Assessment of current cybersecurity practices in the public domain : cyber indications and warnings domain.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hamlet, Jason R.; Keliiaa, Curtis M.

2010-09-01

This report assesses current public domain cyber security practices with respect to cyber indications and warnings. It describes cybersecurity industry and government activities, including cybersecurity tools, methods, practices, and international and government-wide initiatives known to be impacting current practice. Of particular note are the U.S. Government's Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) and 'Einstein' programs, which are serving to consolidate the Government's internet access points and to provide some capability to monitor and mitigate cyber attacks. Next, this report catalogs activities undertaken by various industry and government entities. In addition, it assesses the benchmarks of HPC capability and other HPC attributes that may lend themselves to assist in the solution of this problem. This report draws few conclusions, as it is intended to assess current practice in preparation for future work, however, no explicit references to HPC usage for the purpose of analyzing cyber infrastructure in near-real-time were found in the current practice. This report and a related SAND2010-4766 National Cyber Defense High Performance Computing and Analysis: Concepts, Planning and Roadmap report are intended to provoke discussion throughout a broad audience about developing a cohesive HPC centric solution to wide-area cybersecurity problems.

Public Sector Employee Assistance Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Kemp, Donna R.; Verlinde, Beverly

This document discusses employee assistance programs (EAPs), programs which have been developed to help employees deal with personal problems that seriously affect job performance. It reviews literature which specifically addresses EAPs in the public sector, noting that there are no exact figures on how many public entities have EAPs. Previous…

77 FR 14465 - Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program; Tribal Transit Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-09

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Public Transportation on Indian... in funding provided by the Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program (Tribal Transit... establishing the Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program (Tribal Transit Program or TTP). This...

76 FR 44394 - Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program; Tribal Transit Program

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-25

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Public Transportation on Indian... the Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program (Tribal Transit Program) (TTP). This program... of the Census and may be used for public transportation capital projects, operating costs of...

37 CFR 201.26 - Recordation of documents pertaining to computer shareware and donation of public domain computer...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... pertaining to computer shareware and donation of public domain computer software. 201.26 Section 201.26... GENERAL PROVISIONS § 201.26 Recordation of documents pertaining to computer shareware and donation of public domain computer software. (a) General. This section prescribes the procedures for submission of...

Modularization and Packaging of Public Television Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Carey, John; And Others

This report examines the changing relationship between public television programming and program distribution methods, and considers whether there is a need to change the design and packaging of some public television programming to respond to changes in the way the audience receives its programming as interactive cable systems, videocassettes,…

Riset sebagai Ujung Tombak Keberhasilan Program Public Relations

OpenAIRE

Ike Devi Sulistyaningtyas

2013-01-01

Abstract : Public Relations encompasses basically the management and communications function between organizations and public. The important thing of the public relations management is research, because Public Relations program is started from research and after all the programs done. It is also using research to find the output and outcome. The point is how to gain successful of Public Relations program depend on how to use research.

Riset Sebagai Ujung Tombak Keberhasilan Program Public Relations

OpenAIRE

Sulistyaningtyas, Ike Devi

2010-01-01

Public Relations encompasses basically the management and communications function between organizations and public. The important thing of the public relations management is research, because Public Relations program is started from research and after all the programs done. It is also using research to find the output and outcome. The point is how to gain successful of Public Relations program depend on how to use research.

Accumulation of Domain-Specific Physical Inactivity and Presence of Hypertension in Brazilian Public Healthcare System.

Science.gov (United States)

Turi, Bruna Camilo; Codogno, Jamile S; Fernandes, Romulo A; Sui, Xuemei; Lavie, Carl J; Blair, Steven N; Monteiro, Henrique Luiz

2015-11-01

Hypertension is one of the most common noncommunicable diseases worldwide, and physical inactivity is a risk factor predisposing to its occurrence and complications. However, it is still unclear the association between physical inactivity domains and hypertension, especially in public healthcare systems. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the association between physical inactivity aggregation in different domains and prevalence of hypertension among users of Brazilian public health system. 963 participants composed the sample. Subjects were divided into quartiles groups according to 3 different domains of physical activity (occupational; physical exercises; and leisure-time and transportation). Hypertension was based on physician diagnosis. Physical inactivity in occupational domain was significantly associated with higher prevalence of hypertension (OR = 1.52 [1.05 to 2.21]). The same pattern occurred for physical inactivity in leisure-time (OR = 1.63 [1.11 to 2.39]) and aggregation of physical inactivity in 3 domains (OR = 2.46 [1.14 to 5.32]). However, the multivariate-adjusted model showed significant association between hypertension and physical inactivity in 3 domains (OR = 2.57 [1.14 to 5.79]). The results suggest an unequal prevalence of hypertension according to physical inactivity across different domains and increasing the promotion of physical activity in the healthcare system is needed.

34 CFR 303.320 - Public awareness program.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... public awareness program that focuses on the early identification of children who are eligible to receive... informing the public about— (a) The State's early intervention program; (b) The child find system, including... the general public about the provisions of this part include: (1) Use of television, radio, and...

Language Choice and Use of Malaysian Public University Lecturers in the Education Domain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tam Lee Mei

2016-02-01

Full Text Available It is a norm for people from a multilingual and multicultural country such as Malaysia to speak at least two or more languages. Thus, the Malaysian multilingual situation resulted in speakers having to make decisions about which languages are to be used for different purposes in different domains. In order to explain the phenomenon of language choice, Fishman domain analysis (1964 was adapted into this research. According to Fishman’s domain analysis, language choice and use may depend on the speaker’s experiences situated in different settings, different language repertoires that are available to the speaker, different interlocutors and different topics. Such situations inevitably cause barriers and difficulties to those professionals who work in the education domain. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore the language choice and use of Malaysian public university lecturers in the education domain and to investigate whether any significant differences exist between ethnicity and field of study with the English language choice and use of the lecturers. 200 survey questionnaires were distributed to examine the details of the lecturers’ language choice and use. The findings of this research reveal that all of the respondents generally preferred to choose and use English language in both formal and informal education domain. Besides, all of the respondents claimed that they chose and used more than one language. It is also found that ethnicity and field of study of the respondents influence the language choice and use in the education domain. In addition, this research suggested that the language and educational policy makers have been largely successful in raising the role and status of the English language as the medium of instruction in tertiary education while maintaining the Malay language as having an important role in the communicative acts, thus characterizing the lecturers’ language choice and use. Keywords: Language

78 FR 52997 - Connected Vehicle Research Program Public Meeting; Notice of Public Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-27

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Connected Vehicle Research Program Public Meeting; Notice of Public... overview of the ITS JPO Connected Vehicle research program. The meeting will take place September 24 to 26... . The public meeting is the best opportunity to learn details about the Connected Vehicle research...

Blockchain-based Public Key Infrastructure for Inter-Domain Secure Routing

OpenAIRE

de la Rocha Gómez-Arevalillo , Alfonso; Papadimitratos , Panos

2017-01-01

International audience; A gamut of secure inter-domain routing protocols has been proposed in the literature. They use traditional PGP-like and centralized Public Key Infrastructures for trust management. In this paper, we propose our alternative approach for managing security associations, Secure Blockchain Trust Management (SBTM), a trust management system that instantiates a blockchain-based PKI for the operation of securerouting protocols. A main motivation for SBTM is to facilitate gradu...

Remotely Piloted Aircraft and War in the Public Relations Domain

Science.gov (United States)

2014-10-01

the terms as they appear in quoted texts. 2. Peter Kreeft, Socratic Logic: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method , Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian...Ronald Brooks.22 This method of refuting an argu- ment reflects option C (above), demonstrating that the conclusion does not follow from the premises...and War in the Public Relations Domain Feature tional Security Assistance Force (ISAF) met to discuss methods of elim- inating civilian casualties in

76 FR 366 - Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program Revision for the State of Washington

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-04

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9247-4] Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program... State Public Water Supply Supervision Primacy Program. Washington has adopted a definition for public water system that is analogous to EPA's definition of public water system, and has adopted regulations...

Suburban development – a search for public domains in Danish suburban neighbourhoods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Melgaard, Bente; Bech-Danielsen, Claus

These years some of the post-war Danish suburbs are facing great challenges – social segregation, demographic changes and challenges in building technology. In particular, segregation prevents social life from unfolding across social, economic and cultural borders. Therefore, in this paper......, potentials for bridge-building across the enclaves of the suburb are looked for through a combined architectural-anthropological mapping of public spaces in a specific suburb in Denmark, the analyses being carried out in the light of Hajer & Reijndorp’s definition of public domains and the term exchange...

Columbia Public Health Core Curriculum: Short-Term Impact.

Science.gov (United States)

Begg, Melissa D; Fried, Linda P; Glover, Jim W; Delva, Marlyn; Wiggin, Maggie; Hooper, Leah; Saxena, Roheeni; de Pinho, Helen; Slomin, Emily; Walker, Julia R; Galea, Sandro

2015-12-01

We evaluated a transformed core curriculum for the Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health (New York, New York) master of public health (MPH) degree. The curriculum, launched in 2012, aims to teach public health as it is practiced: in interdisciplinary teams, drawing on expertise from multiple domains to address complex health challenges. We collected evaluation data starting when the first class of students entered the program and ending with their graduation in May 2014. Students reported being very satisfied with and challenged by the rigorous curriculum and felt prepared to integrate concepts across varied domains and disciplines to solve public health problems. This novel interdisciplinary program could serve as a prototype for other schools that wish to reinvigorate MPH training.

The Value of Privacy and Surveillance Drones in the Public Domain : Scrutinizing the Dutch Flexible Deployment of Mobile Cameras Act

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gerdo Kuiper; Quirine Eijkman

2017-01-01

The flexible deployment of drones in the public domain, is in this article assessed from a legal philosophical perspective. On the basis of theories of Dworkin and Moore the distinction between individual rights and collective security policy goals is discussed. Mobile cameras in the public domain

The International River Interface Cooperative: Public Domain Software for River Flow and Morphodynamics (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, J. M.; Shimizu, Y.; McDonald, R.; Takebayashi, H.

2009-12-01

The International River Interface Cooperative is an informal organization made up of academic faculty and government scientists with the goal of developing, distributing and providing education for a public-domain software interface for modeling river flow and morphodynamics. Formed in late 2007, the group released the first version of this interface (iRIC) in late 2009. iRIC includes models for two and three-dimensional flow, sediment transport, bed evolution, groundwater-surface water interaction, topographic data processing, and habitat assessment, as well as comprehensive data and model output visualization, mapping, and editing tools. All the tools in iRIC are specifically designed for use in river reaches and utilize common river data sets. The models are couched within a single graphical user interface so that a broad spectrum of models are available to users without learning new pre- and post-processing tools. The first version of iRIC was developed by combining the USGS public-domain Multi-Dimensional Surface Water Modeling System (MD_SWMS), developed at the USGS Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, with the public-domain river modeling code NAYS developed by the Universities of Hokkaido and Kyoto, Mizuho Corporation, and the Foundation of the River Disaster Prevention Research Institute in Sapporo, Japan. Since this initial effort, other Universities and Agencies have joined the group, and the interface has been expanded to allow users to integrate their own modeling code using Executable Markup Language (XML), which provides easy access and expandability to the iRIC software interface. In this presentation, the current components of iRIC are described and results from several practical modeling applications are presented to illustrate the capabilities and flexibility of the software. In addition, some future extensions to iRIC are demonstrated, including software for Lagrangian particle tracking and the prediction of

Domains of State-Owned, Privately Held, and Publicly Traded Firms in International Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Mascarenhas, Briance

1989-01-01

Hypotheses relating ownership to domain differences among state-owned, publicly traded, and privately held firms in international competition were examined in a controlled field study of the offshore drilling industry. Ownership explained selected differences in domestic market dominance, international presence, and customer orientation, even…

Public-domain software for root image analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirian Cristina Gomes Costa

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In the search for high efficiency in root studies, computational systems have been developed to analyze digital images. ImageJ and Safira are public-domain systems that may be used for image analysis of washed roots. However, differences in root properties measured using ImageJ and Safira are supposed. This study compared values of root length and surface area obtained with public-domain systems with values obtained by a reference method. Root samples were collected in a banana plantation in an area of a shallower Typic Carbonatic Haplic Cambisol (CXk, and an area of a deeper Typic Haplic Ta Eutrophic Cambisol (CXve, at six depths in five replications. Root images were digitized and the systems ImageJ and Safira used to determine root length and surface area. The line-intersect method modified by Tennant was used as reference; values of root length and surface area measured with the different systems were analyzed by Pearson's correlation coefficient and compared by the confidence interval and t-test. Both systems ImageJ and Safira had positive correlation coefficients with the reference method for root length and surface area data in CXk and CXve. The correlation coefficient ranged from 0.54 to 0.80, with lowest value observed for ImageJ in the measurement of surface area of roots sampled in CXve. The IC (95 % revealed that root length measurements with Safira did not differ from that with the reference method in CXk (-77.3 to 244.0 mm. Regarding surface area measurements, Safira did not differ from the reference method for samples collected in CXk (-530.6 to 565.8 mm² as well as in CXve (-4231 to 612.1 mm². However, measurements with ImageJ were different from those obtained by the reference method, underestimating length and surface area in samples collected in CXk and CXve. Both ImageJ and Safira allow an identification of increases or decreases in root length and surface area. However, Safira results for root length and surface area are

OPG - Waterways public safety program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bennett, Tony [Ontario Power Generation (Canada)

2011-07-01

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) operates 65 hydroelectric generating stations in Ontario and has 241 dams. Security around dams is an important matter to minimize exposure of the public to hazards and to prevent an uncontrolled release of water and also to be prepared in case of failure. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the waterways public safety program developed by OPG in association with the Ontario Waterpower Associattion, the Canadian Dam Association and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resoruces. This program takes a managed system approach with continuous review to address specific and changing conditions of sites. Policies, accountability mechanisms and assessments are first planned, and then implemented, every day functioning is monitored, corrective actions are developed on the basis of issues and reports are compiled for planning of new improvements. This research program provided OPG with new methods for preventing accidents more efficiently.

DATABASES AND THE SUI-GENERIS RIGHT – PROTECTION OUTSIDE THE ORIGINALITY. THE DISREGARD OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica LUPAȘCU

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on databases as they are regulated by Directive no.96/9/EC regarding the protection of databases. There are also several references to Romanian Law no.8/1996 on copyright and neighbouring rights which implements the mentioned European Directive. The study analyses certain effects that the sui-generis protection has on public domain. The study tries to demonstrate that the reglementation specific to databases neglects the interests correlated with the public domain. The effect of such a regulation is the abusive creation of some databases in which the public domain (meaning information not protected by copyright such as news, ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries ends up being encapsulated and made available only to some private interests, the access to public domain being regulated indirectly. The study begins by explaining the sui- generis right and its origin. The first mention of databases can be found in “Green Paper on Copyright (1998,” a document that clearly shows, the database protection was thought to cover a sphere of information non-protectable from the scientific and industrial fields. Several arguments are made by the author, most of them based on the report of the Public Consultation sustained in 2014 in regards to the necessity of the sui-generis right. There are some references made to a specific case law, namely British Houseracing Board vs William Hill and Fixture Marketing Ldt. The ECJ’s decision în that case is of great importance for the support of public interest to access information corresponding to some restrictive fields that are derived as a result of the maker’s activities, because in the absence of the sui-generis right, all this information can be freely accessed and used.

An Overview of Public Domain Tools for Measuring the Sustainability of Environmental Remediation - 12060

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Claypool, John E.; Rogers, Scott [AECOM, Denver, Colorado, 80202 (United States)

2012-07-01

their clients. When it comes to the public domain, Federal government agencies are spearheading the development of software tools to measure and report emissions of air pollutants (e.g., carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases, criteria air pollutants); consumption of energy, water and natural resources; accident and safety risks; project costs and other economic metrics. Most of the tools developed for the Government are available to environmental practitioners without charge, so they are growing in usage and popularity. The key features and metrics calculated by the available public-domain tools for measuring the sustainability of environmental remediation projects share some commonalities but there are differences amongst the tools. The SiteWise{sup TM} sustainability tool developed for the Navy and US Army will be compared with the Sustainable Remediation Tool (SRT{sup TM}) developed for the US Air Force (USAF). In addition, the USAF's Clean Solar and Wind Energy in Environmental Programs (CleanSWEEP), a soon-to-be-released tool for evaluating the economic feasibility of utilizing renewal energy for powering remediation systems will be described in the paper. (authors)

How federalism shapes public health financing, policy, and program options.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogden, Lydia L

2012-01-01

In the United States, fiscal and functional federalism strongly shape public health policy and programs. Federalism has implications for public health practice: it molds financing and disbursement options, including funding formulas, which affect allocations and program goals, and shapes how funding decisions are operationalized in a political context. This article explores how American federalism, both fiscal and functional, structures public health funding, policy, and program options, investigating the effects of intergovernmental transfers on public health finance and programs.

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.

77 FR 33456 - Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program Revision for the State of Washington

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-06

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9682-4] Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program... State Public Water Supply Supervision Primacy Program. Washington has adopted regulations analogous to... of Health--Office of Drinking Water, [[Page 33457

Combating Identity Fraud in the Public Domain: Information Strategies for Healthcare and Criminal Justice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Plomp, M.G.A.; Grijpink, J.H.A.M.

2011-01-01

Two trends are present in both the private and public domain: increasing interorganisational co-operation and increasing digitisation. Nowadays, more and more processes within and between organisations take place electronically. These developments are visible on local, national and European scale.

Evolving Rule-Based Systems in two Medical Domains using Genetic Programming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tsakonas, A.; Dounias, G.; Jantzen, Jan

2004-01-01

We demonstrate, compare and discuss the application of two genetic programming methodologies for the construction of rule-based systems in two medical domains: the diagnosis of Aphasia's subtypes and the classification of Pap-Smear Test examinations. The first approach consists of a scheme...

OPG waterways public safety program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bennett, T [Ontario Power Generation Inc., Niagara Falls, ON (Canada)

2009-07-01

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has 64 hydroelectric generating stations, 241 dams, and 109 dams in Ontario's registry with the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD). In 1986, it launched a formal dam safety program. This presentation addressed the importance of public safety around dams. The safety measures are timely because of increasing public interaction around dams; the public's unawareness of hazards; public interest in extreme sports; easier access by recreational vehicles; the perceived right of public to access sites; and the remote operation of hydroelectric stations. The presentation outlined the OPG managed system approach, with particular reference to governance; principles; standards and procedures; and aspects of implementation. Specific guidelines and governing documents for public safety around dams were identified, including guidelines for public safety of waterways; booms and buoys; audible warning devices and lights; public safety signage; fencing and barricades; and risk assessment for public safety around waterways. The presentation concluded with a discussion of audits and management reviews to determine if safety objectives and targets have been met. figs.

78 FR 27284 - Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program; Tribal Transit Program

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-09

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Public Transportation on Indian... Federal Register Notice (77 FR 67439) Fiscal Year 2013 Public Transportation on Indian Reservation Program... formula apportionment to eligible Indian tribes providing public transportation on tribal lands. FTA...

76 FR 18570 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment; HOPE VI Public Housing Programs...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-04

... Information Collection for Public Comment; HOPE VI Public Housing Programs: Funding and Program Data... responses. This Notice also lists the following information: Title of Proposal: HOPE VI program. OMB Control... (Pub. L. 105- 276, 112 Stat. 2461, approved October 21, 1998) and revised by the HOPE VI Program...

Hanford's Public Tour Program - An Excellent Educational Tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sinclair, K.M.

2010-01-01

Prior to 2001, the Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored limited tours of the Hanford Site for the public, but discontinued the program after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. In 2003, DOE's Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) requested the site's prime contractor to reinstate the public tour program starting in 2004 under strict controls and security requirements. The planning involved a collaborative effort among the security, safety and communications departments of DOE-RL and the site's contracting companies. This paper describes the evolution of, and enhancements to, Hanford's public tours, including the addition of a separate tour program for the B Reactor, the first full-scale nuclear reactor in the world. Topics included in the discussion include the history and growth of the tour program, associated costs, and visitor surveys and assessments.

Transcript structure and domain display: a customizable transcript visualization tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Kenneth A; Ma, Kaiwang; Homayouni, Arielle; Rushton, Paul J; Shen, Qingxi J

2016-07-01

Transcript Structure and Domain Display (TSDD) is a publicly available, web-based program that provides publication quality images of transcript structures and domains. TSDD is capable of producing transcript structures from GFF/GFF3 and BED files. Alternatively, the GFF files of several model organisms have been pre-loaded so that users only needs to enter the locus IDs of the transcripts to be displayed. Visualization of transcripts provides many benefits to researchers, ranging from evolutionary analysis of DNA-binding domains to predictive function modeling. TSDD is freely available for non-commercial users at http://shenlab.sols.unlv.edu/shenlab/software/TSD/transcript_display.html : jeffery.shen@unlv.nevada.edu. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

American Lung Association's radon public information program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCurdy, L.E.

1992-01-01

The American Lung Association (ALA), the nation's oldest voluntary health organization, is dedicated to the conquest of lung disease and the promotion of lung health. The objective of the ALA Radon Public Information Program is to reduce public exposure to elevated indoor radon levels through implementing grassroots-based radon public awareness campaigns by 22 local ALA groups. The program, which is funded by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was initiated in December 1989; the first phase will continue until May, 1991. Activities of local Lung Associations include distribution of free or reduced-cost radon kits; presenting programs in elementary and secondary schools; presenting information on TV news series and talk shows, and on radio Public Service Announcements and talk shows; presenting articles and feature stories in the print media; holding conferences, workshops, and displays at fairs and other exhibitions; distributing radon fact sheets through libraries and utility company mailings; and distributing videos through video chains and libraries. The local Lung Associations also serve as promoters for the EPA/Advertising Council Radon Public Service Announcement Campaign. We will highlight the activities of the groups in communicating radon health risks to the public; we will describe the results obtained and will attempt to evaluate the merits of the various approaches on the basis of the initial results

[Common competencies and contents in public health in graduate programs].

Science.gov (United States)

Davó, M A Carmen; Vives-Cases, Carmen; Benavides, Fernando García; Alvarez-Dardet, Carlos; Segura-Benedicto, Andreu; Icart, Teresa; Astasio, Paloma; Gil, Angel; Ortiz, M Del Rocío; García, Angel; Ronda, Elena; Bosch, Félix

2011-01-01

To identify fundamental public health competencies and contents in nursing, pharmacy, teaching, medicine, human nutrition and dietetics, optics and optometry, labor relations and human resources, and social work in graduate programs and to formulate proposals for their improvement. The workshop on Public health contents in graduate programs in the XXI Menorca Public Health School was organized as follows: eight groups were set up, coordinated by 37 Spanish university teachers participating in the workshop and selected through key informants and snowball techniques. Two studies on public health professional competencies and the participants' own graduate programs were used to discuss public health professional competencies and contents and establish recommendations to improve public health programs. Each group worked on a particular degree course and the results were shared in plenary. Professional competencies for the three essential public health functions were indentified in all the degrees, except teaching, optics and optometry, and social work. Some of the competencies included in degrees in nursing, teaching, human nutrition and dietetics, and social work were rewritten to highlight the role of each type of professional in public health functions. The groups agreed on the introductory topics (basic concepts and health determinants) and intervention strategies. Common competencies and contents were identified in graduate programs. Updating public health contents in graduate programs would help to define and promote the profile of public health professionals. Copyright © 2011 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Outline for an Online Public Relations Program

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Janet

1978-01-01

Proven public relations strategies for winning management support for information programs and services are discussed, including seeking a higher level of visibility for the library/information center, implementing a current awareness program, and starting an orientation program for new employees. A questionnaire for obtaining user feedback and…

HANFORDS PUBLIC TOUR PROGRAM - AN EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL TOOL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

SINCLAIR KM

2010-12-07

Prior to 2001, the Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored limited tours of the Hanford Site for the public, but discontinued the program after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. In 2003, DOE's Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) requested the site's prime contractor to reinstate the public tour program starting in 2004 under strict controls and security requirements. The planning involved a collaborative effort among the security, safety and communications departments of DOE-RL and the site's contracting companies. This paper describes the evolution of, and enhancements to, Hanford's public tours, including the addition of a separate tour program for the B Reactor, the first full-scale nuclear reactor in the world. Topics included in the discussion include the history and growth of the tour program, associated costs, and visitor surveys and assessments.

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 ...

DCD – a novel plant specific domain in proteins involved in development and programmed cell death

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Doerks Tobias

2005-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recognition of microbial pathogens by plants triggers the hypersensitive reaction, a common form of programmed cell death in plants. These dying cells generate signals that activate the plant immune system and alarm the neighboring cells as well as the whole plant to activate defense responses to limit the spread of the pathogen. The molecular mechanisms behind the hypersensitive reaction are largely unknown except for the recognition process of pathogens. We delineate the NRP-gene in soybean, which is specifically induced during this programmed cell death and contains a novel protein domain, which is commonly found in different plant proteins. Results The sequence analysis of the protein, encoded by the NRP-gene from soybean, led to the identification of a novel domain, which we named DCD, because it is found in plant proteins involved in development and cell death. The domain is shared by several proteins in the Arabidopsis and the rice genomes, which otherwise show a different protein architecture. Biological studies indicate a role of these proteins in phytohormone response, embryo development and programmed cell by pathogens or ozone. Conclusion It is tempting to speculate, that the DCD domain mediates signaling in plant development and programmed cell death and could thus be used to identify interacting proteins to gain further molecular insights into these processes.

Impact of a public cholesterol screening program.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, P M; Guinan, K H; Burke, J J; Karp, W B; Richards, J W

1990-12-01

The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) has endorsed physician case finding as the primary method to detect individuals with elevated cholesterol levels. Despite this recommendation, promotional and for-profit public screening programs have flourished. We surveyed participants of a mall-based cholesterol screening program 1 year after their screening. Sixty-four percent of those screened had not previously known their cholesterol levels. Those who were newly screened were less likely to benefit from this testing than the general public, since they were older (mean age, 55.3 years), more likely to be female (67.4%), and nonsmokers (88%). Screenees had excellent recall of their cholesterol level (mean absolute reporting error, 0.24 mmol/L [9 mg/dL]) and a good understanding of cholesterol as a coronary heart disease risk. Those with elevated cholesterol levels reported high distress from screening but no reduction in overall psychosocial well-being and an actual decrease in absenteeism. Only 53.7% of all who were advised to seek follow-up because of an elevated screening value had done so within the year following the screening program. However, of those with values greater than 6.2 mmol/L (240 mg/dL), 68% had sought follow-up. Many of those who participate in public screening programs have been previously tested, fall into low-benefit groups, or fail to comply with recommended follow-up. We therefore conclude that cholesterol screening programs of the type now commonly offered are unlikely to contribute greatly to the national efforts to further reduce coronary heart disease.

Growing interest, growing programs, growing pains: Successfully customizing public outreach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wadkins, M.; Hill, C.; Hirsch, T.

1994-01-01

Since the mid-1980's, the Institutional and External Affairs staff of the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project (YMP) has developed, coordinated, and maintained various public outreach programs to carry out the YMP's open door policy of keeping local communities informed. However, public involvement first requires public knowledge and, therefore, various information programs have been established over the past few years. First came the speakers bureau program, then the exhibits and science centers; and then came the tours and school district educational programs. All these programs were geared toward teaching the mainstream general public about the YMP and issues related to things nuclear. Today, the YMP outreach programs are established and known and the demand from the public has seen a shift. Over 150 top scientists and staff from around the country who have come to work at the YMP have joined the outreach participant pool to speak to the public not only about Yucca Mountain, but about their areas of expertise as well. For this reason, the public has realized a great opportunity for a general science and engineering education resource -- the YMP staff themselves. In a panel discussion, open-quotes Trust and credibility: The central issueclose quotes, proceedings of the National Conference on Risk Communication, it was shown that university professors and science teachers were among the most trusted individuals in terms of public perception and that government staff and contractors the least trusted. However, when you utilize the core educated knowledge of a YMP scientist in order to teach general science and math, you have, to some extent, placed that individual in an educational role and thus increased trust. The YMP scientists enjoy talking about their general science knowledge and we have found that the public likes to hear about it too

77 FR 67439 - Fiscal Year 2013 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-09

... Year 2013 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration... changes in the Public Transportation on Indian Reservations program (Tribal Transit Program) in accordance... Public Meeting: FTA will provide outreach in conjunction with the National Tribal Transportation...

Public participation in UMTRA Project Program Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majors, M.J.; Ulland, L.M.

1993-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is cleaning up radioactive soil and ore residue from 24 inactive uranium processing sites under the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project. In early 1993, the DOE adopted new guidelines strongly encouraging public participation. This guidance commits to providing the public with opportunities to participate in the decision-making process for program planning, design, and implementation. Rooted in the conviction that an effective public participation program will enable citizens to take part in policy decisions, the full adoption of the guidance by the UMTRA project can also help DOE make better decisions, provide a means to build consensus, and assist in building credibility. This transition to open communication parallels the climate of corporate America in which increases in productivity are often the result of workers and management teaming together to solve problems. While these guidelines have been embraced by public affairs staff from headquarters to the field offices, barriers still exist that inhibit substantive public involvement. The challenge for the UMTRA project is to overcome these barriers to ensure that public participation is an integral part of the way business is conducted. This paper discusses lessons learned by the UMTRA project in its efforts to address barriers to public participation and the project's plans for full compliance with the DOE guidelines

Expanding Public Outreach: The Solar System Ambassadors Program

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, K.

2001-12-01

The Solar System Ambassadors Program is a public outreach program designed to work with motivated volunteers across the nation. These competitively selected volunteers organize and conduct public events that communicate exciting discoveries and plans in Solar System research, exploration and technology through non-traditional forums. In 2001, 206 Ambassadors from almost all 50 states bring the excitement of space to the public. Ambassadors are space enthusiasts, who come from all walks of life. Last year, Ambassadors conducted almost 600 events that reached more than one-half million people in communities across the United States. The Solar System Ambassadors Program is sponsored by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a lead research and development center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Participating JPL organizations include Cassini, Galileo, STARDUST, Outer Planets mission, Genesis, Ulysses, Voyager, Mars missions, Discovery missions NEAR and Deep Impact, Deep Space Network, Solar System Exploration Forum and the Education and Public Outreach Office. Each Ambassador participates in on-line (web-based) training sessions that provide interaction with NASA scientists, engineers and project team members. As such, each Ambassador's experience with the space program becomes personalized. Training sessions provide Ambassadors with general background on each mission and educate them concerning specific mission milestones, such as launches, planetary flybys, first image returns, arrivals, and ongoing key discoveries. Additionally, projects provide limited supplies of materials, online resource links and information. Integrating volunteers across the country in a public-engagement program helps optimize project funding set aside for education and outreach purposes, establishing a nationwide network of regional contacts. At the same time

The Specification of Science Education Programs in the Local Public Library: Focusing on the Programs In G-city

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

In-Ja Ahn*

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The city of 'G' has been made a number of achievements with its science program as a part of public library's cultural program during the last 5 years. Recently, the national science centre has been established in the same city, the debate is now needed whether the science program in the public library have reasons to be maintained or to be reduced. The aim of this research is on the operating strategies of the science program in the public library. The research methods include case studies of operational strategies in domestic and foreign science centre, the level of satisfaction of local citizen on the science program, the vision of science program in the advancement of public library in the century. In results, the research proposes that the science program in public library should be maintained, but with locally characterised programs. In addition, the study also advised on the provision of scientific information, the strengthened search functions, and the development of user-centred services for those in science fields.

Frequency Domain Computer Programs for Prediction and Analysis of Rail Vehicle Dynamics : Volume 1. Technical Report

Science.gov (United States)

1975-12-01

Frequency domain computer programs developed or acquired by TSC for the analysis of rail vehicle dynamics are described in two volumes. Volume I defines the general analytical capabilities required for computer programs applicable to single rail vehi...

34 CFR 303.164 - Public awareness program.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 34 Education 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Public awareness program. 303.164 Section 303.164 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education (Continued) OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS WITH DISABILITIES State Application for a...

Evaluating public involvement in the National Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-09-01

The Department of Energy contracted with the Keystone Center to evaluate the effectiveness of the National Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Program's public-involvement efforts. The Center chose six evaluators with diverse training and experience related to low-level waste management and public-participation programs. Keystone's evaluation was based on (a) observations by the evaluators who attended the National Program-sponsored strategy review meetings and fairs; (b) interviews with low-level waste generators, local government officials, state legislators, public-interest groups, and members of the general public; and (c) observations of the final National Program strategy task force meeting. The evaluators concluded that, overall, the public-participation processes yielded some very positive results - for policy development and for DOE and the EG and G staff. They judged the strategy document to be complete, concise, and helpful to public dialogue on low-level waste issues. They also made specific recommendations for improvements to the public-participation program

Public participation in UMTRA Project program management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majors, M.J.; Ulland, L.M.

1993-01-01

Innovative techniques for overcoming barriers to public participation on the US Department of Energy's Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project have led to improved communications with stakeholders at project sites and improved communications within the project. On the UMTRA Project, it's been shown that an effective public participation program is an essential element to successful project implementation

Diagrammatic Representations in Domain-Specific Languages

OpenAIRE

Tourlas, Konstantinos

2002-01-01

One emerging approach to reducing the labour and costs of software development favours the specialisation of techniques to particular application domains. The rationale is that programs within a given domain often share enough common features and assumptions to enable the incorporation of substantial support mechanisms into domain-specific programming languages and associated tools. Instead of being machine-oriented, algorithmic implementations, programs in many domain-speci...

Using Weighted Constraints to Diagnose Errors in Logic Programming--The Case of an Ill-Defined Domain

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Nguyen-Thinh; Menzel, Wolfgang

2009-01-01

In this paper, we introduce logic programming as a domain that exhibits some characteristics of being ill-defined. In order to diagnose student errors in such a domain, we need a means to hypothesise the student's intention, that is the strategy underlying her solution. This is achieved by weighting constraints, so that hypotheses about solution…

New directions for public information programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCutheon, B.J.

1976-01-01

Opportunities and problems in information programming within the nuclear industry fall into three general categories: public expectations (content), getting heard (methods and media) and credibility (quality and dependability ofinformation). The difficulty of getting the message across is compounded by a negative communications climate, the lack of belief in an immediate energy shortage, competition for the public's ear and lack of interest by those not already committed. Selection of the most appropriate media should be another concern. There is also the problem of credibility of information programming by the Canadian Nuclear Association. The use of articulate, technically competent individuals in extending communications activity is recommended. Presenting the nuclear industry favourably within the broad social context is essential to prevent the industry being singled out as a symbol of growth, high technology and high risk. The nuclear debate must be perceived in terms of its increasingly political nature. The public require dependable information that will help them reach sound decisions. This is the responsibility of the nuclear industry, the utilities, appropriate government departments and educational institutions, and is not necessarily up to the politicians. (J.T.A.)

The nuclear power public education and information program in the Philippines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, E.A.; Natera, E.S.

1996-01-01

The nuclear power public education and information program aims to present the beneficial uses of radiation and nuclear energy. Considering that there are pros and cons to the use of nuclear energy, the program aims to give the public an objective and balanced view of this source of energy. A decision to use or not to use nuclear energy, to be sound,must be based on an adequate and objective knowledge of the atom and nuclear energy. Executive Order 243 created the Nuclear Power Steering committee including subcommittee on Nuclear Power Public Education and Information. This subcommittee is tasked to formulate an effective nuclear power public education and information program. Said program must include training component for science teachers in the high school and college levels and shall also work for the inclusion of nuclear related subjects in all engineering curriculum. It shall coordinate with the University of the Philippines for the revival of the M.S. in Nuclear Engineering Program of the university. This paper will discuss a brief history of nuclear power public education and awareness programs and the present and projected activities of this subcommittee. (author)

Association between postgraduate year 2 residency program characteristics and primary project publication.

Science.gov (United States)

Swanson, Joseph M; Shafeeq, Hira; Hammond, Drayton A; Li, Chenghui; Devlin, John W

2018-03-15

The association among residency program and research mentor characteristics, program director perceptions, and the publication of the primary research project for postgraduate year 2 (PGY2) graduates was assessed. Using a validated electronic survey, residency program directors (RPDs) of critical care PGY2 graduates were asked about primary research project publication success, program and research project mentor characteristics, and RPDs' perceptions surrounding project completion. All 55 RPDs surveyed responded; 44 (79%) reported being a research project mentor. PGY2 research project publications in 2011 and 2012 totaled 26 (37%) and 27 (35%), respectively. A significant relationship existed between research project publication and the number of residents in the program ( p project publication is important to their employer ( p projects versus no publications included the number of graduates in the PGY2 program (odds ratio [OR], 5.6; p project publication (OR, 10.2; p project versus no research projects was also independently associated with the RPD's perception that the employer valued research project publication (OR, 5.1; p = 0.04). A survey of RPDs of critical care PGY2 residents found that the number of PGY2 residents, the number of publications by the least experienced research mentor, and the perception that publishing the residents' research projects is important to the employer were independently associated with publication rates of residency research projects. Copyright © 2018 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Intellectual property rights vs. public access rights: ethical aspects of the DeCSS decryptation program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Vaagan

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. In 1999-2000, a Norwegian youth cracked a DVD-access code and published a decryptation program on the Internet. He was sued by the US DVD Copy Control Association (DVD-CCA and the Norwegian Motion Picture Association (MAP, allies of the US Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA, arrested by Norwegian police and charged with data crime. Two Norwegian court rulings in 2003 unanimously ruled that the program did not amount to a breach of Norwegian law, and he was fully acquitted. In the US, there have been related cases, some with other outcomes. Method. Based on a theoretical framework developed by Zwass, the paper discusses these court rulings and the wider issues of intellectual property rights versus public access rights. Analysis. The DVD-Jon case illustrates that intellectual property rights can conflict with public access rights, as the struggle between proprietary software and public domain software, as well as the SPARC and Open Archives Initiative reflect. Results. An assessment of the DVD-Jon case based on the Zwass framework does not give a clear information ethics answer. The analysis depends on whether one ascribes to consequentialist (e.g., utilitarian or de-ontological reflection, and also on which side of the digital gap is to be accorded most weight. Conclusion. While copyright interests are being legally strengthened, there may be ethically- grounded access rights that outweigh property rights.

77 FR 13619 - Notice of Proposed Information for Public Comment for: Public Housing Capital Fund Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-07

... that are not subject to Independent Public Accountant (IPA) audit requirements. Agency form numbers, if... Information for Public Comment for: Public Housing Capital Fund Program AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, HUD. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The proposed information collection...

Developing a public involvement policy for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, S.; Summerson, J.; Gleason, M.E.; Reyes, P.C.

1994-01-01

The Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program is entering its second decade. Given the Department of Energy's current efforts toward openness and culture change, the role of stakeholders is likely to evolve throughout the 1990s to enable greater participation by these external parties in making program decisions. Although the program has a tradition of inviting its stakeholders to review and comment on its activities, it also is known for employing on occasion what has been derisively called a open-quotes decide-announce-defendclose quotes strategy. Program efforts to involve the public have come under considerable criticism for being inadequate, inconsistent, lacking in follow-through, and offered on a sporadic and selective basis. The program is vulnerable to these criticisms because ground rules for public involvement have never been firmly established as part of the program's routine operations. This deficiency has contributed, in part, to stakeholder doubts about the program's sincerity in engaging in a meaningful dialogue with them. The program and its stakeholders both could benefit from an official public involvement policy that would serve as a guidepost for interactions between program officials and stakeholders. Such a policy, developed in concert with stakeholders, would ensure that all parties understand how stakeholder participation is to occur. This paper reviews (1) events establishing the need for a formal public involvement policy; (2) public involvement initiatives that will inform the process of developing a new policy; (3) current efforts to develop a Department of Energy public involvement policy; and (4) key elements for inclusion in a public involvement policy developed specifically for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program

Success of the Undergraduate Public Health Program At Tulane University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luann Ellis White

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (SPHTM launched the Bachelors of Science in Public Health (BSPH in 2005. The BSPH has steadily grown and comprises one third of the total enrollment in the school. A review of the organizational structure demonstrates that direct responsibility for undergraduate education by a school of public health is advantageous to the success of the program. The competency and skills-based curriculum attracts students. Outcome measures show the enrollment is steadily increasing. The majority of the BSPH graduates continue onto competitive graduate and professional degree programs. Those who seek jobs find employment related to their public health education, but outside of the traditional governmental public health agencies. The combined BSPH/MPH degree is a pipeline for students to pursue a MPH and increases the likelihood students will pursue careers in public health. The range and depth of study in the bachelors program is continually examined. Topics once within the purview of graduate education are now being incorporated into undergraduate courses. Undergraduate public health is one of a number of factors that is influencing changes in the MPH degree.

Index of Laser Program publications and related reports, 1983

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-05-01

This document provides a listing of titles and authors of publications from the LLNL Laser Program during calendar year 1983. It is presented as an aid for researchers in the field who may not otherwise have access to a full listing of laser-related work done at LLNL. The intent is to provide a brief and concise listing. Publications are classified by subject, but cross references are not supplied and those documents which logically fall in more than one category may not appear to be in the obvious location. We recognize that gaining access to the publications may be difficult, and have appended a listing of libraries that have microfiche copies of one or more years of LLNL Laser Program publications

Understanding social media program usage in public transit agencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jenny H. Liu

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Social media has been gaining prominence in public transit agencies in their communication strategies and daily management. This study aims to better understand recent trends in social media usage in public transit agencies, to examine which agencies use what kind of social media programs for what purposes, and how they measure their programs. A survey was conducted of the top transit agencies in the nation, and results are examined through descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis and regression modeling. We found that while most agencies still lack clearly-defined goals and performance metrics to guide their social media development, many are increasing their social media capacity with more structural components. Public transit service usage and the level of transit service provision are the most significant determinants of agencies’ social media programming and resource investments. In contrast, the measurement of social media usage and outcomes is more significantly related to city attributes and demographic characteristics. We anticipate an increase in the usage of social media to convey transit related stories and livability benefits, such as environmental sensitivity or safety improvements, as these programs expand. Public transit agencies’ commitment to measuring social media outcomes underscores the future research need to develop best practices for measuring the impacts and performance of social media communications and investments.

Understanding social media program usage in public transit agencies

OpenAIRE

Jenny H. Liu; Wei Shi; O.A. (Sam) Elrahman; Xuegang (Jeff) Ban; Jack M. Reilly

2016-01-01

Social media has been gaining prominence in public transit agencies in their communication strategies and daily management. This study aims to better understand recent trends in social media usage in public transit agencies, to examine which agencies use what kind of social media programs for what purposes, and how they measure their programs. A survey was conducted of the top transit agencies in the nation, and results are examined through descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analys...

The development of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) project's public affairs program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walter, L.H.

1988-01-01

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) offers a perspective on the value of designing flexibility into a public affairs program to enable it to grow with and complement a project's evolution from construction through to operations. This paper discusses how the WIPP public affairs program progressed through several stages to its present scope. During the WIPP construction phase, the public affairs program laid a foundation for Project acceptance in the community. A speaker's bureau, a visitors program, and various community outreach and support programs emphasized the educational and socioeconomic benefits of having this controversial project in Carlsbad. Then, in this past year as the project entered a preoperational status, the public affairs program emphasis shifted to broaden the positive image that had been created locally. In this stage, the program promoted the project's positive elements with the various state agencies, government officials, and federal organizations involved in our country's radioactive waste management and transportation program. Currently, an even broader, more aggressive public affairs program is planned. During this stage public affairs will be engaged in a comprehensive institutional and outreach program, explaining and supporting WIPP's mission in each of the communities and agencies affected by the operation of the country's first geologic repository

The public understanding of nanotechnology in the food domain: the hidden role of views on science, technology, and nature.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandermoere, Frederic; Blanchemanche, Sandrine; Bieberstein, Andrea; Marette, Stephan; Roosen, Jutta

2011-03-01

In spite of great expectations about the potential of nanotechnology, this study shows that people are rather ambiguous and pessimistic about nanotechnology applications in the food domain. Our findings are drawn from a survey of public perceptions about nanotechnology food and nanotechnology food packaging (N = 752). Multinomial logistic regression analyses further reveal that knowledge about food risks and nanotechnology significantly influences people's views about nanotechnology food packaging. However, knowledge variables were unrelated to support for nanofood, suggesting that an increase in people's knowledge might not be sufficient to bridge the gap between the excitement some business leaders in the food sector have and the restraint of the public. Additionally, opposition to nanofood was not related to the use of heuristics but to trust in governmental agencies. Furthermore, the results indicate that public perceptions of nanoscience in the food domain significantly relate to views on science, technology, and nature.

Proposed plan for public benefit programs funded by System Benefits Charge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

As the electric industry in New York State moves through deregulation toward retail competition, it will be important to ensure the vital public benefit programs of energy efficiency, research and development, low income services, and environmental protection. The Public Service Commission's (PSC) Opinion No. 98-3, effective January 30, 1998, established a system for funding such programs with a non-passable System Benefits Charge (SBC) and designated the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as the administrator of the statewide SBC-funded public benefit programs

49 CFR 37.61 - Public transportation programs and activities in existing facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Public transportation programs and activities in... TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES (ADA) Transportation Facilities § 37.61 Public transportation programs and activities in existing facilities. (a) A public entity shall operate a designated...

Pennsylvania's LLRW public information, participation, and education program: Contact, communication, commitment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dornsife, W.P.; Volkmer, D.; Saraka, L.

1995-01-01

Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia established the Appalachian Compact to site a low level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal facility within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As the host state/agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (DER) has developed and implemented a public interaction program. Prior to legislation of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Act, through development of the rules and regulations, and presently in the siting process, DER continues to utilize the following in-house and external communications resources: (1) An advisory committee, (2) State-wide public meetings, (3) State-wide library depository system, (4) DER staff, (5) Publications, and (6) Community outreach initiative. With each milestone of the project, DER's multi-faceted public interaction approach addresses general public knowledge and understanding of the project. Historically, the communications program involved all five resources in the legislation, rules and regulations, and operator-licensee designate selection processes. Currently, the resources are implemented in the site screening process and in the future for the municipalities outreach program. Even though the operator-licensee designate has the ultimate responsibility of public involvement, DER has laid the groundwork for creating a process that elicits and incorporates public input into the LLRW program. This paper describes the utilization (historical, present, and future) of the major communications resources and summarizes the goals and challenges for future public involvement initiatives

Implications of Public Opinion for Space Program Planning, 1980 - 2000

Science.gov (United States)

Overholt, W.; Wiener, A. J.; Yokelson, D.

1975-01-01

The effect of public opinion on future space programs is discussed in terms of direct support, apathy, or opposition, and concern about the tax burden, budgetary pressures, and national priorities. Factors considered include: the salience and visibility of NASA as compared with other issues, the sources of general pressure on the federal budget which could affect NASA, the public's opinions regarding the size and priority of NASA'S budget, the degree to which the executive can exercise leverage over NASA's budget through influencing or disregarding public opinion, the effects of linkages to other issues on space programs, and the public's general attitudes toward the progress of science.

Peace/Williston fish and wildlife compensation program: 1991-1992 Public compensation report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becker, G.K.

1992-01-01

The Peace/Williston Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program is a joint initiative by British Columbia Hydro and the provincial environment ministry to enhance and protect fish and wildlife resources and their habitat in the Williston watershed affected by the construction of the WAC Bennett and Peace Canyon dams on the Peace River. The interest from a fund of $11 million, established by BC Hydro in 1988, is used to maintain the compensation programs. Public input to the ongoing fish and wildlife programs is provided by a public consultation program. A summary is presented of the activities undertaken by the public consultation program in 1991/92 and public attitudes toward the consultation program. Activities undertaken in the fish and wildlife enhancement program are summarized in appendices. Fisheries programs included stocking, stream fertilization, small lake surveys, preparation of a side channel in Carbon Creek for multi-species spawning, and creation of an artificial spring at Windy Point for spawning purposes. Wildlife programs included channel clearance and vegetation supply improvements to enhance muskrat and beaver habitat; radio monitoring of sheep and elk; studying the feasibility of transplanting elk herds; and purchase of critical ungulate winter habitat lands. 1 fig., 12 tabs

45 CFR 400.66 - Eligibility and payment levels in a publicly-administered RCA program.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Eligibility and payment levels in a publicly... REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM Refugee Cash Assistance § 400.66 Eligibility and payment levels in a publicly-administered RCA program. (a) In administering a publicly-administered refugee cash assistance program, the...

Effectiveness of the toll-free line for public insurance programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Saunders, Cynthia M

2005-03-01

Toll-free lines for public insurance programs are a major point of entry to inquire about information. More than 1 million Californians are eligible for public insurance programs based on income but not yet enrolled. In 2000 and 2002, a "mystery-shopper" survey was conducted to ascertain overall effectiveness and interlanguage variation for information provided in Armenian, Cantonese, English, Farsi, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Although the 2002 study showed statistically significant improvements from 2000, many constructs remained problematic. In 2002, for example, statistically significant interlanguage variation was identified in discussing and checking eligibility for the program. Specifically, Spanish and Armenian callers were less likely than other language callers to have eligibility checked or deemed eligible. Removing barriers to enrollment in public insurance programs often requires political solutions, but improving customer service for the toll-free line necessitates efficiency and a focus on continuous quality improvement.

78 FR 42945 - Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program Revision for the State of Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-18

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9834-9] Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program... Water Supply Supervision Primacy Program. Oregon has adopted regulations analogous to EPA's Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule; Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule; Ground Water...

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

76 FR 5157 - Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program Revision for the State of Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-28

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9259-6] Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program... Water Supply Supervision Primacy Program. Alaska has adopted regulations analogous to EPA's Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule; Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule; and Lead and...

76 FR 45253 - Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program Revision for the State of Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-28

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9444-8] Public Water Supply Supervision Program; Program... Water Supply Supervision Primacy Program. Alaska has adopted regulations analogous to the EPA's Ground Water Rule. The EPA has determined that these revisions are no less stringent than the corresponding...

Current Conditions of Bilingual Teacher Preparation Programs in Public Universities in USA

Science.gov (United States)

Johannessen, B. Gloria Guzman; Thorsos, Nilsa; Dickinson, Gail

2016-01-01

This study addresses public universities' policies and practices in the USA (United States of America) with a focus on public bilingual teacher preparation in Spanish-English programs (initial credential licensure and Masters of Education programs with, or without, endorsements). We questioned: "What do bilingual programs look like in public…

A STUDY OF THE REQUIRED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING PROGRAM IN PUBLIC COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS HELD BY CESPE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fátima de Souza Freire

2012-11-01

Full Text Available With a view to standardizing the contents offered to future Accounting professionals, the Federal Accounting Council (CFC elaborated the National Proposal for Undergraduate Accountancy Program Contents. Thus, the curriculum that Higher Education Institutions (HEI adopt serves as an ally for students’ professional conquests. Stability and favorable job conditions attract many people to the dispute for a public function, with a growing Braz ilian public competitive examination market. According to the National Association for Protection and Support to Public Competitive Examinations (Anpac, between 2003 and 2009, the number of public servants in the executive power with a higher education degree in Brazil increased by 26%. The aim of this study was to confront the CFC’s suggested knowledge with the contents required during tests applied in public competitive examinations for Accountancy professionals. The intent is to identify what Public Accounting knowledge is demanded from candidates for the public career. Through a documentary research, 561 calls from public competitive examinations exclusively for Accountancy professionals were selected for the study sample. They were classified according to the proposed program contents, the test questions by the Center for Selection and Event Promotion (Cespe, between 2000 and 2009. In conclusion, the most frequent required Public Accounting areas are contents related to Public Equity and Budget. The results demonstrate that the CFC’s suggested content is in line with the knowledge required from candidates for public functions.

Academic Executive Programs in Public Administration and Management: Some Variety across Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Reichard, Christoph

2017-01-01

Universities and other higher education institutions in Europe offer a vast and increasing number of academic degree programs in the broad field of Public Administration. A subset of these programs is those offering postgraduate degrees to experienced students being already employed by public or private organisations. These executive programs are…

Engaging the Public Through an Interactive Astronomy Outreach Program

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Kristen

2018-01-01

The growing technology sector of the U.S. economy in an increasingly complex world has made it more important than ever for students to gather information, think critically, and solve problems. These skills are often acquired through the study of STEM disciplines. In an effort to inspire students and the public in the Charlotte, NC area to take an interest in STEM related fields, the Physics Department at Davidson College has recently developed an interactive astronomy community engagement program. This program is comprised of off-campus events that bring STEM programming to K-12 children, on-campus public star parties, and a day-long astronomy fair called Davidson Space Day. This presentation will illustrate the implementation of each of these components of our outreach program, present an evaluation of their success, and describe future goals and lessons learned thus far. This outreach program was made possible through funding from the NC Space Grant Consortium.

Towards an information strategy for combating identity fraud in the public domain: Cases from healthcare and criminal justice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Plomp, M.G.A.; Grijpink, J.H.A.M.

2011-01-01

Two trends are present in both the private and public domain: increasing interorganisational co-operation and increasing digitisation. More and more processes within and between organisations take place electronically, on local, national and European scale. The technological and organisational

Designing Domain-Specific Heterogeneous Architectures from Dataflow Programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Süleyman Savas

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The last ten years have seen performance and power requirements pushing computer architectures using only a single core towards so-called manycore systems with hundreds of cores on a single chip. To further increase performance and energy efficiency, we are now seeing the development of heterogeneous architectures with specialized and accelerated cores. However, designing these heterogeneous systems is a challenging task due to their inherent complexity. We proposed an approach for designing domain-specific heterogeneous architectures based on instruction augmentation through the integration of hardware accelerators into simple cores. These hardware accelerators were determined based on their common use among applications within a certain domain.The objective was to generate heterogeneous architectures by integrating many of these accelerated cores and connecting them with a network-on-chip. The proposed approach aimed to ease the design of heterogeneous manycore architectures—and, consequently, exploration of the design space—by automating the design steps. To evaluate our approach, we enhanced our software tool chain with a tool that can generate accelerated cores from dataflow programs. This new tool chain was evaluated with the aid of two use cases: radar signal processing and mobile baseband processing. We could achieve an approximately 4 × improvement in performance, while executing complete applications on the augmented cores with a small impact (2.5–13% on area usage. The generated accelerators are competitive, achieving more than 90% of the performance of hand-written implementations.

Environment Health & Safety Research Program. Organization and 1979-1980 Publications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1981-01-01

This document was prepared to assist readers in understanding the organization of Pacific Northwest Laboratory, and the organization and functions of the Environment, Health and Safety Research Program Office. Telephone numbers of the principal management staff are provided. Also included is a list of 1979 and 1980 publications reporting on work performed in the Environment, Health and Safety Research Program, as well as a list of papers submitted for publication.

Peace/Williston fish and wildlife compensation program: 1992-1993 public compensation report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bemister, C.N.

1993-01-01

The Peace/Williston Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program is a joint initiative by British Columbia Hydro and the provincial environment ministry to enhance and protect fish and wildlife resources and their habitat in the Williston watershed affected by the construction of the WAC Bennett and Peace Canyon dams on the Peace River. The interest from a fund of $11 million, established by BC Hydro in 1988, is used to maintain the compensation programs. Public input to the ongoing fish and wildlife programs is provided by a public consultation program. To date, the Peace/Williston compensation program has undertaken 93 projects to either conserve or enhance fish and wildlife through habitat improvement and protection. A summary is presented of the activities undertaken by the public consultation program in 1992/93 and public attitudes toward the consultation program. Activities undertaken in the fish and wildlife enhancement program are summarized in appendices. Fisheries programs included stocking, stream fertilization, small lake surveys, preparation of a side channel in Carbon Creek for multi-species spawning, and creation of an artificial spring at Windy Point for spawning purposes. Wildlife programs included channel clearance and vegetation supply improvements to enhance muskrat and beaver habitat; radio monitoring of sheep and elk; studying the feasibility of transplanting elk herds; and purchase of critical ungulate winter habitat lands. 13 figs., 4 tabs

Achieving public acceptance. Lessons from national repository programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Isaacs, Tom

2008-01-01

Essentially all countries pursuing nuclear waste repository programs have had long and dynamic histories. There have had changes in policies, programs, and national laws, many successes and more failures. Most continue to pursue the siting and development of geologic repositories for the ultimate disposal of the spent nuclear fuel (or reprocessed wastes) arising from the operation of nuclear power plants. And while many have had very strong repository science and technology programs, they have continued to find significant challenges associated with the societal acceptance issues required for such programs to be successful. Over recent years repository programs have developed and implemented rather different approaches to managing the non-technical (e.g. societal, political, and institutional) aspects of repository program development. This is not unexpected as programs have had different histories, operate under different laws, reside in countries with different cultures and values, and are managed under different formulations. For example, the U.S. program is implemented by a branch of the Department of Energy while in several other countries the program is managed by a separate corporation on behalf of the nuclear waste owners or dedicated quasi-governmental organizations. These similar, but different programs, and their rich histories and current work, provide an excellent opportunity to investigate features that have and have not proven successful in helping to achieve public acceptance. This paper will review some of the compelling aspects and provide some guidelines for applications in other national circumstances. Recent experiences will be evaluated to discern emerging trends for achieving public acceptance in nuclear repository development and in the broader dimensions associated with the potential renaissance of nuclear power. (author)

Quality criteria for electronic publications in medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulz, S; Auhuber, T; Schrader, U; Klar, R

1998-01-01

This paper defines "electronic publications in medicine (EPM)" as computer based training programs, databases, knowledge-based systems, multimedia applications and electronic books running on standard platforms and available by usual distribution channels. A detailed catalogue of quality criteria as a basis for development and evaluation of EPMs is presented. The necessity to raise the quality level of electronic publications is stressed considering aspects of domain knowledge, software engineering, media development, interface design and didactics.

Combining Public Domain and Professional Panoramic Imagery for the Accurate and Dense 3d Reconstruction of the Destroyed Bel Temple in Palmyra

Science.gov (United States)

Wahbeh, W.; Nebiker, S.; Fangi, G.

2016-06-01

This paper exploits the potential of dense multi-image 3d reconstruction of destroyed cultural heritage monuments by either using public domain touristic imagery only or by combining the public domain imagery with professional panoramic imagery. The focus of our work is placed on the reconstruction of the temple of Bel, one of the Syrian heritage monuments, which was destroyed in September 2015 by the so called "Islamic State". The great temple of Bel is considered as one of the most important religious buildings of the 1st century AD in the East with a unique design. The investigations and the reconstruction were carried out using two types of imagery. The first are freely available generic touristic photos collected from the web. The second are panoramic images captured in 2010 for documenting those monuments. In the paper we present a 3d reconstruction workflow for both types of imagery using state-of-the art dense image matching software, addressing the non-trivial challenges of combining uncalibrated public domain imagery with panoramic images with very wide base-lines. We subsequently investigate the aspects of accuracy and completeness obtainable from the public domain touristic images alone and from the combination with spherical panoramas. We furthermore discuss the challenges of co-registering the weakly connected 3d point cloud fragments resulting from the limited coverage of the touristic photos. We then describe an approach using spherical photogrammetry as a virtual topographic survey allowing the co-registration of a detailed and accurate single 3d model of the temple interior and exterior.

FHWA Research and Technology Evaluation: Public-Private Partnership Capacity Building Program

Science.gov (United States)

2018-02-01

This report details the evaluation of the Federal Highway Administrations Office of Innovative Program Delivery Public-Private Partnership (P3) Capacity Building Program (P3 Program). The evaluators focused on the P3 Programs P3 Toolkit as an e...

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

[Pedagogical training in stricto sensu graduate programs in public health].

Science.gov (United States)

Corrêa, Guilherme Torres; Ribeiro, Victoria Maria Brant

2013-06-01

The scope of this research is to discuss the relevance and need for pedagogical training of university lecturers in the Public Health field. The contention is that college teaching is a practice that requires specific training, since it is characterized by complex elements that transcend the mastery of given content. Considering stricto sensu graduate studies as an important stage in the training of future university lecturers, an attempt was made to identify and analyze the subjects and practices of pedagogical training in academic masters and doctorate programs in Public Health. To achieve the research aim, this work was based on Pierre Bourdieu's field theory and on Tomaz Tadeu da Silva's curriculum theory. Results indicate that the programs do not consider the aspect of teacher training as a major issue. With regard to the Public Health field approximately 61% of masters and 38% of doctorate programs have pedagogical training subjects/practices. Furthermore, there is a tendency for technical-instrumental training, which is in line with the history of the Public Health field. The conclusion is that there is a need to develop a culture that values college and graduate Public Health teaching, considering the complexity of pedagogical practice in all its dimensions.

Florida Public Health Training Center: Evidence-Based Online Mentor Program

Science.gov (United States)

Frahm, Kathryn A.; Alsac-Seitz, Biray; Mescia, Nadine; Brown, Lisa M.; Hyer, Kathy; Liburd, Desiree; Rogoff, David P.; Troutman, Adewale

2013-01-01

This article describes an Online Mentor Program (OMP) designed to support and facilitate mentorships among and between Florida Department of Health (FDOH) employees and USF College of Public Health students using a Web-based portal. The Florida Public Health Training Center (FPHTC) at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Public Health…

Effective elements of school health promotion across behavioral domains: a systematic review of reviews

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peters Louk WH

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Most school health education programs focus on a single behavioral domain. Integrative programs that address multiple behaviors may be more efficient, but only if the elements of change are similar for these behaviors. The objective of this study was to examine which effective elements of school health education are similar across three particular behavioral domains. Methods A systematic review of reviews of the effectiveness of school-based health promotion programs was conducted for the domains of substance abuse, sexual behavior, and nutrition. The literature search spanned the time period between 1995 and October 2006 and included three databases, websites of review centers and backward search. Fifty-five reviews and meta-analyses met predetermined relevance and publication criteria and were included. Data was extracted by one reviewer and checked by a second reviewer. A standardized data extraction form was used, with detailed attention to effective elements pertaining to program goals, development, content, methods, facilitator, components and intensity. Two assessors rated the quality of reviews as strong, moderate or weak. We included only strong and moderate reviews in two types of analysis: one based on interpretation of conflicting results, the other on a specific vote-counting rule. Results Thirty six reviews were rated strong, 6 moderate, and 13 weak. A multitude of effective elements was identified in the included reviews and many elements were similar for two or more domains. In both types of analysis, five elements with evidence from strong reviews were found to be similar for all three domains: use of theory; addressing social influences, especially social norms; addressing cognitive-behavioral skills; training of facilitators; and multiple components. Two additional elements had positive results in all domains with the rule-based method of analysis, but had inconclusive results in at least one domain with

School Wellness Programs: Magnitude and Distribution in New York City Public Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Stiefel, Leanna; Elbel, Brian; Prescott, Melissa Pflugh; Aneja, Siddhartha; Schwartz, Amy Ellen

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Public schools provide students with opportunities to participate in many discretionary, unmandated wellness programs. Little is known about the number of these programs, their distribution across schools, and the kinds of students served. We provide evidence on these questions for New York City (NYC) public schools. METHODS Data on wellness programs were collected from program websites, NYC’s Office of School Food and Wellness, and direct contact with program sponsors for 2013. Programs were grouped into categories, nutrition, fitness, and comprehensive, and were combined with data on school characteristics available from NYC’s Department of Education. Numbers of programs and provision of programs were analyzed for relationships with demographic and school structural characteristics, using descriptive statistics and multiple regression. RESULTS Discretionary wellness programs are numerous, at 18 programs. Little evidence supports inequity according to student race/ethnicity, income, or nativity, but high schools, new schools, co-located schools, small schools, and schools with larger proportions of inexperienced teachers are less likely to provide wellness programs. CONCLUSIONS Opportunities exist to further the reach of wellness programs in public schools by modifying them for high school adoption and building capacity in schools less likely to have the administrative support to house them. PMID:27917485

Enhancing public access to legal information : A proposal for a new official legal information generic top-level domain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mitee, Leesi Ebenezer

2017-01-01

Abstract: This article examines the use of a new legal information generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) as a viable tool for easy identification of official legal information websites (OLIWs) and enhancing global public access to their resources. This intervention is necessary because of the existence of

Situation Concerning Public Information about and Involvement in the Decision-Making Processes in the Nuclear Sector. Public Opinion Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prades, A.; Sala, R.; Lopez, M.

2006-01-01

This report summarizes the CIEMAT's contribution to the study S ituation concerning Public Information about and Involvement in the Decision-Making Processes in the Nuclear Sector , contract number TREN/ 04/NUC/ S07.39556 between the European Commission and Mutadis Consultants. The research was composed by Mutadis Consultants and CEPN (Nuclear Protection Evaluation Centre) (France), University of Aberdeen (UK) and CIEMAT (Spain). The objective of the project was to build a detailed overview of the EU situation regarding information and participation practices in the nuclear domain, provide an elaborated assessment, and to produce reporting and recommendations in the field. CIEMAT contribution' focused on the review of public opinion polis. Thus, Eurobarometers Standard Surveys (EBs) were analysed to report about the European citizens' public opinion regarding public Information and participation in the nuclear field. Additionally, the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), and some additional national polis were analysed. In terms of the EU public opinion, the follow up of the public information and participation domains receiving as much attention as necessary. Extremely few questions dealing with the subject were identified in the Eurobarometers, the national polis and the ISSP (International Social Survey Program) surveys reviewed in this study. An unambiguous illustration of this lack of attention is the fact that no questions dealing with public participation issues emerged in the n uclear EBs u ntil 1998. Even though, Eurobarometers (EBs) still provide an invaluable source of information on the topics we are interested on at the EU allowing longitudinal descriptions (trend analysis) of some key issues in our area of interest. (Author) 11 refs

Into the Dark Domain: The UK Web Archive as a Source for the Contemporary History of Public Health

Science.gov (United States)

Gorsky, Martin

2015-01-01

With the migration of the written record from paper to digital format, archivists and historians must urgently consider how web content should be conserved, retrieved and analysed. The British Library has recently acquired a large number of UK domain websites, captured 1996–2010, which is colloquially termed the Dark Domain Archive while technical issues surrounding user access are resolved. This article reports the results of an invited pilot project that explores methodological issues surrounding use of this archive. It asks how the relationship between UK public health and local government was represented on the web, drawing on the ‘declinist’ historiography to frame its questions. It points up some difficulties in developing an aggregate picture of web content due to duplication of sites. It also highlights their potential for thematic and discourse analysis, using both text and image, illustrated through an argument about the contradictory rationale for public health policy under New Labour. PMID:26217072

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

A process for integrating public involvement into technical/social programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiltshire, S.; Williams, C.

1994-01-01

Good technical/social decisions--those that are technically sound and publicly acceptable--result from a planning process that considers consulting the public a basic part of the technical program, as basic as hiring a technical consultant to advise about new ideas in computer modeling. This paper describes a specific process for making public involvement an integral part of decision-making about high-level radioactive waste management, so that important technical, social, environmental, economic, and cultural information and values can be incorporated in a meaningful way in planning and carrying out a high-level waste management program or project. The process for integration must consider: (a) the decision or task for which public interaction is needed; (b) the people who should or will want to participate in the decision or task; (c) the goals or purposes of the communication or interaction--the agency's and the public's; (d) the kinds of information the public needs and that the agency needs in order to understand the relevant technical and social issues; and (e) the types of communication or involvement that best serve to meet the agency's and the public's goals

Evolving rule-based systems in two medical domains using genetic programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsakonas, Athanasios; Dounias, Georgios; Jantzen, Jan; Axer, Hubertus; Bjerregaard, Beth; von Keyserlingk, Diedrich Graf

2004-11-01

To demonstrate and compare the application of different genetic programming (GP) based intelligent methodologies for the construction of rule-based systems in two medical domains: the diagnosis of aphasia's subtypes and the classification of pap-smear examinations. Past data representing (a) successful diagnosis of aphasia's subtypes from collaborating medical experts through a free interview per patient, and (b) correctly classified smears (images of cells) by cyto-technologists, previously stained using the Papanicolaou method. Initially a hybrid approach is proposed, which combines standard genetic programming and heuristic hierarchical crisp rule-base construction. Then, genetic programming for the production of crisp rule based systems is attempted. Finally, another hybrid intelligent model is composed by a grammar driven genetic programming system for the generation of fuzzy rule-based systems. Results denote the effectiveness of the proposed systems, while they are also compared for their efficiency, accuracy and comprehensibility, to those of an inductive machine learning approach as well as to those of a standard genetic programming symbolic expression approach. The proposed GP-based intelligent methodologies are able to produce accurate and comprehensible results for medical experts performing competitive to other intelligent approaches. The aim of the authors was the production of accurate but also sensible decision rules that could potentially help medical doctors to extract conclusions, even at the expense of a higher classification score achievement.

School Wellness Programs: Magnitude and Distribution in New York City Public Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Stiefel, Leanna; Elbel, Brian; Pflugh Prescott, Melissa; Aneja, Siddhartha; Schwartz, Amy E.

2017-01-01

Background: Public schools provide students with opportunities to participate in many discretionary, unmandated wellness programs. Little is known about the number of these programs, their distribution across schools, and the kinds of students served. We provide evidence on these questions for New York City (NYC) public schools. Methods: Data on…

Public Health Preparedness Funding: Key Programs and Trends From 2001 to 2017.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Crystal R; Watson, Matthew; Sell, Tara Kirk

2017-09-01

To evaluate trends in funding over the past 16 years for key federal public health preparedness and response programs at the US Department of Health and Human Services, to improve understanding of federal funding history in this area, and to provide context for future resource allocation decisions for public health preparedness. In this 2017 analysis, we examined the funding history of key federal programs critical to public health preparedness by reviewing program budget data collected for our annual examination of federal funding for biodefense and health security programs since fiscal year (FY) 2001. State and local preparedness at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially received $940 million in FY2002 and resulted in significant preparedness gains, but funding levels have since decreased by 31%. Similarly, the Hospital Preparedness Program within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response was funded at a high of $515 million in FY2003, but funding was reduced by 50%. Investments in medical countermeasure development and stockpiling remained relatively stable. The United States has made significant progress in preparing for disasters and advancing public health infrastructure. To enable continued advancement, federal funding commitments must be sustained.

Drunk Driving Public Information Program Strategies and Planning Guide.

Science.gov (United States)

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

This guide, designed to accompany a videocassette of selected television spots is a compendium of specific drunk driving topics and issues for each of the major planning steps of a public information program. The guide is organized around these steps, which are (1) select program strategies, (2) select target audiences, (3) select media channels,…

Social network analysis of public health programs to measure partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

Schoen, Martin W; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Prewitt, Kim; Carothers, Bobbi J

2014-12-01

In order to prevent chronic diseases, community-based programs are encouraged to take an ecological approach to public health promotion and involve many diverse partners. Little is known about measuring partnership in implementing public health strategies. We collected data from 23 Missouri communities in early 2012 that received funding from three separate programs to prevent obesity and/or reduce tobacco use. While all of these funding programs encourage partnership, only the Social Innovation for Missouri (SIM) program included a focus on building community capacity and enhancing collaboration. Social network analysis techniques were used to understand contact and collaboration networks in community organizations. Measurements of average degree, density, degree centralization, and betweenness centralization were calculated for each network. Because of the various sizes of the networks, we conducted comparative analyses with and without adjustment for network size. SIM programs had increased measurements of average degree for partner collaboration and larger networks. When controlling for network size, SIM groups had higher measures of network density and lower measures of degree centralization and betweenness centralization. SIM collaboration networks were more dense and less centralized, indicating increased partnership. The methods described in this paper can be used to compare partnership in community networks of various sizes. Further research is necessary to define causal mechanisms of partnership development and their relationship to public health outcomes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Green-E general program and public information support program report, August 1, 1999 - September 30, 2000

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, Kirk

2000-09-30

Green-E Program support from the Dept. of Energy augmented the costs of implementing the objectives of the Green-E Renewable Electricity Project; general program implementation; regional adaptation; developing strategic partnerships; and public information/education/outreach.

Montessori Public School Pre-K Programs and the School Readiness of Low-Income Black and Latino Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Ansari, Arya; Winsler, Adam

2014-11-01

Within the United States, there are a variety of early education models and curricula aimed at promoting young children's pre-academic, social, and behavioral skills. This study, using data from the Miami School Readiness Project (MSRP; Winsler et al., 2008, 2012), examined the school readiness gains of low-income Latino ( n = 7,045) and Black children ( n = 6,700) enrolled in two different types of Title-1 public school pre-K programs: those in programs using the Montessori curricula and those in more conventional programs using the High/Scope curricula with a literacy supplement. Parents and teachers reported on children's socio-emotional and behavioral skills with the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA), while children's pre-academic skills (cognitive, motor, and language) were assessed directly with the Learning Accomplishment Profile Diagnostic (LAP-D) at the beginning and end of their four-year-old pre-K year. All children, regardless of curricula, demonstrated gains across pre-academic, socio-emotional, and behavioral skills throughout the pre-K year; however, all children did not benefit equally from Montessori programs. Latino children in Montessori programs began the year at most risk in pre-academic and behavioral skills, yet exhibited the greatest gains across these domains and ended the year scoring above national averages. Conversely, Black children exhibited healthy gains in Montessori, but demonstrated slightly greater gains when attending more conventional pre-K programs. Findings have implications for tailoring early childhood education programs for Latino and Black children from low-income communities.

Planning for the next generation of public health advocates: evaluation of an online advocacy mentoring program.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connell, Emily; Stoneham, Melissa; Saunders, Julie

2016-04-01

Issue addressed Despite being viewed as a core competency for public health professionals, public health advocacy lacks a prominent place in the public health literature and receives minimal coverage in university curricula. The Public Health Advocacy Institute of Western Australia (PHAIWA) sought to fill this gap by establishing an online e-mentoring program for public health professionals to gain knowledge through skill-based activities and engaging in a mentoring relationship with an experienced public health advocate. This study is a qualitative evaluation of the online e-mentoring program. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with program participants at the conclusion of the 12-month program to examine program benefits and determine the perceived contribution of individual program components to overall advocacy outcomes. Results Increased mentee knowledge, skills, level of confidence and experience, and expanded public health networks were reported. Outcomes were dependent on participants' level of commitment, time and location barriers, mentoring relationship quality, adaptability to the online format and the relevance of activities for application to participants' workplace context. Program facilitators had an important role through the provision of timely feedback and maintaining contact with participants. Conclusion An online program that combines public health advocacy content via skill-based activities with mentoring from an experienced public health advocate is a potential strategy to build advocacy capacity in the public health workforce. So what? Integrating advocacy as a core component of professional development programs will help counteract current issues surrounding hesitancy by public health professionals to proactively engage in advocacy, and ensure that high quality, innovative and effective advocacy leadership continues in the Australian public health workforce.

The evolution of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) project's public affairs program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walter, L.H.

1988-01-01

As a first-of-a-kind facility, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) presents a unique perspective on the value of designing a public affairs program that grown with and complements a project's evolution from construction to operations. Like the project itself, the public affairs programs progressed through several stages to its present scope. During the construction phase, foundations were laid in the community. Then, in this past year as the project entered a preoperational status, emphasis shifted to broaden the positive image that had been created locally. In this stage, public affairs presented the project's positive elements to the various state agencies, government officials, and federal organizations involved in our country's radioactive waste management program. Most recently, and continuing until receipt of the first shipment of waste in October 1988, an even broader, more aggressive public affairs program is planned

78 FR 66670 - Housing Counseling Program: New Certification Requirements; Extension of Public Comment Period

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-06

... Counseling Program: New Certification Requirements; Extension of Public Comment Period AGENCY: Office of the... inviting public comment on proposed changes to the Housing Counseling Program regulations for the purpose... housing counseling statute. This document announces that HUD is extending the public comment period, for...

ENE-Mates - A public information program for women

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagashima, Kyoko

1995-01-01

Japan depends on import for more than 80 percent of its total energy supply. Nuclear energy is one of the most promising alternatives to oil. It plays a significant role for energy supply in terms of reliability, economic viability and reduction of CO 2 emissions. In order to secure needed capacity, the Government concentrates its efforts on acquiring public acceptance of nuclear power as well as ensuring the safety of plants and improving plant capability and reliability. An opinion poll, done by the Japanese Government in Sep. of 1990, showed that 73.3 percent of man and 57.4 percent of women think that nuclear power is necessary to secure energy supply. Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation (NUPEC) employs various methods for information services arid, in particular, electric power generation including nuclear with an assignment from the Japanese Government. Public information activities by the Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation (NUPEC) are as follows: a) Telephone QA service to respond to public inquiries; b) Publishing the 'Nuclear Newsletter' monthly and various brochures; c) Information service by personal computer network Atomnet concerning energy in general, and operation/trouble informations of nuclear plants; d) Distribution and service of personal computers to local governments offices/museums, etc., for users ranging from children to adults to gather nuclear related information; e) Organization of female monitors 'ENE-MATES' to have lecture meetings and site tours. ENE-MATES - A Public Information Program For Women. As a 1990 opinion poll shows, women's feelings about nuclear energy differ from that of men. Women are more sensitive and anxious than men on nuclear energy issues. To improve this situation several programs for women have been planned and implemented.'ENE-MATES' program is one of these cases. It's purpose is to encourage women, centering around house wives, to have unbiased understanding of energy-related issues

Science literacy programs for K-12 teachers, public officials, news media and the public. Final report, 1994--1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-03-01

On 12 July 94, The Institute for Science and Society received the above titled grant for $300,000 with an additional $323,000 awarded 14 August 95. The Institute completed the programs provided by the Department of Energy grant on 28 February 97. These programs for teachers, public officials, news media and the public will continue through 31 December 97 with funding from other sources. The Institute is a non-profit 501-c-3 corporation. It was organized {open_quotes}... to help increase science literacy in all segments of the population and contribute to a more rational atmosphere than now exists for the public consideration of societal issues involving science and technology, both regional and national.{close_quotes} Institute personnel include the Honorable Mike McCormack, Director; Joan Harris, Associate Director; Kim Freier, Ed.D, Program Manager; and Sharon Hunt, Executive Secretary.

Better Communication for Better Public Health: Perspectives From an Interdisciplinary Training Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Shlafer, Rebecca J; McRee, Annie-Laurie; Gower, Amy L; Bearinger, Linda H

2016-03-01

Myriad factors determine the health of young people-biological, psychological, familial, contextual, environmental, and political, to name a few. Improving the health of adolescents means that leaders in health care and public health must have the requisite skills for translating research into priorities, practices, and policies that influence a wide array of health determinants. While adolescent health training programs may give emphasis to effective communication with adolescents as patients or as priority populations in health education/promotion efforts, are we adequately preparing our future leaders with the skill sets necessary for moving scientific evidence into practice, programs, and policies? Internship and fellowship programs may invest heavily in teaching skills for conducting research and health education/promotion, but they may not focus enough on how to translate scientific evidence into practice, programs, and policy. In this commentary, we share our experiences equipping professionals working with adolescents in health care and public health settings with skills for scientific writing, public speaking, and advocacy on behalf of young people, and discuss the need for more collaboration across disciplines. © 2016 Society for Public Health Education.

Planning and Implementing a Public Health Professional Distance Learning Program

Science.gov (United States)

Escoffery, Cam; Leppke, Allison M.; Robinson, Kara B.; Mettler, Erik P.; Miner, Kathleen R.; Smith, Iris

2005-01-01

Training of public health professionals through web-based technology is rapidly increasing. This article describes one school of public health's effort to establish an online Master's program that serves students nationally and internationally. It examines the critical components in the design and implementation of distance education, including…

The US Public Health Service's radioactive materials program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Villforth, J.C.

1996-01-01

This review concentrates primarily on the U.S. Public Health Service's radiological health programs that are related to the use of radium in medicine. The history of program development is given, with a focus on legal and regulatory aspects. Federal and state cooperative actions are outlined, including congressional radium hearings, National Advisory Committee on Radiation, and Federal Radiation Council rulings. Problems associated with the medical use of radium, such as contamination and disposal, are also described. 30 refs

Global Comparative Public Administration: Are Graduate Programs Responding to the Call?

Science.gov (United States)

Manoharan, Aroon P.; Mirbel, Wendel; Carrizales, Tony J.

2018-01-01

Within the past two decades, globalization has led to increased literature on comparative public administration (CPA) research, and it has enhanced analyses of administrative systems in various societies. Our paper examines CPA education among Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy programs in the United States. The findings…

Situation Concerning Public Information about and Involvement in the Decision-Making Processes in the Nuclear Sector. Public Opinion Review.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prades, A.; Sala, R.; Lopez, M.

2006-07-01

This report summarizes the CIEMAT's contribution to the study {sup S}ituation concerning Public Information about and Involvement in the Decision-Making Processes in the Nuclear Sector{sup ,} contract number TREN/ 04/NUC/ S07.39556 between the European Commission and Mutadis Consultants. The research was composed by Mutadis Consultants and CEPN (Nuclear Protection Evaluation Centre) (France), University of Aberdeen (UK) and CIEMAT (Spain). The objective of the project was to build a detailed overview of the EU situation regarding information and participation practices in the nuclear domain, provide an elaborated assessment, and to produce reporting and recommendations in the field. CIEMAT contribution' focused on the review of public opinion polis. Thus, Eurobarometers Standard Surveys (EBs) were analysed to report about the European citizens' public opinion regarding public Information and participation in the nuclear field. Additionally, the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), and some additional national polis were analysed. In terms of the EU public opinion, the follow up of the public information and participation domains receiving as much attention as necessary. Extremely few questions dealing with the subject were identified in the Eurobarometers, the national polis and the ISSP (International Social Survey Program) surveys reviewed in this study. An unambiguous illustration of this lack of attention is the fact that no questions dealing with public participation issues emerged in the {sup n}uclear EBs{sup u}ntil 1998. Even though, Eurobarometers (EBs) still provide an invaluable source of information on the topics we are interested on at the EU allowing longitudinal descriptions (trend analysis) of some key issues in our area of interest. (Author) 11 refs.

Protecting Health and Saving Lives: The Part-Time/Internet-Based Master of Public Health Program at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Science.gov (United States)

Bruce, Linda; Gresh, Kathy; Vanchiswaran, Rohini; Werapitiya, Deepthi

2007-01-01

This article discusses the part-time/Internet-based Master of Public Health (MPH) program at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was the first school of public health in the United States to offer a Master of Public Health program via the Internet. The JHSPH MPH Program…

Dynamics of the public concern and risk communication program implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaryabova, Victoria; Israel, Michel

2015-09-01

The public concern about electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure varies due to different reasons. A part of them are connected with the better and higher quality of information that people receive from science, media, Internet, social networks, industry, but others are based on good communication programs performed by the responsible institutions, administration and persons. Especially, in Bulgaria, public concern follows interesting changes, some of them in correlation with the European processes of concern, but others following the economic and political processes in the country. Here, we analyze the dynamics of the public concern over the last 10 years. Our explanation of the decrease of the people's complaints against EMF exposure from base stations for mobile communication is as a result of our risk communication program that is in implementation for >10 years.

Towards Domain-specific Flow-based Languages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zarrin, Bahram; Baumeister, Hubert; Sarjoughian, Hessam S.

2018-01-01

describe their problems and solutions, instead of using general purpose programming languages. The goal of these languages is to improve the productivity and efficiency of the development and simulation of concurrent scientific models and systems. Moreover, they help to expose parallelism and to specify...... the concurrency within a component or across different independent components. In this paper, we introduce the concept of domain-specific flowbased languages which allows domain experts to use flow-based languages adapted to a particular problem domain. Flow-based programming is used to support concurrency, while......Due to the significant growth of the demand for data-intensive computing, in addition to the emergence of new parallel and distributed computing technologies, scientists and domain experts are leveraging languages specialized for their problem domain, i.e., domain-specific languages, to help them...

Energy-efficient Public Procurement: Best Practice in Program Delivery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Payne, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Energy Technologies Division; Weber, Andrew [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Energy Technologies Division; Semple, Abby [Public Procurement Analysis, London (United Kingdom)

2013-02-15

This document illustrates the key issues and considerations involved in implementing energy-efficient public procurement. Our primary sources of information have been our partners in the Super Efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) Initiative Procurement Working Group. Where applicable, we have highlighted specific ways in which working group participants have successfully overcome barriers to delivering effective programs. The following key points emerge from this analysis of programs for energy-efficient public procurement. Lessons for both developed and developing programs are highlighted throughout the guide. 1. Policy: Policy provides the initiative to begin a transition from first cost to life-cycle cost based purchasing methods and culture. Effective policy is well-communicated, establishes accountability from top to bottom of organizations and simplifies the processes necessary to comply. Flexibility and responsiveness are essential in policy development and implementation. Mandatory and voluntary policies may complement one another. 2. Procurement Criteria: Procurement staff must be confident that energy-efficient procurement criteria offer the best long-term value for their organization’s money and represent real environmental gains. Involving multiple stakeholders at the early stages of the criteria creation process can result in greater levels of cooperation from private industry. Criteria should make comparison of products easy for purchasers and require minimal additional calculations. Criteria will need to be regularly updated to reflect market developments. 3. Training: Resources for the creation of training programs are usually very limited, but well-targeted training is necessary in order for a program to be effective. Training must emphasize a process that is efficient for purchasers and simplifies compliance. Purchaser resources and policy must be well designed for training to be effective. Training program development is an

Technology Integration Division FY 1992 Public Participation Program Management and Implementation Plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-12-01

The mission of the Office of Technology Development (OTD), to develop and apply existing and innovative environmental restoration and waste management technologies to the cleanup to Department of Energy (DOE) sites and facilities in accordance with applicable regulations, is to be carried out through the central mechanisms of the Integrated Demonstration (ID) and Integrated Program (IP). Regulations include provisions for public participation in DOE decision making regarding IDs. Beyond these requirements, DOE seeks to foster a more open culture in which public participation, based on two-way communication between DOE and the public, is not only welcomed, but actively encouraged. The public to which the Program is addressed actually consists of several distinct ''publics:'' state and local government officials; Indian tribes; citizen groups and individuals concerned about specific issues; citizen groups or individuals who are opinion leaders in their communities; other federal agencies; private industry; and academia involved in IDs. Participation of these publics in decision making means that their concerns, needs, objectives, and other input are identified by two-way communication between them and DOE, and that these factors are considered when decisions made about OTD activities. This plan outlines the TIPs Public Participation Program goals, objectives, and steps to be taken during Fiscal Year (FY) 1992 to move toward those goals and objectives, based on the challenges and opportunities currently recognized or assumed

Clients’ perceptions of the quality of care in Mexico City’s public-sector legal abortion program

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Davida; Díaz-Olavarrieta, Claudia; Juárez, Clara; García, Sandra G.; Sanhueza, Patricio; Harper, Cynthia C.

2014-01-01

Context In 2007 the Mexico City legislature made the groundbreaking decision to legalize first trimester abortion. Limited research has been conducted to understand clients’ perceptions of the abortion services available in public sector facilities. Methods We measured clients’ perceptions of quality of care at three public sector sites in Mexico City in 2009 (n=402). We assessed six domains of quality of care (client-staff interaction, information provision, technical competence, post-abortion contraceptive services, accessibility, and the facility environment), and conducted ordinal logistic regression analysis to identify which domains were important to women for their overall evaluation of care. We measured the association of overall service evaluation with socio-demographic factors and abortion-visit characteristics, in addition to specific quality of care domains. Results Clients reported a high quality of care for abortion services with an overall mean rating of 8.8 out of 10. Multivariable analysis showed that important domains for high evaluation included client perception of doctor as technically skilled (pabortion and post-abortion emotions (pabortion care in Mexico City. Strategies to improve clients’ service experiences should focus on improving counseling, service accessibility and waiting time. PMID:22227626

Humanities Programming in Public Libraries: The Connecticut Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Rader, Barbara A.

1990-01-01

Describes how public libraries can plan, fund, and implement scholar-led, library-based, humanities book discussion programs using the example of the Southern Connecticut Library Council. Key steps in planning, funding, targeting the audience, selecting topics and books, obtaining community support, recruiting scholars, marketing, administration,…

[Public health competencies and contents in pharmacy degree programs in Spanish universities].

Science.gov (United States)

Lumbreras, Blanca; Davó-Blanes, María Carmen; Vives-Cases, Carmen; Bosch, Félix

2015-01-01

To identify public health core competencies and contents in pharmacy degrees at a meeting of public health lecturers in pharmacy degrees from various public and private universities. The first Meeting of the Forum of University Teaching Staff in Pharmacy Degrees was held at the Faculty of Medicine in the Complutense University, Madrid, Spain on the 19(th) and 20(th) of November 2013. The meeting was attended by 17 lecturers. Participants brought their own teaching programs and were given two previous studies on public health competencies for analysis of public health contents and competencies in pharmacy degrees. Working groups were formed and the results were shared. The highest number of core competencies was identified in the following functions: "Assessment of the population's health needs" and "Developing health policies". The final program included basic contents organized into 8 units: Concept of Public Health, Demography, Epidemiological Method, Environment and Health, Food Safety, Epidemiology of Major Health Problems, Health Promotion and Education, and Health Planning and Management. Representation of almost all the Spanish Pharmacy Faculties and the consensus reached in the description of competences and program contents will greatly improve the quality of teaching in this area. Copyright © 2014 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Protein domain analysis of genomic sequence data reveals regulation of LRR related domains in plant transpiration in Ficus.

Science.gov (United States)

Lang, Tiange; Yin, Kangquan; Liu, Jinyu; Cao, Kunfang; Cannon, Charles H; Du, Fang K

2014-01-01

Predicting protein domains is essential for understanding a protein's function at the molecular level. However, up till now, there has been no direct and straightforward method for predicting protein domains in species without a reference genome sequence. In this study, we developed a functionality with a set of programs that can predict protein domains directly from genomic sequence data without a reference genome. Using whole genome sequence data, the programming functionality mainly comprised DNA assembly in combination with next-generation sequencing (NGS) assembly methods and traditional methods, peptide prediction and protein domain prediction. The proposed new functionality avoids problems associated with de novo assembly due to micro reads and small single repeats. Furthermore, we applied our functionality for the prediction of leucine rich repeat (LRR) domains in four species of Ficus with no reference genome, based on NGS genomic data. We found that the LRRNT_2 and LRR_8 domains are related to plant transpiration efficiency, as indicated by the stomata index, in the four species of Ficus. The programming functionality established in this study provides new insights for protein domain prediction, which is particularly timely in the current age of NGS data expansion.

Partnering to Enhance Planetary Science Education and Public Outreach Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Dalton, H.; Shipp, S. S.; Shupla, C. B.; Shaner, A. J.; LaConte, K.

2015-12-01

The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas utilizes many partners to support its multi-faceted Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program. The poster will share what we have learned about successful partnerships. One portion of the program is focused on providing training and NASA content and resources to K-12 educators. Teacher workshops are performed in several locations per year, including LPI and the Harris County Department of Education, as well as across the country in cooperation with other programs and NASA Planetary Science missions. To serve the public, LPI holds several public events per year called Sky Fest, featuring activities for children, telescopes for night sky viewing, and a short scientist lecture. For Sky Fest, LPI partners with the NASA Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society; they provide the telescopes and interact with members of the public as they are viewing celestial objects. International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) is held annually and involves the same aspects as Sky Fest, but also includes partners from Johnson Space Center's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science group, who provide Apollo samples for the event. Another audience that LPI E/PO serves is the NASA Planetary Science E/PO community. Partnering efforts for the E/PO community include providing subject matter experts for professional development workshops and webinars, connections to groups that work with diverse and underserved audiences, and avenues to collaborate with groups such as the National Park Service and the Afterschool Alliance. Additional information about LPI's E/PO programs can be found at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education. View a list of LPI E/PO's partners here: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/partners/.

Perceptions of user studies as a foundation for public programming ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of user studies and the evaluation of services in the development of effective public programming initiatives by the public archives of east and southern Africa. Users of the archives are the backbone of effective archival services. Sadly, it appears that the records are more ...

The Hybrid Public Research University: A Comparative Case Study of Two Self-Sustaining Degree Programs in Public Health

OpenAIRE

Hagigi, Farhad A

2014-01-01

Abstract of the DissertationThe Hybrid Public Research University: A Comparative Case Study of Two Self‐Sustaining Degree Programs in Public HealthByFarhad Abas HagigiDoctor of Philosophy in EducationUniversity of California, Los Angeles, 2014Professor Walter R. Allen, Co-ChairProfessor Jos� Luis Santos, Co-ChairDecreased public funding, diminishing political and societal support, and increased competition from private institutions have led public research universities (PRUs) to under...

Sponsorship of physical activity programs by the sweetened beverages industry: public health or public relations?

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez, Luis; Jacoby, Enrique; Ibarra, Lorena; Lucumí, Diego; Hernandez, Alexandra; Parra, Diana; Florindo, Alex; Hallal, Pedro

2011-04-01

The growing evidence on the association between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, obesity and other chronic diseases has highlighted the need to implement policy actions that go beyond programs exclusively focused on individual responsibility. In order to protect their commercial goals in Latin America, the sugar-sweetened beverage industry practices intense lobbying at high government levels in several countries across the region. This strategy is accompanied by corporate social responsibility programs that fund initiatives promoting physical activity. These efforts, although appearing altruistic, are intended to improve the industry's public image and increase political influence in order to block regulations counter to their interests. If this industry wants to contribute to human well being, as it has publicly stated, it should avoid blocking legislative actions intended to regulate the marketing, advertising and sale of their products.

Using the RE-AIM framework to evaluate physical activity public health programs in México.

Science.gov (United States)

Jauregui, Edtna; Pacheco, Ann M; Soltero, Erica G; O'Connor, Teresia M; Castro, Cynthia M; Estabrooks, Paul A; McNeill, Lorna H; Lee, Rebecca E

2015-02-19

Physical activity (PA) public health programming has been widely used in Mexico; however, few studies have documented individual and organizational factors that might be used to evaluate their public health impact. The RE-AIM framework is an evaluation tool that examines individual and organizational factors of public health programs. The purpose of this study was to use the RE-AIM framework to determine the degree to which PA programs in Mexico reported individual and organizational factors and to investigate whether reporting differed by the program's funding source. Public health programs promoting PA were systematically identified during 2008-2013 and had to have an active program website. Initial searches produced 23 possible programs with 12 meeting inclusion criteria. A coding sheet was developed to capture behavioral, outcome and RE-AIM indicators from program websites. In addition to targeting PA, five (42%) programs also targeted dietary habits and the most commonly reported outcome was change in body composition (58%). Programs reported an average of 11.1 (±3.9) RE-AIM indicator items (out of 27 total). On average, 45% reported reach indicators, 34% reported efficacy/effectiveness indicators, 60% reported adoption indicators, 40% reported implementation indicators, and 35% reported maintenance indicators. The proportion of RE-AIM indicators reported did not differ significantly for programs that were government supported (M = 10, SD = 3.1) and programs that were partially or wholly privately or corporately supported (M = 12.0, SD = 4.4). While reach and adoption of these programs were most commonly reported, there is a need for stronger evaluation of behavioral and health outcomes before the public health impact of these programs can be established.

Public Relations for Brazilian Libraries: Process, Principles, Program Planning, Planning Techniques and Suggestions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kies, Cosette N.

A brief overview of the functions of public relations in libraries introduces this manual, which provides an explanation of the public relations (PR) process, including fact-finding, planning, communicating, evaluating, and marketing; some PR principles; a 10-step program that could serve as a model for planning a PR program; a discussion of PR…

76 FR 19176 - Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2012 Refugee Admissions Program

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-06

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice: 7409] Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2012 Refugee Admissions Program There will be a meeting on the President's FY 2012 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program on Thursday, May 12, 2011 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Refugee Processing Center, 1401...

75 FR 20031 - Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2011 Refugee Admissions Program

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-16

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 6954] Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2011 Refugee Admissions Program There will be a meeting on the President's FY 2011 Refugee Admissions Program on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Refugee Processing Center, 1401 Wilson...

DOE role in nuclear policies and programs: official transcript of public briefing, December 13, 1977

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-02-01

The record for the first of the public briefings in the Consumer Information Series scheduled by the Department of Energy is presented. The series presents, for public information and discussion, those DOE policies and programs of specific interest to consumers and public interest groups. In the first meeting DOE officials responded to questions from the public on the DOE role in nuclear policies and programs

DAE emergency response centre (ERC) at Kalpakkam for response to nuclear and radiological emergencies in public domain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meenakshisundaram, V.; Rajagopal, V.; Mathiyarasu, R.; Subramanian, V.; Rajaram, S.; Somayaji, K.M.; Kannan, V.; Rajagopalan, H.

2008-01-01

In India, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has been identified as the nodal agency/authority in respect of providing the necessary technical inputs in the event of any radiation emergency that may occur in public domain. The overall system takes into consideration statutory requirements, executive decisions as well as National and International obligations. This paper highlights the details about the strength of the Kalpakkam ERC and other essential requisites and their compliance since its formation

Partnering to Enhance Planetary Science Education and Public Outreach Program

Science.gov (United States)

Dalton, Heather; Shipp, Stephanie; Shupla, Christine; Shaner, Andrew; LaConte, Keliann

2015-11-01

The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas utilizes many partners to support its multi-faceted Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program. The poster will share what we have learned about successful partnerships. One portion of the program is focused on providing training and NASA content and resources to K-12 educators. Teacher workshops are performed in several locations per year, including LPI and the Harris County Department of Education, as well as across the country in cooperation with other programs and NASA Planetary Science missions.To serve the public, LPI holds several public events per year called Sky Fest, featuring activities for children, telescopes for night sky viewing, and a short scientist lecture. For Sky Fest, LPI partners with the NASA Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society; they provide the telescopes and interact with members of the public as they are viewing celestial objects. International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) is held annually and involves the same aspects as Sky Fest, but also includes partners from Johnson Space Center’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science group, who provide Apollo samples for the event.Another audience that LPI E/PO serves is the NASA Planetary Science E/PO community. Partnering efforts for the E/PO community include providing subject matter experts for professional development workshops and webinars, connections to groups that work with diverse and underserved audiences, and avenues to collaborate with groups such as the National Park Service and the Afterschool Alliance.Additional information about LPI’s E/PO programs can be found at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education. View a list of LPI E/PO’s partners here: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/partners/.

78 FR 17281 - Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2014 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-20

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 8241] Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2014 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program There will be a meeting on the President's FY 2014 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program on.... Refugee Admissions Program. Persons wishing to attend this meeting must notify the Bureau of Population...

Central African Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program: building and strengthening regional workforce capacity in public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Andze, Gervais Ondobo; Namsenmo, Abel; Illunga, Benoit Kebella; Kazambu, Ditu; Delissaint, Dieula; Kuaban, Christopher; Mbopi-Kéou, Francois-Xavier; Gabsa, Wilfred; Mulumba, Leopold; Bangamingo, Jean Pierre; Ngulefac, John; Dahlke, Melissa; Mukanga, David; Nsubuga, Peter

2011-01-01

The Central African Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (CAFELTP) is a 2-year public health leadership capacity building training program. It was established in October 2010 to enhance capacity for applied epidemiology and public health laboratory services in three countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The aim of the program is to develop a trained public health workforce to assure that acute public health events are detected, investigated, and responded to quickly and effectively. The program consists of 25% didactic and 75% practical training (field based activities). Although the program is still in its infancy, the residents have already responded to six outbreak investigations in the region, evaluated 18 public health surveillance systems and public health programs, and completed 18 management projects. Through these various activities, information is shared to understand similarities and differences in the region leading to new and innovative approaches in public health. The program provides opportunities for regional and international networking in field epidemiology and laboratory activities, and is particularly beneficial for countries that may not have the immediate resources to host an individual country program. Several of the trainees from the first cohort already hold leadership positions within the ministries of health and national laboratories, and will return to their assignments better equipped to face the public health challenges in the region. They bring with them knowledge, practical training, and experiences gained through the program to shape the future of the public health landscape in their countries.

Examining Community-Engaged Scholarship in Public Administration Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Norvell, Katrina Herndon

2010-01-01

This study sought to broaden the understanding of the role that academic professions play in shaping the values and attitudes of faculty toward CES. This study explored faculty perceptions regarding the factors that encourage or dissuade them in the pursuit of CES within public administration programs. As a framework for research, a conceptual…

Public health engineering education in India: current scenario, opportunities and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Mohammad Akhtar; Sharma, Kavya; Zodpey, Sanjay

2011-01-01

Public health engineering can play an important and significant role in solving environmental health issues. In order to confront public health challenges emerging out of environmental problems we need adequately trained public health engineers / environmental engineers. Considering the current burden of disease attributable to environmental factors and expansion in scope of applications of public health / environmental engineering science, it is essential to understand the present scenario of teaching, training and capacity building programs in these areas. Against this background the present research was carried out to know the current teaching and training programs in public health engineering and related disciplines in India and to understand the potential opportunities and challenges available. A systematic, predefined approach was used to collect and assemble the data related to various teaching and training programs in public health engineering / environmental engineering in India. Public health engineering / environmental engineering education and training in the country is mainly offered through engineering institutions, as pre-service and in-service training. Pre-service programs include diploma, degree (graduate) and post-graduate courses affiliated to various state technical boards, institutes and universities, whereas in-service training is mainly provided by Government of India recognized engineering and public health training institutes. Though trainees of these programs acquire skills related to engineering sciences, they significantly lack in public health skills. The teaching and training of public health engineering / environmental engineering is limited as a part of public health programs (MD Community Medicine, MPH, DPH) in India. There is need for developing teaching and training of public health engineering or environmental engineering as an interdisciplinary subject. Public health institutes can play an important and significant role in this

More than Just a Lack of Uniformity: Exploring the Evolution of Public Relations Master's Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Briones, Rowena L.; Shen, Hongmei; Parrish, Candace; Toth, Elizabeth L.; Russell, Maria

2017-01-01

Public relations is well known for its adaptability through continual change, and as a result, public relations master's programs have been re-conceptualized to remain rigorous and competitive. To further assess both the state and changes of these programs, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with administrators of public relations master's…

The road to developing an advanced degree program in public health preparedness.

Science.gov (United States)

Cherry, Robert A; Davis, Tom

2007-08-01

The master of homeland security (MHS) degree in public health preparedness at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine is the first degree program of its kind offered by any U.S. medical school. The field of public health preparedness has been increasingly viewed as a new, emerging professional discipline, which academic medicine is well positioned to complement. The process by which the MHS program has evolved from conception to realization is a case study in the mission-based alignment of core values and leadership between the government and academic medicine. Recognizing the need for multidisciplinary involvement, the program architects reconsidered the traditional approach to the development and implementation of new graduate degree programs. Instead, a more flexible, loosely connected network of strategic partners and alliances was adopted. These partnerships were developed and cultivated by vested individuals who excelled in specific core competencies and came together to create value. This allowed for both the expertise and flexibility needed to adapt quickly to the evolving homeland security environment in the United States. To that end, this article describes the 10-step multidisciplinary program-development process that spanned three years and culminated in the establishment of this new graduate degree program. The MHS program as it now stands focuses on public health preparedness, including epidemiological evaluation, disaster communication and psychology, agricultural biosecurity, and critical infrastructure protection. The program is geared toward the practicing professional already working in the field, and its graduates are positioned to be among the top leaders, educators, and researchers in homeland security.

Interviewing Key Informants: Strategic Planning for a Global Public Health Management Program

Science.gov (United States)

Kun, Karen E.; Kassim, Anisa; Howze, Elizabeth; MacDonald, Goldie

2013-01-01

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Sustainable Management Development Program (SMDP) partners with low- and middle-resource countries to develop management capacity so that effective global public health programs can be implemented and better health outcomes can be achieved. The program's impact however, was variable. Hence, there…

Public Value Posters: Conveying Societal Benefits of Extension Programs through Evaluation Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Chazdon, Scott; Meyer, Nathan; Mohr, Caryn; Troschinetz, Alexis

2017-01-01

The public value poster session is a new tool for effectively demonstrating and reporting the public value of Extension programming. Akin to the research posters that have long played a critical role in the sharing of findings from academic studies, the public value poster provides a consistent format for conveying the benefits to society of…

Indiana application for interim authorization, phase I, hazardous waste management program--Environmental Protection Agency. Notice of public hearing and public comment period.

Science.gov (United States)

1982-04-12

EPA regulations to protect human health and the environment from the improper management of hazardous waste were published in the Federal Register on May 19, 1980 (45 FR 33063). These regulations include provisions for authorization of State programs to operate in lieu of the Federal program. Today EPA is announcing the availability for public review of the Indiana application for Phase I Interim Authorization, inviting public comment, and giving notice of a public hearing to be held on the application.

The Ciclovía-Recreativa: A mass-recreational program with public health potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarmiento, Olga; Torres, Andrea; Jacoby, Enrique; Pratt, Michael; Schmid, Thomas L; Stierling, Gonzalo

2010-07-01

The Ciclovía-Recreativa is a free, community-based program in which streets are closed temporarily to motorized transport, allowing access to walkers, runners, rollerbladers, and cyclists only. We assessed existing information about the Ciclovía as a public health strategy and proposed next steps for research and public health practice. We conducted a systematic search of peer-reviewed and other literature, which was complemented by expert interviews and consultation. We reviewed 38 Ciclovías from 11 countries. Most programs (84.2%) take place in urban settings. The programs range from 18-64 events per year (54 + or - 24.6; 52 [mean + or - standard deviation; median]) with events lasting from 2-12 hours (6 + or - 2.4; 6). The length of the streets ranges from 1-121 km (14.6 + or - 22.1; 7), and the estimated number of participants per event ranges from 60-1,000,000 persons (61,203 + or - 186,668; 3810). Seventy-one percent of the programs include physical activity classes and in 89% of the Ciclovías, the streets are connected with parks. Ciclovías have potential for positive public health outcomes, but evidence on their effectiveness is limited. The different stages of new and established programs offer a unique opportunity for transnational studies aimed at assessing their public health impact.

Poster project to emphasize public health in the pharmacy curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelsch, Michael P; Werremeyer, Amy B

2011-02-10

To implement and assess a required public health poster project in a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program. Third-year PharmD students collaborated in pairs to research a public health topic relating to pharmacy practice. Each student group prepared an informational poster, while receiving feedback from a faculty mentor at each stage of the project. The students presented their completed posters at a statewide pharmacy conference. Faculty members evaluated the posters with a grading rubric, and students completed a survey instrument that assessed the overall experience. In general, faculty members rated the class highly across all domains of the grading rubric. The class generally agreed that the poster project increased their awareness of public health issues related to pharmacy practice, overall knowledge of public health, and presentation skills. The implementation of a poster project was well received by students and faculty members as an effective method for enhancing public health instruction in the PharmD program at North Dakota State University.

Program for advanced study in public science policy and administration

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenthal, A. H.

1976-01-01

The results and conclusions of the six-year effort concerned with the development and implementation of a university educational program intended to prepare scientists and engineers for upper-level management and administrative positions (as distinct from senior technical positions) were presented. This interdisciplinary program is at the graduate level, leading to a Master of Arts degree, and is given within a Division of Public Administration.

The DNP/MPH Dual Degree: An Innovative Graduate Education Program for Advanced Public Health Nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Kathy; Harpin, Scott; Steinke, Geraldine; Stember, Marilyn; Krajicek, Marilyn

2017-03-01

Strong professional priorities, evolving Affordable Care Act requirements, and a significantly limited public health nursing workforce prompted the University of Colorado College of Nursing to collaborate with the School of Public Health to implement one of the first Doctor of Nursing Practice/Master of Public Health dual degree programs in the nation. Federal grant funding supported the development, implementation, and evaluation of this unique post-baccalaureate dual degree program, for which there were no roadmaps, models, or best practices to follow. Several key issues emerged that serve as lessons learned in creating a new, novel higher education pathway for Advanced Public Health Nursing. This paper highlights two of those: (1) marketing, admission, and matriculation across two programs, and (2) enhancing curricula through distance coursework and interprofessional education. When collaboration with a school of public health is possible, the Doctor of Nursing Practice/Master of Public Health dual degree is an efficient way to prepare public health nurses' with the highest level of public health knowledge, practice, and leadership expertise. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

New Inversion and Interpretation of Public-Domain Electromagnetic Survey Data from Selected Areas in Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, B. D.; Kass, A.; Saltus, R. W.; Minsley, B. J.; Deszcz-Pan, M.; Bloss, B. R.; Burns, L. E.

2013-12-01

Public-domain airborne geophysical surveys (combined electromagnetics and magnetics), mostly collected for and released by the State of Alaska, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), are a unique and valuable resource for both geologic interpretation and geophysical methods development. A new joint effort by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the DGGS aims to add value to these data through the application of novel advanced inversion methods and through innovative and intuitive display of data: maps, profiles, voxel-based models, and displays of estimated inversion quality and confidence. Our goal is to make these data even more valuable for interpretation of geologic frameworks, geotechnical studies, and cryosphere studies, by producing robust estimates of subsurface resistivity that can be used by non-geophysicists. The available datasets, which are available in the public domain, include 39 frequency-domain electromagnetic datasets collected since 1993, and continue to grow with 5 more data releases pending in 2013. The majority of these datasets were flown for mineral resource purposes, with one survey designed for infrastructure analysis. In addition, several USGS datasets are included in this study. The USGS has recently developed new inversion methodologies for airborne EM data and have begun to apply these and other new techniques to the available datasets. These include a trans-dimensional Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique, laterally-constrained regularized inversions, and deterministic inversions which include calibration factors as a free parameter. Incorporation of the magnetic data as an additional constraining dataset has also improved the inversion results. Processing has been completed in several areas, including Fortymile and the Alaska Highway surveys, and continues in others such as the Styx River and Nome surveys. Utilizing these new techniques, we provide models beyond the apparent resistivity maps supplied by the original

China Public Budget Reform Program (CPBR) - Phase II | IDRC ...

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

The Government of China has adopted a national reform program aimed at making budgeting more transparent and accountable through public involvement and enhanced oversight. Building on work carried out under Phase I (102965), the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) will analyze China's current ...

Generic concept to program the time domain of self-assemblies with a self-regulation mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Heuser, Thomas; Steppert, Ann-Kathrin; Lopez, Catalina Molano; Zhu, Baolei; Walther, Andreas

2015-04-08

Nature regulates complex structures in space and time via feedback loops, kinetically controlled transformations, and under energy dissipation to allow non-equilibrium processes. Although man-made static self-assemblies realize excellent control over hierarchical structures via molecular programming, managing their temporal destiny by self-regulation is a largely unsolved challenge. Herein, we introduce a generic concept to control the time domain by programming the lifetimes of switchable self-assemblies in closed systems. We conceive dormant deactivators that, in combination with fast promoters, enable a unique kinetic balance to establish an autonomously self-regulating, transient pH-state, whose duration can be programmed over orders of magnitude-from minutes to days. Coupling this non-equilibrium state to pH-switchable self-assemblies allows predicting their assembly/disassembly fate in time, similar to a precise self-destruction mechanism. We demonstrate a platform approach by programming self-assembly lifetimes of block copolymers, nanoparticles, and peptides, enabling dynamic materials with a self-regulation functionality.

Sources and Resources Into the Dark Domain: The UK Web Archive as a Source for the Contemporary History of Public Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorsky, Martin

2015-08-01

With the migration of the written record from paper to digital format, archivists and historians must urgently consider how web content should be conserved, retrieved and analysed. The British Library has recently acquired a large number of UK domain websites, captured 1996-2010, which is colloquially termed the Dark Domain Archive while technical issues surrounding user access are resolved. This article reports the results of an invited pilot project that explores methodological issues surrounding use of this archive. It asks how the relationship between UK public health and local government was represented on the web, drawing on the 'declinist' historiography to frame its questions. It points up some difficulties in developing an aggregate picture of web content due to duplication of sites. It also highlights their potential for thematic and discourse analysis, using both text and image, illustrated through an argument about the contradictory rationale for public health policy under New Labour.

40 CFR 745.228 - Accreditation of training programs: public and commercial buildings, bridges and superstructures...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Accreditation of training programs: public and commercial buildings, bridges and superstructures. [Reserved] 745.228 Section 745.228... Accreditation of training programs: public and commercial buildings, bridges and superstructures. [Reserved] ...

Simulator: A Pilot Interactive Simulation Program for Use in Teaching Public Relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Pavlik, John V.

An interactive simulation program was developed for use in teaching students how to handle public relations problems. The program user is placed in the role of assistant newsletter editor, facing a series of decision-making situations. Each choice the user makes affects the subsequent reality created by the program, which is designed to provide…

Deciphering the imperative: translating public health quality improvement into organizational performance management gains.

Science.gov (United States)

Beitsch, Leslie M; Yeager, Valerie A; Moran, John

2015-03-18

With the launching of the national public health accreditation program under the auspices of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), health department momentum around quality improvement adoption has accelerated. Domain 9 of the PHAB standards (one of 12 domains) focuses on evaluation and improvement of performance and is acting as a strong driver for quality improvement and performance management implementation within health departments. Widespread adoption of quality improvement activities in public health trails that in other US sectors. Several performance management models have received broad acceptance, including models among government and nonprofits. A model specifically for public health has been developed and is presented herein. All models in current use reinforce customer focus; streamlined, value-added processes; and strategic alignment. All are structured to steer quality improvement efforts toward organizational priorities, ensuring that quality improvement complements performance management. High-performing health departments harness the synergy of quality improvement and performance management, providing powerful tools to achieve public health strategic imperatives.

Developing and initiating a public engagement process for a nuclear decommissioning and waste management program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Badke, C.; Johnson, C.; Brooks, S.; MacCafferty, M.

2011-01-01

Public consultation is key to any major nuclear initiative, but how do you engage the public in a complex multi-site nuclear decommissioning and environmental restoration program that will last 70 years? A clear message of sound environmental stewardship throughout the process is critical to building the trust required to attract public interest and support. The Nuclear Legacy Liabilities Program (NLLP) manages Canada's nuclear legacy liabilities at Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) sites and is funded by the Government of Canada through Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). The objective of the NLLP is to safely and cost-effectively reduce the federal legacy liabilities and associated risks, based on sound waste management and environmental principles, in the best interest of Canadians. An important area of focus for the NLLP in both the short- and long-term is to inform the public, stakeholders and Aboriginal people about the Program, and to gather input on the long-term strategy for site restoration and waste management. This paper describes progress made to date on developing and initiating a public engagement process for the NLLP in the initial phase of the Program. Furthermore, it examines general best practices for public participation, specific challenges and opportunities which have been identified, as well as the next steps for communications activities related to the Program. (author)

78 FR 18932 - Public Meeting: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site Program; Privacy Approach

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-28

... discussion about which privacy issues are raised by UAS operations and how law, public policy, and the...-0061] Public Meeting: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site Program; Privacy Approach AGENCY: Federal... a public engagement session on Wednesday, April 3, 2013, on the proposed privacy policy approach for...

CDC's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program in Action: Case Studies From State and Local Health Departments.

Science.gov (United States)

Eatman, Shana; Strosnider, Heather M

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program) is a multidisciplinary collaboration that involves the ongoing collection, integration, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data from environmental hazard monitoring, human exposure surveillance, and health effects surveillance. With a renewed focus on data-driven decision-making, the CDC's Tracking Program emphasizes dissemination of actionable data to public health practitioners, policy makers, and communities. The CDC's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network), a Web-based system with components at the national, state, and local levels, houses environmental public health data used to inform public health actions (PHAs) to improve community health. This article serves as a detailed landscape on the Tracking Program and Tracking Network and the Tracking Program's leading performance measure, "public health actions." Tracking PHAs are qualitative statements addressing a local problem or situation, the role of the state or local Tracking Program, how the problem or situation was addressed, and the action taken. More than 400 PHAs have been reported by funded state and local health departments since the Tracking Program began collecting PHAs in 2005. Three case studies are provided to illustrate the use of the Tracking Program resources and data on the Tracking Network, and the diversity of actions taken. Through a collaborative network of experts, data, and tools, the Tracking Program and its Tracking Network are actively informing state and local PHAs. In a time of competing priorities and limited funding, PHAs can serve as a powerful tool to advance environmental public health practice.

EAP: Employee Assistance Programs in the Public Schools. Reference & Resource Series.

Science.gov (United States)

Hacker, Carol

Employee assistance programs (EAP's) have been set up by many businesses and organizations to help employees resolve their personal problems so they can maintain or resume an acceptable job performance level. So far, only a few public school districts have considered or implemented such programs. This monograph examines EAP's in general and…

Redefining Leadership Education in Graduate Public Health Programs: Prioritization, Focus, and Guiding Principles

Science.gov (United States)

Oxendine, Jeffrey S.

2015-01-01

Public health program graduates need leadership skills to be effective in the complex, changing public health environment. We propose a new paradigm for schools of public health in which technical and leadership skills have equal priority as core competencies for graduate students. Leadership education should focus on the foundational skills necessary to effect change independent of formal authority, with activities offered at varying levels of intensity to engage different students. Leadership development initiatives should be practice based, process focused, interdisciplinary, diversity based, adaptive, experimental, innovative, and empowering, and they should encourage authenticity. Leadership training in graduate programs will help lay the groundwork for public health professionals to have an immediate impact in the workforce and to prioritize continuous leadership development throughout their careers. PMID:25706021

Redefining leadership education in graduate public health programs: prioritization, focus, and guiding principles.

Science.gov (United States)

Lachance, Jennifer A; Oxendine, Jeffrey S

2015-03-01

Public health program graduates need leadership skills to be effective in the complex, changing public health environment. We propose a new paradigm for schools of public health in which technical and leadership skills have equal priority as core competencies for graduate students. Leadership education should focus on the foundational skills necessary to effect change independent of formal authority, with activities offered at varying levels of intensity to engage different students. Leadership development initiatives should be practice based, process focused, interdisciplinary, diversity based, adaptive, experimental, innovative, and empowering, and they should encourage authenticity. Leadership training in graduate programs will help lay the groundwork for public health professionals to have an immediate impact in the workforce and to prioritize continuous leadership development throughout their careers.

Factors predicting health practitioners' awareness of UNHS program in Malaysian non-public hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, Abdussalaam Iyanda; Abdul Majid, Abdul Halim; Zakaria, Mohd Normani; Abdullah, Nor Azimah Chew; Hamzah, Sulaiman; Mukari, Siti Zamratol-Mai Sarah

2018-06-01

The current study aims to examine the effects of human resource (measured with the perception of health workers' perception towards UNHS), screening equipment, program layout and screening techniques on healthcare practitioners' awareness (measured with knowledge) of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) in Malaysian non-public hospitals. Via cross sectional approach, the current study collected data using a validated questionnaire to obtain information on the awareness of UNHS program among the health practitioners and to test the formulated hypotheses. 51, representing 81% response rate, out of 63 questionnaires distributed to the health professionals were returned and usable for statistical analysis. The survey instruments involving healthcare practitioners' awareness, human resource, program layout, screening instrument, and screening techniques instruments were adapted and scaled with 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (little) to 7 (many). Partial Least Squares (PLS) algorithm and bootstrapping techniques were employed to test the hypotheses of the study. With the result involving beta values, t-values and p-values (i.e. β=0.478, t=1.904, phealth practitioners. Likewise, program layout, human resource, screening technique and screening instrument explain 71% variance in health practitioners' awareness. Health practitioners' awareness is explained by program layout, human resource, and screening instrument with effect size (f2) of 0.065, 0.621, and 0.211 respectively, indicating that program layout, human resource, and screening instrument have small, large and medium effect size on health practitioners' awareness respectively. However, screening technique has zero effect on health practitioners' awareness, indicating the reason why T-statistics is not significant. Having started the UNHS program in 2003, non-public hospitals have more experienced and well-trained employees dealing with the screening tools and instrument, and the program layout is well

The US Air Force suicide prevention program: implications for public health policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Knox, Kerry L; Pflanz, Steven; Talcott, Gerald W; Campise, Rick L; Lavigne, Jill E; Bajorska, Alina; Tu, Xin; Caine, Eric D

2010-12-01

We evaluated the effectiveness of the US Air Force Suicide Prevention Program (AFSPP) in reducing suicide, and we measured the extent to which air force installations implemented the program. We determined the AFSPP's impact on suicide rates in the air force by applying an intervention regression model to data from 1981 through 2008, providing 16 years of data before the program's 1997 launch and 11 years of data after launch. Also, we measured implementation of program components at 2 points in time: during a 2004 increase in suicide rates, and 2 years afterward. Suicide rates in the air force were significantly lower after the AFSPP was launched than before, except during 2004. We also determined that the program was being implemented less rigorously in 2004. The AFSPP effectively prevented suicides in the US Air Force. The long-term effectiveness of this program depends upon extensive implementation and effective monitoring of implementation. Suicides can be reduced through a multilayered, overlapping approach that encompasses key prevention domains and tracks implementation of program activities.

Interfaith Program for Public Awareness of Nuclear Issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-11-01

Planning for the Interfaith Progam for Public Awareness of Nuclear Issues (IPPANI) began at the time of the Falkland Islands crisis. At that time representatives of certain of the faith groups in Toronto became concerned about the moral and ethical implications of Canada's export of fuel for a CANDU nuclear generating plant in Argentina. In order to accomplish its goals, the Planning Committee devised a program to provide unbiased input to the faith groups' deliberations on the ethical and moral issues involved in the nuclear debate. The development of a fair set of questions was aided by obtaining advice from the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA), and from Energy Probe and others. The work of preparing a suitable agenda was completed early in 1984. Its result was embodied in appendices to the public document promoting the program, which is appended to this report. Invitations were sent to over six hundred individuals and organizations to appear before the panelists as 'presenters'. The resulting invitation list included spokespeople for both 'pro' and 'anti' nuclear positions on each of the three topics, as well as some who were found to be 'in the middle'. The three major topics were domestic nuclear issues, international trade and military uses of nuclear materials and technology. The next task of the Planning Committee is that of embodying the process and its results in an educational program for the supplementary and parochial school systems. The production of this book is the first step in that task

Building Strong Bonds with Program Sponsors--Public Relations Ideas To Make It Happen.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Karen

2003-01-01

Lists public relations strategies for child care center directors seeking to cultivate relationships with their program sponsors. Suggests ways to identify a public relations message, make the sponsor part of the child care family, become part of the sponsor's family, give public recognition, and share the children's accomplishments. (JPB)

Innovative partnerships to advance public health training in community-based academic residency programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lo JC

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Joan C Lo,1–3 Thomas E Baudendistel,2,3 Abhay Dandekar,3,4 Phuoc V Le,5 Stanton Siu,2,3 Bruce Blumberg6 1Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA; 2Department of Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, CA, USA; 3Graduate Medical Education, Kaiser Permanente East Bay, Oakland, CA, USA; 4Department of Pediatrics, Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, CA, USA; 5School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; 6Graduate Medical Education, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA Abstract: Collaborative partnerships between community-based academic residency ­training programs and schools of public health, represent an innovative approach to training future physician leaders in population management and public health. In Kaiser Permanente Northern California, development of residency-Masters in Public Health (MPH tracks in the Internal Medicine Residency and the Pediatrics Residency programs, with MPH graduate studies completed at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, enables physicians to integrate clinical training with formal education in epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy, and disease prevention. These residency-MPH programs draw on more than 50 years of clinical education, public health training, and health services research – creating an environment that sparks inquiry and added value by developing skills in patient-centered care through the lens of population-based outcomes. Keywords: graduate medical education, public health, master’s degree, internal medicine, pediatrics, residency training

Public attitudes toward programs designed to enhance forest related benefits on private lands

Science.gov (United States)

Donald F. Dennis; Mark J. Twery; Michael A. Rechlin; Bruce Hansen

2003-01-01

Public agencies may at times provide education, technical help, tax incentives, or other forms of aid to private landowners to help them enhance their land in ways that benefit the public. Since public funds are used to pay these expenses, it is important that program goals be correlated with underlying public values and concerns. We used a conjoint ranking survey to...

76 FR 1431 - Public Water System Supervision Program Revision for the State of New Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-10

... Public Water System Supervision Program. New Mexico has adopted the Ground Water Rule (GWR), the Long... the following offices: New Mexico Environment Department, Drinking Water Bureau, 525 Camino De Los... of New Mexico proposes to revise its approved Public Water System Supervision Primacy Program. This...

Integrating Public Health and Deliberative Public Bioethics: Lessons from the Human Genome Project Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Meagher, Karen M; Lee, Lisa M

2016-01-01

Public health policy works best when grounded in firm public health standards of evidence and widely shared social values. In this article, we argue for incorporating a specific method of ethical deliberation--deliberative public bioethics--into public health. We describe how deliberative public bioethics is a method of engagement that can be helpful in public health. Although medical, research, and public health ethics can be considered some of what bioethics addresses, deliberative public bioethics offers both a how and where. Using the Human Genome Project Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications program as an example of effective incorporation of deliberative processes to integrate ethics into public health policy, we examine how deliberative public bioethics can integrate both public health and bioethics perspectives into three areas of public health practice: research, education, and health policy. We then offer recommendations for future collaborations that integrate deliberative methods into public health policy and practice.

How Do Masters of Public Health Programs Teach Monitoring and Evaluation?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Himanshu Negandhi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available IntroductionThe health systems in developing countries face challenges because of deficient monitoring and evaluation (M&E capacity with respect to their knowledge, skills, and practices. Strengthening M&E training in public health education can help overcome the gaps in M&E capacity. There is a need to advance the teaching of M&E as a core element of public health education.ObjectivesTo review M&E teaching across Masters of Public Health programs and to identify core competencies for M&E teaching in South Asian context.Materials and methodsWe undertook two activities to understand the M&E teaching across masters level programs: (1 desk review of M&E curriculum and teaching in masters programs globally and (2 review of M&E teaching across 10 institutions representing 4 South Asian countries. Subsequently, we used the findings of these two activities as inputs to identify core competencies for an M&E module through a consultative meeting with the 10 South Asian universities.ResultsMasters programs are being offered globally in 321 universities of which 88 offered a Masters in Public Health, and M&E was taught in 95 universities. M&E was taught as a part of another module in 49 institutions. The most common duration of M&E teaching was 4–5 weeks. From the 70 institutes where information on electives was available, M&E was a core module/part of a core module at 42 universities and an elective at 28 universities. The consultative meeting identified 10 core competencies and draft learning objectives for M&E teaching in masters programs in South Asia.ConclusionThe desk review showed similarities in M&E course content but variations in course structure and delivery. The core competencies identified during the consultation included basic M&E concepts. The results of the review and the core competencies identified at the consultation are useful resources for institutions interested in refining/updating M&E curricula in their postgraduate degree

Reuniting the Solar System: Integrated Education and Public Outreach Projects for Solar System Exploration Missions and Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Lowes, Leslie; Lindstrom, Marilyn; Stockman, Stephanie; Scalice, Daniela; Klug, Sheri

2003-01-01

The Solar System Exploration Education Forum has worked for five years to foster Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) cooperation among missions and programs in order to leverage resources and better meet the needs of educators and the public. These efforts are coming together in a number of programs and products and in '2004 - The Year of the Solar System.' NASA's practice of having independent E/PO programs for each mission and its public affairs emphasis on uniqueness has led to a public perception of a fragmented solar system exploration program. By working to integrate solar system E/PO, the breadth and depth of the solar system exploration program is revealed. When emphasis is put on what missions have in common, as well as their differences, each mission is seen in the context of the whole program.

77 FR 47922 - Publication of General Licenses Related to the Burma Sanctions Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-10

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Foreign Assets Control Publication of General Licenses Related to the Burma Sanctions Program AGENCY: Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury. ACTION: Notice, publication of general licenses. [[Page 47923

Preventing cancer: a community-based program for youths in public housing.

Science.gov (United States)

Strunin, Lee; Wulach, Laura; Yang, Grace J; Evans, Tegan C; Hamdan, Sami U; Davis, Gregory L; Bowen, Deborah J

2013-05-01

This article describes a feasibility study of a program that mentors boys aged 14-18 living in inner city public housing, engages them in a basketball league, and provides educational sessions on life skills and ways to resolve conflicts without violence. Such programs have the potential to engage adolescent males living in public housing in activities that reduce cancer-related behaviors and increase protective behaviors. We conducted a feasibility evaluation of the program, which included a survey of participants, interviews with coaches, and observations of games and practices. Lifetime and previous-30-day substance use was common among participants, and many were exposed to and had experienced various forms of violence. Keeping youths active helps prevent their joining gangs and using drugs. Youths from disadvantaged backgrounds are at a high risk for cancer because they are at greater risk for obesity and other adverse health-related conditions than are more affluent youths. Implementing and sustaining community programs for youths in public housing can reduce the effects of exposure to factors that put them at risk for cancer during adulthood: chronic poverty, lack of safe areas for recreation, easy access to alcohol and drugs, and exposure to violence. In addition, workshops to prevent substance use and violence and to teach leadership, sportsmanship, conflict resolution, and healthy youth development are needed for youths, coaches, and parents or guardians. Copyright © 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Internet-Mediated Learning in Public Affairs Programs: Issues and Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Rahm, Dianne; Reed, B. J.; Rydl, Teri L.

1999-01-01

An overview of Internet-mediated learning in public affairs programs identifies issues for faculty, students, and administrators, including intellectual property rights, instructional issues, learning approaches, student expectations, logistics and support, complexity of coordination, and organizational control. (DB)

77 FR 547 - Fiscal Year 2011 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program Project Selections

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-05

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Fiscal Year 2011 Public Transportation... 5311 (c), Public Transportation on Indian Reservations program funds in support of the Tribal Transit... for public transportation services on and around Indian reservations. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT...

Does the Assessment of Recovery Capital scale reflect a single or multiple domains?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arndt S

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Stephan Arndt,1–3 Ethan Sahker,1,4 Suzy Hedden1 1Iowa Consortium for Substance Abuse Research and Evaluation, 2Department of Psychiatry, Carver College of Medicine, 3Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, 4Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, Counseling Psychology Program College of Education, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA Objective: The goal of this study was to determine whether the 50-item Assessment of Recovery Capital scale represents a single general measure or whether multiple domains might be psychometrically useful for research or clinical applications. Methods: Data are from a cross-sectional de-identified existing program evaluation information data set with 1,138 clients entering substance use disorder treatment. Principal components and iterated factor analysis were used on the domain scores. Multiple group factor analysis provided a quasi-confirmatory factor analysis. Results: The solution accounted for 75.24% of the total variance, suggesting that 10 factors provide a reasonably good fit. However, Tucker’s congruence coefficients between the factor structure and defining weights (0.41–0.52 suggested a poor fit to the hypothesized 10-domain structure. Principal components of the 10-domain scores yielded one factor whose eigenvalue was greater than one (5.93, accounting for 75.8% of the common variance. A few domains had perceptible but small unique variance components suggesting that a few of the domains may warrant enrichment. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that there is one general factor, with a caveat. Using the 10 measures inflates the chance for Type I errors. Using one general measure avoids this issue, is simple to interpret, and could reduce the number of items. However, those seeking to maximally predict later recovery success may need to use the full instrument and all 10 domains. Keywords: social support, psychometrics, quality of life

Faculty performance evaluation in accredited U.S. public health graduate schools and programs: a national study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gimbel, Ronald W; Cruess, David F; Schor, Kenneth; Hooper, Tomoko I; Barbour, Galen L

2008-10-01

To provide baseline data on evaluation of faculty performance in U.S. schools and programs of public health. The authors administered an anonymous Internet-based questionnaire using PHP Surveyor. The invited sample consisted of individuals listed in the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) Directory of Accredited Schools and Programs of Public Health. The authors explored performance measures in teaching, research, and service, and assessed how faculty performance measures are used. A total of 64 individuals (60.4%) responded to the survey, with 26 (40.6%) reporting accreditation/reaccreditation by CEPH within the preceding 24 months. Although all schools and programs employ faculty performance evaluations, a significant difference exists between schools and programs in the use of results for merit pay increases and mentoring purposes. Thirty-one (48.4%) of the organizations published minimum performance expectations. Fifty-nine (92.2%) of the respondents counted number of publications, but only 22 (34.4%) formally evaluated their quality. Sixty-two (96.9%) evaluated teaching through student course evaluations, and only 29 (45.3%) engaged in peer assessment. Although aggregate results of teaching evaluation are available to faculty and administrators, this information is often unavailable to students and the public. Most schools and programs documented faculty service activities qualitatively but neither assessed it quantitatively nor evaluated its impact. This study provides insight into how schools and programs of public health evaluate faculty performance. Results suggest that although schools and programs do evaluate faculty performance on a basic level, many do not devote substantial attention to this process.

Understanding the Experience of Women in Undergraduate Engineering Programs at Public Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Perez, Jessica Ohanian

2017-01-01

Women earn bachelor's degrees in engineering at a rate of less than 17% at public universities in California. The purpose of this study was to understand how women experience undergraduate engineering programs at public universities. To understand this lack of attainment, a qualitative methodology and Feminist Poststructuralist perspective were…

Progress in Public Health Emergency Preparedness-United States, 2001-2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Murthy, Bhavini Patel; Molinari, Noelle-Angelique M; LeBlanc, Tanya T; Vagi, Sara J; Avchen, Rachel N

2017-09-01

To evaluate the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program's progress toward meeting public health preparedness capability standards in state, local, and territorial health departments. All 62 PHEP awardees completed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's self-administered PHEP Impact Assessment as part of program review measuring public health preparedness capability before September 11, 2001 (9/11), and in 2014. We collected additional self-reported capability self-assessments from 2016. We analyzed trends in congressional funding for public health preparedness from 2001 to 2016. Before 9/11, most PHEP awardees reported limited preparedness capabilities, but considerable progress was reported by 2016. The number of jurisdictions reporting established capability functions within the countermeasures and mitigation domain had the largest increase, almost 200%, by 2014. However, more than 20% of jurisdictions still reported underdeveloped coordination between the health system and public health agencies in 2016. Challenges and barriers to building PHEP capabilities included lack of trained personnel, plans, and sustained resources. Considerable progress in public health preparedness capability was observed from before 9/11 to 2016. Support, sustainment, and advancement of public health preparedness capability is critical to ensure a strong public health infrastructure.

A Methodology For The Development Of Complex Domain Specific Languages

CERN Document Server

Risoldi, Matteo; Falquet, Gilles

2010-01-01

The term Domain-Specific Modeling Language is used in software development to indicate a modeling (and sometimes programming) language dedicated to a particular problem domain, a particular problem representation technique and/or a particular solution technique. The concept is not new -- special-purpose programming language and all kinds of modeling/specification languages have always existed, but the term DSML has become more popular due to the rise of domain-specific modeling. Domain-specific languages are considered 4GL programming languages. Domain-specific modeling techniques have been adopted for a number of years now. However, the techniques and frameworks used still suffer from problems of complexity of use and fragmentation. Although in recent times some integrated environments are seeing the light, it is not common to see many concrete use cases in which domain-specific modeling has been put to use. The main goal of this thesis is tackling the domain of interactive systems and applying a DSML-based...

78 FR 1301 - Fiscal Year 2012 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program Project Selections

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-08

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Fiscal Year 2012 Public Transportation... Affairs (BIA) in the U.S. Department of the Interior for public transportation. An additional $500,000 is... Fiscal Year 2013 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program, which: (1) Introduces FTA's...

Virtual K-12 Public School Programs and Students with Disabilities: Issues and Recommendations

Science.gov (United States)

Muller, Eve

2010-01-01

This policy forum proceedings document contains a short introduction section that describes the current status of virtual public school programs in general and special education programs in particular. Next, this document provides a state-of-the-nation report that describes the exponential growth these programs and the evolving policy issues for…

Cost-effectiveness analysis of public education and incentive programs for controlling radon in the home. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bierma, T.J.; Swartzman, D.

1988-12-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness in Illinois of five radon public education and incentive program options. Programs evaluated included (1) no program, (2) a toll-free hotline and information packet, (3) free short-term monitors, (4) free confirmatory monitors, and (5) low-interest loans. Existing literature and expert opinion were used to estimate program costs and public responses under the various programs. Computer simulation, with Monte Carlo sampling, was used for uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. The cost-effectiveness model was analyzed based on assumed radon exposures to Illinois citizens. Results for standard conditions indicate that budget levels under approximately $30,000 do not warrant a radon education and incentive program. For budget levels of approximately $30,000 to $1 million, Program 2 was most effective, and Program 3 was most effective above this level. Sensitivity analyses indicate the results are relatively insensitive to input variable assumptions with the exception of public-response estimates. Study results suggest that all of the programs evaluated are likely to be relatively ineffective. Considerable improvement may be possible using more innovative approaches to public education

Resource allocation decision modeling for a Louisiana Public Benefit Fund program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaiser, Mark J.; Pulsipher, Allan G.

2003-01-01

A simulation model is developed to value energy efficiency improvement programs in Louisiana proposed to be delivered through a Public Benefits Fund. A uniform 1 mill/kW h non-bypassable surcharge on the electric rates of all electricity users is proposed to be distributed for low-income bill assistance, low-income weatherization, and energy efficiency programs across the residential and commercial sector of Louisiana. The economic and environmental impact of the energy improvement programs is coupled to a stochastic linear program to specify the resource allocation subject to policy and system constraints. The model is illustrated through a realistic policy scenario. (Author)

An ecological and theoretical deconstruction of a school-based obesity prevention program in Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Safdie, Margarita; Cargo, Margaret; Richard, Lucie; Lévesque, Lucie

2014-08-10

Ecological intervention programs are recommended to prevent overweight and obesity in children. The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in Mexico implemented a successful ecological intervention program to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors in school age children. This study assessed the integration of ecological principles and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs in this effective school-based obesity prevention program implemented in 15 elementary schools in Mexico City. Two coders applied the Intervention Analysis Procedure (IAP) to "map" the program's integration of ecological principles. A checklist gauged the use of SCT theory in program activities. Thirty-two distinct intervention strategies were implemented in one setting (i.e., school) to engage four different target-groups (students, parents, school representatives, government) across two domains (Nutrition and Physical Activity). Overall, 47.5% of the strategies targeted the school infrastructure and/or personnel; 37.5% of strategies targeted a key political actor, the Public Education Secretariat while fewer strategies targeted parents (12.5%) and children (3%). More strategies were implemented in the Nutrition domain (69%) than Physical Activity (31%). The most frequently used SCT construct within both intervention domains was Reciprocal Determinism (e.g., where changes to the environment influence changes in behavior and these behavioral changes influence further changes to the environment); no significant differences were observed in the use of SCT constructs across domains. Findings provide insight into a promising combination of strategies and theoretical constructs that can be used to implement a school-based obesity prevention program. Strategies emphasized school-level infrastructure/personnel change and strong political engagement and were most commonly underpinned by Reciprocal Determinism for both Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Public dental health care program for persons with disability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Lisa Bøge; Hede, Børge; Petersen, Poul Erik

2005-01-01

The objectives of the study were (1) to describe the organization and content of the Danish public oral health care program for persons with disability, and (2) to analyse possible variations in relation to the goals and requirements set by the health authorities. Data were collected by means......) payment of service, (4) providers of oral health care, (5) special training of staff, 6) dental services delivered, (7) ethical issues, and (8) patient rights. Less than one-third of persons estimated by the health authorities were enrolled in the program. On average, 0.4% of the municipal population...... of knowledge of oral health and oral health care for persons with disability were barriers to equal access to the program. Preventive dental services were the most frequent services delivered, although relatively few oral hygienists were involved in the program. Special training was most frequent in large...

Stimulating Public Interest in Lunar Exploration and Enhancing Science Literacy Through Library Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Shipp, S.; Nelson, B.; Stockman, S.; Weir, H.; Carter, B.; Bleacher, L.

2008-07-01

Libraries are vibrant learning places, seeking partners in science programming. LPI's Explore! program offers a model for public engagement in lunar exploration in libraries, as shown by materials created collaboratively with the LRO E/PO team.

NEURO-FUZZY MODELING APPLIED IN PROGRAM MANAGEMENT TO INCREASE LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PERFORMANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian-Mihai Zaharia-Radulescu

2016-07-01

Full Text Available One of the challenges in local public administration is dealing with an increasing number of competing requests coming from the communities they serve. The traditional approach would be to handle each request as a standalone project and be prioritized according to benefits and budget available. More and more nowadays program management is becoming a standard approach in managing the initiatives of local public administration. Program management approach is itself an enabler for performance in public sector organizations by allowing an organization to better coordinate its efforts and resources in managing a portfolio of projects. This paper aims to present how neuro-fuzzy modeling applied in program management can help an organization to increase its performance. Neuro-fuzzy modeling would lead organizations one step further by allowing them to simulate different scenarios and manage better the risks accompanying their initiatives. The research done by the authors is theoretical and combines knowledge from different areas and a neuro-fuzzy model is proposed and discussed.

An economic evaluation of public programs for internationalization: the case of the Diagnostic Program in Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Cansino, José M; Lopez-Melendo, Jaime; Pablo-Romero, María del P; Sánchez-Braza, Antonio

2013-12-01

This paper evaluates the Diagnostic Program in Spain which is a publicly funded program to promote internationalization of companies located in Andalusia (south of Spain). The methodology used is the propensity score-matching. The treatment group consists of companies which participated in the Program until 2008. The control group has companies which planned to participate in the Program but had not done so up to that date. The response variable measures the ratio of export to total sales for each company. Four covariates have been taken into account: activity, location, sales and number of employees. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the companies that participated in the Program improved their ratio of exports to total sales by about 10 percentage points. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Public health nursing competency in a rural/frontier state.

Science.gov (United States)

Bigbee, Jeri L; Otterness, Nancy; Gehrke, Pam

2010-01-01

To assess the self-reported levels of competency among public health nurses (PHNs) in Idaho. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. The sample consisted of 124 PHNs, including 30 in leadership roles, currently practicing in Idaho's official public health agencies. Structured interviews were conducted with participants who provided self-ratings in the 8 domains of public health competency as developed by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice and the Quad Council of Public Health Nursing Organizations. The findings indicated that the overall level of competency was most strongly associated with the duration of professional experience. No major differences in the competency levels were found in relation to nurses' level of education or licensure. Nurses in leadership positions reported the highest levels of competency. Rurality, as measured by district population density, was not significantly correlated with competency levels, except in relation to community dimensions of practice skills. The findings suggest that PHNs' self-perceived levels of competence are most strongly influenced by their years of professional experience, particularly in leadership roles. Professional development efforts should focus on the domains with the lowest perceived competency: policy development/program planning skills, analytic assessment skills, and financial planning/management skills.

The Medicaid School Program: An Effective Public School and Private Sector Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Mallett, Christopher A.

2013-01-01

Privatized service delivery within Medicaid has greatly increased over the past two decades. This public program-private sector collaboration is quite common today, with a majority of Medicaid recipients receiving services in this fashion; yet controversy remains. This article focuses on just one program within Medicaid, school-based services for…

Suicide Prevention Programs in the Schools: A Review and Public Health Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, David N.; Eckert, Tanya L.; Mazza, James J.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of school-based suicide prevention programs from a public health perspective. A literature review of empirical studies examining school-based suicide prevention programs was conducted. Studies were required to contain information pertaining to the implementation and outcomes of a…

Sustainability in engineering programs in a Portuguese Public University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ciliana Regina Colombo

Full Text Available Abstract Rethink the interventions, human practices and their effects on the natural environment, for the preservation of life and biodiversity, threatened by the capitalist model of production, consumption and disposal, becomes each day more indispensable. The role of universities as knowledge building space is fundamental for the insertion of the environmental approach (greening in its various fronts (education, research, extension, and management. Following the line of several types of researches about the subject, this paper aims to identify if and how the issue of sustainability (e.g. through Project-Based Learning use is taught in the various engineering programs of a Portuguese Public University. This study was carried out by a documental research based on the programs´ curricula published in the official website of the university. The engineering programs selected included integrated master, master (second cycle and doctorate (third cycle. In this study, it was identified programs that are more focused on sustainability concepts than others, so the programs were classified in three categories: strongest, medium and weakest focus.

77 FR 19408 - Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2013 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-30

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice: 7836] Notice of Public Meeting on FY 2013 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program There will be a meeting on the President's FY 2013 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Refugee Processing Center, 1401...

78 FR 38097 - Publication of General License Related to the Syria Sanctions Program

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-25

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Foreign Assets Control Publication of General License Related to the Syria Sanctions Program AGENCY: Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury. ACTION: Notice, publication of general license. SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control...

Evaluating the Appropriateness and Use of Domain Critical Errors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chad W. Buckendahl

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The consequences associated with the uses and interpretations of scores for many credentialing testing programs have important implications for a range of stakeholders. Within licensure settings specifically, results from examination programs are often one of the final steps in the process of assessing whether individuals will be allowed to enter practice. This article focuses on the concept of domain critical errors and suggests a framework for considering their use in practice. Domain critical errors are defined here as knowledge, skills, abilities, or judgments that are essential to the definition of minimum qualifications in a testing program's pass-'fail decision-making process. Using domain critical errors has psychometric and policy implications, particularly for licensure programs that are mandatory for entry-level practice. Because these errors greatly influence pass-'fail decisions, the measurement community faces an ongoing challenge to promote defensible practices while concurrently providing assessment literacy development about the appropriate design and use of testing methods like domain critical errors.

An Evaluation of the Antibullying Program at a Public Suburban High School

Science.gov (United States)

Drury, Brian

2014-01-01

This project study addressed the problem of harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB) at a public suburban high school in the Northeast United States. The study school implemented the Anti-bullying Program in September 2011, yet no evaluation had been conducted on whether the program was meeting its goals. Two conceptual frameworks that drove…

Online public health preparedness training programs: an evaluation of user experience with the technological environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Nambisan, Priya

2010-01-01

Several public health education programs and government agencies across the country have started offering virtual or online training programs in emergency preparedness for people who are likely to be involved in managing or responding to different types of emergency situations such as natural disasters, epidemics, bioterrorism, etc. While such online training programs are more convenient and cost-effective than traditional classroom-based programs, their success depends to a great extent on the underlying technological environment. Specifically, in an online technological environment, different types of user experiences come in to play-users' utilitarian or pragmatic experience, their fun or hedonic experience, their social experience, and most importantly, their usability experience-and these different user experiences critically shape the program outcomes, including course completion rates. This study adopts a multi-disciplinary approach and draws on theories in human computer interaction, distance learning theories, usability research, and online consumer behavior to evaluate users' experience with the technological environment of an online emergency preparedness training program and discusses its implications for the design of effective online training programs. . Data was collected using a questionnaire from 377 subjects who had registered for and participated in online public health preparedness training courses offered by a large public university in the Northeast. Analysis of the data indicates that as predicted, participants had higher levels of pragmatic and usability experiences compared to their hedonic and sociability experiences. Results also indicate that people who experienced higher levels of pragmatic, hedonic, sociability and usability experiences were more likely to complete the course(s) they registered for compared to those who reported lower levels. The study findings hold important implications for the design of effective online emergency

78 FR 41192 - Publication of General License Related to the Zimbabwe Sanctions Program

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-09

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Foreign Assets Control Publication of General License Related to the Zimbabwe Sanctions Program AGENCY: Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury. ACTION: Notice, publication of general license. SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets...

Strategy of the Romanian Public Information Policy in the Nuclear Field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stiopol, Mihaela; Manole, Felicia; Paunescu, Aurelia; Petran, Catalina; Chiper, Livia

1998-01-01

In the framework the Romania's nuclear power program the first Romanian NPP has been built at Cernavoda and the Unit 1, based on a CANDU type reactor, was commissioned on December 2, 1996. The start of the entire nuclear program in Romania, some 20 years ago, was a high level government decision with no public hearing or acceptance, either, but obviously based on economic and political considerations. After 1990 favorable and unfavorable articles in the mass media, most of them lacking of technical background, had led to distorted and false perception of information. The strategy of public information policy in the nuclear field should be guided by the following facts: a) the public perception of the nuclear energy problems in general, and of nuclear power, in particular, is deeply deformed by the ignorance in the domain; b) first of all the public fears for its health menaced by radiation and radioactive wastes; c) the public due not know the actual dimension and potential of the Romanian industry in this field, the qualitative progress brought about by the implementation of the nuclear program in the Romania's economy; d) the public vulnerability when exposed to the mass media which, owing to its rush towards sensational or due to the lack of knowledge in the field, rather often have launched simple, unfounded speculations. The paper presents the basic principles which are underlying the public information program and lists suggestions for the future activity concerning: A - the educational programs addressed to young people; B - development of computer-assisted educational programs; C - the relationship with mass media; D - accomplishing an adequate information through publications; E - organizing and/or participating in exhibitions displaying nuclear power development; F - advertising actions related to promotion of Unit 2 - 5 project at Cernavoda NPP

Basic-research foundations for public-education programs in energy conservation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Margolin, J B; Misch, M R

1980-09-01

The processes whereby people make decisions about specific behavior, the forces that operate on these decisions, and the interaction of several decisions and their modifying effect upon each other are studied. An overview of the current approach to decision study and behavior-change studies is presented. Brief papers prepared by such experts as Maccoby, Tversky, Cialdine, Margolin, Simon, Heider, Festinger, and Lervin are presented. Methodological considerations are discussed. Task B focuses on the specific issue of the purchase of energy-efficient appliances. Task C investigates individual and small-group data-quantification techniques. Task D explains monitoring of ongoing energy-relevant consumer/purchaser surveys. A cost-benefit analysis is made and discussed in Task E of other public and private information programs designed to serve the public welfare. A number of useful findings are presented with the caveat that cost-benefit analysis is not a precise technique. The application of this study to the needs of the energy-conservation program is summarized. (MCW)

Active Learning by Design: An Undergraduate Introductory Public Health Course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karin eYeatts

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Principles of active learning were used to design and implement an introductory public health course. Students were introduced to the breadth and practice of public health through team and individual-based activities. Team assignments covered topics in epidemiology, biostatistics, health behavior, nutrition, maternal and child health, environment, and health policy. Students developed an appreciation of the population perspective through an experience trip and related intervention project in a public health area of their choice. Students experienced several key critical component elements of a public health undergraduate major; they cover key public health domains, experience public health practice, and integrated concepts with their assignments. In this paper, course assignments, lessons learned, and student successes are described. Given the increased growth in the undergraduate public health major, these active learning assignments may be of interest to undergraduate public health programs at both liberal arts colleges and research universities.

CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program in Action: Case Studies From State and Local Health Departments

Science.gov (United States)

Eatman, Shana; Strosnider, Heather M.

2017-01-01

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program) is a multidisciplinary collaboration that involves the ongoing collection, integration, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data from environmental hazard monitoring, human exposure surveillance, and health effects surveillance. With a renewed focus on data-driven decision-making, the CDC’s Tracking Program emphasizes dissemination of actionable data to public health practitioners, policy makers, and communities. The CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network), a Web-based system with components at the national, state, and local levels, houses environmental public health data used to inform public health actions (PHAs) to improve community health. This article serves as a detailed landscape on the Tracking Program and Tracking Network and the Tracking Program’s leading performance measure, “public health actions.” Tracking PHAs are qualitative statements addressing a local problem or situation, the role of the state or local Tracking Program, how the problem or situation was addressed, and the action taken. More than 400 PHAs have been reported by funded state and local health departments since the Tracking Program began collecting PHAs in 2005. Three case studies are provided to illustrate the use of the Tracking Program resources and data on the Tracking Network, and the diversity of actions taken. Through a collaborative network of experts, data, and tools, the Tracking Program and its Tracking Network are actively informing state and local PHAs. In a time of competing priorities and limited funding, PHAs can serve as a powerful tool to advance environmental public health practice. PMID:28763381

The McBride Honors Program in Public Affairs for Scientists and Engineers

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, W. J.; Miller, R. L.; Olds, B. M.; Sacks, A. B.

2006-12-01

The McBride Honors Program in Public Affairs at The Colorado School of Mines (CSM), instituted in 1978, is an award-winning exemplar in the liberal arts which provides a select number of CSM engineering students an opportunity to cross the boundaries of their technical expertise in engineering and applied science, and to gain the understanding and appreciation of the contexts in which engineering and applied science and all human systems reside, and specifically to explore and integrate the social, cultural, ethical and environmental implications of their future professional judgments and their roles as citizens in varied and complex settings. The 27 semester-hour program of seminars, courses, and off-campus activities features small seminars; a cross-disciplinary approach; and opportunities for one-on-one faculty tutorials, instruction and practice in oral and written communication, a Washington, D.C. public policy seminar, a practicum experience (internship or foreign study). Circumstances external to the McBride Program itself, which include the development and growth of the field of Public Affairs nationally and the persistence of legacy courses, have created the need to revitalize and refocus the historically cross-departmental Program. A recent curriculum reform effort has achieved a more thoroughly interdisciplinary learning experience to educate engineers and scientists who, as called for in the National Academy of Engineering's The Engineer of 2020 "will assume leadership positions from which they can serve as positive influences in the making of public policy and in the administration of government and industry". In this presentation we showcase best practices in curriculum reform, exemplified by a seminar in National policy analysis where students and faculty have recently investigated federal science funding decisions in support of natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, wildland fires, and pandemic disease.

Separating defence and civilian radioactive waste programs in Nevada: can the public navigate the maze?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nielsen, R.A.

1999-01-01

Nevada is at the centre of public policy debate with regards to high and low level radioactive waste disposal. Nevada's Yucca Mountain is the only site under consideration for a US geologic repository for commercial spent nuclear fuel and defence high level waste. The Nevada Test Site (NTS) has long been a low level waste (LLW) disposal facility for the Department of Energy (DOE) defence waste and is now expected to take even more LLW as the preferred site for a regional or centralised disposal facility. Furthermore, the primary mission at NTS, defence, continues to add more contamination to the site. Combined, these facts present a public policy enigma, confused further by the intentional separation of the programs by DOE, even though all are essentially conducted at the same site. Involving the public in policy decisions for these programs is a dilemma because the public does not make the same artificial distinctions between them as DOE, DOE credibility suffers from past public involvement efforts conducted during an era of Cold War secrecy and because DOE public involvement programs are operated independently, with little or no co-operation between programs. The public does not know where it fits into the DOE decision-making process or if it impacts the policy decisions being made that affect it. This paper examines the complex maze of radioactive policy and bureaucracy in order to unveil the enigma Nevada residents face. Are they able to navigate this maze to effectively participate in government policy and decision-making? Or, will they remain confused by the government bureaucracy which deliberately makes a mess of the situation and seeks to exploit a politically weak state with large tracts of federally controlled land? lt further evaluates the effect this enigma has in producing acceptable public policy for radioactive waste disposal in the US, the role of public participation in that policy, and the reason the public is disillusioned and disengaged in the

EMGAN: A computer program for time and frequency domain reduction of electromyographic data

Science.gov (United States)

Hursta, W. N.

1975-01-01

An experiment in electromyography utilizing surface electrode techniques was developed for the Apollo-Soyuz test project. This report describes the computer program, EMGAN, which was written to provide first order data reduction for the experiment. EMG signals are produced by the membrane depolarization of muscle fibers during a muscle contraction. Surface electrodes detect a spatially summated signal from a large number of muscle fibers commonly called an interference pattern. An interference pattern is usually so complex that analysis through signal morphology is extremely difficult if not impossible. It has become common to process EMG interference patterns in the frequency domain. Muscle fatigue and certain myopathic conditions are recognized through changes in muscle frequency spectra.

The formation of nurses in residency programs in public and private intensive care units

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iasmim Lima Aguiar

Full Text Available This qualitative study aimed to acknowledge the importance of practice in public and private institutions in the training of nurses in residency programs. Data were collected at two hospitals between February and March 2013, through interviews. From their analysis the following categories emerged: experience of graduate nurses in residency programs in ICUs of public and private institutions and potential for learning in public and private institutions regarding the training of nurses. Differences were detected in the work process and in the profile of patients between the public and private fields, and dissociation between caring and management functions carried out by residents was demonstrated. It was concluded that the development of practices in public and private institutions provides different and complementary experiences which prepare residents for management and care activities, improve management and technical assistance skills, encourages the exercise of in-service education and, by means of surveys, the search for solutions to problems that emerge from daily work.

A micromagnetic study of domain structure modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuo, Tetsuji; Mimuro, Naoki; Shimasaki, Masaaki

2008-01-01

To develop a mesoscopic model for magnetic-domain behavior, a domain structure model (DSM) was examined and compared with a micromagnetic simulation. The domain structure of this model is given by several domains with uniform magnetization vectors and domain walls. The directions of magnetization vectors and the locations of domain walls are determined so as to minimize the magnetic total energy of the magnetic material. The DSM was modified to improve its representation capability for domain behavior. The domain wall energy is multiplied by a vanishing factor to represent the disappearance of magnetic domain. The sequential quadratic programming procedure is divided into two steps to improve an energy minimization process. A comparison with micromagnetic simulation shows that the modified DSM improves the representation accuracy of the magnetization process

DO FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMS DECREASE POVERTY? EVIDENCE FROM PUBLIC CENSUS DATA

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, Martha J.; Malkova, Olga; Norling, Johannes

2014-01-01

This paper provides new evidence that family planning programs are associated with a decrease in the share of children and adults living in poverty. Our research design exploits the county roll-out of U.S. family planning programs in the late 1960s and early 1970s and examines their relationship with poverty rates in the short and longer-term in public census data. We find that cohorts born after federal family planning programs began were less likely to live in poverty in childhood and that these same cohorts were less likely to live in poverty as adults. PMID:25346655

A Descriptive Study of Wisconsin PK-12 Virtual Public School Program Operations and Management

Science.gov (United States)

Banker, Margaret M.

2012-01-01

E-Learning as it pertains to public education is in its infancy in America. There is limited research on what operational design, development, and management attributes of virtual school programs foster student achievement. The Wisconsin Department of Instruction has not developed or adopted program standards for E-Learning programs. The purpose…

The public communication of science in public health graduate programs in Brazil: From the coordinators' perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Teixeira, C. A.; Gallo, P. R.

2014-12-01

Introduction - The elaboration process of public policies for science and technology in knowledge societies should include not only experts, but all society members. There are studies on lay people's perception of science and technology. However, what is the scientists' perspective on public communication of science? Objectives - To describe and characterize the concepts that coordinators of Brazilian public health graduate programs have about public communication of science. Methods - This is an analytical and descriptive report of an exploratory research (doctoral study). The answers of fifty-one coordinators to two questionnaires were submitted for content analysis. The categories were transformed into variables that allowed the data processing by the Hiérarchique Classificatoire et Cohésitive (CHIC®) software. Results - Similarity analysis strongly suggested (0,99) that coordinators understand public communication as a communication directed to academic peers and students, also as a form of participation in scientific events and communication by scientific papers. Likewise, the implication analysis suggested a strong implication (0,98) between scientific communication understood as public communication. Conclusion - The notion of public communication of science as a social right and as a commitment and responsibility of researchers and research centers is not explicitly present in the narrative of the coordinators, although in general the coordinators conceive it as a relevant activity. This study thus contributes to a reflection on the role of scientists, researchers and research centers in public communication of science and technology.

Publications of the planetary biology program for 1975: A special bibliography. [on NASA programs and research projects on extraterrestrial life

Science.gov (United States)

Souza, K. A. (Compiler); Young, R. S. (Compiler)

1976-01-01

The Planetary Biology Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the first and only integrated program to methodically investigate the planetary events which may have been responsible for, or related to, the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe. Research supported by this program is divided into the seven areas listed below: (1) chemical evolution, (2) organic geochemistry, (3) life detection, (4) biological adaptation, (5) bioinstrumentation, (6) planetary environments, and (7) origin of life. The arrangement of references in this bibliography follows the division of research described above. Articles are listed alphabetically by author under the research area with which they are most closely related. Only those publications which resulted from research supported by the Planetary Biology Program and which bear a 1975 publication date have been included. Abstracts and theses are not included because of the preliminary and abbreviated nature of the former and the frequent difficulty of obtaining the latter.

77 FR 59930 - Clinical Development Programs for Disease-Modifying Agents for Peripheral Neuropathy; Public...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-01

...] Clinical Development Programs for Disease-Modifying Agents for Peripheral Neuropathy; Public Workshop... to the clinical development of disease-modifying agents for the treatment of peripheral neuropathy... disease-modifying products for the management of peripheral neuropathy. Date and Time: The public workshop...

Summative Evaluation Findings from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) Education and Public Outreach Program

Science.gov (United States)

Bartolone, L.; Nichols-Yehling, M.; Davis, H. B.; Davey, B.

2014-07-01

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission includes a comprehensive Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program in heliophysics that is overseen and implemented by the Adler Planetarium and evaluated by Technology for Learning Consortium, Inc. Several components of the IBEX EPO program were developed during the prime phase of the mission that were specifically designed for use in informal institutions, especially museums and planetaria. The program included a widely distributed planetarium show with accompanying informal education activities, printed posters, lithographs and other resources, funding for the development of the GEMS Space Science Sequence for Grades 6-8 curriculum materials, development of the IBEX mission website, development of materials for people with special needs, participation in the Heliophysics Educator Ambassador program, and support for the Space Explorers Afterschool Science Club for Chicago Public Schools. In this paper, we present an overview of the IBEX EPO program summative evaluation techniques and results for 2008 through 2012.

Assessing water availability over peninsular Malaysia using public domain satellite data products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, M I; Hashim, M; Zin, H S M

2014-01-01

Water availability monitoring is an essential task for water resource sustainability and security. In this paper, the assessment of satellite remote sensing technique for determining water availability is reported. The water-balance analysis is used to compute the spatio-temporal water availability with main inputs; the precipitation and actual evapotranspiration rate (AET), both fully derived from public-domain satellite products of Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and MODIS, respectively. Both these satellite products were first subjected to calibration to suit corresponding selected local precipitation and AET samples. Multi-temporal data sets acquired 2000-2010 were used in this study. The results of study, indicated strong agreement of monthly water availability with the basin flow rate (r 2 = 0.5, p < 0.001). Similar agreements were also noted between the estimated annual average water availability with the in-situ measurement. It is therefore concluded that the method devised in this study provide a new alternative for water availability mapping over large area, hence offers the only timely and cost-effective method apart from providing comprehensive spatio-temporal patterns, crucial in water resource planning to ensure water security

Domain Specific Language for Modeling Waste Management Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zarrin, Bahram

environmental technologies i.e. solid waste management systems. Flow-based programming is used to support concurrent execution of the processes, and provides a model-integration language for composing processes from homogeneous or heterogeneous domains. And a domain-specific language is used to define atomic......In order to develop sustainable waste management systems with considering life cycle perspective, scientists and domain experts in environmental science require readily applicable tools for modeling and evaluating the life cycle impacts of the waste management systems. Practice has proved...... a domain specific language for modeling of waste-management systems on the basis of our framework. We evaluate the language by providing a set of case studies. The contributions of this thesis are; addressing separation of concerns in Flow-based programming and providing the formal specification of its...

75 FR 69096 - Public Meetings of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Reform Effort

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-10

... its programs and answer any questions and listen to comments from them on how its programs can be more... policy alternatives is being developed and will be analyzed using the evaluation criteria. The resulting recommendations will be reported to FEMA leadership. The purpose of the public meetings is to describe, update...

The Speech Anxiety Program at UTK: A Training Program for Students with High Public Speaking Anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Ambler, Bob

The University of Tennessee (Knoxville) offers as a special section of the public speaking curriculum, a "speech anxiety" program, taught by faculty and graduate students from the speech and theatre and educational psychology departments and staff from the counseling services center. The students spend the first few weeks of the special…

Health-Based Capitation Risk Adjustment in Minnesota Public Health Care Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Gifford, Gregory A.; Edwards, Kevan R.; Knutson, David J.

2004-01-01

This article documents the history and implementation of health-based capitation risk adjustment in Minnesota public health care programs, and identifies key implementation issues. Capitation payments in these programs are risk adjusted using an historical, health plan risk score, based on concurrent risk assessment. Phased implementation of capitation risk adjustment for these programs began January 1, 2000. Minnesota's experience with capitation risk adjustment suggests that: (1) implementation can accelerate encounter data submission, (2) administrative decisions made during implementation can create issues that impact payment model performance, and (3) changes in diagnosis data management during implementation may require changes to the payment model. PMID:25372356

Management characteristics of successful public health programs: "Avahan" HIV prevention program in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Mabuchi, Shunsuke; Singh, Suneeta; Bishnu, Rituparna; Bennett, Sara

2013-01-01

This paper analyzes Avahan, an HIV prevention program in India, that achieved very rapid scale-up. The paper aims to (i) define the distinctive features of the management of Avahan, (ii) examine how the distinctive features relate to key constructs in management frameworks and (iii) investigate how the management approaches of Avahan contributed to the program's ability to scale-up rapidly while maintaining service quality. The Delphi method was used to identify the distinctive features of Avahan. Through three rounds of questions, 38 participants closely associated with Avahan were asked to identify and develop consensus on its distinctive features. These features were then mapped against the Baldrige Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence to investigate how they related to important dimensions of management. A total of 17 distinctive features of Avahan were identified. These distinctive features emphasized the importance of data use and performance monitoring at all levels, especially combined with a flexible management style that facilitated local responsiveness to community, innovation and learning. The distinctive features comprehensively addressed the criteria for management excellence in the Baldridge framework. In the case of Avahan, the rigorous application of known management techniques to public health programs appears to have been an important factor in the successful scale-up of the program. Also, the Baldrige criteria seem applicable to health programs in low-income and middle-income countries; further applications would help test their robustness and utility in such contexts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Investigation for integration of the German Public Health Service in catastrophe and disaster prevention programs in Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfenninger, E.; Koenig, S.; Himmelseher, S.

2004-01-01

This research project aimed at investigating the integration of the GPHS into the plans for civil defence and protection as well as catastrophe prevention of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following a comprehensive analysis of the current situation, potential proposals for an improved integrative approach will be presented. In view of the lack of topics relevant for medical care in disaster medicine in educational curricula and training programs for medical students and postgraduate board programs for public health physicians, a working group of the Civil Protection Board of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior already complained in their 'Report on execution of legal rules for protection and rescue of human life as well as restitution of public health after disaster' in 1999, that the integration of the GPHS into catastrophe and disaster prevention programs has insufficiently been solved. On a point-by-point approach, our project analysed the following issues: - Legislative acts for integration of the German Public Health Service into medical care in catastrophes and disasters to protect the civilian population of Germany and their implementation and execution. - Administrative rules and directives on state and district levels that show relationship to integration of the German Public Health Service into preparedness programs for catastrophe prevention and management and their implementation and execution. - Education and postgraduate training options for physicians and non-physician employees of the German Public health Service to prepare for medical care in catastrophes and disasters. - State of knowledge and experience of the German Public Health Service personnel in emergency and disaster medicine. - Evaluation of the German administrative catastrophe prevention authorities with regard to their integration of the German Public Health Service into preparedness programs for catastrophe prevention and management. - Development of a concept to remedy the

75 FR 23264 - Public Water System Supervision Program Revision for the State of Alabama

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-03

... Public Water System Supervision Program. Alabama has adopted the following rules: Arsenic Rule, Lead and... motion, this determination shall become final and effective on June 2, 2010. Any request for a public... the Regional Administrator's determination and a brief statement of the information that the...

Formulating Employability Skills for Graduates of Public Health Study Program

Science.gov (United States)

Qomariyah, Nurul; Savitri, Titi; Hadianto, Tridjoko; Claramita, Mora

2016-01-01

Employability skills (ES) are important for effective and successful individual participation in the workplace. The main aims of the research were to identify important ES needed by graduates of Public Health Study Program Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (PHSP UAD) and to assess the achievement of the ES development that has been carried out by PHSP UAD.…

The Community Environmental Monitoring Program: Reducing Public Perception of Risk Through Stakeholder Involvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

T. Hartwell

2007-01-01

Between 1951 and 1992, 928 nuclear tests were conducted at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), including 100 atmospheric and 828 underground tests. Initial public reaction to the tests was largely supportive, but by the late 1950s this began to change, largely as a result of fear of the potential for adverse health effects to be caused by exposure to ionizing radiation resulting from the tests. The nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island in 1979 served to heighten these fears, as well as foster a general distrust of the federal agencies involved and low public confidence in monitoring results. Modeled after a similar program that involved the public in monitoring activities around the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP) has promoted stakeholder involvement, awareness, and understanding of radiological surveillance in communities surrounding the NTS since 1981. It involves stakeholders in the operation, data collection, and dissemination of information obtained from a network of 29 stations across a wide area of Nevada, Utah, and California. It is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO) and administered by the Desert Research Institute (DRI) of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Since assuming administration of the program in 2000, DRI has accomplished significant enhancements to the network's data collection and transmission capabilities. A robust datalogging and communications system allows for the near real-time transmission of data to a platform maintained by DRI's Western Regional Climate Center, where the data are uploaded and displayed on a publicly accessible web site (http://cemp.dri.edu/). Additionally, the CEMP can serve as part of an emergency response network in the event of an unplanned radiological release from the NTS, and also provides an excellent platform for testing new environmental sensor technologies

The Swift MIDEX Education and Public Outreach Program

Science.gov (United States)

Feigelson, E. D.; Cominsky, L. R.; Whitlock, L. A.

1999-12-01

The Swift satellite is dedicated to an understanding of gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the Universe since the Big Bang. A multifaceted E/PO program associated with Swift is planned. Web sites will be constructed, including sophisticated interactive learning environments for combining science concepts with with exploration and critical thinking for high school students. The award-winning instructional television program "What's in the News?", produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting and reaching several million 4th-7th graders, will create a series of broadcasts on Swift and space astronomy. A teachers' curricular guide on space astronomy will be produced by UC-Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science as part of their highly successful GEMS guides promoting inquiry-based science education. Teacher workshops will be conducted in the Appalachian region and nationwide to testbed and disseminate these products. We may also assist the production of gamma-ray burst museum exhibits. All aspects of the program will be overseen by a Swift Education Committee and assessed by a professional educational evaluation firm. This effort will be supported by the NASA Swift MIDEX contract to Penn State.

PUBLIC HEARING TRANSCRIPT: FEDERAL NON-NUCLEAR ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Science.gov (United States)

This document presents the proceedings of three days of public hearings on the Federal Non-nuclear Energy Research and Development Program. The document is presented in three sections: (1) Future Energy Patterns and Levels of Coal Use, (2) Solar Energy and Conservation, and (3) O...

Monitoring and evaluation of green public procurement programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adell, Aure [Ecoinstitut, Barcelona (Spain); Schaefer, Bettina [Ecoinstitut, Barcelona (Spain); Ravi, Kavita [US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States); Corry, Jenny [Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (United States)

2013-10-15

Effective procurement policies can help governments save considerable amounts of money while also reducing energy consumption. Additionally, private sector companies which purchase large numbers of energy-consuming devices can benefit from procurement policies that minimize life-cycle energy costs. Both public and private procurement programs offer opportunities to generate market-transforming demand for energy efficient appliances and lighting fixtures. In recent years, several governments have implemented policies to procure energy efficient products and services. When deploying these policies, efforts have focused on developing resources for implementation (guidelines, energy efficiency specifications for tenders, life cycle costing tools, training, etc.) rather than defining monitoring systems to track progress against the set objectives. Implementation resources are necessary to make effective policies; however, developing Monitoring and Evaluation (M and E) mechanisms are critical to ensure that the policies are effective. The purpose of this article is to provide policy makers and procurement officials with a preliminary map of existing approaches and key components to monitor Energy Efficient Procurement (EEP) programs in order to contribute to the improvement of their own systems. Case studies are used throughout the paper to illustrate promising approaches to improve the M and E of EEP programs, from the definition of the system or data collection to complementary instruments to improve both the monitoring response and program results.

Teaching nutrition in an International Master of Public Health program.

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Elliot M; Fatunmbi, Bayo S; Kaluski, Dorit Nitzan

2002-01-01

The health of populations is related to the norms and characteristics of society and its socio-economic organization. The causes of food-related ill health are located at the national and international levels and the cure must be sought in good governance. Thus, it is obvious that a Master's Degree in International Public Health must include a thorough overview of the "food chain" from "plough to plate" within the political, economical, socio-economic changes, environmental, industrial, scientific, and health contexts. Nutritional deficiencies are addressed by a variety of measures, including food supply and utilization programs, specific supplementation for high-risk groups, and food fortification to reach a general population. All are part of a wide-based public health nutrition approach, applicable in developed, redeveloping, and newly developing countries. This article is based on experience in teaching Public Health Nutrition to a mixed group of foreign students from different countries. Our goal is to prepare students for a variety of public health careers related to nutrition and health. The aim of this course is to introduce current roles and aspects of food and nutrition policy, focusing on food and nutrition security, human rights for food and nutrition, and the complex interactions among local and global systems. Students are introduced to nutrition screening, assessment, and research skills, and nutrition in emergency situations and in disaster relief. During the course the students learn about the design and the evaluation of nutrition interventions at the individual, community, and national level. The course gives a broad-based examination of major themes related to development and underdevelopment, poverty and wealth, equality and inequality. It also introduces program planning from the perspective of international organisations such as the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation of the United

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

Radiological emergencies due to postulated events of melted radioactive material mixed in steel reaching public domain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meena, T.R.; Anoj Kumar; Patra, R.P.; Vikas; Patil, S.S.; Chatterjee, M.K.; Sharma, Ranjit; Murali, S.

2014-01-01

National level response mechanism is developed at emergency response centres of DAE (DAE-ERCs) at 22 different locations spread all over the country and National Disaster Response Forces with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). ERCs are equipped with radiation monitors, radionuclide identifinders, Personnel Radiation Dosimeters (PRD) with monitoring capabilities of the order of tens of nGy/h (μR/hr) above the radiation background at any suspected locations. Even if small amounts of radioactive material is smuggled and brought in some other form into public domain, ERCs are capable to detect, identify and segregate the radioactive material from any inactive scrap. DAE-ERCs have demonstrated their capability in source search, detection, identification and recovery during the radiological emergency at Mayapuri, New Delhi

Radiological emergencies due to postulated events of melted radioactive material mixed in steel reaching public domain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meena, T. R.; Kumar, Anoj; Patra, R. P.; Vikas,; Patil, S. S.; Chatterjee, M. K.; Sharma, Ranjit; Murali, S., E-mail: tejram@barc.gov.in [Radiation Safety Systems Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)

2014-07-01

National level response mechanism is developed at emergency response centres of DAE (DAE-ERCs) at 22 different locations spread all over the country and National Disaster Response Forces with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). ERCs are equipped with radiation monitors, radionuclide identifinders, Personnel Radiation Dosimeters (PRD) with monitoring capabilities of the order of tens of nGy/h (μR/hr) above the radiation background at any suspected locations. Even if small amounts of radioactive material is smuggled and brought in some other form into public domain, ERCs are capable to detect, identify and segregate the radioactive material from any inactive scrap. DAE-ERCs have demonstrated their capability in source search, detection, identification and recovery during the radiological emergency at Mayapuri, New Delhi.

An assessment of opportunities and challenges for public sector involvement in the maternal health voucher program in Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Okal, Jerry; Kanya, Lucy; Obare, Francis; Njuki, Rebecca; Abuya, Timothy; Bange, Teresah; Warren, Charlotte; Askew, Ian; Bellows, Ben

2013-10-18

Continued inequities in coverage, low quality of care, and high out-of-pocket expenses for health services threaten attainment of Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in many sub-Saharan African countries. Existing health systems largely rely on input-based supply mechanisms that have a poor track record meeting the reproductive health needs of low-income and underserved segments of national populations. As a result, there is increased interest in and experimentation with results-based mechanisms like supply-side performance incentives to providers and demand-side vouchers that place purchasing power in the hands of low-income consumers to improve uptake of facility services and reduce the burden of out-of-pocket expenditures. This paper describes a reproductive health voucher program that contracts private facilities in Uganda and explores the policy and implementation issues associated with expansion of the program to include public sector facilities. Data presented here describes the results of interviews of six district health officers and four health facility managers purposefully selected from seven districts with the voucher program in southwestern Uganda. Interviews were transcribed and organized thematically, barriers to seeking RH care were identified, and how to address the barriers in a context where voucher coverage is incomplete as well as opportunities and challenges for expanding the program by involving public sector facilities were investigated. The findings show that access to sexual and reproductive health services in southwestern Uganda is constrained by both facility and individual level factors which can be addressed by inclusion of the public facilities in the program. This will widen the geographical reach of facilities for potential clients, effectively addressing distance related barriers to access of health care services. Further, intensifying ongoing health education, continuous monitoring and evaluation, and integrating the voucher

Public Perspectives in the Japanese HLW Disposal Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inatsugu, Shigefumi; Takeuchi, Mitsuo; Kato, Toshiaki

2006-01-01

Following legislation entitled the 'Specified Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Act', the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) was established in October 2000 as the implementing organization for geological disposal of vitrified high-level waste (HLW). Implementation of NUMO's disposal project will be based on three principles: 1) respecting public initiative and opinion, 2) adopting a stepwise approach and 3) ensuring transparency in information disclosure. NUMO has decided to adopt an open solicitation approach to finding volunteer municipalities for Preliminary Investigation Areas (PIAs). The official announcement of the start of the open solicitation program was made in 2002. Although no official applications had been received from volunteer municipalities by the end of 2005, NUMO has been continuing to carry out various activities aimed specifically at public communication and encouraging dialogue about the deep geological disposal project This paper summarizes the results obtained and lessons learned so far and identifies the issues that NUMO must tackle immediately in the areas of communication and dialogue

Public Perspectives in the Japanese HLW Disposal Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Inatsugu, Shigefumi; Takeuchi, Mitsuo; Kato, Toshiaki [Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUNIO), Tokyo (Japan)

2006-09-15

Following legislation entitled the 'Specified Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Act', the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) was established in October 2000 as the implementing organization for geological disposal of vitrified high-level waste (HLW). Implementation of NUMO's disposal project will be based on three principles: 1) respecting public initiative and opinion, 2) adopting a stepwise approach and 3) ensuring transparency in information disclosure. NUMO has decided to adopt an open solicitation approach to finding volunteer municipalities for Preliminary Investigation Areas (PIAs). The official announcement of the start of the open solicitation program was made in 2002. Although no official applications had been received from volunteer municipalities by the end of 2005, NUMO has been continuing to carry out various activities aimed specifically at public communication and encouraging dialogue about the deep geological disposal project This paper summarizes the results obtained and lessons learned so far and identifies the issues that NUMO must tackle immediately in the areas of communication and dialogue.

Public speaking for the healthcare professional: Part I--Preparing for the program.

Science.gov (United States)

Baum, Neil

2011-01-01

It is true that most doctors do not enjoy public speaking. Most physicians, although good with one-on-one conversations with patients, are out of their comfort zone when it comes to speaking in front of other physicians, colleagues, and even lay persons. This three-part article will discuss the preparation, the presentation, and what you need to do after the program is over in order to become an effective public speaker.

Index of Laser Program publications and related reports, calendar year 1984

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-05-01

This document provides a listing of titles and authors of publications from the LLNL Laser program during calendar year 1984. It is presented as an aid for researchers in the field who may not otherwise have access to a full listing of laser-related work done at LLNL. The intent is to provide a brief and concise listing. Publications are classified by subject, but cross references are not supplied and those documents that logically fall in more than one category may not appear to be in the obvious location

Public Library Summer Reading Programs Contribute to Reading Progress and Proficiency. A Review of: Roman, S., & Fiore, C. (2010. Do public library summer reading programs close the achievement gap? Children and Libraries, (Winter, 27-31.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gayle Bogel

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Objectives – To explore summer reading partnerships between public libraries and school libraries, and the impact on student achievement in reading.Design – The design is mixed methods: tests, interviews and surveys.Setting – Eleven US sites involving school and public library partners.Subjects – A total of 357 elementary school students entering fourth grade that met specific criteria. Parents, teachers, school librarians and public librarians were also included.Methods – This study occurred over a three year period from 2006-2009. It was developed as a partnership between Dominican University, the Colorado State Library Agency and the Texas Library and Archives Commission. Additionally, the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University was contracted to conduct the research. It was designed to explore the research question central to a 1978 study by Barbara Heyns.An advisory committee, with representatives from each partner agency, developed evaluation questions and established the objective selection criteria for participants in the study. The criteria included: at least 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced price meals; at least 85 percent of school population would take the reading proficiency test in English; public library summer reading programs with a minimum of six weeks of programming; a history of collaboration between the paired school and public library applicants; both school and public library would sign a partnership agreement and participate in conference calls.In spring of 2008, students at participating sites were given a pre-test using the Scholastic Reading Inventory, and also provided with special summer reading logs developed for the study, to be used during their subsequent participation in the public library summer reading programs.In fall of 2008, the same children were tested on the Scholastic Reading Inventory. In addition, surveys of students, parents, teachers and library staff were

78 FR 64598 - Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program; Programmatic and Administrative Aspects; Public Comment Request

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-29

... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program; Programmatic and Administrative Aspects; Public Comment Request AGENCY: Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Request for public comment...

75 FR 36120 - Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations; Program...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-24

... Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations; Program To Prevent Smoking Underground and in Hazardous... mine operators are required to develop programs to prevent persons from carrying smoking materials, matches, or lighters underground and to prevent smoking in hazardous areas, such as in or around oil...

Mapping Dual-Degree Programs in Social Work and Public Health: Results From a National Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dory Ziperstein

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Dramatic changes in the health system due to national health reform are raising important questions regarding the educational preparation of social workers for the new health arena. While dual-degree programs in public health and social work can be an important response to what is needed educationally, little is known about them. The National MSW/MPH Programs Study surveyed MSW/MPH program administrators to better understand the prevalence, models, structure, and challenges of these dual-degree programs. Forty-two programs were identified, and 97.6% of those contacted participated (n=41. Findings indicate that MSW/MPH programs are popular, increasing, geographically dispersed, and drawing talented students interested in trans-disciplinary public health social work practice. Challenges for these programs include the need for greater institutional support, particularly funding, and a general lack of best practices for MSW/MPH education. While findings from this study suggest graduates appear especially well-prepared for leadership and practice in the new health environment, additional research is needed to assess their particular contributions and career trajectories.

Public financing of the Medicare program will make its uniform structure increasingly costly to sustain.

Science.gov (United States)

Baicker, Katherine; Shepard, Mark; Skinner, Jonathan

2013-05-01

The US Medicare program consumes an ever-rising share of the federal budget. Although this public spending can produce health and social benefits, raising taxes to finance it comes at the cost of slower economic growth. In this article we describe a model incorporating the benefits of public programs and the cost of tax financing. The model implies that the "one-size-fits-all" Medicare program, with everyone covered by the same insurance policy, will be increasingly difficult to sustain. We show that a Medicare program with guaranteed basic benefits and the option to purchase additional coverage could lead to more unequal health spending but slower growth in taxation, greater overall well-being, and more rapid growth of gross domestic product. Our framework highlights the key trade-offs between Medicare spending and economic prosperity.

Implementation and evaluation of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine leadership program for women faculty.

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, Rachel B; González-Fernández, Marlís; Bodurtha, Joann; Skarupski, Kimberly A; Fivush, Barbara

2015-05-01

Women continue to be underrepresented in top leadership roles in academic medicine. Leadership training programs for women are designed to enhance women's leadership skills and confidence and increase overall leadership diversity. The authors present a description and evaluation of a longitudinal, cohort-based, experiential leadership program for women faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. We compared pre- and post-program self-assessed ratings of 11 leadership skills and specific negotiation behaviors from 3 cohorts of leadership program participants (n=134) from 2010 to 2013. Women reported significant improvements in skills across 11 domains with the exceptions of 2 domains, Public Speaking and Working in Teams, both of which received high scores in the pre-program assessment. The greatest improvement in rankings occurred within the domain of negotiation skills. Although women reported an increase in their negotiation skills, we were not able to demonstrate an increase in the number of times that women negotiated for salary, space, or promotion following participation in the program. The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Leadership Program for Women Faculty has demonstrable value for the professional development of participants and addresses institutional strategies to enhance leadership diversity and the advancement of women.

75 FR 1755 - Public Telecommunications Facilities Program: Notice of Availability of Funds

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-13

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Telecommunications and Information Administration [Docket No. 0911201414-0010-02] Public Telecommunications Facilities Program: Notice of Availability of Funds AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of...

Performance management models for public health: Public Health Accreditation Board/Baldrige connections, alignment, and distinctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorenflo, Grace G; Klater, David M; Mason, Marlene; Russo, Pamela; Rivera, Lillian

2014-01-01

The nationally known Malcolm Baldrige Award for Excellence ("Baldrige program") recognizes outstanding performance management and is specifically cited by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) as a potential framework for PHAB's requisite performance management system. The authors developed a crosswalk that identifies alignments between the 2 programs and is a highlight of the Quest for Exceptional Performance tool that is intended to help health departments capitalize on the connections between the 2 programs. To provide deeper insight into the most robust connections between the 2 programs. The authors developed a crosswalk by listing the PHAB measures, identifying corresponding Baldrige areas to address, and assigning a rating regarding the strength of the alignment. Subsequently, they generated a matrix with numerical scores reflecting the strength of the PHAB-Baldrige alignments that were then analyzed for frequency and strength of alignment by PHAB domain and by Baldrige category. The tool developers and 3 public health leaders with experience in the Baldrige program contributed to both the design and the analyses. The measures used reflected both the frequency and strength of alignments. Of the 123 alignments identified in the crosswalk, 39 were rated as high, 40 as medium, and 44 as low. The strongest connections were in the areas of performance management, quality improvement, strategic planning, workforce development, assessment and analysis, and customer service. While the areas with the most frequent and strongest connections provide the most useful basis for health departments pursuing Baldrige recognition or using Baldrige criteria as a framework for performance management, all alignments could be considered for both purposes.

Services for domain specific developments in the Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Schwichtenberg, Horst; Gemuend, André

2015-04-01

We will discuss and demonstrate the possibilities of new Cloud Services where the complete development of code is in the Cloud. We will discuss the possibilities of such services where the complete development cycle from programing to testing is in the cloud. This can be also combined with dedicated research domain specific services and hide the burden of accessing available infrastructures. As an example, we will show a service that is intended to complement the services of the VERCE projects infrastructure, a service that utilizes Cloud resources to offer simplified execution of data pre- and post-processing scripts. It offers users access to the ObsPy seismological toolbox for processing data with the Python programming language, executed on virtual Cloud resources in a secured sandbox. The solution encompasses a frontend with a modern graphical user interface, a messaging infrastructure as well as Python worker nodes for background processing. All components are deployable in the Cloud and have been tested on different environments based on OpenStack and OpenNebula. Deployments on commercial, public Clouds will be tested in the future.

77 FR 77005 - Subsistence Management Program for Public Lands in Alaska; Rural Determination Process

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-31

...-R7-SM-2012-N248;FXFR13350700640-134-FF07J00000] Subsistence Management Program for Public Lands in Alaska; Rural Determination Process AGENCIES: Forest Service, Agriculture; Fish and Wildlife Service... the Interior initiated a review of the Federal Subsistence Management Program. An ensuing directive...

Exploring the affective domain in the teaching of mathematics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Maria Christina Secher; Nissen, Stine Karen; Tonnesen, Pia Beck

2015-01-01

The paper presents the initial constructs of a study being carried out within the Danish public school (primary education) during the fall of 2015. It is based on a substudy conducted in connection with a study of the Early Mathematics Intervention Program for Marginal Groups in Denmark (TMTM i.e....... The methodology forms the basis for a qualitative approach toward gaining insight into the affective domain, which contributes to a field of research significantly dominated by quantitative approaches........e. Tidlig Matematikindsats Til Marginalgrupper). The 12-week intervention was implemented by 82 mathematics teachers in 41 schools in 31 different Danish municipalities. The presentation focuses on the development of a methodology aimed at capturing young students’ voices and views on mathematics...

75 FR 36099 - Legislative Changes to Primary Care Loan Program Authorized Under Title VII of the Public Health...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-24

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Health Resources and Services Administration Legislative Changes to Primary Care Loan Program Authorized Under Title VII of the Public Health Service Act AGENCY... changes Section 723 of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) regarding administration of the PCL program...

Public commitment, resistance to advertising, and leisure promotion in a school-based drug abuse prevention program: a component dismantling study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández-Serrano, Olga; Griffin, Kenneth W; García-Fernández, José Manuel; Orgilés, Mireia; Espada, José P

2013-01-01

The objective of the present study was to examine the contribution of three intervention components (public commitment, resistance to advertising, and leisure promotion) on alcohol and protective variables in a school-based substance use prevention program. Participants included 480 Spanish students aged from 14 to 16 who received the Saluda prevention program in one of the following five experimental conditions: complete program, program minus public commitment, program minus resistance to advertising, program minus leisure promotion, and a waiting-list control. The students completed self-report surveys at pretest, posttest, and 6-month follow-up assessments. When excluding the healthy leisure promotion component, the Saluda program showed no loss of efficacy neither on alcohol use nor on other substance-related variables, while public commitment and resistance to advertising improved the aforementioned program's efficacy.

Developing public awareness for climate change: Support from international research programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barnes, F.J.; Clements, W.E.

1998-12-31

Developing regional and local public awareness and interest in global climate change has been mandated as an important step for increasing the ability for setting policy and managing the response to climate change. Research programs frequently have resources that could help reach regional or national goals for increasing the capacity for responding to climate change. To obtain these resources and target recipients appropriately, research investigators need clear statements of national and regional strategies or priorities as a guide. One such program, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, has a requirement to develop local or regional education enrichment programs at their observational sites in the central US, the tropical western Pacific (TWP), and on the north slope of alaska. ARM's scientific goals will result in a flow of technical data and as well as technical expertise that can assist with regional needs to increase the technical resources needed to address climate change issues. Details of the ARM education program in the Pacific will be presented.

Web Syndication Approaches for Sharing Primary Data in "Small Science" Domains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric C Kansa

2010-06-01

Full Text Available In some areas of science, sophisticated web services and semantics underlie "cyberinfrastructure". However, in "small science" domains, especially in field sciences such as archaeology, conservation, and public health, datasets often resist standardization. Publishing data in the small sciences should embrace this diversity rather than attempt to corral research into "universal" (domain standards. A growing ecosystem of increasingly powerful Web syndication based approaches for sharing data on the public Web can offer a viable approach. Atom Feed based services can be used with scientific collections to identify and create linkages across different datasets, even across disciplinary boundaries without shared domain standards.

Involvement of scientists in the NASA Office of Space Science education and public outreach program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beck-Winchatz, Bernhard

2005-01-01

Since the mid-1990's NASA's Office of Space Science (OSS) has embarked on an astronomy and space science education and public outreach (E/PO) program. Its goals are to share the excitement of space science discoveries with the public, and to enhance the quality of science, mathematics and technology education, particularly at the precollege level. A key feature of the OSS program is the direct involvement of space scientists. The majority of the funding for E/PO is allocated to flight missions, which spend 1%-2% of their total budget on E/PO, and to individual research grants. This paper presents an overview of the program's goals, objectives, philosophy, and infrastructure

Survey of public participation potential regarding the Muria NPP program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yarianto-SBS; Sri Hariani Syarif; Heni Susiati; Imam Hamzah; Fepriadi

2003-01-01

Socio-culture aspect is a part of site feasibility evaluation of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)program. Indonesia is under going democratization, therefore the paradigm of development has also been changed where the people have freedom or liberty and they can express their opinion independently. The people are significant factor that involving in the decision making of regional development.Even the socio-culture, such as social riot can reject the site. Therefore socio-culture aspect should be considered in the NPP site evaluation. The first step of the study,mapping of public participation potential should be conducted by field survey. The method used in there search is quantitative approach with field survey guided by questioner without any treatment of object sampled. Qualitative approach was also conducted by in-depth interview technique to collect more detailed information. Information were collected from general public without any stratification in the 10 km radius from NPP site. Sampling method used was full random sampling technique. The results of survey show that the most of the people have significant potential for participating in the NPP Program. Conducive atmosphere should be maintained by social setting, therefore the present good momentum will not be lost. (author)

Private Administration – Favorable Environment for Implementing Programs and Campaigns of Public Relations?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simona HAIDAU

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This paper refer to decision of the private administration organizations from the region northeast of Romania to implement programs and public relations campaigns from the socio-economic context in the current period. This decision of organizations above mentioned is strongly influenced by nature non-profit purposes they have, more precisely, to be involved in carrying out the public interest or community.

Development and evaluation of a leadership training program for public health emergency response: results from a Chinese study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xu Yihua

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Since the 9/11 attack and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS, the development of qualified and able public health leaders has become a new urgency in building the infrastructure needed to address public health emergencies. Although previous studies have reported that the training of individual leaders is an important approach, the systemic and scientific training model need further improvement and development. The purpose of this study was to develop, deliver, and evaluate a participatory leadership training program for emergency response. Methods Forty-one public health leaders (N = 41 from five provinces completed the entire emergency preparedness training program in China. The program was evaluated by anonymous questionnaires and semi-structured interviews held prior to training, immediately post-training and 12-month after training (Follow-up. Results The emergency preparedness training resulted in positive shifts in knowledge, self-assessment of skills for public health leaders. More than ninety-five percent of participants reported that the training model was scientific and feasible. Moreover, the response of participants in the program to the avian influenza outbreak, as well as the planned evaluations for this leadership training program, further demonstrated both the successful approaches and methods and the positive impact of this integrated leadership training initiative. Conclusion The emergency preparedness training program met its aims and objectives satisfactorily, and improved the emergency capability of public health leaders. This suggests that the leadership training model was effective and feasible in improving the emergency preparedness capability.

A review of similarities between domain-specific determinants of four health behaviors among adolescents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peters, L.W.H.; Wiefferink, C.H.; Hoekstra, F.; Buijs, G.J.; Ten Dam, G.T.M.; Paulussen, T.G.W.M.

2009-01-01

Schools are overloaded with health promotion programs that, altogether, focus on a broad array of behavioral domains, including substance abuse, sexuality and nutrition. Although the specific content of programs varies according to the domain focus, programs usually address similar concepts:

Walking school bus programs in U.S. public elementary schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Lindsey; Chriqui, Jamie F; Chaloupka, Frank J

2013-07-01

Active transportation to school provides an important way for children to meet physical activity recommendations. The "walking school bus" (WSB) is a strategy whereby adults walk with a group of children to and from school along a fixed route. This study assessed whether school-organized WSB programs varied by school characteristics, district policies, and state laws. School data were gathered by mail-back surveys in nationally representative samples of U.S. public elementary schools during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years (n = 632 and 666, respectively). Corresponding district policies and state laws were obtained. Nationwide, 4.2% of schools organized a WSB program during 2008-2009, increasing to 6.2% by 2009-2010. Controlling for demographic covariates, schools were more likely to organize a WSB program where there was a strong district policy pertaining to safe active routes to school (OR = 2.14, P law requiring crossing guards around schools (OR = 2.72, P laws are associated with an increased likelihood of elementary schools organizing these programs. Policymaking efforts may encourage schools to promote active transportation.

The Community Environmental Monitoring Program: Reducing Public Perception of Risk through Stakeholder Involvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

William T. Hartwell

2007-01-01

The Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP) has promoted stakeholder involvement, awareness, and understanding of radiological surveillance in communities surrounding the Nevada Test Site (NTS) since 1981. It involves stakeholders in the operation, data collection, and dissemination of information obtained from a network of 29 stations across a wide area of Nevada, Utah and California. It is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration's Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO) and administered by the Desert Research Institute (DRI) of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Integration of a near real-time communications system, a public web site, training workshops for involved stakeholders, and educational programs all help to alleviate public perception of risk of health effects from past activities conducted at the NTS

The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Doctor of Public Health program: an innovative approach to doctoral-level practice leadership development.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenihan, Patrick; Welter, Christina; Brandt-Rauf, Paul; Neuberger, Babette; Pinsker, Eve; Petros, Michael; Risley, Kristine

2015-03-01

The University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Doctor of Public Health degree is designed to build leadership skills and an ability to contribute to the evidence base of practice. The competency-based, distance-format, doctoral-level program for midcareer professionals features an action learning approach in which students apply leadership principles from the virtual classroom to real-world problems at their work sites. Students demonstrate mastery of the competencies and readiness to advance to the dissertation stage through completing a portfolio by using a process of systematic reflection. The practice-oriented dissertation demonstrates the ability to contribute to the evidence base of public health practice in an area of emphasis. Preliminary evaluation data indicate that the program is meeting its intended purposes.

The chemical stockpile intergovernmental consultation program: Lessons for HLW public involvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feldman, D.L.

1991-01-01

This paper assesses the appropriateness of the US Army's Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program's (CSDP) Intergovernmental Consultation and Coordination Boards (ICCBs) as models for incorporating public concerns in the future siting of HLW repositories by DOE. ICCB structure, function, and implementation are examined, along with other issues relevant to the HLW context. 27 refs

Understanding the current status and exploring the potential for distance education in public health in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Kavya; George, Sunil; Zodpey, Sanjay

2011-01-01

Continuing education of health care providers plays an important role in producing a health work force that is efficient and effective. In India public health education has primarily relied on conventional methods of training. However, such methods have limitations in equipping the health workforce of a vast and varied country like India. This paper analyzes the current status of distance education in public health and lists the various courses that are presently available in India through the distance education mode. Presently 25 institutions in India are offering 69 courses in various domains of public health through distance education. The providers of these programs comprised both government and private educational institutions. This paper also points out the role and importance of various stakeholders in the design and delivery of distance education programs in public health and raises key areas that need attention in the governance of such programs. It urges the use of digital technology in the delivery of distance education programs and points out how distance education that is designed and delivered using the latest technology could address the current gap in training human resources for health in India.

Neoliberal Global Assemblages: The Emergence of "Public" International High-School Curriculum Programs in China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shuning

2018-01-01

Since 2010, the number of urban Chinese high-school students applying to US universities has rapidly grown. Many of these students have chosen emerging international curriculum programs established by elite public high schools in China. These programs prepare wealthy Chinese students for the US college application process by exposing them to an…

Does Competition Improve Public Schools? New Evidence from the Florida Tax-Credit Scholarship Program

Science.gov (United States)

Figlio, David; Hart, Cassandra M. D.

2011-01-01

Programs that enable students to attend private schools, including both vouchers and scholarships funded with tax credits, have become increasingly common in recent years. This study examines the impact of the nation's largest private school scholarship program on the performance of students who remain in the public schools. The Florida Tax Credit…

Using the theoretical domains framework to guide the development of a self-management program for individuals with spinal cord injury: Results from a national stakeholder advisory group.

Science.gov (United States)

Munce, Sarah E P; Allin, Sonya; Wolfe, Dalton L; Anzai, Karen; Linassi, Gary; Noonan, Vanessa K; Jaglal, Susan B

2017-11-01

To determine the implementation considerations for a targeted self-management program for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) from the perspective of a national stakeholder advisory group using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) as a guide. Qualitative descriptive approach. Two focus groups held at the 6 th National Spinal Cord Injury Conference (October 2-4 th , 2014) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A total of 25 stakeholders from across Canada participated in focus groups or "brainstorming sessions". The stakeholders included 5 clinicians, 14 researchers, 3 policy makers, and 3 individuals with SCI. Not applicable. Not applicable. All 14 theoretical domains were identified in the brainstorming sessions. No new themes or domains were identified. The need to consider the theoretical domains of Knowledge, Skills, Reinforcement, Intentions, Goals (e.g. the readiness of the individual with SCI), Environmental Context and Resources (e.g. considerations for governance and ownership of the program and a business model for sustainability), as well as Social Influences (e.g. issues of privacy and security in the context of on-line delivery) was identified. The current study provides complementary results to our previous series of studies on the implementation considerations for the development of a targeted self-management program for individuals with SCI by emphasizing the health care professional/health policy perspective. It is anticipated that such a program could not only reduce secondary complications and subsequent inappropriate health care use but it may also improve the quality of life for individuals with SCI and their caregivers.

Electric and magnetic fields research and public information dissemination program. Progress report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-12-01

The Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) Research and Public Information Dissemination (RAPID) Program was authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (enacted October 24, 1992) to determine whether or not exposure to EMF produced by the generation, transmission, and use of electric energy affects human health. Two Federal agencies, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), have primary responsibility for the program, but other Federal agencies are key participants as well. This program requires that Federal appropriations be matched by contributions from non-Federal sources. The authorized level of funding for the program was $65 million over a 5-year period (fiscal years 1993-1997 inclusive). For EMF RAPID to be a fully funded program, $32.5 million over 5 years will have to be appropriated by Congress and matched by non-Federal contributions.

Effective Practices for Evaluating Education and Public Outreach Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkerson, S.

2013-12-01

Stephanie Baird Wilkerson, PhD Carol Haden EdD Magnolia Consulting,LLC Education and public outreach (EPO) program developers and providers seeking insights regarding effective practices for evaluating EPO activities programs benefit from understanding why evaluation is critical to the success of EPO activities and programs, what data collection methods are appropriate, and how to effectively communicate and report findings. Based on our extensive experience evaluating EPO programs, we will share lessons learned and examples of how these practices play out in actual evaluation studies. EPO program developers, providers, and evaluators must consider several factors that influence which evaluation designs and data collection methods will be most appropriate, given the nature of EPO programs. Effective evaluation practices of EPO programs take into account a program's phase of development, duration, and budget as well as a program's intended outcomes. EPO programs that are just beginning development will have different evaluation needs and priorities than will well-established programs. Effective evaluation practices consider the 'life' of a program with an evaluation design that supports a program's growth through various phases including development, revision and refinement, and completion. It would be premature and inappropriate to expect the attainment of longer-term outcomes of activities during program development phases or early stages of implementation. During program development, EPO providers should clearly define program outcomes that are feasible and appropriate given a program's scope and expected reach. In many respects, this directly relates to the amount of time, or duration, intended audiences participate in EPO programs. As program duration increases so does the likelihood that the program can achieve longer-term outcomes. When choosing which outcomes are reasonable to impact and measure, program duration should be considered. Effective evaluation

Data integration and warehousing: coordination between newborn screening and related public health programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Therrell, Bradford L

2003-01-01

At birth, patient demographic and health information begin to accumulate in varied databases. There are often multiple sources of the same or similar data. New public health programs are often created without considering data linkages. Recently, newborn hearing screening (NHS) programs and immunization programs have virtually ignored the existence of newborn dried blood spot (DBS) newborn screening databases containing similar demographic data, creating data duplication in their 'new' systems. Some progressive public health departments are developing data warehouses of basic, recurrent patient information, and linking these databases to other health program databases where programs and services can benefit from such linkages. Demographic data warehousing saves time (and money) by eliminating duplicative data entry and reducing the chances of data errors. While newborn screening data are usually the first data available, they should not be the only data source considered for early data linkage or for populating a data warehouse. Birth certificate information should also be considered along with other data sources for infants that may not have received newborn screening or who may have been born outside of the jurisdiction and not have birth certificate information locally available. This newborn screening serial number provides a convenient identification number for use in the DBS program and for linking with other systems. As a minimum, data linkages should exist between newborn dried blood spot screening, newborn hearing screening, immunizations, birth certificates and birth defect registries.

Gaps in the existing public health informatics training programs: a challenge to the development of a skilled global workforce.

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Ashish; Perin, Douglas Marcel Puricelli

2012-01-01

The objective of this study was to explore public health informatics (PHI) training programs that currently exist to meet the growing demand for a trained global workforce. We used several search engines, scientific databases, and the websites of informatics organizations; sources included PubMed, Google, the American Medical Informatics Organization, and the International Medical Informatics Organization. The search was conducted from May to July 2011 and from January to February 2012 using key words such as informatics, public health informatics, or biomedical informatics along with academic programs, training, certificate, graduate programs, or postgraduate programs. Course titles and catalog descriptions were gathered from the program or institution websites. Variables included PHI program categories, location and mode of delivery, program credits, and costs. Each course was then categorized based on its title and description as available on the Internet. Finally, we matched course titles and descriptions with the competencies for PHIs determined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Descriptive analysis was performed to report means and frequency distributions for continuous and categorical variables. Stratified analysis was performed to explore average credits and cost per credit among both the public and private institutions. Fifteen PHI programs were identified across 13 different institutions, the majority of which were US-based. The average number of credits and the associated costs required to obtain PHI training were much higher in private as compared to public institutions. The study results suggest that a need for online contextual and cost-effective PHI training programs exists to address the growing needs of professionals worldwide who are using technology to improve public health in their respective countries.

Article Publications, Journal Outlets, and Article Themes for Current Faculty in APA-Accredited School Psychology Programs: 1995?1999

Science.gov (United States)

Carper, Robin M.; Williams, Robert L.

2004-01-01

The study addressed three major questions regarding the 1995?1999 journal publications of faculty at school psychology programs accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) as of Sept. 1, 2000: (a) Which program faculties had the strongest records of article publications for 1995?1999? (b) What were the major school psychology and…

Status and methodology of publicly available national HIV care continua and 90-90-90 targets: A systematic review.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reuben Granich

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In 2014, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS issued treatment goals for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV. The 90-90-90 target specifies that by 2020, 90% of individuals living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive antiretroviral treatment (ART, and 90% of those taking ART will be virally suppressed. Consistent methods and routine reporting in the public domain will be necessary for tracking progress towards the 90-90-90 target.For the period 2010-2016, we searched PubMed, UNAIDS country progress reports, World Health Organization (WHO, UNAIDS reports, national surveillance and program reports, United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR Country Operational Plans, and conference presentations and/or abstracts for the latest available national HIV care continuum in the public domain. Continua of care included the number and proportion of people living with HIV (PLHIV who are diagnosed, on ART, and virally suppressed out of the estimated number of PLHIV. We ranked the described methods for indicators to derive high-, medium-, and low-quality continuum. For 2010-2016, we identified 53 national care continua with viral suppression estimates representing 19.7 million (54% of the 2015 global estimate of PLHIV. Of the 53, 6 (with 2% of global burden were high quality, using standard surveillance methods to derive an overall denominator and program data from national cohorts for estimating steps in the continuum. Only nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa had care continua with viral suppression estimates. Of the 53 countries, the average proportion of the aggregate of PLHIV from all countries on ART was 48%, and the proportion of PLHIV who were virally suppressed was 40%. Seven countries (Sweden, Cambodia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Denmark, Rwanda, and Namibia were within 12% and 10% of achieving the 90-90-90 target for "on ART" and for "viral suppression

"PCI Reading Program": The Final Report of a Three Year Experimental Study in Brevard Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Research Report

Science.gov (United States)

Toby, Megan; Jaciw, Andrew; Ma, Boya; Lipton, Akiko

2011-01-01

PCI Education conducted a three-year longitudinal study to determine the comparative effectiveness of the "PCI Reading Program" ("PCI") for students with severe disabilities as implemented in Florida's Brevard Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The primary question addressed by the study is whether students…

Enhancing Public Acceptance of Nuclear Energy through the Education program for Schoolteachers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nam, Y. M.; Min, B. J.; Yoo, J. G.; Lee, E. J.; Lee, J. H.; Ha, J. H.; Kim, H. S.; Shin, J. Y.; Seo, D. S. [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, S. T.; Lee, H. B.; Han, S. H. [Kongju National University, Gongju (Korea, Republic of)

2009-11-15

Since most students acquire their nuclear related information from classes and mass-media, teachers, as knowledge propagators, can play a key role in public acceptance of nuclear power. The main purpose of this project is to enhance public acceptance of nuclear power through a nuclear education program for teachers from whom the next generation would cultivate their own knowledge and understanding of nuclear and radiation sciences. Thus systematic education programs for incumbent teachers are essential, since the teacher's understandings of nuclear and radiation science influence students directly. We derived the contents of the introductory textbook on the nuclear power and radiation technologies, the education programs and courses, and the performance criteria of the experiment kit, on the bases of the survey results in the teacher's college curricula and the workshop programs related to the nuclear education for science teachers. We developed the introductory textbook with a tremendous number of picture and diagrams to provide readers rich visual information on the nuclear and radiation technologies. We fabricated 6 compact radiation detection kits with total 10 lab. modules included in lab. manual. We carried out a nuclear education program for science teachers consisting of lectures, lab tours and radiation detection experiments to experience nuclear and radiation technologies. Also we established a working group to build a research-industry-university cooperation system for nuclear and radiation education and knowledge propagation. The cooperation body anticipates that the radiation detection kits would give enough experiment courses to fresh workforce of nuclear and radiation fields

Enhancing Public Acceptance of Nuclear Energy through the Education program for Schoolteachers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nam, Y. M.; Min, B. J.; Yoo, J. G.; Lee, E. J.; Lee, J. H.; Ha, J. H.; Kim, H. S.; Shin, J. Y.; Seo, D. S.; Park, S. T.; Lee, H. B.; Han, S. H.

2009-11-01

Since most students acquire their nuclear related information from classes and mass-media, teachers, as knowledge propagators, can play a key role in public acceptance of nuclear power. The main purpose of this project is to enhance public acceptance of nuclear power through a nuclear education program for teachers from whom the next generation would cultivate their own knowledge and understanding of nuclear and radiation sciences. Thus systematic education programs for incumbent teachers are essential, since the teacher's understandings of nuclear and radiation science influence students directly. We derived the contents of the introductory textbook on the nuclear power and radiation technologies, the education programs and courses, and the performance criteria of the experiment kit, on the bases of the survey results in the teacher's college curricula and the workshop programs related to the nuclear education for science teachers. We developed the introductory textbook with a tremendous number of picture and diagrams to provide readers rich visual information on the nuclear and radiation technologies. We fabricated 6 compact radiation detection kits with total 10 lab. modules included in lab. manual. We carried out a nuclear education program for science teachers consisting of lectures, lab tours and radiation detection experiments to experience nuclear and radiation technologies. Also we established a working group to build a research-industry-university cooperation system for nuclear and radiation education and knowledge propagation. The cooperation body anticipates that the radiation detection kits would give enough experiment courses to fresh workforce of nuclear and radiation fields

Trend of public perception on nuclear energy and future PA programs for winning public consensus in Korea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choe, Seung-Jin

1996-01-01

Before the second half of 1980's, the Korean government could carry out the nuclear power projects easily without any oppositions. However, the anti-nuclear and environmental preservation movement has been more vigorous after Chernobyl accident. Since 1987, the democratized social environment and improved standard of living which is resulted from economic growth have increased the public interest on a positive environment and safety of life. Moreover, the introduction of local self-government system has imposed heavy burdens on nuclear power development. The prevailing of local egoism is also a hard task to overcome in securing nuclear facility sites. The public began to recognize the necessity of nuclear energy. However, this is still a far cry from the ultimate target to the site selection. Therefore, winning public acceptance is the most important issue in implementing the nation's nuclear programs without significant obstacles, and it is necessary to develop sociopolitical approaches to deal with nuclear issues. (author)

Trend of public perception on nuclear energy and future PA programs for winning public consensus in Korea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choe, Seung-Jin [Organization for Korea Atomic Energy Awareness, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

1996-10-01

Before the second half of 1980`s, the Korean government could carry out the nuclear power projects easily without any oppositions. However, the anti-nuclear and environmental preservation movement has been more vigorous after Chernobyl accident. Since 1987, the democratized social environment and improved standard of living which is resulted from economic growth have increased the public interest on a positive environment and safety of life. Moreover, the introduction of local self-government system has imposed heavy burdens on nuclear power development. The prevailing of local egoism is also a hard task to overcome in securing nuclear facility sites. The public began to recognize the necessity of nuclear energy. However, this is still a far cry from the ultimate target to the site selection. Therefore, winning public acceptance is the most important issue in implementing the nation`s nuclear programs without significant obstacles, and it is necessary to develop sociopolitical approaches to deal with nuclear issues. (author)

[Public health competencies and contents in Spanish university degree programs of physical therapy, occupational therapy, environmental science, dentistry and veterinary science].

Science.gov (United States)

Davó-Blanes, M Carmen; Vives-Cases, Carmen; Alvarez-Dardet, Carlos; Segura-Benedicto A, Andreu; Bosch Llonch, Fèlix; G Benavides, Fernando

2014-01-01

To identify the basic competencies and contents related to public health to be included in degree programs according to the perspective of lecturers from various Spanish universities. In the context of the Second Workshop on Public Health Contents in Degree Programs (Mahon, 19 to 20 September 2012), 20 lecturers from different Spanish universities were distributed in five working groups. The lecturers had been selected from the instructional guides on public health and epidemiology published on the web sites of the Rectors' Conference of Spanish Universities. Each group worked on a degree program and the results were discussed in plenary sessions. The activities and competencies related to the three basic functions of public health were identified in all degree programs. Most of the professional competencies identified were related to the function of «assessment of population health needs». The contents proposed by the working groups related to epidemiology, basic concepts in public health, public health intervention, health management, and health policy. The main common topics among the degrees concerned the first three contents. Public health professional competencies and contents were identified in the degree programs examined. These results may serve as a starting point for a more detailed review of public health programs across degree levels and the search for a consensus on the common content that should be included in each of them. Copyright © 2013 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Developing Leaders: Implementation of a Peer Advising Program for a Public Health Sciences Undergraduate Program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan eGriffin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Peer advising is an integral part of our undergraduate advising system in the Public Health Sciences major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The program was developed in 2009 to address the advising needs of a rapidly growing major that went from 25 to over 530 majors between 2007 and 2014. Each year, 9-12 top performing upper-level students are chosen through an intensive application process. A major goal of the program is to provide curriculum and career guidance to students in the major and empower students in their academic and professional pursuits. The year-long program involves several components, including: staffing the drop-in advising center, attending training seminars, developing and presenting workshops for students, meeting prospective students and families, evaluating ways to improve the program, and collaborating on self-directed projects. The peer advisors also provide program staff insight into the needs and perspectives of students in the major. In turn, peer advisors gain valuable leadership and communication skills, and learn strategies for improving student success. The Peer Advising Program builds community and fosters personal and professional development for the peer advisors. In this paper, we will discuss the undergraduate peer advising model, the benefits and challenges of the program, and lessons learned. Several methods were used to understand the perceived benefits and challenges of the program and experiences of students who utilized the Peer Advising Center. The data for this evaluation were drawn from three sources: 1 archival records from the Peer Advising Center; 2 feedback from peer advisors who completed the year-long internship; and 3 a survey of students who utilized the Peer Advising Center. Results of this preliminary evaluation indicate that peer advisors gain valuable skills that they can carry into their professional world. The program is also a way to engage students in building community

77 FR 33760 - Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB Public Housing Capital Fund Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-07

... that are not subject to Independent Public Accountant (IPA) audit requirements. DATES: Comments Due... numerous PHAs that are not subject to Independent Public Accountant (IPA) audit requirements. Number of... Proposed Information Collection to OMB Public Housing Capital Fund Program AGENCY: Office of the Chief...

Domain Specific Language Support for Exascale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mellor-Crummey, John [Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)

2017-10-20

A multi-institutional project known as D-TEC (short for “Domain- specific Technology for Exascale Computing”) set out to explore technologies to support the construction of Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) to map application programs to exascale architectures. DSLs employ automated code transformation to shift the burden of delivering portable performance from application programmers to compilers. Two chief properties contribute: DSLs permit expression at a high level of abstraction so that a programmer’s intent is clear to a compiler and DSL implementations encapsulate human domain-specific optimization knowledge so that a compiler can be smart enough to achieve good results on specific hardware. Domain specificity is what makes these properties possible in a programming language. If leveraging domain specificity is the key to keep exascale software tractable, a corollary is that many different DSLs will be needed to encompass the full range of exascale computing applications; moreover, a single application may well need to use several different DSLs in conjunction. As a result, developing a general toolkit for building domain-specific languages was a key goal for the D-TEC project. Different aspects of the D-TEC research portfolio were the focus of work at each of the partner institutions in the multi-institutional project. D-TEC research and development work at Rice University focused on on three principal topics: understanding how to automate the tuning of code for complex architectures, research and development of the Rosebud DSL engine, and compiler technology to support complex execution platforms. This report provides a summary of the research and development work on the D-TEC project at Rice University.

Domain Specific Language Support for Exascale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sadayappan, Ponnuswamy [The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)

2017-02-24

Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) offer an attractive path to Exascale software since they provide expressive power through appropriate abstractions and enable domain-specific optimizations. But the advantages of a DSL compete with the difficulties of implementing a DSL, even for a narrowly defined domain. The DTEC project addresses how a variety of DSLs can be easily implemented to leverage existing compiler analysis and transformation capabilities within the ROSE open source compiler as part of a research program focusing on Exascale challenges. The OSU contributions to the DTEC project are in the area of code generation from high-level DSL descriptions, as well as verification of the automatically-generated code.

Opening of energy markets: consequences on the missions of public utility and of security of supplies in the domain of electric power and gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

This conference was jointly organized by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the French ministry of economy, finances, and industry (general direction of energy and raw materials, DGEMP). It was organized in 6 sessions dealing with: 1 - the public utility in the domain of energy: definition of the public utility missions, experience feedback about liberalized markets, public utility obligation and pricing regulation; 2 - the new US energy policy and the lessons learnt from the California crisis; 3 - the security of electric power supplies: concepts of security of supplies, opinion of operators, security of power supplies versus liberalization and investments; 4 - security of gas supplies: markets liberalization and investments, long-term contracts and security of supplies; 5 - debate: how to integrate the objectives of public utility and of security of supplies in a competing market; 6 - conclusions. This document brings together the available talks and transparencies presented at the conference. (J.S.)

Geothermal direct heat program: roundup technical conference proceedings. Volume II. Bibliography of publications. State-coupled geothermal resource assessment program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruscetta, C.A. (ed.)

1982-07-01

Lists of publications are presented for the Geothermal Resource Assessment Program for the Utah Earth Science Laboratory and the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

Publication Productivity among Doctoral Graduates of Educational Psychology Programs at Research Universities before and after the Year 2000

Science.gov (United States)

Barnard-Brak, Lucy; Saxon, Terrill F.; Johnson, Heather

2011-01-01

Research suggests that new doctoral graduates face increased publication pressure to achieve tenure: doctoral programs may have also increased this expectation. We examined whether faculty graduating before and after the year 2000 differed significantly in total publications, peer-reviewed publications, and first-authored publications as of the…

Preoperative multidisciplinary program for bariatric surgery: a proposal for the Brazilian Public Health System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elinton Adami CHAIM

Full Text Available ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Bariatric surgery has become the gold standard treatment for morbid obesity, but access to surgery remains difficult and low compliance to postoperative follow-up is common. To improve outcomes, enable access and optimize follow-up, we developed a multidisciplinary preoperative approach for bariatric surgery. OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of this program in the outcomes of bariatric surgery in the Brazilian public health system. METHODS A prospective evaluation of the individuals who underwent a preoperative multidisciplinary program for bariatric surgery and comparison of their surgical outcomes with those observed in the prospectively collected historical database of the individuals who underwent surgery before the beginning of the program. RESULTS There were 176 individuals who underwent the multidisciplinary program and 226 who did not. Individuals who underwent the program had significantly lower occurrence of the following variables: hospital stay; wound dehiscence; wound infection; pulmonary complications; anastomotic leaks; pulmonary thromboembolism; sepsis; incisional hernias; eventrations; reoperations; and mortality. Both loss of follow-up and weight loss failure were also significantly lower in the program group. CONCLUSION The adoption of a comprehensive preoperative multidisciplinary approach led to significant improvements in the postoperative outcomes and also in the compliance to the postoperative follow-up. It represents a reproducible and potentially beneficial approach within the context of the Brazilian public health system.

NIH Teams with Public Libraries for ‘All of Us’ Research Program | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

Science.gov (United States)

... Research Program Follow us NIH Teams with Public Libraries for ‘All of Us’ Research Program NIH is coming to a library near ... SOURCES: An Overview of the All of Us Research Program ; National Library of Medicine Announcement on Partnering with All of ...

Obesity Prevention Interventions in US Public Schools: Are Schools Using Programs That Promote Weight Stigma?

Science.gov (United States)

Kenney, Erica L; Wintner, Suzanne; Lee, Rebekka M; Austin, S Bryn

2017-12-28

Despite substantial research on school-based obesity prevention programs, it is unclear how widely they are disseminated. It is also unknown whether schools use obesity programs that inadvertently promote weight stigma or disordered weight-control behaviors. In spring 2016, we distributed an online survey about school wellness programming to a simple random sample of US public school administrators (N = 247 respondents; 10.3% response rate). We analyzed survey responses and conducted immersion/crystallization analysis of written open-ended responses. Slightly less than half (n = 117, 47.4%) of schools offered any obesity prevention program. Only 17 (6.9%) reported using a predeveloped program, and 7 (2.8%) reported using a program with evidence for effectiveness. Thirty-seven schools (15.0%) reported developing intervention programs that focused primarily on individual students' or staff members' weight rather than nutrition or physical activity; 28 schools (11.3% of overall) used staff weight-loss competitions. School administrators who reported implementing a program were more likely to describe having a program champion and adequate buy-in from staff, families, and students. Lack of funding, training, and time were widely reported as barriers to implementation. Few administrators used educational (n = 12, 10.3%) or scientific (n = 6, 5.1%) literature for wellness program decision making. Evidence-based obesity prevention programs appear to be rarely implemented in US schools. Schools may be implementing programs lacking evidence and programs that may unintentionally exacerbate student weight stigma by focusing on student weight rather than healthy habits. Public health practitioners and researchers should focus on improving support for schools to implement evidence-based programs.

Findings of an evaluation of public involvement programs associated with the development of a Land and Resource Management Plan for the Ouachita National Forest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holthoff, M.G. [Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States); Howell, R.E. [Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)

1993-08-01

Federal regulations require the United States Forest Service (USFS) to integrate public input and values into decisions concerning land and resource management planning. The USFS has typically relied on traditional methods of involving the public, whereby public access and input to policy development are unilaterally controlled by the agency. Because of the highly political nature of land and resource management planning, such technocratic forms of public involvement and decision-making appear to be proving ineffective. This paper describes and evaluates two public involvement programs associated with the Ouachita National Forest`s (ONF) lengthy forest planning process. The research consisted of personal interviews with key program leaders and knowledgeable citizen participants, collection of secondary data, and a survey of citizen participants. Because of controversial planning decisions made during an initial planning process, the ONF was forced to re-enter the planning process in order to address unresolved planning issues and to conduct a more effective public involvement program. The supplemental planning process also resulted in a considerable degree of public contention. The survey revealed that although citizen participants were somewhat more satisfied with the supplemental public involvement program relative to the initial program, neither program was viewed as satisfactory. The findings of the study suggest that in order to be more effective, USFS public involvement programs should be more responsive to public concerns and conducted in adherence to principles of collaborative planning.

Development of public health program for type 1 diabetes in a university community: preliminary evaluation of behavioural change wheel.

Science.gov (United States)

Nwose, Ezekiel Uba; Digban, K A; Anyasodor, A E; Bwititi, P T; Richards, R S; Igumbor, E O

2017-10-23

Diabetes mellitus, including type 1 is a global public health problem among the young persons. While public health campaign and screening program is a potential strategy, but communication skills, knowledge and opinion of the healthcare personnel are indicated as variables that can impact patient's education, which will lead to better outcome of care. Thus, in designing or planning a program for public health, workforce development considers opinion and behavioural change wheel of prospective personnel. The purpose of this preliminary study was to evaluate if a university academic department has the behavioural change wheel to function as workforce infrastructure for an envisioned program. Survey of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of a university community regarding diabetes type 1 was performed. The KAP were translated into behavioural change wheel comprising capacity, motivation and opportunity (CMO). There are baseline indications of the behavioural change wheel potential of the public health department to run a T1D screening program. The number of participants who knew someone with T1D was significantly higher than the subgroup with no such knowledge (pwheel or CMO to develop a workforce infrastructure for T1D screening program, the experience that comes with age of lecturers will be an important factor to enable such program to succeed.

Nuclear energy and public opinion. Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CCHEN) dissemination and extension program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oviedo, Gonzalo Torres; Quintana, Rosamel Mufioz

2000-01-01

In Chile, demand for electricity will soon exceed water resources. The country will then face severe energy dependence, with very little control over generation costs, and with increasing emission of contaminating gases into the atmosphere. Nuclear energy may be considered an appropriate and stabilizing alternative for the system in the medium term, the benefits of nuclear generation to be thus extended to a country which has a moderate demand for electricity. This new scenario will require an additional technical and regulating effort by CCHEN and by the state, as well as re-orientation of their activities in connection with public opinion. The Public Nuclear Energy Education Program, initiated in 1976 by CCHEN, has been developed for purposes of achieving public acceptance of nuclear energy as a way of facilitating development of various activities which pertain to CCHEN's scope of action, and of creating a climate which is favorable to acceptance of nuclear energy as an alternative source of energy. Thus, the object is that the public draw informed conclusions on the benefits and risks implicit in the use of isotopes, radiation, and nuclear power generation. The Program consists of activities for high school students aimed at vocational orientation of those who stand out in the science area, training and extension activities for teachers, journalists, and professionals, a program of guided tours of the nuclear centers, a publicity campaign conducted in the various media and, since 1980, massive distribution of brochures and magazines. There are no declared anti-nuclear movements in Chile. Nevertheless, there are opinions against nuclear power in different relevant sectors. Lately, the social communication media have preferred CCHEN as their source of information, a fact which makes it possible for the latter to have access to good coverage of its activities

Climiate Resilience Screening Index and Domain Scores

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — CRSI and related-domain scores for all 50 states and 3135 counties in the U.S. This dataset is not publicly accessible because: They are already available within the...

The Fernald Envoy Program: How face-to-face public involvement is working

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoopes, J. [Fernald Environmental Restoration Management Corp., Cincinnati, OH (United States). Fernald Environmental Management Project; Hundertmark, C.A. [Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Jordan, J. [Univ. of Cincinnati, OH (United States). Center for Environmental Communication Studies

1995-12-31

In March 1994, the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP), initiated the Fernald Envoy Program as a tool for strengthening public involvement in the restoration of the Fernald site, a former US Department of Energy uranium processing facility which ceased operation in 1989 and became an environmental restoration site. Based on the concept that opinion leaders play a key role in the flow of information, the Envoy Program was developed to link Fernald with opinion leaders in community groups. In February and March 1995, the University of Cincinnati Center for Environmental Communication Studies, under contract with the Fernald Environmental Restoration Management Corporation, conducted an evaluation to determine how the Envoy Program was functioning in relation to the original Envoy Plan. A quasi-experimental design was applied using telephone surveys of opinion leaders in groups with envoy representation and in groups without representation. Findings validated the effectiveness of the program and also identified areas for program improvement.

The Fernald Envoy Program: How face-to-face public involvement is working

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoopes, J.; Jordan, J.

1995-01-01

In March 1994, the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP), initiated the Fernald Envoy Program as a tool for strengthening public involvement in the restoration of the Fernald site, a former US Department of Energy uranium processing facility which ceased operation in 1989 and became an environmental restoration site. Based on the concept that opinion leaders play a key role in the flow of information, the Envoy Program was developed to link Fernald with opinion leaders in community groups. In February and March 1995, the University of Cincinnati Center for Environmental Communication Studies, under contract with the Fernald Environmental Restoration Management Corporation, conducted an evaluation to determine how the Envoy Program was functioning in relation to the original Envoy Plan. A quasi-experimental design was applied using telephone surveys of opinion leaders in groups with envoy representation and in groups without representation. Findings validated the effectiveness of the program and also identified areas for program improvement

Considering Weight Loss Programs and Public Health Partnerships in American Evangelical Protestant Churches.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, D Gibbes

2018-06-01

The obesity epidemic is a critical public health threat facing the USA. With the advent of American Evangelical Protestant (AEP) weight loss guides and narratives, AEP churches could potentially aid public health agencies in combatting obesity, and some scholars have called for investment in partnerships between public health agencies and religious institutions. This paper examines the theological and social underpinnings of AEP weight loss programs and considers the potential benefits and risks of public health partnerships with AEP churches to combat obesity. While AEP churches may be successful at empowering people to lose weight, AEP weight loss also carries several risks. These risks include reinforcing gendered bodily norms, stigmatizing both overweight bodies and unhealthy behaviors deemed to be sinful (for example, overeating), and failing to acknowledge social factors that promote obesity. These risks must be assessed and minimized to create appropriate public health weight loss partnerships with AEP communities.

Physicians' fees and public medical care programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, R H; Hadley, J

1981-01-01

In this article we develop and estimate a model of physicians' pricing that explicitly incorporates the effects of Medicare and Medicaid demand subsidies. Our analysis is based on a multiperiod model in which physicians are monopolistic competitors supplying services to several markets. The implications of the model are tested using data derived from claims submitted by a cohort of 1,200 California physicians during the years 1972-1975. We conclude that the demand for physician's services is relatively elastic; that increases in the local supply of physicians reduce prices somewhat; that physicians respond strategically to attempts to control prices through the customary-prevailing-reasonable system; and that price controls limit the rate of increase in physicians' prices. The analysis identifies a family of policies that recognize the monopsony power of public programs and may change the cost-access trade-off. PMID:7021479

75 FR 2144 - Public Buildings Service; Submission for OMB Review; Art-in-Architecture Program National Artist...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-14

... GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION [OMB Control No. 3090-0274] Public Buildings Service; Submission for OMB Review; Art-in- Architecture Program National Artist Registry AGENCY: Public Buildings Service... in 2000 when a renewed focus on commissioning works of art that are an integral part of the building...

EPA's Radioactive Source Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopsick, D.

2004-01-01

The US EPA is the lead Federal agency for emergency responses to unknown radiological materials, not licensed, owned or operated by a Federal agency or an Agreement state (Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan, 1996). The purpose of EPA's clean materials programme is to keep unwanted and unregulated radioactive material out of the public domain. This is achieved by finding and securing lost sources, maintaining control of existing sources and preventing future losses. The focus is on both, domestic and international fronts. The domestic program concentrates on securing lost sources, preventing future losses, alternative technologies like tagging of radioactive sources in commerce, pilot radioactive source roundup, training programs, scrap metal and metal processing facilities, the demolition industry, product stewardship and alternatives to radioactive devices (fewer radioactive source devices means fewer orphan sources). The international program consists of securing lost sources, preventing future losses, radiation monitoring of scrap metal at ports and the international scrap metal monitoring protocol

Investigating Research Gaps of Pharmaceutical take back Events: An Analysis of take back Program Participants' Socioeconomic, Demographic, and Geographic Characteristics and the Public Health Benefits of take back Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Stoddard, K. I.; Hodge, V.; Maxey, G.; Tiwari, C.; Cready, C.; Huggett, D. B.

2017-06-01

Research continues to show that pharmaceutical environmental contamination causes adverse effects to aquatic life. There are also public health risks associated with pharmaceuticals because in-home reserves of medications provide opportunities for accidental poisoning and intentional medication abuse. Pharmaceutical take back programs have been seen as a potential remedy for these issues; however, a thorough review of past programs indicates limited research has been conducted on take back programs. Furthermore, there are significant gaps in take back program research. To address these gaps and ultimately determine if take back programs could improve public health, research was conducted in conjunction with the take back program Denton drug disposal days held in Denton, Texas. Socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic characteristics of Denton drug disposal days participants were investigated using surveys and Geographic Information Systems. Potential impacts of the Denton drug disposal days program on public health were determined by comparing data from Denton drug disposal days events with data supplied by the North Texas Poison Center. Results suggest that Denton drug disposal days events may have prevented accidental poisonings or intentional abuse, however only qualitative comparisons support this statement and there was insufficient empirical evidence to support the conclusion that Denton drug disposal days events were exclusively responsible for public health improvements. An interesting finding was that there was a definitive travel threshold that influenced participation in Denton drug disposal days events. Overall, this study fills some geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic data gaps of take back programs and proposes methods to analyze and improve participation in future take back programs. These methods could also be applied to improve participation in other local environmentally-focused programs such as household hazardous collection events.

Investigating Research Gaps of Pharmaceutical take back Events: An Analysis of take back Program Participants' Socioeconomic, Demographic, and Geographic Characteristics and the Public Health Benefits of take back Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoddard, K I; Hodge, V; Maxey, G; Tiwari, C; Cready, C; Huggett, D B

2017-06-01

Research continues to show that pharmaceutical environmental contamination causes adverse effects to aquatic life. There are also public health risks associated with pharmaceuticals because in-home reserves of medications provide opportunities for accidental poisoning and intentional medication abuse. Pharmaceutical take back programs have been seen as a potential remedy for these issues; however, a thorough review of past programs indicates limited research has been conducted on take back programs. Furthermore, there are significant gaps in take back program research. To address these gaps and ultimately determine if take back programs could improve public health, research was conducted in conjunction with the take back program Denton drug disposal days held in Denton, Texas. Socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic characteristics of Denton drug disposal days participants were investigated using surveys and Geographic Information Systems. Potential impacts of the Denton drug disposal days program on public health were determined by comparing data from Denton drug disposal days events with data supplied by the North Texas Poison Center. Results suggest that Denton drug disposal days events may have prevented accidental poisonings or intentional abuse, however only qualitative comparisons support this statement and there was insufficient empirical evidence to support the conclusion that Denton drug disposal days events were exclusively responsible for public health improvements. An interesting finding was that there was a definitive travel threshold that influenced participation in Denton drug disposal days events. Overall, this study fills some geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic data gaps of take back programs and proposes methods to analyze and improve participation in future take back programs. These methods could also be applied to improve participation in other local environmentally-focused programs such as household hazardous collection events.

Living the Social Justice Brand: Attracting Prospective Students to a Masters of Public Administration Program

Science.gov (United States)

Hubbell, Larry

2018-01-01

In this article, I describe the process and importance of branding a graduate public administration program. Written from the perspective of a participant-observer, I describe how with the assistance of my department we have given our program a more distinctive identity and therefore a more identifiable brand. That brand is one that focuses on…

Overview of the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program of the Caltech Tectonics Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Kovalenko, L.; Jain, K.; Maloney, J.

2009-12-01

The Caltech Tectonics Observatory (TO) is an interdisciplinary center, focused on geological processes occurring at the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates (http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu). Over the past year, the TO has made a major effort to develop an Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program. Our goals are to (1) stimulate the interest of students and the general public in Earth Sciences, particularly in the study of tectonic processes, (2) inform and educate the general public about science in the context of TO discoveries and advancements, and (3) provide opportunities for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty to do outreach in the local K-12 schools. We have hosted local high school students and teachers to provide them with research experience (as part of Caltech’s “Summer Research Connection”); participated in teacher training workshops (organized by the local school district); hosted tours for local elementary school students; and brought hands-on activities into local elementary and middle school classrooms, science clubs, and science nights. We have also led local school students and teachers on geology field trips through nearby parks. In addition, we have developed education modules for undergraduate classes (as part of MARGINS program), and have written educational web articles on TO research (http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu/outreach). The presentation will give an overview of these activities and their impact on our educational program.

The Siemens graduate program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaeffler, I.

2000-01-01

Siemens is an international company acting in different domains: power generation, communication and information, traffic, health, etc. To be more flexible and active in a world in constant evolution, the company proposes a graduate program where young people with a special background have the possibility to start an international career in all the domains of activity. This graduate program is especially important in the domain of nuclear energy, where the know-how transfer between the previous generation and the new one is a constant point of interest. This article presents the conditions to be accepted in this graduate program, and the supplementary training supporting this program. The Siemens graduate program (Sg) proposes a global concept with a main emphasis being international. (authors)

Developing an Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program for Caltech's Tectonics Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Kovalenko, L.; Jain, K.; Maloney, J.

2012-12-01

The Caltech Tectonics Observatory (TO) is an interdisciplinary center, focused on geological processes occurring at the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates (http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu). Over the past four years, the TO has made a major effort to develop an Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program. Our goals are to (1) inspire students to learn Earth Sciences, particularly tectonic processes, (2) inform and educate the general public about science in the context of TO discoveries, and (3) provide opportunities for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty to do outreach in the local K-12 schools and community colleges. Our work toward these goals includes hosting local high school teachers and students each summer for six weeks of research experience (as part of Caltech's "Summer Research Connection"); organizing and hosting an NAGT conference aimed at Geoscience teachers at community colleges; participating in teacher training workshops (organized by the local school district); hosting tours for K-12 students from local schools as well as from China; and bringing hands-on activities into local elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. We also lead local school students and teachers on geology field trips through nearby canyons; develop education modules for undergraduate classes (as part of MARGINS program); write educational web articles on TO research (http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu/outreach/highlights/), and regularly give presentations to the general public. This year, we started providing content expertise for the development of video games to teach Earth Science, being created by GameDesk Institute. And we have just formed a scientist/educator partnership with a 6th grade teacher, to help in the school district's pilot program to incorporate new national science standards (NSTA's Next Generation Science Standards, current draft), as well as use Project-Based Learning. This presentation gives an overview of these activities.

76 FR 16760 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Publication of the Petition for Waiver and...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-25

... Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Publication of the Petition for Waiver and Notice of Granting the... Electronics America, Inc. (Samsung) petition for waiver (hereafter, ``petition'') from specified portions of... Authority Title III, part B of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), Public Law 94-163 (42...

77 FR 11785 - Energy Conservation Program: Public Meeting and Availability of the Framework Document for High...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-28

... standards for high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps. Accordingly, DOE will hold a public meeting to discuss..._standards/commercial/high_intensity_discharge_lamps.html . DATES: The Department will hold a public meeting... Technologies Program, Mailstop EE-2J, Framework Document for High-Intensity Discharge Lamps, EERE-2010-BT-STD...

[A review on the advancement of internet-based public health surveillance program].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Y Q; Ma, W J

2017-02-10

Internet data is introduced into public health arena under the features of fast updating and tremendous volume. Mining and analyzing internet data, researchers can model the internet-based surveillance system to assess the distribution of health-related events. There are two main types of internet-based surveillance systems, i.e. active and passive, which are distinguished by the sources of information. Through passive surveillance system, information is collected from search engine and social media while the active system gathers information through provision of the volunteers. Except for serving as a real-time and convenient complementary approach to traditional disease, food safety and adverse drug reaction surveillance program, Internet-based surveillance system can also play a role in health-related behavior surveillance and policy evaluation. Although several techniques have been applied to filter information, the accuracy of internet-based surveillance system is still bothered by the false positive information. In this article, we have summarized the development and application of internet-based surveillance system in public health to provide reference for a better surveillance program in China.

24 CFR 5.380 - Public housing programs: Procedure for development of pet rules.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... for development of pet rules. 5.380 Section 5.380 Housing and Urban Development Office of the Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development GENERAL HUD PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS; WAIVERS Pet Ownership for the Elderly or Persons With Disabilities Pet Ownership Requirements for Public Housing...

Psychometric characteristics of a public-domain self-report measure of vocational interests: the Oregon Vocational Interest Scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Pozzebon, Julie A; Visser, Beth A; Ashton, Michael C; Lee, Kibeom; Goldberg, Lewis R

2010-03-01

We investigated the psychometric properties of the Oregon Vocational Interest Scales (ORVIS), a brief public-domain alternative to commercial inventories, in a large community sample and in a college sample. In both samples, we examined the factor structure, scale intercorrelations, and personality correlates of the ORVIS, and in the community sample, we also examined the correlations of the ORVIS scales with cognitive abilities and with the scales of a longer, proprietary interest survey. In both samples, all 8 scales-Leadership, Organization, Altruism, Creativity, Analysis, Producing, Adventuring, and Erudition-showed wide variation in scores, high internal-consistency reliabilities, and a pattern of high convergent and low discriminant correlations with the scales of the proprietary interest survey. Overall, the results support the construct validity of the scales, which are recommended for use in research on vocational interests and other individual differences.

Targeting Discoidin Domain Receptors in Prostate Cancer

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-01

AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-15-1-0226 TITLE: Targeting Discoidin Domain Receptors in Prostate Cancer PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Rafael Fridman...AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Targeting Discoidin Domain Receptors in Prostate Cancer 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-15-1-0226 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT...response to collagen in prostate cancer. The project’s goal is to define the expression and therapeutic potential of DDRs in prostate cancer. During

La apropiación del dominio público y las posibilidades de acceso a los bienes culturales | The appropriation of the public domain and the possibilities of access to cultural goods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joan Ramos Toledano

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Resumen: Las normas de propiedad intelectual y copyright prevén un periodo de protección otorgando unos derechos económicos exclusivos y temporales. Pasado un plazo determinado, las obras protegidas entran en lo que se denomina dominio público. Éste suele ser considerado como el momento en el que los bienes culturales pasan a estar bajo el dominio y control de la sociedad en conjunto. El presente trabajo pretende argumentar que, dado nuestro actual sistema económico, en realidad el dominio público funciona más como una posibilidad de negocio para determinadas empresas que como una verdadera opción para que el público pueda acceder a las obras.   Abstract: The legislation of continental intellectual property and copyright provide for a period of protection granting exclusive and temporary economic rights. After a certain period, protected works enter into what is called the public domain. This is often considered as the moment in which the cultural goods come under the control and domain of society as a whole. The present paper pretends to argue that, given our current economic system, the public domain actually functions more as a business opportunity for certain companies than as a real option for the public to access artistic and intellectual works.

Dynamic properties of independent chromatin domains measured by correlation spectroscopy in living cells.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Wachsmuth (Malte); T.A. Knoch (Tobias); K. Rippe (Karsten)

2016-01-01

textabstractBackground: Genome organization into subchromosomal topologically associating domains (TADs) is linked to cell-type-specific gene expression programs. However, dynamic properties of such domains remain elusive, and it is unclear how domain plasticity modulates genomic accessibility for

Mammography in public hospitals at Rio de Janeiro: a quality assurance program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briquet, C.; Coutinho, C.M.C.; Mota, H.C.; Tavares, E.

1998-01-01

This paper presents the preliminary results and the methodology followed by the implementation of a Quality Assurance Program in public hospitals at Rio de Janeiro. We observed that the main problems of image are due to the processing. None facility has a dedicated processor and the processor daily quality control is a concern not yet adopted. (Author)

Biospecimen quality program in the biobank of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liv Paltiel

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Background: The biological material collected, processed and stored in biobanks are important research tools and it is important to minimize preanalytical variations to provide researchers with high quality biological material that will give reproducible results. Methods: To minimize the preanalytical variations caused by sample collection, processing and storage, we have established a biospecimen quality program. It consists of quality assurance aspects as well as quality control programs to measure adherence to protocols and sample integrity. The quality control program includes measurements and evaluation of the DNA quality and quantity before storage, i.e. concentration, purity, fragmentation and PCR success, and long term storage programs for plasma, urine and RNA. Conclusions: The Biobank at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has established a biospecimen quality program that ensures high quality specimens and provides the documentation required to use the biomaterial in a best possible way.

Selected ICAR Data from the SAPA-Project: Development and Initial Validation of a Public-Domain Measure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David M. Condon

2016-01-01

Full Text Available These data were collected during the initial evaluation of the International Cognitive Ability Resource (ICAR project. ICAR is an international collaborative effort to develop open-source public-domain tools for cognitive ability assessment, including tools that can be administered in non-proctored environments (e.g., online administration and those which are based on automatic item generation algorithms. These data provide initial validation of the first four ICAR item types as reported in Condon & Revelle [1]. The 4 item types contain a total of 60 items: 9 Letter and Number Series items, 11 Matrix Reasoning items, 16 Verbal Reasoning items and 24 Three-dimensional Rotation items. Approximately 97,000 individuals were administered random subsets of these 60 items using the Synthetic Aperture Personality Assessment method between August 18, 2010 and May 20, 2013. The data are available in rdata and csv formats and are accompanied by documentation stored as a text file. Re-use potential includes a wide range of structural and item-level analyses.

Ubiquitin domain proteins in disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klausen, Louise Kjær; Schulze, Andrea; Seeger, Michael

2007-01-01

The human genome encodes several ubiquitin-like (UBL) domain proteins (UDPs). Members of this protein family are involved in a variety of cellular functions and many are connected to the ubiquitin proteasome system, an essential pathway for protein degradation in eukaryotic cells. Despite...... and cancer. Publication history: Republished from Current BioData's Targeted Proteins database (TPdb; http://www.targetedproteinsdb.com)....

THE PROBLEMS OF PROFESSIONAL PUBLIC ACCREDITATION OF ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND THE PROSPECTS OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatyana V. Matveeva

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Leading role in the process of development and improvement of modern Russian education plays an additional professional education, which, to the greatest extent, responds to the qualitative changes in the socio-economic relations in a rapidly changing world. The aim of this paper is to identify the organizational and legal problems of professional and public accreditation of additional professional education programs in Russia and the opportunities development of this institution in modern conditions. The scientific research problem was to justify the need for professional and public accreditation of additional professional education programs of modern universities on the basis of delegation of procedures for evaluating the quality of education by public authorities to the public expert organizations, which ensure the independence and objectivity of the decisions made by qualified experts using a standardized assessment tools and tech to meet the needs of all parties concerned for highly qualified professionals. Methods. Empirical and theoretical methods were applied in the process of solving the problems in the scientific work to achieve the objectives of the study and test the hypothesis of an integrated methodology. Theoretical research methods involve: analysis of different literary sources (including legislative and regulatory enactments of the Higher Authorities of the Russian Federation, regulatory enactments of the Ministry of General and Vocational Education of the Russian Federation, compilation, synthesis of empirical data, comparative analysis, and others. Empirical research methods include: observation, testing, interview, questionnaire, ranking, pedagogical experiment, analysis of the products of activity, method of expert evaluations, methods of mathematical statistics, and other. Results. The expediency of independent accreditation procedures is proved. The goals that need to be solved to enhance the competitiveness of

An Agenda for Research on the Sustainability of Public Health Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Dearing, James W.

2011-01-01

Funders of programs in public health and community health are increasingly concerned about the sustainability of changes they initiate. Despite a recent increase in sustainability research and evaluation, this literature has not developed a widely used paradigm for conducting research that can accumulate into generalizable findings. We provide guidance for research and evaluation of health program sustainability, including definitions and types of sustainability, specifications and measurements of dependent variables, definitions of independent variables or factors that influence sustainability, and suggestions for designs for research and data collection. We suggest viewing sustainability research as a further stage in the translation or dissemination of research-based interventions into practice. This perspective emphasizes ongoing relationships with earlier stages of a broader diffusion framework, including adoption and implementation processes. PMID:21940916

Putting "The System" into a School Autonomy Reform: The Case of the Independent Public Schools Program

Science.gov (United States)

Gobby, Brad

2016-01-01

The Australian Federal and state governments have been introducing neoliberal reforms to the governance of their education systems for a number of decades. One of the most recent programs of reform is the Western Australian Independent Public Schools (IPS) initiative. Similar to decentralizing reforms around the world, the IPS program seeks…

Teaching Note--Educating Public Health Social Work Professionals: Results from an MSW/MPH Program Outcomes Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ruth, Betty J.; Marshall, Jamie Wyatt; Velásquez, Esther E. M.; Bachman, Sara S.

2015-01-01

Dual-degree programs in public health and social work continue to proliferate, yet there has been little research on master's of social work (MSW)/master's of public health (MPH) graduates. The purpose of this study was to describe and better understand the self-reported professional experiences, identities, roles, and outcomes associated with 1…

Promoting seismology education and research via the IRIS Education and Public Outreach Program

Science.gov (United States)

Taber, J. J.; Bravo, T. K.; Dorr, P. M.; Hubenthal, M.; Johnson, J. A.; McQuillan, P.; Sumy, D. F.; Welti, R.

2015-12-01

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology's Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program is committed to advancing awareness and understanding of seismology and geophysics, while inspiring careers in the Earth sciences. To achieve this mission, IRIS EPO combines content and research expertise of consortium membership with educational and outreach expertise of IRIS staff to create a portfolio of programs, products, and services that target a range of audiences, including grades 6-12 students and teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and the general public. IRIS also partners with UNAVCO and other organizations in support of EarthScope where the facilities are well-suited for sustained engagement of multiple audiences. Examples of research-related EPO products and services include the following resources. Tools developed in collaboration with IRIS Data Services provide public and educational access to data, and to a suite of data products. Teachers can stream seismic data from educational or research sensors into their classroom, and the Active Earth Monitor display, designed for visitor centers, universities and small museums, provides views of recent data along with animations that explain seismology concepts, and stories about recent research. Teachable Moment slide sets, created in collaboration with the University of Portland within 24 hours of major earthquakes, provide interpreted USGS tectonic maps and summaries, animations, visualizations, and other event-specific information so educators can explore newsworthy earthquakes with their students. Intro undergraduate classroom activities have been designed to introduce students to some grand challenges in seismological research, while our Research Experiences for Undergraduates program pairs students with seismology researchers throughout the Consortium and provides the opportunity for the students to present their research at a national meeting. EPO activities are evaluated via a

78 FR 63464 - William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Repayment Plan Selection Form; Extension of Public...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-24

... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Repayment Plan Selection Form; Extension of Public Comment Period; Correction AGENCY: Department of Education. ACTION: Correction notice... entitled, ``William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Repayment Plan Selection Form''. ED is extending...

Theoretical basis of the DOE-2 building energy use analysis program

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, R. B.

1981-04-01

A user-oriented, public domain, computer program was developed that will enable architects and engineers to perform design and retrofit studies of the energy-use of buildings under realistic weather conditions. The DOE-2.1A has been named by the US DOE as the standard evaluation technique for the Congressionally mandated building energy performance standards (BEPS). A number of program design decisions were made that determine the breadth of applicability of DOE-2.1. Such design decisions are intrinsic to all building energy use analysis computer programs and determine the types of buildings or the kind of HVAC systems that can be modeled. In particular, the weighting factor method used in DOE-2 has both advantages and disadvantages relative to other computer programs.

Collaborative Learning Processes in the Context of a Public Health Professional Development Program: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Tremblay, Marie-Claude; Richard, Lucie; Brousselle, Astrid; Chiocchio, François; Beaudet, Nicole

2017-01-01

The health promotion laboratory (HPL-Canada) is a public health professional development program building on a collaborative learning approach in order to support long-term practice change in local health services teams. This study aims to analyse the collaborative learning processes of two teams involved in the program during the first year of…

Electric and Magnetic Fields Research and Public Information Dissemination Program annual report for fiscal year 1996

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-06-01

The Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) Research and Public Information Dissemination (RAPID) Program was authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 as a near-term effort to expand and accelerate the research needed to address the EMF issue. As required by this legislation, the EMF Interagency Committee, the National EMF Advisory Committee (NEMFAC), and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) are providing valued input and advice for the direction of this program. With this input and advice, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) have developed and are implementing five-year program plans. Multi-year health effects research projects and related EMF measurement and exposure assessment projects are underway using funds appropriated in fiscal years 1994, 1995, and 1996 together with voluntary non-Federal contributions. The results of these research projects, along with the results of other EMF research, will be used as input to the hazard evaluation effort, which is the focus of the EMF RAPID Program. A coordinated interagency program is underway to communicate needed information on the EMF issue in a clear manner to the public and other decision makers.

A longitudinal study of Salmonella from snakes used in a public outreach program.

Science.gov (United States)

Goupil, Brad A; Trent, Ava M; Bender, Jeff; Olsen, Karen E; Morningstar, Brenda R; Wünschmann, Arno

2012-12-01

Snakes are considered to be a source of Salmonella infection for humans, but little is known about the actual serotype prevalence in healthy snakes over time. Twelve snakes involved in a public outreach program, representing seven different species, were tested weekly for shedding of Salmonella sp. over a period of 10 consecutive weeks. The snakes were housed in close proximity but in separate exhibits. Fresh fecal samples (when available) or cloacal swabs were cultured for Salmonella sp., and subsequent Salmonella isolates were serotyped. As representatives of the feed source, the feces of two mice and the intestines of one rat were cultured weekly. Fecal samples from 11 of the 12 snakes were positive for Salmonella at least once. Seven (58%) of 12 snakes were culture positive five times or more. The weekly prevalence of Salmonella shedding varied between 25% and 66%. Two or more different serotypes were isolated from nine snakes over time; however, a predominant serotype was generally isolated from each of these snakes. Altogether 15 different serotypes were identified. Serotypes of public health concern included Newport, Oranienburg, and Muenchen. Two samples from feeder rodents were positive for Salmonella. The results are consistent with previous studies showing high intestinal colonization rates with Salmonella sp. in snakes. Frequent and intermittent shedding of multiple serotypes was evident. Feeder rodents might serve as a source for intestinal colonization. Appropriate handling protocols should be implemented for all reptiles associated with public outreach programs to minimize risk of Salmonella transmission to the public.

Public health and the economy could be served by reallocating medical expenditures to social programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Linda Diem Tran

2017-12-01

Full Text Available As much as 30% of US health care spending in the United States does not improve individual or population health. To a large extent this excess spending results from prices that are too high and from administrative waste. In the public sector, and particularly at the state level, where budget constraints are severe and reluctance to raise taxes high, this spending crowds out social, educational, and public-health investments. Over time, as spending on medical care increases, spending on improvements to the social determinants of health are starved. In California the fraction of General Fund expenditures spent on public health and social programs fell from 34.8% in fiscal year 1990 to 21.4% in fiscal year 2014, while health care increased from 14.1% to 21.3%. In spending more on healthcare and less on other efforts to improve health and health determinants, the state is missing important opportunities for health-promoting interventions with a strong financial return. Reallocating ineffective medical expenditures to proven and cost-effective public health and social programs would not be easy, but recognizing its potential for improving the public's health while saving taxpayers billions of dollars might provide political cover to those willing to engage in genuine reform. National estimates of the percent of medical spending that does not improve health suggest that approximately $5 billion of California's public budget for medical spending has no positive effect on health. Up to 10,500 premature deaths could be prevented annually by reallocating this portion of medical spending to public health. Alternatively, the same expenditure could help an additional 418,000 high school students to graduate.

Public health and the economy could be served by reallocating medical expenditures to social programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Linda Diem; Zimmerman, Frederick J; Fielding, Jonathan E

2017-12-01

As much as 30% of US health care spending in the United States does not improve individual or population health. To a large extent this excess spending results from prices that are too high and from administrative waste. In the public sector, and particularly at the state level, where budget constraints are severe and reluctance to raise taxes high, this spending crowds out social, educational, and public-health investments. Over time, as spending on medical care increases, spending on improvements to the social determinants of health are starved. In California the fraction of General Fund expenditures spent on public health and social programs fell from 34.8% in fiscal year 1990 to 21.4% in fiscal year 2014, while health care increased from 14.1% to 21.3%. In spending more on healthcare and less on other efforts to improve health and health determinants, the state is missing important opportunities for health-promoting interventions with a strong financial return. Reallocating ineffective medical expenditures to proven and cost-effective public health and social programs would not be easy, but recognizing its potential for improving the public's health while saving taxpayers billions of dollars might provide political cover to those willing to engage in genuine reform. National estimates of the percent of medical spending that does not improve health suggest that approximately $5 billion of California's public budget for medical spending has no positive effect on health. Up to 10,500 premature deaths could be prevented annually by reallocating this portion of medical spending to public health. Alternatively, the same expenditure could help an additional 418,000 high school students to graduate.

Converting One Type-Based Abstract Domain to Another

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gallagher, John Patrick; Puebla, German; Albert, Elvira

2006-01-01

The specific problem that motivates this paper is how to obtain abstract descriptions of the meanings of imported predicates (such as built-ins) that can be used when analysing a module of a logic program with respect to some abstract domain. We assume that abstract descriptions of the imported....... We develop a method which has been applied in order to generate call and success patterns from the Ciaopp assertions for built-ins, for any given regular type-based domain. In the paper we present the method as an instance of the more general problem of mapping elements of one abstract domain...

Democratic Dialogue as a Process to Inform Public Policy: Reconceptualizing a Supervisory Officer’s Qualification Program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deirdre M. Smith

2015-06-01

Full Text Available An exploration of the collaborative reconceptualization of a provincial Supervisory Officer’s Qualification Program (SOQP through the use of dialogic approaches is the focus of this inquiry. The stories, perspectives, and lived experiences of supervisory officers, principals, teachers, parents, students, and members of the public in Ontario were included as essential voices and information sources within policy development conversations. These narratives of experience revealed the forms of knowledge, skills, dispositions, and ethical commitments necessary for effective supervisory officers today and in the future. They also illustrated the transformative nature of narrative dialogue to enlighten, deepen understanding, and alter perspec- tives. The policy development processes used in this publicly shared educational initiative serve as a model of democratic dialogue. The inclusive and dialogic methods employed to collectively reconceptualize a supervisory officer formation program illustrate an innovative framework for developing policies governing the public good.

Team-Based Learning: Successful Experience in a Public Health Graduate Program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geraldo Bezerra da Silva Junior

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Background: In the review of curriculum matrices, the elaboration of learning strategies that combine theory and practice is extremely important, allowing the building of new concepts and learning methods by the students. Team-based learning (TBL is growing in academic centers and refers to the pedagogic strategy grounded in constructivism. The aim of this research was to describe the application of TBL in a Public Health graduate program. Methods: TBL was applied in a class with 22 students in the discipline “Quantitative Research in Health” of the Public Health graduate program (Master degree at the University of Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2016. The discipline was structured in 8 lessons, approaching the thematic of quantitative research. Before each class the students were required to study the contents at home, a test was done for each subject in the beginning of each class (individually and then in teams of 5 or 6 students and then a brief review was performed by the professor, where the students could ask questions and solve any doubt. At the end of the semester an evaluation questionnaire was applied with objective questions and a qualitative survey. Results: The application of TBL was done in a class with 22 students of the Public health Master Program, aged 22 to 36 years, and 83.3% were female. The method was well received by the students. All the evaluations and discussions went on without any problem. There were some complaints about the requirement to study at home prior to the classes. Students’ evaluation of the discipline and the TBL method was satisfactory with answers’ average score of 4.7 (scale 0-5. The lowestscore was achieved by the question number 11 (4.3 about the students motivation for their study at home. The comparison with the evaluation of the previous semester (where a traditional method was applied evidenced higher scores for the TBL method. Conclusions: The application of TBL was satisfactory and the

Enhanced UXO Discrimination Using Frequency-Domain Electromagnetic Induction

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Nelson, H. H; Steinhurst, D. A; Barrow, B; Bell, T; Khadar, N; SanFilipo, B; Won, I. J

2007-01-01

.... With support from the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, we have developed a frequency-domain electromagnetic induction sensor array to extend the discrimination capabilities of the MTADS...

Partners in Public Health: Public Health Collaborations With Schools of Pharmacy, 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

DiPietro Mager, Natalie A; Ochs, Leslie; Ranelli, Paul L; Kahaleh, Abby A; Lahoz, Monina R; Patel, Radha V; Garza, Oscar W; Isaacs, Diana; Clark, Suzanne

To collect data on public health collaborations with schools of pharmacy, we sent a short electronic survey to accredited and preaccredited pharmacy programs in 2015. We categorized public health collaborations as working or partnering with local and/or state public health departments, local and/or state public health organizations, academic schools or programs of public health, and other public health collaborations. Of 134 schools, 65 responded (49% response rate). Forty-six (71%) responding institutions indicated collaborations with local and/or state public health departments, 34 (52%) with schools or programs of public health, and 24 (37%) with local and/or state public health organizations. Common themes of collaborations included educational programs, community outreach, research, and teaching in areas such as tobacco control, emergency preparedness, chronic disease, drug abuse, immunizations, and medication therapy management. Interdisciplinary public health collaborations with schools of pharmacy provide additional resources for ensuring the health of communities and expose student pharmacists to opportunities to use their training and abilities to affect public health. Examples of these partnerships may stimulate additional ideas for possible collaborations between public health organizations and schools of pharmacy.

Public's Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Nuclear Messages: Implications for Effective Nuclear Communication Programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hyo Jung

2017-01-01

The public debate over the use of nuclear energy is not limited to the area of technology, and has become subject to the public's subjective perceptions and emotions regarding the issue. This study empirically demonstrated the advantage of loss framing in improving public's favorable responses toward nuclear energy messages. Such framing effect was found to be moderated by individuals' daily use of online news. The findings of this study suggest that public's cognitive and emotional responses toward nuclear messages should be carefully considered when planning effective nuclear communication program.

"I Like to Plan Events": A Document Analysis of Essays Written by Applicants to a Public Relations Program

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Ronald E.

2016-01-01

A document analysis of 249 essays written during a 5-year period by applicants to a public relations program at a major state university in the southeast suggests that there are enduring reasons why students choose to major in public relations. Public relations is described as a major that allows for and encourages creative expression and that…

Public education and participation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kelly, J.E.

1982-01-01

As prescribed in Step 1 of the Public Education and Participation Process (attachment 1), industry, public interest groups, and decision-makers were briefed about the Subseabed Disposal Program. In regard to public interest groups, Drs. Hollister and Kelly were invited to present the technical and policy aspects of the Subseabed Program at a public forum in Hawaii sponsored by the Hawaii League of Women Voters, the Health Physics Society, and the East-West Center. The sponsors videotaped the forum for a film, entitled Slowly Dying Embers: Radioactive Waste and the Pacific, which will be shown on television in Hawaii. In response to requests for information about the Subseabed Program, Congressional Staff, Representatives, and Senators (attachment 2) were briefed about the Subseabed Program as legislation related to the Program moved through Congress (attachment 3). Science oriented publications also were contacted about the Program

Math on a sphere: Making use of public displays in mathematics and programming education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Eisenberg

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Science on a Sphere (SoS is a compelling educational display installed at numerous museums and planetariums around the world; essentially the SoS display is a large spherical surface on which multicolor high-resolution depictions of (e.g. planetary weather maps may be depicted. Fascinating as the SoS display is, however, it is in practice restricted to the use of museum professionals; students (and for that matter, older museum visitors are unable to create their own displays for the surface. This paper describes a working software system, Math on a Sphere (MoS, that democratizes the SoS display by providing a simple programming interface to the public, over the World Wide Web. Briefly, our system allows anyone to write programs for spherical graphics patterns, and then to upload those programs at a planetarium or museum site and see the result on the giant sphere. This paper describes the implementation of the MoS system; sketches a sample project; and concludes with a more wide-ranging discussion of our user testing to date, as well as strategies for empowering children and students with greater control of public displays.

Generic Competencies in the Education of Engineers: The Case of Engineering Program in a Public University in Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Serna, Alejandra García; Vega, José Luis Arcos; García, Juan José Sevilla; Ruiz, María Amparo Oliveros

2018-01-01

We present an analysis regarding generic skills on engineering program offered in a public state university in Mexico (UABC). The university implemented a new educational model changing rigid programs to flexible programs based on competencies. The goal is to determine generic skills related to the four pillars of learning: learning to do,…

75 FR 3197 - Notice of a Public Meeting on Administration of the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-20

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Rural Business-Cooperative Service Notice of a Public Meeting on Administration of the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program AGENCY: Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. SUMMARY: The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), an...

Exploring shared risks through public-private partnerships in public health programs: a mixed method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wadi B. Alonazi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The natural assimilation of the process through which health partners sustain long-term relationships is a key issue in maintaining social well-being, reducing health risk factors, and sustaining public health programs. One global initiative in building effective healthcare systems is public-private partnerships (PPPs. This study elucidates the proposed key performance indicators initiated by the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia based on the projections of the government, known as Vision 2030, from the perspective of health risk factors. Methods Through an inductive content analysis, this study assessed primary and secondary data in relation to the Saudi National Transformation Program (NTP. To identify the institutions that played a role in formulating the new Saudi Healthcare System, health policies, regulations, and reports published between 1996 and 2016 were categorized. After ranking the risk factors, the investigator selected 13 healthcare professionals in four focus group interviews to insightfully explore the challenges that the NTP faces from a health risk perspective. Thus, the study employed qualitative data gathered through focus group interviews with key figures as well as data extracted from written sources to identify distinct but interrelated partnerships practiced within risk management. Results A methodological overview of NTP priority and implementation offered practical guidance in the healthcare context. The five critical factors in maintaining successful and sustainable PPPs were (1 trustworthiness, (2 technological capability, (3 patient-centeredness, (4 competence, and (5 flexibility. Concession on primary and secondary healthcare services might be a good option based on the literature review and considering its popularity in other countries. A high outcome-based risk of PPPs was found as the most commonly shared perspective in risk management. Conclusions Although the impact of the NTP rise has yet

Exploring shared risks through public-private partnerships in public health programs: a mixed method.

Science.gov (United States)

Alonazi, Wadi B

2017-06-12

The natural assimilation of the process through which health partners sustain long-term relationships is a key issue in maintaining social well-being, reducing health risk factors, and sustaining public health programs. One global initiative in building effective healthcare systems is public-private partnerships (PPPs). This study elucidates the proposed key performance indicators initiated by the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia based on the projections of the government, known as Vision 2030, from the perspective of health risk factors. Through an inductive content analysis, this study assessed primary and secondary data in relation to the Saudi National Transformation Program (NTP). To identify the institutions that played a role in formulating the new Saudi Healthcare System, health policies, regulations, and reports published between 1996 and 2016 were categorized. After ranking the risk factors, the investigator selected 13 healthcare professionals in four focus group interviews to insightfully explore the challenges that the NTP faces from a health risk perspective. Thus, the study employed qualitative data gathered through focus group interviews with key figures as well as data extracted from written sources to identify distinct but interrelated partnerships practiced within risk management. A methodological overview of NTP priority and implementation offered practical guidance in the healthcare context. The five critical factors in maintaining successful and sustainable PPPs were (1) trustworthiness, (2) technological capability, (3) patient-centeredness, (4) competence, and (5) flexibility. Concession on primary and secondary healthcare services might be a good option based on the literature review and considering its popularity in other countries. A high outcome-based risk of PPPs was found as the most commonly shared perspective in risk management. Although the impact of the NTP rise has yet to be explored, its potential for challenging health

The Competitive Effects of the Louisiana Scholarship Program on Public School Performance. Louisiana Scholarship Program Evaluation Report #4. Technical Report

Science.gov (United States)

Egalite, Anna J.

2016-01-01

Given the significant growth rate and geographic expansion of private school choice programs over the past two decades, it is important to examine how traditional public schools respond to the sudden injection of competition for students and resources. This article uses: (1) a school fixed effects approach; and (2) a regression discontinuity…

Return on investment: a fuller assessment of the benefits and cost savings of the US publicly funded family planning program.

Science.gov (United States)

Frost, Jennifer J; Sonfield, Adam; Zolna, Mia R; Finer, Lawrence B

2014-12-01

Policy Points: The US publicly supported family planning effort serves millions of women and men each year, and this analysis provides new estimates of its positive impact on a wide range of health outcomes and its net savings to the government. The public investment in family planning programs and providers not only helps women and couples avoid unintended pregnancy and abortion, but also helps many thousands avoid cervical cancer, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, infertility, and preterm and low birth weight births. This investment resulted in net government savings of $13.6 billion in 2010, or $7.09 for every public dollar spent. Each year the United States' publicly supported family planning program serves millions of low-income women. Although the health impact and public-sector savings associated with this program's services extend well beyond preventing unintended pregnancy, they never have been fully quantified. Drawing on an array of survey data and published parameters, we estimated the direct national-level and state-level health benefits that accrued from providing contraceptives, tests for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), Pap tests and tests for human papillomavirus (HPV), and HPV vaccinations at publicly supported family planning settings in 2010. We estimated the public cost savings attributable to these services and compared those with the cost of publicly funded family planning services in 2010 to find the net public-sector savings. We adjusted our estimates of the cost savings for unplanned births to exclude some mistimed births that would remain publicly funded if they had occurred later and to include the medical costs for births through age 5 of the child. In 2010, care provided during publicly supported family planning visits averted an estimated 2.2 million unintended pregnancies, including 287,500 closely spaced and 164,190 preterm or low birth weight (LBW) births, 99

An analysis of the adaptability of a professional development program in public health: results from the ALPS Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Richard, Lucie; Torres, Sara; Tremblay, Marie-Claude; Chiocchio, François; Litvak, Éric; Fortin-Pellerin, Laurence; Beaudet, Nicole

2015-06-14

Professional development is a key component of effective public health infrastructures. To be successful, professional development programs in public health and health promotion must adapt to practitioners' complex real-world practice settings while preserving the core components of those programs' models and theoretical bases. An appropriate balance must be struck between implementation fidelity, defined as respecting the core nature of the program that underlies its effects, and adaptability to context to maximize benefit in specific situations. This article presents a professional development pilot program, the Health Promotion Laboratory (HPL), and analyzes how it was adapted to three different settings while preserving its core components. An exploratory analysis was also conducted to identify team and contextual factors that might have been at play in the emergence of implementation profiles in each site. This paper describes the program, its core components and adaptive features, along with three implementation experiences in local public health teams in Quebec, Canada. For each setting, documentary sources were analyzed to trace the implementation of activities, including temporal patterns throughout the project for each program component. Information about teams and their contexts/settings was obtained through documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with HPL participants, colleagues and managers from each organization. While each team developed a unique pattern of implementing the activities, all the program's core components were implemented. Differences of implementation were observed in terms of numbers and percentages of activities related to different components of the program as well as in the patterns of activities across time. It is plausible that organizational characteristics influencing, for example, work schedule flexibility or learning culture might have played a role in the HPL implementation process. This paper shows how a

CATHEDRAL: a fast and effective algorithm to predict folds and domain boundaries from multidomain protein structures.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliver C Redfern

2007-11-01

Full Text Available We present CATHEDRAL, an iterative protocol for determining the location of previously observed protein folds in novel multidomain protein structures. CATHEDRAL builds on the features of a fast secondary-structure-based method (using graph theory to locate known folds within a multidomain context and a residue-based, double-dynamic programming algorithm, which is used to align members of the target fold groups against the query protein structure to identify the closest relative and assign domain boundaries. To increase the fidelity of the assignments, a support vector machine is used to provide an optimal scoring scheme. Once a domain is verified, it is excised, and the search protocol is repeated in an iterative fashion until all recognisable domains have been identified. We have performed an initial benchmark of CATHEDRAL against other publicly available structure comparison methods using a consensus dataset of domains derived from the CATH and SCOP domain classifications. CATHEDRAL shows superior performance in fold recognition and alignment accuracy when compared with many equivalent methods. If a novel multidomain structure contains a known fold, CATHEDRAL will locate it in 90% of cases, with <1% false positives. For nearly 80% of assigned domains in a manually validated test set, the boundaries were correctly delineated within a tolerance of ten residues. For the remaining cases, previously classified domains were very remotely related to the query chain so that embellishments to the core of the fold caused significant differences in domain sizes and manual refinement of the boundaries was necessary. To put this performance in context, a well-established sequence method based on hidden Markov models was only able to detect 65% of domains, with 33% of the subsequent boundaries assigned within ten residues. Since, on average, 50% of newly determined protein structures contain more than one domain unit, and typically 90% or more of these

Functional and topological characteristics of mammalian regulatory domains

Science.gov (United States)

Symmons, Orsolya; Uslu, Veli Vural; Tsujimura, Taro; Ruf, Sandra; Nassari, Sonya; Schwarzer, Wibke; Ettwiller, Laurence; Spitz, François

2014-01-01

Long-range regulatory interactions play an important role in shaping gene-expression programs. However, the genomic features that organize these activities are still poorly characterized. We conducted a large operational analysis to chart the distribution of gene regulatory activities along the mouse genome, using hundreds of insertions of a regulatory sensor. We found that enhancers distribute their activities along broad regions and not in a gene-centric manner, defining large regulatory domains. Remarkably, these domains correlate strongly with the recently described TADs, which partition the genome into distinct self-interacting blocks. Different features, including specific repeats and CTCF-binding sites, correlate with the transition zones separating regulatory domains, and may help to further organize promiscuously distributed regulatory influences within large domains. These findings support a model of genomic organization where TADs confine regulatory activities to specific but large regulatory domains, contributing to the establishment of specific gene expression profiles. PMID:24398455

The project to design and develop an energy-related program for public housing residents: Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1986-12-01

This demonstration project studied how to minimize the costs associated with public housing tenants in standard public housing as well as under homeownership transfers. A related problem was how to graduate the tenants to another level of responsibility and self-sufficiency through resident business developments and training in energy-related fields. The goal that emanated was the design and development of an energy-related demonstration program that educates public housing residents, facilities indigenous business development where appropriate, and trains residents to provide needed services.

Fathers of Children in Public Preschool Programs: A Study of School Involvement and Satisfaction

Science.gov (United States)

Noggle, Amy Kappel

2012-01-01

In this quantitative study, I examined the involvement levels of fathers of children attending public preschool programs using the Family Involvement Questionnaire; I also examined fathers' satisfaction with school contact and involvement experiences using the Parent Satisfaction with Educational Experiences scale. Additionally, I…

Public acceptance of small reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McDougall, D.S.

1997-01-01

The success of any nuclear program requires acceptance by the local public and all levels of government involved in the decision to initiate a reactor program. Public acceptance of a nuclear energy source is a major challenge in successful initiation of a small reactor program. In AECL's experience, public acceptance will not be obtained until the public is convinced that the specific nuclear program is needed, safe and economic and environmental benefit to the community. The title of public acceptance is misleading. The objective of the program is a fully informed public. The program proponent cannot force public acceptance, which is beyond his control. He can, however, ensure that the public is informed. Once information has begun to flow to the public by various means as will be explained later, the proponent is responsible to ensure that the information that is provided by him and by others is accurate. Most importantly, and perhaps most difficult to accomplish, the proponent must develop a consultative process that allows the proponent and the public to agree on actions that are acceptable to the proponent and the community

Cultivating a community of practice: the evolution of a health information specialists program for public librarians.

Science.gov (United States)

Clifton, Shari; Jo, Phill; Longo, Jean Marie; Malone, Tara

2017-07-01

To help improve the culture of health in Oklahoma-a state that frequently ranks poorly on multiple measures of health and wellness-faculty librarians from an academic health sciences library sought to create a collaborative network of health information professionals in Oklahoma's public libraries through the implementation of the Health Information Specialists Program. Health sciences librarians offered a variety of consumer health information courses for public library staff across the state of Oklahoma for three years. Courses were approved by the Medical Library Association for credit toward the Consumer Health Information Specialization. A total of seventy-two participants from public libraries attended the courses, sixty-five achieved a Level I Consumer Health Information Specialization, and nine went on to achieve Level II. Feedback from participants in the Health Information Specialists Program has indicated a positive impact on the health information expertise of participants, who in turn have used the knowledge that they gained to help their patrons.

Characteristics of scientific web publications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorlund Jepsen, Erik; Seiden, Piet; Ingwersen, Peter Emil Rerup

2004-01-01

were generated based on specifically selected domain topics that are searched for in three publicly accessible search engines (Google, AllTheWeb, and AltaVista). A sample of the retrieved hits was analyzed with regard to how various publication attributes correlated with the scientific quality...... of the content and whether this information could be employed to harvest, filter, and rank Web publications. The attributes analyzed were inlinks, outlinks, bibliographic references, file format, language, search engine overlap, structural position (according to site structure), and the occurrence of various...... types of metadata. As could be expected, the ranked output differs between the three search engines. Apparently, this is caused by differences in ranking algorithms rather than the databases themselves. In fact, because scientific Web content in this subject domain receives few inlinks, both Alta...

Functional Programming

OpenAIRE

Chitil, Olaf

2009-01-01

Functional programming is a programming paradigm like object-oriented programming and logic programming. Functional programming comprises both a specific programming style and a class of programming languages that encourage and support this programming style. Functional programming enables the programmer to describe an algorithm on a high-level, in terms of the problem domain, without having to deal with machine-related details. A program is constructed from functions that only map inputs to ...

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.

78 FR 61251 - The National Public Transportation Safety Plan, the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan, and...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-03

...-0030] RIN 2132-AB20; 2132-AB07 The National Public Transportation Safety Plan, the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan, and the Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program; Transit... Public Transportation Safety Program (National Safety Program) and the requirements of the new transit...

ASH structure alignment package: Sensitivity and selectivity in domain classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Toh Hiroyuki

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Structure alignment methods offer the possibility of measuring distant evolutionary relationships between proteins that are not visible by sequence-based analysis. However, the question of how structural differences and similarities ought to be quantified in this regard remains open. In this study we construct a training set of sequence-unique CATH and SCOP domains, from which we develop a scoring function that can reliably identify domains with the same CATH topology and SCOP fold classification. The score is implemented in the ASH structure alignment package, for which the source code and a web service are freely available from the PDBj website http://www.pdbj.org/ASH/. Results The new ASH score shows increased selectivity and sensitivity compared with values reported for several popular programs using the same test set of 4,298,905 structure pairs, yielding an area of .96 under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve. In addition, weak sequence homologies between similar domains are revealed that could not be detected by BLAST sequence alignment. Also, a subset of domain pairs is identified that exhibit high similarity, even though their CATH and SCOP classification differs. Finally, we show that the ranking of alignment programs based solely on geometric measures depends on the choice of the quality measure. Conclusion ASH shows high selectivity and sensitivity with regard to domain classification, an important step in defining distantly related protein sequence families. Moreover, the CPU cost per alignment is competitive with the fastest programs, making ASH a practical option for large-scale structure classification studies.

Response to a widespread, unauthorized dispersal of radioactive waste in the public domain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wenslawski, F.A.; North, H.S.

1979-01-01

In March 1976 State of Nevada radiological health officials became aware that radioactive items destined for disposal at a radioactive waste burial facility near Beatty, Nevada had instead been distributed to wide segments of the public domain. Because the facility was jointly licensed by the State of Nevada and the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, both agencies quickly responded. It was learned that over a period of several years a practice existed at the disposal facility of opening containers, removing contents and allowing employees to take items of worth or fancy. Numerous items such as hand tools, electric motors, laboratory instruments, shipping containers, etc., had received widespread and uncontrolled distribution in the town of Beatty as well as lesser distributions to other locations. Because the situation might have had the potential for a significant health and safety impact, a comprehensive recovery operation was conducted. During the course of seven days of intense effort, thirty-five individuals became involved in a comprehensive door by door survey and search of the town. Aerial surveys were performed using a helicopter equipped with sensitive radiation detectors, while ground level scans were conducted using a van containing similar instrumentation. Aerial reconnaissance photographs were taken, a special town meeting was held and numerous persons were interviewed. The recovery effort resulted in a retrieval of an estimated 20 to 25 pickup truck loads of radioactively contaminated equipment as well as several loads of large items returned on a 40-foot flatbed trailer

Use of media and public-domain Internet sources for detection and assessment of plant health threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Carla S; Nelson, Noele P; Jahn, Gary C; Niu, Tianchan; Hartley, David M

2011-09-05

Event-based biosurveillance is a recognized approach to early warning and situational awareness of emerging health threats. In this study, we build upon previous human and animal health work to develop a new approach to plant pest and pathogen surveillance. We show that monitoring public domain electronic media for indications and warning of epidemics and associated social disruption can provide information about the emergence and progression of plant pest infestation or disease outbreak. The approach is illustrated using a case study, which describes a plant pest and pathogen epidemic in China and Vietnam from February 2006 to December 2007, and the role of ducks in contributing to zoonotic virus spread in birds and humans. This approach could be used as a complementary method to traditional plant pest and pathogen surveillance to aid global and national plant protection officials and political leaders in early detection and timely response to significant biological threats to plant health, economic vitality, and social stability. This study documents the inter-relatedness of health in human, animal, and plant populations and emphasizes the importance of plant health surveillance.

22nd International Conference on Domain Decomposition Methods

CERN Document Server

Gander, Martin; Halpern, Laurence; Krause, Rolf; Pavarino, Luca

2016-01-01

These are the proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Domain Decomposition Methods, which was held in Lugano, Switzerland. With 172 participants from over 24 countries, this conference continued a long-standing tradition of internationally oriented meetings on Domain Decomposition Methods. The book features a well-balanced mix of established and new topics, such as the manifold theory of Schwarz Methods, Isogeometric Analysis, Discontinuous Galerkin Methods, exploitation of modern HPC architectures, and industrial applications. As the conference program reflects, the growing capabilities in terms of theory and available hardware allow increasingly complex non-linear and multi-physics simulations, confirming the tremendous potential and flexibility of the domain decomposition concept.

75 FR 31323 - Energy Efficiency Program: Energy Conservation Standards Furnace Fans: Public Meeting and...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-03

.... EERE-2010-BT-STD-0011] RIN 1904-AC22 Energy Efficiency Program: Energy Conservation Standards Furnace Fans: Public Meeting and Availability of the Framework Document AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and... Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies, EE-2J, 1000 Independence...

78 FR 66885 - Subsistence Management Program for Public Lands in Alaska; Rural Determination Process

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-07

..., Federal Subsistence Board, c/o U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Attention: Gene Peltola, Office of... harvest seasons and limits. In administering the program, the Secretaries divided Alaska into 10... public on the rural determination process and regulations, and ways to improve them for the benefit of...

Influence of Multiculturalism on the Study Programs in Malaysian Public Universities: International Students' Perceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Pandian, Ambigapathy; Baboo, Shanthi Balraj; Mahfoodh, Omer Hassan Ali

2016-01-01

In response to the emphasis on the benefits of enhanced multicultural educational experiences of international students in higher education, this study examined international students' perceptions of the influence of multiculturalism on the study programs in Malaysian public universities. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The…

An Evaluation of the Employee Assistance Program in the Montgomery County Public School System.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, Jo Ann

The Montgomery County public school system presently provides assistance through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to troubled employees with problems which affect work performance. EAP's mandate is to provide crisis intervention, prereferral evaluation, information, referral, and follow-up services. From its inception to March, 1981, EAP…

ACNP Public Education Program on nuclear medicine and related low-level waste issues. Final technical report, 7 July 1980-30 June 1983

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The goal of the ACNP Public Education Program was to educate and inform the greatest number of people in the areas of radiation and health and, in turn, to gain the public's understanding of Nuclear Medicine. The related low-level waste issues also were incorporated into the program. To carry out the program's objectives and design to educate the public, the ACNP established a Speaker Bureau which consists of those members of the ACNP and the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) who go through the training seminars, conducted by ACNP, and are available to speak publicly about Nuclear Medicine and related low-level waste issues. In addition, the ACNP developed the necessary audiovisual and printed materials to be used in their own right or as supplemental tools. Promotion of the Speakers Bureau and the audiovisual materials to the media and other various public forums was undertaken

Toward optimal implementation of cancer prevention and control programs in public health: a study protocol on mis-implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Padek, Margaret; Allen, Peg; Erwin, Paul C; Franco, Melissa; Hammond, Ross A; Heuberger, Benjamin; Kasman, Matt; Luke, Doug A; Mazzucca, Stephanie; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Brownson, Ross C

2018-03-23

Much of the cancer burden in the USA is preventable, through application of existing knowledge. State-level funders and public health practitioners are in ideal positions to affect programs and policies related to cancer control. Mis-implementation refers to ending effective programs and policies prematurely or continuing ineffective ones. Greater attention to mis-implementation should lead to use of effective interventions and more efficient expenditure of resources, which in the long term, will lead to more positive cancer outcomes. This is a three-phase study that takes a comprehensive approach, leading to the elucidation of tactics for addressing mis-implementation. Phase 1: We assess the extent to which mis-implementation is occurring among state cancer control programs in public health. This initial phase will involve a survey of 800 practitioners representing all states. The programs represented will span the full continuum of cancer control, from primary prevention to survivorship. Phase 2: Using data from phase 1 to identify organizations in which mis-implementation is particularly high or low, the team will conduct eight comparative case studies to get a richer understanding of mis-implementation and to understand contextual differences. These case studies will highlight lessons learned about mis-implementation and identify hypothesized drivers. Phase 3: Agent-based modeling will be used to identify dynamic interactions between individual capacity, organizational capacity, use of evidence, funding, and external factors driving mis-implementation. The team will then translate and disseminate findings from phases 1 to 3 to practitioners and practice-related stakeholders to support the reduction of mis-implementation. This study is innovative and significant because it will (1) be the first to refine and further develop reliable and valid measures of mis-implementation of public health programs; (2) bring together a strong, transdisciplinary team with

Strategies to improve treatment coverage in community-based public health programs: A systematic review of the literature.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katrina V Deardorff

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Community-based public health campaigns, such as those used in mass deworming, vitamin A supplementation and child immunization programs, provide key healthcare interventions to targeted populations at scale. However, these programs often fall short of established coverage targets. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the impact of strategies used to increase treatment coverage in community-based public health campaigns.We systematically searched CAB Direct, Embase, and PubMed archives for studies utilizing specific interventions to increase coverage of community-based distribution of drugs, vaccines, or other public health services. We identified 5,637 articles, from which 79 full texts were evaluated according to pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twenty-eight articles met inclusion criteria and data were abstracted regarding strategy-specific changes in coverage from these sources. Strategies used to increase coverage included community-directed treatment (n = 6, pooled percent change in coverage: +26.2%, distributor incentives (n = 2, +25.3%, distribution along kinship networks (n = 1, +24.5%, intensified information, education, and communication activities (n = 8, +21.6%, fixed-point delivery (n = 1, +21.4%, door-to-door delivery (n = 1, +14.0%, integrated service distribution (n = 9, +12.7%, conversion from school- to community-based delivery (n = 3, +11.9%, and management by a non-governmental organization (n = 1, +5.8%.Strategies that target improving community member ownership of distribution appear to have a large impact on increasing treatment coverage. However, all strategies used to increase coverage successfully did so. These results may be useful to National Ministries, programs, and implementing partners in optimizing treatment coverage in community-based public health programs.

Changes in sexual behavior following a sex education program in Brazilian public schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrade, Heloísa Helena Siqueira Monteiro; Mello, Maeve Brito de; Sousa, Maria Helena; Makuch, Maria Yolanda; Bertoni, Neilane; Faúndes, Anibal

2009-05-01

This paper describes an evaluation of possible changes in sexual behavior in adolescents who participated in a school-based sex education program in selected public schools in four municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The program is inserted within the context of reproductive rights, deals with risks involved in unsafe sexual practices and focuses on the positive aspects of sexuality. A quasi-experimental design with pre and post-tests and a non-equivalent control group was used to evaluate the intervention. A total of 4,795 questionnaires were included in this analysis. The program succeeded in more than doubling consistent condom use with casual partners and in increasing the use of modern contraceptives during last intercourse by 68%. The intervention had no effect on age at first intercourse or on adolescents' engagement in sexual activities. The sex education program was effective in generating positive changes in the sexual behavior of adolescents, while not stimulating participation in sexual activities.

A role for chromatin topology in imprinted domain regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

MacDonald, William A; Sachani, Saqib S; White, Carlee R; Mann, Mellissa R W

2016-02-01

Recently, many advancements in genome-wide chromatin topology and nuclear architecture have unveiled the complex and hidden world of the nucleus, where chromatin is organized into discrete neighbourhoods with coordinated gene expression. This includes the active and inactive X chromosomes. Using X chromosome inactivation as a working model, we utilized publicly available datasets together with a literature review to gain insight into topologically associated domains, lamin-associated domains, nucleolar-associating domains, scaffold/matrix attachment regions, and nucleoporin-associated chromatin and their role in regulating monoallelic expression. Furthermore, we comprehensively review for the first time the role of chromatin topology and nuclear architecture in the regulation of genomic imprinting. We propose that chromatin topology and nuclear architecture are important regulatory mechanisms for directing gene expression within imprinted domains. Furthermore, we predict that dynamic changes in chromatin topology and nuclear architecture play roles in tissue-specific imprint domain regulation during early development and differentiation.

Individual- and area-level disparities in access to the road network, subway system and a public bicycle share program on the Island of Montreal, Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuller, Daniel; Gauvin, Lise; Kestens, Yan

2013-02-01

Few studies have examined potential disparities in access to transportation infrastructures, an important determinant of population health. To examine individual- and area-level disparities in access to the road network, public transportation system, and a public bicycle share program in Montreal, Canada. Examining associations between sociodemographic variables and access to the road network, public transportation system, and a public bicycle share program, 6,495 adult respondents (mean age, 48.7 years; 59.0 % female) nested in 33 areas were included in a multilevel analysis. Individuals with lower incomes lived significantly closer to public transportation and the bicycle share program. At the area level, the interaction between low-education and low-income neighborhoods showed that these areas were significantly closer to public transportation and the bicycle share program controlling for individual and urbanicity variables. More deprived areas of the Island of Montreal have better access to transportation infrastructure than less-deprived areas.

Communicating with the workforce during emergencies: developing an employee text messaging program in a local public health setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Karasz, Hilary N; Bogan, Sharon; Bosslet, Lindsay

2014-01-01

Short message service (SMS) text messaging can be useful for communicating information to public health employees and improving workforce situational awareness during emergencies. We sought to understand how the 1,500 employees at Public Health--Seattle & King County, Washington, perceived barriers to and benefits of participation in a voluntary, employer-based SMS program. Based on employee feedback, we developed the system, marketed it, and invited employees to opt in. The system was tested during an ice storm in January 2012. Employee concerns about opting into an SMS program included possible work encroachment during non-work time and receiving excessive irrelevant messages. Employees who received messages during the weather event reported high levels of satisfaction and perceived utility from the program. We conclude that text messaging is a feasible form of communication with employees during emergencies. Care should be taken to design and deploy a program that maximizes employee satisfaction.

The Mobile Reference Service: a case study of an onsite reference service program at the School of Public Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Donghua; McCarthy, Patrick G; Krieger, Mary M; Webb, Annie B

2009-01-01

The School of Public Health at Saint Louis University is located at a greater distance from the library than other programs on the main medical center campus. Physical distance diminishes the ease of access to direct reference services for public health users. To bridge the gap, the library developed the Mobile Reference Service to deliver on-site information assistance with regular office hours each week. Between September 2006 and April 2007, a total of 57 in-depth reference transactions took place over 25 weeks, averaging 2 transactions per week in a 2-hour period. Overall reference transactions from public health users went up 28%, while liaison contacts with public health users doubled compared to the same period the year before. The Mobile Reference Service program has improved library support for research and scholarship, cultivated and strengthened liaison relationships, and enhanced marketing and delivery of library resources and services to the Saint Louis University School of Public Health.

The Mobile Reference Service: a case study of an onsite reference service program at the school of public health*

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Donghua; McCarthy, Patrick G.; Krieger, Mary M.; Webb, Annie B.

2009-01-01

The School of Public Health at Saint Louis University is located at a greater distance from the library than other programs on the main medical center campus. Physical distance diminishes the ease of access to direct reference services for public health users. To bridge the gap, the library developed the Mobile Reference Service to deliver onsite information assistance with regular office hours each week. Between September 2006 and April 2007, a total of 57 in-depth reference transactions took place over 25 weeks, averaging 2 transactions per week in a 2-hour period. Overall reference transactions from public health users went up 28%, while liaison contacts with public health users doubled compared to the same period the year before. The Mobile Reference Service program has improved library support for research and scholarship, cultivated and strengthened liaison relationships, and enhanced marketing and delivery of library resources and services to the Saint Louis University School of Public Health. PMID:19159004

Using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to Assess and Plan for Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Mainor, Avia; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Maier, Ryan C.; Brossart, Laura; Luke, Douglas A.

2014-01-01

Implementing and growing a public health program that benefits society takes considerable time and effort. To ensure that positive outcomes are maintained over time, program managers and stakeholders should plan and implement activities to build sustainability capacity within their programs. We describe a 3-part sustainability planning process that programs can follow to build their sustainability capacity. First, program staff and stakeholders take the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to measure their program’s sustainability across 8 domains. Next, managers and stakeholders use results from the assessment to inform and prioritize sustainability action planning. Lastly, staff members implement the plan and keep track of progress toward their sustainability goals. Through this process, staff can more holistically address the internal and external challenges and pressures associated with sustaining a program. We include a case example of a chronic disease program that completed the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool and engaged in program sustainability planning. PMID:24456644

Beyond cross-domain learning: Multiple-domain nonnegative matrix factorization

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Gao, Xin

2014-01-01

Traditional cross-domain learning methods transfer learning from a source domain to a target domain. In this paper, we propose the multiple-domain learning problem for several equally treated domains. The multiple-domain learning problem assumes that samples from different domains have different distributions, but share the same feature and class label spaces. Each domain could be a target domain, while also be a source domain for other domains. A novel multiple-domain representation method is proposed for the multiple-domain learning problem. This method is based on nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF), and tries to learn a basis matrix and coding vectors for samples, so that the domain distribution mismatch among different domains will be reduced under an extended variation of the maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) criterion. The novel algorithm - multiple-domain NMF (MDNMF) - was evaluated on two challenging multiple-domain learning problems - multiple user spam email detection and multiple-domain glioma diagnosis. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is experimentally verified. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Beyond cross-domain learning: Multiple-domain nonnegative matrix factorization

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan

2014-02-01

Traditional cross-domain learning methods transfer learning from a source domain to a target domain. In this paper, we propose the multiple-domain learning problem for several equally treated domains. The multiple-domain learning problem assumes that samples from different domains have different distributions, but share the same feature and class label spaces. Each domain could be a target domain, while also be a source domain for other domains. A novel multiple-domain representation method is proposed for the multiple-domain learning problem. This method is based on nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF), and tries to learn a basis matrix and coding vectors for samples, so that the domain distribution mismatch among different domains will be reduced under an extended variation of the maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) criterion. The novel algorithm - multiple-domain NMF (MDNMF) - was evaluated on two challenging multiple-domain learning problems - multiple user spam email detection and multiple-domain glioma diagnosis. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is experimentally verified. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 71136 - Public Meetings of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Reform Effort; Correction

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-22

... answer any questions and listen to comments from them on how its programs can be more efficient and... is being developed and will be analyzed using the evaluation criteria. The resulting recommendations will be reported to FEMA leadership. The purpose of the public meetings is to describe, update, and...

78 FR 73858 - Public Water System Supervision Program Revision for the State of Oklahoma

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-09

... approved Public Water System Supervision Program. Oklahoma has adopted three EPA drinking water rules... and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (DBP2), and (3) the Ground Water Rule (GWR). EPA has determined that... Protection Agency, Region 6, Drinking Water Section (6WQ-SD), 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas...

Publications of the Fossil Energy Advanced Research and Technology Development Materials Program: April 1, 1993--March 31, 1995

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlson, P.T. [comp.

1995-04-01

The objective of the Fossil Energy Advanced Research and Technology Development (AR and TD) Materials Program is to conduct research and development on materials for fossil energy applications, with a focus on the longer-term needs for materials with general applicability to the various fossil fuel technologies. The Program includes research aimed at a better understanding of materials behavior in fossil energy environments and on the development of new materials capable of substantial improvement in plant operations and reliability. The scope of the Program addresses materials requirements for all fossil energy systems, including materials for coal preparation, coal liquefaction, coal gasification, heat engines and heat recovery, combustion systems, and fuel cells. Work on the Program is conducted at national and government laboratories, universities, and industrial research facilities. This bibliography covers the period of April 1, 1993, through March 31, 1995, and is a supplement to previous bibliographies in this series. It is the intent of this series of bibliographies to list only those publications that can be conveniently obtained by a researcher through relatively normal channels. The publications listed in this document have been limited to topical reports, open literature publications in refereed journals, full-length papers in published proceedings of conferences, full-length papers in unrefereed journals, and books and book articles. 159 refs.

Mapping International University Partnerships Identified by East African Universities as Strengthening Their Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Yarmoshuk, Aaron N; Guantai, Anastasia Nkatha; Mwangu, Mughwira; Cole, Donald C; Zarowsky, Christina

International university partnerships are recommended for increasing the capacity of sub-Saharan African universities. Many publications describe individual partnerships and projects, and tools are available for guiding collaborations, but systematic mappings of the basic, common characteristics of partnerships are scarce. To document and categorize the international interuniversity partnerships deemed significant to building the capacity of medicine, nursing, and public health programs of 4 East African universities. Two universities in Kenya and 2 in Tanzania were purposefully selected. Key informant interviews, conducted with 42 senior representatives of the 4 universities, identified partnerships they considered significant for increasing the capacity of their institutions' medicine, nursing, and public health programs in education, research, or service. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Partners were classified by country of origin and corresponding international groupings, duration, programs, and academic health science components. One hundred twenty-nine university-to-university partnerships from 23 countries were identified. Each university reported between 25 and 36 international university partners. Seventy-four percent of partnerships were with universities in high-income countries, 15% in low- and middle-income countries, and 11% with consortia. Seventy percent included medicine, 37% nursing, and 45% public health; 15% included all 3 programs. Ninety-two percent included an education component, 47% research, and 24% service; 12% included all 3 components. This study confirms the rapid growth of interuniversity cross-border health partnerships this century. It also finds, however, that there is a pool of established international partnerships from numerous countries at each university. Most partnerships that seek to strengthen universities in East Africa should likely ensure they have a significant education component. Universities should make

Structural domain walls in polar hexagonal manganites

Science.gov (United States)

Kumagai, Yu

2014-03-01

The domain structure in the multiferroic hexagonal manganites is currently intensely investigated, motivated by the observation of intriguing sixfold topological defects at their meeting points [Choi, T. et al,. Nature Mater. 9, 253 (2010).] and nanoscale electrical conductivity at the domain walls [Wu, W. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 077203 (2012).; Meier, D. et al., Nature Mater. 11, 284 (2012).], as well as reports of coupling between ferroelectricity, magnetism and structural antiphase domains [Geng, Y. et al., Nano Lett. 12, 6055 (2012).]. The detailed structure of the domain walls, as well as the origin of such couplings, however, was previously not fully understood. In the present study, we have used first-principles density functional theory to calculate the structure and properties of the low-energy structural domain walls in the hexagonal manganites [Kumagai, Y. and Spaldin, N. A., Nature Commun. 4, 1540 (2013).]. We find that the lowest energy domain walls are atomically sharp, with {210}orientation, explaining the orientation of recently observed stripe domains and suggesting their topological protection [Chae, S. C. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 167603 (2012).]. We also explain why ferroelectric domain walls are always simultaneously antiphase walls, propose a mechanism for ferroelectric switching through domain-wall motion, and suggest an atomistic structure for the cores of the sixfold topological defects. This work was supported by ETH Zurich, the European Research Council FP7 Advanced Grants program me (grant number 291151), the JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad, and the MEXT Elements Strategy Initiative to Form Core Research Center TIES.

Cloudgene: a graphical execution platform for MapReduce programs on private and public clouds.

Science.gov (United States)

Schönherr, Sebastian; Forer, Lukas; Weißensteiner, Hansi; Kronenberg, Florian; Specht, Günther; Kloss-Brandstätter, Anita

2012-08-13

The MapReduce framework enables a scalable processing and analyzing of large datasets by distributing the computational load on connected computer nodes, referred to as a cluster. In Bioinformatics, MapReduce has already been adopted to various case scenarios such as mapping next generation sequencing data to a reference genome, finding SNPs from short read data or matching strings in genotype files. Nevertheless, tasks like installing and maintaining MapReduce on a cluster system, importing data into its distributed file system or executing MapReduce programs require advanced knowledge in computer science and could thus prevent scientists from usage of currently available and useful software solutions. Here we present Cloudgene, a freely available platform to improve the usability of MapReduce programs in Bioinformatics by providing a graphical user interface for the execution, the import and export of data and the reproducibility of workflows on in-house (private clouds) and rented clusters (public clouds). The aim of Cloudgene is to build a standardized graphical execution environment for currently available and future MapReduce programs, which can all be integrated by using its plug-in interface. Since Cloudgene can be executed on private clusters, sensitive datasets can be kept in house at all time and data transfer times are therefore minimized. Our results show that MapReduce programs can be integrated into Cloudgene with little effort and without adding any computational overhead to existing programs. This platform gives developers the opportunity to focus on the actual implementation task and provides scientists a platform with the aim to hide the complexity of MapReduce. In addition to MapReduce programs, Cloudgene can also be used to launch predefined systems (e.g. Cloud BioLinux, RStudio) in public clouds. Currently, five different bioinformatic programs using MapReduce and two systems are integrated and have been successfully deployed. Cloudgene is

Cloudgene: A graphical execution platform for MapReduce programs on private and public clouds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schönherr Sebastian

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The MapReduce framework enables a scalable processing and analyzing of large datasets by distributing the computational load on connected computer nodes, referred to as a cluster. In Bioinformatics, MapReduce has already been adopted to various case scenarios such as mapping next generation sequencing data to a reference genome, finding SNPs from short read data or matching strings in genotype files. Nevertheless, tasks like installing and maintaining MapReduce on a cluster system, importing data into its distributed file system or executing MapReduce programs require advanced knowledge in computer science and could thus prevent scientists from usage of currently available and useful software solutions. Results Here we present Cloudgene, a freely available platform to improve the usability of MapReduce programs in Bioinformatics by providing a graphical user interface for the execution, the import and export of data and the reproducibility of workflows on in-house (private clouds and rented clusters (public clouds. The aim of Cloudgene is to build a standardized graphical execution environment for currently available and future MapReduce programs, which can all be integrated by using its plug-in interface. Since Cloudgene can be executed on private clusters, sensitive datasets can be kept in house at all time and data transfer times are therefore minimized. Conclusions Our results show that MapReduce programs can be integrated into Cloudgene with little effort and without adding any computational overhead to existing programs. This platform gives developers the opportunity to focus on the actual implementation task and provides scientists a platform with the aim to hide the complexity of MapReduce. In addition to MapReduce programs, Cloudgene can also be used to launch predefined systems (e.g. Cloud BioLinux, RStudio in public clouds. Currently, five different bioinformatic programs using MapReduce and two systems are

Guide for Conducting Benefit-Cost Evaluation of Realized Impacts of Public R&D Programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruegg, Rosalie [TIA Consulting, Inc., Emerald Isle, NC (United States); Jordan, Gretchen B. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2011-08-01

This document provides guidance for evaluators who conduct impact assessments to determine the “realized” economic benefits and costs, energy, environmental benefits, and other impacts of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) R&D programs. The focus of this Guide is on realized outcomes or impacts of R&D programs actually experienced by American citizens, industry, and others. Retrospective evaluations may be contrasted to prospective evaluations that reflect expected or potential outcomes only if assumptions hold. The retrospective approach described in this Guide is based on realized results only and the extent they can be attributed to the efforts of an R&D program. While it has been prepared specifically to guide retrospective benefit-cost analysis of EERE R&D Programs, this report may be used for similar analysis of other public R&D organizations.

Regular periodical public disclosure obligations of public companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marjanski Vladimir

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Public companies in the capacity of capital market participants have the obligation to inform the public on their legal and financial status, their general business operations, as well as on the issuance of securities and other financial instruments. Such obligations may be divided into two groups: The first group consists of regular periodical public disclosures, such as the publication of financial reports (annual, semi-annual and quarterly, and the management's reports on the public company's business operations. The second group comprises the obligation of occasional (ad hoc public disclosure. The thesis analyses the obligation of public companies to inform the public in course of their regular reporting. The new Capital Market Law based on two EU Directives (the Transparency Directive and the Directive on Public Disclosure of Inside Information and the Definition of Market Manipulation regulates such obligation of public companies in substantially more detail than the prior Law on the Market of Securities and Other Financial Instruments (hereinafter: ZTHV. Due to the above the ZTHV's provisions are compared to the new solutions within the domain of regular periodical disclosure of the Capital Market Law.

Cost Savings From the Provision of Specific Methods of Contraception in a Publicly Funded Program

Science.gov (United States)

Rostovtseva, Daria P.; Brindis, Claire D.; Biggs, M. Antonia; Hulett, Denis; Darney, Philip D.

2009-01-01

Objectives. We examined the cost-effectiveness of contraceptive methods dispensed in 2003 to 955 000 women in Family PACT (Planning, Access, Care and Treatment), California's publicly funded family planning program. Methods. We estimated the number of pregnancies averted by each contraceptive method and compared the cost of providing each method with the savings from averted pregnancies. Results. More than half of the 178 000 averted pregnancies were attributable to oral contraceptives, one fifth to injectable methods, and one tenth each to the patch and barrier methods. The implant and intrauterine contraceptives were the most cost-effective, with cost savings of more than $7.00 for every $1.00 spent in services and supplies. Per $1.00 spent, injectable contraceptives yielded savings of $5.60; oral contraceptives, $4.07; the patch, $2.99; the vaginal ring, $2.55; barrier methods, $1.34; and emergency contraceptives, $1.43. Conclusions. All contraceptive methods were cost-effective—they saved more in public expenditures for unintended pregnancies than they cost to provide. Because no single method is clinically recommended to every woman, it is medically and fiscally advisable for public health programs to offer all contraceptive methods. PMID:18703437

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

Science.gov (United States)

Vasiliadis, Helen-Maria; Dezetter, Anne

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

Scaling-up public sector childhood diarrhea management program: Lessons from Indian states of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Sanjeev; Roy, Rajashree; Dutta, Sucharita

2015-12-01

Diarrhea remains a leading cause of death among children under five in India. Public health sector is an important source for diarrhea treatment with oral rehydration salts (ORS) and zinc. In 2010, Micronutrient Initiative started a project to improve service delivery for childhood diarrhea management through public health sector in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar. This paper aims to highlight feasible strategies, experiences and lessons learned from scaling-up zinc and ORS for childhood diarrhea management in the public sector in three Indian states. The project was implemented in six districts of Gujarat, 12 districts of UP and 15 districts of Bihar, which includes 10.5 million children. Program strategies included capacity building of health care providers, expanding service delivery through community health workers (CHWs), providing supportive supervision to CHWs, ensuring supplies and conducting monitoring and evaluation. The lessons described in this paper are based on program data, government documents and studies that were used to generate evidence and inform program scale-up. 140 000 health personnel, including CHWs, were trained in childhood diarrhea management. During three years, CHWs had sustained knowledge and have treated and reported more than three million children aged 2-59 months having diarrhea, of which 84% were treated with both zinc and ORS. The successful strategies were scaled-up. It is feasible and viable to introduce and scale-up zinc and ORS for childhood diarrhea treatment through public sector. Community-based service delivery, timely and adequate supplies, trained staff and pro-active engagement with government were essential for program success.

Public values related to decisions in the Tank Waste Remediation System Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armacost, L.L.; Robershotte, M.; von Winterfeldt, D.; Creighton, J.

1994-10-01

Managers of the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Program have to make numerous decisions, ranging from the strategic decisions on the fundamental tank cleanup goals to technical decisions on which types of equipment to use in mechanical retrieval of wastes. Furthermore, many of these decisions have to be made repeatedly (e.g., the annual allocation of research and development funds to TWRS activities). These decisions have many potential consequences in terms of risks to workers, risks to the public, environmental impacts, and economic development and cost. Because these consequences affect the values of many parties, the consequences need to be evaluated in terms that are accepted and understood by the interested parties. Therefore, an effort needs to be made to incorporate public concerns and values into the TWRS decision-making process. The purpose of this report is to review and integrate this past work on values and to create a maser list of values in order to create a consistent value framework for the numerous TWRS decisions; efficiently and effectively use public values in the decision-making process by updating this report on a regular basis to ensure that the information represents the public's current views; provide guidance about using values in technical TWRS decisions

Efficacy of a public promotion program on children's oral health.

Science.gov (United States)

Alves, Ana Paula S; Rank, Rise C I C; Vilela, Joana Estela R; Rank, Marcos S; Ogawa, Wataro N; Molina, Omar F

2017-09-25

To assess the efficacy of the Baby's Mouth early dental care prevention and promotion program in preventing oral diseases (caries, gingivitis, or malocclusions) in children attended since 2010. This was a cross-sectional and cohort study that assessed 252 children between 36 and 60 months of age in both sexes. The children were divided into three groups: G1: effective participants of the program from birth; G2: children who have stopped participating for more than 24 months, and G3: children who have never attended a prevention program. The evaluation was carried out in two stages: first, an interview with the mothers and, afterwards, a clinical children examination to assess the presence of caries, gingivitis, and malocclusion. The chi-squared test was used for statistical analysis between groups (p<0.05). The diseases assessed were: caries (G1: 5.9%, G2: 54.7%, G3: 70%), gingivitis (G1: 8.3%, G2: 17.9%, G3: 40.5%), and malocclusion (G1: 22.6%; G2: 28.6%; G3: 50%). For gingivitis, there was no significant difference when comparing G1 and G2 (p=0.107), but it was significant between G1 and G3 (p<0.001). Regarding malocclusion, a statistically significant relationship was observed (p=0.004) among all groups. The prevention and promotion program in public oral health was effective in preventing caries disease, gingivitis, and malocclusion in children under 5 years of age. Copyright © 2017 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Reaching out to multiple stake holders E.P.A.'s public outreach and communications program for the waste isolation pilot plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferguson, R.; Malina, C.

2001-01-01

In October 1992, Congress enacted the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Land Withdrawal Act which gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) significant new responsibilities for overseeing the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) activities at the WIPP. The WIPP, which is designed to safely contain radioactive waste for at least 10 000 years, is located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, and is the world's first geological disposal facility for transuranic waste. In May 1998, EPA determined that the WIPP will safely contain transuranic waste, which is generated as a result of the U.S. nuclear weapons program, because DOE demonstrated that the facility will comply with the Agency's radioactive waste disposal standards. EPAS's decision allowed the DOE to begin disposing radioactive waste in the WIPP. As of October 2000, the WIPP has received over 75 shipments of transuranic radioactive waste. In implementing its new responsibilities, EPA committed to conducting an open public process that includes interaction with all interested parties. EPA believes that a successful communications and consultation program facilitates the regulatory oversight process and promotes sound public policy decisions. As a first step in meeting its commitment to an open public process, EPA conducted a public consultation and communication 'needs assessment'. The purpose of this assessment was to obtain input from citizen and environmental groups and the public on their key concerns about EPA's role and responsibilities at the WIPP, as well as to determine the best methods for communicating with them. Throughout the WIPP certification process, EPA provided opportunities for public involvement beyond those required in typical U.S. regulatory programs. Doing this, we believe, increased the public's understanding of EPA's role and responsibilities with respect to the WIPP project, enabled the public to make informed decisions about the project by increasing their knowledge about radiation and it

Microresonator-Based Optical Frequency Combs: A Time Domain Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-19

AFRL-AFOSR-VA-TR-2016-0165 (BRI) Microresonator-Based Optical Frequency Combs: A Time Domain Perspective Andrew Weiner PURDUE UNIVERSITY 401 SOUTH...Optical Frequency Combs: A Time Domain Perspective 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER FA9550-12-1-0236 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S...average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data

The History and Use of Cancer Registry Data by Public Health Cancer Control Programs in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

White, Mary C.; Babcock, Frances; Hayes, Nikki S.; Mariotto, Angela B.; Wong, Faye L.; Kohler, Betsy A.; Weir, Hannah K.

2018-01-01

Because cancer registry data provide a census of cancer cases, registry data can be used to: 1) define and monitor cancer incidence at the local, state, and national levels; 2) investigate patterns of cancer treatment; and 3) evaluate the effectiveness of public health efforts to prevent cancer cases and improve cancer survival. The purpose of this article is to provide a broad overview of the history of cancer surveillance programs in the United States, and illustrate the expanding ways in which cancer surveillance data are being made available and contributing to cancer control programs. The article describes the building of the cancer registry infrastructure and the successful coordination of efforts among the 2 federal agencies that support cancer registry programs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. The major US cancer control programs also are described, including the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, and the Colorectal Cancer Control Program. This overview illustrates how cancer registry data can inform public health actions to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes and may be instructional for a variety of cancer control professionals in the United States and in other countries. PMID:29205307