLS at the residential gateway is proposed....

  15. The Adoption of Open Access Funds Among Canadian Academic Research Libraries, 2008-2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Crystal Hampson

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available As a result of changes in scholarly communication created by the open access movement, some academic libraries established open access (OA publishing funds. OA funds are monies set aside at an institution to fund open access publishing of the results of scholarly research. OA funds are a recent innovation in the type of services offered by academic libraries. Adoption of an innovation can be examined in the light of established theories of innovation adoption among social systems. To examine academic libraries’ responses to OA publishing charges, this article explores the adoption of OA funds among Canadian academic research libraries from 2008 to 2012 by analyzing results from a series of previously published surveys. The findings are then examined in light of Everett Rogers’ Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT to consider the question of whether or not OA funds are becoming a standard service in Canadian academic research institutions. Adoption in Canada is briefly compared to that in the United States and United Kingdom. The paper concludes that, as of 2012, OA funds were becoming common but were not a standard service in Canadian academic research libraries and that libraries were actively participating in the development of OA funding models. Given the current Canadian context, the need of researchers for OA publishing support is likely to create pressure for continued adoption of OA funds among Canadian academic research institutions. However, assessment of existing OA funds is needed.

  16. 47 CFR 76.806 - Pre-termination access to cable home wiring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... the installation of their own cable home wiring; or connect additional home wiring, splitters or other... and other equipment used in the installation of home wiring) meets reasonable technical specifications... 47 Telecommunication 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Pre-termination access to cable home wiring. 76...

  17. Funding a Health Disparities Research Agenda: The Case of Medicare Home Health Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davitt, Joan K.

    2014-01-01

    Medicare home health care provides critical skilled nursing and therapy services to patients in their homes, generally after a period in an inpatient facility or nursing home. Disparities in access to, or outcomes of, home health care can result in patient deterioration and increased cost to the Medicare program if patient care needs intensify.…

  18. Email based remote access and surveillance system for smart home infrastructure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pooshkar Rajiv

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid rise of Internet of Things in public domain, people expect fast, reliable and on-demand home security via the Internet. However, existing remote home surveillance systems place a very rigid constraint on authentication and require customized hardware and software. In this paper we have proposed an ingenious and reliable internet based, home access system for smart homes that can be easily deployed on generic hardware. The proposed architecture uses popular email service providers to notify and update the user about the home access. It sends an email to the owner with the attached picture of the person who is at the door. It also incorporates a protected mechanism to give access of the door to a remote user by responding to that email. It essentially means that we can view and give access to the person at our door via sending and receiving an email. Furthermore, an image processing based mechanism has also been incorporated to provide access without email, to few selected personnel who are trusted by the owner. It works by capturing and comparing the visitor's image with the stored images in the database. Perceptual hashing or fingerprint matching algorithm is used for comparison purposes. Similarity percentage based on hamming distance was evaluated, and the similarity threshold for providing access was set. The simulations were performed in rigorous environment. The efficiency of the hashing algorithm was found to be 97% at the similarity threshold of 95%. The results validate that the average latency is only 155 ms with low standard deviation. The CPU utilization remained quite low with a minimum value of 10 MHz and a maximum value of 30 MHz when the payload size of the sent mail was increased to 1500 kB. Thus, the proposed system can be used for developing a larger low power infrastructure.

  19. BCO-DMO: Enabling Access to Federally Funded Research Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinkade, D.; Allison, M. D.; Chandler, C. L.; Groman, R. C.; Rauch, S.; Shepherd, A.; Gegg, S. R.; Wiebe, P. H.; Glover, D. M.

    2013-12-01

    In a February, 2013 memo1, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) outlined principles and objectives to increase access by the public to federally funded research publications and data. Such access is intended to drive innovation by allowing private and commercial efforts to take full advantage of existing resources, thereby maximizing Federal research dollars and efforts. The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO; bco-dmo.org) serves as a model resource for organizations seeking compliance with the OSTP policy. BCO-DMO works closely with scientific investigators to publish their data from research projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), within the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Sections (OCE) and the Division of Polar Programs Antarctic Organisms & Ecosystems Program (PLR). BCO-DMO addresses many of the OSTP objectives for public access to digital scientific data: (1) Marine biogeochemical and ecological data and metadata are disseminated via a public website, and curated on intermediate time frames; (2) Preservation needs are met by collaborating with appropriate national data facilities for data archive; (3) Cost and administrative burden associated with data management is minimized by the use of one dedicated office providing hundreds of NSF investigators support for data management plan development, data organization, metadata generation and deposition of data and metadata into the BCO-DMO repository; (4) Recognition of intellectual property is reinforced through the office's citation policy and the use of digital object identifiers (DOIs); (5) Education and training in data stewardship and use of the BCO-DMO system is provided by office staff through a variety of venues. Oceanographic research data and metadata from thousands of datasets generated by hundreds of investigators are now available through BCO-DMO. 1 White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Memorandum for

  20. A remote data access architecture for home-monitoring health-care applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Chao-Hung; Young, Shuenn-Tsong; Kuo, Te-Son

    2007-03-01

    With the aging of the population and the increasing patient preference for receiving care in their own homes, remote home care is one of the fastest growing areas of health care in Taiwan and many other countries. Many remote home-monitoring applications have been developed and implemented to enable both formal and informal caregivers to have remote access to patient data so that they can respond instantly to any abnormalities of in-home patients. The aim of this technology is to give both patients and relatives better control of the health care, reduce the burden on informal caregivers and reduce visits to hospitals and thus result in a better quality of life for both the patient and his/her family. To facilitate their widespread adoption, remote home-monitoring systems take advantage of the low-cost features and popularity of the Internet and PCs, but are inherently exposed to several security risks, such as virus and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. These security threats exist as long as the in-home PC is directly accessible by remote-monitoring users over the Internet. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to improve the security of such systems, with the proposed architecture aimed at increasing the system availability and confidentiality of patient information. A broker server is introduced between the remote-monitoring devices and the in-home PCs. This topology removes direct access to the in-home PC, and a firewall can be configured to deny all inbound connections while the remote home-monitoring application is operating. This architecture helps to transfer the security risks from the in-home PC to the managed broker server, on which more advanced security measures can be implemented. The pros and cons of this novel architecture design are also discussed and summarized.

  1. 24 CFR 92.451 - Reallocation of HOME funds from a jurisdiction that is not designated a participating...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Development HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM Reallocations § 92.451 Reallocation of HOME funds from a... that the jurisdiction has failed to: (i) Meet the participation threshold amount in § 92.102; (ii...

  2. Predictors of Home Care Expenditures and Death at Home for Cancer Patients in an Integrated Comprehensive Palliative Home Care Pilot Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howell, Doris M.; Abernathy, Tom; Cockerill, Rhonda; Brazil, Kevin; Wagner, Frank; Librach, Larry

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: Empirical understanding of predictors for home care service use and death at home is important for healthcare planning. Few studies have examined these predictors in the context of the publicly funded Canadian home care system. This study examined predictors for home care use and home death in the context of a “gold standard” comprehensive palliative home care program pilot in Ontario where patients had equal access to home care services. Methods: Secondary clinical and administrative data sources were linked using a unique identifier to examine multivariate factors (predisposing, enabling, need) on total home care expenditures and home death for a cohort of cancer patients enrolled in the HPCNet pilot. Results: Subjects with gastrointestinal symptoms (OR: 1.64; p=0.03) and those with higher income had increased odds of dying at home (OR: 1.14; phome care expenditures. Conclusions: Predictors of home death found in earlier studies appeared less important in this comprehensive palliative home care pilot. An income effect for home death observed in this study requires examination in future controlled studies. Relevance: Access to palliative home care that is adequately resourced and organized to address the multiple domains of issues that patients/families experience at the end of life has the potential to enable home death and shift care appropriately from limited acute care resources. PMID:22294993

  3. Digital Divide: How Do Home Internet Access and Parental Support Affect Student Outcomes?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing Lei

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the relationship between home Internet access/parental support and student outcomes. Survey data were collected from 1,576 middle school students in China. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, independent-samples T-test, and regression analysis. Results indicate that students who had home Internet access reported higher scores than those without home Internet on all three dimensions: Computer and Internet self-efficacy, Attitudes towards technology and Developmental outcomes. Home Internet access and parental support were significantly positively associated with technology self-efficacy, interest in technology, perceived importance of the Internet, and perceived impact of the Internet on learning. Findings from this study have significant implications for research and practice on how to narrow down the digital divide.

  4. Open access publishing in the biomedical sciences: could funding agencies accelerate the inevitable changes?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glover, Steven William; Webb, Anne; Gleghorn, Colette

    2006-09-01

    Open access is making a noticeable impact on access to information. In 2005, many major research funders, including the Wellcome Trust, National Institutes for Health (NIH), and the Research Councils UK (RCUK), set out their position in a number of statements. Of particular note was the stipulation that authors receiving grants must deposit their final manuscript in an open access forum within 6-12 months of publication. The paper will look at the open access position statements issued by some of the major funding bodies in the biomedical sciences. The paper will also look at the models used by publishers to provide open or delayed access, such as Oxford Open from Oxford University Press, HighWire Press' delayed access policy, BioMed Central, and Public Library of Science (PLoS). There are now over 1.2 million articles in PubMed that are freely accessible via publishers' websites.(1) Could funding agencies accelerate the move to open access? The list of funding agencies supporting open access is growing. The National Institutes for Health and the Wellcome Trust have been joined by many of the world's major funders in biomedical research whose goal it is to make their research findings available with no barriers.

  5. Online marketing. A ground to exploit and grow the accessing of European funds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radu Anamaria-Cătălina

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Accessing European funds is very controversial at this moment because of its enormous benefits for the country development. A very important aspect regarding the image of a country is represented by the tourism, and European funds offer an opportunity for raising the potential of a country by coordinating the tourism activities. Tourism planning also has a big impact its advantages being very resourceful due to a responsible funds allocation. In this paper, we have been analyzing a few European funded project – POSDRU 2007-2013 for the development regions. The future direction in developing projects in the field of tourism is to follow very carefully the objectives of the implemented projects and to plan all the activities in a balanced manner. The paper also shows how online communication can contribute to facilitate the access of the European funds and a better implementation and develop of the projects.

  6. Developing and utilising a new funding model for home-care services in New Zealand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parsons, Matthew; Rouse, Paul; Sajtos, Laszlo; Harrison, Julie; Parsons, John; Gestro, Lisa

    2018-05-01

    Worldwide increases in the numbers of older people alongside an accompanying international policy incentive to support ageing-in-place have focussed the importance of home-care services as an alternative to institutionalisation. Despite this, funding models that facilitate a responsive, flexible approach are lacking. Casemix provides one solution, but the transition from the well-established hospital system to community has been problematic. This research seeks to develop a Casemix funding solution for home-care services through meaningful client profile groups and supporting pathways. Unique assessments from 3,135 older people were collected from two health board regions in 2012. Of these, 1,009 arose from older people with non-complex needs using the interRAI-Contact Assessment (CA) and 2,126 from the interRAI-Home-Care (HC) from older people with complex needs. Home-care service hours were collected for 3 months following each assessment and the mean weekly hours were calculated. Data were analysed using a decision tree analysis, whereby mean hours of weekly home-care was the dependent variable with responses from the assessment tools, the independent variables. A total of three main groups were developed from the interRAI-CA, each one further classified into "stable" or "flexible." The classification explained 16% of formal home-care service hour variability. Analysis of the interRAI-HC generated 33 clusters, organised through eight disability "sub" groups and five "lead" groups. The groupings explained 24% of formal home-care services hour variance. Adopting a Casemix system within home-care services can facilitate a more appropriate response to the changing needs of older people. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Approved but non-funded vaccines: accessing individual protection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheifele, David W; Ward, Brian J; Halperin, Scott A; McNeil, Shelly A; Crowcroft, Natasha S; Bjornson, Gordean

    2014-02-07

    Funded immunization programs are best able to achieve high participation rates, optimal protection of the target population, and indirect protection of others. However, in many countries public funding of approved vaccines can be substantially delayed, limited to a portion of the at-risk population or denied altogether. In these situations, unfunded vaccines are often inaccessible to individuals at risk, allowing potentially avoidable morbidity and mortality to continue to occur. We contend that private access to approved but unfunded vaccines should be reconsidered and encouraged, with recognition that individuals have a prerogative to take advantage of a vaccine of potential benefit to them whether it is publicly funded or not. Moreover, numbers of "approved but unfunded" vaccines are likely to grow because governments will not be able to fund all future vaccines of potential benefit to some citizens. New strategies are needed to better use unfunded vaccines even though the net benefits will fall short of those of funded programs. Canada, after recent delays funding several new vaccine programs, has developed means to encourage private vaccine use. Physicians are required to inform relevant patients about risks and benefits of all recommended vaccines, publicly funded or not. Likewise, some provincial public health departments now recommend and promote both funded and unfunded vaccines. Pharmacists are key players in making unfunded vaccines locally available. Professional organizations are contributing to public and provider education about unfunded vaccines (e.g. herpes zoster, not funded in any province). Vaccine companies are gaining expertise with direct-to-consumer advertising. However, major challenges remain, such as making unfunded vaccines more available to low-income families and overcoming public expectations that all vaccines will be provided cost-free, when many other recommended personal preventive measures are user-pay. The greatest need is to

  8. Patient organizations' funding from pharmaceutical companies: is disclosure clear, complete and accessible to the public? An Italian survey.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinzia Colombo

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Many patients' and consumers' organizations accept drug industry funding to support their activities. As drug companies and patient groups move closer, disclosure become essential for transparency, and the internet could be a useful means of making sponsorship information accessible to the public. This survey aims to assess the transparency of a large group of Italian patient and consumer groups and a group of pharmaceutical companies, focusing on their websites. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Patient and consumer groups were selected from those stated to be sponsored by a group of pharmaceutical companies on their websites. The websites were examined using two forms with principal (name of drug companies providing funds, amount of funding and secondary indicators of transparency (section where sponsors are disclosed, update of sponsorship. Principal indicators were applied independently by two reviewers to the patient and consumer groups' websites. Discordances were solved by discussion. One hundred fifty-seven Italian patient and consumer groups and 17 drug companies were considered. Thirteen drug companies (76% named at least one group funded, on their Italian websites. Of these, four (31% indicated the activities sponsored and two (15% the amount of funding. Of the 157 patient and consumer groups, 46 (29% named at least one pharmaceutical company as providing funds. Three (6% reported the amount of funding, 25 (54% the activities funded, none the proportion of income derived from drug companies. Among the groups naming pharmaceutical company sponsors, 15 (33% declared them in a dedicated section, five (11% on the home page, the others in the financial report or other sections. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Disclosure of funds is scarce on Italian patient and consumer groups' websites. The levels of transparency need to be improved. Disclosure of patient and consumer groups provided with funds is frequent on Italian pharmaceutical

  9. Nutrition accesses among patients receiving enteral treatment in the home environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sznajder, Janusz; Ślefarska-Wasilewska, Marta; Wójcik, Piotr

    2017-10-31

    Enteral feeding in the home environment is connected with creating access to digestive tract, and thanks to that, this kind of treatment is possible. The gold standard in enteral nutrition is PEG, other types of access are: nasogastric tube, gastronomy and jejunostomy. In the article 851 patients who were treated nutritionally in the home environment, in the nutrition clinic, Nutrimed Górny Śląsk, were analyzed. It was described how, in practice, the schedule of nutrition access looks like in the nutrition clinic at a time of qualifying patients to the treatment (PEG 47,35%, gastronomy 18,91%, nasogastric tube 17,39%,jejunostomy 16,33%) and how it changes among patients treated in the nutrition clinic during specific period of time - to the treatment there were qualified patients with at least three-month period of therapy ( second evaluation: PEG 37,01%, gastrostomy 31,13%, nasogastric tube 16,98%, jejunostomy 15,86%). The structure of changes was described, also the routine and the place in what exchanging or changing nutrition access was analyzed. The biggest changes in quantity, among all groups of ill people concerned patients with PEG and gastronomy. In most cases the intervention connected with exchanging access to the digestive tract could be implemented at patient's home.

  10. RURAL-URBAN DIFFERENCES IN NURSING HOME ACCESS, QUALITY AND COST

    OpenAIRE

    Yu, Wei; Bradford, Garnett L.

    1995-01-01

    Rural-urban differences in the supply of nursing home services as hypothesized to be jointly affected by competitive and regulatory forces, government policies, and the cost structure. Study findings indicate that rural services are slightly less accessible and lower in quality. A translog cost share function reveals no difference in the operating cost structure of rural and urban homes. Cost shares for nursing care are directly related to the degree of skilled nursing provided by homes. Sign...

  11. LEGITIMACY OF MEDICINES FUNDING IN THE ERA OF ACCELERATED ACCESS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pace, Jessica; Pearson, Sallie-Anne; Lipworth, Wendy

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, numerous frameworks have been developed to enhance the legitimacy of health technology assessment processes. Despite efforts to implement these "legitimacy frameworks," medicines funding decisions can still be perceived as lacking in legitimacy. We, therefore, sought to examine stakeholder views on factors that they think should be considered when making decisions about the funding of high-cost breast cancer therapies, focusing on those that are not included in current frameworks and processes. We analyzed published discourse on the funding of high-cost breast-cancer therapies. Relevant materials were identified by searching the databases Google, Google Scholar, and Factiva in August 2014 and July 2016 and these were analyzed thematically. We analyzed fifty published materials and found that stakeholders, for the most part, want to be able to access medicines more quickly and at the same time as other patients and for decision makers to be more flexible with regards to evidence requirements and to use a wider range of criteria when evaluating therapies. Many also advocated for existing process to be accelerated or bypassed to improve access to therapies. Our results illustrate that a stakeholder-derived conceptualization of legitimacy emphasizes principles of accelerated access and is not fully accounted for by existing frameworks and processes aimed at promoting legitimacy. However, further research examining the ethical, political, and clinical implications of the stakeholder claims raised here is needed before firm policy recommendations can be made.

  12. A universal data access and protocol integration mechanism for smart home

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Pengfei; Yang, Qi; Zhang, Xuan

    2013-03-01

    With the lack of standardized or completely missing communication interfaces in home electronics, there is no perfect solution to address every aspect in smart homes based on existing protocols and technologies. In addition, the central control unit (CCU) of smart home system working point-to-point between the multiple application interfaces and the underlying hardware interfaces leads to its complicated architecture and unpleasant performance. A flexible data access and protocol integration mechanism is required. The current paper offers a universal, comprehensive data access and protocol integration mechanism for a smart home. The universal mechanism works as a middleware adapter with unified agreements of the communication interfaces and protocols, offers an abstraction of the application level from the hardware specific and decoupling the hardware interface modules from the application level. Further abstraction for the application interfaces and the underlying hardware interfaces are executed based on adaption layer to provide unified interfaces for more flexible user applications and hardware protocol integration. This new universal mechanism fundamentally changes the architecture of the smart home and in some way meets the practical requirement of smart homes more flexible and desirable.

  13. Home care: from adequate funding to integration of services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hébert, Réjean

    2009-01-01

    With the aging of the population, the healthcare system needs to shift from the actual hospital-centred system developed in the past century for dealing with acute diseases and a young population toward a home-centred system, more appropriate for serving older people with chronic diseases. Funding of home care should not only be significantly increased but also be managed differently. We propose the introduction of an autonomy support benefit (ASB) to cover costs related to disabilities, irrespective of living environment, and to set up a public universal autonomy insurance program that will cover the ASB. This insurance should be at least partly capitalized to provide for the aging of the population and to ensure intergenerational equity. Also, since the home is a much more complicated service-delivery environment than the hospital, these services must be coordinated and integrated. The Program of Research to Integrate the Services for the Maintenance of Autonomy (PRISMA) is a coordination-type model of integration that was implemented and evaluated in three areas (one urban and two rural) in and around Sherbrooke, Quebec. A four-year longitudinal quasi-experimental study with over 1,500 participants demonstrated its efficiency in improving system effectiveness at no extra cost.

  14. Location, Location, Location: Characteristics and Services of Long-Stay Home Care Recipients in Retirement Homes Compared to Others in Private Homes and Long-Term Care Homes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poss, Jeffrey W; Sinn, Chi-Ling Joanna; Grinchenko, Galina; Blums, Jane; Peirce, Tom; Hirdes, John

    2017-02-01

    We examine recipients of publicly funded ongoing care in a single Ontario jurisdiction who reside in three different settings: long-stay home care patients in private homes and apartments, other patients in retirement homes and residents of long-term care homes, using interRAI assessment instruments. Among home care patients, those in retirement homes have higher proportions of dementia and moderate cognitive impairment, less supportive informal care systems as well as more personal care and nursing services above those provided by the public home care system, more frequent but shorter home support visits and lower than expected public home care expenditures. These lower expenditures may be because of efficiency of care delivery or by retirement homes providing some services otherwise provided by the public home care system. Although persons in each setting are mostly older adults with high degrees of frailty and medical complexity, long-term care home residents show distinctly higher needs. We estimate that 40% of retirement home residents are long-stay home care patients, and they comprise about one in six of this Community Care Access Centre's long-stay patients. Copyright © 2017 Longwoods Publishing.

  15. 76 FR 49477 - Termination of Federal Home Loan Bank Resolution Funding Corporation Obligation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-10

    ... FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY [No. 2011-N-08] Termination of Federal Home Loan Bank Resolution... Banks (Banks) have satisfied their statutory obligation to contribute a percentage of their annual net earnings toward the interest payments due on bonds issued by the Resolution Funding Corporation (RefCorp...

  16. Barriers in access to home care services among ethnic minority and Dutch elderly--a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suurmond, Jeanine; Rosenmöller, Doenja L; El Mesbahi, Hakima; Lamkaddem, Majda; Essink-Bot, Marie-Louise

    2016-02-01

    Ethnic minority elderly have a high prevalence of functional limitations and chronic conditions compared to Dutch elderly. However, their use of home care services is low compared to Dutch elderly. Explore the barriers to access to home care services for Turkish, Moroccan Surinamese and ethnic Dutch elderly. Qualitative semi-structured group interviews and individual interviews. The Netherlands. Seven group interviews (n=50) followed by individual interviews (n=5) were conducted, in the preferred language of the participants. Results were ordered and reported according to a framework of access to health care services. This framework describes five dimensions of accessibility to generate access to health care services, from the perspective of the users: ability to perceive health needs, ability to seek health care, ability to reach, ability to pay and ability to engage. This study shows that while barriers are common among all groups, several specific barriers in access to home care services exist for ethnic minority elderly. Language and communication barriers as well as limited networks and a preference for informal care seem to mutually enforce each other, resulting in many barriers during the navigation process to home care. In order to provide equal access to home care for all who need it, the language and communication barriers should be tackled by home care services and home care nurses. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Managing an Open Access Fund: Tips from the Trenches and Questions for the Future

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heidi Zuniga

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The authors describe the process and results of an ongoing Open Access Fund program at the Health Sciences Library of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.  The fund has helped students and other early career researchers pay for the article processing charge or APC to publish their articles in an OA journal since 2013.  In the three years since, the fund has paid the APC for 39 applicants with a total expenditure of $37,576.  Most applicants were students as intended, however the fund supported a surprisingly large number of medical residents and junior faculty.  Individuals associated with the School of Medicine overwhelmingly represented the awardees compared to other units, and the Public Library of Science (PLoS journals were the most common journal they published in.  While acknowledging the undeniable benefit of the fund to the awardees, the authors also pose challenging questions about the future role of libraries in subsidizing open access journals.

  18. The nutritional status of 1081 elderly people residing in publicly funded shelter homes in Peninsular Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Visvanathan, R; Zaiton, A; Sherina, M S; Muhamad, Y A

    2005-03-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the: (1) prevalence of undernutrition as determined by the 'DETERMINE Your Nutritional Health Checklist' (NHC) and (2) factors independently associated with undernutrition among the older residents of these publicly funded shelter homes in Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 1081 elderly people (59%M) over the age of 60 y were surveyed using questionnaires determining baseline demographics, nutritional and cognitive status, physical function and psychological well-being. Shelter homes, Peninsular Malaysia. In all, 41.4% (n = 447) were nourished (score 5) according to the NHC. A large proportion of subjects were underweight with 14.3% of subjects recording a low body mass index (BMI) or = 3). Using a BMI people residing in publicly funded shelter homes in Malaysia may be at-risk of undernutrition, and were underweight. The NHC is better used as an awareness tool rather than as a screening tool.

  19. Open Access Policies of Research Funders: The Case Study of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

    OpenAIRE

    Tonto, Yaşar; Doğan, Güleda; Al, Umut; Madran, Orçun

    2015-01-01

    The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is the main funder for basic research in Austria. FWF has been instrumental in promoting Open Access in Austria and elsewhere and possesses a strong Open Access policy for the research it funds. This case study presents FWF as a good practice of an effective funder policy on account of its comprehensive strategy and multi-faceted approach for implementing and supporting it.

  20. Socioeconomic disparities in home health care service access and utilization: a scoping review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodridge, Donna; Hawranik, Pamela; Duncan, Vicky; Turner, Hollie

    2012-10-01

    Home health care services are expanding at a rapid pace in order to meet the needs of the growing population of older adults and those with chronic illnesses. Because of current restrictions on home health care as an insured service in some countries, individuals may be required to pay for some or all of their home care services out of pocket. These payments may potentially limit access to needed home care services for persons in the lowest socioeconomic strata. Previous research demonstrates a clear socioeconomic gradient in access to acute and primary care services, where those most in need of services are the most disadvantaged and under-serviced. There has been little attention paid thus far, however, to the way in which socioeconomic status may affect the receipt of home health care services. To determine what is known from existing literature about socioeconomic disparities in home health care access and utilization. A scoping review was used to map the extent and nature of the literature in this area. A search of the databases CINAHL, Medline, SocIndex and Sociological Abstracts as well as Dissertations International. A total of 206 potentially relevant articles were published between 2000 and April 2011. Two reviewers independently reviewed the articles, leaving 15 research articles to be included in the scoping review. The majority of articles reported secondary analyses of administrative datasets related to utilization of home health care. Several studies examined access and utilization using qualitative approaches. The distinction between professional and supportive home care services was not always clear in the articles. Individual and composite measures of socioeconomic status were reported, with the most frequently used indicator being income. Several studies used more complex composite ecological indicators of socieconomic status. There was general agreement that utilization of home health services favored persons with greater economic disadvantage

  1. ALPHA: Proposal of Mapping QoS Parameters between UPnP Home Network and GMPLS Access

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brewka, Lukasz Jerzy; Sköldström, Pontus; Gavler, Anders

    2011-01-01

    This paper is treating the interdomain QoS signaling between the home and access domains with a focus on applying it for providing QoS between a UPnP-QoS based home network and GMPLS based access network. The work presented here is defining a possible approach for an interface between UPn...

  2. Stem cell research funding policies and dynamic innovation: a survey of open access and commercialization requirements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lévesque, Maroussia; Kim, Jihyun Rosel; Isasi, Rosario; Knoppers, Bartha Maria; Plomer, Aurora; Joly, Yann

    2014-08-01

    This article compares and contrasts the pressures of both open access data sharing and commercialization policies in the context of publicly funded embryonic stem cell research (SCR). First, normative guidelines of international SCR organizations were examined. We then examined SCR funding guidelines and the project evaluation criteria of major funding organizations in the EU, the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, Canada and the United States. Our survey of policies revealed subtle pressures to commercialize research that include: increased funding availability for commercialization opportunities, assistance for obtaining intellectual property rights (IPRs) and legislation mandating commercialization. In lieu of open access models, funders are increasingly opting for limited sharing models or "protected commons" models that make the research available to researchers within the same region or those receiving the same funding. Meanwhile, there still is need for funding agencies to clarify and standardize terms such as "non-profit organizations" and "for-profit research," as more universities are pursuing for-profit or commercial opportunities.

  3. Can a publicly funded home care system successfully allocate service based on perceived need rather than socioeconomic status? A Canadian experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laporte, Audrey; Croxford, Ruth; Coyte, Peter C

    2007-03-01

    The present quantitative study evaluates the degree to which socioeconomic status (SES), as opposed to perceived need, determines utilisation of publicly funded home care in Ontario, Canada. The Registered Persons Data Base of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan was used to identify the age, sex and place of residence for all Ontarians who had coverage for the complete calendar year 1998. Utilisation was characterised in two dimensions: (1) propensity - the probability that an individual received service, which was estimated using a multinomial logit equation; and (2) intensity - the amount of service received, conditional on receipt. Short- and long-term service intensity were modelled separately using ordinary least squares regression. Age, sex and co-morbidity were the best predictors (P funded home care as well as how much care was received, with sicker individuals having increased utilisation. The propensity and intensity of service receipt increased with lower SES (P funded home care service was primarily based on perceived need rather than ability to pay, barriers to utilisation for those from areas with a high proportion of recent immigrants were identified. Future research is needed to assess whether the current mix and level of publicly funded resources are indeed sufficient to offset the added costs associated with the provision of high-quality home care.

  4. Improving Maternal Healthcare Access and Neonatal Survival through a Birthing Home Model in Rural Haiti

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Wickstrom

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available High neonatal mortality in Haiti is sustained by limited access to essential maternity services, particularly for Haiti’s rural population. We investigated the feasibility of a rural birthing home model to provide basic prenatal, delivery, and neonatal services for women with uncomplicated pregnancies while simultaneously providing triage and transport of women with pregnancy related complications. The model included consideration of the local context, including women’s perceptions of barriers to healthcare access and available resources to implement change. Evaluation methods included the performance of a baseline community census and collection of pregnancy histories from 791 women living in a defined area of rural Haiti. These retrospective data were compared with pregnancy outcome for 668 women subsequently receiving services at the birthing home. Of 764 reported most recent pregnancies in the baseline survey, 663(87% occurred at home with no assistance from skilled health staff. Of 668 women followed after opening of the birthing home, 514 (77% subsequently gave birth at the birthing home, 94 (14% were referred to a regional hospital for delivery, and only 60 (9% delivered at home or on the way to the birthing home. Other measures of clinical volume and patient satisfaction also indicated positive changes in health care seeking. After introduction of the birthing home, fewer neonates died than predicted by historical information or national statistics. The present experience points out the feasibility of a rural birthing home model to increase access to essential maternity services.

  5. Wireless-accessible sensor populations for monitoring biological variables

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mazzu, Marco; Scalvini, Simonetta; Giordano, A.; Frumento, E.; Wells, Hannah; Lokhorst, C.; Glisenti, Fulvio

    2008-01-01

    The current health-care infrastructure is generally considered to be inadequate to meet the needs of an increasingly older population. We have investigated the feasibility of a passive in-home monitoring system based on wireless accessible sensor populations (WASP). In an EU-funded project we have

  6. A Discourse On Broadband Technologies And Curriculum Access In Elective Home Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew MCAVOY

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The extent, to which broadband technologies are being considered, when accessing the curriculum, is increasingly evident in traditional learning environments such as schools and colleges. This article explores the impact that these technologies are having on the home schooling community by offering enhanced access and opportunities. It suggests that they have generated improved choices and greater freedoms for learning communities. They have shone a light on the curriculum and removed it from the shadows. The curriculum is no longer the preserve of the educational establishment. The secret garden has been breached by technologies such as broadband and the democratisation of the curriculum is progressively evident as more diverse learning communities are given increased access and control over the curriculum. The author asks how this is being reflected in policy and translated into practice by the home schooling community whilst acknowledging the contemporary nature of broadband technologies and how they are influencing the decision making process of potential home schoolers. Looking to the future, the author suggests that the political agenda is not providing clear direction and that this is being determined by social reform outside the political sphere and largely driven by the consumer. In this case the learner. The relatively current nature of this debate is in itself justification for further research if we are to develop a clearer understanding of how new technologies such as broadband are influencing policy and practice in the home schooling community.

  7. A long way from home: Access to cancer care for rural Australians

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, Tony

    2012-01-01

    In 2002, the Commonwealth Radiation Oncology Inquiry reported that access to cancer care services in Australia was seriously limited. Several recommendations were made, including improving access to cancer care in rural areas by increasing the number of comprehensive oncology facilities outside the cities. Much has changed since 2002, with the establishment of a number of Regional Integrated Cancer Centres. This has been boosted again in 2011 by further Commonwealth Government funding. Cancer is primarily a disease of the elderly and, with the ageing population access to cancer care for rural and remote Australians remains a major challenge. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in Australia, exceeded only by cardiovascular disease. It has been reported that the relative risk of dying of cancer within 5 years of diagnosis is 35% higher for those living in remote locations compared with major cities. Overall cancer mortality is significantly higher in rural and remote locations (206 deaths per 100,000) compared with urbanised areas (172 per 100,000). Cancer mortality is higher again for the Aboriginal population (230 per 100,000). The reasons for the disparity in cancer outcomes for metropolitan versus non-metropolitan Australians are varied. In general, rural and remote residents have to travel long distances and stay away from home, family and work for long periods of time to access the care they need. Hence, distance is the overriding barrier to access, compounded by the financial costs and disruption to family life, not to mention the endemic lack of specialist medical and allied health workforce outside the major cities. Some rural and remote Australians choose to compromise, accessing whatever care they can locally, although this contributes to the need for cancer care services close to where people choose to live and die, to deal with the complex associated morbidities. Recent government investment in new regional cancer care infrastructure is

  8. Capturing the Sun: A Roadmap for Navigating Data-Access Challenges and Auto-Populating Solar Home Sales Listings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stukel, Laura [Elevate Energy, Chicago, IL (United States); Hoen, Ben [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Adomatis, Sandra [Adomatis Appraisal Services, Punta Gorda, FL (United States); Foley, Craig [Sustainable Real Estate Consulting Services, Somerville, MA (United States); Parsons, Laura [Center for Sustainable Energy, San Diego, CA (United States); James, Mark [Vermont Law School, South Royalton, VT (United States). Inst. for Energy and Environment; Mastor, Roxana-Andreea [Vermont Law School, South Royalton, VT (United States). Inst. for Energy and Environment; Wedewer, Lindsey [Colorado Energy Office, Denver, CO (United States)

    2017-04-13

    Capturing the Sun: A Roadmap for Navigating Data-Access Challenges and Auto-Populating Solar Home Sales Listings supports a vision of solar photovoltaic (PV) advocates and real estate advocates evolving together to make information about solar homes more accessible to home buyers and sellers and to simplify the process when these homes are resold. The Roadmap is based on a concept in the real estate industry known as automatic population of fields. Auto-population (also called auto-pop in the industry) is the technology that allows data aggregated by an outside industry to be matched automatically with home sale listings in a multiple listing service (MLS).

  9. Who's Connected? Trends from 1999 to 2011 in Home Internet Access in North Carolina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenneth Wilson

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Using the Internet has become an essential part of many people's daily life activities. In this information age, the Internet is an indispensible tool for communicating and sharing of information. This transformation of technological incorporation into every aspect of social life has been relatively swift, although not all-inclusive. Lack of access to the Internet produces and perpetuates social inequality. In this paper we present results of a unique data set compiled from six studies conducted across twelve years in the state of North Carolina. Our results show differences in home access to the Internet are associated with various aspects of social stratification. The findings reveal that digital divide persists over time. At least one quarter of respondents with one or more of the following sociodemographic characteristics reported not having home Internet access: African Americans, those with only a high school degree or less, those without school-age children in the home, those with a household income less than $30,000, people age 69 years and older, and rural residents. Future research and policy recommendations are provided.

  10. How State-Funded Home Care Programs Respond to Changes in Medicare Home Health Care: Resource Allocation Decisions on the Front Line

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corazzini, Kirsten

    2003-01-01

    Objective To examine how case managers in a state-funded home care program allocate home care services in response to information about a client's Medicare home health care status, with particular attention to the influence of work environment. Data Sources/Study Setting Primary data collected on 355 case managers and 26 agency directors employed in June 1999 by 26 of the 27 regional agencies administering the Massachusetts Home Care Program for low-income elders. Study Design Data were collected in a cross-sectional survey study design. A case manager survey included measures of work environment, demographics, and factorial survey vignette clients (N=2,054), for which case managers assessed service eligibility levels. An agency director survey included measures of management practices. Data Collection/Extraction Methods Hierarchical linear models estimated the effects of work environment on the relationship between client receipt of Medicare home health care and care plan levels while controlling for case-mix differences in agencies' clients. Principal Findings Case managers did not supplement extant Medicare home health services, but did allocate more generous service plans to clients who have had Medicare home health care services recently terminated. This finding persisted when controlling for case mix and did not vary by work environment. Work environment affected overall care plan levels. Conclusions Study findings indicate systematic patterns of frontline resource allocation shaping the relationships among community-based long-term care payment sources. Further, results illustrate how nonuniform implementation of upper-level initiatives may be partially attributed to work environment characteristics. PMID:14596390

  11. SCI Hospital in Home Program: Bringing Hospital Care Home for Veterans With Spinal Cord Injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madaris, Linda L; Onyebueke, Mirian; Liebman, Janet; Martin, Allyson

    2016-01-01

    The complex nature of spinal cord injury (SCI) and the level of care required for health maintenance frequently result in repeated hospital admissions for recurrent medical complications. Prolonged hospitalizations of persons with SCI have been linked to the increased risk of hospital-acquired infections and development or worsening pressure ulcers. An evidence-based alternative for providing hospital-level care to patients with specific diagnoses who are willing to receive that level of care in the comfort of their home is being implemented in a Department of Veterans Affairs SCI Home Care Program. The SCI Hospital in Home (HiH) model is similar to a patient-centered interdisciplinary care model that was first introduced in Europe and later tested as part of a National Demonstration and Evaluation Study through Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and School of Public Health. This was funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The objectives of the program are to support veterans' choice and access to patient-centered care, reduce the reliance on inpatient medical care, allow for early discharge, and decrease medical costs. Veterans with SCI who are admitted to the HiH program receive daily oversight by a physician, daily visits by a registered nurse, access to laboratory services, oxygen, intravenous medications, and nursing care in the home setting. In this model, patients may typically access HiH services either as an "early discharge" from the hospital or as a direct admit to the program from the emergency department or SCI clinic. Similar programs providing acute hospital-equivalent care in the home have been previously implemented and are successfully demonstrating decreased length of stay, improved patient access, and increased patient satisfaction.

  12. Barriers to patient portal access among veterans receiving home-based primary care: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mishuris, Rebecca G; Stewart, Max; Fix, Gemmae M; Marcello, Thomas; McInnes, D Keith; Hogan, Timothy P; Boardman, Judith B; Simon, Steven R

    2015-12-01

    Electronic, or web-based, patient portals can improve patient satisfaction, engagement and health outcomes and are becoming more prevalent with the advent of meaningful use incentives. However, adoption rates are low, particularly among vulnerable patient populations, such as those patients who are home-bound with multiple comorbidities. Little is known about how these patients view patient portals or their barriers to using them. To identify barriers to and facilitators of using My HealtheVet (MHV), the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) patient portal, among Veterans using home-based primary care services. Qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews. We conducted a content analysis informed by grounded theory. Fourteen Veterans receiving home-based primary care, surrogates of two of these Veterans, and three home-based primary care (HBPC) staff members. We identified five themes related to the use of MHV: limited knowledge; satisfaction with current HBPC care; limited computer and Internet access; desire to learn more about MHV and its potential use; and value of surrogates acting as intermediaries between Veterans and MHV. Despite their limited knowledge of MHV and computer access, home-bound Veterans are interested in accessing MHV and using it as an additional point of care. Surrogates are also potential users of MHV on behalf of these Veterans and may have different barriers to and benefits from use. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Plan to increase public access to the results of Federally-funded scientific research results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-12-16

    This plan is issued in response to the February 22, 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies entitled Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Researc...

  14. State-Targeted Funding and Technical Assistance to Increase Access to Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abraham, Amanda J; Andrews, Christina M; Grogan, Colleen M; Pollack, Harold A; D'Aunno, Thomas; Humphreys, Keith; Friedmann, Peter D

    2018-04-01

    As the United States grapples with an opioid epidemic, expanding access to effective treatment for opioid use disorder is a major public health priority. Identifying effective policy tools that can be used to expand access to care is critically important. This article examines the relationship between state-targeted funding and technical assistance and adoption of three medications for treating opioid use disorder: oral naltrexone, injectable naltrexone, and buprenorphine. This study draws from the 2013-2014 wave of the National Drug Abuse Treatment System Survey, a nationally representative, longitudinal study of substance use disorder treatment programs. The sample includes data from 695 treatment programs (85.5% response rate) and representatives from single-state agencies in 49 states and Washington, D.C. (98% response rate). Logistic regression was used to examine the relationships of single-state agency targeted funding and technical assistance to availability of opioid use disorder medications among treatment programs. State-targeted funding was associated with increased program-level adoption of oral naltrexone (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=3.14, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.49-6.60, p=.004) and buprenorphine (AOR=2.47, 95% CI=1.31-4.67, p=.006). Buprenorphine adoption was also correlated with state technical assistance to support medication provision (AOR=1.18, 95% CI=1.00-1.39, p=.049). State-targeted funding for medications may be a viable policy lever for increasing access to opioid use disorder medications. Given the historically low rates of opioid use disorder medication adoption in treatment programs, single-state agency targeted funding is a potentially important tool to reduce mortality and morbidity associated with opioid disorders and misuse.

  15. Funding free and universal access to Journal of Neuroinflammation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Griffin W Sue T

    2004-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Journal of Neuroinflammation is an Open Access, online journal published by BioMed Central. Open Access publishing provides instant and universal availability of published work to any potential reader, worldwide, completely free of subscriptions, passwords, and charges. Further, authors retain copyright for their work, facilitating its dissemination. Open Access publishing is made possible by article-processing charges assessed "on the front end" to authors, their institutions, or their funding agencies. Beginning November 1, 2004, the Journal of Neuroinflammation will introduce article-processing charges of around US$525 for accepted articles. This charge will be waived for authors from institutions that are BioMed Central members, and in additional cases for reasons of genuine financial hardship. These article-processing charges pay for an electronic submission process that facilitates efficient and thorough peer review, for publication costs involved in providing the article freely and universally accessible in various formats online, and for the processes required for the article's inclusion in PubMed and its archiving in PubMed Central, e-Depot, Potsdam and INIST. There is no remuneration of any kind provided to the Editors-in-Chief, to any members of the Editorial Board, or to peer reviewers; all of whose work is entirely voluntary. Our article-processing charge is less than charges frequently levied by traditional journals: the Journal of Neuroinflammation does not levy any additional page or color charges on top of this fee, and there are no reprint costs as publication-quality pdf files are provided, free, for distribution in lieu of reprints. Our article-processing charge will enable full, immediate, and continued Open Access for all work published in Journal of Neuroinflammation. The benefits from such Open Access will accrue to readers, through unrestricted access; to authors, through the widest possible dissemination of

  16. Passive Infrared (PIR)-Based Indoor Position Tracking for Smart Homes Using Accessibility Maps and A-Star Algorithm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Dan; Xu, Bin; Rao, Kaiyou; Sheng, Weihua

    2018-01-24

    Indoor occupants' positions are significant for smart home service systems, which usually consist of robot service(s), appliance control and other intelligent applications. In this paper, an innovative localization method is proposed for tracking humans' position in indoor environments based on passive infrared (PIR) sensors using an accessibility map and an A-star algorithm, aiming at providing intelligent services. First the accessibility map reflecting the visiting habits of the occupants is established through the integral training with indoor environments and other prior knowledge. Then the PIR sensors, which placement depends on the training results in the accessibility map, get the rough location information. For more precise positioning, the A-start algorithm is used to refine the localization, fused with the accessibility map and the PIR sensor data. Experiments were conducted in a mock apartment testbed. The ground truth data was obtained from an Opti-track system. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to track persons in a smart home environment and provide a solution for home robot localization.

  17. Passive Infrared (PIR-Based Indoor Position Tracking for Smart Homes Using Accessibility Maps and A-Star Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Yang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Indoor occupants’ positions are significant for smart home service systems, which usually consist of robot service(s, appliance control and other intelligent applications. In this paper, an innovative localization method is proposed for tracking humans’ position in indoor environments based on passive infrared (PIR sensors using an accessibility map and an A-star algorithm, aiming at providing intelligent services. First the accessibility map reflecting the visiting habits of the occupants is established through the integral training with indoor environments and other prior knowledge. Then the PIR sensors, which placement depends on the training results in the accessibility map, get the rough location information. For more precise positioning, the A-start algorithm is used to refine the localization, fused with the accessibility map and the PIR sensor data. Experiments were conducted in a mock apartment testbed. The ground truth data was obtained from an Opti-track system. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to track persons in a smart home environment and provide a solution for home robot localization.

  18. Survey of home hemodialysis patients and nursing staff regarding vascular access use and care

    OpenAIRE

    Spry, Leslie A; Burkart, John M; Holcroft, Christina; Mortier, Leigh; Glickman, Joel D

    2014-01-01

    Vascular access infections are of concern to hemodialysis patients and nurses. Best demonstrated practices (BDPs) have not been developed for home hemodialysis (HHD) access use, but there have been generally accepted practices (GAPs) endorsed by dialysis professionals. We developed a survey to gather information about training provided and actual practices of HHD patients using the NxStage System One HHD machine. We used GAP to assess training used by nurses to teach HHD access care and then ...

  19. In-home firearm access among US adolescents and the role of religious subculture: Results from a nationally representative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stroope, Samuel; Tom, Joshua C

    2017-09-01

    Religious participation is linked to numerous positive safety outcomes for adolescents. Scant attention, however, has been paid to associations between religious participation and safety risks among adolescents. Using data from Add Health (N = 18,449), a nationally representative school-based sample of US adolescents, this study examines the relationship between adolescents' religious affiliation and easy access to firearms at home. Regression analyses adjust for complex sampling design and compare easy firearm access at home among conservative Protestant adolescents to adolescent firearm access in other religious traditions. Conservative Protestant adolescents have a substantially greater likelihood of easy access to a gun at home compared to adolescents of all other major religious traditions in the United States. Recognizing differences in adolescent firearm access between subcultural groups can help public health interventions more effectively identify and address the needs of vulnerable populations. The paper's conclusion considers suggestions for effective policy and programmatic initiatives. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. The importance of a project level risk management methodology for EU Structural and Investment Funds accession in Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolae Ciprian

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Accessing EU funds is considered to be an important development chance for all type of beneficiaries in Romania: public bodies, nongovernmental organizations and firms. The grounds for this are the amount of funds available per beneficiary and the co financing rate (for example, the investment projects for firms amounted up to 5 million Euro of EU funding at a EU co financing rate up to 70%. As the Romanian responsible authorities strive to conduct a fast and smooth process, the reality shows the funds accession is rather unpredictable and costly, both in terms of time consumption and financial resources. Lots of causes contribute to this situation, amongst which the inefficient risk management conducted, both by the state authorities responsible with the EU funds management and by the beneficiaries of funds. The effects are visible: a poor absorption rate of the EU structural and cohesion funds (79,23% at the level of January 2017 for the 2007-2013 financial period. The authors' research follows the importance that risk management should have in the process of managing and accessing EU funds. The research methodology starts from the responses that 170 people involved in managing EU funded projects within 2007-2013 financial period gave to an online questionnaire carried on in 2016. The focus was to establish if and how risk management methodologies/procedures/guidelines were used within the implementation of projects and in what measure this kind of approach should be compulsory or optional for the financial period 2014-2020. The research methodology further implied the analysis of key issues for projects financing such as: feasibility and opportunity determination, budgeting, projects' evaluation, etc. The main finding of the research is that applicants and beneficiaries need to implement project level risk management methodologies. Based on this, the authors propose a guideline for drafting project level risk management methodologies, that

  1. 77 FR 24169 - Notice of Funds Availability: Inviting Applications for the Market Access Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-23

    ... for the 2013 Market Access Program (MAP). The intended effect of this notice is to solicit...-term agricultural trade strategy and a program effectiveness time line against which results can be... part of the FAS resource allocation strategy to fund applicants who can demonstrate performance and...

  2. 76 FR 21325 - Notice of Funds Availability: Inviting Applications for the Market Access Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-15

    ... for the 2012 Market Access Program (MAP). The intended effect of this notice is to solicit...-term agricultural trade strategy and a program effectiveness time line against which results can be... part of the FAS resource allocation strategy to fund applicants who can demonstrate performance and...

  3. 75 FR 26194 - Notice of Funds Availability: Inviting Applications for the Market Access Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-11

    ... for the 2011 Market Access Program (MAP). The intended effect of this notice is to solicit... considers whether the applicant provides a clear, long-term agricultural trade strategy and a program... the greatest growth potential. These factors are part of the FAS resource allocation strategy to fund...

  4. 78 FR 23893 - Notice of Funds Availability: Inviting Applications for the Market Access Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-23

    ... inviting proposals for the 2014 Market Access Program (MAP). The intended effect of this notice is to... strategy and a program effectiveness time line against which results can be measured at specific intervals... allocation strategy to fund applicants who can demonstrate performance and address the objectives of the GPRA...

  5. Small and Home-Based Businesses: Measures of Success and the Contribution of Local Development Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Lara; Whitacre, Brian; Shideler, Dave; Muske, Glenn; Woods, Mike

    2012-01-01

    Small and home-based businesses have long been identified by Extension educators as an important component of economic development, particularly in rural areas. The services available to these businesses can take many forms, including management training, accessibility of local funding, providing incubation facilities, or setting up mentoring…

  6. Transportation Accessibility and Location Choice of Japanese-Funded Electronic Information Manufacturing Firms in Shanghai

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haining Jiang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid development of globalization, information communication and transportation, it is argued that the effect of transportation accessibility in the location choice of manufacturing firms has diminished. However, comprehensive and systematic research on the impact of transportation accessibility on firm location choice in cities remains scarce. Taking Shanghai as the research area, this paper uses a catalog of Japanese-funded electronic information manufacturing firms to explore the influence of transportation accessibility on their location choice. The paper first describes firm distribution using the nuclear density estimation method. The Poisson regression model is then used to estimate the significance of transportation accessibility in influencing firm location. The empirical results show that most of the firms are concentrated in the inner suburbs of Shanghai, with only a small number in the outer suburban areas. The spatial coupling relationship between firm distribution and transportation accessibility is significant. These firms tend to choose areas with good accessibility to transportation infrastructure, and, in particular, the effect of airport accessibility is significant. Compared with the joint venture enterprises, wholly-owned Japanese enterprises are more inclined to be in areas with better transportation accessibility.

  7. Planning of Efficient Wireless Access with IEEE 802.16 for Connecting Home Network to the Internet

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pichet Ritthisoonthorn

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The emergence of IEEE802.16 wireless standard technology (WiMAX has significantly increased the choice to operators for the provisioning of wireless broadband access network. WiMAX is being deployed to compliment with xDSL in underserved or lack of the broadband network area, in both developed and developing countries. Many incumbent operators in developing countries are considering the deployment of WiMAX as part of their broadband access strategy. This paper presents an efficient and simple method for planning of broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA with IEEE802.16 standard to support home connection to Internet. The study formulates the framework for planning both coverage and capacity designs. The relationship between coverage area and access rate from subscriber in each environment area is presented. The study also presents the throughput and channel capacity of IEEE802.16 in different access rates. An extensive analysis is performed and the results are applied to the real case study to demonstrate the practicality of using IEEE 802.16 for connecting home to Internet. Using empirical data and original subscriber traffic from measurement, it is shown that the BFWA with IEEE802.16 standard is a capacity limited system. The capacity of IEEE802.16 is related to different factors including frequency bandwidth, spectrum allocation, estimation of traffic per subscriber, and choice of adaptive modulation from subscriber terminal. The wireless access methods and procedures evolved in this research work and set out in this paper are shown to be well suited for planning BFWA system based on IEEE802.16 which supports broadband home to Internet connections.

  8. Web accessibility: a longitudinal study of college and university home pages in the northwestern United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Terrill; Burgstahler, Sheryl; Moore, Elizabeth J

    2010-01-01

    This article reports on a follow-up assessment to Thompson et al. (Proceedings of The First International Conference on Technology-based Learning with Disability, July 19-20, Dayton, Ohio, USA; 2007. pp 127-136), in which higher education home pages were evaluated over a 5-year period on their accessibility to individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to identify trends in web accessibility and long-term impact of outreach and education. Home pages from 127 higher education institutions in the Northwest were evaluated for accessibility three times over a 6-month period in 2004-2005 (Phase I), and again in 2009 (Phase II). Schools in the study were offered varying degrees of training and/or support on web accessibility during Phase I. Pages were evaluated for accessibility using a set of manual checkpoints developed by the researchers. Over the 5-year period reported in this article, significant positive gains in accessibility were revealed on some measures, but accessibility declined on other measures. The areas of improvement are arguably the more basic, easy-to-implement accessibility features, while the area of decline is keyboard accessibility, which is likely associated with the emergence of dynamic new technologies on web pages. Even on those measures where accessibility is improving, it is still strikingly low. In Phase I of the study, institutions that received extensive training and support were more likely than other institutions to show improved accessibility on the measures where institutions improved overall, but were equally or more likely than others to show a decline on measures where institutions showed an overall decline. In Phase II, there was no significant difference between institutions who had received support earlier in the study, and those who had not. Results suggest that growing numbers of higher education institutions in the Northwest are motivated to add basic accessibility features to their home pages, and that

  9. Kenya's Constituency Development Fund, Free Secondary Education Policy, and Access to Secondary Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nzuki, Charles Kyalo

    2018-01-01

    The effects of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and the Free Secondary Education Policy (FSEP) on access to secondary school education in Kenya's Yatta sub-county have not been adequately explored in available public policy literature. Hence, this qualitative multiple-case study was designed to understand the effects of the 2 policies on…

  10. Information Access in Rural Areas of the United States: The Public Library's Role in the Digital Divide and the Implications of Differing State Funding Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiele, Jennifer

    2016-01-01

    In the United States, individual states have different means of determining and distributing funding. This influences library service and access to information particularly as it pertains to critical Internet access. Funding and service trends have changed, especially as it relates to public libraries, with some modifications working to their…

  11. RESEARCH ON PROBLEMS WITH PROJECTS AND PARTNERSHIPS THAT PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN THE CENTRE REGION FACED IN ACCESSING EUROPEAN FUNDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DUMITRASCU DANUT

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available European project management is the main filed of the article. Assuming a connection between the degree of absorption of European funds and the degree of maturity of the Romanian society in terms of project management, the article seeks to identify the negative factors on accessing and carrying out European projects. The identified problem is a low degree of absorption of European funds in Romania, and the main objective of the research is to identify the problems faced by the public institutions in the Centre Region in accessing European funds and also the causes that led to the low absorption of European funds. This article’s research is based on a preliminary analysis performed by the authors on the rate of accessing of European funds published in the article called “The current state of European funds absorption through funding programmes – measure of the Romanian performances in the project management practice”. The conclusion of this article was a low rate of absorption of European funds in Romania, a fact that reveals a poor practice of the theory on project management. This article identifies part of the causes of this situation by identifying a part of the problems that stood in the way of beneficiaries of European funds The qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in combination in the research. The investigation has however a highly quantitative character, the purpose of the qualitative research being to provide the prerequisites for achieving the quantitative research. The interview-based qualitative research enabled the researcher to get acquainted with the subjects’ problems related to the theme of investigation, the causes that have generated these problems. This preliminary investigation to the questionnaire-based research aims to provide information that would help the researcher prepare the questionnaire, so that the questions allow getting the most comprehensive information to

  12. Worktime control access, need and use in relation to work-home interference, fatigue, and job motivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nijp, Hylco H; Beckers, Debby G J; Kompier, Michiel A J; van den Bossche, Seth N J; Geurts, Sabine A E

    2015-07-01

    Worktime control (WTC) has been suggested as a tool to reduce employees' work-home interference and fatigue and improve job motivation. The purpose of this study was twofold: (i) to examine the prevalence of employees' need for, access to, and use of WTC, as well as the incongruence between need for and access to WTC (ie, mismatch); and (ii) to examine the associations of this mismatch and the use of WTC with employees' work-home interference (WHI), fatigue and job motivation. Questionnaire data were collected among a large (N=2420) quasi-representative sample of Dutch employees. The prevalence of WTC need, access, use, and mismatch was assessed by means of descriptive statistics. Associations with employees' outcomes were assessed by analyses of covariance. The need for WTC was highly prevalent. For many employees, we observed a negative mismatch between access to and need for WTC (ie, accessmotivation. The use of WTC was also highly prevalent, but no meaningful associations were found with the outcome variables. It is relevant to examine WTC comprehensively, that is, to include measurements of employees' need for and access to WTC and assess employees' (mis)match between components of WTC. For practice, we recommend to introduce WTC on an organizational level and assess employees' need for WTC on an individual basis.

  13. SETI@home

    Science.gov (United States)

    Project Help Donate Porting Graphics Add-ons Science About SETI@home About Astropulse Science Community Message boards Questions and Answers Teams Profiles User search Web sites Pictures and music User University of California SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation

  14. Impact of a Patient-Centered Medical Home on Access, Quality, and Cost

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-01

    Effec- tiveness Data and Information Set metrics, and composite measures for access, patient satisfaction, provider communica- tion, and customer service...reduced health care costs. The patient -centered medical home (PCMH) concept is “an approach to providing comprehensive primary care [in] a health care... patient at the right place and right time” is vital to the appro- priate utilization of health care services across a broad spec- trum of patient needs

  15. Specific Features in Accessing European Funding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Alexandra CĂLDĂRARU

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: European Funds are the European Union financial instruments in order to assist Member States in reducing the existing disparities between regions and between countries, and for harmonization with the economic, social and cultural European standards. This paper intends to present some general characteristics applicable to the most important financing programs, and also to outline certain features of the main financing lines, referring to investment projects development and their implementation, based on the Applicant Guides analysis. The paper treats institutional, legal, financial, technical, social and environmental aspects and outlines proposals and recommendations to achieve a better EU funds absorption and also a higher success rate of initiated projects. In knowledge-based economy circumstances, training consultancy specialists, that represent the intellectual capital in this area, will ensure the professional management of the developing process, submission and ongoing competitive projects, and will help enhance the funds absorption at national level. Thus, the European support for investments in ensuring sustainable growth will help overcoming the difficulties encountered by our country, and will sustain the Romanian economy recovery.

  16. Perceptions of Personal Well-Being among Youth Accessing Residential or Intensive Home-Based Treatment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preyde, Michele; Watkins, Hanna; Ashbourne, Graham; Lazure, Kelly; Carter, Jeff; Penney, Randy; White, Sara; Frensch, Karen; Cameron, Gary

    2013-01-01

    The outcomes of youth accessing residential treatment or intensive home-based treatment are varied. Understanding youth's perceptions of their well-being may inform service. The purpose of this report was to explore perceptions of youth's mental health, life satisfaction, and outlook for the future. Youth reported ongoing struggles with mental…

  17. The tyranny of distance: maternity waiting homes and access to birthing facilities in rural Timor-Leste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wild, Kayli; Barclay, Lesley; Kelly, Paul; Martins, Nelson

    2012-02-01

    To examine the impact of maternity waiting homes on the use of facility-based birthing services for women in two remote districts of Timor-Leste. A before-and-after study design was used to compare the number of facility-based births in women who lived at different distances (0-5, 6-25, 26-50 and > 50 km) from the health centre before and after implementation of maternity waiting homes. Routine data were collected from health centre records at the end of 2007; they included 249 births in Same, Manufahi district, and 1986 births in Lospalos, Lautem district. Population data were used to estimate the percentage of women in each distance category who were accessing facility-based care. Most facility-based births in Same (80%) and Lospalos (62%) were among women who lived within 5 km of the health centre. There was no significant increase in the number of facility-based births among women in more remote areas following implementation of the maternity waiting homes. The percentage of births in the population that occurred in a health facility was low for both Manufahi district (9%) and Lautem district (17%), and use decreased markedly as distance between a woman's residence and the health facilities increased. The maternity waiting homes in Timor-Leste did not improve access to facility-based delivery for women in remote areas. The methods for distance analysis presented in this paper provide a framework that could be used by other countries seeking to evaluate maternity waiting homes.

  18. Effects of Funding Sources on Access to Quality Higher Education in Public Universities in Kenya: A Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Mutinda Mutiso

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In the last two decades, Kenya has witnessed an exponential growth of students’ enrolment in its public universities and an oscillatory government funding in these institutions precipitating quality concerns by employers on the skills of the graduates to meet industry needs. In education finance, the sources of funds and the size of the resources are key determinants of quality education. The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between various funding sources and access to quality education in Kenya public universities using a case approach. The data collection instruments used were an interview guide, a focus group discussion guide, a student’s survey questionnaire and secondary document analysis. Data was collected from October to December 2014 in the case university from a sample population of 10 top university management staff, 36 heads of department (HoDs and 400 undergraduate students. The study employed the education production function as a basic model of the study. The validity of the data collection instruments was established through scrutiny by thesis supervisors and the reliability test of the students’ questionnaire returned a cronbach alpha of 0.88. F-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA methods were used with aid of the statistical package for social science (SPSS version 2.0.The conclusion of the study was that, the sources of funds had a positive effect on quality though the results were not significant, while government capitation, tuition and other sources of funds were significantly important for the access of quality of education in the institution (P =0.30, P = 0.018, P = 0.000. The study recommended the adoption of performance based funding to enhance quality in higher education.

  19. Public Funding and Budgetary Challenges to Providing Universal Access to Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Omwami, Edith Mukudi; Keller, Edmond J.

    2010-01-01

    Budgetary capacity that would allow for the public funding of the provision of universal access to primary education is lacking in many sub-Saharan economies. National revenues significantly lag behind the overall economic productivity measure of GDP. Analysis of data derived from UNESCO and UNDP for 2004 shows that governments in the region spend…

  20. A National Study of the Relationship between Home Access to a Computer and Academic Performance Scores of Grade 12 U.S. Science Students: An Analysis of the 2009 NAEP Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coffman, Mitchell Ward

    The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relationship between student access to a computer at home and academic achievement. The 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) dataset was probed using the National Data Explorer (NDE) to investigate correlations in the subsets of SES, Parental Education, Race, and Gender as it relates to access of a home computer and improved performance scores for U.S. public school grade 12 science students. A causal-comparative approach was employed seeking clarity on the relationship between home access and performance scores. The influence of home access cannot overcome the challenges students of lower SES face. The achievement gap, or a second digital divide, for underprivileged classes of students, including minorities does not appear to contract via student access to a home computer. Nonetheless, in tests for significance, statistically significant improvement in science performance scores was reported for those having access to a computer at home compared to those not having access. Additionally, regression models reported evidence of correlations between and among subsets of controls for the demographic factors gender, race, and socioeconomic status. Variability in these correlations was high; suggesting influence from unobserved factors may have more impact upon the dependent variable. Having access to a computer at home increases performance scores for grade 12 general science students of all races, genders and socioeconomic levels. However, the performance gap is roughly equivalent to the existing performance gap of the national average for science scores, suggesting little influence from access to a computer on academic achievement. The variability of scores reported in the regression analysis models reflects a moderate to low effect, suggesting an absence of causation. These statistical results are accurate and confirm the literature review, whereby having access to a computer at home and the

  1. Multistandard wireless transmission over SSMF and large-core POF for access and in-home networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shi, Y.; Morant, M.; Okonkwo, C.M.; Llorente, R.; Tangdiongga, E.; Koonen, A.M.J.

    2012-01-01

    An end-to-end transmission of coexisting multistandard radio (LTE, WiMAX, and UWB) signals is demonstrated for the first time with the transmission over a combined access and in-home networks consisting of 25-km SSMF, 25-m large-core diameter polymethylmethacrylate graded-index plastic optical fiber

  2. Translation of the Care of Persons with Dementia in their Environments (COPE) intervention in a publicly-funded home care context: Rationale and research design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortinsky, Richard H; Gitlin, Laura N; Pizzi, Laura T; Piersol, Catherine Verrier; Grady, James; Robison, Julie T; Molony, Sheila

    2016-07-01

    Dementia is the leading cause of loss of independence in older adults worldwide. In the U.S., approximately 15 million family members provide care to relatives with dementia. This paper presents the rationale and design for a translational study in which an evidence-based, non-pharmacologic intervention for older adults with dementia and family caregivers (CGs) is incorporated into a publicly-funded home care program for older adults at risk for nursing home admission. The 4-month Care of Persons with Dementia in their Environments (COPE) intervention is designed to optimize older adults' functional independence, and to improve CG dementia management skills and health-related outcomes. COPE features 10 in-home occupational therapy visits, and 1 in-home visit and 1 telephone contact by an advanced practice nurse. COPE was deemed efficacious in a published randomized clinical trial. In the present study, older adults with dementia enrolled in the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders (CHCPE) and their CGs are randomly assigned to receive COPE plus their ongoing CHCPE services, or to continue receiving CHCPE services only. The primary outcome for older adults with dementia is functional independence; secondary outcomes are activity engagement, quality of life, and prevention or alleviation of neuropsychiatric symptoms. CG outcomes include perceived well-being and confidence in using activities to manage dementia symptoms. Translational outcomes include net financial benefit of COPE, and feasibility and acceptability of COPE implementation into the CHCPE. COPE has the potential to improve health-related outcomes while saving Medicaid waiver and state revenue-funded home care program costs nationwide. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Improving access to home phototherapy for patients with psoriasis: current challenges and future prospects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franken SM

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Sylvie M Franken, Carlijn L Vierstra, Thomas RustemeyerDepartment of Dermatology, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Introduction: Although the treatment burden for phototherapy in the outpatient setting is considerable, prescription of home-based phototherapy has not been instigated. Home-based phototherapy seems more patient friendly in terms of avoiding the thrice-weekly hospital visits. So why are most treatments still given in a hospital setting? Is home-based treatment less effective? Are there financial barriers? Is the treatment not available? To answer these questions, a literature search was done. Methods: A literature search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases was performed, using the search terms “psoriasis” and “phototherapy”. Selection was based on two rounds; the first round involved screening the title and abstract of all records and second involved evaluating the full text of the remaining articles for eligibility according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: In total, 23 publications were included with consensus of both researchers. Overall, the patients reported being very satisfied with home-based phototherapy. Results regarding effectivity in terms of improvement from disease severity and in quality of life were variable but generally positive. Reasons for reluctance varied from medicolegal and social aspects to lack of reimbursement and unfamiliarity on the side of the prescriber. Conclusion: In the treatment for psoriasis, home-based phototherapy is as effective and safe as phototherapy in an outpatient setting. Patients were more satisfied with home-based phototherapy. Factors that negatively influence the prescription of or choice for home-based phototherapy can be summarized in terms of lack of control, lack of knowledge, and lack of a good reimbursement system. Keywords: psoriasis, phototherapy, UVB, home-based, effectiveness, burden, costs, access 

  4. 12 CFR 614.4540 - Other financing institution access to Farm Credit Banks and agricultural credit banks for funding...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... maintain established or projected capital levels; or (ii) Raise funds in the money markets; or (2... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Other financing institution access to Farm... POLICIES AND OPERATIONS Farm Credit Bank and Agricultural Credit Bank Financing of Other Financing...

  5. Co-creative design developments for accessibility and home automation

    OpenAIRE

    Taib, SM; De Coster, R; Sabri Tekantape, E

    2017-01-01

    The term “Home Automation” can be referred to a networked home, which provides electronically controlled security and convenience for its users. Home automation is also defined as the integration of home-based technology and services for a better quality of living (Quynh, et al., 2012). The main purpose of home automation technologies is to enhance home comfort for everyone through the automation of higher security, domestic tasks and easy communication. Home automation should be able to enha...

  6. Worktime control access, need and use in relation to work-home interference, fatigue, and job motivation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijp, H.H.; Beckers, D.G.J.; Kompier, M.A.J.; Bossche, S.N.J. van den; Geurts, S.A.E.

    2015-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Worktime control (WTC) has been suggested as a tool to reduce employees' work-home interference and fatigue and improve job motivation. The purpose of this study was twofold: (i) to examine the prevalence of employees' need for, access to, and use of WTC, as well as the incongruence

  7. The World's Approach toward Publishing in Springer and Elsevier's APC-Funded Open Access Journals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sotudeh, Hajar; Ghasempour, Zahra

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: The present study explored tendencies of the world's countries--at individual and scientific development levels--toward publishing in APC-funded open access journals. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using a bibliometric method, it studied OA and NOA articles issued in Springer and Elsevier's APC journals? during 2007-2011. The data were…

  8. AP@home: The Artificial Pancreas Is Now at Home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heinemann, Lutz; Benesch, Carsten; DeVries, J Hans

    2016-07-01

    In the past years the development of an artificial pancreas (AP) has made great progress and many activities are ongoing in this area of research. The major step forward made in the last years was moving the evaluation of AP systems from highly controlled experimental conditions to daily life conditions at the home of patients with diabetes; this was also the aim of the European Union-funded AP@home project. Over a time period of 5 years a series of clinical studies were performed that culminated in 2 "final studies" during which an AP system was used by patients in their home environment for 2 or 3 months without supervision by a physician, living their normal lives. Two different versions of the AP system developed within this project were evaluated. A significant improvement in glycated hemoglobin was observed during closed-loop conditions despite the fact that during the control period the patients used the best currently available therapeutic option. In addition, a "single-port AP system" was developed within the project that combines continuous glucose monitoring and insulin infusion at a single tissue site. By using such a combined device the patients not only have to carry one less device around, the number of access points through the skin is also reduced from 2 to 1. In summary, close cooperation of 12 European partners, both academic centers and industry, enabled the development and evaluation of AP systems under daily life conditions. The next step is to develop these into products in cooperation with commercial partners. © 2016 Diabetes Technology Society.

  9. Funding scientific open access

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Canessa, E.; Fonda, C.; Zennaro, M.

    2006-11-01

    In order to reduce the knowledge divide, more Open Access Journals (OAJ) are needed in all languages and scholarly subject areas that exercise peer-review or editorial quality control. To finance needed costs, it is discussed why and how to sell target specific advertisement by associating ads to given scientific keywords. (author)

  10. A comparison of home care clients and nursing home residents: can community based care keep the elderly and disabled at home?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shugarman, L R; Fries, B E; James, M

    1999-01-01

    Admission cohorts from the Michigan Medicaid Home and Community-Based Waiver program and Ohio nursing homes were compared on measures of resource utilization including a modified Resource Utilization Groups (RUG-III) system, Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), and overall case mix. We found that, contrary to previous research, the two samples were remarkably similar across RUG-III categories. However, the nursing home sample was more functionally impaired on measures of ADL functioning and overall case mix. Results of this study may inform policymakers and providers of the potential for maintaining the appropriate population in the home with government-funded home care.

  11. Beyond Food Access: The Impact of Parent-, Home-, and Neighborhood-Level Factors on Children’s Diets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lauren Futrell Dunaway

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Despite the growth in empirical research on neighborhood environmental characteristics and their influence on children’s diets, physical activity, and obesity, much remains to be learned, as few have examined the relationship between neighborhood food availability on dietary behavior in children, specifically. This analysis utilized data from a community-based, cross-sectional sample of children (n = 199 that was collected in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2010. This dataset was linked to food environment data to assess the impact of neighborhood food access as well as household and parent factors on children’s diets. We observed a negligible impact of the neighborhood food environment on children’s diets, except with respect to fast food, with children who had access to fast food within 500 m around their home significantly less likely (OR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.8 to consume vegetables. Key parental and household factors did play a role in diet, including receipt of public assistance and cooking meals at home. Children receiving public assistance were 2.5 times (95% CI: 1.1, 5.4 more likely to consume fruit more than twice per day compared with children not receiving public assistance. Children whose family cooked dinner at home more than 5 times per week had significantly more consumption of fruit (64% vs. 58% and vegetables (55% vs. 39%, but less soda (27% vs. 43%. Findings highlight the need for future research that focuses on the dynamic and complex relationships between built and social factors in the communities and homes of children that impact their diet in order to develop multilevel prevention approaches that address childhood obesity.

  12. Improving access to medicines via the Health Impact Fund in India: a stakeholder analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMullan, Patrick; Ajay, Vamadevan S; Srinivas, Ravi; Bhalla, Sandeep; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Banerjee, Amitava

    2018-01-01

    In India, 50-65% of the population face difficulties in accessing medicines. The Health Impact Fund (HIF) is a novel proposal whereby pharmaceutical companies would be paid based on the measured global health impact of their drugs. We conducted a key stakeholder analysis to explore access to medicines in India, acceptability of the HIF and potential barriers and facilitators at policy level. To conduct a stakeholder analysis of the HIF in India: to determine key stakeholder views regarding access to medicines in India; to evaluate acceptability of the HIF; and to assess potential barriers and facilitators to the HIF as a policy. In New Delhi, we conducted semi-structured interviews. There was purposive recruitment of participants with snowball sampling. Transcribed data were analysed using stakeholder analysis frameworks and directed content analysis. Participation rate was 29% (14/49). 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted among stakeholders in New Delhi. All participants highlighted access to medicines as a problem in India. There were mixed views about the HIF in terms of relevance and scaleability. Stakeholders felt it should focus on diseases with limited or no market and potentially incorporate direct investment in research. First, access to medicines is perceived to be a major problem in India by all stakeholders, but affordability is just one factor. Second, stakeholders despite considerable support for the idea of the HIF, there are major concerns about scaleability, generalisability and impact on access to medicines. Third, the HIF and other novel drug-related health policies can afford to be more radical, e.g. working outside the existing intellectual property rights regime, targeting generic as well as branded drugs, or extending to research and development. Further innovations in access to medicines must involve country-specific key stakeholders in order to increase the likelihood of their success.

  13. Effects of Home Access to Active Videogames on Child Self-Esteem, Enjoyment of Physical Activity, and Anxiety Related to Electronic Games: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbott, Rebecca A; Smith, Anne J; Howie, Erin K; Pollock, Clare; Straker, Leon

    2014-08-01

    Active-input videogames could provide a useful conduit for increasing physical activity by improving a child's self-confidence, physical activity enjoyment, and reducing anxiety. Therefore this study evaluated the impact of (a) the removal of home access to traditional electronic games or (b) their replacement with active-input videogames, on child self-perception, enjoyment of physical activity, and electronic game use anxiety. This was a crossover, randomized controlled trial, conducted over a 6-month period in participants' family homes in metropolitan Perth, Australia, from 2007 to 2010. Children 10-12 years old were recruited through school and community media. Of 210 children who were eligible, 74 met inclusion criteria, and 8 withdrew, leaving 66 children (33 girls) for analysis. A counterbalanced randomized order of three conditions sustained for 8 weeks each: No home access to electronic games, home access to traditional electronic games, and home access to active-input electronic games. Perception of self-esteem (Harter's Self Perception Profile for Children), enjoyment of physical activity (Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale questionnaire), and anxiety toward electronic game use (modified Loyd and Gressard Computer Anxiety Subscale) were assessed. Compared with home access to traditional electronic games, neither removal of all electronic games nor replacement with active-input games resulted in any significant change to child self-esteem, enjoyment of physical activity, or anxiety related to electronic games. Although active-input videogames have been shown to be enjoyable in the short term, their ability to impact on psychological outcomes is yet to be established.

  14. Estimating length of stay in publicly-funded residential and nursing care homes: a retrospective analysis using linked administrative data sets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steventon, Adam; Roberts, Adam

    2012-10-31

    Information about how long people stay in care homes is needed to plan services, as length of stay is a determinant of future demand for care. As length of stay is proportional to cost, estimates are also needed to inform analysis of the long-term cost effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing admissions to care homes. But estimates are rarely available due to the cost of repeatedly surveying individuals. We used administrative data from three local authorities in England to estimate the length of publicly-funded care homes stays beginning in 2005 and 2006. Stays were classified into nursing home, permanent residential and temporary residential. We aggregated successive placements in different care home providers and, by linking to health data, across periods in hospital. The largest group of stays (38.9%) were those intended to be temporary, such as for rehabilitation, and typically lasted 4 weeks. For people admitted to permanent residential care, median length of stay was 17.9 months. Women stayed longer than men, while stays were shorter if preceded by other forms of social care. There was significant variation in length of stay between the three local authorities. The typical person admitted to a permanent residential care home will cost a local authority over £38,000, less payments due from individuals under the means test. These figures are not apparent from existing data sets. The large cost of care home placements suggests significant scope for preventive approaches. The administrative data revealed complexity in patterns of service use, which should be further explored as it may challenge the assumptions that are often made.

  15. Estimating length of stay in publicly-funded residential and nursing care homes: a retrospective analysis using linked administrative data sets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steventon Adam

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Information about how long people stay in care homes is needed to plan services, as length of stay is a determinant of future demand for care. As length of stay is proportional to cost, estimates are also needed to inform analysis of the long-term cost effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing admissions to care homes. But estimates are rarely available due to the cost of repeatedly surveying individuals. Methods We used administrative data from three local authorities in England to estimate the length of publicly-funded care homes stays beginning in 2005 and 2006. Stays were classified into nursing home, permanent residential and temporary residential. We aggregated successive placements in different care home providers and, by linking to health data, across periods in hospital. Results The largest group of stays (38.9% were those intended to be temporary, such as for rehabilitation, and typically lasted 4 weeks. For people admitted to permanent residential care, median length of stay was 17.9 months. Women stayed longer than men, while stays were shorter if preceded by other forms of social care. There was significant variation in length of stay between the three local authorities. The typical person admitted to a permanent residential care home will cost a local authority over £38,000, less payments due from individuals under the means test. Conclusions These figures are not apparent from existing data sets. The large cost of care home placements suggests significant scope for preventive approaches. The administrative data revealed complexity in patterns of service use, which should be further explored as it may challenge the assumptions that are often made.

  16. Retrofitting a 1960s Split-Level, Cold-Climate Home

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Puttagunta, Srikanth [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2015-07-13

    National programs such as Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® and numerous other utility air-sealing programs have made homeowners aware of the benefits of energy-efficiency retrofits. Yet these programs tend to focus only on the low-hanging fruit: they recommend air sealing the thermal envelope and ductwork where accessible, switching to efficient lighting and low-flow fixtures, and improving the efficiency of mechanical systems (though insufficient funds or lack of knowledge to implement these improvements commonly prevent the implementation of these higher cost upgrades). At the other end of the spectrum, various utilities across the country are encouraging deep energy retrofit programs. Although deep energy retrofits typically seek 50% energy savings, they are often quite costly and are most applicable to gut-rehab projects. A significant potential for lowering energy use in existing homes lies between the lowhanging fruit and deep energy retrofit approaches—retrofits that save approximately 30% in energy compared to the pre-retrofit conditions. The energy-efficiency measures need to be nonintrusive so the retrofit projects can be accomplished in occupied homes.

  17. Color coded multiple access scheme for bidirectional multiuser visible light communications in smart home technologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiwari, Samrat Vikramaditya; Sewaiwar, Atul; Chung, Yeon-Ho

    2015-10-01

    In optical wireless communications, multiple channel transmission is an attractive solution to enhancing capacity and system performance. A new modulation scheme called color coded multiple access (CCMA) for bidirectional multiuser visible light communications (VLC) is presented for smart home applications. The proposed scheme uses red, green and blue (RGB) light emitting diodes (LED) for downlink and phosphor based white LED (P-LED) for uplink to establish a bidirectional VLC and also employs orthogonal codes to support multiple users and devices. The downlink transmission for data user devices and smart home devices is provided using red and green colors from the RGB LEDs, respectively, while uplink transmission from both types of devices is performed using the blue color from P-LEDs. Simulations are conducted to verify the performance of the proposed scheme. It is found that the proposed bidirectional multiuser scheme is efficient in terms of data rate and performance. In addition, since the proposed scheme uses RGB signals for downlink data transmission, it provides flicker-free illumination that would lend itself to multiuser VLC system for smart home applications.

  18. Measuring patient-centered medical home access and continuity in clinics with part-time clinicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosland, Ann-Marie; Krein, Sarah L; Kim, Hyunglin Myra; Greenstone, Clinton L; Tremblay, Adam; Ratz, David; Saffar, Darcy; Kerr, Eve A

    2015-05-01

    Common patient-centered medical home (PCMH) performance measures value access to a single primary care provider (PCP), which may have unintended consequences for clinics that rely on part-time PCPs and team-based care. Retrospective analysis of 110,454 primary care visits from 2 Veterans Health Administration clinics from 2010 to 2012. Multi-level models examined associations between PCP availability in clinic, and performance on access and continuity measures. Patient experiences with access and continuity were compared using 2012 patient survey data (N = 2881). Patients of PCPs with fewer half-day clinic sessions per week were significantly less likely to get a requested same-day appointment with their usual PCP (predicted probability 17% for PCPs with 2 sessions/week, 20% for 5 sessions/week, and 26% for 10 sessions/week). Among requests that did not result in a same-day appointment with the usual PCP, there were no significant differences in same-day access to a different PCP, or access within 2 to 7 days with patients' usual PCP. Overall, patients had >92% continuity with their usual PCP at the hospital-based site regardless of PCP sessions/week. Patients of full-time PCPs reported timely appointments for urgent needs more often than patients of part-time PCPs (82% vs 71%; P Part-time PCP performance appeared worse when using measures focused on same-day access to patients' usual PCP. However, clinic-level same-day access, same-week access to the usual PCP, and overall continuity were similar for patients of part-time and full-time PCPs. Measures of in-person access to a usual PCP do not capture alternate access approaches encouraged by PCMH, and often used by part-time providers, such as team-based or non-face-to-face care.

  19. HomePort

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Le Guilly, Thibaut; Olsen, Petur; Ravn, Anders Peter

    2013-01-01

    Ambient Intelligence systems use many sensors and actuators, with a diversity of networks, protocols and technologies which makes it impossible to access the devices in a common manner. This paper presents the HomePort software, which provides an open source RESTful interface to heterogeneous...... sensor networks, allowing a simple unified access to virtually any kind of protocol using well known standards. HomePort includes means to provide event notification, as well as a tracing mechanism. The software is implemented and we report on initial experiments and provide an evaluation that shows...

  20. Access to Research Inputs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Czarnitzki, Dirk; Grimpe, Christoph; Pellens, Maikel

    2015-01-01

    The viability of modern open science norms and practices depends on public disclosure of new knowledge, methods, and materials. However, increasing industry funding of research can restrict the dissemination of results and materials. We show, through a survey sample of 837 German scientists in life...... sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences, that scientists who receive industry funding are twice as likely to deny requests for research inputs as those who do not. Receiving external funding in general does not affect denying others access. Scientists who receive external funding...... of any kind are, however, 50 % more likely to be denied access to research materials by others, but this is not affected by being funded specifically by industry...

  1. Access to Research Inputs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Czarnitzki, Dirk; Grimpe, Christoph; Pellens, Maikel

    The viability of modern open science norms and practices depend on public disclosure of new knowledge, methods, and materials. However, increasing industry funding of research can restrict the dissemination of results and materials. We show, through a survey sample of 837 German scientists in life...... sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences, that scientists who receive industry funding are twice as likely to deny requests for research inputs as those who do not. Receiving external funding in general does not affect denying others access. Scientists who receive external funding...... of any kind are, however, 50% more likely to be denied access to research materials by others, but this is not affected by being funded specifically by industry....

  2. Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act

    Science.gov (United States)

    Public Law 109-282, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 as amended (FFATA), requires disclosure of all entities and organizations receiving Federal funds through a single publicly accessible website.

  3. The Regional and Local Distribution of Funds Allocated by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development in Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ALINA-MIRELA MARCU

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study is to present and analyze the regional and local distribution of the funds allocated by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD, European fund that finances rural development in Romania, in the post-accession period. This financing instrument was created by the European Union with the order to continue the main directions of investment of Special Pre-Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (SAPARD. As a member state of the European Union, Romania observes the principles of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP while the development of the Romanian rural area for the programming period 2007-2013 is supported by the European Community through the National Rural Development Programme (RDP. This approach pays special attention to improving the quality of life in rural areas and the diversification of the rural economy because local communities in Romania have experienced some changes in this period, while accessing EAFRD funds contributed to increased regional disparities between developed and poor areas.

  4. Why Hospitals and Payers are Recommending Home Care Upon Discharge Instead of SNF or Traditional Home Health Services--Alternative Payment Model Hospital Incentives Aligning with Patient Choice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luke, Josh

    2016-01-01

    Seniors and other hospital patients in the United States have traditionally had the option of being discharged to a skilled nursing facility (convalescent home) for post-acute services, or home with nursing and therapy services provided in the home setting. Traditionally, these home based services have been referred to as "home health." As more Americans have retired, home health services have expanded and are readily accessible. This growth put tremendous stress on the Medicare fund which pays for senior care services. However, "Home Care," which traditionally has been viewed as non-medical home based services, has also become a booming industry for the cost conscious in recent years as more Americans reach retirement age. With the passing of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, providers and payers are now finding themselves responsible for post-acute care and continuous patient health, so cost efficient solutions for post-acute care are thriving. For the first time in history, American hospitals and Insurers are recognizing Home Care as an effective model that achieves the Triple Aim of Health Care reform. Home Care, which is no longer completely non-medical services, has proven to be an integral part of the care continuum for seniors in recent years and is now becoming a viable solution for keeping patients well, while still honoring their desire to age and heal at home. This paper analyzes the benefits and risks of home care and provides a clear understanding as to why American hospitals are emphasizing SNF Avoidance and skipping home health, opting instead to refer patients directly to home care as the preferred discharge solution in a value based model.

  5. 24 CFR 92.65 - Funding sanctions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM Allocation Formula Insular Areas Program § 92.65 Funding sanctions... assistance where any corrective or remedial actions taken under § 92.551 fail to remedy an insular area's...

  6. Access Control in Smart Homes by Android-Based Liveness Detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susanna Spinsante

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Technologies for personal safety and security play an increasing role in modern life, and are among the most valuable features expected to be supported by so-called smart homes. This paper presents a low-complexity Android application designed for both mobile and embedded devices, that exploits the available on-board camera to easily capture two images of a subject, and processes them to discriminate a true 3D and live face, from a fake or printed 2D one. The liveness detection based on such a discrimination provides anti-spoofing capabilities to secure access control based on face recognition. The limited computational complexity of the developed application makes it suitable for practical implementation in video-entry phones based on embedded Android platforms. The results obtained are satisfactory even in different ambient light conditions, and further improvements are being developed to deal with low precision image acquisition.

  7. Open Access publishing in physics gains momentum

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    The first meeting of European particle physics funding agencies took place on 3 November at CERN to establish a consortium for Open Access publishing in particle physics, SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics). Open Access could transform the academic publishing world, with a great impact on research. The traditional model of research publication is funded through reader subscriptions. Open Access will turn this model on its head by changing the funding structure of research results, without increasing the overall cost of publishing. Instead of demanding payment from readers, publications will be distributed free of charge, financed by funding agencies via laboratories and the authors. This new concept will bring greater benefits and broaden opportunities for researchers and funding agencies by providing unrestricted distribution of the results of publicly funded research. The meeting marked a positive step forward, with international support from laboratories, fundin...

  8. Genomics Research: World Survey of Public Funding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cook-Deegan Robert M

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Over the past two decades, genomics has evolved as a scientific research discipline. Genomics research was fueled initially by government and nonprofit funding sources, later augmented by private research and development (R&D funding. Citizens and taxpayers of many countries have funded much of the research, and have expectations about access to the resulting information and knowledge. While access to knowledge gained from all publicly funded research is desired, access is especially important for fields that have broad social impact and stimulate public dialogue. Genomics is one such field, where public concerns are raised for reasons such as health care and insurance implications, as well as personal and ancestral identification. Thus, genomics has grown rapidly as a field, and attracts considerable interest. Results One way to study the growth of a field of research is to examine its funding. This study focuses on public funding of genomics research, identifying and collecting data from major government and nonprofit organizations around the world, and updating previous estimates of world genomics research funding, including information about geographical origins. We initially identified 89 publicly funded organizations; we requested information about each organization's funding of genomics research. Of these organizations, 48 responded and 34 reported genomics research expenditures (of those that responded but did not supply information, some did not fund such research, others could not quantify it. The figures reported here include all the largest funders and we estimate that we have accounted for most of the genomics research funding from government and nonprofit sources. Conclusion Aggregate spending on genomics research from 34 funding sources averaged around $2.9 billion in 2003 – 2006. The United States spent more than any other country on genomics research, corresponding to 35% of the overall worldwide public

  9. Accessibility of antiretroviral therapy in Ghana: Convenience of access

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 9, No 2 (2012) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  10. The Commonwealth Fund - Maps and Data

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Welcome to the Maps and Data section, home to ChartCart, which allow you to create your own collections of Commonwealth Fund charts, and the Health System Data...

  11. 77 FR 16267 - Community Development Revolving Loan Fund Access for Credit Unions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-20

    ... union's marketing strategy to reach members and the community; and include financial projections. 6. Non... Application its strategy for raising matching funds if NCUA determines matching funds are required (see 12 CFR... Funds: Submit a narrative describing its strategy for raising matching funds from non-federal sources if...

  12. Smart homes, private homes? An empirical study of technology researchers? perceptions of ethical issues in developing smart-home health technologies

    OpenAIRE

    Birchley, Giles; Huxtable, Richard; Murtagh, Madeleine; ter Meulen, Ruud; Flach, Peter; Gooberman-Hill, Rachael

    2017-01-01

    Background Smart-home technologies, comprising environmental sensors, wearables and video are attracting interest in home healthcare delivery. Development of such technology is usually justified on the basis of the technology?s potential to increase the autonomy of people living with long-term conditions. Studies of the ethics of smart-homes raise concerns about privacy, consent, social isolation and equity of access. Few studies have investigated the ethical perspectives of smart-home engine...

  13. Population-based health funding under attack

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The frustrated heads of health in these top-performing three provinces ... buck' results, and for 'funding to follow functionality and service delivery'. The ... benefiting from this system, which puts medicines closer to their homes, with a targeted ...

  14. Giving rheumatology patients online home access to their electronic medical record (EMR): advantages, drawbacks and preconditions according to care providers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Vaart, R.; Drossaert, Constance H.C.; Taal, Erik; van de Laar, Mart A F J

    2013-01-01

    Technology enables patients home access to their electronic medical record (EMR), via a patient portal. This study aims to analyse (dis)advantages, preconditions and suitable content for this service, according to rheumatology health professionals. A two-phase policy Delphi study was conducted.

  15. Barriers to accessing abortion services and perspectives on using mifepristone and misoprostol at home in Great Britain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aiken, Abigail R A; Guthrie, Katherine A; Schellekens, Marlies; Trussell, James; Gomperts, Rebecca

    2018-02-01

    To examine reasons for seeking abortion services outside the formal healthcare system in Great Britain, where abortion is legally available. We conducted a mixed-methods study among women resident in England, Scotland, and Wales who requested at-home medication abortion through online telemedicine initiative Women on Web (WoW) between November 22, 2016, and March 22, 2017. We examined the demographics and circumstances of all women requesting early medication abortion and conducted a content analysis of a sample of their anonymized emails to the service to explore their reasons for seeking help. Over a 4-month period, 519 women contacted WoW seeking medication abortion. These women were diverse with respect to age, parity, and circumstance. One hundred eighty women reported 209 reasons for seeking abortion outside the formal healthcare setting. Among all reasons, 49% were access barriers, including long waiting times, distance to clinic, work or childcare commitments, lack of eligibility for free NHS services, and prior negative experiences of abortion care; 30% were privacy concerns, including lack of confidentiality of services, perceived or experienced stigma, and preferring the privacy and comfort of using pills at home; and 18% were controlling circumstances, including partner violence and partner/family control. Despite the presence of abortion services in Great Britain, a diverse group of women still experiences logistical and personal barriers to accessing care through the formal healthcare system, or prefer the privacy of conducting their abortions in their own homes. Health services commissioning bodies could address existing barriers if supported by policy frameworks. The presence of multiple barriers to accessing abortion care in Great Britain highlights the need for future guidelines to recommend a more woman-centered approach to service provision. Reducing the number of clinic visits and designing services to meet the needs of those living in

  16. Map of Water Infrastructure and Homes Without Access to Safe Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation on the Navajo Nation - October 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    This document presents the results of completed work using existing geographic information system (GIS) data to map existing water and sewer infrastructure and homes without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation on the Navajo Nation.

  17. International variations and trends in home hemodialysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agar, John W M

    2009-05-01

    Home hemodialysis, once a valid, viable dialysis choice, faded as facility-based care was preferentially funded and supported through the 1970s and 1980s. It was simply more comfortable for providers, physicians, and nurses to capture dialysis patients through clinic schedules and clinical protocols. Home patients were unpredictable, out of sight and out of control, trouble, and best avoided. This was so except in Australia and New Zealand where funding and support remained strong for what was seen there as an effective, outcome-rich, and cost-effective modality. The renaissance of home hemodialysis began in Canada when home-based nocturnal dialysis emerged in the 1990s. Home patients soon appreciated the self-determination and re-employment opportunities that overnight dialysis delivered. This article explores the origins, the near demise, the foundations of renewal, and the now-expanding potential of home and nocturnal hemodialysis in regions as diverse as North America, Australia and New Zealand, South East Asia, the United Kingdom, and Finland. Home dialysis fed by cost containment, outcome success, patient acceptance, and new smart equipment has emerged as a bright new modality option. Trainee nephrologists would be wise to take more notice as this near ghost of the past forges an exciting future.

  18. Australia's Bond Home Bias

    OpenAIRE

    Anil V. Mishra; Umaru B. Conteh

    2014-01-01

    This paper constructs the float adjusted measure of home bias and explores the determinants of bond home bias by employing the International Monetary Fund's high quality dataset (2001 to 2009) on cross-border bond investment. The paper finds that Australian investors' prefer investing in countries with higher economic development and more developed bond markets. Exchange rate volatility appears to be an impediment for cross-border bond investment. Investors prefer investing in countries with ...

  19. STEM learning activity among home-educating families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bachman, Jennifer

    2011-12-01

    Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning was studied among families in a group of home-educators in the Pacific Northwest. Ethnographic methods recorded learning activity (video, audio, fieldnotes, and artifacts) which was analyzed using a unique combination of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and Mediated Action (MA), enabling analysis of activity at multiple levels. Findings indicate that STEM learning activity is family-led, guided by parents' values and goals for learning, and negotiated with children to account for learner interests and differences, and available resources. Families' STEM education practice is dynamic, evolves, and influenced by larger societal STEM learning activity. Parents actively seek support and resources for STEM learning within their home-school community, working individually and collectively to share their funds of knowledge. Home-schoolers also access a wide variety of free-choice learning resources: web-based materials, museums, libraries, and community education opportunities (e.g. afterschool, weekend and summer programs, science clubs and classes, etc.). A lesson-heuristic, grounded in Mediated Action, represents and analyzes home STEM learning activity in terms of tensions between parental goals, roles, and lesson structure. One tension observed was between 'academic' goals or school-like activity and 'lifelong' goals or everyday learning activity. Theoretical and experiential learning was found in both activity, though parents with academic goals tended to focus more on theoretical learning and those with lifelong learning goals tended to be more experiential. Examples of the National Research Council's science learning strands (NRC, 2009) were observed in the STEM practices of all these families. Findings contribute to the small but growing body of empirical CHAT research in science education, specifically to the empirical base of family STEM learning practices at home. It also fills a

  20. Editorial: Next Generation Access Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruffini, Marco; Cincotti, Gabriella; Pizzinat, Anna; Vetter, Peter

    2015-12-01

    Over the past decade we have seen an increasing number of operators deploying Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) solutions in access networks, in order to provide home users with a much needed network access upgrade, to support higher peak rates, higher sustained rates and a better and more uniform broadband coverage of the territory.

  1. The Irish Enterprise Funding Environment, April 2012

    OpenAIRE

    2012-01-01

    Funding is vital for enterprises to survive and at present bank lending is a central element of the funding environment for business in Ireland. This report provides an overview of the current funding environment for business in Ireland, both bank and non-bank sources. It also outlines the policy issues arising and proposes a wide range of actions to improve access to funding, many of which have been reflected in the Action Plan for Jobs. Implementation of funding measures in the Action Pl...

  2. Modular Zero Energy. BrightBuilt Home

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aldrich, Robb [Steven Winter Associates, Inc., Norwalk, CT (United States); Butterfield, Karla [Steven Winter Associates, Inc., Norwalk, CT (United States)

    2016-03-01

    With funding from the Building America Program, part of the U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office, the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) worked with BrightBuilt Home (BBH) to evaluate and optimize building systems. CARB’s work focused on a home built by Black Bros. Builders in Lincolnville, Maine (International Energy Conservation Code Climate Zone 6). As with most BBH projects to date, modular boxes were built by Keiser Homes in Oxford, Maine.

  3. Paid sick days and stay-at-home behavior for influenza.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaitlin Piper

    Full Text Available Access to paid sick days (PSD differs by workplace size, race/ethnicity, gender, and income in the United States. It is not known to what extent decisions to stay home from work when sick with infectious illnesses such as influenza depend on PSD access, and whether access impacts certain demographic groups more than others. We examined demographic and workplace characteristics (including access to PSD associated with employees' decisions to stay home from work for their own or a child's illness. Linking the 2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS consolidated data file to the medical conditions file, we used multivariate Poisson regression models with robust variance estimates to identify factors associated with missed work for an employee's own or a child's illness/injury, influenza-like-illness (ILI, and influenza. Controlling for gender, race/ethnicity, education, and income, access to PSD was associated with a higher probability of staying home for an employee's own illness/injury, ILI, or influenza, and for a child's illness/injury. Hispanic ethnicity was associated with a lower prevalence of staying home for the employee's own or a child's illness compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Access to PSD was associated with a significantly greater increase in the probability of staying home among Hispanics than among non-Hispanic Whites. Women had a significantly higher probability of staying home for their child's illness compared to men, suggesting that women remain the primary caregivers for ill children. Our results indicate that PSD access is important to encourage employees to stay home from work when sick with ILI or influenza. Also, PSD access may be important to enable stay-at-home behavior among Hispanics. We conclude that access to PSD is likely to reduce the spread of disease in workplaces by increasing the rate at which sick employees stay home from work, and reduce the economic burden of staying home on minorities, women, and

  4. Inequality in access to health care in Cambodia: socioeconomically disadvantaged women giving birth at home assisted by unskilled birth attendants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Rathavuth; Them, Rathnita

    2015-03-01

    Cambodia faces major challenges in its effort to provide access to health care for all. Although there is a sharp improvement in health and health care in Cambodia, 6 in 10 women still deliver at home assisted by unskilled birth attendants. This practice is associated with higher maternal and infant deaths. This article analyzes the 2005 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey data to examine the relationship between socioeconomic inequality and deliveries at home assisted by unskilled birth attendants. It is evident that babies in poorer households are significantly more likely to be delivered at home by an unskilled birth attendant than those in wealthier households. Moreover, delivery at home by an unskilled attendant is associated with mothers who have no education, live in a rural residence, and are farmers, and with higher birth order children. Results from this analysis demonstrate that socioeconomic inequality is still a major factor contributing to ill health in Cambodia. © 2011 APJPH.

  5. Effects of New Funding Models for Patient-Centered Medical Homes on Primary Care Practice Finances and Services: Results of a Microsimulation Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basu, Sanjay; Phillips, Russell S; Song, Zirui; Landon, Bruce E; Bitton, Asaf

    2016-09-01

    We assess the financial implications for primary care practices of participating in patient-centered medical home (PCMH) funding initiatives. We estimated practices' changes in net revenue under 3 PCMH funding initiatives: increased fee-for-service (FFS) payments, traditional FFS with additional per-member-per-month (PMPM) payments, or traditional FFS with PMPM and pay-for-performance (P4P) payments. Net revenue estimates were based on a validated microsimulation model utilizing national practice surveys. Simulated practices reflecting the national range of practice size, location, and patient population were examined under several potential changes in clinical services: investments in patient tracking, communications, and quality improvement; increased support staff; altered visit templates to accommodate longer visits, telephone visits or electronic visits; and extended service delivery hours. Under the status quo of traditional FFS payments, clinics operate near their maximum estimated possible net revenue levels, suggesting they respond strongly to existing financial incentives. Practices gained substantial additional net annual revenue per full-time physician under PMPM or PMPM plus P4P payments ($113,300 per year, 95% CI, $28,500 to $198,200) but not under increased FFS payments (-$53,500, 95% CI, -$69,700 to -$37,200), after accounting for costs of meeting PCMH funding requirements. Expanding services beyond minimum required levels decreased net revenue, because traditional FFS revenues decreased. PCMH funding through PMPM payments could substantially improve practice finances but will not offer sufficient financial incentives to expand services beyond minimum requirements for PCMH funding. © 2016 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

  6. Evaluating the Impact of Open Access at Berkeley: Results from the 2015 Survey of Berkeley Research Impact Initiative (BRII) Funding Recipients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teplitzky, Samantha; Phillips, Margaret

    2016-01-01

    The Berkeley Research Impact Initiative (BRII) was one of the first campus-based open access (OA) funds to be established in North America and one of the most active, distributing more than $244,000 to support University of California (UC) Berkeley authors. In April 2015, we conducted a qualitative study of 138 individuals who had received BRII…

  7. Latest Trends in Home Networking Technologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsutsui, Akihiro

    Broadband access service, including FTTH, is now in widespread use in Japan. More than half of the households that have broadband Internet access construct local area networks (home networks) in their homes. In addition, information appliances such as personal computers, networked audio, and visual devices and game machines are connected to home networks, and many novel service applications are provided via the Internet. However, it is still difficult to install and incorporate these devices and services because networked devices have been developed in different communities. I briefly explain the current status of information appliances and home networking technologies and services and discuss some of the problems in this and their solutions.

  8. Pension fund sophistication and investment policy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Dreu, J.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/364537906; Bikker, J.A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/06912261X

    This paper assesses the sophistication of pension funds’ investment policies using data on 748 Dutch pension funds during the 1999–2006 period. We develop three indicators of sophistication: gross rounding of investment choices, investments in alternative sophisticated asset classes and ‘home bias’.

  9. General IDRC Funding Guidelines

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Loretta Rocca

    Financial and Administrative Assessment ... the organization has independent legal status (or 'legal personality') and is capable of contracting ... Books and journal articles generated from IDRC-funded projects will be made accessible free of.

  10. Retrofitting Vegas: Implementing Energy Efficiency in Two Las Vegas Test Homes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Puttagunta, S.

    2013-04-01

    In 2009, the state of Nevada received nearly forty million dollars in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The purpose of this funding was to stabilize communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment. In an effort to provide guidance to local officials and maximize how effectively this NSP funding is utilized in retrofitting homes, CARB provided design specifications, energy modeling, and technical support for the Building America Retrofit Alliance (BARA) team and its local partners - Better Building Performance, Nevada Energy Star Partners Green Alliance, and Home Free Nevada - for two retrofit test homes. One home was to demonstrate a modest retrofit and the other a deep energy retrofit. Through this project, CARB has provided two robust solution packages for retrofitting homes built in this region between the 1980s and early 1990s without substantially inconveniencing the occupants. The two test homes, the Carmen and Sierra Hills, demonstrate how cost-effectively energy efficient upgrades can be implemented in the hot, dry climate of the Southwest. In addition, the homes were used as an educational experience for home performance professionals, building trades, remodelers, and the general public. In-field trainings on air-sealing, HVAC upgrades, and insulating were provided to local contractors during the retrofit and BARA documented these retrofits through a series of video presentations, beginning with a site survey and concluding with the finished remodel and test out.

  11. Workshop AccessibleTV "Accessible User Interfaces for Future TV Applications"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hahn, Volker; Hamisu, Pascal; Jung, Christopher; Heinrich, Gregor; Duarte, Carlos; Langdon, Pat

    Approximately half of the elderly people over 55 suffer from some type of typically mild visual, auditory, motor or cognitive impairment. For them interaction, especially with PCs and other complex devices is sometimes challenging, although accessible ICT applications could make much of a difference for their living quality. Basically they have the potential to enable or simplify participation and inclusion in their surrounding private and professional communities. However, the availability of accessible user interfaces being capable to adapt to the specific needs and requirements of users with individual impairments is very limited. Although there are a number of APIs [1, 2, 3, 4] available for various platforms that allow developers to provide accessibility features within their applications, today none of them provides features for the automatic adaptation of multimodal interfaces being capable to automatically fit the individual requirements of users with different kinds of impairments. Moreover, the provision of accessible user interfaces is still expensive and risky for application developers, as they need special experience and effort for user tests. Today many implementations simply neglect the needs of elderly people, thus locking out a large portion of their potential users. The workshop is organized as part of the dissemination activity for the European-funded project GUIDE "Gentle user interfaces for elderly people", which aims to address this situation with a comprehensive approach for the realization of multimodal user interfaces being capable to adapt to the needs of users with different kinds of mild impairments. As application platform, GUIDE will mainly target TVs and Set-Top Boxes, such as the emerging Connected-TV or WebTV platforms, as they have the potential to address the needs of the elderly users with applications such as for home automation, communication or continuing education.

  12. Patient-centered medical home model: do school-based health centers fit the model?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Satu A; Chapman, Susan A

    2013-01-01

    School-based health centers (SBHCs) are an important component of health care reform. The SBHC model of care offers accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, and compassionate care to infants, children, and adolescents. These same elements comprise the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of care being promoted by the Affordable Care Act with the hope of lowering health care costs by rewarding clinicians for primary care services. PCMH survey tools have been developed to help payers determine whether a clinician/site serves as a PCMH. Our concern is that current survey tools will be unable to capture how a SBHC may provide a medical home and therefore be denied needed funding. This article describes how SBHCs might meet the requirements of one PCMH tool. SBHC stakeholders need to advocate for the creation or modification of existing survey tools that allow the unique characteristics of SBHCs to qualify as PCMHs.

  13. Reasons Why Women Choose Home Birth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary Angelie P. Andrino

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Maternal deaths in the Philippines remain high. These deaths are mostly due to the large proportion of home births, complications of pregnancy and delivery, and lack of access to facilities and competently trained staff. Utilizing a descriptive, one-shot survey design, the study aimed to determine the reasons why women in a municipality in Iloilo prefer home birth. The respondents were interviewed using a validated questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and interpret the findings. The study revealed that the proportion of home births progressively declined from 2012 to 2014. Birth being imminent or inevitable is the number one reason that supports home birth. Autonomy, safety, affordability, readily available birthing equipment and supplies, accessibility of birth attendant, remote access by going to the birthing center, lack of transportation, and bad weather conditions also led women to give birth at home. Women from the rural areas of the municipality utilized available resources in the community which prompted the predominance of home deliveries assisted by traditional birth attendants (TBAs and even midwives, who were readily available nearby. This study recommends continuous improvement in existing maternal health interventions and strategies through engagement of women in policy planning, improvement of health service delivery, infrastructural enhancement, better care practices and continuous health education.

  14. Mobile home automation-merging mobile value added services and home automation technologies

    OpenAIRE

    Rosendahl, Andreas; Hampe, Felix J.; Botterweck, Goetz

    2007-01-01

    non-peer-reviewed In this paper we study mobile home automation, a field that emerges from an integration of mobile application platforms and home automation technologies. In a conceptual introduction we first illustrate the need for such applications by introducing a two-dimensional conceptual model of mobility. Subsequently we suggest an architecture and discuss different options of how a user might access a mobile home automation service and the controlled devices. As another contrib...

  15. Survey of home hemodialysis patients and nursing staff regarding vascular access use and care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spry, Leslie A; Burkart, John M; Holcroft, Christina; Mortier, Leigh; Glickman, Joel D

    2015-04-01

    Vascular access infections are of concern to hemodialysis patients and nurses. Best demonstrated practices (BDPs) have not been developed for home hemodialysis (HHD) access use, but there have been generally accepted practices (GAPs) endorsed by dialysis professionals. We developed a survey to gather information about training provided and actual practices of HHD patients using the NxStage System One HHD machine. We used GAP to assess training used by nurses to teach HHD access care and then assess actual practice (adherence) by HHD patients. We also assessed training and adherence where GAPs do not exist. We received a 43% response rate from patients and 76% response from nurses representing 19 randomly selected HHD training centers. We found that nurses were not uniformly instructing HHD patients according to GAP, patients were not performing access cannulation according to GAP, nor were they adherent to their training procedures. Identification of signs and symptoms of infection was commonly trained appropriately, but we observed a reluctance to report some signs and symptoms of infection by patients. Of particular concern, when aggregating all steps surveyed, not a single nurse or patient reported training or performing all steps in accordance with GAP. We also identified practices for which there are no GAPs that require further study and may or may not impact outcomes such as infection. Further research is needed to develop strategies to implement and expand GAP, measure outcomes, and ultimately develop BDP for HHD to improve infectious complications. © 2014 The Authors. Hemodialysis International published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Hemodialysis.

  16. Accessible Internet-of-Things and Internet-of-Content Services for All in the Home or on the Move

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dimitris Tektonidis

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Public authorities and national healthcare service providers across the European Union and beyond are increasingly under pressure to deliver better services with diminishing resources. Users, quite rightly, demand a high standard of service and increasingly also convenience focused on the needs of the users rather than how the services are organised to deliver them. Users, on the whole, also prefer to be supported in their homes, and be free to move as much as possible. While users without impairments and generally well provided for, there are increasingly also users who have special needs, including the aged and those with a range of physical and mental disabilities who are unable to make effective use of such services from their homes due to the lack of proactive and accessible services. The idea we promote in the chapter is to provide better support to users with disabilities and impairments from the comfort of their home by means of providing them with a set of scalable services which can be either offered for free or purchased through some central form of a marketplace repository.

  17. Home mechanical ventilation in Canada: a national survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Louise; McKim, Douglas A; Katz, Sherri L; Leasa, David; Nonoyama, Mika; Pedersen, Cheryl; Goldstein, Roger S; Road, Jeremy D

    2015-05-01

    No comprehensive Canadian national data describe the prevalence of and service provision for ventilator-assisted individuals living at home, data critical to health-care system planning for appropriate resourcing. Our objective was to generate national data profiling service providers, users, types of services, criteria for initiation and monitoring, ventilator servicing arrangements, education, and barriers to home transition. Eligible providers delivering services to ventilator-assisted individuals (adult and pediatric) living at home were identified by our national provider inventory and referrals from other providers. The survey was administered via a web link from August 2012 to April 2013. The survey response rate was 152/171 (89%). We identified 4,334 ventilator-assisted individuals: an estimated prevalence of 12.9/100,000 population, with 73% receiving noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and 18% receiving intermittent mandatory ventilation (9% not reported). Services were delivered by 39 institutional providers and 113 community providers. We identified variation in initiation criteria for NIV, with polysomnography demonstrating nocturnal hypoventilation (57%), daytime hypercapnia (38%), and nocturnal hypercapnia (32%) as the most common criteria. Various models of ventilator servicing were reported. Most providers (64%) stated that caregiver competency was a prerequisite for home discharge; however, repeated competency assessment and retraining were offered by only 45%. Important barriers to home transition were: insufficient funding for paid caregivers, equipment, and supplies; a shortage of paid caregivers; and negotiating public funding arrangements. Ventilatory support in the community appears well-established, with most individuals managed with NIV. Although caregiver competency is a prerequisite to discharge, ongoing assessment and retraining were infrequent. Funding and caregiver availability were important barriers to home transition. Copyright © 2015

  18. Amigo - Ambient Intelligence for the networked home environment

    OpenAIRE

    Janse, M.D.

    2008-01-01

    The Amigo project develops open, standardized, interoperable middleware and attractive user services for the networked home environment. Fifteen of Europe's leading companies and research organizations in mobile and home networking, software development, consumer electronics and domestic appliances have joined together in the Amigo project to develop an integrated interoperable home networking framework. Amigo is an IST-funded IP project. This report is the final report providing an overview ...

  19. Retrofitting Las Vegas. Implementing Energy Efficiency in Two Las Vegas Test Homes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Puttagunta, S. [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States)

    2013-04-01

    In 2009, the state of Nevada received nearly $40 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to use to stabilize communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment. In order to provide guidance to local officials and maximize how effectively this NSP funding is used in retrofitting homes, the CARB team provided design specifications, energy modeling, and technical support for the BARA team and its local partners—Better Building Performance, Nevada Energy Star Partners Green Alliance, and Home Free Nevada—for two retrofit test homes. One home demonstrated a modest retrofit and the other a deep energy retrofit. This report describes the retrofit packages, which were used as an educational experience for home performance professionals, building trades, remodelers, and the general public.

  20. [Pain control by continuous infusion of morphine using subarachnoid catheter access to the port--a report of a home death case].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawagoe, Koh; Matsuura, Shinobu

    2008-12-01

    This is a case of a 50s male with cecal cancer suffering from severe pain caused by osteolytic metastasis to the lumbar vertebra, right iliac bone, and the head of the right femur. The pain was palliated by continuous infusion of morphine using a subarachnoid catheter that had access to the subcutaneous "Port". The maximum dose of morphine used a day was 384 mg, which corresponded to 57,600 mg/day of oral morphine. Sixty eight days after the start of home hospice care, the patient died at home because of diffuse peritonitis caused by intestinal rupture.

  1. Integrated working between residential care homes and primary care: a survey of care homes in England

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gage Heather

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Older people living in care homes in England have complex health needs due to a range of medical conditions, mental health needs and frailty. Despite an increasing policy expectation that professionals should operate in an integrated way across organisational boundaries, there is a lack of understanding between care homes and the National Health Service (NHS about how the two sectors should work together, meaning that residents can experience a poor "fit" between their needs, and services they can access. This paper describes a survey to establish the current extent of integrated working that exists between care homes and primary and community health and social services. Methods A self-completion, online questionnaire was designed by the research team. Items on the different dimensions of integration (funding, administrative, organisational, service delivery, clinical care were included. The survey was sent to a random sample of residential care homes with more than 25 beds (n = 621 in England in 2009. Responses were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Results The survey achieved an overall response rate of 15.8%. Most care homes (78.7% worked with more than one general practice. Respondents indicated that a mean of 14.1 professionals/ services (other than GPs had visited the care homes in the last six months (SD 5.11, median 14; a mean of .39 (SD.163 professionals/services per bed. The most frequent services visiting were district nursing, chiropody and community psychiatric nurses. Many (60% managers considered that they worked with the NHS in an integrated way, including sharing documents, engaging in integrated care planning and joint learning and training. However, some care home managers cited working practices dictated by NHS methods of service delivery and priorities for care, rather than those of the care home or residents, a lack of willingness by NHS professionals to share information, and low

  2. Risk-adjusted capitation funding models for chronic disease in Australia: alternatives to casemix funding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antioch, K M; Walsh, M K

    2002-01-01

    Under Australian casemix funding arrangements that use Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) the average price is policy based, not benchmarked. Cost weights are too low for State-wide chronic disease services. Risk-adjusted Capitation Funding Models (RACFM) are feasible alternatives. A RACFM was developed for public patients with cystic fibrosis treated by an Australian Health Maintenance Organization (AHMO). Adverse selection is of limited concern since patients pay solidarity contributions via Medicare levy with no premium contributions to the AHMO. Sponsors paying premium subsidies are the State of Victoria and the Federal Government. Cost per patient is the dependent variable in the multiple regression. Data on DRG 173 (cystic fibrosis) patients were assessed for heteroskedasticity, multicollinearity, structural stability and functional form. Stepwise linear regression excluded non-significant variables. Significant variables were 'emergency' (1276.9), 'outlier' (6377.1), 'complexity' (3043.5), 'procedures' (317.4) and the constant (4492.7) (R(2)=0.21, SE=3598.3, F=14.39, Probpayment (constant). The model explained 21% of the variance in cost per patient. The payment rate is adjusted by a best practice annual admission rate per patient. The model is a blended RACFM for in-patient, out-patient, Hospital In The Home, Fee-For-Service Federal payments for drugs and medical services; lump sum lung transplant payments and risk sharing through cost (loss) outlier payments. State and Federally funded home and palliative services are 'carved out'. The model, which has national application via Coordinated Care Trials and by Australian States for RACFMs may be instructive for Germany, which plans to use Australian DRGs for casemix funding. The capitation alternative for chronic disease can improve equity, allocative efficiency and distributional justice. The use of Diagnostic Cost Groups (DCGs) is a promising alternative classification system for capitation arrangements.

  3. A method for evaluating the funding of components of natural resource and conservation projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wellington, John F.; Lewis, Stephen A.

    2016-01-01

    Many public and private entities such as government agencies and private foundations have missions related to the improvement, protection, and sustainability of the environment. In pursuit of their missions, they fund projects with related outcomes. Typically, the funding scene consists of scarce funding dollars for the many project requests. In light of funding limitations and funder's search for innovative funding schemes, a method to support the allocation of scarce dollars among project components is presented. The proposed scheme has similarities to methods in the project selection literature but differs in its focus on project components and its connection to and enumeration of the universe of funding possibilities. The value of having access to the universe is demonstrated with illustrations. The presentation includes Excel implementations that should appeal to a broad spectrum of project evaluators and reviewers. Access to the space of funding possibilities facilitates a rich analysis of funding alternatives. - Highlights: • Method is given for allocating scarce funding dollars among competing projects. • Allocations are made to fund parts of projects • Proposed method provides access to the universe of funding possibilities. • Proposed method facilitates a rich analysis of funding possibilities. • Excel spreadsheet implementations are provided

  4. Chroni - an Android Application for Geochronologists to Access Archived Sample Analyses from the NSF-Funded Geochron.Org Data Repository.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nettles, J. J.; Bowring, J. F.

    2014-12-01

    NSF requires data management plans as part of funding proposals and geochronologists, among other scientists, are archiving their data and results to the public cloud archives managed by the NSF-funded Integrated Earth Data Applications, or IEDA. GeoChron is a database for geochronology housed within IEDA. The software application U-Pb_Redux developed at the Cyber Infrastructure Research and Development Lab for the Earth Sciences (CIRDLES.org) at the College of Charleston provides seamless connectivity to GeoChron for uranium-lead (U-Pb) geochronologists to automatically upload and retrieve their data and results. U-Pb_Redux also manages publication-quality documents including report tables and graphs. CHRONI is a lightweight mobile application for Android devices that provides easy access to these archived data and results. With CHRONI, U-Pb geochronologists can view archived data and analyses downloaded from the Geochron database, or any other location, in a customizable format. CHRONI uses the same extensible markup language (XML) schema and documents used by U-Pb_Redux and GeoChron. Report Settings are special XML files that can be customized in U-Pb_Redux, stored in the cloud, and then accessed and used in CHRONI to create the same customized data display on the mobile device. In addition to providing geologists effortless and mobile access to archived data and analyses, CHRONI allows users to manage their GeoChron credentials, quickly download private and public files via a specified IEDA International Geo Sample Number (IGSN) or URL, and view specialized graphics associated with particular IGSNs. Future versions of CHRONI will be developed to support iOS compatible devices. CHRONI is an open source project under the Apache 2 license and is hosted at https://github.com/CIRDLES/CHRONI. We encourage community participation in its continued development.

  5. Thomond Lodge Nursing Home, Ballymahon, Longford.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Humphries, Niamh

    2009-01-01

    ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: This paper presents data on the remittances sent by migrant nurses to their families "back home". It gives voice to the experiences of migrant nurses and illustrates the financial obligations they maintain while working overseas. Although the international economic recession has decreased global remittance flows, they remain resilient. Drawing on the experiences of migrant nurses in Ireland, this paper indicates how and why migrants strive to maintain remittance flows, even in an economic downturn. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was employed, and the paper draws on data from qualitative in-depth interviews undertaken with 21 migrant nurses in addition to a quantitative survey of 336 migrant nurses in Ireland. RESULTS: The survey of migrant nurses revealed that 87% (293) of the sample sent remittances on a regular basis. According to respondents, remittances made a huge difference in the lives of their family members back home. Remittances were used to ensure that family members could obtain access to health and education services. They were also used to provide an income source for family members who were unemployed or retired.As remittances played an essential role in supporting family members back home, respondent migrant nurses were reluctant to reduce the level of their remittances, despite the onset of a global recession. Respondents noted that an increased demand for remittances from their families coincided with a reduction in their own net salaries - as a result of increased taxes and reduced availability of overtime - and this was a cause for concern for Ireland\\'s migrant nurses. CONCLUSION: This paper provides insights into the importance of remittances in funding social support for family members in home countries. It also illustrates the sacrifices made by migrant nurses to ensure continuation of the remittances, particularly in the context of an economic recession.

  6. Maintenance of access as demand for substance use disorder treatment grows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frakt, Austin B; Trafton, Jodie; Pizer, Steven D

    2015-08-01

    Due to the Affordable Care Act and other recent laws and regulations, funding for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment is on the rise. In the 2000s, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) implemented several initiatives that increased funding for SUD treatment during a period of growth in demand for it. A key question is whether access to and intensity of treatment kept pace or declined. Using VA SUD treatment funding data and patient-level records to construct performance measures, we studied the relationship between funding and access during the VA expansion. Overall, we observed an increase in access to and intensity of VA SUD care associated with increased funding. The VA was able to increase funding for and expand the population to which it offered SUD treatment without diminishing internal access and intensity. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  7. Improving access to care through the patient-centered medical home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    North, Stephen W; McElligot, James; Douglas, Gaye; Martin, Amanda

    2014-02-01

    School-based health centers (SBHCs) serve an essential role in providing access to high-quality, comprehensive care to underserved children and adolescents in more than 2,000 schools across the United States. SBHCs are an essential component of the health care safety net, and their role in the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) continues to evolve as both collaborating partners and, when fully functioning, independent PCMHs. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports the use of SBHCs, citing the proven benefits and exciting potential as justification, but also offers caution and recommends a focus on communication within the community. Traditional "brick and mortar" SBHCs are more likely to be located in urban communities (54.2% urban versus 18.0% rural) and be in schools with more students, allowing for a greater return on investment. Current SBHCs are located in schools with an average population of 997 students. The need for a large school population to help an SBHC approach financial viability excludes children in rural communities who are more likely to attend a school with fewer than 500 students, be poor, and have difficulty accessing health care.2 The expansion of telehealth technologies allows the creation of solutions to decrease geographic barriers that have limited the growth of SBHCs in rural communities. Telehealth school-based health centers (tSBHCs) that exclusively provide services through telemedicine are operating and developing in communities where geographic barriers and financial challenges have prevented the establishment of brick and mortar SBHCs. TSBHCs are beginning to increase the number and variety of services they provide through the use of telehealth to include behavioral health, nutrition services, and pediatric specialists. Understanding the role of tSBHCs in the growth of the PCMH model is critical for using these tools to continue to improve child and adolescent health. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

  8. Population Health and Tailored Medical Care in the Home: the Roles of Home-Based Primary Care and Home-Based Palliative Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritchie, Christine S; Leff, Bruce

    2018-03-01

    With the growth of value-based care, payers and health systems have begun to appreciate the need to provide enhanced services to homebound adults. Recent studies have shown that home-based medical services for this high-cost, high-need population reduce costs and improve outcomes. Home-based medical care services have two flavors that are related to historical context and specialty background-home-based primary care (HBPC) and home-based palliative care (HBPalC). Although the type of services provided by HBPC and HBPalC (together termed "home-based medical care") overlap, HBPC tends to encompass longitudinal and preventive care, while HBPalC often provides services for shorter durations focused more on distress management and goals of care clarification. Given workforce constraints and growing demand, both HBPC and HBPalC will benefit from working together within a population health framework-where HBPC provides care to all patients who have trouble accessing traditional office practices and where HBPalC offers adjunctive care to patients with high symptom burden and those who need assistance with goals clarification. Policy changes that support provision of medical care in the home, population health strategies that tailor home-based medical care to the specific needs of the patients and their caregivers, and educational initiatives to assure basic palliative care competence for all home-based medical providers will improve access and reduce illness burden to this important and underrecognized population. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Library Services Funding Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorig, Jonathan A.

    2004-01-01

    The Glenn Technical Library is a science and engineering library that primarily supports research activities at the Glenn Research Center, and provides selected services to researchers at all of the NASA research centers. Resources available in the library include books, journals, CD-ROMs, and access to various online sources, as well as live reference and inter-library loan services. The collection contains over 77,000 books, 800,000 research reports, and print or online access to over 1,400 journals. Currently the library operates within the Logistics and Technical Information Division, and is funded as an open-access resource within the GRC. Some of the research units at the GRC have recently requested that the library convert to a "pay-for-services" model, in which individual research units could fund only those journal subscriptions for which they have a specific need. Under this model, the library would always maintain a certain minimum level of pooled-expense services, including the ready reference and book collections, and inter-library loan services. Theoretically the "pay-for-services" model would encourage efficient financial allocation, and minimize the extent to which paid journal subscriptions go unused. However, this model also could potentially negate the benefits of group purchases for journal subscriptions and access. All of the major journal publishers offer package subscriptions that compare favorably in cost with the sum of individual subscription costs for a similar selection of titles. Furthermore, some of these subscription packages are "consortium" purchases that are funded collectively by the libraries at multiple NASA research centers; such consortia1 memberships would be difficult for the library to pay, if enough GRC research units were to withdraw their pooled contributions. cost of collectively-funded journal access with the cost of individual subscriptions. My primary task this summer is to create the cost dataset framework, and

  10. Distance-Based Access Modifiers Applied to Safety in Home Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, Kjeld Høyer; Schougaard, Kari Rye; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh

    2004-01-01

    Home networks and the interconnection of home appliances is a classical theme in ubiquitous computing research. Security is a recurring concern, but there is a lack of awareness of safety: preventing the computerized house from harming the inhabitants, even in a worst-case scenario where...... be performed within a physical proximity that ensures safety. We use a declarative approach integrated with an IDL language to express location-based restrictions on operations. This model has been implemented in a middleware for home audio-video devices, using infrared communication and a local-area network...

  11. Sources of funding for community schemes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-11-01

    There is an increasing level of interest amongst community groups in the UK to become involved in the development of renewable energy schemes. Often however these community groups have only limited funds of their own, so any additional funds that can be identified to help fund their renewable energy scheme can be very useful. There are a range of funding sources available that provide grants or loans for which community groups are eligible to apply. Few of these funding sources are targeted towards renewable energy specifically, nevertheless the funds may be applicable to renewable energy schemes under appropriate circumstances. To date, however, few of these funds have been accessed by community groups for renewable energy initiatives. One of the reasons for this low take-up of funds on offer could be that the funding sources may be difficult and time-consuming to identify, especially where the energy component of the fund is not readily apparent. This directory draws together details about many of the principal funding sources available in the UK that may consider providing funds to community groups wanting to develop a renewable energy scheme. (author)

  12. Financing off-grid sustainable energy access for the poor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glemarec, Yannick

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines the role of public instruments in promoting private finance to achieve off-grid sustainable energy access. Renewable energy technologies are increasingly becoming the cheapest solutions for off-grid energy access. The dramatic uptake of mobile phones in developing countries shows how quickly decentralized services can develop on a commercial basis under the right conditions, and raises the prospect that private finance could also drive decentralized energy access for the poor. Indeed, there are already a number of instances of clean energy solutions – such as solar portable lights, household biogas units or solar home systems – that have managed to scale-up through leveraging private finance. However, the experience gained from first-generation market development projects show that, in almost all cases, significant public resources have been necessary to increase the affordability of clean energy technologies, provide access to financing for the poor, and remove non-economic barriers. Such public interventions may be funded by international public finance, domestic budgets and carbon finance. Despite mounting fiscal constraints facing governments worldwide, the emergence of new sources of climate finance and the political momentum in support of energy subsidy reforms, as well as new programming modalities, offer opportunities to leverage additional resources to achieve universal energy access by 2030. - Highlights: ► Renewable energy is increasingly the cheapest solution for off-grid energy access. ► Universal access to energy now depends less on technology and more business models. ► Substantial public finance will still be required to support universal energy access.

  13. NLM Emergency Access Initiative: FAQs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Facebook Visit us on Twitter Visit us on Youtube Emergency Access Initiative Home | Journals | Books | Online Databases | FAQs Take Short Survey FAQ What is the Emergency Access Initiative? The Emergency Access Initiative (EAI) is a collaborative partnership between NLM and participating publishers to

  14. Funding Initiatives | Women in Science | Initiatives | Indian Academy ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Initiatives; Women in Science; Funding Initiatives ... The Fellowship Scheme for Women Scientists for societal programmes is initiative of the ... at a young age of 52, after a valiant battle with cancer, today on 29th March 2016 in Delhi.

  15. Adverse Selection in China's Home Mortgage Policy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gao, Cixiu

    2016-01-01

    The Chinese home buyers are liquidity constrained with limited access to refinance, dissatisfactory social insurance and high home prices. The government requires all borrowers to make a substantial down payment, normally 20% to 50% of the home price, depending on non-risk-related qualifications...

  16. A method for evaluating the funding of components of natural resource and conservation projects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wellington, John F., E-mail: welling@ipfw.edu [Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), Doermer School of Business, 203 Stonegate Drive Erie, PA 16505 (United States); Lewis, Stephen A., E-mail: lewis.sa07@gmail.com [Mongrel Works, LLC., Columbus, OH 43209 (United States)

    2016-02-15

    Many public and private entities such as government agencies and private foundations have missions related to the improvement, protection, and sustainability of the environment. In pursuit of their missions, they fund projects with related outcomes. Typically, the funding scene consists of scarce funding dollars for the many project requests. In light of funding limitations and funder's search for innovative funding schemes, a method to support the allocation of scarce dollars among project components is presented. The proposed scheme has similarities to methods in the project selection literature but differs in its focus on project components and its connection to and enumeration of the universe of funding possibilities. The value of having access to the universe is demonstrated with illustrations. The presentation includes Excel implementations that should appeal to a broad spectrum of project evaluators and reviewers. Access to the space of funding possibilities facilitates a rich analysis of funding alternatives. - Highlights: • Method is given for allocating scarce funding dollars among competing projects. • Allocations are made to fund parts of projects • Proposed method provides access to the universe of funding possibilities. • Proposed method facilitates a rich analysis of funding possibilities. • Excel spreadsheet implementations are provided.

  17. Integration of services for older people: back to funding

    OpenAIRE

    Hébert, Réjean

    2012-01-01

    Purpose To demonstrate that funding is an essential component of integrated care, even in a universal publicly funded health care system. Context The PRISMA coordination-type model is actually being generalized in the Province of Qu?bec (Canada) concurrently with the creation of Health and Social Services Centers (HSSC), a merging of hospitals, community centers and nursing homes in a local area. Case description PRISMA originally included six components: coordination tables, single entry poi...

  18. Home care in Australia: an integrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palesy, Debra; Jakimowicz, Samantha; Saunders, Carla; Lewis, Joanne

    2018-01-01

    The home care sector comprises one of Australia's fastest growing workforces, yet few papers capture the overall landscape of Australian home care. This integrative review investigates home care with the aim of better understanding care recipients and their needs, funding, and regulation; care worker skills, tasks, demographics, employment conditions, and training needs. Over 2,700 pieces of literature were analyzed to inform this review. Results suggest sector fragmentation and a home care workforce who, although well-placed to improve outcomes for care recipients, are in need of better training and employment support. Suggestions for future research regarding Australian home care include studies that combine both aged and disability aspects of care, more research around care recipients, priority needs and strategies for addressing them, and how best to prepare home care workers for their roles.

  19. Do March-In Rights Ensure Access to Medical Products Arising From Federally Funded Research? A Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treasure, Carolyn L; Avorn, Jerry; Kesselheim, Aaron S

    2015-12-01

    The high cost of new prescription drugs and other medical products is a growing health policy issue. Many of the most transformative drugs and vaccines had their origins in public-sector funding to nonprofit research institutions. Although the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 provides for "march-in rights" through which the government can invoke some degree of control over the patents protecting products developed from public funding to ensure public access to these medications, the applicability of this provision to current policy options is not clear. We conducted a primary-source document review of the Bayh-Dole Act's legislative history as well as of hearings of past march-in rights petitions to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We then conducted semistructured interviews of 12 key experts in the march-in rights of the Bayh-Dole Act to identify the sources of the disputes and the main themes in the statute's implementation. We analyzed the interview transcripts using standard qualitative techniques. Since 1980, the NIH has fully reviewed only 5 petitions to invoke governmental march-in rights for 4 health-related technologies or medical products developed from federally funded research. Three of these requests related to reducing the high prices of brand-name drugs, one related to relieving a drug shortage, and one related to a potentially patent-infringing medical device. In each of these cases, the NIH rejected the requests. Interviewees were split on the implications of these experiences, finding the NIH's reluctance to implement its march-in rights to be evidence of either a system working as intended or of a flawed system needing reform. The Bayh-Dole Act's march-in rights continue to be invoked by policymakers and health advocates, most recently in the context of new,high-cost products originally discovered with federally funded research. We found that the existence of march-in rights may select for government research licensees more likely to commercialize

  20. Wireless Home Automation System using IoT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra MIHALACHE

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, the chance of having an automated home is no longer a fancy luxury, but a reality accessible to a wide range of consumers, because smart home systems have replaced those that only automated the home in the past. More and more solutions based on IoT are being devel-oped to transform homes into smart ones, but the problem is that the benefits of home automa-tion are still not clear to everyone as they are not promoted enough, so we cannot talk about a broad mass of consumers already using integrated or DIY solutions to improve their lives. In this paper, I will present a home automation system using Arduino Uno integrated with rele-vant modules which are used to allow remote control of lights or fans, changes being made on the basis of different sensors data. The system is designed to be low cost and expandable, bring-ing accessibility, convenience and energy efficiency.

  1. ACCOUNTING TREATMENTS ON FORESTRY SPECIAL FUNDS AND SPECIFIC PROBLEMS IN ROMANIA

    OpenAIRE

    Hada Teodor; Mărginean Radu

    2013-01-01

    This study, theoretically and practically, presents the accounting system for forestry special purpose funds in Romania. In addition, the main problems Romanian forestry faces nowadays are highlighted in the content, given the legislative changes expected in the near future. Accounting treatments specific to Romanian forestry regarding special funds, namely the conservation and regeneration fund, the accessibility fund, the environmental fund and the improvement fund are governed in the curre...

  2. Efficient Solutions for Existing Homes Case Study: Rehabilitations of USDA Multifamily Homes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2016-04-01

    Rea Ventures Group, LLC, partnered with Southface Energy Institute (Southface), a member of the U.S. Department of Energy's Partnership for Home Innovation Building America research team, to develop a prescriptive approach for rehabilitating a portfolio of rural multifamily rental properties in Georgia, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

  3. Decision Makers' Allocation of Home-Care Therapy Services: A Process Map

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poss, Jeff; Egan, Mary; Rappolt, Susan; Berg, Katherine

    2013-01-01

    ABSTRACT Purpose: To explore decision-making processes currently used in allocating occupational and physical therapy services in home care for complex long-stay clients in Ontario. Method: An exploratory study using key-informant interviews and client vignettes was conducted with home-care decision makers (case managers and directors) from four home-care regions in Ontario. The interview data were analyzed using the framework analysis method. Results: The decision-making process for allocating therapy services has four stages: intake, assessment, referral to service provider, and reassessment. There are variations in the management processes deployed at each stage. The major variation is in the process of determining the volume of therapy services across home-care regions, primarily as a result of financial constraints affecting the home-care programme. Government funding methods and methods of information sharing also significantly affect home-care therapy allocation. Conclusion: Financial constraints in home care are the primary contextual factor affecting allocation of therapy services across home-care regions. Given the inflation of health care costs, new models of funding and service delivery need to be developed to ensure that the right person receives the right care before deteriorating and requiring more costly long-term care. PMID:24403672

  4. 45 CFR 149.315 - Reimbursement conditioned upon available funds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Reimbursement conditioned upon available funds... TO HEALTH CARE ACCESS REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EARLY RETIREE REINSURANCE PROGRAM Reimbursement Methods § 149.315 Reimbursement conditioned upon available funds. Notwithstanding a sponsor's compliance with...

  5. Open Access @ DTU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ekstrøm, Jeannette

    Open Access is high on the agenda in Denmark and internationally. Denmark has announced a national strategy for Open Access that aims to achieve Open Access to 80% in 2017 and 100% in 2022 to peer review research articles. All public Danish funders as well as H2020 requires that all peer review...... articles that is an outcome of their funding will be Open Access. Uploading your full texts (your final author manuscript after review ) to DTU Orbit is a fundamental part of providing Open Access to your research. We are here to answer all your questions with regards to Open Access and related topics...... such as copyright, DTU Orbit, Open Access journals, APCs, Vouchers etc....

  6. Access to Difficult-to-reach Population Subgroups: A Family Midwife Based Home Visiting Service for Implementing Nutrition-related Preventive Activities - A Mixed Methods Explorative Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helena Walz

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Health and social inequality are tightly linked and still pose an important public health problem. However, vulnerable and disadvantaged populations are difficult to reach for health-related interventions. Given the long-lasting effects of an adverse, particular nutrition-related, intrauterine and neonatal environment on health development (perinatal programming, an early and easy access is essential for sustainable interventions. The goal of this explorative study was therefore to elucidate whether an existing access of family midwives (FMs to families in need of support could be an option to implement effective public health and nutrition interventions. To that end three research objectives were formulated: (1 to determine whether a discernible impact of home visits by FMs can be described; (2 to identify subgroups among these families in need of more specific interventions; (3 to determine how relevant nutrition-related topics are for both FMs and the supported families. For addressing these objectives a mixed methods design was used: Routine documentation data from 295 families visited by a family midwife (FM were analyzed (secondary analysis, and structured expert interviews with FMs were conducted and analyzed. Study reporting followed the STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology statement. Based on the FMs reports, a significant improvement (p < 0.001 regarding psycho-social variables could be determined after the home visits. Single mothers, however, seemed to benefit less from the FMs service compared to their counterparts (p = 0.015. Nutritional counseling was demanded by 89% of the families during the home visits. In addition, nutrition-related topics were reported in the interviews to be of high interest to both families and the FMs. Based on the obtained results it is concluded that FMs home visits offer a promising access to vulnerable and disadvantaged families for implementing nutrition

  7. Demystifying Open Access

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mele, Salvatore

    2007-01-01

    The tenets of Open Access are to grant anyone, anywhere and anytime free access to the results of scientific research. HEP spearheaded the Open Access dissemination of scientific results with the mass mailing of preprints in the pre-WWW era and with the launch of the arXiv preprint system at the dawn of the '90s. The HEP community is now ready for a further push to Open Access while retaining all the advantages of the peer-review system and, at the same time, bring the spiralling cost of journal subscriptions under control. I will present a possible plan for the conversion to Open Access of HEP peer-reviewed journals, through a consortium of HEP funding agencies, laboratories and libraries: SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics). SCOAP3 will engage with scientific publishers towards building a sustainable model for Open Access publishing, which is as transparent as possible for HEP authors. The current system in which journals income comes from subscription fees is replaced with a scheme where SCOAP3 compensates publishers for the costs incurred to organise the peer-review service and give Open Access to the final version of articles. SCOAP3 will be funded by all countries active in HEP under a 'fair share' scenario, according to their production of HEP articles. In this talk I will present a short overview of the history of Open Access in HEP, the details of the SCOAP3 model and the outlook for its implementation.

  8. Improved Housing Accessibility for Older People in Sweden and Germany: Short Term Costs and Long-Term Gains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slaug, Björn; Chiatti, Carlos; Oswald, Frank; Kaspar, Roman; Schmidt, Steven M

    2017-08-26

    The physical housing environment is important to facilitate activities of daily living (ADL) for older people. A hindering environment may lead to ADL dependence and thus increase the need for home services, which is individually restricting and a growing societal burden. This study presents simulations of policy changes with regard to housing accessibility that estimates the potential impact specifically on instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL), usage of home services, and related costs. The models integrate empirical data to test the hypothesis that a policy providing funding to remove the five most severe environmental barriers in the homes of older people who are at risk of developing dependence in I-ADL, can maintain independence and reduce the need for home services. In addition to official statistics from state agencies in Sweden and Germany, we utilized published results from the ENABLE-AGE and other scientific studies to generate the simulations. The simulations predicted that new policies that remove potentially hindering housing features would improve I-ADL performance among older people and reduce the need for home services. Our findings suggest that a policy change can contribute to positive effects with regard to I-ADL independence among older people and to a reduction of societal burden.

  9. Paid sick days and stay-at-home behavior for influenza

    OpenAIRE

    Piper, Kaitlin; Youk, Ada; James, A. Everette; Kumar, Supriya

    2017-01-01

    Access to paid sick days (PSD) differs by workplace size, race/ethnicity, gender, and income in the United States. It is not known to what extent decisions to stay home from work when sick with infectious illnesses such as influenza depend on PSD access, and whether access impacts certain demographic groups more than others. We examined demographic and workplace characteristics (including access to PSD) associated with employees' decisions to stay home from work for their own or a child's ill...

  10. Smart Home Dashboard. The intelligent energy management; Smart Home Dashboard. Das intelligente Energiemanagement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stopczynski, Martin; Ghiglieri, Marco [Technische Univ. Darmstadt (Germany). Fachgebiet Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik

    2012-07-01

    Due to an increasingly smarter environment, however smart home components are used in households. A variety of household appliances can be monitored and controlled by smart plugs. An advantage of this development is the individual investigation of devices in terms of individual power consumption. However, the usability of the end user side also increases proportional to the number of existing devices. A possible access of external market participants is not currently implemented without major security problems. The authors of the contribution under consideration report on the Smart Home Dashboard, which provides a comprehensive power management. The smart home dashboard is intuitively operable and meets current safety standards. The aim of this paper is: (1) Adjustment of the handling of the recorded data to the current privacy policy; (2) Enforcement of the privacy of the end user by means of the implementation of smart grid protection objectives; (3) Providing a secure access for remote participants.

  11. Annual Information Meeting of the Pension Fund

    CERN Multimedia

    2014-01-01

    All members and beneficiaries of the Pension Fund are invited to attend the Annual Information Meeting.   Annual Information Meeting to be held in the CERN Council Chamber on Tuesday, 16 September 2014 from 9.00 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. Copies of the 2013 Pension Fund Financial Statements are already available in accessible PDF on the Pension Fund website and will also be distributed at this session. Coffee and croissants will be served prior to the meeting as of 8:30 a.m. N.B. Date change: 16 September 2014

  12. Funding breakthrough therapies: A systematic review and recommendation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanna, E; Toumi, M; Dussart, C; Borissov, B; Dabbous, O; Badora, K; Auquier, P

    2018-03-01

    Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) are innovative therapies likely associated with high prices. Payers need guidance to create a balance between ensuring patient access to breakthrough therapies and maintaining the financial sustainability of the healthcare system. The aims of this study were to identify, define, classify and compare the approaches to funding high-cost medicines proposed in the literature, to analyze their appropriateness for ATMP funding and to suggest an optimal funding model for ATMPs. Forty-eight articles suggesting new funding models for innovative high-cost therapies were identified. The models were classified into 3 groups: financial agreement, health outcomes-based agreement and healthcoin. Financial agreement encompassed: discounts, rebates, price and volume caps, price-volume agreements, loans, cost-plus price, intellectual-based payment and fund-based payment. Health outcomes-based agreements were defined as agreements between manufacturers and payers based on drug performance, and were divided into performance-based payment and coverage with evidence development. Healthcoin described a new suggested tradeable currency used to assign monetary value to incremental outcomes. With a large number of ATMPs in development, it is time for stakeholders to start thinking about new pathways and funding strategies for these innovative high-cost therapies. An "ATMP-specific fund" may constitute a reasonable solution to ensure rapid patient access to innovation without threatening the sustainability of the health care system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. The Research Funding Service: a model for expanded library services

    OpenAIRE

    Means, Martha L.

    2000-01-01

    Traditionally, libraries have provided a modest amount of information about grants and funding opportunities to researchers in need of research funding. Ten years ago, the University of Washington (UW) Health Sciences Libraries and Information Center joined in a cooperative effort with the School of Medicine to develop a complete, library-based grant and funding service for health sciences researchers called the Research Funding Service. The library provided space, access to the library colle...

  14. Designing Smart Health Care Technology into the Home of the Future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Warren, S.; Craft, R.L.; Bosma, J.T.

    1999-04-07

    The US health care industry is experiencing a substantial paradigm shift with regard to home care due to the convergence of several technology areas. Increasingly-capable telehealth systems and the internet are not only moving the point of care closer to the patient, but the patient can now assume a more active role in his or her own care. These technologies, coupled with (1) the migration of the health care industry to electronic patient records and (2) the emergence of a growing number of enabling health care technologies (e.g., novel biosensors, wearable devices, and intelligent software agents), demonstrate unprecedented potential for delivering highly automated, intelligent health care in the home. This editorial paper presents a vision for the implementation of intelligent health care technology in the home of the future, focusing on areas of research that have the highest potential payoff given targeted government funding over the next ten years. Here, intelligent health care technology means smart devices and systems that are aware of their context and can therefore assimilate information to support care decisions. A systems perspective is used to describe a framework under which devices can interact with one another in a plug-and-play manner. Within this infrastructure, traditionally passive sensors and devices will have read/write access to appropriate portions of an individual's electronic medical record. Through intelligent software agents, plug-and-play mechanisms, messaging standards, and user authentication tools, these smart home-based medical devices will be aware of their own capabilities, their relationship to the other devices in the home system, and the identity of the individual(s) from whom they acquire data. Information surety technology will be essential to maintain the confidentiality of patient-identifiable medical information and to protect the integrity of geographically dispersed electronic medical records with which each home

  15. Open Access Policy for IDRC-Funded Project Outputs | IDRC ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Open access is of fundamental importance to IDRC's mandate and to ... Grey literature must be placed in the IDRC Digital Library;; All project outputs identified ... website or in a reasonably well-established and high quality repository[1]. ... The Directory of Open Access Journals,maintained by Infrastructure Services for Open ...

  16. How to access funding for non-communicable disease prevention in ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    What are the attitudes and views of key government ministries, NGOs, and corporate organizations (excluding the tobacco industry) toward funding for NCDs and tobacco control in Ghana? What constraints ... Institution. Ghana Health Service.

  17. DCP Leading NIH Glycoscience Common Fund Program; Funding Opportunities Open | Division of Cancer Prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention is a leading participant for a key initiative in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Glycoscience Common Fund program. This program supports development of accessible and affordable new tools and technologies for studying the role complex carbohydrates in health and disease. |

  18. Willingness to Pay for a Maternity Waiting Home Stay in Zambia

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Emily E.; Biemba, Godfrey; Mataka, Kaluba; Scott, Nancy

    2016-01-01

    Introduction Complications of pregnancy and childbirth can pose serious risks to the health of women, especially in resource‐poor settings. Zambia has been implementing a program to improve access to emergency obstetric and neonatal care, including expansion of maternity waiting homes‐residential facilities located near a qualified medical facility where a pregnant woman can wait to give birth. Yet it is unclear how much support communities and women would be willing to provide to help fund the homes and increase sustainability. Methods We conducted a mixed‐methods study to estimate willingness to pay for maternity waiting home services based on a survey of 167 women, men, and community elders. We also collected qualitative data from 16 focus group discussions to help interpret our findings in context. Results The maximum willingness to pay was 5.0 Zambian kwacha or $0.92 US dollars per night of stay. Focus group discussions showed that willingness to pay is dependent on higher quality of services such as food service and suggested that the pricing policy (by stay or by night) could influence affordability and use. Discussion While Zambians seem to value and be willing to contribute a modest amount for maternity waiting home services, planners must still address potential barriers that may prevent women from staying at the shelters. These include cash availability and affordability for the poorest households. PMID:28419708

  19. Effect of prospective reimbursement on nursing home costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coburn, A F; Fortinsky, R; McGuire, C; McDonald, T P

    1993-04-01

    This study evaluates the effect of Maine's Medicaid nursing home prospective payment system on nursing home costs and access to care for public patients. The implementation of a facility-specific prospective payment system for nursing homes provided the opportunity for longitudinal study of the effect of that system. Data sources included audited Medicaid nursing home cost reports, quality-of-care data from state facility survey and licensure files, and facility case-mix information from random, stratified samples of homes and residents. Data were obtained for six years (1979-1985) covering the three-year period before and after implementation of the prospective payment system. This study used a pre-post, longitudinal analytical design in which interrupted, time-series regression models were estimated to test the effects of prospective payment and other factors, e.g., facility characteristics, nursing home market factors, facility case mix, and quality of care, on nursing home costs. Prospective payment contributed to an estimated $3.03 decrease in total variable costs in the third year from what would have been expected under the previous retrospective cost-based payment system. Responsiveness to payment system efficiency incentives declined over the study period, however, indicating a growing problem in achieving further cost reductions. Some evidence suggested that cost reductions might have reduced access for public patients. Study findings are consistent with the results of other studies that have demonstrated the effectiveness of prospective payment systems in restraining nursing home costs. Potential policy trade-offs among cost containment, access, and quality assurance deserve further consideration, particularly by researchers and policymakers designing the new generation of case mix-based and other nursing home payment systems.

  20. A Cost-Benefit Analysis of a State-Funded Healthy Homes Program for Residents With Asthma: Findings From the New York State Healthy Neighborhoods Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomez, Marta; Reddy, Amanda L; Dixon, Sherry L; Wilson, Jonathan; Jacobs, David E

    Despite considerable evidence that the economic and other benefits of asthma home visits far exceed their cost, few health care payers reimburse or provide coverage for these services. To evaluate the cost and savings of the asthma intervention of a state-funded healthy homes program. Pre- versus postintervention comparisons of asthma outcomes for visits conducted during 2008-2012. The New York State Healthy Neighborhoods Program operates in select communities with a higher burden of housing-related illness and associated risk factors. One thousand households with 550 children and 731 adults with active asthma; 791 households with 448 children and 551 adults with asthma events in the previous year. The program provides home environmental assessments and low-cost interventions to address asthma trigger-promoting conditions and asthma self-management. Conditions are reassessed 3 to 6 months after the initial visit. Program costs and estimated benefits from changes in asthma medication use, visits to the doctor for asthma, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations over a 12-month follow-up period. For the asthma event group, the per person savings for all medical encounters and medications filled was $1083 per in-home asthma visit, and the average cost of the visit was $302, for a benefit to program cost ratio of 3.58 and net benefit of $781 per asthma visit. For the active asthma group, per person savings was $613 per asthma visit, with a benefit to program cost ratio of 2.03 and net benefit of $311. Low-intensity, home-based, environmental interventions for people with asthma decrease the cost of health care utilization. Greater reductions are realized when services are targeted toward people with more poorly controlled asthma. While low-intensity approaches may produce more modest benefits, they may also be more feasible to implement on a large scale. Health care payers, and public payers in particular, should consider expanding coverage, at least for

  1. Development and validation of a remote home safety protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romero, Sergio; Lee, Mi Jung; Simic, Ivana; Levy, Charles; Sanford, Jon

    2018-02-01

    Environmental assessments and subsequent modifications conducted by healthcare professionals can enhance home safety and promote independent living. However, travel time, expense and the availability of qualified professionals can limit the broad application of this intervention. Remote technology has the potential to increase access to home safety evaluations. This study describes the development and validation of a remote home safety protocol that can be used by a caregiver of an elderly person to video-record their home environment for later viewing and evaluation by a trained professional. The protocol was developed based on literature reviews and evaluations from clinical and content experts. Cognitive interviews were conducted with a group of six caregivers to validate the protocol. The final protocol included step-by-step directions to record indoor and outdoor areas of the home. The validation process resulted in modifications related to safety, clarity of the protocol, readability, visual appearance, technical descriptions and usability. Our final protocol includes detailed instructions that a caregiver should be able to follow to record a home environment for subsequent evaluation by a home safety professional. Implications for Rehabilitation The results of this study have several implications for rehabilitation practice The remote home safety evaluation protocol can potentially improve access to rehabilitation services for clients in remote areas and prevent unnecessary delays for needed care. Using our protocol, a patient's caregiver can partner with therapists to quickly and efficiently evaluate a patient's home before they are released from the hospital. Caregiver narration, which reflects a caregiver's own perspective, is critical to evaluating home safety. In-home safety evaluations, currently not available to all who need them due to access barriers, can enhance a patient's independence and provide a safer home environment.

  2. ROMANIAN ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY OF EUROPEAN FUNDS ABSOBTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina Bosie (Ungureanu

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The capacity to absorb European funds is part of a state complex integrated admninistrative capacity, a component of a state as a whole. The analysis in this article starts from the theoretical development by studying the reports made by the Romanian Government, correlated with the European Union reports on funds and Romanian legislation. This analysis of the EU's structural funds, highlights the importance of accessing them and the degree to which Romania and member countries benefits of income support.European funds are meant to supplement a member of the Union funds to the extent that they are accessed through the projects. Money allocated on type of operation is distributed in amounts proportionate to that state needs. Money distributed will be justified by their realization of infrastructure projects, environment, transport, human resources development, rural and regional development.Theoretical research lay the foundation for determining administrative capacity in Romania from the first time of defining the concept until now. Empirical research reveals the degree of absorption of which is that Romania has in comparison with some EU countries, former socialist countries present democratic states.The absorption capacity of European funds determine the strength of a state administrative management issues in the management of monetary dated. Power in handling management administrative problems can be efficient in higher manner and it’s represented by cost-benefit analysis and the degree of satisfaction of citizen interest. As public services are financially supported and developed, the degree of citizen satisfaction is greater in an implemented decentralized administrative system.

  3. Open Access Monitor - DK

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svendsen, Michael; Hansen, Lars Asger Juel; Andersen, Dorte

    2017-01-01

    Open Access Monitor - DK (OAM-DK) is a 2-year DEFF funded [DEFF.2016-0018] national project running in 2017-2018 with the aim of collecting, documenting and administrating Open Access publishing costs. OAM-DK is lead by Copenhagen University Library under the Royal Danish Library with participation...... of all Danish University Libraries. This poster presents the first results of Open Access costs related to 2015 publications at the The University of Copenhagen....

  4. On Developing of Smart Home with Pervasive Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Ramli, Kalamullah; Alayderous, Abdurrahman; Salman, Muhammad

    2009-01-01

    The paper describes our study and development of smart home by taken into account the concept of pervasive technology. The system integrates pervasive concept into the design of its hardware and software architecture, functionalities and system configuration. Pervasive technology is aimed at giving users access to information sources anywhere, anytime and on -demand. Pervasive access to and from the smart home can be done simultaneously via remote control, sms, web-camera and web-based Intern...

  5. The virtual dental home: a critique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Jay W; Nash, David A; Mathu-Muju, Kavita R

    2017-09-01

    The Virtual Dental Home is a concept of the Pacific Center for Special Care of the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco. It is designed to improve access to dental care for underserved populations, specifically children and institutionalized adults. This article describes the development and implementation of the Virtual Dental Home, subsequently critiquing the concept. The criteria for a dental home are not met by the program. It is the equivalent of a traditional public oral health prevention and screening program, with the additional dimension of allowing dental hygienists and assistants to place interim glass ionomer restorations in dental cavities. The critique questions the need to insert a "cloud" dentist into the process. The routine utilization of radiographs is also challenged. The VDH not only lacks the attributes of a dental home, it has not been shown to be as efficient and effective as traditional programs staffed by dental hygienists and dental therapists. The article concludes by describing how programs utilizing dental therapists could address the deficiencies of the Virtual Dental Home, effectively improving access to oral health care for underserved populations. © 2017 American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

  6. Perception of quality of care among residents of public nursing-homes in Spain: a grounded theory study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-Martín, Beatriz; Martínez-Andrés, María; Cervera-Monteagudo, Beatriz; Notario-Pacheco, Blanca; Martínez-Vizcaíno, Vicente

    2013-06-28

    The quality of care in nursing homes is weakly defined, and has traditionally focused on quantify nursing homes outputs and on comparison of nursing homes' resources. Rarely the point of view of clients has been taken into account. The aim of this study was to ascertain what means "quality of care" for residents of nursing homes. Grounded theory was used to design and analyze a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with a theoretical sampling including 20 persons aged over 65 years with no cognitive impairment and eight proxy informants of residents with cognitive impairment, institutionalized at a public nursing home in Spain. Our analysis revealed that participants perceived the quality of care in two ways, as aspects related to the persons providing care and as institutional aspects of the care's process. All participants agreed that aspects related to the persons providing care was a pillar of quality, something that, in turn, embodied a series of emotional and technical professional competences. Regarding the institutional aspects of the care's process, participants laid emphasis on round-the-clock access to health care services and on professional's job stability. This paper includes perspectives of the nursing homes residents, which are largely absent. Incorporating residents' standpoints as a complement to traditional institutional criteria would furnish health providers and funding agencies with key information when it came to designing action plans and interventions aimed at achieving excellence in health care.

  7. Home is Private…Do Not Enter! Introversion and Sensitivity to Work-Home Conflict.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baer, Stacy M; Jenkins, Jade S; Barber, Larissa K

    2016-10-01

    This study examined extraversion as a moderator of the relationship between negative work-home conflict and stress-related outcomes among US employees using conservation of resources theory and privacy regulation theory. Introverts only experienced stronger negative effects of negative work-home conflict on work-related resource depletion (job burnout, low engagement, low satisfaction with balance) rather than general resource depletion (personal burnout) and strain (physical and psychological). This finding suggests that introverts selectively withdraw from the work domain to conserve resources when privacy at home is threatened. Employers may want to consider ways to help introverts increase work-home segmentation, such as reducing workplace norms that encourage employees to be continuously accessible. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. 25 CFR 39.705 - Are schools eligible for transportation funds to transport special education students?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... transport special education students? 39.705 Section 39.705 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF... Funds § 39.705 Are schools eligible for transportation funds to transport special education students? Yes. A school that transports a special education student from home to a treatment center and back to...

  9. Extended architecture for home base stations with multimedia services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Voicu, A.; Jarnikov, D.S.

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes the use of mobile access points (home node base stations, femtocells) for providing TV streaming to mobile devices inside the home. The research is focused on finding commonalities between architectures of the home node base station for different technologies. The result is a

  10. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's investments in harm reduction through the rounds-based funding model (2002-2014)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bridge, Jamie; Hunter, Benjamin M; Albers, Eliot

    2016-01-01

    investment of US$ 620. million. Two-thirds of this budgeted amount was for interventions in the "comprehensive package" defined by the United Nations. 91% of the identified amount was for Eastern Europe and Asia. Conclusion: This study represents an updated, comprehensive assessment of Global Fund...... and inequitable access to these services and face widespread stigma and discrimination. In 2013, the Global Fund launched a new funding model-signalling the end of the previous rounds-based model that had operated since its founding in 2002. This study updates previous analyses to assess Global Fund investments...... investments in harm reduction from its founding (2002) until the start of the new funding model (2014). It also highlights the overall shortfall of harm reduction funding, with the estimated global need being US$ 2.3. billion for harm reduction in 2015 alone. Using this baseline, the Global Fund must...

  11. Open Access Publishing: What Authors Want

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nariani, Rajiv; Fernandez, Leila

    2012-01-01

    Campus-based open access author funds are being considered by many academic libraries as a way to support authors publishing in open access journals. Article processing fees for open access have been introduced recently by publishers and have not yet been widely accepted by authors. Few studies have surveyed authors on their reasons for publishing…

  12. The cost of starting and maintaining a large home hemodialysis program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komenda, Paul; Copland, Michael; Makwana, Jay; Djurdjev, Ogdjenka; Sood, Manish M; Levin, Adeera

    2010-06-01

    Home extended hours hemodialysis improves some measurable biological and quality-of-life parameters over conventional renal replacement therapies in patients with end-stage renal disease. Published small studies evaluating costs have shown savings in terms of ongoing operating costs with this modality. However, all estimates need to include the total costs, including infrastructure, patient training, and maintenance; patient attrition by death, transplantation, technique failure; and the necessity of in-center dialysis. We describe a comprehensive funding model for a large centrally administered but locally delivered home hemodialysis program in British Columbia, Canada that covered 122 patients, of which 113 were still in the program at study end. The majority of patients performed home nocturnal hemodialysis in this 2-year retrospective study. All training periods, both in-center and in-home dialysis, medications, hospitalizations, and deaths were captured using our provincial renal database and vital statistics. Comparative data from the provincial database and pricing models were used for costing purposes. The total comprehensive costs per patient-incorporating startup, home, and in-center dialysis; medications; home remodeling; and consumables-was $59,179 for years 2004-2005 and $48,648 for 2005-2006. The home dialysis patients required multiple in-center dialysis runs, significantly contributing to the overall costs. Our study describes a valid, comprehensive funding model delineating reliable cost estimates of starting and maintaining a large home-based hemodialysis program. Consideration of hidden costs is important for administrators and planners to take into account when designing budgets for home hemodialysis.

  13. Effect of prospective reimbursement on nursing home costs.

    OpenAIRE

    Coburn, A F; Fortinsky, R; McGuire, C; McDonald, T P

    1993-01-01

    OBJECTIVE. This study evaluates the effect of Maine's Medicaid nursing home prospective payment system on nursing home costs and access to care for public patients. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING. The implementation of a facility-specific prospective payment system for nursing homes provided the opportunity for longitudinal study of the effect of that system. Data sources included audited Medicaid nursing home cost reports, quality-of-care data from state facility survey and licensure files, and ...

  14. Committee Opinion No. 697: Planned Home Birth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-04-01

    In the United States, approximately 35,000 births (0.9%) per year occur in the home. Approximately one fourth of these births are unplanned or unattended. Although the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists believes that hospitals and accredited birth centers are the safest settings for birth, each woman has the right to make a medically informed decision about delivery. Importantly, women should be informed that several factors are critical to reducing perinatal mortality rates and achieving favorable home birth outcomes. These factors include the appropriate selection of candidates for home birth; the availability of a certified nurse-midwife, certified midwife or midwife whose education and licensure meet International Confederation of Midwives' Global Standards for Midwifery Education, or physician practicing obstetrics within an integrated and regulated health system; ready access to consultation; and access to safe and timely transport to nearby hospitals. The Committee on Obstetric Practice considers fetal malpresentation, multiple gestation, or prior cesarean delivery to be an absolute contraindication to planned home birth.

  15. Committee Opinion No. 669: Planned Home Birth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-08-01

    In the United States, approximately 35,000 births (0.9%) per year occur in the home. Approximately one fourth of these births are unplanned or unattended. Although the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists believes that hospitals and accredited birth centers are the safest settings for birth, each woman has the right to make a medically informed decision about delivery. Importantly, women should be informed that several factors are critical to reducing perinatal mortality rates and achieving favorable home birth outcomes. These factors include the appropriate selection of candidates for home birth; the availability of a certified nurse-midwife, certified midwife or midwife whose education and licensure meet International Confederation of Midwives' Global Standards for Midwifery Education, or physician practicing obstetrics within an integrated and regulated health system; ready access to consultation; and access to safe and timely transport to nearby hospitals. The Committee on Obstetric Practice considers fetal malpresentation, multiple gestation, or prior cesarean delivery to be an absolute contraindication to planned home birth.

  16. Open Access Publishing in High-Energy Physics

    CERN Document Server

    Mele, S

    2007-01-01

    The goal of Open Access (OA) is to grant anyone, anywhere and anytime free access to the results of scientific research. The High- Energy Physics (HEP) community has pioneered OA with its "pre-print culture": the mass mailing, first, and the online posting, later, of preliminary versions of its articles. After almost half a century of widespread dissemination of pre-prints, the time is ripe for the HEP community to explore OA publishing. Among other possible models, a sponsoring consortium appears as the most viable option for a transition of HEP peer-reviewed literature to OA. A Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP3) is proposed as a central body which would remunerate publishers for the peer-review service, effectively replacing the "reader-pays" model of traditional subscriptions with an "author-side" funding. Funding to SCOAP3 would come from HEP funding agencies and library consortia through a re-direction of subscriptions. This model is discussed in details togethe...

  17. Home e-health system integration in the Smart Home through a common media server.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pau, I; Seoane, F; Lindecrantz, K; Valero, M A; Carracedo, J

    2009-01-01

    Home e-health systems and services are revealed as one of the most important challenges to promote Quality of Life related to Health in the Information Society. Leading companies have worked on e-health systems although the majority of them are addressed to hospital or primary care settings. The solution detailed in this paper offers a personal health system to be integrated with Smart Home services platform to support home based e-care. Thus, the home e-health system and architecture detailed in this research work is ready to supply a seamless personal care solution both from the biomedical data analysis, service provision, security guarantee and information management s point of view. The solution is ready to be integrated within the Accessible Digital Home, a living lab managed by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for R&D activities.

  18. New Solutions to the Funding Dilemma of Technology Startups

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Kousari

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the current funding challenges facing technology startups and describes new models based on smaller investments and collective action. First, the advantages and disadvantages of traditional startup funding models are presented, with an emphasis on venture capital and angel investment. Next, an overview of existing seed funds, or seed accelerators, shows how entrepreneurs can leverage this approach to access subsequent rounds of funding and create successful ventures. Then, an overview of crowd funding is provided, including examples of companies that have adopted this approach to funding startups and their founders. Finally, the article presents the basis of a new approach that uses crowd funding as means of attracting investors to collectives. In these business ecosystems, startups are exposed to less risk and investors can benefit from attractive returns by investing in these promising startups.

  19. Accessibility issues with long-term disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebring-Cale, Nancy J

    2008-06-01

    Home modifications for barrier-free accessibility will assist the physically challenged populations by increasing their independence. By providing an accessible environment, an individual can become more independent and require less assistance for functional activities, such as kitchen appliance access, door widening, open floor plan, elevated electric outlets, roll-under sinks, roll-in showers and MobiLife elevating wheelchair.

  20. The Absorption of European Funds Premise of Romanian Business Environment Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriela Marchis

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available The main objectives of this paper is to emphasize the important role played by Structural andCohesion Funds for business environment development, especially in times of economic downturn when thefinancial resources are difficult to access. Prior work regarding the promotion of good administration ofstructural funds in new member states was carried out by NGOs. The main methods employed for capturingthe research evidence consists in comparative analysis of the related work, and also in studying the capacityof absorption of European funds in the case Romania, especially from the SMEs perspective. The mainresults show that European Funds absorption is delayed and negatively influenced by a series of factors. Theimportance of European financial assistance through Structural and Cohesion Funds is undeniable, especiallyin times of financial crisis, so implications of this study are important to entrepreneurs, especially for SMEsbut also to policy-makers, because they can design the procedures of accessing this funds in order to easy thisprocess. The value of this paper ensues from the original approach of contradictory role played by Europeanfunds for Romanian business environment, because it represents the mirage of overcoming economic crisis.

  1. How membership of the CERN Pension Fund is taken into account by certain French Pension Funds

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2010-01-01

    Information for current and former CERN staff members from the Rhône-Alpes branch of the Caisse Régionale d’Assurance Maladie (CRAM) The Rhône-Alpes branch of the Caisse Régionale d’Assurance Maladie (CRAM) has recently informed CERN that, since 1 January 2010, periods of membership of the CERN Pension Fund can, under certain conditions, be used in the calculation of the pension paid by certain French pension funds. For more information on this subject, please consult Circular DSS/DACI/2010/85 of 4 March 2010 pertaining to the manner in which periods of membership of compulsory pension funds of European or international organisations, to which France is a party, are taken into account in determining the period used by French pension funds to establish the pension entitlement. The Circular can be accessed at the following sites: http://www.securite-sociale.fr/textes/retraite/international/affiliation_instut_international_eu.htm and http://www.c...

  2. MORTGAGE FINANCING. Actuarial Soundness of the Federal Housing Administration's Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2002-01-01

    ...) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Through the Fund, FHA operates a single-family insurance program that helps millions of Americans buy homes...

  3. Human Rights and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jürgens, Ralf; Lim, Hyeyoung; Timberlake, Susan; Smith, Matthew

    2017-01-01

    Abstract The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created to greatly expand access to basic services to address the three diseases in its name. From its beginnings, its governance embodied some human rights principles: civil society is represented on its board, and the country coordination mechanisms that oversee funding requests to the Global Fund include representatives of people affected by the diseases. The Global Fund’s core strategies recognize that the health services it supports would not be effective or cost-effective without efforts to reduce human rights-related barriers to access and utilization of health services, particularly those faced by socially marginalized and criminalized persons. Basic human rights elements were written into Global Fund grant agreements, and various technical support measures encouraged the inclusion in funding requests of programs to reduce human rights-related barriers. A five-year initiative to provide intensive technical and financial support for the scaling up of programs to reduce these barriers in 20 countries is ongoing. PMID:29302175

  4. Reading and Writing Gains for Maori Students in Mainstream Schools: Effective Partnerships in the Rotorua Home and School Literacy Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glynn, Ted; Berryman, Mere; Glynn, Vin

    The Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust with support from the Ministry of Education funded a home and school literacy project in nine Rotorua primary schools. The project funded each school to train a home-school liaison worker (either a school staff member or a community person) to assist schools in developing a working partnership with the students'…

  5. Home Air Purifiers Eradicate Harmful Pathogens

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Marshall Space Flight Center funded the University of Madison-Wisconsin to develop ethylene scrubbers to keep produce fresh in space. Akida Holdings of Jacksonville, Florida, licensed the technology and developed Airocide, an air purifier that can kill airborne pathogens. Previously designed for industrial spaces, there is now a specially designed unit for home use.

  6. STUDY ON THE PROBLEMS IN THE STAGES OF FILLING OUT THE APPLICATION FORM AND TECHNICAL-FINANCIAL REPORTING ENCOUNTERED BY THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN THE CENTRE REGION IN ACCESSING EUROPEAN FUNDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DUMITRASCU DANUT

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The article has as main field the project management, specifically, identifying the negative factors on European projects. The article assumes that there is a connection between the absorption of European funds and the maturity of the Romanian society in terms of project management. The main objective of the research is to identify the problems faced by public institutions from Centre Region in accessing European funds. The purpose of the research is to identify the causes that led to the low absorption of European funds, with devastating effects on the current economic situation. The present research is based on a preliminary analysis performed by the author on the rate of accessing European funds published in an article entitled “The current state of European funds absorption through funding programmes – measure of the Romanian performances in the project management practice”. The small degree of absorption of European funds resulting from the analysis shows a poor practice of the theory on project management. To identify the causes of this problem, a research was carried out to recognise the issues that led to this situation. The investigation included two successive surveys, the first one qualitative, exploratory type, interview-based, meant to demonstrate the qualitative aspects of the investigated phenomena and the other one, quantitative, based on a questionnaire in the form of occasional surveys. The qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in combination; this approach has become necessary especially due to the very complex reality whose trueness cannot be captured through one method. The investigation has however a highly quantitative character, the purpose of the qualitative research being to provide the prerequisites for achieving the quantitative research. The qualitative research revealed the existence of some problems faced by institutions in relation to accessing and developing projects that focus

  7. Open access for REF2020

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon Kerridge

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Open access (OA may have been the ‘big thing’ in 2013 but the OA juggernaut is still rolling and plans are now afoot for the requirements for the ‘next REF’ (which from now on we will refer to as REF2020. In 2013, on behalf of the four UK Funding Councils, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE undertook a two-stage consultation exercise on open access requirements for articles submitted to REF2020. There are a number of nuances and caveats to the current proposals. This article will reflect on what the probable rules might be, and their implications for research managers, administrators and institutional repository managers alike.

  8. DEVELOPMENT OF KOSOVO PENSION SAVING TRUST FUND

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ymer Havolli

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Pension system in Kosovo has experienced various developments in the last three decades. These changes have been driven by both, political and economic developments. The political developments were most important, especially that the previous system failed due to the lack of access to the fund in the post-war Kosovo. The newly established system in post-war Kosovo continues its operations with principles of modern pension fund, savings-based. KPST was established by Law in December 2001 as a not-for-profit institution. As such, the sole objective of KPST is to serve only the best interests of its contributors. KPST is funded in a similar way as are all defined contribution pension funds i.e. by charging fees on assets under management (pension assets. KPST is funded in a similar way as are all defined contribution pension funds i.e. by charging fees on assets under management (pension assets. Throughout this discussion paper, the implications of the crisis, management, asset management issues and most importantly, investment strategy are discussed and some potential solutions to these problems are proposed in order to increase the flexibility of the fund to improve performance in times of crisis.

  9. Cross Layer QoS Provisioning in Home Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Jiayuan; Brewka, Lukasz Jerzy; Ruepp, Sarah Renée

    2011-01-01

    This paper introduces an innovative QoS provisioning scheme in home networks, by utilizing Optical Wireless (OW) MAC specification proposed by Home Gigabit Access Project (OMEGA) project. The specification is characterized by its resource reservation protocol and the use of Time Division Multiple...... Access (TDMA). By adopting OW MAC to the widely supported Universal Plug and Play – Quality of Service (UPnP-QoS) Architecture in the simulated home domain, algorithms for cross layer mapping QoS requirements are proposed. Compared to utilizing WLAN MAC, our scheme is able to provide guaranteed Qo......S levels to streams with different priorities, especially to delay-sensitive services. Efficiencies of the algorithms and network performance are validated by analyzing the results collected from OPNET simulation models....

  10. SIRI on your wrist: making your home smart

    OpenAIRE

    Ojuroye, Olivia; Wilde, Adriana

    2015-01-01

    The adoption of smart devices in the homes is on the increase. There are tangible benefits for those making the leap, such as increased independence and improved quality of life. This project addresses these issues with the development of a two-part proof-of-concept system for smart home dwellers, consisting of a flexible wearable wristband device that communicates wirelessly with a voice-activated home hub, which, in a future version of this project, would increase accessibility in the home ...

  11. Sustainable funding for biocuration: The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) as a case study of a subscription-based funding model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reiser, Leonore; Berardini, Tanya Z; Li, Donghui; Muller, Robert; Strait, Emily M; Li, Qian; Mezheritsky, Yarik; Vetushko, Andrey; Huala, Eva

    2016-01-01

    Databases and data repositories provide essential functions for the research community by integrating, curating, archiving and otherwise packaging data to facilitate discovery and reuse. Despite their importance, funding for maintenance of these resources is increasingly hard to obtain. Fueled by a desire to find long term, sustainable solutions to database funding, staff from the Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR), founded the nonprofit organization, Phoenix Bioinformatics, using TAIR as a test case for user-based funding. Subscription-based funding has been proposed as an alternative to grant funding but its application has been very limited within the nonprofit sector. Our testing of this model indicates that it is a viable option, at least for some databases, and that it is possible to strike a balance that maximizes access while still incentivizing subscriptions. One year after transitioning to subscription support, TAIR is self-sustaining and Phoenix is poised to expand and support additional resources that wish to incorporate user-based funding strategies. Database URL: www.arabidopsis.org. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  12. 5 CFR 532.221 - Industries included in regular nonappropriated fund surveys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... nonappropriated fund surveys. 532.221 Section 532.221 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT... wholesalers. 44132 Tire dealers. 44311 Appliance, television, and other electronic stores. 44411 Home centers. 44611 Pharmacies and drug stores. 4471 Gasoline stations. 44814 Family clothing stores. 4521 Department...

  13. The energy aware smart home

    OpenAIRE

    Jahn, M.; Jentsch, M.; Prause, C.R.; Pramudianto, F.; Al-Akkad, A.; Reiners, R.

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we present a novel smart home system integrating energy efficiency features. The smart home application is built on top of Hydra, a middleware framework that facilitates the intelligent communication of heterogeneous embedded devices through an overlay P2P network. We interconnect common devices available in private households and integrate wireless power metering plugs to gain access to energy consumption data. These data are used for monitoring and analyzing consumed energy o...

  14. Medical homes: challenges in translating theory into practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrier, Emily; Gourevitch, Marc N; Shah, Nirav R

    2009-07-01

    The concept of the medical home has existed since the 1960s, but has recently become a focus for discussion and innovation in the health care system. The most prominent definitions of the medical home are those presented by the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, and the Commonwealth Fund. These definitions share: adoption of health information technology and decision support systems, modification of clinical practice patterns, and ensuring continuity of care. Each of these components is a complex undertaking, and there is scant evidence to guide assessment of diverse strategies for achieving their integration into a medical home. Without a shared vocabulary and common definitions, policy-makers seeking to encourage the development of medical homes, providers seeking to improve patient care, and payers seeking to develop appropriate systems of reimbursement will face challenges in evaluating and disseminating the medical home model.

  15. Household computer and Internet access: The digital divide in a pediatric clinic population

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Aaron E.; Rivara, Frederick P.; Ebel, Beth; Zimmerman, Frederick J.; Christakis, Dimitri A.

    2005-01-01

    Past studies have noted a digital divide, or inequality in computer and Internet access related to socioeconomic class. This study sought to measure how many households in a pediatric primary care outpatient clinic had household access to computers and the Internet, and whether this access differed by socio-economic status or other demographic information. We conducted a phone survey of a population-based sample of parents with children ages 0 to 11 years old. Analyses assessed predictors of having home access to a computer, the Internet, and high-speed Internet service. Overall, 88.9% of all households owned a personal computer, and 81.4% of all households had Internet access. Among households with Internet access, 48.3% had high speed Internet at home. There were statistically significant associations between parental income or education and home computer ownership and Internet access. However, the impact of this difference was lessened by the fact that over 60% of families with annual household income of $10,000–$25,000, and nearly 70% of families with only a high-school education had Internet access at home. While income and education remain significant predictors of household computer and internet access, many patients and families at all economic levels have access, and might benefit from health promotion interventions using these modalities. PMID:16779012

  16. Public Audit of Local Area Development Fund in Meghalaya | CRDI ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Public Audit of Local Area Development Fund in Meghalaya. It is often alleged that many people contest the state assembly elections in Meghalaya (India) not with the intention of serving the people but rather of having access to the financial packages that come with it. These include funds from the Special Rural Works ...

  17. Distance Diffusion of Home Bias for Crowdfunding Campaigns between Categories: Insights from Data Analytics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lihuan Guo

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available As the information communication and investment of crowdfunding campaigns are usually accomplished online, online crowdfunding theoretically breaks the limitation of space. However, investors’ behaviors still show significant home bias; furthermore, from a dynamic view, the changes in home bias during the funding duration reflect the investment preference. This paper studies the dynamics of home bias in crowdfunding investment as well as the distance diffusion of home bias in the crowdfunding market through data mining and econometric models. The distance between investors and founders gradually increases from 3605 km to 4229 km as the funding progresses, and home bias shows different diffusion patterns between categories. For most of the campaigns, the distance between backers and founders of the successful campaigns is always greater than that of the failed ones; thus, the distance diffusion impacts the pledge results. However, the study also finds that for some categories, home bias does not play a positive role in investment or that it even shows negative impacts, among which food and technology are two extreme categories. The study provides a theoretical basis from the perspective of user behavior to analyze online investment and to improve the promotion of crowdfunding campaigns.

  18. Simulation of Smart Home Activity Datasets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan Synnott

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available A globally ageing population is resulting in an increased prevalence of chronic conditions which affect older adults. Such conditions require long-term care and management to maximize quality of life, placing an increasing strain on healthcare resources. Intelligent environments such as smart homes facilitate long-term monitoring of activities in the home through the use of sensor technology. Access to sensor datasets is necessary for the development of novel activity monitoring and recognition approaches. Access to such datasets is limited due to issues such as sensor cost, availability and deployment time. The use of simulated environments and sensors may address these issues and facilitate the generation of comprehensive datasets. This paper provides a review of existing approaches for the generation of simulated smart home activity datasets, including model-based approaches and interactive approaches which implement virtual sensors, environments and avatars. The paper also provides recommendation for future work in intelligent environment simulation.

  19. Simulation of Smart Home Activity Datasets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Synnott, Jonathan; Nugent, Chris; Jeffers, Paul

    2015-06-16

    A globally ageing population is resulting in an increased prevalence of chronic conditions which affect older adults. Such conditions require long-term care and management to maximize quality of life, placing an increasing strain on healthcare resources. Intelligent environments such as smart homes facilitate long-term monitoring of activities in the home through the use of sensor technology. Access to sensor datasets is necessary for the development of novel activity monitoring and recognition approaches. Access to such datasets is limited due to issues such as sensor cost, availability and deployment time. The use of simulated environments and sensors may address these issues and facilitate the generation of comprehensive datasets. This paper provides a review of existing approaches for the generation of simulated smart home activity datasets, including model-based approaches and interactive approaches which implement virtual sensors, environments and avatars. The paper also provides recommendation for future work in intelligent environment simulation.

  20. ARGICULTURAL LAND PROTECTION FUND AND FOREST FUND AS ECOLOGICAL FUNDS

    OpenAIRE

    Bartosz Bartniczak

    2009-01-01

    Funds for environmental protection and water management, Agricultural Land Protection Fund and Forest Fund make up the Polish system of special fund in environment protection. The main aim of this article is to analyze the activity of two latest funds. The article tries to answer the question whether that funds could be considered as ecological funds. The author described incomes and outlays of that funds and showed which reform should be done in Polish special funds system.

  1. Avaliação da acessibilidade domiciliar de crianças com deficiência física Home accessibility assessment of children with physical disabilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariana Capacci Gasparoto

    2012-06-01

    both from the interaction between dysfunction, limitation of activities and the individual's social participation constraints as environmental factors. The absence of appropriate environmental adjustments affects accessibility, performance and participation of individuals with physical disabilities (PD. The main objective of this study consisted in evaluating the home accessibility of children with PD. A checklist elaborated by the researchers was used in order to investigate architectural barriers, adaptations in the home and the children's needs for support. The checklist was filled in upon visits to the homes of five children who had limited mobility and used a wheelchair or walker. The reviews took an average of 50 minutes and enabled the researchers to see the children's accessibility and participation conditions at home. An absence of furniture and/or features adapted for children was identified, despite frequent indications of need for aid for locomotion, hygiene and clothing. Among the universal barriers that were evaluated, the predominant issues included uneven walkways, upward pathways and slick walking surfaces on the access routes, and inadequate door width to the bathroom. There was only one house in which circulation space was appropriate in all rooms. The knowledge of accessibility conditions and participation of the children enabled the researchers to propose relevant modifications/adaptations to those environments. Although the literature highlights the close relationship between accessibility, functionality, participation and life quality of people with physical disabilities, the study revealed the lack of surveys and specific instruments of evaluation related to accessibility of the home environment.

  2. 45 CFR 98.31 - Parental access.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Parental access. 98.31 Section 98.31 Public Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL ADMINISTRATION CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT FUND Program Operations (Child Care Services)-Parental Rights and Responsibilities § 98.31 Parental access. The...

  3. On the Outskirts of National Health Reform: A Comparative Assessment of Health Insurance and Access to Care in Puerto Rico and the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Portela, Maria; Sommers, Benjamin D

    2015-09-01

    Puerto Rico is the United States' largest territory, home to nearly 4 million American citizens, yet it has remained largely on the outskirts of US health policy, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We analyzed national survey data from 2011 to 2012 and found that despite its far poorer population, Puerto Rico outperforms the mainland United States on several measures of health care coverage and access to care. While the ACA significantly increases federal resources in Puerto Rico, ongoing federal restrictions on Medicaid funding and premium tax credits in Puerto Rico pose substantial health policy challenges in the territory. Puerto Rico is the United States' largest territory, home to nearly 4 million American citizens. Yet it has remained largely on the outskirts of US health policy, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This article presents an overview of Puerto Rico's health care system and a comparative analysis of coverage and access to care in Puerto Rico and the mainland United States. We analyzed 2011-2012 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and 2012 data from the American Community Survey and its counterpart, the Puerto Rico Community Survey. Among adults 18 and older, we examined health insurance coverage; access measures, such as having a usual source of care and cost-related delays in care; self-reported health; and the receipt of recommended preventive services, such as cancer screening and glucose testing. We used multivariate regression models to compare Puerto Rico and the mainland United States, adjusted for age, income, race/ethnicity, and other demographic variables. Uninsured rates were significantly lower in Puerto Rico (unadjusted 7.4% versus 15.0%, adjusted difference: -12.0%, p Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican residents were more likely than those in the mainland United States to have a usual source of care and to have had a checkup within the past year, and fewer experienced cost-related delays in care. Screening

  4. Open Access Publishing in High-Energy Physics: the SCOAP(3) Initiative

    CERN Document Server

    Mele, Salvatore

    2010-01-01

    Scholarly communication in High-Energy Physics (HEP) shows traits very similar to Astronomy and Astrophysics: pervasiveness of Open Access to preprints through community-based services; a culture of openness and sharing among its researchers; a compact number of yearly articles published by a relatively small number of journals which are dear to the community. These aspects have led HEP to spearhead an innovative model for the transition of its scholarly publishing to Open Access. The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP(3)) aims to be a central body to finance peer-review service rather than the purchase of access to information as in the traditional subscription model, with all articles in the discipline eventually available in Open Access. Sustainable funding to SCOAP(3) would come from libraries, library consortia and HEP funding agencies, through a re-direction of funds currently spent for subscriptions to HEP journals. This paper presents the cultural and bibliomet...

  5. Competition, information, and quality: Evidence from nursing homes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xin

    2016-09-01

    Economic theory suggests that competition and information can both be important for product quality, and yet evidence on how they may interact to affect quality is sparse. This paper estimates the impact of competition between nursing homes on their quality, and how this impact varies when consumers have better access to information. The effect of competition is identified using exogenous variation in the geographical proximity of nursing homes to their potential consumers. The change in information transparency is captured by the launch of the Five-Star Quality Rating System in 2009, which improved access to the quality information of nursing homes. We find that while the effect of competition on nursing home quality is generally rather limited, this effect becomes significantly stronger with increased information transparency. The results suggest that regulations on public quality reporting and on market structure are policy complements, and should be considered jointly to best improve quality. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Committee Opinion No. 669 Summary: Planned Home Birth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-08-01

    In the United States, approximately 35,000 births (0.9%) per year occur in the home. Approximately one fourth of these births are unplanned or unattended. Although the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists believes that hospitals and accredited birth centers are the safest settings for birth, each woman has the right to make a medically informed decision about delivery. Importantly, women should be informed that several factors are critical to reducing perinatal mortality rates and achieving favorable home birth outcomes. These factors include the appropriate selection of candidates for home birth; the availability of a certified nurse-midwife, certified midwife or midwife whose education and licensure meet International Confederation of Midwives' Global Standards for Midwifery Education, or physician practicing obstetrics within an integrated and regulated health system; ready access to consultation; and access to safe and timely transport to nearby hospitals. The Committee on Obstetric Practice considers fetal malpresentation, multiple gestation, or prior cesarean delivery to be an absolute contraindication to planned home birth.

  7. Committee Opinion No 697 Summary: Planned Home Birth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-04-01

    In the United States, approximately 35,000 births (0.9%) per year occur in the home. Approximately one fourth of these births are unplanned or unattended. Although the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists believes that hospitals and accredited birth centers are the safest settings for birth, each woman has the right to make a medically informed decision about delivery. Importantly, women should be informed that several factors are critical to reducing perinatal mortality rates and achieving favorable home birth outcomes. These factors include the appropriate selection of candidates for home birth; the availability of a certified nurse-midwife, certified midwife or midwife whose education and licensure meet International Confederation of Midwives' Global Standards for Midwifery Education, or physician practicing obstetrics within an integrated and regulated health system; ready access to consultation; and access to safe and timely transport to nearby hospitals. The Committee on Obstetric Practice considers fetal malpresentation, multiple gestation, or prior cesarean delivery to be an absolute contraindication to planned home birth.

  8. International funding opportunities for ideas of collaboration projects in OOHP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilin, Corina

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The present paper is presenting the exploratory workshop organized by the OOHP Master team in December 2011, which opened paths for theoretical knowledge and for collaboration with researchers having international prestige. Also, the paper presents funding opportunities available in national grants, and the strategy chosen by the team to prepare a two-step access to funds.

  9. [Publicly funded programs of psychotherapy in Australia and England].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasiliadis, Helen-Maria; Dezetter, Anne

    Quebec's HealthCommissioner on the performance of the health system clearly highlighted gaps in the collaboration between primary care physicians and mental health specialists, decreased accessibility and inequity in access to effective mental health services such as psychotherapy.Objectives The aim of this article was to describe the implementation of two publicly funded programs of psychotherapy in Australia and England with similar gatekeeper systems to the one in Quebec.Findings Following the Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS) program introduced in Australia in 2003, one of the most important initiatives from the Council of Australian Governments' National Action Plan on Mental Health 2006-2011 was the Better Access Initiative which commenced in 2006. The plan included AUD1.2 billion in funding for integrating and improving the mental health care system. The purpose of Better Access was to improve the treatment and management of mental illnesses and increasing community access to mental health professionals and providing more affordable mental health care. GPs were encouraged to work more closely with mental health professionals. Under this program, these professionals are able to provide mental health services on a fee-for-service basis subsidized through Medicare. Access to psychological therapies is provided through private providers, rather than through fund holding arrangements. As of 2009 in Australia, 2 million people (1 in 11) had received over 11.2 million subsidized mental health services. A recent study showed clinical improvements in patients with depression associated with Better Access, concluding that the program is meeting previously unmet mental health needs.In the case of England, the IAPT - Improving Access to psychological Therapies-program enabled primary care trusts (PCTs) to implement evidence-based psychological therapies as recommended by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for people suffering from

  10. Biometric Enhancement of Home and Office Security to Reduce ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    West African Journal of Industrial and Academic Research. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 13, No 1 (2015) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  11. Home-School Links: Networking the Learning Community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996

    The topic of networking the learning community with home-school links is addressed in four papers: "Internet Access via School: Expectations of Students and Parents" (Roy Crotty); "The School Library as Community Information Gateway" (Megan Perry); "Rural Access to the Internet" (Ken Eustace); and "NetDay '96:…

  12. Design of smart home gateway based on Wi-Fi and ZigBee

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yang

    2018-04-01

    With the increasing demand for home lifestyle, the traditional smart home products have been unable to meet the needs of users. Aim at the complex wiring, high cost and difficult operation problems of traditional smart home system, this paper designs a home gateway for smart home system based on Wi-Fi and ZigBee. This paper first gives a smart home system architecture base on cloud server, Wi-Fi and ZigBee. This architecture enables users to access the smart home system remotely from Internet through the cloud server or through Wi-Fi at home. It also offers the flexibility and low cost of ZigBee wireless networking for home equipment. This paper analyzes the functional requirements of the home gateway, and designs a modular hardware architecture based on the RT5350 wireless gateway module and the CC2530 ZigBee coordinator module. Also designs the software of the home gateway, including the gateway master program and the ZigBee coordinator program. Finally, the smart home system and home gateway are tested in two kinds of network environments, internal network and external network. The test results show that the designed home gateway can meet the requirements, support remote and local access, support multi-user, support information security technology, and can timely report equipment status information.

  13. Active home-based cancer treatment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bordonaro S

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Sebastiano Bordonaro Fabio Raiti, Annamaria Di Mari, Calogera Lopiano, Fabrizio Romano, Vitalinda Pumo, Sebastiano Rametta Giuliano, Margherita Iacono, Eleonora Lanteri, Elena Puzzo, Sebastiano Spada, Paolo TralongoUOC Medical Oncology, RAO, ASP 8 Siracusa, ItalyBackground: Active home-based treatment represents a new model of health care. Chronic treatment requires continuous access to facilities that provide cancer care, with considerable effort, particularly economic, on the part of patients and caregivers. Oral chemotherapy could be limited as a consequence of poor compliance and adherence, especially by elderly patients.Methods: We selected 30 cancer patients referred to our department and treated with oral therapy (capecitabine, vinorelbine, imatinib, sunitinib, sorafenib, temozolomide, ibandronate. This pilot study of oral therapy in the patient’s home was undertaken by a doctor and two nurses with experience in clinical oncology. The instruments used were clinical diaries recording home visits, hospital visits, need for caregiver support, and a questionnaire specially developed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC, known as the QLQ-C30 version 2.0, concerning the acceptability of oral treatment from the patient’s perspective.Results: This program decreased the need to access cancer facilities by 98.1%, promoted better quality of life for patients, as reflected in increased EORTC QLQ-C30 scores over time, allowing for greater adherence to oral treatment as a result of control of drug administration outside the hospital. This model has allowed treatment of patients with difficult access to care (elderly, disabled or otherwise needed caregivers that in the project represent the majority (78% of these.Conclusions: This model of active home care improves quality of life and adherence with oral therapy, reduces the need to visit the hospital, and consequently decreases the number of lost hours of work on

  14. Cost Burden for Accessing Paediatric Emergency Services at a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    TNHJOURNALPH

    modalities and economic impacts for accessing paediatric ... Descriptive analysis of the data was done using SPSS ... being discharged home from the emergency ... their homes to the hospital. ..... respondents could be affected by recall bias.

  15. Designing Smart Health Care Technology into the Home of the Future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Craft, R.L.; Warren, S.

    1999-04-20

    This editorial paper presents a vision for intelligent health care in the home of the future, focusing on technologies with the highest potential payoff given targeted government funding over the next ten years. A secure, plug-and-play information framework provides the starting point for identifying technologies that must be developed before home-based devices can know their context and assimilate information to support care decisions.

  16. Annual Information Meeting of the Pension Fund | 26 October

    CERN Multimedia

    2016-01-01

    All members and beneficiaries of the Pension Fund are invited to attend the Annual Information Meeting of the Pension Fund.   Meeting to be held in the Main Auditorium on Wednesday 26 October 2016 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Following a presentation by the Chief Executive Officer of the Fund there will be a Questions and Answers session. Members and Beneficiaries are welcome to send questions in advance of the meeting by post to: Mr Matthew Eyton-Jones “Annual Information Meeting” CEO CERN Pension Fund Office 5-5-012, Postbox C23800 CH- 1211 Geneva 23 - Switzerland Copies of the 2015 Pension Fund Annual Report & Financial Statements are already available in accessible PDF on the Pension Fund website and will also be distributed at the annual meeting. *Coffee and croissants will be served prior to the meeting as of 9:00 a.m.*

  17. Optical broadband in-home networks for converged service delivery

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shi, Y.

    2013-01-01

    Broadband access networks, and in particular fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, are offering abundantly available bandwidth in the local loop with high quality of services. Under such broadband connectivity conditions, in-home networks should not represent the bottleneck for high capacity service

  18. INVESTMENT FUNDS IN ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    COPIL CRINA ANGELA

    2013-07-01

    , respectively the investment in instruments with larger capacity, the flexibility determined by the possibility of withdrawal in any moment without losing the cumulated gain, the administration of the portfolio by the professional administrators, the access to diversified placements with small sums, the reduction of the risk by the diversification, the strict regulation and surveillance of the activity of investments administration by the authorities surveying the financial markets. In the developed countries, the placements in administered investments can reach up to 40% of the financial assets of the families, and the deposits own a percentage of 40-50% of the assets, while in Romania the percentage of the investments administered of the total financial assets of the families is under 10%, and the placements in deposits represents over 80%. I consider that the founding of the subsidiaries of assets management in Romania by the banking financial groups contributed and will contribute in a great measure in the future to the increase of the degree of knowledge and acceptance of the investment in investment funds.

  19. Therapeutic home adaptations for older adults with disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unwin, Brian K; Andrews, Christopher M; Andrews, Patrick M; Hanson, Janice L

    2009-11-01

    Family physicians commonly care for older patients with disabilities. Many of these patients need help maintaining a therapeutic home environment to preserve their comfort and independence. Patients often have little time to decide how to address the limitations of newly-acquired disabilities. Physicians can provide patients with general recommendations in home modification after careful history and assessment. Universal design features, such as one-story living, no-step entries, and wide hallways and doors, are key adaptations for patients with physical disabilities. Home adaptations for patients with dementia include general safety measures such as grab bars and door alarms, and securing potentially hazardous items, such as cleaning supplies and medications. Improved lighting and color contrast, enlarged print materials, and vision aids can assist patients with limited vision. Patients with hearing impairments may benefit from interventions that provide supplemental visual and vibratory cues and alarms. Although funding sources are available, home modification is often a nonreimbursed expense. However, sufficient home modifications may allow the patient and caregivers to safely remain in the home without transitioning to a long-term care facility.

  20. Squeezing the funding you need from today's capital sources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Deborah C

    2010-04-01

    Healthcare providers need to understand traditional and nontraditional financing options and other potential strategies for accessing capital. Common financing options include bonds, commercial lending, acquisition financing, and financing through the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 232 program. Alternative strategies for accessing capital include joint ventures, equity, sale of assets, fund-raising, capital leases, internal capital, public grants, and grants from foundations.

  1. Home Bias and Dutch Pension Funds’ Investment behaviour

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verschoor, W.F.C.; Rubbaniy, G.; Lelyveld van, I.P.P.

    2014-01-01

    Using a panel data set of more than 600 Dutch pension funds (PFs) between 1992 and 2006, we investigate asset allocation behavior of Dutch PFs across multiple asset classes. We find that domestic investments, also known as home bias, in portfolio choices of Dutch institutional investors have fallen.

  2. Modular Zero Energy. BrightBuilt Home

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aldrich, Robb [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), Norwalk, CT (United States). Steven Winters Associates, Inc.; Butterfield, Karla [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), Norwalk, CT (United States). Steven Winters Associates, Inc.

    2016-03-01

    Kaplan Thompson Architects (KTA) has specialized in sustainable, energy-efficient buildings, and they have designed several custom, zero-energy homes in New England. These zero-energy projects have generally been high-end, custom homes with budgets that could accommodate advanced energy systems. In an attempt to make zero energy homes more affordable and accessible to a larger demographic, KTA explored modular construction as way to provide high-quality homes at lower costs. In the mid-2013, KTA formalized this concept when they launched BrightBuilt Home (BBH). The BBH mission is to offer a line of architect-designed, high-performance homes that are priced to offer substantial savings off the lifetime cost of a typical home and can be delivered in less time. For the past two years, CARB has worked with BBH and Keiser Homes (the primary modular manufacturer for BBH) to discuss challenges related to wall systems, HVAC, and quality control. In Spring of 2014, CARB and BBH began looking in detail on a home to be built in Lincolnville, ME by Black Bros. Builders. This report details the solution package specified for this modular plan and the challenges that arose during the project.

  3. Transforming Data into Practical Information: Using Consumer Input to Improve Home-Care Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Applebaum, Robert; Kunkel, Suzanne; Wilson, Ken

    2007-01-01

    Purpose: As funds have increased for the provision of in-home care, so too have concerns about the quality of services. In response, care management agencies and home-care providers have developed an array of monitoring activities designed to ensure the quality of services. In this article, we show how an area agency on aging both collected and…

  4. Market access pathways for cell therapies in France.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rémuzat, Cécile; Toumi, Mondher; Jørgensen, Jesper; Kefalas, Panos

    2015-01-01

    Cell therapies can be classified into three main categories of products: advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), ATMPs prepared on a non-routine basis (hospital exemptions), and minimally manipulated cells. Despite the benefits that cell therapies can bring to patients, they are subject to complex pathways to reach the market in France. The objective of this study was to identify and describe routes to market access for cell therapies in France and how these vary by regulatory status. The research was structured following five main steps: (1) identification of the French regulatory framework for cell therapies; (2) identification of the health products categorised as cell therapies in France; (3) mapping of the market access pathways per category of cell therapy; (4) validation of findings by interviewing experts; and (5) development of a roadmap summarising market access pathways for cell therapies in France. The secondary research methodology included a comprehensive literature review conducted on websites of French public health institutions, complemented by a research for peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, and grey literature. Different market access pathways are possible depending on the cell therapy category. For ATMPs, market access pathways depend on the licensing status of the therapy. Licensed ATMPs followed the same market access pathways as 'conventional' pharmaceuticals, whereas not-yet-licensed ATMPs can be funded via a specific financial allowance under the framework of a Temporary Authorisation for Use procedure or various research programmes. For new ATMPs that are associated with a separate medical device (not considered as 'combined ATMPs') or associated with a new medical procedure, additional pathways will apply for the medical device and/or medical procedure to be reimbursed in the ambulatory settings or at hospital. The most likely funding option for ATMPs prepared on a non-routine basis is outside the diagnosis-related group (DRG

  5. Open Access Publishing in High-Energy Physics: the SCOAP3 Initiative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mele, S.

    2010-10-01

    Scholarly communication in High-Energy Physics (HEP) shows traits very similar to Astronomy and Astrophysics: pervasiveness of Open Access to preprints through community-based services; a culture of openness and sharing among its researchers; a compact number of yearly articles published by a relatively small number of journals which are dear to the community. These aspects have led HEP to spearhead an innovative model for the transition of its scholarly publishing to Open Access. The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP) aims to be a central body to finance peer-review service rather than the purchase of access to information as in the traditional subscription model, with all articles in the discipline eventually available in Open Access. Sustainable funding to SCOAP would come from libraries, library consortia and HEP funding agencies, through a re-direction of funds currently spent for subscriptions to HEP journals. This paper presents the cultural and bibliometric factors at the roots of SCOAP and the current status of this worldwide initiative.

  6. Comparison of clinic-based versus home-based balance and agility ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    South African Journal of Sports Medicine. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 23, No 3 (2011) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  7. Webcasting in home and hospice care services: virtual communication in home care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith-Stoner, Marilyn

    2011-06-01

    The access to free live webcasting over home computers was much more available in 2007, when three military leaders from West Point, with the purpose of helping military personnel stay connected with their families when deployed, developed Ustream.tv. There are many types of Web-based video streaming applications. This article describes Ustream, a free and effective communication tool to virtually connect staff. There are many features in Ustream, but the most useful for home care and hospice service providers is its ability to broadcast sound and video to anyone with a broadband Internet connection, a chat room for users to interact during a presentation, and the ability to have a "co-host" or second person also broadcast simultaneously. Agencies that provide community-based services in the home will benefit from integration of Web-based video streaming into their communication strategy.

  8. Transforming home health nursing with telehealth technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrar, Francisca Cisneros

    2015-06-01

    Telehealth technology is an evidence-based delivery model tool that can be integrated into the plan of care for mental health patients. Telehealth technology empowers access to health care, can help decrease or prevent hospital readmissions, assist home health nurses provide shared decision making, and focuses on collaborative care. Telehealth and the recovery model have transformed the role of the home health nurse. Nurses need to be proactive and respond to rapidly emerging technologies that are transforming their role in home care. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. A Smart Gateway Architecture for Improving Efficiency of Home Network Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fei Ding

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A smart home gateway plays an important role in the Internet of Things (IoT system that takes responsibility for the connection between the network layer and the ubiquitous sensor network (USN layer. Even though the home network application is developing rapidly, researches on the home gateway based open development architecture are less. This makes it difficult to extend the home network to support new applications, share service, and interoperate with other home network systems. An integrated access gateway (IAGW is proposed in this paper which upward connects with the operator machine-to-machine platform (M2M P/F. In this home network scheme, the gateway provides standard interfaces for supporting various applications in home environments, ranging from on-site configuration to node and service access. In addition, communication management ability is also provided by M2M P/F. A testbed of a simple home network application system that includes the IAGW prototype is created to test its user interaction capabilities. Experimental results show that the proposed gateway provides significant flexibility for users to configure and deploy a home automation network; it can be applied to other monitoring areas and simultaneously supports a multi-ubiquitous sensor network.

  10. Strengthening Medicare: Will increasing the bulk-billing rate and supply of general practitioners increase access to Medicare-funded general practitioner services and does rurality matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Day, Susan E; Alford, Katrina; Dunt, David; Peacock, Stuart; Gurrin, Lyle; Voaklander, Don

    2005-01-01

    Background Recent increases in the bulk-billing rate have been taken as an indication that the Federal government's Strengthening Medicare initiative, and particularly the bulk-billing incentives, are 'working'. Given the enduring geographic differences in the supply of general practitioners (GPs) it is timely to reconsider the impact that this increase in the provision of 'free care' will have on access to Medicare-funded GP services in rural and urban areas of Australia. Utilisation has been modelled as two different stochastic processes: the decision to consult and the frequency of consultation. Results In the decision to consult model the supply of FFS GPs is a more important predictor of utilisation than the bulk-billing rate. Paradoxically the modelling predicts that ceteris paribus increases in either GP supply or the bulk-billing rate appear to have perverse effects in some areas by decreasing utilisation. In the frequency of consultation model, GP density is not a predictor and increasing the bulk-billing rate will unambiguously increase the frequency of consultation across all areas. In both models, the positive impacts associated with changes in supply and cost are constrained outside the inner metropolitan area by reduced geographic accessibility to Medicare-funded GP services. The modelling also shows that people are more likely to consult a GP in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, although socioeconomic status is not a predictor of frequency of consultation. Conclusion Bulk-billing rates and the supply of FFS GPs are important features of the Australian health care system that are, potentially, amenable to policy manipulation. The implications of this research are that government policies designed to achieve similarity in these characteristics across geographic areas will not result in equity of access because they fail to address problems caused by geographic inaccessibility in rural and remote areas. Attempting to increase bulk-billing rates

  11. A study of an intensive home-based treatment program and its ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Adele

    Key words: Intensive home based program, health services, admission, outpatient, inpatient, aged care. Received: ... vate agencies were sometimes also used and funded by APS or more .... result of other structural changes in the system.

  12. Contribution of microfinance in enhancing food access and coping ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 17, No 3 (2017) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  13. Public access to private land in Scotland | Miller | Potchefstroom ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 15, No 2 (2012) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  14. 75 FR 68534 - Federal Home Loan Bank Liabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-08

    ... combine provisions now found in the Finance Board regulations part 965, Sources of Funds, and part 969... FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD 12 CFR Parts 965, 966, 969, and 987 FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY 12 CFR Part 1270 RIN 2590-AA36 Federal Home Loan Bank Liabilities AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance...

  15. Incremental short daily home hemodialysis: a case series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toth-Manikowski, Stephanie M; Mullangi, Surekha; Hwang, Seungyoung; Shafi, Tariq

    2017-07-05

    Patients starting dialysis often have substantial residual kidney function. Incremental hemodialysis provides a hemodialysis prescription that supplements patients' residual kidney function while maintaining total (residual + dialysis) urea clearance (standard Kt/Vurea) targets. We describe our experience with incremental hemodialysis in patients using NxStage System One for home hemodialysis. From 2011 to 2015, we initiated 5 incident hemodialysis patients on an incremental home hemodialysis regimen. The biochemical parameters of all patients remained stable on the incremental hemodialysis regimen and they consistently achieved standard Kt/Vurea targets. Of the two patients with follow-up >6 months, residual kidney function was preserved for ≥2 years. Importantly, the patients were able to transition to home hemodialysis without automatically requiring 5 sessions per week at the outset and gradually increased the number of treatments and/or dialysate volume as the residual kidney function declined. An incremental home hemodialysis regimen can be safely prescribed and may improve acceptability of home hemodialysis. Reducing hemodialysis frequency by even one treatment per week can reduce the number of fistula or graft cannulations or catheter connections by >100 per year, an important consideration for patient well-being, access longevity, and access-related infections. The incremental hemodialysis approach, supported by national guidelines, can be considered for all home hemodialysis patients with residual kidney function.

  16. SMEs’ Access to Finance in the Euro Area; What Helps or Hampers?

    OpenAIRE

    Bahar Öztürk; Mico Mrkaic

    2014-01-01

    The monetary transmission mechanism in the euro area has been adversely affected by the recent crises. Using survey data on thousands of euro area firms, we study factors that affect the access to finance of SMEs. We find that changes in bank funding costs and borrower leverage matter for firms’ access to finance. Increases in bank funding costs and borrowers’ debt-to-asset ratios are significantly and negatively associated with firms’ access to finance. The use of subsidies significantly imp...

  17. Funding and the Attainment of Transformation Goals in South Africa's Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wangenge-Ouma, Gerald

    2010-01-01

    The link between the funding of higher education and the attainment of higher education transformation goals in South Africa, especially access by students from previously under-represented communities, is the main focus of this paper. Specifically, the paper examines three questions: (a) How does public funding of higher education encourage (or…

  18. 24 CFR 982.614 - Group home: Housing quality standards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ...) Sanitary facilities in the group home must be readily accessible to and usable by residents, including... adequate facilities and services for the sanitary disposal of food waste and refuse, including facilities... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Group home: Housing quality...

  19. [Structure Parameters and Quality Outcomes of Ambulant Home-care].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suhr, Ralf; Raeder, Kathrin; Kuntz, Simone; Strube-Lahmann, Sandra; Latendorf, Antje; Klingelhöfer-Noe, Jürgen; Lahmann, Nils

    2018-05-14

    So far, there are few data available on the changes of ambulant home-care in Germany over the last decades. Therefore, the aim of this research was to provide structure data on nursing personnel, funding, size, regional differences, and training needs of ambulant home-care services in Germany. In addition, a possible association between structure parameters and quality outcomes for pressure ulcer and malnutrition was investigated. In 2015, a multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in home-care services in Germany. Structure data from 99 randomly selected home-care services as well as data on pressure ulcers and malnutrition of 903 care-dependent clients were analyzed. The median (home-care services. From a cut-off of 20,000 inhabitants, a region was considered urban. The average prevalence for decubitus and malnutrition (BMIhome-care service, and possible associations with structure parameters were analyzed using a multiple linear regression model. The proportion of registered nurses in non-private (private) home-care services was 60.6% (52.3%). The proportion of employees with a 200- h basic qualification in nursing was higher in private (12.5 vs. 4.7%), small home-care services (14.0 vs. 5.8%) and in urban regions (11.5 vs 5.7%). In average, registered nurses working in small home-care services spent significantly more time per client than the ones working in large services (3.8 vs. 2.9 h/week). The highest need for further training was shown on the subjects of pain, medication and cognitive impairment. No statistically significant correlation could be found between the average decubitus prevalence and structure parameters. Only the association between malnutrition prevalence and the proportion of registered nurses was statistically significant. The present representative study provides structure data on nursing personnel, funding, size, regional differences, and training needs of ambulant home-care services in Germany that could be used as a baseline

  20. Protecting Your Home from Bed Bugs

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... your home: Inspect the luggage rack in your hotel room for bed bugs. Check secondhand furniture, beds, ... with Bed Bug Problems Discover. Accessibility EPA Administrator Budget & Performance Contracting Grants January 19, 2017 Web Snapshot ...

  1. Who's Got the Booze? The Role of Access to Alcohol in the Relations Between Social Status and Individual Use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deutsch, Arielle R; Steinley, Douglas; Sher, Kenneth J; Slutske, Wendy S

    2017-09-01

    The findings of previous research that examined relationships between popularity and alcohol use in adolescents have been mixed, and few hypotheses have proposed mechanisms for this relationship. The current study expands on previous literature (a) by examining a possible mechanism that can explain the relation between popularity and alcohol use (home access to alcohol) and (b) by using another sociometric measure ("betweenness"), beyond popularity, that may relate more to home alcohol access. Using network-level data from adolescents in 9th-11th grades in eight schools within two in-home waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we examined two sociometric measures of social status: popularity (number of schoolmates who nominated participants as a friend) and betweenness (level of ties participants have to multiple social subgroups within a network). Betweenness, but not popularity, related to later alcohol use. Having home access to alcohol positively related to later alcohol use, and having friends with home access to alcohol negatively related to later alcohol use. Alcohol access was also related to later sociometric status. Friends' alcohol access negatively related to later betweenness, and personal alcohol access moderated other pathways predicting betweenness. Betweenness appears to play a unique role in the association between social status and alcohol use in adolescent social networks. This is potentially tied to specific ways in which adolescents may be able to access alcohol (through home or through friends with access at home). More research is necessary to examine the ways in which multiple sociometric statuses relate to the contexts in which adolescents access and use alcohol.

  2. Decommissioning nuclear power plants: a case for internal funding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferguson, J.S.

    1987-01-01

    Historically, utilities have exercised sole responsibility for reinvesting capital funds collected from ratepayers. Capital provided by ratepayers, whether for recovery of invested capital or for removal costs, reduces the magnitude of future borrowings - dollar for dollar. If regulatory commissions require utilities to place these collections in separate, inaccessible investment accounts (as in external funding methods), then utilities will be denied the use of these funds. Ratepayers, in turn, will be denied both their usual interest credit and the cost-saving benefits afforded by utilities having readily accessible cash to use instead of having to resort to borrowing. Such benefits can be attained only through internal-funding methods that keep rate payer contributions under unrestricted utility control. While state regulatory commissions currently favor external funding for financial assurance, the author feels the extra cost to ratepayers and the utilities is too high a price to pay

  3. Linking Structure, Process, and Outcome to Improve Group Home Services for Foster Youth in California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Rex S.; Ellis, Peter T.

    2007-01-01

    The California Youth Connection obtained funding from two foundations to evaluate the performance of group homes serving foster youth in Alameda County, California, in order to inform state policy-making. The evaluation team initially included 14 foster youth that personally experienced group home living. Three inter-related aspects of service…

  4. Drugs + HIV, Learn the Link

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... Drugs Publications Search Publications Orderable DrugFacts Research Reports Mind Over Matter Science of Addiction Funding Funding Opportunities ... After the Party" "Text Message" NIDA Home Site Map Accessibility Privacy FOIA(NIH) Working at NIDA FAQs ...

  5. Smart Home : A Social, Technological and Virtual Learning and Development Environment

    OpenAIRE

    Heimovaara-Kotonen, Essi (ed.)

    2014-01-01

    All people have the right to good housing regardless of their age or functional capacity. The objective of the Smart Home environment is to present solutions that enable accessible and safe housing and promote meaningful assistance and life at home. The goal of building the Smart Home environment was to find a useroriented, comprehensive solution for the client, which maintains the client’s own control over his or her home environment. The Smart Home was also built to serve the developme...

  6. CytoJournal's move to fund Open Access

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cafaro Anthony

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract CytoJournal is published by an independent publisher BioMed Central, which is committed to ensuring that the peer-reviewed biomedical research is Open Access. Since its launch, BioMed Central has graciously supported the processing of all the articles published during CytoJournal's first 6 months. However, for long term viability, CytoJournal has to achieve financial viability to support publication expenses. From 1st March, 2005, authors will be asked by the publisher to pay a flat article-processing charge. This editorial discusses how a significant proportion of authors may not have to pay this fee directly under a variety of different mechanisms such as institutional and society memberships with BioMed Central.

  7. 33 CFR 135.401 - Access to vessel, Certificates of Financial Responsibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) MARINE POLLUTION FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMPENSATION OFFSHORE OIL POLLUTION COMPENSATION FUND Access, Denial, and Detention § 135.401 Access to vessel, Certificates of...

  8. New funding opportunity for gender equality and climate change ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2018-03-08

    Mar 8, 2018 ... What we do · Funding · Resources · About IDRC ... Energy security: Research projects that explore socially equitable access to innovative, clean, and renewable energy services and to energy-based technologies; and ...

  9. Living in cold homes after heating improvements: Evidence from Warm-Front, England's Home Energy Efficiency Scheme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Critchley, Roger; Gilbertson, Jan; Grimsley, Michael; Green, Geoff

    2007-01-01

    Objective: To investigate explanatory factors for persistent cold temperatures in homes which have received heating improvements. Design: Analysis of data from a national survey of dwellings and households (in England occupied by low-income residents) that had received heating improvements or repairs under the Warm Front Scheme. Methods: Over the winters of 2001-02 and 2002-03, householders recorded living room and main bedroom temperatures in a diary. Entries were examined for 888 households, which had received high level heating interventions. Two hundred and twenty-two households were identified as occupying cold homes, with mean bedroom temperature below 16 deg. C or mean living room temperatures below 18 deg. C. Binary logistic regression was used to model dwelling and household features and then occupants' behaviour and attitudes in the 'cold homes' sub-set compared with the remainder of the high intervention group. Seventy-nine supplementary, structured telephone interviews explored reasons given for lower temperatures. Using graphical and tabular methods, householders preferring cooler homes were distinguished from those who felt constrained in some way. Results: Cold homes predominate in pre-1930 properties where the householder remains dissatisfied with the heating system despite major improvements funded by Warm Front. Residents of cold homes are less likely to have long-standing illness or disability, but more likely to experience anxiety or depression. A small sample of telephone interviews reveals those preferring lower temperatures for health or other reasons, report less anxiety and depression than those with limited control over their home environment. Their 'thermal resistance' to higher temperatures challenges orthodox definitions of comfort and fuel poverty

  10. The British Library Newspaper Collection: Long Term Storage, Preservation and Access

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrick Fleming

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available The British Library has recently unveiled plans for improving the collection care of, and digital access to, one of the world's greatest newspaper collections. The collection, which dates from the 16th century, contains UK titles as well as 200 overseas titles and is at risk. 15% of the collection is unusable because of its deterioration, and there are pressures on space and a need to develop greater digital content for access. The solution is to place all of the physical newspapers into a new, state of the art Newspaper Storage Building at Boston Spa, the British Library's main storage and logistics site, and home to its document delivery service. The building will comprise of 160 km of high density shelf space, fully automated under special environmental conditions including low oxygen, regulated 16 degree Celsius temperature, and 52% humidity. Future access to the collection will be at the BL's main Library site at St Pancras, in a specially equipped reading room, so that researchers can integrate other collection items into their studies. However, access will be by surrogate means, initially microfilm, stored in London, and then, increasingly, digital access. By March 2009, the British Library will have digitised 3 million historic newspapers with JISC funds, and this content will be available to readers for free in reading rooms and on a paid for basis online, or via subscriptions. The Library is investigating a similar model going forward with a private sector partner who is willing to digitise and sell online out of copyright newspapers from the BL's collection for a fixed period. This will provide digital content for customers in reading rooms, free at the point of access.

  11. An Analysis of the Mutual Fund Industry: Mutual Fund Investors, Mutual Fund Managers and Mutual Fund Companies

    OpenAIRE

    Fang, Jieyan

    2012-01-01

    In this dissertation I investigate the mutual fund industry, especially the three most important participants within this industry: mutual fund investors, mutual fund companies and mutual fund managers. The main research questions of this dissertation are: 1. Does rapid trading exist among German equity mutual fund investors? What are the determinants of rapid trading? Does rapid trading have a negative impact on mutual fund performance? 2. Do mutual fund investors, as a whole, have...

  12. A systematic review of integrated working between care homes and health care services

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background In the UK there are almost three times as many beds in care homes as in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. Care homes rely on primary health care for access to medical care and specialist services. Repeated policy documents and government reviews register concern about how health care works with independent providers, and the need to increase the equity, continuity and quality of medical care for care homes. Despite multiple initiatives, it is not known if some approaches to service delivery are more effective in promoting integrated working between the NHS and care homes. This study aims to evaluate the different integrated approaches to health care services supporting older people in care homes, and identify barriers and facilitators to integrated working. Methods A systematic review was conducted using Medline (PubMed), CINAHL, BNI, EMBASE, PsycInfo, DH Data, Kings Fund, Web of Science (WoS incl. SCI, SSCI, HCI) and the Cochrane Library incl. DARE. Studies were included if they evaluated the effectiveness of integrated working between primary health care professionals and care homes, or identified barriers and facilitators to integrated working. Studies were quality assessed; data was extracted on health, service use, cost and process related outcomes. A modified narrative synthesis approach was used to compare and contrast integration using the principles of framework analysis. Results Seventeen studies were included; 10 quantitative studies, two process evaluations, one mixed methods study and four qualitative. The majority were carried out in nursing homes. They were characterised by heterogeneity of topic, interventions, methodology and outcomes. Most quantitative studies reported limited effects of the intervention; there was insufficient information to evaluate cost. Facilitators to integrated working included care home managers' support and protected time for staff training. Studies with the potential for integrated working were longer in

  13. Unbundling in Current Broadband and Next-Generation Ultra-Broadband Access Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaudino, Roberto; Giuliano, Romeo; Mazzenga, Franco; Valcarenghi, Luca; Vatalaro, Francesco

    2014-05-01

    This article overviews the methods that are currently under investigation for implementing multi-operator open-access/shared-access techniques in next-generation access ultra-broadband architectures, starting from the traditional "unbundling-of-the-local-loop" techniques implemented in legacy twisted-pair digital subscriber line access networks. A straightforward replication of these copper-based unbundling-of-the-local-loop techniques is usually not feasible on next-generation access networks, including fiber-to-the-home point-to-multipoint passive optical networks. To investigate this issue, the article first gives a concise description of traditional copper-based unbundling-of-the-local-loop solutions, then focalizes on both next-generation access hybrid fiber-copper digital subscriber line fiber-to-the-cabinet scenarios and on fiber to the home by accounting for the mix of regulatory and technological reasons driving the next-generation access migration path, focusing mostly on the European situation.

  14. University Supports for Open Access: A Canadian National Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greyson, Devon; Vezina, Kumiko; Morrison, Heather; Taylor, Donald; Black, Charlyn

    2009-01-01

    The advent of policies at research-funding organizations requiring grantees to make their funded research openly accessible alters the life cycle of scholarly research. This survey-based study explores the approaches that libraries and research administration offices at the major Canadian universities are employing to support the…

  15. Funding therapies for rare diseases: an ethical dilemma with a potential solution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Colman; Jan, Stephen; Thompson, Kelly

    2018-02-01

    Funding rare disease therapies presents a challenge in Australia where there is a legislative requirement to consider cost-effectiveness. Currently the Life Saving Drugs Programme (LSDP) provides subsidised access to high-cost therapies for rare, life-threatening conditions. However the LSDP is currently under review by the Minsiter for Health and future access to rare disease therapies in uncertain. Internationally there is no gold standard model to evaluate and fund rare disease therapies, and considerable variation exists. However, common features of international systems include the opportunity for early stakeholder engagement, flexibility with evidence requirements, cost-effectiveness criteria and transparency in relation to the decision making framework and outcomes. Australians value equality and equal opportunity in relation to health care. To meet these expectations there is a clear need to maintain a separate fit-for-purpose framework to evaluate and fund rare disease therapies drawing on overseas best practice. This will provide certainty for industry to continue to invest in such treatments, as well as ensuring funding recommendations are reflective of Australian values balanced against the need for financial sustainability.

  16. Iron-Deficiency Anemia

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... Epidemiology Studies Women’s Health All Science A-Z Grants and Training Grants and Training Home Policies and Guidelines Funding Opportunities ... FOIA) Accessibility Copyright and Usage No FEAR Act Grants and Funding Building 31 31 Center Drive Bethesda, ...

  17. Promoting Access to Public Research Data for Scientific, Economic, and Social Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P Arzberger

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Access to and sharing of data are essential for the conduct and advancement of science. This article argues that publicly funded research data should be openly available to the maximum extent possible. To seize upon advancements of cyberinfrastructure and the explosion of data in a range of scientific disciplines, this access to and sharing of publicly funded data must be advanced within an international framework, beyond technological solutions. The authors, members of an OECD Follow-up Group, present their research findings, based closely on their report to OECD, on key issues in data access, as well as operating principles and management aspects necessary to successful data access regimes.

  18. Open access publishing in physics gains momentum

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    "The first meeting of European particle physics funding agencies took place today at CERN to establish a consortium for Open Access publishing in particle physics, SCOAP3. This is the first time an antire scientific field is exploring the conversion of its reader-paid journals into an author-paid Open Access format." (1 page)

  19. Hospital information technology in home care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiao-Ying; Zhang, Pei-Ying

    2016-10-01

    The utilization of hospital information technology (HIT) as a tool for home care is a recent trend in health science. Subjects gaining benefits from this new endeavor include middle-aged individuals with serious chronic illness living at home. Published data on the utilization of health care information technology especially for home care in chronic illness patients have increased enormously in recent past. The common chronic illnesses reported in these studies were primarily on heart and lung diseases. Furthermore, health professionals have confirmed in these studies that HIT was beneficial in gaining better access to information regarding their patients and they were also able to save that information easily for future use. On the other hand, some health professional also observed that the use of HIT in home care is not suitable for everyone and that individuals cannot be replaced by HIT. On the whole it is clear that the use of HIT could complement communication in home care. The present review aims to shed light on these latest aspects of the health care information technology in home care.

  20. Simulation based training in a publicly funded home birth programme in Australia: A qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Arunaz; Nestel, Debra; Stoyles, Sally; East, Christine; Wallace, Euan M; White, Colleen

    2016-02-01

    Birth at home is a safe and appropriate choice for healthy women with a low risk pregnancy. However there is a small risk of emergencies requiring immediate, skilled management to optimise maternal and neonatal outcomes. We developed and implemented a simulation workshop designed to run in a home based setting to assist with emergency training for midwives and paramedical staff. The workshop was evaluated by assessing participants' satisfaction and response to key learning issues. Midwifery and emergency paramedical staff attending home births participated in a simulation workshop where they were required to manage birth emergencies in real time with limited availability of resources to suit the setting. They completed a pre-test and post-test evaluation form exploring the content and utility of the workshops. Content analysis was performed on qualitative data regarding the most important learning from the simulation activity. A total of 73 participants attended the workshop (midwifery=46, and paramedical=27). There were 110 comments, made by 49 participants. The most frequently identified key learning elements were related to communication (among midwives, paramedical and hospital staff and with the woman's partner), followed by recognising the role of other health care professionals, developing an understanding of the process and the importance of planning ahead. Home birth simulation workshop was found to be a useful tool by staff that provide care to women who are having a planned home birth. Developing clear communication and teamwork were found to be the key learning principles guiding their practice. Copyright © 2015 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Designing of smart home automation system based on Raspberry Pi

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saini, Ravi Prakash; Singh, Bhanu Pratap; Sharma, Mahesh Kumar; Wattanawisuth, Nattapol; Leeprechanon, Nopbhorn

    2016-03-01

    Locally networked or remotely controlled home automation system becomes a popular paradigm because of the numerous advantages and is suitable for academic research. This paper proposes a method for an implementation of Raspberry Pi based home automation system presented with an android phone access interface. The power consumption profile across the connected load is measured accurately through programming. Users can access the graph of total power consumption with respect to time worldwide using their Dropbox account. An android application has been developed to channelize the monitoring and controlling operation of home appliances remotely. This application facilitates controlling of operating pins of Raspberry Pi by pressing the corresponding key for turning "on" and "off" of any desired appliance. Systems can range from the simple room lighting control to smart microcontroller based hybrid systems incorporating several other additional features. Smart home automation systems are being adopted to achieve flexibility, scalability, security in the sense of data protection through the cloud-based data storage protocol, reliability, energy efficiency, etc.

  2. Global Fund investments in harm reduction from 2002 to 2009

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bridge, Jamie; Hunter, Benjamin M; Atun, Rifat

    2012-01-01

    Injecting drug use has been documented in 158 countries and is a major contributor to HIV epidemics. People who inject drugs have poor and inequitable access to HIV services. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is the leading multilateral donor for HIV programmes and encourage...... applicants to include harm reduction interventions in their proposals. This study is the first detailed analysis of Global Fund investments in harm reduction interventions....

  3. On Using Home Networks and Cloud Computing for a Future Internet of Things

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niedermayer, Heiko; Holz, Ralph; Pahl, Marc-Oliver; Carle, Georg

    In this position paper we state four requirements for a Future Internet and sketch our initial concept. The requirements: (1) more comfort, (2) integration of home networks, (3) resources like service clouds in the network, and (4) access anywhere on any machine. Future Internet needs future quality and future comfort. There need to be new possiblities for everyone. Our focus is on higher layers and related to the many overlay proposals. We consider them to run on top of a basic Future Internet core. A new user experience means to include all user devices. Home networks and services should be a fundamental part of the Future Internet. Home networks extend access and allow interaction with the environment. Cloud Computing can provide reliable resources beyond local boundaries. For access anywhere, we also need secure storage for data and profiles in the network, in particular for access with non-personal devices (Internet terminal, ticket machine, ...).

  4. Meaningful change or more of the same? The Global Fund's new funding model and the politics of HIV scale-up.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapilashrami, Anuj; Hanefeld, Johanna

    2014-01-01

    As we enter the fourth decade of HIV and AIDS, sustainability of treatment and prevention programmes is a growing concern in an environment of shrinking resources. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) will be critical to maintaining current trajectories of scale-up and ultimately, ensuring access to HIV treatment and prevention for people in low/middle-income countries. The authors' prior research in India, Zambia and South Africa contributed evidence on the politics and impact of new institutional and funding arrangements, revealing a 'rhetoric-reality gap' in their impact on health systems, civil society participation, and achievement of population health. With its new funding strategy and disbursement model, the Fund proposes dramatic changes to its approach, emphasising value for money, greater fund predictability and flexibility and more proactive engagement in recipient countries, while foregrounding a human rights approach. This paper reviews the Fund's new strategy and examines its potential to respond to key criticisms concerning health systems impact, particularly the elite nature of this funding mechanism that generates competition between public and private sectors and marginalises local voices. The authors analyse strategy documents against their own research and published literature and reflect on whether the changes are likely to address challenges faced in bringing HIV programmes to scale and their likely effect on AIDS politics.

  5. Research on the model of home networking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yun, Xiang; Feng, Xiancheng

    2007-11-01

    It is the research hotspot of current broadband network to combine voice service, data service and broadband audio-video service by IP protocol to transport various real time and mutual services to terminal users (home). Home Networking is a new kind of network and application technology which can provide various services. Home networking is called as Digital Home Network. It means that PC, home entertainment equipment, home appliances, Home wirings, security, illumination system were communicated with each other by some composing network technology, constitute a networking internal home, and connect with WAN by home gateway. It is a new network technology and application technology, and can provide many kinds of services inside home or between homes. Currently, home networking can be divided into three kinds: Information equipment, Home appliances, Communication equipment. Equipment inside home networking can exchange information with outer networking by home gateway, this information communication is bidirectional, user can get information and service which provided by public networking by using home networking internal equipment through home gateway connecting public network, meantime, also can get information and resource to control the internal equipment which provided by home networking internal equipment. Based on the general network model of home networking, there are four functional entities inside home networking: HA, HB, HC, and HD. (1) HA (Home Access) - home networking connects function entity; (2) HB (Home Bridge) Home networking bridge connects function entity; (3) HC (Home Client) - Home networking client function entity; (4) HD (Home Device) - decoder function entity. There are many physical ways to implement four function entities. Based on theses four functional entities, there are reference model of physical layer, reference model of link layer, reference model of IP layer and application reference model of high layer. In the future home network

  6. The effects of home computer access and social capital on mathematics and science achievement among Asian-American high school students in the NELS:88 data set

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quigley, Mark Declan

    The purpose of this researcher was to examine specific environmental, educational, and demographic factors and their influence on mathematics and science achievement. In particular, the researcher ascertained the interconnections of home computer access and social capital, with Asian American students and the effect on mathematics and science achievement. Coleman's theory on social capital and parental influence was used as a basis for the analysis of data. Subjects for this study were the base year students from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) and the subsequent follow-up survey data in 1990, 1992, and 1994. The approximate sample size for this study is 640 ethnic Asians from the NELS:88 database. The analysis was a longitudinal study based on the Student and Parent Base Year responses and the Second Follow-up survey of 1992, when the subjects were in 12th grade. Achievement test results from the NELS:88 data were used to measure achievement in mathematics and science. The NELS:88 test battery was developed to measure both individual status and a student's growth in a number of achievement areas. The subject's responses were analyzed by principal components factor analysis, weights, effect sizes, hierarchial regression analysis, and PLSPath Analysis. The results of this study were that prior ability in mathematics and science is a major influence in the student's educational achievement. Findings from the study support the view that home computer access has a negative direct effect on mathematics and science achievement for both Asian American males and females. None of the social capital factors in the study had either a negative or positive direct effect on mathematics and science achievement although some indirect effects were found. Suggestions were made toward increasing parental involvement in their children's academic endeavors. Computer access in the home should be considered related to television viewing and should be closely

  7. A Technique to Speedup Access to Web Contents

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 7; Issue 7. Web Caching - A Technique to Speedup Access to Web Contents. Harsha Srinath Shiva Shankar Ramanna. General Article Volume 7 Issue 7 July 2002 pp 54-62 ... Keywords. World wide web; data caching; internet traffic; web page access.

  8. The Impact of the Physical Environment on Depressive Symptoms of Older Residents Living in Care Homes: A Mixed Methods Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potter, Rachel; Sheehan, Bart; Cain, Rebecca; Griffin, James; Jennings, Paul A

    2018-05-08

    Forty percent of residents living in care homes in the United Kingdom have significant depressive symptoms. Care homes can appear to be depressing places, but whether the physical environment of homes directly affects depression in care home residents is unknown. This study explores the relationship between the physical environment and depressive symptoms of older people living in care homes. In a prospective cohort study the physical environment of 50 care homes were measured using the Sheffield Care Environment Assessment Matrix (SCEAM) and depressive symptoms of 510 residents measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). The study was supplemented with semi-structured interviews with residents living in the care homes. Quantitative data were analyzed using multi-level modeling, and qualitative data analyzed using a thematic framework approach. The overall physical environment of care homes (overall SCEAM score) did not predict depressive symptoms. Controlling for dependency, social engagement, and home type, having access to outdoor space was the only environmental variable to significantly predict depressive symptoms. Residents interviewed reported that access to outdoor space was restricted in many ways: locked doors, uneven foot paths, steep steps, and needing permission or assistance to go outside. We provide new evidence to suggest that access to outdoor space predicts depressive symptoms in older people living in care home. Interventions aimed at increasing access to outdoor spaces could positively affect depressive symptoms in older people.

  9. Funding Democracy, Funding Social Services? The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights in the Context of Competing Narratives in Turkey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Muehlenhoff, H.L.M.

    2014-01-01

    Within the process of Turkey's European Union (EU) accession, the EU aims to strengthen Turkey's democratization through various programmes focusing on the role of civil society. By funding non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the EU intends to empower NGOs to take on a self-responsible role in

  10. US and Dutch nurse experiences with fall prevention technology within nursing home environment and workflow: a qualitative study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vandenberg, Ann E.; van Beijnum, Bernhard J.F.; Overdevest, Vera G.P.; Capezuti, Elizabeth; Johnson II, Theodore M.

    2017-01-01

    Falls remain a major geriatric problem, and the search for new solutions continues. We investigated how existing fall prevention technology was experienced within nursing home nurses' environment and workflow. Our NIH-funded study in an American nursing home was followed by a cultural learning

  11. US and Dutch nurse experiences with fall prevention technology within nursing home environment and workflow : a qualitative study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vandenberg, Ann E.; van Beijnum, Bernhard J.F.; Overdevest, Vera G.P.; Capezuti, Elizabeth; Johnson II, Theodore M.

    2017-01-01

    Falls remain a major geriatric problem, and the search for new solutions continues. We investigated how existing fall prevention technology was experienced within nursing home nurses' environment and workflow. Our NIH-funded study in an American nursing home was followed by a cultural learning

  12. Barriers to children having a medical home in Johnson County, Iowa: notes from the field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swingle, Hanes M; Wilmoth, Ralph; Aquilino, Mary L

    2008-09-01

    In Iowa 70.7% of children who qualify for Title XIX and/or Title V services have a medical home, but in Johnson County, Iowa only 54.0% of such children have one. Objectives Identify barriers to access to a medical home for children who use Johnson County Public Health (JCPH) services and recommend strategies to overcome these barriers. Families with children attending JCPH well-child and WIC clinics were randomly selected to be interviewed using a semi-structured, 38-item questionnaire. Data analysis used qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Among 71 families interviewed, 41 had children without a medical home and 85% of these families cited financial barriers. Lack of U.S. citizenship accounted for 59% without health insurance. A recent move contributed to 29% not having medical homes. Nine different languages were spoken among the 41 families without a medical home. Forty-one percent of all parents interviewed had never had a medical home themselves. Many parents perceived emergency departments as more convenient than doctors' offices. Lack of health insurance, due primarily to citizenship status, is the greatest barrier to access to a medical home in this population. The migratory nature of the U.S. population, marked cultural diversity, and parental attitudes were additional barriers to children's access to a medical home. Strategies to overcome these barriers are discussed.

  13. Computer and internet access for long-term care residents: perceived benefits and barriers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tak, Sunghee H; Beck, Cornelia; McMahon, Ed

    2007-05-01

    In this study, the authors examined residents' computer and Internet access, as well as benefits and barriers to access in nursing homes. Administrators of 64 nursing homes in a national chain completed surveys. Fourteen percent of the nursing homes provided computers for residents to use, and 11% had Internet access. Some residents owned personal computers in their rooms. Administrators perceived the benefits of computer and Internet use for residents as facilitating direct communication with family and providing mental exercise, education, and enjoyment. Perceived barriers included cost and space for computer equipment and residents' cognitive and physical impairments. Implications of residents' computer activities were discussed for nursing care. Further research is warranted to examine therapeutic effects of computerized activities and their cost effectiveness.

  14. Predictive Factors associated with Death of Elderly in Nursing Homes

    OpenAIRE

    Kiwol Sung, PhD, RN

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: An increasing elderly population reflects a great need for readily accessible, clinically useful methods to identify mortality-related factors in nursing home residents. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the deaths of nursing home residents. Methods: Data was collected from a Minimal Data Set of 195 elderly nursing home residents, followed by analysis of demographic factors, disease and nursing condition factors, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), co...

  15. Creating Work Opportunities for the Poor through Home Community ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article seeks to investigate how Home Community Based Care (HCBC) is used as a strategy to create work opportunities for the poor. Quantitative and qualitative data from 65 HCBC organisations with three years of active involvement in HCBC that are funded by the Department of Health was collected. This was done ...

  16. Does the public deserve free access to climate system science?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grigorov, Ivo

    2010-05-01

    Some time ago it was the lack of public access to medical research data that really stirred the issue and gave inertia for legislation and a new publishing model that puts tax payer-funded medical research in the hands of those who fund it. In today's age global climate change has become the biggest socio-economic challenge, and the same argument resonates: climate affects us all and the publicly-funded science quantifying it should be freely accessible to all stakeholders beyond academic research. Over the last few years the ‘Open Access' movement to remove as much as possible subscription, and other on-campus barriers to academic research has rapidly gathered pace, but despite significant progress, the climate system sciences are not among the leaders in providing full access to their publications and data. Beyond the ethical argument, there are proven and tangible benefits for the next generation of climate researchers to adapt the way their output is published. Through the means provided by ‘open access', both data and ideas can gain more visibility, use and citations for the authors, but also result in a more rapid exchange of knowledge and ideas, and ultimately progress towards a sought solution. The presentation will aim to stimulate discussion and seek progress on the following questions: Should free access to climate research (& data) be mandatory? What are the career benefits of using ‘open access' for young scientists? What means and methods should, or could, be incorporated into current European graduate training programmes in climate research, and possible ways forward?

  17. Food Away from Home and Childhood Obesity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mancino, Lisa; Todd, Jessica E; Guthrie, Joanne; Lin, Biing-Hwan

    2014-12-01

    Childhood obesity is associated with a number of serious health risks that can persist into adulthood. While trends in food away from home and fast-food consumption have paralleled trends in childhood obesity, it is important to identify whether this is a causal relationship. This paper reviews recent literature in this area to summarize if there is a consensus in research findings. We group the literature into two areas - consumption of and access to food away from home (FAFH). While no consensus findings have been reached in either area, the evidence of an association between FAFH consumption and childhood obesity has gained strength. Further, there is evidence that FAFH meals add calories to children's diets. The literature on the role of FAFH access and childhood obesity has continued producing mixed results.

  18. Access to the Past: The Librarian's Responsibility to the Future. Response prepared by Harold Hacker.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, Elisabeth Israels; Hacker, Harold

    The position taken is that convenient free access to information from all types of libraries is one guarantee that we will have the kind of society we want. Private endowments, foundation support, and federal funds should be sought. Specialized libraries ought to be considered national resources and funded accordingly. Other access problems…

  19. Ocean Drilling Program: Web Site Access Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    web site ODP/TAMU Science Operator Home Ocean Drilling Program Web Site Access Statistics* Overview See statistics for JOIDES members. See statistics for Janus database. 1997 October November December

  20. Take-Home Training in Laparoscopy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thinggaard, Ebbe

    2017-01-01

    this aim, we recruited participants from the intervention arm in our randomised controlled trial. All participants had access to the simulation centre and were given a port-able trainer to train on at home. Participants were asked to use a logbook during training. At the end of the course, they were...

  1. Frame of Reference: Open Access Starts with You

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goetsch, Lori A.

    2010-01-01

    Federal legislation now requires the deposit of some taxpayer-funded research in "open-access" repositories--that is, sites where scholarship and research are made freely available over the Internet. The institutions whose faculty produce the research have begun to see the benefit of open-access publication as well. From the perspective of faculty…

  2. Improving Accessibility to Medical Services for Persons with Disabilities in Thailand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anpatcha Sakhornkhan

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This action research aimed at developing an action plan to improve the accessibility to home health care and assistive devices for persons with disabilities in a rural community, and to evaluate changes in the numbers of such persons who received appropriate home health care and assistive devices after a three-month implementation of the action plan.Method: The study was conducted at a sub-district of Maha Sarakham Province, Thailand. The main beneficiaries were 99 persons with disabilities (mean age55.4±18.7 years. Group meetings were organised for persons with disabilities, caregivers, and various community members. An action plan for improving the accessibility of persons with disabilities to home health care and assistive devices was collaboratively formulated and implemented for three months.Results: The main strategy for improving accessibility was to increase the competency of village health volunteers in providing home health care and assistive devices to persons with disabilities. After the three-month action plan implementation, the number of persons with disabilities who received appropriate home health care, i.e. at least once a month, significantly increased from 33.3% to 72.2% (Chi-square test, PConclusions: Under the supervision of physical therapists and/or other allied health professionals, the village health volunteer is likely to be a key person for improving the accessibility to home health care and assistive devices for persons with disabilities in a rural community.Limitations: The study was limited to only one sub-district. No comparable areas were studied. Further, since the study recruited persons with disabilities from a rural community, applicability of the findings to persons with disabilities in an urban community should be considered judiciously.

  3. Paramedic-Initiated Home Care Referrals and Use of Home Care and Emergency Medical Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Amol A; Klich, John; Thurston, Adam; Scantlebury, Jordan; Kiss, Alex; Seddon, Gayle; Sinha, Samir K

    2018-01-01

    We examined the association between paramedic-initiated home care referrals and utilization of home care, 9-1-1, and Emergency Department (ED) services. This was a retrospective cohort study of individuals who received a paramedic-initiated home care referral after a 9-1-1 call between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Home care, 9-1-1, and ED utilization were compared in the 6 months before and after home care referral. Nonparametric longitudinal regression was performed to assess changes in hours of home care service use and zero-inflated Poisson regression was performed to assess changes in the number of 9-1-1 calls and ambulance transports to ED. During the 24-month study period, 2,382 individuals received a paramedic-initiated home care referral. After excluding individuals who died, were hospitalized, or were admitted to a nursing home, the final study cohort was 1,851. The proportion of the study population receiving home care services increased from 18.2% to 42.5% after referral, representing 450 additional people receiving services. In longitudinal regression analysis, there was an increase of 17.4 hours in total services per person in the six months after referral (95% CI: 1.7-33.1, p = 0.03). The mean number of 9-1-1 calls per person was 1.44 (SD 9.58) before home care referral and 1.20 (SD 7.04) after home care referral in the overall study cohort. This represented a 10% reduction in 9-1-1 calls (95% CI: 7-13%, p home care referral and 0.79 (SD 6.27) after home care referral, representing a 7% reduction (95% CI: 3-11%, p home care records were included in the analysis, the reductions in 9-1-1 calls and ambulance transports to ED were attenuated but remained statistically significant. Paramedic-initiated home care referrals in Toronto were associated with improved access to and use of home care services and may have been associated with reduced 9-1-1 calls and ambulance transports to ED.

  4. Cooperating with a palliative home-care team

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Goldschmidt, Dorthe; Groenvold, Mogens; Johnsen, Anna Thit

    2005-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Palliative home-care teams often cooperate with general practitioners (GPs) and district nurses. Our aim was to evaluate a palliative home-care team from the viewpoint of GPs and district nurses. METHODS: GPs and district nurses received questionnaires at the start of home-care and one...... month later. Questions focussed on benefits to patients, training issues for professionals and cooperation between the home-care team and the GP/ district nurse. A combination of closed- and open-ended questions was used. RESULTS: Response rate was 84% (467/553). Benefits to patients were experienced...... by 91 %, mainly due to improvement in symptom management, 'security', and accessibility of specialists in palliative care. After one month, 57% of the participants reported to have learnt aspects of palliative care, primarily symptom control, and 89% of them found cooperation satisfactory...

  5. 76 FR 67583 - Community Development Revolving Loan Fund Access for Credit Unions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-02

    ... in which a credit union applies for funds and how NCUA renders a decision on that application. Each... union meets NCUA's underwriting criteria for a loan, the lending decision should not also be subject to... decision to the Board. A commenter expressed concern that a credit union that is considered nonqualified...

  6. HIV home testing – A problem or part of the solution? | Gardner ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    South African Journal of Bioethics and Law. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 5, No 1 (2012) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  7. Supporting aging in place & assisted living through home care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorshe, N

    2000-06-01

    This article defines assisted living, discusses the pros and cons of limited regulation, scope of service, Aging-in-Place partnerships, and how home care agencies can work with assisted-living facilities to provide care. It also examines a study on assisted living in six states that is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

  8. Traditional Factors of Fit, Perceived Quality, and Speed of Publication Still Outweigh Open Access in Authors’ Journal Selection Criteria. A Review of: Solomon, D. J., & Björk, B.-C. (2012. Publication fees in open access publishing: Sources of funding and factors influencing choice of journal. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 63(1, 98-107. doi: 10.1002/asi.21660

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle Dalton

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To determine the extent to whichthe open access (OA status of a journalinfluences authors in their journal selectiondecisions and to analyze the sources offunding for the article-processing charges(APCs applied in professional OA publishing.Design – Survey questionnaire.Setting – The international open accessscholarly publishing sector.Subjects – 1,038 researchers across allacademic disciplines who have recentlypublished work in open access journals thatcharge APCs.Methods – Journals listed in the Directory ofOpen Access Journals were stratified intoseven discipline clusters, and systematicrandom sampling was used where possible tocollect a sample of up to 15 journals per clusterthat levy APCs. For each individual journal,the authors of the 15 most recently publishedarticles (working from 2010 backwards wereinvited to complete a web-based questionnaireon the factors influencing their choice ofjournal and the source(s used to fundprocessing charges. Additional backgroundinformation about the authors and journalswas also collected and merged with the surveyresponses.Main Results – The results of the survey identified the fit of the article with the journal’s subject area, the perceived quality or impact of the journal, and the speed of the peer-review and publishing process as the dominant factors in the journal selection decision of authors. All three aspects were judged as either “very important” or “important” by 80% or more of respondents – significantly higher than the corresponding figure of 60% in relation to the open access status of the journal.The analysis also indicated that two key elements appear to influence how APCs are funded: the research discipline and the country of origin of the author. The use of research grants to fund charges is more prevalent in scientific disciplines than in the humanities, whilst researchers based in lower-income countries more frequently identify APCs as a barrier than

  9. Funds Used by the European Union in the Convergence Approach and Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet Keleş

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The article is to show the twinning mechanism as a convergence tool in a states accession process. Since it’s beginning in 1998 more than 1300 projects have been carried out in the scope of candidate states’ convergence process. Due to these projects the states’ administrative and judicial systems have been restructured. Thus, the capacity of Union legislation’s applicability enhanced and the programs have been used to strengthen the institutional structures in all the sectors in the scope of instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance. Starting from the December 17, 2001 various funds were launched for use in Turkey in order to ensure compliance with the EU acquis communautaire within the accession process of the state and to facilitate the fulfillment of the obligations which are specified in the Accession Partnership Document and National Programme of Turkey. The EU funds and their use within the scope of the approach and the contributions provided to institutions implementing the projects to the Legislative System of Turkey are to be discussed in the research.

  10. A PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF HEDGE FUNDS, HEDGED MUTUAL FUNDS AND HEDGE FUND ETFS

    OpenAIRE

    Shenyan Gu; Tina Zhang

    2015-01-01

    Hedged mutual funds and hedge fund ETFs are new entrants to the market thatallow individual investors to invest in funds using hedge fund strategies.   In this paper, we study the performance of these two funds relative to the traditional hedge funds to see if the three asset classes are comparable investments. We use four performance measurement models, including CAPM, Fama French three factor model, Carhart four factor model and Fung and Hsieh eight factor model, to test the fund...

  11. Smart homes, private homes? An empirical study of technology researchers' perceptions of ethical issues in developing smart-home health technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birchley, Giles; Huxtable, Richard; Murtagh, Madeleine; Ter Meulen, Ruud; Flach, Peter; Gooberman-Hill, Rachael

    2017-04-04

    Smart-home technologies, comprising environmental sensors, wearables and video are attracting interest in home healthcare delivery. Development of such technology is usually justified on the basis of the technology's potential to increase the autonomy of people living with long-term conditions. Studies of the ethics of smart-homes raise concerns about privacy, consent, social isolation and equity of access. Few studies have investigated the ethical perspectives of smart-home engineers themselves. By exploring the views of engineering researchers in a large smart-home project, we sought to contribute to dialogue between ethics and the engineering community. Either face-to-face or using Skype, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 early- and mid-career smart-home researchers from a multi-centre smart-home project, who were asked to describe their own experience and to reflect more broadly about ethical considerations that relate to smart-home design. With participants' consent, interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using a thematic approach. Two overarching themes emerged: in 'Privacy', researchers indicated that they paid close attention to negative consequences of potential unauthorised information sharing in their current work. However, when discussing broader issues in smart-home design beyond the confines of their immediate project, researchers considered physical privacy to a lesser extent, even though physical privacy may manifest in emotive concerns about being watched or monitored. In 'Choice', researchers indicated they often saw provision of choice to end-users as a solution to ethical dilemmas. While researchers indicated that choices of end-users may need to be restricted for technological reasons, ethical standpoints that restrict choice were usually assumed and embedded in design. The tractability of informational privacy may explain the greater attention that is paid to it. However, concerns about physical privacy may

  12. Care home manager attitudes to balancing risk and autonomy for residents with dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Elizabeth A; Perkins, Elizabeth; Clarke, Pam; Haines, Alina; Baldwin, Ashley; Whittington, Richard

    2018-02-01

    To determine how care home managers negotiate the conflict between maintaining a safe environment while enabling the autonomy of residents with dementia. This is important because there is limited research with care home managers; yet, they are key agents in the implementation of national policies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 managers from care homes offering dementia care in the Northwest of England. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. There were three areas in which care home staff reported balancing safety and risk against the individual needs of residents. First, the physical environment created a tension between safety and accessibility to the outside world, which meant that care homes provided highly structured or limited access to outdoor space. Second, care home managers reflected a balancing act between an individual's autonomy and the need to protect their residents' dignity. Finally, care home managers highlighted the ways in which an individual's needs were framed by the needs of other residents to the extent that on some occasions an individual's needs were subjugated to the needs of the general population of a home. There was a strong, even dominant, ethos of risk management and keeping people safe. Managing individual needs while maintaining a safe care home environment clearly is a constant dynamic interpersonal process of negotiating and balancing competing interests for care home managers.

  13. Leaders' experiences and perceptions implementing activity-based funding and pay-for-performance hospital funding models: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baxter, Pamela E; Hewko, Sarah J; Pfaff, Kathryn A; Cleghorn, Laura; Cunningham, Barbara J; Elston, Dawn; Cummings, Greta G

    2015-08-01

    Providing cost-effective, accessible, high quality patient care is a challenge to governments and health care delivery systems across the globe. In response to this challenge, two types of hospital funding models have been widely implemented: (1) activity-based funding (ABF) and (2) pay-for-performance (P4P). Although health care leaders play a critical role in the implementation of these funding models, to date their perspectives have not been systematically examined. The purpose of this systematic review was to gain a better understanding of the experiences of health care leaders implementing hospital funding reforms within Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. We searched literature from 1982 to 2013 using: Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete, Academic Search Elite, and Business Source Complete. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts and full texts using predefined criteria. We included 2 mixed methods and 12 qualitative studies. Thematic analysis was used in synthesizing results. Five common themes and multiple subthemes emerged. Themes include: pre-requisites for success, perceived benefits, barriers/challenges, unintended consequences, and leader recommendations. Irrespective of which type of hospital funding reform was implemented, health care leaders described a complex process requiring the following: organizational commitment; adequate infrastructure; human, financial and information technology resources; change champions and a personal commitment to quality care. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Optical Access Multiservice Architecture with Support to Smart Grid

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gómez-Martínez, Alejandro; Amaya-Fernández, Ferney; Hincapié, Roberto

    2013-01-01

    The increasing demand of fixed and mobile applications, and considering that smart grid imposes new requirements to the access networks, in this paper we present an optical access architecture to support home multiservice including smart grid applications. We propose a migration path based in a WDM...

  15. 78 FR 72095 - Announcement of Funding Awards for Fiscal Year 2013 Research Partnerships Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-02

    ... demonstrations; (2) using housing as a platform for improving quality of life; (3) the American Housing Survey..., ``Bringing Life Course Home: Improving Health Through Housing Stability and Support.'' Dr. Emily Feinberg... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [Docket No. FR-5629-FA-01] Announcement of Funding...

  16. Designing of smart home automation system based on Raspberry Pi

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saini, Ravi Prakash; Singh, Bhanu Pratap; Sharma, Mahesh Kumar; Wattanawisuth, Nattapol; Leeprechanon, Nopbhorn

    2016-01-01

    Locally networked or remotely controlled home automation system becomes a popular paradigm because of the numerous advantages and is suitable for academic research. This paper proposes a method for an implementation of Raspberry Pi based home automation system presented with an android phone access interface. The power consumption profile across the connected load is measured accurately through programming. Users can access the graph of total power consumption with respect to time worldwide using their Dropbox account. An android application has been developed to channelize the monitoring and controlling operation of home appliances remotely. This application facilitates controlling of operating pins of Raspberry Pi by pressing the corresponding key for turning “on” and “off” of any desired appliance. Systems can range from the simple room lighting control to smart microcontroller based hybrid systems incorporating several other additional features. Smart home automation systems are being adopted to achieve flexibility, scalability, security in the sense of data protection through the cloud-based data storage protocol, reliability, energy efficiency, etc.

  17. Designing of smart home automation system based on Raspberry Pi

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saini, Ravi Prakash; Singh, Bhanu Pratap [B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology, Pilani, Rajasthan (India); Sharma, Mahesh Kumar; Wattanawisuth, Nattapol; Leeprechanon, Nopbhorn, E-mail: Dr.N.L@ieee.org [Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus, Pathum Thani (Thailand)

    2016-03-09

    Locally networked or remotely controlled home automation system becomes a popular paradigm because of the numerous advantages and is suitable for academic research. This paper proposes a method for an implementation of Raspberry Pi based home automation system presented with an android phone access interface. The power consumption profile across the connected load is measured accurately through programming. Users can access the graph of total power consumption with respect to time worldwide using their Dropbox account. An android application has been developed to channelize the monitoring and controlling operation of home appliances remotely. This application facilitates controlling of operating pins of Raspberry Pi by pressing the corresponding key for turning “on” and “off” of any desired appliance. Systems can range from the simple room lighting control to smart microcontroller based hybrid systems incorporating several other additional features. Smart home automation systems are being adopted to achieve flexibility, scalability, security in the sense of data protection through the cloud-based data storage protocol, reliability, energy efficiency, etc.

  18. The association between home care visits and same-day emergency department use: a case-crossover study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Aaron; Schumacher, Connie; Bronskill, Susan E; Campitelli, Michael A; Poss, Jeffrey W; Seow, Hsien; Costa, Andrew P

    2018-04-30

    The extent to which home care visits contribute to the delay or avoidance of emergency department use is poorly characterized. We examined the association between home care visits and same-day emergency department use among patients receiving publicly funded home care. We conducted a population-based case-crossover study among patients receiving publicly funded home care in the Hamilton-Niagara-Haldimand-Brant region of Ontario between January and December 2015. Within individuals, all days with emergency department visits after 5 pm were selected as cases and matched with control days from the previous week. The cohort was stratified according to whether patients had ongoing home care needs ("long stay") or short-term home care needs ("short stay"). We used conditional logistical regression to estimate the association between receiving a home care visit during the day and visiting the emergency department after 5 pm on the same day. A total of 4429 long-stay patients contributed 5893 emergency department visits, and 2836 short-stay patients contributed 3476 visits. Receiving a home care nursing visit was associated with an increased likelihood of visiting the emergency department after 5 pm on the same day in both long-stay (odds ratio [OR] 1.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17-1.48) and short-stay patients (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07-1.39). Stronger associations were observed for less acute visits to the emergency department. No associations were observed for other types of home care visits. Patients receiving home care were more likely to visit the emergency department during the evening on days they received a nursing visit. The mechanism of the association between home care visits and same-day emergency department use and the extent to which same-day emergency department visits could be prevented or diverted require additional investigation. © 2018 Joule Inc. or its licensors.

  19. Drug overprescription in nursing homes: an empirical evaluation of administrative data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stroka, Magdalena A

    2016-04-01

    A widely discussed shortcoming of long-term care in nursing homes for the elderly is the inappropriate or suboptimal drug utilization, particularly of psychotropic drugs. Using administrative data from the largest sickness fund in Germany, this study was designed to estimate the effect of institutionalization on the drug intake of the frail elderly. Difference-in-differences propensity score matching techniques were used to compare drug prescriptions for the frail elderly who entered a nursing home with those who remained in the outpatient care system; findings suggest that nursing home residents receive more doses of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and analgesics. The potential overprescription correlates with estimated drug costs of about €87 million per year.

  20. Housing Quality and Access to Material and Learning Resources within the Home Environment in Developing Countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradley, Robert H.; Putnick, Diane L.

    2012-01-01

    This study examined home environment conditions (housing quality, material resources, formal and informal learning materials) and their relations with the Human Development Index (HDI) in 28 developing countries. Home environment conditions in these countries varied widely. The quality of housing and availability of material resources at home were…

  1. The impact of cuts in legal aid funding on charities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Debra; Barr, Warren

    2013-03-01

    This article focusses on the specific impact of the cuts in legal aid funding on the charitable sector. The sector plays a significant role in advice giving. Some charities have the provision of legal advice as their sole purpose, whilst the work of other charities includes the giving of legal advice. Funding comes via a number of sources including legal aid, local authorities and charitable trusts. Whilst this volume highlights the legal aid reforms that will lead to significant cuts in funding, this article notes that charitable providers of legal advice have also suffered major cuts from their other traditional funding sources. Against this background, the article considers the serious and often unforeseen consequences for charities of the legal aid reforms, which go far beyond the impact on the high street law firm and access to justice for claimants.

  2. Identifying Feasible Physical Activity Programs for Long-Term Care Homes in the Ontario Context

    OpenAIRE

    Shakeel, Saad; Newhouse, Ian; Malik, Ali; Heckman, George

    2015-01-01

    Background Structured exercise programs for frail institutionalized seniors have shown improvement in physical, functional, and psychological health of this population. However, the ?feasibility? of implementation of such programs in real settings is seldom discussed. The purpose of this systematic review was to gauge feasibility of exercise and falls prevention programs from the perspective of long-term care homes in Ontario, given the recent changes in funding for publically funded physioth...

  3. Sending money home: a mixed-Methods study of remittances by migrant nurses in Ireland.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Humphries, Niamh

    2009-01-01

    ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: This paper presents data on the remittances sent by migrant nurses to their families "back home". It gives voice to the experiences of migrant nurses and illustrates the financial obligations they maintain while working overseas. Although the international economic recession has decreased global remittance flows, they remain resilient. Drawing on the experiences of migrant nurses in Ireland, this paper indicates how and why migrants strive to maintain remittance flows, even in an economic downturn. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was employed, and the paper draws on data from qualitative in-depth interviews undertaken with 21 migrant nurses in addition to a quantitative survey of 336 migrant nurses in Ireland. RESULTS: The survey of migrant nurses revealed that 87% (293) of the sample sent remittances on a regular basis. According to respondents, remittances made a huge difference in the lives of their family members back home. Remittances were used to ensure that family members could obtain access to health and education services. They were also used to provide an income source for family members who were unemployed or retired.As remittances played an essential role in supporting family members back home, respondent migrant nurses were reluctant to reduce the level of their remittances, despite the onset of a global recession. Respondents noted that an increased demand for remittances from their families coincided with a reduction in their own net salaries - as a result of increased taxes and reduced availability of overtime - and this was a cause for concern for Ireland\\'s migrant nurses. CONCLUSION: This paper provides insights into the importance of remittances in funding social support for family members in home countries. It also illustrates the sacrifices made by migrant nurses to ensure continuation of the remittances, particularly in the context of an economic recession.

  4. Task-role-based Access Control Model in Smart Health-care System

    OpenAIRE

    Wang Peng; Jiang Lingyun

    2015-01-01

    As the development of computer science and smart health-care technology, there is a trend for patients to enjoy medical care at home. Taking enormous users in the Smart Health-care System into consideration, access control is an important issue. Traditional access control models, discretionary access control, mandatory access control, and role-based access control, do not properly reflect the characteristics of Smart Health-care System. This paper proposes an advanced access control model for...

  5. At Home in a Digital World

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jos de Haan; Frank Huysmans; Jan Steyaert

    2002-01-01

    Original title: Van huis uit digitaal. Young people grow up surrounded by digital media. Particularly at home, but increasingly at school as well, they have access to computers, the Internet and digital technology as well as information carriers such as video games and CD-ROMs. Some young

  6. On the emergence of pervasive home automation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Torbensen, Rune Sonnich

    2012-01-01

    bridges and expandable via USB modules so that new data-communication technologies can be connected to cover the whole residence. An ’IHAP ready’ flexible communication software framework that supports wireless end-device development is proposed. The idea is to bootstrap this new market with open source...... end-devices via the Open Device Service Description Language, which employs abstract service types to describe transformations to the simple end-device application protocols used in home automation. A security system called Trusted Domain grants access for remote control of home automation devices...... by smartphones, M2M applications, and service providers. These Internet nodes and home gateways become the trusted members of a home network capable of spanning several network segments. To include new members, both locally and remotely, a new user-friendly method for establishing trust between remote devices...

  7. Cleanups In My Community (CIMC) - Recovery Act Funded Cleanups, National Layer

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This data layer provides access to Recovery Act Funded Cleanup sites as part of the CIMC web service. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law...

  8. Open Access and ORCID poster presentation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elbæk, Mikael Karstensen; Ekstrøm, Jeannette

    2014-01-01

    and related topics such as copyright, DTU Orbit, Open Access journals, APCs, Vouchers etc. ORCID ORCID – Open Research & Contributor ID – is an internationally recognized and widely used researcher-ID. ORCID makes it easy to reuse your data across disciplines, publishers and databases – all you need to do......Open Access Open Access is high on the agenda in Denmark and internationally. Denmark has announced a national strategy for Open Access that aims to achieve Open Access to 80% in 2017 and 100% in 2022 to peer review research articles. All public Danish funders as well as H2020 requires that all...... peer review articles that is an outcome of their funding will be Open Access. Uploading your full texts (your final author manuscript after review ) to DTU Orbit is a fundamental part of providing Open Access to your research. We are here to answer all your questions with regards to Open Access...

  9. Optimising Health Literacy and Access of Service Provision to Community Dwelling Older People with Diabetes Receiving Home Nursing Support

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dianne Goeman

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, and use information and services for good health. Among people with chronic conditions, health literacy requirements for effective self-management are high. The Optimising Health Literacy and Access (Ophelia study engaged diverse organisations in the codesign of interventions involving the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ needs assessment, followed by development and evaluation of interventions addressing identified needs. This study reports the process and outcomes of one of the nine organisations, the Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS. Methods. Participants were home nursing clients with diabetes. The intervention included tailored diabetes self-management education according to preferred learning style, a standardised diabetes education tool, resources, and teach-back method. Results. Needs analysis of 113 quota-sampled clients showed difficulties managing health and finding and appraising health information. The service-wide diabetes education intervention was applied to 24 clients. The intervention was well received by clients and nurses. Positive impacts on clients’ diabetes knowledge and behaviour were seen and nurses reported clear benefits to their practice. Conclusion. A structured method that supports healthcare services to codesign interventions that respond to the health literacy needs of their clients can lead to evidence-informed, sustainable practice changes that support clients to better understand effective diabetes self-management.

  10. Starting a Second Chance Home: A Guide for Policymakers and Practitioners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reich, Kathy; Kelly, Lisa M.

    This guide outlines 10 basic steps for policymakers and practitioners interested in creating Second Chance Homes in their areas. Second Chance Homes provide stable, nurturing environments for teen families with access to child care, education, job training, counseling, and advice on parenting and life skills. The guide is based on interviews with…

  11. The Contribution of Solar Power Funding for Online Content ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Contribution of Solar Power Funding for Online Content Accessibility and Sustainability of Blended Learning in Rural Africa: The Tanzania Perspective. ... Despite these appealing features, penetration of solar electricity in remote and rural areas in Tanzania is limited by high initial cost of building a stand-alone solar ...

  12. Issues in networking and research funding for the European Association of Health Law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townend, David; Duguet, Anne-Marie

    2008-09-01

    All academics, perhaps with the exception of those who are hermits with independent private means, are concerned with questions of networking and research funding. The nature of academic life is to search out new ideas and revisit old ones, and to discuss these ideas with others. This requires networks of colleagues and funding to provide the basic resources of time and literature. This may be at the local level, but increasingly the expectation is that these activities should become more and more elaborate; our networks are now international, and our time and resources cost ever increasing amounts which, for many if not most academics, must be found outside the general budget of the home University. Our success as academics is measured, in increasing part, on our ability to show our networking and external funding credentials. There is a more resounding reason to pursue both networking and externally funded research: through such projects the experience of each individual can be increased such that the result is far greater than one could achieve alone. Networking and external funding are not ends in themselves, but they can and should be a great enhancement to academic life and contribution. None of this is news or a novel claim; it is simply today's environment. This paper considers some opportunities for how networking and externally funded research might help the EAHL to realise its aims in developing the discipline of health law. We, as authors, do not claim any special expertise in the area, and readers are quite justified in thinking "who are they to talk to us about what we clearly know much more about?" However, we were asked to start a discussion at the inaugural conference of the Association, and the thoughts that we present now were designed to do that. It is a discussion which will form one of the early activities of the Association. Here the paper is divided first issues concerning networking, and second those concerning research funding from sources

  13. Home-end and activity-end preferences for access to and egress from train stations in the Copenhagen region

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halldórsdóttir, Katrín; Nielsen, Otto Anker; Prato, Carlo Giacomo

    2017-01-01

    . Moreover, model results emphasize the role of bicycle parking in terms of the sheer number of spaces to be increased as well as covered places to be offered at the activity end, de facto giving the possibility to leave a bicycle at that end during the night. Lastly, model results show that it is a matter......Increasing public transport use with the aim of improving the sustainability of cities should focus not only on enhancing level and quality of the service offered, but also on understanding determinants of the choice of access and egress modes to and from the railway network. This study analyzes...... the difference in preferences at the home-end and activity-end for travelers who have chosen train as their main travel mode while investigating the effect of policy variables such as car parking availability, bicycle parking availability and type, and bicycle on train possibility. Specifically, this study...

  14. Funding models in palliative care: Lessons from international experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groeneveld, E Iris; Cassel, J Brian; Bausewein, Claudia; Csikós, Ágnes; Krajnik, Malgorzata; Ryan, Karen; Haugen, Dagny Faksvåg; Eychmueller, Steffen; Gudat Keller, Heike; Allan, Simon; Hasselaar, Jeroen; García-Baquero Merino, Teresa; Swetenham, Kate; Piper, Kym; Fürst, Carl Johan; Murtagh, Fliss EM

    2017-01-01

    Background: Funding models influence provision and development of palliative care services. As palliative care integrates into mainstream health care provision, opportunities to develop funding mechanisms arise. However, little has been reported on what funding models exist or how we can learn from them. Aim: To assess national models and methods for financing and reimbursing palliative care. Design: Initial literature scoping yielded limited evidence on the subject as national policy documents are difficult to identify, access and interpret. We undertook expert consultations to appraise national models of palliative care financing in England, Germany, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Wales. These represent different levels of service development and a variety of funding mechanisms. Results: Funding mechanisms reflect country-specific context and local variations in care provision. Patterns emerging include the following: Provider payment is rarely linked to population need and often perpetuates existing inequitable patterns in service provision. Funding is frequently characterised as a mixed system of charitable, public and private payers. The basis on which providers are paid for services rarely reflects individual care input or patient needs. Conclusion: Funding mechanisms need to be well understood and used with caution to ensure best practice and minimise perverse incentives. Before we can conduct cross-national comparisons of costs and impact of palliative care, we need to understand the funding and policy context for palliative care in each country of interest. PMID:28156188

  15. Funding models in palliative care: Lessons from international experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groeneveld, E Iris; Cassel, J Brian; Bausewein, Claudia; Csikós, Ágnes; Krajnik, Malgorzata; Ryan, Karen; Haugen, Dagny Faksvåg; Eychmueller, Steffen; Gudat Keller, Heike; Allan, Simon; Hasselaar, Jeroen; García-Baquero Merino, Teresa; Swetenham, Kate; Piper, Kym; Fürst, Carl Johan; Murtagh, Fliss Em

    2017-04-01

    Funding models influence provision and development of palliative care services. As palliative care integrates into mainstream health care provision, opportunities to develop funding mechanisms arise. However, little has been reported on what funding models exist or how we can learn from them. To assess national models and methods for financing and reimbursing palliative care. Initial literature scoping yielded limited evidence on the subject as national policy documents are difficult to identify, access and interpret. We undertook expert consultations to appraise national models of palliative care financing in England, Germany, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Wales. These represent different levels of service development and a variety of funding mechanisms. Funding mechanisms reflect country-specific context and local variations in care provision. Patterns emerging include the following: Provider payment is rarely linked to population need and often perpetuates existing inequitable patterns in service provision. Funding is frequently characterised as a mixed system of charitable, public and private payers. The basis on which providers are paid for services rarely reflects individual care input or patient needs. Funding mechanisms need to be well understood and used with caution to ensure best practice and minimise perverse incentives. Before we can conduct cross-national comparisons of costs and impact of palliative care, we need to understand the funding and policy context for palliative care in each country of interest.

  16. Smart Health Caring Home: A Systematic Review of Smart Home Care for Elders and Chronic Disease Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moraitou, Marina; Pateli, Adamantia; Fotiou, Sotiris

    2017-01-01

    As access to health care is important to people's health especially for vulnerable groups that need nursing for a long period of time, new studies in the human sciences argue that the health of the population depend less on the quality of the health care, or on the amount of spending that goes into health care, and more heavily on the quality of everyday life. Smart home applications are designed to "sense" and monitor the health conditions of its residents through the use of a wide range of technological components (motion sensors, video cameras, wearable devices etc.), and web-based services that support their wish to stay at home. In this work, we provide a review of the main technological, psychosocial/ethical and economic challenges that the implementation of a Smart Health Caring Home raises.

  17. Dental caries in Victorian nursing homes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, M; Hopcraft, M; Morgan, M

    2014-09-01

    The poor oral health of nursing home residents is the cause of substantial morbidity and has major implications relating to health care policy. The aim of this study was to measure dental caries experience in Australians living in nursing homes, and investigate associations with resident characteristics. Clinical dental examinations were conducted on 243 residents from 19 nursing homes in Melbourne. Resident characteristics were obtained from nursing home records and interviews with residents, family and nursing home staff. Two dental examiners assessed coronal and root dental caries using standard ICDAS-II criteria. Residents were elderly, medically compromised and functionally impaired. Most required assistance with oral hygiene and professional dental care was rarely utilized. Residents had high rates of coronal and root caries, with a mean 2.8 teeth with untreated coronal caries and 5.0 root surfaces with untreated root caries. Functional impairment and irregular professional dental care were associated with higher rates of untreated tooth decay. There were no significant associations with medical conditions or the number of medications taken. Nursing home residents have high levels of untreated coronal and root caries, particularly those with high needs due to functional impairment but poor access to professional services. © 2014 Australian Dental Association.

  18. Funding for self-employment of people with disabilities. Grants, loans, revolving funds or linkage with microfinance programmes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Klerk, Ton

    2008-03-01

    In 2005, Handicap International commissioned a study on the practices of funding for self-employment activities of people with disabilities (PWD), with a special focus on access to microfinance. The overall goal of the study was to produce a framework document highlighting good practices, strategies, tools and operational methods that guarantee the efficiency and sustainability of self-employment projects for PWDs. The first phase of the study consisted of a literature review and a worldwide survey. Through this first phase the research team identified the most innovative programmes for further analysis through field visits. In the second phase field visits were conducted in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nicaragua and Uganda, while regional workshops were organised in Dhaka and Nairobi. Phase three involved consolidation and analysis of the information and finally drafting of the framework document. This paper summarises the findings and good practices as presented in the framework document, based on the results of the literature review, the survey and the field research. It is not a scientific paper, i.e. it doesn't contain a discussion of the literature reviewed or systematic reference to sources, the same as the document on which it is based, as it is primarily meant for 'practitioners'. A main finding of the study was that there is no single 'best solution' to funding of self employment activities. While inclusion of PWDs in existing microfinance institutions (MFIs) is the preferred strategy, guaranteeing efficiency, sustainability and future access to funding for the target group, it was found that in reality many PWDs do not have access to microfinance programmes. This can be explained by stigmatisation of PWDs by staff of MFIs, who do not believe in their income earning and repayment capacity, and self-exclusion by PWDs. To fight against it projects have been set-up linking MFIs with programmes for PWDs, focusing on better information

  19. The Challenges of Home Enteral Tube Feeding: A Global Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omorogieva Ojo

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this review is to provide a global perspective of Home Enteral Tube Feeding (HETF and to outline some of the challenges of home enteral nutrition (HEN provisions. It is well established that the number of patients on HETF is on the increase worldwide due to advances in technology, development of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy techniques, and the shift in care provisions from acute to community settings. While the significance of home enteral nutrition in meeting the nutritional requirements of patients with poor swallowing reflexes and those with poor nutritional status is not in doubt, differences exist in terms of funding, standards, management approaches and the level of infrastructural development across the world. Strategies for alleviating some of the challenges militating against the effective delivery of HETF including the development of national and international standards, guidelines and policies for HETF, increased awareness and funding by government at all levels were discussed. Others, including development of HEN services, which should create the enabling environment for multidisciplinary team work, clinical audit and research, recruitment and retention of specialist staff, and improvement in patient outcomes have been outlined. However, more research is required to fully establish the cost effectiveness of the HEN service especially in developing countries and to compare the organization of HEN service between developing and developed countries.

  20. Young transplant surgeons and NIH funding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Englesbe, M J; Sung, R S; Segev, D L

    2011-02-01

    Transplant surgeons have historically been instrumental in advancing the science of transplantation. However, research in the current environment inevitably requires external funding, and the classic career development pathway for a junior investigator is the NIH K award. We matched transplant surgeons who completed fellowships between 1998 and 2004 with the NIH funding database, and also queried them regarding research effort and attitudes. Of 373 surgeons who completed a fellowship, only 6 (1.8%) received a K award; of these, 3 subsequently obtained R-level funding. An additional 5 individuals received an R-level grant within their first 5 years as faculty without a K award, 3 of whom had received a prior ASTS-sponsored award. Survey respondents reported extensive research experience during their training (78.8% spent median 24 months), a high proportion of graduate research degrees (36%), and a strong desire for more research time (78%). However, they reported clinical burdens and lack of mentorship as their primary perceived barriers to successful research careers. The very low rate of NIH funding for young transplant surgeons, combined with survey results that indicate their desire to participate in research, suggest institutional barriers to access that may warrant attention by the ASTS and the transplant surgery community. ©2010 The Authors Journal compilation©2010 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

  1. Shaping the Ambience of Homes with Domestic Hypermedia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grønbæk, Kaj; Petersen, Marianne Graves

    2004-01-01

    We currently witness a massive digitization of domestic materials e.g. photos, music, calendars, recipes, notes, messages. This digitization provides new conditions for how we interact with materials as well as how users shape the ambience of their homes. Observing the qualities of physical...... materials in the home, the process of digitization risks loosing the qualities of the spatial distribution, the aesthetics, and common reference points offered by physical materials and places in the home. We present a concept of domestic hypermedia (DoHM), which exploits potentials of digital materials...... and at the same time allow people to interact with digital materials in engaging ways providing rich experiences when organizing and using digital materials in homes. We present an infrastructure and design concepts that offer: ambient access to digital materials, common reference points, and collective...

  2. Home health services in primary care: What can we do?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasemin Çayır

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Home health services is to give examination, diagnosis,treatment, and rehabilitation services to the patients whobedridden, have difficulties to access health facility due toa variety of chronic or malignant disease by professionalhealth care team. Family physicians that providing healthcare in primary care is responsible for to determine whowill need home health care services, and to make homevisit on a regular basis among registered patients in theirpopulations. It is seems that the biggest shortcoming thecontent and scope of this service is not yet a standard. Inthis article, how home health services should be given willbe discussed.Key words: Primary health care, home health care, bedriddenpatient

  3. Care at home for elderly – lessons learnt from the Swiss Red Cross “Integrated Home Care” in Eastern Europe/CIS

    OpenAIRE

    Rutschmann, Christine

    2017-01-01

    Introduction: The Swiss Red Cross (SRC) is supporting local partners in Eastern Europe/CIS in developing services to allow elderly a dignified ageing in their homes. SRC promotes integrated medico-social home care services in agreement with the local partners, their strategies and capacities. “Help to self-help” is crucial besides the provision of good quality low cost services, accessible for people in need. In many post-Soviet countries, cooperation between Health and Social Ministries is r...

  4. Integration of Multisensor Hybrid Reasoners to Support Personal Autonomy in the Smart Home

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel Ángel Valero

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The deployment of the Ambient Intelligence (AmI paradigm requires designing and integrating user-centered smart environments to assist people in their daily life activities. This research paper details an integration and validation of multiple heterogeneous sensors with hybrid reasoners that support decision making in order to monitor personal and environmental data at a smart home in a private way. The results innovate on knowledge-based platforms, distributed sensors, connected objects, accessibility and authentication methods to promote independent living for elderly people. TALISMAN+, the AmI framework deployed, integrates four subsystems in the smart home: (i a mobile biomedical telemonitoring platform to provide elderly patients with continuous disease management; (ii an integration middleware that allows context capture from heterogeneous sensors to program environment´s reaction; (iii a vision system for intelligent monitoring of daily activities in the home; and (iv an ontologies-based integrated reasoning platform to trigger local actions and manage private information in the smart home. The framework was integrated in two real running environments, the UPM Accessible Digital Home and MetalTIC house, and successfully validated by five experts in home care, elderly people and personal autonomy.

  5. Integration of multisensor hybrid reasoners to support personal autonomy in the smart home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valero, Miguel Ángel; Bravo, José; Chamizo, Juan Manuel García; López-de-Ipiña, Diego

    2014-09-17

    The deployment of the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) paradigm requires designing and integrating user-centered smart environments to assist people in their daily life activities. This research paper details an integration and validation of multiple heterogeneous sensors with hybrid reasoners that support decision making in order to monitor personal and environmental data at a smart home in a private way. The results innovate on knowledge-based platforms, distributed sensors, connected objects, accessibility and authentication methods to promote independent living for elderly people. TALISMAN+, the AmI framework deployed, integrates four subsystems in the smart home: (i) a mobile biomedical telemonitoring platform to provide elderly patients with continuous disease management; (ii) an integration middleware that allows context capture from heterogeneous sensors to program environment's reaction; (iii) a vision system for intelligent monitoring of daily activities in the home; and (iv) an ontologies-based integrated reasoning platform to trigger local actions and manage private information in the smart home. The framework was integrated in two real running environments, the UPM Accessible Digital Home and MetalTIC house, and successfully validated by five experts in home care, elderly people and personal autonomy.

  6. Integration of Multisensor Hybrid Reasoners to Support Personal Autonomy in the Smart Home

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valero, Miguel Ángel; Bravo, José; Chamizo, Juan Manuel García; López-de-Ipiña, Diego

    2014-01-01

    The deployment of the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) paradigm requires designing and integrating user-centered smart environments to assist people in their daily life activities. This research paper details an integration and validation of multiple heterogeneous sensors with hybrid reasoners that support decision making in order to monitor personal and environmental data at a smart home in a private way. The results innovate on knowledge-based platforms, distributed sensors, connected objects, accessibility and authentication methods to promote independent living for elderly people. TALISMAN+, the AmI framework deployed, integrates four subsystems in the smart home: (i) a mobile biomedical telemonitoring platform to provide elderly patients with continuous disease management; (ii) an integration middleware that allows context capture from heterogeneous sensors to program environment's reaction; (iii) a vision system for intelligent monitoring of daily activities in the home; and (iv) an ontologies-based integrated reasoning platform to trigger local actions and manage private information in the smart home. The framework was integrated in two real running environments, the UPM Accessible Digital Home and MetalTIC house, and successfully validated by five experts in home care, elderly people and personal autonomy. PMID:25232910

  7. Pilot Evaluation of a Home Visit Parent Training Program in Disadvantaged Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Cynthia; Tsang, Sandra; Heung, Kitty

    2013-01-01

    Objectives: The study reported the pilot evaluation of the Healthy Start Home Visit Program for disadvantaged Chinese parents with preschool children, delivered by trained parent assistants. Home visiting was used to make services more accessible to disadvantaged families. Method: The participants included 21 parent-child dyads. Outcome measures…

  8. Highlights from the SOAP project survey. What Scientists Think about Open Access Publishing

    CERN Document Server

    Dallmeier-Tiessen, Suenje; Goerner, Bettina; Hyppoelae, Jenni; Igo-Kemenes, Peter; Kahn, Deborah; Lambert, Simon; Lengenfelder, Anja; Leonard, Chris; Mele, Salvatore; Nowicka, Malgorzata; Polydoratou, Panayiota; Ross, David; Ruiz-Perez, Sergio; Schimmer, Ralf; Swaisland, Mark; van der Stelt, Wim

    2011-01-01

    The SOAP (Study of Open Access Publishing) project has run a large-scale survey of the attitudes of researchers on, and the experiences with, open access publishing. Around forty thousands answers were collected across disciplines and around the world, showing an overwhelming support for the idea of open access, while highlighting funding and (perceived) quality as the main barriers to publishing in open access journals. This article serves as an introduction to the survey and presents this and other highlights from a preliminary analysis of the survey responses. To allow a maximal re-use of the information collected by this survey, the data are hereby released under a CC0 waiver, so to allow libraries, publishers, funding agencies and academics to further analyse risks and opportunities, drivers and barriers, in the transition to open access publishing.

  9. Does a medical home mediate racial disparities in unmet healthcare needs among children with special healthcare needs?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Amanda C; Rankin, Kristin M; Rosenberg, Deborah

    2012-12-01

    This study extends mediation analysis techniques to explore whether and to what extent differential access to a medical home explains the black/white disparity in unmet healthcare needs among children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN). Data were obtained from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, with analyses limited to non-Hispanic white and black CSHCN (n = 14,677). The counterfactual approach to mediation analysis was used to estimate odds ratios for the natural direct and indirect effects of race on unmet healthcare needs. Overall, 43.0 % of white CSHCN and 60.4 % of black CSHCN did not have a medical home. Additionally, 8.8 % of white CSHCN and 15.3 % of black CSHCN had unmet healthcare needs. The natural indirect effect indicates that the odds of unmet needs among black CSHCN are elevated by approximately 20 % as a result of their current level of access to the medical home rather than access at a level equal to white CSHCN (OR(NIE) = 1.2, 95 % CI = 1.1, 1.3). The natural direct effect indicates that even if black CSHCN had the same level of access to a medical home as white CSHCN, blacks would still have 60 % higher odds of unmet healthcare needs than whites (OR(NDE) = 1.6, 95 % CI = 1.1, 2.4). The racial disparity in unmet healthcare needs among CSHCN is only partially explained by disparities in having a medical home. Ensuring all CSHCN have equal access to a medical home may reduce the racial disparity in unmet needs, but will not completely eliminate it.

  10. Building America Case Study: Whole-House Solutions for Existing Homes: Greenbelt Homes, Inc. Pilot Retrofit Program; Whole-House Solutions for Existing Homes, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2015-06-01

    In the fall of 2010, a multiyear pilot energy efficiency retrofit project was undertaken by Greenbelt Homes, Inc, (GHI) a 1,566 home cooperative of circa 1930 and 1940 homes in Greenbelt, Maryland. GHI established this pilot project to serve as a basis for decision making for the rollout of a decade-long community-wide upgrade program that will incorporate energy efficiency improvements to the building envelope and mechanical equipment. With the community upgrade fully funded by the cooperative through their membership without outside subsidies, this project presents a unique opportunity to evaluate and prioritize the wide-range of benefits of high-performance retrofits based on member experience with and acceptance of the retrofit measures implemented during the pilot project. Addressing the complex interactions between benefits, trade-offs, construction methods, project management implications, realistic upfront costs, financing, and other considerations, serves as a case study for energy retrofit projects to include high-performance technologies based on the long-term value to the homeowner. The pilot project focused on identifying the added costs and energy savings benefits of improvements. Phase 1: baseline evaluation for a representative set of 28 homes sited in seven buildings; Phase 2: installation of the building envelope improvements and continued monitoring of the energy consumption for the heating season and energy simulations supporting recommendations for HVAC and water heating upgrades to be implemented in Phase 3.

  11. Innovative funding solution for special projects: Crowd funding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sentot Imam Wahjono

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of crowd funding knowledge, applica-tion, platform, and project initiator toward successful crowd funding. This study conducted by quantitative approach, data have been collected with web-based ques-tionnaires via Kickstarter.com direct message and e-mail to 200 successful crowd funding project initiators as a sample and as much 152 sets questionnaire returned by a complete answer and should be analyzed further. Deployment and data collection take 3 month from October to December 2013. This study found evidence that crowd funding knowledge, crowd funding application, crowd funding platform, and project initiator has positive and significant relationship toward the success of crowd funding. The implication from this research is crowd funding can be a source of capital to finance the projects, not just rely on traditional sources of financing just like banking and capital markets. Crowd funding can be innovative funding solution.

  12. Effectiveness of a grant program's efforts to promote synergy within its funded initiatives: perceptions of participants of the Southern Rural Access Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pathman, Donald E; Chuang, Emmeline; Weiner, Bryan J

    2008-01-01

    Background Foundations and public agencies commonly fund focused initiatives for individual grantees. These discrete, stand-alone initiatives can risk failure by being carried out in isolation. Fostering synergy among grantees' initiatives is one strategy proposed for promoting the success and impact of grant programs. We evaluate an explicit strategy to build synergy within the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Southern Rural Access Program (SRAP), which awarded grants to collaboratives within eight southeastern U.S. states to strengthen basic health care services in targeted rural counties. Methods We interviewed 39 key participants of the SRAP, including the program director within each state and the principal subcontractors heading the program's funded initiatives that supported heath professionals' recruitment, retention and training, made loans to health care providers, and built networks among providers. Interews were recorded and transcribed. Two investigators independently coded the transcripts and a third investigator distilled the main points. Results Participants generally perceived that the SRAP yielded more synergies than other grant programs in which they had participated and that these synergies added to the program's impact. The synergies most often noted were achieved through relationship building among grantees and with outside agencies, sharing information and know-how, sharing resources, combining efforts to yield greater capacity, joining voices to advocate for common goals, and spotting gaps in services offered and then filling these gaps. The SRAP's strategies that participants felt fostered synergy included targeting funding to culturally and geographically similar states, supporting complementary types of initiatives, promoting opportunities to network through semi-annual meetings and regular conference calls, and the advocacy efforts of the program's leadership. Participants noted that synergies were sometimes hindered by turf issues and

  13. Effectiveness of a grant program's efforts to promote synergy within its funded initiatives: perceptions of participants of the Southern Rural Access Program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weiner Bryan J

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Foundations and public agencies commonly fund focused initiatives for individual grantees. These discrete, stand-alone initiatives can risk failure by being carried out in isolation. Fostering synergy among grantees' initiatives is one strategy proposed for promoting the success and impact of grant programs. We evaluate an explicit strategy to build synergy within the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Southern Rural Access Program (SRAP, which awarded grants to collaboratives within eight southeastern U.S. states to strengthen basic health care services in targeted rural counties. Methods We interviewed 39 key participants of the SRAP, including the program director within each state and the principal subcontractors heading the program's funded initiatives that supported heath professionals' recruitment, retention and training, made loans to health care providers, and built networks among providers. Interews were recorded and transcribed. Two investigators independently coded the transcripts and a third investigator distilled the main points. Results Participants generally perceived that the SRAP yielded more synergies than other grant programs in which they had participated and that these synergies added to the program's impact. The synergies most often noted were achieved through relationship building among grantees and with outside agencies, sharing information and know-how, sharing resources, combining efforts to yield greater capacity, joining voices to advocate for common goals, and spotting gaps in services offered and then filling these gaps. The SRAP's strategies that participants felt fostered synergy included targeting funding to culturally and geographically similar states, supporting complementary types of initiatives, promoting opportunities to network through semi-annual meetings and regular conference calls, and the advocacy efforts of the program's leadership. Participants noted that synergies were sometimes

  14. [The quality of the work-home and home-work relationship in the context of personal resources].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szymańska, Paulina

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the study was to examine whether gain or loss of personal resources is associated with conflict or facilitation between work and family. The study involved 90 employees (mean age: 34.5 years). The Polish version of COR-Evaluation (Conservation of Resources-Evaluation) questionnaire, developed by Hobfoll and adapted by Dudek et al, was used to assess personal resources. The questionnaire enables to estimate gain and loss of 40 resources and calculate the overall level of gained or lost resources. SWING Questionnaire (Survey Work-Home Interaction, Nijmegen), developed by Geurts et al. and adapted by Mośicka-Teske and Merecz), was used to examine the quality of work-home and home-work relationship. The gain of personal resources positively correlates with both home-work facilitation (HWF) and work-home facilitation (WHF). Improvement of the family relations proved to be the most significant predictor of HWF and WHF. The loss of personal resources coincides with high level of conflict between the investigated areas of life. The main predictor of home-work conflict (HWC) was the variable relating to restrictions of access to medical services. In case of work-home conflict (WHC) the reduction of material security in case of dramatic life events was the major predictor. The results confirmed that the gain of resources is crucial for HWF/WHF, while their loss is an important factor, when the HWC/WHC is considered. The resources, which proved to be the main predictors of work-home and home-work relatiohship were alsoindicated. The obtained information may be beneficial to human resources managers, especially in designing the activities aimed at increasing the satisfaction and effectiveness of employees.

  15. Smart Homes for Older People: Positive Aging in a Digital World

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tony Barnett

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Smart homes are homes with technologically advanced systems to enable domestic task automation, easier communication, and higher security. As an enabler of health and well-being enhancement, smart homes have been geared to accommodate people with special needs, especially older people. This paper examines the concept of “smart home” in a technologically driven society and its multi-functional contribution to the enhancement of older people’s lives. Discussion then focuses on the challenges in the use of smart homes among older people such as accessibility and ethical issues. Finally, some implications and recommendations are provided.

  16. [eLearning service for home palliative care].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakuyama, Toshikazu; Komatsu, Kazuhiro; Inoue, Daisuke; Fukushima, Osamu

    2008-12-01

    In order to support the home palliative care learning, we made the eLearning service for home palliative care (beta version) and tried to teach the palliative care to the medical staffs in the community. The various learners (such as nurses, pharmacists and the like) accessed to the online learning and used this eLearning service. After the learners finished eLearning for home palliative care, some questionnaires were distributed to the learners and analyzed by us. The analysis of questionnaires revealed that almost all were satisfied with our eLearning services. Especially the learners were not only interested in using the skills of opioids and the management of pain control, but they had a good cognition for the usage of opioids.

  17. How IDRC-funded research has improved lives in the developing ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Each presents IDRC-funded research projects that demonstrate the importance of research for effective and sustained development and showcase IDRC as an ... September: Managing Natural Resources · October: Food Security and Nutrition · November 2010: Sustainable Agriculture · December 2010: Access to Water ...

  18. Research improves secure access to nutritious food | IDRC ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2014-10-07

    Oct 7, 2014 ... ... to increase access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, and affordable food. ... made farming practices more efficient, preserved environments, and brought ... professor Nagib Nassar, whose early work was funded by IDRC.

  19. EUROPEAN FUNDING - IMPACT ON RESEARCH CAPACITY IN CROATIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vesna Kotarski

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Limited national budgetary resources for R&D in period from 2007 to 2013 imposed a need for Croatian researchers to apply for European research grants. A challenge for effective absorption of European Structural and Investment Funds in the period 2014 to 2020, highlight a need to assess the impact of this external funding on research capacity in Croatia in 2007-2013 period. Qualitative interviews with grant recipients from Ruder Boskovic Institute revealed intangible achievements in terms of research career, enhanced interaction and knowledge transfer to business community, improved research management competences and possibilities for collaboration with internationally recognized research teams. Similar results from studies carried out in other countries indicates the importance of intangible achievements of research grants, which are becoming more and more relevant in the context of public policies (networking, cooperation, strategic planning, knowledge management. The use of EU funds is an extremely complex process which requires a change of approach to the use of public funds and the introduction of the principle of transparency of procedures for all stakeholders in the process, equal access to information and sound financial management. Weaknesses of the Croatian scientific system and absence of will to support excellent research through competitive funding present real threats to successful participation of Croatian researchers in the European framework programs and other external research funding programs. Findings of the study provide valuable insight for national authorities in terms of effective management of national research and innovation programs while maximizing the potential impact of EU funds allocated.

  20. Individual, behavioural and home environmental factors associated with eating behaviours in young adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, Natalie; Griffiths, Paula; Biddle, Stuart J H; Johnston, Julie P; Haycraft, Emma

    2017-05-01

    This study aimed to examine individual, behavioural and home environmental factors associated with frequency of consumption of fruit, vegetables and energy-dense snacks among adolescents. Adolescents aged 11-12 years (n = 521, 48% boys) completed a paper-based questionnaire during class-time which included a Food Frequency Questionnaire assessing their consumption of fruit, vegetables, and energy-dense (ED) snacks, and items assessing habits, self-efficacy, eating at the television (TV), eating with parents, parenting practices, and home availability and accessibility of foods. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that eating fruit and vegetables while watching TV and home availability and accessibility of fruit and vegetables were positively associated with frequency of fruit consumption and vegetable consumption, while home accessibility of ED snack foods was negatively associated with frequency of fruit consumption. Habit for eating ED snack foods in front the TV, eating ED snack foods while watching TV, and home availability of ED snacks were positively associated with frequency of ED snack consumption. This study has highlighted the importance of a healthy home environment for promoting fruit and vegetable intake in early adolescents and also suggests that, if snacking while TV viewing occurs, this could be a good opportunity for promoting fruit and vegetable intake. These findings are likely to be useful for supporting the development of multi-faceted interventions and aid us in knowing what advice to give to parents to help them to help their young adolescents to develop and maintain healthy eating habits. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  1. Feasibility of BCI Control in a Realistic Smart Home Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosmyna, Nataliya; Tarpin-Bernard, Franck; Bonnefond, Nicolas; Rivet, Bertrand

    2016-01-01

    Smart homes have been an active area of research, however despite considerable investment, they are not yet a reality for end-users. Moreover, there are still accessibility challenges for the elderly or the disabled, two of the main potential targets for home automation. In this exploratory study we design a control mechanism for smart homes based on Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) and apply it in the "Domus" smart home platform in order to evaluate the potential interest of users about BCIs at home. We enable users to control lighting, a TV set, a coffee machine and the shutters of the smart home. We evaluate the performance (accuracy, interaction time), usability and feasibility (USE questionnaire) on 12 healthy subjects and 2 disabled subjects. We find that healthy subjects achieve 77% task accuracy. However, disabled subjects achieved a better accuracy (81% compared to 77%).

  2. Improving children's access to health care: the role of decategorization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, D C; Halfon, N; Brindis, C D; Newacheck, P W

    1996-01-01

    Far too many children in this country are unable to obtain the health care they need because of barriers that prohibit easy access. Among the most significant obstacles are financial barriers, including lack of adequate health insurance and inadequate funding of programs for low-income children and those with special health-care needs. Another set of "non-financial" barriers are related to the categorical nature of addressing children's health-care needs, which impedes access by increasing the complexity and burden of seeking care and discourages providers from providing care. Decategorization represents an appealing partial remedy to these problems because it can lead to fundamental and lasting changes in financing and delivering health services. The greatest appeal of decategorization is its potential to improve access to care with the expenditure of little or no new funds. Decategorization also holds considerable risk. Depending on how it is designed and implemented, decategorization may lead to diminished access to care by serving as a foil for budget cuts or by undermining essential standards of care. However, these risks do not negate the value of exploring decategorization as an approach that can be taken today to better organize services and ensure that existing resources adequately meet children's needs. In this report we examine the role of decategorization as a mechanism for removing the barriers to care that are created by categorical funding of health programs.

  3. Provision of NHS generalist and specialist services to care homes in England: review of surveys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iliffe, Steve; Davies, Susan L; Gordon, Adam L; Schneider, Justine; Dening, Tom; Bowman, Clive; Gage, Heather; Martin, Finbarr C; Gladman, John R F; Victor, Christina; Meyer, Julienne; Goodman, Claire

    2016-03-01

    The number of beds in care homes (with and without nurses) in the United Kingdom is three times greater than the number of beds in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. Care homes are predominantly owned by a range of commercial, not-for-profit or charitable providers and their residents have high levels of disability, frailty and co-morbidity. NHS support for care home residents is very variable, and it is unclear what models of clinical support work and are cost-effective. To critically evaluate how the NHS works with care homes. A review of surveys of NHS services provided to care homes that had been completed since 2008. It included published national surveys, local surveys commissioned by Primary Care organisations, studies from charities and academic centres, grey literature identified across the nine government regions, and information from care home, primary care and other research networks. Data extraction captured forms of NHS service provision for care homes in England in terms of frequency, location, focus and purpose. Five surveys focused primarily on general practitioner services, and 10 on specialist services to care home. Working relationships between the NHS and care homes lack structure and purpose and have generally evolved locally. There are wide variations in provision of both generalist and specialist healthcare services to care homes. Larger care home chains may take a systematic approach to both organising access to NHS generalist and specialist services, and to supplementing gaps with in-house provision. Access to dental care for care home residents appears to be particularly deficient. Historical differences in innovation and provision of NHS services, the complexities of collaborating across different sectors (private and public, health and social care, general and mental health), and variable levels of organisation of care homes, all lead to persistent and embedded inequity in the distribution of NHS resources to this population

  4. Geographic Disparities in Access to Nursing Home Services: Assessing Fiscal Stress and Quality of Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Young Joo; Martin, Erika G

    2017-11-12

    We test whether nursing homes serving predominately low-income and racial minority residents (compositional explanation) or located in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of low-income and racial minority residents (contextual explanation) have worse financial outcomes and care quality. Healthcare Cost Report Information System, Nursing Home Compare, Online Survey Certification and Reporting Certification, and American Community Survey. A cross-sectional study design of nursing homes within U.S. metropolitan areas. Data were obtained from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and U.S. Census Bureau. Medicaid-dependent nursing homes have a 3.5 percentage point lower operating ratio. Those serving primarily racial minorities have a 2.64-point lower quality rating. A 1 percent increase in the neighborhood population living in poverty is associated with a 1.20-point lower quality rating, on a scale from 10 to 50, and a 1 percent increase in the portion of neighborhood black residents is associated with a 0.8 percentage point lower operating ratio and a 0.37 lower quality rating. Medicaid dependency (compositional effect) and concentration of racial minority residents in neighborhoods (contextual effect) are associated with higher fiscal stress and lower quality of care, indicating that nursing homes' geographic location may exacerbate long-term care inequalities. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  5. Developing Responsive Preventative Practices: Key Messages from Children's and Families' Experiences of the Children's Fund

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinnock, Katherine; Evans, Ruth

    2008-01-01

    As part of the prevention and social inclusion agenda, the Children's Fund, set up in 2000, has developed preventative services for children at risk of social exclusion. Drawing on a large qualitative dataset of interviews conducted in 2004/05 with children, young people and their parents/carers who accessed Children Fund services, this article…

  6. A study of institutional spending on open access publication fees in Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jahn, Najko; Tullney, Marco

    2016-01-01

    Publication fees as a revenue source for open access publishing hold a prominent place on the agendas of researchers, policy makers, and academic publishers. This study contributes to the evolving empirical basis for funding these charges and examines how much German universities and research organisations spent on open access publication fees. Using self-reported cost data from the Open APC initiative, the analysis focused on the amount that was being spent on publication fees, and compared these expenditure with data from related Austrian (FWF) and UK (Wellcome Trust, Jisc) initiatives, in terms of both size and the proportion of articles being published in fully and hybrid open access journals. We also investigated how thoroughly self-reported articles were indexed in Crossref, a DOI minting agency for scholarly literature, and analysed how the institutional spending was distributed across publishers and journal titles. According to self-reported data from 30 German universities and research organisations between 2005 and 2015, expenditures on open access publication fees increased over the years in Germany and amounted to € 9,627,537 for 7,417 open access journal articles. The average payment was € 1,298, and the median was € 1,231. A total of 94% of the total article volume included in the study was supported in accordance with the price cap of € 2,000, a limit imposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) as part of its funding activities for open access funding at German universities. Expenditures varied considerably at the institutional level. There were also differences in how much the institutions spent per journal and publisher. These differences reflect, at least in part, the varying pricing schemes in place including discounted publication fees. With an indexing coverage of 99%, Crossref thoroughly indexed the open access journals articles included in the study. A comparison with the related openly available cost data from Austria and

  7. A study of institutional spending on open access publication fees in Germany

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Najko Jahn

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Publication fees as a revenue source for open access publishing hold a prominent place on the agendas of researchers, policy makers, and academic publishers. This study contributes to the evolving empirical basis for funding these charges and examines how much German universities and research organisations spent on open access publication fees. Using self-reported cost data from the Open APC initiative, the analysis focused on the amount that was being spent on publication fees, and compared these expenditure with data from related Austrian (FWF and UK (Wellcome Trust, Jisc initiatives, in terms of both size and the proportion of articles being published in fully and hybrid open access journals. We also investigated how thoroughly self-reported articles were indexed in Crossref, a DOI minting agency for scholarly literature, and analysed how the institutional spending was distributed across publishers and journal titles. According to self-reported data from 30 German universities and research organisations between 2005 and 2015, expenditures on open access publication fees increased over the years in Germany and amounted to € 9,627,537 for 7,417 open access journal articles. The average payment was € 1,298, and the median was € 1,231. A total of 94% of the total article volume included in the study was supported in accordance with the price cap of € 2,000, a limit imposed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG as part of its funding activities for open access funding at German universities. Expenditures varied considerably at the institutional level. There were also differences in how much the institutions spent per journal and publisher. These differences reflect, at least in part, the varying pricing schemes in place including discounted publication fees. With an indexing coverage of 99%, Crossref thoroughly indexed the open access journals articles included in the study. A comparison with the related openly available cost data

  8. Texas ''Recycled Content''/Advanced Green Builder Demonstration Home Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fisk, P. III; Vittori, G.

    1993-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of principal issues addressed in the Advanced Green Builder Demonstration Home Project, with units to be constructed in Austin and Laredo. The project's objective is to introduce these distinct communities to a range of ''green'' housing materials and methods, emphasizing opportunities for recycled-content and by-product based construction materials. The project, principally funded by U.S. Department of Energy Oil Overcharge Funds administered by the Texas Governor's Energy Office, also is supported by several state, regional, and municipal agencies. As such, the project reflects a regional process, as open to adaptation to a region's natural resources as it is to its peoples. The design is specifically intended to bridge issues of social and family concerns, such as affordability, expandibility, and economic development. This is a result of a modular-based design framework, coupled with reliance on environmentally-conscious regional manufacture of by-product based materials. Environmental issues are addressed by establishing a user for pollutants considered major contributors to global concerns of acid rain (due to release of sulphur dioxide), global warming (due to release of carbon dioxide), and deforestation. The homes will be built without virgin wood products or portland cement

  9. Revolving Loan Fund: A Novel Approach to Increasing Access to Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Methods in Community Health Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Megan L; Breeze, Janis L; Paulus, Jessica K; Meadows, Audra

    The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a revolving loan fund (RLF) on timing of device insertion and long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) access among a high-risk urban population at 3 Boston community health centers. Three health centers were identified to implement a RLF. Each clinic received $5000 from the RLF to purchase LARC devices. Data collected through medical record review retrospectively 1 year prior to start of the RLF and prospectively for 1 year thereafter included patient demographics, type of LARC selected, patient's date of documented interest in a LARC device, and date of insertion. The effect of a RLF on delay to LARC insertion was tested using negative binomial regression, controlling for site and potential confounding variables between the pre- and post-RLF periods. Three urban community health centers. Reproductive-aged women who received family planning services at the 3 participating health centers. Increasing access to LARC and decreasing wait times to LARC insertion after implementation of the RLF. Data on 133 patients in the pre-RLF group and 205 in the post-RLF group were collected. There were no statistically significant differences in demographic or clinical characteristics between the 2 time periods. LARC uptake increased significantly from the pre- to post-RLF period, specifically among implant users. There was a statistically significant decrease in the mean number of days in delay from interest to insertion from the pre- to post-RLF period (pre-RLF: 31.3 ± 50.6 days; post-RLF: 13.6 ± 16.7 days, adjusted P < .001). The reasons for the delay did not differ significantly between the 2 time periods. The RLF decreased wait time for the devices and increased overall insertion rates. This may serve as a promising solution to improve LARC access in community health centers. This project could be expanded to include more health centers, creating a city wide RLF. This expansion could allow for further data analysis

  10. Home health care agency staffing patterns before and after the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, by rural and urban location.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAuley, William J; Spector, William; Van Nostrand, Joan

    2008-01-01

    The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 and other recent policies have led to reduced Medicare funding for home health agencies (HHAs) and visits per beneficiary. We examine the staffing characteristics of stable Medicare-certified HHAs across rural and urban counties from 1996 to 2002, a period encompassing the changes associated with the BBA and related policies. Data were drawn from Medicare Provider of Service files and the Area Resource File. The unit of analysis was the 3,126 counties in the United States, grouped into 5 categories: metropolitan, nonmetropolitan adjacent, and 3 nonmetropolitan nonadjacent groups identified by largest town size. Only relatively stable HHAs were included. We generated summary HHA staff statistics for each county group and year. All staff categories, other than therapists, declined from 1997 to 2002 across the metropolitan and nonmetropolitan county groupings. There were substantial population-adjusted decreases in stable HHA-based home health aides in all counties, including remote counties. The limited presence of stable HHA staff in certain nonmetropolitan county types has been exacerbated since implementation of the BBA, especially in the most rural counties. The loss of aides in more rural counties may limit the availability of home-based long-term care in these locations, where the need for long-term care is considerable. Future research should examine the degree to which the presence of HHA staff influences actual access and whether other paid and unpaid sources of care substitute for Medicare home health care in counties with limited supplies of HHA staff.

  11. 77 FR 20779 - Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) Inviting Applications for the 2012 Farmers' Market Promotion...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-06

    ... these objectives will not be funded. In a coordinated effort to enhance healthy food access in urban and... narrative, logic model, or budget narrative. Each application must include distinctly separate information... will only award a maximum of one grant per organization in a funding year. Awardees from the FY 2011...

  12. 78 FR 61350 - Tribal Mobility Fund Phase I Auction (Auction 902); Short-Form Application Filing Window...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-03

    ... FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION [AU Docket No. 13-53; DA 13-1986, DA 13-1978] Tribal Mobility... Access Division: For Tribal Mobility Fund Phase I questions: Patricia Robbins at (202) 418-0660. To... to $50 million in one-time Tribal Mobility Fund Phase I support, will now open at 12 noon Eastern...

  13. Open Access and OER in Latin America: A survey of the policy landscape in Chile, Colombia and Uruguay

    OpenAIRE

    Toledo, Amalia

    2017-01-01

    This chapter presents an overview of the mechanisms (funding, policy, legislative and procedural) adopted by Latin American governments with respect to Open Access and Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives in the higher education sector. It addresses three questions: How do the higher education systems of Chile, Colombia and Uruguay operate and fund their activities in general? How do existing policies and processes incorporating Open Access and/or OER influence student access to learn...

  14. Sexual and reproductive health and philanthropic funding in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gill-Atkinson, Liz; Vaughan, Cathy; Williams, Hennie

    2014-09-01

    Background Australia's philanthropic sector is growing and could support efforts to improve sexual and reproductive health (SRH). However, philanthropy is often misunderstood in Australia and there is limited evidence of philanthropic support for SRH initiatives. We aimed to understand the barriers and facilitators to philanthropic funding of SRH initiatives in Australia. A qualitative approach was used and involved 13 in-depth interviews with professionals from the philanthropic sector, and from organisations and services involved in SRH. Barriers to organisations in seeking philanthropic funding for SRH activities included insufficient resources for writing grant applications and the small financial value of philanthropic grants. Facilitators to seeking philanthropic funding for SRH included a perception that government funding is shrinking and that philanthropic research grants are less competitive than government grants. Philanthropic participants identified that barriers to funding SRH include the sensitive nature of SRH and the perceived conservative nature of philanthropy. Facilitators identified by these participants in supporting SRH initiatives included networking and relationships between grant-makers and grant-seekers. All participants agreed that philanthropy does and could have a role in funding SRH in Australia. The findings of this research suggest that barriers to philanthropic funding for SRH in Australia exist for organisations attempting to access philanthropic funding. Philanthropic organisations could provide more financial support to Australian SRH service providers, as happens in countries such as the United States and United Kingdom. Addressing these barriers and promoting the facilitators could lead to increased awareness of SRH by Australia's philanthropic sector.

  15. Wyandotte Neighborhood Stabilization Program: Retrofit of Two Homes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lukachko, A. [Building Science Corporation (BSC), Somerville, MA (United States); Grin, A. [Building Science Corporation (BSC), Somerville, MA (United States); Bergey, D. [Building Science Corporation (BSC), Somerville, MA (United States)

    2013-04-01

    The Wyandotte NSP2 project aims to build 20 new houses and retrofit 20 existing houses in Wyandotte, MI. Wyandotte is part of a Michigan State Housing Development Authority-led consortium that is funded by HUD under the NSP2 program. The City of Wyandotte has also been awarded DOE EE&CBG funds that are being used to develop a district ground source heat pump (GSHP) system to service the project. This report details the retrofit of two existing houses in the program, and examines the energy efficiency recommendations for the homes. The report will be of interest to anyone planning an affordable, high performance retrofit of an existing home in a cold climate zone. Information from this report will also be useful to retrofit or weatherization program staff as some of the proposed retrofit solutions will apply to a wide range of projects. Preliminary results from the first complete house suggest that the technology package employed (which includes spray foam insulation and insulating sheathing) does meet the specific whole house water, air, and thermal control requirements, as well as, the project’s affordability goals. Monitoring of the GSHP system has been recommended and analysis of this information is not yet available.

  16. Wyandotte Neighborhood Stabilization Program: Retrofit of Two Homes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lukachko, A.; Grin, A.; Bergey, D.

    2013-04-01

    The Wyandotte NSP2 project aims to build 20 new houses and retrofit 20 existing houses in Wyandotte, MI. This report will detail the retrofit of 2 existing houses in the program. Wyandotte is part of a Michigan State Housing Development Authority-led consortium that is funded by HUD under the NSP2 program. The City of Wyandotte has also been awarded DOE EE&CBG funds that are being used to develop a district GSHP system to service the project. This draft report examines the energy efficiency recommendations for retrofit construction at these homes. The report will be of interest to anyone planning an affordable, high performance retrofit of an existing home in a Cold Climate zone. Information from this report will also be useful to retrofit or weatherization program staff as some of the proposed retrofit solutions will apply to a wide range of projects. Preliminary results from the first complete house suggest that the technology package employed (which includes spray foam insulation and insulating sheathing) does meet the specific whole house water, air, and thermal control requirements, as well as, the project's affordability goals. Monitoring of the GSHP system has been recommended and analysis of this information is not yet available.

  17. Personal Empowerment in the Study of Home Internet Use by Low-Income Families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bier, Melinda; Gallo, Michael; Nucklos, Eddy; Sherblom, Stephen; Pennick, Michael

    1997-01-01

    Describes a United States Department of Commerce (National Telecommunications and Information Administrations, NTIA, 1995) study of home Internet use by Low-income families. The study investigated the barriers, benefits (empowerment), and perceived worth of the Internet and concluded that home Internet access enabled powerful emotional and…

  18. High Optical Access Trap 2.0.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maunz, Peter Lukas Wilhelm [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2016-01-26

    The High Optical Access (HOA) trap was designed in collaboration with the Modular Universal Scalable Ion-trap Quantum Computer (MUSIQC) team, funded along with Sandia National Laboratories through IARPA's Multi Qubit Coherent Operations (MQCO) program. The design of version 1 of the HOA trap was completed in September 2012 and initial devices were completed and packaged in February 2013. The second version of the High Optical Access Trap (HOA-2) was completed in September 2014 and is available at IARPA's disposal.

  19. Open access and knowledge sharing: reflections on the Pathfinder projects and Open Access Good Practice initiative

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannah DeGroff

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The following article provides a selection of reflections from a number of higher education institutions and their staff about participation in the UK-wide Pathfinder project scheme. These nine projects (comprising 30 institutions form the core of the Jisc-funded Open Access Good Practice initiative. They have produced a wide range of outputs which endorse and encourage best practice when implementing open access across institutions. Each project has a blog where progress and outputs can be tracked. Details are listed at the end of this article.

  20. Open Access Publishing - Strengths and Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rasmussen, Martin

    2010-05-01

    The journal crisis and the demand for free accessibility to the results of publicly funded research were the main drivers of the Open Access movement since the late 1990's. Besides many academic institutions that support the different ways of Open Access publishing, there is a growing number of publishing houses that are specialized on this new access and business model of scholarly literature. The lecture provides an overview of the different kinds of Open Access publishing, discusses the variety of underlying business models, names the advantages and potentials for researches and the public, and overcomes some objections against Open Access. Besides the increased visibility and information supply, the topic of copyrights and exploitation rights will be discussed. Furthermore, it is a central aim of the presentation to show that Open Access does not only support full peer-review, but also provides the potential for even enhanced quality assurance. The financing of business models based on open accessible literature is another important part to be outlined in the lecture.

  1. The continued movement for open access to peer-reviewed literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liesegang, Thomas J

    2013-09-01

    To provide a current overview of the movement for open access to the peer review literature. Perspective. Literature review of recent advances in the open access movement with a personal viewpoint of the nuances of the movement. The open access movement is complex, with many different constituents. The idealists for the open access movement are seeking open access to the literature but also to the data that constitute the research within the manuscript. The business model of the traditional subscription journal is being scrutinized in relation to the surge in the number of open access journals. Within this environment authors should beware predatory practices. More government and funding agencies are mandating open access to their funded research. This open access movement will continue to be disruptive until a business model ensures continuity of the scientific record. A flood of open access articles that might enrich, but also might pollute or confuse, the medical literature has altered the filtering mechanism provided by the traditional peer review system. At some point there may be a shake-out, with some literature being lost in cyberspace. The open access movement is maturing and must be embraced in some format. The challenge is to establish a sustainable financial business model that will permit the use of digital technology but yet not endanger the decades-old traditional publication model and peer review system. Authors seem to be slower in adopting open access than the idealists in the movement. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Feasibility of BCI Control in a Realistic Smart Home Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosmyna, Nataliya; Tarpin-Bernard, Franck; Bonnefond, Nicolas; Rivet, Bertrand

    2016-01-01

    Smart homes have been an active area of research, however despite considerable investment, they are not yet a reality for end-users. Moreover, there are still accessibility challenges for the elderly or the disabled, two of the main potential targets for home automation. In this exploratory study we design a control mechanism for smart homes based on Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) and apply it in the “Domus”1 smart home platform in order to evaluate the potential interest of users about BCIs at home. We enable users to control lighting, a TV set, a coffee machine and the shutters of the smart home. We evaluate the performance (accuracy, interaction time), usability and feasibility (USE questionnaire) on 12 healthy subjects and 2 disabled subjects. We find that healthy subjects achieve 77% task accuracy. However, disabled subjects achieved a better accuracy (81% compared to 77%). PMID:27616986

  3. Feasibility of BCI Control in a Realistic Smart Home Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nataliya Kosmyna

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Smart homes have been an active area of research, however despite considerable investment, they are not yet a reality for end-users. Moreover, there are still accessibility challenges for the elderly or the disabled, two of the main potential targets for home automation. In this exploratory study we design a control mechanism for smart homes based on Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI and apply it in the Domus smart home platform in order to evaluate the potential interest of users about BCIs at home. We enable users to control lighting, a TV set, a coffee machine and the shutters of the smart home. We evaluate the performance (accuracy, interaction time, usability and feasibility (USE questionnaire on 12 healthy subjects and 2 disabled subjects. We find that healthy subjects achieve 77% task accuracy. However, disabled subjects achieved a better accuracy (81% compared to 77%.

  4. Prospects for rebuilding primary care using the patient-centered medical home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landon, Bruce E; Gill, James M; Antonelli, Richard C; Rich, Eugene C

    2010-05-01

    Existing research suggests that models of enhanced primary care lead to health care systems with better performance. What the research does not show is whether such an approach is feasible or likely to be effective within the U.S. health care system. Many commentators have adopted the model of the patient-centered medical home as policy shorthand to address the reinvention of primary care in the United States. We analyze potential barriers to implementing the medical home model for policy makers and practitioners. Among others, these include developing new payment models, as well as the need for up-front funding to assemble the personnel and infrastructure required by an enhanced non-visit-based primary care practice and methods to facilitate transformation of existing practices to functioning medical homes.

  5. Safety of union home care aides in Washington State.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schoenfisch, Ashley L; Lipscomb, Hester; Phillips, Leslie E

    2017-09-01

    A rate-based understanding of home care aides' adverse occupational outcomes related to their work location and care tasks is lacking. Within a 30-month, dynamic cohort of 43 394 home care aides in Washington State, injury rates were calculated by aides' demographic and work characteristics. Injury narratives and focus groups provided contextual detail. Injury rates were higher for home care aides categorized as female, white, 50 to working through an agency (versus individual providers). In addition to direct occupational hazards, variability in workload, income, and supervisory/social support is of concern. Policies should address the roles and training of home care aides, consumers, and managers/supervisors. Home care aides' improved access to often-existing resources to identify, manage, and eliminate occupational hazards is called for to prevent injuries and address concerns related to the vulnerability of this needed workforce. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Foster Youth Evaluate the Performance of Group Home Services in California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Rex S.; Ellis, Peter T.

    2008-01-01

    In 2003 foster youth employed by a foster youth advocacy organization suggested that an evaluation of group home services to foster youth be conducted in Alameda County, California. This report presents the development and conduct of this evaluation study; how funding was obtained; and how foster youth were hired, trained, and employed to produce…

  7. Identification of inactivity behavior in smart home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poujaud, J; Noury, N; Lundy, J-E

    2008-01-01

    To help elderly people live independently at home, the TIMC-IMAG laboratory developed Health Smart Homes called 'HIS'. These smart Homes are composed of several sensors to monitor the activities of daily living of the patients. Volunteers have accepted to be monitored during 2 years in their own flats. During one year, we carried out our survey on one elderly patient. Thanks to this experimentation, we will access to relevant information like physiological, environmental and activity. This paper focuses on daily living activity. We will introduce an original data splitting method based on the relationship between the frame of time and the location in the flat. Moreover we will present two different methods to determine a threshold of critical inactivity and eventually we will discuss their possible utilities.

  8. Food Access Patterns and Barriers among Midlife and Older Adults with Mobility Disabilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deborah L. Huang

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available We examined where midlife and older adults with a mobility disability accessed food outside the home in King County, Washington, USA, how they travelled to these food destinations, and facilitators and barriers to food access using qualitative interviews. Thirty-five adults aged ≥50 years with a mobility disability (defined as use of an assistive device for mobility were interviewed. Supplemental objective information was obtained from a Global Positioning System device worn by participants for 3 days. Participants primarily accessed food at grocery stores, restaurants, and coffee shops/cafés. The most common transportation modes were walking, obtaining a ride from friends, motorized chair/scooter, and public transit. Location and proximity of food destinations were factors affecting participants’ ability to access these destinations. Adequate space, ease of entry, available amenities such as restrooms, and helpful people were facilitators for participants to access food outside the home.

  9. Open Access Publishing in the Field of Medical Informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuballa, Stefanie

    2017-05-01

    The open access paradigm has become an important approach in today's information and communication society. Funders and governments in different countries stipulate open access publications of funded research results. Medical informatics as part of the science, technology and medicine disciplines benefits from many research funds, such as National Institutes of Health in the US, Wellcome Trust in UK, German Research Foundation in Germany and many more. In this study an overview of the current open access programs and conditions of major journals in the field of medical informatics is presented. It was investigated whether there are suitable options and how they are shaped. Therefore all journals in Thomson Reuters Web of Science that were listed in the subject category "Medical Informatics" in 2014 were examined. An Internet research was conducted by investigating the journals' websites. It was reviewed whether journals offer an open access option with a subsequent check of conditions as for example the type of open access, the fees and the licensing. As a result all journals in the field of medical informatics that had an impact factor in 2014 offer an open access option. A predominantly consistent pricing range was determined with an average fee of 2.248 € and a median fee of 2.207 €. The height of a journals' open access fee did not correlate with the height of its Impact Factor. Hence, medical informatics journals have recognized the trend of open access publishing, though the vast majority of them are working with the hybrid method. Hybrid open access may however lead to problems in questions of double dipping and the often stipulated gold open access.

  10. Quantifying Carbon and distributional benefits of solar home system programs in Bangladesh

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Limin; Bandyopadhyay, Sushenjit; Cosgrove-Davies, Mac; Samad, Hussain

    2011-01-01

    Scaling-up adoption of renewable energy technology, such as solar home systems, to expand electricity access in developing countries can accelerate the transition to low-carbon economic development. Using a purposely collected national household survey, this study quantifies the carbon and distributional benefits of solar home system programs in Bangladesh. Three key findings are generated...

  11. Assessing Commercially Available Personal Health Records for Home Health: Recommendations for Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kneale, Laura; Choi, Yong; Demiris, George

    2016-01-01

    Home health nurses and clients experience unmet information needs when transitioning from hospital to home health. Personal health records (PHRs) support consumer-centered information management activities. Previous work has assessed PHRs associated with healthcare providers, but these systems leave home health nurses unable to access necessary information. To evaluate the ability of publically available PHRs to accept, manage, and share information from a home health case study. Two researchers accessed the publically available PHRs on myPHR.com, and attempted to enter, manage, and share the case study data. We qualitatively described the PHR features, and identified gaps between the case study information and PHR functionality. Eighteen PHRs were identified in our initial search. Seven systems met our inclusion criteria, and are included in this review. The PHRs were able to accept basic medical information. Gaps occurred when entering, managing, and/or sharing data from the acute care and home health episodes. The PHRs that were reviewed were unable to effectively manage the case study information. Therefore, increasing consumer health literacy through these systems may be difficult. The PHRs that we reviewed were also unable to electronically share their data. The gap between the existing functionality and the information needs from the case study may make these PHRs difficult to use for home health environments. Additional work is needed to increase the functionality of the PHR systems to better fit the data needs of home health clients.

  12. HIV/AIDS and access to water: A case study of home-based care in Ngamiland, Botswana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ngwenya, B. N.; Kgathi, D. L.

    This case study investigates access to potable water in HIV/AIDS related home-based care households in five rural communities in Ngamiland, Botswana. Primary data collected from five villages consisted of two parts. The first survey collected household data on demographic and rural livelihood features and impacts of HIV/AIDS. A total of 129 households were selected using a two-stage stratified random sampling method. In the second survey, a total of 39 family primary and community care givers of continuously ill, bed-ridden or non-bed-ridden HIV/AIDS patients were interviewed. A detailed questionnaire, with closed and open-ended questions, was used to collect household data. In addition to using the questionnaire, data were also collected through participant observation, informal interviews and secondary sources. The study revealed that there are several sources of water for communities in Ngamiland such as off-plot, outdoor (communal) and on-plot outdoor and/or indoor (private) water connections, as well as other sources such as bowsed water, well-points, boreholes and open perennial/ephemeral water from river channels and pans. There was a serious problem of unreliable water supply caused by, among other things, the breakdown of diesel-powered water pumps, high frequency of HIV/AIDS related absenteeism, and the failure of timely delivery of diesel fuel. Some villages experienced chronic supply disruptions while others experienced seasonal or occasional water shortages. Strategies for coping with unreliability of water supply included economizing on water, reserve storage, buying water, and collection from river/dug wells or other alternative sources such as rain harvesting tanks in government institutions. The unreliability of water supply resulted in an increase in the use of water of poor quality and other practices of poor hygiene as well as a high opportunity cost of water collection. In such instances, bathing of patients was cut from twice daily to once or

  13. [Spanish funded paediatric research: Contribution of Anales de Pediatría to its dissemination].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abad-García, María Francisca; González-Teruel, Aurora; Solís Sánchez, Gonzalo

    2017-06-01

    To identify Spanish funded paediatric research published in general paediatric journals included in the Web of Science (WoS) from 2010 to 2014) and those published in the Anales de Pediatría. To examine the relationship between funding and the prestige of the journals. To describe the journal conditions to meet the open access criteria. Spanish funded paediatric articles (FA) were identified by using the WoS Funding Agency field, and by reviewing the original documents for the Anales de Pediatria (AP). For the FA published in AP the number and kind of funding agencies were identified. The possible differences in citations between FA and non-funded was assessed for articles published in this journal using the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test. For general journals, the patterns of distribution of FA and non-FA were investigated according to the quartile of the journal. The journal's self-archiving conditions were described using Sherpa/romeo database. Funding was received for 27.5%, being 16.6% for those published in AP. In these, 105 funding agencies were identified, with 80% being national. The FA published in AP did not receive significantly more citations. In general journals, the presence of FA is greater in Q1 and Q2 journals. More than half (56%) of articles were published in subscription journals. All journals that publish FA allow self-archiving in repositories, but with embargos of at least 12 months. The role of AP in the dissemination of FA is still limited. Embargos in self-archiving permits compliance of Spanish open access mandate, but may hinder compliance in Europe. Copyright © 2016 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  14. Home hospitalization in the spectrum of community geriatric care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stessman, J; Hammerman-Rozenberg, R; Cohen, A

    1997-04-01

    The Home Hospitalization Programme was initiated in Jerusalem in 1991 to provide intensive medical care at home in order to prevent or shorten hospitalizations. The programme was based upon regular home visits by physicians, and nursing assessment to determine the need for regular nursing care. Primary-care physicians and nurses were renumerated by a global monthly fee, and were on 24-h call in addition to their periodic visits. Patients were recruited by senior geriatric physicians from acute hospital wards, as well as from the community, at the family doctor's request. Ancillary services available to the home hospitalization team included laboratory and electrocardiographic testing, specialty consultations, physical occupational or speech therapy, social work and home help up to 3 h daily. Monthly visits by a senior physician provided oversight and further consultation. Home hospitalization grew out of the continuing care division of the Clalit Sick Fund, a health maintenance organization providing umbrella medical insurance and ambulatory care. The programme grew synergistically with the other facilities of continuing care to encompass a network of comprehensive services to acute, subacute and chronic patients both at home and in institutional settings. In 4 years this network succeeded in establishing the focus of subacute intensive care in the community, achieving high levels of patient and family satisfaction, as well as striking economic advantages. In its first 2 years of operation home hospitalization saved S4 million due to reduced hospital utilization, and preliminary data for the subsequent 2 years indicated that this trend continued. Home hospitalization became the hub of a far-reaching system of supportive, intensive and humane care in the community.

  15. Electronic doors to education: study of high school website accessibility in Iowa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, David; Myhill, William; Hansen, Linda; Asby, Gary; Michaelson, Susan; Blanck, Peter

    2003-01-01

    The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities in all aspects of daily life, including education, work, and access to places of public accommodations. Increasingly, these antidiscrimination laws are used by persons with disabilities to ensure equal access to e-commerce, and to private and public Internet websites. To help assess the impact of the anti-discrimination mandate for educational communities, this study examined 157 website home pages of Iowa public high schools (52% of high schools in Iowa) in terms of their electronic accessibility for persons with disabilities. We predicted that accessibility problems would limit students and others in obtaining information from the web pages as well as limiting ability to navigate to other web pages. Findings show that although many web pages examined included information in accessible formats, none of the home pages met World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for accessibility. The most frequent accessibility problem was lack of alternative text (ALT tags) for graphics. Technical sophistication built into pages was found to reduce accessibility. Implications are discussed for schools and educational institutions, and for laws, policies, and procedures on website accessibility. Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. x509-free access to WLCG resources

    OpenAIRE

    Short, H; Manzi, A; De Notaris, V; Keeble, O; Kiryanov, A; Mikkonen, H; Tedesco, P; Wartel, R

    2017-01-01

    Access to WLCG resources is authenticated using an x509 and PKI infrastructure. Even though HEP users have always been exposed to certificates directly, the development of modern Web Applications by the LHC experiments calls for simplified authentication processes keeping the underlying software unmodified. In this work we will show a solution with the goal of providing access to WLCG resources using the user’s home organisations credentials, without the need for user-acquired x509 certificat...

  17. The TECS model leads to active use of technology in home care

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Ulla Gars; Skov, Hanne

    2017-01-01

    Digitization in healthcare is accelerating worldwide. This article focuses on the X-Changery development project involving home-care nurses and their use of the iPad as a new tool in patients’ homes. The goal of the project was to bring knowledge from recent research on technological literacy...... in working life back to a work setting, thus giving nurses new technology competencies with the aim of enhancing their professionalism through the use of the iPad as a work tool. Through field observations, learning labs and focus-group interviews we can see that X-Changery gave home-care nurses a common...... language to exchange experiences and share knowledge about the iPad as a work tool. Use of the iPad in patients’ homes led to new habits and routines. Nurses acquired relational expertise, implying active use of technology. The results show the importance of focusing on and funding reflection...

  18. Smart grid business case for private homes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Villefrance, Rasmus; Brandt, Jonas; Eriksen, Poul Svante

    2013-01-01

    We describe and consider how the potential of energy savings may drive the penetration of smart grid technology into private homes. We assess the sociological processes which lead to energy savings when the residents have access to smart grid technology. We propose a way to establish a cash flow...... from consumers via electrical distribution companies to smart grid technology providers on the Danish market. Finally, we assess the impact of such a business development on the society, as well as relating the penetration of smart grid technology in private homes to the societal goal of 100% renewable...

  19. 76 FR 36567 - Announcement of Funding Awards; Indian Community Development Block Grant Program; Fiscal Year 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-22

    ... Village of Selawik, 500,000 Housing Water and sewer services to eight homes. Honorable Clyde Ramoth Sr... the Fiscal Year 2010 (FY 2010) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Indian Community... program provides grants to Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages to develop viable Indian and Alaska...

  20. Maintenance of Access as Demand for Substance Use Disorder Treatment Grows

    OpenAIRE

    Frakt, Austin B.; Trafton, Jodie; Pizer, Steven D.

    2015-01-01

    Due to the Affordable Care Act and other recent laws and regulations, funding for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment is on the rise. In the 2000s, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) implemented several initiatives that increased funding for SUD treatment during a period of growth in demand for it. A key question is whether access to and intensity of treatment kept pace or declined. Using VA SUD treatment funding data and patient-level records to construct performance measures, we stu...

  1. Household perceptions towards a redistributive policy across health insurance funds in Tanzania

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chomi, Eunice; Mujinja, Phares; Hansen, Kristian Schultz

    2015-01-01

    Background The Tanzanian health insurance system comprises multiple health insurance funds targeting different population groups but which operate in parallel, with no mechanisms for redistribution across the funds. Establishing such redistributive mechanisms requires public support, which...... data collected from a survey of 695 households relating to perceptions of household heads towards cross-subsidisation of the poor to enable them to access health services. Kruskal-Wallis test is used to compare perceptions by membership status. Generalized ordinal logistic regression models are used...

  2. On Using TPM for Secure Identities in Future Home Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Georg Carle

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Security should be integrated into future networks from the beginning, not as an extension. Secure identities and authentication schemes are an important step to fulfill this quest. In this article, we argue that home networks are a natural trust anchor for such schemes. We describe our concept of home networks as a universal point of reference for authentication, trust and access control, and show that our scheme can be applied to any next generation network. As home networks are no safe place, we apply Trusted Computing technology to prevent the abuse of identities, i.e., identity theft.

  3. Integrative solutions for intelligent energy management. Smart metering, smart home, smart grid; Integrative Loesungsansaetze fuer ein intelligentes Energiemanagement. Smart Metering, Smart Home and Smart Grid

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jungfleisch, Achim [Hager Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH und Co. KG, Blieskastel (Germany). Marketing

    2011-07-01

    Smart Metering, Smart Home, Smart Grid - these key words significantly determine the current debate about intelligent energy management, or new energy concepts. The author of the contribution under consideration describes the interactions between Smart Metering, Smart Home and Smart Grids and the technical connection of these interactions. Thus, the compact tebis KNX demovea server connects Windows computer and the Internet with the building automation based on KNX. The technically simple combination of smart metering and smart home via Hager radio tower of the building automation provides an access to key energy data for an intelligent load management.

  4. Broadband Optical Access Technologies to Converge towards a Broadband Society in Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coudreuse, Jean-Pierre; Pautonnier, Sophie; Lavillonnière, Eric; Didierjean, Sylvain; Hilt, Benoît; Kida, Toshimichi; Oshima, Kazuyoshi

    This paper provides insights on the status of broadband optical access market and technologies in Europe and on the expected trends for the next generation optical access networks. The final target for most operators, cities or any other player is of course FTTH (Fibre To The Home) deployment although we can expect intermediate steps with copper or wireless technologies. Among the two candidate architectures for FTTH, PON (Passive Optical Network) is by far the most attractive and cost effective solution. We also demonstrate that Ethernet based optical access network is very adequate to all-IP networks without any incidence on the level of quality of service. Finally, we provide feedback from a FTTH pilot network in Colmar (France) based on Gigabit Ethernet PON technology. The interest of this pilot lies on the level of functionality required for broadband optical access networks but also on the development of new home network configurations.

  5. Patient-centered medical homes for patients with disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez, Brigida; Damiani, Marco; Wang, T Arthur; Driscoll, Carolyn; Dellabella, Peter; LePera, Nicole; Mentari, Michael

    2015-01-01

    The patient-centered medical home is an innovative approach to improve health care outcomes. To address the unique needs of patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), a large health care provider reevaluated the National Committee for Quality Assurance's 6 medical home standards: (a) enhance access and continuity, (b) identify and manage patient populations, (c) plan and manage care, (d) provide self-care and community support, (e) track and coordinate care, and (f) measure and improve performance. This article describes issues to consider when serving patients with IDDs.

  6. Adult BMI and Access to Built Environment Resources in a High-Poverty, Urban Geography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tung, Elizabeth L; Peek, Monica E; Makelarski, Jennifer A; Escamilla, Veronica; Lindau, Stacy T

    2016-11-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between BMI and access to built environment resources in a high-poverty, urban geography. Participants (aged ≥35 years) were surveyed between November 2012 and July 2013 to examine access to common health-enabling resources (grocers, outpatient providers, pharmacies, places of worship, and physical activity resources). Survey data were linked to a contemporaneous census of built resources. Associations between BMI and access to resources (potential and realized) were examined using independent t-tests and multiple linear regression. Data analysis was conducted in 2014-2015. Median age was 53.8 years (N=267, 62% cooperation rate). Obesity (BMI ≥30) prevalence was 54.9%. BMI was not associated with potential access to resources located nearest to home. Nearly all participants (98.1%) bypassed at least one nearby resource type; half bypassed nearby grocers (realized access >1 mile from home). Bypassing grocers was associated with a higher BMI (p=0.03). Each additional mile traveled from home to a grocer was associated with a 0.9-higher BMI (95% CI=0.4, 1.3). Quality and affordability were common reasons for bypassing resources. Despite potential access to grocers in a high-poverty, urban region, half of participants bypassed nearby grocers to access food. Bypassing grocers was associated with a higher BMI. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. EUA's Open Access Checklist for Universities: A Practical Guide on Implementation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morais, Rita; Lourenço, Joana; Smith, John H.; Borrell-Damian, Lidia

    2015-01-01

    Open Access (OA) to research publications has received increased attention from the academic community, scientific publishers, research funding agencies and governments. This movement has been growing exponentially in recent years, both in terms of the increasing number of Open Access journals and the proliferation of policies on this topic. The…

  8. MDS 3.0 for Nursing Homes and Swing Bed Providers

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The MDS is a powerful tool for implementing standardized assessment and for facilitating care management in nursing homes (NHs) and non-critical access hospital...

  9. Heuristics Miner for E-Commerce Visitor Access Pattern Representation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kartina Diah Kesuma Wardhani

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available E-commerce click stream data can form a certain pattern that describe visitor behavior while surfing the e-commerce website. This pattern can be used to initiate a design to determine alternative access sequence on the website. This research use heuristic miner algorithm to determine the pattern. σ-Algorithm and Genetic Mining are methods used for pattern recognition with frequent sequence item set approach. Heuristic Miner is an evolved form of those methods. σ-Algorithm assume that an activity in a website, that has been recorded in the data log, is a complete sequence from start to finish, without any tolerance to incomplete data or data with noise. On the other hand, Genetic Mining is a method that tolerate incomplete data or data with noise, so it can generate a more detailed e-commerce visitor access pattern. In this study, the same sequence of events obtained from six-generated patterns. The resulting pattern of visitor access is that visitors are often access the home page and then the product category page or the home page and then the full text search page.

  10. Shadow Libraries: Access to Knowledge in Global Higher Education ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2018-05-04

    May 4, 2018 ... Shadow Libraries: Access to Knowledge in Global Higher Education ... that are emerging in middle- and low-income countries as opportunities for higher education expand but funding for materials shrinks. ... Innovation.

  11. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's investments in harm reduction through the rounds-based funding model (2002-2014).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bridge, Jamie; Hunter, Benjamin M; Albers, Eliot; Cook, Catherine; Guarinieri, Mauro; Lazarus, Jeffrey V; MacAllister, Jack; McLean, Susie; Wolfe, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    Harm reduction is an evidence-based, effective response to HIV transmission and other harms faced by people who inject drugs, and is explicitly supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In spite of this, people who inject drugs continue to have poor and inequitable access to these services and face widespread stigma and discrimination. In 2013, the Global Fund launched a new funding model-signalling the end of the previous rounds-based model that had operated since its founding in 2002. This study updates previous analyses to assess Global Fund investments in harm reduction interventions for the duration of the rounds-based model, from 2002 to 2014. Global Fund HIV and TB/HIV grant documents from 2002 to 2014 were reviewed to identify grants that contained activities for people who inject drugs. Data were collected from detailed grant budgets, and relevant budget lines were recorded and analysed to determine the resources allocated to different interventions that were specifically targeted at people who inject drugs. 151 grants for 58 countries, plus one regional proposal, contained activities targeting people who inject drugs-for a total investment of US$ 620 million. Two-thirds of this budgeted amount was for interventions in the "comprehensive package" defined by the United Nations. 91% of the identified amount was for Eastern Europe and Asia. This study represents an updated, comprehensive assessment of Global Fund investments in harm reduction from its founding (2002) until the start of the new funding model (2014). It also highlights the overall shortfall of harm reduction funding, with the estimated global need being US$ 2.3 billion for harm reduction in 2015 alone. Using this baseline, the Global Fund must carefully monitor its new funding model and ensure that investments in harm reduction are maintained or scaled-up. There are widespread concerns regarding the withdrawal from middle-income countries where harm reduction remains

  12. 76 FR 76623 - Connect America Fund; Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-08

    ... rules generally require competitive carriers and rate-of-return incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs) to refile their interstate switched access tariffs at lower rates if the following two conditions are... America Fund; Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime AGENCY: Federal Communications...

  13. Advantages and Disadvantages for Receiving Internet-Based HIV/AIDS Interventions at Home or at Community Based Organization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Shana M.; Lockhart, Elizabeth; Marhefka, Stephanie L.

    2015-01-01

    Within recent years public health interventions have become technologically based to reflect the digital age we currently live in and appeal to the public in innovative and novel ways. The Internet breaks down boundaries distance imposes and increases our ability to reach and connect with people. Internet-based interventions have the potential to expand access to effective behavioral interventions. The US National HIV/AIDS Strategy states that people living with HIV should have access to effective behavioral interventions like Healthy Relationships (HR) to help them develop safe sex and disclosure skills. However, access to HR is limited across the country, especially for people in remote or rural areas. Internet-based Healthy Relationships Video Groups (HR-VG) delivered at home or community based organizations (CBOs) can possibly expand access. This study assesses the preferences of women living with HIV (WLH) for participation in HR-VG among 21 WLH who participated in a randomized control trial (RCT) testing HR-VG and completed open-ended semi-structured telephone interviews. Transcripts were thematically analyzed to determine advantages, disadvantages and overall preference for home or agency delivery of HR-VG. Themes relating to convenience, technology access, privacy, distractions, HIV serostatus disclosure and social opportunities were identified as advantages or disadvantages to participating in HR-VG at each location. Overall privacy was the most salient concern of accessing HR-VG at home or at a CBO. Considering the concerns expressed by WLH, further studies are needed to assess how an Internet-based intervention delivered at home for WLH can maintain privacy while being cost effective. PMID:26357907

  14. Advantages and disadvantages for receiving Internet-based HIV/AIDS interventions at home or at community-based organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Shana M; Lockhart, Elizabeth; Marhefka, Stephanie L

    2015-01-01

    Within recent years, public health interventions have become technology based to reflect the digital age we currently live in and appeal to the public in innovative and novel ways. The Internet breaks down boundaries distance imposes and increases our ability to reach and connect with people. Internet-based interventions have the potential to expand access to effective behavioral interventions (EBIs). The US National HIV/AIDS Strategy states that people living with HIV should have access to EBIs such as healthy relationships (HR) to help them develop safe sex and disclosure skills. However, access to HR is limited across the country, especially for people in remote or rural areas. Internet-based healthy relationships video groups (HR-VG) delivered at home or community-based organizations (CBOs) can possibly expand access. This study assesses the preferences of women living with HIV (WLH) for participation in HR-VG among 21 WLH who participated in a randomized control trial (RCT) testing HR-VG and completed open-ended semi-structured telephone interviews. Transcripts were thematically analyzed to determine advantages and disadvantages of home or CBO delivery of HR-VG. Themes relating to convenience, technology access, privacy, distractions, HIV serostatus disclosure, and social opportunities were identified as advantages or disadvantages to participating in HR-VG at each location. Overall, privacy was the most salient concern of accessing HR-VG at home or at a CBO. Considering the concerns expressed by WLH, further studies are needed to assess how an Internet-based intervention delivered at home for WLH can maintain privacy while being cost effective.

  15. Ripple Effects of PPS on Nursing Homes: Swimming or Drowning in the Funding Stream?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swan, James H.; And Others

    1990-01-01

    Of 189 nursing homes, 83 percent reported that Medicare's hospital Prospective Payment System (PPS) affected patient needs, 53 percent said it affected patients and services provided, and 25 percent said it affected referrals to hospitals. PPS effects depended on facility factors of size, Medicare certification, tax status, and on local market…

  16. Defenders against Threats or Enablers of Opportunities: The Screening Role Played by Gatekeepers in Researching Older People in Care Homes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scourfield, Peter

    2012-01-01

    This paper emerges from a case study of the system of statutory reviews in older people's care homes in the UK. Informed by a review of selected literature on gaining access, this paper provides a critical account of the process of negotiating access with gatekeepers (chiefly, care home managers). The negotiations were time-consuming and largely…

  17. Practical guide on home health in heart failure patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jaarsma, T.; Larsen, Torben; Stromberg, A.

    2013-01-01

    in this population and specialised heart failure care can save costs and improve the quality of care. However, only a few European countries have implemented specialised home care and offered this to a larger number of patients with heart failure. Method: We developed a guide on Home Health in Heart Failure patients...... from a literature review, a survey of heart failure management programs, the opinion of researchers and practitioners, data from clinical trials and a reflection of an international expert meeting. Results: In integrated home care for heart failure patients, it is advised to consider the following...... components: integrated multidisciplinary care, patient and partner participation, care plans with clear goals of care, patient education, self-care management, appropriate access to care and optimised treatment. Discussion: We summarised the state of the art of home-based care for heart failure patients...

  18. Public funding - a solution for technological SMEs and entrepreneurs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emilia, Calefariu; Traian Alexandru, Buda

    2016-11-01

    Technological SMEs are in a constant struggle for growth or sometimes maintaining the production capacity, increase market share, supporting tax burden, ensuring employees' salaries, profit growth. They constantly consider short-term survival of the company, with trying to maintain a long-term uptrend for the business. Entrepreneurs are again in a position to access public financing under quite favorable conditions. The paper aims to analyze the opportunity of accessing these external financing options, which have both advantages and a series of long-term constraints which should not be excluded before the final decision to access this funding. New research is required, thus sustainable development can be maintained for the business environment in order to increase efficiency, competitiveness, sustainable development strategies that generate job security, regional growth and rewarding the risk-taking of the entrepreneur.

  19. End-of-life expectations and experiences among nursing home patients and their relatives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fosse, Anette; Schaufel, Margrethe Aase; Ruths, Sabine

    2014-01-01

    . CONCLUSION: Nursing home patients and their relatives wanted doctors more involved in end-of-life care. They expected doctors to acknowledge their preferences and provide guidance and symptom relief. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: High-quality end-of-life care in nursing homes relies on organization, funding......OBJECTIVE: Synthesize research about patients' and relatives' expectations and experiences on how doctors can improve end-of-life care in nursing homes. METHODS: We systematically searched qualitative studies in English in seven databases (Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Ageline, Cochrane...... decision-makers reported uncertainty and distress when guidance from health personnel was lacking. They worried about staff shortage and emphasized doctor availability. Relatives and health personnel seldom recognized patients' ability to consent, and patients' preferences were not always recognized...

  20. Behavioral health and health care reform models: patient-centered medical home, health home, and accountable care organization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bao, Yuhua; Casalino, Lawrence P; Pincus, Harold Alan

    2013-01-01

    Discussions of health care delivery and payment reforms have largely been silent about how behavioral health could be incorporated into reform initiatives. This paper draws attention to four patient populations defined by the severity of their behavioral health conditions and insurance status. It discusses the potentials and limitations of three prominent models promoted by the Affordable Care Act to serve populations with behavioral health conditions: the Patient-Centered Medical Home, the Health Home initiative within Medicaid, and the Accountable Care Organization. To incorporate behavioral health into health reform, policymakers and practitioners may consider embedding in the reform efforts explicit tools-accountability measures and payment designs-to improve access to and quality of care for patients with behavioral health needs.

  1. Exploring access to care among older people in the last phase of life using the behavioural model of health services use: a qualitative study from the perspective of the next of kin of older persons who had died in a nursing home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Condelius, Anna; Andersson, Magdalena

    2015-10-26

    There is little investigation into what care older people access during the last phase of their life and what factors enable access to care in this group. Illuminating this from the perspective of the next of kin may provide valuable insights into how the health and social care system operates with reference to providing care for this vulnerable group. The behavioural model of health services use has a wide field of application but has not been tested conceptually regarding access to care from the perspective of the next of kin. The aim of this study was to explore the care accessed by older people during the last phase of their life from the perspective of the next of kin and to conceptually test the behavioural model of health services use. The data collection took place in 2011 by means of qualitative interviews with 14 next of kin of older people who had died in a nursing home. The interviews were analysed using directed content analysis. The behavioural model of health services use was used in deriving the initial coding scheme, including the categories: utilization of health services, consumer satisfaction and characteristics of the population at risk. Utilization of health services in the last phase of life was described in five subcategories named after the type of care accessed i.e. admission to a nursing home, primary healthcare, hospital care, dental care and informal care. The needs were illuminated in the subcategories: general deterioration, medical conditions and acute illness and deterioration when death approaches. Factors that enabled access to care were described in three subcategories: the organisation of care, next of kin and the older person. These factors could also constitute barriers to accessing care. Next of kin's satisfaction with care was illuminated in the subcategories: satisfaction, dissatisfaction and factors influencing satisfaction. One new category was constructed inductively: the situation of the next of kin. A bed in a nursing

  2. Mutual Fund Performances of Polish Domestic Equity Fund Managers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ömer faruk tan

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Purpose of the article: The main purpose of the paper is empirically evaluating selectivity skills and market timing ability of Polish fund managers during the period from January 2009 to November 2014. After the global financial crisis of 2008, in this period of quantitative easing (QE, thanks to an increase in the money supply, a capital flow from developed countries to developing countries was observed. In this study, we try to analyse that although the financial market in Poland made an incredible progress, whether fund managers show better or worse performance than the market. Methodology/Methods: In order to evaluate fund manager performances, Jensen alpha (1968 is computed, which depicts selectivity skills of fund managers. For determining market timing ability of fund managers, Treynor & Mazuy (1966 regression analysis and Henriksson & Merton (1981 regression analysis are applied. Fund performances are evaluated using Warsaw Stock Exchange Index as the benchmark index. Scientific aim: In this study, we have tried to evaluate selectivity skills and market timing ability of Polish fund managers. A total of 14 equity fund managers’ performances are analysed. The study can be guiding especially for investors who are interested in Polish equity fund performances in a period where emerging stock markets outperformed with quantitative easing. Findings: Jensen (1968 alphas indicate that over this period fund managers did not have selective ability, as none of the 14 funds had statistically significant positive alphas. Furthermore, Treynor & Mazuy (1966 and Henriksson & Merton (1981 regression analysis indicate that over the same period fund managers did not also have market timing ability, as again none of the 14 funds had statistically significant positive coefficients. Conclusions: In this work, we can detect that in the era of quantitative easing, although the financial market in Poland made an incredible progress, the fund returns were

  3. Funding fertility: issues in the allocation and distribution of resources to assisted reproduction technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devlin, Nancy; Parkin, David

    2003-05-01

    The appropriate level and source of funds for assisted reproduction technologies (ARTs), in particular IVF, have been controversial in most developed economies. Funding of fertility services internationally is characterized by low public (or other third party) funding, a greater reliance on user-pays than in most other health services, and variations in funding and provision. This article describes the characteristics of infertility as a condition and its treatment that have been used as a rationale for its exclusion from an otherwise comprehensive coverage of health services. The challenges these characteristics pose for the use of economic evaluation to inform resource allocation are discussed. Most economic evaluations have focused on the cost effectiveness of alternative infertility treatments. These evaluations provide important information, but do not inform the real issue at stake: what is the appropriate allocation of funds to ARTs, given that it involves sacrificing improvements in health in other areas? Cost utility analysis - the method of economic appraisal preferred by most agencies charged with making such decisions (including the National Institute of Clinical Excellence in the UK) - is ill-equipped to deal with the benefits produced by ARTs. Alternative methods are available, but require decision makers to weigh up very different sorts of evidence. Demonstration of the willingness to pay for the benefits of ARTs can be used to support public decisions but, conversely, also implies that those who can pay will pay in a private market. Ultimately, decisions about the inclusion or otherwise of ARTs in collectively funded health systems probably rest as much on judgments about equity in access as value for money. Given that this is the case, public funding of IVF should be accompanied by the development of agreed criteria for the prioritization of potential recipients, to ensure treatment is targeted at those for whom it is most effective and that access

  4. ADOPT Open Access

    CERN Multimedia

    2007-01-01

    Are you writing a theoretical paper? An experimental one? Or one about instrumentation? You can publish it in Open Access. Now. Read how... You might have heard about Open Access, the next big thing in scientific publishing. The idea is to make the results of your (publicly funded) research free to read for everyone out there ... not only those lucky ones who work in places where libraries can afford to purchase the expensive subscriptions to scientific journals. CERN, DESY and other particle physics institutes have accepted an offer by one of the leading journals in High Energy Physics, JHEP: our libraries will pay a special subscription fee, and, in exchange, all articles with at least one author from our institutes will be published in Open Access. Anyone, anywhere and anytime will be able to read them, without any financial barrier! If you are writing an instrumentation paper, you can submit it to JINST and benefit from the same offer. This is a major step forward in the planned conversion of existi...

  5. 76 FR 13769 - Rural Broadband Access Loans and Loan Guarantees

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-14

    ... pharmacy work, and savings to health facilities from outsourcing specialized medical procedures. One study... international markets and enables new, small, and home-based businesses to thrive. Broadband access affords...

  6. 75 FR 69374 - Supplement to Universal Service Reform Mobility Fund

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-12

    ... does not designate ETCs) in any area that it seeks to serve; (2) have access to spectrum capable of 3G... must be designated as ETCs by the relevant state (or by the Commission in cases of states that have... for Mobility Fund support be designated as wireless ETCs covering the relevant geographic area prior...

  7. Lisbon: Supercomputer for Portugal financed from 'CERN Fund'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1990-01-01

    A powerful new computer is now in use at the Portuguese National Foundation for Scientific Computation (FCCN Lisbon), set up in 1987 to help fund university computing, to anticipate future requirements and to provide a fast computer at the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) as a central node for remote access by major research institutes

  8. Benefits and implementation of home hemodialysis: A narrative review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayman Karkar

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Home hemodialysis (HD is a modality of renal replacement therapy that can be safely and independently performed at home by end-stage renal disease (ESRD patients. Home HD can be performed at the convenience of the patients on a daily basis, every other day and overnight (nocturnal. Despite the great and many perceived benefits of home HD, including the significant improvements in health outcomes and resource utilization, the adoption of home HD has been limited; lack or inadequate pre-dialysis education and training constitute a major barrier. The lack of self-confidence and/or self-efficacy to manage own therapy, lack of family and/or social support, fear of machine and cannulation of blood access and worries of possible catastrophic events represent other barriers for the implementation of home HD besides inadequate competence and/or expertise in caring for home HD patients among renal care providers (nephrologists, dialysis nurses, educators. A well-studied, planned and prepared and carefully implemented central country program supported by adequate budget can play a positive role in overcoming the challenges to home HD. Healthcare authorities, with the increasingly financial and logistic demands and the relatively higher mortality and morbidity rates of the conventional in-center HD, should tackle home HD as an attractive and cost-effective modality with more freedom, quality of life and improvement of clinical outcomes for the ESRD patients.

  9. Persistent Performance of Fund Managers: An Analysis of Selection and Timing Skills

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bilal Ahmad Pandow

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The persistence in manager’s ability to select stocks and to time risk factors is a vital issue for accessing the performance of any asset management company. The fund manager who comes out successful today, whether the same will be able to sustain the performance in the future is a matter of concern to the investors and other stake holders. More than the stock picking ability of fund managers, one would be interested in knowing whether there is consistency in selectivity and timing performance or not. If a fund manager is able to deliver better performance consistently i.e. quarter-after-quarter or year-after-year, then the mangers’ performance in selecting the right type of stocks for the portfolio would be considered satisfactory. This paper has attempted to analyze the persistence in both stock selection and timing performance of mutual fund managers in India through Henriksson & Morton; Jenson, and Fama’s model over a period of five years. It is found that the fund managers present persistence in selection skills however, the sample funds haven’t shown progressive timing skills in Indian context.

  10. PROJECTS PORTOFOLIO FOR ECOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE IER VALLEZ AND THEIR FUNDING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doru Ioan Ardelean

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The Ier Valley has been taken into the survey as it is drained by a polluted river and strongly affected by sewerages and inning, with the aim to establish ecological reabilitation measures. In this view, a SWOT analysis was carried out, which highlighted a number of weaknessess regarding the ecological status of the river, and in order to remove them, a portofolio of 14 environment projects was drawn. Their implementation would require over than 40 millions lei that means in a proportion of 91% other resources, especially European Funds. The environment investment projects were evaluated at a total economical value of about 40 millions lei. Their funding was conceived in partnership terms and accessing funds from several sources, mainly on short term.

  11. Uterotonic use at home births in low-income countries: a literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flandermeyer, Dawn; Stanton, Cynthia; Armbruster, Deborah

    2010-03-01

    This literature review compiles data on rates of use, indications, types of provider, mode of administration, and dose of uterotonics used for home births in low-income countries, and identifies gaps meriting further research. Published and unpublished English language articles from 1995 through 2008 pertaining to home use of uterotonics were identified via electronic searches of medical and social science databases. In addition, bibliographies of articles were examined for eligible studies. Data were abstracted and analyzed by the objectives outlined for this review. Twenty-three articles met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Use rates of uterotonics at home births ranged widely from 1% to 69%, with the large majority of observations from South Asia. Descriptive studies suggest that home use of uterotonics before delivery of the baby are predominantly administered by nonprofessionals to accelerate labor, and are not perceived as unsafe. To achieve maximum benefit and minimal harm, programs that increase access to uterotonics for postpartum hemorrhage prevention must take into account existing practices among pregnant women. Further research regarding access to uterotonics and intervention studies for provider behavior change regarding uterotonic use is warranted.

  12. SMART HOME SECURITY SOLUTIONS BASED ON INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) USING WIFI INTERFACE

    OpenAIRE

    Bhavna1, Dr. Neetu Sharma2

    2018-01-01

    Smart home system is very popular in modern days that give many kind of application that make everything is simple and easy to control. In modern day, home appliances are using wireless technology and can be accessed by internet that will make residents life easier and organized. IoT-based Home Automation System is designed to assist the people with physical disabilities and elderly to provide support as well as to control the electrical appliances and monitor the room temperature using mobil...

  13. The unique experience of home for parents and carers of children with disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aplin, Tammy; Thornton, Heloise; Gustafsson, Louise

    2017-01-24

    The aim of this paper was to investigate the experience of home for parents and carers of children with disabilities in Australia. Data for this qualitative study were gathered using semi-structured interviews with four families living in their own homes. An inductive thematic analysis revealed two main themes. The first was titled 'Aspects making everyday life easier' explored the aspects of the home environment that facilitated home life for the child, including access to transport, services, family and home modifications. The second theme 'Decisions and efforts to create opportunities for the child' emphasized the efforts made by parents and carers to promote their child's independence and participation including a strong consideration for their children's future needs. The study indicated that the location of home, appropriate home modifications and planning for the future defined the experience of home for parents and carers. These findings identify some important considerations for occupational therapists when providing services in the homes of families with children who have a disability.

  14. A Congressional view: access to family planning important.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelosi, N

    1998-09-01

    The US Congress has become reluctant to appropriate funds for family planning assistance in developing countries. In the Congress, international family planning has misguidedly and mistakenly become the battleground over abortion. It is unfortunate that the majority in the 104th and 105th Congress have undertaken a concerted attack on US support for international family planning by reducing needed funding and saddling the program with onerous restrictions. While the Congress debates international family planning funding, women, children, and families around the world are suffering the consequences of reduced and/or restricted access to family planning services. Cutting and/or restricting international family planning funds produces a devastating effect on the health and well-being of women and children in developing countries, and in the long term, the consequences will be overpopulation leading to poverty, malnutrition, urban crowding, environmental degradation, and the depletion of the world's resources.

  15. Attributes of seasonal home range influence choice of migratory strategy in white-tailed deer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henderson, Charles R.; Mitchell, Michael S.; Myers, Woodrow L.; Lukacs, Paul M.; Nelson, Gerald P.

    2018-01-01

    Partial migration is a common life-history strategy among ungulates living in seasonal environments. The decision to migrate or remain on a seasonal range may be influenced strongly by access to high-quality habitat. We evaluated the influence of access to winter habitat of high quality on the probability of a female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) migrating to a separate summer range and the effects of this decision on survival. We hypothesized that deer with home ranges of low quality in winter would have a high probability of migrating, and that survival of an individual in winter would be influenced by the quality of their home range in winter. We radiocollared 67 female white-tailed deer in 2012 and 2013 in eastern Washington, United States. We estimated home range size in winter using a kernel density estimator; we assumed the size of the home range was inversely proportional to its quality and the proportion of crop land within the home range was proportional to its quality. Odds of migrating from winter ranges increased by 3.1 per unit increase in home range size and decreased by 0.29 per unit increase in the proportion of crop land within a home range. Annual survival rate for migrants was 0.85 (SD = 0.05) and 0.84 (SD = 0.09) for residents. Our finding that an individual with a low-quality home range in winter is likely to migrate to a separate summer range accords with the hypothesis that competition for a limited amount of home ranges of high quality should result in residents having home ranges of higher quality than migrants in populations experiencing density dependence. We hypothesize that density-dependent competition for high-quality home ranges in winter may play a leading role in the selection of migration strategy by female white-tailed deer.

  16. Open Access and OER in Latin America: A survey of the policy landscape in Chile, Colombia and Uruguay (Advance online publication)

    OpenAIRE

    Toledo, Amalia

    2017-01-01

    This chapter presents an overview of the mechanisms (funding, policy, legislative and procedural) adopted by Latin American governments with respect to Open Access and Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives in the higher education sector. It addresses three questions: How do the higher education systems of Chile, Colombia and Uruguay operate and fund their activities in general? How do existing policies and processes incorporating Open Access and/or OER influence student access to learn...

  17. Structure, environment and strategic outcome: a study of Pennsylvania nursing homes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aaronson, W E; Zinn, J S; Rosko, M D

    1995-02-01

    This study applies Porter's model of competitive advantage to the nursing home industry. Discriminant analysis is used to identify organizational and environmental characteristics associated with nursing homes which have demonstrated valued strategic outcomes, and to distinguish the more successful nursing homes from their rivals. The results of the discriminant analysis suggest that nursing homes with superior payer mix outcomes are distinguishable from their less successful rivals in areas associated with a focused generic strategy. The study suggests that nursing homes which are better staffed, of smaller size and lower price are more likely to achieve high levels of self-pay utilization. Independent living units, continuing care retirement communities in particular, are likely to act synergistically with nursing home organizational characteristics to enhance competitive advantage by linking the value chain of the nursing home to that of retirement housing. Nursing homes with higher proportions of Medicare were found to provide a unique product when compared to their rivals. Profit status does not discriminate better self-pay strategic utilization, but for-profit facilities are more likely to pursue a Medicare strategy. Concern was raised that, as nursing homes become more strategically oriented, Medicaid access may become more problematic.

  18. Pure random search for ambient sensor distribution optimisation in a smart home environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poland, Michael P; Nugent, Chris D; Wang, Hui; Chen, Liming

    2011-01-01

    Smart homes are living spaces facilitated with technology to allow individuals to remain in their own homes for longer, rather than be institutionalised. Sensors are the fundamental physical layer with any smart home, as the data they generate is used to inform decision support systems, facilitating appropriate actuator actions. Positioning of sensors is therefore a fundamental characteristic of a smart home. Contemporary smart home sensor distribution is aligned to either a) a total coverage approach; b) a human assessment approach. These methods for sensor arrangement are not data driven strategies, are unempirical and frequently irrational. This Study hypothesised that sensor deployment directed by an optimisation method that utilises inhabitants' spatial frequency data as the search space, would produce more optimal sensor distributions vs. the current method of sensor deployment by engineers. Seven human engineers were tasked to create sensor distributions based on perceived utility for 9 deployment scenarios. A Pure Random Search (PRS) algorithm was then tasked to create matched sensor distributions. The PRS method produced superior distributions in 98.4% of test cases (n=64) against human engineer instructed deployments when the engineers had no access to the spatial frequency data, and in 92.0% of test cases (n=64) when engineers had full access to these data. These results thus confirmed the hypothesis.

  19. Expanding Access to Pro-Poor Energy Services in Nigeria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eleri, Ewah Otu; Ugwu, Okechukwu; Onuvae, Precious

    2012-10-15

    Nigeria experiences a remarkable paradox -- the abundance of energy resources and widespread energy poverty. Only about 40% of the population has access to the country’s grid electricity. About 72% of the population depends on traditional fuelwood for cooking. Despite this, government financing of energy services that benefits majority of Nigeria’s population has been grossly inadequate. Private sector investments and donor support have not fared better. This paper examines the current level of energy poverty in Nigeria. It analyses the level of government, private sector and donor funding for energy services that benefit the poor. It further reviews international best practices in expanding access for pro poor energy services. The paper finds a significant decline in political interest for expanding electricity services to rural areas. Even though ambitious policy reforms have commenced, agreed programmes are not implemented effectively. Not only are investments in rural electrification in decline, there is no history of annual budgeting for cooking energy programmes. The paper recommends a number of action points for expanding access to energy services that benefit the poor. These include the development and launching of a new national rural electrification strategy; establishment of a national cooking energy programme; and the development of clear policy incentives to support private sector investment in energy services for the poor. It calls on the Nigerian Central Bank of Nigeria to set aside 10% of the existing power intervention fund for pro poor energy financing; and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to establish a clear framework for the utilization of the Consumer Assistance Fund. Other recommendations include the use of a proportion of the Ecological Fund to finance cooking energy; establishment of a donor’s platform on pro poor energy; and the mobilization of civil society in providing community-level energy services.

  20. IPARD funds in the function of the development of the rural areas of The Republic of Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanislav Zekic

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available By acquiring the conditions for the usage of the pre-accession funds of the European Union, concretely the instrument for rural development (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance in Rural Development - IPARD, The Republic of Serbia (RS will have a chance to improve the position of its agricultural farms and the conditions of its rural areas. Agriculture is specifically important for the economy in RS, and the rural population makes up almost one-half of the population, which additionally enlarges an interest in these funds. In addition, the objective of the research is to identify the effects of the usage of the IPARD funds on the development of the rural areas, respectively the socio-economic progress of the rural population. A qualitative descriptive analysis on the basis of the empirical data was used. The basic conclusions are that, thus, structured funds will have a limited impact on the reduction in the development inequalities and the achievement of the parity living conditions between the rural and the urban areas. Namely, the dominant focus of the IPARD funds on the investments in agricultural farms and enterprises, and not in rural households, limits the level of their impact on the rural development in RS.

  1. Reducing market distortions by setting harmonized standards for decommissioning and waste management funds in Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Irrek, W.

    2002-01-01

    There are significant differences in the operation and accessibility of decommissioning and waste management funds in Europe. The diverging standards for these funds cause substantial market distortions and discrimination between competing electricity producers. Although there are different views regarding the question, if provisions for decommissioning and final waste disposal constitute prohibited state aid within the meaning of Article 87 (1) EC Treaty, and although the decommissioning and waste management funds is not a new issue, the liberalisation process across the EU means that this issue is one which must be addressed quickly by EU and national policy. (author)

  2. An electronically controlled automatic security access gate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan A. ENOKELA

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The security challenges being encountered in many places require electronic means of controlling access to communities, recreational centres, offices, and homes. The electronically controlled automated security access gate being proposed in this work helps to prevent an unwanted access to controlled environments. This is achieved mainly through the use of a Radio Frequency (RF transmitter-receiver pair. In the design a microcontroller is programmed to decode a given sequence of keys that is entered on a keypad and commands a transmitter module to send out this code as signal at a given radio frequency. Upon reception of this RF signal by the receiver module, another microcontroller activates a driver circuitry to operate the gate automatically. The codes for the microcontrollers were written in C language and were debugged and compiled using the KEIL Micro vision 4 integrated development environment. The resultant Hex files were programmed into the memories of the microcontrollers with the aid of a universal programmer. Software simulation was carried out using the Proteus Virtual System Modeling (VSM version 7.7. A scaled-down prototype of the system was built and tested. The electronically controlled automated security access gate can be useful in providing security for homes, organizations, and automobile terminals. The four-character password required to operate the gate gives the system an increased level of security. Due to its standalone nature of operation the system is cheaper to maintain in comparison with a manually operated type.

  3. Experience with solar home systems in developing countries. A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nieuwenhout, F.D.J.; Van Dijk, A.L.; Lasschuit, P.E.; Van Roekel, G.M.; Van Dijk, V.A.P.; Hirsch, D.; Arriaza, H.; Hankins, M.; Sharma, B.D.; Wade, H.

    2002-01-01

    Solar Energy is widely perceived as a promising technology for electricity generation in remote locations in developing countries. It is estimated that 1.3 million solar home systems had been installed by early 2000. An estimated one-third of installed systems were backed by foreign donor support in government programmes and two-thirds supplied by commercial dealers. The estimated growth in the deployment of solar lanterns is less than for SHS. One out of every 100 households that gain access to electricity in developing countries uses solar power. In spite of these successes, doubts have arisen about the effectiveness and suitability of small PV systems for rural development. Many organisational, financial and technical problems appear to present difficulties. A literature survey has been conducted to make an inventory of experience with solar PV applications for households in developing countries. The main finding is that an adequate service infrastructure is required to make projects viable. Household choice in system sizes is often too restricted in donor-funded projects. Smaller systems sold for cash can be a good alternative to credit systems by offering to increased affordability. Gaps in existing knowledge have been identified, which could be overcome by field monitoring programmes. 77 refs

  4. Increasing Women's Access to Skilled Pregnancy Care in Nigeria ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Home · What we do ... Less than one-third of Nigerian women receive skilled care during delivery. ... the supply and demand factors that influence improved access to maternal health care services in Nigeria, particularly for rural women.

  5. The role of the European Structural and Investment Funds in Financing Health System in Lithuania: Experience from 2007 to 2013 funding period and implications for the future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murauskiene, Liubove; Karanikolos, Marina

    2017-07-01

    European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) are a major source of investments in the newer EU member states. In Lithuania's health sector, the amount for the 2007-2013 funding period reached more than €400 million. In this paper we aim to (i) identify the key areas in the health sector which were supported by ESIF, (ii) determine the extent to which ESIF assisted the implementation of the ongoing health system reform; and (iii) assess whether the use of funds has led to expected improvements in healthcare. We review the national strategic documents and legislation, and perform calculations to determine funding allocations by specific area, based on the available data. We analyse changes according to a set of selected indicators. We find that implementation of programmes funded by the ESIF lacks formal evaluation. Existing evidence suggests that some improvement has been achieved by 2013. However, there are persisting challenges, including failure to reach a broad agreement on selection of health and healthcare indicators, lack of transparency in allocations, and absence of coherent assessment measures of healthcare quality and accessibility. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. The Smart Home for the Elderly: Perceptions, Technologies and Psychological Accessibilities : The Requirements Analysis for the Elderly in Thailand

    OpenAIRE

    Visutsak , Porawat; DAOUDI , Mohamed

    2017-01-01

    International audience; Various studies of assistive technology, embedded into the house for helping elderly persons have been introduced. There are many terms used to call this assistive technology, such as smart home, intelligent home, and home networking. The current technologies for smart home system can be divided into two basic categories: passive-intervention devices and active-intervention devices. Passive-intervention devices monitor an elderly person's condition and safety without i...

  7. Enhancing Ocean Research Data Access

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandler, Cynthia; Groman, Robert; Shepherd, Adam; Allison, Molly; Arko, Robert; Chen, Yu; Fox, Peter; Glover, David; Hitzler, Pascal; Leadbetter, Adam; Narock, Thomas; West, Patrick; Wiebe, Peter

    2014-05-01

    The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) works in partnership with ocean science investigators to publish data from research projects funded by the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Sections and the Office of Polar Programs Antarctic Organisms & Ecosystems Program at the U.S. National Science Foundation. Since 2006, researchers have been contributing data to the BCO-DMO data system, and it has developed into a rich repository of data from ocean, coastal and Great Lakes research programs. While the ultimate goal of the BCO-DMO is to ensure preservation of NSF funded project data and to provide open access to those data, achievement of those goals is attained through a series of related phases that benefits from active collaboration and cooperation with a large community of research scientists as well as curators of data and information at complementary data repositories. The BCO-DMO is just one of many intermediate data management centers created to facilitate long-term preservation of data and improve access to ocean research data. Through partnerships with other data management professionals and active involvement in local and global initiatives, BCO-DMO staff members are working to enhance access to ocean research data available from the online BCO-DMO data system. Continuing efforts in use of controlled vocabulary terms, development of ontology design patterns and publication of content as Linked Open Data are contributing to improved discovery and availability of BCO-DMO curated data and increased interoperability of related content available from distributed repositories. We will demonstrate how Semantic Web technologies (e.g. RDF/XML, SKOS, OWL and SPARQL) have been integrated into BCO-DMO data access and delivery systems to better serve the ocean research community and to contribute to an expanding global knowledge network.

  8. Are Sunshine Private Funds More Beneficial than Publicly Offered Funds to the Fund Managers in Their Investment Performance?

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    YAN Wu; XIONG Hang

    2016-01-01

    From the perspective of the comparison between the investment performances of the fund managers before and after investment transfer from publicly offered funds to sunshine private funds,we can better explore the influences of the two institutional environments on the investment performances of the fund managers.This paper conducts a comparative analysis of the fund managers,investment performances before and after their investment transfer with the help of a number of fund performance evaluation models.The results show that the overall investment ability of the fund managers have been improved significantly when they transfer from publicly offered funds to sunshine private funds.If decomposing the overall investment ability into time-choosing and stock-picking abilities,the improvement of the fund managers' overall investment ability is mainly reflected in the significant improvement of their time-choosing ability after the transfer,while their stock-picking ability would then decrease a little.At the same time,by studying the personal characteristics of the fund managers,it is found that those who had investment research experience can obtain better investment performances.

  9. Predictive factors associated with death of elderly in nursing homes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, Kiwol

    2014-06-01

    An increasing elderly population reflects a great need for readily accessible, clinically useful methods to identify mortality-related factors in nursing home residents. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the deaths of nursing home residents. Data was collected from a Minimal Data Set of 195 elderly nursing home residents, followed by analysis of demographic factors, disease and nursing condition factors, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), cognitive function, behavioral patterns, and dysfunctional status. Major factors associated with death among nursing home residents were identified as dyspnea (odds ratio [OR] = 4.88), problematic behaviors (OR = 3.95), and ADL (OR = 3.61). These variables accounted for 31.1% of the variance in death. Dyspnea, problematic behaviors, and ADL data were identified as the key factors associated with death among nursing home residents. Future plans for the prediction of death among nursing home residents can be made by nursing staff, factoring in these identified variables, to ensure more comfortable conditions and more responsive care. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  10. Rating mutual funds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bechmann, Ken L.; Rangvid, Jesper

    2007-01-01

    We develop a new rating of mutual funds: the atpRating. The atpRating assigns crowns to each individual mutual fund based upon the costs an investor pays when investing in the fund in relation to what it would cost to invest in the fund's peers. Within each investment category, the rating assigns...... the return of a fund in a certain year generally contains only little information about the future return that the fund will generate. Finally, we have information on the investments in different mutual funds made by a small subgroup of investors known to have been exposed to both the atp...... five crowns to funds with the lowest costs and one crown to funds with the highest costs. We investigate the ability of the atpRating to predict the future performance of a fund. We find that an investor who has invested in the funds with the lowest costs within an investment category would have...

  11. PUBLIC ACCESS TO PRIVATE LAND IN SCOTLAND

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    David

    The Forum's work led to advice to the Scottish Government concluding that ... respect of the facilitation and upholding of access rights. This is ...... particular protection of a person's rights in respect of private and family life and the home under ... jurisprudence emphasising the necessity of a balancing-of-interests approach.

  12. The Alpha and Beta of Equity Hedge UCITS Funds : Implications for Momentum Investing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bouamara, Nabil; Boudt, Kris; Peeters, Benedict; Thewissen, James

    2017-01-01

    Alternative UCITS is a pan-European regulatory framework that allows investment vehicles to be managed and sold throughout Europe. The unified fund structure provides retail investors access to a blend of sophisticated active management strategies subject to high liquidity and transparency

  13. The effects of liquidity and share restrictions on hedge fund performance in bull and bear markets

    OpenAIRE

    El-Alawa, Y. (Yasmin)

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Hedge funds are increasingly becoming a popular alternative investment vehicle. They are much more flexible and can freely choose from a pool of investment strategies due to their limited regulations. This gives them the flexibility to exploit opportunities in order to generate high returns at low risk. In order to have access to the freedom and flexibility to engage in different investment strategies, hedge funds ...

  14. Home birth attendants in low income countries: who are they and what do they do?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Garces Ana

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Nearly half the world’s babies are born at home. We sought to evaluate the training, knowledge, skills, and access to medical equipment and testing for home birth attendants across 7 international sites. Methods Face-to-face interviews were done by trained interviewers to assess level of training, knowledge and practices regarding care during the antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum periods. The survey was administered to a sample of birth attendants conducting home or out-of-facility deliveries in 7 sites in 6 countries (India, Pakistan, Guatemala, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Zambia. Results A total of 1226 home birth attendants were surveyed. Less than half the birth attendants were literate. Eighty percent had one month or less of formal training. Most home birth attendants did not have basic equipment (e.g., blood pressure apparatus, stethoscope, infant bag and mask manual resuscitator. Reporting of births and maternal and neonatal deaths to government agencies was low. Indian auxilliary nurse midwives, who perform some home but mainly clinic births, were far better trained and differed in many characteristics from the birth attendants who only performed deliveries at home. Conclusions Home birth attendants in low-income countries were often illiterate, could not read numbers and had little formal training. Most had few of the skills or access to tests, medications and equipment that are necessary to reduce maternal, fetal or neonatal mortality.

  15. Home birth attendants in low income countries: who are they and what do they do?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Nearly half the world’s babies are born at home. We sought to evaluate the training, knowledge, skills, and access to medical equipment and testing for home birth attendants across 7 international sites. Methods Face-to-face interviews were done by trained interviewers to assess level of training, knowledge and practices regarding care during the antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum periods. The survey was administered to a sample of birth attendants conducting home or out-of-facility deliveries in 7 sites in 6 countries (India, Pakistan, Guatemala, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Zambia). Results A total of 1226 home birth attendants were surveyed. Less than half the birth attendants were literate. Eighty percent had one month or less of formal training. Most home birth attendants did not have basic equipment (e.g., blood pressure apparatus, stethoscope, infant bag and mask manual resuscitator). Reporting of births and maternal and neonatal deaths to government agencies was low. Indian auxilliary nurse midwives, who perform some home but mainly clinic births, were far better trained and differed in many characteristics from the birth attendants who only performed deliveries at home. Conclusions Home birth attendants in low-income countries were often illiterate, could not read numbers and had little formal training. Most had few of the skills or access to tests, medications and equipment that are necessary to reduce maternal, fetal or neonatal mortality. PMID:22583622

  16. Future demand and advancement in medical fields for best allocation of research funding

    OpenAIRE

    Hermanns, Valerie; Grignano, Daniel; Latobesi, Andrew; Ho, Mark

    2017-01-01

    For a high school competition we were provided with access to altmetric data, and asked to predict the future of science. Based upon this, we shifted our focus to the medical sector, and to the correlation between future demand, and current research. Based on this focus, our goal was to predict which medical sectors will have the greatest need for research funding in the coming years. Our results will aid in the distribution of research funding in order to prepare for increased demand in medi...

  17. Nursing home reimbursement and the allocation of rehabilitation therapy resources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murtaugh, C M; Cooney, L M; DerSimonian, R R; Smits, H L; Fetter, R B

    1988-10-01

    Most public funding methods for long-term care do not adequately match payment rates with patient need for services. Case-mix payment systems are designed to encourage a more efficient and equitable allocation of limited health care resources. Even nursing home case-mix payment systems, however, do not currently provide the proper incentives to match rehabilitation therapy resources to a patient's needs. We were able to determine by a review of over 8,500 patients in 65 nursing homes that certain diagnoses, partial dependence in activities of daily living (ADLs), clear mental status, and improving medical status are associated with the provision of rehabilitation services to nursing home residents. These patient characteristics are clinically reasonable predictors of the need for therapy and should be considered for use in nursing home case-mix reimbursement systems. Primary payment source also was associated with the provision of rehabilitation services even after taking into account significant patient characteristics. It is unclear how much of the variation in service use across payers is due to differences in patient need as opposed to differences in the financial incentives associated with current payment methods.

  18. 25 CFR 47.6 - Who has access to local education financial records?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Who has access to local education financial records? 47.6 Section 47.6 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR EDUCATION UNIFORM DIRECT FUNDING AND SUPPORT FOR BUREAU-OPERATED SCHOOLS § 47.6 Who has access to local education financial records...

  19. Language and technology literacy barriers to accessing government services

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Barnard, E

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available of field experiments are done to gain an improved understanding of the extent to which citizens’ exposure to technology and home language affect their ability to access electronic services. These experiments will influence technology development...

  20. Voluntary transmission access: The PSI proposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norris, J.E.

    1990-01-01

    This article examines a proposal from PSI Energy, Inc. (formerly Public Service Company of Indiana) to allow open access to its power transmission facilities and the response of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's response to that proposal. The topics discussed include transmission tariffs, competition, market share, expansion of transmission capacity and its funding, and reciprocal agreements to provide similar service

  1. Open Access Publishing in High-Energy Physics the SCOAP$^{3}$ model

    CERN Document Server

    Mele, S

    2009-01-01

    The Open Access (OA) movement is gaining an increasing momentum: its goal is to grant anyone, anywhere and anytime free access to the results of publicly funded scientific research. The High- Energy Physics (HEP) community has pioneered OA for decades, through its widespread “pre-print culture”. After almost half a century of worldwide dissemination of pre-prints, in paper first and electronically later, OA journals are becoming the natural evolution of scholarly communication in HEP. Among other OA business models, the one based on a sponsoring consortium appears as the most viable option for a transition of the HEP peer-reviewed literature to OA. The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP3) is proposed as a central body to remunerate publishers for their peer-review service, effectively replacing the “reader-pays” model of traditional subscriptions with an “author-side” funding, without any direct financial burden on individual authors and research groups. Su...

  2. A Smart Home Center Platform Solution Based on Smart Mirror

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deng Xibo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available With the popularization of the concept of smart home, people have raised requirements on the experience of smart living. A smart home platform center solution is put forward in order to solve the intelligent interoperability and information integration of smart home, which enable people to have a more intelligent and convenient life experience. This platform center is achieved through the Smart Mirror. The Smart Mirror refers to a smart furniture, on the basis of the traditional concept of mirror, combining Raspberry Pi, the application of one-way mirror imaging principle, the touch-enabled design, voice and video interaction. Smart Mirror can provide a series of intelligent experience for the residents, such as controlling all the intelligent furniture through Smart Mirror; accessing and displaying the weather, time, news and other life information; monitoring the home environment; remote interconnection operation.

  3. The Effect of the Home Environment on Physical Activity and Dietary Intake in Preschool Children

    OpenAIRE

    Østbye, Truls; Malhotra, Rahul; Stroo, Marissa; Lovelady, Cheryl; Brouwer, Rebecca; Zucker, Nancy; Fuemmeler, Bernard

    2013-01-01

    Background The effects of the home environment on child health behaviors related to obesity are unclear. Purpose To examine the role of the home physical activity (PA) and food environment on corresponding outcomes in young children, and assess maternal education/work status as a moderator. Methods Overweight or obese mothers reported on the home PA and food environment (accessibility, role modeling and parental policies). Outcomes included child moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) and sedentary time...

  4. Gambling and the Multidimensionality of Accessibility: More than Just Proximity to Venues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Anna Christina; Bates, Glen; Moore, Susan; Kyrios, Michael; Meredyth, Denise; Jessop, Glenn

    2011-01-01

    Accessibility to gambling has been linked to gambling behaviour but remains poorly understood. This study used data from semi-structured focus groups and interviews with 38 participants (Median age 42 years) to explore wider aspects of accessibility. People preferred venues which were open long hours and located close to home, work or regular…

  5. Home hemodialysis: beliefs, attitudes, and practice patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayanti, Anuradha; Morris, Julie; Stenvinkel, Peter; Mitra, Sandip

    2014-10-01

    There is increasing interest of the worldwide kidney community in home hemodialysis (HHD). This is due to emerging evidence of its superiority over conventional hemodialysis (HD), largely attributed to improved outcomes on intensive schedule HD, best deployed in patient's own homes. Despite published work in this area, universal uptake remains limited and reasons are poorly understood. All those who provide HD care were invited to participate in a survey on HHD, initiated to understand the beliefs, attitudes, and practice patterns of providers offering this therapy. The survey was developed and posted on the Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation-Educational (NDT-E) website. Two hundred and seventy-two responses were deemed suitable for complete analysis. It is apparent from the survey that there is great variability in the prevalence of HHD. Physicians have a great deal of interest in this modality, with majority viewing home as being the ideal location for the offer of intensive HD schedules (55%). A significant number (21%) feel intensive HD may be offered even outside the home setting. Those who offer this therapy do not see a financial disadvantage in it. Many units identify lack of appropriately trained personnel (35%) and funding for home adaptation (50.4%) as key barriers to widespread adoption of this therapy. Despite the interest and belief in this therapy among practitioners, HHD therapy is still not within reach of a majority of patients. Modifiable organizational, physician, and patient factors exist, which could potentially redefine the landscape of HHD provision. Well-designed systematic research of national and local barriers is needed to design interventions to help centers facilitate change. © 2014 International Society for Hemodialysis.

  6. Caring for patients on home enteral nutrition: Reported complications by home carers and perspectives of community nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Mei Ling; Yong, Bei Yi Paulynn; Mar, Mei Qi Maggie; Ang, Shin Yuh; Chan, Mei Mei; Lam, Madeleine; Chong, Ngian Choo Janet; Lopez, Violeta

    2018-07-01

    To explore the experiences of community nurses and home carers, in caring for patients on home enteral nutrition. The number of patients on home enteral nutrition is on the increase due to advancement in technology and shift in focus of providing care from acute to community care settings. A mixed-method approach was adopted. (i) A face-to-face survey design was used to elicit experience of carers of patients on home enteral nutrition. (ii) Focus group interviews were conducted with community nurses. Ninety-nine carers (n = 99) were recruited. Patient's mean age that they cared for was aged 77.7 years (SD = 11.2), and they had been on enteral feeding for a mean of 29 months (SD = 23.0). Most were bed-bound (90%) and required full assistance with their feeding (99%). Most were not on follow-up with dietitians (91%) and dentists (96%). The three most common reported gastrointestinal complications were constipation (31%), abdominal distension (28%) and vomiting (22%). Twenty community nurses (n = 20) were recruited for the focus group interviews. Four main themes emerged from the analysis: (i) challenge of accessing allied health services in the community; (ii) shorter length of stay in the acute care setting led to challenges in carers' learning and adaptation; (iii) transition gaps between hospital and home care services; and (iv) managing expectations of family. To facilitate a better transition of care for patients, adequate training for carers, standardising clinical practice in managing patients with home enteral nutrition and improving communication between home care services and the acute care hospitals are needed. This study highlighted the challenges faced by community home care nurses and carers. Results of this study would help to inform future policies and practice changes that would improve the quality of care received by patients on home enteral nutrition. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Open DOAR the Directory of Open Access Repositories

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2005-01-01

    The last year has seen wide-spread growth in the idea of using open access repositories as a part of a research institution's accepted infrastructure. Policy development from institutions and funding bodies has also supported the growth of the repository network. The next stage of expansion will be in the provision of services and cross-repository facilities and resources. Of course, it is hoped that these will then establish a feed-back loop to encourage repository population and further repository establishment, as the potential of open access to research materials is realised. The growth of repositories has been organic, with a variety of different repositories based in departments, institutions, funding agencies or subject communities, with a range of content, both in type and subject. Existing repositories are expanding their holdings, from eprints to associated research data-sets, or with learning objects and multimedia material. This presentation will look at the development of the Directory of Open Ac...

  8. Rating Mutual Funds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bechmann, Ken L.; Rangvid, Jesper

    We develop a new rating of mutual funds: the atpRating. The atpRating assigns crowns to each individual mutual fund based upon the costs an investor pays when investing in the fund in relation to what it would cost to invest in the fund’s peers. Within each investment category, the rating assigns......, whereas the return of a fund in a certain year generally contains only little information about the future return that the fund will generate. Finally, we have information on the investments in different mutual funds made by a small subgroup of investors known to have been exposed to both the atp...... five crowns to funds with the lowest costs and one crown to funds with the highest costs. We investigate the ability of the atpRating to predict the future performance of a fund. We find that an investor who has invested in the funds with the lowest costs within an investment category would have...

  9. The effect of the home environment on physical activity and dietary intake in preschool children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Østbye, T; Malhotra, R; Stroo, M; Lovelady, C; Brouwer, R; Zucker, N; Fuemmeler, B

    2013-10-01

    The effects of the home environment on child health behaviors related to obesity are unclear. To examine the role of the home physical activity (PA) and food environment on corresponding outcomes in young children, and assess maternal education/work status as a moderator. Overweight or obese mothers reported on the home PA and food environment (accessibility, role modeling and parental policies). Outcomes included child moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) and sedentary time derived from accelerometer data and two dietary factors ('junk' and healthy food intake scores) based on factor analysis of mother-reported food intake. Linear regression models assessed the net effect (controlling for child demographics, study arm, supplemental time point, maternal education/work status, child body mass index and accelerometer wear time (for PA outcomes)) of the home environment on the outcomes and moderation by maternal education/work status. Data were collected in North Carolina from 2007 to 2011. Parental policies supporting PA increased MVPA time, and limiting access to unhealthy foods increased the healthy food intake score. Role modeling of healthy eating behaviors increased the healthy food intake score among children of mothers with no college education. Among children of mothers with no college education and not working, limiting access to unhealthy foods and role modeling reduced 'junk' food intake scores whereas parental policies supporting family meals increased 'junk' food intake scores. To promote MVPA, parental policies supporting child PA are warranted. Limited access to unhealthy foods and role modeling of healthy eating may improve the quality of the child's food intake.

  10. Home health nursing care services in Greece during an economic crisis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamakidou, T; Kalokerinou-Anagnostopoulou, A

    2017-03-01

    The purpose of this review was to describe public home healthcare nursing services in Greece. The effectiveness and the efficiency of home healthcare nursing are well documented in the international literature. In Greece, during the current financial crisis, the development of home healthcare nursing services is the focus and interest of policymakers and academics because of its contribution to the viability of the healthcare system. A review was conducted of the existing legislation, the printed and electronic bibliography related to the legal framework, the structures that provide home health care, the funding of the services, the human resources and the services provided. The review of the literature revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the existing system of home health care and its opportunities and threats, which are summarized in a SWOT analysis. There is no Greek nursing literature on this topic. The development of home health nursing care requires multidimensional concurrent and combined changes and adjustments that would support and strengthen healthcare professionals in their practices. Academic and nursing professionals should provide guidelines and regulations and develop special competencies for the best nursing practice in home health care. At present, in Greece, which is in an economic crisis and undergoing reforms in public administration, there is an undeniable effort being made to give primary health care the position it deserves within the health system. There is an urgent need at central and academic levels to develop home healthcare services to improve the quality and efficiency of the services provided. © 2016 International Council of Nurses.

  11. Pressure ulcer prevention in care home settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, Michael

    2017-03-31

    Pressure ulcer prevention in the care home setting can be challenging and is often compromised by a lack of access to education and resources. There are measures that have been shown to consistently improve outcomes in pressure ulcer prevention including assessment of the patient and their individual risks, delivery of a consistent plan of care that meets patients' needs, and regular evaluation to identify shortfalls. In addition, there should be a robust approach to investigating events that lead to a person developing a pressure ulcer and that information should be used to improve future practice. Pressure ulcer prevention in care homes is achievable and nurses should all be aware of the necessary measures detailed in this article.

  12. Mechanisms of Funding for Universal Service Obligations: the Electricity Case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirabel, Francois; Poudou, Jean-Christophe

    2001-06-01

    The transition towards a more competitive regime in network industries (and specially in electricity sector) raises the relevant question of funding for the Universal Service Obligations (USOs). Our paper focuses on two ways of funding for universal service and equal treatment obligations (?Ubiquity and Non Discrimination constraints?): the funding through access charge (CS regime) or taxation (T regime). Using a network model including competition between an historical monopoly (in charge for the USOs) and an entrant, we obtain some results concerning gains and losses of social welfare due to those mechanisms. We show that most of the time it is socially better to let the historical monopoly be active whatever the type of funding for USOs applying, and whatever profitability of the firms is. However, when the entrant is active, we can highlight that the introduction of the T regime (compared to the CS one) implies either welfare deterioration or an entry prevention strategy by the historical firm. Therefore, the T regime could not be an argument for the regulator to promote vertical separation of the historical firm (according to the European community line). (authors)

  13. Mechanisms of funding for Universal Service Obligations: the electricity case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirabel, F.; Poudou, J.C.

    2004-01-01

    The transition towards a more competitive regime in network industries (and specially in electricity sector) raises the relevant question of funding for the Universal Service Obligations (USOs). Our paper focuses on two ways of funding for universal service and equal treatment obligations ''Ubiquity and Nondiscrimination constraints, UND'': the funding through access charge (CS regime) or taxation (T regime). Using a network model including competition between a historical monopoly (in charge for the USOs) and an entrant, we obtain some results concerning gains and losses of social welfare due to those mechanisms. We show that most of the time it is socially better to let the historical monopoly be active whatever the type of funding for USOs applying, and whatever profitability of the firms is. However, when the entrant is active, we can highlight that the introduction of the T regime (compared to the CS one) implies either welfare deterioration or an entry prevention strategy by the historical firm. Therefore, the T regime could not be an argument for the regulator to promote vertical separation of the historical firm (according to the European community line). (author)

  14. Mechanisms of funding for Universal Service Obligations. The electricity case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirabel, Francois; Poudou, Jean-Christophe

    2004-01-01

    The transition towards a more competitive regime in network industries (and specially in electricity sector) raises the relevant question of funding for the Universal Service Obligations (USOs). Our paper focuses on two ways of funding for universal service and equal treatment obligations ('Ubiquity and Nondiscrimination constraints, UND'): the funding through access charge (CS regime) or taxation (T regime). Using a network model including competition between a historical monopoly (in charge for the USOs) and an entrant, we obtain some results concerning gains and losses of social welfare due to those mechanisms. We show that most of the time it is socially better to let the historical monopoly be active whatever the type of funding for USOs applying, and whatever profitability of the firms is. However, when the entrant is active, we can highlight that the introduction of the T regime (compared to the CS one) implies either welfare deterioration or an entry prevention strategy by the historical firm. Therefore, the T regime could not be an argument for the regulator to promote vertical separation of the historical firm (according to the European community line)

  15. Law in the laboratory a guide to the ethics of federally funded science research

    CERN Document Server

    Charrow, Robert P

    2010-01-01

    The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation together fund more than $40 billon of research annually in the United States and around the globe. These large public expenditures come with strings, including a complex set of laws and guidelines that regulate how scientists may use NIH and NSF funds, how federally funded research may be conducted, and who may have access to or own the product of the research. Until now, researchers have had little instruction on the nature of these laws and how they work. But now, with Robert P. Charrow’s Law in the Laboratory, they have a readable and entertaining introduction to the major ethical and legal considerations pertaining to research under the aegis of federal science funding. For any academic whose position is grant funded, or for any faculty involved in securing grants, this book will be an essential reference manual. And for those who want to learn how federal legislation and regulations affect laboratory research, Charrow’s primer wil...

  16. Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics

    CERN Document Server

    2007-01-01

    Particle Physics, often referred to as High Energy Physics (HEP), spearheaded the Open Access dissemination of scientific results with the mass mailing of preprints in the pre-Web era and with the launch of the arXiv preprint system at the dawn of the '90s. The HEP community is now ready for a further push to Open Access while retaining all the advantages of the peerreview system and, at the same time, bring the spiralling cost of journal subscriptions under control. I will present a plan for the conversion to Open Access of HEP peer-reviewed journals, through a consortium of HEP funding agencies, laboratories and libraries: SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics). SCOAP3 will engage with scientific publishers towards building a sustainable model for Open Access publishing, which is as transparent as possible for HEP authors. The current system in which journals income comes from subscription fees is replaced with a scheme where SCOAP3 compensates publishers for the costs...

  17. Factors contributing to home delivery in Kongwa District, Dodoma ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objectives: To determine factors contributing to home delivery in Kongwa District. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in September 2009 in which women of child-bearing age were interviewed. The variables mainly included: accessibility of maternal health care, practicing TBA's, existence of ...

  18. 6 CFR 17.415 - Access to course offerings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., home economics, music, and adult education courses. (b)(1) With respect to physical education classes... THE BASIS OF SEX IN EDUCATION PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Discrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Prohibited § 17.415 Access to course...

  19. Human factors and ergonomics in home care: Current concerns and future considerations for health information technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Or, Calvin K.L.; Valdez, Rupa S.; Casper, Gail R.; Carayon, Pascale; Burke, Laura J.; Brennan, Patricia Flatley; Karsh, Ben-Tzion

    2010-01-01

    Sicker patients with greater care needs are being discharged to their homes to assume responsibility for their own care with fewer nurses available to aid them. This situation brings with it a host of human factors and ergonomic (HFE) concerns, both for the home care nurse and the home dwelling patient, that can affect quality of care and patient safety. Many of these concerns are related to the critical home care tasks of information access, communication, and patient self-monitoring and self-management. Currently, a variety of health information technologies (HITs) are being promoted as possible solutions to those problems, but those same technologies bring with them a new set of HFE concerns. This paper reviews the HFE considerations for information access, communication, and patients self-monitoring and self-management, discusses how HIT can potentially mitigate current problems, and explains how the design and implementation of HIT itself requires careful HFE attention. PMID:19713630

  20. Structural and Cohersion Funds: Theoretical and Statistical Aspects in Romania and EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iulian Viorel BRAŞOVEANU

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper approaches structural and cohesion funds for the financial perspective 2007-2013. The article describes briefly the evolution of regional development policy, the financial allocations, the impact of EU funds within cohesion policy, legal and institutional framework in Romania, and the institutions which are responsible for the management of EU funds. In Romania, the absorption of structural and cohesion funds is still a problem due to high rejection rate and the existing problems in procuring their own funds by the beneficiaries, such as beneficiary’s contribution, starting the project and covering the non-eligible expenditures. Romanian authorities should increase the absorption rate on transport sector and other sectors where absorption is a problem. Access to Social and Cohesion Funds represents for Romania an opportunity to develop balanced regions, to modernize transportation and environmental infrastructure to support rural development, employment opportunities for labor market, and to promote social policies to increase living standards. Romania has to consider “Life Long Learning” as a priority in the development of the human resources. Less bureaucracy is necessary for a normal development of procedures for refund claims. Also, it is necessary to shorten the time for reimbursement and to simplify related procedures. By increasing the amounts reimbursed, the authorities would increase the possibility to use EU funds more quickly. Preventive control can eliminate situations of default of non-eligible expenditure.

  1. 7 CFR 1755.500 - RUS standard for service installations at customers access locations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 11 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false RUS standard for service installations at customers... customers access locations. (a) Sections 1755.501 through 1755.510 cover service installations at permanent or mobile home customer access locations. Sections 1755.501 through 1755.510 do not cover service...

  2. Rheumatologic care of nursing home residents with rheumatoid arthritis: a comparison of the year before and after nursing home admission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luque Ramos, Andres; Albrecht, Katinka; Zink, Angela; Hoffmann, Falk

    2017-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate health care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before and after admission to nursing homes. Data of a German health insurance fund from persons with diagnostic codes of RA, aged ≥65 years, admitted to a nursing home between 2010 and 2014 and continuously insured 1 year before and after admission were used. The proportion of patients with ≥1 rheumatologist visit and ≥1 prescription of biologic or conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs or csDMARDs), glucocorticoids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the year before and after admission were calculated. Predictors of rheumatologic care after admission were analyzed by multivariable logistic regression. Of 75,697 nursing home residents, 2485 (3.3%) had RA (90.5% female, mean age 83.8). Treatment by rheumatologists and prescription of antirheumatic drugs decreased significantly in the year after admission (rheumatologic visits: 17.6 to 9.1%, bDMARDs: 2.1 to 1.5%, csDMARDs: 22.5 to 16.5%, glucocorticoids: 46.5 to 43.1%, NSAIDs: 47.4 to 38.5%). 60.2% of patients in rheumatologic care received csDMARDs compared with 14.5% without rheumatologic care. Rheumatologic care before admission to a nursing home strongly predicted rheumatologic care thereafter (OR 33.8, 95%-CI 23.2-49.2). Younger age and lower care level (reflecting need of help) were also associated with a higher chance of rheumatologic care. Rheumatologic care is already infrequent in old patients with RA and further decreases after admission to a nursing home. Patients without rheumatologic care are at high risk of insufficient treatment for their RA. Admission to a nursing home further increases this risk.

  3. Information Cyberspace and Future Cyber Homes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduard Babulak

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available The current Internet combines very complex communications infrastructures, while connecting users globally and at the same time creating information cyberspace systems. Large companies such as Philips are working on communications technologies that will facilitate fully automated households (i.e., Cyber Homes. Today, people are using are using small digital pagers and phones with embedded computers and displays, palm-size computers such as Palm Pilot, notebook-size panel computers and wall-size displays. Current research and development trends in the field of Telecommunications and computing industries continues towards a human centric computing, smart spaces, smart devices, clothing, fully automated houses etc. This new technology creates environment where computers are everywhere and provide online access to information at any time to anyone. In this paper, the author discusses new technological trends directions in the Internet, E-commerce and Automation Industries, while presenting his own vision on application of ubiquitous computing in the future cyber home automation. In support of creating future fully automated cyber homes, the author promotes creation of interdisciplinary and multinational research and development teams world-wide.

  4. Social exchange as a framework for client-nurse interaction during public health nursing maternal-child home visits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrd, Mary E

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this paper was to develop a nursing-focused use of social exchange theory within the context of maternal-child home visiting. The nature of social exchange theory, its application to client-nurse interaction, and its fit with an existing data set from a field research investigation were examined. Resources exchanged between the nurse and clients were categorized and compared across the patterns of home visiting, nursing strategies based on exchange notions were identified, and variations in exchange were linked with client outcomes. The nurse provided resources within the categories of information, status, service, and goods. Clients provided time, access to the home, space within the home to conduct the visit, opportunities to observe maternal-child interaction, access to the infant, and information. The ease and breadth of resource exchange varied across the patterns of home visiting. The social exchange perspective was useful in categorizing resources, specifying and uncovering new resource categories, understanding nursing strategies to initiate and maintain the client-nurse relationship, and linking client-nurse interactive phenomena with client outcomes. Social exchange theory is potentially useful for understanding client-nurse interaction in the context of maternal-child home visits.

  5. Infrastructure Gap in South Asia: Inequality of Access to Infrastructure Services

    OpenAIRE

    Biller, Dan; Andrés, Luis; Herrera Dappe, Matías

    2014-01-01

    The South Asia region is home to the largest pool of individuals living under the poverty line, coupled with a fast-growing population. The importance of access to basic infrastructure services on welfare and the quality of life is clear. Yet the South Asia region's rates of access to infrastructure (sanitation, electricity, telecom, and transport) are closer to those of Sub-Saharan Africa...

  6. Designing, testing, and implementing a sustainable nurse home visiting program: right@home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldfeld, Sharon; Price, Anna; Kemp, Lynn

    2018-05-01

    Nurse home visiting (NHV) offers a potential platform to both address the factors that limit access to services for families experiencing adversity and provide effective interventions. Currently, the ability to examine program implementation is hampered by a lack of detailed description of actual, rather than expected, program development and delivery in published studies. Home visiting implementation remains a black box in relation to quality and sustainability. However, previous literature would suggest that efforts to both report and improve program implementation are vital for NHV to have population impact and policy sustainability. In this paper, we provide a case study of the design, testing, and implementation of the right@home program, an Australian NHV program and randomized controlled trial. We address existing gaps related to implementation of NHV programs by describing the processes used to develop the program to be trialed, summarizing its effectiveness, and detailing the quality processes and implementation evaluation. The weight of our evidence suggests that NHV can be a powerful and sustainable platform for addressing inequitable outcomes, particularly when the program focuses on parent engagement and partnership, delivers evidence-based strategies shown to improve outcomes, includes fidelity monitoring, and is adapted to and embedded within existing service delivery systems. © 2018 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences.

  7. Understanding sharps injuries in home healthcare: The Safe Home Care qualitative methods study to identify pathways for injury prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markkanen, Pia; Galligan, Catherine; Laramie, Angela; Fisher, June; Sama, Susan; Quinn, Margaret

    2015-04-11

    . Manufacturers and insurance providers can improve safety with more affordable and accessible sharps with injury prevention features for home users. Sharps disposal campaigns, free-of-charge disposal containers, and convenient disposal options remain essential. Sharps injuries are preventable through public health actions that promote needleless treatment methods, sharps with injury prevention features, and safe disposal practices. Communication about hazards regarding sharps is needed for all home healthcare stakeholders.

  8. Architecture of a fully integrated communication infrastructure for the smart home; Architektur einer vollintegrierten Kommunikationsinfrastruktur fuer das Smart Home

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schaefer, Falk-Moritz; Kays, Ruediger [TU Dortmund (Germany). Lehrstuhl fuer Kommunikationstechnik

    2012-07-01

    For some time, applications in the areas of home automation, ambient assisted living and e-health are discussed. These require reliable and energy-efficient communication solutions in the home environment. In addition, new concepts that go hand in hand with the concept of the smart grids need an access to devices within the home environment. In the realization of smart homes the diversity of market participants involved, the parallel existing business models, the application requirements and the available communication systems make special demands on the underlying network infrastructure. Different solutions should be able to communicate with each other and compatible. In addition, the user expects a simple operation and configuration as well as a long-term support of the products. In the best case, the user is confronted with a single, integrated network infrastructure. Instead of separate systems for reading out of smart meters for monitoring the solar system, for health monitoring and the settings of multimedia devices, the telephone system, or computer network, a fully integrated smart home communications infrastructure should come into operation. This smart home infrastructure should be free of unnecessary duplication of structures; all equipment should be taken into account with a communication interface. The authors of the contribution under consideration report on a possible architecture of such a network infrastructure. Different grades are identified. A protocol stack for different technologies and the linking of different network hierarchies are described.

  9. The impact of home gardens on pre-schoolers nutrition in Eatonside in the Vaal Triangle, South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mosa Selepe

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: This study set out to determine the impact of home gardens on nutrient intake, access to food and dietary diversity of pre-school children. Objective: To determine the impact of home gardens on nutrient intake, access to food and dietary diversity of pre-school children in an informal settlement in Gauteng, South Africa. Design: Children aged two to five years (n=40 whose caregivers participated in a garden project participated in this study. Data was gathered using quantitative food frequency, 24-hour recall and dietary diversity questionnaires. The study compared the pre- and post-project food consumption frequencies, dietary diversity and nutrient adequacy. Results: Access to food and food consumption improved with the addition of nutrient-rich produce from the garden. The increase in dietary diversity was statistically significant. The mean nutrient intakes of iron and vitamin A improved but energy and calcium intakes dropped marginally. Conclusions: The level of malnutrition among the participating children was alarming at the start of the project. The home garden project in Eatonside improved access to food, providing readily available vegetables that improved the frequency of consumption of these vegetables and the dietary diversity of the participating children.

  10. Random matrix theory and fund of funds portfolio optimisation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conlon, T.; Ruskin, H. J.; Crane, M.

    2007-08-01

    The proprietary nature of Hedge Fund investing means that it is common practise for managers to release minimal information about their returns. The construction of a fund of hedge funds portfolio requires a correlation matrix which often has to be estimated using a relatively small sample of monthly returns data which induces noise. In this paper, random matrix theory (RMT) is applied to a cross-correlation matrix C, constructed using hedge fund returns data. The analysis reveals a number of eigenvalues that deviate from the spectrum suggested by RMT. The components of the deviating eigenvectors are found to correspond to distinct groups of strategies that are applied by hedge fund managers. The inverse participation ratio is used to quantify the number of components that participate in each eigenvector. Finally, the correlation matrix is cleaned by separating the noisy part from the non-noisy part of C. This technique is found to greatly reduce the difference between the predicted and realised risk of a portfolio, leading to an improved risk profile for a fund of hedge funds.

  11. Information and communication technology resources access and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Journal Home > Vol 14, No 1 (2017) > ... The ability to undertake effective legal research is one of the skills required of a lawyer but ... The use of Information and communication technology by Nigerian lawyers deals with ... for Researchers · for Journals · for Authors · for Policy Makers · about Open Access · Journal Quality.

  12. 77 FR 47405 - Funding Opportunity: Tribal Self-Governance Program; Negotiation Cooperative Agreement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-08

    ... first and then access the CCR online registration through the CCR home page at https://www.bpn.gov/ccr... Agreement Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 93.444. Announcement Type: New--Limited Competition... Self-Governance Program (TSGP). This program is authorized under Public Law (Pub. L.) 106-260, the...

  13. Medicaid program; state plan home and community-based services, 5-year period for waivers, provider payment reassignment, and home and community-based setting requirements for Community First Choice and home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers. Final rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-16

    This final rule amends the Medicaid regulations to define and describe state plan section 1915(i) home and community-based services (HCBS) under the Social Security Act (the Act) amended by the Affordable Care Act. This rule offers states new flexibilities in providing necessary and appropriate services to elderly and disabled populations. This rule describes Medicaid coverage of the optional state plan benefit to furnish home and community based-services and draw federal matching funds. This rule also provides for a 5-year duration for certain demonstration projects or waivers at the discretion of the Secretary, when they provide medical assistance for individuals dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare benefits, includes payment reassignment provisions because state Medicaid programs often operate as the primary or only payer for the class of practitioners that includes HCBS providers, and amends Medicaid regulations to provide home and community-based setting requirements related to the Affordable Care Act for Community First Choice State plan option. This final rule also makes several important changes to the regulations implementing Medicaid 1915(c) HCBS waivers.

  14. Indirect Solar Water Heating in Single-Family, Zero Energy Ready Homes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aldrich, Robb [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States)

    2016-02-17

    Solar water heating systems are not new, but they have not become prevalent in most of the U.S. Most of the country is cold enough that indirect solar thermal systems are required for freeze protection, and average installed cost of these systems is $9,000 to $10,000 for typical systems on single-family homes. These costs can vary significantly in different markets and with different contractors, and federal and regional incentives can reduce these up-front costs by 50% or more. In western Massachusetts, an affordable housing developer built a community of 20 homes with a goal of approaching zero net energy consumption. In addition to excellent thermal envelopes and PV systems, the developer installed a solar domestic water heating system (SDHW) on each home. The Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), a research consortium funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Building America program, commissioned some of the systems, and CARB was able to monitor detailed performance of one system for 28 months.

  15. Design and Implementation of an IoT Access Point for Smart Home

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chih-Yung Chang

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Network communication and micro-electro-mechanical embedded technologies have attracted much attention in recent years. Through these technologies, the capabilities of sensing, identification, and communication can be embedded in various smart devices. These smart devices can automatically connect to the Internet and form an intelligent network called Internet of Things (IoT. However, these devices are embedded with different wireless communication interfaces such as Wi-Fi and ZigBee. This paper presents the design and implementation of an IoT access point that supports functionalities of coordination of various wireless transmission protocols. Based on the existing Wi-Fi access point, we have embedded a ZigBee module and implemented ZigBee and UPnP protocols into the designed IoT access point, which supports ZigBee communication capabilities over the Internet.

  16. Home safe home: Evaluation of a childhood home safety program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Tanya Charyk; Clark, Andrew; Gilliland, Jason; Miller, Michael R; Edwards, Jane; Haidar, Tania; Batey, Brandon; Vogt, Kelly N; Parry, Neil G; Fraser, Douglas D; Merritt, Neil

    2016-09-01

    The London Health Sciences Centre Home Safety Program (HSP) provides safety devices, education, a safety video, and home safety checklist to all first-time parents for the reduction of childhood home injuries. The objective of this study was to evaluate the HSP for the prevention of home injuries in children up to 2 years of age. A program evaluation was performed with follow-up survey, along with an interrupted time series analysis of emergency department (ED) visits for home injuries 5 years before (2007-2013) and 2 years after (2013-2015) implementation. Spatial analysis of ED visits was undertaken to assess differences in home injury rates by dissemination areas controlling differences in socioeconomic status (i.e., income, education, and lone-parent status) at the neighborhood level. A total of 3,458 first-time parents participated in the HSP (a 74% compliance rate). Of these, 20% (n = 696) of parents responded to our questionnaire, with 94% reporting the program to be useful (median, 6; interquartile range, 2 on a 7-point Likert scale) and 81% learning new strategies for preventing home injuries. The median age of the respondent's babies were 12 months (interquartile range, 1). The home safety check list was used by 87% of respondents to identify hazards in their home, with 95% taking action to minimize the risk. The time series analysis demonstrated a significant decline in ED visits for home injuries in toddlers younger than2 years of age after HSP implementation. The declines in ED visits for home injuries remained significant over and above each socioeconomic status covariate. Removing hazards, supervision, and installing safety devices are key facilitators in the reduction of home injuries. Parents found the HSP useful to identify hazards, learn new strategies, build confidence, and provide safety products. Initial finding suggests that the program is effective in reducing home injuries in children up to 2 years of age. Therapeutic/care management study

  17. Home Computers and Child Outcomes: Short-Term Impacts from a Randomized Experiment in Peru. NBER Working Paper No. 18818

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beuermann, Diether W.; Cristia, Julian P.; Cruz-Aguayo, Yyannu; Cueto, Santiago; Malamud, Ofer

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents results from a randomized control trial in which approximately 1,000 OLPC XO laptops were provided for home use to children attending primary schools in Lima, Peru. The intervention increased access and use of home computers, with some substitution away from computer use outside the home. Beneficiaries were more likely to…

  18. Intelligent Home Control System Based on ARM10

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, G. X.; Jiang, J.; Zhong, L. H.

    2017-10-01

    Intelligent home is becoming the hot spot of social attention in the 21st century. When it is in China, it is a really new industry. However, there is no doubt that Intelligent home will become a new economic growth point of social development; it will change the life-style of human being. To develop the intelligent home, we should keep up with the development trend of technology. This is the reason why I talk about the intelligent home control system here. In this paper, intelligent home control system is designed for alarm and remote control on gas- leaking, fire disaster, earthquake prediction, etc., by examining environmental changes around house. When the Intelligent home control system has detected an accident occurs, the processor will communicate with the GSM module, informing the house keeper the occurrence of accident. User can receive and send the message to the system to cut the power by mobile phone. The system can get access to DCCthrough ARM10 JTAG interface, using DCC to send and receive messages. At the same time, the debugger on the host is mainly used to receive the user’s command and send it to the debug component in the target system. The data that returned from the target system is received and displayed to the user in a certain format.

  19. Il Freemium come modello economico sostenibile per la pubblicazione digitale Open Access nelle scienze umanistiche e sociali

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierre Mounier

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Between the two paths of open access – green and gold – the latter is the harder to develop and has less support from the research community. The main difficulty lies in finding a sound economic model. Open Access journals usually depend on two funding sources: subsidies and/or donations from institutions and publication fees from research units in the author-pay model. These two ways of funding Open Access journals and books have proved effective in some cases (Plos, but are not flawless. The Center for Open Electronic Publishing, a French initiative for Open Access publishing in humanities and social sciences, has recently developed a new economic model based on “Freemium” for its full Open Access journal and book series, in order to address two issues: improve their economic soundness and give them more visibility in libraries. Freemium, a blend of “free” and “premium”, preserves the information side of Open Access as well as premium service marketing.

  20. Being safe: making the decision to have a planned home birth in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lothian, Judith A

    2013-01-01

    Although there is evidence that supports the safety of planned home birth for healthy women, less than 1 percent of women in the United States choose to have their baby at home. An ethnographic study of the experience of planned home birth provided rich descriptions of women's experiences planning, preparing for, and having a home birth.This article describes findings related to how women make the decision to have a planned home birth. For these women, being safe emerged as central in making the decision. For them, being safe included four factors: avoiding technological birth interventions, knowing the midwife and the midwife knowing them, feeling comfortable and protected at home, and knowing that backup hospital medical care was accessible if needed.