Achieving greater public confidence in the application of transportation policies and programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jim, R.; Stevens, D.W.

1987-01-01

Transportation policies deserve a higher level of priority in the national repository siting program. Affected Indian Tribes and States hold that transportation policies and activities are critical to all stages of the program. They are concerned that the lessening of public confidence brings into question the ability of DOE to successfully carry out the Congressionally-directed effort to find two suitable sites for national repositories. DOE must strive to develop a technically-excellent program and treat, with equal importance, the critical need for a more open participatory process. There are a number of ways in which program improvements can be made to assist in regaining the level of public confidence needed. An improved program will result from the application of earlier and continuous opportunities for Tribes and States to participate. The rewards will lessen delay, deal with conflict in a participatory context, and build incremently improved public confidence in the transportation element of the repository program

Seasonal Habitat Use by Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) on a Landscape with Low Density Oil and Gas Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Mindy B; Rossi, Liza G; Apa, Anthony D

2016-01-01

Fragmentation of the sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem has led to concern about a variety of sagebrush obligates including the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Given the increase of energy development within greater sage-grouse habitats, mapping seasonal habitats in pre-development populations is critical. The North Park population in Colorado is one of the largest and most stable in the state and provides a unique case study for investigating resource selection at a relatively low level of energy development compared to other populations both within and outside the state. We used locations from 117 radio-marked female greater sage-grouse in North Park, Colorado to develop seasonal resource selection models. We then added energy development variables to the base models at both a landscape and local scale to determine if energy variables improved the fit of the seasonal models. The base models for breeding and winter resource selection predicted greater use in large expanses of sagebrush whereas the base summer model predicted greater use along the edge of riparian areas. Energy development variables did not improve the winter or the summer models at either scale of analysis, but distance to oil/gas roads slightly improved model fit at both scales in the breeding season, albeit in opposite ways. At the landscape scale, greater sage-grouse were closer to oil/gas roads whereas they were further from oil/gas roads at the local scale during the breeding season. Although we found limited effects from low level energy development in the breeding season, the scale of analysis can influence the interpretation of effects. The lack of strong effects from energy development may be indicative that energy development at current levels are not impacting greater sage-grouse in North Park. Our baseline seasonal resource selection maps can be used for conservation to help identify ways of minimizing the effects of energy development.

Greater confinement disposal of radioactive wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trevorrow, L.E.; Gilbert, T.L.; Luner, C.; Merry-Libby, P.A.; Meshkov, N.K.; Yu, C.

1985-01-01

Low-level radioactive waste (LLW) includes a broad spectrum of different radionuclide concentrations, half-lives, and hazards. Standard shallow-land burial practice can provide adequate protection of public health and safety for most LLW. A small volume fraction (approx. 1%) containing most of the activity inventory (approx. 90%) requires specific measures known as greater-confinement disposal (GCD). Different site characteristics and different waste characteristics - such as high radionuclide concentrations, long radionuclide half-lives, high radionuclide mobility, and physical or chemical characteristics that present exceptional hazards - lead to different GCD facility design requirements. Facility design alternatives considered for GCD include the augered shaft, deep trench, engineered structure, hydrofracture, improved waste form, and high-integrity container. Selection of an appropriate design must also consider the interplay between basic risk limits for protection of public health and safety, performance characteristics and objectives, costs, waste-acceptance criteria, waste characteristics, and site characteristics

Public procurement process

African Journals Online (AJOL)

NESG Policy Brief: April 2017. Public ... transparency in public procurement; and greater concerns about efficiency, fairness, and equity. ... government enacted the Public Procurement Act (2007) [1] which provides legislative framework for.

Greater-confinement disposal of low-level radioactive wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trevorrow, L.E.; Gilbert, T.L.; Luner, C.; Merry-Libby, P.A.; Meshkov, N.K.; Yu, C.

1985-01-01

Low-level radioactive wastes include a broad spectrum of wastes that have different radionuclide concentrations, half-lives, and physical and chemical properties. Standard shallow-land burial practice can provide adequate protection of public health and safety for most low-level wastes, but a small volume fraction (about 1%) containing most of the activity inventory (approx.90%) requires specific measures known as ''greater-confinement disposal'' (GCD). Different site characteristics and different waste characteristics - such as high radionuclide concentrations, long radionuclide half-lives, high radionuclide mobility, and physical or chemical characteristics that present exceptional hazards - lead to different GCD facility design requirements. Facility design alternatives considered for GCD include the augered shaft, deep trench, engineered structure, hydrofracture, improved waste form, and high-integrity container. Selection of an appropriate design must also consider the interplay between basic risk limits for protection of public health and safety, performance characteristics and objectives, costs, waste-acceptance criteria, waste characteristics, and site characteristics. This paper presents an overview of the factors that must be considered in planning the application of methods proposed for providing greater confinement of low-level wastes. 27 refs

Performance in Public Organizations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lotte Bøgh; Boesen, Andreas; Pedersen, Lene Holm

2016-01-01

of management and performance are classified. The results illustrate how a systematization of the conceptual space of performance in public organizations can help researchers select what to study and what to leave out with greater accuracy while also bringing greater clarity to public debates about performance.......Performance in public organizations is a key concept that requires clarification. Based on a conceptual review of research published in 10 public administration journals, this article proposes six distinctions to describe the systematic differences in performance criteria: From which stakeholder...

The association between distance to public amenities and cardiovascular risk factors among lower income Singaporeans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K.K. Lim

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Existing evidence on the association between built environment and cardiovascular disease (CVD risk factors focused on the general population, which may not generalize to higher risk subgroups such as those with lower socio-economic status (SES. We examined the associations between distance to 5 public amenities from residential housing (public polyclinic, subsidized private clinic, healthier eatery, public park and train station and 12 CVD risk factors (physical inactivity, medical histories and unhealthy dietary habits among a study sample of low income Singaporeans aged ≥40years (N=1972. Using data from the Singapore Heart Foundation Health Mapping Exercise 2013–2015, we performed a series of logistic mixed effect regressions, accounting for clustering of respondents in residential blocks and multiple comparisons. Each regression analysis used the minimum distance (in km between residential housing and each public amenity as an independent continuous variable and a single risk factor as the dependent variable, controlling for demographic characteristics. Increased distance (geographical inaccessibility to a train station was significantly associated with lower odds of participation in sports whereas greater distance to a subsidized private clinic was associated with lower odds of having high cholesterol diagnosed. Increasing distance to park was positively associated with higher odds of less vegetable and fruits consumption, deep fried food and fast food consumption in the preceding week/month, high BMI at screening and history of diabetes, albeit not achieving statistical significance. Our findings highlighted potential effects of health-promoting amenities on CVD risk factors in urban low-income setting, suggesting gaps for further investigations. Keywords: Cardiovascular risk, Urban health, Socioeconomic status, Singapore, Health promotion, Primary prevention

Patterns in Greater Sage-grouse population dynamics correspond with public grazing records at broad scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Monroe, Adrian P; Aldridge, Cameron L; Assal, Timothy J; Veblen, Kari E; Pyke, David A; Casazza, Michael L

2017-06-01

Human land use, such as livestock grazing, can have profound yet varied effects on wildlife interacting within common ecosystems, yet our understanding of land-use effects is often generalized from short-term, local studies that may not correspond with trends at broader scales. Here we used public land records to characterize livestock grazing across Wyoming, USA, and we used Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) as a model organism to evaluate responses to livestock management. With annual counts of male Sage-grouse from 743 leks (breeding display sites) during 2004-2014, we modeled population trends in response to grazing level (represented by a relative grazing index) and timing across a gradient in vegetation productivity as measured by the Normalized Vegetation Difference Index (NDVI). We found grazing can have both positive and negative effects on Sage-grouse populations depending on the timing and level of grazing. Sage-grouse populations responded positively to higher grazing levels after peak vegetation productivity, but populations declined when similar grazing levels occurred earlier, likely reflecting the sensitivity of cool-season grasses to grazing during peak growth periods. We also found support for the hypothesis that effects of grazing management vary with local vegetation productivity. These results illustrate the importance of broad-scale analyses by revealing patterns in Sage-grouse population trends that may not be inferred from studies at finer scales, and could inform sustainable grazing management in these ecosystems. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Does Greater Autonomy Improve School Performance? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Analysis in Chicago

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, Matthew P.

2014-01-01

School districts throughout the United States are increasingly providing greater autonomy to local public (non-charter) school principals. In 2005-06, Chicago Public Schools initiated the Autonomous Management and Performance Schools program, granting academic, programmatic, and operational freedoms to select principals. This paper provides…

The Peruvian Congress: Public Policies and Informal Influence over the Bureaucracy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enrique Patriau

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The Peruvian Constitution grants presidents the power to participate in the policy making process. At the same time, the Peruvian Congress is considered to lack the technical and professional ability to fully participate in such a process. However, such analysis neglects the influence that the Congress can exert through informal politics. Based on 31 interviews with legislators, political authorities, officials and experts in public administration this paper shows that the Peruvian legislature participates in the policy making process albeit through informal channels of influence over the bureaucracy.

Estimation of the contribution of neutrons to the equivalent dose for personnel occupationally exposed and public in medical facilities: X-ray with energy equal or greater than 10MV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez, Alfonso Mayer; Jimenez, Roberto Ortega; Sanchez, Mario A. Reyes; Moranchel y Mejia, Mario

2013-01-01

In Mexico the use of electron accelerators for treating cancerous tumors had grown enormously in the last decade. When the treatments are carried out with X-ray beam energy below 10 MV the design of the shielding of the radioactive facility is determined by analyzing the interaction of X-rays, which have a direct impact and dispersion, with materials of the facility. However, when it makes use of X-ray beam energy equal to or greater than 10 MV the neutrons presence is imminent due to their generation by the interaction of the primary beam X-ray with materials head of the accelerator and of the table of treatment, mainly. In these cases, the design and calculation of shielding considers the generation of high-energy neutrons which contribute the equivalent dose that public and Occupationally Staff Exposed (POE) will receive in the areas surrounding the facility radioactive. However, very few measurements have been performed to determine the actual contribution to the neutron dose equivalent received by POE and public during working hours. This paper presents an estimate of the actual contribution of the neutron dose equivalent received by public and POE facilities in various radioactive medical use, considering many factors. To this end, measurements were made of the equivalent dose by using a neutron monitor in areas surrounding different radioactive installations (of Mexico) which used electron accelerators medical use during treatment with X-ray beam energy equal to or greater than 10 MV. The results are presented after a statistical analysis of a wide range of measures in order to estimate more reliability real contribution of the neutron dose equivalent for POE and the public. (author)

Albeit nocturnal, rats subjected to traumatic brain injury do not differ in neurobehavioral performance whether tested during the day or night.

Science.gov (United States)

Niesman, Peter J; Wei, Jiahui; LaPorte, Megan J; Carlson, Lauren J; Nassau, Kileigh L; Bao, Gina C; Cheng, Jeffrey P; de la Tremblaye, Patricia; Lajud, Naima; Bondi, Corina O; Kline, Anthony E

2018-02-05

Behavioral assessments in rats are overwhelmingly conducted during the day, albeit that is when they are least active. This incongruity may preclude optimal performance. Hence, the goal of this study was to determine if differences in neurobehavior exist in traumatic brain injured (TBI) rats when assessed during the day vs. night. The hypothesis was that the night group would perform better than the day group on all behavioral tasks. Anesthetized adult male rats received either a cortical impact or sham injury and then were randomly assigned to either Day (1:00-3:00p.m.) or Night (7:30-9:30p.m.) testing. Motor function (beam-balance/walk) was conducted on post-operative days 1-5 and cognitive performance (spatial learning) was assessed on days 14-18. Corticosterone (CORT) levels were quantified at 24h and 21days after TBI. No significant differences were revealed between the TBI rats tested during the Day vs. Night for motor or cognition (p'sNight-tested TBI and sham groups at 24h (pday 21 (p>0.05), suggesting an initial, but transient, stress response that did not affect neurobehavioral outcome. These data suggest that the time rats are tested has no noticeable impact on their performance, which does not support the hypothesis. The finding validates the interpretations from numerous studies conducted when rats were tested during the day vs. their natural active period. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Genomic single-nucleotide polymorphisms confirm that Gunnison and Greater sage-grouse are genetically well differentiated and that the Bi-State population is distinct

Science.gov (United States)

Oyler-McCance, Sara J.; Cornman, Robert S.; Jones, Kenneth L.; Fike, Jennifer

2015-01-01

Sage-grouse are iconic, declining inhabitants of sagebrush habitats in western North America, and their management depends on an understanding of genetic variation across the landscape. Two distinct species of sage-grouse have been recognized, Greater (Centrocercus urophasianus) and Gunnison sage-grouse (C. minimus), based on morphology, behavior, and variation at neutral genetic markers. A parapatric group of Greater Sage-Grouse along the border of California and Nevada ("Bi-State") is also genetically distinct at the same neutral genetic markers, yet not different in behavior or morphology. Because delineating taxonomic boundaries and defining conservation units is often difficult in recently diverged taxa and can be further complicated by highly skewed mating systems, we took advantage of new genomic methods that improve our ability to characterize genetic variation at a much finer resolution. We identified thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among Gunnison, Greater, and Bi-State sage-grouse and used them to comprehensively examine levels of genetic diversity and differentiation among these groups. The pairwise multilocus fixation index (FST) was high (0.49) between Gunnison and Greater sage-grouse, and both principal coordinates analysis and model-based clustering grouped samples unequivocally by species. Standing genetic variation was lower within the Gunnison Sage-Grouse. The Bi-State population was also significantly differentiated from Greater Sage-Grouse, albeit more weakly (FST = 0.09), and genetic clustering results were consistent with reduced gene flow with Greater Sage-Grouse. No comparable genetic divisions were found within the Greater Sage-Grouse sample, which spanned the southern half of the range. Thus, we provide much stronger genetic evidence supporting the recognition of Gunnison Sage-Grouse as a distinct species with low genetic diversity. Further, our work confirms that the Bi-State population is differentiated from other

Media System, Public Knowledge and Democracy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Salovaara-Moring, Inka; Curran, James; Iyengar, Shanto

2009-01-01

This article addresses the implications of the movement towards entertainment-centred, market-driven media by comparing what is reported and what the public knows in four countries with different media systems. The different systems are public service (Denmark and Finland), a `dual' model (UK) an...... consumption and contributes to a smaller within-nation knowledge gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged. But wider processes in society take precedence over the organization of the media in determining how much people know about public life......) and the market model (US). The comparison shows that public service television devotes more attention to public affairs and international news, and fosters greater knowledge in these areas, than the market model. Public service television also gives greater prominence to news, encourages higher levels of news...

Status on disposal of greater-than-Class C

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Plummer, T.L.

1995-12-31

The Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a plan for the management and disposal of commercially generated greater-than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste. The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 made DOE responsible for disposal of GTCC waste. The act requires that GTCC waste be disposed in a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-licensed facility. The NRC has amended 10 CFR 61 to express a preference for geologic disposal of GTCC waste. Based on reassessment studies, legislative guidance, and stakeholder involvement, a revised plan has been formulated to provide for total management of GTCC waste. The plan has four major thrusts: (1) plan for GTCC waste storage at the generator site until disposal is available, (2) establish storage for GTCC sealed sources posing health and safety risk to the public, (3) facilitate storage for other GTCC waste posing health and safety risk to the public, and (4) plan for co-disposal of GTCC waste in a geologic disposal site with similar waste types. The revised plan focuses on applying available resources to near- and long-term needs.

Known or knowing publics? Social media data mining and the question of public agency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helen Kennedy

2015-10-01

Full Text Available New methods to analyse social media data provide a powerful way to know publics and capture what they say and do. At the same time, access to these methods is uneven, with corporations and governments tending to have best access to relevant data and analytics tools. Critics raise a number of concerns about the implications dominant uses of data mining and analytics may have for the public: they result in less privacy, more surveillance and social discrimination, and they provide new ways of controlling how publics come to be represented and so understood. In this paper, we consider if a different relationship between the public and data mining might be established, one in which publics might be said to have greater agency and reflexivity vis-à-vis data power. Drawing on growing calls for alternative data regimes and practices, we argue that to enable this different relationship, data mining and analytics need to be democratised in three ways: they should be subject to greater public supervision and regulation, available and accessible to all, and used to create not simply known but reflexive, active and knowing publics. We therefore imagine conditions in which data mining is not just used as a way to know publics, but can become a means for publics to know themselves.

Future Directions in Public Relations Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalupa, Frank B.; Allen, T. Harrell

1982-01-01

Survey of public relations practitioners and educators shows strong agreement for (1) changes and improvements in public relations education; (2) more business courses and greater emphasis on social science research; and (3) separate degree programs, not public relations majors within a journalism degree. For journal availability, see CS 705 902.…

Remarkable Women in a Remarkable Age. On the Genesis of the English Public Sphere, 1642-1752

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eleonora Cappuccilli

2015-06-01

Full Text Available During the era of the English Revolutions and shortly after that, some spaces, albeit limited, of female visibility open up. Thanks to the window of opportunity caused by the collapse of censorship, the participation in the radical sects and in the Civil war, some remarkable women succeed in introducing themselves in the public sphere, shaping it since its very genesis. Moreover, analysing law institutions as jointure and feoffment, the attempt is to reconstruct some fragments of juridical female autonomy, which belie the total pervasiveness of coverture in the XVII century. As in private law, in public law women, in the role of queens, gain centrality: the principle of female authority, while safeguards the holding of the monarchical regime, destabilizes its patriarchal structure. Going through the works of Katherine Chidley, Margaret Cavendish, Damaris Masham and Mary Astell, the essay aims at reconstructing women's public voice, a voice which upsets the consolidated frames and subverts the established positions, questioning the same social hierarchies.

Public programming in the archival literature: revelations from a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Public programming in the archival literature: revelations from a content ... of archivists, outreach programmes, publicity, social media, and public relations. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) may play a greater role in public ...

Work Overload and Turnover Intention of Junior Auditors in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Andika Pradana; Imam Salehudin

2015-01-01

This paper aims to analyze how work overload influences turnover intentions of newly hired junior auditors in public accounting offices. Job satisfaction, work related stress and work life conflicts are used as mediating variables between work overload and turnover intention. This study employed 141 auditors from several accounting firms operating in the Greater Jakarta region. The sample was selected using purposive sampling. Three mediation hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation M...

[Public health services between "new public health" and "new public management"].

Science.gov (United States)

Oppen, M

1996-04-01

Today, a substantial reorientation of the Public Health services in the Federal Republic of Germany is broadly seen necessary. Patterns of functional and organisational restructuring of Public Health services on the regional and the communal level are closely linked with concepts of prevention and health promotion. Hence, a number of agencies have already adopted new tasks and functions like comprehensive and transorganizational planning, coordination and evaluation as well as the establishment of new reporting systems. Presently, the transformation process from the bureaucratic mode of administering matters of health to a new Public Health orientation receives new impacts from the international "New Public Management" movement. Comparatively late, with the beginning of the 1990s, a growing number of German municipalities has introduced new concepts of administration. Local government administrations, of which the Public Health services are a part, follow the model of modern service organizations producing services in a more efficient, professionalized and consumer-oriented way. Specific elements of economising modernisation programmes like re-distribution of tasks, de-centralisation, extension of managerial capacities, setting of stimulating working conditions that provide employees with greater independence of action as well as career opportunities, are at the same time prerequisites for innovative strategies of health protection and coordination policies of Public Health services.

Toward Greater Understanding of the Relationship between Public Perceptions of Speed, Speed Laws, and Safety

Science.gov (United States)

2018-02-01

Speed continues to be a leading factor contributing to traffic fatalities in the U.S., implicated in over 9,500 deaths in 2015. Despite this, in recent years, some states have moved toward more lenient speed enforcement regimes. A public choice probl...

Public power costs less

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moody, D.

1993-01-01

The reasons why residential customers of public power utilities paid less for power than private sector customers is discussed. Residential customers of investor-owned utilities (IOU's) paid average rates that were 28% above those paid by customers by possibly owned systems during 1990. The reasons for this disparity are that management costs faced by public power systems are below those of private power companies, indicating a greater efficiency of management among public power systems, and customer accounts expenses averaged $33.00 per customer for publicly owned electric utilities compared to $39.00 per customer for private utilities

Conservation of greater sage-grouse on public lands in the western U.S.: Implications of recovery and management policies

Science.gov (United States)

Carl L. Wambolt; Aaron J. Harp; Bruce L. Welch; Nancy Shaw; John W. Connelly; Kerry P. Reese; Clait E. Braun; Donald A. Klebenow; E. Durant McArthur; James G. Thompson; L. Allen Torell; John A. Tanaka

2002-01-01

The role of the Policy Analysis Center for Western Public Lands is to provide integrated social, economic and ecological analyses of public land policies that affect communities in the West. Its mission is to help rural communities, policy makers, resource managers, resource users and others understand, analyze and engage effectively in the public-land policy process...

Reference sources for the calibration of surface contamination monitors - Beta-emitters (maximum beta energy greater than MeV) and alpha-emitters (International Standard Publication ISO 8769:1988)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanik, J.

2001-01-01

This International Standard specifies the characteristics of reference sources of radioactive surface contamination, traceable to national measurement standards, for the calibration of surface contamination monitors. This International Standard relates to alpha-emitters and to beta-emitters of maximum beta energy greater than 0,15 MeV. It does not describe the procedures involved in the use of these reference sources for the calibration of surface contamination monitors. Such procedures are specified in IEC Publication 325 and other documents. This International Standard specifies reference radiations for the calibration of surface contamination monitors which take the form of adequately characterized large area sources specified, without exception, in terms of activity and surface emission rate, the evaluation of these quantities being traceable to national standards

Addressing the disconnect between public health science and personalised health care: the potential role of cluster analysis in combination with multi-criteria decision analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaltoft, Mette Kjer; Dowie, Jack; Turner, Robin

2013-01-01

Background: Public health promotion and person-centred health care are being pursued simultaneously, with little attempt to resolve the conflict between them. One necessary step is to accept that health-care decisions involve multiple criteria and hence are preference sensitive. A second...... is to arrive at the necessary compromise between an individualised public policy (using each individual's preferences) and a deindividualised policy (using mean population preferences) in a more rigorous and transparent way. We show how cluster analysis can be combined with multi-criteria decision analysis...... (MCDA) to facilitate progression from variable-centred to person-centred public health, albeit at a subgroup level. Methods: Cluster analysis encompasses various techniques designed to detect patterns in the characteristics of individuals to establish the basis for policy decisions targeted at subgroups...

A greater voice for academic health sciences libraries: the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries' vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Bunting, Alison

2003-04-01

The founders of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) envisioned the development of a professional organization that would provide a greater voice for academic health sciences libraries, facilitate cooperation and communication with the Association of American Medical Colleges, and create a forum for identifying problems and solutions that are common to academic health sciences libraries. This article focuses on the fulfillment of the "greater voice" vision by describing action and leadership by AAHSL and its members on issues that directly influenced the role of academic health sciences libraries. These include AAHSL's participation in the work that led to the publication of the landmark report, Academic Information in the Academic Health Sciences Center: Roles for the Library in Information Management; its contributions to the recommendations of the Physicians for the Twenty-first Century: The GPEP Report; and the joint publication with the Medical Library Association of Challenge to Action: Planning and Evaluation Guidelines for Academic Health Sciences Libraries.

Risk Assessment, Transparency and Public Perception

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Treichel, Judy

2003-01-01

To examine the US. public perception of risk now, in mid-2003, is a matter of capturing a snap shot at a particular moment of a specific circumstance. Over the past two years, Americans have gone from what they considered to be a fast-paced, high-stress, rapidly-changing, but fumiliar lifestyle and culture, to an uncertain existence that starts and stops with 'breaking news'. For people who previously felt confident about their understanding of what is or is not likely to happen, is or is not dangerous, and is or is not acceptable, there is now doubt. Studies of human behavior in judgement and decision making point out the importance of 'affect'. People's first reactions are based on good or bad experiences or images and not a rational weighing of pros and cons. The study results imply that people base their judgments of an activity or a technology not only on what they think about it but also on what they feel about it. It is unreasonable to expect that the public will accept decisions made for them regarding nuclear waste disposal and transport considering the negative images associated with radiation combined with the threat of possible terrorism. The federal government does face, as one of its most important tasks, protecting the health, safety and security of its people. it is also necessary for the government to consider the issue of nuclear waste disposal, but combining the two and using national security to defend nuclear waste policies is publically unacceptable. In a democracy, methods of how to best protect the people should be a matter of public debate and should be implemented only after public approval. One sure path to the erosion of democracy is govemmental decision making without the consent of the peopie, in the name of a (albeit honorable) principle. When government defends its own ideology and implements its own conception of what is best for the nation, democracy is lost

Securing military information systems on public infrastructure

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Botha, P

2015-03-01

Full Text Available to set up in time for scenarios which require real time information. This may force communications to utilise public infrastructure. Securing communications for military mobile and Web based systems over public networks poses a greater challenge compared...

A Bargain Half Fulfilled: Teacher Autonomy and Accountability in Traditional Public Schools and Public Charter Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Oberfield, Zachary W.

2016-01-01

Public charter schools (PCS) are thought to succeed because they have greater autonomy and are held more accountable than traditional public schools (TPS). Though teachers are central to this expectation, there is little evidence about whether teachers in PCS enjoy more autonomy and are held more accountable than teachers in TPS. Also, it is…

Greater-than-Class-C low-level radioactive waste management concepts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knecht, M.A.

1988-01-01

In 1986, Public Law 99-240, the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 assigned to the Federal Government responsibility for the disposal of commercial greater-than-Class-C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste (LLW). In 1987, DOE committed to Congress to accept GTCC LLW and provide storage and other waste management as necessary until disposal capacity is available. Current estimates are that about 6,000 m 3 of unpackaged GTCC LLW will be generated to the year 2020. Generators estimate that 100 m 3 of raw GTCC LLW might exceed planned storage capacity to the year 2020. This paper reports the activities of the National Low-Level Waste Program to manage GTCC low-level radioactive waste

The hydrogen village in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kimmel, T.B.; Smith, R.

2004-01-01

'Full text:' A Hydrogen Village (H2V) is a public/private partnership with an objective to accelerate the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technology in Canada and firmly position Canada as the international leader in this sector. The first Hydrogen Village is planned for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and will make use of existing hydrogen and fuel cell deployments to assist in its creation. This five year GTA Hydrogen Village program is planned to begin operations in 2004. The Hydrogen Village will demonstrate and deploy various hydrogen production and delivery techniques as well as fuel cells for stationary, transportation (mobile) and portable applications. This paper will provide an overview of the Hydrogen Village and identify the missions, objectives, members and progress within the H2V. (author)

Considerations for increasing the competences and capacities of the public health workforce: assessing the training needs of public health workers in Texas.

Science.gov (United States)

Borders, Stephen; Blakely, Craig; Quiram, Barbara; McLeroy, Kenneth

2006-07-26

Over the last two decades, concern has been expressed about the readiness of the public health workforce to adequately address the scientific, technological, social, political and economic challenges facing the field. A 1988 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) served as a catalyst for the re-examination of the public health workforce. The IOM's call to increase the relevance of public health education and training prompted a renewed effort to identify competences needed by public health personnel and the organizations that employ them. A recent evaluation sought to address the role of the 10 essential public health services in job services among the Texas public health workforce. Additionally, the evaluation examined the Texas public health workforce's need for training in the 10 essential public health services. Overall, the level of perceived training needs varied dramatically by job category and health department type. When comparing aggregate training needs, public health workers with greater day-to-day contact (nurses, health educators) indicated a greater need for training than their peers who did not, such as those working in administrative positions. When prioritizing and designing future training modules regarding the 10 essential public health services, trainers should consider the effects of job function, location and contact with the public.

Greater-than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste Program 1992 baseline strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-02-01

This baseline strategy document describes Department of Energy (DOE) goals, objectives, and strategy for fulfilling its responsibility to dispose of greater-than-Class C low-level radioactive waste (GTCC LLW) according to the requirements of Section 3(b) of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, Public Law 99-240. This document describes the baseline strategy being employed at the end of FY 1992. The strategy for fulfilling the above responsibility consists of three tasks: interim storage of limited quantities of GTCC LLW at a currently operating DOE facility to eliminate a potential public health and safety threcceptance of GTCC LLW for storage in a DOE dedicated facility on an as-needed basis pending disposal; and disposal in a facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The objectives, assumptions, and strategies for each of these tasks are presented in this plan

Framing HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for the General Public: How Inclusive Messaging May Prevent Prejudice from Diminishing Public Support.

Science.gov (United States)

Calabrese, Sarah K; Underhill, Kristen; Earnshaw, Valerie A; Hansen, Nathan B; Kershaw, Trace S; Magnus, Manya; Krakower, Douglas S; Mayer, Kenneth H; Betancourt, Joseph R; Dovidio, John F

2016-07-01

Strategic framing of public messages about HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) may influence public support for policies and programs affecting access. This survey study examined how public attitudes toward PrEP differed based on the social group PrEP was described as benefiting ("beneficiary") and the moderating effect of prejudice. Members of the general public (n = 154) recruited online were randomly assigned to three beneficiary conditions: general population, gay men, or Black gay men. All participants received identical PrEP background information before completing measures of PrEP attitudes (specifying beneficiary), racism, and heterosexism. Despite anticipating greater PrEP adherence among gay men and Black gay men and perceiving PrEP as especially beneficial to the latter, participants expressed lower support for policies/programs making PrEP affordable for these groups vs. the general population. This disparity in support was stronger among participants reporting greater prejudice. Inclusive framing of PrEP in public discourse may prevent prejudice from undermining implementation efforts.

What Is the Greater Good? The Discourse on Public and Private Roles of Higher Education in the New Economy

Science.gov (United States)

Hensley, Brad; Galilee-Belfer, Mika; Lee, Jenny J.

2013-01-01

This study examined the ways that the "public good" of higher education is being conceptualised as economic benefits and cost/benefit rationalities in the current economic downturn. Based on the case of Arizona in the United States, a discourse analysis of speeches was performed on the way public, state and institutional leaders…

Building an urban 'renaissance': fragmented services and the production of inequality in Greater Downtown Detroit.

Science.gov (United States)

Doucet, Brian; Smit, Edske

2016-01-01

Downtown Detroit has been undergoing a renaissance in recent years which is in stark contrast to the economic and social situation in much of the rest of the city. This renaissance has been taking place despite the city's ability to provide good municipal services such as streetlights, security, public space and transport. This article focuses on how four areas which constitute part of Greater Downtown Detroit have relied on different combinations of actors to create and provide the services and amenities deemed necessary for capital investment and middle-class consumption. Each area has its own initiatives and actors who implement them, further fragmenting the city between its core and periphery. Renewed public spaces, private police forces and resident initiatives in middle-class neighborhoods have been created to serve specific needs of the small areas they serve. Rather than being unique, Detroit is an extreme example of fragmented and polarized urbanism which is part and parcel of contemporary cities. We argue that rather than passively reflecting existing socio-spatial divides, these private initiatives in Greater Downtown Detroit actively contribute to the production of sociospatial inequalities across the city.

Confidence Building Strategies in the Public Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Achilles, C. M.; And Others

1985-01-01

Data from the Phi Delta Kappa Commission on Public Confidence in Education indicate that "high-confidence" schools make greater use of marketing and public relations strategies. Teacher attitudes were ranked first and administrator attitudes second by 409 respondents for both gain and loss of confidence in schools. (MLF)

Performance in Public Organizations: Clarifying the Conceptual Space

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lotte Bøgh; Boesen, Andreas; Holm Pedersen, Lene

2016-01-01

's perspective is performance being assessed? Are the criteria formal or informal? Are the criteria subjective? Which process focus and product focus do they have, if any? What is the unit of analysis? Based on these distinctions, the performance criteria of existing studies used in an empirical review...... of management and performance are classified. The results illustrate how a systematization of the conceptual space of performance in public organizations can help researchers select what to study and what to leave out with greater accuracy while also bringing greater clarity to public debates about performance....

Vegetation exerts a greater control on litter decomposition than climate warming in peatlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Susan E; Orwin, Kate H; Ostle, Nicholas J; Briones, J I; Thomson, Bruce C; Griffiths, Robert I; Oakley, Simon; Quirk, Helen; Bardget, Richard D

2015-01-01

Historically, slow decomposition rates have resulted in the accumulation of large amounts of carbon in northern peatlands. Both climate warming and vegetation change can alter rates of decomposition, and hence affect rates of atmospheric CO2 exchange, with consequences for climate change feedbacks. Although warming and vegetation change are happening concurrently, little is known about their relative and interactive effects on decomposition processes. To test the effects of warming and vegetation change on decomposition rates, we placed litter of three dominant species (Calluna vulgaris, Eriophorum vaginatum, Hypnum jutlandicum) into a peatland field experiment that combined warming.with plant functional group removals, and measured mass loss over two years. To identify potential mechanisms behind effects, we also measured nutrient cycling and soil biota. We found that plant functional group removals exerted a stronger control over short-term litter decomposition than did approximately 1 degrees C warming, and that the plant removal effect depended on litter species identity. Specifically, rates of litter decomposition were faster when shrubs were removed from the plant community, and these effects were strongest for graminoid and bryophyte litter. Plant functional group removals also had strong effects on soil biota and nutrient cycling associated with decomposition, whereby shrub removal had cascading effects on soil fungal community composition, increased enchytraeid abundance, and increased rates of N mineralization. Our findings demonstrate that, in addition to litter quality, changes in vegetation composition play a significant role in regulating short-term litter decomposition and belowground communities in peatland, and that these impacts can be greater than moderate warming effects. Our findings, albeit from a relatively short-term study, highlight the need to consider both vegetation change and its impacts below ground alongside climatic effects when

'Greater good' versus civil liberties in the United States: Tuberculosis and Seattle's Firland Sanatorium.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackburn, Christine Crudo

2017-11-01

As far back as the late 1700s, peoples in the United States were developing ways to control infectious disease without infringing on Constitutional rights. Despite acknowledgement that an infected person has certain civil liberties, the history of public health law shows that, in many instances, infectious disease isolation and quarantine proved to be scientifically questionable at best. I examine an historical example of such questionable relationship between public health and civil liberties: the locked ward at Firland Sanatorium in Seattle, Washington. Mandatory quarantine at Firland began in the late 1940s and lasted until the facility closed in the early 1970s. Can examining this history enhance understanding of the relationship between "the greater good" and an individual's civil liberties?

Greater-confinement disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trevorrow, L.E.; Schubert, J.P.

1989-01-01

Greater-confinement disposal (GCD) is a general term for low-level waste (LLW) disposal technologies that employ natural and/or engineered barriers and provide a degree of confinement greater than that of shallow-land burial (SLB) but possibly less than that of a geologic repository. Thus GCD is associated with lower risk/hazard ratios than SLB. Although any number of disposal technologies might satisfy the definition of GCD, eight have been selected for consideration in this discussion. These technologies include: (1) earth-covered tumuli, (2) concrete structures, both above and below grade, (3) deep trenches, (4) augered shafts, (5) rock cavities, (6) abandoned mines, (7) high-integrity containers, and (8) hydrofracture. Each of these technologies employ several operations that are mature,however, some are at more advanced stages of development and demonstration than others. Each is defined and further described by information on design, advantages and disadvantages, special equipment requirements, and characteristic operations such as construction, waste emplacement, and closure

Development and implementation of public relations strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kukovica, T.; Mele, I.; Stritar, A.; Isteni, R.

1995-01-01

Following the strong public opposition after the announcement of the results of possible site selections for the final low and intermediate waste repository in Slovenia in 1993, the Agency for Radwaste Management has completely revised its public information strategy. The information and education programs, that should lead to greater public acceptance, are described. At present the bulletin, leaflets, booklet, permanent exhibition and lectures in the Nuclear Training Centre are applied. (author)

Power distribution, the environment, and public health. A state-level analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyce, James K.; Klemer, Andrew R.; Templet, Paul H.; Willis, Cleve E.

1999-01-01

This paper examines relationships among power distribution, the environment, and public health by means of a cross-sectional analysis of the 50 US states. A measure of inter-state variations in power distribution is derived from data on voter participation, tax fairness, Medicaid access, and educational attainment. We develop and estimate a recursive model linking the distribution of power to environmental policy, environmental stress, and public health. The results support the hypothesis that greater power inequality leads to weaker environmental policies, which in turn lead to greater environmental degradation and to adverse public health outcomes

Power distribution, the environment, and public health. A state-level analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boyce, James K. [Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Klemer, Andrew R. [Department of Biology, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN (United States); Templet, Paul H. [Institute of Environmental Studies, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (United States); Willis, Cleve E. [Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States)

1999-04-15

This paper examines relationships among power distribution, the environment, and public health by means of a cross-sectional analysis of the 50 US states. A measure of inter-state variations in power distribution is derived from data on voter participation, tax fairness, Medicaid access, and educational attainment. We develop and estimate a recursive model linking the distribution of power to environmental policy, environmental stress, and public health. The results support the hypothesis that greater power inequality leads to weaker environmental policies, which in turn lead to greater environmental degradation and to adverse public health outcomes.

Power distribution, the environment, and public health. A state-level analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boyce, James K. [Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Klemer, Andrew R. [Department of Biology, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN (United States); Templet, Paul H. [Institute of Environmental Studies, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (United States); Willis, Cleve E. [Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States)

1999-04-15

This paper examines relationships among power distribution, the environment, and public health by means of a cross-sectional analysis of the 50 US states. A measure of inter-state variations in power distribution is derived from data on voter participation, tax fairness, Medicaid access, and educational attainment. We develop and estimate a recursive model linking the distribution of power to environmental policy, environmental stress, and public health. The results support the hypothesis that greater power inequality leads to weaker environmental policies, which in turn lead to greater environmental degradation and to adverse public health outcomes

A Ranking Analysis of the Management Schools in Greater China (2000-2010): Evidence from the SSCI Database

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Mingjun; Fan, Peihua; Liu, Heng

2014-01-01

The authors rank the management schools in Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau) based on their academic publications in the Social Sciences Citation Index management and business journals from 2000 to 2010. Following K. Ritzberger's (2008) and X. Yu and Z. Gao's (2010) ranking method, the authors develop six…

Simultaneous bilateral isolated greater trochanter fracture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maruti Kambali

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A 48-year-old woman sustained simultaneous isolated bilateral greater trochanteric fracture, following a road traffic accident. The patient presented to us 1 month after the injury. She presented with complaints of pain in the left hip and inability to walk. Roentgenograms revealed displaced comminuted bilateral greater trochanter fractures. The fracture of the left greater trochanter was reduced and fixed internally using the tension band wiring technique. The greater trochanter fracture on the right side was asymptomatic and was managed conservatively. The patient regained full range of motion and use of her hips after a postoperative follow-up of 6 months. Isolated fractures of the greater trochanter are unusual injuries. Because of their relative rarity and the unsettled controversy regarding their etiology and pathogenesis, several methods of treatment have been advocated. Furthermore, the reports of this particular type of injury are not plentiful and the average textbook coverage afforded to this entity is limited. In our study we discuss the mechanism of injury and the various treatment options available.

Considerations for increasing the competences and capacities of the public health workforce: assessing the training needs of public health workers in Texas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Quiram Barbara

2006-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Over the last two decades, concern has been expressed about the readiness of the public health workforce to adequately address the scientific, technological, social, political and economic challenges facing the field. A 1988 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM served as a catalyst for the re-examination of the public health workforce. The IOM's call to increase the relevance of public health education and training prompted a renewed effort to identify competences needed by public health personnel and the organizations that employ them. Methods A recent evaluation sought to address the role of the 10 essential public health services in job services among the Texas public health workforce. Additionally, the evaluation examined the Texas public health workforce's need for training in the 10 essential public health services. Results and conclusion Overall, the level of perceived training needs varied dramatically by job category and health department type. When comparing aggregate training needs, public health workers with greater day-to-day contact (nurses, health educators indicated a greater need for training than their peers who did not, such as those working in administrative positions. When prioritizing and designing future training modules regarding the 10 essential public health services, trainers should consider the effects of job function, location and contact with the public.

Advances in dental public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Holt, R D

2001-07-01

Dental public health has been defined as 'the science and art of preventing oral diseases, promoting oral health and improving the quality of life through the organised efforts of society'. Dental practitioners most often have the oral health of individual patients as their primary focus but the aim of public health is to benefit populations. Early developments in dental public health were concerned largely with demonstrating levels of disease and with treatment services. With greater appreciation of the nature of oral health and disease, and of their determinants has come recognition of the need for wider public health action if the effects of prevention and oral health promotion are to be maximized.

Environmental impacts of public transport. Why peak-period travellers cause a greater environmental burden than off-peak travellers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rietveld, P.

2002-01-01

Given the difference between peak and off-peak occupancy rates in public transport, emissions per traveller kilometre are lower in the peak than in the off-peak period, whereas the opposite pattern is observed for cars. It is argued that it is much more fruitful to analyse environmental effects in marginal terms. This calls for a careful analysis of capacity management policies of public transport suppliers that are facing increased demand during both peak and off-peak periods. A detailed analysis of capacity management by the Netherlands Railways (NS) revealed that off-peak capacity supply is mainly dictated by the demand levels during the peak period. The analysis included the effects of increased frequency and increased vehicle size on environmental impacts, while environmental economies of vehicle size were also taken into account. The main conclusion is that the marginal environmental burden during the peak hours is much higher than is usually thought, whereas it is almost zero during the off-peak period. This implies a pattern that is the precise opposite of the average environmental burden. Thus, an analysis of environmental effects of public transport based on average performance would yield misleading conclusions [nl

Remarks on managerial errors and public participation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hilberry, N.

1978-01-01

The failure of the Salt Vault project at Lyons was only a managerial error, as were the leaks in the Hanford tanks. Administrative and managerial decision-making needs to be distinguished. Despite claims to special welfare for the public welfare, no segment of the public, such as environmentalist groups, should be permitted to exercise greater (or lesser) political pressure than any other segment. The US NRC Commissioners should be the personification of the public for all operational purposes

Advertising public outreach--going where the people are

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bradford, D.; Burns, D.

1994-01-01

In a continuing effort to invite new and larger segments of the public to participate in Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project (YMP) Public Outreach Programs, examination of methods to enhance existing Public Outreach advertising programs began in 1993. Apart from the desire to promote greater public awareness and participation of the YMP, the Project itself is receiving less coverage of its scientific aspects in the local media. Since the public is already comfortable receiving messages in these media, this becomes an additional reason to explore and study advertising as a platform for invitations to the public

Is Industry Funding Associated with Greater Scholarly Impact Among Academic Neurosurgeons?

Science.gov (United States)

Eloy, Jean Anderson; Kilic, Suat; Yoo, Nicholas G; Mcleod, Thomas; Svider, Peter F; Baredes, Soly; Folbe, Adam J; Couldwell, William T; Liu, James K

2017-07-01

To determine the relationship between industry payments and scholarly impact among academic neurosurgeons. Faculty names and academic rank data were obtained from department websites, bibliometric data were obtained from the Scopus database, and industry payment data were obtained from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services open payments database (openpayments.cms.gov). The h-index was used to estimate scholarly impact. Payments were classified as "general," "associated research," and "research payments." Subgroup analyses were done for academic rank, fellowship training, and sex. Among 1008 academic neurosurgeons, scholarly impact was greater among individuals receiving associated research industry support compared with those not receiving it. Scholarly impact also was greater among individuals who received more than $10,000 of any type of industry support compared with individuals who received less than that or no payment. This association also was seen in fellowship-trained surgeons. Female neurosurgeons were less likely than male neurosurgeons to get industry funding and were likely to get less funding. There is a strong association between associated research funding from industry and scholarly impact among academic neurosurgeons. It's unclear whether this association is a result of funding facilitating more research projects that eventually lead to more high-impact publications, if industry is providing more funding to academic neurosurgeons with greater scholarly impact, or whether it represents intrinsic academic activity among a group of neurosurgeons who are more likely to be academically productive and procure funding from all potential sources to increase this activity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The living publication

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terwilliger, Thomas C. [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2012-06-04

Within the ICSTI Insights Series we offer three articles on the 'living publication' that is already available to practitioners in the important field of crystal structure determination and analysis. While the specific examples are drawn from this particular field, we invite readers to draw parallels in their own fields of interest. The first article describes the present state of the crystallographic living publication, already recognized by an ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) Award for Publishing Innovation in 2006. The second article describes the potential impact on the record of science as greater post-publication analysis becomes more common within currently accepted data deposition practices, using processed diffraction data as the starting point. The third article outlines a vision for the further improvement of crystallographic structure reports within potentially achievable enhanced data deposition practices, based upon raw (unprocessed) diffraction data. The IUCr in its Commissions and Journals has for many years emphasized the importance of publications being accompanied by data and the interpretation of the data in terms of atomic models. This has been followed as policy by numerous other journals in the field and its cognate disciplines. This practice has been well served by databases and archiving institutions such as the Protein Data Bank (PDB), the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC), and the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD). Normally the models that are archived are interpretations of the data, consisting of atomic coordinates with their displacement parameters, along with processed diffraction data from X-ray, neutron or electron diffraction studies. In our current online age, a reader can not only consult the printed word, but can display and explore the results with molecular graphics software of exceptional quality. Furthermore, the routine availability of processed diffraction

The living publication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terwilliger, Thomas C.

2012-01-01

Within the ICSTI Insights Series we offer three articles on the 'living publication' that is already available to practitioners in the important field of crystal structure determination and analysis. While the specific examples are drawn from this particular field, we invite readers to draw parallels in their own fields of interest. The first article describes the present state of the crystallographic living publication, already recognized by an ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) Award for Publishing Innovation in 2006. The second article describes the potential impact on the record of science as greater post-publication analysis becomes more common within currently accepted data deposition practices, using processed diffraction data as the starting point. The third article outlines a vision for the further improvement of crystallographic structure reports within potentially achievable enhanced data deposition practices, based upon raw (unprocessed) diffraction data. The IUCr in its Commissions and Journals has for many years emphasized the importance of publications being accompanied by data and the interpretation of the data in terms of atomic models. This has been followed as policy by numerous other journals in the field and its cognate disciplines. This practice has been well served by databases and archiving institutions such as the Protein Data Bank (PDB), the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC), and the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD). Normally the models that are archived are interpretations of the data, consisting of atomic coordinates with their displacement parameters, along with processed diffraction data from X-ray, neutron or electron diffraction studies. In our current online age, a reader can not only consult the printed word, but can display and explore the results with molecular graphics software of exceptional quality. Furthermore, the routine availability of processed diffraction data allows

Publications | Page 472 | IDRC - International Development ...

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

Results 4711 - 4720 of 7330 ... Visit the IDRC Digital Library now. ... Literature review on the impact of public access to information and communication technologies (open access) ... greater access to marketing, financial and information services ...

Patriotic values for public goods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dallimer, Martin; Jacobsen, Jette Bredahl; Lundhede, Thomas

2015-01-01

The natural environment is central to human well-being through its role in ecosystem service (ES) provision. Managing ES often requires coordination across international borders. Although this may deliver greater conservation gains than countries acting alone, we do not know whether the public su...

The development of landscape-scale ecological units and their application to the greater Huachuca Mountains fire planning process

Science.gov (United States)

Larry E. Laing; David Gori; James T. Jones

2005-01-01

The multi-partner Greater Huachuca Mountains fire planning effort involves over 500,000 acres of public and private lands. This large area supports distinct landscapes that have evolved with fire. Utilizing GIS as a tool, the United States Forest Service (USFS), General Ecosystem Survey (GES), and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Soil Geographic...

Putting the public (back) into public health: leadership, evidence and action.

Science.gov (United States)

South, J; Connolly, A M; Stansfield, J A; Johnstone, P; Henderson, G; Fenton, K A

2018-03-13

There is a strong evidence-based rationale for community capacity building and community empowerment as part of a strategic response to reduce health inequalities. Within the current UK policy context, there are calls for increased public engagement in prevention and local decision-making in order to give people greater control over the conditions that determine health. With reference to the challenges and opportunities within the English public health system, this essay seeks to open debate about what is required to mainstream community-centred approaches and ensure that the public is central to public health. The essay sets out the case for a reorientation of public health practice in order to build impactful action with communities at scale leading to a reduction in the health gap. National frameworks that support local practice are described. Four areas of challenge that could potentially drive an implementation gap are discussed: (i) achieving integration and scale, (ii) effective community mobilization, (iii) evidencing impact and (iv) achieving a shift in power. The essay concludes with a call to action for developing a contemporary public health practice that is rooted in communities and offers local leadership to strengthen local assets, increase community control and reduce health inequalities.

Strategies, technologies, and economics for managing greater-than-class C waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Danna, J.G.; Baird, R.D.; Chau, T.K.

1994-01-01

The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act 0f 1985, Public Law 99-240, transferred responsibility for disposing of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste (LLW) generated by commercial licensees from the states to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Development of permanent disposal capacity for GTCC LLW requires the evaluation of potential disposal concepts in terms of technical feasibility, economics, and institutional concerns. Previous studies have identified 13 potential GTCC LLW disposal concepts and have characterized volumes and types of GTCC LLW. Data from these studies, along with newly developed data pertaining to concept designs and hypothetical sites, were used to evaluate each concept's technical feasibility. An evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the technically feasible disposal concepts was also conducted

Utilizing scale-free networks to support the search for scientific publications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hauff, C.; Nürnberger, Andreas; de Jong, Franciska M.G.; Kraaij, W.

2006-01-01

When searching for scienti﬿c publications, users today often rely on search engines such as Yahoo.com. Whereas searching for publications whose titles are known is considered to be an easy task, users who are looking for important publications in research ﬿elds they are unfamiliar with face greater

The public spending crisis: a case study of Nigeria public sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PhD(AccountingMBA.Mukoro Dick Oluku

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to discuss the differences in the concept and measurement of efficiency between the private and public sectors, stressing that the lessons from the private sector can only be transferred to the public sector if there is a proper awareness of these issues and constrains imposed by considerations of equity. In evaluating policy initiatives, the governments method for all the talk of “rolling back the public sector” and opposition companies of “cuts,” the public expenditure/EDP ration went up steadily during Obasanjo’s first term. However deep the divisions over what ought to be in the public sector, it is of paramount importance to all concerned that the resources are managed effectively. The paper argued that an attempt to instill into the public sector the cost consciousness of the best parts of the private sector is wholly admirable. In conclusion, the severity of the impending budgetary crises will make the search for greater efficiency in the public sector of paramount importance. The paper recommends that the common theme of all these cases in that an appropriate set of relative prices can encourage resources to be minimized. very great care has to be taken when introducing piecemeal charging in order to ensure that this does not have side-effects at odds with programme objectives

Soft Budget Constraints in Public Hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Donald J

2016-05-01

A soft budget constraint arises when a government is unable to commit to not 'bailout' a public hospital if the public hospital exhausts its budget before the end of the budget period. It is shown that if the political costs of a 'bailout' are relatively small, then the public hospital exhausts the welfare-maximising budget before the end of the budget period and a 'bailout' occurs. In anticipation, the government offers a budget to the public hospital that may be greater than or less than the welfare-maximising budget. In either case, the public hospital treats 'too many' elective patients before the 'bailout' and 'too few' after. The introduction of a private hospital reduces the size of any 'bailout' and increases welfare. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Public participation and environmental impact assessment: Purposes, implications, and lessons for public policy making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Faircheallaigh, Ciaran

2010-01-01

In recent years the need to enhance public participation in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and the efficacy of alternative mechanisms in achieving this goal, have been central themes in the EIA literature. The benefits of public participation are often taken for granted, and partly for this reason the underlying rationale for greater public participation is sometimes poorly articulated, making it more difficult to determine how to pursue it effectively. The reasons for seeking public participation are also highly diverse and not always mutually consistent. There has been limited analysis of the implications of different forms and degrees of public participation for public decision making based on EIA, and little discussion of how experience with public participation in EIA relates to debates about participation in policy making generally. This paper distinguishes various purposes for public participation in EIA, and discusses their implications for decision making. It then draws on some general models of public participation in policy making to consider how approaches to participation in EIA can be interpreted and valued, and asks what EIA experience reveals about the utility of these models. It argues that the models pay insufficient attention to the interaction that can occur between different forms of public participation; and to the fact that public participation raises issues regarding control over decision making that are not subject to resolution, but must be managed through ongoing processes of negotiation.

Public Participation and the Rights of the Child: Reflection on International Law Standards in the Legal System of the Russian Federation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariya Riekkinen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article deals with the much debated issue of children’s public participation from the perspective of legal practices in the Russian Federation. Having emerged at the level of national jurisdictions, the practice of engaging minors in decision-making processes on issues of public significance – or the practice of public participation of children – is stipulated by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, based on Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Public participation of minors implies that children have clearly defined opportunities to take part in decision-making processes concerning those political and public matters affecting their interests.Albeit limited by the clause “regarding the issues concerning them,” the claims for such participation are dictated by emerging standards of international law. The author has examined the process of devising these standards in Russian public law. Moreover, an analysis of the evolution of academic views on public participation of children in Russian legal scholarship is also included in this article.Relying extensively on the method of legal analysis and the comparative analysis of the conformity of national public law standards with respect to international law, the author proposes several legal amendments to the Federal law “On the Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation,” which would lead to anchoring more solidly the participatory right of minors in the legal system of the Russian Federation.

Co-production, new public governance and third sector social services in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Pestoff

2011-01-01

political and economic challenges facing the welfare state in the 21st century. Co-production provides a model for the mix of public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provision of a public service. New Public Governance (NPG puts much greater emphasis on citizen participation and third sector provision of social services than either traditional public administration or New Public Management. Co-production is a core element of NPG that promotes the mix of public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provis ionof a public service. This paper explores the implications of two comparative studies of paren tparticipation in preschool services in Europe. They observe that citizen participation clearly varies between different providers of social services, as too does client and staff influence. This empirical overview concludes that some third sector providers can facilitate greater citizen participation, while a 'glass ceiling' for participation exists in municipal and for-profit preschool services. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of the emerging paradigm of New Public Governance.

[Terrorism, public health and health services].

Science.gov (United States)

Arcos González, Pedro; Castro Delgado, Rafael; Cuartas Alvarez, Tatiana; Pérez-Berrocal Alonso, Jorge

2009-01-01

Today the terrorism is a problem of global distribution and increasing interest for the international public health. The terrorism related violence affects the public health and the health care services in an important way and in different scopes, among them, increase mortality, morbidity and disability, generates a context of fear and anxiety that makes the psychopathological diseases very frequent, seriously alters the operation of the health care services and produces important social, political and economic damages. These effects are, in addition, especially intense when the phenomenon takes place on a chronic way in a community. The objective of this paper is to examine the relation between terrorism and public health, focusing on its effects on public health and the health care services, as well as to examine the possible frames to face the terrorism as a public health concern, with special reference to the situation in Spain. To face this problem, both the public health systems and the health care services, would have to especially adapt their approaches and operational methods in six high-priority areas related to: (1) the coordination between the different health and non health emergency response agencies; (2) the reinforcement of the epidemiological surveillance systems; (3) the improvement of the capacities of the public health laboratories and response emergency care systems to specific types of terrorism as the chemical or biological terrorism; (3) the mental health services; (4) the planning and coordination of the emergency response of the health services; (5) the relations with the population and mass media and, finally; (6) a greater transparency in the diffusion of the information and a greater degree of analysis of the carried out health actions in the scope of the emergency response.

Greater autonomy at work

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Houtman, I.L.D.

2004-01-01

In the past 10 years, workers in the Netherlands increasingly report more decision-making power in their work. This is important for an economy in recession and where workers face greater work demands. It makes work more interesting, creates a healthier work environment, and provides opportunities

Public Inaccuracy in Meta-perceptions of Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Swim, J.; Fraser, J.

2012-12-01

Public perceptions of climate change and meta-perceptions of the public and climate scientist's perceptions of climate change were assessed to benchmark the National Network for Climate Change Interpretation's impacts. Meta-perceptions are important to examine because they can have implications for willingness to take action to address climate change. For instance, recent research suggests a tendency to misperceive that there is disagreement among climate scientists is predictive of lack of support for climate change policies. Underestimating public concern about climate change could also be problematic: it could lead individuals to withdraw from personal efforts to reduce impact and engage others in discussions about climate change. Presented results will demonstrate that respondents in a national survey underestimated the percent of the public who were very concerned, concerned or cautious about climate change and overestimated the extent others were disengaged, doubted, or non-believers. They underestimated the percent of the public who likely believed that humans caused climate change and overestimate the percent that believed climate change was not happening nor human induced. Finally, they underestimated the percent of the public that believed climate change threatened ocean health. The results also explore sources of misperceptions. First, correlates with TV viewing habits suggest that inaccuracy is a result of too little attention to network news, with one exception: Greater attention to FOX among doubters reduced accuracy. Second, adding to other evidence that basic cognitive heuristics (such as availability heuristic) influence perceptions of climate change, we show that that false consensus effects account for meta-perceptions of the public and climate scientists beliefs. The false consensus effect, in combination with underestimating concern among the public, results in those most concerned about climate change and those who believe it to be human

The contribution of public capital towards economic growth: A KwaZulu-Natal case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clive E. Coetzee

2017-04-01

Aim: The way provincial or regional growth depends on infrastructure is investigated in this article and it is applied to data from KwaZulu-Natal province, as an illustration. Setting: This study investigates the extent to which infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa leads towards economic growth of the province. Methods: From a theoretical framework, this article develops an endogenous growth model, which investigates the association between provincial public capital stock expenditure and economic growth. Data series for public capital formation are first developed to apply in this study and others to follow. Econometric techniques are then employed, using quarterly data between 2001 and 2015, to assess the set hypothesis that growth in expenditure on public capital leads to national economic growth. Results: The empirical results support the argument of a positive relationship between provincial capital stock and economic growth in the long-term. The findings also suggests that the long-term causality or effect fades over time, albeit slowly. Conclusion: The nature and statistical significance of the long-term equilibrium relationship seems to be ambiguous at best. Some evidence of an equilibrium relationship in the short-term was, however, also observed. In conclusion, there also seems to be some causality between provincial capital stock and provincial gross domestic product in the short-run.

Plans for managing greater-than-glass C low-level waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newberry, W.F.; Coleman, J.A.

1990-01-01

Low-level waste is defined in the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 (Title I, Public Law 99-240) as radioactive waste that is neither high-level radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, nor by-product material (mill tailings). This paper presents proposed plans for the Department of Energy to fulfill its responsibility to dispose of GTCC LLW under the 1985 law, and to ensure that safe options are available for long-term management of such, pending the availability of disposal capacity. In the absence of a concentration-based definition for high-level waste, there currently is no upper bound for the concentration of radionuclides in low-level waste. DOE's plans for managing and disposing of GTCC LLW are generally consistent with a report issued by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment in October 1988, An Evaluation of Options for Managing Greater-than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste

Cost comparison between private and public collection of residual household waste: multiple case studies in the Flemish region of Belgium.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobsen, R; Buysse, J; Gellynck, X

2013-01-01

The rising pressure in terms of cost efficiency on public services pushes governments to transfer part of those services to the private sector. A trend towards more privatizing can be noticed in the collection of municipal household waste. This paper reports the findings of a research project aiming to compare the cost between the service of private and public collection of residual household waste. Multiple case studies of municipalities about the Flemish region of Belgium were conducted. Data concerning the year 2009 were gathered through in-depth interviews in 2010. In total 12 municipalities were investigated, divided into three mutual comparable pairs with a weekly and three mutual comparable pairs with a fortnightly residual waste collection. The results give a rough indication that in all cases the cost of private service is lower than public service in the collection of household waste. Albeit that there is an interest in establishing whether there are differences in the costs and service levels between public and private waste collection services, there are clear difficulties in establishing comparisons that can be made without having to rely on a large number of assumptions and corrections. However, given the cost difference, it remains the responsibility of the municipalities to decide upon the service they offer their citizens, regardless the cost efficiency: public or private. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Local public health networks. Apropos of an experience].

Science.gov (United States)

Guix, Joan; Bocio, Ana; Ferràs, Joaquim; Margalef, Jordi; Osanz, Anna C; Serrano, Mónica; Sentenà, Anna

2013-01-01

Public health action on a territory is complex and requires the involvement of multiple actors, who do not always act coordinately. Networks of organizations structures including the whole of the local actors facilitate the generation of synergies and enable greater effectiveness and efficiency of the joint action from the different actors on a same landscape. We present 3 years experience of four Public Health Committees in a region of Catalonia (Spain), composed by the main actors in public health planning. Each of the committees is organized on a plenary and working groups on issues arising from the regional health diagnosis, and coincident with the Health Plan of the Region. Coordination in no case implies the loss or dilution of the firm of the actor generator of intervention initiative in public health, but their empowerment and collaboration by the other actors. In conclusion welcomes the creation of a culture of collaboration and synergies between the different organizations concerned. Lack of specificity is observed in establishing operational objectives, and the need for greater coordination and involvement of the components of the various working groups. Copyright © 2012 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Managing Greater-Than-Class C low-level radioactive waste: A strategic plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-04-01

This strategic plan describes the DOE goals, objectives, and strategy for fulfilling its responsibility to dispose of Greater-Than-Class C low-level radioactive waste (GTCC LLW), in accordance with the requirements of Section 3(b) of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, Public Law 99-240. The strategy for fulfilling this responsibility consists of three sequential tasks: interim storage of limited quantities of GTCC LLW at currently operating DOE facilities on an as-needed basis; general acceptance of GTCC LLW for storage in a DOE dedicated facility pending disposal; and disposal in a facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The objectives, assumptions, and strategies for each of these tasks are presented in this plan

Socio-economic considerations of cleaning Greater Vancouver's air

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-08-01

Socio-economic considerations of better air quality on the Greater Vancouver population and economy were discussed. The purpose of the study was to provide socio-economic information to staff and stakeholders of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) who are participating in an Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) development process and the Sustainable Region Initiative (SRI) process. The study incorporated the following methodologies: identification and review of Canadian, American, and European quantitative socio-economic, cost-benefit, cost effectiveness, competitiveness and health analyses of changes in air quality and measures to improve air quality; interviews with industry representatives in Greater Vancouver on competitiveness impacts of air quality changes and ways to improve air quality; and a qualitative analysis and discussion of secondary quantitative information that identifies and evaluates socio-economic impacts arising from changes in Greater Vancouver air quality. The study concluded that for the Greater Vancouver area, the qualitative analysis of an improvement in Greater Vancouver air quality shows positive socio-economic outcomes, as high positive economic efficiency impacts are expected along with good social quality of life impacts. 149 refs., 30 tabs., 6 appendices

Myiasis in Dogs in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Sherry A M; Gakuya, Daniel W; Mbuthia, Paul G; Mande, John D; Afakye, Kofi; Maingi, Ndichu

2016-01-01

Myiasis is the infestation of tissues of live vertebrate animals and humans with dipterous larvae. In sub-Saharan Africa, Cordylobia anthropohaga and Cordylobia rodhaini are known to be responsible for cutaneous myiasis in animals and humans. Human cases of myiasis, purportedly acquired in Ghana but diagnosed in other countries, have been reported; however, published data on its occurrence in animals in Ghana is unavailable. This study assessed the prevalence of canine myiasis among owned dogs in the Greater Accra region (GAR) of Ghana. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Greater Accra region of Ghana, selected for being the region with the highest estimated population density of owned dogs. Physical examination and demographic characteristics of the study dogs were assessed. Management of the dogs was assessed through a questionnaire administered to the dog owners. A total of 392 owned dogs were sampled. Twenty-nine (7.4%) had cutaneous myiasis caused by C. rodhaini. In addition, one (0.2%) of the dogs had intestinal myiasis, with Dermatobia hominis as the offending larvae. Among the breeds of dogs with myiasis, the mongrel was most affected, with 24 (82.8%) out of the 29 cases. The mongrels, majority of which (24; 82.8%) were males, were left to roam freely in the community. Results from this study demonstrate that C. rodhaini and D. hominis are important causes of myiasis in owned dogs in the GAR of Ghana. Dogs could play a role in the spread of myiasis to humans, with its attendant public health implications.

Greater trochanteric pain syndrome diagnosis and treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mallow, Michael; Nazarian, Levon N

2014-05-01

Lateral hip pain, or greater trochanteric pain syndrome, is a commonly seen condition; in this article, the relevant anatomy, epidemiology, and evaluation strategies of greater trochanteric pain syndrome are reviewed. Specific attention is focused on imaging of this syndrome and treatment techniques, including ultrasound-guided interventions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mapping the scope and opportunities for public health law in liberal democracies.

Science.gov (United States)

Magnusson, Roger S

2007-01-01

The two questions, "What is public health law?" and "How can law improve the public's health?" are perennial ones for public health law scholars. This paper proposes a framework for conceptualizing discussion and debate about the scope and opportunities for public health law within liberal democracies. Part 2 of the paper draws selectively on this framework in order to highlight some areas where law's potential role deserves greater acknowledgment and exploration.

Human experimental anxiety: actual public speaking induces more intense physiological responses than simulated public speaking.

Science.gov (United States)

Zuardi, Antonio Waldo; Crippa, José Alexandre de Souza; Hallak, Jaime Eduardo Cecílio; Gorayeb, Ricardo

2013-01-01

a) To perform a systematic and meta-analytic review to verify whether the Simulated Public Speaking Task (SPST) leads to a greater increase in self-rated anxiety than in physiological correlates of anxiety; and b) to compare the results obtained with the SPST with an actual public speaking task involving healthy volunteers. a) The PubMed and ISI Web of Knowledge databases were searched for studies involving the SPST prior to 2012. Eleven publications were eligible and provided data from 143 healthy volunteers for meta-analysis; b) 48 university students without somatic or psychiatric disorders were divided into three experimental groups of 16 subjects to undergo one of the following: SPST, real-world public speaking task (real-world), and control situation (control). The meta-analysis showed that the SPST induced a significant increase in the Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS) anxiety factor, but no significant increases in systolic blood pressure or heart rate. The empirical study showed that the real-world public speaking task increased heart rate, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure significantly more than the control and SPST conditions. These results suggest that real public speaking might be better than SPST in inducing experimental anxiety.

Is vitamin D deficiency a public health concern for low middle income countries? A systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Cashman, Kevin D; Sheehy, Tony; O'Neill, Colette M

2018-01-17

Vitamin D deficiency has been receiving increasing attention as a potential public health concern in low and lower-middle income countries (LMICs), of which there are currently 83. We aimed to conduct a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) of available data on vitamin D status and prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in all 83 LMICs. We followed the general methodology for SLRs in the area of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Highest priority was placed on identifying relevant population-based studies, followed by cross-sectional studies, and to a lesser extent case-control studies. We adopted the public health convention that a prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D  20% in the entire population and/or at-risk population subgroups (infants, children, women of child-bearing age, pregnancy) constitutes a public health issue that may warrant intervention. Our SLR revealed that of the 83 LMICs, 65% (n = 54 countries) had no published studies with vitamin D data suitable for inclusion. Using data from the remaining third, a number of LMICs had evidence of excess burden of vitamin D deficiency in one or more population subgroup(s) using the above convention (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Tunisia and Mongolia) as well as possibly other LMICs, albeit with much more limited data. Several LMICs had no evidence of excess burden. Vitamin D deficiency is a public health issue in some, but certainly not all, LMICs. There is a clear need for targeting public health strategies for prevention of vitamin D deficiency in those LMICs with excess burden.

The public sector pay gap in Italy

OpenAIRE

Giordano Raffaela

2010-01-01

I investigate the public-private pay gap using Italian microdata covering the period 1980-2006. Even after controlling for observable characteristics of the labour force, I find a positive wage premium for the public sector, almost negligible during the eighties and averaging at about 12 percent in the period 1993-2006. While the pay gap for women and workers in southern regions turns out to be higher than the average in the whole sample period, the greater advantage from working in the publi...

Ethical budgets: a critical success factor in implementing new public management accountability in health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosa, Iris M

2010-05-01

New public management accountability is increasingly being introduced into health-care systems throughout the world - albeit with mixed success. This paper examines the successful introduction of new management accounting systems among general practitioners (GPs) as an aspect of reform in the Italian health-care system. In particular, the study examines the critical role played by the novel concept of an 'ethical budget' in engaging the willing cooperation of the medical profession in implementing change. Utilizing a qualitative research design, with in-depth interviews with GPs, hospital doctors and managers, along with archival analysis, the present study finds that management accounting can be successfully implemented among medical professionals provided there is alignment between the management imperative and the ethical framework in which doctors practise their profession. The concept of an 'ethical budget' has been shown to be an innovative and effective tool in achieving this alignment.

Operational technology for greater confinement disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dickman, P.T.; Vollmer, A.T.; Hunter, P.H.

1984-12-01

Procedures and methods for the design and operation of a greater confinement disposal facility using large-diameter boreholes are discussed. It is assumed that the facility would be located at an operating low-level waste disposal site and that only a small portion of the wastes received at the site would require greater confinement disposal. The document is organized into sections addressing: facility planning process; facility construction; waste loading and handling; radiological safety planning; operations procedures; and engineering cost studies. While primarily written for low-level waste management site operators and managers, a detailed economic assessment section is included that should assist planners in performing cost analyses. Economic assessments for both commercial and US government greater confinement disposal facilities are included. The estimated disposal costs range from $27 to $104 per cubic foot for a commercial facility and from $17 to $60 per cubic foot for a government facility. These costs are based on average site preparation, construction, and waste loading costs for both contact- and remote-handled wastes. 14 figures, 22 tables

Work Overload and Turnover Intention of Junior Auditors in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andika Pradana

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to analyze how work overload influences turnover intentions of newly hired junior auditors in public accounting offices. Job satisfaction, work related stress and work life conflicts are used as mediating variables between work overload and turnover intention. This study employed 141 auditors from several accounting firms operating in the Greater Jakarta region. The sample was selected using purposive sampling. Three mediation hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM. The results show that work overload has a significant effect on increasing turnover intention through both job satisfaction and work related stress. In comparison, work overload does not influence turnover intention through work life balance. This may be due to the nature of the respondents, in which a majority of the newly hired accountants employed in this study are unmarried.

Increased coordination in public transport – which mechanisms are available?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard; Longva, Frode

2011-01-01

After several years of New Public Management reforms within public transport, coordination seems to receive increased attention. With examples of actual as well as suggested changes taken from Denmark, Sweden and the UK the aim of the article is to analyse and classify the mechanisms utilized...... mechanism has its strengths and failures. The article also debates to what extent the mechanisms conflict with three core characteristics of New Public Management: Unbundling of the public sector into corporatized units; more contract-based competitive provision; and greater emphasis on output controls....

Public opinion and communicative action around renewable energy projects

Science.gov (United States)

Fast, Stewart

This thesis investigates how rural communities negotiate the development of renewable energy projects. Public and local community acceptance of these new technologies in rural areas around the world is uncertain and spatially uneven and represents an area of emerging public policy interest and one where scholarly theory is rapidly developing. This thesis uses Habermasian concepts of public sphere, communicative action and deliberative democracy, as well as the concept of "wicked problems" from the planning studies literature combined with geographical concepts of place and scale to advance theoretical and empirical understanding of how public opinion on renewable energy technologies is formed in place. It documents energy use patterns, attitudes and socio-political relations at a time when considerable state and business efforts are directed at the construction of solar, wind, biomass and small-hydro technologies in rural regions. These concepts and theories are applied in a case study of rural communities in the Eastern Ontario Highlands, an impoverished area undergoing rapid restructuring driven by centralization of services and amenity migration but with abundant natural resources in form of forests, numerous waterways and open space which have attracted a broad range of new energy developments. Overall high levels of support for alternative energy development particularly for solar power were found, albeit for reasons of local energy security and not for reasons of preventing climate change. There was some evidence that seasonal residents are less supportive of hydro and biomass projects than permanent residents possibly reflecting broader trends in rural economies away from productive uses of land to consumptive appreciation of rural landscapes. The thesis suggests that collective action to advance energy projects in the case study area require agreement along three world-claims (truth, rightness and truthfulness) and that communication leading to discourse

Beyond and within public engagement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cañada, Jose A.; Tupasela, Aaro Mikael; Snell, Karoliina

2015-01-01

Social studies on biobanking have traditionally focused on public engagement, that is, engagement with donors, patients and the general public as an important factor of sustainability. In this article, we claim that, in order to fully understand the way biobanks work, it is necessary to pay...... attention to a number of other actors, which have an equal, if not greater, impact on their practices and strategies. This means taking a broadened approach to biobank engagement. By using data collected from interviews with different biobank experts based in five different countries (UK, Canada, Finland......, Spain and Iceland), we identify seven communities, including the public, that emerge as relevant. Such relationships condition the way biobanks develop, act and plan. The discussion illustrates how the relationships with those seven communities are articulated. We conclude that there is a need...

Risk in Public Policy Making: A Neglected Issue in Australia

OpenAIRE

Hardaker, J. Brian; Fleming, Euan M.; Lien, Gudbrand D.

2008-01-01

We argue for greater recognition of the risky nature of most policy decisions. In this context we discuss the gulf between public risk perceptions and attitudes and those of 'experts'. Public views of risk are often inconsistent and seemingly irrational. They nevertheless influence policy choices in a democracy. On the other hand, experts often claim unjustifiable levels of confidence in their predictions of policy choice outcomes, creating a lack of public faith in their recommendations. Whi...

(De)Centralization of Public Procurement at the Local Level in the EU

OpenAIRE

Boštjan BREZOVNIK; Žan Jan OPLOTNIK; Borut VOJINOVIĆ

2015-01-01

The so-called decentralization of public procurement in EU Member States is accepted as the most suitable design of the public procurement system, often justifi ed by greater economic effi ciency and by the possibility of boosting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, which act on the public procurement market as providers of goods, services and works. Despite the existence of highly decentralized public procurement systems which refl ect the decentralization of administrativ...

Greater trochanteric fracture with occult intertrochanteric extension.

Science.gov (United States)

Reiter, Michael; O'Brien, Seth D; Bui-Mansfield, Liem T; Alderete, Joseph

2013-10-01

Proximal femoral fractures are frequently encountered in the emergency department (ED). Prompt diagnosis is paramount as delay will exacerbate the already poor outcomes associated with these injuries. In cases where radiography is negative but clinical suspicion remains high, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the study of choice as it has the capability to depict fractures which are occult on other imaging modalities. Awareness of a particular subset of proximal femoral fractures, namely greater trochanteric fractures, is vital for both radiologists and clinicians since it has been well documented that they invariably have an intertrochanteric component which may require surgical management. The detection of intertrochanteric or cervical extension of greater trochanteric fractures has been described utilizing MRI but is underestimated with both computed tomography (CT) and bone scan. Therefore, if MRI is unavailable or contraindicated, the diagnosis of an isolated greater trochanteric fracture should be met with caution. The importance of avoiding this potential pitfall is demonstrated in the following case of an elderly woman with hip pain and CT demonstrating an isolated greater trochanteric fracture who subsequently returned to the ED with a displaced intertrochanteric fracture.

The impact of heat on mortality and morbidity in the Greater Metropolitan Sydney Region: a case crossover analysis

OpenAIRE

Wilson, Leigh Ann; Gerard Morgan, Geoffrey; Hanigan, Ivan Charles; Johnston, Fay H; Abu-Rayya, Hisham; Broome, Richard; Gaskin, Clive; Jalaludin, Bin

2013-01-01

Background This study examined the association between unusually high temperature and daily mortality (1997?2007) and hospital admissions (1997?2010) in the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region (GMR) to assist in the development of targeted health programs designed to minimise the public health impact of extreme heat. Methods Sydney GMR was categorized into five climate zones. Heat-events were defined as severe or extreme. Using a time-stratified case-crossover design with a conditional logisti...

The three public images of nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gritti, Jules

1982-01-01

The author outlines the three main fears which, to his mind, have stemmed from the nuclear power question over the three post-war decades and marked public opinion to a greater or lesser extent: fear of the atom bomb, fear of cancer, fear of pollution [fr

A History of Social Work in Public Health

Science.gov (United States)

Ruth, Betty J.

2017-01-01

Social work is a core health profession with origins deeply connected to the development of contemporary public health in the United States. Today, many of the nation’s 600 000 social workers practice broadly in public health and in other health settings, drawing on a century of experience in combining clinical, intermediate, and population approaches for greater health impact. Yet, the historic significance of this long-standing interdisciplinary collaboration—and its current implications—remains underexplored in the present era. This article builds on primary and contemporary sources to trace the historic arc of social work in public health, providing examples of successful collaborations. The scope and practices of public health social work practice are explored, and we articulate a rationale for an expanded place for social work in the public health enterprise. PMID:29236533

A History of Social Work in Public Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruth, Betty J; Marshall, Jamie Wyatt

2017-12-01

Social work is a core health profession with origins deeply connected to the development of contemporary public health in the United States. Today, many of the nation's 600 000 social workers practice broadly in public health and in other health settings, drawing on a century of experience in combining clinical, intermediate, and population approaches for greater health impact. Yet, the historic significance of this long-standing interdisciplinary collaboration-and its current implications-remains underexplored in the present era. This article builds on primary and contemporary sources to trace the historic arc of social work in public health, providing examples of successful collaborations. The scope and practices of public health social work practice are explored, and we articulate a rationale for an expanded place for social work in the public health enterprise.

Intersystem return on investment in public mental health: Positive externality of public mental health expenditure for the jail system in the U.S.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Jangho; Luck, Jeff

2016-12-01

This study examines the extent to which increased public mental health expenditures lead to a reduction in jail populations and computes the associated intersystem return on investment (ROI). We analyze unique panel data on 44 U.S. states and D.C. for years 2001-2009. To isolate the intersystem spillover effect, we exploit variations across states and over time within states in per capita public mental health expenditures and average daily jail inmates. Regression models control for a comprehensive set of determinants of jail incarcerations as well as unobserved determinants specific to state and year. Findings show a positive spillover benefit of increased public mental health spending on the jail system: a 10% increase in per capita public inpatient mental health expenditure on average leads to a 1.5% reduction in jail inmates. We also find that the positive intersystem externality of increased public inpatient mental health expenditure is greater when the level of community mental health spending is lower. Similarly, the intersystem spillover effect of community mental health expenditure is larger when inpatient mental health spending is lower. We compute that overall an extra dollar in public inpatient mental health expenditure by a state would yield an intersystem ROI of a quarter dollar for the jail system. There is significant cross-state variation in the intersystem ROI in both public inpatient and community mental health expenditures, and the ROI overall is greater for inpatient mental health spending than for community mental health spending. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Public Relations between Occupation and Profession – Attempts at Regulating Public Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Božo Skoko

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the regulation and the professionalization of occupations in public relations. It analyzes the role of professional, national associations in the professionalization process, providing an overview of these organizations in various countries around the world. The authors identify countries with no regulation (for instance, Italy, countries with some legal regulations (for instance, Brazil and countries that have adopted self-regulation models (for instance, USA and South Africa. The authors point out the advantages and drawbacks of each regulation model and their impact on the development and professionalization of the occupation. Namely, in countries in which public relations are defined by law, public relations experts have guaranteed positions in society; however, they enjoy a negative public perception. In self-regulatory models, a significant number of experts are not covered by membership in organizations. Consequently, their behavior is not governed by any set of established professional obligations. Furthermore, countries with no clear professional regulation have enabled mass engagement in public relations; however, there are no criteria for professional advancement and affirmation. The issue of regulation in transition countries has shown itself to be a relatively unarticulated concept that can be expected to acquire greater definition with further professionalization of the occupation, a key role that must be played by professional associations.

Curating Public Art 2.0: The case of Autopoiesis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ajana, Btihaj

2017-01-01

This article examines the intersections between public art, curation and Web 2.0 technology. Building on the case study of Autopoiesis, a digital art project focusing on the curation and online exhibition of artworks received from members of the public in the United Arab Emirates, the article...... to facilitate autonomous creative self-expressions and enable greater public participation in culture. By providing a critical reflection on the ‘material’ contexts of this digital project, the article also demonstrates the related tensions between the virtual and the physical, and the wider ‘local’ realities...

The Greater Sekhukhune-CAPABILITY outreach project.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregersen, Nerine; Lampret, Julie; Lane, Tony; Christianson, Arnold

2013-07-01

The Greater Sekhukhune-CAPABILITY Outreach Project was undertaken in a rural district in Limpopo, South Africa, as part of the European Union-funded CAPABILITY programme to investigate approaches for capacity building for the translation of genetic knowledge into care and prevention of congenital disorders. Based on previous experience of a clinical genetic outreach programme in Limpopo, it aimed to initiate a district clinical genetic service in Greater Sekhukhune to gain knowledge and experience to assist in the implementation and development of medical genetic services in South Africa. Implementing the service in Greater Sekhukhune was impeded by a developing staff shortage in the province and pressure on the health service from the existing HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics. This situation underscores the need for health needs assessment for developing services for the care and prevention of congenital disorders in middle- and low-income countries. However, these impediments stimulated the pioneering of innovate ways to offer medical genetic services in these circumstances, including tele-teaching of nurses and doctors, using cellular phones to enhance clinical care and adapting and assessing the clinical utility of a laboratory test, QF-PCR, for use in the local circumstances.

Investing in self-reliance: IDRC's fourth annual public meeting ...

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

2016-04-15

Apr 15, 2016 ... Investing in self-reliance: IDRC's fourth annual public meeting ... to advance the Government of Canada's priorities in international development, in areas ... Flexible intellectual property rights lead to greater innovation in Africa.

Individuals with greater science literacy and education have more polarized beliefs on controversial science topics.

Science.gov (United States)

Drummond, Caitlin; Fischhoff, Baruch

2017-09-05

Although Americans generally hold science in high regard and respect its findings, for some contested issues, such as the existence of anthropogenic climate change, public opinion is polarized along religious and political lines. We ask whether individuals with more general education and greater science knowledge, measured in terms of science education and science literacy, display more (or less) polarized beliefs on several such issues. We report secondary analyses of a nationally representative dataset (the General Social Survey), examining the predictors of beliefs regarding six potentially controversial issues. We find that beliefs are correlated with both political and religious identity for stem cell research, the Big Bang, and human evolution, and with political identity alone on climate change. Individuals with greater education, science education, and science literacy display more polarized beliefs on these issues. We find little evidence of political or religious polarization regarding nanotechnology and genetically modified foods. On all six topics, people who trust the scientific enterprise more are also more likely to accept its findings. We discuss the causal mechanisms that might underlie the correlation between education and identity-based polarization.

Incentives for Innovation in the Public Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Pincus, John

1974-01-01

Analysis of bureaucratic structure and the incentive systems of the public schools reveals access points for enhancing the school's ability to adopt and implement innovative education. Research and development coordinated to those points can provide a greater diversity of educational possibilities, assuming such diversity to be a positive…

Preserving the positive functions of the public domain in science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela Samuelson

2003-11-01

Full Text Available Science has advanced in part because data and scientific methodologies have traditionally not been subject to intellectual property protection. In recent years, intellectual property has played a greater role in scientific work. While intellectual property rights may have a positive role to play in some fields of science, so does the public domain. This paper will discuss some of the positive functions of the public domain and ways in which certain legal developments may negatively impact the public domain. It suggests some steps that scientists can take to preserve the positive functions of the public domain for science.

WORK OVERLOAD AND TURNOVER INTENTION OF JUNIOR AUDITORS IN GREATER JAKARTA, INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andika Pradana

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to analyze how work overload influences turnover intentions of newly hired junior auditors in public accounting offices. Job satisfaction, work related stress and work life conflicts are used as mediating variables between work overload and turnover intention. This study employed 141 auditors from several accounting firms operating in the Greater Jakarta region. The sample was selected using purposive sampling. Three mediation hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM. The results show that work overload has a significant effect on increas- ing turnover intention through both job satisfaction and work related stress. In comparison, work overload does not influence turnover intention through work life balance. This may be due to the nature of the respondents, in which a majority of the newly hired accountants employed in this study are unmarried.

Vehicles for Education: Turkish Students' Beliefs and Views about Public Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Kilinc, Ahmet; Seymen, Hatice; Malandrakis, George; Boyes, Edward; Stanisstreet, Martin

2013-01-01

The increasing use of private rather than public transport is impacting on the environment in a number of ways, including contributing to the major problem of global warming. It is necessary, therefore, to improve strategies to encourage greater use of public transport. The aim of this study is to explore which perceived aspects of public…

Science to Action: Thoughts on Convincing a Skeptical Public

Science.gov (United States)

Press, William

2016-01-01

Acceptance by the public of findings widely accepted by scientists varies dramatically, issue by issue. The danger of smoking, for example, readily achieved public acceptance, while the arguably greater danger of climate change has, thus far, not. What are the relevant variables that make some public issues more difficult than others? A hypothesis consistent with the historical data is that, in communicating to the public, scientists fail to adequately distinguish two different types of messages, the first relating to the nature of scientific evidence, and the second relating to the rational choice of evidence-based decision-making. As scientists we take both for granted, but the public often may not. Different kinds of communication are required for the two different messages.

Public acceptance: A Japanese view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1972-01-01

A number of factors enter into a consideration of the public acceptance of nuclear power ? the public, nuclear power as an entity, and the interaction between the two. Interaction here implies the manner in which nuclear power is presented to the public ? what is the public need for nuclear power, and what public risk is entailed in having it? The problem of public acceptance, in this sense, is time-dependent. For the public is changeable, just as nuclear power is subject to technical progress and ' social' improvement. Japan is geographically a very small country with a very high density of population. Any industrial activity and any large-scale employment of modern technology is apt to have a much greater impact on the physical, social and biological environment of individual Japanese people than similar activities would have on those of other countries. Industrial pollutants such as sulphur dioxide from power plants, oxides of nitrogen from automobile engine exhausts, organic mercury from chemical industries and so on affect society to a high degree, considered in terms of their concentration either per capita or per square kilometre. In the case of nuclear power, therefore, people are more concerned with radiological effects than with thermal pollution.no matter how one looks at it, the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has made the average member of the Japanese public, very sensitive to the problem of radiation safety. This is no longer a subject in which science or logic can persuade

Public acceptance: A Japanese view

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1972-07-01

A number of factors enter into a consideration of the public acceptance of nuclear power ? the public, nuclear power as an entity, and the interaction between the two. Interaction here implies the manner in which nuclear power is presented to the public ? what is the public need for nuclear power, and what public risk is entailed in having it? The problem of public acceptance, in this sense, is time-dependent. For the public is changeable, just as nuclear power is subject to technical progress and ' social' improvement. Japan is geographically a very small country with a very high density of population. Any industrial activity and any large-scale employment of modern technology is apt to have a much greater impact on the physical, social and biological environment of individual Japanese people than similar activities would have on those of other countries. Industrial pollutants such as sulphur dioxide from power plants, oxides of nitrogen from automobile engine exhausts, organic mercury from chemical industries and so on affect society to a high degree, considered in terms of their concentration either per capita or per square kilometre. In the case of nuclear power, therefore, people are more concerned with radiological effects than with thermal pollution.no matter how one looks at it, the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has made the average member of the Japanese public, very sensitive to the problem of radiation safety. This is no longer a subject in which science or logic can persuade.

Innovating undergraduate pathology education through public engagement.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukundu Nagesh, Navin; Chiva Giurca, Bogdan; Lishman, Suzy

2018-05-01

The trends in modern undergraduate medical education focus on a patient-centred approach through problem-based learning over the traditional modular curriculum. Integrating pathology into this style of learning has resulted in the dilution of core scientific principles which may have contributed to reduced understanding and interest in the subject. We aim to innovate pathology education by utilising National Pathology Week which is organised by the Royal College of Pathologists to develop the public engagement model which empowers students to learn pathology by teaching the public. Through this model, we hope to generate a greater interest in pathology at both undergraduate and postgraduate stages of education. We obtained funding from the Royal College of Pathologists to organise National Pathology Week at Exeter Medical School and the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital. We involved 125 undergraduate student volunteers from health-related courses. We designed a curriculum aiming to educate both students and public on current topics such as cancer screening programmes, antibiotic resistance, diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease and the role of pathologists. We hosted 15 pathologists, biomedical scientists and microbiologists to engage with students, share experiences and offer an insight into their careers. Through this project, we interacted with over 500 members of the public and 150 school students. The medical student volunteers developed a range of skills including competent use of microscopes to visualise pathology slides, effective communication with lay audiences to teach pathology and understanding of the clinical application of pathology. We believe the public engagement model of teaching undergraduate students has the potential to develop a greater interest in pathology whilst benefitting the wider community.

Quality of Source Water from Public-Supply Wells in the United States, 1993-2007

Science.gov (United States)

Toccalino, Patricia L.; Norman, Julia E.; Hitt, Kerie J.

2010-01-01

-indicator microorganisms. Contaminant mixtures were assessed in subsets of samples in which most contaminants were analyzed. Contaminant concentrations were compared to human-health benchmarks-regulatory U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for contaminants regulated in drinking water under the SDWA or non-regulatory USGS Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs) for unregulated contaminants, when available. Nearly three-quarters of the contaminants assessed in this study are unregulated in drinking water, and the USEPA uses USGS data on the occurrence of unregulated contaminants in water resources to fulfill part of the SDWA requirements for determining whether specific contaminants should be regulated in drinking water in the future. More than one in five (22 percent) source-water samples from public wells contained one or more naturally occurring or man-made contaminants at concentrations greater than human-health benchmarks, and 80 percent of samples contained one or more contaminants at concentrations greater than one-tenth of benchmarks. Most individual contaminant detections, however, were less than one-tenth of human-health benchmarks. Public wells yielding water with contaminant concentrations greater than benchmarks, as well as those with concentrations greater than one-tenth of benchmarks, were distributed throughout the United States and included wells that withdraw water from all principal aquifer rock types included in this study. Ten contaminants individually were detected at concentrations greater than human-health benchmarks in at least 1 percent of source-water samples and collectively accounted for most concentrations greater than benchmarks. Seven of these 10 contaminants occur naturally, including three radionuclides (radon, radium, and gross alpha-particle radioactivity) and four trace elements (arsenic, manganese, strontium, and boron); three of these 10 contaminants (dieldrin, nitrate, and perchl

Barriers to electronic access and delivery of educational information in resource constrained public schools: a case of Greater Tubatse Municipality

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Pholotho, T

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are capable of expanding access to quality education, educational resources and provide teachers with new skills. Nevertheless, a majority of rural public schools have limited ICTs, mainly due...

The post-orgasmic prolactin increase following intercourse is greater than following masturbation and suggests greater satiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Brody, Stuart; Krüger, Tillmann H C

2006-03-01

Research indicates that prolactin increases following orgasm are involved in a feedback loop that serves to decrease arousal through inhibitory central dopaminergic and probably peripheral processes. The magnitude of post-orgasmic prolactin increase is thus a neurohormonal index of sexual satiety. Using data from three studies of men and women engaging in masturbation or penile-vaginal intercourse to orgasm in the laboratory, we report that for both sexes (adjusted for prolactin changes in a non-sexual control condition), the magnitude of prolactin increase following intercourse is 400% greater than that following masturbation. The results are interpreted as an indication of intercourse being more physiologically satisfying than masturbation, and discussed in light of prior research reporting greater physiological and psychological benefits associated with coitus than with any other sexual activities.

The Pipeline From Abstract Presentation to Publication in Pediatric Hospital Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Herrmann, Lisa E; Hall, Matthew; Kyler, Kathryn; Cochran, Joseph; Andrews, Annie L; Williams, Derek J; Wilson, Karen M; Shah, Samir S

2018-02-01

The annual Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) conference serves as a venue for the dissemination of research in this rapidly growing discipline. A measure of research validity is subsequent publication in peer-reviewed journals. To identify the publication rate of abstracts submitted to the 2014 PHM conference and determine whether presentation format was associated with subsequent journal publication or time to publication. We identified abstracts submitted to the 2014 PHM conference. Presentation formats included rejected abstracts and poster and oral presentations. Abstracts subsequently published in journals were identified by searching the author and abstract title in PubMed, MedEdPORTAL, and Google Scholar. We used logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models to determine if presentation format was associated with publication, time to publication, and publishing journal impact factor. Of 226 submitted abstracts, 19.0% were rejected, 68.0% were selected for posters, and 12.8% were selected for oral presentations; 36.3% were subsequently published within 30 months after the conference. Abstracts accepted for oral presentation had more than 7-fold greater odds of publication (adjusted odds ratio 7.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6-23.5) and a 4-fold greater likelihood of publication at each month (adjusted hazard ratio 4.5; 95% CI, 2.1-9.7) compared with rejected abstracts. Median journal impact factor was significantly higher for oral presentations than other presentation formats (P presentation; however, the low overall publication rate may indicate that presented results are preliminary or signify a need for increased mentorship and resources for research development in PHM.

Triple Nexus: Improving STEM Teaching through a Research-Public Engagement-Teaching Nexus

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenson, E.; McArthur, J.

2015-01-01

In this Reflection on Practice we propose a triple nexus of research, public engagement and teaching that could provide a new pathway for academic developers to enable greater engagement in learning and teaching issues from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academics. We argue that the public engagement activities demanded…

Public hospitals in financial distress: Is privatization a strategic choice?

Science.gov (United States)

Ramamonjiarivelo, Zo; Weech-Maldonado, Robert; Hearld, Larry; Menachemi, Nir; Epané, Josué Patien; O'Connor, Stephen

2015-01-01

As safety net providers, public hospitals operate in more challenging environments than private hospitals. Such environments put public hospitals at greater risk of financial distress, which may result in privatization and deterioration of the safety net. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether financial distress is associated with privatization among public hospitals. We used panel data merged from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey, Medicare Cost Reports, Area Resource File, and Local Area Unemployment Statistics. Our study population consisted of all U.S. nonfederal acute care public hospitals in 1997 tracked through 2009, resulting in 6,426 hospital-year observations. The dependent variable "privatization" was defined as conversion from public status to either private not-for-profit or private for-profit status. The main independent variable, "financial distress," was based on the Altman Z-score methodology. Control variables included market and organizational factors. Two random-effects logistic regression models with state and year fixed-effects were constructed. The independent and control variables were lagged by 1 year and 2 years for Models 1 and 2, respectively. Public hospitals in financial distress had greater odds of being privatized than public hospitals not in financial distress: (OR = 4.53, p resources and may provide financial relief to government entities from the burden of continuously funding a hospital operating at a loss, which in turn may help keep the hospital open and preserve access to care for the community. Privatizing a financially distressed public hospital may be a better strategic alternative than closure. The Altman Z-score could be used as a managerial tool to monitor hospitals' financial condition and take corrective actions.

Potential Impact of Public Perception on the Transport of Radioactive Material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glenn, K.

2016-01-01

In the last 50 years, the transport of radioactive material, with the exception of some used fuel and nuclear waste shipments, has remained in relative obscurity when it comes to the realm of public interest and concern. Only a few shipments out of the millions that take place every year have been the subject of protest or public demonstrations, mostly attributed to anti-nuclear sentiment rather than concern over transportation safety. However, with the advent of the Internet and greater accessibility to information, the public has begun to show greater scrutiny towards the transportation activities associated with the use of nuclear substances. More frequently, the safety of transportation is questioned and debated in the various public fora. The challenge to regulators in years to come will be to continue to assure safety through regulations based on science, knowledge and experience while responding to the public demand for transparency and input without compromising national and international security. Better communication skills will be required by both competent authorities and industry to ensure that the public comprehends what the risks actually are and how they are mitigated. Regulators will have to examine long established and recognized processes to determine if they are still appropriate in the 21 st century, striking a balance between security and the public’s right to know. This paper examines the public interest in two Canadian cases and the related issues. (author)

Does upward mobility result in greater well-being? Evidence from a pre-registered study on a large population-based survey

OpenAIRE

Cheung, Felix; Jackson, Joshua; Hill, Patrick

2017-01-01

Income inequality gained increasing attention in public discourse. Promoting upward mobility is a potential solution to income inequality. The current study tested whether upward mobility predicts greater well-being, whether upward mobility attenuates the negative effects of income inequality, and whether gender differences in upward mobility differentially predict well-being for men and women. Upward mobility was operationalized as changes in income rank across generations for families in th...

Nuclear power and public opinion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1984-01-01

The diversity of factors involved in nuclear power development and the complexity of public attitudes towards this source of energy have raised the nuclear debate to a topic of national significance in all the OECD countries with nuclear programmes and even in some countries which have not embarked on the nuclear course. This study examines the different experiences of seventeen member countries and underlines basic approaches and practices aimed at winning greater public acceptance for nuclear power. The first part of the study is a country-by-country presentation of public acceptance activities and the role of the various public or private bodies involved. There is also a description of the background energy situation and the place of nuclear power, the evolution of the nuclear debate and a review of present public and political attitudes to nuclear energy. In the second part, some of the notable factors which determine public attitudes to, and perception of, nuclear energy have been assembled. The study points, in particular, to a number of general principles which require continuous implementation, not least because they contribute to placing nuclear energy in its proper context for the public. Vigorous government leadership in making energy choices, long term efforts in energy education, and open information policies can go a long way towards resolving many doubts about nuclear energy in the public mind. But, perhaps, above all, it is the continuing demonstration of the safe and efficient industrial operation of plants in the nuclear fuel cycle which will have the strongest influence on public opinion. In addition to these basic principles, the study calls attention to some of the most successful means of improving communication between the authorities and the public, notably at the local level. The contribution to the decision-making process of public participation is also evaluated in the light of recent national experiences.

Nuclear power and public opinion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-01-01

The diversity of factors involved in nuclear power development and the complexity of public attitudes towards this source of energy have raised the nuclear debate to a topic of national significance in all the OECD countries with nuclear programmes and even in some countries which have not embarked on the nuclear course. This study examines the different experiences of seventeen member countries and underlines basic approaches and practices aimed at winning greater public acceptance for nuclear power. The first part of the study is a country-by-country presentation of public acceptance activities and the role of the various public or private bodies involved. There is also a description of the background energy situation and the place of nuclear power, the evolution of the nuclear debate and a review of present public and political attitudes to nuclear energy. In the second part, some of the notable factors which determine public attitudes to, and perception of, nuclear energy have been assembled. The study points, in particular, to a number of general principles which require continuous implementation, not least because they contribute to placing nuclear energy in its proper context for the public. Vigorous government leadership in making energy choices, long term efforts in energy education, and open information policies can go a long way towards resolving many doubts about nuclear energy in the public mind. But, perhaps, above all, it is the continuing demonstration of the safe and efficient industrial operation of plants in the nuclear fuel cycle which will have the strongest influence on public opinion. In addition to these basic principles, the study calls attention to some of the most successful means of improving communication between the authorities and the public, notably at the local level. The contribution to the decision-making process of public participation is also evaluated in the light of recent national experiences

[Change of secondhand smoke levels in a public hospital in Budapest after implementation of anti-smoking policy in 2011].

Science.gov (United States)

Tárnoki, Dávid László; Tárnoki, Adám Domonkos; Csáthy, László; Travers, Mark J

2013-04-28

Our previous 2009 study demonstrated high secondhand smoke levels throughout a public hospital in Budapest. To compare changes in indoor air pollution level between 2009 and 2012, before and after the Hungarian anti-smoking policy legislation adopted in 2011. TSI SidePak AM510 Personal Aerosol Monitor was used. In-patient care department PM2.5 levels declined by 92% from 87.7 μg/m3 to 6.9 μg/m3. Non-patient care area PM2.5 level increased by 67% from 64.8 μg/m3 to 108.0 μg/m3. The increase was driven entirely by a large increase in the level in public toilets. Excluding these, there was a 83% drop in PM2.5 in non-patient care areas from 64.8 μg/m3 to 11.1 μg/m3. PM2.5 decreased significantly due to the 2011 law. However, smoking still occurred in the hospital, albeit in less frequently visited areas. A stricter enforcement of this beneficial law is needed to reach a comprehensive smoke-free hospital environment.

Greater commitment to the domestic violence training is required.

Science.gov (United States)

Leppäkoski, Tuija Helena; Flinck, Aune; Paavilainen, Eija

2015-05-01

Domestic violence (DV) is a major public health problem with high health and social costs. A solution to this multi-faceted problem requires that various help providers work together in an effective and optimal manner when dealing with different parties of DV. The objective of our research and development project (2008-2013) was to improve the preparedness of the social and healthcare professionals to manage DV. This article focuses on the evaluation of interprofessional education (IPE) to provide knowledge and skills for identifying and intervening in DV and to improve collaboration among social and health care professionals and other help providers at the local and regional level. The evaluation data were carried out with an internal evaluation. The evaluation data were collected from the participants orally and in the written form. The participants were satisfied with the content of the IPE programme itself and the teaching methods used. Participation in the training sessions could have been more active. Moreover, some of the people who had enrolled for the trainings could not attend all of them. IPE is a valuable way to develop intervening in DV. However, greater commitment to the training is required from not only the participants and their superiors but also from trustees.

Public Debt Spiral and Domestic Investment in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emmanuel Chinanuife

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The nature of Nigeria economy is such that borrowing has become the business of every government in power. Most often, in order to finance the deficit in the budget, the government would resolve to borrowing. However, there is growing concern on how long it would take Nigeria government to reduce the rate of borrowing. Some theorist argued that borrowing is not bad if borrowed fund is used productively. It is to this assertion that this study sorts to investigate public debt spiral and the level of public investment in Nigeria. Using quarterly time series data ranging from 1981 to 2016 and the ARDL methodology. The result showed that public debt has negative and statistical significant impact on public investment in Nigeria. That is, public debt crowds out public investment in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends among others that greater percent of public borrowing should be invested in order to reduce future borrowing in Nigeria. Also, the government should embark on internal borrowing instead of external to overcome exchange rate fluctuation problem.

The political economy of healthcare reform in China: negotiating public and private.

Science.gov (United States)

Daemmrich, Arthur

2013-01-01

China's healthcare system is experiencing significant growth from expanded government-backed insurance, greater public-sector spending on hospitals, and the introduction of private insurance and for-profit clinics. An incremental reform process has sought to develop market incentives for medical innovation and liberalize physician compensation and hospital finance while continuing to keep basic care affordable to a large population that pays for many components of care out-of-pocket. Additional changes presently under consideration by policymakers are likely to further restructure insurance and the delivery of care and will alter competitive dynamics in major healthcare industries, notably pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostic testing. This article describes the institutional history of China's healthcare system and identifies dilemmas emerging as the country negotiates divisions between public and private in healthcare. Building on this analysis, the article considers opportunities for public-private partnerships and greater systems integration to reconcile otherwise incommensurable approaches to rewarding innovation and improving access. The article concludes with observations on the public function of health insurance and its significance to further development of China's healthcare system.

Individuals with greater science literacy and education have more polarized beliefs on controversial science topics

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Although Americans generally hold science in high regard and respect its findings, for some contested issues, such as the existence of anthropogenic climate change, public opinion is polarized along religious and political lines. We ask whether individuals with more general education and greater science knowledge, measured in terms of science education and science literacy, display more (or less) polarized beliefs on several such issues. We report secondary analyses of a nationally representative dataset (the General Social Survey), examining the predictors of beliefs regarding six potentially controversial issues. We find that beliefs are correlated with both political and religious identity for stem cell research, the Big Bang, and human evolution, and with political identity alone on climate change. Individuals with greater education, science education, and science literacy display more polarized beliefs on these issues. We find little evidence of political or religious polarization regarding nanotechnology and genetically modified foods. On all six topics, people who trust the scientific enterprise more are also more likely to accept its findings. We discuss the causal mechanisms that might underlie the correlation between education and identity-based polarization. PMID:28827344

Mobilisation for public engagement: Benchmarking the practices of research institutes.

Science.gov (United States)

Entradas, Marta; Bauer, Martin M

2017-10-01

Studies on scientists' practices of public engagement have pointed to variations between disciplines. If variations at the individual level are reflected at the institutional level, then research institutes in Social Sciences (and Humanities) should perform higher in public engagement and be more involved in dialogue with the public. Using a nearly complete sample of research institutes in Portugal 2014 ( n = 234, 61% response rate), we investigate how public engagement varies in intensity, type of activities and target audiences across scientific areas. Three benchmark findings emerge. First, the Social Sciences and the Humanities profile differently in public engagement highlighting the importance of distinguishing between these two scientific areas often conflated in public engagement studies. Second, the Social Sciences overall perform more public engagement activities, but the Natural Sciences mobilise more effort for public engagement. Third, while the Social Sciences play a greater role in civic public engagement, the Natural Sciences are more likely to perform educational activities. Finally, this study shows that the overall size of research institutes, available public engagement funding and public engagement staffing make a difference in institutes' public engagement.

Gambling and the Health of the Public: Adopting a Public Health Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Korn, David A.; Shaffer, Howard J.

1999-01-01

During the last decade there has been an unprecedented expansion of legalized gambling throughout North America. Three primary forces appear to be motivating this growth: (1) the desire of governments to identify new sources of revenue without invoking new or higher taxes; (2) tourism entrepreneurs developing new destinations for entertainment and leisure; and (3) the rise of new technologies and forms of gambling (e.g., video lottery terminals, powerball mega-lotteries, and computer offshore gambling). Associated with this phenomenon, there has been an increase in the prevalence of problem and pathological gambling among the general adult population, as well as a sustained high level of gambling-related problems among youth. To date there has been little dialogue within the public health sector in particular, or among health care practitioners in general, about the potential health impact of gambling or gambling-related problems. This article encourages the adoption of a public health perspective towards gambling. More specifically, this discussion has four primary objectives:1. Create awareness among health professionals about gambling, its rapid expansion and its relationship with the health care system;2. Place gambling within a public health framework by examining it from several perspectives, including population health, human ecology and addictive behaviors;3. Outline the major public health issues about how gambling can affect individuals, families and communities;4. Propose an agenda for strengthening policy, prevention and treatment practices through greater public health involvement, using the framework of The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion as a guide.By understanding gambling and its potential impacts on the public's health, policy makers and health practitioners can minimize gambling's negative impacts and appreciate its potential benefits.

Patriotic Rhetoric in Chinese Public Spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pawel Zygadlo

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper begins with the analysis of the socio-cultural phenomenon known as “public space.” This analysis is followed by the reflection on distinctive features of public space in contemporary China. Subsequently, I focus on the use of public space by Chinese authorities for spreading official political and ideological discourse. For this purpose, I analyse the form and content of messages displayed in places of public utility. I conclude by showing what, how and why these are being displayed and widely promoted by the authorities. I argue that public space in China, on the one hand, is “public” in the sense that it is accessible and used by citizens; on the other, it is “arrested by authorities” and used for their socio-political and ideological purposes. Such an arrangement is a statement of the unvocalised agreement between the authorities and citizens that allows the former to avoid major conflicts with the latter and legitimise political power. In return, the latter enjoy a wide range of socio-cultural freedom and are being provided with psychological comfort resulting from identification with a greater endeavour of restoring the glory of the Chinese nation.

Articles Published and Downloaded by Public Health Scientists: Analysis of Data From the CDC Public Health Library, 2011-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Iskander, John; Bang, Gail; Stupp, Emma; Connick, Kathy; Gomez, Onnalee; Gidudu, Jane

2016-01-01

To describe scientific information usage and publication patterns of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Library and Information Center patrons. Administratively collected patron usage data and aggregate data on CDC-authored publications from the CDC Library for 3 consecutive years were analyzed. The CDC Public Health Library and Information Center, which serves CDC employees nationally and internationally. Internal patrons and external users of the CDC Library. Three-year trends in full-text article publication and downloads including most common journals used for each purpose, systematic literature searches requested and completed, and subscriptions to a weekly public health current literature awareness service. From 2011 to 2013, CDC scientists published a total of 7718 articles in the peer-reviewed literature. During the same period, article downloads from the CDC Library increased 25% to more than 1.1 million, completed requests for reviews of the scientific literature increased by 34%, and electronic subscriptions to literature compilation services increased by 23%. CDC's scientific output and information use via the CDC Library are both increasing. Researchers and field staff are making greater use of literature review services and other customized information content delivery. Virtual public health library access is an increasingly important resource for the scientific practice of public health.

Public enterprises in natural resource industries: an economic analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fulton, M.E.

1985-01-01

Public enterprises are playing an ever increasing role in natural resource industries. This research analyzes the reason for this involvement, i.e., what have been the objectives of public firms, the objectives of other firms; and the reasons behind exploration in natural resource industries. An answer to the first question was obtained by estimating the objective function of a publicly owned uranium company operating in Saskatchewan, Canada. It was assumed the company solved a linear quadratic optimal control problem. The conclusion was that over the period 1974-1984 the company preferred to trade off profits for higher employment, larger reserve holdings, and greater output. The objectives of the other firms in the Saskatchewan uranium industry were also investigated. It was found that producers integrated with utilities can expect to make a much greater rate of return on exploration that nonintegrated producers, since the former group stands to gain both from the reduction in costs and the reduction in price resulting from exploration. The suggests that overinvestment in the Saskatchewan uranium industry may be a problem. The final item investigated is the normative question of what the objective of a public firm operating alongside a private firm in an oligopolistic industry should be in order that resources in the industry are used efficiently; the answer to this question depends upon the structure of the industry

Working Together to Achieve Greater Impact: The Donors' Education Collaborative of New York City. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case in Brief Number 3

Science.gov (United States)

Grantmakers for Education, 2012

2012-01-01

Since the mid-1990s, constituency building and advocacy for better public education have grown steadily in New York City. "Working Together to Achieve Greater Impact" explores how that growth was fueled by the Donors' Education Collaborative of New York, which pools its members' financial resources and expertise to advance shared…

Nursing organizational climates in public and private hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

García, I García; Castillo, R F; Santa-Bárbara, E S

2014-06-01

Researchers study climate to gain an understanding of the psychological environment of organizations, especially in healthcare institutions. Climate is considered to be the set of recurring patterns of individual and group behaviour in an organization. There is evidence confirming a relationship between ethical climate within organizations and job satisfaction. The aim of this study is to describe organizational climate for nursing personnel in public and private hospitals and to confirm the relationships among the climate variables of such hospitals. A correlational study was carried out to measure the organizational climate of one public hospital and two private hospitals in Granada. The Work Environment Scale was used for data collection. The Work Environment Scale includes 10 scales, ranging from 0 to 9, which were used to evaluate social, demographic and organizational climate variables. In this study, 386 subjects were surveyed in three hospitals. A total of 87% of the participants were female and 16% were male. Most participants were nurses (65.6%), followed by nursing aides (20%), and technicians (14.4%). The results obtained reflected different patterns of organizational climate formation, based on hospital type (i.e. public or private) within the Spanish context. Most of the dimensions were below the midpoint of the scale. In conclusion, in public hospitals, there is a greater specialization and the organizational climate is more salient than in the private hospitals. In addition, in the public hospitals, the characteristics of the human resources and their management can have a significant impact on the perception of the climate, which gives greater importance to the organizational climate as decisive of the ethical climate. © The Author(s) 2013.

Adolescent gambling in greater Athens area: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Anagnostopoulos, Dimitris C; Lazaratou, Helen; Paleologou, Mina P; Peppou, Lily E; Economou, Marina; Malliori, Melpomeni; Papadimitriou, George N; Papageorgiou, Charalampos

2017-11-01

Problem gambling in adolescents has recently emerged as a pressing public health concern. In this context and in light of the pervasive financial crisis in Greece, the present study aimed to explore adolescents' gambling involvement in Athens region to estimate the prevalence of its problematic form and to identify its risk/protective factors. A total of 2141 students were recruited from a representative sample of 51 schools located in greater Athens area. The presence of problem gambling was assessed through the use of the DSM-IV-MR-J questionnaire. Data were collected in the form of a self-reported questionnaire during one school hour. Results indicate that 1-year prevalence of high severity problem gambling was found to be 5.6%. Regarding the risk factors for problem gambling; male gender, parental engagement with gambling activities, living without the parents, low grades at school, foreign nationality and the referent absence of availability of food in the household, increased the risk of suffering from the disorder. Gambling behavior among adolescents constitutes a problem in Greece and highlights the need for designing and implementing appropriate preventive interventions, especially amid the ongoing financial crisis.

Cost comparison between private and public collection of residual household waste: Multiple case studies in the Flemish region of Belgium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobsen, R.; Buysse, J.; Gellynck, X.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► The goal is to compare collection costs for residual household waste. ► We have clustered all municipalities in order to find mutual comparable pairs. ► Each pair consists of one private and one public operating waste collection program. ► All cases show that private service has lower costs than public service. ► Municipalities were contacted to identify the deeper causes for the waste management program. - Abstract: The rising pressure in terms of cost efficiency on public services pushes governments to transfer part of those services to the private sector. A trend towards more privatizing can be noticed in the collection of municipal household waste. This paper reports the findings of a research project aiming to compare the cost between the service of private and public collection of residual household waste. Multiple case studies of municipalities about the Flemish region of Belgium were conducted. Data concerning the year 2009 were gathered through in-depth interviews in 2010. In total 12 municipalities were investigated, divided into three mutual comparable pairs with a weekly and three mutual comparable pairs with a fortnightly residual waste collection. The results give a rough indication that in all cases the cost of private service is lower than public service in the collection of household waste. Albeit that there is an interest in establishing whether there are differences in the costs and service levels between public and private waste collection services, there are clear difficulties in establishing comparisons that can be made without having to rely on a large number of assumptions and corrections. However, given the cost difference, it remains the responsibility of the municipalities to decide upon the service they offer their citizens, regardless the cost efficiency: public or private.

Cost comparison between private and public collection of residual household waste: Multiple case studies in the Flemish region of Belgium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jacobsen, R., E-mail: ray.jacobsen@ugent.be [Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent (Belgium); Buysse, J., E-mail: j.buysse@ugent.be [Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent (Belgium); Gellynck, X., E-mail: xavier.gellynck@ugent.be [Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent (Belgium)

2013-01-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The goal is to compare collection costs for residual household waste. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We have clustered all municipalities in order to find mutual comparable pairs. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Each pair consists of one private and one public operating waste collection program. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer All cases show that private service has lower costs than public service. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Municipalities were contacted to identify the deeper causes for the waste management program. - Abstract: The rising pressure in terms of cost efficiency on public services pushes governments to transfer part of those services to the private sector. A trend towards more privatizing can be noticed in the collection of municipal household waste. This paper reports the findings of a research project aiming to compare the cost between the service of private and public collection of residual household waste. Multiple case studies of municipalities about the Flemish region of Belgium were conducted. Data concerning the year 2009 were gathered through in-depth interviews in 2010. In total 12 municipalities were investigated, divided into three mutual comparable pairs with a weekly and three mutual comparable pairs with a fortnightly residual waste collection. The results give a rough indication that in all cases the cost of private service is lower than public service in the collection of household waste. Albeit that there is an interest in establishing whether there are differences in the costs and service levels between public and private waste collection services, there are clear difficulties in establishing comparisons that can be made without having to rely on a large number of assumptions and corrections. However, given the cost difference, it remains the responsibility of the municipalities to decide upon the service they offer their citizens, regardless the cost efficiency: public or private.

The cardiovascular effects of aortic clamping and unclamping

African Journals Online (AJOL)

aortic clamping is that afterload and blood pressure increase, and ... individually, albeit they interact with each other. The degree of ... position of the aortic clamp, the greater the increase ... the increase in preload in response to aortic clamping.

Public lighting tele-diagnosis and control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Auditor,

1990-12-01

Greater efficiency and reliability can be input into public lighting systems through the use of innovative electronic on-line control and monitoring systems. These employ microprocessors to manage a central control center for the automatic, partial or total, switching on and off of the lights, as well as, for regulating their intensity; for indicating power shortages at inlets and outlets; automatically controlling relays; detecting and indicating, through analog or digital displays, voltage, current, lighting intensity, etc. The microprocessors are also incorporated in auto-test circuits at each individual lighting unit to monitor and relay the information on the unit's operational condition back to the control center. This results in overall cost and energy savings for the public utility.

The potential for research-based information in public health: Identifying unrecognised information needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Forsetlund Louise

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objective To explore whether there is a potential for greater use of research-based information in public health practice in a local setting. Secondly, if research-based information is relevant, to explore the extent to which this generates questioning behaviour. Design Qualitative study using focus group discussions, observation and interviews. Setting Public health practices in Norway. Participants 52 public health practitioners. Results In general, the public health practitioners had a positive attitude towards research-based information, but believed that they had few cases requiring this type of information. They did say, however, that there might be a potential for greater use. During five focus groups and six observation days we identified 28 questions/cases where it would have been appropriate to seek out research evidence according to our definition. Three of the public health practitioners identified three of these 28 cases as questions for which research-based information could have been relevant. This gap is interpreted as representing unrecognised information needs. Conclusions There is an unrealised potential in public health practice for more frequent and extensive use of research-based information. The practitioners did not appear to reflect on the need for scientific information when faced with new cases and few questions of this type were generated.

Long-term storage of Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magleby, M.T.

1990-01-01

Under Federal law, the Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for safe disposal of Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Waste (GTCC LLW) generated by licenses of the Nuclear Regulatory commission (NRC) or Agreement States. Such waste must be disposed of in a facility licensed by the NRC. It is unlikely that licensed disposal of GTCC LLW will be available prior to the year 2010. Pending availability of disposal capacity, DOE is assessing the need for collective, long-term storage of GTCC LLW. Potential risks to public health and safety caused by long-term storage of GTCC LLW at the place of generation will be evaluated to determine if alternative facilities are warranted. If warranted, several options will be investigated to determine the preferred alternative for long-term storage. These options include modification of an existing DOE facility, development of a new DOE facility, or development of a facility by the private sector with or without DOE support. Reasonable costs for long-term storage would be borne by the waste generators. 5 refs., 1 fig

[Technical efficiency of traditional hospitals and public enterprises in Andalusia (Spain)].

Science.gov (United States)

Herrero Tabanera, Luis; Martín Martín, José Jesús; López del Amo González, Ma del Puerto

2015-01-01

To assess the technical efficiency of traditional public hospitals without their own legal identity and subject to administrative law, and that of public enterprise hospitals, with their own legal identities and partly governed by private law, all of them belonging to the taxypayer-funded health system of Andalusia during the period 2005 -2008. The study included the 32 publicly-owned hospitals in Andalusia during the period 2005-2008. The method consisted of two stages. In the first stage, the indices of technical efficiency of the hospitals were calculated using Data Envelopment Analysis, and the change in total factor productivity was estimated using the Malmquist index. The results were compared according to perceived quality, and a sensitivity analysis was conducted through an auxiliary model and bootstrapping. In the second stage, a bivariate analysis was performed between hospital efficiency and organization type. Public enterprises were more efficient than traditional hospitals (on average by over 10%) in each of the study years. Nevertheless, a process of convergence was observed between the two types of organizations because, while the efficiency of traditional hospitals increased slightly (by 0.50%) over the study period, the performance of public enterprises declined by over 2%. The possible reasons for the greater efficiency of public enterprises include their greater budgetary and employment flexibility. However, the convergence process observed points to a process of mutual learning that is not necessarily efficient. Copyright © 2014 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Fractures of the greater trochanter following total hip replacement.

Science.gov (United States)

Brun, Ole-Christian L; Maansson, Lukas

2013-01-01

We studied the incidence of greater trochanteric fractures at our department following THR. In all we examined 911 patients retrospectively and found the occurance of a greater trochanteric fracture to be 3%. Patients with fractures had significantly poorer outcome on Oxford Hip score, Pain VAS, Satisfaction VAS and EQ-5D compared to THR without fractures. Greater trochanteric fracture following THR is one of the most common complications following THR. It has previously been thought to have little impact on the overall outcome following THR, but our study suggests otherwise.

Transparency as an element of public confidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, H.K.

2007-01-01

In the modern society, there is increasing demands for greater transparency. It has been discussed with respect to corruption or ethics issues in social science. The need for greater openness and transparency in nuclear regulation is widely recognised as public expectations on regulator grow. It is also related to the digital and information technology that enables disclosures of every activity and information of individual and organisation, characterised by numerous 'small brothers'. Transparency has become a key word in this ubiquitous era. Transparency in regulatory activities needs to be understood in following contexts. First, transparency is one of elements to build public confidence in regulator and eventually to achieve regulatory goal of providing the public with satisfaction at nuclear safety. Transparent bases of competence, independence, ethics and integrity of working process of regulatory body would enhance public confidence. Second, activities transmitting information on nuclear safety and preparedness to be accessed are different types of transparency. Communication is an active method of transparency. With increasing use of web-sites, 'digital transparency' is also discussed as passive one. Transparency in regulatory process may be more important than that of contents. Simply providing more information is of little value and specific information may need to be protected for security reason. Third, transparency should be discussed in international, national and organizational perspectives. It has been demanded through international instruments. for each country, transparency is demanded by residents, public, NGOs, media and other stakeholders. Employees also demand more transparency in operating and regulatory organisations. Whistle-blower may appear unless they are satisfied. Fourth, pursuing transparency may cause undue social cost or adverse effects. Over-transparency may decrease public confidence and the process for transparency may also hinder

THICS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. CASE STUDY – ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Răzvan\tVIORESCU

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Public services represent useful activities designated to meet a social need. The laws and regulations empower the activities of public services, without indicating the motives for public services. The impact of government in day to day life of citizens and communities is increasingly greater in terms of both public affairs management and budgetary aspect. The power to spend the community resources and to influence the lives of others means at the same time a great responsibility. That is the responsibility to act morally (with integrity and ensure effective spending of resources. This means not to corrupt and do not let yourself be bribed, but it also means openness to dialogue with stakeholders, internal organizational climate of trust and cooperation, internal procedures to ensure ethical advise. In this sense, in the last 20 years, the public sector has developed legal rules or internal policies, procedures and organizational tools to ensure the integrity and responsible leadership. Public organizations have adopted and applied ethics codes, procedures regarding conflicts of interest, whistleblowing, declaring gifts and other measures to prevent corruption.

Greater temperature sensitivity of plant phenology at colder sites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prevey, Janet; Vellend, Mark; Ruger, Nadja

2017-01-01

Warmer temperatures are accelerating the phenology of organisms around the world. Temperature sensitivity of phenology might be greater in colder, higher latitude sites than in warmer regions, in part because small changes in temperature constitute greater relative changes in thermal balance...

Greater Somalia, the never-ending dream?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zoppi, Marco

2015-01-01

This paper provides an historical analysis of the concept of Greater Somalia, the nationalist project that advocates the political union of all Somali-speaking people, including those inhabiting areas in current Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. The Somali territorial unification project of “lost...

Ecological public health and climate change policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, George P

2010-01-01

The fact that health and disease are products of a complex interaction of factors has long been recognized in public health circles. More recently, the term 'ecological public health' has been used to characterize an era underpinned by the paradigm that, when it comes to health and well-being, 'everything matters'. The challenge for policy makers is one of navigating this complexity to deliver better health and greater equality in health. Recent work in Scotland has been concerned to develop a strategic approach to environment and health. This seeks to embrace complexity within that agenda and recognize a more subtle relationship between health and place but remain practical and relevant to a more traditional hazard-focused environmental health approach. The Good Places, Better Health initiative is underpinned by a new problem-framing approach using a conceptual model developed for that purpose. This requires consideration of a wider social, behavioural etc, context. The approach is also used to configure the core systems of the strategy which gather relevant intelligence, subject it to a process of evaluation and direct its outputs to a broad policy constituency extending beyond health and environment. This paper highlights that an approach, conceived and developed to deliver better health and greater equality in health through action on physical environment, also speaks to a wider public health agenda. Specifically it offers a way to help bridge a gap between paradigm and policy in public health. The author considers that with development, a systems-based approach with close attention to problem-framing/situational modelling may prove useful in orchestrating what is a necessarily complex policy response to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Internal Communication in the Public Management: The Case of a Brazilian Federal Public Authority

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priscila Reinaldo Marson

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The intention of this article is to present a case study on the adoption and use of new channels of internal communication in a federal public autarchy. The study was conducted at the National Institute of Social Security, in São Paulo, between July 2008 and July 2009, and aimed to monitor the period in which a new internal communication plan was developed and implemented in its initial phase. The research methodology used was the case study, consisting of documentary analysis, field research and in-depth interviews conducted with the institution’s public employees. As a result, it was possible to observe the internal resistance and the difficulties encountered in the management of the new plan. Among its conclusions, the study highlights the need for a previous study on the conditions of relationships and practices developed in a public service unit at the adoption of new communication tools. It also highlights the importance of planning and management actions in the implementation of the intended communication actions, including internal marketing efforts to sensitize users about the meaning and importance of internal communication in promoting greater agility and efficiency in the workplace, in order to offer best public services to users.

Racial and Economic Diversity in U.S. Public Montessori Schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mira Catherine Debs

2016-11-01

Full Text Available As public Montessori schools rapidly expand through the United States, the question then arises: What population of students do the schools serve? This study presents a new empirical data set examining the racial and economic diversity of 300 whole-school, public Montessori programs open in 2012–2013, where the entire school uses the Montessori Method. While school-choice scholars are concerned that choice programs like Montessori lead to greater student segregation by race and social class, this study finds a variety of outcomes for public Montessori. Public Montessori as a sector has strengths in student racial and socioeconomic diversity, but it also has diversity challenges, particularly among Montessori charters. The study concludes with recommended strategies for public Montessori schools to enroll a racially and economically diverse student body.

Assessing Human Impacts on the Greater Akaki River, Ethiopia ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We assessed the impacts of human activities on the Greater Akaki River using physicochemical parameters and macroinvertebrate metrics. Physicochemical samples and macroinvertebrates were collected bimonthly from eight sites established on the Greater Akaki River from February 2006 to April 2006. Eleven metrics ...

Molecular insights into the biology of Greater Sage-Grouse

Science.gov (United States)

Oyler-McCance, Sara J.; Quinn, Thomas W.

2011-01-01

Recent research on Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) genetics has revealed some important findings. First, multiple paternity in broods is more prevalent than previously thought, and leks do not comprise kin groups. Second, the Greater Sage-Grouse is genetically distinct from the congeneric Gunnison sage-grouse (C. minimus). Third, the Lyon-Mono population in the Mono Basin, spanning the border between Nevada and California, has unique genetic characteristics. Fourth, the previous delineation of western (C. u. phaios) and eastern Greater Sage-Grouse (C. u. urophasianus) is not supported genetically. Fifth, two isolated populations in Washington show indications that genetic diversity has been lost due to population declines and isolation. This chapter examines the use of molecular genetics to understand the biology of Greater Sage-Grouse for the conservation and management of this species and put it into the context of avian ecology based on selected molecular studies.

Thermoelectric power plant legislation in Italy: Public participation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dell'Anno, P.

1991-01-01

Existing Italian legislation describes public involvement in fossil fuel power plant environmental impacts assessments as merely the opportunity to express interest, since it does not acknowledge, in the usual procedural formulas, any actual role to be played by the public. This paper illustrates this point in its examination of the myriad of procedural requirements prescribed by Italian laws governing power plant feasibility analyses. It demonstrates that the recent addition of the environmental element to the standard economic and technological elements in proposal evaluations requires that efforts be made to reduce the complexity of administrative procedures, and that mechanisms be created to allow the public, who will be most affected by any final ruling, a greater say in the decision making

Pattern and correlates of obesity among public service workers in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Isaac Aladeniyi

Relevant demographic and lifestyle measures were obtained using the World Health Organization ... activity patterns, leading to energy imbalance and, consequently, obesity.10. Public service workers constitute the greater percentage of a nation's workforce and ... could affect their cardiometabolic health negatively, reduce.

INDUSTRIAL LAND DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURING DECONCENTRATION IN GREATER JAKARTA

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hudalah, Delik; Viantari, Dimitra; Firman, Tommy; Woltjer, Johan

2013-01-01

Industrial land development has become a key feature of urbanization in Greater Jakarta, one of the largest metropolitan areas in Southeast Asia. Following Suharto's market-oriented policy measures in the late 1980s, private developers have dominated the land development projects in Greater Jakarta.

"What is meant by public?": Stakeholder views on strengthening impacts of public reporting of hospital performance data.

Science.gov (United States)

Canaway, Rachel; Bismark, Marie; Dunt, David; Prang, Khic-Houy; Kelaher, Margaret

2018-04-01

Public reporting of hospital performance data is a developing area that is gaining increased attention. This is the first study to explore a range of stakeholder opinions on how such public reporting could be strengthened in Australia. Thirty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of expert healthcare consumer, provider and purchaser informants who worked in a variety of senior roles and had knowledge of or involvement in public reporting of hospital data within the public or private healthcare sectors. Informants from all Australian states, territory and national jurisdictions participated. Thematic analysis was used to gain an overview of experts' opinions to inform policy and systems-development for strengthening foundational frameworks for public reporting of health services performance. Themes arising were synthesised to generate explanatory figures to highlight key areas for strengthening public reporting. Our findings suggest that in Australia there is a lack of agreement on what the objectives and who the audience are for public reporting of hospital performance data. Without this shared understanding it is difficult to strengthen frameworks and impacts of public reporting. When developing frameworks for public reporting of hospital data in Australia, more explicit definition of what or who are the 'public' is needed along with identification of barriers, desired impacts, data needs, and data collection/reporting/feedback mechanisms. All relevant stakeholders should be involved in design of public reporting frameworks. Offering multiple systems of public reporting, each tailored to particular audiences, might enable greater impact of reporting towards improved hospital quality and safety, and consumer knowledge to inform treatment decisions. This study provides an overview of perspectives, but further research is warranted to develop PR frameworks that can generate greatest impacts for the needs of various audiences

Evidence of public engagement with science: visitor learning at a zoo-housed primate research centre.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bridget M Waller

Full Text Available Primate behavioural and cognitive research is increasingly conducted on direct public view in zoo settings. The potential of such facilities for public engagement with science is often heralded, but evidence of tangible, positive effects on public understanding is rare. Here, the effect of a new zoo-based primate research centre on visitor behaviour, learning and attitudes was assessed using a quasi-experimental design. Zoo visitors approached the primate research centre more often when a scientist was present and working with the primates, and reported greater awareness of primates (including conservation compared to when the scientist was not present. Visitors also reported greater perceived learning when the scientist was present. Installation of information signage had no main effect on visitor attitudes or learning. Visitors who interacted with the signage, however, demonstrated increased knowledge and understanding when asked about the specific information present on the signs (which was related to the ongoing facial expression research at the research centre. The findings show that primate behaviour research centres on public view can have a demonstrable and beneficial effect on public understanding of science.

Evidence of public engagement with science: visitor learning at a zoo-housed primate research centre.

Science.gov (United States)

Waller, Bridget M; Peirce, Kate; Mitchell, Heidi; Micheletta, Jerome

2012-01-01

Primate behavioural and cognitive research is increasingly conducted on direct public view in zoo settings. The potential of such facilities for public engagement with science is often heralded, but evidence of tangible, positive effects on public understanding is rare. Here, the effect of a new zoo-based primate research centre on visitor behaviour, learning and attitudes was assessed using a quasi-experimental design. Zoo visitors approached the primate research centre more often when a scientist was present and working with the primates, and reported greater awareness of primates (including conservation) compared to when the scientist was not present. Visitors also reported greater perceived learning when the scientist was present. Installation of information signage had no main effect on visitor attitudes or learning. Visitors who interacted with the signage, however, demonstrated increased knowledge and understanding when asked about the specific information present on the signs (which was related to the ongoing facial expression research at the research centre). The findings show that primate behaviour research centres on public view can have a demonstrable and beneficial effect on public understanding of science.

Epidemiological link of a major cholera outbreak in Greater Accra region of Ghana, 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohene-Adjei, Kennedy; Kenu, Ernest; Bandoh, Delia Akosua; Addo, Prince Nii Ossah; Noora, Charles Lwanga; Nortey, Priscillia; Afari, Edwin Andrew

2017-10-11

Cholera remains an important public health challenge globally. Several pandemics have occurred in different parts of the world and have been epidemiologically linked by different researchers to illustrate how the cases were spread and how they were related to index cases. Even though the risk factors associated with the 2014 cholera outbreak were investigated extensively, the link between index cases and the source of infection was not investigated to help break the transmission process. This study sought to show how the index cases from various districts of the Greater Accra Region may have been linked. We carried out a descriptive cross sectional study to investigate the epidemiological link of the 2014 cholera outbreak in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. An extensive review of all district records on cholera cases in the Greater Accra region was carried out. Index cases were identified with the help of line lists. Univariate analyses were expressed as frequency distributions, percentages, mean ± Standard Deviation, and rates (attack rates, case-fatality rates etc.) as appropriate. Maps were drawn using Arc GIS and Epi info software to describe the pattern of transmission. Up to 20,199 cholera cases were recorded. Sixty percent of the cases were between 20 and 40 years and about 58% (11,694) of the total cases were males. Almost 50% of the cases occurred in the Accra Metro district. Two-thirds of the index cases ate food prepared outside their home and had visited the Accra Metropolis. The 2014 cholera outbreak can be described as a propagated source outbreak linked to the Accra Metropolis. The link between index cases and the source of infection, if investigated earlier could have helped break the transmission process. Such investigations also inform decision-making about the appropriate interventions to be instituted to prevent subsequent outbreaks.

BP reactivity to public speaking in stage 1 hypertension: influence of different task scenarios.

Science.gov (United States)

Palatini, Paolo; Bratti, Paolo; Palomba, Daniela; Bonso, Elisa; Saladini, Francesca; Benetti, Elisabetta; Casiglia, Edoardo

2011-10-01

To investigate the blood pressure (BP) reaction to public speaking performed according to different emotionally distressing scenarios in stage 1 hypertension. METHODS. We assessed 64 hypertensive and 30 normotensive subjects. They performed three speech tasks with neutral, anger and anxiety scenarios. BP was assessed with the Finometer beat-to-beat non-invasive recording system throughout the test procedure. For all types of speech, the systolic BP response was greater in the hypertensive than the normotensive subjects (all p public speaking is increased in stage 1 hypertension. A speech with anxiety or anger scenario elicits a greater diastolic BP reaction than tasks with neutral content.

Measles outbreak in Greater Manchester, England, October 2012 to September 2013: epidemiology and control.

Science.gov (United States)

Pegorie, M; Shankar, K; Welfare, W S; Wilson, R W; Khiroya, C; Munslow, G; Fiefield, D; Bothra, V; McCann, R

2014-12-11

This paper describes the epidemiology and management of a prolonged outbreak of measles across the 2.7 million conurbation of Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. Over a period of one year (from October 2012 to September 2013), over a thousand suspected measles cases (n = 1,073) were notified across Greater Manchester; of these, 395 (37%) were laboratory-confirmed, 91 (8%) were classed as probable, 312 (29%) were classed as possible and 275 (26%) excluded. Most confirmed and probable cases occurred in children within two age groups—infants (too young to be eligible for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination according to the national immunisation programme) and children aged 10-19 years (low vaccine uptake in this cohort because of unfounded alleged links between the MMR vaccine and autism). During this one year period, there were a series of local outbreaks and many of these occurred within the secondary school setting. A series of public health measures were taken to control this prolonged outbreak: setting up incident management teams to control local outbreaks, a concerted immunisation catch-up campaign (initially local then national) to reduce the pool of children partially or totally unprotected against measles, and the exclusion of close contacts from nurseries and school settings for a period of 10 days following the last exposure to a case of measles.

Does Competition Improve Public School Efficiency? A Spatial Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Misra, Kaustav

2010-01-01

Proponents of educational reform often call for policies to increase competition between schools. It is argued that market forces naturally lead to greater efficiencies, including improved student learning, when schools face competition. In many parts of the country, public schools experience significant competition from private schools; however,…

Strategies for Talent Management: Greater Philadelphia Companies in Action

Science.gov (United States)

Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (NJ1), 2008

2008-01-01

Human capital is one of the critical issues that impacts the Greater Philadelphia region's ability to grow and prosper. The CEO Council for Growth (CEO Council) is committed to ensuring a steady and talented supply of quality workers for this region. "Strategies for Talent Management: Greater Philadelphia Companies in Action" provides…

Supporting SMEs in public sector bids.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Edward

2016-03-01

Edward James, workstream lead, Estates, Facilities and Professional Services Workstream, at NHS London Procurement Partnership (pictured), looks at the workings and benefits of Dynamic Purchasing Systems--electronic systems used by a public bodies to purchase commonly used goods, works, or services. One of the major benefits, he explains, is that under a 'DPS'--an 'open market' system revised in 2015--smaller businesses have a greater opportunity to win business than in traditional ('closed') framework agreements.

Greater oil investment opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arenas, Ismael Enrique

1997-01-01

Geologically speaking, Colombia is a very attractive country for the world oil community. According to this philosophy new and important steps are being taken to reinforce the oil sector: Expansion of the exploratory frontier by including a larger number of sedimentary areas, and the adoption of innovative contracting instruments. Colombia has to offer, Greater economic incentives for the exploration of new areas to expand the exploratory frontier, stimulation of exploration in areas with prospectivity for small fields. Companies may offer Ecopetrol a participation in production over and above royalties, without it's participating in the investments and costs of these fields, more favorable conditions for natural gas seeking projects, in comparison with those governing the terms for oil

Risk tradeoffs and public health protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Charnley, G.

1998-01-01

Full text of publication follows: over the last 25 years, the traditional command-and-control, chemical-by-chemical environmental medium-by-environmental medium, risk-by-risk approach to protecting public health from environmental risks has worked well to greatly improve the quality of our food, air, water, and workplaces, but we are now left with the more complex problems, like urban air pollution or personal dietary behavior, that a chemical-by-chemical approach is not going to solve. Because current environmental regulatory programs have curbed the 'low-hanging fruit' and because of today's emphasis on achieving risk reductions cost-effectively, new and creative public health-based approaches to risk management are needed. Since public concern about pollution-related disease become serious in the 1960's and 1970's and regulatory agencies and laws began to proliferate, the public health goals of environmental protection have been obscured. As a society, we have made a tradeoff between environmental health and public health. The public health foundation of environmental health protection has been obscured by legalistic, technical, centralized decision-making processes that have often mistaken hazard for risk. A greater focus on public health would help us to assess aggregate risks and to target risk management resources by focusing on a problem and then identifying what is causing the problem as a guide to determining how best to solve it. Most of our current approaches start with a cause and then try to eliminate it without determining the extent to which it actually may contribute to a problem, making it difficult to set priorities among risks or to evaluate the impact of risk management actions on public health. (author)

Nuclear attitudes and personality: informing our understanding of public acceptance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lloyd, E.R.; Donev, J. M.; Ellard, J.H.

2014-01-01

What distinguishes the supporter of nuclear power from the antagonist? The influence that public opinions may have on industry success necessitates a greater understanding of the reasons and factors behind public attitudes. The present study identified two psychometric traits, Emotionality and Need for Cognition, which were related to nuclear support even after accounting for gender differences. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for understanding nuclear attitudes and ends by proposing avenues for future research in this area. (author)

Nuclear attitudes and personality: informing our understanding of public acceptance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lloyd, E.R.; Donev, J. M.; Ellard, J.H., E-mail: erlloyd@ucalgary.ca, E-mail: jason.donev@ucalgary.ca [Univ. of Calgary, Calgary, AB (Canada)

2014-07-01

What distinguishes the supporter of nuclear power from the antagonist? The influence that public opinions may have on industry success necessitates a greater understanding of the reasons and factors behind public attitudes. The present study identified two psychometric traits, Emotionality and Need for Cognition, which were related to nuclear support even after accounting for gender differences. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for understanding nuclear attitudes and ends by proposing avenues for future research in this area. (author)

Improving greater trochanteric reattachment with a novel cable plate system.

Science.gov (United States)

Baril, Yannick; Bourgeois, Yan; Brailovski, Vladimir; Duke, Kajsa; Laflamme, G Yves; Petit, Yvan

2013-03-01

Cable-grip systems are commonly used for greater trochanteric reattachment because they have provided the best fixation performance to date, even though they have a rather high complication rate. A novel reattachment system is proposed with the aim of improving fixation stability. It consists of a Y-shaped fixation plate combined with locking screws and superelastic cables to reduce cable loosening and limit greater trochanter movement. The novel system is compared with a commercially available reattachment system in terms of greater trochanter movement and cable tensions under different greater trochanteric abductor application angles. A factorial design of experiments was used including four independent variables: plate system, cable type, abductor application angle, and femur model. The test procedure included 50 cycles of simultaneous application of an abductor force on the greater trochanter and a hip force on the femoral head. The novel plate reduces the movements of a greater trochanter fragment within a single loading cycle up to 26%. Permanent degradation of the fixation (accumulated movement based on 50-cycle testing) is reduced up to 46%. The use of superelastic cables reduces tension loosening up to 24%. However this last improvement did not result in a significant reduction of the grater trochanter movement. The novel plate and cables present advantages over the commercially available greater trochanter reattachment system. The plate reduces movements generated by the hip abductor. The superelastic cables reduce cable loosening during cycling. Both of these positive effects could decrease the risks related to grater trochanter non-union. Copyright © 2012 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Study of basic computer competence among public health nurses in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kuei-Feng; Yu, Shu; Lin, Ming-Sheng; Hsu, Chia-Ling

2004-03-01

Rapid advances in information technology and media have made distance learning on the Internet possible. This new model of learning allows greater efficiency and flexibility in knowledge acquisition. Since basic computer competence is a prerequisite for this new learning model, this study was conducted to examine the basic computer competence of public health nurses in Taiwan and explore factors influencing computer competence. A national cross-sectional randomized study was conducted with 329 public health nurses. A questionnaire was used to collect data and was delivered by mail. Results indicate that basic computer competence of public health nurses in Taiwan is still needs to be improved (mean = 57.57 +- 2.83, total score range from 26-130). Among the five most frequently used software programs, nurses were most knowledgeable about Word and least knowledgeable about PowerPoint. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed eight variables (weekly number of hours spent online at home, weekly amount of time spent online at work, weekly frequency of computer use at work, previous computer training, computer at workplace and Internet access, job position, education level, and age) that significantly influenced computer competence, which accounted for 39.0 % of the variance. In conclusion, greater computer competence, broader educational programs regarding computer technology, and a greater emphasis on computers at work are necessary to increase the usefulness of distance learning via the Internet in Taiwan. Building a user-friendly environment is important in developing this new media model of learning for the future.

The quality of family planning services and client satisfaction in the public and private sectors in Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Agha, Sohail; Do, Mai

2009-04-01

To compare the quality of family planning services delivered at public and private facilities in Kenya. Data from the 2004 Kenya Service Provision Assessment were analysed. The Kenya Service Provision Assessment is a representative sample of health facilities in the public and private sectors, and comprises data obtained from a facility inventory, service provider interviews, observations of client-provider interactions and exit interviews. Quality-of-care indicators are compared between the public and private sectors along three dimensions: structure, process and outcome. Private facilities were superior to public sector facilities in terms of physical infrastructure and the availability of services. Public sector facilities were more likely to have management systems in place. There was no difference between public and private providers in the technical quality of care provided. Private providers were better at managing interpersonal aspects of care. The higher level of client satisfaction at private facilities could not be explained by differences between public and private facilities in structural and process aspects of care. Formal private sector facilities providing family planning services exhibit greater readiness to provide services and greater attention to client needs than public sector facilities in Kenya. Consistent with this, client satisfaction is much higher at private facilities. Technical quality of care provided is similar in public and private facilities.

Bus transport in Greater Manchester

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard; Gudmundsson, Henrik

component regards the organisation of public bus transport at the local level. This involves the deregulation and privatisation reforms introduced by the Conservative Government from 1986 onwards, as well as the ‘partnerships’ and other new instruments introduced by the Labour Government in the Transport...

Superincentive public transport contracting in the greater Amsterdam area

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bakker, B.; Van de Velde, D.M.

2009-01-01

All suburban/regional bus services around Amsterdam City have been submitted to competitive tendering. This is done under a very innovative form of revenue-based contract that can be classified as a ‘super incentive’ contract. Payments to operators (‘subsidies’) are based on realised passenger

Mayors and Public Education: The Case for Greater Involvement

Science.gov (United States)

Usdan, Michael D.

2006-01-01

Over the last generation, a new politics of education has evolved throughout the United States. Since the 1983 watershed report "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), the country's most influential business and political leaders--and, more recently, mayors--have spearheaded efforts to improve student achievement…

Expanding the Immunology Toolbox: Embracing Public-Data Reuse and Crowdsourcing.

Science.gov (United States)

Sparks, Rachel; Lau, William W; Tsang, John S

2016-12-20

New technologies have been propelling dramatic increases in the volume and diversity of large-scale public data, which can potentially be reused to answer questions beyond those originally envisioned. However, this often requires computational and statistical skills beyond the reach of most bench scientists. The development of educational and accessible computational tools is thus critical, as are crowdsourcing efforts that utilize the community's expertise to curate public data for hypothesis generation and testing. Here we review the history of public-data reuse and argue for greater incorporation of computational and statistical sciences into the biomedical education curriculum and the development of biologist-friendly crowdsourcing tools. Finally, we provide a resource list for the reuse of public data and highlight an illustrative crowdsourcing exercise to explore public gene-expression data of human autoimmune diseases and corresponding mouse models. Through education, tool development, and community engagement, immunologists will be poised to transform public data into biological insights. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Public policy: effective treatment for tobacco disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Scheg, K E

1996-01-01

Public policy initiatives offer greater promise than other strategies for reducing the major public health problem of death and disease due to smoking. Three of the most critical public policy areas today are smoke-free environments, youth access, and advertising. While earlier laws separated smokers and nonsmokers into separate sections, the focus now is on smoke-free environments. Various places, however, most notably restaurants, often remain polluted with tobacco smoke and put women at heightened risk of disease and death. Restricting youth access to tobacco products has also gained momentum in the 1990s. The recently proposed Food and Drug Administration regulations designed to reduce smoking by minors by 50% over seven years are the most significant national public policy initiatives ever to address the problem of children smoking. Measures to counter the tobacco industry's massive advertising and promotion campaigns have also increased. The federal government has begun enforcing the prohibition on cigarette advertising on television, and local jurisdictions have restricted tobacco billboards and point-of-sale advertising.

Public pensions and unmet medical need among older people: cross-national analysis of 16 European countries, 2004-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, Aaron; McKee, Martin; Mackenbach, Johan; Whitehead, Margaret; Stuckler, David

2017-02-01

Since the onset of the Great Recession in Europe, unmet need for medical care has been increasing, especially in persons aged 65 or older. It is possible that public pensions buffer access to healthcare in older persons during times of economic crisis, but to our knowledge, this has not been tested empirically in Europe. We integrated panel data on 16 European countries for years 2004-2010 with indicators of public pension, unemployment insurance and sickness insurance entitlement from the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset and unmet need (due to cost) prevalence rates from EuroStat 2014 edition. Using country-level fixed-effects regression models, we evaluate whether greater public pension entitlement, which helps reduce old-age poverty, reduces the prevalence of unmet medical need in older persons and whether it reduces inequalities in unmet medical need across the income distribution. We found that each 1-unit increase in public pension entitlement is associated with a 1.11 percentage-point decline in unmet medical need due to cost among over 65s (95% CI -0.55 to -1.66). This association is strongest for the lowest income quintile (1.65 percentage points, 95% CI -1.19 to -2.10). Importantly, we found consistent evidence that out-of-pocket payments were linked with greater unmet needs, but that this association was mitigated by greater public pension entitlement (β=-1.21 percentage points, 95% CI -0.37 to -2.06). Greater public pension entitlement plays a crucial role in reducing inequalities in unmet medical need among older persons, especially in healthcare systems which rely heavily on out-of-pocket payments. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Smoking control: challenges and achievements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luiz Carlos Corrêa da Silva

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Smoking is the most preventable and controllable health risk. Therefore, all health care professionals should give their utmost attention to and be more focused on the problem of smoking. Tobacco is a highly profitable product, because of its large-scale production and great number of consumers. Smoking control policies and treatment resources for smoking cessation have advanced in recent years, showing highly satisfactory results, particularly in Brazil. However, there is yet a long way to go before smoking can be considered a controlled disease from a public health standpoint. We can already perceive that the behavior of our society regarding smoking is changing, albeit slowly. Therefore, pulmonologists have a very promising area in which to work with their patients and the general population. We must act with greater impetus in support of health care policies and social living standards that directly contribute to improving health and quality of life. In this respect, pulmonologists can play a greater role as they get more involved in treating smokers, strengthening anti-smoking laws, and demanding health care policies related to lung diseases.

Smoking control: challenges and achievements

Science.gov (United States)

da Silva, Luiz Carlos Corrêa; de Araújo, Alberto José; de Queiroz, Ângela Maria Dias; Sales, Maria da Penha Uchoa; Castellano, Maria Vera Cruz de Oliveira

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Smoking is the most preventable and controllable health risk. Therefore, all health care professionals should give their utmost attention to and be more focused on the problem of smoking. Tobacco is a highly profitable product, because of its large-scale production and great number of consumers. Smoking control policies and treatment resources for smoking cessation have advanced in recent years, showing highly satisfactory results, particularly in Brazil. However, there is yet a long way to go before smoking can be considered a controlled disease from a public health standpoint. We can already perceive that the behavior of our society regarding smoking is changing, albeit slowly. Therefore, pulmonologists have a very promising area in which to work with their patients and the general population. We must act with greater impetus in support of health care policies and social living standards that directly contribute to improving health and quality of life. In this respect, pulmonologists can play a greater role as they get more involved in treating smokers, strengthening anti-smoking laws, and demanding health care policies related to lung diseases. PMID:27832238

Advancing public health obesity policy through state attorneys general.

Science.gov (United States)

Pomeranz, Jennifer L; Brownell, Kelly D

2011-03-01

Obesity in the United States exacts a heavy health and financial toll, requiring new approaches to address this public health crisis. State attorneys general have been underutilized in efforts to formulate and implement food and obesity policy solutions. Their authority lies at the intersection of law and public policy, creating unique opportunities unavailable to other officials and government entities. Attorneys general have a broad range of authority over matters specifically relevant to obesity and nutrition policy, including parens patriae (parent of the country) authority, protecting consumer interests, enacting and supporting rules and regulations, working together across states, engaging in consumer education, and drafting opinions and amicus briefs. Significant room exists for greater attorney general involvement in formulating and championing solutions to public health problems such as obesity.

The Impact of Public Spending on Regional Economic Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henry Antonio Mendoza Tolosa

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The impact that public spending and investment have upon economic growth in the departments of Colombia is examined using the results of national accounts for the years 2000-2011. Figures for departmental production by activity, along with change over the period and information for the gross public capital are brought together to create a statistical model to assess effects. A data panel model is chosen to relate the existing differences between departments and compare the impact of spending and investment between departments using the available information. Results indicate that public spending and investment play an important role in departmental economic dynamic and that its effect is greater in larger and wealthier departments.

Public Relations for Physics Departments: Convincing the Community that Quarks are Cool

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, Alaina G.

2002-03-01

A strong public relations program can be of great importance to a physics department. Not only can effective PR improve the reputation of an individual department, but it can also serve the greater physics community by convincing the public that quarks, quantum dots, and nanostructures are cool. Building a solid reputation with the many constituents that a physics department serves can lead to greater media exposure, improved quality of student applicants, community and industrial partnerships, and even financial support. It isn’t difficult to create a strategic PR program, but it does take planning and commitment of resources. I will discuss the techniques and tactics of effective media, community, alumni, and internal relations, with special emphasis placed on establishing connections with media outlets, creating and publicizing outreach programs for the community, initiating a newsletter, organizing an external board of advisors, and developing an effective alumni relations program. The University of Arizona Physics Department serves as a case study, but other physics departments with similar communications programs will also be incorporated.

Publication Productivity of Early-Career Orthopedic Trauma Surgeons.

Science.gov (United States)

Hake, Mark E; Lee, John J; Goulet, James A

2016-01-01

The goals of this study were to: (1) define the publication productivity of early-career orthopedic trauma surgeons over time; (2) compare the early-career publication productivity of recent orthopedic trauma fellowship graduates vs their more senior colleagues; and (3) determine the proportion of fellowship graduates who meet the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) publication criteria for active membership early in their careers. Orthopedic trauma fellowship graduates from 1982 to 2007 were analyzed. A literature search was performed for each fellow's publications for the 6-year period beginning the year of fellowship graduation. Publication productivity was compared between early and recent groups of graduates, 1987 to 1991 and 2003 to 2007, respectively. Fulfillment of OTA publication criteria was determined. Seventy-nine percent of graduates contributed to 1 or more publications. The recent group produced more total publications per graduate (4.06 vs 3.29, P=.01) and more coauthor publications (2.60 vs 2.04, P=.019) than the early group. The number of first-author publications did not differ between groups (1.46 vs 1.25, P=.26). A greater percentage of the recent group met current OTA publication criteria compared with the early group (51% vs 35%, P=.04). The findings showed that recent orthopedic trauma graduates had increased publication productivity compared with their more senior colleagues, although a proportion had not qualified for active OTA membership 6 years into their career. Overall, these data are encouraging and suggest that young orthopedic trauma surgeons remain committed to sustaining a high level of academic excellence. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

Mental health in schools and public health

OpenAIRE

Adelman, Howard S; Taylor, Linda

2006-01-01

Health policy and practice call for health and mental health parity and for a greater focus on universal interventions to promote, prevent, and intervene as early after problem onset as is feasible. Those in the public health field are uniquely positioned to help promote the mental health of young people and to reshape how the nation thinks about and addresses mental health. And schools are essential partners for doing the work.

Factors influencing publication of scientific articles derived from masters theses in public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Hollmann, Malen; Borrell, Carme; Garin, Olatz; Fernández, Esteve; Alonso, Jordi

2015-05-01

To evaluate theses of a Masters program in Public Health (MPH), in terms of the students' and theses' characteristics that influence publication of the thesis as a scientific article. Longitudinal study of students who successfully completed the MPH at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain) from 2006 to 2010. Participants completed an electronic survey and additional data were gathered from university files. 162 students participated in the study (83 % response rate). 60.5 % had already published an article derived from their thesis at the time of the study or were in process of publishing it. The likelihood of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal was greater among women (aRR = 1.41), among those who had a bachelor's degree in sciences other than health (aRR = 1.40), had completed the MPH on time (aRR = 2.10), had enrolled in a doctoral program after the MPH (aRR = 1.44) or had a masters thesis score of ≥7 (aRR = 1.61). The majority of MPH students published their thesis in a peer-reviewed journal. The strongest predictors of successful publication were related to academic performance.

Management of information security risks in a federal public institution: a case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jackson Gomes Soares Souza

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Public institutions bound to the Brazilian federal public sector must apply security measures, policies, procedures and guidelines as information assets protection measures. This case study sought to determine whether the management of information security risks is applied in a federal public institution according to Information Technology (I.T. managers perceptions and the results expose the importance of the roles played by people, responsibilities, policies, standards, procedures and their implementation aiming greater control of information security risks and opportunities related to information technology security.

GREATER OMENTUM: MORPHOFUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE IN PEDIATRICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.V. Nekrutov

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The review analyzes the structure organization and pathophysiological age specificities of the greater omentum, which determine its uniqueness and functional diversity in a child's organism. the article discusses protective functions of the organ, its role in the development of post operative complications of children, and the usage in children's reconstructive plastic surgery.Key words: greater omentum, omentitis, of post operative complications, children.

More features, greater connectivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Sarah

2015-09-01

Changes in our political infrastructure, the continuing frailties of our economy, and a stark growth in population, have greatly impacted upon the perceived stability of the NHS. Healthcare teams have had to adapt to these changes, and so too have the technologies upon which they rely to deliver first-class patient care. Here Sarah Hunt, marketing co-ordinator at Aid Call, assesses how the changing healthcare environment has affected one of its fundamental technologies - the nurse call system, argues the case for wireless such systems in terms of what the company claims is greater adaptability to changing needs, and considers the ever-wider range of features and functions available from today's nurse call equipment, particularly via connectivity with both mobile devices, and ancillaries ranging from enuresis sensors to staff attack alert 'badges'.

Real options methodology in public-private partnership projects valuation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rakić Biljana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available PPP offers numerous benefits to both public and private partners in delivery of infrastructure projects. However this partnership also involves great risks which have to be adequately managed and mitigated. Private partners are especially sensitive to revenue risk, since they are mostly interested in the financial viability of the project. Thus they often expect public partners to provide some kind of risk-sharing mechanism in the form of Minimum Revenue Guarantees or abandonment options. The objective of this paper is to investigate whether the real option of abandoning the project increases its value. Therefore the binominal option pricing model and risk-neutral probability approach have been implemented to price the European and American abandonment options for the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT toll road investment. The obtained results suggest that the project value with the American abandonment option is greater than with the European abandonment option, hence implying that American options offer greater flexibility and are more valuable for private partners. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179066 and III 42006

Public safety around dams : Grand River Conservation Authority

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moore, N [Grand River Conservation Authority, Cambridge, ON (Canada)

2009-07-01

Ontario's Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) is a corporate body, through which municipalities, landowners and other organizations work cooperatively to manage the watershed and outdoor recreation. This involves reducing flood damage; improving water quality; providing adequate water supply; protecting natural areas; watershed planning; and environmental education. This presentation discussed public safety issues regarding a dam in the GRCA that is 5 minutes to downtown Brantford; 5 minutes to several elementary and secondary schools; and a popular area for anglers. The city of Brantford owns the east embankment and the Brant conservation area is located on the west embankment. The safeguards included measures to involve the municipality and local police; install better signage; install better fencing; and public education. Increasing public awareness of the dangers surrounding dams was an important point of the presentation. Results included reduced trespassing and greater community awareness. figs.

Assessment of management approaches in a public water utility: A case study of the Namibia water corporation (NAMWATER)

Science.gov (United States)

Ndokosho, Johnson; Hoko, Zvikomborero; Makurira, Hodson

More than 90% of urban water supply and sanitation services in developing countries are provided by public organizations. However, public provision of services has been inherently inefficient. As a result a number of initiatives have emerged in recent years with a common goal to improve service delivery. In Namibia, the water sector reform resulted in the creation of a public utility called the Namibia Water Corporation (NAMWATER) which is responsible for bulk water supply countrywide. Since its inception in 1998, NAMWATER has been experiencing poor financial performance. This paper presents the findings of a case study that compared the management approaches of NAMWATER to the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm. The focus of the NPM approach is for the public water sector to mirror private sector methods of management so that public utilities can accrue the benefits of effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility often associated with private sector. The study tools used were a combination of literature review, interviews and questionnaires. It was found out that NAMWATER has a high degree of autonomy in its operations, albeit government approved tariffs and sourcing of external financing. The utility reports to government annually to account for results. The utility embraces a notion of good corporate culture and adheres to sound management practices. NAMWATER demonstrated a strong market-orientation indicated by the outsourcing of non-core functions but benchmarking was poorly done. NAMWATER’s customer-orientation is poor as evidenced by the lack of customer care facilities. NAMWATER’s senior management delegated operational authority to lower management to facilitate flexibility and eliminate bottlenecks. The lower management is in turn held accountable for performance by the senior management. There are no robust methods of ensuring sufficient accountability indicated by absence of performance contracts or service level agreements. It was concluded that

Genetically modified foods as global public goods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susana Herrero Olarte

2014-07-01

Full Text Available "Genetically modified (GM food has become very important in the field of research, as a result of its expansion in recent decades. As the right to food is a human right, it cannot be left in the hands of private sector developments exclusively, due to the capacity of the public sector to limit or drive it, and in any case, contributing to food safety. To achieve this, and for its cross-border development, GM needs to be treated as Global Public Goods (GPG, defined as pure or impure public goods that cannot be provided or regulated from a national or regional level, but from a global perspective. Its definition as GPG, and the fact of being public goods, assumes greater involvement by the public sector for its supply or regulation. It is therefore necessary to analyze the positive and negative externalities generated by transgenic foods becoming public goods, but from a global perspective. The difficulty is, that according to the author, GMs are positive or negative, so that there is no consensus to restrict and even prevent them or encourage them. But, there is a consensus on some key issues of GM food, such as improving productivity, contributing to the reduction of the species, the dependence of farmers, or monopoly companies with the patent. Identifying these issues can serve to initiate the appropriate regulation."

Management skills as competitive advantage. The case of public sector in Córdoba (Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Javier Pereda Pérez

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To analyze the assessment of management skills in the public sector of Cordoba (Spain, trying to find out the possible relationship or influence between the administration of belonging to a set of management skills.Design/methodology/approach: Initial Theoretical study on the public sector, public management and managerial skills, conducting fieldwork affecting four administrations and application of statistical techniques contrast, which, finally, the analysis of their results and the conclusions drawn from them.Findings and Originality/value: The findings of an investigation into the management skills in the context of the public sector in the Province of Córdoba (Spain are presented. At present the personal, interpersonal and managerial skills to manage, are becoming increasingly important in companies and organizations. The strong commitment to the development of management skills becomes a true competitive advantage capable of leading business improvement processes in organizations, especially those in which the human resource is crucial, as is the case of the public sector.Research limitations/implications: To progress in research on management skills in the public sector, it would be desirable to develop more sector research to comparative studies the results of which lead to the establishment of specific labor policies aimed at improving the selection of public employees, developing training policies that emphasize the enhancement of skills and a true career based on merit and efficient performance.Social implications: The selection, training and development of public employees, and greater give greater importance to human resource processes in which the skills and competencies should fill the role they need.Originality / value: The better knowledge of the public sector, the importance of having competent public managers , and basically point out the critical importance of developing leadership skills at all levels

Greater Sudbury fuel efficient driving handbook

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-12-15

Reducing the amount of fuel that people use for personal driving saves money, improves local air quality, and reduces personal contributions to climate change. This handbook was developed to be used as a tool for a fuel efficient driving pilot program in Greater Sudbury in 2009-2010. Specifically, the purpose of the handbook was to provide greater Sudbury drivers with information on how to drive and maintain their personal vehicles in order to maximize fuel efficiency. The handbook also provides tips for purchasing fuel efficient vehicles. It outlines the benefits of fuel maximization, with particular reference to reducing contributions to climate change; reducing emissions of air pollutants; safe driving; and money savings. Some tips for efficient driving are to avoid aggressive driving; use cruise control; plan trips; and remove excess weight. Tips for efficient winter driving are to avoid idling to warm up the engine; use a block heater; remove snow and ice; use snow tires; and check tire pressure. The importance of car maintenance and tire pressure was emphasized. The handbook also explains how fuel consumption ratings are developed by vehicle manufacturers. refs., figs.

Public pensions and unmet medical need among older people: cross-national analysis of 16 European countries, 2004–2010

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, Aaron; McKee, Martin; Mackenbach, Johan; Whitehead, Margaret; Stuckler, David

2017-01-01

Background Since the onset of the Great Recession in Europe, unmet need for medical care has been increasing, especially in persons aged 65 or older. It is possible that public pensions buffer access to healthcare in older persons during times of economic crisis, but to our knowledge, this has not been tested empirically in Europe. Methods We integrated panel data on 16 European countries for years 2004–2010 with indicators of public pension, unemployment insurance and sickness insurance entitlement from the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset and unmet need (due to cost) prevalence rates from EuroStat 2014 edition. Using country-level fixed-effects regression models, we evaluate whether greater public pension entitlement, which helps reduce old-age poverty, reduces the prevalence of unmet medical need in older persons and whether it reduces inequalities in unmet medical need across the income distribution. Results We found that each 1-unit increase in public pension entitlement is associated with a 1.11 percentage-point decline in unmet medical need due to cost among over 65s (95% CI −0.55 to −1.66). This association is strongest for the lowest income quintile (1.65 percentage points, 95% CI −1.19 to −2.10). Importantly, we found consistent evidence that out-of-pocket payments were linked with greater unmet needs, but that this association was mitigated by greater public pension entitlement (β=−1.21 percentage points, 95% CI −0.37 to −2.06). Conclusions Greater public pension entitlement plays a crucial role in reducing inequalities in unmet medical need among older persons, especially in healthcare systems which rely heavily on out-of-pocket payments. PMID:27965315

The dates of publication of Blume’s Flora Javae

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Danser, B.H.

1939-01-01

The actual dates of publication of the greater part of BLUME’s Flora Javae (lit. 1) appear to be unknown among taxonomists. The title-page of the first volume is dated 1828, and we find the same year at the base of the preface. The volume containing the Orchideae (lit. 2) is dated 1858, but further

The Influence of Urinary Incontinence on Publicly Financed Home Care Services to Low-Income Elderly People.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Dorothy I.; Bice, Thomas W.

1995-01-01

A retrospective cohort design is used to estimate the effect of urinary incontinence (UI) on the public costs of home care services to elderly individuals. Multivariate analyses controlling for other individual, household, and supply characteristics demonstrate that those with UI generate significantly greater public costs for home care services.…

Estimating the Efficiency of Michigan's Rural and Urban Public School Districts

Science.gov (United States)

Maranowski, Rita

2012-01-01

This study examined student achievement in Michigan public school districts to determine if rural school districts are demonstrating greater financial efficiency by producing higher levels of student achievement than school districts in other geographic locations with similar socioeconomics. Three models were developed using multiple regression…

Do Peripheral Refraction and Aberration Profiles Vary with the Type of Myopia? - An Illustration Using a Ray-Tracing Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ravi C. Bakaraju

2009-01-01

Conclusion: This study has indicated that myopic eyes with primarily an axial component may have a greater risk of progression than their refractive counterparts albeit with the same degree of refractive error. This prediction emerges from the presented theoretical ray tracing model and, therefore, requires clinical confirmation.

Giant Colonic Diverticulum: a Rare Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenge of Diverticular Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Macht, Ryan; Sheldon, Holly K; Fisichella, P Marco

2015-08-01

A giant colonic diverticulum is a diverticulum of the colon greater than 4 cm in diameter that can present, albeit rarely, as a complication of diverticular disease. We discuss the three different histologic subtypes that have been described and the challenges in the diagnosis and treatment.

Informing public health policy through deliberative public engagement: perceived impact on participants and citizen-government relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Molster, Caron; Potts, Ayla; McNamara, Beverley; Youngs, Leanne; Maxwell, Susannah; Dawkins, Hugh; O'Leary, Peter

2013-09-01

Deliberative public engagement has been proposed for policy development, where issues are complex and there are diverse public perspectives and low awareness of competing issues. Scholars suggest a range of potential outcomes for citizens and government agencies from involvement in such processes. Few studies have examined outcomes from the perspective of citizen participants in deliberative processes. To examine participant perceptions of their involvement in and outcomes of a deliberative engagement exercise. A case study using semistructured interviews was conducted with participants following a deliberative forum on biobanking. From their involvement in the deliberative exercise, participants described transformations in their knowledge and beliefs about the policy issues. They reported being more informed to the extent of having confidence to educate others and effectively contribute to public policy development. They had developed greater trust in government policymakers who they believed would take reasonable account of their recommendations. We conclude that the participants were satisfied with the outcomes of the deliberative public engagement process and viewed it as an effective means of citizen involvement in public policy development. Particularly for citizens who participate in deliberative processes, such processes may promote active citizenship, empower citizens to undertake representative and educative roles, and improve relations between citizens and government agencies. Actions taken by policymakers subsequent to the deliberative exercise, whereby the majority of citizen recommendations were incorporated in the policy developed, may have contributed to participants holding sustained levels of trust in the commissioning government agency.

Public interface and waste management planning: An approach for integrating community involvement in waste strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiques, P.J.

1988-01-01

Public involvement and information programs have bridged a communication abyss and allowed waste management policy-makers to understand legitimate public concerns. The perception often held by waste generators that technical concerns had greater validity than institutional issues is being altered as managers realize that information failures can halt a program as abruptly as technical ones. The role and level of involvement of the public in establishing waste management policies has changed dramatically over the past decade. Once the domain only of the generators and regulators, effective waste management strategy development must now make early provisions for public and local government involvement. By allowing public decision makers to participate in the initial planning process and maintain involvement throughout the implementation, many institutional barriers can be avoided. In today's climate, such barriers may represent direct costs, such as litigation, or indirect costs, such as delay, deferral, or duplication of work. Government programs have historically enjoyed a degree of insulation from public involvement factors on the basis of national security, defense, or the greater public good. However, such programs are no longer sacrosanct. Today, the cost of cleaning up past environmental impact can leave little or no money to meet present program objectives. Thus failure to get a public consensus before beginning remedial action can have a major impact on the allocation of scarce resources. Specific approaches to integrating the public into the planning phase of waste management will be addressed, including audience identification, issue analysis and tracking, prioritization of concerns, and information tool development

Public optimism towards nanomedicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Bottini, Massimo; Rosato, Nicola; Gloria, Fulvia; Adanti, Sara; Corradino, Nunziella; Bergamaschi, Antonio; Magrini, Andrea

2011-01-01

Previous benefit-risk perception studies and social experiences have clearly demonstrated that any emerging technology platform that ignores benefit-risk perception by citizens might jeopardize its public acceptability and further development. The aim of this survey was to investigate the Italian judgment on nanotechnology and which demographic and heuristic variables were most influential in shaping public perceptions of the benefits and risks of nanotechnology. In this regard, we investigated the role of four demographic (age, gender, education, and religion) and one heuristic (knowledge) predisposing factors. The present study shows that gender, education, and knowledge (but not age and religion) influenced the Italian perception of how nanotechnology will (positively or negatively) affect some areas of everyday life in the next twenty years. Furthermore, the picture that emerged from our study is that Italian citizens, despite minimal familiarity with nanotechnology, showed optimism towards nanotechnology applications, especially those related to health and medicine (nanomedicine). The high regard for nanomedicine was tied to the perception of risks associated with environmental and societal implications (division among social classes and increased public expenses) rather than health issues. However, more highly educated people showed greater concern for health issues but this did not decrease their strong belief about the benefits that nanotechnology would bring to medical fields. The results reported here suggest that public optimism towards nanomedicine appears to justify increased scientific effort and funding for medical applications of nanotechnology. It also obligates toxicologists, politicians, journalists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to establish a more responsible dialog with citizens regarding the nature and implications of this emerging technology platform.

Greater general startle reflex is associated with greater anxiety levels: a correlational study on 111 young women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eleonora ePoli

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Startle eyeblink reflex is a valid non-invasive tool for studying attention, emotion and psychiatric disorders. In the absence of any experimental manipulation, the general (or baseline startle reflex shows a high inter-individual variability, which is often considered task-irrelevant and therefore normalized across participants. Unlike the above view, we hypothesized that greater general startle magnitude is related to participants’ higher anxiety level. 111 healthy young women, after completing the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, were randomly administered 10 acoustic white noise probes (50 ms, 100 dBA acoustic level while integrated EMG from left and right orbicularis oculi was recorded. Results showed that participants with greater state anxiety levels exhibited larger startle reflex magnitude from the left eye (r109=0.23, p<0.05. Furthermore, individuals who perceived the acoustic probe as more aversive reported the largest anxiety scores (r109=0.28, p<0.05 and had the largest eyeblinks, especially in the left eye (r109 = 0.34, p<0.001. Results suggest that general startle may represent a valid tool for studying the neural excitability underlying anxiety and emotional dysfunction in neurological and mental disorders.

Resource allocation in public health practice: a national survey of local public health officials.

Science.gov (United States)

Baum, Nancy M; DesRoches, Catherine; Campbell, Eric G; Goold, Susan Dorr

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to gain an empirical understanding of the types of allocation decisions local health officials (LHOs) make and the factors that influence those allocation decisions. We conducted a national survey of LHOs in the United States in 2008 to 2009. The sample was stratified by the size of the population served by the department. We merged our data with data from the 2008 National Association of County and City Health Officials Profile survey. Descriptive statistics were generated using weighted data. Our final sample size was 608 respondents, with an average of 10 years experience. The LHOs reported little shifting of resources among population groups but greater capacity to redirect staffing time. Less than half of LHOs reported using economic analyses or conducting needs assessments when setting priorities. Having sole provider status in a community strongly influenced LHOs' allocation decisions. In addition, the effectiveness of activities, previous budget allocations, and input from boards of health were influential factors in allocation decisions. Public expectations were moderately to very influential, but direct public input had a low impact on allocation decisions. Survey findings provide a clearer understanding of how LHOs fulfill their obligations as stewards of public health resources and ensure effective activities and access to needed services. It may be useful to assess the value of more structured allocation methods (eg, decision frameworks) in the allocation process. Expanding opportunities for public engagement in priority setting may also be valuable for difficult allocation decisions.

Towards trust in regulation. Moving to a public value regulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitchell, Catherine; Woodman, Bridget [Energy Policy Group, University of Exeter Cornwall Campus, Treliever Road, Penryn, TR10 9EZ (United Kingdom)

2010-06-15

The UK Government has committed itself to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions. The challenge of successfully achieving a transition to a sustainable energy system, in the context of the UK's largely privately owned energy industry, rests on the ability of policy makers to encourage and enable the necessary changes or innovation at all levels of the energy system. This paper argues that the UK's current, dominant political paradigm or framework (the regulatory state paradigm (RSP)) and within it, the role of the economic regulator, Ofgem acts as a fundamental block to this challenge. The current economic regulatory system is based on trust in the market, or on predicted (albeit theoretical) known outcomes. To expand our regulatory system to one which can deliver a sustainable energy system requires innovation in a certain direction (as opposed to any innovation). That is the antithesis of the current process of regulation. Trust is required that Ofgem, the economic regulator, will develop rules and incentives which deliver an agreed sustainable energy goal, which is 'trusted' to be the 'right' goal. This requires Ofgem moving away from ex-ante regulation to a type of regulation where all costs, benefits and outcomes cannot be known beforehand and where they cannot necessarily be quantifiable. This has, very provisionally, been called Public Value Regulation (PVR). (author)

Towards trust in regulation-moving to a public value regulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitchell, Catherine, E-mail: catherine.mitchell@exeter.ac.u [Energy Policy Group, University of Exeter Cornwall Campus, Treliever Road, Penryn, TR10 9EZ (United Kingdom); Woodman, Bridget [Energy Policy Group, University of Exeter Cornwall Campus, Treliever Road, Penryn, TR10 9EZ (United Kingdom)

2010-06-15

The UK Government has committed itself to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions. The challenge of successfully achieving a transition to a sustainable energy system, in the context of the UK's largely privately owned energy industry, rests on the ability of policy makers to encourage and enable the necessary changes or innovation at all levels of the energy system. This paper argues that the UK's current, dominant political paradigm or framework (the regulatory state paradigm (RSP)) and within it, the role of the economic regulator, Ofgem acts as a fundamental block to this challenge. The current economic regulatory system is based on trust in the market, or on predicted (albeit theoretical) known outcomes. To expand our regulatory system to one which can deliver a sustainable energy system requires innovation in a certain direction (as opposed to any innovation). That is the antithesis of the current process of regulation. Trust is required that Ofgem, the economic regulator, will develop rules and incentives which deliver an agreed sustainable energy goal, which is 'trusted' to be the 'right' goal. This requires Ofgem moving away from ex-ante regulation to a type of regulation where all costs, benefits and outcomes cannot be known beforehand and where they cannot necessarily be quantifiable. This has, very provisionally, been called Public Value Regulation (PVR).

Towards trust in regulation-moving to a public value regulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitchell, Catherine; Woodman, Bridget

2010-01-01

The UK Government has committed itself to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions. The challenge of successfully achieving a transition to a sustainable energy system, in the context of the UK's largely privately owned energy industry, rests on the ability of policy makers to encourage and enable the necessary changes or innovation at all levels of the energy system. This paper argues that the UK's current, dominant political paradigm or framework (the regulatory state paradigm (RSP)) and within it, the role of the economic regulator, Ofgem acts as a fundamental block to this challenge. The current economic regulatory system is based on trust in the market, or on predicted (albeit theoretical) known outcomes. To expand our regulatory system to one which can deliver a sustainable energy system requires innovation in a certain direction (as opposed to any innovation). That is the antithesis of the current process of regulation. Trust is required that Ofgem, the economic regulator, will develop rules and incentives which deliver an agreed sustainable energy goal, which is 'trusted' to be the 'right' goal. This requires Ofgem moving away from ex-ante regulation to a type of regulation where all costs, benefits and outcomes cannot be known beforehand and where they cannot necessarily be quantifiable. This has, very provisionally, been called Public Value Regulation (PVR).

Observations of territorial breeding common ravens caching eggs of greater sage-grouse

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, Kristy B.; Coates, Peter S.

2015-01-01

Previous investigations using continuous video monitoring of greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus nests have unambiguously identified common ravens Corvus corax as an important egg predator within the western United States. The quantity of greater sage-grouse eggs an individual common raven consumes during the nesting period and the extent to which common ravens actively hunt greater sage-grouse nests are largely unknown. However, some evidence suggests that territorial breeding common ravens, rather than nonbreeding transients, are most likely responsible for nest depredations. We describe greater sage-grouse egg depredation observations obtained opportunistically from three common raven nests located in Idaho and Nevada where depredated greater sage-grouse eggs were found at or in the immediate vicinity of the nest site, including the caching of eggs in nearby rock crevices. We opportunistically monitored these nests by counting and removing depredated eggs and shell fragments from the nest sites during each visit to determine the extent to which the common raven pairs preyed on greater sage-grouse eggs. To our knowledge, our observations represent the first evidence that breeding, territorial pairs of common ravens cache greater sage-grouse eggs and are capable of depredating multiple greater sage-grouse nests.

Comparative Education in Greater China: Contexts, Characteristics, Contrasts and Contributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bray, Mark; Qin, Gui

2001-01-01

The evolution of comparative education in Greater China (mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau) has been influenced by size, culture, political ideologies, standard of living, and colonialism. Similarities and differences in conceptions of comparative education are identified among the four components and between Greater China and other…

PVA stabilized gold nanoparticles by use of unexplored albeit conventional reducing agent

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khanna, P K [Nanomaterials Laboratory, Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Panchwati, Off Pashan Road, Pune 411008 (India); Gokhale, R [Nanomaterials Laboratory, Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Panchwati, Off Pashan Road, Pune 411008 (India); Subbarao, V V.V.S. [Nanomaterials Laboratory, Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Panchwati, Off Pashan Road, Pune 411008 (India); Vishwanath, A Kasi [Nanomaterials Laboratory, Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Panchwati, Off Pashan Road, Pune 411008 (India); Das, B K [Nanomaterials Laboratory, Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Panchwati, Off Pashan Road, Pune 411008 (India); Satyanarayana, C V.V. [National Chemical Laboratory, Pashan Road, Pune 41108 (India)

2005-07-15

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) stabilized gold nanoparticles have been prepared in aqueous medium using two different reducing viz.; hydrazine hydrate, a stronger reducing agent and sodium formaldehydesulfoxylate (SFS), a slightly weaker reducing agent. SFS is used for first ever time for reduction of gold metal salt. The PVA stabilized gold nanoparticles solutions are wine red to blood red coloured and are stable over a long period of time with no indication of aggregation. The solution shows strong visible light absorptions in the range of 520-540 nm, characteristics of gold nanoparticles. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns of freshly prepared films containing gold nanoparticles indicated particles size to be about 15 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of a more than two-week-old sample revealed well-defined non-agglomerated spherical particles of about 50 nm diameter in solutions.

PVA stabilized gold nanoparticles by use of unexplored albeit conventional reducing agent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khanna, P.K.; Gokhale, R.; Subbarao, V.V.V.S.; Vishwanath, A. Kasi; Das, B.K.; Satyanarayana, C.V.V.

2005-01-01

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) stabilized gold nanoparticles have been prepared in aqueous medium using two different reducing viz.; hydrazine hydrate, a stronger reducing agent and sodium formaldehydesulfoxylate (SFS), a slightly weaker reducing agent. SFS is used for first ever time for reduction of gold metal salt. The PVA stabilized gold nanoparticles solutions are wine red to blood red coloured and are stable over a long period of time with no indication of aggregation. The solution shows strong visible light absorptions in the range of 520-540 nm, characteristics of gold nanoparticles. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns of freshly prepared films containing gold nanoparticles indicated particles size to be about 15 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of a more than two-week-old sample revealed well-defined non-agglomerated spherical particles of about 50 nm diameter in solutions

Velocity Drives Greater Power Observed During Back Squat Using Cluster Sets.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, Jonathan M; Kreutzer, Andreas; Jenke, Shane C; Phillips, Melody D; Mitchell, Joel B; Jones, Margaret T

2016-01-01

This investigation compared the kinetics and kinematics of cluster sets (CLU) and traditional sets (TRD) during back squat in trained (RT) and untrained (UT) men. Twenty-four participants (RT = 12, 25 ± 1 year, 179.1 ± 2.2 cm, 84.6 ± 2.1 kg; UT = 12, 25 ± 1 year, 180.1 ± 1.8 cm, 85.4 ± 3.8 kg) performed TRD (4 × 10, 120-second rest) and CLU (4 × (2 × 5) 30 seconds between clusters; 90 seconds between sets) with 70% one repetition maximum, randomly. Kinematics and kinetics were sampled through force plate and linear position transducers. Resistance-trained produced greater overall force, velocity, and power; however, similar patterns were observed in all variables when comparing conditions. Cluster sets produced significantly greater force in isolated repetitions in sets 1-3, while consistently producing greater force due to a required reduction in load during set 4 resulting in greater total volume load (CLU, 3302.4 ± 102.7 kg; TRD, 3274.8 ± 102.8 kg). Velocity loss was lessened in CLU resulting in significantly higher velocities in sets 2 through 4. Furthermore, higher velocities were produced by CLU during later repetitions of each set. Cluster sets produced greater power output for an increasing number of repetitions in each set (set 1, 5 repetitions; sets 2 and 3, 6 repetitions; set 4, 8 repetitions), and the difference between conditions increased over subsequent sets. Time under tension increased over each set and was greater in TRD. This study demonstrates greater power output is driven by greater velocity when back squatting during CLU; therefore, velocity may be a useful measure by which to assess power.

Active convergence between the Lesser and Greater Caucasus in Georgia: Constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Lesser-Greater Caucasus continental collision

Science.gov (United States)

Sokhadze, G.; Floyd, M.; Godoladze, T.; King, R.; Cowgill, E. S.; Javakhishvili, Z.; Hahubia, G.; Reilinger, R.

2018-01-01

We present and interpret newly determined site motions derived from GPS observations made from 2008 through 2016 in the Republic of Georgia, which constrain the rate and locus of active shortening in the Lesser-Greater Caucasus continental collision zone. Observation sites are located along two ∼160 km-long profiles crossing the Lesser-Greater Caucasus boundary zone: one crossing the Rioni Basin in western Georgia and the other crossing further east near the longitude of Tbilisi. Convergence across the Rioni Basin Profile occurs along the southern margin of the Greater Caucasus, near the surface trace of the north-dipping Main Caucasus Thrust Fault (MCTF) system, and is consistent with strain accumulation on the fault that generated the 1991 MW6.9 Racha earthquake. In contrast, convergence along the Tbilisi Profile occurs near Tbilisi and the northern boundary of the Lesser Caucasus (near the south-dipping Lesser Caucasus Thrust Fault), approximately 50-70 km south of the MCTF, which is inactive within the resolution of geodetic observations (< ± 0.5 mm/yr) at the location of the Tbilisi Profile. We suggest that the southward offset of convergence along strike of the range is related to the incipient collision of the Lesser-Greater Caucasus, and closing of the intervening Kura Basin, which is most advanced along this segment of the collision zone. The identification of active shortening near Tbilisi requires a reevaluation of seismic hazards in this area.

Harnessing the Potential to Quantify Public Preferences for Healthcare Priorities through Citizens’ Juries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer A. Whitty

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Despite progress towards greater public engagement, questions about the optimal approach to access public preferences remain unanswered. We review two increasingly popular methods for engaging the public in healthcare priority-setting and determining their preferences; the Citizens’ Jury (CJ and Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE. We discuss the theoretical framework from which each method is derived, its application in healthcare, and critique the information it can provide for decision-makers. We conclude that combining deliberation of an informed public via CJs and quantification of preferences using DCE methods, whilst it remains to be tested as an approach to engaging the public in priority-setting, could potentially achieve much richer information than the application of either method in isolation.

Pension Choices and the Savings Patterns of Public School Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Goldhaber, Dan; Grout, Cyrus

2016-01-01

This paper examines the savings behavior of public school teachers who are enrolled in a hybrid pension plan that includes a defined contribution (DC) component. Few states have incorporated DC features into teacher pension systems and little is known about how providing teachers with greater control over deferred compensation might affect their…

Forest management and governance - changes in public action

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Badre, Michel

2007-01-01

Greater awareness of global change and the emergence of issues relating to climatic events in recent decades, biodiversity conservation and the associated European policies, decentralisation are all elements making for major change in state policy towards forests in France. Foresters have come up with innovative responses to these changes with the support of public authorities, e.g., eco-certification and the establishment of the Inter-Trade body. State action has refocused on public goods such as climate, biodiversity or energy. Territorial-based approaches have been developed or have replaced topic-related ones. The state continues in France to play an important regulatory role alongside Europe and local governments, which are now major players in the forestry institutional landscape. (authors)

Job satisfaction among public health nurses: a national survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Elizabeth A; Glacken, Michele

2014-07-01

Despite increasing interest in nurses' job satisfaction relatively few studies have investigated job satisfaction among public health nurses. To establish current level of job satisfaction among public health nurses and identify the main contributing variables/factors to job satisfaction among this population. Quantitative descriptive design. A simple random sample of 1000 public health nurses was conducted yielding a response rate of 35.1% (n = 351). Data was collected using the Index of Work Satisfaction Questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were deployed. Low levels of job satisfaction among public health nurses emerged. Professional status, interaction and autonomy contributed most to job satisfaction while pay and task-related activities contributed least. Age and tenure were the only biographic factors that correlated significantly with job satisfaction. Public health nurse managers/leaders need to find creative ways of improving the factors that contribute to job satisfaction and address robustly those factors that result in low job satisfaction. The critical issue for public health nurse managers is to determine how job satisfaction can be improved. Greater collaboration and consultation between managers and public health nurses can be regarded as a useful way to begin this process, especially if contemporary nursing is to embrace a responsive approach within the profession. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Beyond attributions: Understanding public stigma of mental illness with the common sense model.

Science.gov (United States)

Mak, Winnie W S; Chong, Eddie S K; Wong, Celia C Y

2014-03-01

The present study applied the common sense model (i.e., cause, controllability, timeline, consequences, and illness coherence) to understand public attitudes toward mental illness and help-seeking intention and to examine the mediating role of perceived controllability between causal attributions with public attitudes and help seeking. Based on a randomized household sample of 941 Chinese community adults in Hong Kong, results of the structural equation modeling demonstrated that people who endorsed cultural lay beliefs tended to perceive the course of mental illness as less controllable, whereas those with psychosocial attributions see its course as more controllable. The more people perceived the course of mental illness as less controllable, more chronic, and incomprehensible, the lower was their acceptance and the greater was mental illness stigma. Furthermore, those who perceived mental illness with dire consequences were more likely to feel greater stigma and social distance. Conversely, when people were more accepting, they were more likely to seek help for psychological services and felt a shorter social distance. The common sense model provides a multidimensional framework in understanding public's mental illness perceptions and stigma. Not only should biopsychosocial determinants of mental illness be advocated to the public, cultural myths toward mental illness must be debunked.

Breeding of Greater and Lesser Flamingos at Sua Pan, Botswana ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

to fledging was unknown owing to the rapid drying of the pan in late March 1999. No Greater Flamingo breeding was seen that season. Exceptional flooding during 1999–2000 produced highly favourable breeding conditions, with numbers of Greater and Lesser Flamingos breeding estimated to be 23 869 and 64 287 pairs, ...

Surgical anatomy of greater occipital nerve and its relation to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Introduction: The knowledge of the anatomy of greater occipital nerve and its relation to occipital artery is important for the surgeon. Blockage or surgical release of greater occipital nerve is clinically effective in reducing or eliminating chronic migraine symptoms. Aim: The aim of this research was to study the anatomy of ...

Surgical anatomy of greater occipital nerve and its relation to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nancy Mohamed El Sekily

2014-08-19

Aug 19, 2014 ... Abstract Introduction: The knowledge of the anatomy of greater occipital nerve and its relation to occipital artery is important for the surgeon. Blockage or surgical release of greater occipital nerve is clinically effective in reducing or eliminating chronic migraine symptoms. Aim: The aim of this research was to ...

Aging gracefully in Greater Beirut: are there any gender-based differences?

Science.gov (United States)

Mitri, Rosy N; Boulos, Christa M; Adib, Salim M

2017-06-01

The implications of rapid aging of the Lebanese population are under-researched. No national studies have so far investigated the living conditions and the health status of urban Lebanese elderly across gender. This was a cross-sectional study involving 905 randomly selected community dwelling elderly aged ≥65 years living in Greater Beirut. Gender differences were assessed among participants who completed a standardized questionnaire on socio-demographic factors, nutritional, health, and functional characteristics. The sample included 533 men (59%) and 372 women (41%). Elderly were regrouped into 'younger elderly' (≤70 years), and 'older elderly' (>70 years) which represented respectively 44.3% and 55.7% of the total population. Women, regardless of their age, were less educated and more likely to live alone. Moreover, poor nutritional status, self-perceived health, absence of physical activity, comorbidity, polymedication and depression were significantly higher among women. 'Older elderly' women became significantly more functionally disabled compared with men of their age. This study evidenced that Lebanese elderly women were disadvantaged regarding their socio-economic, health and functional status. It is requested a nationwide effort to improve the socio-economic status and the health of Lebanese elderly, especially women. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Do the public think medical regulation keep them safe?

Science.gov (United States)

Yam, Carrie Ho-Kwan; Wong, Eliza Lai-Yi; Griffiths, Sian M; Yeoh, Eng-Kiong

2018-03-01

To assess public knowledge and expectations of the ways to assess doctors' competence to ensure patient safety. Telephone survey of a random sample of 1000 non-institutionalized Hong Kong residents. Only 5% of public were correct that doctors are not required to periodically be assessed, and 9% were correct that the doctors are not required to update knowledge and skills for renewing their license. These results echo international studies showing a low public knowledge of medical regulation. The public overwhelmingly felt a periodic assessment (92%) and requirements for continuous medical education (91%) were important processes for assuring doctors' competence. A high proportion of the public felt that lay representation in the Medical Council was insufficient. There is a significant gap between public expectations and understanding of the existing medical regulation and the actual policies and practices. Despite a lack of public knowledge, the public thought it important to have an ongoing structured monitoring and assessment mechanism to assure doctors' competence. The public also expects a greater involvement in the regulatory processes as members of the Medical Council. There is a need to review and enhance the current regulatory system to meet public expectation and ensure accountability for the privilege and trust granted by the State in professional self-regulation. In the context of our complex health system, a thorough understanding on the dynamic interactions between different institutions and their complementary roles in a meta-regulatory framework is required in assuring patient safety.

Targeting the probability versus cost of feared outcomes in public speaking anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Elizabeth A; Deacon, Brett J; Lickel, James J; Sy, Jennifer T

2010-04-01

Cognitive-behavioral theory suggests that social phobia is maintained, in part, by overestimates of the probability and cost of negative social events. Indeed, empirically supported cognitive-behavioral treatments directly target these cognitive biases through the use of in vivo exposure or behavioral experiments. While cognitive-behavioral theories and treatment protocols emphasize the importance of targeting probability and cost biases in the reduction of social anxiety, few studies have examined specific techniques for reducing probability and cost bias, and thus the relative efficacy of exposure to the probability versus cost of negative social events is unknown. In the present study, 37 undergraduates with high public speaking anxiety were randomly assigned to a single-session intervention designed to reduce either the perceived probability or the perceived cost of negative outcomes associated with public speaking. Compared to participants in the probability treatment condition, those in the cost treatment condition demonstrated significantly greater improvement on measures of public speaking anxiety and cost estimates for negative social events. The superior efficacy of the cost treatment condition was mediated by greater treatment-related changes in social cost estimates. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Technical concept for a Greater Confinement Disposal test facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunter, P.H.

1982-01-01

For the past two years, Ford, Bacon and Davis has been performing technical services for the Department of Energy at the Nevada Test Site in specific development of defense low-level waste management concepts for greater confinement disposal concept with particular application to arid sites. The investigations have included the development of Criteria for Greater Confinement Disposal, NVO-234, which was published in May of 1981 and the draft of the technical concept for Greater Confinement Disposal, with the latest draft published in November 1981. The final draft of the technical concept and design specifications are expected to be published imminently. The document is prerequisite to the actual construction and implementation of the demonstration facility this fiscal year. The GCD Criteria Document, NVO-234 is considered to contain information complimentary and compatible with that being developed for the reserved section 10 CFR 61.51b of the NRCs proposed licensing rule for low level waste disposal facilities

Sports celebrities and public health: Diego Maradona's influence on drug use prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, William J; de Matviuk, Marcela Alejandra Chavan

2010-06-01

Exposure to a sports celebrity through media and sporting events can have important influences on a public health issue associated with that celebrity. The battle against drug use by Argentinean soccer icon Diego Maradona has provoked concerns about drug abuse and prevention in Argentina, particularly among young people. The present study analyzes how two forms of involvement with Maradona affected the public's concern and perceptions of drug use after Maradona's drug-related health crisis in 2004. Results indicate that those who had a greater degree of parasocial interaction with Maradona were more likely to have an increased awareness of drug abuse, a greater personal concern about drug abuse, abstained from drug use, and more strongly support drug abuse prevention programs. In contrast, identification with Maradona had a mitigating effect on drug use prevention. Implications of these findings regarding the influence of sports celebrities on substance abuse are discussed.

Education, implementation, and policy barriers to greater integration of palliative care: A literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Aldridge, Melissa D; Hasselaar, Jeroen; Garralda, Eduardo; van der Eerden, Marlieke; Stevenson, David; McKendrick, Karen; Centeno, Carlos; Meier, Diane E

2016-03-01

Early integration of palliative care into the management of patients with serious disease has the potential to both improve quality of life of patients and families and reduce healthcare costs. Despite these benefits, significant barriers exist in the United States to the early integration of palliative care in the disease trajectory of individuals with serious illness. To provide an overview of the barriers to more widespread palliative care integration in the United States. A literature review using PubMed from 2005 to March 2015 augmented by primary data collected from 405 hospitals included in the Center to Advance Palliative Care's National Palliative Care Registry for years 2012 and 2013. We use the World Health Organization's Public Health Strategy for Palliative Care as a framework for analyzing barriers to palliative care integration. We identified key barriers to palliative care integration across three World Health Organization domains: (1) education domain: lack of adequate education/training and perception of palliative care as end-of-life care; (2) implementation domain: inadequate size of palliative medicine-trained workforce, challenge of identifying patients appropriate for palliative care referral, and need for culture change across settings; (3) policy domain: fragmented healthcare system, need for greater funding for research, lack of adequate reimbursement for palliative care, and regulatory barriers. We describe the key policy and educational opportunities in the United States to address and potentially overcome the barriers to greater integration of palliative care into the healthcare of Americans with serious illness. © The Author(s) 2015.

Social contingencies, the aged, and public policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, R B

1993-01-01

Today's older population is notably different than it was a few decades ago, both in well-being and in diversity, a shift that must be acknowledged in public policy. The U.S. social insurance system overprotects against highly likely, predictable, and nonvolatile events at the expense of more unlikely, potentially catastrophic, and less volatile events. The public sector, therefore, should move toward proportionally emphasizing health-related, functionally impairing events rather than income maintenance; the private sector is better suited to insuring against predictable and nonvolatile old-age events. A contingent event scheme would: (a) encourage the growth of long-term-care insurance; (b) help bridge the gap between those arguing for greater "efficiencies" in social welfare spending and those pressing for new universal benefits; and (c) bring a new perspective to the "generational equity" debate.

Peer-reviewed public health journals from Arabic-speaking countries: An updated snapshot.

Science.gov (United States)

Aboul-Enein, Basil H; Bernstein, Joshua; Bowser, Jacquelyn E

2017-02-01

There is a positive association between availability of regional peer-reviewed public health information systems and progressive change in community and population health. The objective of this brief report was to identify public health journals in Arabic-speaking countries actively publishing as of 2016. We conducted an electronic search in several electronic database records for public health journals using a combination of search terms. We excluded journals that focused on human medicine, veterinary medicine, nursing, and other discipline-specific or clinical health professions. We identified twenty-five public health journals for review. Five journals were interrupted or discontinued. Only three journals had a consistent, uninterrupted active publication history of greater than 20 years. Most journals were not in the regional native language. Introduction of regional public health-dedicated journals with in-print and electronic availability and also to be published in region-native languages may require interdisciplinary partnerships. Region-wide public health journals such as the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal could serve as an ideal model for the establishment of additional local and regional public health journals in Arabic-speaking countries.

Butterfly valves: greater use in power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCoy, M.

1975-01-01

Improvements in butterfly valves, particularly in the areas of automatic control and leak tightness are described. The use of butterfly valves in nuclear power plants is discussed. These uses include service in component cooling, containment cooling, and containment isolation. The outlook for further improvements and greater uses is examined. (U.S.)

Financial Determinants for Improving Public Sector Accountability: A Meta-Analytic Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Alcaide MUÑOZ

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The economic crisis has highlighted the need to pay close attention to the disclosure of financial information by public administration institutions; this is an element contributing to the control, accountability and responsibility and thus to achieving greater financial stability and sustainability. Although the disclosure of public financial information has traditionally been linked with financial variables, previous researches in this respect have been somewhat inconsistent in their findings, and conclusive evidence has yet to be provided regarding these factors and their influence on the level of disclosure. The present meta-analysis tries to reveal the existence of a statistically significant association between certain financial variables and the disclosure of public financial information, although the strength and sign of this association will depend on the context under analysis. The results obtained indicate that, depending on the context in which public managers are operating, they may have different attitudes toward the disclosure of public financial information; the medium employed for the dissemination and public indebtedness are also significant factors to this disclosure. Therefore, results reveal a variable degree of predisposition among public managers to adopt policies aimed at increasing the disclosure of public financial information.

Mind the gap: social media engagement by public health researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Brett; Labrique, Alain; Jain, Kriti M; Pekosz, Andrew; Levine, Orin

2014-01-14

was helpful for professional career advancement, whereas 72 (39.8%) said it was not. Only 43 (23.8%) faculty said they would employ a full- or part-time social media consultant, and 30 (16.6%) currently employed one. Despite near-universal appreciation of the potential for social media to serve as a component of public health strategy, a small minority are actually engaged in this space professionally, whereas most are either disinterested or actively opposed to professional engagement. Social media is seen by most as more useful for spreading information than obtaining it. As public discourse on a number of critical health topics continues to be influenced and sometimes shaped by discussions online from Twitter to Facebook, it would seem that greater discourse is needed about when and how public health professionals should engage in these media, and also how personal, institutional, and professional barriers to greater use of social media may be overcome.

Expatriate job performance in Greater China: Does age matter?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Selmer, Jan; Lauring, Jakob; Feng, Yunxia

to expatriates in Chinese societies. It is possible that older business expatriates will receive more respect and be treated with more deference in a Chinese cultural context than their apparently younger colleagues. This may have a positive impact on expatriates’ job performance. To empirically test...... this presumption, business expatriates in Greater Chine were targeted by a survey. Controlling for the potential bias of a number of background variables, results indicate that contextual/managerial performance, including general managerial functions applied to the subsidiary in Greater China, had a positive...

Absenteeism movement in Greater Poland in 1840–1902

OpenAIRE

Izabela Krasińska

2013-01-01

The article presents the origins and development of the idea of absenteeism in Greater Poland in the 19th century. The start date for the research is 1840, which is considered to be a breakthrough year in the history of an organized absenteeism movement in Greater Poland. It was due to the Association for the Suppression of the Use of Vodka (Towarzystwo ku Przytłumieniu Używania Wódki) in the Great Duchy of Posen that was then established in Kórnik. It was a secular organization that came int...

Georgia Public Health Laboratory, Decatur, Georgia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2002-12-01

This case study was prepared as one in a series for the Laboratories for the 21st Century program, a joint endeavor of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program. The goal of this program is to foster greater energy efficiency in new and retrofit laboratory buildings in both the public and the private sectors. The energy-efficient elements of the laboratory featured in this case study-the Georgia Public Health Laboratory, Decatur, Georgia-include sustainable design features, light-filled interior spaces for daylighting, closely grouped loads (such as freezers), the use of recirculated air in administrative areas, direct digital controls for heating and cooling equipment, sunscreens, and low-emissivity window glazing. These elements, combined with an attractive design and well-lighted work spaces, add up to a building that ranks high in comfort and low in energy use.

Client Abuse to Public Welfare Workers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Strøbæk, Pernille Solveig; Korczynski, Marek

2016-01-01

We analyse a case study of workers’ experience of client abuse in a Danish public welfare organisation. We make an original contribution by putting forward two different theoretical expectations of the case. One expectation is that the case follows a pattern of customer abuse processes in a social...... patterns of customer abuse associated with a liberal market economy – in which the customer is treated as sovereign against the relatively powerless worker, and in which workers bear heavy emotional costs of abuse. Our findings show a greater match to the social processes of abuse within a social market...... market economy – in which workers are accorded power and resources, in which workers tend to frame the abuse as the outcome of a co-citizen caught in system failure and in which workers demonstrate some resilience to abuse. Another expectation is that New Public Management reforms push the case to follow...

Gender differences in commuting behavior: Women's greater sensitivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olmo Sanchez, M.I.; Maeso Gonzalez, E.

2016-07-01

Women's greater sensitivity to changes in their environment is one of the most distinguishing features between both genders. This article raises women's greater sensitivity to the different variables which influence their commuting modal choice. In order to do this, gender gaps detected in the choice of means of transport in commuting trips with respect to the decision factors such as age, education level, driver's license, private transport access; location, household size and net income, are quantified.The results show a greater female sensitivity to the different variables that affect their modal choice, which helps to better understand the different mobility patterns and it is useful for planning measures favoring sustainable mobility policies and equity. (Author)

Effects of Anti-Smoking Public Service Announcements on the Attitudes of Korean College Students toward Smoking.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Kyoung Won; Lee, Jakyoung; Ryu, Ji-Hye; Kim, Soo Jeong

2017-12-01

This study aimed to identify the effects of anti-smoking public service announcements on the attitudes of Korean college students toward smoking. This study involved students via convenience sampling from seven universities who were randomly assigned to four groups. All groups completed a preliminary questionnaire, before being shown a public service announcement twice, and then completed a post viewing questionnaire. For announcements with positive messages, the proportion of changes in beliefs and attitudes were 39.1% and 19.8%, respectively, whereas those with negative messages showed a greater proportion of changes in the beliefs (59.7%) and attitudes (40.3%). After adjusting for sex and change in belief, the message types and smoking status were identified as factors affecting the change in the participants attitudes. A negative message resulted in a greater change in attitudes (odds ratio [OR], 3.047; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.847-5.053). Ever-smokers including current smokers showed a greater positive change in attitude than never-smokers (OR, 6.965; 95% CI, 4.107-11.812). This study found that positive anti-smoking public service announcements were more effective on attitude change than negative messages. Additionally these announcements were more effective among viewers who were current smokers or had a prior smoking experience.

Radiation risk perception and public information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boggs-Mayes, C.J.

1988-01-01

We as Health Physicists face what, at many times, appears to be a hopeless task. The task simply stated is informing the public about the risks (or lack thereof) of radiation. Unfortunately, the public has perceived radiation risks to be much greater than they actually are. An example of this problem is shown in a paper by Arthur C. Upton. Three groups of people -- the League of Women Voters, students, and Business and Professional Club members -- were asked to rank 30 sources of risk according to their contribution to the number of deaths in the United States. Not surprisingly, they ranked nuclear power much higher and medical x-rays much lower than the actual values. In addition to the perception problem, we are faced with another hurdle: health physicists as communicators. Members of the Health Physics Society (HPS) found that the communication styles of most health physicists appear to be dissimilar to those of the general public. These authors administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to the HPS Baltimore-Washington Chapter. This test, a standardized test for psychological type developed by Isabel Myers, ask questions that provide a quantitative measure of our natural preferences in four areas. Assume that you as a health physicist have the necessary skills to communicate information about radiation to the public. Health physicists do nothing with these tools. Most people involved in radiation protection do not get involved with public information activies. What I will attempt to do is heighten your interest in such activities. I will share information about public information activities in which I have been involved and give you suggestions for sources of information and materials. 2 refs., 1 tab

[Autoerotic fatalities in Greater Dusseldorf].

Science.gov (United States)

Hartung, Benno; Hellen, Florence; Borchard, Nora; Huckenbeck, Wolfgang

2011-01-01

Autoerotic fatalities in the Greater Dusseldorf area correspond to the relevant medicolegal literature. Our results included exclusively young to middle-aged, usually single men who were found dead in their city apartments. Clothing and devices used showed a great variety. Women's or fetish clothing and complex shackling or hanging devices were disproportionately frequent. In most cases, death occurred due to hanging or ligature strangulation. There was no increased incidence of underlying psychiatric disorders. In most of the deceased no or at least no remarkable alcohol intoxication was found. Occasionally, it may be difficult to reliably differentiate autoerotic accidents, accidents occurring in connection with practices of bondage & discipline, dominance & submission (BDSM) from natural death, suicide or homicide.

Radiographic features of tuberculous osteitis in greater trochanter and lschium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahm, So Hee; Lee, Ye Ri; Kim, Dong Jin; Sung, Ki Jun; Lim, Jong Nam

1996-01-01

To evaluate, if possible, the radiographic features of tuberculous osteitis in the greater trochanter and ischium, and to determine the cause of the lesions. We reterospectively reviewed the plain radiographic findings of 14 ptients with histologically proven tuberculous osteitis involving the greater trochanter and ischium. In each case, the following were analyzed:morphology of bone destruction, including cortical erosion;periosteal reaction;presence or abscence of calcific shadows in adjacent soft tissue. On the basis of an analysis of radiographic features and correlation of the anatomy with adjacent structures we attempted to determine causes. Of the 14 cases evaluated, 12 showed varrious degrees of extrinsic erosion on the outer cortical bone of the greater trochanter and ischium ; in two cases, bone destruction was so severe that the radiographic features of advanced perforated osteomyelitis were simulated. In addition to findings of bone destruction, in these twelve cases, the presence of sequestrum or calcific shadows was seen in adjacent soft tissue. Tuberculous osteitis in the greater trochanter and ischium showed the characteristic findings of chronic extrinsic erosion. On the basis of these findings we can suggest that these lesions result from an extrinsic pathophysiologic cause such as adjacent bursitis

Radiographic features of tuberculous osteitis in greater trochanter and lschium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hahm, So Hee; Lee, Ye Ri [Hanil Hospital Affiliated to KEPCO, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Dong Jin; Sung, Ki Jun [Yonsei Univ. Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju (Korea, Republic of); Lim, Jong Nam [Konkuk Univ. College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

1996-11-01

To evaluate, if possible, the radiographic features of tuberculous osteitis in the greater trochanter and ischium, and to determine the cause of the lesions. We reterospectively reviewed the plain radiographic findings of 14 ptients with histologically proven tuberculous osteitis involving the greater trochanter and ischium. In each case, the following were analyzed:morphology of bone destruction, including cortical erosion;periosteal reaction;presence or abscence of calcific shadows in adjacent soft tissue. On the basis of an analysis of radiographic features and correlation of the anatomy with adjacent structures we attempted to determine causes. Of the 14 cases evaluated, 12 showed varrious degrees of extrinsic erosion on the outer cortical bone of the greater trochanter and ischium ; in two cases, bone destruction was so severe that the radiographic features of advanced perforated osteomyelitis were simulated. In addition to findings of bone destruction, in these twelve cases, the presence of sequestrum or calcific shadows was seen in adjacent soft tissue. Tuberculous osteitis in the greater trochanter and ischium showed the characteristic findings of chronic extrinsic erosion. On the basis of these findings we can suggest that these lesions result from an extrinsic pathophysiologic cause such as adjacent bursitis.

Search for greater stability in nuclear regulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asselstine, J.K.

1985-01-01

The need for greater stability in nuclear regulation is discussed. Two possible approaches for dealing with the problems of new and rapidly changing regulatory requirements are discussed. The first approach relies on the more traditional licensing reform initiatives that have been considered off and on for the past decade. The second approach considers a new regulator philosophy aimed at the root causes of the proliferation of new safety requirements that have been imposed in recent years. For the past few years, the concepts of deregulation and regulatory reform have been in fashion in Washington, and the commercial nuclear power program has not remained unaffected. Many look to these concepts to provide greater stability in the regulatory program. The NRC, the nuclear industry and the administration have all been avidly pursuing regulatory reform initiatives, which take the form of both legislative and administrative proposals. Many of these proposals look to the future, and, if adopted, would have little impact on currently operating nuclear power plants or plants now under construction

Public-private partnership: between legal requirements and the real needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergiu CORNEA

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The overview image of the public-private partnership is represented by cooperation between the public and private actors to carry out the activities of public interest, cooperation based on the capacities of each partner to allocate properly the resources, risks and benefits. The main elements of the institutional framework are established by the national legislation. The traditional domains for the development of the partnerships are necessary at the national level and for infrastructure. The increasing tendency toward decentralization of the provision of services introduces a lot of public-private opportunities like health, education and other social services in the non-traditional areas, as well. The study analysis presents the idea of partnership as a means of solving the problem of more and more limited resources which are at the disposal of public administration. The quality of legal framework and government policies for the development of partnerships gives to this way of cooperation, either the quality of strategy in the public policies, which purpose is to obtain greater benefits by combining the resources of those two sectors, or the limited solution to the re-launch of the economy and to meet the general interest.

Realising social justice in public health law.

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Marie; Thomson, Michael

2013-03-01

Law has played an important, but largely constitutive, role in the development of the public health enterprise. Thus, law has been central to setting up the institutions and offices of public health. The moral agenda has, however, been shaped to a much greater extent by bioethics. While social justice has been placed at the heart of this agenda, we argue that there has been little place within dominant conceptions of social justice for gender equity and women's interests which we see as crucial to a fully realised vision of social justice. We argue that, aside from particular interventions in the field of reproduction, public health practice tends to marginalise women-a claim we support by critically examining strategies to combat the HIV pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. To counter the marginalisation of women's interests, this article argues that Amartya Sen's capabilities approach has much to contribute to the framing of public health law and policy. Sen's approach provides an evaluative and normative framework which recognises the importance of both gender and health equity to achieving social justice. We suggest that domestic law and international human rights provisions, in particular the emerging human right to health, offer mechanisms to promote capabilities, and foster a robust and inclusive conception of social justice.

Management of incomplete abortion in South African public hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, H C; Jewkes, R; Levin, J; Dickson-Tetteh, K; Rees, H

2003-04-01

To describe the current management of incomplete abortion in South African public hospitals and to discuss the extent to which management is clinically appropriate. A multicentre, prospective descriptive study. South African public hospitals that manage gynaecological emergencies. Hospitals were selected using a stratified random sampling method. All women who presented to the above sampled hospitals with incomplete abortion during the three week data collection period in 2000 were included. A data collection sheet was completed at the time of discharge for each woman admitted with a diagnosis of incomplete, complete, missed or inevitable abortion during the study period. Information gathered included demographic data, clinical signs and symptoms at admission, medical management, surgical management, anaestetic management, use of blood products and antibiotics and complications. Three clinical severity categories were used for the purpose of data analysis and interpretation. Detail of medical management, detail of surgical management, use of blood products and antibiotics, methods of analgesia and anaesthesia used, and use of abortifacients. There is a trend towards low cost technology such as the use of manual vacuum aspiration and sedation anaesthesia; however, this is mainly limited to the better resourced tertiary hospitals linked to academic units. The use of antibiotics and blood products has decreased but much of the use is inappropriate. The use of abortifacients does include some use of misoprostol but merely as an adjunct to surgical evacuation. The management of incomplete abortion remains a problem in South Africa, a low income country that is still managing a common clinical problem with costly interventions. The evidence of a trend towards low cost technology is promising, albeit limited to tertiary centres. This study has given us information as how to best address this problem. More training in low cost methods is needed, targeting in particular the

Public attention to science and political news and support for climate change mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, P. Sol; Nisbet, Erik C.; Myers, Teresa A.

2015-06-01

We examine how attention to science and political news may influence public knowledge, perceived harm, and support for climate mitigation policies. Previous research examining these relationships has not fully accounted for how political ideology shapes the mental processes through which the public interprets media discourses about climate change. We incorporate political ideology and the concept of motivated cognition into our analysis to compare and contrast two prominent models of opinion formation, the scientific literacy model, which posits that disseminating scientific information will move public opinion towards the scientific consensus, and the motivated reasoning model, which posits that individuals will interpret information in a biased manner. Our analysis finds support for both models of opinion formation with key differences across ideological groups. Attention to science news was associated with greater perceptions of harm and knowledge for conservatives, but only additional knowledge for liberals. Supporting the literacy model, greater knowledge was associated with more support for climate mitigation for liberals. In contrast, consistent with motivated reasoning, more knowledgeable conservatives were less supportive of mitigation policy. In addition, attention to political news had a negative association with perceived harm for conservatives but not for liberals.

Sense of place, organizational context and the strategic management of publicly funded hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanlon, N T

2001-11-01

An era of managerialism in health care delivery systems is now well ensconced throughout the nations of the OECD. This development has occurred, in large part, as a response to funding pressures in institutionally based health care delivery imposed by principal third party insurers. In the case of publicly funded hospitals, the more traditional concerns for stewardship and appeasement of professional groups is being replaced by a greater emphasis on cost consciousness and corporate-style leadership as these organizations seek to reposition themselves in new funding and regulatory environments. While institutional theory and strategic management perspectives help illuminate these issues, this paper argues that a place-based perspective is also needed to understand the changes currently underway in health care delivery and publicly funded human services more generally. This is illustrated with reference to developments in the strategic management of public hospitals in the province of Ontario. Evidence from a survey of senior administrators of public hospitals, distributed at the height of these policy reform initiatives, is examined to shed light on local level management responses to changing policy and fiscal pressures. The data suggest that the latest policy directions in the province of Ontario will 'encourage' hospital executives in particular community settings to steer their organizations in very unfamiliar directions. The findings suggest a need for greater attention to context and setting in health services research and policy.

Violence in public transportation: an approach based on spatial analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sousa, Daiane Castro Bittencourt de; Pitombo, Cira Souza; Rocha, Samille Santos; Salgueiro, Ana Rita; Delgado, Juan Pedro Moreno

2017-12-11

To carry out a spatial analysis of the occurrence of acts of violence (specifically robberies) in public transportation, identifying the regions of greater incidence, using geostatistics, and possible causes with the aid of a multicriteria analysis in the Geographic Information System. The unit of analysis is the traffic analysis zone of the survey named Origem-Destino, carried out in Salvador, state of Bahia, in 2013. The robberies recorded by the Department of Public Security of Bahia in 2013 were located and made compatible with the limits of the traffic analysis zones and, later, associated with the respective centroids. After determining the regions with the highest probability of robbery, we carried out a geographic analysis of the possible causes in the region with the highest robbery potential, considering the factors analyzed using a multicriteria analysis in a Geographic Information System environment. The execution of the two steps of this study allowed us to identify areas corresponding to the greater probability of occurrence of robberies in public transportation. In addition, the three most vulnerable road sections (Estrada da Liberdade, Rua Pero Vaz, and Avenida General San Martin) were identified in these areas. In these sections, the factors that most contribute with the potential for robbery in buses are: F1 - proximity to places that facilitate escape, F3 - great movement of persons, and F2 - absence of policing, respectively. Indicator Kriging (geostatistical estimation) can be used to construct a spatial probability surface, which can be a useful tool for the implementation of public policies. The multicriteria analysis in the Geographic Information System environment allowed us to understand the spatial factors related to the phenomenon under analysis.

[Scientometric and publication malpractices. The appearance of globalization in biomedical publishing].

Science.gov (United States)

Fazekas, T; Varró, V

2001-09-16

Attention is drawn to publication and scientometric malpractices utilized by biomedical authors who do not adhere to the accepted ethical norms. The difference between duplicate/redundant and bilingual publications is defined. In the course of discussion of the manipulations that may be observed in the field of scientometry, it is pointed out that abstract of congress lectures/posters can not be taken into consideration for scientometric purposes even if such abstracts are published in journals with impact factors. A further behavioral form is likewise regarded as unacceptable from the aspect of publication ethics: when a physician who has participated in a multicentre, randomized clinical trial receives recognition (in an appendix or in an acknowledgement of an article) as having contributed data, but assesses this appreciation as co-authorship and thereby attempts to augment the value of his or her publication activity. The effects of globalization on biomedical publication activity are considered, and evidence is provided that the rapidly spreading electronic publication for a give rise to new types of ethical dilemmas. It is recommended that, in the current age of Anglo-American globalization, greater emphasis should be placed on the development of medical publication in the mother tongue (Hungarian).

Epigenetics: relevance and implications for public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Rozek, Laura S; Dolinoy, Dana C; Sartor, Maureen A; Omenn, Gilbert S

2014-01-01

Improved understanding of the multilayer regulation of the human genome has led to a greater appreciation of environmental, nutritional, and epigenetic risk factors for human disease. Chromatin remodeling, histone tail modifications, and DNA methylation are dynamic epigenetic changes responsive to external stimuli. Careful interpretation can provide insights for actionable public health through collaboration between population and basic scientists and through integration of multiple data sources. We review key findings in environmental epigenetics both in human population studies and in animal models, and discuss the implications of these results for risk assessment and public health protection. To ultimately succeed in identifying epigenetic mechanisms leading to complex phenotypes and disease, researchers must integrate the various animal models, human clinical approaches, and human population approaches while paying attention to life-stage sensitivity, to generate effective prescriptions for human health evaluation and disease prevention.

The selling of Sellafield (the public image)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

White, David.

1986-01-01

The advertising campaign planned to restore the public image of Sellafield is discussed. Two aspects of the Sellafield site are being promoted especially, the first is that the discharges of long life radioactivity are being reduced. The second is the 'site accessibility' of Sellafield -BNFL is trying to encourage visitors to see for themselves what goes on at Sellafield. There is evidence that this will allay the fears and suspicions of the public. It is suggested, however, that providing information about nuclear power may be counter-productive as the concept of nuclear disaster may receive greater attention. The Sellafield site is difficult to promote whilst it continues to suffer leaks and it is suggested that the only way to promote Sellafield successfully may be by appealing to nationalism as the French have done in their nuclear campaign. (U.K.)

Public services in early modern European towns: An agenda for further research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Davids, C.A.

2010-01-01

Starting with a set of key questions formulated by Walter Prevenier in 1984, this article proposes an agenda for future research on urban public services in early modern European towns. The author suggests, first of all, a shift in research strategy toward a greater emphasis on actor-oriented

Biological Correlates of Northern-Southern Italy Differences in IQ

Science.gov (United States)

Templer, Donald I.

2012-01-01

The present study was intended to provide perspective, albeit less than unequivocal, on the research of Lynn (2010) who reported higher IQs in the northern than southern Italian regions. He attributes this to northern Italians having a greater genetic similarity to middle Europeans and southern Italians to Mediterranean people. Higher regional IQ…

Expert forecasts and the emergence of water scarcity on public agendas

Science.gov (United States)

Graffy, E.A.

2006-01-01

Expert forecasts of worldwide water scarcity depict conditions that call for proactive, preventive, coordinated water governance, but they have not been matched by public agendas of commensurate scope and urgency in the United States. This disconnect can not be adequately explained without some attention to attributes of forecasts themselves. I propose that the institutional fragmentation of water expertise and prevailing patterns of communication about water scarcity militate against the formulation of a common public definition of the problem and encourage reliance on unambiguous crises to stimulate social and policy agenda setting. I do not argue that expert forecasts should drive public agendas deterministically, but if their purpose is to help prevent water crises (not just predict them), then a greater effort is needed to overcome the barriers to meaningful public scrutiny of expert claims and evaluation of water strategies presently in place. Copyright ?? 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Hospitals with greater diversities of physiologically complex procedures do not achieve greater surgical growth in a market with stable numbers of such procedures.

Science.gov (United States)

Dexter, Franklin; Epstein, Richard H; Lubarsky, David A

2018-05-01

Although having a large diversity of types of procedures has a substantial operational impact on the surgical suites of hospitals, the strategic importance is unknown. In the current study, we used longitudinal data for all hospitals and patient ages in the State of Florida to evaluate whether hospitals with greater diversity of types of physiologically complex major therapeutic procedures (PCMTP) also had greater rates of surgical growth. Observational cohort study. 1479 combinations of hospitals in the State of Florida and fiscal years, 2008-2015. The types of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) procedures studied were PCMT, defined as: a) major therapeutic procedure; b) >7 American Society of Anesthesiologists base units; and c) performed during a hospitalization with a Diagnosis Related Group with a mean length of stay ≥4.0days. The number of procedures of each type of PCMTP commonly performed at each hospital was calculated by taking 1/Herfindahl index (i.e., sum of the squares of the proportions of all procedures of each type of PCMTP). Over the 8 successive years studied, there was no change in the number of PCMTP being performed (Kendall's τ b =-0.014±0.017 [standard error], P=0.44; N=1479 hospital×years). Busier and larger hospitals commonly performed more types of PCMTP, respectively categorized based on performed PCMTP (τ=0.606±0.017, P<0.0001) or hospital beds (τ=0.524±0.017, P<0.0001). There was no association between greater diversity of types of PCMTP commonly performed and greater annual growth in numbers of PCMTP (τ=0.002±0.019, P=0.91; N=1295 hospital×years). Conclusions were the same with multiple sensitivity analyses. Post hoc, it was recognized that hospitals performing a greater diversity of PCMTP were more similar to the aggregate of other hospitals within the same health district (τ=0.550±0.017, P<0.0001). During a period with no overall growth in PCMTP, hospitals with

Stakeholder influence in public sector information systems strategy implementation-The case of public hospitals in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Hwabamungu, Boroto; Brown, Irwin; Williams, Quentin

2018-01-01

Recent literature on organisational strategy has called for greater emphasis on individuals (stakeholders) and what they do in the process of strategizing. Public sector organisations have to engage with an array of heterogeneous stakeholders in fulfilling their mandate. The public health sector in particular needs to engage with a diversity of stakeholders at local, regional and national levels when strategising. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of stakeholder relations on the implementation of Information Systems (IS) strategy in public hospitals in South Africa. An interpretive approach using two provinces was employed. The Activity Analysis and Development (ActAD) framework, an enhanced form of activity theory, was used as the theoretical framework. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews, meetings, documents analysis, physical artefacts and observation. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis. Findings reveal that IS strategy implementation in public hospitals involves a large and complex network of stakeholder groups at different levels, and over different time periods. These stakeholder groups act in accordance with formal and informal roles, rules and modalities. Various contextual conditions together with the actions of, and interactions between stakeholder groups give rise to the situationality of stakeholder relations dynamics and strategy implementation. The multiple actions and interactions over time lead to the realisation of some aspects of the IS strategy in public hospitals. Given the complexity and dynamism of the context there are also certain unplanned implementations as well. These relationships are captured in a Stakeholder Relations Influence (SRI) framework. The SRI framework can be assistive in the assessment and mapping of stakeholders and stakeholder relations, and the assessment of the implications of these relations for effective IS strategy implementation in public hospitals. The

An Analysis of Media’s Role: Case Study of Army Public School (APS Peshawar Attack

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qureshi Rameesha

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The study aimed at analyzing the role of media during and after terrorist attacks by examining the media handling of APS Peshawar attack. The sample consisted of males and females selected on convenience basis from universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. It was hypothesized that (1 Extensive media coverage of terrorist attacks leads to greater publicity/recognition of terrorist groups (2 Media coverage of APS Peshawar attack increased fear and anxiety in public (3 Positive media handling/coverage of APS Peshawar attack led to public solidarity and peace. The results indicate that i Media coverage of terrorist attacks does help terrorist groups to gain publicity and recognition amongst public ii Media coverage of Aps Peshawar attack did not increase fear/anxiety in fact it directed the Pakistani nation towards public solidarity and peace.

More effective public communication - HLW disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Green, J.W. Jr.

1982-01-01

Credibility can be enhanced and communication can be made somewhat more effective by informally talking to a small group of people as opposed to speaking to large groups. The more informal the situation can be, and the approximation of a one-to-one speaker-to-audience ratio assists the audience in obtaining a feeling they are being treated equitably. This also assists the speaker in getting a feel for the chief concerns of that particular audience. The authors have also found that this same principle has worked rather well in dealing with the media. So far they have experienced fewer mistakes and fewer sensationalisms from the media personnel with which they have had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one and explain the program. The media reaches a much greater segment of the public than any of us as individuals, and an informed media can communicate much more effectively with the public than an uninformed one

Aspirations and expectations: public views on electricity supply in Ontario, Canada. Paper no. IGEC-1-038

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rowlands, I.H. [Univ. of Waterloo, Dept. of Environment and Resource Studies, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Waterloo, Ontario (Canada)]. E-mail: irowland@fes.uwaterloo.ca; Parker, P. [Univ. of Waterloo, Dept. of Geography, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Waterloo, Ontario (Canada)]. E-mail: pparker@fes.uwaterloo.ca

2005-07-01

It is increasingly being recognised that electricity is a key public policy issue. No longer the domain of monopoly players shielded from public scrutiny, the growing restructuring of electricity supply systems around the world has increased public involvement in electricity decisions. Accordingly, it is becoming more and more important for policy-makers to have a clear understanding of their citizens' priorities regarding electricity supply issues. This paper examines public attitudes in a major Canadian metropolitan area (Waterloo Region) by analysing the results of over 1,000 surveys on a range of energy and environment issues. Regarding the present arrangements for electricity supply in Ontario, most respondents were not able to identify the resource most used (nuclear power), but instead thought that the resource that has the longest history in the province's electricity system (hydropower) dominated the supply system. Regarding future resource options, while respondents clearly expressed their preference for green electricity, particularly the so-called 'new' renewables (solar and wind power), respondents also felt that the prospects for more traditional resources - particularly, nuclear, hydropower and natural gas - remained higher. Further analyses reveal that two demographic factors (gender and age) and three attitudinal factors (perceived consumer effectiveness, liberalism and ecological concern) help predict those likely to be more optimistic and/or enthusiastic about green electricity. While the empirical material in this paper is taken from the Canadian province of Ontario, key conclusions and broader lessons are more widely applicable. Every community undergoing electricity restructuring of any kind is forced to consider public views to a greater extent. Indeed, prospects for greater use of green electricity in electricity supply systems are contingent upon a greater understanding of citizen views of the same. (author)

Aspirations and expectations: public views on electricity supply in Ontario, Canada. Paper no. IGEC-1-038

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowlands, I.H.; Parker, P.

2005-01-01

It is increasingly being recognised that electricity is a key public policy issue. No longer the domain of monopoly players shielded from public scrutiny, the growing restructuring of electricity supply systems around the world has increased public involvement in electricity decisions. Accordingly, it is becoming more and more important for policy-makers to have a clear understanding of their citizens' priorities regarding electricity supply issues. This paper examines public attitudes in a major Canadian metropolitan area (Waterloo Region) by analysing the results of over 1,000 surveys on a range of energy and environment issues. Regarding the present arrangements for electricity supply in Ontario, most respondents were not able to identify the resource most used (nuclear power), but instead thought that the resource that has the longest history in the province's electricity system (hydropower) dominated the supply system. Regarding future resource options, while respondents clearly expressed their preference for green electricity, particularly the so-called 'new' renewables (solar and wind power), respondents also felt that the prospects for more traditional resources - particularly, nuclear, hydropower and natural gas - remained higher. Further analyses reveal that two demographic factors (gender and age) and three attitudinal factors (perceived consumer effectiveness, liberalism and ecological concern) help predict those likely to be more optimistic and/or enthusiastic about green electricity. While the empirical material in this paper is taken from the Canadian province of Ontario, key conclusions and broader lessons are more widely applicable. Every community undergoing electricity restructuring of any kind is forced to consider public views to a greater extent. Indeed, prospects for greater use of green electricity in electricity supply systems are contingent upon a greater understanding of citizen views of the same. (author)

Finding the missing link: examining the mediating role of sustainable public procurement behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grandia, J.

2016-01-01

Governments use sustainable public procurement to reduce the negative aspects of production and consumption. The more sustainable the goods and services that the government buys are, the greater the impact on the market and the environment. However, studies show that the degree of sustainable

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SMALLHOLDERS: A STUDY OF THE PUBLIC MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MAYKELL LEITE DA COSTA

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This work seeks to analyze economically the public market of Santa Rosa/RS, focusing the marketing channels used and the quality of products. Based on this work, one shows that the pluriactivity is a factor that contributes to greater income. However, the greater the complexity of economic activities, the more effective must be management mechanisms, because the productive factors and market relations become more complex. As a result, the ability to administer efficiently family properties is crucial for the sustainable development of Brazilian agribusiness, contributing to the improvement of the quality of life, for fixing the man in the field and to a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable development.

Microbial water quality communication: public and practitioner insights from British Columbia, Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, G; Henrich, N; Holmes, B; Harris, L; Prystajecky, N

2014-09-01

This work examines the communication interactions of water suppliers and health authorities with the general public regarding microbial source water quality for recreational and drinking water. We compare current approaches to risk communication observable in British Columbia (BC), Canada, with best practices derived from the communications literature, finding significant gaps between theory and practice. By considering public views and government practices together, we identify key disconnects, leading to the conclusion that at present, neither the public's needs nor public health officials' goals are being met. We find: (1) there is a general lack of awareness and poor understanding by the public of microbial threats to water and the associated health implications; (2) the public often does not know where to find water quality information; (3) public information needs are not identified or met; (4) information sharing by authorities is predominantly one-way and reactive (crisis-oriented); and (5) the effectiveness of communications is not evaluated. There is a need for both improved public understanding of water quality-related risks, and new approaches to ensure information related to water quality reaches audiences. Overall, greater attention should be given to planning and goal setting related to microbial water risk communication.

(DeCentralization of Public Procurement at the Local Level in the EU

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Boštjan BREZOVNIK

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The so-called decentralization of public procurement in EU Member States is accepted as the most suitable design of the public procurement system, often justifi ed by greater economic effi ciency and by the possibility of boosting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, which act on the public procurement market as providers of goods, services and works. Despite the existence of highly decentralized public procurement systems which refl ect the decentralization of administrative systems, especially after the recession, there is a stronger tendency for centralization of public procurement in the EU. The so-called aggregation of demand by contracting authorities can be done in order to achieve economies of scale, including lower prices and transaction costs as well as to improve and professionalize the management of procurement procedures (as highlighted in the Directive 2014/24/EU by the European Parliament and the EU Council. However, even in the context of public procurement centralization, local contracting authorities (i.e., public administration authorities and organizations in Member States should be provided with a suffi ciently wide range of possible (centralized organizational structures and contractual (vertical and horizontal public-public partnerships which will allow them to select the most suitable and most economically effective organizational structure for the execution of public procurement.

Using public policy to improve outcomes for asthmatic children in schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynn, Jewlya; Oppenheimer, Sophie; Zimmer, Lorena

2014-12-01

School-based services to improve asthma management need to be accompanied by public policies that can help sustain services, scale effective interventions, create greater equity across schools, and improve outcomes for children. Several national organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have recommended specific public policies the adoption of which in school settings can improve asthma outcomes for children. Although many states and school districts have adopted some of these policies, adoption is not universal, and implementation is not always successful, leaving inequities in children's access to asthma services and supports. These issues can be addressed by changing public policy. Policy change is a complex process, but it is one that will benefit from greater involvement by asthma experts, including the researchers who generate the knowledge base on what services, supports, and policies have the best outcomes for children. Asthma experts can participate in the policy process by helping to build awareness of the need for school-based asthma policy, estimating the costs associated with policy options and with inaction, advocating for the selection of specific policies, assisting in implementation (including providing feedback), conducting the research that can evaluate the effectiveness of implementation, and ultimately providing information back into the policy process to allow for improvements to the policies. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of regulatory science on global public health

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Meghal Patel

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Regulatory science plays a vital role in protecting and promoting global public health by providing the scientific basis for ensuring that food and medical products are safe, properly labeled, and effective. Regulatory science research was first developed for the determination of product safety in the early part of the 20th Century, and continues to support innovation of the processes needed for regulatory policy decisions. Historically, public health laws and regulations were enacted following public health tragedies, and often the research tools and techniques required to execute these laws lagged behind the public health needs. Throughout history, similar public health problems relating to food and pharmaceutical products have occurred in countries around the world, and have usually led to the development of equivalent solutions. For example, most countries require a demonstration of pharmaceutical safety and efficacy prior to marketing these products using approaches that are similar to those initiated in the United States. The globalization of food and medical products has created a shift in regulatory compliance such that gaps in food and medical product safety can generate international problems. Improvements in regulatory research can advance the regulatory paradigm toward a more preventative, proactive framework. These improvements will advance at a greater pace with international collaboration by providing additional resources and new perspectives for approaching and anticipating public health problems. The following is a review of how past public health disasters have shaped the current regulatory landscape, and where innovation can facilitate the shift from reactive policies to proactive policies.

Impact of regulatory science on global public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Meghal; Miller, Margaret Ann

2012-07-01

Regulatory science plays a vital role in protecting and promoting global public health by providing the scientific basis for ensuring that food and medical products are safe, properly labeled, and effective. Regulatory science research was first developed for the determination of product safety in the early part of the 20th Century, and continues to support innovation of the processes needed for regulatory policy decisions. Historically, public health laws and regulations were enacted following public health tragedies, and often the research tools and techniques required to execute these laws lagged behind the public health needs. Throughout history, similar public health problems relating to food and pharmaceutical products have occurred in countries around the world, and have usually led to the development of equivalent solutions. For example, most countries require a demonstration of pharmaceutical safety and efficacy prior to marketing these products using approaches that are similar to those initiated in the United States. The globalization of food and medical products has created a shift in regulatory compliance such that gaps in food and medical product safety can generate international problems. Improvements in regulatory research can advance the regulatory paradigm toward a more preventative, proactive framework. These improvements will advance at a greater pace with international collaboration by providing additional resources and new perspectives for approaching and anticipating public health problems. The following is a review of how past public health disasters have shaped the current regulatory landscape, and where innovation can facilitate the shift from reactive policies to proactive policies. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Renewable energy policy and public perceptions of renewable energy. A cultural theory approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

West, J.; Bailey, I.; Winter, M.

2010-01-01

Public opposition to the siting of renewable energy (RE) facilities and public reluctance to invest in RE remain key obstacles to the expansion of the renewables sector in the UK and a number of other European countries. Although there is a growing body of qualitative research on factors that inform public attitudes towards RE, the majority of studies have tended to be quantitative and to view 'the public' and 'public opinion' as homogeneous wholes. This study uses a cultural theory framework and focus groups conducted in the South West UK to develop deeper understandings of how individuals' worldviews can inform opinions and behaviour in relation to RE. These findings are used to explore ways in which government policies on RE might be tailored to engender greater public support and participation. Issues discussed include the provision of economic incentives, information on climate change and RE, linking renewables to overall energy behaviour, and landscape aesthetics. (author)

Sonography of greater trochanteric pain syndrome and the rarity of primary bursitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Suzanne S; Surrey, David E; Nazarian, Levon N

2013-11-01

Greater trochanteric pain syndrome is a common condition with clinical features of pain and tenderness at the lateral aspect of the hip. Diagnosing the origin of greater trochanteric pain is important because the treatment varies depending on the cause. We hypothesized that sonographic evaluation of sources for greater trochanteric pain syndrome would show that bursitis was not the most commonly encountered abnormality. We performed a retrospective review of musculoskeletal sonographic examinations performed at our institution over a 6-year period for greater trochanteric pain syndrome; completed a tabulation of the sonographic findings; and assessed the prevalence of trochanteric bursitis, gluteal tendon abnormalities, iliotibial band abnormalities, or a combination of findings. Prevalence of abnormal findings, associations of bursitis, gluteal tendinosis, gluteal tendon tears, and iliotibial band abnormalities were calculated. The final study population consisted of 877 unique patients: 602 women, 275 men; average age, 54 years; and age range, 15-87 years). Of the 877 patients with greater trochanteric pain, 700 (79.8%) did not have bursitis on ultrasound. A minority of patients (177, 20.2%) had trochanteric bursitis. Of the 877 patients with greater trochanteric pain, 438 (49.9%) had gluteal tendinosis, four (0.5%) had gluteal tendon tears, and 250 (28.5%) had a thickened iliotibial band. The cause of greater trochanteric pain syndrome is usually some combination of pathology involving the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus tendons as well as the iliotibial band. Bursitis is present in only the minority of patients. These findings have implications for treatment of this common condition.

The Challenges Faced by Informal Traders in Greater Letaba Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa

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Kole Legodi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Informal trade has grown at an alarming rate in South Africa because of lack of employment opportunities in both the private and public sectors. This has resulted in many unemployed members of the population joining the informal business sector. The majority of people in this sector do not have skills that are needed in the formal employment sector, others are semi-literate and a small percentage has some level of qualification. Nevertheless, this sector is plagued by a number of challenges which this article presents.  The article reports on the study that was conducted at Greater Letaba Municipality in Limpopo Province. The aim of the study was to investigate the challenges that were faced by informal traders in Greater Letaba Municipality in Limpopo Province in South Africa. The area was chosen because of its accessibility to the researchers and its potential to provide relevant and accurate information for the research project. Thus, a qualitative research method was used to collect data through face to face interviews. The research discovered that some of the challenges experienced by the informal traders in the area ranged from lack of support from the local municipality to structural challenges like lack of ablution facilities and limited access to electricity. Furthermore, other challenges concerned safety and health issues that were also gender based. Most of the traders in the area were women; an element which attest to the fact that it is difficult to find employment in the country when one is less educated and is also a woman.

Understanding the components of publication success: a survey of academic award recipients.

Science.gov (United States)

Kenny, Anne M; Rowland, Heather; Gruman, Cynthia A

2003-04-01

This study examines predictors of publication number in career development awardees. We examined whether daily writing predicted publication number among junior faculty. We surveyed 94 career development awardees; the survey consisted of 28 questions in four domains: characteristics, environment, writing practices, and attitudes about writing. Variables that contributed positively to publication number included male gender and those with a negative effect were clinical research and perceiving the need to write as a requirement for advancement. In subgroup analysis of junior faculty, a habit of writing daily was predictive of greater publication numbers. Career development awardees published more first-authored manuscripts if they were male, were involved in nonclinical research, and did not perceive writing as a requirement for advancement. These factors highlight the need to explore the lower overall publication productivity in women and in clinical investigators. Junior faculty members that write daily publish more manuscripts, regardless of gender, research type, or motivators. The benefits of daily writing warrant direct study if not empiric implementation.

Greater saphenous vein anomaly and aneurysm with subsequent pulmonary embolism

OpenAIRE

Ma, Truong; Kornbau, Craig

2017-01-01

Abstract Venous aneurysms often present as painful masses. They can present either in the deep or superficial venous system. Deep venous system aneurysms have a greater risk of thromboembolism. Though rare, there have been case reports of superficial aneurysms and thrombus causing significant morbidity such as pulmonary embolism. We present a case of an anomalous greater saphenous vein connection with an aneurysm and thrombus resulting in a pulmonary embolism. This is the only reported case o...

Greater Melbourne.

Science.gov (United States)

Wulff, M; Burke, T; Newton, P

1986-03-01

With more than a quarter of its population born overseas, Melbourne, Australia, is rapidly changing from an all-white British outpost to a multicultural, multilingual community. Since the "white" Australian policy was abandoned after World War II, 3 million immigrants from 100 different countries have moved to Australia. Most of the immigrants come from New Zealand, Rhodesia, South Africa, Britain, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Poland, and Indochina. Melbourne is Australia's 2nd largest city and houses 1 out of 5 Australians. Its 1984 population was 2,888,400. Melbourne's housing pattern consists of subdivisions; 75% of the population live in detached houses. Between 1954 and 1961 Melbourne grew at an annual rate of 3.5%; its growth rate between 1961 and 1971 still averaged 2.5%. In the 1970s the growth rate slowed to 1.4%. Metropolitan Melbourne has no central government but is divided into 56 councils and 8 regions. Both Australia's and Melbourne's fertility rates are high compared to the rest of the developed world, partly because of their younger age structure. 41% of Melbourne's population was under age 24 in 1981. Single-person households are growing faster than any other type. 71% of the housing is owner-occupied; in 1981 the median sized dwelling had 5.2 rooms. Public housing only accounts for 2.6% of all dwellings. Fewer students graduate from high school in Australia than in other developed countries, and fewer graduates pursue higher education. Melbourne's suburban sprawl promotes private car travel. In 1980 Melbourne contained more than 28,000 retail establishments and 4200 restaurants and hotels. Industry accounts for 30% of employment, and services account for another 30%. Its largest industries are motor vehicles, clothing, and footware. Although unemployment reached 10% after the 1973 energy crisis, by 1985 it was down to 6%.

PUBLIC EXPOSURE TO MULTIPLE RF SOURCES IN GHANA.

Science.gov (United States)

Deatanyah, P; Abavare, E K K; Menyeh, A; Amoako, J K

2018-03-16

This paper describes an effort to respond to the suggestion in World Health Organization (WHO) research agenda to better quantify potential exposure levels from a range of radiofrequency (RF) sources at 200 public access locations in Ghana. Wide-band measurements were performed-with a spectrum analyser and a log-periodic antenna using three-point spatial averaging method. The overall results represented a maximum of 0.19% of the ICNIRP reference levels for public exposure. These results were generally lower than found in some previous but were 58% (2.0 dB) greater, than found in similar work conducted in the USA. Major contributing sources of RF fields were identified to be FM broadcast and mobile base station sites. Three locations with the greatest measured RF fields could represent potential areas for epidemiological studies.

Ecology of greater sage-grouse in the Dakotas

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher C. Swanson

2009-01-01

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations and the sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) communities that they rely on have dramatically declined from historic levels. Moreover, information regarding sage-grouse annual life-history requirements at the eastern-most extension of sagebrush steppe communities is lacking....

Planning for greater confinement disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gilbert, T.L.; Luner, C.; Meshkov, N.K.; Trevorrow, L.E.; Yu, C.

1985-01-01

A report that provides guidance for planning for greater-confinement disposal (GCD) of low-level radioactive waste is being prepared. The report addresses procedures for selecting a GCD technology and provides information for implementing these procedures. The focus is on GCD; planning aspects common to GCD and shallow-land burial are covered by reference. Planning procedure topics covered include regulatory requirements, waste characterization, benefit-cost-risk assessment and pathway analysis methodologies, determination of need, waste-acceptance criteria, performance objectives, and comparative assessment of attributes that support these objectives. The major technologies covered include augered shafts, deep trenches, engineered structures, hydrofracture, improved waste forms, and high-integrity containers. Descriptive information is provided, and attributes that are relevant for risk assessment and operational requirements are given. 10 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs

Nesting success and resource selection of Greater Sage-Grouse [chapter 8

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholas W. Kaczor; Kent C. Jensen; Robert W. Klaver; Mark A. Rumble; Katie M. Herman-Brunson; Christopher C. Swanson

2011-01-01

Declines of Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in South Dakota are a concern because further population declines may lead to isolation from populations in Wyoming and Montana. Furthermore, little information exists about reproductive ecology and resource selection of sage grouse on the eastern edge of their distribution. We investigated Greater Sage-Grouse...

Resource selection during brood-rearing by Greater Sage-Grouse [chapter 12

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholas W. Kaczor; Katie M. Herman-Brunson; Kent C. Jensen; Mark A. Rumble; Robert W. Klaver; Christopher C. Swanson

2011-01-01

Understanding population dynamics and resource selection is crucial in developing wildlife resource management plans for sensitive species such as Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Little is known about sage grouse habitats on the eastern edge of their range. We investigated resource selection of Greater Sage-Grouse during brood- rearing in North and...

Europe sees mixed results from public-private partnerships for building and managing health care facilities and services.

Science.gov (United States)

Barlow, James; Roehrich, Jens; Wright, Steve

2013-01-01

Prompted in part by constrained national budgets, European governments are increasingly partnering with the private sector to underwrite the costs of constructing and operating public hospitals and other health care facilities and delivering services. Through such public-private partnerships, governments hope to avoid up-front capital expenditure and to harness private-sector efficiencies, while private-sector partners aim for a return on investment. Our research indicates that to date, experience with these partnerships has been mixed. Early models of these partnerships-for example, in which a private firm builds a hospital and carries out building maintenance, which we term an "accommodation-only" model-arguably have not met expectations for achieving greater efficiencies at lower costs. Newer models described in this article offer greater opportunities for efficiency gains but are administratively harder to set up and manage. Given the shortages in public capital for new infrastructure, it seems likely that the attractiveness of these partnerships to European governments will grow.

Seasonal Analysis of Microbial Communities in Precipitation in the Greater Tokyo Area, Japan

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Satoshi Hiraoka

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The presence of microbes in the atmosphere and their transport over long distances across the Earth's surface was recently shown. Precipitation is likely a major path by which aerial microbes fall to the ground surface, affecting its microbial ecosystems and introducing pathogenic microbes. Understanding microbial communities in precipitation is of multidisciplinary interest from the perspectives of microbial ecology and public health; however, community-wide and seasonal analyses have not been conducted. Here, we carried out 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of 30 precipitation samples that were aseptically collected over 1 year in the Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. The precipitation microbial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria and were overall consistent with those previously reported in atmospheric aerosols and cloud water. Seasonal variations in composition were observed; specifically, Proteobacteria abundance significantly decreased from summer to winter. Notably, estimated ordinary habitats of precipitation microbes were dominated by animal-associated, soil-related, and marine-related environments, and reasonably consistent with estimated air mass backward trajectories. To our knowledge, this is the first amplicon-sequencing study investigating precipitation microbial communities involving sampling over the duration of a year.

Legal Protections in Public Accommodations Settings: A Critical Public Health Issue for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People.

Science.gov (United States)

Reisner, Sari L; Hughto, Jaclyn M White; Dunham, Emilia E; Heflin, Katherine J; Begenyi, Jesse Blue Glass; Coffey-Esquivel, Julia; Cahill, Sean

2015-09-01

Since 2012, Massachusetts law has provided legal protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, housing, credit, public education, and hate crimes. The law does not protect against discrimination based on gender identity in public accommodations settings such as transportation, retail stores, restaurants, health care facilities, and bathrooms. A 2013 survey of Massachusetts transgender and other gender minority adults found that in the past 12 months, 65% had experienced public accommodations discrimination since the law was passed. This discrimination was associated with a greater risk of adverse emotional and physical symptoms in the past 30 days. Nondiscrimination laws inclusive of gender identity should protect against discrimination in public accommodations settings to support transgender people's health and their ability to access health care. Gender minority people who are transgender or gender nonconforming experience widespread discrimination and health inequities. Since 2012, Massachusetts law has provided protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, housing, credit, public education, and hate crimes. The law does not, however, protect against discrimination in public accommodations (eg, hospitals, health centers, transportation, nursing homes, supermarkets, retail establishments). For this article, we examined the frequency and health correlates of public accommodations discrimination among gender minority adults in Massachusetts, with attention to discrimination in health care settings. In 2013, we recruited a community-based sample (n = 452) both online and in person. The respondents completed a 1-time, electronic survey assessing demographics, health, health care utilization, and discrimination in public accommodations venues in the past 12 months. Using adjusted multivariable logistic regression models, we examined whether experiencing public accommodations discrimination in

Centralized Management For Effective Public Diplomacy: Case of Hasabara

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Vitaliy V. Kabernik

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The following paper is the first in the series dedicated to review and analysis of cases of centralization of public diplomacy affairs management for better promoting the agenda of the state. Introduction focuses on the erosion of traditional diplomatic practices shifting towards the stark attraction of soft power and public diplomacy. The evolution of modern public diplomacy in new media and the ways of its practical implementation reviewed, stating the raising power of non-government actors and mass media with their greater influence developing political agenda. The shift is analyzed on temporal basis bearing in mind inception of web 2.0 happening almost simultaneously with theoretical basis of soft power and the role of public diplomacy in propagating it. The case outlined in the first part reviews the evolution of Israeli's Hasbara - public diplomacy apparatus implemented in Jewish State. This evolution demonstrates the shift from decentralized management and coordination paradigm towards structured complex of measures led by government bodies. The sources and reasons for such a shift are being analyzed while national specifics for public diplomacy coordination is outlined. Results of the study underline the deficiencies of the chosen centralization paradigm via government bodies' control. The approach is being compared with the current practices implemented in Russia, outlining the best practices and mistakes to avoid that could be deducted from Israeli experience.

Care for post-stroke patients at Malaysian public health centres: self-reported practices of family medicine specialists.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdul Aziz, Aznida F; Mohd Nordin, Nor Azlin; Abd Aziz, Noor; Abdullah, Suhazeli; Sulong, Saperi; Aljunid, Syed M

2014-03-02

Provision of post stroke care in developing countries is hampered by discoordination of services and limited access to specialised care. Albeit shortcomings, primary care continues to provide post-stroke services in less than favourable circumstances. This paper aimed to review provision of post-stroke care and related problems among Family Medicine Specialists managing public primary health care services. A semi-structured questionnaire was distributed to 121 Family Physicians servicing public funded health centres in a pilot survey focused on improving post stroke care provision at community level. The questionnaire assessed respondents background and practice details i.e. estimated stroke care burden, current service provision and opinion on service improvement. Means and frequencies described quantitative data. For qualitative data, constant comparison method was used until saturation of themes was reached. Response rate of 48.8% was obtained. For every 100 patients seen at public healthcentres each month, 2 patients have stroke. Median number of stroke patients seen per month is 5 (IQR 2-10). 57.6% of respondents estimated total stroke patients treated per year at each centre was less than 40 patients. 72.4% lacked a standard care plan although 96.6% agreed one was needed. Patients seen were: discharged from tertiary care (88.1%), shared care plan with specialists (67.8%) and patients who developed stroke during follow up at primary care (64.4%). Follow-ups were done at 8-12 weekly intervals (60.3%) with 3.4% on 'as needed' basis. Referrals ranked in order of frequency were to physiotherapy services, dietitian and speech and language pathologists in public facilities. The FMS' perceived 4 important 'needs' in managing stroke patients at primary care level; access to rehabilitation services, coordinated care between tertiary centres and primary care using multidisciplinary care approach, a standardized guideline and family and caregiver support. Post discharge

Advancing Respect for Labour Rights Globally through Public Procurement

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Olga Martin-Ortega

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Governments are mega-consumers of many manufactured products and services. As such they should in principle be able to influence workers’ rights abroad via the terms of purchase contracts. Yet to date little attention has been paid to the potential of public procurement to promote respect for labour rights globally besides the international trade law framework. Building on a limited emerging scholarship and policy developments, this article addresses this gap. Section 2 considers legal definitions of public procurement and distinguishes primary and secondary aims of procurement under key international and regional procurement regimes. This highlights that, although historically used to advance labour rights domestically, these regimes have restricted public buyers’ scope to advance labour rights beyond national borders. Section 3 explores new international policy frameworks on responsible global value chains and supply chains which by contrast appear to augur the greater use of public procurement to promote labour rights globally in future. Section 4 argues, supported by analysis of the limited examples available, that public buying has the potential to positively influence enjoyment of labour rights in practice. Concluding, Section 5 reflects on what the more specific impacts of public procurement in this context may be, and how public buying should complement other mechanisms for improving labour conditions across supply chains, such as social clauses in trade agreements. Finally, we outline issues for further research and the future policy agenda.

Empirical Comparison of Publication Bias Tests in Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Lifeng; Chu, Haitao; Murad, Mohammad Hassan; Hong, Chuan; Qu, Zhiyong; Cole, Stephen R; Chen, Yong

2018-04-16

Decision makers rely on meta-analytic estimates to trade off benefits and harms. Publication bias impairs the validity and generalizability of such estimates. The performance of various statistical tests for publication bias has been largely compared using simulation studies and has not been systematically evaluated in empirical data. This study compares seven commonly used publication bias tests (i.e., Begg's rank test, trim-and-fill, Egger's, Tang's, Macaskill's, Deeks', and Peters' regression tests) based on 28,655 meta-analyses available in the Cochrane Library. Egger's regression test detected publication bias more frequently than other tests (15.7% in meta-analyses of binary outcomes and 13.5% in meta-analyses of non-binary outcomes). The proportion of statistically significant publication bias tests was greater for larger meta-analyses, especially for Begg's rank test and the trim-and-fill method. The agreement among Tang's, Macaskill's, Deeks', and Peters' regression tests for binary outcomes was moderately strong (most κ's were around 0.6). Tang's and Deeks' tests had fairly similar performance (κ > 0.9). The agreement among Begg's rank test, the trim-and-fill method, and Egger's regression test was weak or moderate (κ < 0.5). Given the relatively low agreement between many publication bias tests, meta-analysts should not rely on a single test and may apply multiple tests with various assumptions. Non-statistical approaches to evaluating publication bias (e.g., searching clinical trials registries, records of drug approving agencies, and scientific conference proceedings) remain essential.

The public health response to 'do-it-yourself' urbanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Sibbald, Shannon L; Graham, Ross; Gilliland, Jason

2017-09-01

Greater understanding of the important and complex relationship between the built environment and human health has made 'healthy places' a focus of public health and health promotion. While current literature concentrates on creating healthy places through traditional decision-making pathways (namely, municipal land use planning and urban design processes), this paper explores do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism: a movement circumventing traditional pathways to, arguably, create healthy places and advance social justice. Despite being aligned with several health promotion goals, DIY urbanism interventions are typically illegal and have been categorized as a type of civil disobedience. This is challenging for public health officials who may value DIY urbanism outcomes, but do not necessarily support the means by which it is achieved. Based on the literature, we present a preliminary approach to health promotion decision-making in this area. Public health officials can voice support for DIY urbanism interventions in some instances, but should proceed cautiously.

The Impact of Public Capital Investments on the Revenue Growth of Medium Enterprise in Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Tirtosuharto, Darius

2012-01-01

Public capital investment represents the role of state and local governments in supporting greater capacity of private enterprises to gain success in a market economy measured by revenue growth. Medium enterprises are considered as the catalysts for economic growth and competitiveness particularly in developing countries due to efficiency and flexibility in an adverse economic environment. Using aggregate data of 30 states (provinces) in Indonesia from 1997-2002, the impact of public capital ...

School Autonomy Reform and Public Education in Australia: Implications for Social Justice

Science.gov (United States)

Keddie, Amanda

2017-01-01

The renewed commitment to school autonomy reform in Australia is based on the view that it will drive up academic standards. There remains, however, little conclusive evidence to support this view. Simply instating the structural changes to bring about greater autonomy for schools within public education systems across the world has not led…

Consulting the community: public expectations and attitudes about genetics research

Science.gov (United States)

Etchegary, Holly; Green, Jane; Dicks, Elizabeth; Pullman, Daryl; Street, Catherine; Parfrey, Patrick

2013-01-01

Genomic discoveries and technologies promise numerous opportunities for improving health. Key to these potential health improvements, however, are health-care consumers' understanding and acceptance of these new developments. We identified community groups and invited them to a public information-consultation session in order to explore public awareness, perception and expectations about genetics and genomics research. One hundred and four members of seven community groups in Newfoundland, Canada took part in the community sessions. Content analysis of participant comments revealed they were largely hopeful about genetics research in its capacity to improve health; however, they did not accept such research uncritically. Complex issues arose during the community consultations, including the place of genetics in primary care, the value of genetics for personal health, and concerns about access to and uses of genetic information. Participants unequivocally endorsed the value of public engagement with these issues. The rapid pace of discoveries in genomics research offers exciting opportunities to improve population health. However, public support will be crucial to realize health improvements. Our findings suggest that regular, transparent dialog between researchers and the public could allow a greater understanding of the research process, as well as assist in the design of efficient and effective genetic health services, informed by the public that will use them. PMID:23591403

Patient expectations predict greater pain relief with joint arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Gandhi, Rajiv; Davey, John Roderick; Mahomed, Nizar

2009-08-01

We examined the relationship between patient expectations of total joint arthroplasty and functional outcomes. We surveyed 1799 patients undergoing primary hip or knee arthroplasty for demographic data and Western Ontario McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index scores at baseline, 3 months, and 1 year of follow-up. Patient expectations were determined with 3 survey questions. The patients with the greatest expectations of surgery were younger, male, and had a lower body mass index. Linear regression modeling showed that a greater expectation of pain relief with surgery independently predicted greater reported pain relief at 1 year of follow-up, adjusted for all relevant covariates (P relief after joint arthroplasty is an important predictor of outcomes at 1 year.

[The contributions of local authorities to regional public health policy].

Science.gov (United States)

de Maria, Florence; Grémy, Isabelle

2009-01-01

Local authorities in France are key players in shaping public health policy by their action on the determinants of health and through their actions aimed at specific population groups. Since the public health act of 9 August 2004 establishing the first regional public health plans, their level of involvement and role continues to grow as coordinators, funders and project managers within the greater Paris metropolitan region. Their active participation in regional policy to improve population health and reduce inequalities in health has led to a better organization of the public health programs implemented (in terms of visibility, dialogue, coordination, transparency, and better awareness of context and integration of local issues). Their participation is also a source of innovation resulting in the proposal and use of new approaches (such as the development of health surveillance and observation for advising the local decision-making process). Within the current context of the "Hospitals, patients, health and territories" bill, which entrusts the governance of regional health policy to a specific agency, the role given to local authorities in this new organizational structure must be clearly defined to take into account all of their existing and potential contributions to public health policy.

On public space design for Chinese urban residential area based on integrated architectural physics environment evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, J. Y.; Cheng, W.; Ma, C. P.; Tan, Y. T.; Xin, L. S.

2017-04-01

The residential public space is an important part in designing the ecological residence, and a proper physics environment of public space is of greater significance to urban residence in China. Actually, the measure to apply computer aided design software into residential design can effectively avoid an inconformity of design intent with actual using condition, and a negative impact on users due to bad architectural physics environment of buildings, etc. The paper largely adopts a design method of analyzing architectural physics environment of residential public space. By analyzing and evaluating various physics environments, a suitability assessment is obtained for residential public space, thereby guiding the space design.

Estimation of the contribution of neutrons to the equivalent dose for personnel occupationally exposed and public in medical facilities: X-ray with energy equal or greater than 10MV; Estimacion de la contribucion por neutrones a la dosis equivalente para personal ocupacionalmente expuesto y publico en instalaciones de uso medico: rayos X de energia igual y/o superior a 10MV

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gonzalez, Alfonso Mayer; Jimenez, Roberto Ortega; Sanchez, Mario A. Reyes, E-mail: amgesfm@hotmail.com, E-mail: rojimenez@cnsns.gob.mx [Comision Nacional de Seguridad Nuclear y Salvaguardias (CNSNS), Mexico, D.F. (Mexico); Moranchel y Mejia, Mario, E-mail: mmoranchel@ipn.mx [Instituto Politecnico Nacional (ESFM/IPN), Mexico, D.F. (Mexico). Escuela Superior de Fisica y Matematicas. Departamento de lngenieria Nuclear

2013-07-01

In Mexico the use of electron accelerators for treating cancerous tumors had grown enormously in the last decade. When the treatments are carried out with X-ray beam energy below 10 MV the design of the shielding of the radioactive facility is determined by analyzing the interaction of X-rays, which have a direct impact and dispersion, with materials of the facility. However, when it makes use of X-ray beam energy equal to or greater than 10 MV the neutrons presence is imminent due to their generation by the interaction of the primary beam X-ray with materials head of the accelerator and of the table of treatment, mainly. In these cases, the design and calculation of shielding considers the generation of high-energy neutrons which contribute the equivalent dose that public and Occupationally Staff Exposed (POE) will receive in the areas surrounding the facility radioactive. However, very few measurements have been performed to determine the actual contribution to the neutron dose equivalent received by POE and public during working hours. This paper presents an estimate of the actual contribution of the neutron dose equivalent received by public and POE facilities in various radioactive medical use, considering many factors. To this end, measurements were made of the equivalent dose by using a neutron monitor in areas surrounding different radioactive installations (of Mexico) which used electron accelerators medical use during treatment with X-ray beam energy equal to or greater than 10 MV. The results are presented after a statistical analysis of a wide range of measures in order to estimate more reliability real contribution of the neutron dose equivalent for POE and the public. (author)

Effects of performance-based research funding on publication patterns in the social sciences and humanities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guns, R.; Engels, T.C.E.

2016-07-01

Publishing in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) and research evaluation practices are co-evolving. In this paper we present an analysis on how in Flanders the PRFS has shaped and influenced publication practices in the SSH. Our analysis is based on the VABB-SHW, a comprehensive database of research output in the SSH in Flanders. We find that a strong emphasis on WoS publications since 2003 has caused a growth in WoS publications, that is greater than what can be observed in other countries and other fields of science in Flanders. Other mechanisms appear to exist for book publications, which are not indexed in the WoS databases used for the PRFS. (Author)

Economic and Environmental Effects of Public Transport Subsidy Policies: a Spatial CGE Model of Beijing

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Ping Xu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Public transport plays an important role in the environment. This study established a Spatial Computable General Equilibrium (SCGE model to examine the economic and environmental effects of public transport subsidy policies. The model includes firms, consumers, and traffic modules in one framework. Statistical data from Beijing were used in calibration to obtain benchmark equilibrium. Based on the equilibrium, simulations compared citywide social welfare, jobs-housing spatial population distribution, and environmental outputs under four subsidy policies: fare subsidy, cash grants, road expansion, and public transport speedup. Based on the results regarding the effects of public transport policies, conclusions can be drawn about which policies will have greater overall social influence and should therefore be used.

Sticker Shock: How Information Affects Citizen Support for Public School Funding.

Science.gov (United States)

Schueler, Beth E; West, Martin R

2016-01-01

This study examines the role of information in shaping public opinion in the context of support for education spending. While there is broad public support for increasing government funding for public schools, Americans tend to underestimate what is currently spent. We embed a series of experiments in a nationally representative survey administered in 2012 ( n = 2,993) to examine whether informing citizens about current levels of education spending alters public opinion about whether funding should increase. Providing information on per-pupil spending in a respondent's local school district reduces the probability that he or she will express support for increasing spending by 22 percentage points on average. Informing respondents about state-average teacher salaries similarly depresses support for salary increases. These effects are larger among respondents who underestimate per-pupil spending and teacher salaries by a greater amount, consistent with the idea that the observed changes in opinion are driven, at least in part, by informational effects, as opposed to priming alone.

Public Diplomacy in Power Clash of Civilizations

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Alexei I. Podberezkin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In the article, public diplomacy is seen as a set of actions committed by official and unofficial organs of the state, to achieve foreign policy goals through the dissemination of information (disinformation or create the necessary impact on the ruling circles and the public in foreign countries. According to the authors, public diplomacy has become an integral part of network-centric hybrid war, in which the role of the information against the enemy becomes decisive. At the beginning of the XXI century media, including network, it has become the most important policy tools with which you can achieve the most important goals that were decided before the other (economic, military, financial policy instruments. Such a sharp increase in the values of the media, as well as a qualitative change in their role in the policy of the XXI century is primarily the result of two processes, the further development of which will be an even greater extent to enhance the value and role of media in politics States - a sharp increase in the value of man, its capacity, firstly, and the technological revolution in the field of science, and second.

Moderate Baseline Vagal Tone Predicts Greater Prosociality in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Jonas G.; Kahle, Sarah; Hastings, Paul D.

2016-01-01

Vagal tone is widely believed to be an important physiological aspect of emotion regulation and associated positive behaviors. However, there is inconsistent evidence for relations between children’s baseline vagal tone and their helpful or prosocial responses to others (Hastings & Miller, 2014). Recent work in adults suggests a quadratic association (inverted U-shape curve) between baseline vagal tone and prosociality (Kogan et al., 2014). The present research examined whether this nonlinear association was evident in children. We found consistent evidence for a quadratic relation between vagal tone and prosociality across 3 samples of children using 6 different measures. Compared to low and high vagal tone, moderate vagal tone in early childhood concurrently predicted greater self-reported prosociality (Study 1), observed empathic concern in response to the distress of others and greater generosity toward less fortunate peers (Study 2), and longitudinally predicted greater self-, mother-, and teacher-reported prosociality 5.5 years later in middle childhood (Study 3). Taken together, our findings suggest that moderate vagal tone at rest represents a physiological preparedness or tendency to engage in different forms of prosociality across different contexts. Early moderate vagal tone may reflect an optimal balance of regulation and arousal that helps prepare children to sympathize, comfort, and share with others. PMID:27819463

Defining greater-than-class-C low-level radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knecht, M.A.; Oztunali, O.I.

1986-01-01

The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 (LLRWPAA) was signed by President Reagan on January 15, 1986. This act requires the federal government to be responsible for the disposal of greater-than-class-C low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) that is generated commercially by state agencies and by federal entities (other than waste generated by atomic weapons research, development, or testing, or by decommissioning of vessels of the nuclear navy). To plan for disposal, the federal government will require estimates of the volume of waste involved and characterization of this waste. A clear definition of greater-than-class-C LLRW is the first step in determining what wastes will be included in the waste to be received by the federal government. This definition will influence major policy decisions to be made for management of such waste. The purpose of this paper is to examine the existing information on greater-than-class-C LLRW in view of the current definition of such waste and potential changes in this definition - for example, an upper limit on the concentrations of radionuclides in LLRW. The paper identifies further information needs to develop a clear definition of such waste for use in federal planning for acceptance of responsibility for disposal of such waste

Markets & Myths: Autonomy in Public & Private Schools

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Sandra Rubin Glass

1997-01-01

Full Text Available

School choice is the most controversial education policy issue of the 1990s. John Chubb and Terry Moe's Politics, Markets and America's Schools stimulated this investigation. They concluded that teacher and administrator autonomy was the most important influence on student achievement. They assumed that the organization of private schools offered greater autonomy resulting in higher student achievement and that the bureaucracy of public schools stifles autonomy limiting student achievement. The research undertaken here elaborates, elucidates, and fills in the framework of teacher and principal autonomy in public and private secondary schools. Interviews of more than thirty teachers and administrators in six high schools, observations, field notes, and analysis of documents collected in the field form the empirical base of this work. The sites included three private, independent, nondenominational secondary schools which are college preparatory and three public secondary schools noted for high graduation rates and offering numerous advanced placement courses.

The feelings expressed by both public and private school participants in this study testify to equally high degrees of autonomy. Issues that emerged from data analysis in this study which mitigate and shape autonomy include the following: conflicting and contradictory demands, shared beliefs, layers of protection, a system of laws, funding constraints and matters of size of the institution. These issues challenge oversimplified assertions that differences of any importance exist between the autonomy experienced by professionals in public and private high schools. This study reveals the complexity of the concept of autonomy and challenges the myth that teachers and principals in private schools enjoy autonomy and freedom from democratic bureaucracy that their public school counterparts do not.

Ignoring the Market.

Science.gov (United States)

Chubb, John E.

2003-01-01

Argues that market-driven education (charter schools, vouchers) is the most effective, albeit overlooked, reform strategy since publication of "A Nation at Risk." Describes corresponding growth of for-profit school management. Offers several recommendations to improve effectiveness of market-based reforms, such as state' continuing…

Women at greater risk of HIV infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahathir, M

1997-04-01

Although many people believe that mainly men get infected with HIV/AIDS, women are actually getting infected at a faster rate than men, especially in developing countries, and suffer more from the adverse impact of AIDS. As of mid-1996, the Joint UN Program on AIDS estimated that more than 10 million of the 25 million adults infected with HIV since the beginning of the epidemic are women. The proportion of HIV-positive women is growing, with almost half of the 7500 new infections daily occurring among women. 90% of HIV-positive women live in a developing country. In Asia-Pacific, 1.4 million women have been infected with HIV out of an estimated total 3.08 million adults from the late 1970s until late 1994. Biologically, women are more vulnerable than men to infection because of the greater mucus area exposed to HIV during penile penetration. Women under age 17 years are at even greater risk because they have an underdeveloped cervix and low vaginal mucus production. Concurrent sexually transmitted diseases increase the risk of HIV transmission. Women's risk is also related to their exposure to gender inequalities in society. The social and economic pressures of poverty exacerbate women's risk. Prevention programs are discussed.

Publicity and public relations

Science.gov (United States)

Fosha, Charles E.

1990-01-01

This paper addresses approaches to using publicity and public relations to meet the goals of the NASA Space Grant College. Methods universities and colleges can use to publicize space activities are presented.

Public perceptions of opportunities for community-based renewable energy projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogers, J.C.; Simmons, E.A.; Convery, I.; Weatherall, A.

2008-01-01

It now widely acknowledged that the UK needs to increase renewable energy capacity and it has been claimed that community-based renewable energy projects, with high levels of public participation, are more likely to be accepted by the public than top-down development of large-scale schemes and may bring additional benefits such as increased engagement with sustainable energy issues. However, little research has investigated public expectations of how people would like to participate in such projects and why. The aim of this study was to explore one rural community's response to a proposed sustainable energy project. A questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews provided quantitative and qualitative data. There was widespread support for local generation and use of renewable energy, with respondents expecting benefits from a project in terms of increased community spirit and conservation of natural resources. However, desire for active involvement was lower and residents viewed themselves participating as consultees, rather than project leaders. We suggest community renewable energy projects are likely to gain public acceptance but are unlikely to become widespread without greater institutional support

Overview of Milestone E activities, greater confinement than shallow land burial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mezga, L.J.

1981-01-01

In summary, the objective of Milestone E is to provide the technology and documentation needed to open a site providing greater confinement than shallow land burial. To that end, ORNL has prepared a technical position paper defining greater confinement disposal, options for achieving it, and the need for this disposal technology. In order to meet the objective of the milestones, the LLWMP evaluated the full range of options to shallow land burial and decided to focus on a combination of greater depth solidification containment and engineered barriers. The program identified a series of research needs and then focused program efforts on resolving those needs. These tasks are proceeding on schedule at this time but budget reductions may have an impact on our ability to maintain the schedule

Interdisciplinary Dissertation Research Among Public Health Doctoral Trainees, 2003-2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Golembiewski, Elizabeth H; Holmes, Ann M; Jackson, Joanna R; Brown-Podgorski, Brittany L; Menachemi, Nir

Given the call for more interdisciplinary research in public health, the objectives of this study were to (1) examine the correlates of interdisciplinary dissertation completion and (2) identify secondary fields most common among interdisciplinary public health graduates. We analyzed pooled cross-sectional data from 11 120 doctoral graduates in the Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2003-2015. The primary outcome was interdisciplinary dissertation completion. Covariates included primary public health field, sociodemographic characteristics, and institutional attributes. From 2003 to 2015, a total of 4005 of 11 120 (36.0%) doctoral graduates in public health reported interdisciplinary dissertations, with significant increases observed in recent years. Compared with general public health graduates, graduates of environmental health (odds ratio [OR] = 1.74; P dissertation work, whereas graduates from biostatistics (OR = 0.51; P dissertation was associated with being male, a non-US citizen, a graduate of a private institution, and a graduate of an institution with high but not the highest level of research activity. Many secondary dissertation fields reported by interdisciplinary graduates included other public health fields. Although interdisciplinary dissertation research among doctoral graduates in public health has increased in recent years, such work is bounded in certain fields of public health and certain types of graduates and institutions. Academic administrators and other stakeholders may use these results to inform greater interdisciplinary activity during doctoral training and to evaluate current and future collaborations across departments or schools.

A Semantically Enabled Portal for Facilitating the Public Service Provision

Science.gov (United States)

Loutas, Nikolaos; Giantsiou, Lemonia; Peristeras, Vassilios; Tarabanis, Konstantinos

During the past years, governments have made significant efforts to improve both their internal processes and the services that they provide to citizens and businesses. These led to several successful e-Government applications (e.g., see www.epractice.eu). One of the most popular tools that was used by governments in order to modernize their services and make them accessible is e-Government portals, e.g., (Drigas et al. 2005), (Fang 2002). The main goals of such portals are: To make available complete, easy to understand, and structured information about public services and public administration's modus operandi, which will assist citizens during the service provision process. To facilitate the electronic execution of public services. Nevertheless, most of such efforts did not succeed. Gartner argues that most e-Government strategies have not achieved their objectives and have failed to trigger sustainable government transformation to greater efficiency and citizen-centricity (DiMaio 2007).

ITALIAN LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES: SOME GOVERNANCE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LARGER CITIES’ EXPERIENCE

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DE MATTEIS Fabio

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Entrusting most local public services to local government entities has led to proliferation of public groups and, consistently, to greater complexity of the governance dynamics of local authorities. Differently from Anglo-Saxon countries, the Italian local public services provision has been characterized by a hybrid externalization process where local entities are legally autonomous but owned by the local government. This leads to a peculiar governance complexity source represented by the dual role (stakeholder and customer assumed by the local authority. Considering these elements (hybrid externalization and governance structure, this work tries to investigate some governance issues of public groups, basing on the two most populous Italian municipalities. The empirical findings highlight a gap between the presence of the conditions for defining a group governance structure and the adoption of a group approach by the parent local government. The authors try to suggest how to bridge this gap.

Does improving Public Transport decrease Car Ownership? Evidence from the Copenhagen Metropolitan Area

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mulalic, Ismir; Pilegaard, Ninette; Rouwendal, Jan

Car ownership is lower in urban areas, which is probably related to the availability of better publict ransport. Better public transport thus may offer the possibility to relieve the many problems (congestion,health, and parking) associated with the presence of cars in urban areas. To investigate...... network whichoffers particularly high quality public transport. Simulations based on the estimated model show that forthe greater Copenhagen area a planned extension of the metro network decreases car ownership by 2-3%.Our results suggest also a substantial increase in the interest for living in areas...

[Public policy-making on breast cancer in Latin America].

Science.gov (United States)

González-Robledo, M C; González-Robledo, L M; Nigenda, G

2013-03-01

To understand the public policy-making process as it relates to breast cancer care in five Latin American countries. An exploratory-evaluative study was conducted in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela in 2010, with the selection of countries based on convenience sampling. Sixty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with government officials, academics, and representatives of trade associations and civil society organizations. A content analysis of secondary sources was performed. Information sources, data, and informants were mixed using the triangulation method for purposes of analysis. The countries that have made the most progress in public policy-making related to breast cancer are Brazil and Mexico. Although Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela do not have policies, they do have breast cancer care programs and activities. Two perspectives on the development of public policies became evident: the first includes the broad participation of both governmental and nongovernmental sectors, whereas the second, more narrow approach involves government authorities alone. The results point to significant differences in public policy-making related to breast cancer in the Region. They also show that greater progress has been made in countries where policies have been developed through inclusive participation processes.

Reliability, Dimensionality, and Internal Consistency as Defined by Cronbach: Distinct Albeit Related Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Davenport, Ernest C.; Davison, Mark L.; Liou, Pey-Yan; Love, Quintin U.

2015-01-01

This article uses definitions provided by Cronbach in his seminal paper for coefficient a to show the concepts of reliability, dimensionality, and internal consistency are distinct but interrelated. The article begins with a critique of the definition of reliability and then explores mathematical properties of Cronbach's a. Internal consistency…

Are passive smoking, air pollution and obesity a greater mortality risk than major radiation incidents?

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Smith Jim T

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Following a nuclear incident, the communication and perception of radiation risk becomes a (perhaps the major public health issue. In response to such incidents it is therefore crucial to communicate radiation health risks in the context of other more common environmental and lifestyle risk factors. This study compares the risk of mortality from past radiation exposures (to people who survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs and those exposed after the Chernobyl accident with risks arising from air pollution, obesity and passive and active smoking. Methods A comparative assessment of mortality risks from ionising radiation was carried out by estimating radiation risks for realistic exposure scenarios and assessing those risks in comparison with risks from air pollution, obesity and passive and active smoking. Results The mortality risk to populations exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl accident may be no higher than that for other more common risk factors such as air pollution or passive smoking. Radiation exposures experienced by the most exposed group of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to an average loss of life expectancy significantly lower than that caused by severe obesity or active smoking. Conclusion Population-averaged risks from exposures following major radiation incidents are clearly significant, but may be no greater than those from other much more common environmental and lifestyle factors. This comparative analysis, whilst highlighting inevitable uncertainties in risk quantification and comparison, helps place the potential consequences of radiation exposures in the context of other public health risks.

A Theoretical and Conceptual Approach to Public Policy , State Models and Brazilian Judiciary Practice

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Andrea Abrahão Costa

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Since the consolidation of Western democratic regimes, the issue of public policy takes greater prominence in the academic setting and was taken as an object of study by different branches of knowledge. In the present paper attempts to map the various concepts built for public policy, in order to try to answer three questions: what would be the public policy, which the theories that could be used to give them support and what historical context discussion would have appeared. In addition, it seeks to systematize the interaction between public policy and law from three aspects: their integration in the context of the Constitutional State, legalization of phenomenon of emergence of the policy and its relationship with the notions that inform the public governance. It is stated, finally, that the presented questioning aims to contribute to the start of construction of a proper legal analysis of the field of public policy.

Public acceptance of radioactive waste transportation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gablin, K.A.

1978-01-01

As the thoughts of the country concentrate on the problems of transportation of waste through high traffic urban areas, the problem of how to deal directly and honestly with the public takes on greater significance in the nuclear industry. Non-technical aspects of the methods of transportation, especially by railroad and highway, enter into the total scheme of moving radioactive waste from both weapon and nuclear power plant sources to final processing and disposal. Factors such as shape, color, size, familiarity, and industrial designing are necessary ingredients that take on equal or more significance that the designing of containers to survive the hypothetical accident conditions of the present, or even of the future. Protective Packaging, Inc. has been a leader in the presentation of containers to the private and public sector of the nuclear industry. The products have undergone very open testing, in public, with both invited and uninvited witnesses. In those experiences, dating back to 1969, the problems of public acceptance will be related between the technical problems and the associated social and political problems that relate to container acceptance by the public in today's world. Proven experience data, relative to the safety of the present day systems will be discussed, as well as methods of improving the image in the future. Review will also be given to the effort by industry to discuss the proven record with parties outside the nuclear industry, i.e., individuals and pressure groups that are diametrically opposed to review the facts relative to safety as opposed to other, but more traditional industries

Kyoto or non-Kyoto - people or politics: results of recent public opinion surveys on energy and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ashworth, Peta; Gardner, John; Littleboy, Anna

2007-01-01

Full text: We present the results of a survey of an Australian public opinion survey in the area of climate change and energy technologies and compare the results with similar studies conducted in the other major non-Kyoto-adherent party, the United States, as well as to Kyoto-adherent countries including the UK, Japan, Sweden and Spain. We explore some of the differences and similarities in attitudes and understandings. In our survey, Australians place environment, health care and petrol prices as the most important issues facing their country, while in America it is terrorism, health care and the economy and in the UK it is asylum seekers, crime and health care. In many other areas, the differences are considerably smaller and there are some remarkable similarities. Whereas climate change is increasingly cited as the leading environmental issue in most countries surveyed, in Australia, climate change is second to water availability as the top environmental concern. The study examines where climate change and energy technologies fit within these broader national and environmental priorities and identifies the general public's preferred solutions. We find clear support in Australia and the other countries surveyed for renewable energy technologies, particularly solar energy and to a lesser extent wind and biomass energy. We also find considerable disagreement in all countries regarding the future of nuclear power as well as with regard to carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies (albeit the latter with much larger uncertainty). The paper also explores the current knowledge levels of the general public in a number of countries about carbon dioxide emissions and how much as individuals, they are prepared to pay to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We find that, in general, at a more detailed level in terms of both attitudes and understandings of energy and climate issues there is considerable agreement across disparate countries Gudged on their national

RELATIONS WITH THE PUBLIC VERSUS PUBLIC RELATIONS IN LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

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Bente Florina Maria

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Concomitant with the evolution of society, public relations are socially expressed only together with the explicit articulation of public categories and public organizations, once the individual becomes a citizen whose satisfaction is at the core of the public systems preoccupations, ignoring times long gone when the ordinary citizen and the majority of the public administration representatives couldnt tell apart the concept of public relations from that of relations with the public.

Predicting Greater Prairie-Chicken Lek Site Suitability to Inform Conservation Actions.

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Torre J Hovick

Full Text Available The demands of a growing human population dictates that expansion of energy infrastructure, roads, and other development frequently takes place in native rangelands. Particularly, transmission lines and roads commonly divide rural landscapes and increase fragmentation. This has direct and indirect consequences on native wildlife that can be mitigated through thoughtful planning and proactive approaches to identifying areas of high conservation priority. We used nine years (2003-2011 of Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido lek locations totaling 870 unique leks sites in Kansas and seven geographic information system (GIS layers describing land cover, topography, and anthropogenic structures to model habitat suitability across the state. The models obtained had low omission rates (0.81, indicating high model performance and reliability of predicted habitat suitability for Greater Prairie-Chickens. We found that elevation was the most influential in predicting lek locations, contributing three times more predictive power than any other variable. However, models were improved by the addition of land cover and anthropogenic features (transmission lines, roads, and oil and gas structures. Overall, our analysis provides a hierarchal understanding of Greater Prairie-Chicken habitat suitability that is broadly based on geomorphological features followed by land cover suitability. We found that when land features and vegetation cover are suitable for Greater Prairie-Chickens, fragmentation by anthropogenic sources such as roadways and transmission lines are a concern. Therefore, it is our recommendation that future human development in Kansas avoid areas that our models identified as highly suitable for Greater Prairie-Chickens and focus development on land cover types that are of lower conservation concern.

Healthy publics: enabling cultures and environments for health

Science.gov (United States)

Hinchliffe, Stephen; Jackson, Mark A.; Wyatt, Katrina; Barlow, Anne E.; Barreto, Manuela; Clare, Linda; Depledge, Michael H.; Durie, Robin; Fleming, Lora E.; Groom, Nick; Morrissey, Karyn; Salisbury, Laura; Thomas, Felicity

2018-01-01

Despite extraordinary advances in biomedicine and associated gains in human health and well-being, a growing number of health and well-being related challenges have remained or emerged in recent years. These challenges are often ‘more than biomedical’ in complexion, being social, cultural and environmental in terms of their key drivers and determinants, and underline the necessity of a concerted policy focus on generating healthy societies. Despite the apparent agreement on this diagnosis, the means to produce change are seldom clear, even when the turn to health and well-being requires sizable shifts in our understandings of public health and research practices. This paper sets out a platform from which research approaches, methods and translational pathways for enabling health and well-being can be built. The term ‘healthy publics’ allows us to shift the focus of public health away from ‘the public’ or individuals as targets for intervention, and away from the view that culture acts as a barrier to efficient biomedical intervention, towards a greater recognition of the public struggles that are involved in raising health issues, questioning what counts as healthy and unhealthy and assembling the evidence and experience to change practices and outcomes. Creating the conditions for health and well-being, we argue, requires an engaged research process in which public experiments in building and repairing social and material relations are staged and sustained even if, and especially when, the fates of those publics remain fragile and buffeted by competing and often more powerful public formations. PMID:29862036

How Public Is Public Administration? A Constitutional Approach of Publicness

Science.gov (United States)

Ringeling, Arthur

2015-01-01

Both in Public Administration and in practice, there is a loss of the concept of public. A view became dominant in which markets were superior to governments and public to private. Not only did the esteem of the public sphere diminish, but also its significance in our reasoning and teaching. It became less clear what the public sphere stood for.…

Public engagement in climate change - Disjunctions, tensions and blind spots in the UK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoeppner, C

2009-01-01

There is much talk about engaging the public in climate change mitigation and adaptation in the UK and elsewhere. Governments rush to demand greater engagement of the public in tackling climate change and delivering sustainable futures. The importance that public engagement has gained as part of the UK climate agenda begs the questions of what is actually behind this call and what are the implications. This paper analyses the rationale for public engagement as enshrined in major policy documents. This rationale is clearly instrumental in that citizens are expected to engage by adopting the 'right attitude', by performing prescribed behaviours, and by consenting to proposed measures. Using recent cases of climate change mitigation and adaptation practice the paper discusses the implications of such an approach to public engagement. The paper concludes that until the manifold disjunctions between climate related policy agendas and their rationales for engagement are explicitly addressed citizen engagement will be serving incumbent interests rather than contributing to socially sustainable and democratic decision-making

A conceptual framework for negotiating public involvement in municipal waste management decision-making in the UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Garnett, Kenisha; Cooper, Tim; Longhurst, Philip; Jude, Simon; Tyrrel, Sean

2017-08-01

The technical expertise that politicians relied on in the past to produce cost-effective and environmentally sound solutions no longer provides sufficient justification to approve waste facilities. Local authorities need to find more effective ways to involve stakeholders and communities in decision-making since public acceptance of municipal waste facilities is integral to delivering effective waste strategies. This paper presents findings from a research project that explored attitudes towards greater levels of public involvement in UK waste management decision-making. The study addressed questions of perception, interests, the decision context, the means of engagement and the necessary resources and capacity for adopting a participatory decision process. Adopting a mixed methods approach, the research produced an empirical framework for negotiating the mode and level of public involvement in waste management decision-making. The framework captures and builds on theories of public involvement and the experiences of practitioners, and offers guidance for integrating analysis and deliberation with public groups in different waste management decision contexts. Principles in the framework operate on the premise that the decision about 'more' and 'better' forms of public involvement can be negotiated, based on the nature of the waste problem and wider social context of decision-making. The collection of opinions from the wide range of stakeholders involved in the study has produced new insights for the design of public engagement processes that are context-dependent and 'fit-for-purpose'; these suggest a need for greater inclusivity in the case of contentious technologies and high levels of uncertainty regarding decision outcomes. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Planning for greater-confinement disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gilbert, T.L.; Luner, C.; Meshkov, N.K.; Trevorrow, L.E.; Yu, C.

1984-01-01

This contribution is a progress report for preparation of a document that will summarize procedures and technical information needed to plan for and implement greater-confinement disposal (GCD) of low-level radioactive waste. Selection of a site and a facility design (Phase I), and construction, operation, and extended care (Phase II) will be covered in the document. This progress report is limited to Phase I. Phase I includes determination of the need for GCD, design alternatives, and selection of a site and facility design. Alternative designs considered are augered shafts, deep trenches, engineered structures, high-integrity containers, hydrofracture, and improved waste form. Design considerations and specifications, performance elements, cost elements, and comparative advantages and disadvantages of the different designs are covered. Procedures are discussed for establishing overall performance objectives and waste-acceptance criteria, and for comparative assessment of the performance and cost of the different alternatives. 16 references

Planning for greater-confinement disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gilbert, T.L.; Luner, C.; Meshkov, N.K.; Trevorrow, L.E.; Yu, C.

1984-01-01

This contribution is a progress report for preparation of a document that will summarize procedures and technical information needed to plan for and implement greater-confinement disposal (GCD) of low-level radioactive waste. Selection of a site and a facility design (Phase I), and construction, operation, and extended care (Phase II) will be covered in the document. This progress report is limited to Phase I. Phase I includes determination of the need for GCD, design alternatives, and selection of a site and facility design. Alternative designs considered are augered shafts, deep trenches, engineered structures, high-integrity containers, hydrofracture, and improved waste form. Design considerations and specifications, performance elements, cost elements, and comparative advantages and disadvantages of the different designs are covered. Procedures are discussed for establishing overall performance objecties and waste-acceptance criteria, and for comparative assessment of the performance and cost of the different alternatives. 16 refs

Ecological specialization and morphological diversification in Greater Antillean boas.

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, R Graham; Collar, David C; Pasachnik, Stesha A; Niemiller, Matthew L; Puente-Rolón, Alberto R; Revell, Liam J

2016-08-01

Colonization of islands can dramatically influence the evolutionary trajectories of organisms, with both deterministic and stochastic processes driving adaptation and diversification. Some island colonists evolve extremely large or small body sizes, presumably in response to unique ecological circumstances present on islands. One example of this phenomenon, the Greater Antillean boas, includes both small (<90 cm) and large (4 m) species occurring on the Greater Antilles and Bahamas, with some islands supporting pairs or trios of body-size divergent species. These boas have been shown to comprise a monophyletic radiation arising from a Miocene dispersal event to the Greater Antilles, though it is not known whether co-occurrence of small and large species is a result of dispersal or in situ evolution. Here, we provide the first comprehensive species phylogeny for this clade combined with morphometric and ecological data to show that small body size evolved repeatedly on separate islands in association with specialization in substrate use. Our results further suggest that microhabitat specialization is linked to increased rates of head shape diversification among specialists. Our findings show that ecological specialization following island colonization promotes morphological diversity through deterministic body size evolution and cranial morphological diversification that is contingent on island- and species-specific factors. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Safe and unsafe spaces: Non-fatal overdose, arrest, and receptive syringe sharing among people who inject drugs in public and semi-public spaces in Baltimore City.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Kyle; Park, Ju Nyeong; Allen, Sean T; Chaulk, Patrick; Frost, Taeko; Weir, Brian W; Sherman, Susan G

2018-04-13

The spaces in which drug use occurs constitutes a key aspect of the "risk environment" of people who inject drugs (PWID). We aimed to add nuance to the characterization of "safe" and "unsafe" spaces in PWID's environments to further understand how these spaces amplify the risk of morbidities associated with injection drug use. PWID were recruited through the Baltimore City syringe service program and through peer referral. Participants completed a socio-behavioral survey. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify associations between utilization of public, semi-public and private spaces with arrest, non-fatal overdose, and receptive syringe sharing. The sample of PWID (N = 283) was mostly 45 years and older (54%), male (69%), Black (55%), and heroin users (96%). Compared to PWID who primarily used private settings, the adjusted odds of recent overdose were greater among PWID who mostly used semi-public and public locations to inject drugs. We also found independent associations between arrest and semi-public spaces, and between receptive syringe sharing and public spaces (all p spaces where PWID can reduce their risk of overdose, likelihood of arrest and blood-borne diseases, and the dual potential of the environment in promoting health and risk. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Educational Afterlife of Greater Britain, 1903-1914

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Philip

2012-01-01

Following its late nineteenth-century emergence as an important element within federalist thinking across the British Empire, the idea of Greater Britain lost much of its political force in the years following the Boer War. The concept however continued to retain considerable residual currency in other fields of Imperial debate, including those…

Utilization of wind energy in greater Hanover

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahling, U.

1993-01-01

Since the beginning of the Eighties, the association of communities of Greater Hanover has dealt intensively with energy and ecopolitical questions in the scope of regional planning. Renewable energy sources play a dominant role in this context. This brochure is the third contribution to the subject ''Energy policy and environmental protection''. Experts as well as possibly interested parties are addressed especially. For all 8 contributions contained, separate entries have been recorded in this database. (BWI) [de

Small cities face greater impact from automation

OpenAIRE

Frank, Morgan R.; Sun, Lijun; Cebrian, Manuel; Youn, Hyejin; Rahwan, Iyad

2017-01-01

The city has proven to be the most successful form of human agglomeration and provides wide employment opportunities for its dwellers. As advances in robotics and artificial intelligence revive concerns about the impact of automation on jobs, a question looms: How will automation affect employment in cities? Here, we provide a comparative picture of the impact of automation across U.S. urban areas. Small cities will undertake greater adjustments, such as worker displacement and job content su...

LiveDiverse: Case study area, Greater Kruger South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nortje, Karen

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Livelihoods and Biodiversity in Developing Countries Case study area: Greater Kruger, South Africa January 2011 Kolhapur, India Where are we? HARDSHIP LIVELIHOODS NATURE & BIODIVERSITY BELIEFS & CULTURAL PRACTISE threesansinv foursansinv onesansinv...

The complexity of changes in the domain of managing public expenditures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrijević Marina

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Public expenditures are a huge problem in contemporary states. In the conditions of a global economic crisis and the circumstances involving high level of citizen dissatisfaction related to the former methods of funding and managing the public sector (reflected in ruining the funding sources, irrational spending of public expenditure funds, increase in the budget deficit and the level of public debt, the changes in the domain of managing public expenditures have become a priority. By their nature, these changes are complex and long-lasting, and they should bring significant improvements in the field of public expenditure; they have to provide for lawful and purposeful spending of public funds. It is expected to lower the needed public incomes for financing public expenditure, to improve production and competition in the market economy, and to increase personal consumption, living standard and the quality of life of the population. Regardless of the social, economic, legal or political environment in each of state, the topical issue of reforming the management of public expenditures seems to imply a return to a somewhat neglected need for the public sector to function within its own financial possibilities. The state modernisation processes and advancement in the process of managing public expenditures call for a realistic evaluation of the existing condition and circumstances in which these processes occur, as well as the assessment of potential and actual risks that may hinder their effectiveness. Otherwise, it seems that the establishment of a significant level of responsibility in spending the budget funds and a greater transparency of public expenditure may be far-fetched goals.

Researcher perspectives on publication and peer review of data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Ernest Kratz

Full Text Available Data "publication" seeks to appropriate the prestige of authorship in the peer-reviewed literature to reward researchers who create useful and well-documented datasets. The scholarly communication community has embraced data publication as an incentive to document and share data. But, numerous new and ongoing experiments in implementation have not yet resolved what a data publication should be, when data should be peer-reviewed, or how data peer review should work. While researchers have been surveyed extensively regarding data management and sharing, their perceptions and expectations of data publication are largely unknown. To bring this important yet neglected perspective into the conversation, we surveyed ∼ 250 researchers across the sciences and social sciences- asking what expectations"data publication" raises and what features would be useful to evaluate the trustworthiness, evaluate the impact, and enhance the prestige of a data publication. We found that researcher expectations of data publication center on availability, generally through an open database or repository. Few respondents expected published data to be peer-reviewed, but peer-reviewed data enjoyed much greater trust and prestige. The importance of adequate metadata was acknowledged, in that almost all respondents expected data peer review to include evaluation of the data's documentation. Formal citation in the reference list was affirmed by most respondents as the proper way to credit dataset creators. Citation count was viewed as the most useful measure of impact, but download count was seen as nearly as valuable. These results offer practical guidance for data publishers seeking to meet researcher expectations and enhance the value of published data.

Uranium enrichment capacity: public versus private ownership

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fraser, J.T.

1977-01-01

Continual growth of conventional nuclear capacity requires an assured supply of enriched uranium and, hence, potential expansion of domestic uranium enrichment capacity. The question of ownership of new enrichment capacity, i.e., public or private, entails not only the social-opportunity costs of alternative investments but also technical parameters of uranium utilization and advanced reactor development. Inclusion of risk preferences in both the public and private sectors produces interesting results in terms of optimal investment strategies with respect to choice of technology and scale of investment. Utilization of a nuclear fuel cycle requirements process model allows explicit specification of production technology. Integration of process model output with a least-cost investment model permits flexibility in parametric analysis. Results indicate minimum incentive for Government subsidy of a private enrichment sector through 2000 given moderate to low nuclear growth assumptions. The long-run scenario, to 2020, exhibits potentially greater incentives for private enrichment investment

Agency transformation and state public utility commissions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, Douglas N.

2006-01-01

The demise of public utility commissions has been periodically predicted (sometimes hoped for). In their long history they have been attacked by critics as ineffective, inefficient, expensive, or unnecessary. Further, the demonstrated survivability of the commission concept has often been uncharitably attributed to powerful political constituencies, self-preservation manoeuvrings by commissioners themselves, and inertia. The implications of this article point another way. Commission regulation of public utilities has survived mainly because of continued need for social oversight of these critical industry sectors and the capacity of PUCs strategically to adapt to fundamental changes in their surroundings. Two transformational upheavals are treated here - a challenge of flexibility and responsiveness by the dramatic run-up in costs and prices in the 1970s and challenge to relevance by the policy shift to greater reliance on market competition in the 1990s - and regulation's successful accommodation to them. Viewed this way commission regulation is more in a position of 'second wind' than 'last breath'. (author)

Gas, Oil, and Water Production from Jonah, Pinedale, Greater Wamsutter, and Stagecoach Draw Fields in the Greater Green River Basin, Wyoming

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Philip H.; Ewald, Shauna M.; Santus, Stephen L.; Trainor, Patrick K.

2010-01-01

Gas, oil, and water production data were compiled from selected wells in four gas fields in rocks of Late Cretaceous age in southwestern Wyoming. This study is one of a series of reports examining fluid production from tight-gas reservoirs, which are characterized by low permeability, low porosity, and the presence of clay minerals in pore space. Production from each well is represented by two samples spaced five years apart, the first sample typically taken two years after commencement of production. For each producing interval, summary diagrams of oil versus gas and water versus gas production show fluid production rates, the change in rates during five years, the water-gas and oil-gas ratios, and the fluid type. These diagrams permit well-to-well and field-to-field comparisons. Fields producing water at low rates (water dissolved in gas in the reservoir) can be distinguished from fields producing water at moderate or high rates, and the water-gas ratios are quantified. The ranges of first-sample gas rates in Pinedale field and Jonah field are quite similar, and the average gas production rate for the second sample, taken five years later, is about one-half that of the first sample for both fields. Water rates are generally substantially higher in Pinedale than in Jonah, and water-gas ratios in Pinedale are roughly a factor of ten greater in Pinedale than in Jonah. Gas and water production rates from each field are fairly well grouped, indicating that Pinedale and Jonah fields are fairly cohesive gas-water systems. Pinedale field appears to be remarkably uniform in its flow behavior with time. Jonah field, which is internally faulted, exhibits a small spread in first-sample production rates. In the Greater Wamsutter field, gas production from the upper part of the Almond Formation is greater than from the main part of the Almond. Some wells in the main and the combined (upper and main parts) Almond show increases in water production with time, whereas increases

Inactive Publics: The Forgotten Publics in Public Relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hallahan, Kirk

2000-01-01

Notes that recent public relations theory has largely ignored inactive publics, stakeholder groups that demonstrate low levels of knowledge and involvement in the organization or its products, services, candidates, or causes, but are important to an organization. Examines the nature of inactive publics and proposes a model that locates inactive…

Absenteeism movement in Greater Poland in 1840–1902

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Izabela Krasińska

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents the origins and development of the idea of absenteeism in Greater Poland in the 19th century. The start date for the research is 1840, which is considered to be a breakthrough year in the history of an organized absenteeism movement in Greater Poland. It was due to the Association for the Suppression of the Use of Vodka (Towarzystwo ku Przytłumieniu Używania Wódki in the Great Duchy of Posen that was then established in Kórnik. It was a secular organization that came into being on an initiative of doctor De La Roch, who was a German surgeon of a French origin. However, as early as 1844, the idea of absenteeism raised an interest of catholic clergymen of Greater Poland with high ranking clergy such as Rev. Leon Michał Przyłuski, Archbishop of Gniezno and Rev. Jan Kanty Dąbrowski, Archbishop of Posen, and later on Archbishops Rev. Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski and Rev. Florian Oksza Stablewski. They were fascinated with activities of Rev. Jan Nepomucen Fick, Parish Priest of Piekary Śląskie and several other priests on whose initiative a lot of church brotherhoods of so called holy continence were set up in Upper Silesia as early as the first half-year of 1844. It was due to Bishop Dąbrowski that 100 000 people took vows of absenteeism in 1844–1845, becoming members of brotherhoods of absenteeism. In turn, it was an initiative of Archbishop Przyłuski that Jesuit missionaries – Rev. Karol Bołoz Antoniewicz, Rev. Teofil Baczyński and Rev. Kamil Praszałowicz, arrived in Greater Poland from Galicia in 1852 to promote the idea of absenteeism. Starting from 1848, they were helping Silesian clergymen to spread absenteeism. Clergymen of Greater Poland were also active in secular absenteeism associations. They became involved in the workings of the Association for the Promotion of Absenteeism that was set up by Zygmunt Celichowski in Kórnik in 1887, and especially in the Jutrzenka Absenteeism Association

From Public International to International Public Law: Translating World Public Opinion into International Public Authority

NARCIS (Netherlands)

von Bogdandy, A.; Goldmann, M.; Venzke, I.

This article argues that increasing demands in world public opinion for legitimate and effective international institutions require a paradigm shift in public international law. There is a part of public international law that should be better understood as international public law because it

The Publications Tracking and Metrics Program at NOAO: Challenges and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Sharon

2015-08-01

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) is the U.S. national research and development center for ground-based nighttime astronomy. The NOAO librarian manages the organization’s publications tracking and metrics program, which consists of three components: identifying publications, organizing citation data, and disseminating publications information. We are developing methods to streamline these tasks, better organize our data, provide greater accessibility to publications data, and add value to our services.Our publications tracking process is complex, as we track refereed publications citing data from several sources: NOAO telescopes at two observatory sites, telescopes of consortia in which NOAO participates, the NOAO Science Archive, and NOAO-granted community-access time on non-NOAO telescopes. We also identify and document our scientific staff publications. In addition, several individuals contribute publications data.In the past year, we made several changes in our publications tracking and metrics program. To better organize our data and streamline the creation of reports and metrics, we created a MySQL publications database. When designing this relational database, we considered ease of use, the ability to incorporate data from various sources, efficiency in data inputting and sorting, and potential for growth. We also considered the types of metrics we wished to generate from our publications data based on our target audiences and the messages we wanted to convey. To increase accessibility and dissemination of publications information, we developed a publications section on the library’s website, with citation lists, acknowledgements guidelines, and metrics. We are now developing a searchable online database for our website using PHP.The publications tracking and metrics program has provided many opportunities for the library to market its services and contribute to the organization’s mission. As we make decisions on collecting, organizing

Consolidation of existing solid waste management plans in the Greater Toronto Area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1989-08-01

The municipalities of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) will be implementing initiatives in solid waste management, in view of the fact that current landfill capacity is nearly exhausted. A consolidation of information is provided on the solid waste management plans, programs, and facilities within the GTA. In response to environmental concerns coupled with difficulties encountered in developing new solid waste disposal facilities, waste reduction, reuse, and recycling efforts are developing rapidly. Some of the measures currently implemented and under investigation include: curbside recycling programs for newspapers, glass, metal, and plastic containers; expanding recycling efforts to apartment buildings; expanding the kinds of materials collected through the curbside programs; improving recycling services in rural areas; public education and promotional programs; promotion of home composting; household hazardous waste programs; recovery of cardboard from commercial and industrial sources, coupled with bans on cardboard at landfills; recovery of selected waste building materials such as wood and drywall, coupled with bans on these materials at landfills; recovery of paper from office buildings; and programs to assist industries in waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. The solid wastes generated in the GTA are managed in a number of facilities including recycling centers, transfer stations, and landfill sites. A 410 tonne/day energy-from-waste facility has recently been approved for Peel Region and is planned to be constructed in the coming year. 21 refs., 1 fig., 14 tabs.

Public perceptions of cohort studies and biobanks in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Starkbaum, Johannes; Gottweis, Herbert; Gottweis, Ursula; Kleiser, Christina; Linseisen, Jakob; Meisinger, Christa; Kamtsiuris, Panagiotis; Moebus, Susanne; Jöckel, Karl-Heinz; Börm, Sonja; Wichmann, H-Erich

2014-04-01

Cohort studies and biobank projects have led to public discussions in several European countries in the past. In Germany, many medium-sized studies are currently running successfully in terms of respondent rates. However, EU-wide research on general public perceptions of biobanks and cohort studies have shown that Germany is among those countries where people express the highest reluctance for providing body material and other data for research purposes. Because of early efforts of the just-initiated German National Cohort Study, we are able to begin to investigate in greater detail how various groups of people across Germany reflect and discuss the ongoing implementation of cohort studies and biobanking in Germany. Our research is based on 15 focus group discussions in four German regions, as well as on Eurobarometer poll data on biobanking.

Affordability Assessment to Implement Light Rail Transit (LRT for Greater Yogyakarta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anjang Nugroho

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The high population density and the increasing visitors in Yogyakarta aggravate the traffic congestion problem. BRT (Bus Rapid Transit services, Trans Jogja has not managed to solve this problem yet. Introducing Light Rail Transit (LRT has been considered as one of the solutions to restrain the congestion in Greater Yogyakarta. As the first indication that the LRT can be built in Greater Yogyakarta, the transportation affordability index was used to understand whether the LRT tariff was affordable. That tariff was calculated based on government policy in determining railway tariff. The forecasted potential passengers and LRT route have been analyzed as the previous steps to get LRT tariff. Potential passenger was forecasted from gravity mode, and the proposed LRT route was chosen using Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA. The existing transportation affordability index was calculated for comparison analysis using the percentage of the expenditures for transportation made by monthly income of each household. The result showed that the LRT for Greater Yogyakarta was the most affordable transport mode compared to the Trans Jogja Bus and motorcycle. The affordability index of Tram Jogja for people having average income was 10.66% while another people with bottom quartile income was 13.56%. Keywords: Greater Yogyakarta, LRT, affordability.

THE PUBLIC OFFICER - THE ACTIVE SUBJECT OF A CRIME

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

NICOLETA-ELENA BUZATU

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The present study intends to analyze the active subject of the crime committed by an individual - the public officer, for example - during his daily duty program or with reference to the attributions he has versus the public office he holds, in the light of the regulations provided not only by the Penal Code in force but also by the future New Penal Code, as, among the important amendments it provides, the definition of the public officer is also mentioned. In the case of such a trespassing, the active subject shall hold the quality of a public officer the way this quality is regulated by the Penal Code, even if the definition is much ampler as compared to the one given by the Statute of the Public Officers. According to Art 147, paragraph 1 Penal Code, a public officer is any individual who permanently or temporarily exercises - irrespective of his/her rank or of the way this office was appointed, a paid or unpaid task of no matter what nature or importance - in the service of a department Art 145 refers to. The regulation proposed in perfect agreement with the solutions offered by other international legislations and conventions in the domain, the definition of a public officer refers to the individual who - permanently or temporarily appointed, paid or unpaid - shall exercise attributions specific to the legislative, executive or judiciary powers, a function of public dignity or a function of any other type - alone or in a group - within a self-governing management of another economic agent or of a legal person with a whole or a greater capital, or belonging to a legally declared person capital or to a legal person considered to be of public utility - attributions connected with the object of the latter’s activity.

Victims’ Reactions to the Interpersonal Threat to Public Identity Posed by Copycats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Reysen

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Interpersonal threats to public identity consist of situations where another person intentionally attempts to illegitimately undermine one’s ability to display a valued and distinctive public identity. In three studies, we examined victims’ reactions to copycatting as an interpersonal threat to public identity to test each component of this definition. In Study, participants expressed the greatest degree of anger when the copying was illegitimate and intentional. In Study 2, participants expressed a greater degree of anger to copying of an important (vs. unimportant characteristic. In Study 3, we manipulated the number of identity characteristics copied. A structural model showed that as the number of copied characteristics increased, participants’ perception of the situation as illegitimate and the copying as intentional predicted a threat to one’s freedom, which in turn predicted felt reactance predicting an unfavorable impression and a desire to confront the copycat. Together, the results support the definition of interpersonal threats to public identity and copycatting as such a situation.

Managing Public Accountability : How Public Managers Manage Public Accountability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schillemans, Thomas

2015-01-01

Accountability is of growing importance in contemporary governance. The academic literature on public accountability is fraught with concerned analyses, suggesting that accountability is a problematic issue for public managers. This article investigates how public managers experience accountability

Public judgments of information in a diazepam patient package insert.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, S; Mansbridge, B; Lankford, D A

1982-06-01

As part of a larger study of the effects of giving patients written take-home information with prescription medications, a "patient package insert" (PPI) for diazepam was prepared based on content determined by "experts." This report compares the experts' judgments of what information should be included with judgments obtained from the public. Information judged to be most important for inclusion in a PPI was identified by having subjects sort cards containing facts about diazepam. Subjects who had previously used diazepam were no different in their judgments than inexperienced subjects. In general, there was a high degree of concordance between public and expert judgments and also a remarkably strong consensus across very different demographic samples. In those few instances of disagreement, the public attached even greater importance to warnings and "bad news" about diazepam than to information providing reassurances, benign general education, and "good news." To what extent patients would effectively use this information--whether conveyed by PPIs or alternative educational routes--must await empirical evaluation.

Greater Confinement Disposal trench and borehole operations status

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harley, J.P. Jr.; Wilhite, E.L.; Jaegge, W.J.

1987-01-01

Greater Confinement Disposal (GCD) facilities have been constructed within the operating burial ground at the Savannah River Plant (SRP) to dispose of the higher activity fraction of SRP low-level waste. GCD practices of waste segregation, packaging, emplacement below the root zone, and waste stabilization are being used in the demonstration. 2 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs

Community Consultation and Public Disclosure: Preliminary Results From A New Model

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsey, Cornelia A.; Quearry, Bonnie; Ripley, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

Emergency medicine research conducted under the exception from informed consent (EFIC) regulation enables critical scientific advancements. When EFIC is proposed, there is a requirement for broad community consultation and public disclosure regarding the risks and benefits of the study. At the present time, no clear guidelines or standards exist for conducting and evaluating the community consultation and public disclosure. This preliminary study tested the feasibility and acceptability of a new approach to community consultation and public disclosure for a large-scale EFIC trial by engaging community members in designing and conducting the strategies. The authors enrolled key community members (called Community Advocates for Research, or CARs) to use community-based participatory methods to design and implement community consultation and public disclosure. By partnering with community members who represent target populations for the research study, this new approach has demonstrated a feasible community consultation and public disclosure plan with greater community participation and less cost than previous studies. In a community survey, the percentage of community members reporting having heard about the EFIC trial more than doubled after employing the new approach. This article discusses initial implementation and results. PMID:21729187

Use of Social Media During Public Emergencies by People with Disabilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John T. Morris

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Introduction: People with disabilities are generally more vulnerable during disasters and public emergencies than the general population. Physical, sensory and cognitive impairments may result in greater difficulty in receiving and understanding emergency alert information, and greater difficulty in taking appropriate action. The use of social media in the United States has grown considerably in recent years. This has generated increasing interest on the part of national, state and local jurisdictions in leveraging these channels to communicate public health and safety information. How and to what extent people with disabilities use social and other communications media during public emergencies can help public safety organizations understand the communication needs of the citizens in their jurisdictions, and plan their social media and other communications strategies accordingly. Methods: This article presents data from a survey on the use of social media and other communications media during public emergencies by people with disabilities conducted from November 1, 2012 through March 30, 2013. Results: The data presented here show four key results. First, levels of use of social media in general are high for people with disabilities, as well as for the general population. Second, use of social media during emergencies is still low for both groups. Third, levels of use of social media are not associated with income levels, but are significantly and strongly associated with age: younger people use social media at higher rates than older people in both groups (p,0.001. Fourth, differences in the use of social media during emergencies across disability types are slight, with the exception of deaf and hard-of-hearing respondents, the former more likely to have used social media to receive (p¼0.002, verify (p¼0.092 and share (p¼0.007 emergency information . Conclusion: These last two results suggest that effective emergency communications

Supporting academic publication: evaluation of a writing course combined with writers' support group.

Science.gov (United States)

Rickard, Claire M; McGrail, Matthew R; Jones, Rebecca; O'Meara, Peter; Robinson, Anske; Burley, Mollie; Ray-Barruel, Gillian

2009-07-01

Publication rates are a vital measure of individual and institutional performance, yet many nurse academics publish rarely or not at all. Despite widespread acceptance of the need to increase academic publication rates and the pressure university faculty may experience to fulfil this obligation, little is known about the effectiveness of practical strategies to support academic writing. In this small cohort study (n=8) comprising nurses and other professionals involved in university education, a questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a one-week "Writing for Publication" course combined with a monthly writers support group to increase publication rates. Two year pre and post submissions increased from 9 to 33 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Publications (in print) per person increased from a baseline of 0.5-1.2 per year. Participants reported increased writing confidence and greater satisfaction with the publishing process. Peer support and receiving recognition and encouragement from line managers were also cited as incentives to publish. Writing for publication is a skill that can be learned. The evaluated model of a formal writing course, followed by informal monthly group support meetings, can effectively increase publication rates.

Retracted publications in the drug literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Samp, Jennifer C; Schumock, Glen T; Pickard, A Simon

2012-07-01

Recent studies have suggested an increase in the number of retracted scientific publications. It is unclear how broadly the issue of misleading and fraudulent publications pertains to retractions of drug therapy studies. Therefore, we sought to determine the trends and factors associated with retracted publications in drug therapy literature. A PubMed search was conducted to identify retracted drug therapy articles published from 2000-2011. Articles were grouped according to reason for retraction, which was classified as scientific misconduct or error. Scientific misconduct was further divided into data fabrication, data falsification, questions of data veracity, unethical author conduct, and plagiarism. Error was defined as duplicate publication, scientific mistake, journal error, or unstated reasons. Additional data were extracted from the retracted articles, including type of article, funding source, author information, therapeutic area, and retraction issue. A total of 742 retractions were identified from 2000-2011 in the general biomedical literature, and 102 drug studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these, 73 articles (72%) were retracted for a reason classified as scientific misconduct, whereas 29 articles (28%) were retracted for error. Among the 73 articles classified as scientific misconduct, those classified as unethical author conduct (32 articles [44%]) and data fabrication (24 articles [33%]) constituted the majority. The median time from publication of the original article to retraction was 31 months (range 1-130). Fifty percent of retracted articles did not state a funding source, whereas pharmaceutical manufacturer funding accounted for only 13 articles (13%) analyzed. Many retractions were due to repeat offenses by a small number of authors, with nearly 40% of the retracted studies associated with two individuals. We found that a greater proportion of drug therapy articles were retracted for reasons of misconduct and fraud compared with other

Greater decision-making competence is associated with greater expected-value sensitivity, but not overall risk taking: an examination of concurrent validity.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Andrew M; Weller, Joshua A

2015-01-01

Decision-making competence reflects individual differences in the susceptibility to committing decision-making errors, measured using tasks common from behavioral decision research (e.g., framing effects, under/overconfidence, following decision rules). Prior research demonstrates that those with higher decision-making competence report lower incidence of health-risking and antisocial behaviors, but there has been less focus on intermediate processes that may impact real-world decisions, and, in particular, those implicated by normative models. Here we test the associations between measures of youth decision-making competence (Y-DMC) and one such process, the degree to which individuals make choices consistent with maximizing expected value (EV). Using a task involving hypothetical gambles, we find that greater EV sensitivity is associated with greater Y-DMC. Higher Y-DMC scores are associated with (a) choosing risky options when EV favors those options and (b) avoiding risky options when EV favors a certain option. This relationship is stronger for gambles that involved potential losses. The results suggest that Y-DMC captures decision processes consistent with standard normative evaluations of risky decisions.

Greater decision-making competence is associated with greater expected-value sensitivity, but not overall risk taking: An examination of concurrent validity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew M Parker

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Decision-making competence reflects individual differences in the susceptibility to decision-making errors, measured using tasks common from behavioral decision research (e.g., framing effects, under/overconfidence, following decision rules. Prior research demonstrates that those with higher decision-making competence report lower incidence of health-risking and antisocial behaviors, but there has been less focus on intermediate mechanisms that may impact real-world decisions, and, in particular, those implicated by normative models. Here we test the associations between measures of youth decision-making competence (Y-DMC and one such mechanism, the degree to which individuals make choices consistent with maximizing expected value (EV. Using a task involving hypothetical gambles, we find that greater EV sensitivity is associated with greater Y-DMC. Higher Y-DMC scores are associated with (a choosing risky options when expected value favors those options and (b avoiding risky options when expected value favors a certain option. This relationship is stronger for gambles that involved potential losses. The results suggest that Y-DMC captures decision processes consistent with standard normative evaluations of risky decisions.

Constraints facing the implementation of the greater New Orleans urban water plan

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visschedijk, A.; Van de Ven, F.H.M.

2015-01-01

On September 6th of last year the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan (UWP) was presented. A comprehensive plan which addresses flooding caused by heavy rainfall and soil subsidence caused by excessive drainage. Every year parts of the Greater New Orleans Area flood due to severe rainfall events in

Online Disclosure of University Social Responsibility: A Comparative Study of Public and Private US Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Garde Sánchez, Raquel; Rodríguez Bolívar, Manuel Pedro; López-Hernández, Antonio M.

2013-01-01

Public and private universities tasked with incorporating principles of social responsibility (SR) into their activities face the multiple challenges of addressing expectations of diverse stakeholders, establishing mechanisms for dialogue, and achieving greater information transparency. This article has two goals: first, to analyze whether SR has…

Sagebrush, greater sage-grouse, and the occurrence and importance of forbs

Science.gov (United States)

Pennington, Victoria E.; Schlaepfer, Daniel R.; Beck, Jeffrey L.; Bradford, John B.; Palmquist, Kyle A.; Lauenroth, William K.

2016-01-01

Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) ecosystems provide habitat for sagebrush-obligate wildlife species such as the Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). The understory of big sagebrush plant communities is composed of grasses and forbs that are important sources of cover and food for wildlife. The grass component is well described in the literature, but the composition, abundance, and habitat role of forbs in these communities is largely unknown. Our objective was to synthesize information about forbs and their importance to Greater Sage-Grouse diets and habitats, how rangeland management practices affect forbs, and how forbs respond to changes in temperature and precipitation. We also sought to identify research gaps and needs concerning forbs in big sagebrush plant communities. We searched for relevant literature including journal articles and state and federal agency reports. Our results indicated that in the spring and summer, Greater Sage-Grouse diets consist of forbs (particularly species in the Asteraceae family), arthropods, and lesser amounts of sagebrush. The diets transition to sagebrush in fall and winter. Forbs provide cover for Greater Sage-Grouse individuals at their lekking, nesting, and brood-rearing sites, and the species has a positive relationship with arthropod presence. The effect of grazing on native forbs may be compounded by invasion of nonnative species and differs depending on grazing intensity. The effect of fire on forbs varies greatly and may depend on time elapsed since burning. In addition, chemical and mechanical treatments affect annual and perennial forbs differently. Temperature and precipitation influence forb phenology, biomass, and abundance differently among species. Our review identified several uncertainties and research needs about forbs in big sagebrush ecosystems. First, in many cases the literature about forbs is reported only at the genus or functional type level. Second, information about forb

Are Public-Private Partnerships a Source of Greater Efficiency in Water Supply? Results of a Non-Parametric Performance Analysis Relating to the Italian Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corrado lo Storto

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This article reports the outcome of a performance study of the water service provision industry in Italy. The study evaluates the efficiency of 21 “private or public-private” equity and 32 “public” equity water service operators and investigates controlling factors. In particular, the influence that the operator typology and service management nature - private vs. public - has on efficiency is assessed. The study employed a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis methodology. In the first stage, the operational efficiency of water supply operators is calculated by implementing a conventional BCC DEA model, that uses both physical infrastructure and financial input and output variables to explore economies of scale. In the second stage, bootstrapped DEA and Tobit regression are performed to estimate the influence that a number of environmental factors have on water supplier efficiency. The results show that the integrated water provision industry in Italy is characterized by operational inefficiencies of service operators, and scale and agglomeration economies may have a not negligible effect on efficiency. In addition, the operator typology and its geographical location affect efficiency.

The transition to medication adoption in publicly funded substance use disorder treatment programs: organizational structure, culture, and resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Knudsen, Hannah K; Roman, Paul M

2014-05-01

Medications for the treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs) are not widely available in publicly funded SUD treatment programs. Few studies have drawn on longitudinal data to examine the organizational characteristics associated with programs transitioning from not delivering any pharmacotherapy to adopting at least one SUD medication. Using two waves of panel longitudinal data collected over a 5-year period, we measured the transition to medication adoption in a cohort of 190 publicly funded treatment organizations that offered no SUD medications at baseline. Independent variables included organizational characteristics, medical resources, funding, treatment culture, and detailing activities by pharmaceutical companies. Of 190 programs not offering SUD pharmacotherapy at baseline, 22.6% transitioned to offering at least one SUD medication at follow-up approximately 5 years later. Multivariate logistic regression results indicated that the employment of at least one physician at baseline, having a greater proportion of Medicaid clients, and pharmaceutical detailing were positively associated with medication adoption. Adoption of pharmacotherapy was more likely in programs that had greater medical resources, Medicaid funding, and contact with pharmaceutical companies. Given the potential expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, patients served by publicly funded programs may gain greater access to such treatments, but research is needed to document health reform's impact on this sector of the treatment system.

Public and media attitudes to nuclear power in Italy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belelli, U.

1988-01-01

A study carried out by the Italian Electricity Board on the public acceptability of nuclear power, is reported. The question was examined in two ways. A sociological analysis was carried out with the aim of understanding the behaviour of public opinion. The results revealed that individual attitudes towards nuclear power are based on cost-benefit evaluations assessed in terms of social parameters by an instinctive rather than a rational process. Secondly press articles before and after the Chernobyl accident were analysed in terms of both the message being communicated and the quality of the technical content. Characteristics of the press coverage were more stress on nuclear safety after Chernobyl leading to greater opposition to nuclear power in general, a tendency for comment to dominate over factual information and no proper evaluation of the technical content. The major overall conclusions drawn are the need for international cooperation to address the social implications of the nuclear question, and for effective communication of information on power plant safety both to expert social and political bodies and, in a popular version, to the general public. (U.K.)

Ethics Standards Impacting Test Development and Use: A Review of 31 Ethics Codes Impacting Practices in 35 Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Leach, Mark M.; Oakland, Thomas

2007-01-01

Ethics codes are designed to protect the public by prescribing behaviors professionals are expected to exhibit. Although test use is universal, albeit reflecting strong Western influences, previous studies that examine the degree issues pertaining to test development and use and that are addressed in ethics codes of national psychological…

Images of Freud

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Bent

2015-01-01

. This however is undoubtedly the case with the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), whose image is still immediately recognizable to a majority of the population of at least Europe and North America. Freud’s ideas (albeit in popularized form) also travel with ease in current public discourses...

Social Stigma Toward Persons With Prescription Opioid Use Disorder: Associations With Public Support for Punitive and Public Health-Oriented Policies.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy-Hendricks, Alene; Barry, Colleen L; Gollust, Sarah E; Ensminger, Margaret E; Chisolm, Margaret S; McGinty, Emma E

2017-05-01

Prescription opioid use disorder and overdose have emerged as significant public health challenges in the past 15 years. Little is known about public attitudes toward individuals who have developed a prescription opioid use disorder and whether these attitudes affect support for policy interventions. This study examined social stigma toward individuals with prescription opioid use disorder and tested whether stigma was associated with support for various policy interventions. A nationally representative Web-based survey was conducted from January 31 to February 28, 2014. The 1,071 respondents reported on their beliefs about and attitudes toward persons affected by prescription opioid use disorder and rated their support for various policy interventions. Ordered logistic regression models estimated the association between stigma and public support for punitive and public health-oriented policies. Most respondents viewed this disorder as affecting all groups-racial and ethnic, income, and geographic area of residence groups-fairly equally, despite epidemiological data demonstrating that certain populations have been disproportionately burdened. Respondents expressed high levels of stigma toward individuals with prescription opioid use disorder. Levels of stigma were generally similar among those with and without experience with prescription opioid use disorder, either one's own or that of a relative or close friend. Higher levels of stigma were associated with greater support for punitive policies and lower support for public health-oriented policies. Reframing the issue to emphasize the structural factors contributing to prescription opioid use disorder and the barriers to accessing evidence-based treatment might improve support for policies that benefit affected individuals.

Changing public attitudes towards corporal punishment: the effects of statutory reform in Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, J V

2000-08-01

One justification for a statutory ban on physical punishment is that passage of such legislation changes public attitudes towards the use of this form of parental discipline. The experience in Sweden is often cited as an example of legislation which changed public opinion. The aim of this brief article is to review the public opinion findings in Sweden in order to evaluate in greater detail the impact of changing the law. A search was conducted to generate all published and publicly-available quantitative surveys of the public in Sweden and elsewhere. The results of time-series analysis of the data are clear. The 1979 legal reform in Sweden did not reduce the level of public support for parental use of corporal punishment as a means of disciplining children. Support for physical punishment began declining years before the reform was passed and the decline was in no way accelerated by the law reform. Changes in public opinion may have generated the legal reform, but the reverse is not true. Data from other jurisdictions also support the view that there is no relationship between the status of the law and the nature of public views with regard to corporal punishment. This result is consistent with analyses of the effects of legal reforms in other areas. The Swedish ban on corporal punishment did not affect public attitudes. Changing public views requires other initiatives.

Geografía del poder y diseño del espacio público periférico en el Gran Concepción./ Geography of power and the design of peripheral public spaces in the Greater Concepción area.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo Ulloa Tesser

2012-12-01

Full Text Available El artículo busca identificar los factores jurídico–urbanos que condicionan la morfología y gobernanza del espacio público en la periferia del Gran Concepción colocando énfasis en el conocimiento de las estructuras de poder existentes en el área de estudio. Se postula que la geografía del poder privado y público limita la soberanía de las comunidades locales sobre sus espacios públicos dificultando la toma de decisiones y su diseño. Este análisis permite caracterizar la crisis del espacio público periférico, la que se expresa en dificultades en la gestión de riesgos de desastres, conectividad centro periferia, falta de identidad urbana y de barrio y gobernabilidad. A juicio del autor, las soluciones de fondo a esta crisis, pasan por cambios profundos en la institucionalidad urbana, que corrijan las inequidades de poder en las periferias de las grandes ciudades y en especial del área de estudio./The goal of this article is to identify the legal and urban factors that influence the morphology and governance of public spaces of the Greater Concepción’s peripheral neighbourhoods, in order to unveil the “structures of power” acting on the area. The main premise of the research is that the geography of power, both public and private, restricts the local communities’ attributes to control and design their own spaces. This analysis, by exposing the difficulties in the management of risk zones, the poor connectivity conditions between central and peripheral areas, as well as the lack of urban identity and local governance, allows us to define the critical condition in which the peripheral public space of Concepción is immersed. From the author’s stand point, the only way to solve this situation is through deep institutional changes, aimed to amend the unbalance of power in the urban governance structures of Chile’s largest metropolitan areas.

Getting the Word Out: New Approaches for Disseminating Public Health Science

Science.gov (United States)

Eyler, Amy A.; Harris, Jenine K.; Moore, Justin B.; Tabak, Rachel G.

2018-01-01

The gap between discovery of public health knowledge and application in practice settings and policy development is due in part to ineffective dissemination. This article describes (1) lessons related to dissemination from related disciplines (eg, communication, agriculture, social marketing, political science), (2) current practices among researchers, (3) key audience characteristics, (4) available tools for dissemination, and (5) measures of impact. Dissemination efforts need to take into account the message, source, audience, and channel. Practitioners and policy makers can be more effectively reached via news media, social media, issue or policy briefs, one-on-one meetings, and workshops and seminars. Numerous “upstream” and “midstream” indicators of impact include changes in public perception or awareness, greater use of evidence-based interventions, and changes in policy. By employing ideas outlined in this article, scientific discoveries are more likely to be applied in public health agencies and policy-making bodies. PMID:28885319

Environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity: potential public health concerns.

Science.gov (United States)

Marczylo, Emma L; Jacobs, Miriam N; Gant, Timothy W

2016-09-01

Throughout our lives, epigenetic processes shape our development and enable us to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Identifying and understanding environmentally induced epigenetic change(s) that may lead to adverse outcomes is vital for protecting public health. This review, therefore, examines the present understanding of epigenetic mechanisms involved in the mammalian life cycle, evaluates the current evidence for environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity in human cohorts and rodent models and highlights the research considerations and implications of this emerging knowledge for public health and regulatory toxicology. Many hundreds of studies have investigated such toxicity, yet relatively few have demonstrated a mechanistic association among specific environmental exposures, epigenetic changes and adverse health outcomes in human epidemiological cohorts and/or rodent models. While this small body of evidence is largely composed of exploratory in vivo high-dose range studies, it does set a precedent for the existence of environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity. Consequently, there is worldwide recognition of this phenomenon, and discussion on how to both guide further scientific research towards a greater mechanistic understanding of environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity in humans, and translate relevant research outcomes into appropriate regulatory policies for effective public health protection.

SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filipa Fonseca

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of the paper is to identify the determinants of service quality as well as its impact on the satisfaction of public transport commuters. The paper explores the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in a public transport service taking into account both internal and external perspectives. In order to analyse this relationship, the concepts of service quality, consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction are assessed. A model of analysis is developed aiming at explaining this relationship and guiding the empirical study. This is based on an exploratory case study of a metro company in Europe. The results of the study put in evidence two key findings. The first is related to the level of service quality in its main dimensions. We conclude that reliability, security, speed, comfort and punctuality are quality dimensions of greater importance for the public transport services. Secondly, the study explores satisfaction and their determinants. Despite literature stipulates the existence of a distinction between the constructs of quality and satisfaction, this study found that the transport company, non-customers and customers clearly do not make such a distinction.

Development of a public interaction program for fossil fuel power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coakley, L.G.; Reeder, F.S.

1991-01-01

Public and agency intervention in power plant construction projects can have a significant impact on schedule, budget, design and ultimate approvals. Recognition of this early in the project planning stage provides the opportunity to develop a public interaction program designed to the project's particular social environment, and approval requirements. A proactive public interaction program provides a method for early issue identification, and the opportunity for developing positive working relationships with regulatory agencies, potential public opponents, as well as other potentially involved entities. This paper will make extensive use of a number of flow charts and matrices to demonstrate the major steps in developing a Public Interaction Program (PIP). Critical activities include the concise definition of the utility company's objectives relating to a proposed project and whether a PIP will facilitate achievement of those objectives. A quantification matrix is suggested as a means of identifying the publics affected by a proposed project (e.g., property owners, industrial customers, environmental interest groups), evaluating their interest and issues, and matching them with the public interaction technique(s) most likely to be effective. A method will be described which incorporates numerical weights applied to issues and mechanisms which may have positive or negative impacts on successful completion of the project, and scores which reflect the probable significance of each issue to each public entity. The result of such an analysis will enable a project planner to select from a menu of public interaction entrees those most likely to satisfy the public's appetite for information and involvement. Utility companies which have used public interaction have found such programs with higher nutritive value resulting in greater utility credibility, less litigation and regulatory agency delay

Generation and quality assessment of route choice sets in public transport networks by means of RP data analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Marie Karen; Nielsen, Otto Anker; Prato, Carlo Giacomo

2010-01-01

Literature in route choice modelling shows that a lot of attention has been devoted to route choices of car drivers, but much less attention has been dedicated to route choices of public transport users. As modelling route choice behaviour consists of generating relevant routes and estimating...... discrete choice models, this paper focuses on the issue of choice set generation in public transport networks. Specifically, this paper describes the generation of choice sets for users of the Greater Copenhagen public transport system by applying a doubly stochastic path generation algorithm...

Investigating science communication in the information age implications for public engagement and popular media

CERN Document Server

Whitelegg, Elizabeth; Scanlon, Eileen; Smidt, Sam; Thomas, Jeff

2008-01-01

How are recent policy changes affecting how scientists engage with the public? How are new technologies influencing how scientists disseminate their work and knowledge? How are new media platforms changing the way the public interact with scientific information? Investigating Science Communication in the Information Age is a collection of newly-commissioned chapters by leading science communication scholars. It addresses current theoretical, practical and policy developments in science communication, including recent calls for greater openness and transparency; and engagement and dialogue on the part of professional scientists with members of the public. It provides a timely and wide-ranging review of contemporary issues in science communication, focusing on two broad themes. The first theme critically reviews the recent dialogic turn and ascendant branding of 'public engagement with science' It addresses contemporary theoretical and conceptual issues facing science communication researchers, and draws on a r...

Health and well-being in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). What public health support do SMEs really need?

Science.gov (United States)

Holt, Maxine; Powell, Susan

2015-01-01

Health and well-being in the workplace is a concept that is understood as a fundamental business case for a productive, happy and healthy workforce. The workplace is also a setting by which knowledge and skills about health can be disseminated to assist people, in improving their health and well-being. Public health professionals are in a position to develop workplace health and well-being interventions, which support those in jobs and those seeking employment. They can also influence the extent to which work and the workplace affects health and well-being outcomes. This article aims to identify the main health and well-being needs of a sample of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Greater Manchester and the support that public health professionals can offer. The research adopted a Health Needs Assessment (HNA) approach using convenience and opportunistic sampling methods, from the list of SMEs in Greater Manchester. The SMEs varied in size and type of business, and 91 telephone interviews, using semi-structured questions, were used to collect data which identified the health and well-being needs of a sample of SMEs in Greater Manchester. This research resulted in qualitative data using thematic analysis. Two key themes emerged from the study. Acute seasonal sickness was the most pressing reason for employee absence from work (viruses, flu, seasonal disorders) for the SMEs in this research. This accumulated to the theme of sickness presenteeism. This research highlighted that employees will present at work with acute illness that requires rest, is easily transmitted to other employees and most likely will take a longer time to recover from as cross infection and re-infection occur. A subsidiary theme was that of authenticity and the reporting of sickness, contributing further to sickness presenteeism as employees seek to legitimise their illness. This article provides issues which are specific to SMEs in Greater Manchester. In particular, the pressing

Beyond Our Borders? Public Resistance to Global Genomic Data Sharing.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mary A Majumder

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Prospects have never seemed better for a truly global approach to science to improve human health, with leaders of national initiatives laying out their vision of a worldwide network of related projects. An extensive literature addresses obstacles to global genomic data sharing, yet a series of public polls suggests that the scientific community may be overlooking a significant barrier: potential public resistance to data sharing across national borders. In several large United States surveys, university researchers in other countries were deemed the least acceptable group of data users, and a just-completed US survey found a marked increase in privacy and security concerns related to data access by non-US researchers. Furthermore, diminished support for sharing beyond national borders is not unique to the US, although the limited data from outside the US suggest variation across countries as well as demographic groups. Possible sources of resistance include apprehension about privacy and security protections. Strategies for building public support include making the affirmative case for global data sharing, addressing privacy, security, and other legitimate concerns, and investigating public concerns in greater depth.

Cash to accrual accounting: Does it mean more control for the public sector? The case of revenue from non-exchange transactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Capalbo

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Within the New Public Management, a fundamental role is played by changes in accounting measurement and recognition systems (in this case, the literature speaks specifically of New Public Financial Management. It has been substantially characterized by a gradual shift from cash to accrual accounting. In light of it, this paper aims to analyze some of the most significant conceptual and practical implications associated with the use of accrual accounting in the public sector – such as Italy’s, where most entities still use cash accounting – by looking closely at that full-accrual standard that seem to best show the system’s innovative reach: IPSAS 23 – Revenue from Non-Exchange Transactions (Taxes and Transfers. The switch-over broadens the scope of the accounting system, thereby leading to the recognition and consequent valuation of all the resources of any public-sector entity in its financial statements. As is often the case, though, greater utility implies greater complexity and innumerable elements of uncertainty are evidently still present.

Characteristics of good supervision: a multi-perspective qualitative exploration of the Masters in Public Health dissertation.

Science.gov (United States)

Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal; Reilly, Jacqueline

2017-09-01

A dissertation is often a core component of the Masters in Public Health (MPH) qualification. This study aims to explore its purpose, from the perspective of both students and supervisors, and identify practices viewed as constituting good supervision. A multi-perspective qualitative study drawing on in-depth one-to-one interviews with MPH supervisors (n = 8) and students (n = 10), with data thematically analysed. The MPH dissertation was viewed as providing generic as well as discipline-specific knowledge and skills. It provided an opportunity for in-depth study on a chosen topic but different perspectives were evident as to whether the project should be grounded in public health practice rather than academia. Good supervision practice was thought to require topic knowledge, generic supervision skills (including clear communication of expectations and timely feedback) and adaptation of supervision to meet student needs. Two ideal types of the MPH dissertation process were identified. Supervisor-led projects focus on achieving a clearly defined output based on a supervisor-identified research question and aspire to harmonize research and teaching practice, but often have a narrower focus. Student-led projects may facilitate greater learning opportunities and better develop skills for public health practice but could be at greater risk of course failure. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health.

The Ariadne's thread in co-payment, primary health care usage and financial crisis: findings from Cyprus public health care sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrou, P

2015-11-01

Cyprus entered a prolonged financial recession in 2011 and by early 2013 it applied for an international bail-out agreement. This presupposed massive reforms in public governance. Health sector was considerably reformed and one of the measures was the introduction of co-payment for outpatient visits to public health care sector. The scope of this study is to assess the impact of financial crisis and co-payment to public outpatient visits in Nicosia urban and greater Nicosia region. An Interrupted time-series analysis. All outpatient visits to public health care family doctor/general practitioners in Nicosia urban and greater Nicosia region from January 2011 until May of 2014 were registered and analysed. Financial crisis did not alter outpatient visits. Introduction of co-payment led to a statistically significant decrease from the second month after its introduction (p = 0.048) (R(2) = 0.329, Q = 23.75, p = 0.137). This decrease was consistent until the end of the observational period and it did not level off. Financial crisis did not affect outpatient visits while co-payment can be considered as a potent cost containment measure during financial recession, by normalising utilisation of healthcare resources. Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction. China and the Challenges in Greater Middle East

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Camilla T. N.; Andersen, Lars Erslev; Jiang, Yang

2016-01-01

This collection of short papers is an outcome of an international conference entitled China and the Challenges in Greater Middle East, organized by the Danish Institute for International Studies and Copenhagen University on 10 November 2015. The conference sought answers to the following questions...

Relationship between mean corpuscular haemoglobin ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-demographic data implicate illiteracy, low household income, poor diet and inadequate antenatal care for the observed reduction in MCHC among the group A subjects. Thus, MCHC and pALP can be used to monitor fetoplacental health. Albeit, the public should be educated on the importance of healthy diet and ...

Deviance and resistance: Malaria elimination in the greater Mekong subregion.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyttleton, Chris

2016-02-01

Malaria elimination rather than control is increasingly globally endorsed, requiring new approaches wherein success is not measured by timely treatment of presenting cases but eradicating all presence of infection. This shift has gained urgency as resistance to artemisinin-combination therapies spreads in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) posing a threat to global health security. In the GMS, endemic malaria persists in forested border areas and elimination will require calibrated approaches to remove remaining pockets of residual infection. A new public health strategy called 'positive deviance' is being used to improve health promotion and community outreach in some of these zones. However, outbreaks sparked by alternative understandings of appropriate behaviour expose the unpredictable nature of 'border malaria' and difficulties eradication faces. Using a recent spike in infections allegedly linked to luxury timber trade in Thai borderlands, this article suggests that opportunities for market engagement can cause people to see 'deviance' as a means to material advancement in ways that increase disease vulnerability. A malaria outbreak in Ubon Ratchathani was investigated during two-week field-visit in November 2014 as part of longer project researching border malaria in Thai provinces. Qualitative data were collected in four villages in Ubon's three most-affected districts. Discussions with villagers focused primarily on changing livelihoods, experience with malaria, and rosewood cutting. Informants included ten men and two women who had recently overnighted in the nearby forest. Data from health officials and villagers are used to frame Ubon's rise in malaria transmission within moral and behavioural responses to expanding commodity supply-chains. The article argues that elimination strategies in the GMS must contend with volatile outbreaks among border populations wherein 'infectiousness' and 'resistance' are not simply pathogen characteristics but also

The Impact of Public Capital Investments on the Revenue Growth of Medium Enterprise in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darius Tirtosuharto

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Public capital investment represents the role of state and local governments in supporting greater capacity of private enterprises to gain success in a market economy measured by revenue growth. Medium enterprises are considered as the catalysts for economic growth and competitiveness particularly in developing countries due to efficiency and flexibility in an adverse economic environment. Using aggregate data of 30 states (provinces in Indonesia from 1997-2002, the impact of public capital investment on the revenue growth of medium enterprise is examined. The paper finds that only medium enterprises in the industrial and trading sector benefited from public capital investments and the most optimum capital investment is in transport infrastructure.

Nuclear regulatory communication with the public: 10 years of progress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gauvain, J.; Jorle, A.; Chanial, L.

2008-01-01

The NEA has an acknowledged role to assist its member countries in maintaining and developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy. In this context, the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) provides a forum for senior representatives from nuclear regulatory bodies to exchange information and experience on nuclear regulatory policies and practices in NEA member countries and to review developments which could affect regulatory requirements. Public confidence in government and in risk management structures is important to all developed countries with an open society. The use of nuclear power in a democracy is built upon a certain trust in the political system and the national authorities. To foster and maintain such trust in a period of greater public scrutiny of nuclear activities, a number of nuclear regulatory organisations (NROs) initiated various processes to pro-actively inform the public about their supervision and control of nuclear activities, or when appropriate to involve the public in decision making. In 1998 the question was raised within the CNRA of whether public trust in the regulator might be very different from one country to another, and an activity was started among member countries to exchange experience and best practices and to learn lessons about NRO communication with their publics. Three workshops were organised by the NEA, and a Working Group on Public Communication of Nuclear Regulatory Organisations was set up in 2001. The activities and findings are summarised below. (author)

Public Concern with Farm-Animal Welfare: Religion, Politics, and Human Disadvantage in the Food Sector

Science.gov (United States)

Deemer, Danielle R.; Lobao, Linda M.

2011-01-01

The welfare of farm animals has become a continuing source of controversy as states seek greater regulation over the livestock industry. However, empirical studies addressing the determinants of public concern for farm-animal welfare are limited. Religion and politics, two institutional bases of attitudes, are rarely explored. Nor have…

Developing greater self-reliance in the nuclear sector in Ghana

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akaho, E.H.K.

2003-01-01

and coordinate all capital mobilisation activities, promote technologies to the public, and negotiate sale of technologies and arrange partnerships with stakeholders. The Commission has benefited from a grant of US $188,014 to produce planting materials for a local company, Bio Plantlets (Gh) Ltd. Proposals have been submitted seeking financial assistance for upgrading the Co-60 source to generate income through food preservation and medical sterilization. Non-destructive services for manufacturing industries, analysis of fertilizers, plant investigations of chemicals and mining industries are some of the activities to enhance income generation towards the attainment of a greater self-reliance in the nuclear sector in Ghana. Undoubtedly, the benefits derived from IAEA technical co-operation programs and AFRA projects for human resource development, quality control management, information and communication technology, etc. will largely support the commercialisation program. (author)

Public values in public-private partnerships

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reynaers, A.; de Graaf, G.

2014-01-01

Although public-private partnerships (PPPs) are often evaluated in terms of efficiency, their impact on public values is often neglected. In order to find out what we know about the public values-PPPs relation, this article reviews public administration literature and describes two opposite

Public Intentions for Private Spaces: Exploring Architects’ Tactics to Shape Shared Space in Private-Led Residential Development

OpenAIRE

Saul Manuel Golden; Ian Montgomery; Taina M. Rikala

2015-01-01

From the late 20th into the 21st centuries, the private market increasingly gained control from public authorities over strategic decisions affecting the quality of, and accessibility to, new urban development. This paper argues for architects to act more explicitly to promote greater open-ness and use-value, rather than more objectified and controlled exchange-value approaches to the public domain in private-led development. The paper analyses two London-based residential case studies and in...

Public participation in Strategic Environmental Assessment: A practitioners' perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rega, Carlo; Baldizzone, Giorgio

2015-01-01

Public participation is considered a distinguished feature of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), and the SEA literature has traditionally identified several benefits attached to it, from more open and transparent decision-making to greater acceptance of plans/programmes' output by the affected population. However, relatively little empirical evidence has been collected so far on the extent and outcomes of public engagement as it is being carried out in current SEA practice. In this article, we present the results of a study on this theme based on a direct survey of 47 SEA practitioners and scholars from different countries. Respondents were asked to report their experience about a number of items including: the frequency of SEA process featuring deep public participation; its overall influence on plan/programmme-making; the identification of the main factors impeding it; the correlation of public involvement with environmental outcomes; and the increase of costs. Results indicate that public engagement in current SEA practice is still relatively limited and with limited influence on decision-making. The main impeding factors seem to be: lack of political willingness by proponents; insufficient information on the SEA process by the public; and weakness of the legal frames. However, respondents also report that when effective public engagement takes place, benefits do arise and identify a positive correlation between the degree of public involvement and the environmental performance of plans and programmes. Overall, findings suggest that public involvement has indeed the potential to positively influence both SEA and decision-making, although this should be supported from the policy side by stronger legal frames, higher requirements and improved technical guidance. - Highlights: • 47 SEA scholars and practitioners were surveyed about public participation in SEA. • Current public involvement in SEA is still limited. • Lack of information, political

Public participation in Strategic Environmental Assessment: A practitioners' perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rega, Carlo, E-mail: carlo.rega@jrc.ec.europa.eu [Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino, Torino (Italy); Baldizzone, Giorgio [GB Studio consultancy, Via della Colla 3, 18100 Andora, SV (Italy)

2015-01-15

Public participation is considered a distinguished feature of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), and the SEA literature has traditionally identified several benefits attached to it, from more open and transparent decision-making to greater acceptance of plans/programmes' output by the affected population. However, relatively little empirical evidence has been collected so far on the extent and outcomes of public engagement as it is being carried out in current SEA practice. In this article, we present the results of a study on this theme based on a direct survey of 47 SEA practitioners and scholars from different countries. Respondents were asked to report their experience about a number of items including: the frequency of SEA process featuring deep public participation; its overall influence on plan/programmme-making; the identification of the main factors impeding it; the correlation of public involvement with environmental outcomes; and the increase of costs. Results indicate that public engagement in current SEA practice is still relatively limited and with limited influence on decision-making. The main impeding factors seem to be: lack of political willingness by proponents; insufficient information on the SEA process by the public; and weakness of the legal frames. However, respondents also report that when effective public engagement takes place, benefits do arise and identify a positive correlation between the degree of public involvement and the environmental performance of plans and programmes. Overall, findings suggest that public involvement has indeed the potential to positively influence both SEA and decision-making, although this should be supported from the policy side by stronger legal frames, higher requirements and improved technical guidance. - Highlights: • 47 SEA scholars and practitioners were surveyed about public participation in SEA. • Current public involvement in SEA is still limited. • Lack of information, political

MRI and US of gluteal tendinopathy in greater trochanteric pain syndrome

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kong, Andrew; Van der Vliet, Andrew [Regional Imaging Border, Albury, NSW (Australia); Zadow, Steven [Dr Jones and Partners Medical Imaging, Adelaide, SA (Australia)

2007-07-15

Greater trochanteric pain syndrome is commonly due to gluteus minimus or medius injury rather than trochanteric bursitis. Gluteal tendinopathy most frequently occurs in late-middle aged females. In this pictorial review the pertinent MRI and US anatomy of the gluteal tendon insertions on the greater trochanter and the adjacent bursae are reviewed. The direct (peritendinitis, tendinosis, partial and complete tear) and indirect (bursal fluid, bony changes and fatty atrophy) MRI signs of gluteal tendon injury are illustrated. The key sonographic findings of gluteal tendinopathy are also discussed. (orig.)

Reconstructing the paleogeography and subduction geodynamics of Greater India: how to apply Ockham's Razor?

Science.gov (United States)

Van Hinsbergen, D. J. J.; Li, S.; Lippert, P. C.; Huang, W.; Advokaat, E. L.; Spakman, W.

2017-12-01

Key in understanding the geodynamics governing subduction and orogeny is reconstructing the paleogeography of `Greater India', the Indian plate lithosphere that subducted since Tibetan Himalayan continental crustal collision with Asia. Here, we discuss how the principle of Ockham's Razor, favoring the simplest scenario as the most likely, may apply to three perspectives on Greater India's paleogeography. We follow recent constraints suggesting a 58 Ma initial collision and update the kinematic restoration of intra-Asian shortening with a recently proposed Indochina extrusion model that reconciles long-debated large and small estimates of Indochina extrusion. The reconstruction is tested against Tibetan paleomagnetic rotation data, and against seismic tomographic constraints on paleo-subduction zone locations. The resulting restoration shows 1000-1200 km of post-collisional intra-Asian shortening, leaving a 2600-3400 km wide Greater India. Ockham's Razor from a paleogeographic, sediment provenance perspective would prefer a fully continental Greater India, although these sediments may also source from the Paleocene-Eocene west Indian orogen unrelated to the India-Asia collision. Ockham's Razor applied from a kinematic, paleomagnetic perspective, prefers major Cretaceous extension and `Greater India Basin' opening within Greater India, but data uncertainty may speculatively allow for minimal extension. Finally, from a geodynamic perspective, assuming a fully continental Greater India would require that the highest subduction rates recorded in the Phanerozoic would have been driven by a subduction of a lithosphere-crust assemblage more buoyant than the mantle, which seems physically improbable. Ockhams Razor thereby isolates the Greater India Basin hypothesis as the only scenario sustainable from all perspectives. Finally, we infer that the old pre-collisional lithosphere rapidly entered the lower mantle sustaining high subduction rates, whilst post

Communicating astronomy with the public for scientists

Science.gov (United States)

Girola, R.

2015-03-01

This article intends to convey the improvement regarding the knowledge exchange in the astronomical field through an improvement in the quality of professional communication between researchers, teachers and the like whose job is to broadcast astronomical concepts. It has been a couple of years since the difficulty of communicating astronomical concepts decreased due to institutional projects, schools and education systems. Inside the education system, the need to include astronomy as an innovative element in curricula has become obvious. Outside, an informal public interested in astronomy became greater in number and began to be fostered by different organizations which spread their astronomical knowledge via workshops and demonstrations.

Public Relations in the Public Sector

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valentini, Chiara

2013-01-01

the findings. The study also suffers from the limits of a quantitative research approach, which provides less elaborate accounts of public communication officers’ perceptions of the strategic role of communication in the public sector. Originality/value of paper: This study contributes to the existing......Purpose of the paper: The aim of this study is to examine the level of strategic management of public administrations and information and communication programs by public communication officers in Italy. Methodology: The study is quantitative in nature. It was constructed according to the findings...... of the Excellence Project in Public Relations and thus applies a research instrument similar to that used in other international scholarly investigations in public relations. The population comprises civil servants working in information and communication activities for Italian public administrations. Findings...

Using a Qualitative Vignette to Explore a Complex Public Health Issue.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Michaela; Harrison, Paul; Swinburn, Boyd; Lawrence, Mark

2015-10-01

This article discusses how qualitative vignettes were combined with interviews to explore a complex public health issue; that is, promoting unhealthy foods and beverages to children and adolescents. It outlines how the technique was applied in practice and the combination of vignette-based interviews with a broader approach involving Gadamerian hermeneutics. Twenty-one participants from the public health community and the marketing and food and beverage industries took part in vignette-based interviews between March and September 2012. Overall, the qualitative vignette method afforded an efficient, generally well-received technique that effectively explored the issue of promoting unhealthy foods and beverages to children and adolescents. The vignette provided structure to interviews but allowed certain responses to be investigated in greater depth. Through this research, we argue that qualitative vignettes allow researchers to explore complex public health issues. This article also provides a valuable resource for researchers seeking to explore this technique. © The Author(s) 2015.

Four nuclear paradoxes which affect Japanese public opinion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Y.

1985-01-01

Four major paradoxes - sociological, political, economic and psychological - are described with respect to the contemporary use of nuclear energy, drawing attention to Japan. Sociologically nuclear energy is a paradox because it is an irreversible social process; politically because it discriminates between the 'have' and 'have not' countries, making rich countries richer and poor countries poorer (political power); economically because, despite strong opposition for various reasons, there are also strong economic incentives for localities and individuals (stronger opposition may bring about greater profit in the long run); psychologically, because its acceptance or rejection tends to depend on the emotional 'psycho-logic' which seems to operate in the psychological process of individuals. Public acceptance seems to be both an institutional and a psychological process; consequently a close examination of the cross-pressures, resulting from all the influences is needed, to achieve public acceptance. Finally, it seems important to take into consideration cultural uniqueness as well as cross-cultural similarities. (author)

Comparative Research: An Approach to Teaching Research Methods in Political Science and Public Administration

Science.gov (United States)

Engbers, Trent A

2016-01-01

The teaching of research methods has been at the core of public administration education for almost 30 years. But since 1990, this journal has published only two articles on the teaching of research methods. Given the increasing emphasis on data driven decision-making, greater insight is needed into the best practices for teaching public…

Exit, voice, and loyalty in the Italian public health service: macroeconomic and corporate implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Ippolito, Adelaide; Impagliazzo, Cira; Zoccoli, Paola

2013-01-01

The paper analyses how customers of public health organizations can express their dissatisfaction for the services offered to them. The main aim is to evaluate the effects that possible dissatisfaction of Italian public health service customers can have on public health organizations. We adopted the methodological scheme developed by Hirschman with exit, voice, and loyalty, considering the macroeconomic and corporate implications that it causes for Italian public health organizations. The study investigated the effects developed by exit of the patients on the system of financing of local health authorities considering both the corporate level of analysis and the macroeconomic level. As a result, local health authority management is encouraged to pay greater attention to the exit phenomena through the adoption of tools that promote loyalty, such as the promotion of voice, even if exit is not promoting, at a macroeconomic level, considerable attention to this phenomenon.

Exit, Voice, and Loyalty in the Italian Public Health Service: Macroeconomic and Corporate Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Impagliazzo, Cira; Zoccoli, Paola

2013-01-01

The paper analyses how customers of public health organizations can express their dissatisfaction for the services offered to them. The main aim is to evaluate the effects that possible dissatisfaction of Italian public health service customers can have on public health organizations. We adopted the methodological scheme developed by Hirschman with exit, voice, and loyalty, considering the macroeconomic and corporate implications that it causes for Italian public health organizations. The study investigated the effects developed by exit of the patients on the system of financing of local health authorities considering both the corporate level of analysis and the macroeconomic level. As a result, local health authority management is encouraged to pay greater attention to the exit phenomena through the adoption of tools that promote loyalty, such as the promotion of voice, even if exit is not promoting, at a macroeconomic level, considerable attention to this phenomenon. PMID:24348148

Noise as a Public Health Problem: Proceedings of the International Congress (4th) Held at Turin (Italy) on June 21-25, 1983. Volume 1.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-11-01

which it is the constant, albeit unwelcome companion . Rapid, tempestuous industrialisation in Italy, particularly since the war, has quickly raised the...Mandaliev, A., 1973. Issledovanie vlijanija suma na sluhoroi apparat arterialnoe davlenic i nervruja sistema rabocih tekstilnoi promyslennosti

What the public want in nuclear use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuchida, Shoji

2013-01-01

This article described public opinion poll by the web in October 2011 and considered human behavior facing a danger to understand silent majority's opinion change and what safety was required from the public. Web's social investigation showed (1) opposition to nuclear power with great anxiety (no admission and necessity of nuclear power was strong enough at east Japan (Tohoku, Niigata and Tokyo area)), (2) trust on electric utilities and government was lost and accident was thought manmade, and (3) as for radioactivity contamination, residents at east Japan were more acceptable than at west Japan (Osaka and Kyushu) (radiation hazards were scientifically better understood at east Japan). Human behavior facing a danger such as accident or natural disaster could be predicted by two factors: controllability and extend of damage. If recognized as controllable and damage was slightly greater than threshold, cost vs. benefit action or rational response might be taken. If recognized as controllable and damage were far beyond threshold, psychological excessive reaction would be taken. If recognized not controllable, apathy, patience and resignation would prevail dependent on extent of damage evaluation. Also 'confidence bias' would occur at facing a danger. Results of web poll and public opinion of silent majority were analyzed from these psychological aspect of human mind facing a danger. After the Fukushima accident, the public might require appropriate measures to assure (1) security not to allow the accident, (2) safety to minimize accident damage and (3) resilience for efficient and swift restoration from the damage. (T. Tanaka)

Public tolerance to defoliation and flower distortion in a public horticulture garden.

Science.gov (United States)

Sadof, Clifford S; Sclar, D Casey

2002-04-01

Surveys of visitor and grower perception of live potted plant quality were conducted in various locations in a large public display garden. Canna lily, Canna x generalis L.H.Bailey, was used to examine effects of defoliation by Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman, on public perception. Chrysanthemums, Chrysanthemum x morifolium Ramat., were used to identify visitor and grower tolerance to flower distortion caused by western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), on single and multiple flowered plants. On average, the maximum amount of defoliation or flower distortion tolerated by any respondent was low (< or = 10% for canna and < or = 25% for chrysanthemum). The level of acceptable injury was influenced by factors intrinsic to both the respondents and the plants themselves. Tolerance to injury was negatively associated with the risk aversion of the respondents. Visitors were less tolerant of injury on plants they considered for purchase than those that they would view at the garden. Similarly, grower tolerance was lower than that of visitors because producing substandard plants could put their professional reputation at risk. Factors that distracted visitor attention (e.g., presence of flowers and higher levels of background injury) increased their tolerance to plant injury. Visitors tolerated greater levels of flower distortion on multiple flowering chrysanthemum than on those with single flowers. We suggest that tolerance to insect pests can be increased by designing plantings that distract viewers from injured plant parts.

Alcohol-control public service announcements (PSAs) and drunk-driving fatal accidents in the United States, 1996-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Niederdeppe, Jeff; Avery, Rosemary; Miller, Emily N

2017-06-01

Widespread concern regarding the detrimental effects of excessive alcohol consumption (especially by minors) and associated social problems (particularly drunk driving) continues to exist among policymakers, law enforcement officers, and the general public. Alcohol consumption is a leading contributor to death from injuries, which itself is one of the main causes of death for people under 21years of age in the United States. This study examines the relationship between the volume and timing of alcohol-control public service announcements (PSAs) and rates of drunk-driving fatal accidents in the U.S. We estimate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to predict rates of drunk-driving fatal accidents by state and month as a function of the volume of alcohol-control PSAs aired during the previous 8months. Models include controls for state anti-drunk-driving laws and regulations, state demographic characteristics, state taxes on alcohol, calendar year, and seasonality. Results indicate that higher volumes of anti-drunk driving PSAs airing in the preceding 2 to 3months are associated, albeit modest in magnitude, with reduced rates of drunk-driving fatal accidents. The regression coefficients are largest for adults (relative to underage drunk drivers) and when the PSAs air during prime time (relative to daytime or nighttime). We conclude that PSAs could play an important contributing role in reducing drunk-driving fatal accidents, although levels of exposure and potential effects likely remain modest due to reliance on donated air time. Well-funded anti-drunk driving campaigns could achieve higher levels of exposure and have a larger impact. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Greater Caucasus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Saintot, A.N.; Brunet, M.F.; Yakovlev, F.; Sébrier, M.; Stephenson, R.A.; Ershov, A.V.; Chalot-Prat, F.; McCann, T.

2006-01-01

The Greater Caucasus (GC) fold-and-thrust belt lies on the southern deformed edge of the Scythian Platform (SP) and results from the Cenoozoic structural inversion of a deep marine Mesozoic basin in response to the northward displacement of the Transcaucasus (lying south of the GC subsequent to the

Land cover mapping of Greater Mesoamerica using MODIS data

Science.gov (United States)

Giri, Chandra; Jenkins, Clinton N.

2005-01-01

A new land cover database of Greater Mesoamerica has been prepared using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS, 500 m resolution) satellite data. Daily surface reflectance MODIS data and a suite of ancillary data were used in preparing the database by employing a decision tree classification approach. The new land cover data are an improvement over traditional advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) based land cover data in terms of both spatial and thematic details. The dominant land cover type in Greater Mesoamerica is forest (39%), followed by shrubland (30%) and cropland (22%). Country analysis shows forest as the dominant land cover type in Belize (62%), Cost Rica (52%), Guatemala (53%), Honduras (56%), Nicaragua (53%), and Panama (48%), cropland as the dominant land cover type in El Salvador (60.5%), and shrubland as the dominant land cover type in Mexico (37%). A three-step approach was used to assess the quality of the classified land cover data: (i) qualitative assessment provided good insight in identifying and correcting gross errors; (ii) correlation analysis of MODIS- and Landsat-derived land cover data revealed strong positive association for forest (r2 = 0.88), shrubland (r2 = 0.75), and cropland (r2 = 0.97) but weak positive association for grassland (r2 = 0.26); and (iii) an error matrix generated using unseen training data provided an overall accuracy of 77.3% with a Kappa coefficient of 0.73608. Overall, MODIS 500 m data and the methodology used were found to be quite useful for broad-scale land cover mapping of Greater Mesoamerica.

Prey selection by a reintroduced lion population in the Greater ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Prey selection by a reintroduced lion population in the Greater Makalali Conservancy, South Africa. Dave Druce, Heleen Genis, Jonathan Braak, Sophie Greatwood, Audrey Delsink, Ross Kettles, Luke Hunter, Rob Slotow ...

The Influence of Green Infrastructure on Urban Resilience in Greater London

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Yukyung

2017-04-01

High population densities and diverse economic activities in urban areas create social issues as well as a range of environmental impacts including air pollution, soil contamination, loss of biodiversity and health problems (Alberti et al., 2003; Dobbs, Escobedo, & Zipperer, 2011; Grimm et al., 2008). The concept of urban resilience has been used for increasing the capacity of the entities and players to adapt to rapid changes, and urban green spaces play a crucial role in increasing urban resilience. Greater London has a good case for increasing urban green spaces and resilience under the London Plan. The relevance of urban open spaces and several socioeconomic indicators would provide researchers and policy makers with the information for managing green coverage. The correlation analysis of two quantitative data such as open space and socioeconomic data of Greater London was conducted with SPSS. The data for open spaces in Greater London was gained through Greenspace Information for Greater London. The data was converted from vector to raster in Geographic Information System (GIS), so as to calculate landscape metrics for open spaces in Greater London through a spatial pattern analysis program, FRAGSTATS 4.2. The socioeconomic data was obtained from "London Borough Profile", London Datastore. In addition, data on total carbon emissions from Industry and Commercial, Domestic, Transport, LULUCF Net Emissions, and per capita emissions were gained from UK local authority and regional carbon dioxide emissions national statistics: 2005-2014 released from Department of Energy and Climate Change. The indicators from open spaces are total area of open space and patch density or contagion of open spaces. The latter indicator allows to figure out the level of fragmentation of open spaces. The socioeconomic indicators cover number of jobs by workplace, jobs density, crime rates per thousand population, and several wellbeing indicators such as life satisfaction

Where has the public gone and will communications technology bring them back?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hutterman, L.; Smith, R.

1997-01-01

This paper addresses the decreasing number of persons interested and participating in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) or open-quotes Superfundclose quotes process. It also looks at communications technology to bring people back into participation in the Superfund process. The material studied and the technologies evaluated involve the Environmental Restoration Program at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The conclusions are probably valid for most DOE Superfund activities. Where has the public gone? The public has taken an interest in issues that they perceive have greater impact on their quality of life and that have an adverse impact on the environment, such as the shipment and storage of spent nuclear fuel. Will communications technology bring them back? Technology can do many things: it can reduce cost; it can allow quicker access to and from the public; it can offer more information; and it can increase interest because of its novelty for short periods of time, but it will not, in and of its own, create public involvement

Implementing the Institute of Medicine’s Recommended Curriculum Content in Schools of Public Health: A Baseline Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Shortell, Stephen M.; Weist, Elizabeth M.; Sow, Mah-Sere Keita; Foster, Allison; Tahir, Ramika

2004-01-01

In September 2003, the Association of Schools of Public Health administered an online survey to representatives of all 33 accredited US schools of public health. The survey assessed the extent to which the schools were offering curriculum content in the 8 areas recommended by the Institute of Medicine: communication, community-based participatory research, cultural competence, ethics, genomics, global health, informatics, and law/policy. Findings indicated that, for the most part, schools of public health are offering content in these areas through many approaches and have incorporated various aspects of a broad-based ecological approach to public health education and training. The findings also suggested the possible need for greater content in genomics, informatics, community-based participatory research, and cultural competence. PMID:15451728

76 FR 24860 - Request for Public Comments Concerning Regulatory Cooperation Between the United States and the...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-03

... key trading partners to promote free and open trade and investment while also protecting public health and safety, the environment, intellectual property, and consumers' rights. In our trade and investment relationship with the European Union, the main impediments to greater trade and investment--and more open...

TV programs that denounce unfair advantage impact women's sensitivity to defection in the public goods game.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Seongmin A; Jeong, Soyeong; Jeong, Jaeseung

2013-01-01

We explore the neural underpinnings of gender differences in cooperation and their modulation by intensive media watching. We compared cooperative decisions and electroencephalograph data between genders from who participated in repeated rounds of the public goods game (PGG) and investigated within groups changes that occurred after watching a TV program known as "investigative reporting" that denounces unfair advantages taken by free-riders against the public. Women tended to be more cooperative than men during early rounds of PGG, mostly because they react differently to the defection of others; women also had greater β and γ band activity in regions estimated to be associated with social cognition. These gender differences disappeared after participants watched the TV programs: women were more likely to choose free-riding in response to the defection of others that elicits significant increases in γ band activities that were estimated to be right insula. Greater activity in social cognition leads women to make decisions considering the motives of others, while men tend to make a decision by complying with the social norm. Watching the investigative TV reports produced a greater negative emotion to the defection and led women, in a similar manner as men, to opt for a "tit-for-tat" strategy.

A Synergistic Approach to Human Rights and Public Health Ethics: Effective or a Source of Conflict?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steinmetz-Wood, Madeleine

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Concerns over the growing disparities in health and wealth between members of society incited Stephanie Nixon and Lisa Forman, in their 2008 article Exploring synergies between human rights and public health ethics: A whole greater than the sum of its parts, to propose that the principles of human rights and public health ethics should be used in combination to develop norms for health action. This commentary reflects on the benefits as well as the difficulties that could arise from taking such an approach.

Seismic Activity: Public Alert and Warning: Legal Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Zocchetti, D.

2007-12-01

As science and technology evolve in ways that increase our ability to inform the public of potentially destructive seismic activity, there are significant legal issues for consideration. Even though countries and even states within the United States have differing legal tenets that could either change or at least re-shape the outcome of specific legal questions that this session will be pondering, there are fundamental legal principals that will permeate. It is often said that the law lags behind society and in particular its technological developments. No doubt in the area of warning the public of impending destructive forces of nature or society, the law will need to do some catching up. The law is probably adequately developed for at least some preliminary discussion of the key issues. No matter the legal scheme, if there is a failure or perceived failure in the system to warn people of a pending emergencies, albeit an earthquake, tsunami, or other predictable event, those who are harmed or believe they are harmed will seek relief under the law. Every day there are situations wherein the failure to warn or to adequately warn is key, such as with faulty or defective consumer products, escaped prisoners, and police high-speed vehicle chases. With alert and warning systems for disaster, however, we have a unique set of facts. Generally, the systems and their failures occur during emergencies or at least during situations under apparently exigent circumstances when the disaster's predictability is widely recognized as less than 100 percent. The law, in particular United States tort law, has been particularly lenient when people and organizations are operating during compressed timeframes and their actions are generally considered necessary to address circumstances relative to public safety. The legal system has been forgiving when the actor that failed or appeared to fail was government. The courts have liberally applied the principal of sovereign immunity to

Trabecular microstructure and surface changes in the greater tuberosity in rotator cuff tears

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Yebin; Zhao, Jenny; Ouyang, Xiaolong; Genant, Harry K.; Holsbeeck, Marnix T. van; Flynn, Michael J.

2002-01-01

Abstract Objective. When planning surgery in patients with rotator cuff tear, strength of bone at the tendon insertion and trabecular bone structure in the greater tuberosity are usually taken into consideration. We investigated radiographic changes in bone structure of the greater tuberosity in rotator cuff tears.Design. Twenty-two human cadaveric shoulders from subjects ranging from 55 to 75 years of age were obtained. The integrity of the rotator cuff was examined by sonography to determine if it is intact without any tear, or torn partially or completely. The humeral head was sectioned in 3 mm thick coronal slab sections and microradiographed. After digitization of the microradiographs and imaging processing with in-house semi-automated image processing software tools developed using software interfaces on a Sun workstation, the trabecular histomorphometrical structural parameters and connectivity in the greater tuberosity were quantified. The degenerative changes on the surface of the greater tuberosity were interpreted blindly by 2 independent readers.Results. Among the 22 shoulder specimens, the rotator cuff was found intact in 10 shoulders, partially in 7 and fully torn in 5. Statistically significant loss in apparent trabecular bone volume fraction, number of trabecular nodes, and number of trabecular branches, and a statistically significant increase in apparent trabecular separation and number of trabecular free ends were found in the greater tuberosity of the shoulders with tears. The loss was greater in association with full tear than in partial tear. Thickening of the cortical margin of the enthesis, irregularity of its surface, and calcification beyond the tidemark were observed in 2 (20%) shoulders with intact rotator cuff, in 6 (86%) shoulders with partial tear, and in 5 (100%) shoulders with full tear.Conclusions. Rotator cuff tears are associated with degenerative changes on the bone surface and with disuse osteopenia of the greater tuberosity

The electricity supply industry as a subject for public criticism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bartsch, R.

1977-01-01

The German electricity supply industry is becoming the subject for more public criticism although it has supplied the whole population and industry in recent years with electricity without limitations and at a favourable price. In spite of the satisfactory and exemplary achievements of this branch of the economy a wave of criticism has built up, caused by the increase in nuclear power station construction, and this is assuming greater proportions and includes wider fields. This situation requires a matching publicity campaign in a number of directions which must be preceded by comprehensive research into causes. It is urgently necessary to achieve a realisation of the basic questions in this branch of the economy in all those, engaged in electricity supply. Full information on the special physical characteristics of the electricity produced, with all the consequences which follow from these, must be supplied to the relevant groups in society both within and outside the economy and also to the mass media, together with continuous efforts to gain the trust of the public. (orig.) [de

Affect labeling enhances exposure effectiveness for public speaking anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Niles, Andrea N; Craske, Michelle G; Lieberman, Matthew D; Hur, Christopher

2015-05-01

Exposure is an effective treatment for anxiety but many patients do not respond fully. Affect labeling (labeling emotional experience) attenuates emotional responding. The current project examined whether affect labeling enhances exposure effectiveness in participants with public speaking anxiety. Participants were randomized to exposure with or without affect labeling. Physiological arousal and self-reported fear were assessed before and after exposure and compared between groups. Consistent with hypotheses, participants assigned to Affect Labeling, especially those who used more labels during exposure, showed greater reduction in physiological activation than Control participants. No effect was found for self-report measures. Also, greater emotion regulation deficits at baseline predicted more benefit in physiological arousal from exposure combined with affect labeling than exposure alone. The current research provides evidence that behavioral strategies that target prefrontal-amygdala circuitry can improve treatment effectiveness for anxiety and these effects are particularly pronounced for patients with the greatest deficits in emotion regulation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inequity in ecosystem service delivery: Socioeconomic gaps in the public-private conservation network

Science.gov (United States)

Villamagna, Amy M.; Mogollón, Beatriz; Angermeier, Paul L.

2017-01-01

Conservation areas, both public and private, are critical tools to protect biodiversity and deliver important ecosystem services (ES) to society. Although societal benefits from such ES are increasingly used to promote public support of conservation, the number of beneficiaries, their identity, and the magnitude of benefits are largely unknown for the vast majority of conservation areas in the United States public-private conservation network. The location of conservation areas in relation to people strongly influences the direction and magnitude of ES flows as well as the identity of beneficiaries. We analyzed benefit zones, the areas to which selected ES could be conveyed to beneficiaries, to assess who benefits from a typical conservation network. Better knowledge of ES flows and beneficiaries will help land conservationists make a stronger case for the broad collateral benefits of conservation and help to address issues of social-environmental justice. To evaluate who benefits the most from the current public-private conservation network, we delineated the benefit zones for local ES (within 16 km) that are conveyed along hydrological paths from public (federal and state) and private (easements) conservation lands in the states of North Carolina and Virginia, USA. We also discuss the challenges and demonstrate an approach for delineating nonhydrological benefits that are passively conveyed to beneficiaries. We mapped and compared the geographic distribution of benefit zones within and among conservation area types. We further compared beneficiary demographics across benefit zones of the conservation area types and found that hydrological benefit zones of federal protected areas encompass disproportionately fewer minority beneficiaries compared to statewide demographic patterns. In contrast, benefit zones of state protected areas and private easements encompassed a much greater proportion of minority beneficiaries (~22–25%). Benefit zones associated with

Psychosocial Work Hazards, Self-Rated Health and Burnout: A Comparison Study of Public and Private Sector Employees.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hsi-Chen; Cheng, Yawen

2018-04-01

To compare psychosocial work conditions and health status between public and private sector employees and to examine if psychosocial work conditions explained the health differences. Two thousand four hundred fourty one public and 15,589 private sector employees participated in a cross-sectional survey. Psychosocial work hazards, self-rated health (SRH), and burnout status were assessed by questionnaire. As compared with private sector employees, public sector employees reported better psychosocial work conditions and better SRH, but higher risk of workplace violence (WPV) and higher levels of client-related burnout. Regression analyses indicated that higher psychosocial job demands, lower workplace justice, and WPV experience were associated with poor SRH and higher burnout. The public-private difference in client-related burnout remained even with adjustment of psychosocial work factors. Greater risks of WPV and client-related burnout observed in public sector employees warrant further investigation.

Keeping the "public" in schools of public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Freudenberg, Nicholas; Klitzman, Susan; Diamond, Catherine; El-Mohandes, Ayman

2015-03-01

In this article, we compared the characteristics of public and private accredited public health training programs. We analyzed the distinct opportunities and challenges that publicly funded schools of public health face in preparing the nation's public health workforce. Using our experience in creating a new, collaborative public school of public health in the nation's largest urban public university system, we described efforts to use our public status and mission to develop new approaches to educating a workforce that meets the health needs of our region and contributes to the goal of reducing health inequalities. Finally, we considered policies that could protect and strengthen the distinct contributions that public schools of public health make to improving population health and reducing health inequalities.

Will Green CSR Enhance Innovation? A Perspective of Public Visibility and Firm Transparency.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Weiwei; Liu, Yexin; Chin, Tachia; Zhu, Wenzhong

2018-02-04

In response to the asking and requiring of stakeholders to be more environmentally responsible, firms must commit to green corporate social responsibility (CSR). Firms being green and responsible always can acquire intangible resources that are important for firm innovation. Given the scarcity of existing research addressing relevant issues in depth, this paper expands our understanding of green CSR by revealing its antecedent effects on firm innovation performance. We also include public visibility and firm transparency as contingency factors to explore the relationship between green CSR and firm innovation performance. Using data collected from publicly listed firms in China, we find that greater innovation performance is associated with an increase in firm green CSR, and the positive relationship between green CSR and innovation performance is moderated by public visibility and firm transparency. Based on the results, theoretical contributions and practical implications are outlined.

A Comparative Study of Workplace Bullying Among Public and Private Employees in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Ariza-Montes, Antonio; Leal-Rodríguez, Antonio L; Leal-Millán, Antonio G

2015-06-01

Workplace bullying emerges from a set of individual, organizational, and contextual factors. The purpose of this article is hence to identify the influence of these factors among public and private employees. The study is carried out as a statistical-empirical cross-sectional study. The database used was obtained from the 5th European Working Conditions Survey 2010. The results reveal a common core with respect to the factors that determine workplace bullying. Despite this common base that integrates both models, the distinctive features of the harassed employee within the public sector deal with age, full-time work, the greater nighttime associated with certain public service professions, and a lower level of motivation. The present work summarizes a set of implications and proposes that, under normal conditions, workplace bullying could be reduced if job demands are limited and job resources are increased.

Self-Organization, Urban Transformation, and Spatial Planning in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yovi Dzulhijjah Rahmawati

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi peran sistem perencanaan tata ruang dalam menghadapi proses perorganisasian diri, sebagaimana dibuktikan oleh transformasi perkotaan yang kompleks di wilayah Jakarta. Wilayah Jakarta adalah salah satu wilayah megapolitan di Asia Tenggara yang mengalami proses transformasi yang cepat. Sangat disayangkan bahwa sistem perencanaan tata ruang yang ada sekarang di wilayah Jakarta belum mampu merespon transformasi kota secara non-linier. Kekurangan ini terbukti dari ketidaksinkronan antara dokumen-dokumen perencanaan tata ruang dan perubahan tata guna lahan perkotaan yang diperkuat dengan proses pengorganisasian diri. Perbedaan antara situasi empiris dan dokumen-dokumen perencanaan tata ruang yang ada telah menghasilkan ketidakcocokan antara sistem perencanaan tata ruang dengan sistem tata ruang di wilayah Jakarta. Ketidakcocokan ini terjadi karena sistem perencanaan tata ruang saat ini tidak mempertimbangkan ketidakpastian di masa depan. Situasi ini mengindikasikan adanya ‘fuzziness’ dalam implementasi sistem dan proses perencanaan tata ruang, sementara transformasi perkotaan telah berkembang sedemikian kompleksnya dan membutuhkan respon yang cepat dan tepat. Untuk dapat merespon ketidakcocokan ini, sistem perencanaan tata ruang di wilayah Jakarta harus lebih memperhatikan sistem perkotaan yang berkembang dalam proses yang tidak linear.Kata kunci. Pengorganisasian diri, transformasi perkotaan, ketidaklinieran, sistem perencanaan, Megapolitan Jakarta. This study aimed to identify the role of spatial planning in facing self-organizing processes as evidenced by a complex urban transformation in Greater Jakarta. Greater Jakarta is one of the mega urban-regions in Southeast Asia that are undergoing a rapid urban transformation process. This urban transformation has been developing through a non-linear transition. Unfortunately, the current spatial planning system in Greater Jakarta is not yet adequately

Selecting An Open Access Journal for Publication: Be Cautious

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffecker, Lilian; Hastings-Tolsma, Marie; Vincent, Deborah; Zuniga, Heidi

2015-12-04

Nurse scholars and clinicians seek to publish their research and scholarly findings to strengthen both nursing science and clinical practice. Traditionally subscription-based publications have been the mainstay of knowledge dissemination. However, subscription costs have tended to restrict access to many journals to a small, specialized, academic community, a limitation that has contributed to the development of open access (OA) publications. OA journals have a powerful appeal as they allow greater access to scholars and consumers on a global level. However, many OA journals depend on an author-pays model that may lead to unintended and undesirable consequences for authors. Today, it is easier than ever to share scholarly findings, but authors need to be vigilant when selecting a journal in which to publish. In this article, we discuss the background of open access journals and describe key consideration to distinguish between reputable publications and those that may lead authors astray. We conclude that despite controversy and concerns related to publishing in OA journals, these journals do provide opportunities for researchers and clinicians to raise the profile of their work and ensure a robust, scholarly communication system.

GLOBALIZATION OF ECONOMY AND GREATER CYCLES OF THE TOTAL REGIONAL PRODUCT, INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.A. Belkin

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The process of synchronization of greater and small waves of real gross national product of the USA and a total regional product of the Chelyabinsk area is shown on the materials of economic statistics. The conclusion about defining influence of dynamics of real gross national product of the USA on the basic macroeconomic parameters of the Chelyabinsk area owing to high dependence of its economy on export of metal products is done from here. It is evidently shown, that the modern world economic crisis quite keeps within the theory of greater cycles of an economic conjuncture of N.D. Kondratyev. To greater cycles of a total regional product of the Chelyabinsk area there correspond return greater cycles of inflation and unemployment.

Greater sage-grouse apparent nest productivity and chick survival in Carbon County, Wyoming

Science.gov (United States)

Leslie A. Schreiber; Christopher P. Hansen; Mark A. Rumble; Joshua J. Millspaugh; Frank R. Thompson; R. Scott Gamo; Jon W. Kehmeier; Nate Wojik

2016-01-01

Greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus populations across North America have been declining due to degradation and fragmentation of sagebrush habitat. As part of a study quantifying greater sage-grouse demographics prior to construction of a wind energy facility, we estimated apparent net nest productivity and survival rate of chicks associated with...

Role of work overload toward turnover intention among newly hired public accountants

OpenAIRE

Pradana, Andika; Salehudin, Imam

2013-01-01

This paper aims to analyze how work overload influences turnover intentions of newly hired public accountants. Job satisfaction, work related stress and work life conflicts are used as mediating variable between work overload and turnover intention. This study employed 141 auditors from several accounting firms operating in the Greater Jakarta region. Six proposed hypotheses was tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results showed that work overload has significant effect in increa...

Physico-Chemical and Bacterial Evaluation of Public and Packaged Drinking Water in Vikarabad, Telangana, India - Potential Public Health Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Koppula Yadav; Anjum, Mohammad Shakeel; Reddy, Peddireddy Parthasarathi; Monica, Mocherla; Hameed, Irram Abbass; Sagar, Goje Vidya

2016-05-01

Humanity highly depends on water and its proper utilization and management. Water has various uses and its use as thirst quenching fluid is the most significant one. To assess physical, chemical, trace metal and bacterial parameters of various public and packaged drinking water samples collected from villages of Vikarabad mandal. Public and packaged drinking water samples collected were analysed for various parameters using American Public Health Association (APHA 18(th) edition 1992) guidelines and the results obtained were compared with bureau of Indian standards for drinking water. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlations were done. Among bottled water samples, magnesium in 1 sample was >30mg/litre, nickel in 2 samples was >0.02mg/litre. Among sachet water samples, copper in 1 sample was >0.05mg/litre, nickel in 2 samples was >0.02mg/litre. Among canned water samples, total hardness in 1 sample was >200mg/litre, magnesium in 3 samples was >30mg/litre. In tap water sample, calcium was >75mg/litre, magnesium was >30mg/litre, nickel was >0.02mg/litre. Among public bore well water samples, pH in 1 sample was >8.5, total dissolved solids in 17 samples was >500mg/litre, total alkalinity in 9 samples was >200mg/litre, total hardness in 20 samples was >200mg/litre, calcium in 14 samples was >75mg/litre, fluoride in 1 sample was >1mg/litre, magnesium in 14 samples was >30mg/litre. Total coliform was absent in bottled water, sachet water, canned water, tap water samples. Total Coliform was present but E. coli was absent in 4 public bore well water samples. The MPN per 100 ml in those 4 samples of public bore well water was 50. Physical, chemical, trace metal and bacterial parameters tested in present study showed values greater than acceptable limit for some samples, which can pose serious threat to consumers of that region.

Informing the educators: one of the keys to public acceptance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattox, G.C.; Reynolds, A.B.; Brenizer, J.S.

1986-01-01

One of the most difficult barriers to overcome in the task of gaining greater public acceptance of nuclear power is the widespread lack of correct information about the true risks and benefits of nuclear energy. The news media are the most prevalent sources of information for the public but they are highly constrained by the limits of space, time, and reader/viewer interest span in being able to cover this complex subject with any degree of completeness, much less with any degree of accuracy. Another source of information for the general public is the educational system, and while it also has its limitations, they are somewhat different from those faced by the media, and the educational system is generally considered to be a more credible information source than the media. This paper report on three programs undertaken in 1985 and 1986 by the Virginia Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) in conjunction with the University of Virginia (UVA), the Virginia State Department of Education, and various nuclear industry participants. Each program had its unique features, successes, an failures. All-in-all, these programs have been reported as being quite successful in helping to reach the public through informing the educators

Career advancement in Public Employment in Colombia, a look at the Colombian State Management System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mónica Lilly Serrato Moreno

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In Colombia, a public employee doesn’t seem to have rights to career advancement based on merit and experience. The current public hiring system seems to ignore experience, interest and effort made by an employee, at the time of considering a potential advancement to an upper-level position, which would assign new tasks and greater responsibilities. That is why there is a need for the implementation of different mechanisms, to increase employees’ career advancement possibilities based on merits accredited with tasks such as academic papers, institutional project management and public policy management, academic degrees, as well as experience, research and time of service. This paper, developed with a critical perspective of the problem, proposes alternatives to overcome this challenge.

Effect of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on global public acceptance of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Younghwan; Kim, Minki; Kim, Wonjoon

2013-01-01

The Fukushima nuclear disaster has significantly changed public attitudes toward nuclear energy. It is important to understand how this change has occurred in different countries before the global community revises existing nuclear policies. This study examines the effect of the Fukushima disaster on public acceptance of nuclear energy in 42 countries. We find that the operational experience of nuclear power generation which has significantly affected positive public opinion about nuclear energy became considerably negative after the disaster, suggesting fundamental changes in public acceptance regardless of the level of acceptance before the disaster. In addition, contrary to our expectation, the proportion of nuclear power generation is positively and significantly related to public acceptance of nuclear energy after the Fukushima accident and government pressure on media content led to a greater decrease in the level of public acceptance after the accident. Nuclear energy policymakers should consider the varied factors affecting public acceptance of nuclear energy in each country depending on its historical, environmental, and geographical circumstances before they revise nuclear policy in response to the Fukushima accident. - Highlights: • Fukushima accident has negatively changed public attitudes toward nuclear energy. • Effect of operational experience became considerably negative after the accident. • Effect of proportion of nuclear power generation is positive after the accident. • Effect of government pressure on media content became negative after the accident. • Country specific policy responses on nuclear public acceptance are required

Public health implications of emerging zoonoses.

Science.gov (United States)

Meslin, F X; Stöhr, K; Heymann, D

2000-04-01

locations and animal species. The need for greater international co-operation, better local, regional and global networks for communicable disease surveillance and pandemic planning is also illustrated by these examples. These diseases have contributed to the definition of new paradigms, especially relating to food safety policies and more generally to the protection of public health. Finally, the examples described emphasise the importance of intersectorial collaboration for disease containment, and of independence of sectorial interests and transparency when managing certain health risks.

76 FR 40755 - Impact of Reduced Dose Limits on NRC Licensed Activities; Solicitation of Public Comment

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-11

... scientifically justified, to achieve greater alignment with the 2007 recommendations of the International... and image files of the NRC's public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are... informed of all the benefits and burdens associated with further alignment of NRC's current radiation...

Practicing more retrieval routes leads to greater memory retention.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Jun; Zhang, Wei; Li, Tongtong; Liu, Zhaomin; Luo, Liang

2016-09-01

A wealth of research has shown that retrieval practice plays a significant role in improving memory retention. The current study focused on one simple yet rarely examined question: would repeated retrieval using two different retrieval routes or using the same retrieval route twice lead to greater long-term memory retention? Participants elaborately learned 22 Japanese-Chinese translation word pairs using two different mediators. Half an hour after the initial study phase, the participants completed two retrieval sessions using either one mediator (Tm1Tm1) or two different mediators (Tm1Tm2). On the final test, which was performed 1week after the retrieval practice phase, the participants received only the cue with a request to report the mediator (M1 or M2) followed by the target (Experiment 1) or only the mediator (M1 or M2) with a request to report the target (Experiment 2). The results of Experiment 1 indicated that the participants who practiced under the Tm1Tm2 condition exhibited greater target retention than those who practiced under the Tm1Tm1 condition. This difference in performance was due to the significant disadvantage in mediator retrieval and decoding of the unpracticed mediator under the Tm1Tm1 condition. Although mediators were provided to participants on the final test in Experiment 2, decoding of the unpracticed mediators remained less effective than decoding of the practiced mediators. We conclude that practicing multiple retrieval routes leads to greater memory retention than focusing on a single retrieval route. Thus, increasing retrieval variability during repeated retrieval practice indeed significantly improves long-term retention in a delay test. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Taino and African maternal heritage in the Greater Antilles.

Science.gov (United States)

Bukhari, Areej; Luis, Javier Rodriguez; Alfonso-Sanchez, Miguel A; Garcia-Bertrand, Ralph; Herrera, Rene J

2017-12-30

Notwithstanding the general interest and the geopolitical importance of the island countries in the Greater Antilles, little is known about the specific ancestral Native American and African populations that settled them. In an effort to alleviate this lacuna of information on the genetic constituents of the Greater Antilles, we comprehensively compared the mtDNA compositions of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. To accomplish this, the mtDNA HVRI and HVRII regions, as well as coding diagnostic sites, were assessed in the Haitian general population and compared to data from reference populations. The Taino maternal DNA is prominent in the ex-Spanish colonies (61.3%-22.0%) while it is basically non-existent in the ex-French and ex-English colonies of Haiti (0.0%) and Jamaica (0.5%), respectively. The most abundant Native American mtDNA haplogroups in the Greater Antilles are A2, B2 and C1. The African mtDNA component is almost fixed in Haiti (98.2%) and Jamaica (98.5%), and the frequencies of specific African haplogroups vary considerably among the five island nations. The strong persistence of Taino mtDNA in the ex-Spanish colonies (and especially in Puerto Rico), and its absence in the French and English excolonies is likely the result of different social norms regarding mixed marriages with Taino women during the early years after the first contact with Europeans. In addition, this article reports on the results of an integrative approach based on mtDNA analysis and demographic data that tests the hypothesis of a southward shift in raiding zones along the African west coast during the period encompassing the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

48 CFR 3427.470 - Publication and publicity clause.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Publication and publicity... Copyrights 3427.470 Publication and publicity clause. The contracting officer shall insert the clause in 3452.227-70, Publication and Publicity, in all solicitations and contracts other than purchase orders. ...

Assessment of the structural shielding integrity of some selected computed tomography facilities in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nkansah, A.

2010-01-01

The structural shielding integrity was assessed for four of the CT facilities at Trust Hospital, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the 37 Military Hospital and Medical Imaging Ghana Ltd. in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. From the shielding calculations, the concrete wall thickness computed are 120, 145, 140 and 155mm, for Medical Imaging Ghana Ltd. 37 Military, Trust Hospital and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital respectively using Default DLP values. The wall thickness using Derived DLP values are 110, 110, 120 and 168mm for Medical Imaging Ghana Ltd, 37 Military Hospital, Trust Hospital and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital respectively. These values are within the accepted standard concrete thickness of 102- 152mm prescribed by the National Council of Radiological Protection and measurement. The ultrasonic pulse testing indicated that all the sandcrete walls are of good quality and free of voids since pulse velocities estimated were approximately equal to 3.45km/s. an average dose rate measurement for supervised areas is 3.4 μSv/wk and controlled areas is 18.0 μSv/wk. These dose rates were below the acceptable levels of 100 μSv per week for the occupationally exposed and 20 μSv per week for members of the public provided by the ICRU. The results mean that the structural shielding thickness are adequate to protect members of the public and occupationally exposed workers (au).

Hierarchical population structure in greater sage-grouse provides insight into management boundary delineation

Science.gov (United States)

Todd B. Cross; David E. Naugle; John C. Carlson; Michael K. Schwartz

2016-01-01

Understanding population structure is important for guiding ongoing conservation and restoration efforts. The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a species of concern distributed across 1.2 million km2 of western North America. We genotyped 1499 greater sagegrouse from 297 leks across Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota using a 15 locus...

Annotated bibliography of scientific research on greater sage-grouse published since January 2015

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Sarah K.; Manier, Daniel J.; Arkle, Robert S.; Johnston, Aaron; Phillips, Susan L.; Hanser, Steven E.; Bowen, Zachary H.

2018-02-14

The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter GRSG) has been a focus of scientific investigation and management action for the past two decades. The 2015 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listing determination of “not warranted” was in part due to a large-scale collaborative effort to develop strategies to conserve GRSG populations and their habitat and to reduce threats to both. New scientific information augments existing knowledge and can help inform updates or modifications to existing plans for managing GRSG and sagebrush ecosystems. However, the sheer number of scientific publications can be a challenge for managers tasked with evaluating and determining the need for potential updates to existing planning documents. To assist in this process, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has reviewed and summarized the scientific literature published since January 1, 2015.To identify articles and reports published about GRSG, we first conducted a structured search of three reference databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar) using the search term “greater sage-grouse.” We refined the initial list of products by (1) removing duplicates, (2) excluding products that were not published as research or scientific review articles in peer-reviewed journals or as formal government technical reports, and (3) retaining only those products for which GRSG or their habitat was a research focus.We summarized the contents of each product by using a consistent structure (background, objectives, methods, location, findings, and implications) and assessed the content of each product relevant to a list of 31 management topics. These topics include GRSG biology and habitat characteristics along with potential management actions, land uses, and environmental factors related to GRSG management and conservation. We also noted which articles/reports created new geospatial data.The final search was conducted on January 6, 2018, and application of our criteria

Greater Philadelphia Bioinformatics Alliance (GPBA) 3rd Annual Retreat 2005

Science.gov (United States)

2005-11-01

Biotech in recent days. The start of Biotech from the Agriculture ie rural side will be discussed and advancement will be discussed in detail towards...such advances in the food and Agricultural aspect. The significant results which not only makes the advancements of the understanding the public but...authored journal publications in human genetics, bioethics for industry and genetics education. Karl V. Steiner, Dr. Ing., Associate Director, Delaware

False security or greater social inclusion? Exploring perceptions of CCTV use in public and private spaces accessed by the homeless.

Science.gov (United States)

Huey, Laura

2010-03-01

It has been well documented that owing to the vulnerability inherent in their situation and status, the homeless experience high rates of harassment and criminal victimization. And yet, the question of whether CCTV surveillance of public and private spaces - so frequently viewed by the middle classes as a positive source of potential security - might also be viewed by the homeless in similar ways. Within the present paper, I address this issue by considering the possibility that CCTV might be seen by some homeless men and women as offering: a) a measure of enhanced security for those living in the streets and in shelters, and; b) to the extent that security is conceived of as a social good, the receipt of which marks one as a citizen of the state, a means by which they can be reconstituted as something more than 'lesser citizens'. To test these ideas, I rely on data from interviews conducted with homeless service users, service providers for the homeless, and police personnel in three cities. What is revealed is a mixed set of beliefs as to the relative security and meaning of CCTV.

Comparative analysis of national and state publications on the quality control of radiation diagnosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Francisco, Michel F.F.; Souza, Danilo L.M.; Oliveira, Caio V.; Cabete, Henrique V.; Cruz, Livia C.; Pires, Silvio R.; Freitas, Marcelo B.; Medeiros, Regina B.

2016-01-01

Taking into account that there are several standards for Quality Control in diagnostic radiology, the purpose of this research was to carry out an overview of Brazilian regulatory publications. The sample was composed by Ordinance 453/98, resolutions SS-625 (SP), SES/MG Number 5177, 002/DIVS/SES (SC) and ANVISA guide. Differences and similarities in the tests, nomenclatures, periodicity and performance parameters were evaluated. It was identified that SS-625 was one of the first publications in the area, proposing standards and indicating reference levels. ANVISA guide describes the procedures for performing the tests established in Ordinance 453. The 002/DIVS/SES included digital imaging systems and provides more restrictive performance standards in some tests when compared other publications. ES/MG Number 5177 describes some tests in mammography equipment, not defined in other publications. We conclude that there is no standardization in the nomenclature or in the performance and frequency of the tests, seeking greater scope and updating. (author)

Do público e do privado: uma perspectiva de género sobre uma dicotomia moderna From the public and the private: a gender perspective on a modern dichotomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sofia Aboim

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Neste texto propomos uma interpretação crítica da dicotomia histórica entre público e privado como dinâmica fundamental da modernidade. A partir de uma perspectiva de género, discutimos as fronteiras construídas entre espaço coletivo de cidadania e de sociabilidade e espaço individual de intimidade e desigualdade. Argumentamos a favor de uma relação de cumplicidade, ainda que tensa, entre as duas esferas, observando que a vida privada foi, em grande medida, moldada pelas mudanças operadas na vida pública. Recorrendo a diferentes definições de "público", notamos que, à medida que as sociabilidades tradicionais, essencialmente masculinas, estudadas entre outros por Ariès ou Sennett, sofriam uma erosão, crescia o sentimento de intimidade, aumentando igualmente a inclusão do privado no público através do alargamento da cidadania, em consequência das lutas travadas na esfera pública por vários movimentos de emancipação, como o operário ou o feminista. À medida que a pessoa era retirada da comunidade, do clã, do grupo de parentesco, em que eram "naturais" as desigualdades, no sentido aristotélico do termo, ia-se reencontrando progressivamente como indivíduo portador de cidadania. Se o espaço privado se tornou central na definição de uma identidade, ele é também crescentemente atravessado por mecanismos públicos de regulação. Nesse sentido, o movimento de ascensão do privado, que nas últimas décadas tem ocupado espaço de debate, deve ser cuidadosamente reinterpretado.In this text, we put forward a critical interpretation of the historic dichotomy between 'private' and 'public' as a fundamental dynamic of modernity. From the perspective of gender we discuss the boundaries that have been constructed between the collective space of citizenship and sociability and the individual space of intimacy and inequality. We make a case for a relationship of complicity, albeit tense, between the two spheres, observing

Do intermittent diets provide physiological benefits over continuous diets for weight loss? A systematic review of clinical trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Seimon, Radhika V; Roekenes, Jessica A; Zibellini, Jessica; Zhu, Benjamin; Gibson, Alice A; Hills, Andrew P; Wood, Rachel E; King, Neil A; Byrne, Nuala M; Sainsbury, Amanda

2015-12-15

Energy restriction induces physiological effects that hinder further weight loss. Thus, deliberate periods of energy balance during weight loss interventions may attenuate these adaptive responses to energy restriction and thereby increase the efficiency of weight loss (i.e. the amount of weight or fat lost per unit of energy deficit). To address this possibility, we systematically searched MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE, PubMed and Cinahl and reviewed adaptive responses to energy restriction in 40 publications involving humans of any age or body mass index that had undergone a diet involving intermittent energy restriction, 12 with direct comparison to continuous energy restriction. Included publications needed to measure one or more of body weight, body mass index, or body composition before and at the end of energy restriction. 31 of the 40 publications involved 'intermittent fasting' of 1-7-day periods of severe energy restriction. While intermittent fasting appears to produce similar effects to continuous energy restriction to reduce body weight, fat mass, fat-free mass and improve glucose homeostasis, and may reduce appetite, it does not appear to attenuate other adaptive responses to energy restriction or improve weight loss efficiency, albeit most of the reviewed publications were not powered to assess these outcomes. Intermittent fasting thus represents a valid--albeit apparently not superior--option to continuous energy restriction for weight loss. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

"I'm Not Really 'that' Bad": Alternative School Students, Stigma, and Identity Politics

Science.gov (United States)

McNulty, Carol P.; Roseboro, Donyell L.

2009-01-01

Public schools in the United States are predicated upon some common, albeit contested, understanding of a "normal" child. Such an identity comes with corresponding rules of behavior. In this study, we use identity politics as the primary lens through which to interpret the experiences of students at an alternative middle and high school. Through…

Exploration of the Energy Efficiency of the Greater London Authority ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

GLA Building/City Hall) ... Journal Home > Vol 11, No 2 (2007) > ... The Greater London Authority building was acclaimed as being energy efficient, with claims of 75 % reduction in its annual energy consumption compared to a high specification ...

A STUDY ON THE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN BUCHAREST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dobre Ovidiu Iliuta

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Turnover rates for hospital personnel (nurses, doctors and auxiliary staff have been increasing in recent years, especially in the public sector, being the result of a couple of factors. I believe that one of the main causes is related to organizational culture aspects. This research analyses if dated facilities, unpleasant work environment and lack of personnel contribute to a low job satisfaction and involvement. The study also compares the results obtained from persons working in the public sectors with the results given by respondents from private clinics. An organization’s culture could be strong or weak, being dependent to cohesiveness, value consensus and individual commitment to collective goals. Effective cultures help organizations anticipate and adapt to environment changes, thus proactive cultures should enhance and support profitability on the long-run. This research also investigates strength of the occupational culture by comparing the results obtained in the public sector with results from private sector. My study is developed on 63 professionals working in the medical system and it is based mainly on quantitative methods. The instrument of the research is the structured questionnaire. The main goal of the study is to highlight the significant cultural differences between the state-owned and public-owned hospitals and to assess if they have a greater influence to the institutions, as compared to common occupational values and norms. The implications of my research for the field of organizational behavior refers to the fact that I have identified the organizational elements that are common to both public and private hospitals, influenced by a strong occupational culture, and those that differ significantly, being the result of underfunding and poor management. As a conclusion, I consider that this is a great starting point for further research in the field and I plan to enlarge the investigation on a greater number or

Higher motivation - greater control? The effect of arousal on judgement.

Science.gov (United States)

Riemer, Hila; Viswanathan, Madhu

2013-01-01

This research examines control over the effect of arousal, a dimension of affect, on judgement. Past research shows that high processing motivation enhances control over the effects of affect on judgement. Isolating and studying arousal as opposed to valence, the other dimension of affect, and its effect on judgement, we identify boundary conditions for past findings. Drawing from the literature on processes by which arousal influences judgement, we demonstrate that the role of motivation is contingent upon the type of judgement task (i.e., memory- versus stimulus-based judgement). In stimulus-based judgement, individuals exert greater control over the effect of arousal on judgement under low compared to high motivation. In contrast, in memory-based judgement individuals exert greater control over the effect of arousal under high compared to low motivation. Theoretical implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

NASA's Public Participation Universe: Why and How the U.S. Space Agency Is Democratizing Its Approaches to Innovation

Science.gov (United States)

Kaminski, Amy; Buquo, Lynn; Roman, Monsi; Beck, Beth; Thaller, Michelle

2016-01-01

This paper analyzes NASA's increasing effort to invite greater public participation in its techno scientific work through open innovation methodologies. First we examine why NASA has expanded its use of these approaches, noting the roles of an intertwined set of forcing functions including budget constraints, the availability of technological resources, and committed individuals. Next we outline the strategies the agency has invoked to engage the public in research, technology development, and other activities to advance and shape NASA's mission. As we show, promoting greater public involvement has entailed facilitating the NASA workforce's familiarity with open innovation approaches as well as developing projects and creating outreach strategies appropriate to the envisioned participant base. We then discuss the wide variety of outcomes NASA's open innovation initiatives have yielded in support of NASA research and development objectives as well as benefits to participants and others. We conclude with a discussion of the remaining barriers to the use of open innovation techniques as a standard practice and the strategies in work to overcome those barriers so the full potential of a democratized approach to innovation can be realized.

Public Values

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beck Jørgensen, Torben; Rutgers, Mark R.

2015-01-01

administration is approached in terms of processes guided or restricted by public values and as public value creating: public management and public policy-making are both concerned with establishing, following and realizing public values. To study public values a broad perspective is needed. The article suggest......This article provides the introduction to a symposium on contemporary public values research. It is argued that the contribution to this symposium represent a Public Values Perspective, distinct from other specific lines of research that also use public value as a core concept. Public...... a research agenda for this encompasing kind of public values research. Finally the contributions to the symposium are introduced....

Understanding the threats posed by non-native species: public vs. conservation managers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodolphe E Gozlan

Full Text Available Public perception is a key factor influencing current conservation policy. Therefore, it is important to determine the influence of the public, end-users and scientists on the prioritisation of conservation issues and the direct implications for policy makers. Here, we assessed public attitudes and the perception of conservation managers to five non-native species in the UK, with these supplemented by those of an ecosystem user, freshwater anglers. We found that threat perception was not influenced by the volume of scientific research or by the actual threats posed by the specific non-native species. Media interest also reflected public perception and vice versa. Anglers were most concerned with perceived threats to their recreational activities but their concerns did not correspond to the greatest demonstrated ecological threat. The perception of conservation managers was an amalgamation of public and angler opinions but was mismatched to quantified ecological risks of the species. As this suggests that invasive species management in the UK is vulnerable to a knowledge gap, researchers must consider the intrinsic characteristics of their study species to determine whether raising public perception will be effective. The case study of the topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva reveals that media pressure and political debate has greater capacity to ignite policy changes and impact studies on non-native species than scientific evidence alone.

Communication self-assessment by public prosecutors in a north-eastern Brazilian state.

Science.gov (United States)

Sales, Neuza Josina; Castaneda, Daniel Francisco Neyra; Barreto, Íkaro Daniel de Carvalho; Paoliello, Marina; Campanha, Silvia Márcia Andrade

2016-01-01

To describe how public prosecutors self-assess their communication approaches and how listeners react to them; to analyze how this relates to gender, age, and work experience. Descriptive, transversal study. A questionnaire was developed and sent to 126 public prosecutors for completion. Thirty-three completed questionnaires were sent back. The independent variables were gender, age, and number of years of professional experience. The dependent variables were communication self-assessment throughout the years of work, communication parameters used, and listeners' reactions. A descriptive analyzis and Fisher's Exact Test was carried out. the sample contained both male and female participants with a median age of 43 years and an average of 20 years of professional experience. Most of the respondents claimed they had experienced demotivation, insecurity, tension, and difficulty when trying to convince listeners. More women than men reported they felt that their communication had worsened throughout their careers. All the women reported they experienced insecurity when speaking in public. One third of the public prosecutors stated they suffered from disorders on their voice. Those respondents aged over 43, experienced greater proportion on voice change than younger ones. In contrast to their younger colleagues, the majority of public prosecutors with more than 20 years of professional experience revealed that they felt insecure when speaking in public. the public prosecutors identified their strong and weak communication parameters. Gender, age, and work experience affect communicative performance.

Segregation Levels in Cleveland Public Schools and the Cleveland Voucher Program. School Choice Issues in the State

Science.gov (United States)

Forster, Greg

2006-01-01

Examining the widespread claims that private schools have high segregation levels and vouchers will lead to greater segregation, this study finds that both assertions are empirically unsupportable. Private schools participating in Cleveland's voucher program are much less segregated than Cleveland's public schools. This means that students using…

Public exposure to radio waves near GSM microcell and picocell base stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooper, T G; Mann, S M; Khalid, M; Blackwell, R P

2006-01-01

Exposures of the general public to radio waves at locations near 20 randomly selected GSM microcell and picocell base stations in the UK have been assessed in the context of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines. Compliance distances were calculated for the antennas of the base stations from their reported radiated powers. Under pessimistic assumptions that would maximise exposures, the minimum height at which the general public reference level could potentially be exceeded near any of the base station antennas was calculated to be 2.4 m above ground level. The power densities of the broadcast carriers transmitted by the base stations have been measured and scaled to include all other possible carriers. Exposures were generally in the range 0.002-2% of the ICNIRP general public reference level, and the greatest exposure quotient near any of the base stations was 8.6%. Exposures close to microcell base stations were found to be generally greater than those close to macrocell base stations

Public Intentions for Private Spaces: Exploring Architects’ Tactics to Shape Shared Space in Private-Led Residential Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saul Manuel Golden

2015-07-01

Full Text Available From the late 20th into the 21st centuries, the private market increasingly gained control from public authorities over strategic decisions affecting the quality of, and accessibility to, new urban development. This paper argues for architects to act more explicitly to promote greater open-ness and use-value, rather than more objectified and controlled exchange-value approaches to the public domain in private-led development. The paper analyses two London-based residential case studies and interviews with the architects about perceptions of, and approaches to, private-led development decision-making processes. It compares the individual practitioner’s experiences of architecture practice with explicit intentions to influence better quality shared city space, examining professional norms vis-à-vis commercial clients and wider society. The paper concludes that greater awareness of architects’ knowledge, skills, and a range of tactics to influence future shared environments can contribute to improved professional practice frameworks for more effective engagement in an increasingly globalised and privatised urban society.

From networked publics to issue publics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Birkbak, Andreas

2013-01-01

As an increasing part of everyday life becomes connected with the web in many areas of the globe, the question of how the web mediates political processes becomes still more urgent. Several scholars have started to address this question by thinking about the web in terms of a public space....... In this paper, we aim to make a twofold contribution towards the development of the concept of publics in web science. First, we propose that although the notion of publics raises a variety of issues, two major concerns continue to be user privacy and democratic citizenship on the web. Well-known arguments hold......, this paper points towards an alternative way to think about publics by proposing a pragmatist reorientation of the public/private distinction in web science, away from seeing two spheres that needs to be kept separate, towards seeing the public and the private as something that is continuously connected...

Does autonomization of public hospitals and exposure to market pressure complement or debilitate social health insurance systems? Evidence from a low-income country.

Science.gov (United States)

Sepehri, Ardeshir

2014-01-01

Granting public hospitals greater autonomy and creating organizational arrangements that mimic the private sector and encourage competition is often promoted as a way to increase efficiency and public accountability and to improve quality of care at these facilities. The existence of good-quality health infrastructure, in turn, encourages the population to join and support the social health insurance system and achieve universal coverage. This article provides a critical review of hospital autonomization, using Vietnam's experience to assess the influence of hospital autonomy on the sustainability of Vietnam's social health insurance. The evidence suggests that a reform process based on greater autonomy of resource mobilization and on the retention and use of own-source revenues can create perverse incentives among managers and health care providers, leading to the development of a two-tiered provision of clinical care, provider-induced supply of an inefficient service mix, a high degree of duplication, wasteful investment, and cost escalation. Rather than complementing social health insurance and helping the country to achieve universal coverage, granting public hospitals greater autonomy that mimics the private sector may indeed undermine the legitimacy and sustainability of social health insurance as health care costs escalate and higher quality of care remains elusive.

FINANCING PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES FROM PUBLIC FUNDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miloš POLIAK

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the issue of efficiency of public passenger transport through financial support from public funds from the perspective of improving road safety. The aim is to verify the hypothesis that financing public passenger transport from public funds is a significant tool to influence the number of passengers carried by individual automobile transport, and thus it can be used a tool for influencing road safety in a particular territory. The first part of the paper analyses the sources for financial support of public passenger transport. The next part describes the assumptions for improving road safety through increasing the support of public passenger transport. The last part analyses possible impacts of financing public passenger transport on the road safety in relation to the specified hypothesis.

Predicted Liquefaction in the Greater Oakland and Northern Santa Clara Valley Areas for a Repeat of the 1868 Hayward Earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Holzer, T. L.; Noce, T. E.; Bennett, M. J.

2008-12-01

Probabilities of surface manifestations of liquefaction due to a repeat of the 1868 (M6.7-7.0) earthquake on the southern segment of the Hayward Fault were calculated for two areas along the margin of San Francisco Bay, California: greater Oakland and the northern Santa Clara Valley. Liquefaction is predicted to be more common in the greater Oakland area than in the northern Santa Clara Valley owing to the presence of 57 km2 of susceptible sandy artificial fill. Most of the fills were placed into San Francisco Bay during the first half of the 20th century to build military bases, port facilities, and shoreline communities like Alameda and Bay Farm Island. Probabilities of liquefaction in the area underlain by this sandy artificial fill range from 0.2 to ~0.5 for a M7.0 earthquake, and decrease to 0.1 to ~0.4 for a M6.7 earthquake. In the greater Oakland area, liquefaction probabilities generally are less than 0.05 for Holocene alluvial fan deposits, which underlie most of the remaining flat-lying urban area. In the northern Santa Clara Valley for a M7.0 earthquake on the Hayward Fault and an assumed water-table depth of 1.5 m (the historically shallowest water level), liquefaction probabilities range from 0.1 to 0.2 along Coyote and Guadalupe Creeks, but are less than 0.05 elsewhere. For a M6.7 earthquake, probabilities are greater than 0.1 along Coyote Creek but decrease along Guadalupe Creek to less than 0.1. Areas with high probabilities in the Santa Clara Valley are underlain by latest Holocene alluvial fan levee deposits where liquefaction and lateral spreading occurred during large earthquakes in 1868 and 1906. The liquefaction scenario maps were created with ArcGIS ModelBuilder. Peak ground accelerations first were computed with the new Boore and Atkinson NGA attenuation relation (2008, Earthquake Spectra, 24:1, p. 99-138), using VS30 to account for local site response. Spatial liquefaction probabilities were then estimated using the predicted ground motions

Towards Greater Participation of Nigerian Women in Democratic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nigeria is a patriarchal society characterized by acute discrimination, exclusion, inequality and impunity. These features are also reflected in its politics, especially as they relate to the issue of gender imbalance. This asymmetrical relationship between the sexes in the process of authoritative allocation of public resources ...

Public values in public-private partnerships

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reynaers, A.

2014-01-01

Although public-private partnerships (PPPs) are frequently analyzed and lauded in terms of efficiency, their impact on public values is often neglected. As a result, there is little empirical evidence supporting or rejecting the claim that PPPs have a negative effect on public values. This case

Autonomy and performance in the public sector: the experience of English NHS hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Verzulli, Rossella; Jacobs, Rowena; Goddard, Maria

2018-05-01

Since 2004, English NHS hospitals have been given the opportunity to acquire a more autonomous status known as a Foundation Trust (FT), whereby regulations and restrictions over financial, management, and organizational matters were reduced in order to create incentives to deliver higher-quality services in the most efficient way. Using difference-in-difference models, we test whether achieving greater autonomy (FT status) improved hospital performance, as proxied by measures of financial management, quality of care, and staff satisfaction. Results provide little evidence that the FT policy per se has made any difference to the performance of hospitals in most of these domains. Our findings have implications for health policy and inform the trend towards granting greater autonomy to public-sector organizations.

Adjustment of Business Expatriates in Greater China: A Strategic Perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Selmer, Jan

2006-01-01

Research has found that due to similarities, firms which have gained business experience elsewhere in Greater China may exhibit relatively better performance in mainland China. Hence, the experience of business expatriates could be of strategic importance for the expansion path of their firms...

Secure equality and greater-than tests with sublinear online complexity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lipmaa, Helger; Toft, Tomas

2013-01-01

Secure multiparty computation (MPC) allows multiple parties to evaluate functions without disclosing the private inputs. Secure comparisons (testing equality and greater-than) are important primitives required by many MPC applications. We propose two equality tests for ℓ-bit values with O(1) online...

Decree no. 85-453 of 23 April 1985 in implementation of Act no. 83-630 of 12 July 1983 on democratisation of public inquiries and environmental protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

This Decree is the essential instrument for the entry into force of the 1983 Act on democratisation of public inquiries. It sets out in annex the list of activities which must be preceded by a public inquiry in accordance with the Act, and gives the public greater possibilities for intervening in the procedure as well as guarantees on the independence of inquiry Commissioners. (NEA) [fr

Ultrasound-Guided Intermediate Site Greater Occipital Nerve Infiltration: A Technical Feasibility Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zipfel, Jonathan; Kastler, Adrian; Tatu, Laurent; Behr, Julien; Kechidi, Rachid; Kastler, Bruno

2016-01-01

Two studies recently reported that computed tomography (CT) guided infiltration of the greater occipital nerve at its intermediate site allows a high efficacy rate with long-lasting pain relief following procedure in occipital neuralgia and in various craniofacial pain syndromes. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the technical feasibility and safety of ultrasound-guided intermediate site greater occipital nerve infiltration. Retrospective study. This study was conducted at the imaging department of a 1,409 bed university hospital. Local institutional review board approval was obtained and written consent was waived. In this retrospective study, 12 patients suffering from refractory occipital neuralgia or craniofacial pain syndromes were included between April and October 2014. They underwent a total of 21 ultrasound-guided infiltrations. Infiltration of the greater occipital nerve was performed at the intermediate site of the greater occipital nerve, at its first bend between obliqus capitis inferior and semispinalis capitis muscles with local anestetics and cortivazol. Technical success was defined as satisfactory diffusion of added iodinated contrast media in the fatty space between these muscles depicted on control CT scan. We also reported first data of immediate block test efficacy and initial clinical efficacy at 7 days, one month, and 3 months, defined by a decrease of at least 50% of visual analog scale (VAS) scores. Technical success rate was 95.24%. Patients suffered from right unilateral occipital neuralgia in 3 cases, left unilateral occipital neuralgia in 2 cases, bilateral occipital neuralgia in 2 cases, migraine in one case, cervicogenic headache in one case, tension-type headache in 2 cases, and cluster headache in one case. Block test efficacy was found in 93.3% (14/15) cases. Clinical efficacy was found in 80% of cases at 7 days, in 66.7% of cases at one month and in 60% of cases at 3 months. No major complications were noted. Some of the

78 FR 50088 - Notice of Availability of the Northwest Colorado Greater Sage-Grouse Draft Resource Management...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-16

... Availability of the Northwest Colorado Greater Sage- Grouse Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment and Draft... Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Northwest Colorado Greater Sage-Grouse Draft Resource Management.../or mailings. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the Northwest Colorado Greater Sage-Grouse...