Health care access for rural youth on equal terms? A mixed methods study protocol in northern Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Goicolea, Isabel; Carson, Dean; San Sebastian, Miguel; Christianson, Monica; Wiklund, Maria; Hurtig, Anna-Karin

2018-01-11

The purpose of this paper is to propose a protocol for researching the impact of rural youth health service strategies on health care access. There has been no published comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of youth health strategies in rural areas, and there is no clearly articulated model of how such assessments might be conducted. The protocol described here aims to gather information to; i) Assess rural youth access to health care according to their needs, ii) Identify and understand the strategies developed in rural areas to promote youth access to health care, and iii) Propose actions for further improvement. The protocol is described with particular reference to research being undertaken in the four northernmost counties of Sweden, which contain a widely dispersed and diverse youth population. The protocol proposes qualitative and quantitative methodologies sequentially in four phases. First, to map youth access to health care according to their health care needs, including assessing horizontal equity (equal use of health care for equivalent health needs,) and vertical equity (people with greater health needs should receive more health care than those with lesser needs). Second, a multiple case study design investigates strategies developed across the region (youth clinics, internet applications, public health programs) to improve youth access to health care. Third, qualitative comparative analysis of the 24 rural municipalities in the region identifies the best combination of conditions leading to high youth access to health care. Fourth, a concept mapping study involving rural stakeholders, care providers and youth provides recommended actions to improve rural youth access to health care. The implementation of this research protocol will contribute to 1) generating knowledge that could contribute to strengthening rural youth access to health care, as well as to 2) advancing the application of mixed methods to explore access to health care.

Immigrants' access to health insurance: no equality without awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

Dzúrová, Dagmar; Winkler, Petr; Drbohlav, Dušan

2014-07-14

The Czech government has identified commercial health insurance as one of the major problems for migrants' access to health care. Non-EU immigrants are eligible for public health insurance only if they have employee status or permanent residency. The present study examined migrants' access to the public health insurance system in Czechia. A cross-sectional survey of 909 immigrants from Ukraine and Vietnam was conducted in March and May 2013, and binary logistic regression was applied in data analysis. Among immigrants entitled to Czech public health insurance due to permanent residency/asylum, 30% were out of the public health insurance system, and of those entitled by their employment status, 50% were out of the system. Migrants with a poor knowledge of the Czech language are more likely to remain excluded from the system of public health insurance. Instead, they either remain in the commercial health insurance system or they simultaneously pay for both commercial and public health insurance, which is highly disadvantageous. Since there are no reasonable grounds to stay outside the public health insurance, it is concluded that it is lack of awareness that keeps eligible immigrants from entering the system. It is suggested that no equal access to health care exists without sufficient awareness about health care system.

Immigrants’ Access to Health Insurance: No Equality without Awareness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dagmar Dzúrová

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The Czech government has identified commercial health insurance as one of the major problems for migrants’ access to health care. Non-EU immigrants are eligible for public health insurance only if they have employee status or permanent residency. The present study examined migrants’ access to the public health insurance system in Czechia. A cross-sectional survey of 909 immigrants from Ukraine and Vietnam was conducted in March and May 2013, and binary logistic regression was applied in data analysis. Among immigrants entitled to Czech public health insurance due to permanent residency/asylum, 30% were out of the public health insurance system, and of those entitled by their employment status, 50% were out of the system. Migrants with a poor knowledge of the Czech language are more likely to remain excluded from the system of public health insurance. Instead, they either remain in the commercial health insurance system or they simultaneously pay for both commercial and public health insurance, which is highly disadvantageous. Since there are no reasonable grounds to stay outside the public health insurance, it is concluded that it is lack of awareness that keeps eligible immigrants from entering the system. It is suggested that no equal access to health care exists without sufficient awareness about health care system.

Socio-economic status influences blood pressure control despite equal access to care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paulsen, M S; Andersen, M; Munck, A P

2012-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Denmark has a health care system with free and equal access to care irrespective of age and socio-economic status (SES). We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate a possible association between SES and blood pressure (BP) control of hypertensive patients treated in general...... Statistics Denmark. The outcome measure was BP control defined as BP...

Acoustic environments that support equally accessible oral higher education as a human right

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Den Heuij, Kirsten M.L.; Neijenhuis, Karin; Coene, Martine

Purpose: People have the right to freedom of opinion and expression, as defined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Higher education plays a major role in helping students to develop and express their own opinions and, therefore, should be equally accessible to all. This

Internet accessibility and disability policy: lessons for digital inclusion and equality from Australia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerard Goggin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In the fifth decade of the internet, accessibility for all, especially those with disabilities, is central to digital inclusion. Yet internationally, the score card on internet and accessibility remains mixed, at best; and woefully inadequate, at worst. Via an Australian case study, we argue that it is imperative to better understand how internet technology interacts with the life worlds and dynamics of disability, and we suggest how policy can be articulated and improved to put people with disabilities on an equal basis to others in digital societies.

Disability, access to food, and the UN CRPD : Navigating a rights-based equality discourse in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Waltz, M.M.; Mol, Tanja; Gittins, Elinor

2017-01-01

Aims In 2016, the Netherlands ratified the UN CRPD, becoming one of the last developed nations to sign on. In this presentation, we will explore how equal access to food provides a lens through which barriers to implementing a rights-based approach to disability equality can be examined in countries

Labor Law Reform: The Regulation of Free Speech and Equal Access in NLRB Representational Elections.

Science.gov (United States)

University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 1979

1979-01-01

After examining the existing legal standards governing free speech and equal access in representation elections, the author analyzes various reform possibilities and suggests a unified approach for legislative action. Available from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, 3400 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104; $3.00 sc.…

THE PRESENCE OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN HR MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Farkas

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Ensuring equal opportunities is a priority for CEO-s and decision makers, however, it is often not put into practice. Changes in recent years along with the priorities of the EU and the efforts made to banish discrimination becoming more prominent brought with themselves a pressure on firms to provide equal opportunities for the different under-privileged social groups. In Hungary the Act CXXV of 2003 on discrimination and equal opportunities lists the groups in need of protection. The law requires employers with more than fifty employees to have an equal opportunities program. In spite of this, these programs are often general and do not implement the changes and goals identified after the assessment. Still, strategies and plans are only worth how much of them are realized. Our article is about the conscious principles of the Hungarian business sector about equality and whether there are regional differences. We compare answers given by both employers and employees on the subject of the extent to which the above mentioned principles are realized by the management and whether the employees experience these changes. Our theory is that the prioritisation of equal opportunities in firms is more the result of access to project funds than that of inner initiative from the firm's management. We analyse our research questions using a quantitative method on a regionally representative national sample. We examined 992 firms with special attention on those and their employees who had some sort of written guidelines on equal opportunities and plans on implementing these. In our paper we give a short review on the importance of equal opportunities, it's manifestation in HR management and it's written declaration, the so called Equal Opportunities Plan (EOP. The efforts of the EU and access to financial resources for the EU projects as a condition our hypotheses are that (1 at least 30% of the firms studied have written guidelines or declaration on equal

Experimental low-frequency sound equalization in an extended region of an enclosure using adaptive filters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Orozco-Santillán, Arturo

1998-01-01

An experimental investigation of sound equalization in an extended region inside an enclosure is presented. DSP and the multiple LMS algorithm is used to obtain the optimal solution. Equalization at single frequencies in the stationary state is studied. Also analyzed is the equalization of band...

Expansion and access to higher education: how is gender equality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edineide Jezine

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article is problematic the process of expansion of higher education in Brazil and the challenges of access and retention of students in vulnerable situations. In this objective set to analyze the gender equality concepts in higher education policies; and enrollment in public and private sectors as they are distributed, considering the gender variable. This is a qualitative study supported by quantitative data of expanding the number of courses and enrollment, considering the Census of Higher Education (2013 that the tip 10 courses with the highest number of female and male enrollment. Based on these data analysis seeks apprehension-der the dynamics at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB from the perspective of sexualization / gendering. By analyzing access to this type of education of men and women in UFPB, the data show that more women enter and complete higher education courses. However, when analyze distribution by courses, still remains femininity and masculinity certain professional careers. In this sense, the research results show that the process of expansion of higher education is not accompanied by professional motivations that courses historically constitute as male, the case of Engineering, and / or female courses, the case of pedagogy, keeping inequality processes between the sexes in professional careers.

Validation of the 2015 prostate cancer grade groups for predicting long-term oncologic outcomes in a shared equal-access health system.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulman, Ariel A; Howard, Lauren E; Tay, Kae Jack; Tsivian, Efrat; Sze, Christina; Amling, Christopher L; Aronson, William J; Cooperberg, Matthew R; Kane, Christopher J; Terris, Martha K; Freedland, Stephen J; Polascik, Thomas J

2017-11-01

A 5-tier prognostic grade group (GG) system was enacted to simplify the risk stratification of patients with prostate cancer in which Gleason scores of ≤6, 3 + 4, 4 + 3, 8, and 9 or 10 are considered GG 1 through 5, respectively. The authors investigated the utility of biopsy GG for predicting long-term oncologic outcomes after radical prostatectomy in an equal-access health system. Men who underwent prostatectomy at 1 of 6 Veterans Affairs hospitals in the Shared Equal Access Regional Cancer Hospital database between 2005 and 2015 were reviewed. The prognostic ability of biopsy GG was examined using Cox models. Interactions between GG and race also were tested. In total, 2509 men were identified who had data available on biopsy Gleason scores, covariates, and follow-up. The cohort included men with GG 1 (909 patients; 36.2%), GG 2 (813 patients; 32.4%), GG 3 (398 patients; 15.9%), GG 4 (279 patients; 11.1%), and GG 5 (110 patients; 4.4%) prostate cancer. The cohort included 1002 African American men (41%). The median follow-up was 60 months (interquartile range, 33-90 months). Higher GG was associated with higher clinical stage, older age, more recent surgery, and surgical center (P prostate cancer, metastases, and prostate cancer-specific mortality (all P Cancer 2017;123:4122-4129. © 2017 American Cancer Society. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Girls' equal participation in education. Period. : A field study on how Indian schoolgirls perceive menstruation stigmas to affect their access to education

OpenAIRE

Schylander, Hedvig

2017-01-01

Menstruation stigmas and a lack of facilities to manage periods have been identified as possible hinders for girls’ equal access to education all over of the world. This paper focuses on investigating how menstruation stigmas generate obstacles for girls’ equal access to, and participation in, education. Its aim is to investigate how girls in an Indian context perceive menstruation stigmas to affect them, particularly when it comes to school attendance and ability to learn in school. This is ...

Access to destinations : annual accessibility measure for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-01

This report summarizes previous phases of the Access to Destinations project and applies the techniques developed : over the course of the project to conduct an evaluation of accessibility in the Twin Cities metropolitan region for : 2010. It describ...

Enabling Equal Access to Molecular Diagnostics: What Are the Implications for Policy and Health Technology Assessment?

Science.gov (United States)

Plun-Favreau, Juliette; Immonen-Charalambous, Kaisa; Steuten, Lotte; Strootker, Anja; Rouzier, Roman; Horgan, Denis; Lawler, Mark

2016-01-01

Molecular diagnostics can offer important benefits to patients and are a key enabler of the integration of personalised medicine into health care systems. However, despite their promise, few molecular diagnostics are embedded into clinical practice (especially in Europe) and access to these technologies remains unequal across countries and sometimes even within individual countries. If research translation and the regulatory environments have proven to be more challenging than expected, reimbursement and value assessment remain the main barriers to providing patients with equal access to molecular diagnostics. Unclear or non-existent reimbursement pathways, together with the lack of clear evidence requirements, have led to significant delays in the assessment of molecular diagnostics technologies in certain countries. Additionally, the lack of dedicated diagnostics budgets and the siloed nature of resource allocation within certain health care systems have significantly delayed diagnostics commissioning. This article will consider the perspectives of different stakeholders (patients, health care payers, health care professionals, and manufacturers) on the provision of a research-enabled, patient-focused molecular diagnostics platform that supports optimal patient care. Through the discussion of specific case studies, and building on the experience from countries that have successfully integrated molecular diagnostics into clinical practice, this article will discuss the necessary evolutions in policy and health technology assessment to ensure that patients can have equal access to appropriate molecular diagnostics. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Treatment Trends for Stage I Testicular Seminoma in an Equal-Access Medical System.

Science.gov (United States)

Wingate, Jonathan T; Etzioni, Ruth; Macdonald, Dusten M; Brand, Timothy C

2016-10-01

The practice patterns for adjuvant therapies for stage I seminoma are rapidly evolving, and surveillance is currently preferred. How these recommendations have affected contemporary practice in an equal-access US population is unknown. A total of 436 men diagnosed with clinical stage IA-IB seminoma from 2001 to 2011 were identified in the Automated Central Tumor Registry (ACTUR). The ACTUR is the cancer registry system for the Department of Defense. Logistic regression models analyzed the association between patient characteristics and adjuvant therapy. Overall and recurrence-free survival were determined from Kaplan-Meier analysis. The use of adjuvant radiotherapy in this population decreased significantly from 2001 to 2011. In 2001, 83.9% of patients received radiotherapy compared with only 24.0% in 2011. During that period, a concomitant increase occurred in the use of chemotherapy from 0% to 38.0%. A later year of diagnosis was significantly associated with a greater rate of receiving chemotherapy relative to radiotherapy (P associated with the receipt of surveillance (P = .412 for 2006-2011 vs. 2001-2005; odds ratio, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.54-1.29). Black race or age was not significantly associated with adjuvant therapy. With a median follow-up period of 4.7 years, the 5-year overall and recurrence-free survival rates were 98.0% and 77.0%, respectively. The use of adjuvant radiotherapy has been replaced by chemotherapy for clinical stage I testicular seminoma in an equal-access system. The lack of an increase in active surveillance in our cohort might represent overtreatment of the population. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Imbalance in Spatial Accessibility to Primary and Secondary Schools in China: Guidance for Education Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan Gao

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Compulsory education is an important aspect of the societal development. Meanwhile, education equality safeguards the effectiveness of education systems and is an important part of social equality. This study analyzes the inequality of compulsory education from the perspective of imbalanced spatial distribution. Unlike previous studies that have measured the spatial distribution of education simply based on the spatial position of primary and secondary schools, we explore spatial accessibility based on the shortest travel distance from residents to schools, and then analyze the inequality of compulsory education through the distribution of spatial accessibility. We use 2873 Chinese counties as statistical units, and perform a statistical and graphical analysis of their spatial accessibility using the Theil index and spatial autocorrelation analyses. To analyze the differences in the spatial accessibility distribution on the national and regional levels, we use three partitioned modes: the terrain partitioned mode, the economic development partitioned mode, and the province-level partitioned mode. We then analyze the spatial agglomeration characteristics and distribution patterns of compulsory education accessibility through global autocorrelation, local autocorrelation, and hot-spot and cold-spot analysis. The results demonstrate an obvious imbalance in the distribution of spatial accessibility to compulsory education at the national level. Accessibility and equality in eastern and central regions are significantly better than those in the western region; both are significantly better in coastal regions than in inland regions; and equality alone is better in the municipalities, such as Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing, than in other provinces and autonomous regions. The spatial pattern analysis shows significant global autocorrelation and obvious clusters. Counties in cold-spot areas (clusters of good spatial accessibility are large in number

Fiscal Decentralization and Disparity of Access to Primary Education in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shinta Doriza

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In education, one crusial issue of development is the disparity of primary education access. Using 440 regions database from 2005-2009, this study is aim to analize the impact of fiscal decentralization in reducing the enrolement of primary education in Indonesia. Three factors were included, i.e fiscal decentralization, socioeconomic factors and regional characteristics. The result of panel data estimation using fixed-effect approach on this study is that DAK for Education, DAK Non Education, and PAD have significant impact in reducing education acess disparity along with poverty and regional characteristic such as Java-non Java regions. For education level, another variable was also found significant including education of the society and regional characteristic such as proliferated-non proliferated regions. In general there is a facts and proves that fiscal decentralization improve education access equality, but several effort need to done to optimalize the equalization of primary education access in Indonesia.

Regional Disparities in Online Map User Access Volume and Determining Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Li, R.; Yang, N.; Li, R.; Huang, W.; Wu, H.

2017-09-01

The regional disparities of online map user access volume (use `user access volume' in this paper to indicate briefly) is a topic of growing interest with the increment of popularity in public users, which helps to target the construction of geographic information services for different areas. At first place we statistically analysed the online map user access logs and quantified these regional access disparities on different scales. The results show that the volume of user access is decreasing from east to the west in China as a whole, while East China produces the most access volume; these cities are also the crucial economic and transport centres. Then Principal Component Regression (PCR) is applied to explore the regional disparities of user access volume. A determining model for Online Map access volume is proposed afterwards, which indicates that area scale is the primary determining factor for regional disparities, followed by public transport development level and public service development level. Other factors like user quality index and financial index have very limited influence on the user access volume. According to the study of regional disparities in user access volume, map providers can reasonably dispatch and allocate the data resources and service resources in each area and improve the operational efficiency of the Online Map server cluster.

Equal Opportunities Questionnaire

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

The initiative to promote Equal Opportunities at CERN started in 1993. The first Equal Opportunities Officer was appointed in 1996 followed by the creation of the Equal Opportunities Advisory Panel in 1998. Initially the concern was mainly the fair treatment of women in the work-place. Today the emphasis has evolved to ensuring that diversity is used to increase creativity and productivity in the work-place. In order to ensure that all aspects of Equal Opportunities and Diversity are covered, CERN’s Equal Opportunities team has prepared a survey to obtain your input. Your answers are confidential and will only be used for generating statistics. The questionnaire is on-line and can be accessed via: https://espace.cern.ch/EOQ. We hope that you will take a few minutes of your time to give your input and would be grateful if you could reply before 15/10/07. For further information about Equal Opportunities at CERN see: http://cern.ch/equal-opportunities The Equal Opportuni...

Measuring Physical Accessibility with Space-Time Prisms in a GIS: A Case Study of Access to Health-Care Facilities

OpenAIRE

Lee, Ming S.; McNally, Michael G.

2002-01-01

Physical accessibility is a measurement of opportunities available to people in a geographical region. The purpose of such a measurement is for the redirection of regional and transportation policies toward the provision of quality of life. Public policies should provide individuals with more options to choose from, and these options should be more equally distributed among the population. A physical accessibility measure can reflect the efficiency of policies in addressing these issues. This...

A study on the equality and benefit of China's national health care system.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhai, Shaoguo; Wang, Pei; Dong, Quanfang; Ren, Xing; Cai, Jiaoli; Coyte, Peter C

2017-08-29

This study is designed to evaluate whether the benefit which the residents received from the national health care system is equal in China. The perceived equality and benefit are used to measure the personal status of health care system, health status. This study examines variations in perceived equality and benefit of the national health care system between urban and rural residents from five cities of China and assessed their determinants. One thousand one hundred ninty eight residents were selected from a random survey among five nationally representative cities. The research characterizes perceptions into four population groupings based on a binary assessment of survey scores: high equality & high benefit; low equality & low benefit; high equality & low benefit; and low equality & high benefit. The distribution of the four groups above is 30.4%, 43.0%, 4.6% and 22.0%, respectively. Meanwhile, the type of health insurance, educational background, occupation, geographic regions, changes in health status and other factors have significant impacts on perceived equality and benefit derived from the health care system. The findings demonstrate wide variations in perceptions of equality and benefit between urban and rural residents and across population characteristics, leading to a perceived lack of fairness in benefits and accessibility. Opportunities exist for policy interventions that are targeted to eliminate perceived differences and promote greater equality in access to health care.

South Africa’s protracted struggle for equal distribution and equitable access – still not there

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

The purpose of this contribution is to analyse and explain the South African HRH case, its historical evolution, and post-apartheid reform initiatives aimed at addressing deficiencies and shortfalls. HRH in South Africa not only mirrors the nature and diversity of challenges globally, but also the strategies pursued by countries to address these challenges. Although South Africa has strongly developed health professions, large numbers of professional and mid-level workers, and also well-established training institutions, it is experiencing serious workforce shortages and access constraints. This results from the unequal distribution of health workers between the well-resourced private sector over the poorly-resourced public sector, as well as from distributional disparities between urban and rural areas. During colonial and apartheid times, disparities were aggravated by policies of racial segregation and exclusion, remnants of which are today still visible in health-professional backlogs, unequal provincial HRH distribution, and differential access to health services for specific race and class groups. Since 1994, South Africa’s transition to democracy deeply transformed the health system, health professions and HRH establishments. The introduction of free-health policies, the district health system and the prioritisation of PHC ensured more equal distribution of the workforce, as well as greater access to services for deprived groups. However, the HIV/AIDS epidemic brought about huge demands for care and massive patient loads in the public-sector. The emigration of health professionals to developed countries and to the private sector also undermines the strength and effectiveness of the public health sector. For the poor, access to care thus remains constrained and in perpetual shortfall. The post-1994 government has introduced several HRH-specific strategies to recruit, distribute, motivate and retain health professionals to strengthen the public sector and to

Equal Access but Unequal Outcomes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jæger, Mads Meier

2009-01-01

with respect to Danish children's choice of secondary education. Denmark is well-suited for this study because access to secondary education is particularly meritocratic. The empirical analysis shows that all three channels through which cultural capital affects educational success are important....

realising equality in access to hiv treatment for vulnerable

African Journals Online (AJOL)

UOVS

been recognised that equality is tantamount to non-discrimination. .... HIV/AIDS), sexual orientation, and civil, political, social or other status which has ... ensuring equal HIV treatment for children, sex workers and men who have sex with.

Equal Opportunities Questionnaire

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

The initiative to promote Equal Opportunities at CERN started in 1993. The first Equal Opportunities Officer was appointed in 1996, which was followed by the creation of the Equal Opportunities Advisory Panel in 1998. Initially the concern was mainly the fair treatment of women in the work-place. Today the emphasis has evolved to ensuring that diversity is used to increase creativity and productivity in the work-place. In order to ensure that all aspects of Equal Opportunities and Diversity are covered, CERN’s Equal Opportunities team has prepared a survey to obtain your input. Your answers are confidential and will only be used for generating statistics. The questionnaire is on-line and can be accessed via: https://espace.cern.ch/EOQ. We hope that you will take a few minutes of your time to give your input and would be grateful if you could reply before 15/10/07. For further information about Equal Opportunities at CERN see: http://cern.ch/equal-opportunities The Equa...

The effect of centralization of health care services on travel time and its equality.

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Daisuke; Otsubo, Tetsuya; Imanaka, Yuichi

2015-03-01

To analyze the regional variations in travel time between patient residences and medical facilities for the treatment of ischemic heart disease and breast cancer, and to simulate the effects of health care services centralization on travel time and equality of access. We used medical insurance claims data for inpatients and outpatients for the two target diseases that had been filed between September 2008 and May 2009 in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Using a geographical information system, patient travel times were calculated based on the driving distance between patient residences and hospitals via highways and toll roads. Locations of residences and hospital locations were identified using postal codes. We then conducted a simulation analysis of centralization of health care services to designated regional core hospitals. The simulated changes in potential spatial access to care were examined. Inequalities in access to care were examined using Gini coefficients, which ranged from 0.4109 to 0.4574. Simulations of health care services centralization showed reduced travel time for most patients and overall improvements in equality of access, except in breast cancer outpatients. Our findings may contribute to the decision-making process in policies aimed at improving the potential spatial access to health care services. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

County-Level Poverty Is Equally Associated with Unmet Health Care Needs in Rural and Urban Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Lars E.; Litaker, David G.

2010-01-01

Context: Regional poverty is associated with reduced access to health care. Whether this relationship is equally strong in both rural and urban settings or is affected by the contextual and individual-level characteristics that distinguish these areas, is unclear. Purpose: Compare the association between regional poverty with self-reported unmet…

REGION - the online open-access journal of ERSA

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koschinsky, Julia; Koster, Sierdjan; Patuelli, R.; Royuela, Vicente; Tselios, Vassilis

2014-01-01

This editorial launches REGION, the new online and open-access journal of ERSA. REGION aims to be a high-quality academic journal in the field of regional science. To its contributors, it offers a solid peer-review process and immediate publication upon acceptance. Also, it will be a flexible

Incomplete equalization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Anders; Jæger, Mads Meier; Karlson, Kristian Bernt

2013-01-01

improve access to lower-tier higher education for low-SES students. These findings point to an interesting paradox in that tracking has adverse effects at the micro-level but equalizes educational opportunities at the macro-level. We also discuss whether similar mechanisms might exist in other educational...

Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy in Adults with Learning Disability: Current Uptake and Adjustments to Facilitate Equality of Access

Science.gov (United States)

Pilling, Rachel F.

2015-01-01

Equality of access to health care for adults with learning disability has been in the spotlight in the UK in recent years due to publication of several reports. Adults with learning disability are thought to account for a significant proportion of the diabetic population in the UK. A list of adults known to the learning disability health…

Promoting gender equality in access to microcredit through flexible lending approaches of female targeting MFIs: Evidence from Duterimbere MFI of Rwanda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liberata Mukamana

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Access to loans is one of the most important areas of focus by many development practitioners for reducing the existing gender gap in access to productive resources. Microfinance Institutions which target females as key clients were promoted for their lending approaches which avoid previous discriminatory practices that excluded women in the financial system. The current study examines the role of Duterimbere MFI of Rwanda in promoting equality in access to microcredit between female and male borrowers. The results of the study are generated by analyzing quantitative data collected from 244 females and 94 males using the questionnaire and qualitative data collected from focus group discussions and interviews with key informants. The study findings revealed that Duterimbere has been able to adapt its requirements to the specific needs of poor women. A significant number of poor women have been able to join the MFI through group solidarity, a method that has upgraded their borrowing capacity to the level of getting individual loans on equal basis as male peers. This study recommends further research that should go beyond access to loan and consider the dynamics of power relations about utilization of the loan received by female and male borrowers.

Access to Higher Education in Canada: Equality of Opportunity vs. Equality of Results.

Science.gov (United States)

Anisef, Paul

1983-01-01

Discusses the issue of access to higher education in Canada and suggests that those who do not gain entry share common social and cultural properties. Recommends three strategies for enhancing accessibility: a monitoring system, compensatory education programs, and financial assistance programs. (JAC)

Women, gender equality, and diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hannan, Carolyn

2009-03-01

Discussion of women, gender equality, and diabetes should be placed in the context of United Nations mandates on women's health which highlight the need for equal access to information, prevention activities, services, and care across the life cycle. Gender differences and inequalities have been identified in relation to causes and consequences of diabetes and access to services and support between women and men, and among different groups of women. Appropriate gender-sensitive policy responses, including research and data collection, need to be developed. The recent United Nations resolution on diabetes provides an opportunity to strengthen the focus on women and diabetes.

The Accessibility of Higher Education in the Russian Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Gromov, A. D.; Platonova, D. P.; Semyonov, D. S.; Pyrova, T. L.

2017-01-01

This article provides a comparative analysis of accessibility of higher education across Russian regions in terms of the following three factors: the availability of admission opportunities; financial affordability; and geographic accessibility. The study will be of interest to government agencies in higher education at various levels, analysts…

Discipline: Impact on Access to Equal Educational Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Joubert, Rika; de Waal, Elda; Rossouw, JP

2004-01-01

Complying with the founding values (human dignity, equality and freedom) of the South African Constitution is one of the most important challenges of creating and maintaining a safe, disciplined environment where effective teaching and learning can take place. All school principals, educators and school governing bodies--bearing in mind the…

Book review: Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act: Environmental litigation and the crippling battle over America's lands, endangered species, and critical habitats

Science.gov (United States)

Organ, John F.

2016-01-01

Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act is authored by Lowell E. Baier, an attorney, political scientist, and historian whose conservation portfolio includes the J. N. “Ding” Darling Conservation Award from the National Wildlife Federation (2016), Citizen Conservationist Award from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (2013), Conservationist of the Year Award from Outdoor Life magazine (2010), and Conservationist of the Year Award from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (2008). In the book, Baier stresses the need to reform the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) because of unintended provisions that incentivize and reward environmental litigants for filing suit against federal regulatory and land management agencies, consequentially hindering pro-active, cooperative, conservation efforts. The book is the culmination of several years of legal research, case history analyses, and personal interviews with several key individuals from congress, conservation management agencies, and non-government organizations.

Making accessibility analyses accessible: A tool to facilitate the public review of the effects of regional transportation plans on accessibility

OpenAIRE

Golub, Aaron; Robinson, Glenn; Brendan Nee, Brendan Nee

2013-01-01

The regional transportation planning process in the United States has not been easily opened to public oversight even after strengthened requirements for public participation and civil rights considerations. In the effort to improve the public review of regional transportation plans, this paper describes the construction of a proof-of concept web-based tool designed to analyze the effects of regional transportation plans on accessibility to jobs and other essential destinations. The tool allo...

Radial measures of public services deficit for regional allocation of public funds

OpenAIRE

Puig, Jaume

2005-01-01

The goal of this paper is to present an optimal resource allocation model for the regional allocation of public service inputs. The proposed solution leads to maximise the relative public service availability in regions located below the best availability frontier, subject to exogenous budget restrictions and equality of access for equal need criteria (equity-based notion of regional needs). The construction of non-parametric deficit indicators is proposed for public service availability by a...

Stable tokamak access to, and operation in, the second stability region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Todd, A.M.M.; Phillips, M.; Chance, M.; Manickam, J.; Pomphrey, N.

1987-01-01

Tokamak operation in the second region of stability to ballooning modes holds promise for economic fusion reactor operation. A second region of stability is confirmed to exist in circular tokamaks with a nearby conducting shell for εβθ>1. In addition to ballooning instabilities with high toroidal mode number n, the presence of low n internal pressure driven modes in low shear regions can pose serious problems for access to the second region. These modes can be present even when ballooning modes with infinite n are stable. Stable access to the second region for all ideal modes is demonstrated with current profile programming that raises the safety factor on axis above unity. Present calculations for stable access using this technique indicate that a conducting wall must be located close to the plasma edge (∼ 0.1 plasma minor radius) to stabilize external modes. Pressure and shear profile optimization could be used to increase this value. As εβθ is raised above unity, the stabilizing wall can be moved to progressively larger major radii. This behaviour is attributed to restabilization of the pressure driven component in low n kink modes. Finally, it is shown that poloidally discontinuous conducting structures are effective in stabilizing low n external kink modes. (author)

Land Governance, Gender Equality and Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ravnborg, Helle Munk; Spichiger, Rachel; Broegaard, Rikke Brandt

2016-01-01

pursued in these reforms and examines the role played by donor cooperation. Despite significant progress in developing land legislation that upholds gender equality, implementation often does not follow suit, and women still face discrimination. Based on country case studies, the article identifies six......Most land governance reforms seek to enhance tenure security, encourage investments and thereby promote economic growth. Increasingly, land reforms attempt to secure women's and other vulnerable groups' access to land. This article reviews the extent to which gender equality in land tenure has been...... challenges, which should be addressed to achieve gender equality in land tenure....

Accessibility Inequality to Basic Education in Amhara Region, Ethiopia

African Journals Online (AJOL)

owner

educational services in Amhara region of Ethiopia in terms of availability and accessibility ... Dept. of Geography Bahir Dar University Bahir Dar, Ethiopia ... and very high students / teacher ratio. .... facilities to train their children (Hanmer et ...

Barriers to Advocacy and Litigation in the Equality Courts for Persons with Disabilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Willene Holness

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The effective implementation of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 (PEPUDA and the fulfilment of the South African state's obligations in terms of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD are dependent on two fundamental tools, advocacy and litigation. This article discusses the outcome of three cases in the Equality Courts and how these cases promote accessibility and access to justice for persons with disabilities. The authors then consider the impact of CREATE, a KwaZulu-Natal NGO's advocacy initiatives to promote the rights of persons with disabilities and the utilisation of the Equality Court to realise those rights. Participants of ten workshops in KwaZulu-Natal identified three barriers to access to justice in accessing the Equality Courts. Firstly, some Equality Courts are geographically (and financially inaccessible. Secondly, the negative and insensitive attitudes of front-line workers impact on the ability of persons with disabilities to bring equality claims to and access the services of the Equality Court. These barriers constitute discrimination and flout articles 9 and 13 of the CRPD, which require the provision of support for persons with disabilities to access the justice system and the promotion of accessibility to the physical environment, and the provision to them of transportation, information and other services. Thirdly, cultural norms and fears impede access to courts and the agency of persons with disabilities to bring these claims, for example the requirement that traditional leaders provide "permission" to persons with disabilities to sue and a similar requirement of permission from the in-laws of women with disabilities. The article analyses the three barriers identified as inhibiting advocacy and litigation, and explains the implication of these barriers for the state's obligations in terms of articles 5, 8, 9, 12 and 13 of the CRPD. Recommendations

Gender Accessibility and Equality in Education: The Implication to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

gold

2012-07-26

Jul 26, 2012 ... College of Education Nsugbe, Anambra State, Nigeria. Arinze, Francis ... of the constraints to gender equality in education and concludes that gender imbalance in ... provide educational opportunities for the girls so that they can develop side by side with men. .... from school but purely to protect them.

Incentives, health promotion and equality.

Science.gov (United States)

Voigt, Kristin

2012-07-01

The use of incentives to encourage individuals to adopt 'healthier' behaviours is an increasingly popular instrument in health policy. Much of the literature has been critical of 'negative' incentives, often due to concerns about equality; 'positive' incentives, however, have largely been welcomed as an instrument for the improvement of population health and possibly the reduction of health inequalities. The aim of this paper is to provide a more systematic assessment of the use of incentives from the perspective of equality. The paper begins with an overview of existing and proposed incentive schemes. I then suggest that the distinction between 'positive' and 'negative' incentives - or 'carrots' and 'sticks' - is of limited use in distinguishing those incentive schemes that raise concerns of equality from those that do not. The paper assesses incentive schemes with respect to two important considerations of equality: equality of access and equality of outcomes. While our assessment of incentive schemes will, ultimately, depend on various empirical facts, the paper aims to advance the debate by identifying some of the empirical questions we need to ask. The paper concludes by considering a number of trade-offs and caveats relevant to the assessment of incentive schemes.

World Summit embraces Open Access, libraries

CERN Multimedia

Kaser, D

2004-01-01

"The long-anticipated "first phase" meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in Geneva in December, was supposed to have been about equal access. It turned out being equally about open access as leading scientific organizations pushed their open-access initiative onto the World Summit agenda" (1 page)

Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY) for adults at risk for glaucoma: study rationale and design.

Science.gov (United States)

Owsley, Cynthia; Rhodes, Lindsay A; McGwin, Gerald; Mennemeyer, Stephen T; Bregantini, Mary; Patel, Nita; Wiley, Demond M; LaRussa, Frank; Box, Dan; Saaddine, Jinan; Crews, John E; Girkin, Christopher A

2015-11-18

Primary open angle glaucoma is a chronic, progressive eye disease that is the leading cause of blindness among African Americans. Glaucoma progresses more rapidly and appears about 10 years earlier in African Americans as compared to whites. African Americans are also less likely to receive comprehensive eye care when glaucoma could be detected before irreversible blindness. Screening and follow-up protocols for managing glaucoma recommended by eye-care professional organizations are often not followed by primary eye-care providers, both ophthalmologists and optometrists. There is a pressing need to improve both the accessibility and quality of glaucoma care for African Americans. Telemedicine may be an effective solution for improving management and diagnosis of glaucoma because it depends on ocular imaging and tests that can be electronically transmitted to remote reading centers where tertiary care specialists can examine the results. We describe the Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community project (EQUALITY), set to evaluate a teleglaucoma program deployed in retail-based primary eye care practices serving communities with a large percentage of African Americans. We conducted an observational, 1-year prospective study based in two Walmart Vision Centers in Alabama staffed by primary care optometrists. EQUALITY focuses on new or existing adult patients who are at-risk for glaucoma or already diagnosed with glaucoma. Patients receive dilated comprehensive examinations and diagnostic testing for glaucoma, followed by the optometrist's diagnosis and a preliminary management plan. Results are transmitted to a glaucoma reading center where ophthalmologists who completed fellowship training in glaucoma review results and provide feedback to the optometrist, who manages the care of the patient. Patients also receive eye health education about glaucoma and comprehensive eye care. Research questions include diagnostic and management agreement

Vocational Guidance for Equal Access and Opportunity for Girls and Women in Technical and Vocational Education. UNEVOC Studies in Technical and Vocational Education 6.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Juliet V.; Vetter, Louise

A study examined the relevance of vocational information and guidance for the equal access of girls and women to technical/vocational education in the following countries: Argentina; India; Mexico; Republic of Korea; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; Turkey; United Arab Emirates; and Zambia. Case studies were conducted by using a multiple-strategy…

Chip-Level Channel Equalization in WCDMA Downlink

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kari Hooli

2002-08-01

Full Text Available The most important third generation (3G cellular communications standard is based on wideband CDMA (WCDMA. Receivers based on TDMA style channel equalization at the chip level have been proposed for a WCDMA downlink employing long spreading sequences to ensure adequate performance even with a high number of active users. These receivers equalize the channel prior to despreading, thus restoring the orthogonality of users and resulting in multiple-access interference (MAI suppression. In this paper, an overview of chip-level channel equalizers is delivered with special attention to adaptation methods suitable for the WCDMA downlink. Numerical examples on the equalizers′ performance are given in Rayleigh fading frequency-selective channels.

ARCAS (ACACIA Regional Climate-data Access System) -- a Web Access System for Climate Model Data Access, Visualization and Comparison

Science.gov (United States)

Hakkarinen, C.; Brown, D.; Callahan, J.; hankin, S.; de Koningh, M.; Middleton-Link, D.; Wigley, T.

2001-05-01

A Web-based access system to climate model output data sets for intercomparison and analysis has been produced, using the NOAA-PMEL developed Live Access Server software as host server and Ferret as the data serving and visualization engine. Called ARCAS ("ACACIA Regional Climate-data Access System"), and publicly accessible at http://dataserver.ucar.edu/arcas, the site currently serves climate model outputs from runs of the NCAR Climate System Model for the 21st century, for Business as Usual and Stabilization of Greenhouse Gas Emission scenarios. Users can select, download, and graphically display single variables or comparisons of two variables from either or both of the CSM model runs, averaged for monthly, seasonal, or annual time resolutions. The time length of the averaging period, and the geographical domain for download and display, are fully selectable by the user. A variety of arithmetic operations on the data variables can be computed "on-the-fly", as defined by the user. Expansions of the user-selectable options for defining analysis options, and for accessing other DOD-compatible ("Distributed Ocean Data System-compatible") data sets, residing at locations other than the NCAR hardware server on which ARCAS operates, are planned for this year. These expansions are designed to allow users quick and easy-to-operate web-based access to the largest possible selection of climate model output data sets available throughout the world.

Discovery of accessible locations using region-based geo-social data

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yan

2018-03-17

Geo-social data plays a significant role in location discovery and recommendation. In this light, we propose and study a novel problem of discovering accessible locations in spatial networks using region-based geo-social data. Given a set Q of query regions, the top-k accessible location discovery query (k ALDQ) finds k locations that have the highest spatial-density correlations to Q. Both the spatial distances between locations and regions and the POI (point of interest) density within the regions are taken into account. We believe that this type of k ALDQ query can bring significant benefit to many applications such as travel planning, facility allocation, and urban planning. Three challenges exist in k ALDQ: (1) how to model the spatial-density correlation practically, (2) how to prune the search space effectively, and (3) how to schedule the searches from multiple query regions. To tackle the challenges and process k ALDQ effectively and efficiently, we first define a series of spatial and density metrics to model the spatial-density correlation. Then we propose a novel three-phase solution with a pair of upper and lower bounds of the spatial-density correlation and a heuristic scheduling strategy to schedule multiple query regions. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments on real and synthetic spatial data to demonstrate the performance of the developed solutions.

Fiscal Equalization in the System of Financial Support of Ukraine’s Regions: the Current State and Vector of Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Voznyak Halyna V.

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The peculiarities in the functioning of the current system of inter-budget relations in Ukraine from the perspective of its impact on the regional development have been disclosed. The instruments of implementing fiscal equalization are analyzed, the functioning structure of inter-budget transfers in Ukraine is presented, its characteristics are given. The study demonstrates that the domestic financial equalization system is unable to perform its functions. The conducted analysis of the dynamics and structure of inter-budget transfers made it possible to identify a number of shortcomings in the sphere of inter-budget relations: the excessive centralization of financial resources of regions and their transfer dependence; the imbalances and low revenue capacity of local budgets; the imperfect mechanisms for calculating transfers and terms of transferring, etc. It is noted that in the process of implementing the budgetary policy of the regions, it is advisable to pay more attention to forms of budget support and methods of budgetary regulation.

Equality of Opportunity in American and Canadian Graduate Education: A Comparison of Gender Differences.

Science.gov (United States)

Symons, Gladys L.

1980-01-01

Women in Canada and the U.S. enjoy neither equality of access to higher education nor equality of treatment within graduate level institutions. While women in the U.S. have somewhat greater access to graduate study, they are excluded from the sponsorship system in which Canadian women participate. (SB)

Discovery of accessible locations using region-based geo-social data

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yan; Li, Jianmin; Zhong, Ying; Zhu, Shunzhi; Guo, Danhuai; Shang, Shuo

2018-01-01

Geo-social data plays a significant role in location discovery and recommendation. In this light, we propose and study a novel problem of discovering accessible locations in spatial networks using region-based geo-social data. Given a set Q of query

Gender Equality and the Corporate Sector

OpenAIRE

Lisa Warth

2009-01-01

This paper focuses on how the commitment of businesses to promote gender equality within their organisations can be strengthened. A dual approach of encouraging voluntary measures and corporate social responsibility for gender equality on the one hand, and regulating and enforcing change through legislative reforms on the other hand are reviewed, focusing mainly on the European region. There are arguments for a business case for gender equality in terms of better financial performance and com...

Some Equalities Are More Equal Than Others: Quality Equality Emerges Later Than Numerical Equality.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheskin, Mark; Nadal, Amber; Croom, Adam; Mayer, Tanya; Nissel, Jenny; Bloom, Paul

2016-09-01

By age 6, children typically share an equal number of resources between themselves and others. However, fairness involves not merely that each person receive an equal number of resources ("numerical equality") but also that each person receive equal quality resources ("quality equality"). In Study 1, children (N = 87, 3-10 years) typically split four resources "two each" by age 6, but typically monopolized the better two resources until age 10. In Study 2, a new group of 6- to 8-year-olds (N = 32) allocated resources to third parties according to quality equality, indicating that children in this age group understand that fairness requires both types of equality. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Public Access for Teaching Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, A. Malcolm

2003-01-01

When the human genome project was conceived, its leaders wanted all researchers to have equal access to the data and associated research tools. Their vision of equal access provides an unprecedented teaching opportunity. Teachers and students have free access to the same databases that researchers are using. Furthermore, the recent movement to…

Territorial Dynamics and Gender Equality Policies in Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alba Alonso

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article analyses the impact of the multilevel governance structure in Spain. Particularly, it explores how the main territorial dynamics underpinning the Spanish decentralization model have shaped gender equality policies, namely the cross-regional competitive bargaining, the existence of multiple arenas, the underdevelopment of intergovernmental mechanisms and a highly salient territorial cleavage. The article looks at three key fields of gender equality public intervention and scholarly research: gender mainstreaming, electoral gender quotas and policies against gender-based violence. Our results align with the conditional approach of the gender and federalism scholarship. While competition has stimulated policy diffusion across regions and feminist agency has frequently benefited from the multilevel opportunity structure, the lack of well-established intergovernmental mechanisms has brought about negative side-effects like ‘patchwork’ policies that fail to guarantee equal rights for all Spanish women. The article also shows that territorial interests have not trumped gender equality since the most advanced policies are found in regions with the highest territorial saliency.

Achieve real gender equality for adolescent health | IDRC ...

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

2016-11-03

Nov 3, 2016 ... Achieve real gender equality for adolescent health ... yet limited access to sexual and reproductive health services is preventing women and girls ... forms of sexual violence, trafficking, and abuse and gender discrimination.

Phylogenetic relationships among vietnamese cocoa accessions using a non-coding region of the chloroplast dna

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ha, L.T.V.; Dung, T.N.; Phuoc, P.H.D.

2017-01-01

Cocoa cultivation has increased in tropical areas around the world, including Vietnam, due to the high demand of cocoa beans for chocolate production. The genetic diversity of cocoa genotypes is recognized to be complex, however, their phylogenetic relationships need to be clarified. The present study aimed to classify the cocoa genotypes, that are imported and cultivated in Vietnam, based on a chloroplast DNA region. Sixty-three Vietnamese Cocoa accessions were collected from different regions in Southern Vietnam. Their phylogenetic relationships were identified using the universal primers c-B49317 and d-A49855 from the chloroplast DNA region. The sequences were situated in the trnL intron genes which are identify the closest terrestrial plant species of the chloroplast genome. DNA sequences were determined and subjected to an analysis of the phylogenetic relationship using the maximum evolution method. The genetic analysis showed clustering of 63 cocoa accessions in three groups: the domestically cultivated Trinitario group, the Indigenous cultivars, and the cultivations from Peru. The analyzed sequencing data also illustrated that the TD accessions and CT accessions were related genetically closed. Based on those results the genetic relation between PA and NA accessions was established as the hybrid origins of the TD and CT accessions. Some foreign accessions, including UIT, SCA and IMC accessions were confirmed of their genetic relationship. The present study is the first report of phylogenetic relationships of Vietnamese cocoa collections. The cocoa program in Vietnam has been in development for thirty years. (author)

[Equality between men and women is a right].

Science.gov (United States)

1995-07-01

Equality between men and women is one of the basic human rights. Investments in health, education, and family planning are the fundamental measures for promoting sexual equality. Promoting equality in turn is an investment in improving the health of women and children and the quality of human resources. By reducing pressure for large families, sexual equality creates conditions for faster economic growth. Women control most of the nonmonetary economy including subsistence agriculture, care of children, and domestic work, and they also play an important role in the monetary economy, although much of their work is unrecognized. The unfavorable condition of women limits their access to productive goods and social services. A strong inverse relationship exists between fertility and female education. More educated women have a greater probability of receiving prenatal care and of providing adequate care for their children. In many countries of Latin America, more than 20% of births are to adolescents. Adolescent pregnancies are often problematic, resulting in interrupted education, perpetuation of poverty, health complications, abortion, or even suicide. The problems of adolescent maternity are closely related to the inferior position of women. Education and family planning services are essential in breaking the vicious cycle. Access to employment for women contributes to reducing fertility, improves the position of women in the family, directly aids children, and reduces the woman's need to have many children for old age security. To establish conditions of equality between men and women, political actions must be taken to assure women equal social conditions and economic opportunities. Men must become more involved in family planning and in child care. The society as a whole must understand the social function of maternity.

The neural bases for valuing social equality.

Science.gov (United States)

Aoki, Ryuta; Yomogida, Yukihito; Matsumoto, Kenji

2015-01-01

The neural basis of how humans value and pursue social equality has become a major topic in social neuroscience research. Although recent studies have identified a set of brain regions and possible mechanisms that are involved in the neural processing of equality of outcome between individuals, how the human brain processes equality of opportunity remains unknown. In this review article, first we describe the importance of the distinction between equality of outcome and equality of opportunity, which has been emphasized in philosophy and economics. Next, we discuss possible approaches for empirical characterization of human valuation of equality of opportunity vs. equality of outcome. Understanding how these two concepts are distinct and interact with each other may provide a better explanation of complex human behaviors concerning fairness and social equality. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

FINANCIAL EQUALIZATION TRANSFERS BETWEEN PUBLIC AUTHORITIES BUDGETS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilia Cornelia STOICA

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents financial balancing mechanisms that it is applied by the most of the states with competitive market economy, in order to ensure equity between local authorities, as well as the stability of the entire national tax and budgetary system. In this regard, it is described the concept of financial equalization and its structure according to two fundamental criteria: - equalization in accordance with the financial transfers orientation, distinguishing thus (1 horizontal equalization, which is carried out between local authorities and consists in assigning a part of the richest territorial collectivities resources to the disadvantaged ones; (2 vertical financial equalization, achieved through consolidated transfers the state / federal budget to the budgets by territorial administrative units, both for the operating budget section and for the development one; - financial equalization according to the regional or local disparities observed as a result of territorial-level analyzes: (1 financial equalization based on balancing public revenues of the administrative-territorial units, which tries to correct the differences between the financial resources of each local authority and (2 the financial balancing based on the costs, which aims to reduce differences between standard costs of public services per capita. Financial equalization mechanisms have as main objective the reduction as far as the total elimination of the regional or local disparities, which are also described in this article.

The Financial Equalization System in Germany and Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fehr Hans

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Based on the experience of European countries, practical recommendations on improving the level of financial capacity of regions in Ukraine have been developed. In the article the comparative analysis of the financial equalization system in Germany and Ukraine has been conducted, different approaches to equalization on the basis of the actual redistribution have been determined, the efficiency and transparency of the use of budgetary resources in these countries have been analyzed. The research result is the substantiation of the necessity for decentralization of tax revenues in Ukraine to reduce the volume of transfers from the State Budget to the regions. Prospects for further research in this direction are developing a reform strategy for Germany and Ukraine in order to improve the socio-economic relations between the center and regions and to make the redistribution of budgetary resources more efficient. Improving the system of financial equalization involves the use of optimization techniques taking into account the inter-regional economic and geographic ties.

Performance of an optical equalizer in a 10 G wavelength converting optical access network.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendinueta, José Manuel D; Cao, Bowen; Thomsen, Benn C; Mitchell, John E

2011-12-12

A centralized optical processing unit (COPU) that functions both as a wavelength converter (WC) and optical burst equaliser in a 10 Gb/s wavelength-converting optical access network is proposed and experimentally characterized. This COPU is designed to consolidate drifting wavelengths generated with an uncooled laser in the upstream direction into a stable wavelength channel for WDM backhaul transmission and to equalize the optical loud/soft burst power in order to relax the burst-mode receiver dynamic range requirement. The COPU consists of an optical power equaliser composed of two cascaded SOAs followed by a WC. Using an optical packet generator and a DC-coupled PIN-based digital burst-mode receiver, the COPU is characterized in terms of payload-BER for back-to-back and backhaul transmission distances of 22, 40, and 62 km. We show that there is a compromise between the receiver sensitivity and overload points that can be optimized tuning the WC operating point for a particular backhaul fiber transmission distance. Using the optimized settings, sensitivities of -30.94, -30.17, and -27.26 dBm with overloads of -9.3, -5, and >-5 dBm were demonstrated for backhaul transmission distances of 22, 40 and 62 km, respectively. © 2011 Optical Society of America

E-inclusion: Digital equality - young people with disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemmingsson, H; Bolic-Baric, V; Lidström, H

2015-01-01

The United Nations' position is that digital access is a matter involving equality between groups of people, the securing of democratic rights, and equal opportunities for all citizens. This study investigates digital equality in school and leisure between young people with and without disabilities. A cross-sectional design with group comparisons was applied. Participants were young people (10-18 years of age) with disabilities (n=389) and a reference group in about the same ages. Data were collected by a survey focusing on access to and engagement in ICT activities in school and during leisure time. The results demonstrated young people with disabilities had restricted participation in computer use in educational activities, in comparison to young people in general. During leisure time young people with disabilities had a leading position compared to the reference group with respect to internet use in a variety of activities. Beneficial environmental conditions at home (and the reverse in schools) are discussed as parts of the explanation for the differing engagement levels at home and in school, and among young people with disabilities and young people in general. Schools need to prioritise use of ICT by young people with disabilities.

Block-Iterative Frequency-Domain Equalizations for SC-IDMA Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salah Awad Salman

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In wireless broadband communications using single-carrier interleave division multiple access (SC-IDMA systems, efficient multiuser detection (MUD classes that make use of joint hybrid decision feedback equalization (HDFE/ frequency decision-feedback equalization (FDFE and interference cancellation (IC techniques, are proposed in conjunction with channel coding to deal with several users accessing the multipath fading channels. In FDFE-IDMA, the feedforward (FF and feedback (FB filtering operations of FDFE, which use to remove intersymbol interference (ISI, are implemented by Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs, while in HDFE-IDMA the only FF filter is implemented by FFTs. Further, the parameters involved in the FDFE/HDFE filtering are derived according to the minimum mean square error (MMSE criteria, and the feedback symbol decisions are directly designed from soft detection of the decoded signals at the previous iteration. The simulation results including comparisons with those of frequency domain equalization (FDE, SC-FDE-IDMA and multi-carrier OFDM-IDMA schemes, with cyclic prefixing (CP and zero padding (ZP techniques, show that the combination of FDFE-IC/HDFE-IC provides an efficient solution with good performance for IDMA systems in ISI channels. Moreover, these iterative structures with block equalization yield a much lower complexity than equivalent existing structures, making them attractive for a wealth of applications.

County-level poverty is equally associated with unmet health care needs in rural and urban settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Lars E; Litaker, David G

2010-01-01

Regional poverty is associated with reduced access to health care. Whether this relationship is equally strong in both rural and urban settings or is affected by the contextual and individual-level characteristics that distinguish these areas, is unclear. Compare the association between regional poverty with self-reported unmet need, a marker of health care access, by rural/urban setting. Multilevel, cross-sectional analysis of a state-representative sample of 39,953 adults stratified by rural/urban status, linked at the county level to data describing contextual characteristics. Weighted random intercept models examined the independent association of regional poverty with unmet needs, controlling for a range of contextual and individual-level characteristics. The unadjusted association between regional poverty levels and unmet needs was similar in both rural (OR = 1.06 [95% CI, 1.04-1.08]) and urban (OR = 1.03 [1.02-1.05]) settings. Adjusting for other contextual characteristics increased the size of the association in both rural (OR = 1.11 [1.04-1.19]) and urban (OR = 1.11 [1.05-1.18]) settings. Further adjustment for individual characteristics had little additional effect in rural (OR = 1.10 [1.00-1.20]) or urban (OR = 1.11 [1.01-1.22]) settings. To better meet the health care needs of all Americans, health care systems in areas with high regional poverty should acknowledge the relationship between poverty and unmet health care needs. Investments, or other interventions, that reduce regional poverty may be useful strategies for improving health through better access to health care. © 2010 National Rural Health Association.

Accessibility-based evaluation of transportation and land-use planning : from laboratory to practice : USDOT Region V Regional University Transportation Center final report.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-16

The concept of accessibility has made inroads into planning practice, largely at the system level. That is, accessibility is measured or modeled for current or future regional transportation and land-use scenarios for evaluation or broad policy guida...

The case for developing publicly-accessible datasets for health services research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

El-Jardali Fadi

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The existence of publicly-accessible datasets comprised a significant opportunity for health services research to evolve into a science that supports health policy making and evaluation, proper inter- and intra-organizational decisions and optimal clinical interventions. This paper investigated the role of publicly-accessible datasets in the enhancement of health care systems in the developed world and highlighted the importance of their wide existence and use in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region. Discussion A search was conducted to explore the availability of publicly-accessible datasets in the MENA region. Although datasets were found in most countries in the region, those were limited in terms of their relevance, quality and public-accessibility. With rare exceptions, publicly-accessible datasets - as present in the developed world - were absent. Based on this, we proposed a gradual approach and a set of recommendations to promote the development and use of publicly-accessible datasets in the region. These recommendations target potential actions by governments, researchers, policy makers and international organizations. Summary We argue that the limited number of publicly-accessible datasets in the MENA region represents a lost opportunity for the evidence-based advancement of health systems in the region. The availability and use of publicly-accessible datasets would encourage policy makers in this region to base their decisions on solid representative data and not on estimates or small-scale studies; researchers would be able to exercise their expertise in a meaningful manner to both, policy makers and the public. The population of the MENA countries would exercise the right to benefit from locally- or regionally-based studies, versus imported and in 'best cases' customized ones. Furthermore, on a macro scale, the availability of regionally comparable publicly-accessible datasets would allow for the

Access to health care: solidarity and justice or egoism and injustice?

Science.gov (United States)

Prudil, Lukas

2008-09-01

The aim of this paper is to answer the question whether there is a real demand for equal access to health care or--better--to medical care and which interest groups (patients, health care professionals, policy makers and others) are interested in equal access. The focus is on EU countries including recent case law from the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. We discuss whether there is a need to have legislative safeguards to protect equal access to medical care and whether such norms really work. The paper concludes that some of the key players in medical care are not primarily governed by a real willingness to have equal and just access to medical care, but by rather egoistic approaches. It seems that policy makers and politicians are the only ones who, surprisingly, must at least formally call for and enforce equal access to medical care. Interests of other groups seem to be different.

Access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for injecting drug users in the WHO European Region 2002-2004

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Donoghoe, Martin C; Bollerup, Annemarie R; Lazarus, Jeff

2007-01-01

Providing equitable access to highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) to injecting drug users (IDUs) is both feasible and desirable. Given the evidence that IDUs can adhere to HAART as well as non-IDUs and the imperative to provide universal and equitable access to HIV/AIDS treatment for all...... who need it, here we examine whether IDUs in the 52 countries in the WHO European Region have equitable access to HAART and whether that access has changed over time between 2002 and 2004. We consider regional and country differences in IDU HAART access; examine preliminary data regarding...

Gender Equality in Educational Achievement An East-West Comparison

OpenAIRE

Schnepf, Sylke Viola

2004-01-01

Data on educational access show gender parity of pupils attending primary and secondary schools in transition countries. The first aim of this analysis is to examine whether the gender balance in educational access translates also into gender equality in educational achievement. There are several and very recent international surveys available measuring pupils learning achievement and functional literacy in schools. These surveys are typically analysed in isolation from each other even though...

Equality and Excellence in Higher Education--Is It Possible?

Science.gov (United States)

Guri, Sarah

1986-01-01

The underlying philosophy of Everyman's University, Israel's open university, is to maintain educational excellence while providing equal educational opportunity to large segments of the population through free access and a flexible program of distance education. (MSE)

Trends in Gender Equality in the UK, 1968 to 2012: Four Barriers to ¡®Equal Pay¡¯ for Women

OpenAIRE

Jacob Tattam; John Simister

2014-01-01

This paper disaggregates the pay gap between men and women into four possible ¡®barriers¡¯: access to paid work; part-time versus full-time jobs; entrance into higher-paid jobs; and similar pay for equivalent work. UK data from 1968 to 2012 are analyzed, to investigate these possible barriers. All four barriers have persisted for decades, and all four ¡®barriers¡¯ tend to work in favour of men. There is evidence of progress in gender equality since 1968 ¨C for example, the 1970 ¡®Equal Pay Ac...

Evaluating the impact of climate policies on regional food availability and accessibility using an Integrated Assessment Model

Science.gov (United States)

Gilmore, E.; Cui, Y. R.; Waldhoff, S.

2015-12-01

Beyond 2015, eradicating hunger will remain a critical part of the global development agenda through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Efforts to limit climate change through both mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and land use policies may interact with food availability and accessibility in complex and unanticipated ways. Here, we develop projections of regional food accessibility to 2050 under the alternative futures outlined by the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and under different climate policy targets and structures. We use the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), an integrated assessment model (IAM), for our projections. We calculate food access as the weighted average of consumption of five staples and the portion of income spend on those commodities and extend the GCAM calculated universal global producer price to regional consumer prices drawing on historical relationships of these prices. Along the SSPs, food access depends largely on expectations of increases in population and economic status. Under a more optimistic scenario, the pressures on food access from increasing demand and rising prices can be counterbalanced by faster economic development. Stringent climate policies that increase commodity prices, however, may hinder vulnerable regions, namely Sub-Saharan Africa, from achieving greater food accessibility.

Insurance + access not equal to health care: typology of barriers to health care access for low-income families.

Science.gov (United States)

Devoe, Jennifer E; Baez, Alia; Angier, Heather; Krois, Lisa; Edlund, Christine; Carney, Patricia A

2007-01-01

Public health insurance programs have expanded coverage for the poor, and family physicians provide essential services to these vulnerable populations. Despite these efforts, many Americans do not have access to basic medical care. This study was designed to identify barriers faced by low-income parents when accessing health care for their children and how insurance status affects their reporting of these barriers. A mixed methods analysis was undertaken using 722 responses to an open-ended question on a health care access survey instrument that asked low-income Oregon families, "Is there anything else you would like to tell us?" Themes were identified using immersion/crystallization techniques. Pertinent demographic attributes were used to conduct matrix coded queries. Families reported 3 major barriers: lack of insurance coverage, poor access to services, and unaffordable costs. Disproportionate reporting of these themes was most notable based on insurance status. A higher percentage of uninsured parents (87%) reported experiencing difficulties obtaining insurance coverage compared with 40% of those with insurance. Few of the uninsured expressed concerns about access to services or health care costs (19%). Access concerns were the most common among publicly insured families, and costs were more often mentioned by families with private insurance. Families made a clear distinction between insurance and access, and having one or both elements did not assure care. Our analyses uncovered a 3-part typology of barriers to health care for low-income families. Barriers to health care can be insurmountable for low-income families, even those with insurance coverage. Patients who do not seek care in a family medicine clinic are not necessarily getting their care elsewhere.

Social Attitudes on Gender Equality and Firms' Discriminatory Pay-Setting

OpenAIRE

Janssen, Simon; Tuor Sartore, Simone N.; Backes-Gellner, Uschi

2014-01-01

We analyze the relationship between social attitudes on gender equality and firms' pay-setting behavior by combining information about regional votes relative to gender equality laws with a large data set of multi-branch firms and workers. The results show that multi-branch firms pay more discriminatory wages in branches located in regions with a higher social acceptance of gender inequality than in branches located in regions with a lower acceptance. The results are similar for different sub...

Study of band terminating in the A {approx_equal} 100 by EUROGAM; Recherche de terminaisons de bandes dans la region A {approx_equal} 100 avec EUROGAM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gizon, J.; Gizon, A.; Genevey, J.; Santos, D. [Inst. des Sciences Nucleaires, Grenoble-1 Univ., 38 (France); Nyako, B.M.; Timar, J.; Zolnai, L. [Institute of Nuclear Research, Debrecen (Hungary); Boston, A.J.; Zoss, D.T.; Paul, E.S.; Semple, A.T. [Oliver Lodge Laboratory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool (United Kingdom); O`Brien, N.J.; Parry, C.M. [Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York (United Kingdom); Cata-Danil, Gh.; Bucurescu, D. [Horia Hulubei Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest (Romania); Afanasjev, A.V.; Ragnarsson, I. [Department of Mathematical Physics, University of Lund, Lund (Sweden)

1997-12-31

Terminating bands in nuclei in the A{approx_equal} 100 region have been investigated using the EUROGAM2 array. Results have been obtained for Pd (Z 46) and Rh (Z = 45) isotopes. In the nucleus {sup 102}Pd, eight terminating configurations are identified. It is the first nucleus where terminating bands built on the valence space configurations and on core excited configurations are observed. Terminating bands have been also found in {sup 103}Pd and {sup 102}Rh. For {sup 102}Rh it is the first case of band terminations identified in a doubly-odd nucleus below the Z = 50 shell closure. (authors) 9 refs., 2 figs.

Sickness absence in gender-equal companies A register study at organizational level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Öhman Ann

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The differences in sickness absence between men and women in Sweden have attracted a great deal of interest nationally in the media and among policymakers over a long period. The fact that women have much higher levels of sickness absence has been explained in various ways. These explanations are contextual and one of the theories points to the lack of gender equality as an explanation. In this study, we evaluate the impact of gender equality on health at organizational level. Gender equality is measured by an index ranking companies at organizational level; health is measured as days on sickness benefit. Methods Gender equality was measured using the Organizational Gender Gap Index or OGGI, which is constructed on the basis of six variables accessible in Swedish official registers. Each variable corresponds to a key word illustrating the interim objectives of the "National Plan for Gender Equality", implemented by the Swedish Parliament in 2006. Health is measured by a variable, days on sickness benefit, also accessible in the same registers. Results We found significant associations between company gender equality and days on sickness benefit. In gender-equal companies, the risk for days on sickness benefit was 1.7 (95% CI 1.6-1.8 higher than in gender-unequal companies. The differences were greater for men than for women: OR 1.8 (95% CI 1.7-2.0 compared to OR 1.4 (95% CI 1.3-1.5. Conclusions Even though employees at gender-equal companies had more days on sickness benefit, the differences between men and women in this measure were smaller in gender-equal companies. Gender equality appears to alter health patterns, converging the differences between men and women.

The Analysis of Basic Public Service Supply Regional Equalization in China’s Provinces——Based on the Theil Index Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Zangyi

2017-12-01

Accomplishing the regional equalization of basic public service supply among the provinces in China is an important objective that can promote the people’s livelihood construction. In order to measure the problem which is about the non-equalization of basic public service supply, this paper takes these aspects as the first index, such as the infrastructure construction, basic education services, public employment services, public health service and social security service. At the same time, it cooperates with 16 index as the second index to construct the performance evaluation systems, and then use the Theil index to evaluate the performance in provinces that using the panel data from the year 2000 to 2012.

Equality on the Bus: Case Comment on Paulley v FirstGroup Plc

OpenAIRE

Tariq, Akeel

2018-01-01

The Equality Act 2010 imposes a duty on employers and organisations to make sure that disabled people have easy access to education, jobs and services. This ensures that they are treated equally with non-disabled people.\\ud Over the years, employers have been looked down upon for failing to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people by both the EHRC and judges. There seems to be much more focus on how and why employers should treat disabled people equally, leaving organisations and servi...

Equal and universal access?: water at mealtimes, inequalities, and the challenge for schools in poor and rural communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramirez, Sarah M; Stafford, Randall

2013-05-01

As a result of the rising national obesity rates, public health researchers and advocates have initiated a number of obesity prevention interventions to reduce the rates of overweight and obesity along with their related medical conditions and costs. Policymakers have also initiated a wide range of environmental and policies to support healthy eating and physical activity. Policies such as California's SB1413, which requires that free drinking water be served in school cafeterias during mealtimes, and subsequently the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, assume an equal access to safe and healthy drinking water. As a result, these policies and their application may unintentionally, exacerbate the inequities already present. Unless we take reasonable steps to address the needs of high-need communities, these one-size-fits-all policy efforts may result in an unequal patchwork of disparities and may have a greater negative impact in high-need poor and rural areas.

The Impact of Varying Statutory Arrangements on Spatial Data Sharing and Access in Regional NRM Bodies

Science.gov (United States)

Paudyal, D. R.; McDougall, K.; Apan, A.

2014-12-01

Spatial information plays an important role in many social, environmental and economic decisions and increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for wider societal and environmental benefits. Natural Resource Management is one area where spatial information can be used for improved planning and decision making processes. In Australia, state government organisations are the custodians of spatial information necessary for natural resource management and regional NRM bodies are responsible to regional delivery of NRM activities. The access and sharing of spatial information between government agencies and regional NRM bodies is therefore as an important issue for improving natural resource management outcomes. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the current status of spatial information access, sharing and use with varying statutory arrangements and its impacts on spatial data infrastructure (SDI) development in catchment management sector in Australia. Further, it critically examined whether any trends and significant variations exist due to different institutional arrangements (statutory versus non-statutory) or not. A survey method was used to collect primary data from 56 regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies responsible for catchment management in Australia. Descriptive statistics method was used to show the similarities and differences between statutory and non-statutory arrangements. The key factors which influence sharing and access to spatial information are also explored. The results show the current statutory and administrative arrangements and regional focus for natural resource management is reasonable from a spatial information management perspective and provides an opportunity for building SDI at the catchment scale. However, effective institutional arrangements should align catchment SDI development activities with sub-national and national SDI development activities to address catchment management issues. We found minor

Gender equality and childbirth in a health facility: Nigeria and MDG5.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Kavita; Bloom, Shelah; Haney, Erica; Olorunsaiye, Comfort; Brodish, Paul

2012-09-01

This paper examined how addressing gender equality can lead to reductions in maternal mortality in Nigeria through an increased use of facility delivery. Because the majority of maternal complications cannot be predicted and often arise suddenly during labor, delivery and the immediate postpartum period, childbirth in a health facility is key to reducing maternal mortality. This paper used data from the 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to examine associations of gender measures on the utilization of facility delivery after controlling for socio-demographic factors. Four gender equality measures were studied: household decision-making, financial decision-making, attitudes towards wife beating, and attitudes regarding a wife's ability to refuse sex. Results found older, more educated, wealthier, urban, and working women were more likely to have a facility delivery than their counterparts. In addition ethnicity was a significant variable indicating the importance of cultural and regional diversity. Notably, after controlling for the socioeconomic variables, two of the gender equality variables were significant: household decision-making and attitudes regarding a wife's ability to refuse sex. In resource-poor settings such as Nigeria, women with more decision-making autonomy are likely better able to advocate for and access a health facility for childbirth. Thus programs and policies that focus on gender in addition to focusing on education and poverty have the potential to reduce maternal mortality even further.

Moving toward a universally accessible web: Web accessibility and education.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurt, Serhat

2017-12-08

The World Wide Web is an extremely powerful source of information, inspiration, ideas, and opportunities. As such, it has become an integral part of daily life for a great majority of people. Yet, for a significant number of others, the internet offers only limited value due to the existence of barriers which make accessing the Web difficult, if not impossible. This article illustrates some of the reasons that achieving equality of access to the online world of education is so critical, explores the current status of Web accessibility, discusses evaluative tools and methods that can help identify accessibility issues in educational websites, and provides practical recommendations and guidelines for resolving some of the obstacles that currently hinder the achievability of the goal of universal Web access.

Foreign Models of Financial Equalization, Prospects for Implementation in Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piontko Nataliia B.

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed to identify the models of financial equalization applied in foreign countries, and to substantiate the possibilities for use of foreign experience in terms of financial equalization or individual elements of such models on the territory of Ukraine, for taking into consideration the foreign tools of financial equalization in the context of the State regional policy reforms is a priority and urgent task of the present day. During the generalization and systematization of scientific works by numerous domestic and foreign scientists, models of financial equalization, depending on the form of state structure in the country, have been identified. Determinants of the necessity of financial equalization were analyzed, such as: the imbalance between the own financial security and the level of assigned tasks; the level of fiscal decentralization. Methods of income and expenditures equalization, applied in vertical or horizontal levels for balancing regional development, have been substantiated. Features of expansion of financial security of budgets by using innovative tools for equalization have been determined. A comparison of the models of financial equalization in foreign countries was made and the major tasks for improving the mechanism and organization of financial equalization of budgets in Ukraine were defined. Prospects for further research in this area are diversification of tools for financial equalization, defining the investment component in the structure of budgets' incomes and studying the activities of sub-central authorities in the financial market

Light equalization radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kruger, R.A.; Reinecke, D.R.; Power, R.L.

1989-01-01

An electro-optical, radiographic film dodging technique has been developed that can restore lost image contrast on underexposed regions of radiographs. The device consists of a low-resolution x-ray camera and a scanning, light-exposure array. Both are controlled by a microcomputer. The theory of operation has been developed, and technical requirements for implementing light-equalization radiogrpahy have been defined. Initial clinical results with a prototype have been analyzed and compared with results of conventional films

Equal access to the energy infrastructure as a precondition to promote competition in the energy market. The case of European Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nowak, Bartlomiej

2010-01-01

In many EU countries, the infrastructures for supplying electricity and gas (electricity networks, gas pipelines, and storage facilities) are still properties of the so-called vertically integrated undertakings (VIU) responsible for the extraction or generation, supply, and transmission and distribution of the energy. While competition can be promoted in the generation/production and supply side of the vertical integration, transmission and distribution segments remain natural monopolies that hinder market mechanisms. Vertical integration simply raises the possibility for incumbents to favor their own divisions and to block new entrants. As a result, non-discriminatory and equal access to the electricity and gas transmission and distribution networks, also LNG and storage facilities, is crucial to foster competition in politically delicate structures of the electricity and gas markets. (author)

Equal access to the energy infrastructure as a precondition to promote competition in the energy market. The case of European Union

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nowak, Bartlomiej [Kozminski University, Warsaw (Poland)

2010-07-15

In many EU countries, the infrastructures for supplying electricity and gas (electricity networks, gas pipelines, and storage facilities) are still properties of the so-called vertically integrated undertakings (VIU) responsible for the extraction or generation, supply, and transmission and distribution of the energy. While competition can be promoted in the generation/production and supply side of the vertical integration, transmission and distribution segments remain natural monopolies that hinder market mechanisms. Vertical integration simply raises the possibility for incumbents to favor their own divisions and to block new entrants. As a result, non-discriminatory and equal access to the electricity and gas transmission and distribution networks, also LNG and storage facilities, is crucial to foster competition in politically delicate structures of the electricity and gas markets. (author)

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Intellectual Property Protection, and Access to Medicines.

Science.gov (United States)

Townsend, Belinda; Gleeson, Deborah; Lopert, Ruth

2016-11-01

The inclusion of elevated standards of intellectual property (IP) protection in the recently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement has raised serious public health concerns regarding access to medicines. A lesser-known trade agreement under negotiation in the Asia-Pacific region is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Framed as an attempt to reassert ASEAN's position in response to the United States-led TPP, RCEP includes key players China and India as well as several low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Leaked drafts of IP provisions proposed by Japan and South Korea raise similar concerns in the Asia-Pacific region. This article identifies TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement)-Plus provisions in leaked negotiating texts and examines their implications for LMICs that are not also parties to the TPP: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, China, and India. We find that higher levels of IP protection delay the market entry of generic medicines, giving rise to increased costs to governments and reduced access to essential medicines. The article concludes that the public health community should recognize risks inherent in trade agreements that promote expansions of IP rights and engage with governments to ensure that public health is adequately and explicitly protected in trade and investment negotiations. © 2016 APJPH.

ICTs for Equal Access to Human Resources in Health in ...

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

Making use of information and communication technology (ICT) to ensure equitable access to health services in developing countries is becoming more and more feasible. Since the conference, Bridges to African Development via the Internet (Bamako, 2000), several ICT initiatives have appeared in Mali, such as the ...

A Scorecard on Gender Equality and Girls' Education in Asia, 1990-2000. Advocacy Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Unterhalter, Elaine; Rajagopalan, Rajee; Challender, Chloe

2005-01-01

Background: Existing measures for access to and efficiency in the school system are very limited as measures of gender equality, even though there have been marked improvements in sex-disaggregated data. A methodology for developing a scorecard which measures gender equality in schooling and education partly based on Amartya Sen's capability…

Geographic Access Modeling of Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care in Kigoma Region, Tanzania: Transportation Schemes and Programmatic Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yi No; Schmitz, Michelle M; Serbanescu, Florina; Dynes, Michelle M; Maro, Godson; Kramer, Michael R

2017-09-27

Access to transportation is vital to reducing the travel time to emergency obstetric and neonatal care (EmONC) for managing complications and preventing adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. This study examines the distribution of travel times to EmONC in Kigoma Region, Tanzania, using various transportation schemes, to estimate the proportion of live births (a proxy indicator of women needing delivery care) with poor geographic access to EmONC services. The 2014 Reproductive Health Survey of Kigoma Region identified 4 primary means of transportation used to travel to health facilities: walking, cycling, motorcycle, and 4-wheeled motor vehicle. A raster-based travel time model was used to map the 2-hour travel time catchment for each mode of transportation. Live birth density distributions were aggregated by travel time catchments, and by administrative council, to estimate the proportion of births with poor access. Of all live births in Kigoma Region, 13% occurred in areas where women can reach EmONC facilities within 2 hours on foot, 33% in areas that can be reached within 2 hours only by motorized vehicles, and 32% where it is impossible to reach EmONC facilities within 2 hours. Over 50% of births in 3 of the 8 administrative councils had poor estimated access. In half the councils, births with poor access could be reduced to no higher than 12% if all female residents had access to motorized vehicles. Significant differences in geographic access to EmONC in Kigoma Region, Tanzania, were observed both by location and by primary transportation type. As most of the population may only have good EmONC access when using mechanized or motorized vehicles, bicycles and motorcycles should be incorporated into the health transportation strategy. Collaboration between private transportation sectors and obstetric service providers could improve access to EmONC services among most populations. In areas where residents may not access EmONC facilities within 2 hours

Characteristics of energy access to the poor and to impoverished regions in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kemmler, A.

2007-01-01

have higher levels of education, better sanitation facilities, and greater access to tap water; their houses are in better condition; and they have a higher daily caloric intake. For this reason, energy measures may form a practical basis for a proxy indicator of poverty, as the use of energy indicators is not restricted to environmental and economical issues but is significant for social issues as well. Although energy development is closely related to measures that focus on basic human needs, a single energy-based indicator cannot grasp the multidimensional quality of poverty. Energy is a factor in fulfilling each of these needs, but the extent of these needs is not completely captured by measuring energy poverty alone. Therefore, while access adjusted useful energy correlates fairly well with most of the analysed poverty dimensions, it is only a rough approximation for poverty. The relationship between energy and poverty, however, is a reciprocal one. Improving the poors' access to modern energy sources can make an important difference to their welfare and can be a catalyst for human development: specifically, electricity may be an important trigger for development. Yet, there are still about 450 million people in India without access to electricity. In this way, one observes remarkable regional differences in the electrification rate. These observed regional disparities in electrification can be explained by a combination of factors that influence both village and household electrification. While the geographic endowment of a region was found to be relevant for village electrification, this was not the case for household electrification. A panel data analysis shows further that having a high proportion of agricultural area has a positive effect on a village's electrification rate, while an unfavourable settlement structure and a large state area constrain its electrification rate. In particular, the existence of small but numerous villages seems to correspond to

Adaptive histogram equalization and its variations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pizer, S.M.; Amburn, E.P.; Austin, J.D.; Cromartie, R.; Geselowitz, A.; Greer, Trey; Haar Romenij, ter B.M.; Zimmerman, J.B.; Zuiderveld, K.J.

1987-01-01

Adaptive histogram equalization (ahe) is a contrast enhancement method designed to be broadly applicable and having demonstrated effectiveness. However, slow speed and the overenhancement of noise it produces in relatively homogeneous regions are two problems. We report algorithms designed to

Eleventh Annual "Brown" Lecture in Education Research A Long Shadow: The American Pursuit of Political Justice and Education Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, James D.

2015-01-01

This article examines the historical relationship between political power and the pursuit of education and social equality from the Reconstruction era to the present. The chief argument is that education equality is historically linked to and even predicated on equal political power, specifically, equal access to the franchise and instruments of…

Does Increased Access Increase Equality? Gender and Child Health Investments in India

OpenAIRE

Emily Oster

2006-01-01

Policymakers often argue that increasing access to health care is one crucial avenue for decreasing gender inequality in the developing world. Although this is generally true in the cross section, time series evidence does not always point to the same conclusion. This paper analyzes the relationship between access to child health investments and gender inequality in those health investments in India. A simple theory of gender-biased parental investment suggests that gender inequality may actu...

Regional Legal Assistance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Fatah

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Legal aid policy in the area carried out on several considerations including: Implementation of the authority given to the legal aid act, granting the guarantee and protection of access to justice and equality before the law in the area, equitable distribution of justice and increase public awareness and understanding of the law, and legal implications that accompanied the emergence of the right to legal counsel without pay and the right to choose the legal settlement. How To Cite Fatah, A. (2015. Regional Legal Assistance. Rechtsidee, 2(1, 1-10. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21070/jihr.v2i1.7

Plans for dealing with loss of access to the Midwest Compact Regional Disposal Facility: Regional Management Plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-01-01

This report describes events that could lead to the premature closure of a disposal facility and the prospects that the closed facility could eventually be reopened. Possible courses of action leading to disposal outside the Midwest region while the Midwest Compact works to reestablish a regional disposal capability are also discussed. A likely division of responsibilities between the Compact Commission and the individual member states, with emphasis on managing low-level waste after a loss of access when disposal outside the Midwest is not possible is presented. Key elements in an agreement between compacts to accept each other's waste when one compact has experienced an unexpected interruption of its disposal operation are described

The special role of item-context associations in the direct-access region of working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Campoy, Guillermo

2017-09-01

The three-embedded-component model of working memory (WM) distinguishes three representational states corresponding to three WM regions: activated long-term memory, direct-access region (DAR), and focus of attention. Recent neuroimaging research has revealed that access to the DAR is associated with enhanced hippocampal activity. Because the hippocampus mediates the encoding and retrieval of item-context associations, it has been suggested that this hippocampal activation is a consequence of the fact that item-context associations are particularly strong and accessible in the DAR. This study provides behavioral evidence for this view using an item-recognition task to assess the effect of non-intentional encoding and maintenance of item-location associations across WM regions. Five pictures of human faces were sequentially presented in different screen locations followed by a recognition probe. Visual cues immediately preceding the probe indicated the location thereof. When probe stimuli appeared in the same location that they had been presented within the memory set, the presentation of the cue was expected to elicit the activation of the corresponding WM representation through the just-established item-location association, resulting in faster recognition. Results showed this same-location effect, but only for items that, according to their serial position within the memory set, were held in the DAR.

Paralympics 2012 Legacy: Accessible Housing and Disability Equality or Inequality?

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Nadia

2013-01-01

The golden summer of sport is now over, but what is the legacy of London 2012 for disabled people? Nadia Ahmed, a disabled student, discusses the difficulties she has faced in finding accessible accommodation in London. She argues that while the Games are over, the United Kingdom still has lots of hurdles to leap when it comes to disability. The…

Access or Inclusion? Conceptualisation and Operationalisation of Gender Equality in Zimbabwean State Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Chauraya, Efiritha

2014-01-01

This article explores concerns about gender inequality in Zimbabwean state universities. The researcher's interest arose from the realisation of persistent gender inequalities despite initiatives to close gender gaps. Of particular concern is the conceptualization and operationalisation of gender equality in institutions. Focusing only on the…

Energy prices, equalization and federalism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Courchene, T.J.

2005-01-01

A rise in oil prices over the last 30 years has shaped the debate on the equalization formula as well as the nature of fiscal federalism. The oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 contributed to the creation of the National Energy Program (NEP) in 1980 and the Energy Pricing and Taxation Agreement (EPTA) between Ottawa and Alberta in 1981. The current surge in oil prices, to recent highs of $70 a barrel has resulted in a new debate on energy pricing, equalization and fiscal frameworks. This article presented a review of the history of oil and federalism, and proposed a remedy to the horizontal fiscal imbalance by allocating the fixed equalization pool in accordance with fiscal capacity disparities relating to non-resource revenues. An interprovincial revenue-sharing pool was suggested for resource revenues, agreed to and operated by the provinces. It was suggested that after the price spike in 1973 in which the price of oil tripled, a key part of the rationale for imposing export taxes on oil equal to the difference between domestic and world prices was that the federal government could subsidize oil imports into eastern Canada and maintain a uniform domestic price across the country. By continuing to subsidize imports and maintaining a domestic price below the world price, the government has been diverting potential energy revenues from energy-rich provinces and transferring them directly to Canadians in terms of subsidized energy prices. It was noted that energy price surges cannot send equalization payments soaring as they did before because of the 2004 Framework Agreement, in which the overall equalization will be increased to $10.9 billion. A 2-tier approach to equalization was presented, in which it was suggested that the $10.9 billion pool should be allocated with fiscal capacity disparities relating to non-resource revenues. The creation of a revenue sharing pool for resource revenues was recommended. It was suggested that the 2 approaches will result in a strategic

Energy prices, equalization and federalism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Courchene, T.J. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). School of Policy Studies

2005-10-01

A rise in oil prices over the last 30 years has shaped the debate on the equalization formula as well as the nature of fiscal federalism. The oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 contributed to the creation of the National Energy Program (NEP) in 1980 and the Energy Pricing and Taxation Agreement (EPTA) between Ottawa and Alberta in 1981. The current surge in oil prices, to recent highs of $70 a barrel has resulted in a new debate on energy pricing, equalization and fiscal frameworks. This article presented a review of the history of oil and federalism, and proposed a remedy to the horizontal fiscal imbalance by allocating the fixed equalization pool in accordance with fiscal capacity disparities relating to non-resource revenues. An interprovincial revenue-sharing pool was suggested for resource revenues, agreed to and operated by the provinces. It was suggested that after the price spike in 1973 in which the price of oil tripled, a key part of the rationale for imposing export taxes on oil equal to the difference between domestic and world prices was that the federal government could subsidize oil imports into eastern Canada and maintain a uniform domestic price across the country. By continuing to subsidize imports and maintaining a domestic price below the world price, the government has been diverting potential energy revenues from energy-rich provinces and transferring them directly to Canadians in terms of subsidized energy prices. It was noted that energy price surges cannot send equalization payments soaring as they did before because of the 2004 Framework Agreement, in which the overall equalization will be increased to $10.9 billion. A 2-tier approach to equalization was presented, in which it was suggested that the $10.9 billion pool should be allocated with fiscal capacity disparities relating to non-resource revenues. The creation of a revenue sharing pool for resource revenues was recommended. It was suggested that the 2 approaches will result in a strategic

Gender and occupational wage gaps in Romania: from planned equality to market inequality?

OpenAIRE

Andrén, Daniela; Andrén, Thomas

2008-01-01

In Romania, the communist regime promoted an official policy of gender equality for more than 40 years, providing equal access to education and employment, and restricting pay differentiation based on gender. After its fall in December 1989, the promotion of equal opportunities and treatment for women and men did not constitute a priority for any of the governments of the 1990s. This paper analyzes both gender and occupational wage gaps before and during the first years of transition to a mar...

Foreign Models of Financial Equalization, Prospects for Implementation in Ukraine

OpenAIRE

Piontko Nataliia B.

2015-01-01

The article is aimed to identify the models of financial equalization applied in foreign countries, and to substantiate the possibilities for use of foreign experience in terms of financial equalization or individual elements of such models on the territory of Ukraine, for taking into consideration the foreign tools of financial equalization in the context of the State regional policy reforms is a priority and urgent task of the present day. During the generalization and sys...

Unequal Gain of Equal Resources across Racial Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Assari, Shervin

2017-08-05

The health effects of economic resources (eg, education, employment, and living place) and psychological assets (eg, self-efficacy, perceived control over life, anger control, and emotions) are well-known. This article summarizes the results of a growing body of evidence documenting Blacks' diminished return, defined as a systematically smaller health gain from economic resources and psychological assets for Blacks in comparison to Whites. Due to structural barriers that Blacks face in their daily lives, the very same resources and assets generate smaller health gain for Blacks compared to Whites. Even in the presence of equal access to resources and assets, such unequal health gain constantly generates a racial health gap between Blacks and Whites in the United States. In this paper, a number of public policies are recommended based on these findings. First and foremost, public policies should not merely focus on equalizing access to resources and assets, but also reduce the societal and structural barriers that hinder Blacks. Policy solutions should aim to reduce various manifestations of structural racism including but not limited to differential pay, residential segregation, lower quality of education, and crime in Black and urban communities. As income was not found to follow the same pattern demonstrated for other resources and assets (ie, income generated similar decline in risk of mortality for Whites and Blacks), policies that enforce equal income and increase minimum wage for marginalized populations are essential. Improving quality of education of youth and employability of young adults will enable Blacks to compete for high paying jobs. Policies that reduce racism and discrimination in the labor market are also needed. Without such policies, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate the sustained racial health gap in the United States. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access

Equal is as equal does: challenging Vatican views on women.

Science.gov (United States)

1995-01-01

The authors of this piece are women from the Roman Catholic tradition who are critical of the Vatican position on women's rights. The Report of the Holy See in Preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women reveals a religious fundamentalism that misuses tradition and anthropology to limit women's roles and rights. The Vatican is itself a self-proclaimed state that offers women neither opportunities nor protections within its own organization, and there is no evidence of women's participation in the preparation of its report. The Vatican document constructs a vision of women and men in which men are normative persons, whose dignity is conferred by their humanity, and women are the variant other, defined by and granted dignity by their reproductive and mothering functions. The Vatican document is anti-feminist. It criticizes the "radical feminists" of the 1960s for trying to deny sexual differences, and accuses today's Western feminists of ignoring the needs of women in developing countries while pursuing selfish and hedonistic goals. It makes no recognition of the work of feminists to improve the lives of women worldwide. The Vatican document claims to support women's equality, but it qualifies each statement of equality with a presumption of difference. The document defines women as vulnerable without naming men as responsible for the oppression and violence to which women are vulnerable. It ridicules as feminist cant the well-documented fact that the home is the setting of most violence against women. The Vatican decries the suffering families undergo as a result of cumpulsory birth control and abortion policies, while it would deny families sex education, contraceptives, and safe abortion, thereby making pregnancy cumpulsory. A new vision of social justice is needed, one that: 1) rests on a radical equality, in which both women and men are expected to contribute to work, education, culture, morality, and reproduction; 2) accepts a "discipleship of equals

Securing Gender Equality through a Nexus of Energy Policy Performance and Relative Political Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Perkins-Ozuagiemhe, Andrea Christen

This dissertation presents what is believed to be the first empirical study that measures the effect of increasing access to modern household energy sources upon advancing gender equality within developing countries. As a powerful and fundamental public infrastructural socio-economic building block, improved access to modern energy in developing countries delivers the necessary economic ingredient of time as a major component of household production and consumption and captures the interdependence between market and household economies. Thus, because it has been empirically proven that men and women differ in their utilization of household energy with women spending more time engaged in non-market household labor than men, improving access to modern household energy in developing countries, especially in rural areas, theoretically would disproportionately affect women's lives. Essentially, the element of "time" not only extends the day for women to use towards more economically and educationally productive activities, but also lessens the burden of domestic chores from women with technological advancements in more time-efficient household appliances and cleaner modern energy sources. This dissertation introduces gender differentiation in a model in the form of a gender relative status composite measure comparing socio-economic achievements in secondary education, life expectancy, and labor force participation rates by varying degree of demographic transition, thereby, measuring the effect of improved access to modern household energy upon overall gender equality. Fixed effects panel regressions employing a Driscoll-Kraay non-parametric covariance matrix, and estimated and interpreted adjusted predictions and marginal effects of the two-way interaction between a country's available access to residential electric power (kWh per capita) and the level of relative political performance against predicted values of gender relative status are employed. The models confirm

Effect of area x-ray beam equalization on image quality and dose in digital mammography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wong, Jerry; Xu Tong; Husain, Adeel; Le, Huy; Molloi, Sabee [Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States)

2004-08-21

In mammography, thick or dense breast regions persistently suffer from reduced contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) because of degraded contrast from large scatter intensities and relatively high noise. Area x-ray beam equalization can improve image quality by increasing the x-ray exposure to under-penetrated regions without increasing the exposure to other breast regions. Optimal equalization parameters with respect to image quality and patient dose were determined through computer simulations and validated with experimental observations on a step phantom and an anthropomorphic breast phantom. Three parameters important in equalization digital mammography were considered: attenuator material (Z = 13-92), beam energy (22-34 kVp) and equalization level. A Mo/Mo digital mammography system was used for image acquisition. A prototype 16 x 16 piston driven equalization system was used for preparing patient-specific equalization masks. Simulation studies showed that a molybdenum attenuator and an equalization level of 20 were optimal for improving contrast, CNR and figure of merit (FOM = CNR{sup 2}/dose). Experimental measurements using these parameters showed significant improvements in contrast, CNR and FOM. Moreover, equalized images of a breast phantom showed improved image quality. These results indicate that area beam equalization can improve image quality in digital mammography.

Access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the WHO European Region 2003-2005

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bollerup, Annemarie R; Donoghoe, Martin C; Lazarus, Jeff

2008-01-01

To assess changes in access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) between the end of 2002 and the end of 2005, and to review the capacity for further HAART scale-up in the then 52 Member States of the WHO European Region....

Transgender social inclusion and equality: a pivotal path to development

Science.gov (United States)

Divan, Vivek; Cortez, Clifton; Smelyanskaya, Marina; Keatley, JoAnne

2016-01-01

Introduction The rights of trans people are protected by a range of international and regional mechanisms. Yet, punitive national laws, policies and practices targeting transgender people, including complex procedures for changing identification documents, strip transgender people of their rights and limit access to justice. This results in gross violations of human rights on the part of state perpetrators and society at large. Transgender people's experience globally is that of extreme social exclusion that translates into increased vulnerability to HIV, other diseases, including mental health conditions, limited access to education and employment, and loss of opportunities for economic and social advancement. In addition, hatred and aggression towards a group of individuals who do not conform to social norms around gender manifest in frequent episodes of extreme violence towards transgender people. This violence often goes unpunished. Discussion The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) views its work in the area of HIV through the lens of human rights and advances a range of development solutions such as poverty reduction, improved governance, active citizenship, and access to justice. This work directly relates to advancing the rights of transgender people. This manuscript lays out the various aspects of health, human rights, and development that frame transgender people's issues and outlines best practice solutions from transgender communities and governments around the globe on how to address these complex concerns. The examples provided in the manuscript can help guide UN agencies, governments, and transgender activists in achieving better standards of health, access to justice, and social inclusion for transgender communities everywhere. Conclusions The manuscript provides a call to action for countries to urgently address the violations of human rights of transgender people in order to honour international obligations, stem HIV epidemics, promote

Transgender social inclusion and equality: a pivotal path to development.

Science.gov (United States)

Divan, Vivek; Cortez, Clifton; Smelyanskaya, Marina; Keatley, JoAnne

2016-01-01

The rights of trans people are protected by a range of international and regional mechanisms. Yet, punitive national laws, policies and practices targeting transgender people, including complex procedures for changing identification documents, strip transgender people of their rights and limit access to justice. This results in gross violations of human rights on the part of state perpetrators and society at large. Transgender people's experience globally is that of extreme social exclusion that translates into increased vulnerability to HIV, other diseases, including mental health conditions, limited access to education and employment, and loss of opportunities for economic and social advancement. In addition, hatred and aggression towards a group of individuals who do not conform to social norms around gender manifest in frequent episodes of extreme violence towards transgender people. This violence often goes unpunished. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) views its work in the area of HIV through the lens of human rights and advances a range of development solutions such as poverty reduction, improved governance, active citizenship, and access to justice. This work directly relates to advancing the rights of transgender people. This manuscript lays out the various aspects of health, human rights, and development that frame transgender people's issues and outlines best practice solutions from transgender communities and governments around the globe on how to address these complex concerns. The examples provided in the manuscript can help guide UN agencies, governments, and transgender activists in achieving better standards of health, access to justice, and social inclusion for transgender communities everywhere. The manuscript provides a call to action for countries to urgently address the violations of human rights of transgender people in order to honour international obligations, stem HIV epidemics, promote gender equality, strengthen social and

Gender equality and equal opportunity mechanisms in Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mršević Zorica

2007-01-01

Full Text Available As a country of Southern European mentality Italy may be taken as the nearest-to-the-Balkans model of the gender equality mechanisms and necessity of their existence. Italy also might be taken as a model of domain and methods of functioning of the gender equality mechanisms as well as their connections with the EU development funds. Besides the Italian Ministry for Rights and Equal opportunities and the National Committee, the attention was paid to the whole range of local mechanisms and legal regulations dealing with advancement of women’s employment and counteracting discrimination on the labor market. In the text are analyzed through the five chapters the Italian mechanisms/institutions for gender equality as located within the European institutional environment but also within the context of Italian recent history of struggle against gender based discrimination. It was stressed that the essence of the accumulated European institutional wisdom is in diversity of the gender equality bodies rather then in their uniformity. Although the Italian mechanisms for gender equality are part of the European institutional environment their aim is to meet the internal needs for advancement of gender equality. Besides, the mechanisms also meet the demands of the international standards comprised in the documents issued by the UN and the EU. In European countries these mechanisms are frequently established and function in the domains of the labor and employment regulations, but also are located within the human rights portfolios while somewhere are connected with the minority rights and equal opportunity implementation.

The Access Pricing Problem: A Synthesis.

OpenAIRE

Armstrong, Mark; Doyle, Chris; Vickers, John

1996-01-01

The Baumol-Willig efficient component pricing rule states that it is efficient to set the price of access to an essential facility equal to the direct cost of access plus the opportunity cost to the integrated access provider. The authors analyze the relevant notion of 'opportunity cost' under various assumptions about demand and supply conditions, including product differentiation, bypass, and substitution possibilities, which all reduce opportunity cost compared to the benchmark case. They ...

The influence of European sex equality law on the UK legislation: a challenge to the “male norm”?

OpenAIRE

Manfredi, Simonetta

2018-01-01

It has been argued that some of the main provisions of the EU sex equality law, namely the Equal Treatment and the Equal Pay Directives, have hardly had any influence on the decision to introduce legislation in the UK, aimed at eliminating discrimination based on sex with regard to pay, access to jobs, training and working conditions. The Equal Pay Act (1970) and the Sex Discrimination Act (1975), which represent the two main pillars of equality legislation in the UK, were both introduced pri...

Women's road to business success in the era of equal opportunities policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monika Fabińska

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In the era of equal opportunities policy, the road to business success is still more time-consuming and labour-intensive for women than it is for men. Numerous studies indicate that women are faced with specific requirements concerning the enhancement of their role in management. However, despite the existing procedural and legal solutions, women's access to leadership positions is still difficult. Analysing the situation in Poland, a change in the situation of women in the labour market after the accession to the European Union is practically imperceptible or insignificant, despite such strongly emphasised equal opportunities policy, especially in projects co-financed by the Structural Funds. The paper aims to answer the following questions: (1 what factors hinder women's entrepreneurial activity?, and (2 does the phenomenon of discrimination against women in the labour market still exist despite the strongly emphasised, especially after 2004, principle of equal opportunities? The provision of answers to thus formulated questions was preceded by an analysis of secondary sources and a CAWI study conducted on a sample of 353 randomly selected companies from Lodz representing various sectors. The respondents in the study were women-entrepreneurs or women occupying managerial/executive positions.

Dithiothreitol-based protein equalization technology to unravel biomarkers for bladder cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Araújo, J E; López-Fernández, H; Diniz, M S; Baltazar, Pedro M; Pinheiro, Luís Campos; da Silva, Fernando Calais; Carrascal, Mylène; Videira, Paula; Santos, H M; Capelo, J L

2018-04-01

This study aimed to assess the benefits of dithiothreitol (DTT)-based sample treatment for protein equalization to assess potential biomarkers for bladder cancer. The proteome of plasma samples of patients with bladder carcinoma, patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and healthy volunteers, was equalized with dithiothreitol (DTT) and compared. The equalized proteomes were interrogated using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry. Six proteins, namely serum albumin, gelsolin, fibrinogen gamma chain, Ig alpha-1 chain C region, Ig alpha-2 chain C region and haptoglobin, were found dysregulated in at least 70% of bladder cancer patients when compared with a pool of healthy individuals. One protein, serum albumin, was found overexpressed in 70% of the patients when the equalized proteome of the healthy pool was compared with the equalized proteome of the LUTS patients. The pathways modified by the proteins differentially expressed were analyzed using Cytoscape. The method here presented is fast, cheap, of easy application and it matches the analytical minimalism rules as outlined by Halls. Orthogonal validation was done using western-blot. Overall, DTT-based protein equalization is a promising methodology in bladder cancer research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Questioning territorial cohesion: (Un)equal access to services of general interest

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Malý, Jiří

-, August 2016 (2016), s. 1-21 ISSN 1056-8190 Institutional support: RVO:68145535 Keywords : territorial cohesion * services of general interest * accessibility * spatial justice * Czech Republic Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography Impact factor: 1.272, year: 2016 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pirs.12250/full

Accessibility and use of primary healthcare for immigrants living in the Niagara Region.

Science.gov (United States)

Lum, Irene D; Swartz, Rebecca H; Kwan, Matthew Y W

2016-05-01

Although the challenges of accessing and using primary healthcare for new immigrants to Canada have been fairly well documented, the focus has primarily been on large cities with significant immigrant populations. The experiences of immigrants living in smaller, less diverse urban centres remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of immigrants living in a small urban centre with regards to the primary healthcare system. A total of 13 immigrants living in the Greater Niagara Region participated in semi-structured interviews. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then coded and analyzed for emergent themes using NVivo. Five factors were found to impact primary care access and use: lack of social contacts, lack of universal healthcare coverage during their initial arrival, language as a barrier, treatment preferences, and geographic distance to primary care. Overall findings suggest that immigrants moving to smaller areas such as the Niagara Region face similar barriers to primary care as those moving into large cities. Some barriers, however, appear to be specific to the context of smaller urban centres, further exacerbated by living in a small city due to a smaller immigrant population, fewer services for immigrants, and less diversity in practicing physicians. More research is required to understand the contextual factors inhibiting primary care access and use among immigrants moving to smaller urban centres, and determine effective strategies to overcome these barriers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Public Sector Education Institution's Analysis: A Way Forward to Curtail Rural-Regional Education Accessibility Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mir Aftab Hussain Talpur

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The availability of accessible educational facilities is essential for the better rural education. However, because of the huge population, lack of resources and absence of proper policy plans; the distance between educational facilities and rural communities is mounting as time progresses. These sorts of problematic circumstances put damaging effects on education standards and become responsible for the declining literacy rate. Hence, the goal of this research is to investigate the lack of educational institutions with respect to indigenous standards. Therefore, in this study, the dearth of education institutions was determined for the one of the most deprived sub-regions of Pakistan, i.e. Badin. The data were collected through observations, questionnaire survey, and from secondary sources, like census report and other pertinent public sector documents. The outcome of this study can be taken as an input to develop policy plans, targeting the education accessibility issues of backward communities. This research could show a guiding-path to local planning agencies, as these can come-up with the policy plans to trounce the education accessibility issues from the bucolic sub-regions of developing countries

Access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for women and children in the WHO European Region 2002-2006

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stengaard, Annemarie Rinder; Lazarus, Jeff; Donoghoe, Martin C

2009-01-01

Objective. To assess the level of access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for women and children in the WHO European Region. Methods. Analysis of data from three national surveys of 53 WHO European Member States. The comparative level of access to HAART for women and children was a...

36 CFR 254.12 - Value equalization; cash equalization waiver.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Value equalization; cash... AGRICULTURE LANDOWNERSHIP ADJUSTMENTS Land Exchanges § 254.12 Value equalization; cash equalization waiver. (a..., either with or without adjustments of relative values as compensation for various costs, the parties to...

Access road reclamation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manson, T.; Blok, M.

1997-01-01

A general review of the measures involved in restoring abandoned access road sites in British Columbia was presented. Permits and licences are needed for the use of crown land for roads used by the petroleum and natural gas industry for exploration activities. However, the regulatory framework for road site reclamation is not well developed. The nature of access road reclamation is very site-specific. Some of the issues that are considered for all reclamation projects include slope stability, water control, revegetation, soil rehabilitation, access management and monitoring. The primary objective of reclaiming access road sites is to return the site to conditions that are equal or better than pre-disturbance conditions. Restoration measures must be approved by BC Environment and by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans where federal fisheries responsibilities are involved. 54 refs., 5 tabs., 3 figs

From equality to 'equality'

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Panov Slobodan

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Pursuant to lucid statement of a Serbian academician that the ideals of mankind have always been justice, freedom, virtues and that life was less noble, the work analyses whether there is both 'equality', as morosofo exist (stupid wise men, profitable altruists and evil humanists and admirers of freedom of monistic thinking. Is there a dialectics: from equality to 'equality'? At the time of profitable altruists, evil humanists and excellent actors of virtues, it is worthwhile to remember Nietzsche's attitude about the pose of morality: subordination to morality may be slavish, proud, sordid, and resigned. In theological literature it is said that both patriarchate and matriarchate are the same denial of thankful supplemental gifts to a man and a woman. There is no love and sacrifice in government. There is no fortune in slavery, but there is no happiness in mastery either. Can a 'hymn' of individualism, with empty concepts and legal formulations that encourage and sharpen the conflict of family members be an introductory tact of the dictatorship ballade? Is the projection of conflicts into a family and micro-environment a project against emotional solidarity, strength, independence, courage and will for freedom? If we cannot rely upon family are we strong enough to confront totalitarian in democratic?.

A Rank Test on Equality of Population Medians

OpenAIRE

Pooi Ah Hin

2012-01-01

The Kruskal-Wallis test is a non-parametric test for the equality of K population medians. The test statistic involved is a measure of the overall closeness of the K average ranks in the individual samples to the average rank in the combined sample. The resulting acceptance region of the test however may not be the smallest region with the required acceptance probability under the null hypothesis. Presently an alternative acceptance region is constructed such that it has the smallest size, ap...

Characteristics of energy access to the poor and to impoverished regions in India[Dissertation 17033

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kemmler, A.

2007-07-01

therein have higher levels of education, better sanitation facilities, and greater access to tap water; their houses are in better condition; and they have a higher daily caloric intake. For this reason, energy measures may form a practical basis for a proxy indicator of poverty, as the use of energy indicators is not restricted to environmental and economical issues but is significant for social issues as well. Although energy development is closely related to measures that focus on basic human needs, a single energy-based indicator cannot grasp the multidimensional quality of poverty. Energy is a factor in fulfilling each of these needs, but the extent of these needs is not completely captured by measuring energy poverty alone. Therefore, while access adjusted useful energy correlates fairly well with most of the analysed poverty dimensions, it is only a rough approximation for poverty. The relationship between energy and poverty, however, is a reciprocal one. Improving the poors' access to modern energy sources can make an important difference to their welfare and can be a catalyst for human development: specifically, electricity may be an important trigger for development. Yet, there are still about 450 million people in India without access to electricity. In this way, one observes remarkable regional differences in the electrification rate. These observed regional disparities in electrification can be explained by a combination of factors that influence both village and household electrification. While the geographic endowment of a region was found to be relevant for village electrification, this was not the case for household electrification. A panel data analysis shows further that having a high proportion of agricultural area has a positive effect on a village's electrification rate, while an unfavourable settlement structure and a large state area constrain its electrification rate. In particular, the existence of small but numerous villages seems to

A novel parallel architecture for local histogram equalization

Science.gov (United States)

Ohannessian, Mesrob I.; Choueiter, Ghinwa F.; Diab, Hassan

2005-07-01

Local histogram equalization is an image enhancement algorithm that has found wide application in the pre-processing stage of areas such as computer vision, pattern recognition and medical imaging. The computationally intensive nature of the procedure, however, is a main limitation when real time interactive applications are in question. This work explores the possibility of performing parallel local histogram equalization, using an array of special purpose elementary processors, through an HDL implementation that targets FPGA or ASIC platforms. A novel parallelization scheme is presented and the corresponding architecture is derived. The algorithm is reduced to pixel-level operations. Processing elements are assigned image blocks, to maintain a reasonable performance-cost ratio. To further simplify both processor and memory organizations, a bit-serial access scheme is used. A brief performance assessment is provided to illustrate and quantify the merit of the approach.

Gender Summit 2011: Equality Research and Innovation Through Equality

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Tenglerová, Hana

2011-01-01

Roč. 19, č. 2 (2011), s. 72-74 ISSN 1210-6658. [European Gender Summit 2011: Equality Research and Innovation Through Equality . Brusel, 07.11.2011-08.11.2011] R&D Projects: GA MŠk OK08007 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70280505 Keywords : gender equality * science * policy Subject RIV: AO - Sociology, Demography

Patterns of Practice in Palliative Radiotherapy for Painful Bone Metastases: Impact of a Regional Rapid Access Clinic on Access to Care

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Jackson S.Y.; Kerba, Marc; Wong, Rebecca K.S.; Mckimmon, Erin; Eigl, Bernhard; Hagen, Neil A.

2010-01-01

Purpose: External beam radiotherapy (RT) is commonly indicated for the palliation of symptomatic bone metastases, but there is evidence of underutilization of this treatment modality in palliative care for cancer populations. This study was conducted to investigate factors that influenced the use of palliative RT services at a regional comprehensive cancer center. Methods and Materials: A cohort of patients with radiographically confirmed bone metastases and first-time users of palliative RT between 2003 and 2005 was retrospectively reviewed from the time of initial diagnosis of bone metastases to death or last follow-up. Type of radiation treatment service provider used (rapid access or routine access) and patient-, tumor-, and treatment-related factors were analyzed for their influences on the number of treatment courses given over the duration of disease. Results: A total of 887 patients received 1,354 courses of palliative RT for bone metastases at a median interval of 4.0 months between courses. Thirty-three percent of patients required more than one RT course. Increased age and travel distance reduced the likelihood and number of treatment courses, while service through a rapid access clinic was independently associated with an increase in subsequent use of palliative RT. Conclusions: A rapid access service model for palliative RT facilitated access to RT. Travel distance and other factors remained substantial barriers to use of palliative RT services. The pattern of practice suggests an unmet need for symptom control in patients with bone metastases.

Accessibility of tertiary hospitals in Finland: A comparison of administrative and normative catchment areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Huotari, Tiina; Antikainen, Harri; Keistinen, Timo; Rusanen, Jarmo

2017-06-01

The determination of an appropriate catchment area for a hospital providing highly specialized (i.e. tertiary) health care is typically a trade-off between ensuring adequate client volumes and maintaining reasonable accessibility for all potential clients. This may pose considerable challenges, especially in sparsely inhabited regions. In Finland, tertiary health care is concentrated in five university hospitals, which provide services in their dedicated catchment areas. This study utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS), together with grid-based population data and travel-time estimates, to assess the spatial accessibility of these hospitals. The current geographical configuration of the hospitals is compared to a normative assignment, with and without capacity constraints. The aim is to define optimal catchment areas for tertiary hospitals so that their spatial accessibility is as equal as possible. The results indicate that relatively modest improvements can be achieved in accessibility by using normative assignment to determine catchment areas. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Getting to Equal : Promoting Gender Equality through Human Development

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2011-01-01

To achieve gender equality and empower women, it is essential to invest in human development. The World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development (hereafter WDR 2012) brings the best global evidence to bear on the relationship between gender equality and development. A central theme running through the report is how investments and outcomes in human development namely health...

Unequal Gain of Equal Resources across Racial Groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shervin Assari

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The health effects of economic resources (eg, education, employment, and living place and psychological assets (eg, self-efficacy, perceived control over life, anger control, and emotions are well-known. This article summarizes the results of a growing body of evidence documenting Blacks’ diminished return, defined as a systematically smaller health gain from economic resources and psychological assets for Blacks in comparison to Whites. Due to structural barriers that Blacks face in their daily lives, the very same resources and assets generate smaller health gain for Blacks compared to Whites. Even in the presence of equal access to resources and assets, such unequal health gain constantly generates a racial health gap between Blacks and Whites in the United States. In this paper, a number of public policies are recommended based on these findings. First and foremost, public policies should not merely focus on equalizing access to resources and assets, but also reduce the societal and structural barriers that hinder Blacks. Policy solutions should aim to reduce various manifestations of structural racism including but not limited to differential pay, residential segregation, lower quality of education, and crime in Black and urban communities. As income was not found to follow the same pattern demonstrated for other resources and assets (ie, income generated similar decline in risk of mortality for Whites and Blacks, policies that enforce equal income and increase minimum wage for marginalized populations are essential. Improving quality of education of youth and employability of young adults will enable Blacks to compete for high paying jobs. Policies that reduce racism and discrimination in the labor market are also needed. Without such policies, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate the sustained racial health gap in the United States.

Automated Area Beam Equalization Mammography for Improved Imaging of Dense Breasts

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Molloi, Sabee

2005-01-01

...) because of degraded contrast from large scatter intensities and relatively high noise. Area x-ray beam equalization can improve image quality by increasing the x-ray exposure to underpenetrated regions without increasing the exposure to the breast regions...

Automated Area Beam Equalization Mammography for Improved Imaging of Dense Breast

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Molloi, Sabee

2004-01-01

...) because of degraded contrast from large scatter intensities and relatively high noise. Area x-ray beam equalization can improve image quality by increasing the x-ray exposure to under-penetrated regions without increasing the exposure to other breast regions...

The Role of Genome Accessibility in Transcription Factor Binding in Bacteria.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio L C Gomes

2016-04-01

Full Text Available ChIP-seq enables genome-scale identification of regulatory regions that govern gene expression. However, the biological insights generated from ChIP-seq analysis have been limited to predictions of binding sites and cooperative interactions. Furthermore, ChIP-seq data often poorly correlate with in vitro measurements or predicted motifs, highlighting that binding affinity alone is insufficient to explain transcription factor (TF-binding in vivo. One possibility is that binding sites are not equally accessible across the genome. A more comprehensive biophysical representation of TF-binding is required to improve our ability to understand, predict, and alter gene expression. Here, we show that genome accessibility is a key parameter that impacts TF-binding in bacteria. We developed a thermodynamic model that parameterizes ChIP-seq coverage in terms of genome accessibility and binding affinity. The role of genome accessibility is validated using a large-scale ChIP-seq dataset of the M. tuberculosis regulatory network. We find that accounting for genome accessibility led to a model that explains 63% of the ChIP-seq profile variance, while a model based in motif score alone explains only 35% of the variance. Moreover, our framework enables de novo ChIP-seq peak prediction and is useful for inferring TF-binding peaks in new experimental conditions by reducing the need for additional experiments. We observe that the genome is more accessible in intergenic regions, and that increased accessibility is positively correlated with gene expression and anti-correlated with distance to the origin of replication. Our biophysically motivated model provides a more comprehensive description of TF-binding in vivo from first principles towards a better representation of gene regulation in silico, with promising applications in systems biology.

Estimating spatial accessibility to facilities on the regional scale: an extended commuting-based interaction potential model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charreire Hélène

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There is growing interest in the study of the relationships between individual health-related behaviours (e.g. food intake and physical activity and measurements of spatial accessibility to the associated facilities (e.g. food outlets and sport facilities. The aim of this study is to propose measurements of spatial accessibility to facilities on the regional scale, using aggregated data. We first used a potential accessibility model that partly makes it possible to overcome the limitations of the most frequently used indices such as the count of opportunities within a given neighbourhood. We then propose an extended model in order to take into account both home and work-based accessibility for a commuting population. Results Potential accessibility estimation provides a very different picture of the accessibility levels experienced by the population than the more classical "number of opportunities per census tract" index. The extended model for commuters increases the overall accessibility levels but this increase differs according to the urbanisation level. Strongest increases are observed in some rural municipalities with initial low accessibility levels. Distance to major urban poles seems to play an essential role. Conclusions Accessibility is a multi-dimensional concept that should integrate some aspects of travel behaviour. Our work supports the evidence that the choice of appropriate accessibility indices including both residential and non-residential environmental features is necessary. Such models have potential implications for providing relevant information to policy-makers in the field of public health.

The "Second Chance" Myth: Equality of Opportunity in Irish Adult Education Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Grummell, Bernie

2007-01-01

This article explores the "second chance" myth that surrounds the role of adult education in society. This myth apparently offers all citizens an equal chance to access educational opportunities to improve their life chances. I argue that recent developments in educational policy-making are increasingly shaped by neoliberal discourses…

Equal pay for work of equal value in terms of the Employment Equity ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Lastly, this article seeks to ascertain whether the EEA (including the Employment Equity Regulations) provides an adequate legal framework for determining an equal pay for work of equal value claim. Keywords: Equal pay; Employment Equity Act; Equality Act; International Labour Organisation; Equal Pay Guide; Equal ...

Dis-Equality: Exploring the Juxtaposition of Disability and Equality

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Bronagh Byrne

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The (inequality issues facing disabled people are extensive and long-enduring. The way(s in which equality is conceptualised has important consequences for understandings of disability. The ambiguity of what I call dis-equality theory is two-fold; the apparent failure of mainstream equality theorising in, firstly, embracing disability concepts at all, and secondly, in fully incorporating the logistics of disability, particularly in relation to the social construction of such. Practices of institutional and more complex forms of discrimination are part of those deeper structures of domination and oppression which maintain disabled people in positions of disadvantage. Everyday practices, in the ‘ordinary order of things’ (Bourdieu, 2000, continue to be misrecognised as natural and taken for granted. This article critically explores the complexity of dis-equality theorising utilising a Bourdieusian lens which explicitly incorporates complex and subtle forms of discrimination, and by examining the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ approach to equality. I argue that the way forward for dis-equality theorising in today’s rights based era must be one that considers the nuances of the ‘rules of the game’ (Young, 1990 if it is to be effective in challenging the inequalities to which disabled people have long been subject.

Evidence for Policy Making: Health Services Access and Regional Disparities in Kerman

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Mina Anjomshoa

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Background and purpose: Health indices, regarding to their role in the development of society, are one of the most important indices at national level. Success of national development programs is largely dependent on the establishment of appropriate goals at the health sector, among which access to healthcare facilities is an essential requirement. The aim of this study was to examine the disparities in health services access across the Kerman province. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Study sample included the cities of Kerman province, ranked based on 15 health indices. Data was collected from statistical yearbook. The indices were weighted using Shannon entropy, then using the TOPSIS technique and the result were classified into three categories in terms of the level of development across towns. Results: The findings showed distinct regional disparities in health services across Kerman province and the significant difference was observed between the cities in terms of development. Shannon entropy introduced the number of pharmacologist per 10 thousand people as the most important indicator and the number of rural active health center per 1000 people as the less important indicator. According to TOPSIS, Kerman town (0.719 and Fahraj (0.1151 ranked the first and last in terms of access to health services respectively. Conclusion: There are significant differences between cities of Kerman province in terms of access to health care facilities and services. Therefore, it is recommended that officials and policy-makers determine resource allocation priorities according to the degree of development for a balanced and equitable distribution of health care facilities.

Homonormativity, Charternormativity, and Processes of Legitimation: Exploring the Affective-Spatio-Temporal-Fixed Dimensions of Marriage Equality and Charter Schools

OpenAIRE

Stern, Mark

2015-01-01

Over the past five years, marriage equality and charter schools have emerged at the forefront of political conversations about equality and rights. Some argue that these policies extend access to certain benefits and opportunities to historically oppressed communities, thus furthering liberalism and egalitarianism. In this article, I engage these arguments by exploring how and why people from dominant cultures come to support marriage equality or charter schools despite not directly benefitti...

«Equality! the sacred right of equality». Representation under Constitution of 1812

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Rodríguez O., Jaime E.

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Historians generally argue that Spaniards were not willing to grant Americans equal representation in the Cortes of Cádiz. This article examines the nature of representation in the Antiguo Régimen and the reasons inequality existed in the institutions that emerged after 1808, the Junta Central, the Regency, and the Cortes. Although it is true that the Peninsular majority refused to grant the castas full political rights, they acted to preserve equal representation for themselves in the Cortes. Their actions were predicated on an erroneous belief about the total population of the overseas territories. Opposition to granting the castas full political rights was also shared by some American deputies — those from regions with large African origin population—. Although the Peninsular majority failed to grant Americans the equal representation based on population that they desired, the Spaniards went further than the leaders of any other European nation. England never considered granting the white population of its North American possessions any representation in Parliament, much less equality.

La historiografía sostiene habitualmente que los españoles peninsulares no deseaban otorgar a los americanos una representación igualitaria en las Cortes de Cádiz. Este artículo estudia la naturaleza de la representación en el Antiguo Régimen y las razones por las que existía la desigualdad en instituciones surgidas después de 1808, como la Junta Central, la Regencia y las Cortes. Es cierto que la mayoría peninsular rechazó otorgar plenos derechos políticos a las castas (personas con ancestros africanos y que se esforzó en conservar la representación igualitaria para ellos mismos en las Cortes. Un comportamiento que se basaba en una idea equivocada sobre la población total de los territorios de ultramar. Sin embargo, en el rechazo a otorgar plenos derechos políticos también participaron algunos diputados

Women's Views about Gender Equality on the Current Social Policy in Turkey

Science.gov (United States)

Öztop, Hülya; Finkel, Müge

2015-01-01

Women's equal participation in all aspects of social, political and economic life is an essential requirement for sustainable development and democratic governance. How to engage women in these different spheres of policy, increase their access to information and ensure their participation in policy debates are therefore among the key questions…

Reframing Inclusive Education: Educational Equality as Capability Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Terzi, Lorella

2014-01-01

In this paper, I argue that rethinking questions of inclusive education in the light of the value of educational equality--specifically conceived as capability equality, or genuine opportunities to achieve educational functionings--adds some important insights to the current debate on inclusive education. First, it provides a cohesive value…

Disability, Access to Food and the UN CRPD: Navigating Discourses of Human Rights in the Netherlands

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Mitzi Waltz

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In 2016, the Netherlands ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD, one of the last developed nations to do so. In this article, we explore how equal access to food provides a lens through which barriers to implementing a rights-based approach to disability equality can be examined in countries that are historically resistant to such discourses. Through a literature review, policy research, and interviews with disabled people, representatives of disabled people’s organisations, Dutch legal scholars, food researchers, and foodbanks, we have explored barriers to equal food access in the Netherlands, and current approaches to overcoming social, economic and physical barriers. Our analysis indicates that implementation of the UN CRPD and other relevant international and EU policies continues to be limited in the Netherlands due to narrow interpretations, leading to policies and practices that do not foster equal access to resources and environments. Dutch understandings of disability equality are evolving, but encounter opposition from an entrenched system of separation and resistance to mandating change, including a reluctance to even collect data about inequality. From this basis, we identify knowledge gaps and make recommendations for steps the Netherlands could take to ensure equal access to food.

PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY TROUGH EQUAL LIFE STANDARD IN EU COUNTRIES

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Aleksandar Dashtevski

2018-06-01

Full Text Available After the World War II, especially in the early fifties there is an expansion of gender rights. Women are massively employed all over the world in all sectors of social life, contributing to an increase in both their own standard of living and the standard in their own countries. As the importance and role of women grows, this is achieved with increasing respect for its rights. Gender means elimination of inequality and promote equality between women and men in all areas of social life. If we want to achieve gender equality as a whole, it is inevitable to achieve an economic consolidation of the two sexes. Economic strengthening is possible trough equal pay. Experience shows that payments are not equal when it comes to wages for men and women. Therefore, the EU is constantly working to regulate this area, with special regulations, which are mandatory for the member states, but should also be respected by countries that would like to join the union. This led to the promotion of gender equality through an equal life.

Homonormativity, Charternormativity, and Processes of Legitimation: Exploring the Affective-Spatio-Temporal-Fixed Dimensions of Marriage Equality and Charter Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Stern, Mark

2015-01-01

Over the past five years, marriage equality and charter schools have emerged at the forefront of political conversations about equality and rights. Some argue that these policies extend access to certain benefits and opportunities to historically oppressed communities, thus furthering liberalism and egalitarianism. In this article, I engage these…

Solving the Problems of Physical and Economic Accessibility of Foodstuff in the Region by Means of AIC State Regulation

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Babich Tatyana Vladimirovna

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the physical and economic accessibility to foodstuff in the region. The effects of economic sanctions are analyzed, the main types of risks of the domestic agricultural producers’ competitiveness are described, and the methods of their reduction are identified. The concept of food security in terms of physical and economic accessibility is considered. The analysis of the Volgograd region data on the development of agricultural production let conclude that there is the problem of ensuring the physical availability of foodstuff in the region. The state regulation of agricultural production is identified as an important factor of food security in the modern world. The authors identified the basic problems of agricultural production, including the problem of irrigation, economic accessibility of food products, depreciation of fixed assets, the use of obsolete and resource-intensive technologies of production, decline in qualification level of staff employed in the industry, underfunding of agricultural science, low competitiveness of agricultural and food policy. Moreover, in the current situation the further growth of food prices and reduced purchasing power of the population, as a result of inflation, would further reduce the economic affordability of food and decrease food security in the region and in the country, as a whole. As a result, аs part of the solution to the problem of providing physical and economic access to food, the authors offered and proved complex measures on improving state regulation of agro-industrial complex. These measures include conducting large-scale works on restoration of the complex reclamation of the region; implementation of technical and technological modernization of agriculture, food industry and agrobusiness production services; formation of the system of professional agricultural education; formation of modern social infrastructure in rural areas; development of the program of food

Periodic Discordance Between Vote Equality and Representational Equality in the United States

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Sarah K. Cowan

2015-08-01

Full Text Available American democracy has two central values that are often in tension: vote equality, that each vote has equal influence, and representational equality, that each elected official represents equal numbers of people. The electoral standard of “one person, one vote” ensures representational equality, and that often ensures vote equality. This relationship fails, however, under certain demographic conditions, namely, when a large, non-enfranchised population resides unevenly across jurisdictions. Then, representational equality is preserved and vote equality is violated. Prior to women’s suffrage, for example, western states had relatively fewer women than the remainder of the country, contributing to gross vote inequality, though rectified through extension of the franchise. Given recent high rates of immigration to some states, I ask whether the two values are in tension. I find that they are, and quantify the electoral consequences of this disjuncture at 13 House seats in 2010.

Do Your School Policies Provide Equal Access to Computers? Are You Sure?

Science.gov (United States)

DuBois, Phyllis A.; Schubert, Jane G.

1986-01-01

Outlines how school policies can unintentionally perpetuate gender discrimination in student computer use and access. Describes four areas of administrative policies that can cause inequities and provides ways for administrators to counteract these policies. Includes discussion of a program to balance computer use, and an abstract of an article…

Access of children with cerebral palsy to the physical, social and attitudinal environment they need: a cross-sectional European study.

Science.gov (United States)

Colver, Allan F; Dickinson, Heather O; Parkinson, Kathryn; Arnaud, Catherine; Beckung, Eva; Fauconnier, Jérôme; Marcelli, Marco; McManus, Vicki; Michelsen, Susan I; Parkes, Jackie; Thyen, Ute

2011-01-01

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires states 'to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications.' We explored whether this convention was respected for disabled children in Europe. One thousand one-hundred and seventy-four children aged 8-12 years were randomly selected from population-based registers of children with cerebral palsy in eight European regions. 743 children joined the study; one further region recruited 75 children from multiple sources. Researchers visited these 818 children and administered the European Child Environment Questionnaire, which records parents' perceptions of availability of the physical, social and attitudinal environment needed in home, school and community. Multilevel, multivariable regression related child access on these domains to their impairments and socio-demographic characteristics. Children with more impaired walking ability had less access to the physical environment, transport and social support they needed than other children. They also experienced less favourable attitudes from family and friends. However, attitudes of teachers and therapists were similar for children with all levels of impairment. The access of children, across all impairment severities, to their needed environment showed significant variation between regions (p ≤ 0.0001), some regions consistently providing better access on most or all domains. European states need to substantially improve environmental access for disabled children in order to meet their obligations under UN Conventions. In some regions, many environmental factors should and realistically could be changed. Legislation and regulation should be directed to making this happen. Local environmental planners and health and social service providers should listen carefully to parents to address mismatches between policy intentions and parental

Is Equality Fair?

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Arthur Tarasov

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper attempts to answer the question whether people consider decisions that lead to equal outcomes fair. I find that this is not always the case. In an experiment where subjects are given equal opportunities to choose how to divide money between each other in a two-player game, any strategy is perceived to be fair more than half the time, including the profit-maximizing strategy. The equal divisions that lead to equal outcomes are sometimes considered unfair by both players. Moreover, players frequently punished the others, whose decisions led to equal outcomes. I hypothesize that such punishments occur because people have different conceptions of what a fair outcome and fair punishment are

Access to childbirth care by adolescents and young people in the Northeastern region of Brazil

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Érida Zoé Lustosa Furtado

2016-01-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To identify the factors that interfere with the access of adolescents and young people to childbirth care for in the Northeast region of Brazil. METHODS Cross-sectional study with 3,014 adolescents and young people admitted to the selected maternity wards to give birth in the Northeast region of Brazil. The sample design was probabilistic, in two stages: the first corresponded to the health establishments and the second to women who had recently given birth and their babies. The data was collected by means of interviews and consulting the hospital records, from pre-tested electronic form. Descriptive statistics were used for the univariate analysis, Pearson’s Chi-square test for the bivariate analysis and multiple logistic regressions for the multivariate analysis. Sociodemographic variables, obstetrical history, and birth care were analyzed. RESULTS Half of the adolescents and young people interviewed had not been given guidance on the location that they should go to when in labor, and among those who had, 23.5% did not give birth in the indicated health service. Furthermore, one third (33.3% had to travel in search of assisted birth, and the majority (66.7% of the postpartum women came to maternity by their own means. In the bivariate analysis, the variables marital status, paid work, health insurance, number of previous pregnancies, parity, city location, and type of health establishment showed a significant association (p < 0.20 with inadequate access to childbirth care. The multivariate analysis showed that married adolescents and young people (p < 0.015, with no health insurance (p < 0.002 and from the countryside (p < 0.001 were more likely to have inadequate access to childbirth care. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents and young women, married, without health insurance, and from the countryside are more likely to have inadequate access to birth care. The articulation between outpatient care and birth care can improve this

Equality Matters: The Critical Implications of Precisely Defining Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Faulkner, Valerie; Walkowiak, Temple; Cain, Chris; Lee, Carrie

2016-01-01

Equality is such an important concept for children to develop. In this article it is argued that a precise definition is needed to ensure that students are provided with a consistent "picture" of what it is that equality really means.

The importance of institutional mechanisms for exercising gender equality

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Pajvančić Marijana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the contemporary democratic societies, equality between men and women is one of the fundamental human rights as well as the key moral and legal value. In order to be exercised, this right must be legally recognized and efficiently exercised in all aspects of human life: political, economic, social and cultural. Experience has shown that an effective exercise of gender equality calls for integrating the gender perspective into all public policies, at all levels and in all decision-making processes. The necessary prerequisite is a proper institutional and legal framework. The institutional framework in the field of gender equality includes institutions operating within the legislative and the executive branch, as well as those involved in the protection of gender equality. The jurisdiction of the institutional mechanism within the legislative branch is defined in general terms and it does not reflect the multi-sectoral nature of activities covered by this operative body. The Gender Equality Council and the Gender Equality Agency, which were operative until the year 2014, differed in their composition and membership selection method, and they had different positions in the structure of executive authorities; the content and scope of their jurisdiction was not clearly defined, nor were they vested with sufficient and relevant powers. For that reason, it is essential to establish a new structure of institutional mechanisms within the executive branch as soon as possible. In that course, it should be ascertained that these institutions have direct communication with the government, and their competences have to be regulated adequately and precisely. In order to ensure that the normative and other measures and activities produce good results, it is necessary to provide and sustain an inter-sectoral approach to gender equality and create systemic presumptions and adequate procedures which will provide for utmost coordination and cooperation of all

Committee Opinion No. 574: Marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

Same-sex couples encounter barriers to health care that include concerns about confidentiality and disclosure, stigma and discriminatory attitudes and treatment, limited access to health care and health insurance, and often a limited understanding of their health risks. Same-sex couples and their families are adversely affected by the lack of legal recognition of their relationships, a problem with major implications for the health of same-sex couples and their families. Tangible harm has come from the lack of financial and health care protections granted to legal spouses, and children are harmed by the lack of protections afforded to families in which partners are married. However, the recent Supreme Court ruling, The United States v Windsor, which afforded equal treatment for legally married same-sex couples will provide many important health and financial benefits. Evidence suggests that marriage confers health benefits to individuals and families, yet a sizable proportion of individuals do not experience these health benefits because of their sexual orientation. Additional data suggest that same-sex couples who live in states with bans on same-sex unions experience adverse health outcomes. Civil marriage is currently available to same-sex couples in only thirteen states and the District of Columbia and honored by one state. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists endorses marriage equality for same-sex couples and equal treatment for these couples and their families and applauds the Supreme Court's decision as an important step in improving access to benefits received by legally married same-sex couples. However, additional efforts are necessary to ensure that same-sex couples in every state can receive these same benefits.

Zooplankton biomass (displacement and settled volume) data collected during the International Cooperative Investigations of the Tropical Atlantic EQUALANT I, EQUALANT II, and EQUALANT III projects from 1963-02-15 to 1964-07-09 (NODC Accession 0071432)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Zooplankton biomass (displacement and settled volume) data collected during the International Cooperative Investigations of the Tropical Atlantic EQUALANT I,...

The relation between household income and surgical outcome in the Dutch setting of equal access to and provision of healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Ultee, Klaas H J; Tjeertes, Elke K M; Bastos Gonçalves, Frederico; Rouwet, Ellen V; Hoofwijk, Anton G M; Stolker, Robert Jan; Verhagen, Hence J M; Hoeks, Sanne E

2018-01-01

The impact of socioeconomic disparities on surgical outcome in the absence of healthcare inequality remains unclear. Therefore, we set out to determine the association between socioeconomic status (SES), reflected by household income, and overall survival after surgery in the Dutch setting of equal access and provision of care. Additionally, we aim to assess whether SES is associated with cause-specific survival and major 30-day complications. Patients undergoing surgery between March 2005 and December 2006 in a general teaching hospital in the Netherlands were prospectively included. Adjusted logistic and cox regression analyses were used to assess the independent association of SES-quantified by gross household income-with major 30-day complications and long-term postoperative survival. A total of 3929 patients were included, with a median follow-up of 6.3 years. Low household income was associated with worse survival in continuous analysis (HR: 1.05 per 10.000 euro decrease in income, 95% CI: 1.01-1.10) and in income quartile analysis (HR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.08-2.31, first [i.e. lowest] quartile relative to the fourth quartile). Similarly, low income patients were at higher risk of cardiovascular death (HR: 1.26 per 10.000 decrease in income, 95% CI: 1.07-1.48, first income quartile: HR: 3.10, 95% CI: 1.04-9.22). Household income was not independently associated with cancer-related mortality and major 30-day complications. Low SES, quantified by gross household income, is associated with increased overall and cardiovascular mortality risks among surgical patients. Considering the equality of care provided by this study setting, the associated survival hazards can be attributed to patient and provider factors, rather than disparities in healthcare. Increased physician awareness of SES as a risk factor in preoperative decision-making and focus on improving established SES-related risk factors may improve surgical outcome of low SES patients.

Equal treatment of shareholders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arsić Zoran

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Equal treatment of shareholders is regulated in Art.269 of Company Act (2011 of Republic of Serbia. Equal treatment of shareholders means that all shareholders are to be treated equally under same circumstances. Obligation to treat all shareholders equally rests on all company bodies, predominantly general meeting. The standard whether an action violates the principle of equal treatment of all shareholders regarding the main rights of shareholders (such as voting right etc. is the nominal value of shares, or the equal treatment per person regarding ancillary rights (such as right to speak in shareholders' meeting etc.. Any action deviating from this standard is unlawful if the unequal treatment is not justified on the facts. If the principle of equal treatment is violated by general meeting resolution, such resolution may be annulled by the court.

A new entrance for sustainable gender equality

OpenAIRE

Lundkvist, Hans; Westberg, Hanna

2010-01-01

Sustainable regional and business development depends on the access to people motivated to invest their lives in the region and the enterprises. But in a time of demographical changes, urbanization and new values regarding life and work among the next generation the issue of being attractive is crucial for both a region and enterprises. This paper describes the interactive collaboration between a research project and an enterprise in a semirural area in Sweden. A collaboration aiming for a mo...

Increasingly Equalized? A Study of Part-Time Work in ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Part-Time Work Regimes

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Heidi Nicolaisen

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Recent debates on equalization of part-time work alongside full-time work stress the importance of high quality part-time jobs. This paper compares equalization in banking in three countries: two `old´ part-time work regimes, Norway and Sweden, and Ireland, where part-time work started to increase more recently. Banking is particularly interesting as a sector with a high proportion of female employment and good working conditions. One main interest is the role of regulations and how they are enforced at company level. The analysis shows that part-time work in the Nordic countries is normalized in terms of access and general work conditions, while in Ireland access is more restricted. Career opportunities are, however, restricted in all three countries. This paper argues that further equalization may be hindered by `soft´ regulations and a gradual normalization process that also normalizes disadvantages associated with part-time work and the category of the `working mother´.

Addressing the Issue of Gender Equity in the Presidency of the University System in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region

Science.gov (United States)

Guramatunhu-Mudiwa, Precious

2010-01-01

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a regional economic grouping of 15 countries whose common vision is to promote economic, social and political development and growth. Arguably, sustainable growth can be realized if there is equal access to all positions of power and influence in the area, but an investigation of 117…

Are Disadvantaged Students Given Equal Opportunities to Learn Mathematics? PISA in Focus. No. 63

Science.gov (United States)

OECD Publishing, 2016

2016-01-01

Socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students are not equally exposed to mathematics problems and concepts at school. Exposure to mathematics at school has an impact on performance, and disadvantaged students' relative lack of familiarity with mathematics partly explains their lower performance. Widening access to mathematics content…

Equal opportunities in diversity

CERN Multimedia

Laëtitia Pedroso

2010-01-01

Promoting equal opportunities at CERN and advising the Director-General on all related matters is the task of the Equal Opportunities Officer, Doris Chromek-Burckhart, and Tim Smith, chair of the Equal Opportunities Advisory Panel. Changes are being introduced: in future, the focus of their work will be broadened to cover all aspects of diversity promotion.   The term "equal opportunities" has always been broader in scope than the equal treatment of men and women but this is what it has traditionally been confined to in practice. "We wanted to change how people see our mission", explains Doris Chromek-Burckhart. The word "diversity" has much wider connotations than "equal opportunities" and makes it clearer that we are also dealing with differences in nationality, religion, age, culture and physical ability”. Getting away from the old clichés is vital to ensuring equal treatment for everyone. The diversit...

Effects of a proposed rural dental school on regional dental workforce and access to care.

Science.gov (United States)

Wanchek, Tanya N; Rephann, Terance J

2013-01-01

Southwest Virginia is a rural, low-income region with a relatively small dentist workforce and poor oral health outcomes. The opening of a dental school in the region has been proposed by policy-makers as one approach to improving the size of the dentist workforce and oral health outcomes. A policy simulation was conducted to assess how a hypothetical dental school in rural Southwest Virginia would affect the availability of dentists and utilization levels of dental services. The simulation focuses on two channels through which the dental school would most likely affect the region. First, the number of graduates who are expected to remain in the region was varied, based on the extensiveness of the education pipeline used to attract local students. Second, the number of patients treated in the dental school clinic under different dental school clinical models, including the traditional model, a patient-centered clinic model and a community-based clinic model, was varied in the simulation to obtain a range of additional dentists and utilization rates under differing dental school models. Under a set of plausible assumptions, the low yield scenario (ie private school with a traditional clinic) would result in three additional dentists residing in the region and a total of 8090 additional underserved patients receiving care. Under the high yield scenario (ie dental pipeline program with community based clinics) nine new dentists would reside in the region and as many as 18 054 underserved patients would receive care. Even with the high yield scenario and the strong assumption that these patients would not otherwise access care, the utilization rate increases to 68.9% from its current 60.1%. While the new dental school in Southwest Virginia would increase the dentist workforce and utilization rates, the high cost combined with the continued low rate of dental utilization suggests that there may be more effective alternatives to improving oral health in rural areas

Evaluating accessibility to Bangkok Metro Systems using multi-dimensional criteria across user groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duangporn Prasertsubpakij

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Metro systems act as fast and efficient transport systems for many modern metropolises; however, enhancing higher usage of such systems often conflicts with providing suitable accessibility options. The traditional approach of metro accessibility studies seems to be an ineffective measure to gage sustainable access in which the equal rights of all users are taken into account. Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR transportation has increasingly relied on the role of two mass rapid transport systems publicly called “BTS Skytrain” and “MRT Subway”, due to limited availability of land and massive road congestion; however, access to such transit arguably treats some vulnerable groups, especially women, the elderly and disabled people unfairly. This study constructs a multi-dimensional assessment of accessibility considerations to scrutinize how user groups access metro services based on BMR empirical case. 600 individual passengers at various stations were asked to rate the questionnaire that simultaneously considers accessibility aspects of spatial, feeder connectivity, temporal, comfort/safety, psychosocial and other dimensions. It was interestingly found by user disaggregated accessibility model that the lower the accessibility perceptions—related uncomfortable and unsafe environment conditions, the greater the equitable access to services, as illustrated by MRT — Hua Lumphong and MRT — Petchaburi stations. The study suggests that, to balance the access priorities of groups on services, policy actions should emphasize acceptably safe access for individuals, cost efficient feeder services connecting the metro lines, socioeconomic influences and time allocation. Insightful discussions on integrated approach balancing different dimensions of accessibility and recommendations would contribute to accessibility-based knowledge and potential propensity to use the public transits towards transport sustainability.

Equality = Inequality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khaled, Rilla

2011-01-01

A number of design and development methods, including participatory design and agile software development, are premised on an underlying assumption of equality amongst relevant stakeholders such as designers, developers, product owners, and end users. Equality, however, is not a straightforwardly...... an ethnography conducted during the workshop, including location, cultural and classroom hierarchies, gender, “girl games”, stakeholders and boundaries, and risk mitigation....

Higher Education as Object for Corporate and Nation Branding: Between Equality and Flagships

Science.gov (United States)

Sataøen, Hogne Lerøy

2015-01-01

Branding has become an important issue within higher education. The use of core value statements and visions are expressions of this. To be a successful brand, organisations must also make sure they are different from others. However, in both the scholarly discourse and in political rhetoric, the Nordic model highlights equal access to education…

76 FR 15049 - Agency Information Collection (Equal Opportunity Compliance Review Report); Activity Under OMB...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-18

...) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-21), this notice announces that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA... schools below college level. The information is used to assure that participants have equal access to.... Estimated Annual Burden and Average Burden per Respondent: Based on past experience, VBA estimates that 76...

Joint estimation and contention-resolution protocol for wireless random access

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stefanovic, Cedomir; Trillingsgaard, Kasper Fløe; Kiilerich Pratas, Nuno

2013-01-01

We propose a contention-based random-access protocol, designed for wireless networks where the number of users is not a priori known. The protocol operates in rounds divided into equal-duration slots, performing at the same time estimation of the number of users and resolution of their transmissi......We propose a contention-based random-access protocol, designed for wireless networks where the number of users is not a priori known. The protocol operates in rounds divided into equal-duration slots, performing at the same time estimation of the number of users and resolution...... successive interference cancellation which, coupled with the use of the optimized access probabilities, enables throughputs that are substantially higher than the traditional slotted ALOHA-like protocols. The key feature of the proposed protocol is that the round durations are not a priori set...

Can Distance Education Increase Educational Equality? Evidence from the Expansion of Chinese Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Fengliang; Zhou, Mengying; Fan, Baolong

2014-01-01

Since China decided to expand its higher education, we have seen an increasing number of discussions of the relationship between educational expansion and equality. However, few studies have examined whether the expansion of distance higher education will improve educational equality among different regions. In this study, we analyzed the changes…

String Analysis for Dynamic Field Access

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Magnus; Andreasen, Esben

2014-01-01

domains to reason about dynamic field access in a static analysis tool. A key feature of the domains is that the equal, concatenate and join operations take Ο(1) time. Experimental evaluation on four common JavaScript libraries, including jQuery and Prototype, shows that traditional string domains...

Equality of What? The Capability Approach and the Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Broderick

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The right to education is indispensable in unlocking other substantive human rights and in ensuring full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in mainstream society. The cornerstone of Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities seeks to ensure access to inclusive education for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others as well as the full development of human potential. Since the adoption of the Convention, there has been much theorising about inclusive education; however, there has been little focus on the meaning of equality in the context of the right to education for persons with disabilities. The capability approach, developed by Amartya Sen and further refined by Martha Nussbaum, focuses on ensuring equality and developing human potential. It is often viewed as a tool that can be used to overcome the limitations of traditional equality assessments in the educational sphere, which only measure resources and outcomes. This article explores whether the capability approach can offer new insights into the vision of educational equality contained in the Convention and how that vision can be implemented at the national level.

ECONOMIC EQUALITY OR JUSTICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ekrem Tufan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available From the beginning of economic life, equality has been a matter for human. Intrinsically human has two legs: Selfish and Groupish. Our selfish side does not care equality while Groupish side cares. What about the justice? Does human wants justice more than equalities in economic life? In this research, we have applied a questionnaire to find these two questions answer. As a result we can report that respondents prefer equality rather than justice in negative outcomes. On the other hand, they tend to prefer justice if there is possibility for positive outcomes. We cannot give evidence about gender, education and age differences effect on equality and justice preference.

Gender Equality a case study of Sweden : Gender Equality Gender Equity and policies of combating inequality at workplace to make the society equal.

OpenAIRE

Sultan, Tipu

2010-01-01

The paper analyses Gender Equality, Gender Equity and policies of combating inequality at workplace to make the society equal as a case study of Sweden. The aim of paper is see the gender equality, gender equity, discrimination against women at workplace and to describe the policies combating inequality in the welfare state of Sweden. This work highlights the gender equality in terms of institutionalizing gender equality, gender equity, gender and pay gap, parental leave, gender and the pensi...

Higher Education Access and Equality among Ethnic Minorities in China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Zhiyong

2010-01-01

Market reform, financial decentralization, and economic globalization in recent years have greatly accentuated China's social and regional inequalities. These inequalities stem from many factors, including the rise of an urban middle class, a change in the status of women, a resurgence of ethnic identities, an increase in rural-to-urban migration,…

[Gender and accessibility barriers to treatment in alcohol abuse patients in the Autonomous Region of Valencia].

Science.gov (United States)

Tomás-Dols, Sofía; Valderrama-Zurián, Juan Carlos; Vidal-Infer, Antonio; Samper-Gras, Teresa; Hernández-Martínez, Ma Carmen; Torrijo-Rodrigo, Ma José

2007-01-01

This study aimed at identifying the factors that contribute to delaying the access of alcohol abuse patients to specific treatment centres in the Autonomous Region of Valencia (Spain). 563 patients from Addictive Behaviours Units (UCA) and Alcohology Units (UA) were interviewed. A survey was conducted which included items on previous requested treatment in other centres and on barriers of accessibility to treatment in specific ambulatory centres. A descriptive analysis and t-student and ANOVA with Scheffé post-hoc tests were carried out. 59.7% of respondents said they had requested previous treatment in non-specific resources due to physical or psychical trouble that they now relate to their alcohol use although they did not do so at the time, in addition to being motivated by their own alcohol abuse (42.8%). The most attended resources were Primary Care and Specialist Unit Care. Women showed a higher demand for treatment in Mental Health Services (p gender differences in barriers that delay access to treatment do exist. It is necessary to build gender-adapted intervention guidelines to be used in Primary Care and Mental Health services to reduce the accessibility barriers to treatment.

Non-equal-time Poisson brackets

OpenAIRE

Nikolic, H.

1998-01-01

The standard definition of the Poisson brackets is generalized to the non-equal-time Poisson brackets. Their relationship to the equal-time Poisson brackets, as well as to the equal- and non-equal-time commutators, is discussed.

Respiratory health equality in the United States. The American thoracic society perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Celedón, Juan C; Roman, Jesse; Schraufnagel, Dean E; Thomas, Alvin; Samet, Jonathan

2014-05-01

Because the frequency of major risk factors for respiratory diseases (e.g., tobacco use) differs across demographic groups (defined by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, health care access, occupation, or other characteristics), health disparities are commonly encountered in pediatric and adult pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. As part of its policy on respiratory health disparities, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Executive Committee created a Health Equality Subcommittee of the Health Policy Committee, with an initial mandate of defining respiratory health equality and, as a subsequent task, providing recommendations to the ATS leadership as to how our society may help attain such equality in the United States. After receiving input from the ATS assemblies and committees, the subcommittee developed this document on respiratory health equality. This document defines respiratory health disparities and respiratory health equality, and expands on a recent ATS and European Respiratory Society policy statement on disparities in respiratory health. Attainment of respiratory health equality requires the ending of respiratory health disparities, which can be achieved only through multidisciplinary efforts to eliminate detrimental environmental exposures while promoting a healthy lifestyle, implementing all components of high-quality health care (prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment), and conducting research that will lead to better prevention and management of respiratory diseases for everyone. The ATS recognizes that such efforts must include all stakeholders: members of society at large, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and other professional societies. The ATS urges all of its members and those of sister societies to work to achieve this laudable goal.

Regional differences in electricity distribution costs and their consequences for yardstick regulation of access prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippini, M.; Wild, J.

2001-01-01

In this paper we estimate an average-cost function for a panel of 59 Swiss local and regional electricity distribution utilities as a basis for yardstick regulation of the distribution-network access prices. Shleifer (1985) proposed yardstick competition in terms of price to regulate local monopolies producing a homogeneous good. The regulated price for the individual firms depends on the average costs of identical firms. The yardstick competition concept can also be applied to firms that produce heterogeneous goods if these goods differ only in observable characteristics. To correct the yardstick for heterogeneity the regulator can use a multivariate estimation of an average-cost function. In the case of electricity distribution, the heterogeneity of output consists mainly of different characteristics of the distribution service areas. In this paper we follow Shleifer's suggestion to estimate a multivariate average-cost function that can be employed by the regulatory commission to benchmark network access prices at the distribution level. Several exogenous variables measuring the heterogeneity of the service areas were included in the cost model specification. We find that the regional differences of the service areas - e.g. area shares of forests, agricultural areas or unproductive land and population density - significantly influence electricity distribution costs

Open access to transmission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keith, D.M.

1996-01-01

For the past 12 to 15 years, the US electric power and energy industry and its federal regulators have been going through a prolonged exercise leading to opening up the national interconnected transmission grid for all qualified wholesale users to have open and equal access. The debates have been painful in a sense that not all parties - especially some of the transmission system owning utilities - believe that the concept of Open Access is achievable, due to technical constraints on the systems. The present Open Access activity is limited to wholesales transaction under the federal jurisdiction, but several states are either experimenting with or considering retail wheeling. In fact, the FERC - Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - has already expanded its view to embrace retail transmission, if the retail transaction involves the use of the interstate transmission systems which are under FERC's jurisdiction. This paper delves into some of the results of the technical cost and pricing analysis for open access. The statutes and resulting regulations are not addressed herein. (author). 1 fig

Equity and Access in the Workplace: A Feminist HRD Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Valenziano, Laura

2008-01-01

The issues of equity and access are becoming increasingly important as the workforce becomes diversified. As the number of minority groups in the ranks of organizations grows, there is a need to examine the issues related to equity and access from a perspective that strives for equality, e.g. feminist theory. This paper examines feminism's…

How Equalization Techniques Affect the TCP Performance of MC-CDMA Systems in Correlated Fading Channels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giacomo Leonardi

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the impact of several equalization techniques for multicarrier code division multiple access systems on the performance at both lower and upper layers (i.e., physical and TCP layers. Classical techniques such as maximal ratio combining, equal gain combining, orthogonality restoring combining, minimum mean square error, as well as a partial equalization (PE are investigated in time- and frequency-correlated fading channels with various numbers of interferers. Their impact on the performance at upper level is then studied. The results are obtained through an integrated simulation platform carefully reproducing all main aspects affecting the quality of service perceived by the final user, allowing an investigation of the real gain produced by signal processing techniques at TCP level.

Checking transfer efficiency and equal loading via qualitative optical way in western blotting.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Jun-Hua; Gong, Jian-Ping; Zheng, Kai-Wen

2017-11-01

The ability to determine that successful transfer and equal loading occur prior to using primary antibodies is important. And total protein staining is commonly used to check transfer efficiency and normalization, which play a crucial role in western blotting. Ponceau S and coomassie blue are commonly used, but there are disadvantages reported in recent years. Therefore, we are interested in finding another method, which is cheap, easy and fast. As we know, protein binding region of PVDF membrane is still hydrophilic when carbinol volatilizes, however, the non-protein binding region of PVDF membrane became hydrophobic again. And this different wettability between non-protein binding region and protein binding region of Polyvinylidene difluoride membrane may be used to check transfer efficiency and equal loading in western blotting. Based on the principle above, we describe an optical approach where an experimenter can observe that the proteins have been transferred to the membrane without any staining within minutes. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Equality Hypocrisy, Inconsistency, and Prejudice: The Unequal Application of the Universal Human Right to Equality

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

In Western culture, there appears to be widespread endorsement of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which stresses equality and freedom). But do people really apply their equality values equally, or are their principles and application systematically discrepant, resulting in equality hypocrisy? The present study, conducted with a representative national sample of adults in the United Kingdom (N = 2,895), provides the first societal test of whether people apply their value of “equality for all” similarly across multiple types of status minority (women, disabled people, people aged over 70, Blacks, Muslims, and gay people). Drawing on theories of intergroup relations and stereotyping we examined, relation to each of these groups, respondents’ judgments of how important it is to satisfy their particular wishes, whether there should be greater or reduced equality of employment opportunities, and feelings of social distance. The data revealed a clear gap between general equality values and responses to these specific measures. Respondents prioritized equality more for “paternalized” groups (targets of benevolent prejudice: women, disabled, over 70) than others (Black people, Muslims, and homosexual people), demonstrating significant inconsistency. Respondents who valued equality more, or who expressed higher internal or external motivation to control prejudice, showed greater consistency in applying equality. However, even respondents who valued equality highly showed significant divergence in their responses to paternalized versus nonpaternalized groups, revealing a degree of hypocrisy. Implications for strategies to promote equality and challenge prejudice are discussed. PMID:25914516

Equality Hypocrisy, Inconsistency, and Prejudice: The Unequal Application of the Universal Human Right to Equality.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrams, Dominic; Houston, Diane M; Van de Vyver, Julie; Vasiljevic, Milica

2015-02-01

In Western culture, there appears to be widespread endorsement of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which stresses equality and freedom). But do people really apply their equality values equally, or are their principles and application systematically discrepant, resulting in equality hypocrisy? The present study, conducted with a representative national sample of adults in the United Kingdom ( N = 2,895), provides the first societal test of whether people apply their value of "equality for all" similarly across multiple types of status minority (women, disabled people, people aged over 70, Blacks, Muslims, and gay people). Drawing on theories of intergroup relations and stereotyping we examined, relation to each of these groups, respondents' judgments of how important it is to satisfy their particular wishes, whether there should be greater or reduced equality of employment opportunities, and feelings of social distance. The data revealed a clear gap between general equality values and responses to these specific measures. Respondents prioritized equality more for "paternalized" groups (targets of benevolent prejudice: women, disabled, over 70) than others (Black people, Muslims, and homosexual people), demonstrating significant inconsistency. Respondents who valued equality more, or who expressed higher internal or external motivation to control prejudice, showed greater consistency in applying equality. However, even respondents who valued equality highly showed significant divergence in their responses to paternalized versus nonpaternalized groups, revealing a degree of hypocrisy. Implications for strategies to promote equality and challenge prejudice are discussed.

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AMONG VIETNAMESE COCOA ACCESSIONS USING A NON-CODING REGION OF THE CHLOROPLAST DNA

OpenAIRE

Lam Thi, Viet Ha; D.T., Khang; Everaert, Helena; T.N, Dung; P.H.D, Phuoc; H.T., Toan; Dewettinck, Koen; Messens, Kathy

2017-01-01

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) cultivation has increased in tropical areas around the world, including Vietnam, due to the high demand of cocoa beans for chocolate production. The genetic diversity of cocoa genotypes is recognized to be complex, however, their phylogenetic relationships need to be clarified. The present study aimed to classify the cocoa genotypes that are imported and cultivated in Vietnam based on a chloroplast DNA region. Sixty-three Vietnamese Cocoa accessions were collected f...

National and Regional Impacts of Increasing Non-Agricultural Market Access by Developing Countries – the Case of Pakistan

OpenAIRE

Butt, Muhammad Shoaib; Bandara, Jayatilleke S.

2008-01-01

The US, the EU, Brazil and India met in Germany in June 2007 with a view to bridging differences between developed and developing countries on the Doha Round of trade negotiations. However, the talks broke down because of disagreement on the intertwined issues of agricultural protection and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA). This study uses the first regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of Pakistan to evaluate the national and regional impacts of increasing NAMA as per two ...

Why the Equal Rights Amendment?

Science.gov (United States)

Denmark, Florence L.

The Equal Rights Amendment proposes to ensure constitutional protection against all legislative sex discrimination. "Separate but Equal" standards, be they legal, social or psychological, are inevitably incompatable with equal protection under the law and act as a barrier to each individual's freedom for self determination. Equal rights,…

Gender equality and sustainable human development are key issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Ando, H

1995-01-01

In a message to the Indochina Women's Parliamentarians Meeting, Hirofumi Ando, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA), encouraged participants to link gender equality and development issues. Ando noted that many of the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development imply recognition of the need to redress gender inequalities and empower women. The Program of Action adopted in Cairo requires countries to achieve universal access to primary education and reproductive health care services. Parliamentarians in attendance were urged to mobilize the financial resources and political will necessary to implement programs in these areas.

Americans misperceive racial economic equality.

Science.gov (United States)

Kraus, Michael W; Rucker, Julian M; Richeson, Jennifer A

2017-09-26

The present research documents the widespread misperception of race-based economic equality in the United States. Across four studies ( n = 1,377) sampling White and Black Americans from the top and bottom of the national income distribution, participants overestimated progress toward Black-White economic equality, largely driven by estimates of greater current equality than actually exists according to national statistics. Overestimates of current levels of racial economic equality, on average, outstripped reality by roughly 25% and were predicted by greater belief in a just world and social network racial diversity (among Black participants). Whereas high-income White respondents tended to overestimate racial economic equality in the past, Black respondents, on average, underestimated the degree of past racial economic equality. Two follow-up experiments further revealed that making societal racial discrimination salient increased the accuracy of Whites' estimates of Black-White economic equality, whereas encouraging Whites to anchor their estimates on their own circumstances increased their tendency to overestimate current racial economic equality. Overall, these findings suggest a profound misperception of and unfounded optimism regarding societal race-based economic equality-a misperception that is likely to have any number of important policy implications.

TROUBLING GENDER EQUALITY: REVISITING GENDER EQUALITY WORK IN THE FAMOUS NORDIC MODEL COUNTRIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotta Edström

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This article concerns gender equality work, that is, those educational and workplace activities that involve the promotion of gender equality. It is based on research conducted in Sweden and Finland, and focuses on the period during which the public sector has become more market-oriented and project-based all over the Nordic countries. The consequences of this development on gender equality work have not yet been thoroughly analysed. Our joint empirical analysis is based on discourse-analytic methodology and two previous empirical studies. By analysing interviews conducted with people involved in gender equality work, this article emphasises the effects of market-oriented and project-based gender equality work in education and working life in Sweden and in Finland. The findings highlight an alliance between projectisation and heteronormativity that acts to regulate how gender equality ought to be talked about in order for its issues to be heard. A persistently constructed ‘remedy’ to ‘the gender equality problem’ is that girls and women are positioned as ‘needing’ to change more than boys and men, by adopting more traditionally ‘masculine manners’ and choosing to work in more ‘masculine sectors’. The findings also show that the constitutive forces of these discourses provide little leeway for critical perspectives.

Orthogonal Multi-Carrier DS-CDMA with Frequency-Domain Equalization

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Ken; Tomeba, Hiromichi; Adachi, Fumiyuki

Orthogonal multi-carrier direct sequence code division multiple access (orthogonal MC DS-CDMA) is a combination of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and time-domain spreading, while multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) is a combination of OFDM and frequency-domain spreading. In MC-CDMA, a good bit error rate (BER) performance can be achieved by using frequency-domain equalization (FDE), since the frequency diversity gain is obtained. On the other hand, the conventional orthogonal MC DS-CDMA fails to achieve any frequency diversity gain. In this paper, we propose a new orthogonal MC DS-CDMA that can obtain the frequency diversity gain by applying FDE. The conditional BER analysis is presented. The theoretical average BER performance in a frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel is evaluated by the Monte-Carlo numerical computation method using the derived conditional BER and is confirmed by computer simulation of the orthogonal MC DS-CDMA signal transmission.

Standardized Access and Processing of Multi-Source Earth Observation Time-Series Data within a Regional Data Middleware

Science.gov (United States)

Eberle, J.; Schmullius, C.

2017-12-01

Increasing archives of global satellite data present a new challenge to handle multi-source satellite data in a user-friendly way. Any user is confronted with different data formats and data access services. In addition the handling of time-series data is complex as an automated processing and execution of data processing steps is needed to supply the user with the desired product for a specific area of interest. In order to simplify the access to data archives of various satellite missions and to facilitate the subsequent processing, a regional data and processing middleware has been developed. The aim of this system is to provide standardized and web-based interfaces to multi-source time-series data for individual regions on Earth. For further use and analysis uniform data formats and data access services are provided. Interfaces to data archives of the sensor MODIS (NASA) as well as the satellites Landsat (USGS) and Sentinel (ESA) have been integrated in the middleware. Various scientific algorithms, such as the calculation of trends and breakpoints of time-series data, can be carried out on the preprocessed data on the basis of uniform data management. Jupyter Notebooks are linked to the data and further processing can be conducted directly on the server using Python and the statistical language R. In addition to accessing EO data, the middleware is also used as an intermediary between the user and external databases (e.g., Flickr, YouTube). Standardized web services as specified by OGC are provided for all tools of the middleware. Currently, the use of cloud services is being researched to bring algorithms to the data. As a thematic example, an operational monitoring of vegetation phenology is being implemented on the basis of various optical satellite data and validation data from the German Weather Service. Other examples demonstrate the monitoring of wetlands focusing on automated discovery and access of Landsat and Sentinel data for local areas.

Secret Shoppers Find Access To Providers And Network Accuracy Lacking For Those In Marketplace And Commercial Plans.

Science.gov (United States)

Haeder, Simon F; Weimer, David L; Mukamel, Dana B

2016-07-01

The adequacy of provider networks for plans sold through insurance Marketplaces established under the Affordable Care Act has received much scrutiny recently. Various studies have established that networks are generally narrow. To learn more about network adequacy and access to care, we investigated two questions. First, no matter the nominal size of a network, can patients gain access to primary care services from providers of their choice in a timely manner? Second, how does access compare to plans sold outside insurance Marketplaces? We conducted a "secret shopper" survey of 743 primary care providers from five of California's nineteen insurance Marketplace pricing regions in the summer of 2015. Our findings indicate that obtaining access to primary care providers was generally equally challenging both inside and outside insurance Marketplaces. In less than 30 percent of cases were consumers able to schedule an appointment with an initially selected physician provider. Information about provider networks was often inaccurate. Problems accessing services for patients with acute conditions were particularly troubling. Effectively addressing issues of network adequacy requires more accurate provider information. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy in Brazil: the challenge of universal access in a context of social inequality.

Science.gov (United States)

Hacker, Mariana A; Petersen, Maya L; Enriquez, Melissa; Bastos, Francisco I

2004-08-01

To investigate trends in AIDS mortality and incidence in Brazil over the period of 1984 to 2000 and to assess the impact of the introduction of universal access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the country in 1996. Data from the Brazilian disease notification system and the national mortality information system were used to calculate annual region-specific and sex-specific AIDS incidence and mortality rates. We also calculated sex- and region-specific ratios of the number of AIDS deaths in one year to the number of AIDS cases notified two years earlier. AIDS mortality rates for both men and women and in all five of the geographic regions of Brazil declined following introduction of HAART, despite continued growth in AIDS incidence. The ratio of the number of AIDS deaths in one year to the number of AIDS cases notified two years earlier for men equalized rapidly with the ratio for women following introduction of HAART. More recently, AIDS incidence declined for both sexes and in most of the regions of Brazil. Despite Brazil's resource limitations and disparities in wealth between men and women and among the country's regions, the introduction of universal access to HAART in Brazil has helped achieve impressive declines in AIDS mortality, and it may also be contributing to declines in AIDS incidence.

Peucedanum ostruthium (L. Koch: Morphological and phytochemical variability of twelve accessions from the Swiss alpine region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

McCardell, Jessica Heather

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Ostruthin, a natural bioactive compound mainly occurring in the roots of Peucedanum ostruthium, is the focus of this study. P. ostruthium was collected from twelve locations in the Swiss alpine region and reared in an experimental field, subdivided into twelve lots over two years. In the spring and fall, a portion of each of the twelve accessions was harvested and separated into above and below ground plant parts. The dried plants were then extracted with 60 % ethanol using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE and analyzed using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC.The above and below ground plant parts were then analyzed concerning their dry matter yield (DMY, their ostruthin concentration and their ostruthin yield. Focusing on ostruthin, it was found that the below ground plant parts harvested in the fall rendered the highest ostruthin yield. Furthermore, a variability concerning ostruthin among the twelve accessions was found. This variability among the accessions is of interest with regards to a breeding program used to develop a cultivar with a high ostruthin yield.

Equal Pay for Equal Work in Academic Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Eichelberger, Kacey Y

2018-02-01

The most compelling data suggest women in academic obstetrics and gynecology earn approximately $36,000 less than male colleagues per year in regression models correcting for commonly cited explanatory variables. Although residual confounding may exist, academic departments in the United States should consider rigorous examination of their own internal metrics around salary to ensure gender-neutral compensation, commonly referred to as equal pay for equal work.

A New Look at Teaching Education as a Way for Gender Equality

OpenAIRE

Hernández-Segura, Ana María

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the asymmetric relationships between men and women –relationships that have represented a disadvantage particularly for women–. This has been a historical reality in all social contexts, and education institutions are not the exception. The inequality and inequity relationships have permeated the socially designated roles, in terms of sexual identity, which has contributed to women’s discrimination in accessing equal opportunities for their ...

The Impact of Migration on Access to Credit Markets: Experience ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper sought to explore whether rural-urban migration and urban dwellers have equal access to credit ... The model identified annual income, membership to local network/associations ...... Economics of Rural Organizations: Theory,.

Cosmic ray access at polar heliographic latitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voelk, H.J.

1976-01-01

Based on a modified WKB analysis of the interplanetary irregularity spectra, a discussion of the radial dependence of the radial cosmic ray diffusion coefficient at polar heliographic latitudes is presented. At l-AU radial distance the parameters are taken to equal those observed in the ecliptic. In the sense of a present best estimate it is argued that relativistic nuclei should have significantly easier access to 1 AU at the pole than in the ecliptic. The reverse may very well be true for the direct access of very low rigidity particles

The principle of equality and the right to assisted procreation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Živojinović Dragica

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The principle of equality is the foundation of developing an entire system of human rights, and its implementation represents the standard of respecting each right individually. With these premises as a starting point, the subject of the author’s interests is whether the right to assisted reproduction, as a segment of reproductive rights, is regulated in conformity with the equality principal. In order to reach an answer, the author examines the concept of human assisted reproduction and analyzes the application of reproductive technologies in the light of legal, social and political reforms which affected marriages, the family and partnership in general at the end of the 20th century. The author finds that the most significant ones among them are the emancipation of women, recognition and legal formation of same sex unions and statements prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Furthermore, by considering the right to assisted reproduction in the context of other human rights with which it is interconnected and interdependent (the right to life, right to privacy, the right to a family life, health rights, children’s rights, the author finds there are no absolute, unlimited rights in the contemporary system of human rights, but that they inevitably have certain restrictions. Since the same limitation attribute also characterizes the right to assisted reproduction, the author further researches whether there is discrimination, positive or negative, towards the existing forms of limitations to this right. The following forms of limitations have been singled out, as the key ones for this analysis: request for (nonmarital status and heterosexual orientation, sexual affiliation and age and the accessibility (prohibition of applying certain methods of assisted reproduction which are primarily in the function of eliminating female sterility. The author concludes that there are elements of discrimination based on family status, sexual

Managing and monitoring equality and diversity in UK sport: An evaluation of the sporting equals Racial Equality Standard and its impact on organizational change

OpenAIRE

Spracklen, K; Hylton, K; Long, J

2006-01-01

Despite greater attention to racial equality in sport in recent years, the progress of national sports organizations toward creating equality of outcomes has been limited in the United Kingdom. The collaboration of the national sports agencies, equity organizations and national sports organizations (including national governing bodies of sport) has focused on Equality Standards. The authors revisit an earlier impact study of the Racial Equality Standard in sport and supplement it with another...

Public Access ICT across Cultures: Diversifying Participation in the ...

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

2015-06-01

Jun 1, 2015 ... Public access venues – most often Internet cafés in cities and ... 35 years working as an economist for international development agencies. ... Birth registration is the basis for advancing gender equality and children's rights.

Gender equality and meritocracy

OpenAIRE

Powell, Stina

2016-01-01

This thesis examines how gender equality measures and discourses are reconciled with notions of merit in academia. Gender equality is often defined as equal rights for women and men and has become a widely accepted political goal and vision. Meritocratic principles build on the assumption that everyone, regardless of gender, class, race and sexuality, has the same opportunities to advance provided they are sufficiently hardworking and intelligent. Meritocratic principles thus build on the ass...

Access to rehabilitation: patient perceptions of inequalities in access to specialty pain rehabilitation from a gender and intersectional perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Wiklund

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Background: Long-term musculoskeletal pain is common, particularly among women. Pain conditions are a concern in primary health care, and people with severe and complex pain are referred to specialty health care. There is gender bias in access, counselling, assessment, and treatment of long-term pain. Objective: This study explores patient accounts and perceptions about important (social factors for accessing specialised pain rehabilitation from gender and intersectional equality perspectives. We aimed to identify potential biases and inequalities in accessing rehabilitation resources at a specialised rehabilitation clinic. Design: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 adults after an assessment or completion of a specialised rehabilitation programme in northern Sweden. Qualitative content analysis was used to explore patients’ perceptions of important factors for accessing rehabilitation. Results: One main theme was formulated as Access to rehab – not a given. Three categories of perceived inequality were demonstrated: power of gender, power of social status, and power of diagnosis. Participants perceived rehabilitation as a resource that is not equally available, but dependent on factors such as gender, socio-economic status, ability to work, ethnicity, or age, and more subtle aspects of social status and habitus (e.g. appearance, fitness, and weight. The character of diagnosis received (medical versus psychiatric or social was also noted. Conclusions: It is crucial that professionals are aware of how potential inequalities related to gender, social status, and diagnosis, and their intersections, can be created, perceived, and have influence on the processes of assessment and treatment. Reduction of social determinants of health and biases remain important within global, national, and local contexts.

Strategic Accessibility Competition

OpenAIRE

Bacchiega, Emanuele; Randon, Emanuela; Zirulia, Lorenzo

2010-01-01

We analyze the effect of competition in market-accessibility enhancement among quality-differentiated firms. Firms are located in regions with different ex-ante transport costs to reach the final market. We characterize the equilibrium of the two-stage game in which firms first invest to improve market accessibility and then compete in prices. Efforts in accessibility improvement crucially depend on the interplay between the willingness to pay for the quality premium of the median consumer an...

Two plus blue equals green: Grapheme-color synesthesia allows cognitive access to numerical information via color

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, J. Daniel; Barnes, Lianne N.; Alvarez, Bryan D.; Caplovitz, Gideon Paul

2013-01-01

In grapheme-color synesthesia, graphemes (e.g., numbers or letters) evoke color experiences. It is generally reported that the opposite is not true: colors will not generate experiences of graphemes or their associated information. However, recent research has provided evidence that colors can implicitly elicit symbolic representations of associated graphemes. Here, we examine if these representations can be cognitively accessed. Using a mathematical verification task replacing graphemes with color patches, we find that synesthetes can verify such problems with colors as accurately as with graphemes. Doing so, however, takes time: ~250ms per color. Moreover, we find minimal reaction time switch-costs for switching between computing with graphemes and colors. This demonstrates that given specific task demands, synesthetes can cognitively access numerical information elicited by physical colors, and they do so as accurately as with graphemes. We discuss these results in the context of possible cognitive strategies used to access the information. PMID:24100131

Loudspeaker Equalization with Post-Processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ser Wee

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Loudspeaker equalization is an essential technique in audio system design. A well-known equalization scheme is based on the deconvolution of the desired equalized response with the measured impulse response of the loudspeaker. In this paper, a post-processing scheme is combined with the deconvolution-based algorithm to provide a better equalization effect. Computer simulation results are given to demonstrate the significant improvement that can be achieved using this method.

Secure Degrees of Freedom Regions of Multiple Access and Interference Channels: The Polytope Structure

OpenAIRE

Xie, Jianwei; Ulukus, Sennur

2014-01-01

The sum secure degrees of freedom (s.d.o.f.) of two fundamental multi-user network structures, the K-user Gaussian multiple access (MAC) wiretap channel and the K-user interference channel (IC) with secrecy constraints, have been determined recently as K(K-1)/(K(K-1)+1) [1,2] and K(K-1)/(2K-1) [3,4], respectively. In this paper, we determine the entire s.d.o.f. regions of these two channel models. The converse for the MAC follows from a middle step in the converse of [1,2]. The converse for t...

Dilemmas in the Danish approach to gender equality : gender equality without gender quota

OpenAIRE

ROLANDSEN AGUSTÍN, Lise; SIIM, Birte

2015-01-01

The paper addresses the dilemmas, contradictions and paradoxes in the Danish approach to gender quotas and gender equality and discusses the intersections of citizenship, democracy and gender justice. Gender research understands gender quota as a means to achieve equal rights, gender equality and gender parity. Gender theory has conceptualized gender parity as one step towards achieving gender justice in all arenas of social, political and economic life. The Danish cases illustrate that conte...

Quantifying the impact of accessibility on preventive healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa using mobile phone data.

Science.gov (United States)

Wesolowski, Amy; O'Meara, Wendy Prudhomme; Tatem, Andrew J; Ndege, Samson; Eagle, Nathan; Buckee, Caroline O

2015-03-01

Poor physical access to health facilities has been identified as an important contributor to reduced uptake of preventive health services and is likely to be most critical in low-income settings. However, the relation among physical access, travel behavior, and the uptake of healthcare is difficult to quantify. Using anonymized mobile phone data from 2008 to 2009, we analyze individual and spatially aggregated travel patterns of 14,816,521 subscribers across Kenya and compare these measures to (1) estimated travel times to health facilities and (2) data on the uptake of 2 preventive healthcare interventions in an area of western Kenya: childhood immunizations and antenatal care. We document that long travel times to health facilities are strongly correlated with increased mobility in geographically isolated areas. Furthermore, we found that in areas with equal physical access to healthcare, mobile phone-derived measures of mobility predict which regions are lacking preventive care. Routinely collected mobile phone data provide a simple and low-cost approach to mapping the uptake of preventive healthcare in low-income settings.

Interaction of equal-size bubbles in shear flow.

Science.gov (United States)

Prakash, Jai; Lavrenteva, Olga M; Byk, Leonid; Nir, Avinoam

2013-04-01

The inertia-induced forces on two identical spherical bubbles in a simple shear flow at small but finite Reynolds number, for the case when the bubbles are within each other's inner viscous region, are calculated making use of the reciprocal theorem. This interaction force is further employed to model the dynamics of air bubbles injected to a viscous fluid sheared in a Couette device at the first shear flow instability where the bubbles are trapped inside the stable Taylor vortex. It was shown that, during a long time scale, the inertial interaction between the bubbles in the primary shear flow drives them away from each other and, as a result, equal-size bubbles eventually assume an ordered string with equal separation distances between all neighbors. We report on experiments showing the dynamic evolution of various numbers of bubbles. The results of the theory are in good agreement with the experimental observations.

Using GIS for Developing Sustainable Urban Growth Case Kyrenia Region

Science.gov (United States)

Kara, C.; Akçit, N.

2018-03-01

It is critical to develop urban layers for analysis sustainable urban development possibilities within planning process. Kyrenia Region has many physical, environmental or economic issues that may danger the growth possibilities in sustainable manner. From this point, this study uses different spatial layers such as slope, distance to roads, distance to central zone, vegetation, soil productivity, environmental protection zones, distance to open/green space, distance to education for supporting sustainable urban growth policies and define suitable areas for urban development within this perspective. The study tries to convert sustainable urban growth policies such as; compact growth, environmental protection, equal accessibility to basic services; into spatial layers and establish proper framework for multi criteria evaluation in Kyrenia Region within using geographical information systems. It shows suitability values for Kyrenia region and constraints zones at final section. It clearly presents the suitable areas for the sustainable urbanization and also unsuitable or risky areas for reducing the possible disasters and may happen in the future.

How fair is access to more prestigious UK universities?

Science.gov (United States)

Boliver, Vikki

2013-06-01

Now that most UK universities have increased their tuition fees to £9,000 a year and are implementing new Access Agreements as required by the Office for Fair Access, it has never been more important to examine the extent of fair access to UK higher education and to more prestigious UK universities in particular. This paper uses Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data for the period 1996 to 2006 to explore the extent of fair access to prestigious Russell Group universities, where 'fair' is taken to mean equal rates of making applications to and receiving offers of admission from these universities on the part of those who are equally qualified to enter them. The empirical findings show that access to Russell Group universities is far from fair in this sense and that little changed following the introduction of tuition fees in 1998 and their initial increase to £3,000 a year in 2006. Throughout this period, UCAS applicants from lower class backgrounds and from state schools remained much less likely to apply to Russell Group universities than their comparably qualified counterparts from higher class backgrounds and private schools, while Russell Group applicants from state schools and from Black and Asian ethnic backgrounds remained much less likely to receive offers of admission from Russell Group universities in comparison with their equivalently qualified peers from private schools and the White ethnic group. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2013.

What's in Your Refrigerator? Children's Views on Equality, Work, Money and Access to Food

Science.gov (United States)

Hammond, Libby-Lee; Hesterman, Sandra; Knaus, Marianne

2015-01-01

This study investigates young children's theorising about families and their differential access to food from a perspective of wealth and poverty. Fifty-two children, aged 6-7 years, attending a Western Australian school were invited to share their perspectives on this global issue. The single case study method utilised three children's focus…

The NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF) Network: A Key Resource for Accessing and Using Planetary Spatial Data

Science.gov (United States)

Hagerty, J. J.

2017-12-01

The role of the NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF) Network is evolving as new science-ready spatial data products continue to be created and as key historical planetary data sets are digitized. Specifically, the RPIF Network is poised to serve specialized knowledge and services in a user-friendly manner that removes most barriers to locating, accessing, and exploiting planetary spatial data, thus providing a critical data access role within a spatial data infrastructure. The goal of the Network is to provide support and training to a broad audience of planetary spatial data users. In an effort to meet the planetary science community's evolving needs, we are focusing on the following objectives: Maintain and improve the delivery of historical data accumulated over the past four decades so as not to lose critical, historical information. This is being achieved by systematically digitizing fragile materials, allowing increased access and preserving them at the same time. Help users locate, access, visualize, and exploit planetary science data. Many of the facilities have begun to establish Guest User Facilities that allow researchers to use and/or be trained on GIS equipment and other specialized tools like Socet Set/GXP photogrammetry workstations for generating digital elevation maps. Improve the connection between the Network nodes while also leveraging the unique resources of each node. To achieve this goal, each facility is developing and sharing searchable databases of their collections, including robust metadata in a standards compliant way. Communicate more effectively and regularly with the planetary science community in an effort to make potential users aware of resources and services provided by the Network, while also engaging community members in discussions about community needs. Provide a regional resource for the science community, colleges, universities, museums, media, and the public to access planetary data. Introduce new strategies for

Troubling gender equality: Revisiting gender equality work in the famous Nordic model countries

OpenAIRE

Edström, Charlotta; Brunila, Kristiina

2016-01-01

This article concerns gender equality work, that is, those educational and workplace activities that involve the promotion of gender equality. It is based on research conducted in Sweden and Finland, and focuses on the period during which the public sector has become more market-oriented and project-based all over the Nordic countries. The consequences of this development on gender equality work have not yet been thoroughly analysed. Our joint empirical analysis is based on discourse-analytic...

Making LibrariesAccessible for Visually Impaired Users: Practical Advice For Librarians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Devney Hamilton

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This article provides an introduction to making university libraries accessible to visually impaired users. It includes a summary of how visually impaired students access information and how libraries can provide access to materials, devices and software, and staff support to ensure visually impaired students ’ equal opportunity to use the library. The practical advice for librarians are based on interviews with 18 visually impaired university students and professionals who specialize in media, library services and information retrieval.

The Colour of Equality : Racial Classification and Natural Equality in Enlightenment Encyclopaedias

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vartija, D.J.

2018-01-01

While it may seem obvious that human beings should be treated equally before the law and given equal opportunities to succeed, much of recorded history actually demonstrates the exact opposite: hierarchy and innate inequalities were generally seen as both natural and inevitable. It was only during

Quality maternal and newborn care to ensure a healthy start for every newborn in the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region.

Science.gov (United States)

Obara, H; Sobel, H

2014-09-01

In the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region, the high rates of births attended by skilled health personnel (SHP) do not equal access to quality maternal or newborn care. 'A healthy start for every newborn' for 23 million annual births in the region means that SHP and newborn care providers give quality intrapartum, postpartum and newborn care. WHO and the UNICEF Regional Action Plan for Healthy Newborn Infants provide a platform for countries to scale-up Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC). The plan emphasises the creation of an enabling environment for the practice of EENC; thereby, preventing 50,000 newborn deaths annually. © 2014 Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Information Access for Disabled Students

OpenAIRE

Cypaite, Asta; Šerkšnien, Justina; Rudžioniene, Jurgita

2008-01-01

Disabled students who makes relatively small part of the academic society are in risk to disappear among all other students, due to their communication and mobility difficulties have less possibilities to satisfy their needs, ensuring their rights to qualitative studies, equal opportunities in the labor market and social integration. A topic about information accessibility for disabled students is extremely important because of their information exclusion in their study process at the un...

Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY): impact of an eye health education program on patient knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, Lindsay A; Huisingh, Carrie E; McGwin, Gerald; Mennemeyer, Stephen T; Bregantini, Mary; Patel, Nita; Saaddine, Jinan; Crews, John E; Girkin, Christopher A; Owsley, Cynthia

2016-01-01

To assess the impact of the education program of the Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY) telemedicine program on at-risk patients' knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care as well as to assess patient satisfaction with EQUALITY. New or existing patients presenting for a comprehensive eye exam (CEE) at one of two retail-based primary eye clinics were enrolled based on ≥1 of the following at-risk criteria for glaucoma: African Americans ≥40 years of age, Whites ≥50 years of age, diabetes, family history of glaucoma, and/or preexisting diagnosis of glaucoma. A total of 651 patients were enrolled. A questionnaire was administered prior to the patients' CEE and prior to the patients receiving any of the evidence-based eye health education program; a follow-up questionnaire was administered 2-4 weeks later by phone. Baseline and follow-up patient responses regarding knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care were compared using McNemar's test. Logistic regression models were used to assess the association of patient-level characteristics with improvement in knowledge and attitudes. Overall patient satisfaction was summarized. At follow-up, all patient responses in the knowledge and attitude domains significantly improved from baseline (P≤0.01 for all questions). Those who were unemployed (odds ratio =0.63, 95% confidence interval =0.42-0.95, P=0.026) or had lower education (odds ratio =0.55, 95% confidence interval =0.29-1.02, P=0.058) were less likely to improve their knowledge after adjusting for age, sex, race, and prior glaucoma diagnosis. This association was attenuated after further adjustment for other patient-level characteristics. Ninety-eight percent (n=501) of patients reported being likely to have a CEE within the next 2 years, whereas 63% (n=326) had a CEE in the previous 2 years. Patient satisfaction with EQUALITY was high (99%). Improved knowledge about glaucoma and a high intent to

Social justice in Chinese higher education: Regional issues of equity and access

Science.gov (United States)

Jacob, W. James

2007-01-01

A topic of growing concern in Chinese higher education to policy-makers, scholars, and future student applicants is social justice. With the trend toward increasing enrollments in China's higher-education institutions, issues of equity and access have begun to surface, especially as they relate to China's minority population of over 100 million persons. The present contribution offers an overview of the regional boundaries of China, both geographic and historical. It then looks at the development of urbanicity in connection with higher education. Third, it describes the recent history of the gender gap in education both in general and in higher education in particular. Fourth, it examines the ethnic boundaries that exist in higher education. The final section analyzes related findings drawn from interviews and questionnaires administered to faculty members, administrators, and students at ten sample universities.

[Multidisciplinary health houses and regional development: a necessarily shared dyanamics.].

Science.gov (United States)

Autès, Michel; Dufay, Marie-Guite

2009-03-29

Many regional authorities (Conseils Régionaux) have taken up the issue of health houses by underlining their competence in dealing with regional development issues. This initiative is part of a broader process designed to ensure the continuity of healthcare at the different levels of provision as well as equal, universal access according to the specific needs of patients, from prevention to the most specialized forms of medical treatment. Health houses are one of the chief access points in this process, and are situated at the cross-roads of health and healthcare. The territorial health project must provide the fondations of the new health house model. According to the Health Committee of the Association of French Regions (Commission Santé de l'Association des Régions de France), there are three prerequisites: 1. a multidisciplinary offer of access to front-line healthcare services; 2. public healthcare activities: prevention, promotion of health...; 3. a network mode of organization with the local and regional hospital system to ensure optimum healthcare provision for patients. Yet a number of obstacles need to be overcome, particularly the risk of concentrating healthcare provision within a single center, thus depriving the surrounding area, but also the ill-adapted current framework of remuneration for independent medical practitioners. The purpose of regional authorities (i.e. Conseils Régionaux) is not to ensure the expansion of health houses, but rather to enable innovation by accompanying the different actors involved within the sector. Heeding the specific requirements of the local area and its needs, as well as the will of elected representatives and healthcare professionals, their aim is to develop a policy of exemplarity with all the actors involved in the sector and to uphold their legitimacy as agents of regional development. The ?Hospital, patients, health and territories' law (loi "Hôpital, patients, santé et territoires") may yet throw the

Beyond access: a case study on the intersection between accessibility, sustainability, and universal design.

Science.gov (United States)

Gossett, Andrea; Mirza, Mansha; Barnds, Ann Kathleen; Feidt, Daisy

2009-11-01

A growing emphasis has been placed on providing equal opportunities for all people, particularly people with disabilities, to support participation. Barriers to participation are represented in part by physical space restrictions. This article explores the decision-making process during the construction of a new office building housing a disability-rights organization. The building project featured in this study was developed on the principles of universal design, maximal accessibility, and sustainability to support access and participation. A qualitative case study approach was used involving collection of data through in-depth interviews with key decision-makers; non-participant observations at design meetings; and on-site tours. Qualitative thematic analysis along with the development of a classification system was used to understand specific building elements and the relevant decision processes from which they resulted. Recording and analyzing the design process revealed several key issues including grassroots involvement of stakeholders; interaction between universal design and sustainable design; addressing diversity through flexibility and universality; and segregationist accessibility versus universal design. This case study revealed complex interactions between accessibility, universal design, and sustainability. Two visual models were proposed to understand and analyze these complexities.

Instructional Technology for Rural Schools: Access and Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Sundeen, Todd H.; Sundeen, Darrelanne M.

2013-01-01

Integrating instructional technology into all classrooms has the potential to transform modern education and student learning. However, access to technology is not equally available to all districts or schools. Decreased funding and budgetary restraints have had a direct impact on technology acquisition in many rural school districts. One of the…

The Paradox of Equal Opportunities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mitja Sardoč

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The basic assumption of the idea of equal opportunities is based on the assertion that all individuals competing for an advantaged social position should have equal opportunities, i.e., that each and every one of them should have fair opportunities to achieve a particular goal. Despite the fact that equal opportunities is one of the basic mechanisms for a just distribution of advantageous social positions, the idea of fair equality of opportunity remains divided between different competing political projects, e.g., egalitarian liberalism, libertarian political theory, multiculturalism, etc. This paper examines two basic dimensions of equal opportunities to which existing conceptions fail to offer a unanimous answer, i.e., a the issue of fairness and b the issue of the currency of fairness. The concluding part of this paper presents two basic paradoxes that determine both the direction of the discussion as well as the possible solutions to the achievement of fair equal opportunities as part of any process for competing for advantageous social positions.

Emulation of Equal Open Access and Competition Creation in the Wireline Telecommunications Local and Last Mile Market Segments

Science.gov (United States)

Van Epps, Daniel L.

2013-01-01

Expanded telecommunications was deemed a serious need for end users. The "Local Market" and "Last Mile" market segments have largely consolidated into "natural utilities". Competition and access problems occur if new providers enter the local market and desire competitive access and service to end users. Local and…

[Improve the accessibility of essential drugs for the populations of one medical region in Burkina Faso].

Science.gov (United States)

Ridde, Valéry; Nitièma, Abdoulaye P; Dadjoari, Moussa

2005-01-01

Despite the formulation of the Bamako initiative in 1992 in Burkina Faso, not until 2001 and the launching of a project by a nongovernmental organization was the policy really implemented in a region of the country. One of the goals of this policy is to improve access to health care by using generic essential drugs. The objective of this article is to summarize the results of the evaluation of the project's ability to improve the population's access to drugs. The project lasted three years (2001-2003) and the interventions took place in 41 basic health centres of three districts. According to WHO, improving access to drugs requires consideration of four essential factors: rational use, affordable prices, financial viability, and effectiveness of the distribution. The average number of drugs prescribed per prescription sheet (n = 1061) was 2.4; 93% of the drugs were prescribed by their generic name (international non-proprietary names); 44% of infant diarrheas were treated with oral rehydration salt. National drug prices were respected but not the directives aiming at exempting from payment or subsidizing certain population sub-groups (children, indigents). The average annual cash flow of the basic health centres was 1.2 million F CFA and it increased by 854% compared to the beginning of the project. The cost-recovery scheme for administrative expenses was 106%. The average annual availability of the 10 essential drugs was 89%. Utilization rates increased (0.13 in 1999 to 0.21 in 2003) but not significantly differently than in other basic health centres of the area not supported by the project (p = 0.084). The project succeeded in improving access to these drugs for the overall population but not for the worst-off. The drugs are now geographically available for all and financially accessible for those who can afford to pay. The intervention strategy supported the sustainability of the project's activities but much remains to be done to provide the poorest with

Equal-Time and Equal-Space Poisson Brackets of the N -Component Coupled NLS Equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Ru-Guang; Li Pei-Yao; Gao Yuan

2017-01-01

Two Poisson brackets for the N-component coupled nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation are derived by using the variantional principle. The first one is called the equal-time Poisson bracket which does not depend on time but only on the space variable. Actually it is just the usual one describing the time evolution of system in the traditional theory of integrable Hamiltonian systems. The second one is equal-space and new. It is shown that the spatial part of Lax pair with respect to the equal-time Poisson bracket and temporal part of Lax pair with respect to the equal-space Poisson bracket share the same r-matrix formulation. These properties are similar to that of the NLS equation. (paper)

Resource Sharing in Heterogeneous and Cloud Radio Access Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zakrzewska, Anna; Iversen, Villy Bæk

2012-01-01

be improved. However, we identify the benefit of individual operators and show that it’s not equal but highly depends on the initial network dimensioning. Furthermore, we demonstrate that under specific conditions the blocking probability in an area is lower than for fully accessible system and therefore...

Mental health of South Asian youth in Peel Region, Toronto, Canada: a qualitative study of determinants, coping strategies and service access

Science.gov (United States)

Multani, Amanpreet; Hynie, Michaela; Shakya, Yogendra; McKenzie, Kwame

2017-01-01

Objectives This qualitative study set out to understand the mental health challenges and service access barriers experienced by South Asian youth populations in the Peel Region of Toronto, Canada. Setting In-depth semistructured interviews were carried out with South Asian youth living in Peel Region (Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon), a suburb of Toronto, Canada, home to over 50% of Ontario’s South Asian population. Participants South Asian youth (n=10) engaged in thoughtful, candid dialogue about their mental health and service access barriers. Primary and secondary outcome measures Qualitative interview themes related to mental health stressors and mental health service access barriers experienced by youth living in Peel Region were assessed using thematic analysis. Results South Asian youth face many mental health stressors, from intergenerational and cultural conflict, academic pressure, relationship stress, financial stress and family difficulties. These stressors can contribute to mental health challenges, such as depression and anxiety and drug use, with marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes cited as the most popular substances. South Asian youth were only able to identify about a third (36%) of the mental health resources presented to them and did not feel well informed about mental health resources available in their neighbourhood. Conclusions They offered recommendations for improved youth support directed at parents, education system, South Asian community and mental health system. Institutions and bodies at all levels of the society have a role to play in ensuring the mental health of South Asian youth. PMID:29101148

Early Understanding of Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Leavy, Aisling; Hourigan, Mairéad; McMahon, Áine

2013-01-01

Quite a bit of the arithmetic in elementary school contains elements of algebraic reasoning. After researching and testing a number of instructional strategies with Irish third graders, these authors found effective methods for cultivating a relational concept of equality in third-grade students. Understanding equality is fundamental to algebraic…

Asynchronous LMS adaptive equalization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bergmans, J.W.M.; Lin, M.Y.; Modrie, D.; Otte, R.

2005-01-01

Digital data receivers often operate at a fixed sampling rate 1/Ts that is asynchronous to the baud rate 1/T. A digital equalizer that processes the incoming signal will also operate in the asynchronous clock domain. Existing adaptation techniques for this equalizer involve an error sequence ek that

Medical Need, Equality, and Uncertainty.

Science.gov (United States)

Horne, L Chad

2016-10-01

Many hold that distributing healthcare according to medical need is a requirement of equality. Most egalitarians believe, however, that people ought to be equal on the whole, by some overall measure of well-being or life-prospects; it would be a massive coincidence if distributing healthcare according to medical need turned out to be an effective way of promoting equality overall. I argue that distributing healthcare according to medical need is important for reducing individuals' uncertainty surrounding their future medical needs. In other words, distributing healthcare according to medical need is a natural feature of healthcare insurance; it is about indemnity, not equality. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

COLOUR IMAGE ENHANCEMENT BASED ON HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION

OpenAIRE

Kanika Kapoor and Shaveta Arora

2015-01-01

Histogram equalization is a nonlinear technique for adjusting the contrast of an image using its histogram. It increases the brightness of a gray scale image which is different from the mean brightness of the original image. There are various types of Histogram equalization techniques like Histogram Equalization, Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization, Brightness Preserving Bi Histogram Equalization, Dualistic Sub Image Histogram Equalization, Minimum Mean Brightness Error Bi Histog...

Flavors of the city: access to regional fruit and fruit consumption in the State of Acre, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Carolina Barbosa de Lima

Full Text Available In 2010 more than 70% of the population in the Brazilian Amazon was living in urban centers. This article looks at the effect of urbanization on market availability and consumption of regional fruits in the state of Acre. The east and west region were used as proxies for urbanization, and quantitative and qualitative methods were combined in interviews with regional fruit vendors and consumers. Open markets in large cities provided a greater variety of regional fruits for purchase, yet fruit consumption was more diverse in the less urbanized west, than in the east. This pattern reveals the importance of fruit tree diversity in home gardens and urban forested fragments, as well as of non-monetary exchanges of goods as promoters of variety in fruit consumption. Findings suggest that children may be benefiting the most from this consumption. Also, certain regional fruits have gained a 'cultural marker' status and are widely consumed regardless of the urbanization rates. Nevertheless, this article demonstrates how urbanization affects the diversity of fruit consumption in different social groups, and how this process is mediated by access, income level, and health concerns.

Trust, Welfare States and Income Equality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergh, Andreas; Bjørnskov, Christian

2014-01-01

The cross-country correlation between social trust and income equality is well documented, but few studies examine the direction of causality. We show theoretically that by facilitating cooperation, trust may lead to more equal outcomes, while the feedback from inequality to trust is ambiguous....... Using a structural equation model estimated on a large country sample, we find that trust has a positive effect on both market and net income equality. Larger welfare states lead to higher net equality but neither net income equality nor welfare state size seems to have a causal effect on trust. We...

Iterative Estimation in Turbo Equalization Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MORGOS Lucian

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the iterative estimation in turbo equalization process. Turbo equalization is the process of reception in which equalization and decoding are done together, not as separate processes. For the equalizer to work properly, it must receive before equalization accurate information about the value of the channel impulse response. This estimation of channel impulse response is done by transmission of a training sequence known at reception. Knowing both the transmitted and received sequence, it can be calculated estimated value of the estimated the channel impulse response using one of the well-known estimation algorithms. The estimated value can be also iterative recalculated based on the sequence data available at the output of the channel and estimated sequence data coming from turbo equalizer output, thereby refining the obtained results.

All Equal: Article 198 of the Objective of Civil Procedure Code

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciane Mara Correa Gomes

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The implementation of the electronic process in Brazil was made to be a way to minimize the slowness in dealing with cases. Created the first barrier of inequality, because there was not the adequacy of the system to people with special needs. The Civil Procedure Code calls for equal treatment by imposing the Judiciary duty purpose of access, spreading the installation charge of treatment rooms with technical support and personnel to jurisdictional, disabled and elderly. In the absence of physical space, allows the law to practice through physical, creating imbalance in parity procedural weapons.

Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome

Science.gov (United States)

Kodelja, Zdenko

2016-01-01

The report on the findings of extensive empirical research on equality of educational opportunities carried out in the United States on a very large sample of public schools by Coleman and his colleagues has had a major impact on education policy and has given rise to a large amount of research and various interpretations. However, as some…

Social equality in the number of choice options is represented in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Aoki, Ryuta; Matsumoto, Madoka; Yomogida, Yukihito; Izuma, Keise; Murayama, Kou; Sugiura, Ayaka; Camerer, Colin F; Adolphs, Ralph; Matsumoto, Kenji

2014-04-30

A distinct aspect of the sense of fairness in humans is that we care not only about equality in material rewards but also about equality in nonmaterial values. One such value is the opportunity to choose freely among many options, often regarded as a fundamental right to economic freedom. In modern developed societies, equal opportunities in work, living, and lifestyle are enforced by antidiscrimination laws. Despite the widespread endorsement of equal opportunity, no studies have explored how people assign value to it. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the neural substrates for subjective valuation of equality in choice opportunity. Participants performed a two-person choice task in which the number of choices available was varied across trials independently of choice outcomes. By using this procedure, we manipulated the degree of equality in choice opportunity between players and dissociated it from the value of reward outcomes and their equality. We found that activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) tracked the degree to which the number of options between the two players was equal. In contrast, activation in the ventral striatum tracked the number of options available to participants themselves but not the equality between players. Our results demonstrate that the vmPFC, a key brain region previously implicated in the processing of social values, is also involved in valuation of equality in choice opportunity between individuals. These findings may provide valuable insight into the human ability to value equal opportunity, a characteristic long emphasized in politics, economics, and philosophy.

We Do Not Enjoy Equal Political Rights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marie-Antoinette Sossou

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This study explores Ghanaian women’s perception and voices about issues of gender equality in terms of exercising their political and decision-making rights in connection with political participation and governance in Ghana. The study uses demographic survey and six different focus group discussions to capture the views of a total of 68 women with different educational, socioeconomical, and occupational backgrounds, in two regions of the Ghana. The findings indicate that even though theoretically the constitution of Ghana gives women equal rights as their male counterparts to actively participate in the governance of their country, in practice, women face issues of gender-based power imbalance and discrimination in addition to other structural, institutional, cultural, and traditional barriers and roadblocks. These barriers expose women as being inferior and second-class citizens compared with their male counterparts in term of participation and inclusion in the governance of their country. The study discusses the social and policy implications of the issues of gender inequality and social exclusion of women in politics and calls for empowerment and organization of women and structural change in the system.

Gender equality revisited:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rostgaard, Tine; B. Eydal, G.

2011-01-01

The Nordic childcare policy model is often reviewed and even recommended internationally for its contribution to gender equality, high female labour force participation and, perhaps more indirectly, to a high fertility rate. Nordic childcare services and parental leave schemes have thus been...... portrayed in the literature as policies which have managed to facilitate a work–family model of dual earners and dual carers. However, the recent introduction of cash-for-care schemes seems to go against the Nordic dual earner/dual carer model and ideals of gender equality, in supporting parental (maternal...

Equality in the Framework of Justice

OpenAIRE

Aşik, Kübra

2015-01-01

This thesis assesses the relation between equality and justice by exploring and identifying the relation between equality and justice in Rawls's theory of justice, Sandel's communitarian account of Justice and Sen's capability approach. And these accounts of justice are evaluated from an egalitarian point of view. The main argument defended in the thesis is that justice requires equality. Accordingly, these three accounts of justice are evaluated by taking their understanding of equality into...

Effect of sodium chloride on the germination of the seeds of a collection of carrot accessions (Daucus carota L. cultivated in the region of Sidi Bouzid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Basma Kahouli

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Seeds of ten accessions of carrot (Daucus carota L. collected from seven areas in the region of Sidi Bouzid, Lessouda (three accessions: L1, L2 and L3 Faid (one accession: F4, El Ogla (one accession: E5, Regueb (two accessions: R7 and R8, Lahweze (one accession: L10 Garet Hdid (one accession: G11 and Souk Jedid (one accession: S12 were germinated at 20° C in the dark and in the presence of NaCl (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 g/l during 14 days. The results obtained showed that germination is possible until the highest concentration of salt (16 g/l but germination and speed of germination decrease according to the concentration, so the accession L3 was the most tolerant and accessions L1, L2 and S12 was the most sensitive.

Equal Protection of the Law: The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities Act, 2014, Bahamas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernadette Bain

2016-10-01

This analysis of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities Act, 2014, examines the nature and scope of equal rights and whether the Act provides adequate enforcement. The aim of the provisions is to restrict discrimination against persons with disabilities by providing opportunities on an equal basis and to require persons having dealings with the disabled to accommodate their needs. It is questionable whether the Act fulfils its purpose and whether penalties for failure to comply with the Act are adequate, as there is a lacuna or gap in the law, which hinders purposeful rights.

Global Web Accessibility Analysis of National Government Portals and Ministry Web Sites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goodwin, Morten; Susar, Deniz; Nietzio, Annika

2011-01-01

Equal access to public information and services for all is an essential part of the United Nations (UN) Declaration of Human Rights. Today, the Web plays an important role in providing information and services to citizens. Unfortunately, many government Web sites are poorly designed and have...... accessibility barriers that prevent people with disabilities from using them. This article combines current Web accessibility benchmarking methodologies with a sound strategy for comparing Web accessibility among countries and continents. Furthermore, the article presents the first global analysis of the Web...... accessibility of 192 United Nation Member States made publically available. The article also identifies common properties of Member States that have accessible and inaccessible Web sites and shows that implementing antidisability discrimination laws is highly beneficial for the accessibility of Web sites, while...

Equal exchange: Determining a fair price for carbon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hodes, G.; Kamel, S.

2007-12-14

This first volume in the new series CD4CDM Perspective Series focuses on determining an equal exchange between carbon buyers and sellers in CDM transactions. Contributors to this volume represent a wide spectrum of the various market actors that are interacting in order to realize both successful and equitable carbon transactions. The following issues are discussed: Global carbon price dynamics; CDM project risk profiles and/or premiums; Importance of time factors and delivery guarantees; Impact of regulatory drivers and post-Kyoto outlook; Region-specific outlooks; Strategies, contracting models and approaches. (BA)

Relations between nature-based solutions of green-blue area accessibility and socio-economic-ethnic patterns in the urban Stockholm region

Science.gov (United States)

Goldenberg, Romain; Kalantari, Zahra; Destouni, Georgia

2017-04-01

More than half of the world's population lives in cities, a proportion expected to increase to two thirds by 2050 (United Nations (UN), 2015). In this study, we investigate the spatial relationships that may exist between income and/or nationality homogeneity/heterogeneity levels of urban populations and their accessibility to local green-blue areas as possible nature-based solutions for sustainable urban design. For this investigation, we consider as a concrete case study the urban region of Stockholm, Sweden, for which we compile and use available land-cover and vegetation density data (the latter in terms of Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) in order to identify and assess the spatial distributions of various green-blue area types and aspects. We further combine this data with spatial distribution data for population density, income and nationality, as well as with road-network data for assessing population travel times to nearby green-blue areas within the region. The present study results converge with those of other recent studies in showing large socio-economic-ethnic segregation in the Stockholm region. Moreover, the present data combination and analysis also show large spatial differences in and important socio-economic-ethnic correlations with accessibility to local green areas and nearby water bodies. Specifically, population income and share of Swedish nationals are well correlated in this region, with increases in both of these variables implying greater possibility to choose where to live within the region. The living choices of richer and more homogeneous (primarily Swedish) population parts are then found to be areas with greater local vegetation density (local green areas as identified by high-resolution NDVI data) and greater area extent of nearby water bodies (blue areas). For comparison, no such correlation is found between increased income or Swedish nationality homogeneity and accessibility to nearby forest areas (overall green

Equal pay for work of equal value in terms of the Employment Equity ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Equal pay for work of equal value in terms of the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998: lessons from the International Labour Organisation and the United Kingdom. ... Alternatively, you can download the PDF file directly to your computer, from where it can be opened using a PDF reader. To download the PDF, click the ...

Troubling Gender Equality: Revisiting Gender Equality Work in the Famous Nordic Model Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Edström, Charlotta; Brunila, Kristiina

2016-01-01

This article concerns gender equality work, that is, those educational and workplace activities that involve the promotion of gender equality. It is based on research conducted in Sweden and Finland, and focuses on the period during which the public sector has become more market-oriented and project-based all over the Nordic countries. The…

Transforming equality logic to propositional logic

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zantema, H.; Groote, J.F.

2003-01-01

Abstract We investigate and compare various ways of transforming equality formulas to propositional formulas, in order to be able to solve satisfiability in equality logic by means of satisfiability in propositional logic. We propose equality substitution as a new approach combining desirable

Eu accession to the ECHR: Enlarging the human rights protection in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krstić Ivana

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the importance of the EU accession to the ECHR, as the most significant regional instrument for human rights protection. The paper outlines the evolution of the idea of the accession to the ECHR, different stages of that process, as well as a Draft agreement which attempted to resolve some complex legal issues relating to the specific nature of the EU legal system. In the second part of this paper, the Opinion 2/13 of the CJEU from December 2014 has been analyzed, which basically interrupted the entire accession process. It is noted that currently the ECtHR has only an indirect constitutional control over the EU's legal order by examining laws of the Member States. The EU accession to the ECHR would allow examination of all acts and measures in the EU from the human rights perspective, including those over which the CJEU does not have full oversight function. Therefore, the authors argue that due to the establishment of legal certainty and external control over acts of the EU institutions, it is necessary to find a way for the continuation of the accession process, as soon as possible. There are two possible scenarios: a re-negotiation of the agreement on accession, or modification of the EU Treaties. Both solutions seem almost impossible in the created political milieu. However, there is a hope that negotiations will continue due to the influence of the Avotiņš judgment from May 2016 in which the ECtHR upheld the principle of equal protection from the Bosphorus case, pointing to the importance of maintaining mutual trust between two courts, as well as the need for the establishment of greater credibility and EU strengthening after Brexit.

The aging population: imperative to uncouple sex and gender to establish "gender equal" health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Bachmann, Gloria A; Mussman, Brianna

2015-04-01

The transgender community has long been marginalized in society. As the world's population ages, gender-unbiased health services for this growing population, with age-related chronic illnesses, will be essential. To optimally eliminate hurdles that trans individuals often confront when requesting services, it appears judicious to eliminate the strict and antiquated definition of what constitutes "normal" female and "normal" male. A review of literature on transgender medicine on PubMed over the last five years was conducted. Existing statistics indicate that unacceptable bias and discrimination are occurring, making trans patients less likely to seek care. There are emerging initiatives that address the transgender and gender non-conforming population. Ongoing needs include defining what constitutes "gender equal," understanding the continuum of gender identity, and establishing and implementing guidelines for gender equal counseling and care. With the routine practice of defining sex at birth and equating sex with gender in the health care setting, the transgender patient encounters multiple barriers to accessing and acquiring health care services. These strict gender labels appear to preclude the institution of gender equal care. Care templates on gender equal patient encounters should be implemented to better address transgender health needs in a non-biased manner. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The consequences of health service privatisation for equality and equity in health care in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Price, M

1988-01-01

The trend towards the privatisation of health services in South Africa reflects a growing use of private sources of finance and the growing proportion of privately owned fee-for-service providers and facilities. Fee-for-service methods of reimbursement aggravate the geographical maldistribution of personnel and facilities, and the competition for scarce personnel resources aggravates the difference in the quality of the public and private services. Thus the growth in demand for these types of providers may be expected to increase inequality of access in these two respects. The potential expansion of medical scheme coverage is shown to be limited to well under 50% of the population, leaving the majority of the population without access to private sector health care. Even for members of the medical schemes, benefits are linked to income, thus clashing with the principle of equal care for equal need. The public funds needed to overcome financial obstacles to access to private providers could be more efficiently deployed by financing publicly owned and controlled health services directly. Taxation also offers the most equitable method of financing health services. Finally, attention is drawn to the dilemma resulting from the strengthening of the private health sector; while in the short term this can offer better care to more people on a racially non-discriminatory basis, in the long term, health care for the population as a whole may become more unequal and for those dependent on the public sector it may even deteriorate.

Unjust Equalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albertsen, Andreas; Midtgaard, Søren Flinch

2014-01-01

In the luck egalitarian literature, one influential formulation of luck egalitarianism does not specify whether equalities that do not reflect people’s equivalent exercises of responsibility are bad with regard to inequality. This equivocation gives rise to two competing versions of luck egalitar......In the luck egalitarian literature, one influential formulation of luck egalitarianism does not specify whether equalities that do not reflect people’s equivalent exercises of responsibility are bad with regard to inequality. This equivocation gives rise to two competing versions of luck....... The symmetrical view, we argue, is by far the more compelling, both by internal luck egalitarian standards and in light of the external rightist emphasis on choice and responsibility to which luck egalitarianism may partly be seen as a response. Our main case for the symmetrical view is that when some people...

Higher Education and Equality of Opportunitly:A Survey of Recent Cross-National Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fred A.Lazin

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Rising costs of education at the start of the 21st century seem to indicate a stark shift in education policies, which raises several important questions. The author shows that from the United States to East Asia and Australia – seemingly everywhere – higher education policy is headed in the same direction. The movement to broaden access to public universities, the dominant strategy during the 1970s and 1980s, has largely shifted to enable the marketplace, rather than the government, to shape the contours of higher education. Government funding is being reduced, affirmative action and other programs designed to insure broader access are in decline, and personal fulfilment is replacing a public good designed to insure greater equality of opportunity. The author describes how this sea of change in higher education has played out in economically developed and developing countries. In trying to provide the answer to the above-mentioned development, the author raises the question related to the consequences of a market-driven higher education for student access, teaching and scholarship.

Perceptions of gender equality and attitudes toward equal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The aim of this study was to explain consciousness of gender inequality in school sport and predict pro-equality attitudes among 1580 respondents (934 girls and 646 boys) from 45 Botswana secondary schools. Results of separate multiple regression models indicate that girls' sport participation is negatively correlated with ...

Justifications of Gender Equality in Academia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Mathias Wullum

2014-01-01

and Swedish universities juxtapose arguments of utility, innovation, justice, and anti-discrimination, the Danish universities primarily refer to aspects of competitiveness, utility, and innovation when justifying activities on gender equality. The article suggests that the lack of justice......Gender equality in academia is often perceived as receiving more emphasis in Norway and Sweden than in Denmark. But how do the public research institutions in the three countries approach issues of gender equality differently? This study investigates how activities related to gender equality...... are articulated and justified in the policy statements of six Scandinavian universities. The analysis reveals some interesting disparities between the countries. In short, the Danish universities seem to be reluctant to deal with gender equality on the basis of rights-based assumptions. While the Norwegian...

Very proton-rich nuclei with N asymptotically equals 82

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nolte, E.

1984-01-01

The proton-rich nuclei with N asymptotically equals 82 show beautifully properties, which are perfectly described by the nuclear shell model. Some of these properties are the occurrence of seniority isomerism in the proton-rich N=82 isotones and the perfect description of the corresponding life times by the seniority scheme as well as the observation of favoured Gamow-Teller β transitions in this nuclear region and the dependence of the corresponding ft values on the number of the envolved nucleons. (author)

12 CFR 268.202 - Equal Pay Act.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Equal Pay Act. 268.202 Section 268.202 Banks... REGARDING EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Provisions Applicable to Particular Complaints § 268.202 Equal Pay Act. Complaints alleging violations of the Equal Pay Act shall be processed under this part. ...

Equal Access but Unequal Outcomes: Cultural Capital and Educational Choice in a Meritocratic Society

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jæger, Mads Meier

2009-01-01

conditions must hold: (1. parents must possess cultural capital, (2. they must transfer their cultural capital to children, and (3. children must absorb cultural capital and convert it into educational success. This research develops an empirical model that analyzes the significance of the three effects...... with respect to Danish children's choice of secondary education. Denmark is well-suited for this study because access to secondary education is particularly meritocratic. The empirical analysis shows that all three channels through which cultural capital affects educational success are important....

Turbo Equalization Using Partial Gaussian Approximation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Chuanzong; Wang, Zhongyong; Manchón, Carles Navarro

2016-01-01

This letter deals with turbo equalization for coded data transmission over intersymbol interference (ISI) channels. We propose a message-passing algorithm that uses the expectation propagation rule to convert messages passed from the demodulator and decoder to the equalizer and computes messages...... returned by the equalizer by using a partial Gaussian approximation (PGA). We exploit the specific structure of the ISI channel model to compute the latter messages from the beliefs obtained using a Kalman smoother/equalizer. Doing so leads to a significant complexity reduction compared to the initial PGA...

Communication access to businesses and organizations for people with complex communication needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Collier, Barbara; Blackstone, Sarah W; Taylor, Andrew

2012-12-01

Human rights legislation and anti-discrimination and accessibility laws exist in many countries and through international conventions and treaties. To varying degrees, these laws protect the rights of people with disabilities to full and equal access to goods and services. Yet, the accessibility requirements of people with complex communication needs (CCN) are not well represented in the existing accessibility literature. This article describes the results of surveys completed by disability service providers and individuals with CCN due to cerebral palsy, developmental delay, and acquired disabilities. It identifies accessibility requirements for people with CCN for face-to-face communication; comprehension of spoken language; telephone communication; text and print-based communication; Internet, email, and social media interactions; and written communication. Recommendations are made for communication accessibility accommodations in regulations, guidelines, and practices.

Accessibility of second regions of stability in tokamaks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manickam, J.

1985-12-01

Second regions of stability to the ideal ballooning modes have been shown to exist in large-aspect-ratio circular and small-aspect-ratio bean-shaped tokamaks. We report on the existence of these second stability regions in finite-aspect-ratio dee-shaped tokamaks. We also report on the discovery of a second-stable region with respect to the n = 1 external kink mode in a bean-shaped plasma. The role of the shear and current profile in determining these regions of parameter space are discussed. 13 refs., 6 figs.

Accessibility of second regions of stability in tokamaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manickam, J.

1985-12-01

Second regions of stability to the ideal ballooning modes have been shown to exist in large-aspect-ratio circular and small-aspect-ratio bean-shaped tokamaks. We report on the existence of these second stability regions in finite-aspect-ratio dee-shaped tokamaks. We also report on the discovery of a second-stable region with respect to the n = 1 external kink mode in a bean-shaped plasma. The role of the shear and current profile in determining these regions of parameter space are discussed. 13 refs., 6 figs

Certifying Equality With Limited Interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brody, Joshua Eric; Chakrabarti, Amit; McGregor, Andrew

2012-01-01

The \\textsc{equality} problem is usually one's first encounter with communication complexity and is one of the most fundamental problems in the field. Although its deterministic and randomized communication complexity were settled decades ago, we find several new things to say about the problem...... cost bounds, we obtain new bounded-round randomized lower bounds for the \\textsc{or-equality} problem that have a direct-sum flavor. Such lower bounds were previously known only for deterministic protocols or one-round randomized protocols. The \\textsc{or-equality} problem is in turn closely related...

29 CFR 1620.25 - Equalization of rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Equalization of rates. 1620.25 Section 1620.25 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION THE EQUAL PAY ACT § 1620.25 Equalization of rates. Under the express terms of the EPA, when a prohibited sex-based wage differential has...

Educational Equality: Luck Egalitarian, Pluralist and Complex

Science.gov (United States)

Calvert, John

2014-01-01

The basic principle of educational equality is that each child should receive an equally good education. This sounds appealing, but is rather vague and needs substantial working out. Also, educational equality faces all the objections to equality per se, plus others specific to its subject matter. Together these have eroded confidence in the…

Geoanalyses of Lunokhods' regions for future Lunar missions and data access via Geoportal

Science.gov (United States)

Karachevtseva, Irina; Baskakova, Marina; Gusakova, Eugenia; Kokhanov, Alexander; Kozlova, Natalia; Matveev, Eugeny; Nadezhdina, Irina; Zubarev, Anatoliy; Oberst, Juergen

2013-04-01

Introduction: The Soviet rover missions Lunokhod-1 and -2 were launched at the beginning of 70th (Luna-17 in October 1971 and Luna-21 in January 1973 respectively). The main goals of the both missions were to study Moon surface in situ. The history of the Lunokhods' missions came back into focus recently, when the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter obtained high resolutions images. Sources. For our work we used various data: LROC Narrow Angle Camera (LRO NAC) images, 0.3-1 m/pixel [7, 11]; DEMs with different resolution: LRO NAC DEM, 1-5 m/pixel [9]; Kaguya DEM, 7.5 m/pixel [10]; Lunokhods' stereo panoramas and early cartography information [1, 8]. Methodolody: We collected all data as spatial database (Geodatabase) which includes various derived products. Based on methods developed earlier [4, 6], rovers wheel tracks and craters entire study regions were mapped. High resolution DEMs allow calculate of various morphometric parameters of the Lunokhods' regions which provide better understanding processes on lunar surface [2, 5]. Method of detailed morphology analyses developed for study area now used for investigation of the Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource landing missions which are planned to the south pole of the Moon. Data access: We are developing easy access to the planetary data based on web and spatial technology (Geoportal). Geoportal provides the ability to view spatial data in the web-browser, displays different layers in the same area at different scales turns the web. Lunokhods' data point features were created for each station of rover routes where panoramas were been recorded. So GIS project provide an easy access to non-spatial image database and can involve these information in their spatial context. Conclusions: During Lunokhods' missions early topography data of the traverses were accurate for most areas. Modern estimating these results based on the new LRO data provide comparative studies in lunar geology and morphology. We show that these data can be used

Genetic variability of watermelon accessions based on microsatellite markers.

Science.gov (United States)

de S Gama, R N C; Santos, C A F; de C S Dias, R

2013-03-13

We analyzed the genetic variability of 40 watermelon accessions collected from 8 regions of Northeastern Brazil using microsatellite markers, in order to suggest strategies of conservation and utilization of genetic variability in this species. These accessions are not commercial cultivars. They were sampled in areas of traditional farmers that usually keep their own seeds for future plantings year after year. An UPGMA dendrogram was generated from a distance matrix of the Jaccard coefficient, based on 41 alleles of 13 microsatellite loci. Analysis of molecular variance was made by partitioning between and within geographical regions. The similarity coefficient between accessions ranged from 37 to 96%; the dendrogram gave a co-phenetic value of 0.80. The among population genetic variability was high ( (^)ϕST = 0.319). Specific clusters of accessions sampled in 3 regions of Maranhão were observed while the other 5 regions did not presented specific clusters by regions. We conclude that watermelon genetic variability is not uniformly dispersed in the regions analyzed, indicating that geographical barriers or edaphoclimatic conditions have limited open mating. We suggest sampling a greater number of populations, so regional species diversity will be better represented and preserved in the germplasm bank.

Algorithms for adaptive histogram equalization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pizer, S.M.; Austin, J.D.; Cromartie, R.; Geselowitz, A.; Ter Haar Romeny, B.; Zimmerman, J.B.; Zuiderveld, K.

1986-01-01

Adaptive histogram equalization (ahe) is a contrast enhancement method designed to be broadly applicable and having demonstrated effectiveness [Zimmerman, 1985]. However, slow speed and the overenhancement of noise it produces in relatively homogeneous regions are two problems. The authors summarize algorithms designed to overcome these and other concerns. These algorithms include interpolated ahe, to speed up the method on general purpose computers; a version of interpolated ahe designed to run in a few seconds on feedback processors; a version of full ahe designed to run in under one second on custom VLSI hardware; and clipped ahe, designed to overcome the problem of overenhancement of noise contrast. The authors conclude that clipped ahe should become a method of choice in medical imaging and probably also in other areas of digital imaging, and that clipped ahe can be made adequately fast to be routinely applied in the normal display sequence

Does 0.999... Really Equal 1?

Science.gov (United States)

Norton, Anderson; Baldwin, Michael

2012-01-01

This article confronts the issue of why secondary and post-secondary students resist accepting the equality of 0.999... and 1, even after they have seen and understood logical arguments for the equality. In some sense, we might say that the equality holds by definition of 0.999..., but this definition depends upon accepting properties of the real…

The policy on gender equality in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agustin, Lise Rolandsen

The briefing paper describes current Danish policies, practices and legislation within the area of gender equality. It addresses economic independence, reconciliation policies, participation in decision-making, gender-based violence and trafficking, gender stereotypes, and gender equality...... in development policies. The former liberal-conservative government (2001-2011) has focused on equal opportunities, gender equality as a means to economic growth, voluntary measures and freedom of choice. Increased attention has been paid in recent years to ethnic minorities and to men’s role in gender equality....

Gender equality in couples and self-rated health - A survey study evaluating measurements of gender equality and its impact on health.

Science.gov (United States)

Sörlin, Ann; Lindholm, Lars; Ng, Nawi; Ohman, Ann

2011-08-26

Men and women have different patterns of health. These differences between the sexes present a challenge to the field of public health. The question why women experience more health problems than men despite their longevity has been discussed extensively, with both social and biological theories being offered as plausible explanations. In this article, we focus on how gender equality in a partnership might be associated with the respondents' perceptions of health. This study was a cross-sectional survey with 1400 respondents. We measured gender equality using two different measures: 1) a self-reported gender equality index, and 2) a self-perceived gender equality question. The aim of comparison of the self-reported gender equality index with the self-perceived gender equality question was to reveal possible disagreements between the normative discourse on gender equality and daily practice in couple relationships. We then evaluated the association with health, measured as self-rated health (SRH). With SRH dichotomized into 'good' and 'poor', logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with the outcome. For the comparison between the self-reported gender equality index and self-perceived gender equality, kappa statistics were used. Associations between gender equality and health found in this study vary with the type of gender equality measurement. Overall, we found little agreement between the self-reported gender equality index and self-perceived gender equality. Further, the patterns of agreement between self-perceived and self-reported gender equality were quite different for men and women: men perceived greater gender equality than they reported in the index, while women perceived less gender equality than they reported. The associations to health were depending on gender equality measurement used. Men and women perceive and report gender equality differently. This means that it is necessary not only to be conscious of the methods and measurements

Mechanism of equalization of proton and neutron radii and the Coulomb anomaly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caurier, E.; Poves, A.; Zuker, A.

1980-01-01

It is shown that a one parameter modification of the effective forces allows to resolve the Coulomb energy anomalies in the Ca region within the framework of Hartree Fock (HF) and isospin projected Hartree Fock (IPHF) theories. A simple microscopic mechanism of equalization of neutron and proton radii is invoked to produce results consistent with available data

Rehabilitation as a Disability Equality Issue: A Conceptual Shift for Disability Studies?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tom Shakespeare

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Rehabilitation is a controversial subject in disability studies, often discussed in terms of oppression, normalisation, and unwanted intrusion. While there may be good reasons for positioning rehabilitation in this way, this has also meant that, as a lived experience, it is under-researched and neglected in disabilities literature, as we show by surveying leading disability studies journals. With some notable exceptions, rehabilitation research has remained the preserve of the rehabilitation sciences, and such studies have rarely included the voices of disabled people themselves, as we also demonstrate by surveying a cross-section of rehabilitation science literature. Next, drawing on new research, we argue for reframing access to rehabilitation as a disability equality issue. Through in-depth discussion of two case studies, we demonstrate that rehabilitation can be a tool for inclusion and for supporting an equal life. Indeed, we contend that rehabilitation merits disability researchers’ sustained engagement, precisely to ensure that a ‘right-based rehabilitation’ policy and practice can be developed, which is not oppressive, but reflects the views and experiences of the disabled people who rehabilitation should serve.

Public hospital care: equal for all or equal for some? Evidence from the Philippines.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Chris D; Peabody, John; Hanson, Kara; Solon, Orville

2015-03-01

In low- and middle-income countries, government budgets are rarely sufficient to cover a public hospital's operating costs. Shortfalls are typically financed through a combination of health insurance contributions and user charges. The mixed nature of this financing arrangement potentially creates financial incentives to treat patients with equal health need unequally. Using data from the Philippines, the authors analyzed whether doctors respond to such incentives. After controlling for a patient's condition, they found that patients using insurance, paying more for hospital accommodation, and being treated in externally monitored hospitals were likely to receive more care. This highlights the worrying possibility that public hospital patients with equal health needs are not always equally treated. © 2011 APJPH.

Identity Establishment and Capability Based Access Control (IECAC) Scheme for Internet of Things

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mahalle, Parikshit N.; Anggorojati, Bayu; Prasad, Neeli R.

2012-01-01

Internet of Things (IoT) become discretionary part of everyday life and could befall a threat if security is not considered before deployment. Authentication and access control in IoT is equally important to establish secure communication between devices. To protect IoT from man in middle, replay...... and denial of service attacks, the concept of capability for access control is introduced. This paper presents Identity establishment and capability based access control (IECAC) protocol using ECC (Elliptical Curve Cryptography) for IoT along with protocol evaluation, which protect against the aforementioned...

Equal opportunities group. His mission : accelerating equal opportunities at CERN

CERN Multimedia

Patrice Loïez

2000-01-01

L. to r.: Michel Mayoud, Christine Petit-Jean-Genaz, the Equal Opportunities Officer Sudeshna Datta-Cockerill, Elena Wildner, Anne-Sylvie Cerne, Karl-Heinz Kissler, the Chairman John Ellis and Eva-Maria Groniger-Voss

Analysis of the equalizing holes resistance in fuel assembly spike for lead-based reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Guangyu; Jin, Ming; Wang, Jianye; Song, Yong

2017-01-01

Highlights: • A RELAP5 model for a 10 MWth lead-based reactor was built to study the hydrodynamic characteristics between the equalizing holes in the fuel assembly spike. • Different fuel assembly total blockage scenarios and different resistances for different fuel assemblies were examined. • The inherent safety characteristics of the lead-based reactor was improved by optimizing the configuration of equalizing holes in the fuel assembly spike. - Abstract: To avoid the damage of the fuel rod cladding when a fuel assembly (FA) is totally blocked, a special configuration of the fuel assembly spike was designed with some equalizing holes in the center region which can let the coolant to flow during the totally blockage scenarios of FA. To study the hydrodynamic characteristics between the equalizing holes and an appropriate resistance, a RELAP5 model was developed for a 10 MWth lead-based reactor which used lead-bismuth as coolant. Several FA total blockage and partial core blockage scenarios were selected. The simulation results indicated that when all the FA spike equalizing holes had the same hydraulic resistance, only a narrow range of suitable equalizing holes resistances could be chosen when a FA was blocked. However, in the two or more FA blockage scenarios, there were no appropriate resistances to meet the requirement. In addition, with different FA spike equalizing holes with different resistances, a large range of suitable equalizing hole resistances could be chosen. Especially a series of suitable resistances were selected when the small power FA resistance was 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 of the large one. Under these circumstances, one, two or three FA blockages would not damage the core. These demonstrated that selecting a series of suitable hydraulic resistances for the equalizing holes could improve the safety characteristics of the reactor effectively.

Development of regional growth centres and impact on regional growth: A case study of Thailand’s Northeastern region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nattapon Sang-arun

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the spatial economic structure and inequality in Thailand at the national and regional levels, with a particular focus on the Northeastern region in the period from 1987 to 2007. The study has three main points: 1 examination of the economic structure and inequality at the national level and in the Northeastern region according to the Theil index, 2 determination of regional growth centres and satellite towns by using growth pole theory as a conceptual framework and incorporating spatial interaction analysis and 3 analysis of the relationship between regional growth centres and satellite towns with regard to the impact on growth and inequality. The results show that the Northeastern region is definitely the lagging region in the nation, by both gross domestic product (GDP and gross regional product (GRP per capita. It was therefore selected for a case study. Spatial analysis identified Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Ubon Ratchathani as regional growth centres. Each of them has its own sphere of influence (or satellite towns, and the total area of regional growth centres and satellite towns are classified as sub-regions. The development of regional growth centres has a direct impact on sub-regional economic growth through economic and social relationships: urbanisation, industrial development, per capita growth, the number of higher educational institutes and so on. However, such growth negatively correlates with economic equality among the provinces in a sub-region. The inequality trend is obviously on an upswing. This study suggests that industrial links between regional growth centres and their satellite towns should be improved in order for regional growth centre development to have a consistently desirable effect on both economic growth and equality. Such a strong process means that the growth of regional growth centres will spread, leading to the development of their surrounding areas.

CLIMATE IMPACTS ON REGIONAL WATER

Science.gov (United States)

The New England region (including the 6 New Englandstates plus upstate New York) offers a very diverse geography,matched by an equally diverse economy and humanpopulation. Livelihoods throughout the region are basedon service industries that depend heavily on comm...

Contrast Enhancement Algorithm Based on Gap Adjustment for Histogram Equalization

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Chung-Cheng; Ting, Chih-Chung

2016-01-01

Image enhancement methods have been widely used to improve the visual effects of images. Owing to its simplicity and effectiveness histogram equalization (HE) is one of the methods used for enhancing image contrast. However, HE may result in over-enhancement and feature loss problems that lead to unnatural look and loss of details in the processed images. Researchers have proposed various HE-based methods to solve the over-enhancement problem; however, they have largely ignored the feature loss problem. Therefore, a contrast enhancement algorithm based on gap adjustment for histogram equalization (CegaHE) is proposed. It refers to a visual contrast enhancement algorithm based on histogram equalization (VCEA), which generates visually pleasing enhanced images, and improves the enhancement effects of VCEA. CegaHE adjusts the gaps between two gray values based on the adjustment equation, which takes the properties of human visual perception into consideration, to solve the over-enhancement problem. Besides, it also alleviates the feature loss problem and further enhances the textures in the dark regions of the images to improve the quality of the processed images for human visual perception. Experimental results demonstrate that CegaHE is a reliable method for contrast enhancement and that it significantly outperforms VCEA and other methods. PMID:27338412

Contrast Enhancement Algorithm Based on Gap Adjustment for Histogram Equalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chung-Cheng Chiu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Image enhancement methods have been widely used to improve the visual effects of images. Owing to its simplicity and effectiveness histogram equalization (HE is one of the methods used for enhancing image contrast. However, HE may result in over-enhancement and feature loss problems that lead to unnatural look and loss of details in the processed images. Researchers have proposed various HE-based methods to solve the over-enhancement problem; however, they have largely ignored the feature loss problem. Therefore, a contrast enhancement algorithm based on gap adjustment for histogram equalization (CegaHE is proposed. It refers to a visual contrast enhancement algorithm based on histogram equalization (VCEA, which generates visually pleasing enhanced images, and improves the enhancement effects of VCEA. CegaHE adjusts the gaps between two gray values based on the adjustment equation, which takes the properties of human visual perception into consideration, to solve the over-enhancement problem. Besides, it also alleviates the feature loss problem and further enhances the textures in the dark regions of the images to improve the quality of the processed images for human visual perception. Experimental results demonstrate that CegaHE is a reliable method for contrast enhancement and that it significantly outperforms VCEA and other methods.

Equality, autonomy, and efficiency: what health care system should we have?

Science.gov (United States)

Menzel, P T

1992-02-01

The U.S. has a wide range of options in choosing a health care system. Rational choice of a system depends on analysis and prioritization of the basis moral goals of equitable access to all citizens, the just sharing of financial costs between well and ill, respect for the values and choices of subscribers and patients, and efficiency in the delivery of costworthy care. These moral goals themselves, however, tell us little about what health care system the United States should have. Equitable access does not demand a level and scope of care for the poor equal to that rationally chosen by the middle class, and there are ways within mixed systems, though not easy ways, to achieve a fair distribution of costs between well and ill. Despite pluralistic systems' apparent advantage in allowing subscribers to choose their own forms of rationing, problems in translating serious long-term subscriber choices into actual medical practice may be greater in pluralistic than in unitary systems. Final choice of a system hinges primarily on peculiar historical facts about U.S. political culture, not on moral principle.

Enhancing Security and Privacy in Video Surveillance through Role-Oriented Access Control Mechanism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mahmood Rajpoot, Qasim

sensitive regions, e.g. faces, from the videos. However, very few research efforts have focused on addressing the security aspects of video surveillance data and on authorizing access to this data. Interestingly, while PETs help protect the privacy of individuals, they may also hinder the usefulness....... Pervasive usage of such systems gives substantial powers to those monitoring the videos and poses a threat to the privacy of anyone observed by the system. Aside from protecting privacy from the outside attackers, it is equally important to protect the privacy of individuals from the inside personnel...... involved in monitoring surveillance data to minimize the chances of misuse of the system, e.g. voyeurism. In this context, several techniques to protect the privacy of individuals, called privacy enhancing techniques (PET) have therefore been proposed in the literature which detect and mask the privacy...

47 CFR 25.601 - Equal employment opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Equal employment opportunities. 25.601 Section 25.601 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS Equal Employment Opportunities § 25.601 Equal employment opportunities...

Distributive Equality, Relational Equality and Preferences about Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Voigt, Kristin

2017-01-01

Are scenarios in which disadvantaged students prefer not to attend (certain) universities a concern from the perspective of an egalitarian theory of justice? I consider this question from the respective perspectives of two prominent approaches to equality: distributive theories, which focus on the fairness of inequalities in outcomes, and…

Personalized medicine and access to genetic technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

den Exter, André

2010-01-01

Personalized medicine started after the Human Genome Project and is a relatively new concept that will dramatically change clinical practice. It offers clear clinical advantages by applying genetic diagnostic tests and then treating the patient with targeted medicines based on his or her genetic make-up. Its potential seems promising but there are quite a few legal concerns. One of these questions deals with the right to health care and access to genetic technologies. In this paper, the author explains the meaning of such a right to health care under international human rights law, its relevance for making genetic services eligible for public funding, how to cope with quality concerns of commercial testing, and finally, the patentability controversy and clinical access to genetic information. Apart from more traditional human rights concerns (consent, privacy, confidentiality) and genetics, States should be aware of the meaning of the equal access concept under international law and its consequences when introducing new technologies such genetic testing and services.

Toward Gender Equality in East Asia and the Pacific : A Companion to the World Development Report

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2012-01-01

In recent decades, women across the globe have made positive strides toward gender equality. Literacy rates for young women and girls are higher than ever before, while gender gaps in primary education have closed in almost all countries. In the last three decades, over half a billion women have joined the world's labor force (World Bank 2011c). Progress toward gender equality in East Asia and the Pacific has been similarly noteworthy. Most countries in the region have either reached or surpa...

The Uneasy Marriage between Law and Equality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pauline C. Westerman

2015-02-01

Full Text Available There are two ways in which the social ideal of equality has found expression in the law: in the principle of equal treatment and in the principle of non-discrimination. In this article the meaning of these two legal principles is analysed, in order to answer the question to what extent they can be said to contribute to equality in the sense of an equal distribution of collective resources. It is argued that whereas the first just requires decision-making to be rule-based, the second principle demands that rules should be based on sound categorical distinctions. Neither of the two can, however, sensibly be linked to equality as equal distribution. The article concludes that the only way to establish such a link is by adding to the principle of non-discrimination “financial resources” as a suspect ground.

Governing Equality: Mathematics for All?

Science.gov (United States)

Diaz, Jennifer D.

2013-01-01

With the notion of governmentality, this article considers how the equal sign (=) in the U.S. math curriculum organizes knowledge of equality and inscribes cultural rules for thinking, acting, and seeing in the world. Situating the discussion within contemporary math reforms aimed at teaching mathematics for all, I draw attention to how the…

Equality in Sport for Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Geadelmann, Patricia L.; And Others

The subject of equal rights and opportunities for women in the field of physical education is discussed in nine articles. The major emphasis is on the legal aspects of sex discrimination. Defining equality, knowing the laws regarding enforcement, understanding the court procedures, and realizing the avenues for change are the essential tools…

Luck, Choice, and Educational Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Calvert, John

2015-01-01

Harry Brighouse discusses two conceptions of educational equality. The first is a type of equality of opportunity, heavily influenced by the work of John Rawls, which he calls the meritocratic conception. According to this conception, an individual's educational prospects should not be influenced by factors such as their social class background.…

A review of accessibility of administrative healthcare databases in the Asia-Pacific region.

Science.gov (United States)

Milea, Dominique; Azmi, Soraya; Reginald, Praveen; Verpillat, Patrice; Francois, Clement

2015-01-01

We describe and compare the availability and accessibility of administrative healthcare databases (AHDB) in several Asia-Pacific countries: Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Thailand, and Malaysia. The study included hospital records, reimbursement databases, prescription databases, and data linkages. Databases were first identified through PubMed, Google Scholar, and the ISPOR database register. Database custodians were contacted. Six criteria were used to assess the databases and provided the basis for a tool to categorise databases into seven levels ranging from least accessible (Level 1) to most accessible (Level 7). We also categorised overall data accessibility for each country as high, medium, or low based on accessibility of databases as well as the number of academic articles published using the databases. Fifty-four administrative databases were identified. Only a limited number of databases allowed access to raw data and were at Level 7 [Medical Data Vision EBM Provider, Japan Medical Data Centre (JMDC) Claims database and Nihon-Chouzai Pharmacy Claims database in Japan, and Medicare, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL), HealthLinQ, Victorian Data Linkages (VDL), SA-NT DataLink in Australia]. At Levels 3-6 were several databases from Japan [Hamamatsu Medical University Database, Medi-Trend, Nihon University School of Medicine Clinical Data Warehouse (NUSM)], Australia [Western Australia Data Linkage (WADL)], Taiwan [National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD)], South Korea [Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA)], and Malaysia [United Nations University (UNU)-Casemix]. Countries were categorised as having a high level of data accessibility (Australia, Taiwan, and Japan), medium level of accessibility (South Korea), or a low level of accessibility (Thailand, China, Malaysia, and Singapore). In some countries, data may be available but accessibility was restricted

A review of accessibility of administrative healthcare databases in the Asia-Pacific region

Science.gov (United States)

Milea, Dominique; Azmi, Soraya; Reginald, Praveen; Verpillat, Patrice; Francois, Clement

2015-01-01

Objective We describe and compare the availability and accessibility of administrative healthcare databases (AHDB) in several Asia-Pacific countries: Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Thailand, and Malaysia. Methods The study included hospital records, reimbursement databases, prescription databases, and data linkages. Databases were first identified through PubMed, Google Scholar, and the ISPOR database register. Database custodians were contacted. Six criteria were used to assess the databases and provided the basis for a tool to categorise databases into seven levels ranging from least accessible (Level 1) to most accessible (Level 7). We also categorised overall data accessibility for each country as high, medium, or low based on accessibility of databases as well as the number of academic articles published using the databases. Results Fifty-four administrative databases were identified. Only a limited number of databases allowed access to raw data and were at Level 7 [Medical Data Vision EBM Provider, Japan Medical Data Centre (JMDC) Claims database and Nihon-Chouzai Pharmacy Claims database in Japan, and Medicare, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL), HealthLinQ, Victorian Data Linkages (VDL), SA-NT DataLink in Australia]. At Levels 3–6 were several databases from Japan [Hamamatsu Medical University Database, Medi-Trend, Nihon University School of Medicine Clinical Data Warehouse (NUSM)], Australia [Western Australia Data Linkage (WADL)], Taiwan [National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD)], South Korea [Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA)], and Malaysia [United Nations University (UNU)-Casemix]. Countries were categorised as having a high level of data accessibility (Australia, Taiwan, and Japan), medium level of accessibility (South Korea), or a low level of accessibility (Thailand, China, Malaysia, and Singapore). In some countries, data may be available but

Northern North Pacific Regional Climatology (NCEI Accession 0156768)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Northern North Pacific (NNP) plays a significant role in long-term earth and ocean climate change. It is also a region of high importance for regional marine...

Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity

Science.gov (United States)

Opportunity Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity Home About ODMEO Leadership Documents News Skip to main content (Press Enter). Toggle navigation Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity Search Search ODMEO: Search Search ODMEO: Search Office of Diversity Management and Equal

Regional variation in the predictive validity of self-rated health for mortality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edward R. Berchick

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Self-rated health (SRH is a commonly used measure for assessing general health in surveys in the United States. However, individuals from different parts of the United States may vary in how they assess their health. Geographic differences in health care access and in the prevalence of illnesses may make it difficult to discern true regional differences in health when using SRH as a health measure. In this article, we use data from the 1986 and 1989–2006 National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files and estimate Cox regression models to examine whether the relationship between SRH and five-year all-cause mortality differs by Census region. Contrary to hypotheses, there is no evidence of regional variation in the predictive validity of SRH for mortality. At all levels of SRH, and for both non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black respondents, SRH is equally and strongly associated with five-year mortality across regions. Our results suggest that differences in SRH across regions are not solely due to differences in how respondents assess their health across regions, but reflect true differences in health. Future research can, therefore, employ this common measure to investigate the geographic patterning of health in the United States.

Multicultural Challenges - new gender equality dilemmas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Siim, Birte

In my research have been interested in exploring tensions between diversity and gender equality from a theoretical and comparative approach, looking at the Nordic welfare, citizenship and gender regimes from a cross-national European perspective. In this key-note presentation I draw on results...... and inspiration from a number of comparative research projects and networks. In the following I address three issues that have been central in academic debates: 1) The challenges from multiculturalism to gender equality, 2) gendering citizenship and migration and 3) Nordic feminist debates about diversity....... In the last section I argue that one solution to the new gender equality dilemma posed by increased diversity among women is a simultaneous re-framing of multiculturalism and gender equality....

Does equality legislation reduce intergroup differences? Religious affiliation, socio-economic status and mortality in Scotland and Northern Ireland: A cohort study of 400,000 people.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, David M; Rosato, Michael; Raab, Gillian; Dibben, Chris; Boyle, Paul; O'Reilly, Dermot

2017-05-01

Religion frequently indicates membership of socio-ethnic groups with distinct health behaviours and mortality risk. Determining the extent to which interactions between groups contribute to variation in mortality is often challenging. We compared socio-economic status (SES) and mortality rates of Protestants and Catholics in Scotland and Northern Ireland, regions in which interactions between groups are profoundly different. Crucially, strong equality legislation has been in place for much longer and Catholics form a larger minority in Northern Ireland. Drawing linked Census returns and mortality records of 404,703 people from the Scottish and Northern Ireland Longitudinal Studies, we used Poisson regression to compare religious groups, estimating mortality rates and incidence rate ratios. We fitted age-adjusted and fully adjusted (for education, housing tenure, car access and social class) models. Catholics had lower SES than Protestants in both countries; the differential was larger in Scotland for education, housing tenure and car access but not social class. In Scotland, Catholics had increased age-adjusted mortality risk relative to Protestants but variation among groups was attenuated following adjustment for SES. Those reporting no religious affiliation were at similar mortality risk to Protestants. In Northern Ireland, there was no mortality differential between Catholics and Protestants either before or after adjustment. Men reporting no religious affiliation were at increased mortality risk but this differential was not evident among women. In Scotland, Catholics remained at greater socio-economic disadvantage relative to Protestants than in Northern Ireland and were also at a mortality disadvantage. This may be due to a lack of explicit equality legislation that has decreased inequality by religion in Northern Ireland during recent decades. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Equal rights as the center of democratization

OpenAIRE

Alan Gilbert

2010-01-01

Well-stated modern political or democratic theory is rights-based. Meaningful democracy rests as a precondition on the equal rights of citizens. This idea stems from Rousseau’s distinction between a general will*one which is impersonal and tends toward equality, that is, the equal basic rights of citizens*and a transitory will of all. For instance, absent equal basic rights, one might imagine a possible world in which what I have called a self-undermining series of wills of all, or the ...

49 CFR 236.792 - Reservoir, equalizing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Reservoir, equalizing. An air reservoir connected with and adding volume to the top portion of the equalizing piston chamber of the automatic brake valve, to provide uniform service reductions in brake pipe...

77 FR 43498 - Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-25

... on the basis of age; the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits sex-based wage discrimination; and... EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION 29 CFR Part 1614 RIN Number 3046-AA73 Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity AGENCY: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The...

A filtering method for signal equalization in region-of-interest fluoroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robert, Normand; Komljenovic, Philip T; Rowlands, J. A.

2002-01-01

A method to significantly reduce the exposure area product in fluoroscopy using a pre-patient region-of-interest (ROI) attenuator is presented. The attenuator has a thin central region and a gradually increasing thickness away from the center. It is shown that the unwanted brightening artifact caused by the attenuator can be eliminated by attenuating the low spatial frequencies in the detected image using digital image processing techniques. An investigation of the best image processing method to correct for the presence of the attenuator is undertaken. The correction procedure selected is suitable for use with real-time image processors and the ROI attenuator can be permitted to move during image acquisition. Images of an anthropomorphic chest phantom acquired in the presence of the ROI attenuator using an x-ray image intensifier/video chain are corrected to illustrate the clinical feasibility of our approach

Gender Equality, Citizenship and Human Rights

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

reflect upon challenges to gender equality, citizenship, and human rights in their respective societies; it combines theoretical insights with empirically grounded studies. The volume contextualises feminist political theory in China and the Nordic countries and subsequently puts it into a global......This comparative volume examines the ways in which current controversies and political, legal, and social struggles for gender equality raise conceptual questions and challenge our thinking on political theories of equality, citizenship and human rights. Bringing together scholars and activists who...

Study on the capability of four-level partial response equalization in RSOA-based WDM-PON

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Qi; Tran, An Vu

2010-12-01

The expected development of advanced video services with HDTV quality demands the delivery of more than Gb/s link to end users across the last mile connection. Future access networks are also required to have long reach for reduction in the number of central offices (CO). Fueled by those requirements, we propose a novel equalization scheme that increases the capacity and reach of the wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) based on a low bandwidth reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA). We investigate the characteristics of 10 Gb/s upstream transmission in WDM-PON using RSOA with only 1.2 GHz electrical bandwidth and various lengths of fiber. It is proven that the proposed four-level partial response equalizer (PRE) is capable of mitigating the impact of ISI in the received signals from optical network units (ONU) located 0 km to 75 km away from the optical line terminal (OLT).

Implementing an Open Access Policy – Modeling KAUST in the Region

KAUST Repository

Baessa, Mohamed A.; Vijayakumar, J.K.

2014-01-01

The presentation will discuss different open access approaches, and what can well-fit academic and governmental institutions. As a case study of KAUST, presenters will discuss how it can be initiated in a university set-up, how to get academic stakeholder engaged with support, and how the final stage is reached. Details about the KAUST Open Access Policy for research articles, theses and dissertations and the required tools and workflow to implement the policies will be highlighted.

Implementing an Open Access Policy – Modeling KAUST in the Region

KAUST Repository

Baessa, Mohamed A.

2014-11-12

The presentation will discuss different open access approaches, and what can well-fit academic and governmental institutions. As a case study of KAUST, presenters will discuss how it can be initiated in a university set-up, how to get academic stakeholder engaged with support, and how the final stage is reached. Details about the KAUST Open Access Policy for research articles, theses and dissertations and the required tools and workflow to implement the policies will be highlighted.

Equal pay by gender and by nationality: a comparative analysis of Switzerland's unequal equal pay policy regimes across time

OpenAIRE

Erne, Roland; Imboden, Natalie

2017-01-01

What explains the adoption of two different policies on equal pay by gender (EPG) and by nationality (EPN) in Switzerland? And why is the liberal, litigation-based, equal pay policy regime set up by the Gender Equality Act of 1996 much less effective than the neocorporatist ‘accompanying measures’ to the Bilateral European Union–Switzerland Agreement on Free Movement of Persons adopted in 1999 to ensure equal pay for workers of different national origins? The formation of two different policy...

Equal opportunities in the public and private sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anca Monica Ardeleanu

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Equal opportunities are a goal to achieve in Romania at the legislative and institutional/ organizational level.In terms of legislation Romania has made progress, but the institutional mechanisms of the government dealing with gender equality issues are not functioning properly, are not generating a concreate impact on the equal opportunities for women and men.For this reason there is no specific and significant political commitmentto these issue of gender equality in Romania. Gender discrimination is addressed both by anti-discrimination and equal opportunities laws.Equality,fairness and non-discrimination in the workplace environment are present as objective requirements of economic, social and ethical behavior that goes beyond the labor market. Theoretically, on the labor market , both public and private sectors do not accept direct or indirect discrimination at the workplace, espeially during the process of recruitment , training , development, promotion, establishment, payment of the salary and benefits. In practice , the legislation regarding the equal opportunities and equal treatment it is not respected by the employers all the time.Promotion of the policies at the national and organizational level, focused on ensuring equal opportunities , will enhance the social cohesion of the population that will generate economic growrh overall.

Regional Economic Development

Science.gov (United States)

; Sponsored Work Regional Economic Development Technology Opportunities User Facilities About Us Metrics In the News Publications Policies Feynman Center » Deploying Innovation » Regional Economic Development Regional Economic Development Supporting companies in every stage of development through access to

Why Should We Demand Equality of Educational Opportunity?

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Kirsten

2016-01-01

This paper reveals how equal educational opportunities, equal job opportunities and equality of opportunity for welfare are related to each other, and how they are related to other demands for justice. There are several important objections to the emphasis on equal educational opportunities. Nevertheless, this paper shows that demanding equal…

29 CFR 1620.14 - Testing equality of jobs.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION THE EQUAL PAY ACT § 1620.14... must be met in order for the equal pay standard to apply. It should be kept in mind that “equal” does..., or responsibility required for the performance of jobs will not render the equal pay standard...

29 CFR 1614.202 - Equal Pay Act.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Equal Pay Act. 1614.202 Section 1614.202 Labor Regulations... OPPORTUNITY Provisions Applicable to Particular Complaints § 1614.202 Equal Pay Act. (a) In its enforcement of the Equal Pay Act, the Commission has the authority to investigate an agency's employment practices on...

Identity driven Capability based Access Control (ICAC) Scheme for the Internet of Things

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mahalle, Parikshit N.; Anggorojati, Bayu; Prasad, Neeli R.

2012-01-01

Internet of Things (IoT) becomes discretionary part of everyday life. Scalability and manageability is daunting due to unbounded number of devices and services. Access control and authorization in IoT with least privilege is equally important to establish secure communication between multiple...... devices and services. In this paper, the concept of capability for access control is introduced where the identities of the involved devices are entrenched in the access capabilities. Identity driven capability based access control (ICAC) scheme presented in this paper helps to alleviate issues related...... to complexity and dynamics of device identities. ICAC is implemented for 802.11 and results shows that ICAC has less scalability issues and better performance analysis compared with other access control schemes. The ICAC evaluation by using security protocol verification tool shows that ICAC is secure against...

Evaluation and comparison of signal to noise ratio according to histogram equalization of heart shadow on chest image

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ki Won; Lee, Eul Kyu; Jeong, Hoi Woun; Kang, Byung Sam; Kim, Hyun Soo; Min, Jung Whan; Son, Jin Hyun

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to measure signal to noise ratio (SNR) according to change of equalization from region of interest (ROI) of heart shadow in chest image. We examined images of chest image of 87 patients in a University-affiliated hospital, Seoul, Korea. Chest images of each patient were calculated by using Image. We have analysis socio-demographical variables, SNR according to images, 95% confidence according to SNR of difference in a mean of SNR. Differences of SNR among change of equalization were tested by SPSS Statistics21 ANOVA test for there was statistical significance 95%(p < 0.05). In SNR results, with the quality of distributions in the order of original chest image, original chest image heart shadow and equalization chest image, equalization chest image heart shadow(p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study would be that quantitative evaluation of heart shadow on chest image can be used as an adjunct to the histogram equalization chest image

Evaluation and comparison of signal to noise ratio according to histogram equalization of heart shadow on chest image

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Ki Won [Dept. of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gang-dong, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Eul Kyu [Inje Paik University Hospital at Jeo-dong, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Jeong, Hoi Woun [The Baekseok Culture University, Cheonan (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Byung Sam; Kim, Hyun Soo; Min, Jung Whan; Son, Jin Hyun [The Shingu University, Seongnam (Korea, Republic of)

2017-06-15

The purpose of this study was to measure signal to noise ratio (SNR) according to change of equalization from region of interest (ROI) of heart shadow in chest image. We examined images of chest image of 87 patients in a University-affiliated hospital, Seoul, Korea. Chest images of each patient were calculated by using Image. We have analysis socio-demographical variables, SNR according to images, 95% confidence according to SNR of difference in a mean of SNR. Differences of SNR among change of equalization were tested by SPSS Statistics21 ANOVA test for there was statistical significance 95%(p < 0.05). In SNR results, with the quality of distributions in the order of original chest image, original chest image heart shadow and equalization chest image, equalization chest image heart shadow(p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study would be that quantitative evaluation of heart shadow on chest image can be used as an adjunct to the histogram equalization chest image.

The Equal Sign: Teachers' Knowledge and Students' Misconceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Vermeulen, Cornelis; Meyer, Bronwin

2017-01-01

This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which 57 Grade 6 students at a particular school have misconceptions regarding equality, with the equal sign as focus. It also investigated this school's three Grade 5 and 6 teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching regarding equality, again focusing on the equal sign. The…

Overview and perspectives for Open Access development in Argentina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Miguel

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an overview and perspectives for development of the Open Access movement in Argentina, within the global and regional (Latin American context. It outlines the evolution and current state of initiatives around the two main approaches to Open Access, the golden and green roads. The main Open Access policies and support of OA movement by governments in Latin American region, and particularly in Argentina, are highlighted, while recent studies on publishing practices and authors’ positions regarding Open Access are presented. The paper concludes that the prospects for development of OA in Argentina, both through golden and green roads are favorable, with their strengths and shortcomings

Findings: Sector-Leading and Innovative Practice in Advancing Equality and Diversity. Report to HEFCE by the Equality Challenge Unit

Science.gov (United States)

Higher Education Funding Council for England, 2017

2017-01-01

Following our "Call for evidence of sector-leading and innovative practice in advancing equality and diversity" (HEFCE Circular letter 16/2016), HEFCE commissioned the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) to report back on the range of equality and diversity practice undertaken across the higher education sector. Of 120 submissions received,…

Individualized Sex Equality in Transforming Finnish Academia

Science.gov (United States)

Lätti, Johanna

2017-01-01

This article examines the equality agenda in the context of Finnish university reform in the 21st century. In Finland, the academic regime went through an organizational transformation after the Universities Act in 2009. However, little attention has been paid to the questions of sex or equality. Since the policy influences on equality in…

[Gender equality activity in the Bioimaging Society].

Science.gov (United States)

Suzaki, Etsuko

2013-09-01

Gender equality activity in the Bioimaging Society was initiated in 2005 when it joined the Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering (EPMEWSE). The Gender Equality Committee of the Bioimaging Society is acting on this issue by following the policy of the EPMEWSE, and has also been planning and conducting lectures at annual meetings of the society to gain the understanding, consents, and cooperation of the members of the society to become conscious of gender equality. Women's participation in the society has been promoted through the activities of the Gender Equality Committee, and the number of women officers in the society has since increased from two women out of 40 members in 2005 to five out of 44 in 2013. The activities of the Gender Equality Committee of the Japanese Association of Anatomists (JAA) have just started. There are more than 400 women belonging to the JAA. When these women members join together and collaborate, women's participation in the JAA will increase.

Marriage equality is a mental health issue.

Science.gov (United States)

Kealy-Bateman, Warren; Pryor, Lisa

2015-10-01

We aim to review marriage equality in New Zealand and Australia and critically evaluate the health impact of such a legal change. We undertook a review of the literature using the search terms "marriage equality", "same sex marriage" and "gay marriage" in combination with "health", "wellbeing", "psych*", "mental illness" and "distress". This search included medical literature, legal literature and mass media. This review indicates that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people disproportionately face negative health stressors and negative health events compared with the general population and this is related to the stress of being a stigmatised minority group. The evidence strongly supports the proposition that marriage equality is related to improved health outcomes. A diverse range of professional health groups advocate for the legislative progression to marriage equality. The authors found no evidence that marriage equality harms opposite-sex marriage. Marriage equality is still lacking in Australia and as a positive correlate of health should be strongly supported. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015.

Coaxial transmission line - Equalization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonnerue, J.L.; Fremont, Jacques; Haubtmann, Jack; Pillon, Gerard.

1981-09-01

The transmission of electrical signal through a coaxial line is not perfect and signal distortions are increased as much as the frequency spectrum is extended. We have designed and achieved passive filters (named equalizers) with transfer functions which are inverse of coaxial transfer functions. Doing so our attempt is to avoid definitive loss of information in the recorded data. The main feature of our equalization method lies in the fact it could be either an electrical or a numerical correction or both of them. Some examples in the use of this technique are also proposed [fr

Return Migrants’ Experience of Access to Care in Corrupt Healthcare Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Handlos, Line Neerup; Olwig, Karen Fog; Bygbjerg, Ib Christian

2016-01-01

unstudied, even though return migrants may be particularly vulnerable to problems related to corruption due to their period of absence from their country of origin. This article investigates how corruption in the healthcare sector affects access to healthcare for refugees who repatriated to Bosnia......Equal and universal access to healthcare services is a core priority for a just health system. A key societal determinant seen to create inequality in access to healthcare is corruption in the healthcare system. How return migrants’ access to healthcare is affected by corruption is largely......, a country with a high level of corruption, from Denmark, a country with a low level of corruption. The study is based on 18 semi-structured interviews with 33 refugees who returned after long-term residence in Denmark. We found that the returned refugees faced greater problems with corruption than...

A Trust-region-based Sequential Quadratic Programming Algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Lars Christian; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

This technical note documents the trust-region-based sequential quadratic programming algorithm used in other works by the authors. The algorithm seeks to minimize a convex nonlinear cost function subject to linear inequalty constraints and nonlinear equality constraints.......This technical note documents the trust-region-based sequential quadratic programming algorithm used in other works by the authors. The algorithm seeks to minimize a convex nonlinear cost function subject to linear inequalty constraints and nonlinear equality constraints....

40Gbit/s MDM-WDM Laguerre-Gaussian Mode with Equalization for Multimode Fiber in Access Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Fazea, Yousef; Amphawan, Angela

2018-04-01

Modal dispersion is seen as the primary impairment for multimode fiber. Mode division multiplexing (MDM) is a promising technology that has been realized as a favorable technology for considerably upsurges the capacity and distance of multimode fiber in conjunction with Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) for fiber-to-the-home. This paper reveals the importance of an equalization technique in conjunction with controlling the modes spacing of mode division multiplexing-wavelength division multiplexing of Laguerre-Gaussian modes to alleviate modal dispersion for multimode fiber. The effects of channel spacing of 20 channels MDM-WDM were examined through controlling the azimuthal mode number and the radial mode number of Laguerre-Gaussian modes. A data rate of 40Gbit/s was achieved for a distance of 1,500 m for MDM-WDM.

Rural women and violence situation: access and accessibility limits to the healthcare network.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Marta Cocco da; Silva, Ethel Bastos da; Soares, Joannie Dos Santos Fachinelli; Borth, Luana Cristina; Honnef, Fernanda

2017-07-13

To analyze the access and accessibility to the healthcare network of women dwelling in rural contexts undergoing violence situation, as seen from the professionals' speeches. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study with professionals from the healthcare network services about coping with violence in four municipalities in the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul. The information derived from interviews, which have been analyzed by thematic modality. (Lack of) information of women, distance, restricted access to transportation, dependence on the partner and (lack of) attention by professionals to welcome women undergoing violence situation and (non)-articulation of the network are factors that limit the access and, as a consequence, they result in the lack of confrontation of this problem. To bring closer the services which integrate the confrontation network of violence against women and to qualify professionals to welcome these situations are factors that can facilitate the access and adhesion of rural women to the services.

Pushing the boundaries of accessibility – Governmental efforts on ensuring equal access to information to rural library users (1997–2007

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Máté Tóth

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In 1997 a new Cultural Act was enacted which included, among other things, public library provision. Based on this act the Hungarian library system has been developed systematically through the consecutive strategic plans (Skaliczki, 1999. All projects aimed to push the boundaries of accessibility and to facilitate the realisation of the information society (Caidi, 2006. The 2003-2007 strategic period draws to an end and now we are able to review the tasks accomplished. (Skaliczki, 2003; 2006. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the strategic development of Hungarian libraries between 1997 and 2007, and to draw up the basic figures regarding to this period. (http://www.ki.oszk.hu/statisztika.html

Barriers and facilitators to accessing skilled birth attendants in Afar region, Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Rosemary; Jackson, Ruth; Dietsch, Elaine; Hailemariam, Asseffa

2015-05-01

to explore barriers and facilitators that enable women to access skilled birth attendance in Afar Region, Ethiopia. researchers used a Key Informant Research approach (KIR), whereby Health Extension Workers participated in an intensive training workshop and conducted interviews with Afar women in their communities. Data was also collected from health-care workers through questionnaires, interviews and focus groups. fourteen health extension workers were key informants and interviewers; 33 women and eight other health-care workers with a range of experience in caring for Afar childbearing women provided data as individuals and in focus groups. participants identified friendly service, female skilled birth attendants (SBA) and the introduction of the ambulance service as facilitators to SBA. There are many barriers to accessing SBA, including women׳s low status and restricted opportunities for decision making, lack of confidence in health-care facilities, long distances, cost, domestic workload, and traditional practices which include a preference for birthing at home with a traditional birth attendant. many Afar men and women expressed a lack of confidence in the services provided at health-care facilities which impacts on skilled birth attendance utilisation. ambulance services that are free of charge to women are effective as a means to transfer women to a hospital for emergency care if required and expansion of ambulance services would be a powerful facilitator to increasing institutional birth. Skilled birth attendants working in institutions need to ensure their practice is culturally, physically and emotionally safe if more Afar women are to accept their midwifery care. Adequate equipping and staffing of institutions providing emergency obstetric and newborn care will assist in improving community perceptions of these services. Most importantly, mutual respect and collaboration between traditional birth attendants (Afar women׳s preferred caregiver), health

The activities of non-governmental organizations for equal educational opportunities for children from the rural environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

KATARZYNA PALKA

2017-10-01

Full Text Available We live in a world where the access to knowledge has a decisive influence on our future. A large number of children in Poland have difficulties with this access, because they are raised in impoverished, excluded, poorly educated families of low social status. This phenomenon is mainly related to rural areas. Nonformal education should provide important support for formal education. Nonformal education should be organized with the cooperation of schools, kindergartens, and non-governmental organizations. The educational activities proposed for children and their parents by non-governmental organizations complement formal education. These activities are of crucial importance in the equalization of educational opportunities for children from rural areas. It is essential that these activities be planned, long-term, and a part of the entire educational program

Effects of exposure equalization on image signal-to-noise ratios in digital mammography: A simulation study with an anthropomorphic breast phantom

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu Xinming; Lai Chaojen; Whitman, Gary J.; Geiser, William R.; Shen Youtao; Yi Ying; Shaw, Chris C. [Department of Imaging Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030-4009 (United States); Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030-4009 (United States); Department of Imaging Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030-4009 (United States)

2011-12-15

Purpose: The scan equalization digital mammography (SEDM) technique combines slot scanning and exposure equalization to improve low-contrast performance of digital mammography in dense tissue areas. In this study, full-field digital mammography (FFDM) images of an anthropomorphic breast phantom acquired with an anti-scatter grid at various exposure levels were superimposed to simulate SEDM images and investigate the improvement of low-contrast performance as quantified by primary signal-to-noise ratios (PSNRs). Methods: We imaged an anthropomorphic breast phantom (Gammex 169 ''Rachel,'' Gammex RMI, Middleton, WI) at various exposure levels using a FFDM system (Senographe 2000D, GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI). The exposure equalization factors were computed based on a standard FFDM image acquired in the automatic exposure control (AEC) mode. The equalized image was simulated and constructed by superimposing a selected set of FFDM images acquired at 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 times of exposure levels to the standard AEC timed technique (125 mAs) using the equalization factors computed for each region. Finally, the equalized image was renormalized regionally with the exposure equalization factors to result in an appearance similar to that with standard digital mammography. Two sets of FFDM images were acquired to allow for two identically, but independently, formed equalized images to be subtracted from each other to estimate the noise levels. Similarly, two identically but independently acquired standard FFDM images were subtracted to estimate the noise levels. Corrections were applied to remove the excess system noise accumulated during image superimposition in forming the equalized image. PSNRs over the compressed area of breast phantom were computed and used to quantitatively study the effects of exposure equalization on low-contrast performance in digital mammography. Results: We found that the highest achievable PSNR improvement

Effects of exposure equalization on image signal-to-noise ratios in digital mammography: A simulation study with an anthropomorphic breast phantom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Xinming; Lai Chaojen; Whitman, Gary J.; Geiser, William R.; Shen Youtao; Yi Ying; Shaw, Chris C.

2011-01-01

Purpose: The scan equalization digital mammography (SEDM) technique combines slot scanning and exposure equalization to improve low-contrast performance of digital mammography in dense tissue areas. In this study, full-field digital mammography (FFDM) images of an anthropomorphic breast phantom acquired with an anti-scatter grid at various exposure levels were superimposed to simulate SEDM images and investigate the improvement of low-contrast performance as quantified by primary signal-to-noise ratios (PSNRs). Methods: We imaged an anthropomorphic breast phantom (Gammex 169 ''Rachel,'' Gammex RMI, Middleton, WI) at various exposure levels using a FFDM system (Senographe 2000D, GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI). The exposure equalization factors were computed based on a standard FFDM image acquired in the automatic exposure control (AEC) mode. The equalized image was simulated and constructed by superimposing a selected set of FFDM images acquired at 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 times of exposure levels to the standard AEC timed technique (125 mAs) using the equalization factors computed for each region. Finally, the equalized image was renormalized regionally with the exposure equalization factors to result in an appearance similar to that with standard digital mammography. Two sets of FFDM images were acquired to allow for two identically, but independently, formed equalized images to be subtracted from each other to estimate the noise levels. Similarly, two identically but independently acquired standard FFDM images were subtracted to estimate the noise levels. Corrections were applied to remove the excess system noise accumulated during image superimposition in forming the equalized image. PSNRs over the compressed area of breast phantom were computed and used to quantitatively study the effects of exposure equalization on low-contrast performance in digital mammography. Results: We found that the highest achievable PSNR improvement factor was 1.89 for

Causality, spin, and equal-time commutators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdel-Rahman, A.M.

1975-01-01

We study the causality constraints on the structure of the Lorentz-antisymmetric component of the commutator of two conserved isovector currents between fermion states of equal momenta. We discuss the sum rules that follow from causality and scaling, using the recently introduced refined infinite-momentum technique. The complete set of sum rules is found to include the spin-dependent fixed-mass sum rules obtained from light-cone commutators. The causality and scaling restrictions on the structure of the electromagnetic equal-time commutators are discussed, and it is found, in particular, that causality requires the spin-dependent part of the matrix element for the time-space electromagnetic equal-time commutator to vanish identically. It is also shown, in comparison with the electromagnetic case, that the corresponding matrix element for the time-space isovector current equal-time commutator is required, by causality, to have isospin-antisymmetric tensor and scalar operator Schwinger terms

Equality of Opportunity for Well-Being

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mahler, Daniel Gerszon; Ramos, Xavier

2017-01-01

A growing literature has tried to measure the extent to which individuals have equal opportunities to acquire income. At the same time, policy makers have doubled down on efforts to go beyond income when measuring well- being. We attempt to bridge these two areas by measuring the extent to which...... individuals have equal opportunities to achieve a high level of well-being. We use the German Socio-Economic Panel to measure well-being in four different ways including incomes. This makes it possible to determine if the way well-being is measured matters for identifying who the opportunity......-deprived are and for tracking inequality of opportunity over time. We find that, regardless of how well-being is measured, the same people are opportunity-deprived and equality of opportunity has improved over the past 20 years. This suggests that going beyond income has little relevance if the objective is to provide equal...

Sex, Money and the Equal Pay Act

Science.gov (United States)

Feldman, Edwin B.

1973-01-01

Institutions who justify a wage differential between male and female custodians on the basis that women typically do the lighter work, and men the heavier, can find themselves in trouble. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires that men and women get the same pay for equal work -- and all custodial work is substantially equal to the Labor Department.…

Northwest Atlantic Regional Climatology (NCEI Accession 0155889)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — To provide an improved oceanographic foundation and reference for multi-disciplinary studies of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, NCEI Regional Climatology Team...

Socioeconomic inequalities of outpatient and inpatient service utilization in China: personal and regional perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Dawei; Guo, Na; Wang, Jian; Nicholas, Stephen; Chen, Li

2017-12-04

China's health system has shown remarkable progress in health provision and health outcomes in recent decades, however inequality in health care utilization persists and poses a serious social problem. While government pro-poor health policies addressed affordability as the major obstacle to equality in health care access, this policy direction deserves further examination. Our study examines the issue of health care inequalities in China, analyzing both regional and individual socioeconomic factors associated with the inequality, and provides evidence to improve governmental health policies. The China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 1991-2011 data were used to analyze the inequality of health care utilization. The random effects logistic regression technique was used to model health care utilization as the dependent variable, and income and regional location as the independent variables, controlling for individuals' age, gender, marital status, education, health insurance, body mass index (BMI), and period variations. The dynamic trend of 1991-2011 regional disparities was estimated using an interaction term between the regional group dummy and the wave dummy. The probability of using outpatient service and inpatient services during the previous 4 weeks was 8.6 and 1.1% respectively. Compared to urban residents, suburban (OR: 0.802, 95% CI: 0.720-0.893), town (OR: 0.722, 95% CI: 0.648-0.804), rich (OR: 0.728, 95% CI: 0.656-0.807) and poor village (OR: 0.778, 95% CI: 0.698-0.868) residents were less likely to use outpatient service; and rich (OR: 0.609, 95% CI: 0.472-0.785) and poor village (OR: 0.752, 95% CI: 0. 576-0.983) residents were less likely to use inpatient health care. But the differences between income groups were not significant, except the differences between top and bottom income group in outpatient service use. Regional location was a more important factor than individual characteristics in determining access to health care. Besides demand

THE EQUALITY PRINCIPLE REQUIREMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CLAUDIA ANDRIŢOI

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The problem premises and the objectives followed: the idea of inserting the equality principle between the freedom and the justice principles is manifested in positive law in two stages, as a general idea of all judicial norms and as requirement of the owner of a subjective right of the applicants of an objective law. Equality in face of the law and of public authorities can not involve the idea of standardization, of uniformity, of enlisting of all citizens under the mark of the same judicial regime, regardless of their natural or socio-professional situation. Through the Beijing Platform and the position documents of the European Commission we have defined the integrative approach of equality as representing an active and visible integration of the gender perspective in all sectors and at all levels. The research methods used are: the conceptualist method, the logical method and the intuitive method necessary as means of reasoning in order to argue our demonstration. We have to underline the fact that the system analysis of the research methods of the judicial phenomenon doesn’t agree with “value ranking”, because one value cannot be generalized in rapport to another. At the same time, we must fight against a methodological extremism. The final purpose of this study is represented by the reaching of the perfecting/excellence stage by all individuals through the promotion of equality and freedom. This supposes the fact that the existence of a non-discrimination favourable frame (fairness represents a means and a condition of self-determination, and the state of perfection/excellency is a result of this self-determination, the condition necessary for the obtaining of this nondiscrimination frame for all of us and in conditions of freedom for all individuals, represents the same condition that promotes the state of perfection/excellency. In conclusion we may state the fact that the equality principle represents a true catalyst of the

Flattening Access to the Transmission Superhighway

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zibelman, Audrey

2005-07-01

ISO/RTO development in the future needs to occur not as a result of regulatory mandate, but rather because the entire industry and the investment sector recognize that ISO/RTOs provide the optimal business environment both to develop a robust grid and, equally important, to provide the focus necessary to serve regional markets.

Predicting Eight Grade Students' Equation Solving Performances via Concepts of Variable and Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Ertekin, Erhan

2017-01-01

This study focused on how two algebraic concepts- equality and variable- predicted 8th grade students' equation solving performance. In this study, predictive design as a correlational research design was used. Randomly selected 407 eight-grade students who were from the central districts of a city in the central region of Turkey participated in…

Equal Rights Monitor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Saskia Keuzenkamp; Ko Oudhof

2000-01-01

Original title: Emancipatiemonitor 2000. How is the emancipation process of women in the Netherlands progressing? What has been achieved? Have women already achieved equality, and have men accepted the sharing of power and responsibility? Was the emancipation process mainly a phenomenon of

The Nordic Gender Equality Model

OpenAIRE

Teigen, Mari; Skjeie, Hege

2017-01-01

In this chapter, we investigate the descriptive premises involved in portrayals of a Nordic model of gender equality. Mainly, we focus on the equality dimensions that form the baseline in comparative welfare state research and research on political participation. We outline these dimensions as norms for economic equity and democratic parity. First, we examine whether and how descriptive statistics that assess these two dimensions currently rank Nordic countries compared with other European co...

Overcoming Exclusion through Quality Schooling. Pathways to Access. Research Monograph No. 65

Science.gov (United States)

Govinda, R.; Bandyopadhyay, Madhumita

2011-01-01

In the era of globalisation, provision of quality education is increasingly gaining importance across the world. Like elsewhere, it has already been realised in India that equal attention is needed simultaneously on access, equity and quality to achieve the goal of universalisation of elementary education. It has also been experienced that…

Vocational Education and Equality of Opportunity.

Science.gov (United States)

Horowitz, Benjamin; Feinberg, Walter

1990-01-01

Examines the concepts of equality of opportunity and equality of educational opportunity and their relationship to vocational education. Traces the history of vocational education. Delineates the distinction between training and education as enumerated in Aristotelian philosophy. Discusses the role vocational education can play in the educative…

Regional Redistribution and Migration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manasse, Paolo; Schultz, Christian

We study a model with free migration between a rich and a poor region. Since there is congestion, the rich region has an incentive to give the poor region a transfer in order to reduce immigration. Faced with free migration, the rich region voluntarily chooses a transfer, which turns out...... to be equal to that a social planner would choose. Provided migration occurs in equilibrium, this conclusion holds even in the presence of moderate mobility costs. However, large migration costs will lead to suboptimal transfers in the market solution...

Valuing Equality in Irish Social Care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niall Hanlon

2009-01-01

Full Text Available In this article the author critiques Irish social care by presenting an equality perspective on practice. An equality perspective involves developing emancipatory practices, that is, ways of helping that provide egalitarian solutions and outcomes. Although emancipatory values are often contrasted with traditional social care values, the author seeks a pragmatic and integrated approach to emancipatory practices rather than a restatement of traditional dichotomies. Emancipatory practice begins with an appreciation of the nature and relevance of inequalities on the lives of diverse social care users. Building a commitment to equality within social care education and practice is an important step in altering many individual and institutional social care practices by focussing on equality processes and outcomes as central social care objectives. Using a well credited framework that outlines five dimensions of inequality (Baker, Lynch, Cantillon and Walsh, 2004, the author argues that social care educators and practitioners need to debate the issues raised and develop emancipatory practices.

Joint Frequency-Domain Equalization and Despreading for Multi-Code DS-CDMA Using Cyclic Delay Transmit Diversity

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamoto, Tetsuya; Takeda, Kazuki; Adachi, Fumiyuki

Frequency-domain equalization (FDE) based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion can provide a better bit error rate (BER) performance than rake combining. To further improve the BER performance, cyclic delay transmit diversity (CDTD) can be used. CDTD simultaneously transmits the same signal from different antennas after adding different cyclic delays to increase the number of equivalent propagation paths. Although a joint use of CDTD and MMSE-FDE for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) achieves larger frequency diversity gain, the BER performance improvement is limited by the residual inter-chip interference (ICI) after FDE. In this paper, we propose joint FDE and despreading for DS-CDMA using CDTD. Equalization and despreading are simultaneously performed in the frequency-domain to suppress the residual ICI after FDE. A theoretical conditional BER analysis is presented for the given channel condition. The BER analysis is confirmed by computer simulation.

Northeast Pacific Regional Climatology (NCEI Accession 0163799)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Northeast Pacific (NEP) new regional climatology is derived from the NCEI World Ocean Database archive of temperature and salinity and covers a time period from...

Access to employment among African migrant women living with HIV in France: opportunities and constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerbier-Aublanc, Marjorie; Gosselin, Anne

2016-08-01

HIV in France particularly affects sub-Saharan migrants as they accounted for 31% of the new diagnoses in 2013. The objective of this study is to investigate the access to and the experience of employment among migrant women living with HIV in France. We use a mixed-method approach. The quantitative data come from the ANRS Parcours study, a life-event survey conducted in 2012-2013 in 70 health centres which collected year-by-year detailed information on living conditions about 755 sub-Saharan women migrants in the greater Paris region (470 with HIV and 285 without HIV). The qualitative data have been collected independently in the same region through socio-ethnographic observations and interviews conducted in 8 HIV-positive migrant organisations and among 35 women-members from 2011 to 2013. Two main results are noteworthy. First, being HIV-positive unexpectedly gives sub-Saharan migrant women a quicker access to employment thanks to the social support they find in migrant organisations: in the third year in France in median (versus 5th year among HIV-negative group). This effect of being HIV-positive on the access to employment remains all things being equal in a discrete-time logistic regression (aOR [95% CI] HIV+: 1.4[1.1;1.8]). Second, their employment situation remains strongly shaped by the racial division of work existing in France and they develop individual strategies to negotiate this constraint: for example, temporary jobs and working as health mediators. The type of jobs they find, mainly in the care sector, force them to carefully hide their HIV status because they fear discrimination at work. Not only migrant women endure structural discrimination in a segmented labour market, but they also anticipate HIV-related discrimination related to caring activities. Thus, the design and implementation of programmes that address stigma should consider structural discrimination to improve PLWHA's working experiences.

Dispersive traveling wave solutions of the Equal-Width and Modified Equal-Width equations via mathematical methods and its applications

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Dianchen; Seadawy, Aly R.; Ali, Asghar

2018-06-01

The Equal-Width and Modified Equal-Width equations are used as a model in partial differential equations for the simulation of one-dimensional wave transmission in nonlinear media with dispersion processes. In this article we have employed extend simple equation method and the exp(-varphi(ξ)) expansion method to construct the exact traveling wave solutions of equal width and modified equal width equations. The obtained results are novel and have numerous applications in current areas of research in mathematical physics. It is exposed that our method, with the help of symbolic computation, provides a effective and powerful mathematical tool for solving different kind nonlinear wave problems.

Diversity, equal opportunities and human rights.

Science.gov (United States)

McKimm, Judy; Webb, Helen

2010-08-01

Equality and diversity are central to education and health services, in terms of both employment and service delivery. Clinical teachers need to be able to support students and trainees around equality issues, have the confidence to challenge discriminatory practice and provide an inclusive and safe learning and teaching environment.

An Analysis of Citizenship and Democracy Education Text Book in the Context of Gender Equality and Determining Students' Perceptions on Gender Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Kalayci, Nurdan; Hayirsever, Fahriye

2014-01-01

Gender equality has been explained as both the equal treatment of women and men before the law and women's and men's equal usage of resources, opportunities, and services within the family and society. Today, although the conditions that support gender inequality have relatively decreased, gender discrimination still persists. Gender equality is…

Reforming Equalization: Balancing Efficiency, Entitlement and Ownership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bev Dahlby

2014-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we provide an overview of the equalization grant system in Canada and the issues that have been raised concerning the reform of the fiscal transfer system. Any reforms to the equalization grant system have to balance three concerns — “efficiency” effects that arise through federal financing of transfers, and the incentive effects on provincial fiscal policies, “entitlement” to reasonably comparable public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation, and “ownership” of resources and independence of fiscal policies by provincial governments. Five proposals for reform of the equalization system are discussed. With regard to the inclusion rate for resource revenues in equalization formula, we argue that the rate should be reduced from 50 per cent to 25 per cent and that ceiling on total equalization payments should be eliminated. We argue against the proposal to exempt from the calculation of equalization entitlements that are deposited in provincial sovereign wealth funds because this would not reduce total equalization entitlements in present value terms, it would be complex to implement if it extended to all forms of savings by provinces (such as debt reduction, and it would not alter the resource rich provinces’ incentives to save more of their resource revenues. We argue against a proposal to reduce CHT and CST to provinces with above average fiscal capacities because this would reduce their incentive to develop and tax their resources, and it would be counter to the purpose of these block grants, which is to reduce the vertical fiscal imbalance between the federal and the provincial governments. We review the Gusen (2012a proto-type model for incorporating variations in costs and needs in the computation of the equalization entitlements and argue that this procedure seems feasible and merits further analysis.

Bi-Histogram Equalization with Brightnes Preservation Using Contras Enhancement

OpenAIRE

A. Anitha Rani; Gowthami Rajagopal; A. Jagadeswaran

2014-01-01

Contrast enhancement is an important factor in the image preprocesing step. One of the widely acepted contrast enhancement method is the histogram equalization. Although histogram equalization achieves comparatively beter performance on almost al types of image, global histogram equalization sometimes produces excesive visual deterioration. A new extension of bi- histogram equalization caled Bi-Histogram Equalization with Neighborhod Metric (BHENM). First, large histogram bins that cause w...

Open access policy at Reviews in Health Care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Maina

2011-07-01

Full Text Available [The abstract of this article is not available. Here are the first sentence of the interview with Peter Suber. The complete interview is freely available upon registration]Peter Suber (http://bit.ly/suber is Berkman Fellow at Harvard University, Senior Researcher at SPARC, the Open Access Project Director at Public Knowledge, and Research Professor of Philosophy at Earlham College. He conducts research, writing, consulting, and advocacy on open access and related topics.Q: The aim of open access is to remove access barriers to publication. Don’t you think that fee-based model can be an obstacle for authors in less-developed countries?A: Fee-based OA journals don’t work as well as no-fee OA journals in fields and countries where most research is unfunded. But it’s important to remember that the vast majority of OA journals (70% charge no publication fees at all. The percentage is even higher for OA journals published in developing countries. For example, nearly all the OA journals published in India are no-fee. It’s equally important to remember that green OA, or OA through repositories, is an inexpensive alternative to gold OA, or OA through journals.

Detroit's Fight for Equal Educational Opportunity.

Science.gov (United States)

Zwerdling, A. L.

To meet the challenge of equal educational opportunity, current methods of public school finance must be revised. The present financial system, based on State equalization of local property tax valuation, is inequitable since it results in many school districts, particularly those in large cities, having inadequate resources to meet extraordinary…

Equal Educational Opportunity?

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Lorenzo

1980-01-01

Holds that the "Bakke" decision simply reaffirmed an insufficient commitment to equal opportunities for Blacks in higher education. Reviews several studies, including research conducted at the Institute for the Study of Educational Policy (ISEP) that has focused on the social and economic context of educational discrimination. (GC)

Community of Practice to Institutionalize Gender Equality | CRDI ...

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

Achieving equality between women and men ("gender equality") is an important principle of Canada's international cooperation program. Canadian organizations receiving CIDA funding must comply with CIDA's policy on gender equality, and many have adopted their own such policies. ... Date butoir. 31 mars 2015 ...

29 CFR 1620.15 - Jobs requiring equal skill in performance.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... EQUAL PAY ACT § 1620.15 Jobs requiring equal skill in performance. (a) In general. The jobs to which the equal pay standard is applicable are jobs requiring equal skill in their performance. Where the amount... another job, the equal pay standard cannot apply even though the jobs may be equal in all other respects...

Equal task, equal exposure? Are men and women with the same tasks equally exposed to awkward working postures?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hooftman, W.E.; Beek, A.J. van der; Wal, B.G. van de; Knol, D.L.; Bongers, P.M.; Burdorf, A.; Mechelen, M. van

2009-01-01

The aim of the study was to determine whether men and woman with equal tasks perform these tasks in the same way. Video recordings of 37 male and 43 female workers in six task groups were observed, from which data regarding frequency and duration of exposure to awkward postures were derived. These

The impact of privatization on access in Tanzania.

Science.gov (United States)

Benson, J S

2001-06-01

In the late 1980s, many developing countries were forced to adopt structural adjustment policies as a condition for securing loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. One of the World Bank's recommended policies was to change the mix of private and public health facilities. This study, based on fieldwork done in Tanzania in 1993, examines the impact of this policy on health-care accessibility in two northern Tanzanian districts, one rural and one urban. Accessibility was measured in terms of equality and equity of coverage. The placement of the very few government clinics opened during the years 1985-1993 did much more to improve coverage than the haphazard location of many new private clinics. Equity was not improved as very few clinics were placed in demographically needy areas.

Connecting to Regional Markets?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Coulibaly, Souleymane; Thomsen, Lotte

2016-01-01

Central Asian food processors face a number of constraints when they attempt to export to the region and beyond. The Central Asian economies in focus here are landlocked, and thus lack easy access to sea transport. In addition, the region's transport network was built to reinforce the interdepend......Central Asian food processors face a number of constraints when they attempt to export to the region and beyond. The Central Asian economies in focus here are landlocked, and thus lack easy access to sea transport. In addition, the region's transport network was built to reinforce...... the interdependence of the then Soviet republics, while conflicting economic interests make cross-border cooperation difficult. Based on extensive fieldwork on infrastructure systems and firm export strategies, this paper identifies contemporary infrastructure and transportation issues within the Central Asian region...

The Many Faces of Equal Opportunity

Science.gov (United States)

Temkin, Larry S.

2016-01-01

The ideal of equality of opportunity plays an important role in contemporary social and political discourse, and it is one of the few ideals which most people, across the political spectrum, accept. In this article, I argue that the seemingly widespread agreement about the value of equal opportunity is more apparent than real. I distinguish…

Equal but different: Effects of equality/inclusion and cultural pluralism on intergroup outcomes in multiethnic classrooms.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwarzenthal, Miriam; Schachner, Maja K; van de Vijver, Fons J R; Juang, Linda P

2018-04-01

Integrating research on intergroup contact and intercultural relations, we investigated effects of 2 types of cultural diversity norms (equality/inclusion and cultural pluralism) on outgroup orientation and perceived discrimination among students of immigrant and nonimmigrant background. Our sample comprised 1,975 6th graders (M age = 11.53, SD age = 0.69, 47% female) in Germany, of whom 1,213 (61%) were of immigrant background, defined as having at least 1 parent born in a different country. A total of 83 countries of origin were represented. We applied a multilevel framework to assess the impact of individual-level and class-level predictors on intergroup outcomes, controlling for the classroom ethnic composition, school track, and individual-level covariates. Immigrant background was treated as a moderator. The 2 types of cultural diversity norms were generally associated with more positive intergroup outcomes. Some of the associations differed in strength between students of immigrant and nonimmigrant background. There were stronger associations of equality/inclusion with higher outgroup orientation among students of nonimmigrant background and with lower perceived discrimination among students of immigrant background. Ethnic composition, as well as the classroom-aggregated diversity norms (diversity climate) showed weaker relations with the outcome variables. Equality/inclusion norms and cultural pluralism norms can make complementary contributions to positive relations between students of immigrant and nonimmigrant background. Equality/inclusion norms foster positive contact and equal treatment, while cultural pluralism norms emphasize that it is also important to value diversity.¹ (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Experimental implementation of a low-frequency global sound equalization method based on free field propagation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Santillan, Arturo Orozco; Pedersen, Christian Sejer; Lydolf, Morten

2007-01-01

An experimental implementation of a global sound equalization method in a rectangular room using active control is described in this paper. The main purpose of the work has been to provide experimental evidence that sound can be equalized in a continuous three-dimensional region, the listening zone......, which occupies a considerable part of the complete volume of the room. The equalization method, based on the simulation of a progressive plane wave, was implemented in a room with inner dimensions of 2.70 m x 2.74 m x 2.40 m. With this method,the sound was reproduced by a matrix of 4 x 5 loudspeakers...... in one of the walls. After traveling through the room, the sound wave was absorbed on the opposite wall, which had a similar arrangement of loudspeakers, by means of active control. A set of 40 digital FIR filters was used to modify the original input signal before it was fed to the loudspeakers, one...

The Role of Accessibility of Semantic Word Knowledge in Monolingual and Bilingual Fifth-Grade Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Cremer, M.; Schoonen, R.

2013-01-01

The influences of word decoding, availability, and accessibility of semantic word knowledge on reading comprehension were investigated for monolingual "("n = 65) and bilingual children ("n" = 70). Despite equal decoding abilities, monolingual children outperformed bilingual children with regard to reading comprehension and…

Module 11: Gender Equality & Social Exclusion Issues in Rural Development

OpenAIRE

Kenny, Michael

2003-01-01

1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Equality Argument 1.3 Equality and the Culture of Contentment 1.4 Rawls and the Theory of a Just Society 1.5 Equal Opportunities and the Equality Continuum 1.6 The Equality Context

Scan equalization digital radiography (SEDR) implemented with an amorphous selenium flat-panel detector: initial experience

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu Xinming; Lai Chaojen; Chen Lingyun; Han Tao; Zhong Yuncheng; Shen Youtao; Wang Tianpeng; Shaw, Chris C [Department of Imaging Physics, Digital Imaging Research Laboratory, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030-4009 (United States)], E-mail: xliu@di.mdacc.tmc.edu

2009-11-21

It is well recognized in projection radiography that low-contrast detectability suffers in heavily attenuating regions due to excessively low x-ray fluence to the image receptor and higher noise levels. Exposure equalization can improve image quality by increasing the x-ray exposure to heavily attenuating regions, resulting in a more uniform distribution of exposure to the detector. Image quality is also expected to be improved by using the slot-scan geometry to reject scattered radiation effectively without degrading primary x-rays. This paper describes the design of a prototype scan equalization digital radiography (SEDR) system implemented with an amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film transistor (TFT) array-based flat-panel detector. With this system, slot-scan geometry with alternate line erasure and readout (ALER) technique was used to achieve scatter rejection. A seven-segment beam height modulator assembly was mounted onto the fore collimator to regulate exposure regionally for chest radiography. The beam modulator assembly, consisting of micro linear motors, lead screw cartridge with lead (Pb) beam blockers attached, position feedback sensors and motor driver circuitry, has been tested and found to have an acceptable response for exposure equalization in chest radiography. An anthropomorphic chest phantom was imaged in the posterior-anterior (PA) view under clinical conditions. Scatter component, primary x-rays, scatter-to-primary ratios (SPRs) and primary signal-to-noise ratios (PSNRs) were measured in the SEDR images to evaluate the rejection and redistribution of scattered radiation, and compared with those for conventional full-field imaging with and without anti-scatter grid methods. SPR reduction ratios (SPRRRs, defined as the differences between the non-grid full-field SPRs and the reduced SPRs divided by the former) yielded approximately 59% for the full-field imaging with grid and 82% for the SEDR technique in the lungs, and 77% for the full

Entrepreneur for Equality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Duncan, Russell

Focuses on the first Republican Governor of the state of Georgia during the period of race adjustment and national reconstruction after the American Civil War. Bullock led the way to business connections in creating a New South, but he was best known for his steadfast efforts at human equality fo...

“Equal Work Require Equal Salary” – Part of the Principle of Equality Treatment between Men and Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carla Carmina Spiridon

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Enlarging the provisions of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Convention no. 111 from 1958 regarding discrimination in the field of employing manpower and practicing profession, , has pointed out the effect of discrimination: to suppress or to prejudice the equal opportunities or treatment in the field of employing manpower and practicing profession.

Energy access in Africa: Challenges ahead

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brew-Hammond, Abeeku

2010-01-01

This paper presents a review of the current situation and projections for energy access in Africa. The paper also presents several sets of ambitious energy access targets as agreed by the regional groupings within the region. The paper argues that achieving between 50% and 100% access to modern energy services by 2030 in Africa will require more effective mobilization and use of both domestic and external funding, and the development and implementation of innovative policy frameworks. The paper suggests that greater emphasis will need to be placed on productive uses of energy and energy for income generation in order to break the vicious circle of low incomes leading to poor access to modern energy services, which in turn puts severe limitations on the ability to generate higher incomes. The paper further suggests that if anything near the ambitious targets set by African organisations are to be achieved then it will be advisable to tap into the full menu of energy resource and technology options, and there will be the need for significant increases in the numbers of various actors involved together with more effective institutions in the energy sector.

76 FR 53807 - Women's Equality Day, 2011

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-29

... States to celebrate the achievements of women and recommit ourselves to the goal of gender equality in... Vol. 76 Monday, No. 167 August 29, 2011 Part IV The President Proclamation 8699--Women's Equality...

The Impact of China’s WTO Accession on China-Japan-Korea Trade Relation, and its Policy Implications for Regional Economic Cooperation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inkyo Cheong

2001-06-01

Full Text Available Because of the increased possibility of China's accession to the WTO due to the settlement of negotiations with the U.S. and EU, the world is interested in opening China’s domestic market and taking advantage of the opportunities. Existing papers about China’s entry into the WTO generally analyze the impact on China and the world economy based on his/her assumption of a hypothetical tariff reduction scenario. However, this paper systematically analyzes by sector and region the tariff reduction structures of 5,685 tariff lines that China will actually reduce up until 2005. Based on this, the author employs a computational general equilibrium model in order to estimate the impact of China's trade liberalization on the economies of Northeast Asia and the world economy. According to the results, China's trade liberalization will bring the greatest benefit to China itself and substantial export expansion for Korea and Japan. This paper also states that if these three countries promote economic cooperation using China's accession to the WTO as momentum, it will be necessary to think economic cooperation in the fiber and clothing industries, which are quite effectively promoting intra-regional trade and absorbing workers left unemployed by structural adjustments in China.

The Fate of Equality in a Technological Civilization

Science.gov (United States)

Stivers, Richard

2008-01-01

The meaning of equality has been radically altered since the Enlightenment. In the 18th century, equality acquired political and economic meanings specifically in the contexts of democracy and capitalism. Today, the context in which equality is understood and practiced is technology as our most immediate and compelling environment. Moreover, the…

Scandinavian Approaches to Gender Equality in Academia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Mathias Wullum

2017-01-01

This study investigates how Denmark, Norway, and Sweden approach issues of gender equality in research differently. Based on a comparative document analysis of gender equality activities in six Scandinavian universities, together with an examination of the legislative and political frameworks...... surrounding these activities, the article provides new insights into the respective strategies for governing and promoting the advancement of women researchers. In doing so, it exposes some interesting disparities among the cases and shows how Norwegian and Swedish gender equality activities revolve around...

77 FR 52583 - Women's Equality Day, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-29

... celebrate the achievements of women and recommit to realizing gender equality in this country. [[Page 52586... Equality Day, 2012 #0; #0; #0; Presidential Documents #0; #0; #0;#0;Federal Register / Vol. 77 , No. 168...

Modeling track access charge to enhance railway industry performance

Science.gov (United States)

Berawi, Mohammed Ali; Miraj, Perdana; Berawi, Abdur Rohim Boy; Susantono, Bambang; Leviakangas, Pekka; Radiansyah, Hendra

2017-11-01

Indonesia attempts to improve nation's competitiveness by increasing the quality and the availability of railway network. However, the infrastructure improperly managed by the operator in terms of the technical issue. One of the reasons for this problem is an unbalanced value of infrastructure charge. In 2000's track access charge and infrastructure maintenance and operation for Indonesia railways are equal and despite current formula of the infrastructure charge, issues of transparency and accountability still in question. This research aims to produce an alternative scheme of track access charge by considering marginal cost plus markup (MC+) approach. The research combines qualitative and quantitative method through an in-depth interview and financial analysis. The result will generate alternative formula of infrastructure charge in Indonesia's railway industry. The simulation also conducted to estimate track access charge for the operator and to forecast government support in terms of subsidy. The result is expected to enhance railway industry performance and competitiveness.

Regional development via high-speed rail : A study of the Stockholm-Mälaren region and possibilities for Melbourne-regional Victoria

OpenAIRE

Bayley, Michael

2012-01-01

The purpose of this thesis is to examine, based on a study of the regional high-speed corridors in the Stockholm-Mälaren Region, the possibilities for regional high-speed rail in Melbourne-regional Victoria (Australia) to improve accessibility, and achieve regional development and balanced growth between the capital and its surrounding regions. It deals with the concept of 'regional' high-speed rail, a variant of classic high-speed rail that serves centres along regional corridors stemming fr...

Groundnut Market Participation in the Upper West Region of Ghana

African Journals Online (AJOL)

age of the household head, gender of household head, marital status of the household .... that, households with access to credit need to raise enough funds to pay .... equal to zero), and net seller (households whose net sales are positive) as ...

Digital Media, Power and (InEquality in Archaeology and Heritage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara Perry

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Decades of Internet study have arguably done little to shed light on the nature and implications of web-based communications in archaeology. Since the late 1990s, the online world has been lauded by archaeologists for its capacities to engender dialogue, participation, intellectual change and even democratic revolution. Yet the dangers associated with its use have barely been probed. Threats to privacy, equality, access, security of data, and personal safety and well-being are seemingly characteristic of all communication technologies. However, the naive zeal with which many archaeological and heritage organisations are employing online platforms for dissemination, profile-building, 'impact' and public accountability is fraught with risk and deserving of interrogation. This article explores the effects of digital culture on the professional identities and careers of archaeologists, heritage specialists and museum workers. Through a multi-disciplinary survey of over 400 individuals, nearly one-third of whom self-identified as archaeological or related heritage practitioners (working both inside and outside of the academic sector, we consider the various ways in which online technologies are used to express, promote, facilitate, strengthen and undermine both professionals themselves and professional practices in archaeology. Situating ourselves in the intersectional and feminist literature, we argue that web-based harassment and lack of adequate e-safety mechanisms are rife in the discipline, putting it in jeopardy of fuelling structural inequalities. Our findings suggest that close to one-third of practitioners report victimisation via online communication; the majority know their abusers offline; and, although the prevalence of such abuse is roughly equal among men and women, its nature is split along gender lines. Of especial concern, most practitioners choose to ignore their abuse, a decision that may be motivated by the non-existent or victim

76 FR 65099 - Blind Americans Equality Day, 2011

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-20

... Americans Equality Day, 2011 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Generations of... inspiring as champions of sport. On Blind Americans Equality Day, we celebrate the achievements of blind and... interacted with the program's vendors. Though we have made progress in the march to equality for the blind...

Fight For Equality

Science.gov (United States)

Mink, Patsy T.

1973-01-01

In this presentation to the annual conventions of the NAWDAC and the ACPA (Cleveland 1973) the author, a Congresswoman from Hawaii, deplores the practice of some counselors of directing women students into traditional women's courses. She urges college counselors and personnel workers to join in the struggle to achieve equal educational and…

The Role of an International Higher Education Partnership to Improve Gender Equality and Empower Women

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, Sandra Louise Clements

2014-01-01

This is a research case study of an International Higher Education Partnership (IHEP) between Vanguard University of Southern California (VUSC) and the University of Duhok (UoD) in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq funded by the British Council DelPHE-Iraq project targeting Millennial Development Goal (MDG) #3 to promote gender equality and…

Dilemmas in the Danish Approach to Gender Equality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agustin, Lise Rolandsen; Siim, Birte

and gender parity. Gender theory has conceptualized gender parity as one step towards achieving gender justice in all arenas of social, political and economic life. The Danish cases illustrate that context matters and question gender quota as a universal strategy to achieve gender equality. The empirical......The paper addresses the dilemmas, contradictions and paradoxes in the Danish approach to gender quotas and gender equality and discusses the intersections of citizenship, democracy and gender justice. Gender research understands gender quota as a means to achieve equal rights, gender equality...... to a limited extent addresses the impact of these policies and their implications for lived practice. One issue concerns the paradox of the relatively high female representation in politics without the adoption of gender quotas. A second issue concerns the gap between gender equality policies. Denmark lacks...

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.

12 CFR 268.101 - General policy for equal opportunity.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), the Equal Pay Act (29 U.S.C. 206(d)), or the... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false General policy for equal opportunity. 268.101... RESERVE SYSTEM RULES REGARDING EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Board Program To Promote Equal Opportunity § 268.101...

29 CFR 1614.408 - Civil action: Equal Pay Act.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Civil action: Equal Pay Act. 1614.408 Section 1614.408... EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY Appeals and Civil Actions § 1614.408 Civil action: Equal Pay Act. A..., three years of the date of the alleged violation of the Equal Pay Act regardless of whether he or she...

48 CFR 52.211-6 - Brand name or equal.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Brand name or equal. 52....211-6 Brand name or equal. As prescribed in 11.107(a), insert the following provision: Brand Name or Equal (AUG 1999) (a) If an item in this solicitation is identified as “brand name or equal,” the...

Gendered Access and Control Over Land and Water Resources in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna N. Sikira

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper assessed the gendered access and control over land and water, using the Ihemi cluster of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT as a study area. Specifically, the paper answered the question on how decisions are made between men and women over land and water in the SAGCOT area, as well as how access and control over land and water is conducted. Data for this paper was drawn from the baseline study which was conducted for the project known as Laying Foundation for Effective Landscape-level Planning for Sustainable Development (LiFELand. A cross-sectional research design was used, whereby a questionnaire was administered to 167 women and 440 men. In addition, focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also conducted to complement and allow triangulation of data. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively; while, qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. In general, the results show that female headed households accounted for more than a quarter of the surveyed households; the number was slightly higher in the Njombe region. Results further show that women had no control over land and water as important productive resources in rural areas. The results also show that a larger proportion of both men and women had no right of occupancy over the land they owned hence their inability to use it as collateral in accessing loans from formal financial institutions. The paper therefore recommends efforts be made to empower women, hence enabling them to actively participate in decision-making, particularly regarding land and water. Equitable decision-making power can immensely enhance ecosystem conservation and sustainable utilization over land and water as women are the major actors in agriculture. To achieve gender equality there is a need for awareness creation for both men and women using gender sensitive programs that will allow not only equality in use but a sustainable utilization of Land

12 CFR 626.6025 - Equal housing lender poster.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Equal housing lender poster. 626.6025 Section... § 626.6025 Equal housing lender poster. (a) Each Farm Credit institution that makes loans for the... by a dwelling shall post and maintain an Equal Housing Lender Poster in the lobby of each of its...

78 FR 21811 - National Equal Pay Day, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-11

..., 2013 National Equal Pay Day, 2013 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Over... of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 9, 2013, as National Equal Pay Day. I call upon all... Vol. 78 Thursday, No. 70 April 11, 2013 Part V The President Proclamation 8955--National Equal Pay...

Channel Equalization Using Multilayer Perceptron Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saba Baloch

2012-07-01

Full Text Available In most digital communication systems, bandwidth limited channel along with multipath propagation causes ISI (Inter Symbol Interference to occur. This phenomenon causes distortion of the given transmitted symbol due to other transmitted symbols. With the help of equalization ISI can be reduced. This paper presents a solution to the ISI problem by performing blind equalization using ANN (Artificial Neural Networks. The simulated network is a multilayer feedforward Perceptron ANN, which has been trained by utilizing the error back-propagation algorithm. The weights of the network are updated in accordance with training of the network. This paper presents a very effective method for blind channel equalization, being more efficient than the pre-existing algorithms. The obtained results show a visible reduction in the noise content.

12 CFR 528.5 - Equal Housing Lender Poster.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Equal Housing Lender Poster. 528.5 Section 528... REQUIREMENTS § 528.5 Equal Housing Lender Poster. (a) Each savings association shall post and maintain one or more Equal Housing Lender Posters, the text of which is prescribed in paragraph (b) of this section, in...

Analysis 1: SDG5, gender equal fisheries

OpenAIRE

Williams, Meryl J.

2017-01-01

What are the challenges in the path of achieving gender equality in fisheries and what should our priorities be? This article tries to identify these in the context of SDG 5, the Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality.

Promoting Racial Equality in the Nursing Curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Foolchand, M. K.

1995-01-01

Equality in nursing education and the profession can be promoted in the following ways: a working policy on racism and equal opportunities; curriculum content that explores stereotypes, values, attitudes, and prejudices; and multicultural health research, education, and promotion. (SK)

CMOS continuous-time adaptive equalizers for high-speed serial links

CERN Document Server

Gimeno Gasca, Cecilia; Aldea Chagoyen, Concepción

2015-01-01

This book introduces readers to the design of adaptive equalization solutions integrated in standard CMOS technology for high-speed serial links. Since continuous-time equalizers offer various advantages as an alternative to discrete-time equalizers at multi-gigabit rates, this book provides a detailed description of continuous-time adaptive equalizers design - both at transistor and system levels-, their main characteristics and performances. The authors begin with a complete review and analysis of the state of the art of equalizers for wireline applications, describing why they are necessary, their types, and their main applications. Next, theoretical fundamentals of continuous-time adaptive equalizers are explored. Then, new structures are proposed to implement the different building blocks of the adaptive equalizer: line equalizer, loop-filters, power comparator, etc.  The authors demonstrate the design of a complete low-power, low-voltage, high-speed, continuous-time adaptive equalizer. Finally, a cost-...

PROMOTING EQUALITY THROUGH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, A SOCIOECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana-Maria NEAGU

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of the proposed paper is to identify a possible cost benefit evaluation of assistive technologies in the context of promoting equal opportunities in life. Equal opportunities represent more than just ensuring an equitable framework for all individuals; equality represents recognition and respect for all individuals no matter the differences among us. The paper debates the issues of equality in the context of assistive technologies advance. The use of assistive technology was found to be predictive of enjoyment of human rights and increased capabilities for those with special needs. Because promoting equality among individuals necessitates more than doing nothing it is obvious that we should think of evaluating the costs and the benefits of such actions taking into consideration socio and economic aspects. The topic has a novelty and an applicability character mostly for our country.

All are equal, but some are more equal than others: Managerialism and gender equality in higher education in comparative perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Teelken, J.C.; Deem, R.

2013-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate what impact new regimes of management and governance, including new managerialism, have had on perceptions of gender equality at universities in three Western European countries. While in accordance with national laws and EU directives, contemporary

The restructuring of the fiscal equalization system in Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko Primorac

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to propose a model of fiscal equalization in Croatia. This paper tests the hypothesis of a lack of effectiveness of the existing fiscal equalization model compared to a model that would be based on alleviating the difference in the potential to collect revenue from the personal income tax and surtax. Fiscal inequalities of local government units are determined first under the current equalization system by calculating the Gini coefficients and graphically presented with Lorenz curves. Thereafter, a distribution of equalization grants is simulated based on the new (proposed model. The effectiveness of the proposed model in alleviating the fiscal inequalities is determined in relation to the effectiveness of the current equalization system. It was found that the model based on equalizing the difference in the capacity to collect revenue from the personal income tax and surtax alleviates inequalities in fiscal capacities of local government units much better than the existing system at the same cost. The main conclusion is that the fiscal equalization in Croatia should urgently be redesigned in order to improve efficiency and fairness, but also the transparency and credibility of the equalization system.

Fast Adaptive Blind MMSE Equalizer for Multichannel FIR Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abed-Meraim Karim

2006-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a new blind minimum mean square error (MMSE equalization algorithm of noisy multichannel finite impulse response (FIR systems, that relies only on second-order statistics. The proposed algorithm offers two important advantages: a low computational complexity and a relative robustness against channel order overestimation errors. Exploiting the fact that the columns of the equalizer matrix filter belong both to the signal subspace and to the kernel of truncated data covariance matrix, the proposed algorithm achieves blindly a direct estimation of the zero-delay MMSE equalizer parameters. We develop a two-step procedure to further improve the performance gain and control the equalization delay. An efficient fast adaptive implementation of our equalizer, based on the projection approximation and the shift invariance property of temporal data covariance matrix, is proposed for reducing the computational complexity from to , where is the number of emitted signals, the data vector length, and the dimension of the signal subspace. We then derive a statistical performance analysis to compare the equalization performance with that of the optimal MMSE equalizer. Finally, simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed blind equalization algorithm.

Region 7 Laboratory Information Management System

Science.gov (United States)

This is metadata documentation for the Region 7 Laboratory Information Management System (R7LIMS) which maintains records for the Regional Laboratory. Any Laboratory analytical work performed is stored in this system which replaces LIMS-Lite, and before that LAST. The EPA and its contractors may use this database. The Office of Policy & Management (PLMG) Division at EPA Region 7 is the primary managing entity; contractors can access this database but it is not accessible to the public.

Local Authorities’ Policies for Disseminating Gender Equality. Evidence from Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena GORI

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to analyze the role of Italian local authorities in disseminating gender equality by using the gender mainstreaming approach. Previous researches in gender were concentrated on legal aspect linked to labor or to violence against women. Moreover, other studies examined the effects of EU funds on local gender policies. However, no research results are provided about methodologies, timing and responsibilities set up by local administrations. The research focuses on a population consisting of local authorities representing the principal regional towns and analyzes the Italian local authorities’ commitment in gender mainstreaming. The result of the analysis is that the local authorities are demonstrating more commitment with policies linked to employment issues. Moreover, Italian municipalities show a signifi cant commitment to spreading GM policies, not only dedicated to women but also to a more inclusive concept of ‘gender’. However, we argue that policies for gender equality are not target-driven: local authorities widespread a wide range of gender policies without defi ning an adequate tool. Policy makers need to refl ect about the possibility to develop a clear frame concerning strategies, resources, measuring and impact indicators in order to issue real ‘gender effective policies’.

Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY: impact of an eye health education program on patient knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rhodes LA

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Lindsay A Rhodes,1 Carrie E Huisingh,1 Gerald McGwin Jr,1,2 Stephen T Mennemeyer,3 Mary Bregantini,4 Nita Patel,4 Jinan Saaddine,5 John E Crews,5 Christopher A Girkin,1 Cynthia Owsley11Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, 2Department of Epidemiology, 3Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 4Prevent Blindness, Chicago, IL, USA; 5Vision Health Initiative, Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USAPurpose: To assess the impact of the education program of the Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY telemedicine program on at-risk patients’ knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care as well as to assess patient satisfaction with EQUALITY.Patients and methods: New or existing patients presenting for a comprehensive eye exam (CEE at one of two retail-based primary eye clinics were enrolled based on ≥1 of the following at-risk criteria for glaucoma: African Americans ≥40 years of age, Whites ≥50 years of age, diabetes, family history of glaucoma, and/or preexisting diagnosis of glaucoma. A total of 651 patients were enrolled. A questionnaire was administered prior to the patients’ CEE and prior to the patients receiving any of the evidence-based eye health education program; a follow-up questionnaire was administered 2–4 weeks later by phone. Baseline and follow-up patient responses regarding knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care were compared using McNemar’s test. Logistic regression models were used to assess the association of patient-level characteristics with improvement in knowledge and attitudes. Overall patient satisfaction was summarized.Results: At follow-up, all patient responses in the knowledge and attitude domains significantly improved from baseline (P≤0.01 for all questions. Those who were unemployed (odds

'Better justice?' or 'shambolic justice?': Governments' use of information technology for access to law and justice, and the impact on regional and rural legal practitioners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caroline Hart

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This paper reports the results of a study on whether government use of information technology potentially compromises access to law and justice by Queensland regional and rural (RR legal practitioners. The paper describes current approaches to the use of information technology by state and federal governments, and provides an insight into the challenges and opportunities identified by individual RR legal practitioners, policy-makers and the judiciary on the use of such technology. The paper makes recommendations to promote increased access to law and justice for RR legal practitioners when using government information technology.

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND EQUALITY IN REDUCING POVERTY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zaenal Muttaqin

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In some developing countries, the instrument to alleviate the poverty is by using the economic growth. So, the increasing in investment, infrastructure development, and macroeconomics stability always be priority from developing countries. In this article explain that economic growth is not the important factor to alleviate the poverty, because equality sometimes is more important rather than the economic growth. In this context, its measure by inequality growth trade off index (IGTI. This method is to measure the influence of economic growth to reducing the inequality, with this method every country can measure which one is better to reducing the poverty whether the economic growth or equality. With this method, Laos in 2000 show that economic growth is more important than equality, but in the same year in Thailand show that equality is more important than economic growth.DOI: 10.15408/sjie.v1i1.2592

The Europeanisation of gender equality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martinsen, Dorte Sindbjerg

2007-01-01

The paper examines the extent to which member states control the impact of European Union (EU) policies. It does so through an historical study of what is considered to be the ‘least likely case’ – the Europeanization of Danish gender equality. The analytical findings identify various and diverse...... effects of European integration over time on national policy, politics and law. Historically, the EU has had a major role in furthering and putting into effect equality rights – even in the ‘least likely’ case of Denmark. From a theoretical perspective, the paper argues that the study of Europeanization...

Access For All

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Ove Kjeld; Hjulmand, Christian

2005-01-01

Approximately 30% of the Danish population has severe problems in reading everyday text. In the light of the increasing amount of text available on the Internet this poses a democratic challenge to ensure “equal access” to information. The Talking Internet service - Access For All (AFA) - offers...... a free Internet-based tool for reading aloud any marked text with a synthetic voice. The only requirements are a standard equipped PC running a recent Windows OS and an Internet connection. Experiences gathered from running the service for more than 28 months underline the viability of the concept....... There is a clear need for a free internet based Danish text-to-speech synthesizer. Furthermore, the current state of technology i.e. internet bandwidth, response time and server technology is sufficient for setting up an online automatic reading service that is used by steadily growing number of individuals...

POST GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN DIETETICS &FOOD SERVICE MANAGEMENT (MSCDFSM PROGRAMME of IGNOU: Access through the Lucknow Regional Centre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. S. DOROTHY

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU which was established initially as a Single mode Distance Teaching Institution (DTI in the year 1985 opened its campus to face-to-face education in the year 2008 and thus now is a Dual mode Distance Teaching Institution (DTI. The Post Graduate Programme (Master of Science in Dietetics and Food Service Management (MScDFSM Programme of IGNOU offered through the Distance Learning Mode from the year 2005 has been the boon in developing human resources involved in Nutrition and Dietetics services and also serves as a mode for continuing education among the professionals on-the-job. Accessibility to the programme is independent of the qualification earned at the Bachelor’s level as at IGNOU flexibility of the qualification is ensured for fulfilling the eligibility criteria into the MScDFSM Programme so that the diverse needs of the aspirants are accommodated at entry level itself. The Programme is unique in that it has compulsory Dissertation and Internship besides the Theory and Practical Courses. The Self-Study is enriched by the Teacher inbuilt Self-instructional Study Materials coupled with compulsory submission of the Tutor Marked Assignments (TMA which phase learning and initiate the didactic communication between the Academic Counsellor (who facilitate the Academic Transactions at the field level functionary - the Learner Support Centre and the Learner. The MSc DFSM Programme of IGNOU, as the distance learning programme offered by the School of Continuing Education (SOCE of IGNOU in the Indian Sub-Continent only. This paper discusses how the MScDFSM Programme of IGNOU is contributing to the staff development of in-service Nutritionists and Dietitians through the distance education/learning mode in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh, North India Regional Centre. This paper also highlights the Institutions, which served as the Learner Support Centres from the year 2005 (when the programme was launched till 2011

Implementation of the Midway Image Equalization

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Thierry Guillemot

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present the detailed algorithm of the Midway Image Equalization giving to a pair of images the same histogram while maintaining as much as possible their previous gray dynamics. The midway equalization is primarily designed for gray level images, but can be applied channel-wise to color images. This method is easy to implement, fast to compute, fully automatic and requires no parameter.

Fair equality of opportunity critically reexamined: the family and the sustainability of health care systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Engelhardt, H Tristram

2012-12-01

A complex interaction of ideological, financial, social, and moral factors makes the financial sustainability of health care systems a challenge across the world. One difficulty is that some of the moral commitments of some health care systems collide with reality. In particular, commitments to equality in access to health care and to fair equality of opportunity undergird an unachievable promise, namely, to provide all with the best of basic health care. In addition, commitments to fair equality of opportunity are in tension with the existence of families, because families are aimed at advantaging their own members in preference to others. Because the social-democratic state is committed to fair equality of opportunity, it offers a web of publicly funded entitlements that make it easier for persons to exit the family and to have children outside of marriage. In the United States, in 2008, 41% of children were born outside of wedlock, whereas, in 1940, the percentage was only 3.8%, and in 1960, 5%, with the further consequence that the social and financial capital generated through families, which aids in supporting health care in families, is diminished. In order to explore the challenge of creating a sustainable health care system that also supports the traditional family, the claims made for fair equality of opportunity in health care are critically reconsidered. This is done by engaging the expository device of John Rawls's original position, but with a thin theory of the good that is substantively different from that of Rawls, one that supports a health care system built around significant copayments, financial counseling, and compulsory savings, with a special focus on enhancing the financial and social capital of the family. This radical recasting of Rawls, which draws inspiration from Singapore, is undertaken as a heuristic to aid in articulating an approach to health care allocation that can lead past the difficulties of social-democratic policy.

Prospect for Development of Open Access in Argentina

Science.gov (United States)

Miguel, Sandra; Bongiovani, Paola C.; Gomez, Nancy D.; Bueno-de-la-Fuente, Gema

2013-01-01

This perspective article presents an overview of the Open Access movement in Argentina, from a global and regional (Latin American) context. The article describes the evolution and current state of initiatives by examining two principal approaches to Open Access in Argentina: "golden" and "green roads". The article will then…

Empirical analysis of relationship between accessibility and economic development.

Science.gov (United States)

2003-07-01

The main goal of this paper is to investigate the impact of accessibility changes on : the level of economic development in a given region. In this paper, we introduce : several types of accessibility measures while economic development is quantified...

Jarzynski equality: connections to thermodynamics and the second law.

Science.gov (United States)

Palmieri, Benoit; Ronis, David

2007-01-01

The one-dimensional expanding ideal gas model is used to compute the exact nonequilibrium distribution function. The state of the system during the expansion is defined in terms of local thermodynamics quantities. The final equilibrium free energy, obtained a long time after the expansion, is compared against the free energy that appears in the Jarzynski equality. Within this model, where the Jarzynski equality holds rigorously, the free energy change that appears in the equality does not equal the actual free energy change of the system at any time of the process. More generally, the work bound that is obtained from the Jarzynski equality is an upper bound to the upper bound that is obtained from the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The cancellation of the dissipative (nonequilibrium) terms that result in the Jarzynski equality is shown in the framework of response theory. This is used to show that the intuitive assumption that the Jarzynski work bound becomes equal to the average work done when the system evolves quasistatically is incorrect under some conditions.

Investigating equality: The poverty and riches indices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eliazar, Iddo

2016-01-01

As noise is omnipresent, real-world quantities measured by scientists and engineers are commonly obtained in the form of statistical distributions. In turn, perhaps the most compact representation of a given statistical distribution is via the mean-variance approach: the mean manifesting the distribution’s ‘typical’ value, and the variance manifesting the magnitude of the distribution’s fluctuations about its mean. The mean-variance approach is based on an underlying Euclidean-geometry perspective. So very often real-world quantities of interest are non-negative sizes, and their measurements yield statistical size distributions. In this paper, and in the context of size distributions, we present an alternative to the Euclidean-based mean-variance approach: a mean-equality approach that is based on an underlying socioeconomic perspective. We establish two equality indices that score, on a unit-interval scale, the intrinsic ‘egalitarianism’ of size distributions: (i) the poverty equality index which is particularly sensitive to the existence of very small “poor” sizes; (ii) the riches equality index which is particularly sensitive to the existence of very large “rich” sizes. These equality indices, their properties, their computation, their application, and their connections to the mean-variance approach – are explored and described comprehensively.

All Are Equal, but Some Are More Equal than Others: Managerialism and Gender Equality in Higher Education in Comparative Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Teelken, Christine; Deem, Rosemary

2013-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate what impact new regimes of management and governance, including new managerialism, have had on perceptions of gender equality at universities in three Western European countries. While in accordance with national laws and EU directives, contemporary current management approaches in universities…

16 CFR 240.9 - Proportionally equal terms.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Proportionally equal terms. 240.9 Section 240.9 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION GUIDES AND TRADE PRACTICE RULES GUIDES FOR ADVERTISING ALLOWANCES AND OTHER MERCHANDISING PAYMENTS AND SERVICES § 240.9 Proportionally equal terms. (a...

Concentration of Access to Information and Communication Technologies in the Municipalities of the Brazilian Legal Amazon.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvana Rossy de Brito

Full Text Available This study fills demand for data on access and use of information and communication technologies (ICT in the Brazilian legal Amazon, a region of localities with identical economic, political, and social problems. We use the 2010 Brazilian Demographic Census to compile data on urban and rural households (i with computers and Internet access, (ii with mobile phones, and (iii with fixed phones. To compare the concentration of access to ICT in the municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon with other regions of Brazil, we use a concentration index to quantify the concentration of households in the following classes: with computers and Internet access, with mobile phones, with fixed phones, and no access. These data are analyzed along with municipal indicators on income, education, electricity, and population size. The results show that for urban households, the average concentration in the municipalities of the Amazon for computers and Internet access and for fixed phones is lower than in other regions of the country; meanwhile, that for no access and mobile phones is higher than in any other region. For rural households, the average concentration in the municipalities of the Amazon for computers and Internet access, mobile phones, and fixed phones is lower than in any other region of the country; meanwhile, that for no access is higher than in any other region. In addition, the study shows that education and income are determinants of inequality in accessing ICT in Brazilian municipalities and that the existence of electricity in rural households is directly associated with the ownership of ICT resources.

Concentration of Access to Information and Communication Technologies in the Municipalities of the Brazilian Legal Amazon.

Science.gov (United States)

de Brito, Silvana Rossy; da Silva, Aleksandra do Socorro; Cruz, Adejard Gaia; Monteiro, Maurílio de Abreu; Vijaykumar, Nandamudi Lankalapalli; da Silva, Marcelino Silva; Costa, João Crisóstomo Weyl Albuquerque; Francês, Carlos Renato Lisboa

2016-01-01

This study fills demand for data on access and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Brazilian legal Amazon, a region of localities with identical economic, political, and social problems. We use the 2010 Brazilian Demographic Census to compile data on urban and rural households (i) with computers and Internet access, (ii) with mobile phones, and (iii) with fixed phones. To compare the concentration of access to ICT in the municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon with other regions of Brazil, we use a concentration index to quantify the concentration of households in the following classes: with computers and Internet access, with mobile phones, with fixed phones, and no access. These data are analyzed along with municipal indicators on income, education, electricity, and population size. The results show that for urban households, the average concentration in the municipalities of the Amazon for computers and Internet access and for fixed phones is lower than in other regions of the country; meanwhile, that for no access and mobile phones is higher than in any other region. For rural households, the average concentration in the municipalities of the Amazon for computers and Internet access, mobile phones, and fixed phones is lower than in any other region of the country; meanwhile, that for no access is higher than in any other region. In addition, the study shows that education and income are determinants of inequality in accessing ICT in Brazilian municipalities and that the existence of electricity in rural households is directly associated with the ownership of ICT resources.

Mainstreaming gender equality in the sustainable development process: 1992-1996.

Science.gov (United States)

1997-01-01

One of the major contributions of Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in the mainstreaming of gender equality into a sustainable development process was organizing the 5th African Regional Conference on Women in November 1994, in which a comprehensive policy document was formulated and adopted by all African governments. The policy contained in a document entitled the African Platform for Action (APA), which promotes the advancement of women through sustainable development. Its recommendations are being implemented together with the Global Platform for Action (GPA). To ensure the implementation of APA and GPA, ECA has set up various monitoring and implementation-coordinating groups such as the African Regional Coordinating Committee and the African Women's Communications and Development Network. In addition, ECA also facilitated the creation of the African Women Committee for Peace in November 1996, which will ensure the participation of women in the peace process at the highest level. All work programs of the ECA are expected to mainstream gender in their plans and activities.

Blind equalization with criterion with memory nonlinearity

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yuanjie; Nikias, Chrysostomos L.; Proakis, John G.

1992-06-01

Blind equalization methods usually combat the linear distortion caused by a nonideal channel via a transversal filter, without resorting to the a priori known training sequences. We introduce a new criterion with memory nonlinearity (CRIMNO) for the blind equalization problem. The basic idea of this criterion is to augment the Godard [or constant modulus algorithm (CMA)] cost function with additional terms that penalize the autocorrelations of the equalizer outputs. Several variations of the CRIMNO algorithms are derived, with the variations dependent on (1) whether the empirical averages or the single point estimates are used to approximate the expectations, (2) whether the recent or the delayed equalizer coefficients are used, and (3) whether the weights applied to the autocorrelation terms are fixed or are allowed to adapt. Simulation experiments show that the CRIMNO algorithm, and especially its adaptive weight version, exhibits faster convergence speed than the Godard (or CMA) algorithm. Extensions of the CRIMNO criterion to accommodate the case of correlated inputs to the channel are also presented.

Access to and Usage of Information among Rural Communities: a Case Study of Kilosa District Morogoro Region in Tanzania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wulystan Pius Mtega

2012-05-01

Full Text Available The study investigated how rural communities in Kilosa District of Morogoro region in Tanzania accessed and used information. Specifically the study identified the information needs of rural people; determined the factors influencing the choice of information sources; and the appropriateness of the information sources basing on usefulness and preference. Three divisions were involved in the study area, choice of the study area was based on the availability of multiple information sources/channels information seekers could consulted. Simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting villages to be investigated and respondents to be interviewed. Findings showed that almost all people needed information of all types. Most of the information needed related to day to day problems. Information was accessed mainly through radio, television sets, newspapers and magazines, and also through cell phones and face to face communication. Choice of information sources was influenced by the respondents’ level of education, income, sex, age, occupation and distance from the information seeker’s residence to the information sources. Findings showed further that people accessed and used information for solving day to day problems and for leisure purposes. The study recommends that it is important to have frequent rural information needs assessments before providing information services to rural areas. Information providers should repackage information in appropriate forms suitable for rural communities. Moreover, radio and television stations should have enough rural related programmes which should be broadcasted during appropriate time.

Synchronization of conference presentation sequence using delay equalization approach

Science.gov (United States)

Godavari, Rakesh K.; Celenk, Mehmet

2001-11-01

In this paper, a delay equalization approach is proposed for cohesive conference presentation with minimal screen- freezing effect. The underlying screen-freezing effect is due to varying delays in the communication channels involved in broadcasting. In turn, this poses a threat to the goal of uniform delay distribution among data packets for synchronized presentation broadcast. We wish to achieve uniformity among packet arrival times to the recipients. This objective is achieved by transforming a given input delay distribution (D) to the desired output density through a delay equalization process. Considering a general case of between packet and frame delay distributions for a given input, the desired output is obtained through a delay equalization process. In case of a specific normal delay distribution, a memory-less system g(D) is determined as an approximation to the delay equalizer such that the equalizer output O(t)equalsg[D(t)] is uniformly distributed in the allowable delay limits of (a,b) assuring the specified quality of service (QoS) parameters. The corresponding delay is added at each recipient workstation, which acts as the wait period required before it begins its designated presentation.For a zero mean normal delay density case, the equalizer transfer function can be given in a closed from solution as O(t)equalsg[D(t)[equals(b-a)]0.5+eft(-D/$RO OTR(0)))[+a, where erf(x) is the standard error function. The histogram approximation is adopted as an asymptotically delay equalization means for general cases. This technique provides a means for modifying the dynamic range of data acquired by altering it into a desired distribution. In experimentation, equalizer characteristic functions are derived for a set of selected input delays to obtain the desired output. The delay equalizer system developed here is suited for deployment in a distributed hierarchical conferencing environment. To accommodate a broadcast continuity, the multimedia presentation is

The Relationship between of Rural Accessibility and Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Soseco

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Rural accessibility has been an important situation to enhance people living. Lack of access limiting people’s opportunity to not only economic choices but also educational and health aspects. Various studies found that there was a positive relationship between better accessibility and poverty, health, and educational measurements. One indicator to measure accessibility is Rural Access Index (RAI, which developed by The Worldbank. Eventhough Indonesia has quite high RAI, but in realty Indonesia still experience large disparity of road condition in its regions. Accessibility became big problems because it may cause worse effect on wider aspects, for instance health. Health, which proxied by infant mortality rate, is worse in villages with poor acessibility. Thus, government must do adequate efforts to enhance accessibility and at the same time make sure that more villages can gain better access.

Confiscatory equalization : the intriguing case of Saskatchewan's vanishing energy revenues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Courchene, T.J.

2004-01-01

This paper examined fiscal policies and factors that affect economic growth. In particular, it examined Saskatchewan's equalization entitlements for energy revenues and how Canada's equalization program confiscated the province's energy revenues for the fiscal year 2000-2001. It included an equalization primer that familiarized readers with the theory and practice of equalization. Several equations and tables relating to the mechanics of equalization were included along with a summary of equalization and tax-back rates that address the nature of tax-back rates that accompany the equalization formula. The author proposed alternative ways to reduce tax-backs such as the generic solution that applies to offshore energy revenues in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. He also suggested ways in which some important fiscal inequities can be redressed. A remedy that can be applied immediately involves an equitable approach which allows the province to retain at least 30 per cent of its energy revenues. A long term remedy would require the implementation of comprehensive reform such as restoring equalization to its national average standard (NAS) roots, but where only 25 per cent of resource revenues would be eligible for equalization. It was suggested that the maximum equalization tax-back rate for each of Saskatchewan's energy revenue categories should not exceed 70 per cent. refs., tabs., figs

Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value in Terms of the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998: Lessons from the International Labour Organisation and the United Kingdom

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shamier Ebrahim

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Equal pay is an area of employment law that is complex and not easily understood. This complexity is recognised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO, which notes that equal pay for work of equal value has proved to be difficult to understand, both with regard to what it entails and in its application. Amendments have been made to the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA to include a specific provision to regulate equal pay claims in the form of section 6(4-(5 of the EEA. The amendments were made in terms of the Employment Equity Amendment Act 47 of 2013, which came into effect on 1 August 2014 by presidential proclamation. Prior to section 6(4, the EEA did not contain a specific provision regulating equal pay claims. Claims could be brought in terms of section 6(1 of the EEA, which prohibits unfair discrimination on a number of grounds. The recent amendments to the EEA in the form of section 6(4-(5 (including the Employment Equity Regulations and the Code of Good Practice on Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value in respect of equal pay claims is a response to the ILO's criticism of South Africa's failure to include specific equal pay provisions in the EEA. Section 6(4 of the EEA provides for three causes of action in respect of equal pay. They are as follows: (a equal pay for the same work; (b equal pay for substantially the same work; and (c equal pay for work of equal value. The first two causes of action are not difficult to understand as opposed to the third cause of action, which is complex. The ILO has recognised the complexity of the third cause of action, "equal pay for work of equal value". In Mangena v Fila South Africa 2009 12 BLLR 1224 (LC, the Labour Court remarked in the context of an equal pay for work of equal value claim that it does not have expertise in job grading and in the allocation of value to particular occupations. This article will deal with the third cause of action only, "equal pay for work of equal value". The

THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY - LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS -

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius ANDREESCU

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The equality in human rights and obligations, the equality of citizens before the law are fundamental categories of the theories on social democracy but also conditions of the lawful state, without which constitutional democracy cannot be conceived. In Romanian Constitution, this principle is consecrated in the form of equality of the citizens before the law and public authorities. There are also particular aspects of this principle consecrated in the Constitution. The constitutional principle of equality requires that equal treatment be applied to equal situations. This social and legal reality implies numerous interferences between the principle of equality and other constitutional principles. In this study, by using theoretical and jurisprudential arguments, we intend to demonstrate that, in relation to contemporary social reality, equality, as a constitutional principle, is a particular aspect of the principle of proportionality. The latter one expresses in essence the ideas of: fairness, justice, reasonableness and fair appropriateness of state decisions to the facts and legitimate aims proposed.

Assessing equitable access to urban green space: the role of engineered water infrastructure.

Science.gov (United States)

Wendel, Heather E Wright; Downs, Joni A; Mihelcic, James R

2011-08-15

Urban green space and water features provide numerous social, environmental, and economic benefits, yet disparities often exist in their distribution and accessibility. This study examines the link between issues of environmental justice and urban water management to evaluate potential improvements in green space and surface water access through the revitalization of existing engineered water infrastructures, namely stormwater ponds. First, relative access to green space and water features were compared for residents of Tampa, Florida, and an inner-city community of Tampa (East Tampa). Although disparities were not found in overall accessibility between Tampa and East Tampa, inequalities were apparent when quality, diversity, and size of green spaces were considered. East Tampa residents had significantly less access to larger, more desirable spaces and water features. Second, this research explored approaches for improving accessibility to green space and natural water using three integrated stormwater management development scenarios. These scenarios highlighted the ability of enhanced water infrastructures to increase access equality at a variety of spatial scales. Ultimately, the "greening" of gray urban water infrastructures is advocated as a way to address environmental justice issues while also reconnecting residents with issues of urban water management.

Accessible Earth: An accessible study abroad capstone for the geoscience curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, R. A.; Lamb, D. A.

2017-12-01

International capstone field courses offer geoscience-students opportunities to reflect upon their knowledge, develop intercultural competence, appreciate diversity, and recognize themselves as geoscientists on a global scale. Such experiences are often described as pivotal to a geoscientist's education, a right of passage. However, field-based experiences present insurmountable barriers to many students, undermining the goal of inclusive excellence. Nevertheless, there remains a widespread belief that successful geoscientists are those able to traverse inaccessible terrain. One path forward from this apparent dilemma is emerging as we take steps to address a parallel challenge: as we move into the 21st century the geoscience workforce will require an ever increasing range of skills, including analysis, modeling, communication, and computational proficiency. Computer programing, laboratory experimentation, numerical simulation, etc, are inherently more accessible than fieldwork, yet equally valuable. Students interested in pursuing such avenues may be better served by capstone experiences that align more closely with their career goals. Moreover, many of the desirable learning outcomes attributed to field-based education are not unique to immersion in remote inaccessible locations. Affective and cognitive gains may also result from social bonding through extended time with peers and mentors, creative synthesis of knowledge, project-based learning, and intercultural experience. Developing an inclusive course for the geoscience curriculum requires considering all learners, including different genders, ages, physical abilities, familial dynamics, and a multitude of other attributes. The Accessible Earth Study Abroad Program endeavors to provide geoscience students an inclusive capstone experience focusing on modern geophysical observation systems (satellite based observations and permanent networks of ground-based instruments), computational thinking and methods of

45 CFR 1616.6 - Equal employment opportunity.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Equal employment opportunity. 1616.6 Section 1616.6 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ATTORNEY HIRING § 1616.6 Equal employment opportunity. A recipient shall adopt employment qualifications, procedures, and policies that meet the...

Power-output regularization in global sound equalization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stefanakis, Nick; Sarris, J.; Cambourakis, G.

2008-01-01

The purpose of equalization in room acoustics is to compensate for the undesired modification that an enclosure introduces to signals such as audio or speech. In this work, equalization in a large part of the volume of a room is addressed. The multiple point method is employed with an acoustic...

High optical label switching add-drop multiplexer nodes with nanoseconds latency for 5G metro/access networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Calabretta, N.; Miao, W.; De Waardt, H.

2016-01-01

We present a novel optical add-drop multiplexer for next-generation metro/access networks by exploiting optical label switching technology. Experimental results of a ring network show nanoseconds add/drop operation including multicasting and power equalization of 50Gb/s data.

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...

36 CFR 254.11 - Exchanges at approximately equal value.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... equal value. 254.11 Section 254.11 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LANDOWNERSHIP ADJUSTMENTS Land Exchanges § 254.11 Exchanges at approximately equal value. (a) The authorized officer may exchange lands which are of approximately equal value upon a determination that: (1...

Domestic gender equality and childbearing in Sweden

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frances Goldscheider

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Sweden, which is among the most gender-equal societies in the world, combines 'modern' family patterns such as unmarried cohabitation, delayed parenthood, high maternal labor force participation, and high break-up rates - all usually linked with low birth rates - with relatively high fertility. Sweden also has a high level of shared parental responsibility for home and children. Objective: After decades of late 20th century research showing that increasing gender equality in the workplace was linked with lower fertility, might gender equality in the home increase fertility? Methods: Using data from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study (YAPS, we use Cox regression to examine the effects on first, second, and third births of 1 holding attitudes about sharing equally in the care of the home and children, and 2 actual sharing in these domestic tasks. Results: Our analysis shows that, measuring attitudes before the transition to parenthood and actual practice four years later, it is inconsistency between sharing attitudes and the actual division of housework that reduces the likelihood of continued childbearing, especially on second births among women. Conclusions: As women are most likely to confront an inconsistent situation, with egalitarian ideals in a household without equal sharing, it is clear that having a partner who does not share housework is depressing Swedish fertility.

From conditions of equality to demands of justice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartz, Emily; Nielsen, Carsten Fogh

2015-01-01

Equal freedom is the common starting point for most contractual theories of justice from Hobbes and Rousseau to Rawls. But while equal freedom defines a common starting point for these theories, this does not result in a general consensus on the conception of justice. On the contrary, different...... ways of conceptualizing the contractual starting point leads to different conceptions of the demands of justice. To fully understand the relationship between equal freedom and justice we therefore first need to explicate how and why the initial condition of equality is transformed into demands...... of justice. In this paper we discuss how this transformation takes place in the theories of Hobbes, Rousseau and Rawls, with particular emphasis on the vexed relationship between motivation and justification....

78 FR 53231 - Women's Equality Day, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-28

... Vol. 78 Wednesday, No. 167 August 28, 2013 Part IV The President Proclamation 9003--Women's Equality Day, 2013 Proclamation 9004--50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom #0... 9003 of August 23, 2013 Women's Equality Day, 2013 By the President of the United States of America A...

Gulf of Mexico Regional Climatology (NCEI Accession 0123320)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Gulf of Mexico Regional Climatology is a set of objectively analyzed climatological fields of temperature, salinity, oxygen, phosphate, silicate, and nitrate at...

48 CFR 2811.104-70 - Brand-name or equal description.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Brand-name or equal... 2811.104-70 Brand-name or equal description. When a brand-name or equal description is used, the clause set forth in 2852.211-70, Brand-name or Equal, shall be inserted into the solicitation. ...

A Dynamic Tap Allocation for Concurrent CMA-DD Equalizers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trindade DiegovonBM

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract This paper proposes a dynamic tap allocation for the concurrent CMA-DD equalizer as a low complexity solution for the blind channel deconvolution problem. The number of taps is a crucial factor which affects the performance and the complexity of most adaptive equalizers. Generally an equalizer requires a large number of taps in order to cope with long delays in the channel multipath profile. Simulations show that the proposed new blind equalizer is able to solve the blind channel deconvolution problem with a specified and reduced number of active taps. As a result, it minimizes the output excess mean square error due to inactive taps during and after the equalizer convergence and the hardware complexity as well.

Retaining Access to Key Tourist Assets for Local Residents: A Case of Mount Kinabalu

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bidder Christy

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Tourism development can occur to the detriment of real or perceived access to major tourist destinations by local residents. They can find access changed due to privatization of assets or imposition of restrictions on the permissible uses. Drawing upon this subset of tourism impact on the host community, this study analyzes the access by local residents to Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Specifically, it examines the retention of access to the mountain for local Sabahans. Interviews with park management were conducted and questionnaires were distributed to local residents. The results show that the number of Sabahan climbers has always been significantly lower than other Malaysian and foreign climbers, despite the introduction of the Sabahan rate. Additionally, the actual number of Sabahan climbers is lower than the allocated quota potential. The paper proposes several recommendations that the park management can consider to ensure local Sabahans will have a fair and equal access to Mount Kinabalu.

Multilateral market-access reforms of the Doha Round