Utility payments in Ukraine. Affordability, subsidies and arrears

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fankhauser, Samuel [London School of Economics, London (United Kingdom); Rodionova, Yulia [School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 16 Taviton street, London WC1H 0BW (United Kingdom); Falcetti, Elisabetta [European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), London (United Kingdom)

2008-11-15

The transition from a planned economy to a market economy has caused considerable hardship for the people of Eastern Europe. One important aspect of the social costs of transition is access to, and the affordability of, basic services like electricity, heat and water, which under communism had been supplied fairly cheaply and abundantly. This paper provides evidence on this issue from the Ukraine Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (ULMS). The paper identifies considerable differences in both access and affordability between different localities in Ukraine. Social protection measures can help to alleviate affordability constraints, but the analysis finds that social support is not well targeted. The currently low tariffs prevent an escalation of affordability problems but constraints nevertheless exist. Many households have accumulated substantial arrears as a consequence, although non-payment is a complex issue and not solely a function of affordability. (author)

Electric Energy Access in Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Taheruzzaman

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper represents the overall electrical energy profile and access in Bangladesh. In the recent past Bangladesh has been experiencing shortage of electricity, and about 42 % of population no access to the electricity. The electricity consumption has rapidly increased over last decade. The demand and consumption will intensify in the remote future as overall development and future growth. To set “vision 2021” of Bangladesh; government of Bangladesh has devoted to ensuring access of affordable and reliable electricity for all by 2021. In the modern time, energy is the vital ingredient for socioeconomic growth in the developing country i.e., alleviating poverty. Along with electricity access in Bangladesh strived to become middle income country by 2021. Bangladesh has experienced that energy consumption inclines to increase rapidly when per capita income researches between US$ 1,000 and US$ 10,000, and a country’s

Collaborative Affordances of Medical Records

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bardram, Jakob Eyvind; Houben, Steven

2017-01-01

by Sellen and Harper (2003) on the affordances of physical paper. Sellen and Harper describe how the physical properties of paper affords easy reading, navigation, mark-up, and writing, but focuses, we argue, mainly on individual use of paper and digital technology. As an extension to this, Collaborative...... Affordances; being portable across patient wards and the entire hospital, by providing collocated access, by providing a shared overview of medical data, and by giving clinicians ways to maintain mutual awareness. We then discuss how the concept of Collaborative Affordances can be used in the design of new...... technology by providing a design study of a ‘Hybrid Patient Record’ (HyPR), which is designed to seamlessly blend and integrate paper-based with electronic patient records....

Access to Workplace Accommodations to Support Breastfeeding after Passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Kozhimannil, Katy B; Jou, Judy; Gjerdingen, Dwenda K; McGovern, Patricia M

2016-01-01

This study examines access to workplace accommodations for breastfeeding, as mandated by the Affordable Care Act, and its associations with breastfeeding initiation and duration. We hypothesize that women with access to reasonable break time and private space to express breast milk would be more likely to breastfeed exclusively at 6 months and to continue breastfeeding for a longer duration. Data are from Listening to Mothers III, a national survey of women ages 18 to 45 who gave birth in 2011 and 2012. The study population included women who were employed full or part time at the time of survey. Using two-way tabulation, logistic regression, and survival analysis, we characterized women with access to breastfeeding accommodations and assessed the associations between these accommodations and breastfeeding outcomes. Only 40% of women had access to both break time and private space. Women with both adequate break time and private space were 2.3 times (95% CI, 1.03-4.95) as likely to be breastfeeding exclusively at 6 months and 1.5 times (95% CI, 1.08-2.06) as likely to continue breastfeeding exclusively with each passing month compared with women without access to these accommodations. Employed women face unique barriers to breastfeeding and have lower rates of breastfeeding initiation and shorter durations, despite compelling evidence of associated health benefits. Expanded access to workplace accommodations for breastfeeding will likely entail collaborative efforts between public health agencies, employers, insurers, and clinicians to ensure effective workplace policies and improved breastfeeding outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Affordances and the musically extended mind

OpenAIRE

Joel eKrueger

2014-01-01

I defend a model of the musically extended mind. I consider how acts of “musicking” grant access to novel emotional experiences otherwise inaccessible. First, I discuss the idea of “musical affordances” and specify both what musical affordances are and how they invite different forms of entrainment. Next, I argue that musical affordances – via soliciting different forms of entrainment – enhance the functionality of various endogenous, emotion-granting regulative processes, drawing novel exper...

Mass Housing Using GFRG Panels: A Sustainable, Rapid and Affordable Solution

Science.gov (United States)

Cherian, Philip; Paul, Shinto; Krishna, S. R. Gouri; Menon, Devdas; Meher Prasad, A.

2017-06-01

This work gives an overview of research and development carried out at IIT Madras, using glass fibre reinforced gypsum (GFRG) panels, to provide an innovative solution for rapid and affordable mass housing. The GFRG panels (124 mm thick), made from recycled industrial waste gypsum (from the fertilizer industry), are prefabricated in 3 m × 12 m sizes with cellular cavities inside, which can be filled with reinforced concrete wherever required and can be used as walls as well as floor slabs. The tests carried out (over the past 12 years) establish the performance of GFRG building systems to resist gravity and lateral loads as a load-bearing system (without beams and columns) in multi-storeyed buildings up to 8-10 storeys, with adequate strength, serviceability, durability and ductility. A two-storeyed four-apartment demonstration building has also been successfully constructed in the IIT Madras campus and presently a mass housing scheme (40 apartment units) using this technology is being demonstrated at Nellore. A structural design code has also been approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards, based on the extensive studies carried out on GFRG building systems.

Affordances and the musically extended mind.

Science.gov (United States)

Krueger, Joel

2014-01-06

I defend a model of the musically extended mind. I consider how acts of "musicking" grant access to novel emotional experiences otherwise inaccessible. First, I discuss the idea of "musical affordances" and specify both what musical affordances are and how they invite different forms of entrainment. Next, I argue that musical affordances - via soliciting different forms of entrainment - enhance the functionality of various endogenous, emotion-granting regulative processes, drawing novel experiences out of us with an expanded complexity and phenomenal character. I argue that music therefore ought to be thought of as part of the vehicle needed to realize these emotional experiences. I appeal to different sources of empirical work to develop this idea.

Availability and affordability of antiglaucoma drugs in Benin city ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness. Affordability and availability are key factors that determine access to effective treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate the availability and affordability of antiglaucoma medicines in Benin City. A cross sectional survey of the major drug distribution sectors was conducted.

User Costs and Housing Expenses : Towards a more Comprehensive Approach to Affordability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haffner, M.E.A.; Heylen, K.

2011-01-01

Recently housing affordability has reached the agenda in Flanders and the Netherlands, giving a good reason to present a review of the concept of affordability and different definitions. The concept of short-term affordability, which is concerned with financial access to a dwelling and is based on

Evaluating drug prices, availability, affordability, and price components: implications for access to drugs in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Babar, Zaheer Ud Din; Ibrahim, Mohamed Izham Mohamed; Singh, Harpal; Bukahri, Nadeem Irfan; Creese, Andrew

2007-03-27

Malaysia's stable health care system is facing challenges with increasing medicine costs. To investigate these issues a survey was carried out to evaluate medicine prices, availability, affordability, and the structure of price components. The methodology developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) was used. Price and availability data for 48 medicines was collected from 20 public sector facilities, 32 private sector retail pharmacies and 20 dispensing doctors in four geographical regions of West Malaysia. Medicine prices were compared with international reference prices (IRPs) to obtain a median price ratio. The daily wage of the lowest paid unskilled government worker was used to gauge the affordability of medicines. Price component data were collected throughout the supply chain, and markups, taxes, and other distribution costs were identified. In private pharmacies, innovator brand (IB) prices were 16 times higher than the IRPs, while generics were 6.6 times higher. In dispensing doctor clinics, the figures were 15 times higher for innovator brands and 7.5 for generics. Dispensing doctors applied high markups of 50%-76% for IBs, and up to 316% for generics. Retail pharmacy markups were also high-25%-38% and 100%-140% for IBs and generics, respectively. In the public sector, where medicines are free, availability was low even for medicines on the National Essential Drugs List. For a month's treatment for peptic ulcer disease and hypertension people have to pay about a week's wages in the private sector. The free market by definition does not control medicine prices, necessitating price monitoring and control mechanisms. Markups for generic products are greater than for IBs. Reducing the base price without controlling markups may increase profits for retailers and dispensing doctors without reducing the price paid by end users. To increase access and affordability, promotion of generic medicines and improved availability

Developing hybrid near-space technologies for affordable access to suborbital space

Science.gov (United States)

Badders, Brian David

High power rockets and high altitude balloons are two near-space technologies that could be combined in order to provide access to the mesosphere and, eventually, suborbital space. This "rockoon" technology has been used by several large budget space programs before being abandoned in favor of even more expensive, albeit more accurate, ground launch systems. With the increased development of nano-satellites and atmospheric sensors, combined with rising interest in global atmospheric data, there is an increase in desire for affordable access to extreme altitudes that does not necessarily require the precision of ground launches. Development of hybrid near-space technologies for access to over 200k ft. on a small budget brings many challenges within engineering, systems integration, cost analysis, market analysis, and business planning. This research includes the design and simulation testing of all the systems needed for a safe and reusable launch system, the cost analysis for initial production, the development of a business plan, and the development of a marketing plan. This project has both engineering and scientific significance in that it can prove the space readiness of new technologies, raise their technology readiness levels (TRLs), expedite the development process, and also provide new data to the scientific community. It also has the ability to stimulate university involvement in the aerospace industry and help to inspire the next generation of workers in the space sector. Previous development of high altitude balloon/high power rocket hybrid systems have been undertaken by government funded military programs or large aerospace corporations with varying degrees of success. However, there has yet to be a successful flight with this type of system which provides access to the upper mesosphere in a university setting. This project will aim to design and analyze a viable system while testing the engineering process under challenging budgetary constraints. The

The affordances of broken affordances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grünbaum, Martin Gielsgaard; Simonsen, Jakob Grue

2015-01-01

We consider the use of physical and virtual objects having one or more affordances associated to simple interactions with them. Based on Kaptelinin and Nardi’s notion of instrumental affordance, we investigate what it means to break an affordance, and the two ensuing questions we deem most import...

Affordability of medicines in the European Union.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz Zaprutko

Full Text Available Medications and their prices are key issues for healthcare. Although access to medicines at affordable prices had been specified as a key objective of the European Health Policy, it seems that these goals have not been achieved. Therefore, we attempted an evaluation of affordability of selected medicines at full prices.The analysis concerned 2012 and was conducted between 2013 and 2015 in all the European Union (EU countries divided into 3 groups depending on the date of their accession to the EU. Finally, we considered 9 originators used in the treatment of schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis. Information on drug prices were collected from pharmacies. Participation in the study was voluntary and anonymous in order to avoid accusations of advertising. To evaluate affordability, several factors were used (e.g. minimum earnings and Gini coefficient. Due to unavailability in some countries, the exact number of analyzed medicines varies.Drug prices vary significantly between EU Member States. Almost eleven fold difference was observed between Germany (EUR 1451.17 and Croatia (EUR 132.77 in relation to Interferone beta-1a 22 μg. Generally, prices were the highest in Germany. The cheapest drugs were found in various countries but never in the poorest ones like Bulgaria or Romania. Discrepancies in wages were observed too (the smallest minimum wage was EUR 138.00 in Bulgaria and the highest EUR 1801.00 in Luxembourg. Full price of olanzapine 5mg, however, was higher in Bulgaria (EUR 64.53 than, for instance, in Belgium (EUR 37.26.Analyzed medications are still unaffordable for many citizens of the EU. Besides, access to medicines is also impaired e.g. due to parallel trade. Unaffordability of medications may lead to the patients' non-compliance and therefore to increased direct and indirect costs of treatment. Common European solutions are needed to achieve a real affordability and accessibility of medications.

Evaluating Drug Prices, Availability, Affordability, and Price Components: Implications for Access to Drugs in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Babar, Zaheer Ud Din; Ibrahim, Mohamed Izham Mohamed; Singh, Harpal; Bukahri, Nadeem Irfan; Creese, Andrew

2007-01-01

Background Malaysia's stable health care system is facing challenges with increasing medicine costs. To investigate these issues a survey was carried out to evaluate medicine prices, availability, affordability, and the structure of price components. Methods and Findings The methodology developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) was used. Price and availability data for 48 medicines was collected from 20 public sector facilities, 32 private sector retail pharmacies and 20 dispensing doctors in four geographical regions of West Malaysia. Medicine prices were compared with international reference prices (IRPs) to obtain a median price ratio. The daily wage of the lowest paid unskilled government worker was used to gauge the affordability of medicines. Price component data were collected throughout the supply chain, and markups, taxes, and other distribution costs were identified. In private pharmacies, innovator brand (IB) prices were 16 times higher than the IRPs, while generics were 6.6 times higher. In dispensing doctor clinics, the figures were 15 times higher for innovator brands and 7.5 for generics. Dispensing doctors applied high markups of 50%–76% for IBs, and up to 316% for generics. Retail pharmacy markups were also high—25%–38% and 100%–140% for IBs and generics, respectively. In the public sector, where medicines are free, availability was low even for medicines on the National Essential Drugs List. For a month's treatment for peptic ulcer disease and hypertension people have to pay about a week's wages in the private sector. Conclusions The free market by definition does not control medicine prices, necessitating price monitoring and control mechanisms. Markups for generic products are greater than for IBs. Reducing the base price without controlling markups may increase profits for retailers and dispensing doctors without reducing the price paid by end users. To increase access and affordability

Evaluating drug prices, availability, affordability, and price components: implications for access to drugs in Malaysia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zaheer Ud Din Babar

2007-03-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Malaysia's stable health care system is facing challenges with increasing medicine costs. To investigate these issues a survey was carried out to evaluate medicine prices, availability, affordability, and the structure of price components. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The methodology developed by the World Health Organization (WHO and Health Action International (HAI was used. Price and availability data for 48 medicines was collected from 20 public sector facilities, 32 private sector retail pharmacies and 20 dispensing doctors in four geographical regions of West Malaysia. Medicine prices were compared with international reference prices (IRPs to obtain a median price ratio. The daily wage of the lowest paid unskilled government worker was used to gauge the affordability of medicines. Price component data were collected throughout the supply chain, and markups, taxes, and other distribution costs were identified. In private pharmacies, innovator brand (IB prices were 16 times higher than the IRPs, while generics were 6.6 times higher. In dispensing doctor clinics, the figures were 15 times higher for innovator brands and 7.5 for generics. Dispensing doctors applied high markups of 50%-76% for IBs, and up to 316% for generics. Retail pharmacy markups were also high-25%-38% and 100%-140% for IBs and generics, respectively. In the public sector, where medicines are free, availability was low even for medicines on the National Essential Drugs List. For a month's treatment for peptic ulcer disease and hypertension people have to pay about a week's wages in the private sector. CONCLUSIONS: The free market by definition does not control medicine prices, necessitating price monitoring and control mechanisms. Markups for generic products are greater than for IBs. Reducing the base price without controlling markups may increase profits for retailers and dispensing doctors without reducing the price paid by end users. To increase access and

Relative Affordability of Health Insurance Premiums under CHIP Expansion Programs and the ACA.

Science.gov (United States)

Gresenz, Carole Roan; Laugesen, Miriam J; Yesus, Ambeshie; Escarce, José J

2011-10-01

Affordability is integral to the success of health care reforms aimed at ensuring universal access to health insurance coverage, and affordability determinations have major policy and practical consequences. This article describes factors that influenced the determination of affordability benchmarks and premium-contribution requirements for Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expansions in three states that sought to universalize access to coverage for youth. It also compares subsidy levels developed in these states to the premium subsidy schedule under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for health insurance plans purchased through an exchange. We find sizeable variability in premium-contribution requirements for children's coverage as a percentage of family income across the three states and in the progressivity and regressivity of the premium-contribution schedules developed. These findings underscore the ambiguity and subjectivity of affordability standards. Further, our analyses suggest that while the ACA increases the affordability of family coverage for families with incomes below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, the evolution of CHIP over the next five to ten years will continue to have significant implications for low-income families.

Practical measurement of affordability: An application to medicines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.M. Niëns (Laurens); E. Van de Poel (Ellen); A. Cameron (ALexandra); M. Ewen (Margaret); R. Laing (Richard); W.B.F. Brouwer (Werner)

2012-01-01

markdownabstract__Objective:__ To develop two practical methods for measuring the affordability of medicines in developing countries. __Methods:__ The proposed methods - catastrophic and impoverishment methods - rely on easily accessible aggregated expenditure data and take into account a

Affordances and the musically extended mind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joel eKrueger

2014-01-01

Full Text Available I defend a model of the musically extended mind. I consider how acts of musicking grant access to novel emotional experiences otherwise inaccessible. First, I discuss the idea of musical affordances and specify both what musical affordances are and how they invite different forms of entrainment. Next, I argue that musical affordances—via soliciting different forms of entrainment—enhance the functionality of various endogenous, emotion-granting regulative processes, drawing novel experiences out of us with an expanded complexity and phenomenal character. I suggest that music therefore ought to be thought of as part of the vehicle needed to realize these emotional experiences. I appeal to different sources of empirical work to develop this idea.

Persistent problems of access to appropriate, affordable TB services in rural China: experiences of different socio-economic groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Tuohong; Tang, Shenglan; Jun, Gao; Whitehead, Margaret

2007-02-08

Large-scale Tuberculosis (TB) control programmes in China have been hailed a success. Concerns remain, however, about whether the programme is reaching all sections of the population, particularly poorer groups within rural communities, and whether there are hidden costs. This study takes a household perspective to investigate receipt of appropriate care and affordability of services for different socio-economic groups with TB symptoms in rural China. Secondary analysis of Chinese National Household Health Survey for 2003: 40,000 rural households containing 143,991 individuals, 2,308 identified as TB suspects. use of services and expenditure of TB suspects, by gender and socio-economic position, indicated by household income, education, material assets, and insurance status. 37% of TB suspects did not seek any professional care, with low-income groups less likely to seek care than more affluent counterparts. Of those seeking care, only 35% received any of the recommended diagnostic tests. Of the 182 patients with a confirmed TB diagnosis, 104 (57%) received treatment at the recommended level, less likely if lacking health insurance or material assets. The burden of payment for services amounted to 45% of annual household income for the low-income group, 16% for the high-income group. Access to appropriate, affordable TB services is still problematic in some rural areas of China, and receipt of care and affordability declines with declining socio-economic position. These findings highlight the current shortcomings of the national TB control programme in China and the formidable challenge it faces if it is to reach all sections of the population, including the poor with the highest burden of disease.

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2010-01-01

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

Hub and spoke model: making rural healthcare in India affordable, available and accessible.

Science.gov (United States)

Devarakonda, Srichand

2016-01-01

Quality health care should be within everyone's reach, especially in a developing country. While India has the largest private health sector in the world, only one-fifth of healthcare expenditure is publically financed; it is mostly an out-of-pocket expense. About 70% of Indians live in rural areas making about $3 per day, and a major portion of that goes towards food and shelter and, thus, not towards health care. Transportation facilities in rural India are poor, making access to medical facilities difficult, and infrastructure facilities are minimal, making the available medical care insufficient. The challenge presented to India was to provide health care that was accessible, available and affordable to people in rural areas and the low-income bracket. The intent of this article is to determine whether the hub and spoke model (HSM), when implemented in the healthcare industry, can expand the market reach and increase profits while reducing costs of operations for organizations and, thereby, cost to customers. This article also discusses the importance of information and communications technologies (ICT) in the HSM approach, which the handful of published articles in this topic have failed to discuss. This article opts for an exploratory study, including review of published literature, web articles, viewpoints of industry experts, published journals, and in-depth interviews. This article will discuss how and why the HSM works in India's healthcare industry while isolating its strengths and weaknesses, and analyzing the impact of India's success. India's HSM implementation has become a paramount example of an acceptable model that, while exceeding the needs and expectations of its patients, is cost-effective and has obtained operational and health-driven results. Despite being an emerging nation, India takes the top spot in terms of affordability of ICT as well as for having the highest number of computer-literate graduates and healthcare workers in the world

Essential Medicines in Nigeria: Foregrounding Access to Affordable ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

(EM) given the fact that it established the criterion for medicines classification as well ... AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and access to essential medicines. Lancet .... Vaccines, and Health Commodities: Report of the WHO-MSH Consultative Meeting, ... Prepared for the Strategies for Enhancing Access to Medicines Program.

Diabetes and the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Burge, Mark R; Schade, David S

2014-07-01

The Affordable Care Act--"Obamacare"--is the most important federal medical legislation to be enacted since Medicare. Although the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to improve healthcare coverage, access, and quality for all Americans, people with diabetes are especially poised to benefit from the comprehensive reforms included in the act. Signed into law in 2010, this massive legislation will slowly be enacted over the next 10 years. In the making for at least a decade, it will affect every person in the United States, either directly or indirectly. In this review, we discuss the major changes in healthcare that will take place in the next several years, including (1) who needs to purchase insurance on the Web-based exchange, (2) the cost to individuals and the rebates that they may expect, (3) the rules and regulations for purchasing insurance, (4) the characteristics of the different "metallic" insurance plans that are available, and (5) the states that have agreed to participate. With both tables and figures, we have tried to make the Affordable Care Act both understandable and appreciated. The goal of this comprehensive review is to highlight aspects of the Affordable Care Act that are of importance to practitioners who care for people with diabetes by discussing both the positive and the potentially negative aspects of the program as they relate to diabetes care.

77 FR 9882 - Arsenic Small Systems Compliance and Alternative Affordability Criteria Working Group; public...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-21

... affordability criteria that give extra weight to small, rural, and lower income communities. This meeting will... held via the Internet using a Webcast and teleconference. Registrants will receive an Internet access... affordability criteria that give extra weight to small, rural, and lower income communities. Based upon input...

Medicaid Expansion And Marketplace Eligibility Both Increased Coverage, With Trade-Offs In Access, Affordability.

Science.gov (United States)

Selden, Thomas M; Lipton, Brandy J; Decker, Sandra L

2017-12-01

Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions implemented in 2014 provide a valuable case study regarding the merits of using public versus subsidized private insurance to help low-income people obtain and finance health care. In particular, nonelderly adults with incomes of 100-138 percent of the federal poverty level gained Medicaid eligibility if they lived in states that implemented the ACA's Medicaid expansion, whereas those in nonexpansion states became eligible for subsidized Marketplace coverage. Using data for 2008-15 from the National Health Interview Survey, we found that as of 2015, adults with family incomes in this range had experienced large declines in uninsurance rates in both expansion and nonexpansion states (the adjusted declines were 22 percentage points and 18 percentage points, respectively). Adults in expansion and nonexpansion states also experienced similar increases in having a usual source of care and primary care visits, and similar reductions in delayed receipt of medical care due to cost. There were, however, important differences: Adults in expansion states experienced larger reductions in out-of-pocket spending but also faced greater difficulty accessing physician care relative to adults in nonexpansion states.

The role of affordances in children's learning performance and efficiency when using virtual manipulative mathematics touch-screen apps

Science.gov (United States)

Moyer-Packenham, Patricia S.; Bullock, Emma K.; Shumway, Jessica F.; Tucker, Stephen I.; Watts, Christina M.; Westenskow, Arla; Anderson-Pence, Katie L.; Maahs-Fladung, Cathy; Boyer-Thurgood, Jennifer; Gulkilik, Hilal; Jordan, Kerry

2016-03-01

This paper focuses on understanding the role that affordances played in children's learning performance and efficiency during clinical interviews of their interactions with mathematics apps on touch-screen devices. One hundred children, ages 3 to 8, each used six different virtual manipulative mathematics apps during 30-40-min interviews. The study used a convergent mixed methods design, in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected concurrently to answer the research questions (Creswell and Plano Clark 2011). Videos were used to capture each child's interactions with the virtual manipulative mathematics apps, document learning performance and efficiency, and record children's interactions with the affordances within the apps. Quantitized video data answered the research question on differences in children's learning performance and efficiency between pre- and post-assessments. A Wilcoxon matched pairs signed-rank test was used to explore these data. Qualitative video data was used to identify affordance access by children when using each app, identifying 95 potential helping and hindering affordances among the 18 apps. The results showed that there were changes in children's learning performance and efficiency when children accessed a helping or a hindering affordance. Helping affordances were more likely to be accessed by children who progressed between the pre- and post-assessments, and the same affordances had helping and hindering effects for different children. These results have important implications for the design of virtual manipulative mathematics learning apps.

Delivering affordable cancer care in high-income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, Richard; Peppercorn, Jeffrey; Sikora, Karol; Zalcberg, John; Meropol, Neal J; Amir, Eitan; Khayat, David; Boyle, Peter; Autier, Philippe; Tannock, Ian F; Fojo, Tito; Siderov, Jim; Williamson, Steve; Camporesi, Silvia; McVie, J Gordon; Purushotham, Arnie D; Naredi, Peter; Eggermont, Alexander; Brennan, Murray F; Steinberg, Michael L; De Ridder, Mark; McCloskey, Susan A; Verellen, Dirk; Roberts, Terence; Storme, Guy; Hicks, Rodney J; Ell, Peter J; Hirsch, Bradford R; Carbone, David P; Schulman, Kevin A; Catchpole, Paul; Taylor, David; Geissler, Jan; Brinker, Nancy G; Meltzer, David; Kerr, David; Aapro, Matti

2011-09-01

The burden of cancer is growing, and the disease is becoming a major economic expenditure for all developed countries. In 2008, the worldwide cost of cancer due to premature death and disability (not including direct medical costs) was estimated to be US$895 billion. This is not simply due to an increase in absolute numbers, but also the rate of increase of expenditure on cancer. What are the drivers and solutions to the so-called cancer-cost curve in developed countries? How are we going to afford to deliver high quality and equitable care? Here, expert opinion from health-care professionals, policy makers, and cancer survivors has been gathered to address the barriers and solutions to delivering affordable cancer care. Although many of the drivers and themes are specific to a particular field-eg, the huge development costs for cancer medicines-there is strong concordance running through each contribution. Several drivers of cost, such as over-use, rapid expansion, and shortening life cycles of cancer technologies (such as medicines and imaging modalities), and the lack of suitable clinical research and integrated health economic studies, have converged with more defensive medical practice, a less informed regulatory system, a lack of evidence-based sociopolitical debate, and a declining degree of fairness for all patients with cancer. Urgent solutions range from re-engineering of the macroeconomic basis of cancer costs (eg, value-based approaches to bend the cost curve and allow cost-saving technologies), greater education of policy makers, and an informed and transparent regulatory system. A radical shift in cancer policy is also required. Political toleration of unfairness in access to affordable cancer treatment is unacceptable. The cancer profession and industry should take responsibility and not accept a substandard evidence base and an ethos of very small benefit at whatever cost; rather, we need delivery of fair prices and real value from new technologies

Refusal to enrol in Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme: is affordability the problem?

Science.gov (United States)

Kusi, Anthony; Enemark, Ulrika; Hansen, Kristian S; Asante, Felix A

2015-01-17

Access to health insurance is expected to have positive effect in improving access to healthcare and offer financial risk protection to households. Ghana began the implementation of a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2004 as a way to ensure equitable access to basic healthcare for all residents. After a decade of its implementation, national coverage is just about 34% of the national population. Affordability of the NHIS contribution is often cited by households as a major barrier to enrolment in the NHIS without any rigorous analysis of this claim. In light of the global interest in achieving universal health insurance coverage, this study seeks to examine the extent to which affordability of the NHIS contribution is a barrier to full insurance for households and a burden on their resources. The study uses data from a cross-sectional household survey involving 2,430 households from three districts in Ghana conducted between January-April, 2011. Affordability of the NHIS contribution is analysed using the household budget-based approach based on the normative definition of affordability. The burden of the NHIS contributions to households is assessed by relating the expected annual NHIS contribution to household non-food expenditure and total consumption expenditure. Households which cannot afford full insurance were identified. Results show that 66% of uninsured households and 70% of partially insured households could afford full insurance for their members. Enroling all household members in the NHIS would account for 5.9% of household non-food expenditure or 2.0% of total expenditure but higher for households in the first (11.4%) and second (7.0%) socio-economic quintiles. All the households (29%) identified as unable to afford full insurance were in the two lower socio-economic quintiles and had large household sizes. Non-financial factors relating to attributes of the insurer and health system problems also affect enrolment in the NHIS. Affordability

Impact of universal medical insurance system on the accessibility of medical service supply and affordability of patients in China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhiguo; Ren, Jing; Zhang, Jie; Pan, Xiaoyun; Zhang, Liang; Jin, Si

2018-01-01

Background China’s universal medical insurance system (UMIS) is designed to promote social fairness through improving access to medical services and reducing out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for all Chinese. However, it is still not known whether UMIS has a significant impact on the accessibility of medical service supply and the affordability, as well as the seeking-care choice, of patients in China. Methods Segmented time-series regression analysis, as a powerful statistical method of interrupted time series design, was used to estimate the changes in the quantity and quality of medical service supply before and after the implementation of UMIS. The rates of catastrophic payments and seeking-care choices for UMIS beneficiaries were selected to measure the affordability and medical service flow of patients after the implementation of UMIS. Results China’s UMIS was established in 2008. After that, the trending increase of the expenditure of the UMIS was higher than that of increase in revenue compared to previous years. Up to 2014, the UMIS had covered 97.5% of the entire population in China. After introduction of the UMIS, there were significant increases in licensed physicians, nurses, and hospital beds per 1000 individuals. In addition, hospital outpatient visits and inpatient visits per year increased compared to the pre-UMIS period. The average fatality rate of inpatients in the overall hospital and general hospital and the average fatality rate due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in general hospitals was significantly decreased. In contrast, no significant and prospective changes were observed in rural physicians per 1000 individuals, inpatient visits and inpatient fatality rate in the community centers and township hospitals compared to the pre-UMIS period. After 2008, the rates of catastrophic payments for UMIS inpatients at different income levels were declining at three levels of hospitals. Whichever income level, the rate of catastrophic payments for

Affordability of cataract surgery using the Big Mac prices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Van C. Lansingh

2015-01-01

Conclusion: The price of cataract surgery does not consider the patient's capacity to pay, based on a simple tool such as the BMcI. This suggests affordability issues, particularly when patients work for minimum wages and/or do not have access to free health care.

The Impact of eBooks on the Reading Motivation and Reading Skills of Children and Young People: A Rapid Literature Review

Science.gov (United States)

Picton, Irene

2014-01-01

While ebooks have been around for many years, recent rapid improvements in the versatility and affordability of e-readers and tablets, along with increased access to broadband internet, have lead to a dramatic rise in household ownership of these devices. Between 2012 and 2013, the proportion of children responding to the National Literacy Trust's…

Evaluating the Influence of the Revised Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Food Allocation Package on Healthy Food Availability, Accessibility, and Affordability in Texas.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Wenhua; McKyer, E Lisako J; Dowdy, Diane; Evans, Alexandra; Ory, Marcia; Hoelscher, Deanna M; Wang, Suojin; Miao, Jingang

2016-02-01

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was implemented to improve the health of pregnant women and children of low socioeconomic status. In 2009, the program was revised to provide a wider variety of healthy food choices (eg, fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain items). The purpose of this study was to evaluate (1) the impact of the revised WIC Nutrition Program's food allocation package on the availability, accessibility, and affordability of healthy foods in WIC-authorized grocery stores in Texas; and (2) how the impact of the policy change differed by store types and between rural and urban regions. WIC-approved stores (n=105) across Texas were assessed using a validated instrument (88 items). Pre- (June-September 2009) and post-new WIC package implementation (June-September 2012) audits were conducted. Paired-sample t tests were conducted to compare the differences between pre- and post-implementation audits on shelf width and number of varieties (ie, availability), visibility (ie, accessibility), and inflation-adjusted price (ie, affordability). Across the 105 stores, post-implementation audits showed increased availability in terms of shelf space for most key healthy food options, including fruit (PFood visibility increased for fresh juices (Pfoods such as fruits (Pbread (Pbread (Pfood availability and visibility were observed in stores of different types and in different locations, although smaller or fewer effects were noted in small stores and stores in rural regions. Implementation of the revised WIC food package has generally improved availability and accessibility, but not affordability, of healthy foods in WIC-authorized stores in Texas. Future studies are needed to explore the impact of the revised program on healthy food option purchases and consumption patterns among Texas WIC participants. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Accessibility, availability and affordability of anti-malarials in a rural district in Kenya after implementation of a national subsidy scheme

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Simiyu Chrispinus

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Poor access to prompt and effective treatment for malaria contributes to high mortality and severe morbidity. In Kenya, it is estimated that only 12% of children receive anti-malarials for their fever within 24 hours. The first point of care for many fevers is a local medicine retailer, such as a pharmacy or chemist. The role of the medicine retailer as an important distribution point for malaria medicines has been recognized and several different strategies have been used to improve the services that these retailers provide. Despite these efforts, many mothers still purchase ineffective drugs because they are less expensive than effective artemisinin combination therapy (ACT. One strategy that is being piloted in several countries is an international subsidy targeted at anti-malarials supplied through the retail sector. The goal of this strategy is to make ACT as affordable as ineffective alternatives. The programme, called the Affordable Medicines Facility - malaria was rolled out in Kenya in August 2010. Methods In December 2010, the affordability and accessibility of malaria medicines in a rural district in Kenya were evaluated using a complete census of all public and private facilities, chemists, pharmacists, and other malaria medicine retailers within the Webuye Demographic Surveillance Area. Availability, types, and prices of anti-malarials were assessed. There are 13 public or mission facilities and 97 medicine retailers (registered and unregistered. Results The average distance from a home to the nearest public health facility is 2 km, but the average distance to the nearest medicine retailer is half that. Quinine is the most frequently stocked anti-malarial (61% of retailers. More medicine retailers stocked sulphadoxine-pyramethamine (SP; 57% than ACT (44%. Eleven percent of retailers stocked AMFm subsidized artemether-lumefantrine (AL. No retailers had chloroquine in stock and only five were selling artemisinin

IMPROVING ACCESS TO DRUGS

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Max Joseph Herman

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Although essentially not all therapies need drug intervention, drugs is still an important components in health sector, either in preventive, curative, rehabilitative or promotion efforts. Hence the access to drugs is a main problem, either in international or national scale even to the smallest unit. The problem on access to drugs is very complicated and cannot be separated especially from pharmacy management problems; moreover in general from the overall lack of policy development and effective of health policy, and also the implementation process. With the policy development and effective health policy, rational drug uses, sufficient health service budget so a country can overcome the health problems. Besides infrastructures, regulations, distribution and cultural influences; the main obstacles for drug access is drugs affordability if the price of drugs is an important part and determined by many factors, especially the drug status whether is still patent orgenerics that significantly decrease cost of health cares and enhance the drugs affordability. The determination of essential drug prices in developing countries should based on equity principal so that poor people pay cheaper and could afford the essential drugs. WHO predicts two third of world population can not afford the essential drugs in which in developing countries, some are because of in efficient budget allocation in consequence of drug distribution management, including incorrect selection and allocation and also irrational uses. In part these could be overcome by enhancing performances on the allocation pharmacy needs, including the management of information system, inventory management, stock management and the distribution. Key words: access, drugs, essential drugs, generic drugs

Historicizing affordance theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Sofie; Bang, Jytte Susanne

2017-01-01

The aim of this article is to discuss how mutually enriching points from both affordance theory and cultural-historical activity theory can promote theoretical ideas which may prove useful as analytical tools for the study of human life and human development. There are two issues that need...... to be overcome in order to explore the potentials of James Gibson’s affordance theory: it does not sufficiently theorize (a) development and (b) society. We claim that Gibson’s affordance theory still needs to be brought beyond “the axiom of immediacy.” Ambivalences in Gibson’s affordance theory...... societal character of affordance theory....

Disparities in Insurance Coverage, Health Services Use, and Access Following Implementation of the Affordable Care Act: A Comparison of Disabled and Nondisabled Working-Age Adults

OpenAIRE

Kennedy, Jae; Wood, Elizabeth Geneva; Frieden, Lex

2017-01-01

The objective of this study was to assess trends in health insurance coverage, health service utilization, and health care access among working-age adults with and without disabilities before and after full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and to identify current disability-based disparities following full implementation of the ACA. The ACA was expected to have a disproportionate impact on working-age adults with disabilities, because of their high health care usage as well as...

A Policy Analysis of Child Care Subsidies: Increasing Quality, Access, and Affordability

Science.gov (United States)

Moodie-Dyer, Amber

2011-01-01

Changing family dynamics over the past four decades, including rises in the numbers of working mothers and single-parent families, have created an increased need for affordable child care. Government response to this need has involved a number of stop-and-start policy approaches, which have led to a fractured child care system that makes it…

Implementing the Affordable Care Act: State Action to Establish SHOP Marketplaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Dash, Sarah J; Lucia, Kevin W; Thomas, Amy

2014-03-01

The Affordable Care Act seeks to help small employers offer coverage by reforming the small-group market and establishing Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) marketplaces. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia chose to operate their own SHOP marketplaces in 2014, with the federal government operating the SHOP marketplace in 33 states. This brief examines state decisions to enhance the value of SHOP marketplaces for small employers and finds that most have set predictable participation and eligibility requirements and will offer a competitive choice of insurers and plans. States also are seeking to facilitate small employers' shopping experience through online tools and access to personalized assistance. While not all SHOP marketplaces are yet functioning as intended, their establishment offers an opportunity to identify successful strategies for improving the affordability and accessibility of coverage for small employers.

Network Affordances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Samson, Audrey; Soon, Winnie

2015-01-01

This paper examines the notion of network affordance within the context of network art. Building on Gibson's theory (Gibson, 1979) we understand affordance as the perceived and actual parameters of a thing. We expand on Gaver's affordance of predictability (Gaver, 1996) to include ecological...... and computational parameters of unpredictability. We illustrate the notion of unpredictability by considering four specific works that were included in a network art exhibiton, SPEED SHOW [2.0] Hong Kong. The paper discusses how the artworks are contingent upon the parameteric relations (Parisi, 2013......), of the network. We introduce network affordance as a dynamic framework that could articulate the experienced tension arising from the (visible) symbolic representation of computational processes and its hidden occurrences. We base our proposal on the experience of both organising the SPEED SHOW and participating...

Understanding the adoption dynamics of medical innovations: affordances of the da Vinci robot in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrishami, Payam; Boer, Albert; Horstman, Klasien

2014-09-01

This study explored the rather rapid adoption of a new surgical device - the da Vinci robot - in the Netherlands despite the high costs and its controversial clinical benefits. We used the concept 'affordances' as a conceptual-analytic tool to refer to the perceived promises, symbolic meanings, and utility values of an innovation constructed in the wider social context of use. This concept helps us empirically understand robot adoption. Data from 28 in-depth interviews with diverse purposively-sampled stakeholders, and from medical literature, policy documents, Health Technology Assessment reports, congress websites and patients' weblogs/forums between April 2009 and February 2014 were systematically analysed from the perspective of affordances. We distinguished five interrelated affordances of the robot that accounted for shaping and fulfilling its rapid adoption: 'characteristics-related' affordances such as smart nomenclature and novelty, symbolising high-tech clinical excellence; 'research-related' affordances offering medical-technical scientific excellence; 'entrepreneurship-related' affordances for performing better-than-the-competition; 'policy-related' affordances indicating the robot's liberalised provision and its reduced financial risks; and 'communication-related' affordances of the robot in shaping patients' choices and the public's expectations by resonating promising discourses while pushing uncertainties into the background. These affordances make the take-up and use of the da Vinci robot sound perfectly rational and inevitable. This Dutch case study demonstrates the fruitfulness of the affordances approach to empirically capturing the contextual dynamics of technology adoption in health care: exploring in-depth actors' interaction with the technology while considering the interpretative spaces created in situations of use. This approach can best elicit real-life value of innovations, values as defined through the eyes of (potential) users

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

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Anjang Nugroho

2015-06-01

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

Unpacking physics representations: Towards an appreciation of disciplinary affordance

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Tobias Fredlund

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This theoretical article problematizes the access to disciplinary knowledge that different physics representations have the possibility to provide; that is, their disciplinary affordances. It is argued that historically such access has become increasingly constrained for students as physics representations have been rationalized over time. Thus, the case is made that such rationalized representations, while powerful for communication from a disciplinary point of view, manifest as learning challenges for students. The proposal is illustrated using a vignette from a student discussion in the physics laboratory about circuit connections for an experimental investigation of the charging and discharging of a capacitor. It is concluded that in order for students to come to appreciate the disciplinary affordances of representations, more attention needs to be paid to their “unpacking.” Building on this conclusion, two questions are proposed that teachers can ask themselves in order to begin to unpack the representations that they use in their teaching. The paper ends by proposing directions for future research in this area.

Implementing the Affordable Care Act: Promoting Competition in the Individual Marketplaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Cusano, David; Lucia, Kevin

2016-02-01

A main goal of the Affordable Care Act is to provide Americans with access to affordable coverage in the individual market, achieved in part by pro­moting competition among insurers on premium price and value. One primary mechanism for meeting that goal is the establishment of new individual health insurance marketplaces where consumers can shop for, compare, and purchase plans, with subsidies if they are eligible. In this issue brief, we explore how the Affordable Care Act is influencing competition in the individual marketplaces in four states--Kansas, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Washington. Strategies include: educating consumers and providing coverage information in one place to ease decision-making; promoting competition among insurers; and ensuring a level playing field for premium rate development through the rate review process.

Kite-powered design-to-robotic-production for affordable building on demand

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bier, H.H.; Schmehl, R.; Mostafavi, S.S.; Anton, A.M.; Bodea, I.S.B.

2017-01-01

Building technologies employed today in 2nd and 3rd world countries are imported, expensive, outdated and unsustainable. Highly developed countries, on the other hand, rapidly advance in developing affordable, numerically controlled and robotically supported material- and energy-efficient methods

Enabling Mobile Communications for the Needy: Affordability Methodology, and Approaches to Requalify Universal Service Measures

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Louis-Francois PAU

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper links communications and media usage to social and household economics boundaries. It highlights that in present day society, communications and media are a necessity, but not always affordable, and that they furthermore open up for addictive behaviors which raise additional financial and social risks. A simple and efficient methodology compatible with state-of-the-art social and communications business statistics is developed, which produces the residual communications and media affordability budget and ultimately the value-at-risk in terms of usage and tariffs. Sensitivity analysis provides precious information on bottom-up communications and media adoption on the basis of affordability. This approach differs from the regulated but often ineffective Universal service obligation, which instead of catering for individual needs mostly addresses macro-measures helping geographical access coverage (e.g. in rural areas. It is proposed to requalify the Universal service obligations on operators into concrete measures, allowing, with unchanged funding, the needy to adopt mobile services based on their affordability constraints by bridging the gap to a standard tariff. Case data are surveyed from various countries. ICT policy recommendations are made to support widespread and socially responsible communications access.

Access to diagnostic tests and essential medicines for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes care: cost, availability and affordability in the West Region of Cameroon.

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Ahmadou M Jingi

Full Text Available To assess the availability and affordability of medicines and routine tests for cardiovascular disease (CVD and diabetes in the West region of Cameroon, a low-income setting.A survey was conducted on the availability and cost of twelve routine tests and twenty medicines for CVD and diabetes in eight health districts (four urban and four rural covering over 60% of the population of the region (1.8 million. We analyzed the percentage of tests and medicines available, the median price against the international reference price (median price ratio for the medicines, and affordability in terms of the number of days' wages it would cost the lowest-paid unskilled government worker for initial investigation tests and procurement for one month of treatment.The availability of tests varied between 10% for the ECG to 100% for the fasting blood sugar. The average cost for the initial investigation using the minimum tests cost 29.76 days' wages. The availability of medicines varied from 36.4% to 59.1% in urban and from 9.1% to 50% in rural settings. Only metformin and benzathine-benzylpenicilline had a median price ratio of ≤ 1.5, with statins being largely unaffordable (at least 30.51 days' wages. One month of combination treatment for coronary heart disease costs at least 40.87 days' wages.The investigation and management of patients with medium-to-high cardiovascular risk remains largely unavailable and unaffordable in this setting. An effective non-communicable disease program should lay emphasis on primary prevention, and improve affordable access to essential medicines in public outlets.

High resolution melting curve analysis, a rapid and affordable method for mutation analysis in childhood acute myeloid leukemia

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Yin eLiu

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Molecular genetic alterations with prognostic significance have been described in childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML. The aim of this study was to establish cost-effective techniques to detect mutations of FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3, Nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1, and a partial tandem duplication within the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL-PTD genes in childhood AML. Procedure: Ninety-nine children with newly diagnosed AML were included in this study. We developed a fluoresent dye SYTO-82 based high resolution melting curve (HRM anaylsis to detect FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD, FLT3 tyrosine kinase domain (FLT3-TKD and NPM1 mutations. MLL-PTD was screened by real-time quantitative PCR. Results: The HRM methodology correlated well with gold standard Sanger sequencing with less cost. Among the 99 patients studied, the FLT3-ITD mutation was associated with significantly worse event free survival (EFS. Patients with the NPM1 mutation had significantly better EFS and overall survival. However, HRM was not sensitive enough for minimal residual disease monitoring. Conclusions: HRM was a rapid and efficient method for screening of FLT3 and NPM1 gene mutations. It was both affordable and accurate, especially in resource underprivileged regions. Our results indicated that HRM could be a useful clinical tool for rapid and cost effective screening of the FLT3 and NPM1 mutations in AML patients.

Learners with Dyslexia: Exploring Their Experiences with Different Online Reading Affordances

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chwen Jen; Keong, Melissa Wei Yin; Teh, Chee Siong; Chuah, Kee Man

2015-01-01

To date, empirically derived guidelines for designing accessible online learning environments for learners with dyslexia are still scarce. This study aims to explore the learning experience of learners with dyslexia when reading passages using different online reading affordances to derive some guidelines for dyslexia-friendly online text. The…

Legal and policy foundations for global generic competition: Promoting affordable drug pricing in developing societies.

Science.gov (United States)

Zapatero Miguel, Pablo

2015-01-01

The so-called 'TRIPS flexibilities' restated in 2001 by the World Trade Organization's Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health offer a variety of policy avenues for promoting global price-based competition for essential medicines, and thus for improving access to affordable medicines in the developing world. In recent years, developing countries and international organisations alike have begun to explore the potentialities of global generic markets and competition generally, and also of using compulsory licensing to remedy anti-competitive practices (e.g. excessive pricing) through TRIPS-compatible antitrust enforcement. These and other 'pro-competitive' TRIPS flexibilities currently available provide the critical leverage and policy space necessary to improve access to affordable medicines in the developing world.

Food (In)Security in Rapidly Urbanising, Low-Income Contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Tacoli, Cecilia

2017-12-11

Urbanisation in low and middle-income nations presents both opportunities and immense challenges. As urban centres grow rapidly, inadequate housing and the lack of basic infrastructure and services affect a large and growing proportion of their population. There is also a growing body of evidence on urban poverty and its links with environmental hazards. There is, however, limited knowledge of how these challenges affect the ways in which poor urban residents gain access to food and secure healthy and nutritious diets. With some important exceptions, current discussions on food security continue to focus on production, with limited attention to consumption. Moreover, urban consumers are typically treated as a homogenous group and access to food markets is assumed to be sufficient. This paper describes how, for the urban poor in low and middle-income countries, food affordability and utilisation are shaped by the income and non-income dimensions of poverty that include the urban space.

Food (InSecurity in Rapidly Urbanising, Low-Income Contexts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cecilia Tacoli

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Urbanisation in low and middle-income nations presents both opportunities and immense challenges. As urban centres grow rapidly, inadequate housing and the lack of basic infrastructure and services affect a large and growing proportion of their population. There is also a growing body of evidence on urban poverty and its links with environmental hazards. There is, however, limited knowledge of how these challenges affect the ways in which poor urban residents gain access to food and secure healthy and nutritious diets. With some important exceptions, current discussions on food security continue to focus on production, with limited attention to consumption. Moreover, urban consumers are typically treated as a homogenous group and access to food markets is assumed to be sufficient. This paper describes how, for the urban poor in low and middle-income countries, food affordability and utilisation are shaped by the income and non-income dimensions of poverty that include the urban space.

An accurate and affordable test for the rapid diagnosis of sickle cell disease could revolutionize the outlook for affected children born in resource-limited settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Thomas N

2015-09-23

Each year, at least 280,000 children are born with sickle cell disease (SCD) in resource-limited settings. For cost, logistic and political reasons, the availability of SCD testing is limited in such settings and consequently 50-90 % of affected children die undiagnosed before their fifth birthday. The recent development of a point of care method for the diagnosis of SCD - the Sickle SCAN™ device - could afford such children the prompt access to appropriate services that has transformed the outlook for affected children in resource-rich areas. In research published in BMC Medicine, Kanter and colleagues describe a small but carefully conducted study involving 208 children and adults, in which they found that by using Sickle SCAN™ it was possible to diagnose the common forms of SCD with 99 % sensitivity and 99 % specificity, in under 5 minutes. If repeatable both in newborn babies and under real-life conditions, and if marketed at an affordable price, Sickle SCAN™ could revolutionize the survival prospects for children born with SCD in resource-limited areas.Please see related article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12916-015-0473-6.

Actant affordances: a brief history of affordance theory and a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Affordance theory provides a useful lens to explore the action opportunities that arise between users and technology, especially in education. However developments in the theory have resulted both in confusion and misapplication, due partly to issues related to affordance theory's ontology. This paper outlines two ...

55 Actant affordances: a brief history of affordance theory and a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

He combined affordances and perceptual information in a simple matrix, as shown in figure ... Secondly it shows up cases of False Affordances that appear to be useful ..... Distributed Cognitions: Psychological and Educational Considerations.

Multistage Electromagnetic and Laser Launchers for Affordable, Rapid Access to Space

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-01

68 Figure 5-3. Relationship between geodetic, geocentric , and Cartesian coordinates. The angle γ is between V and  Dk...s, thereby confirming the potential feasibility of the plasma-armature approach . The introduction of the distributed power feed into the UT launcher...boosters. This approach has the advantage that the rocket starts slowly from the surface of the Earth with its full fuel load and builds up speed

A novel rapid access testicular cancer clinic: prospective evaluation after one year.

Science.gov (United States)

Carey, K; Davis, N F; Elamin, S; Ahern, P; Brady, C M; Sweeney, P

2016-02-01

Our institution has recently developed a rapid access outpatient clinic to investigate men with testicular lumps and/or pain suspicious for testicular cancer (TCa). To present our experience after 12 months. All referrals to the rapid access testicular clinic (RATC) clinic were prospectively analysed from 01/01/2013 to 01/01/2014. The primary outcome variable was incidence of TCa in the referred patient cohort. Secondary outcome variables were waiting times prior to clinical review and waiting times prior to radical orchidectomy in patients diagnosed with TCa. Seventy-four new patients were referred to the RATC during the 1-year period and the mean age was 34 (range 15-81 years). TCa was the most common diagnosis and was found in 18 (25 %) patients. Patients diagnosed with TCa underwent radical orchidectomy, a median of 3 (range 1-5) days after their initial GP referral. Patients requiring surgical intervention for benign scrotal pathology underwent their procedure a median of 32 (range 3-61) days after their initial referral. Of the 18 patients diagnosed with TCa, 9 (50 %) were diagnosed with a seminomatous germ cell tumour on histopathology. The RATC is a new initiative in Ireland that provides expedient and definitive treatment of patients with newly diagnosed TCa. Early treatment will ultimately improve long-term prognosis in this patient cohort.

Private sector participation in delivering tertiary health care: a dichotomy of access and affordability across two Indian states.

Science.gov (United States)

Katyal, Anuradha; Singh, Prabal Vikram; Bergkvist, Sofi; Samarth, Amit; Rao, Mala

2015-03-01

Poor quality care in public sector hospitals coupled with the costs of care in the private sector have trapped India's poor in a vicious cycle of poverty, ill health and debt for many decades. To address this, the governments of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Maharashtra (MH), India, have attempted to improve people's access to hospital care by partnering with the private sector. A number of government-sponsored schemes with differing specifications have been launched to facilitate this strategy. This article aims to compare changes in access to, and affordability and efficiency of private and public hospital inpatient (IP) treatments between MH and AP from 2004 to 2012 and to assess whether the health financing innovations in one state resulted in larger or smaller benefits compared with the other. We used data from household surveys conducted in 2004 and 2012 in the two states and undertook a difference-in-difference (DID) analysis. The results focus on hospitalization, out-of-pocket expenditure and length of stay. The average IP expenditure for private hospital care has increased in both states, but more so in MH. There was also an observable increase in both utilization of and expenditure on nephrology treatment in private hospitals in AP. The duration of stay recorded in days for private hospitals has increased slightly in MH and declined in AP with a significant DID. The utilization of public hospitals has reduced in AP and increased in MH. The state of AP appears to have benefited more than MH in terms of improved access to care by involving the private sector. The Aarogyasri scheme is likely to have contributed to these impacts in AP at least in part. Our study needs to be followed up with repeated evaluations to ascertain the long-term impacts of involving the private sector in providing hospital care. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2015; all rights reserved.

Keeping up with the Cadillacs: What Health Insurance Disparities, Moral Hazard, and the Cadillac Tax Mean to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, Rebecca Adkins

2016-03-01

A major goal of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is to broaden health care access through the extension of insurance coverage. However, little attention has been given to growing disparities in access to health care among the insured, as trends to reduce benefits and increase cost sharing (deductibles, co-pays) reduce affordability and access. Through a political economic perspective that critiques moral hazard, this article draws from ethnographic research with the United Steelworkers (USW) at a steel mill and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) at a food-processing plant in urban Central Appalachia. In so doing, this article describes difficulties of health care affordability on the eve of reform for differentially insured working families with employer-sponsored health insurance. Additionally, this article argues that the proposed Cadillac tax on high-cost health plans will increase problems with appropriate health care access and medical financial burden for many families. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association.

Reducing Ex-offender Health Disparities through the Affordable Care Act: Fostering Improved Health Care Access and Linkages to Integrated Care

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Lacreisha Ejike-King

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Despite steadily declining incarceration rates overall, racial and ethnic minorities, namely African Americans, Latinos, and American Indians and Alaska Natives, continue to be disproportionately represented in the justice system. Ex-offenders commonly reenter communities with pressing health conditions but encounter obstacles to accessing care and remaining in care. The lack of health insurance coverage and medical treatment emerge as the some of the most reported reentry health needs and may contribute to observed health disparities. Linking ex-offenders to care and services upon release increases the likelihood that they will remain in care and practice successful disease management. The Affordable Care Act (ACA offers opportunities to address health disparities experienced by the reentry population that places them at risk for negative health outcomes and recidivism. Coordinated efforts to link ex-offenders with these newly available opportunities may result in a trajectory for positive health and overall well-being as they reintegrate into society.

Small businesses and the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Sara R; Davis, Karen; Nicholson, Jennifer L; Stremikis, Kristof

2010-09-01

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes several short- and long-term provisions designed to help small businesses pay for and maintain health insurance for their workers, and to allow workers without employer coverage to gain access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance. Provisions include a small business tax credit to offset premium costs for firms that offer coverage starting this taxable year, establishment of state-based insurance exchanges that promise to lower administrative costs and pool risk more broadly, and creation of new market rules and an essential benefit standard to protect small firms and their workers. Analysis shows that up to 16.6 million workers are in firms that would be eligible for the tax credit in 2010 to 2013. Over the next 10 years, small businesses and organizations could receive an estimated $40 billion in federal support through the premium credit program.

Enabling affordable access to fibre infrastructure for West and ...

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

In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in improving access to primary and secondary education in West and Central Africa. At the same time, tertiary education is experiencing increased enrollment and declining investment in infrastructure and human resource development. Consequently, African institutions ...

Motorcycle helmets in Vietnam: ownership, quality, purchase price, and affordability.

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, Dang Viet; Stevenson, Mark R; Ivers, Rebecca Q

2008-06-01

This study investigated motorcycle helmet ownership, quality, purchase price, and affordability in Vietnam. A random sample of motorcyclists was interviewed to investigate aspects of helmet ownership, the purchase price, and affordability of a motorcycle helmet. Multivariate modeling conducted to determine factors associated with the purchase price and affordability of motorcycle helmets. Helmet quality was assessed based on current legal requirements in Vietnam. The prevalence of helmet use in Vietnam remains low (23.3%) despite a high level of helmet ownership (94%), indicating that this is an important area for public health intervention. Overall the quality of helmets appeared to be good; however, few helmets displayed legally required information. Motorcyclists with a high income purchase more helmets for their household rather than more expensive helmets. To ensure that helmets are accessible to the community, policy-makers need to consider pricing motorcycle helmets at a price indicated by the results of this study. Prior to universal motorcycle helmet legislation, the government will also need to ensure that standard helmets are available and that enforcement is at a level to ensure that motorcycle helmets are actually used.

Is quality affordable?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Lindfield

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The question “Is quality affordable?” is loaded with dynamite!Can a person who lives on less than US $1 per day afford a high-quality cataract operation? If the answer is ‘No’, then do we offer that person poor or low-quality services? Do people living in poverty have a ‘right’ to high-quality eye or health care? If the answer is ‘Yes’, then at what price and who should pay? Should we ignore quality and focus on affordability? Or should we provide high-quality services in the hope that someone else will pay?These are difficult questions, which policy makers, managers, and clinicians must face and try to answer.

System Qualities Ontology, Tradespace and Affordability (SQOTA) Project: Phase 5

Science.gov (United States)

2017-04-30

effectiveness and practicality 3. Balance Agility, Assurance, and Affordability: Develop SE MPTs that work with high assurance in the face of... work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and...model-driven, set-based, full life cycle approaches. These will enable much more rapid, concurrent, flexible, scalable definition and analysis of the

Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Data.gov (United States)

Social Security Administration — The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a federal statute enacted with a goal of increasing the quality and affordability of health insurance. Through a web service, CMS...

Assessing health systems for type 1 diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa: developing a 'Rapid Assessment Protocol for Insulin Access'

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

de Courten Maximilian

2006-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In order to improve the health of people with Type 1 diabetes in developing countries, a clear analysis of the constraints to insulin access and diabetes care is needed. We developed a Rapid Assessment Protocol for Insulin Access, comprising a series of questionnaires as well as a protocol for the gathering of other data through site visits, discussions, and document reviews. Methods The Rapid Assessment Protocol for Insulin Access draws on the principles of Rapid Assessment Protocols which have been developed and implemented in several different areas. This protocol was adapted through a thorough literature review on diabetes, chronic condition management and medicine supply in developing countries. A visit to three countries in sub-Saharan Africa and meetings with different experts in the field of diabetes helped refine the questionnaires. Following the development of the questionnaires these were tested with various people familiar with diabetes and/or healthcare in developing countries. The Protocol was piloted in Mozambique then refined and had two further iterations in Zambia and Mali. Translations of questionnaires were made into local languages when necessary, with back translation to ensure precision. Results In each country the protocol was implemented in 3 areas – the capital city, a large urban centre and a predominantly rural area and their respective surroundings. Interviews were carried out by local teams trained on how to use the tool. Data was then collected and entered into a database for analysis. Conclusion The Rapid Assessment Protocol for Insulin Access was developed to provide a situational analysis of Type 1 diabetes, in order to make recommendations to the national Ministries of Health and Diabetes Associations. It provided valuable information on patients' access to insulin, syringes, monitoring and care. It was thus able to sketch a picture of the health care system with regards to its ability to

Pathways to achieve universal household access to modern energy by 2030

Science.gov (United States)

Pachauri, Shonali; van Ruijven, Bas J.; Nagai, Yu; Riahi, Keywan; van Vuuren, Detlef P.; Brew-Hammond, Abeeku; Nakicenovic, Nebojsa

2013-06-01

A lack of access to modern energy impacts health and welfare and impedes development for billions of people. Growing concern about these impacts has mobilized the international community to set new targets for universal modern energy access. However, analyses exploring pathways to achieve these targets and quantifying the potential costs and benefits are limited. Here, we use two modelling frameworks to analyse investments and consequences of achieving total rural electrification and universal access to clean-combusting cooking fuels and stoves by 2030. Our analysis indicates that these targets can be achieved with additional investment of US200565-86 billion per year until 2030 combined with dedicated policies. Only a combination of policies that lowers costs for modern cooking fuels and stoves, along with more rapid electrification, can enable the realization of these goals. Our results demonstrate the critical importance of accounting for varying demands and affordability across heterogeneous household groups in both analysis and policy setting. While the investments required are significant, improved access to modern cooking fuels alone can avert between 0.6 and 1.8 million premature deaths annually in 2030 and enhance wellbeing substantially.

Pathways to achieve universal household access to modern energy by 2030

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pachauri, Shonali; Nagai, Yu; Riahi, Keywan; Nakicenovic, Nebojsa; Van Ruijven, Bas J; Van Vuuren, Detlef P; Brew-Hammond, Abeeku

2013-01-01

A lack of access to modern energy impacts health and welfare and impedes development for billions of people. Growing concern about these impacts has mobilized the international community to set new targets for universal modern energy access. However, analyses exploring pathways to achieve these targets and quantifying the potential costs and benefits are limited. Here, we use two modelling frameworks to analyse investments and consequences of achieving total rural electrification and universal access to clean-combusting cooking fuels and stoves by 2030. Our analysis indicates that these targets can be achieved with additional investment of US$ 2005 65–86 billion per year until 2030 combined with dedicated policies. Only a combination of policies that lowers costs for modern cooking fuels and stoves, along with more rapid electrification, can enable the realization of these goals. Our results demonstrate the critical importance of accounting for varying demands and affordability across heterogeneous household groups in both analysis and policy setting. While the investments required are significant, improved access to modern cooking fuels alone can avert between 0.6 and 1.8 million premature deaths annually in 2030 and enhance wellbeing substantially. (letter)

Affordability of and Access to Information About Health Insurance Among Immigrant and Non-immigrant Residents After Massachusetts Health Reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Ye Jin; McCormick, Danny; Zallman, Leah

2017-08-01

Immigrants' perceptions of affordability of insurance and knowledge of insurance after health reform are unknown. We conducted face-to-face surveys with a convenience sample of 1124 patients in three Massachusetts safety net Emergency Departments after the Massachusetts health reform (August 2013-January 2014), comparing immigrants and non-immigrants. Immigrants, as compared to non-immigrants, reported more concern about paying premiums (30 vs. 11 %, p = 0.0003) and about affording the current ED visit (38 vs. 22 %, p Insured immigrants were less likely to know copayment amounts (57 vs. 71 %, p = 0.0018). Immigrants were more likely to report that signing up for insurance would be easier with fewer plans (53 vs. 34 %, p = 0.0443) and to lack information about insurance in their primary language (31 vs. 1 %, p insurance. Immigrants who sought insurance information via websites or helplines were more likely to find that information useful than non-immigrants (100 vs. 92 %, p = 0.0339). Immigrants seeking care in safety net emergency departments had mixed experiences with affordability of and knowledge about insurance after Massachusetts health reform, raising concern about potential disparities under the Affordable Care Act that is based on the MA reform.

Global Trends in the Affordability of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, 1990-2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Blecher, Evan; Liber, Alex C; Drope, Jeffrey M; Nguyen, Binh; Stoklosa, Michal

2017-05-04

The objective of this study was to quantify changes in the affordability of sugar-sweetened beverages, a product implicated as a contributor to rising rates of obesity worldwide, as a function of product price and personal income. We used international survey data in a retrospective analysis of 40 high-income and 42 low-income and middle-income countries from 1990 to 2016. Prices of sugar-sweetened beverages were from the Economist Intelligence Unit's World Cost of Living Survey. Income and inflation data were from the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook Database. The measure of affordability was the average annual percentage change in the relative-income price of sugar-sweetened beverages, which is the annual rate of change in the proportion of per capita gross domestic product needed to purchase 100 L of Coca-Cola in each country in each year of the study. In 79 of 82 countries, the proportion of income needed to purchase sugar-sweetened beverages declined on average (using annual measures) during the study period. This pattern, described as an increase in the affordability of sugar-sweetened beverages, indicated that sugar-sweetened beverages became more affordable more rapidly in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries, a fact largely attributable to the higher rate of income growth in those countries than to a decline in the real price of sugar-sweetened beverages. Without deliberate policy action to raise prices, sugar-sweetened beverages are likely to become more affordable and more widely consumed around the world.

Contraceptive Coverage and the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Tschann, Mary; Soon, Reni

2015-12-01

A major goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is reducing healthcare spending by shifting the focus of healthcare toward preventive care. Preventive services, including all FDA-approved contraception, must be provided to patients without cost-sharing under the ACA. No-cost contraception has been shown to increase uptake of highly effective birth control methods and reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion; however, some institutions and corporations argue that providing contraceptive coverage infringes on their religious beliefs. The contraceptive coverage mandate is evolving due to legal challenges, but it has already demonstrated success in reducing costs and improving access to contraception. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing health systems for type 1 diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa: developing a 'Rapid Assessment Protocol for Insulin Access'

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beran, David; Yudkin, John S; de Courten, Maximilian

2006-01-01

In order to improve the health of people with Type 1 diabetes in developing countries, a clear analysis of the constraints to insulin access and diabetes care is needed. We developed a Rapid Assessment Protocol for Insulin Access, comprising a series of questionnaires as well as a protocol...... for the gathering of other data through site visits, discussions, and document reviews....

Increasing Access and Relevance in Distance Education

Science.gov (United States)

Mendenhall, Robert W.

2009-01-01

Access to higher education is subject to many factors including affordability, time and geography. Distance education can deliver education to those that live far from a campus. Some of that distance education may be synchronous, or live, requiring students to be available at certain times. Flexibility and access are increased when the instruction…

Affordances theory in multilingualism studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larissa Aronin

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The concept of affordances originating in Gibson’s work (Gibson, 1977 is gaining ground in multilingualism studies (cf. Aronin and Singleton, 2010; Singleton and Aronin, 2007; Dewaele, 2010. Nevertheless, studies investigating affordances in respect of teaching, learning or using languages are still somewhat rare and tend to treat isolated aspects of multilingualism. This is despite the fact that the theory of affordances can actually provide a valuable, supplementary, up-to-date framework within which a clearer, sharper description and explication of the intriguing range of attributes of multilingual communities, educational institutions and individuals, as well as teaching practices, become feasible. It is important that not only researchers and practitioners (teachers, educators, parents, community and political actors but also language users and learners themselves should be aware of how to identify or, if necessary, design new affordances for language acquisition and learning. The aim of this article is to adapt the concept of affordances to multilingualism studies and additional language teaching, and in so doing advance theoretical understanding in this context. To this end the article contains a brief summary of the findings so far available. The article also goes further into defining the ways of how affordances work in relation to multilingualism and second language teaching and puts forward an integrated model of affordances.

Making Safe Surgery Affordable: Design of a Surgical Drill Cover System for Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchan, Lawrence L; Black, Marianne S; Cancilla, Michael A; Huisman, Elise S; Kooyman, Jeremy J R; Nelson, Scott C; OʼHara, Nathan N; OʼBrien, Peter J; Blachut, Piotr A

2015-10-01

Many surgeons in low-resource settings do not have access to safe, affordable, or reliable surgical drilling tools. Surgeons often resort to nonsterile hardware drills because they are affordable, robust, and efficient, but they are impossible to sterilize using steam. A promising alternative is to use a Drill Cover system (a sterilizable fabric bag plus surgical chuck adapter) so that a nonsterile hardware drill can be used safely for surgical bone drilling. Our objective was to design a safe, effective, affordable Drill Cover system for scale in low-resource settings. We designed our device based on feedback from users at Mulago Hospital (Kampala, Uganda) and focused on 3 main aspects. First, the design included a sealed barrier between the surgical field and hardware drill that withstands pressurized fluid. Second, the selected hardware drill had a maximum speed of 1050 rpm to match common surgical drills and reduce risk of necrosis. Third, the fabric cover was optimized for ease of assembly while maintaining a sterile technique. Furthermore, with the Drill Cover approach, multiple Drill Covers can be provided with a single battery-powered drill in a "kit," so that the drill can be used in back-to-back surgeries without requiring immediate sterilization. The Drill Cover design presented here provides a proof-of-concept for a product that can be commercialized, produced at scale, and used in low-resource settings globally to improve access to safe surgery.

Providing India with Internet access anywhere there is electricity - and Canada with commercial opportunity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

Access to high-speed Internet service is booming all over the world but the cost of optic cable installation and other related broadband delivery technology is still too high for many developing countries to afford. A Canada-India R & D group is working on a broadband technology delivered over the power line in order to provide internet access wherever there is electricity. Moreover, the application of such a technology in rural India could also improve the distribution and management of India's national electrical grid, as the risk of electricity theft can be monitored by power assumption tracking. Since the required infrastructure is already in place across the country, this project could be deployed rapidly and in a cost-efficient manner, providing thousands of potential opportunities for rural dwellers as well as for Indian and international companies.

Paying for Cures: Perspectives on Solutions to the "Affordability Issue".

Science.gov (United States)

Schaffer, Sarah Karlsberg; Messner, Donna; Mestre-Ferrandiz, Jorge; Tambor, Ellen; Towse, Adrian

2018-03-01

Curative therapies and other medicines considered "game-changing" in terms of health gain can be accompanied by high demand and high list prices that pose budget challenges to public and private payers and health systems-the so-called affordability issue. These challenges are exacerbated when longer term effectiveness, and thus value for money, is uncertain, but they can arise even when treatments are proven to be highly cost-effective at the time of launch. This commentary reviews innovative payment solutions proposed in the literature to address the affordability issue, including the use of credit markets and of staged payments linked to patient outcomes, and draws on discussions with payers in the United States and Europe on the feasibility or desirability of operationalizing any of the alternative financing and payment strategies that appear in the literature. This included a small number of semistructured interviews. We conclude that there is a mismatch between the enthusiasm in the academic literature for developing new approaches and the scepticism of payers that they can work or are necessary. For the foreseeable future, affordability pressures will continue to be handled by aggressive price bargaining, high co-pays (in systems in which this is possible), and restricting access to subgroups of patients. Of the mechanisms we explored, outcomes-based payments were of most interest to payers, but the costs associated with operating such schemes, together with implementation challenges, did not make them an attractive option for managing affordability. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

When access to drugs meets catch-up: Insights from the use of CL threats to improve access to ARV drugs in Brazil

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ramani, Shyama V.; Urias, E.

2018-01-01

Access to affordable lifesaving medicines is considered a human right. This leads to a question largely understudied in the catch-up literature on accumulation of industrial capabilities. Can the need to improve access to an essential commodity impact the sectoral catch-up trajectory of the

Dynamic properties of energy affordability measures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heindl, Peter; Schuessler, Rudolf

2015-01-01

Measures of affordability and of fuel poverty are applied in practice to assess the affordability of energy services, for example, or of water or housing. The extensive body of literature on affordability measures has little overlap with the existing literature on poverty measurement. A comprehensive assessment of the response of affordability measures as a result of changes in the distribution of income or expenditure (the dynamic properties) is missing. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing a conceptual discussion on the ‘dynamics’ of both energy affordability measures and fuel poverty measures. Several types of measures are examined in a microsimulation framework. Our results indicate that some measures exhibit odd dynamic behavior. This includes measures used in practice, such as the low income/high cost measure and the double median of expenditure share indicator. Odd dynamic behavior causes the risk of drawing false policy recommendations from the measures. Thus, an appropriate response of affordability measures to changes in relevant variables is a prerequisite for defining meaningful measures that inform about affordability or deprivation in certain domains of consumption. - Highlights: • We investigate changes in fuel poverty measures as result from changes in income and expenditure. • More generally, we investigate dynamic behavior of affordability measures using microsimulation. • We propose axioms regarding dynamic behavior of affordability measures. • Some measures which are used in practice show unintuitive dynamic behavior. • Inappropriate dynamic behavior causes a risk of false policy implications.

Understanding on-line community: the affordances of virtual space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Ruhleder

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Increasing numbers of on-line venues for learning are emerging as virtual communities become more accessible and commonplace. This paper looks at one particular virtual community, an on-line degree programme at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which offers an M.S. in Library and Information Science (called LEEP. It draws on a framework presented by Mynatt, et al. (1998, which provides a lens for talking about on-line community as a set of affordances. This framework is applied to illustrate the interactions, artefacts, and expectations that shape this community.

Disparities in Insurance Coverage, Health Services Use, and Access Following Implementation of the Affordable Care Act: A Comparison of Disabled and Nondisabled Working-Age Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Jae; Wood, Elizabeth Geneva; Frieden, Lex

2017-01-01

The objective of this study was to assess trends in health insurance coverage, health service utilization, and health care access among working-age adults with and without disabilities before and after full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and to identify current disability-based disparities following full implementation of the ACA. The ACA was expected to have a disproportionate impact on working-age adults with disabilities, because of their high health care usage as well as their previously limited insurance options. However, most published research on this population does not systematically look at effects before and after full implementation of the ACA. As the US Congress considers new health policy reforms, current and accurate data on this vulnerable population are essential. Weighted estimates, trend analyses and analytic models were conducted using the 1998-2016 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) and the 2014 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Compared with working-age adults without disabilities, those with disabilities are less likely to work, more likely to earn below the federal poverty level, and more likely to use public insurance. Average health costs for this population are 3 to 7 times higher, and access problems are far more common. Repeal of key features of the ACA, like Medicaid expansion and marketplace subsidies, would likely diminish health care access for working-age adults with disabilities.

Affordance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Mogens

2016-01-01

This entry presents the concept of affordances as part of an ecological approach to understanding how agents interact with objects in their environment. It examines some of the central developments of the concept, from J. J. Gibson’s original definition within psychology and Donald Norman’s design...

Global Trends in the Affordability of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, 1990–2016

Science.gov (United States)

Blecher, Evan; Liber, Alex C.; Nguyen, Binh; Stoklosa, Michal

2017-01-01

Introduction The objective of this study was to quantify changes in the affordability of sugar-sweetened beverages, a product implicated as a contributor to rising rates of obesity worldwide, as a function of product price and personal income. Methods We used international survey data in a retrospective analysis of 40 high-income and 42 low-income and middle-income countries from 1990 to 2016. Prices of sugar-sweetened beverages were from the Economist Intelligence Unit’s World Cost of Living Survey. Income and inflation data were from the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook Database. The measure of affordability was the average annual percentage change in the relative-income price of sugar-sweetened beverages, which is the annual rate of change in the proportion of per capita gross domestic product needed to purchase 100 L of Coca-Cola in each country in each year of the study. Results In 79 of 82 countries, the proportion of income needed to purchase sugar-sweetened beverages declined on average (using annual measures) during the study period. This pattern, described as an increase in the affordability of sugar-sweetened beverages, indicated that sugar-sweetened beverages became more affordable more rapidly in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries, a fact largely attributable to the higher rate of income growth in those countries than to a decline in the real price of sugar-sweetened beverages. Conclusion Without deliberate policy action to raise prices, sugar-sweetened beverages are likely to become more affordable and more widely consumed around the world. PMID:28472607

Local Sabahans’ Satisfaction with Level of Access to Mount Kinabalu

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bidder Christy

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study analyzes the local Sabahans’ satisfaction with the level of access to Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Specifically, it examines the number of complaints by local Sabahans regarding access and their perception of changes in accessibility to the mountain. Interviews with Sabah Parks and Sutera Sanctuary Lodges were conducted and questionnaires were distributed to local residents to collect data. The results show that there were intense complaints regarding the climbing cost and extensive waiting time to secure a confirmed booking at the outset of price increases. However, the researchers could not locate any recently published complaints. Respondents who have previously climbed Mount Kinabalu perceive the mountain to be less accessible for local Sabahans now due to a less affordable cost and a longer waiting time. Those who have not climbed Mount Kinabalu also think the climbing cost has become less affordable for local Sabahans, but they do not perceive that to be causing the mountain less accessible for local Sabahans.

The Accessibility of Higher Education in the Russian Regions

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-01-01

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

Anemia management: development of a rapid-access anemia and intravenous iron service

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radia D

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Deepti Radia,1 Ibrahim Momoh,2 Richard Dillon,1 Yvonne Francis,1 Laura Cameron,1 Toni-Lee Fagg,1 Hannah Overland,1 Susan Robinson,1 Claire N Harrison11Haematology Department, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; 2Bupa Home Healthcare, Harlow, UKAbstract: This article describes the initiation and evolution of the Rapid-Access Anemia Clinic (RAAC at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, London, UK. This clinic was set up to provide diagnosis and treatment, and to coordinate investigative procedures, where necessary, into the underlying causes of anemia. Initially piloted with anemic preoperative orthopedic patients, the clinic now treats a wide range of conditions, deriving from both internal and external referrals. Treatment includes dietary advice, supplementation with iron, vitamin B12 and folate, and blood transfusion. Most patients at the RAAC need iron replacement, the majority of which require intravenous (IV iron. Therefore the first-line IV iron-administration protocol is carefully considered to ensure viability of the service and patient satisfaction. Four IV irons available in the UK are discussed, with explanation of the benefits and drawbacks of each product and the reasoning behind the IV iron choice at different stages of the RAAC's development. Costs to the service, affected by IV iron price and administration regimen, are considered, as well as the product's contraindications. Finally, the authors reflect on the success of the RAAC and how it has improved patients' quality-of-treatment experience, in addition to benefiting the hospital and National Health Service in achieving specific health-care mandates and directives. Drawing from the authors' experiences, recommendations are given to assist others in setting up and providing a successful rapid-access anemia service or similar facility.Keywords: hemoglobin, iron deficiency, ferric carboxymaltose, iron sucrose, iron dextran, iron isomaltoside

A national survey on availability, price and affordability of selected essential medicines for non communicable diseases in Sri Lanka

OpenAIRE

Dabare, Panthihage Ruvini L; Wanigatunge, Chandanie A; Beneragama, BVS Hemantha

2014-01-01

Background Access to medicines is a universal right. Low availability and low affordability of medicines are issues that deny this right to a significant proportion of the world population. The objective of this study was to determine the availability, price and affordability of essential medicines prescribed to treat non communicable diseases in Sri Lanka. Methods Methodology was based on the 2nd edition of the World Health Organization Health Action International Manual. A country survey wa...

Does Medicaid Insurance Confer Adequate Access to Adult Orthopaedic Care in the Era of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act?

Science.gov (United States)

Labrum, Joseph T; Paziuk, Taylor; Rihn, Theresa C; Hilibrand, Alan S; Vaccaro, Alexander R; Maltenfort, Mitchell G; Rihn, Jeffrey A

2017-06-01

A current appraisal of access to orthopaedic care for the adult patient receiving Medicaid is important, since Medicaid expansion was written into law by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). (1) Do orthopaedic practices provide varying access to orthopaedic care for simulated patients with Medicaid insurance versus private insurance in a blinded survey? (2) What are the surveyed state-by-state Medicaid acceptance rates for adult orthopaedic practices in the current era of Medicaid expansion set forth by the PPACA? (3) Do surveyed rates of access to orthopaedic care in the adult patient population vary across practice setting (private vs academic) or vary with different Medicaid physician reimbursement rates? (4) Are there differences in the surveyed Medicaid acceptance rates for adult orthopaedic practices in states that have expanded Medicaid coverage versus states that have foregone expansion? Simulated Patient Survey: We performed a telephone survey study of orthopaedic offices in four states with Medicaid expansion. In the survey, the caller assumed a fictitious identity as a 38-year-old male who experienced an ankle fracture 1 day before calling, and attempted to secure an appointment within 2 weeks. During initial contact, the fictitious patient reported Medicaid insurance status. One month later, the fictitious patient contacted the same orthopaedic practice and reported private insurance coverage status. National Orthopaedic Survey: Private and academic orthopaedic practices operating in each state in the United States were called and asked to complete a survey assessing their practice model of Medicaid insurance acceptance. State reimbursement rates for three different Current Procedural Terminology (CPT ®) codes were collected from state Medicaid agencies. Results Simulated Patient Survey: Offices were less likely to accept Medicaid than commercial insurance (30 of 64 [47%] versus 62 of 64 [97%]; odds ratio [OR], 0.0145; 95% CI, 0

Technology scale and supply chains in a secure, affordable and low carbon energy transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoggett, Richard

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Energy systems need to decarbonise, provide security and remain affordable. • There is uncertainty over which technologies will best enable this to happen. • A strategy to deal with uncertainty is to assess a technologies ability to show resilience, flexibility and adaptability. • Scale is important and smaller scale technologies are like to display the above characteristics. • Smaller scale technologies are therefore more likely to enable a sustainable, secure, and affordable energy transition. - Abstract: This research explores the relationship between technology scale, energy security and decarbonisation within the UK energy system. There is considerable uncertainty about how best to deliver on these goals for energy policy, but a focus on supply chains and their resilience can provide useful insights into the problems uncertainty causes. Technology scale is central to this, and through an analysis of the supply chains of nuclear power and solar photovoltaics, it is suggested that smaller scale technologies are more likely to support and enable a secure, low carbon energy transition. This is because their supply chains are less complex, show more flexibility and adaptability, and can quickly respond to changes within an energy system, and as such they are more resilient than large scale technologies. These characteristics are likely to become increasingly important in a rapidly changing energy system, and prioritising those technologies that demonstrate resilience, flexibility and adaptability will better enable a transition that is rapid, sustainable, secure and affordable

The Open Access Dilemma

Science.gov (United States)

Pratt, Timothy

2017-01-01

Community colleges, with their commitment to open access, admit millions of students each year who are unprepared for college-level work, even though they have earned a high-school diploma. For decades the schools had a built-in base of students attracted to their open doors and relative affordability. But enrollment at public two-year college has…

Perceived and geographic food access and food security status among households with children.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Xiaoguang; Liese, Angela D; Bell, Bethany A; Martini, Lauren; Hibbert, James; Draper, Carrie; Burke, Michael P; Jones, Sonya J

2016-10-01

To examine the association of both perceived and geographic neighbourhood food access with food security status among households with children. This was a cross-sectional study in which participants' perceptions of neighbourhood food access were assessed by a standard survey instrument, and geographic food access was evaluated by distance to the nearest supermarket. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine the associations. The Midlands Family Study included 544 households with children in eight counties in South Carolina, USA. Food security status among participants was classified into three categories: food secure (FS), food insecure (FI) and very low food security among children (VLFS-C). Compared with FS households, VLFS-C households had lower odds of reporting easy access to adequate food shopping. VLFS-C households also had lower odds of reporting neighbourhood access to affordable fruits and vegetables compared with FS households and reported worse selection of fruits and vegetables, quality of fruits and vegetables, and selection of low-fat products. FI households had lower odds of reporting fewer opportunities to purchase fast food. None of the geographic access measures was significantly associated with food security status. Caregivers with children who experienced hunger perceived that they had less access to healthy affordable food in their community, even though grocery stores were present. Approaches to improve perceived access to healthy affordable food should be considered as part of the overall approach to improving food security and eliminating child hunger.

Perceived and Geographic Food Access and Food Security Status among Households with Children

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Xiaoguang; Liese, Angela D.; Bell, Bethany; Martini, Lauren; Hibbert, James; Draper, Carrie; Jones, Sonya J.

2017-01-01

Objective To examine the association of both perceived and geographic neighborhood food access with food security status among households with children. Design This was a cross-sectional study in which participants’ perceptions of neighborhood food access were assessed by a standard survey instrument, and geographic food access was evaluated by distance to the nearest supermarket. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine the associations. Subjects The Midlands Family Study included 544 households with children in eight counties in South Carolina. Food security status among participants was classified into three categories: food secure (FS), food insecure (FI) and very low food security among children (VLFS-C). Results Compared to FS households, VLFS-C households had lower odds of reporting easy access to adequate food shopping. VLFS-C households also had lower odds of reporting neighborhood access to affordable fruits and vegetables compared to FS households and reported worse selection of fruits and vegetables, quality of fruits and vegetables and selection of low-fat products. FI households had lower odds of reporting fewer opportunities to purchase fast food. None of the geographic access measures was significantly associated with food security status. Conclusions Caregivers with children that experienced hunger perceived that they had less access to healthy affordably food in their community, even though grocery stores were present. Approaches to improve perceived access to healthy affordable food should be considered as part of the overall approach to improving food security and eliminating child hunger. PMID:27133939

Social affordances and the possibility of ecological linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kono, Tetsuya

2009-12-01

This paper includes an effort to extend the notion of affordance from a philosophical point of view the importance of ecological approach for social psychology, ethics, and linguistics. Affordances are not always merely physical but also interpersonal and social. I will conceptualize affordance in general and social affordance in particular, and will elucidate the relation between intentional action and affordances, and that between affordances and free will. I will also focus on the relation between social institution and affordance. An extended theory of affordances can provide a way to analyze in concrete ways how social institution works as an implicit background of interpersonal interactions. Ecological approach considers social institution as the producer and maintainer of affordances. Social institutions construct the niches for human beings. Finally, I will argue the possibility of the ecological linguistics. Language is a social institution. The system of signs is the way to articulate and differentiate interpersonal affordances. Language acquires its meaning, i.e. communicative power in the interpersonal interactions, and interpersonal interactions, in turn, develop and are elaborated through the usage of signs. Communication is seen as never aimed to transmit inner ideas to others, but to guide and adjust the behaviors of others thorough articulating the affordance of responsible-ness.

Affordable headphones for accessible screening audiometry: An evaluation of the Sennheiser HD202 II supra-aural headphone.

Science.gov (United States)

Van der Aerschot, Mathieu; Swanepoel, De Wet; Mahomed-Asmail, Faheema; Myburgh, Herman Carel; Eikelboom, Robert Henry

2016-11-01

Evaluation of the Sennheiser HD 202 II supra-aural headphones as an alternative headphone to enable more affordable hearing screening. Study 1 measured the equivalent threshold sound pressure levels (ETSPL) of the Sennheiser HD 202 II. Study 2 evaluated the attenuation of the headphones. Study 3 determined headphone characteristics by analyzing the total harmonic distortion (THD), frequency response and force of the headband. Twenty-five participants were included in study 1 and 15 in study 2 with ages ranging between 18 and 25. No participants were involved in study 3. The Sennheiser HD 202 II ETSPLs (250-16000 Hz) showed no significant effects on ETSPL for ear laterality, gender or age. Attenuation was not significantly different (p > 0.01) to TDH 39 except at 8000 Hz (p 3%. Sennheiser HD 202 II supra-aural headphones can be used as an affordable headphone for screening audiometry provided reported MPANLs, maximum intensities and ETSPL values are employed.

Tools for healthy tribes: improving access to healthy foods in Indian country.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleischhacker, Sheila; Byrd, Randi R; Ramachandran, Gowri; Vu, Maihan; Ries, Amy; Bell, Ronny A; Evenson, Kelly R

2012-09-01

There is growing recognition that policymakers can promote access to healthy, affordable foods within neighborhoods, schools, childcare centers, and workplaces. Despite the disproportionate risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes among American Indian children and adults, comparatively little attention has been focused on the opportunities tribal policymakers have to implement policies or resolutions to promote access to healthy, affordable foods. This paper presents an approach for integrating formative research into an action-oriented strategy of developing and disseminating tribally led environmental and policy strategies to promote access to and consumption of healthy, affordable foods. This paper explains how the American Indian Healthy Eating Project evolved through five phases and discusses each phase's essential steps involved, outcomes derived, and lessons learned. Using community-based participatory research and informed by the Social Cognitive Theory and ecologic frameworks, the American Indian Healthy Eating Project was started in fall 2008 and has evolved through five phases: (1) starting the conversation; (2) conducting multidisciplinary formative research; (3) strengthening partnerships and tailoring policy options; (4) disseminating community-generated ideas; and (5) accelerating action while fostering sustainability. Collectively, these phases helped develop and disseminate Tools for Healthy Tribes-a toolkit used to raise awareness among participating tribal policymakers of their opportunities to improve access to healthy, affordable foods. Formal and informal strategies can engage tribal leaders in the development of culturally appropriate and tribe-specific sustainable strategies to improve such access, as well as empower tribal leaders to leverage their authority toward raising a healthier generation of American Indian children. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

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

2014-10-07

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

Vital affordances, occupying niches

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dokumaci, Arseli

2017-01-01

This article proposes a new conceptual approach to disability and performance through a contribution that comes entirely from outside the disciplines; a re-theorisation of Gibson’s [1979. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates] theory of affordances....... Drawing on three visual ethnographies with differently disabled individuals, and building upon my previous consideration of performance as ‘affordance creation’ in itself [Dokumaci, A. 2013. “On Falling Ill.” Performance Research 18 (4): 107–115], the article conceptualises affordances as a form of micro......-activism–one that can allow us to unpack the entanglements of disability, performance, and matter. Putting Gibson’s theory in conversation with Canguilhem’s philosophy of life, it proposes the concept ‘vital affordances’ as a new way to think through this micro-activism, and the way disabled individuals might transform...

Policy approaches to improve availability and affordability of medicines in Mexico - an example of a middle income country.

Science.gov (United States)

Moye-Holz, Daniela; van Dijk, Jitse P; Reijneveld, Sijmen A; Hogerzeil, Hans V

2017-08-01

The World Health Organization recommends establishing and implementing a national pharmaceutical policy (NPP) to guarantee effective and equitable access to medicines. Mexico has implemented several policy approaches to regulate the pharmaceutical sector, but it has no formal NPP. This article describes the approach that the Mexican government has taken to improve availability and affordability of essential medicines. Descriptive policy analysis of public pharmaceutical policy proposals and health action plans on the basis of publicly available data and health progress reports, with a focus on availability and affordability of medicines. The government has implemented pooled procurement, price negotiations, and an information platform in the public sector to improve affordability and availability. The government mainly reports on the savings that these strategies have generated in the public expenditure but their full impact on availability and affordability has not been assessed. To increase availability and affordability of medicines in the public sector, the Mexican government has resorted on isolated strategies. In addition to efficient procurement, price negotiations and price information, other policy components and pricing interventions are needed. All these strategies should be included in a comprehensive NPP.

The Transformation of Ergonomic Affordances into Cultural Affordances: The Case of the Alnuset System

Science.gov (United States)

Chiappini, Giampaolo

2012-01-01

Is it possible to study the ergonomic affordances offered by a system designed for educational aims and their transformation into cultural affordances? To this purpose, what references can we adopt? This work describes the theoretical framework used to realise this study referring to AlNuSet, a system realised within the EC ReMath project to…

Affordances Theory in Multilingualism Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Aronin, Larissa; Singleton, David

2012-01-01

The concept of affordances originating in Gibson's work (Gibson, 1977) is gaining ground in multilingualism studies (cf. Aronin and Singleton, 2010; Singleton and Aronin, 2007; Dewaele, 2010). Nevertheless, studies investigating affordances in respect of teaching, learning or using languages are still somewhat rare and tend to treat isolated…

Trend in the affordability of tobacco products in Bangladesh: findings from the ITC Bangladesh Surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

Nargis, Nigar; Stoklosa, Michal; Drope, Jeffrey; Fong, Geoffrey T; Quah, Anne C K; Driezen, Pete; Shang, Ce; Chaloupka, Frank J; Hussain, A K M Ghulam

2018-04-19

The price of tobacco products in relation to the income of tobacco users-affordability-is recognised as a key determinant of tobacco use behaviour. The effectiveness of a price increase as a deterrent to tobacco use depends on how much price increases in relation to the income of the potential users. The aim of this paper is to examine the distribution of and trends in the affordability of tobacco products in Bangladesh. Using four waves of International Tobacco Control Survey data on Bangladesh, this study measures affordability of tobacco products at the individual level as the ratio of self-reported price and self-reported income. The trends in affordability by brand categories of cigarettes and of bidi and smokeless tobacco are estimated using multivariate linear regression analysis. Despite significant increase in price, the affordability of cigarettes increased between 2009 and 2014-2015 due to income growth outpacing price increase. The increase was disproportionately larger for more expensive brands. The affordability of bidis increased over this period as well. The affordability of smokeless tobacco products remained unchanged between 2011-2012 and 2014-2015. The tax increases that were implemented during 2009-2015 were not enough to increase tobacco product prices sufficiently to outweigh the effect of income growth, and to reduce tobacco consumption. The findings from this research inform policymakers that in countries experiencing rapid economic growth, significant tax increases are needed to counteract the effect of income growth, in order for the tax increases to be effective in reducing tobacco use. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Price Determinants of Affordable Apartments in Vietnam: Toward the Public–Private Partnerships for Sustainable Housing Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ducksu Seo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Since the Doi Moi policy of economic reform in 1986, Vietnam has experienced economic development and housing market growth with increasing foreign direct investment. While high-end apartment development has dominated since the emergence of the privatized housing market, more recent focus is on the affordable apartment segment with the remarkable surge of middle-income households in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC. While most previous studies have analyzed housing price determinants based on locational classification, this study is based on the affordability framework of the housing market in HCMC. It aims to investigate the price determinants of affordable and unaffordable apartment units using the hedonic regression model. The study identified common factors between the two types of apartments, such as vertical shared access and proximity to downtown, as well as unique factors for each, such as more high-rise towers, foreign development, proximity to main roads, and shopping malls only for the affordable segments. The findings have valuable implications, not only for future investors and developers in setting up successful housing development strategies, but also for the public sector in strongly encouraging public–private partnerships for sustainable housing development in Vietnam.

Public health service options for affordable and accessible noncommunicable disease and related chronic disease prevention and management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brownie S

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Sharon Brownie,1,2 Andrew P Hills,3,4 Rachel Rossiter51Workforce and Health Services, Griffith Health, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia; 2Oxford PRAXIS Forum, Green Templeton College, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom; 3Allied Health Research, Mater Research Institute – The University of Queensland and Mater Mothers' Hospital, South Brisbane, QLD, Australia; 4Griffith Health Institute, Griffith Health, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia; 5MMHN and Nurse Practitioner Programs, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, AustraliaAbstract: Globally, nations are confronted with the challenge of providing affordable health services to populations with increasing levels of noncommunicable and chronic disease. Paradoxically, many nations can both celebrate increases in life expectancy and bemoan parallel increases in chronic disease prevalence. Simply put, despite living longer, not all of that time is spent in good health. Combined with factors such as rising levels of obesity and related noncommunicable disease, the demand for health services is requiring nations to consider new models of affordable health care. Given the level of disease burden, all staff, not just doctors, need to be part of the solution and encouraged to innovate and deliver better and more affordable health care, particularly preventative primary health care services. This paper draws attention to a range of exemplars to encourage and stimulate readers to think beyond traditional models of primary health service delivery. Examples include nurse-led, allied health-led, and student-led clinics; student-assisted services; and community empowerment models. These are reported for the interest of policy makers and health service managers involved in preventative and primary health service redesign initiatives.Keywords: primary health care planning, community health care, nurse-led clinics, allied health personnel

Three key affordances for serendipity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Björneborn, Lennart

2017-01-01

Purpose Serendipity is an interesting phenomenon to study in information science as it plays a fundamental – but perhaps underestimated – role in how we discover, explore, and learn in all fields of life. The purpose of this paper is to operationalize the concept of serendipity by providing termi...... terminological “building blocks” for understanding connections between environmental and personal factors in serendipitous encounters. Understanding these connections is essential when designing affordances in physical and digital environments that can facilitate serendipity. Design....../methodology/approach In this paper, serendipity is defined as what happens when we, in unplanned ways, encounter resources (information, things, people, etc.) that we find interesting. In the outlined framework, serendipity is understood as an affordance, i.e., a usage potential when environmental and personal factors correspond...... the three key affordances and three key personal serendipity factors: curiosity, mobility, and sensitivity. Ten sub-affordances for serendipity and ten coupled personal sub-factors are also briefly outlined. Related research is compared with and mapped into the framework aiming at a theoretical validation...

Imagined Affordance: Reconstructing a Keyword for Communication Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Nagy

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this essay, we reconstruct a keyword for communication—affordance. Affordance, adopted from ecological psychology, is now widely used in technology studies, yet the term lacks a clear definition. This is especially problematic for scholars grappling with how to theorize the relationship between technology and sociality for complex socio-technical systems such as machine-learning algorithms, pervasive computing, the Internet of Things, and other such “smart” innovations. Within technology studies, emerging theories of materiality, affect, and mediation all necessitate a richer and more nuanced definition for affordance than the field currently uses. To solve this, we develop the concept of imagined affordance. Imagined affordances emerge between users’ perceptions, attitudes, and expectations; between the materiality and functionality of technologies; and between the intentions and perceptions of designers. We use imagined affordance to evoke the importance of imagination in affordances—expectations for technology that are not fully realized in conscious, rational knowledge. We also use imagined affordance to distinguish our process-oriented, socio-technical definition of affordance from the “imagined” consensus of the field around a flimsier use of the term. We also use it in order to better capture the importance of mediation, materiality, and affect. We suggest that imagined affordance helps to theorize the duality of materiality and communication technology: namely, that people shape their media environments, perceive them, and have agency within them because of imagined affordances.

Affording Sustainability: Adopting a Theory of Affordances as a Guiding Heuristic for Environmental Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roope O. Kaaronen

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Human behavior is an underlying cause for many of the ecological crises faced in the 21st century, and there is no escaping from the fact that widespread behavior change is necessary for socio-ecological systems to take a sustainable turn. Whilst making people and communities behave sustainably is a fundamental objective for environmental policy, behavior change interventions and policies are often implemented from a very limited non-systemic perspective. Environmental policy-makers and psychologists alike often reduce cognition ‘to the brain,’ focusing only to a minor extent on how everyday environments systemically afford pro-environmental behavior. Symptomatic of this are the widely prevalent attitude–action, value–action or knowledge–action gaps, understood in this paper as the gulfs lying between sustainable thinking and behavior due to lack of affordances. I suggest that by adopting a theory of affordances as a guiding heuristic, environmental policy-makers are better equipped to promote policies that translate sustainable thinking into sustainable behavior, often self-reinforcingly, and have better conceptual tools to nudge our socio–ecological system toward a sustainable turn. Affordance theory, which studies the relations between abilities to perceive and act and environmental features, is shown to provide a systemic framework for analyzing environmental policies and the ecology of human behavior. This facilitates the location and activation of leverage points for systemic policy interventions, which can help socio–ecological systems to learn to adapt to more sustainable habits. Affordance theory is presented to be applicable and pertinent to technically all nested levels of socio–ecological systems from the studies of sustainable objects and households to sustainable urban environments, making it an immensely versatile conceptual policy tool. Finally, affordance theory is also discussed from a participatory perspective

Affording Sustainability: Adopting a Theory of Affordances as a Guiding Heuristic for Environmental Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaaronen, Roope O

2017-01-01

Human behavior is an underlying cause for many of the ecological crises faced in the 21st century, and there is no escaping from the fact that widespread behavior change is necessary for socio-ecological systems to take a sustainable turn. Whilst making people and communities behave sustainably is a fundamental objective for environmental policy, behavior change interventions and policies are often implemented from a very limited non-systemic perspective. Environmental policy-makers and psychologists alike often reduce cognition 'to the brain,' focusing only to a minor extent on how everyday environments systemically afford pro-environmental behavior. Symptomatic of this are the widely prevalent attitude-action, value-action or knowledge-action gaps, understood in this paper as the gulfs lying between sustainable thinking and behavior due to lack of affordances. I suggest that by adopting a theory of affordances as a guiding heuristic, environmental policy-makers are better equipped to promote policies that translate sustainable thinking into sustainable behavior, often self-reinforcingly, and have better conceptual tools to nudge our socio-ecological system toward a sustainable turn. Affordance theory, which studies the relations between abilities to perceive and act and environmental features, is shown to provide a systemic framework for analyzing environmental policies and the ecology of human behavior. This facilitates the location and activation of leverage points for systemic policy interventions, which can help socio-ecological systems to learn to adapt to more sustainable habits. Affordance theory is presented to be applicable and pertinent to technically all nested levels of socio-ecological systems from the studies of sustainable objects and households to sustainable urban environments, making it an immensely versatile conceptual policy tool. Finally, affordance theory is also discussed from a participatory perspective. Increasing the fit between local

Affording Sustainability: Adopting a Theory of Affordances as a Guiding Heuristic for Environmental Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Kaaronen, Roope O.

2017-01-01

Human behavior is an underlying cause for many of the ecological crises faced in the 21st century, and there is no escaping from the fact that widespread behavior change is necessary for socio-ecological systems to take a sustainable turn. Whilst making people and communities behave sustainably is a fundamental objective for environmental policy, behavior change interventions and policies are often implemented from a very limited non-systemic perspective. Environmental policy-makers and psychologists alike often reduce cognition ‘to the brain,’ focusing only to a minor extent on how everyday environments systemically afford pro-environmental behavior. Symptomatic of this are the widely prevalent attitude–action, value–action or knowledge–action gaps, understood in this paper as the gulfs lying between sustainable thinking and behavior due to lack of affordances. I suggest that by adopting a theory of affordances as a guiding heuristic, environmental policy-makers are better equipped to promote policies that translate sustainable thinking into sustainable behavior, often self-reinforcingly, and have better conceptual tools to nudge our socio–ecological system toward a sustainable turn. Affordance theory, which studies the relations between abilities to perceive and act and environmental features, is shown to provide a systemic framework for analyzing environmental policies and the ecology of human behavior. This facilitates the location and activation of leverage points for systemic policy interventions, which can help socio–ecological systems to learn to adapt to more sustainable habits. Affordance theory is presented to be applicable and pertinent to technically all nested levels of socio–ecological systems from the studies of sustainable objects and households to sustainable urban environments, making it an immensely versatile conceptual policy tool. Finally, affordance theory is also discussed from a participatory perspective. Increasing the fit

Experiments on affordance in the journal "ecological psychology"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trettvik, Johan

2009-01-01

There are two general aims: 1) to review how the concept of affordance is construed, in theory as well as in practice/experiments, and 2) to review the experiments on affordances.......There are two general aims: 1) to review how the concept of affordance is construed, in theory as well as in practice/experiments, and 2) to review the experiments on affordances....

Correlates of housing affordability stress among older Australians.

Science.gov (United States)

Temple, Jeromey B

2008-03-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of housing affordability stress among community-dwelling older Australians. The 2002 ABS General Social Survey was used to measure the prevalence of housing affordability stress. Rare event logistic regression was used to measure the potential correlates of housing affordability stress. Almost 5% of Australians aged 55 years and older, and 20% of those younger than 55 years, are estimated to experience housing affordability stress. Men and women living alone are more likely to experience affordability stress when compared to couples. Low-income earners, those with a consumer debt or who do not hold assets, are at a heightened risk of such stress. Home ownership, regardless of income, is the strongest buffer against housing affordability problems in old age. Although the prevalence of housing affordability stress is low among older Australians when compared to the younger population, a definite social gradient exists in those at risk.

Energy efficiency and economic value in affordable housing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chegut, Andrea; Eichholtz, Piet; Holtermans, Rogier

2016-01-01

Strong rental protection in the affordable housing market often prohibits landlords from charging rental premiums for energy-efficient dwellings. This may impede (re)development of energy efficient affordable housing. In the Netherlands, affordable housing institutions regularly sell dwellings from their housing stock to individual households. If they can sell energy efficient dwellings at a premium, this may stimulate investments in the environmental performance of homes. We analyze the value effects of energy efficiency in the affordable housing market, by using a sample of 17,835 homes sold by Dutch affordable housing institutions in the period between 2008 and 2013. We use Energy Performance Certificates to determine the value of energy efficiency in these transactions. We document that dwellings with high energy efficiency sell for 2.0–6.3% more compared to otherwise similar dwellings with low energy efficiency. This implies a premium of some EUR 3,000 to EUR 9,700 for highly energy efficient affordable housing. - Highlights: • Dutch affordable housing suppliers recoup sustainability investment by selling dwellings. • Energy-efficient affordable dwellings sell at a premium. • A-labeled dwellings are 6.3% – 9,300 euros – more valuable than C-labeled ones. • The combined value effect of refurbishing an affordable housing dwelling, including improving the energy efficiency, of 20% would more than pay for the retrofit.

Fuel poverty as injustice: Integrating distribution, recognition and procedure in the struggle for affordable warmth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, Gordon; Day, Rosie

2012-01-01

Bringing attention to fuel poverty as a distinct manifestation of social inequality has asserted the place of affordable warmth in the profile of contemporary rights and entitlements. As such, fuel poverty can be understood as an expression of injustice, involving the compromised ability to access energy services and thereby to secure a healthful living environment. In this paper, we consider how fuel poverty may be aligned to various alternative concepts of social and environmental justice. Whilst recognising that fuel poverty is fundamentally a complex problem of distributive injustice, we argue that other understandings of injustice are also implicated and play important roles in producing and sustaining inequalities in access to affordable warmth. Addressing fuel poverty has to involve seeking justice in terms of the cultural and political recognition of vulnerable and marginalised social groups and pursuing procedural justice through opening up involvement and influence in decision-making processes. We make this argument both in theoretical terms, and through considering the experience of fuel poverty advocacy and policy development in the UK. Opportunities for future action may be illuminated through such interconnected justice framings as wider awareness of energy, climate and poverty issues emerge. - Highlights: ► We examine fuel poverty through different concepts of social and environmental justice. ► UK experience is used to inform and exemplify our analysis. ► Distributional justice is central but insufficient on its own. ► Procedural justice and justice as recognition are key necessary goals in the struggle for affordable warmth.

76 FR 13769 - Rural Broadband Access Loans and Loan Guarantees

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-14

... pharmacy work, and savings to health facilities from outsourcing specialized medical procedures. One study... international markets and enables new, small, and home-based businesses to thrive. Broadband access affords...

Bootstrapping Relational Affordances of Object Pairs using Transfer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fichtl, Severin; Kraft, Dirk; Krüger, Norbert

2018-01-01

leverage past knowledge to accelerate current learning (which we call bootstrapping). We learn Random Forest based affordance predictors from visual inputs and demonstrate two approaches to knowledge transfer for bootstrapping. In the first approach (direct bootstrapping), the state-space for a new...... affordance predictor is augmented with the output of previously learnt affordances. In the second approach (category based bootstrapping), we form categories that capture underlying commonalities of a pair of existing affordances and augment the state-space with this category classifier’s output. In addition......, we introduce a novel heuristic, which suggests how a large set of potential affordance categories can be pruned to leave only those categories which are most promising for bootstrapping future affordances. Our results show that both bootstrapping approaches outperform learning without bootstrapping...

A Conceptual Framework of Mapping Access to Health Care across EU Countries: The Patient Access Initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Souliotis, Kyriakos; Hasardzhiev, Stanimir; Agapidaki, Eirini

Research evidence suggests that access to health care is the key influential factor for improved population health outcomes and health care system sustainability. Although the importance of addressing barriers in access to health care across European countries is well documented, little has been done to improve the situation. This is due to different definitions, approaches and policies, and partly due to persisting disparities in access within and between European countries. To bridge this gap, the Patient Access Partnership (PACT) developed (a) the '5As' definition of access, which details the five critical elements (adequacy, accessibility, affordability, appropriateness, and availability) of access to health care, (b) a multi-stakeholders' approach for mapping access, and (c) a 13-item questionnaire based on the 5As definition in an effort to address these obstacles and to identify best practices. These tools are expected to contribute effectively to addressing access barriers in practice, by suggesting a common framework and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and expertise, in order to improve access to health care between and within European countries. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Affordable orphan drugs: a role for not-for-profit organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Elin H; Fulton, Emma; Brook, Daniel; Hughes, Dyfrig A

2017-07-01

The success of the Regulation on Orphan Medicinal Products in the European Union is evidenced by the 127 orphan drugs that have had market authorization since 2000. However, the incentives aimed at stimulating research and development have had the unintended consequence of increasing drug cost, resulting in many orphan drugs not being cost-effective. Orphan drugs command an increasing share of the pharmaceutical market and account for a disproportionate amount of healthcare expenditure. Orphan drug ownership by socially motivated, not-for-profit organizations may facilitate access to more affordable orphan drugs, for the benefit of patients and healthcare systems alike. This study aims to describe opportunities for such organizations to become orphan drug Market Authorization Holders. We reviewed data on the ownership of EMA designated and approved orphan drugs, identified funding opportunities and business models for not-for-profit organizations, and summarised relevant legal and policy documents concerning intellectual property rights and drug regulation. Using repurposed drugs as a paradigm, this narrative review navigates the regulatory hurdles, describes the legal context and identifies funding opportunities, in a bid to facilitate and encourage not-for-profit organizations to lead on the development of affordable orphan drugs. Although the regulatory steps required to obtain an MA for an orphan drug are numerous and challenging, they are not insurmountable and can be achieved by not-for-profit organizations that are socially motivated to reduce the costs of orphan drugs to the payers of healthcare. Opportunities for orphan drug development resulting in affordable products lie mainly with repurposed drugs. © 2017 The British Pharmacological Society.

Income inequality and access to housing in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dewilde, C.; Lancee, B.

2012-01-01

This paper analyses the relation between income inequality and access to housing for low- income households. Three arguments are developed, explaining how inequality might affect housing affordability, quality and quantity. First, it is the absolute level of resources, not their relative

Optical code division multiple access secure communications systems with rapid reconfigurable polarization shift key user code

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Kaiqiang; Wu, Chongqing; Sheng, Xinzhi; Shang, Chao; Liu, Lanlan; Wang, Jian

2015-09-01

An optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) secure communications system scheme with rapid reconfigurable polarization shift key (Pol-SK) bipolar user code is proposed and demonstrated. Compared to fix code OCDMA, by constantly changing the user code, the performance of anti-eavesdropping is greatly improved. The Pol-SK OCDMA experiment with a 10 Gchip/s user code and a 1.25 Gb/s user data of payload has been realized, which means this scheme has better tolerance and could be easily realized.

Affordances of agricultural systems analysis tools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ditzler, Lenora; Klerkx, Laurens; Chan-Dentoni, Jacqueline; Posthumus, Helena; Krupnik, Timothy J.; Ridaura, Santiago López; Andersson, Jens A.; Baudron, Frédéric; Groot, Jeroen C.J.

2018-01-01

The increasingly complex challenges facing agricultural systems require problem-solving processes and systems analysis (SA) tools that engage multiple actors across disciplines. In this article, we employ the theory of affordances to unravel what tools may furnish users, and how those affordances

Exploring the Therapeutic Affordances of Self-Harm Online Support Communities: An Online Survey of Members

Science.gov (United States)

Bullock, Emma

2017-01-01

Background A growing number of online communities have been established to support those who self-harm. However, little is known about the therapeutic affordances arising from engagement with these communities and resulting outcomes. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the presence of therapeutic affordances as reported by members of self-harm online support communities. Methods In total, 94 respondents (aged 13-63 years, mean=23.5 years; 94% female) completed an online survey exploring their experiences of engaging with a self-harm online support community. Respondents varied in terms of how long they had been accessing an online community, with 22% (21/94) accessing less than 1 year, 39% (37/94) 1 to 2 years, 14% (13/94) 2 to 3 years, and 24.5% (23/94) more than 3 years. Responses were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. Results The results of our analysis describe each of the five therapeutic affordances that were present in the data, namely (1) connection, the ability to make contact with others who self-harm for the purposes of mutual support and in so doing reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation; (2) adaptation, that is, how use of online support varies in relation to the personal circumstances of the individual user; (3) exploration, that is, the ability to learn about self-harm and learn about strategies to reduce or stop self-harming behavior; (4) narration, that is, the ability to share experiences, as well as read about the experiences of others; and (5) self-presentation, that is, how and what users present about themselves to others in the online community. Conclusions Our findings suggest that engagement with self-harm online support communities may confer a range of therapeutic benefits for some users, which may serve to minimize the psychosocial burden of self-harm and promote positive coping strategies. In addition, the online nature of the support available may be helpful to those who are unable to access face

Medicine prices, availability, and affordability in the Shaanxi Province in China: implications for the future.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Minghuan; Zhou, Zhongliang; Wu, Lina; Shen, Qian; Lv, Bing; Wang, Xiao; Yang, Shimin; Fang, Yu

2015-02-01

In 2009, China implemented the National Essential Medicines System (NEMS) to improve access to high-quality low-cost essential medicines. To measure the prices, availability and affordability of medicines in China following the implementation of the NEMS. 120 public hospitals and 120 private pharmacies in ten cities in Shaanxi Province, Western China. The standardized methodology developed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International was used to collect data on prices and availability of 49 medicines. Median price ratio; availability as a percentage; cost of course of treatment in days' wages of the lowest-paid government workers. In the public hospitals, originator brands (OBs) were procured at 8.89 times the international reference price, more than seven times higher than the lowest-priced generics (LPGs). Patients paid 11.83 and 1.69 times the international reference prices for OBs and generics respectively. A similar result was observed in the private pharmacies. The mean availabilities of OBs and LPGs were 7.1 and 20.0 % in the public hospitals, and 12.6 and 29.2 % in the private pharmacies. Treatment with OBs is therefore largely unaffordable, but the affordability of the LPGs is generally good. High prices and low availability of survey medicines were observed. The affordability of generics, but not OBs, is reasonable. Effective measures should be taken to reduce medicine prices and improve availability and affordability in Shaanxi Province.

24 CFR 572.120 - Affordability standards.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... by homeowners in the eligible property. Financing that would impair the continued affordability of... 24 Housing and Urban Development 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Affordability standards. 572.120 Section 572.120 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban Development...

Critical Care Implications of the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Dogra, Anjali P; Dorman, Todd

2016-03-01

To provide an overview of key elements of the Affordable Care Act. To evaluate ways in which the Affordable Care Act will likely impact the practice of critical care medicine. To describe strategies that may help health systems and providers effectively adapt to changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act. Data sources for this concise review include search results from the PubMed and Embase databases, as well as sources relevant to public policy such as the text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and reports of the Congressional Budget Office. As all of the Affordable Care Act's provisions will not be fully implemented until 2019, we also drew upon cost, population, and utilization projections, as well as the experience of existing state-based healthcare reforms. The Affordable Care Act represents the furthest reaching regulatory changes in the U.S. healthcare system since the 1965 Medicare and Medicaid provisions of the Social Security Act. The Affordable Care Act aims to expand health insurance coverage to millions of Americans and place an emphasis on quality and cost-effectiveness of care. From models which link pay and performance to those which center on episodic care, the Affordable Care Act outlines sweeping changes to health systems, reimbursement structures, and the delivery of critical care. Staffing models that include daily rounding by an intensivist, palliative care integration, and expansion of the role of telemedicine in areas where intensivists are inaccessible are potential strategies that may improve quality and profitability of ICU care in the post-Affordable Care Act era.

Income inequality and access to housing in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dewilde, C.L.; Lancee, B.

2013-01-01

This article analyzes the relationship between income inequality and access to housing for low-income homeowners and renters ‘at market rent’ across Europe. We develop three arguments that explain how inequality affects housing affordability, quality, and quantity—together these dimensions indicate

Growing community : rooftop gardens for affordable housing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weeks, K.N. [California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States)

2007-07-01

This paper reviewed the processes used in recently designed affordable housing roof garden projects in California, Montana and Georgia. Gardens create a sense of community through shared space and social interactions. As such, roof gardens can give residents of affordable housing the opportunity to experience the community-fostering benefits of gardening, with the added advantages of potentially lower energy bills and wastewater fees. The factors that should be considered in planning, design, construction and maintenance of roof gardens for affordable housing were also outlined. As places of refuge, gardens help people relax and promote healing, which is particularly important for physical, emotional, social and economic well-being. For the many residents of affordable housing who earn less than 50 per cent of the area median income, gardens offer a venue for establishing relationships with neighbours, many of whom they might otherwise never meet. They also offer a means to improved nutrition and food security, education and positive recreation for youth, and better aesthetic surroundings. While motivations for choosing green roofs varied widely across the projects, affordability was linked to 3 main areas, namely saving costs in design, construction and operations; getting the roof to generate funding; and, improving the quality of life in affordable housing. 17 refs., 12 figs.

No Role for Motor Affordances in Visual Working Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Pecher, Diane

2013-01-01

Motor affordances have been shown to play a role in visual object identification and categorization. The present study explored whether working memory is likewise supported by motor affordances. Use of motor affordances should be disrupted by motor interference, and this effect should be larger for objects that have motor affordances than for…

Investigating the Social and Economic Impact of Public Access to ...

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

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in a number of public access to information and communication technology (ICT) ... University of Washington ... It is now generally accepted that affordable, effective telecommunication ...

Rapid Access Ice Drill: A New Tool for Exploration of the Deep Antarctic Ice Sheets and Subglacial Geology

Science.gov (United States)

Goodge, J. W.; Severinghaus, J. P.

2014-12-01

The Rapid Access Ice Drill (RAID) will penetrate the Antarctic ice sheets in order to core through deep ice, the glacial bed, and into bedrock below. This new technology will provide a critical first look at the interface between major ice caps and their subglacial geology. Currently in construction, RAID is a mobile drilling system capable of making several long boreholes in a single field season in Antarctica. RAID is interdisciplinary and will allow access to polar paleoclimate records in ice >1 Ma, direct observation at the base of the ice sheets, and recovery of rock cores from the ice-covered East Antarctic craton. RAID uses a diamond rock-coring system as in mineral exploration. Threaded drill-pipe with hardened metal bits will cut through ice using reverse circulation of Estisol for pressure-compensation, maintenance of temperature, and removal of ice cuttings. Near the bottom of the ice sheet, a wireline bottom-hole assembly will enable diamond coring of ice, the glacial bed, and bedrock below. Once complete, boreholes will be kept open with fluid, capped, and made available for future down-hole measurement of thermal gradient, heat flow, ice chronology, and ice deformation. RAID will also sample for extremophile microorganisms. RAID is designed to penetrate up to 3,300 meters of ice and take sample cores in less than 200 hours. This rapid performance will allow completion of a borehole in about 10 days before moving to the next drilling site. RAID is unique because it can provide fast borehole access through thick ice; take short ice cores for paleoclimate study; sample the glacial bed to determine ice-flow conditions; take cores of subglacial bedrock for age dating and crustal history; and create boreholes for use as an observatory in the ice sheets. Together, the rapid drilling capability and mobility of the drilling system, along with ice-penetrating imaging methods, will provide a unique 3D picture of the interior Antarctic ice sheets.

Rethinking Affordable Housing Delivery: An Analytical Insight

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olanrewaju Abdullateef

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Malaysia currently has a housing shortage of 12 million units. Towards the year 2020, this would require an annual supply of a minimum of 2 million homes. With the current production rate, the deficits will remain over the next 100 years. The crisis will lead to poor standards of living, un-affordable rental price, high mortgage payment, abandonment, and dilapidation of the existing housing stock. Lack of affordable housing is already a source of concern among many Malaysians. The middle and lower income earners spend more than 30% of their income on rent or for mortgage payment. Housing rent or mortgage is a basic need like foods, education, clothing and health. The government has introduced various measures to address the housing deficit. Despite these measures, the housing supply and distribution gaps continue to grow. To better understand the issues, there is a need to examine how the procurement planning in the affordable housing delivery supply chain and market is formulated, explore how cost of affordable housing would be reduced, identify the user value systems in affordable housing, and identify the criteria in the current regulatory framework? For these purposes, this paper reviews the relevant literature to reach preliminary findings on the stated issues. Among the factors found accounting for housing shortages, the overwhelming factors were that of poor policies, strategies, practice, management, and finance. The findings are meaningful in framing an affordable housing delivery model. It could also be useful to stakeholders involved in affordable housing delivery in Malaysia and elsewhere.

Achieving affordable housing through energy efficiency strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Copiello, Sergio

2015-01-01

Cooperation between public and private sector has achieved a remarkable widespread, in the Italian context, over the last two decades. Nevertheless, the increasing difficulty in accessing the capital market and the rising cost of funding sources, both noticeable over the past few years, led to a slowdown of Public–Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives. Meanwhile, the community is expressing new needs to be satisfied, such as the conversion of brownfields, the recovery of housing stock dating back to former times, as well as the refurbishment of public offices or schools. Emerging priorities include the supply of affordable dwellings for low to medium income households. This essay aims to examine a case study in which PPP and buildings energy efficiency have been successfully combined, in order to jointly contribute to the achievement of a social housing settlement. Thanks to energy efficiency measures—concerning building envelope insulation, heating system and other installations—the agreed rent results far higher than social rent of protected tenancies, and furthermore above the range of fair rents characterising other regulated tenancies, but mildly lower than market rents. All this allows to achieve an equity yield rate satisfying from the perspective of a venture philanthropy investment. -- Highlights: •Provision of affordable dwellings is an emerging priority within Italian context. •Lack of public funds leads to promote Public–Private Partnership schemes. •Without public grants the adoption of a venture philanthropy approach is needed. •The examined case study allows to explain the role of buildings energy efficiency. •Buildings energy efficiency may boost feasibility of social housing transactions

Access under Siege: Are the Gains of Open Education Keeping Pace with the Growing Barriers to University Access?

Science.gov (United States)

Olcott, Don, Jr.

2013-01-01

Traditional and affordable access to a university education is under siege from all sides. National realpolitiks and global economic downturns have driven open education into the mainstream to stand against educational elitism, the growing digital divide, and to support the core values that give education its fundamental credence as a human right.…

What is an affordance? 40 years later.

Science.gov (United States)

Osiurak, François; Rossetti, Yves; Badets, Arnaud

2017-06-01

About 40 years ago, James J. Gibson coined the term "affordance" to describe the action possibilities offered to an animal by the environment with reference to the animal's action capabilities. Since then, this notion has acquired a multitude of meanings, generating confusion in the literature. Here, we offer a clear operationalization of the concept of affordances and related concepts in the field of tool use. Our operationalization is organized around the distinction between the physical (what is objectively observable) and neurocognitive (what is subjectively experienced) levels. This leads us to propose that motor control (dorso-dorsal system), mechanical knowledge (ventro-dorsal system) and function knowledge (ventral system) could be neurocognitive systems respectively involved in the perception of affordances, the understanding of mechanical actions and the storage of contextual relationships (three action-system model; 3AS). We end by turning to two key issues that can be addressed within 3AS. These issues concern the link between affordances and tool incorporation, and the constraints posed by affordances for tool use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To be an affordable healthy house, case study Medan

Science.gov (United States)

Silitonga, Shanty

2018-03-01

House has a paramount meaning in human life. Provision of adequate housing will be able to improve the quality of life. Provision of an affordable house is a major step to fulfilling the needs of houses in the big city. Medan has built a lot of affordable houses, and mostly it takes place in the suburbs. Although the affordable house is for low-income people, it must be worthy of its physical condition, affordable in the budget and healthy for its users. House often saw only as physical alone, the provision of a house only to achieve solely in quantity regardless its quality. This study aims to examine the condition of affordable houses in the suburbs of Medan. The research method used qualitative descriptive, using indicator according to affordable healthy house standard according to the regulation in Indonesia and other related theories. This study took place in Medan by taking three areas in the suburbs of Medan. The results show that most affordable houses in the suburbs of Medan are unhealthy. There are several design recommendations for the houses to meet the affordable healthy house category; the most important is the addition of ventilation and window holes.

Creating Affordable Housing through self-management:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Stensgaard, Anne Gro

The paper presents a case on self-management in the Danish social housing sector as a way of providing affordable housing. It is based on an evaluation of a Danish concept for affordable housing, Social Housing Plus (“AlmenBolig+”). The concept was introduced in 2007, and so far app 1.400 housing...

The Affordable Care Act and the Burden of High Cost Sharing and Utilization Management Restrictions on Access to HIV Medications for People Living with HIV/AIDS.

Science.gov (United States)

Zamani-Hank, Yasamean

2016-08-01

The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to be a critical public health issue in the United States, where an estimated 1.2 million individuals live with HIV infection. Viral suppression is one of the primary public health goals for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). A crucial component of this goal involves adequate access to health care, specifically anti-retroviral HIV medications. The enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 raised hopes for millions of PLWHA without access to health care coverage. High cost-sharing requirements enacted by health plans place a financial burden on PLWHA who need ongoing access to these life-saving medications. Plighted with poverty, Detroit, Michigan, is a center of attention for examining the financial burden of HIV medications on PLWHA under the new health plans. From November 2014 to January 2015, monthly out-of-pocket costs and medication utilization requirements for 31 HIV medications were examined for the top 12 insurance carriers offering Qualified Health Plans on Michigan's Health Insurance Marketplace Exchange. The percentage of medications requiring quantity limits and prior authorization were calculated. The average monthly out-of-pocket cost per person ranged from $12 to $667 per medication. Three insurance carriers placed all 31 HIV medications on the highest cost-sharing tier, charging 50% coinsurance. High out-of-pocket costs and medication utilization restrictions discourage PLWHA from enrolling in health plans and threaten interrupted medication adherence, drug resistance, and increased risk of viral transmission. Health plans inflicting high costs and medication restrictions violate provisions of the ACA and undermine health care quality for PLWHA. (Population Health Management 2016;19:272-278).

Organizational Media Affordances : Operationalization and Associations with Media Use

OpenAIRE

Rice, Ronald E.; Evans, Sandra K.; Pearce, Katy E.; Sivunen, Anu; Vitak, Jessica; Treem, Jeffrey W.

2017-01-01

The concept of affordances has been increasingly applied to the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizational contexts. However, almost no research operationalizes affordances, limiting comparisons and programmatic research. This article briefly reviews conceptualizations and possibilities of affordances in general and for media, then introduces the concept of organizational media affordances as organizational resources. Analysis of survey data from a large Nord...

Malaysian Affordability Housing Policies Revisited

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samad Diwa

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Housing has always been a significant aspiration of family expression and distinctly priciest investment by household. It plays a momentous role in the country’s economy and so central to the societal well-being that is emplaced in the United Nation Universal declaration of Human rights. Yet in developed and developing world alike, cities struggle to provide decent housing for lower and middle income population. The provision of affordable housing is a major policy concern around the world with Malaysia being no exception; rising income hardly keep pace with price hike of housing unit and housing interventions has majorly concentrated on demand side leading to a non-responsive supply sector. Therefore, this paper highlights affordable housing issues pertaining Malaysia. It formulates Malaysian Map of affordability and conducts an evaluation of global housing schemes to better identify policy priorities for Malaysia. It’s significant to harmonize supply and demand side factors in the housing market to ensure that housing supply fits the needs of citizens based on the location, price and target group. In case of Malaysia supply oriented initiative are of urgency in short and medium run. This must be supported by long term demand side schemes in parallel. Convergence of these two factors is essential for a balanced equilibrium and obtaining affordability.

Outcomes of patients presenting to a dedicated rapid access lung cancer clinic.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Dunican, E

2012-02-01

We examined the outcomes of the first 500 patients referred to a dedicated Rapid Access Lung Cancer Clinic. A total of 206 patients (41.2%) were diagnosed with a thoracic malignancy; 179 had primary lung cancer and 27 had secondary or other thoracic cancers. Pulmonary nodules requiring ongoing surveillance were found in a further 79 patients (15.8%). Of those patients found to have primary lung cancer, 24 (13.4%) had Small Cell and 145 (81%) had Non Small Cell Lung Cancer. In patients with Non small cell tumours, 26 (21.1%) were stage 1, 14 (11.4%) stage II, 37 (30.1%) stage III and 46 (37.4%) stage IV at diagnosis. For the 129 patients (72%) in whom the thoracic MDT recommended active treatment, primary therapy was surgical resection in 44 (24.6%), combined chemoradiation in 31 patients (17.3%), chemotherapy alone in 39 (21.8%) and radiation in 15 (8.4%).

The availability and affordability of orphan drugs for rare diseases in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Shiwei; Wang, Yingxiao; Pan, Xiaoyun; Zhang, Liang; Huang, Rui; Chen, Xin; Hu, Juanjuan; Xu, Yi; Jin, Si

2016-02-27

Orphan drugs are intended to treat, prevent or diagnose rare diseases. In recent years, China healthcare policy makers and patients have become increasingly concerned about orphan drug issues. However, very few studies have assessed the availability and affordability of orphan drugs for rare diseases in China. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the availability and affordability of orphan drugs in China and to make suggestions to improve patient access to orphan drugs. Two components of the availability of orphan drugs were examined. Market availability was assessed by the extent to which orphan drugs were marketed in China with a comparison to orphan drugs in international markets, such as the U.S., EU and Japan. We conducted surveys and collected data from 24 tertiary public hospitals in China to measure hospital-level availability of orphan drugs. The affordability of orphan drugs was calculated using hospital dispensary prices and was expressed as days of average daily income required for the cost of a course of treatment. Affordability was also analyzed under the Chinese basic medical insurance system. Orphan drugs approved in the U.S., EU and Japan had 37.8%, 24.6% and 52.4% market availability in China, respectively. Median availability of 31 orphan drugs surveyed at the 24 tertiary public hospitals was 20.8% (very low). Within a periodic treatment course, the average treatment cost of 23 orphan drugs is approximately 4, 843. 5 USD, which equates to 505.6 days of per capita net income for an urban resident with a middle income (187.4 days for a high-income urban resident) or 1,582.8 days's income for a rural resident with a middle income (657.2 days for a high-income rural resident). Except for homoharringtonine, 22 orphan drugs for 14 rare diseases were unaffordable for the most of residents in China. With 5% out-of-pocket expenses, only three generics could be afforded by middle-income residents, whereas seven drugs for high-income urban

The concept of a structural affordance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian Alsmith

2012-12-01

Full Text Available I provide an analysis of the concept of an “affordance” that enables one to conceive of “structural affordance” as a kind of affordance relation that might hold between an agent and its body. I then review research in the science of humanoid bodily movement to indicate the empirical reality of structural affordance.

Medicaid expansion and access to care among cancer survivors: a baseline overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarazi, Wafa W; Bradley, Cathy J; Harless, David W; Bear, Harry D; Sabik, Lindsay M

2016-06-01

Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act facilitates access to care among vulnerable populations, but 21 states have not yet expanded the program. Medicaid expansions may provide increased access to care for cancer survivors, a growing population with chronic conditions. We compare access to health care services among cancer survivors living in non-expansion states to those living in expansion states, prior to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. We use the 2012 and 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate multiple logistic regression models to compare inability to see a doctor because of cost, having a personal doctor, and receiving an annual checkup in the past year between cancer survivors who lived in non-expansion states and survivors who lived in expansion states. Cancer survivors in non-expansion states had statistically significantly lower odds of having a personal doctor (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.76, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.63-0.92, p Medicaid could potentially leave many cancer survivors with limited access to routine care. Existing disparities in access to care are likely to widen between cancer survivors in Medicaid non-expansion and expansion states.

ADAM (Affordable Desktop Application Manager): a Unix desktop application manager

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liebana, M.; Marquina, M.; Ramos, R.

1996-01-01

ADAM stands for Affordable Desktop Application Manager. It is a GUI developed at CERN with the aim to ease access to applications. The motivation to develop ADAM came from the unavailability of environments like COSE/CDE and their heavy resource consumption. ADAM has proven to be user friendly: new users are able to customize it to their needs in few minutes. Groups of users may share through ADAM a common application environment. ADAM also integrates the Unix and the PC world. PC users can excess Unix applications in the same way as their usual Windows applications. This paper describes all the ADAM features, how they are used at CERN Public Services, and the future plans for ADAM. (author)

What are the affordances of information and communication technologies?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grainne Conole

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the notion that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT have affordances that epitomize the features of our late modern age (Giddens, 1991 and explores whether these affordances (Salomon, 1993, p. 51 can be used to facilitate particular approaches to educational practice. It argues that a clear articulation of these affordances would enable us to understand how these technologies can be most effectively used to support learning and teaching. We believe that any one affordance can be considered to have both positive and negative connotations and the paper draws on social and educational theory to provide an initial taxonomy of these affordances.

Biomaterials use in Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda: Access and affordability.

Science.gov (United States)

Bakwatanisa, Bosco; Enywaku, Alfred; Kiwanuka, Martin; Lamunu, Claire; Mbowa, Nicholas; Mukiibi, Denis; Namayega, Catherine; Ngabirano, Beryl; Ntambi, Henry; Reichert, William

2016-01-01

Students in Biomaterials BBE3102 at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda were assigned semester long group projects in the first semester of the 2014-15 academic year to determine the biomaterials type and usage in Mulago National Referral Hospital, which is emblematic of large public hospitals across East Africa. Information gathering was conducted through student interviews with Mulago physicians because there were no archival records. The students divided themselves into seven project groups covering biomaterials use in the areas of wound closure, dental and oral surgery, cardiology, burn care, bone repair, ophthalmology and total joint replacement. As in the developed world, the majority of biomaterials used in Mulago are basic wound closure materials, dental materials, and bone fixation materials, all of which are comparatively inexpensive, easy to store, and readily available from either the government or local suppliers; however, there were significant issues with the implant supply chain, affordability, and patient compliance and follow-up in cases where specialty expertise and expensive implants were employed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Availability, prices and affordability of essential medicines in Haiti.

Science.gov (United States)

Chahal, Harinder Singh; St Fort, Nazaire; Bero, Lisa

2013-12-01

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and faces numerous challenges, including inadequate medication access for its residents. The objective of this study was to determine the availability, prices, and affordability of essential medicines in Haiti and compare these findings to other countries. We conducted a cross-sectional nationwide survey in 2011 of availability and consumer prices of 60 essential medicines in Haiti using a standardized methodology developed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International. The survey was conducted in 163 medicine outlets in four health care sectors (public, retail, nonprofit and mixed sectors). Medicine prices were expressed as ratios relative to the International Reference Price. Affordability was calculated by comparing the costs of treatment for common conditions with the salary of the lowest paid government worker and was compared to available data from four Latin American countries. For generic medicines, the availability in public, retail, nonprofit and mixed sectors was 20%, 37%, 24% and 23% of medications, respectively. Most of the available medicines were priced higher than the International Reference Price. The lowest paid government worker would need 2.5 days' wages to treat an adult respiratory infection with generic medicines from the public sector. For treatment of common conditions with originator brands (OB) purchased from a retail pharmacy, costs were between 1.4 (anaerobic bacterial infection) and 13.7 (hyperlipidemia) days' wages, respectively. Treatment of pediatric bacterial infections with the OB of ceftriaxone from a retail pharmacy would cost 24.6 days' wages. Prices in Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua were frequently lower for comparable medications. The availability of essential medicines was low and prices varied widely across all four sectors. Over 75% of Haitians live on less than US$ 2.00 /day; therefore, most medication regimens are largely unaffordable

Rapid Prototyping — A Tool for Presenting 3-Dimensional Digital Models Produced by Terrestrial Laser Scanning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juho-Pekka Virtanen

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Rapid prototyping has received considerable interest with the introduction of affordable rapid prototyping machines. These machines can be used to manufacture physical models from three-dimensional digital mesh models. In this paper, we compare the results obtained with a new, affordable, rapid prototyping machine, and a traditional professional machine. Two separate data sets are used for this, both of which were acquired using terrestrial laser scanning. Both of the machines were able to produce complex and highly detailed geometries in plastic material from models based on terrestrial laser scanning. The dimensional accuracies and detail levels of the machines were comparable, and the physical artifacts caused by the fused deposition modeling (FDM technique used in the rapid prototyping machines could be found in both models. The accuracy of terrestrial laser scanning exceeded the requirements for manufacturing physical models of large statues and building segments at a 1:40 scale.

An Affordability Comparison Tool (ACT) for Space Transportation

Science.gov (United States)

McCleskey, C. M.; Bollo, T. R.; Garcia, J. L.

2012-01-01

NASA bas recently emphasized the importance of affordability for Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDP), Space Launch Systems (SLS) and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). System architects and designers are challenged to come up with architectures and designs that do not bust the budget. This paper describes the Affordability Comparison Tool (ACT) analyzes different systems or architecture configurations for affordability that allows for a comparison of: total life cycle cost; annual recurring costs, affordability figures-of-merit, such as cost per pound, cost per seat, and cost per flight, as well as productivity measures, such as payload throughput. Although ACT is not a deterministic model, the paper develops algorithms and parametric factors that use characteristics of the architectures or systems being compared to produce important system outcomes (figures-of-merit). Example applications of outcome figures-of-merit are also documented to provide the designer with information on the relative affordability and productivity of different space transportation applications.

Exploring the Therapeutic Affordances of Self-Harm Online Support Communities: An Online Survey of Members.

Science.gov (United States)

Coulson, Neil S; Bullock, Emma; Rodham, Karen

2017-10-13

A growing number of online communities have been established to support those who self-harm. However, little is known about the therapeutic affordances arising from engagement with these communities and resulting outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore the presence of therapeutic affordances as reported by members of self-harm online support communities. In total, 94 respondents (aged 13-63 years, mean=23.5 years; 94% female) completed an online survey exploring their experiences of engaging with a self-harm online support community. Respondents varied in terms of how long they had been accessing an online community, with 22% (21/94) accessing less than 1 year, 39% (37/94) 1 to 2 years, 14% (13/94) 2 to 3 years, and 24.5% (23/94) more than 3 years. Responses were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. The results of our analysis describe each of the five therapeutic affordances that were present in the data, namely (1) connection, the ability to make contact with others who self-harm for the purposes of mutual support and in so doing reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation; (2) adaptation, that is, how use of online support varies in relation to the personal circumstances of the individual user; (3) exploration, that is, the ability to learn about self-harm and learn about strategies to reduce or stop self-harming behavior; (4) narration, that is, the ability to share experiences, as well as read about the experiences of others; and (5) self-presentation, that is, how and what users present about themselves to others in the online community. Our findings suggest that engagement with self-harm online support communities may confer a range of therapeutic benefits for some users, which may serve to minimize the psychosocial burden of self-harm and promote positive coping strategies. In addition, the online nature of the support available may be helpful to those who are unable to access face-to-face support. ©Neil S Coulson, Emma Bullock, Karen Rodham

Personal, Editable and Always Accessible : An Affordance Approach to the Relationship Between Adolescents' Mobile Messaging Behavior and Their Friendship Quality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vanden Abeele, Mariek; Schouten, Alexander Peter; Antheunis, Marjolijn

2017-01-01

This study takes a perceived affordance approach to explain how differences in teenagers' mobile messaging behavior associate with indicators of friendship maintenance behavior. Based on a survey among 1943 teenagers, a structural equation model was tested in which their appreciation of three main

Affordances for robots: a brief survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas E. Horton

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we consider the influence of Gibson's affordance theory on the design of robotic agents. Affordance theory (and the ecological approach to agent design in general has in many cases contributed to the development of successful robotic systems; we provide a brief survey of AI research in this area. However, there remain significant issues that complicate discussions on this topic, particularly in the exchange of ideas between researchers in artificial intelligence and ecological psychology. We identify some of these issues, specifically the lack of a generally accepted definition of "affordance" and fundamental differences in the current approaches taken in AI and ecological psychology. While we consider reconciliation between these fields to be possible and mutually beneficial, it will require some flexibility on the issue of direct perception.

What Does Electronic Conferencing Afford Distance Education?

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Sally

2000-01-01

Discusses the use of technology for distance learning in higher education and examines the similarities and differences between face-to-face seminars and online discussions. Considers the concept of affordance in relation to information and communication technologies and distance education; and examines affordances of electronic conferencing and…

Healthy Libraries Develop Healthy Communities: Public Libraries and their Tremendous Efforts to Support the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Lydia N

This article is about the dedication of public library staff and my role as the Consumer Health Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region (NN/LM MAR) to support outreach efforts for health insurance enrollment under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). ACA was created in order to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. What we didn't know is that public libraries across the nation would play such an integral role in the health insurance enrollment process. The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) worked closely with public libraries in order to assist with this new role. As we approach the second enrollment and re-enrollment periods, public libraries are gearing up once again to assist with ACA.

ADOPT Open Access

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

Are you writing a theoretical paper? An experimental one? Or one about instrumentation? You can publish it in Open Access. Now. Read how... You might have heard about Open Access, the next big thing in scientific publishing. The idea is to make the results of your (publicly funded) research free to read for everyone out there ... not only those lucky ones who work in places where libraries can afford to purchase the expensive subscriptions to scientific journals. CERN, DESY and other particle physics institutes have accepted an offer by one of the leading journals in High Energy Physics, JHEP: our libraries will pay a special subscription fee, and, in exchange, all articles with at least one author from our institutes will be published in Open Access. Anyone, anywhere and anytime will be able to read them, without any financial barrier! If you are writing an instrumentation paper, you can submit it to JINST and benefit from the same offer. This is a major step forward in the planned conversion of existi...

Dissociating Simon and affordance compatibility effects: silhouettes and photographs.

Science.gov (United States)

Pappas, Zissis

2014-12-01

When a graspable object's handle is oriented to the same side as the response hand, responses are quicker and more accurate than when it is oriented to the opposite side. This effect has been attributed to the affordance of the object's handle (Tucker & Ellis, 1998). Recent findings suggest this effect results instead from an abstract spatial response code (i.e., Simon effect; Cho & Proctor, 2010). However, the stimuli used in these previous studies differ in the amount of object and environmental depth information they contain, which may be critical to conveying an affordance. This information could explain these disparate findings as well as dissociate Simon and affordance compatibility effects. Four experiments demonstrate that the Simon effect results from the absence of this information, as in a silhouette, and the affordance effect results from its presence, as in a photograph. A fifth experiment confirmed that modifying information associated with the affordance, rather than the modification itself, produced the effects observed in the previous experiments. These findings support the following: (a) the internal details of an object and environmental depth can dissociate Simon and affordance compatibility effects, (b) this information is necessary to convey the object's graspable affordance, and (c) the outer shape of the object is not sufficient to elicit an affordance effect. These findings are discussed in relation to the theory of embodied cognition. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Restoration Rapid Assessment Tool: An Access/Visual Basic application

Science.gov (United States)

Hiebert, Ron; Larson, D.L.; Thomas, K.; Tancreto, N.; Haines, D.; Richey, A.; Dow, T.; Drees, L.

2009-01-01

Managers of parks and natural areas are increasingly faced with difficult decisions concerning restoration of disturbed lands. Financial and workforce resources often limit these restoration efforts, and rarely can a manager afford to address all concerns within the region of interest. With limited resources, managers and scientists have to decide which areas will be targeted for restoration and the restoration treatments to use in these areas. A broad range of approaches are used to make such decisions, from well-researched expert opinions (Cipollini et al. 2005) to gut feeling, with variable degrees of input from site visits, data collection, and data analysis used to support the decision. A standardized approach including an analytical assessment of site characteristics based on the best information available, with a written or electronic record of all the steps taken along the way, would make comparisons among a group of sites easier and lend credibility through use of common, documented criteria at all sites. In response to these concerns, we have developed the Restoration Rapid Assessment Tool (RRAT). RRAT is based on field observations of key indicators of site degradation, stressors influencing the site, value of the site with respect to larger management objectives, likelihood of achieving the management goals, and logistical constraints to restoration. The purpose of RRAT is not to make restoration decisions or prescribe methods, but rather to ensure that a basic set of pertinent issues are considered for each site and to facilitate comparisons among sites. Several concepts have been central to the development of RRAT. First, the management goal (also known as desired future condition) of any site under evaluation should be defined before the field evaluation begins. Second, the evaluation should be based upon readily observable indicators so as to avoid cumbersome field methods. Third, the ease with which site stressors can be ameliorated must be

Rural wood consumption patterns of local and immigrant households with differentiated access to resources in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mertens, Charlotte Filt; Bruun, Thilde Bech; Schmidt-Vogt, Dietrich; He, Jun; Neergaard, Andreas de

2015-01-01

In Xishuangbanna, China, rubber production has spread rapidly, resulting in extensive land use changes and an increasing influx of migrant workers who have come to find work on the plantations. These migrant workers have limited access to subsidies and the local collective forest due to the household registration system in China called hukou. To assess how these policy-based restrictions on access affect wood consumption and local communities, a case study was conducted in Manlin village, Xishuangbanna, undertaking a household and weight survey with local and immigrant households. The results show no significant difference in firewood consumption between the subpopulations, despite predominantly more local than immigrant households have access to subsidised alternative energy sources. On the other hand, limited access to the collective forest is found to influence the choice of housing materials and living standards in immigrant households as they cannot access timber or afford brick houses. This paper highlights rural issues connected to the hukou system and suggests that rural energy and resource policies should take the growing population of immigrant workers into consideration in future to expand the reach of the polices to the de facto and not only de jure rural population and thus optimise policy efficiency. - Highlights: • The hukou system directly affects rural wood access and consumption. • Immigrant households have little or no access to timber. • Registration status does not have a significant effect on firewood consumption. • Excluding immigrant households will limit policy outreach and efficiency

A five-year assessment of the affordable care act: market forces still trump the common good in U.S. Health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Geyman, John P

2015-01-01

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in 2010 as the signature domestic achievement of the Obama presidency. It was intended to contain costs and achieve near-universal access to affordable health care of improved quality. Now, five years later, it is time to assess its track record. This article compares the goals and claims of the ACA with its actual experience in the areas of access, costs, affordability, and quality of care. Based on the evidence, one has to conclude that containment of health care costs is nowhere in sight, that more than 37 million Americans will still be uninsured when the ACA is fully implemented in 2019, that many more millions will be underinsured, and that profiteering will still dominate the culture of U.S. health care. More fundamental reform will be needed. The country still needs to confront the challenge that our for-profit health insurance industry, together with enormous bureaucratic waste and widespread investor ownership throughout our market-based system, are themselves barriers to health care reform. Here we consider the lessons we can take away from the ACA's first five years and lay out the economic, social/political, and moral arguments for replacing it with single-payer national health insurance. © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions:]br]sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

An Activity Theory Approach to Affordance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bærentsen, Klaus B.; Trettvik, Johan

2002-01-01

We present an analysis of the concept of affordance as it was originally introduced by J. J. Gibson, and elaborate on this concept, acknowledging, that the general theoretical landscape in psychology is in fundamental ways different from the situation in which Gibson found himself when he crafted...... the notion. Specifically we will suggest the inclusion of the ecological theory of perception in the paradigm of cultural historical psychology and activity theory developed in the former Soviet Union by most notably Lev Vygotsky, S. L. Rubinshtein, A. N. Leontjev and others. It will be suggested, that much...... of the confusion in HCI concerning the concept of affordance is a consequence of the attempt of using it inside a theoretical paradigm that is unable to capture and encompass one of the most essential aspect of Gibsons concept of affordance, that is its foundation in activity...

Successfulness of bus rapid transit systems in Asia. Ex-post evaluation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kogdenko, Nadja

2010-01-01

SUMMARY Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can be defined as “a bus-based mass transit system that delivers fast, comfortable, and cost-effective urban mobility”. It offers the opportunity to create a high-quality mass transit system at affordable costs, which is p

Learning outcomes afforded by self-assessed, segmented video–print combinations

OpenAIRE

Jack Koumi

2015-01-01

Learning affordances of video and print are examined in order to assess the learning outcomes afforded by hybrid video–print learning packages. The affordances discussed for print are: navigability, surveyability and legibility. Those discussed for video are: design for constructive reflection, provision of realistic experiences, presentational attributes, motivational influences and teacher personalisation. The video affordances are examined through a framework of pedagogic design principles...

Affordances in Mobile Augmented Reality Applications

OpenAIRE

Gjøsæter, Tor

2014-01-01

This paper explores the affordances of augmented reality content in a mobile augmented reality application. A user study was conducted by performing a multi-camera video recording of seven think aloud sessions. The think aloud sessions consisted of individual users performing tasks, exploring and experiencing a mobile augmented reality (MAR) application we developed for the iOS platform named ARad. We discuss the instrumental affordances we observed when users interacted with augmented realit...

Rapid identification of ST131 Escherichia coli by a novel multiplex real-time allelic discrimination assay.

Science.gov (United States)

François, Patrice; Bonetti, Eve-Julie; Fankhauser, Carolina; Baud, Damien; Cherkaoui, Abdessalam; Schrenzel, Jacques; Harbarth, Stephan

2017-09-01

Escherichia coli sequence type 131 is increasingly described in severe hospital infections. We developed a rapid real-time allelic discrimination assay for the rapid identification of E. coli ST131 isolates. This rapid assay represents an affordable alternative to sequence-based strategies before completing characterization of potentially highly virulent isolates of E. coli. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Affordability Funding Models for Early Childhood Services

Science.gov (United States)

Purcal, Christiane; Fisher, Karen

2006-01-01

This paper presents a model of the approaches open to government to ensure that early childhood services are affordable to families. We derived the model from a comparative literature review of affordability approaches taken by government, both in Australia and internationally. The model adds significantly to the literature by proposing a means to…

Changing the navigator's course: How the increasing rationalization of healthcare influences access for undocumented immigrants under the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

López-Sanders, Laura

2017-04-01

A number of researchers have shown that brokers (e.g., navigators and street-level bureaucrats) bridge access to healthcare services and information for immigrant patients through rich personal relationships and a mission of ethical care. An open question remains concerning how the increasing rationalization of healthcare over the past few decades influences brokerage for undocumented immigrant patients. Drawing from fieldwork and interviews conducted in California, as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented, I develop the concept of the "double-embedded-liaison." While other studies treat brokers as acting either as gatekeepers or patient representatives, this study explains how brokers simultaneously operate on multiple planes when new roles are added. I argue that with more formalization and scrutiny at health centers, the impact of brokerage is destabilized and, subsequently, diminished. Two consequences of the double-embedded-liaison brokerage form are: (1) some brokers become disillusioned and exit -resulting in the loss of valuable resources at the health centers, and (2) immigrants move away from the health centers that historically served them. In looking at brokers' simultaneous performance as gatekeepers and representatives, this research extends brokerage typologies and street-level bureaucracy arguments that largely treat brokerage in a mono-planar rather than in a bi-planar mode. Furthermore, in examining the risks and opportunities brokerage brings to addressing health disparities, the study provides insights into the effects of replacing the ACA or repealing it all together in the Post-Obama era. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Barriers to Homeless Persons Acquiring Health Insurance Through the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Fryling, Lauren R; Mazanec, Peter; Rodriguez, Robert M

2015-11-01

Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is intended to provide a framework for increasing health care access for vulnerable populations, including the 1.2 million who experience homelessness each year in the United States. We sought to characterize homeless persons' knowledge of the ACA, identify barriers to their ACA enrollment, and determine access to various forms of communication that could be used to facilitate enrollment. At an urban county Level I trauma center, we interviewed all noncritically ill adults who presented to the emergency department (ED) during daytime hours and were able to provide consent. We assessed access to communication, awareness of the ACA, insurance status, and barriers preventing subjects from enrolling in health insurance and compared homeless persons' responses with concomitantly enrolled housed individuals. Of the 650 enrolled subjects, 134 (20.2%) were homeless. Homeless subjects were more likely to have never heard of the ACA (26% vs. 10%). "Not being aware if they qualify for Medicaid" was the most common (70%) and most significant (30%) barrier to enrollment reported by uninsured homeless persons. Of homeless subjects who were unsure if they qualified for Medicaid, 91% reported an income homeless subjects reported access. Homeless persons report having less knowledge of the ACA than their housed counterparts, poor understanding of ACA qualification criteria, and limited access to phone and internet. ED-based outreach and education regarding ACA eligibility may increase their enrollment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

77 FR 24301 - Revision of the Commission's Program Access Rules

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-23

... afforded to multichannel video programming distributors by the program access rules--the prohibition on exclusive contracts involving satellite- delivered, cable-affiliated programming. The current exclusive... sections 4(i), 303(r), 616, and 628 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. Total Annual Burden: 43...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - The Role of the School Nurse: Position Statement.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-07-01

It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses that the registered professional school nurse (hereinafter referred to as the school nurse) serves a vital role in the delivery of health care to our nation’s students within the health care system reshaped by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, commonly known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This law presents an opportunity to transform the health care system through three primary goals: expanding access, improving quality, and reducing cost (U.S. Government Printing Office, 2010). School nurses stand at the forefront of this system change and continue to provide evidence-based, quality interventions and preventive care that, according to recent studies, actually save health care dollars (Wang et al., 2014). NASN supports the concept that school nursing services receive the same financial parity as other health care providers to improve overall health outcomes, including insurance reimbursement for services provided to students.

Diagnostics and training of affordance perception in healthy young adults – implications for post-stroke neurorehabilitation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer eRanderath

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Affordance perception is critical to adaptive behavior. It comprises the ability to evaluate whether the environment and the actor’s capabilities enable particular actions. It remains unclear how brain damage and its behavioral sequela impact this ability. Two affordance based judgment tasks were applied in healthy young adults that were adapted for prospective diagnostic purposes in patients. In addition to the commonly analyzed error-rate we included response times and accuracy measures based on a detection theory approach. Moreover, a manipulation was added intended to determine the effectiveness of feedback-based learning. We further applied control tasks that consider whether errors in affordance perception can be explained by errors in perception. Participants responded yes or no to decide prospectively if a given setting would afford a particular action. In study1, 27 participants judged whether their hand would fit through a given aperture [adapted from Ishak, Adolph, & Lin (2008]. In study2, 19 participants judged whether objects are reachable [adapted from Gabbard, Ammar, & Rodrigues (2005]. For both studies two sessions were administered. In the first session all participants solved the judgment-task without executing the action. In the second session (feedback manipulation, half of the participants were allowed to first judge and then perform the task for each trial (reach forward and touch the object, or fitting the hand into the aperture.Judgments were slowest and errors most frequent for openings or distances close to the individual’s actual physical limits. With more extreme settings accuracy increased and responses became faster. Importantly, we found an advantageous effect of feedback on performance in both tasks suggesting that affordance perception is rapidly trainable. Further, the aperture task demonstrated that feedback experienced with one hand can transfer to the other. This may have important implications for

Housing Affordability And Children's Cognitive Achievement.

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, Sandra; Holupka, C Scott

2016-11-01

Housing cost burden-the fraction of income spent on housing-is the most prevalent housing problem affecting the healthy development of millions of low- and moderate-income children. By affecting disposable income, a high burden affects parents' expenditures on both necessities for and enrichment of their children, as well as investments in their children. Reducing those expenditures and investments, in turn, can affect children's development, including their cognitive skills and physical, social, and emotional health. This article summarizes the first empirical evidence of the effects of housing affordability on children's cognitive achievement and on one factor that appears to contribute to these effects: the larger expenditures on child enrichment by families in affordable housing. We found that housing cost burden has the same relationship to both children's cognitive achievement and enrichment spending on children, exhibiting an inverted U shape in both cases. The maximum benefit occurs when housing cost burden is near 30 percent of income-the long-standing rule-of-thumb definition of affordable housing. The effect of the burden is stronger on children's math ability than on their reading comprehension and is more pronounced with burdens above the 30 percent standard. For enrichment spending, the curve is "shallower" (meaning the effect of optimal affordability is less pronounced) but still significant. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Learning Grasp Affordance Densities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Detry, Renaud; Kraft, Dirk; Kroemer, Oliver

2011-01-01

and relies on kernel density estimation to provide a continuous model. Grasp densities are learned and refined from exploration, by letting a robot “play” with an object in a sequence of graspand-drop actions: The robot uses visual cues to generate a set of grasp hypotheses; it then executes......We address the issue of learning and representing object grasp affordance models. We model grasp affordances with continuous probability density functions (grasp densities) which link object-relative grasp poses to their success probability. The underlying function representation is nonparametric...... these and records their outcomes. When a satisfactory number of grasp data is available, an importance-sampling algorithm turns these into a grasp density. We evaluate our method in a largely autonomous learning experiment run on three objects of distinct shapes. The experiment shows how learning increases success...

Modern energy access to all in rural India: An integrated implementation strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balachandra, P.

2011-01-01

Expanding energy access to the rural population of India presents a critical challenge for its government. The presence of 364 million people without access to electricity and 726 million who rely on biomass for cooking indicate both the failure of past policies and programs, and the need for a radical redesign of the current system. We propose an integrated implementation framework with recommendations for adopting business principles with innovative institutional, regulatory, financing and delivery mechanisms. The framework entails establishment of rural energy access authorities and energy access funds, both at the national and regional levels, to be empowered with enabling regulatory policies, capital resources and the support of multi-stakeholder partnership. These institutions are expected to design, lead, manage and monitor the rural energy interventions. At the other end, trained entrepreneurs would be expected to establish bioenergy-based micro-enterprises that will produce and distribute energy carriers to rural households at an affordable cost. The ESCOs will function as intermediaries between these enterprises and the international carbon market both in aggregating carbon credits and in trading them under CDM. If implemented, such a program could address the challenges of rural energy empowerment by creating access to modern energy carriers and climate change mitigation. - Highlights: ► Expanding rural energy access in India is critical with majority lacking access to modern energy. ► Innovative and integrated implementation strategy for achieving universal rural energy access. ► Design of an integrated rural energy policy and proposal for new institutional mechanism. ► Establishing rural energy access authorities and energy access funds as supporting mechanisms. ► Bioenergy-based micro-enterprises for delivering energy services at an affordable cost.

Massachusetts health reform and access for children with special health care needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Anna Jo; Chien, Alyna T

2014-08-01

Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) face unique challenges in accessing affordable health care. Massachusetts implemented major health reform in 2006; little is known about the impact of this state's health reform on uninsurance, access to care, and financial protection for privately and publicly insured CSHCN. We used a difference-in-differences (DD) approach to compare uninsurance, access to primary and specialty care, and financial protection in Massachusetts versus other states and Washington, DC before and after Massachusetts health reform. Parent-reported data were used from the 2005-2006 and 2009-2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs and adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, non-English language at home, and functional difficulties. Postreform, living in Massachusetts was not associated with significant decreases in uninsurance or increases in access to primary care for CSHCN. For privately insured CSHCN, Massachusetts was associated with increased access to specialists (DD = 6.0%; P ≤ .001) postreform. For publicly insured CSHCN, however, there was a significant decrease in access to prescription medications (DD = -7.2%; P = .003) postreform. Living in Massachusetts postreform was not associated with significant changes in financial protection compared with privately or publicly insured CSHCN in other states. Massachusetts health reform likely improved access to specialists for privately insured CSHCN but did not decrease instances of uninsurance, increase access to primary care, or improve financial protection for CSHCN in general. Comparable provisions within the Affordable Care Act may produce similarly modest outcomes for CSHCN. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

24 CFR 1000.102 - What are eligible affordable housing activities?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What are eligible affordable housing activities? 1000.102 Section 1000.102 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to... § 1000.102 What are eligible affordable housing activities? Eligible affordable housing activities are...

Affordances in Mobile Augmented Reality Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tor Gjøsæter

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the affordances of augmented reality content in a mobile augmented reality application. A user study was conducted by performing a multi-camera video recording of seven think aloud sessions. The think aloud sessions consisted of individual users performing tasks, exploring and experiencing a mobile augmented reality (MAR application we developed for the iOS platform named ARad. We discuss the instrumental affordances we observed when users interacted with augmented reality content, as well as more complex affordances rising from conventions from media content, AR and the traditional WIMP paradigm. We find that remediation of traditional newspaper content through the MAR medium can provide engaging, pleasing and exciting user experiences. However, the some of the content still suffers from being shoveled onto the MAR platform without adapting it properly. Finally, we discuss what content was most successfully mediated to the user and how the content impacts the user experience.

Accessibility and availability of the Female Condom2: Healthcare provider’s perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seepaneng S. Phiri

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Despite the acceptability of the Female Condom2 (FC2 as a contraceptive method by some women, it remains inaccessible and unavailable to the majority of women because of affordability, training, distribution and marketing strategies. The FC2 affords women dual protection and the option to negotiate safe sex. Objective: This paper explores and describes the perspective of the healthcare providers regarding accessibility and availability of the FC2 as a contraceptive method in the Tshwane district. Method: The study used an explorative, descriptive, and qualitative design. Data were collected from 26 healthcare providers who were purposively selected. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with these healthcare providers in the Tshwane district. Tesch’s method of open coding was used for data analysis. Results: Two main themes emerged, namely, the availability of the FC2 and the knowledge o fthe healthcare providers. The findings of this study indicated that the availability of the FC2 remains a challenge because of factors such as lack of affordability, inefficient procurement and lack of distribution measures. The condoms are also not available at strategic points so as to ensure accessibility. Insufficient knowledge amongst healthcare providers was described as a barrier which affects the quality of training of the service users. Conclusions: It is evident that the FC2 is not yet available in all healthcare settings, therefore strategies to safeguard accessibility and availability of the FC2 as a contraceptive method are recommended.

Young children's tool innovation across culture: Affordance visibility matters.

Science.gov (United States)

Neldner, Karri; Mushin, Ilana; Nielsen, Mark

2017-11-01

Young children typically demonstrate low rates of tool innovation. However, previous studies have limited children's performance by presenting tools with opaque affordances. In an attempt to scaffold children's understanding of what constitutes an appropriate tool within an innovation task we compared tools in which the focal affordance was visible to those in which it was opaque. To evaluate possible cultural specificity, data collection was undertaken in a Western urban population and a remote Indigenous community. As expected affordance visibility altered innovation rates: young children were more likely to innovate on a tool that had visible affordances than one with concealed affordances. Furthermore, innovation rates were higher than those reported in previous innovation studies. Cultural background did not affect children's rates of tool innovation. It is suggested that new methods for testing tool innovation in children must be developed in order to broaden our knowledge of young children's tool innovation capabilities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The impact of health service variables on healthcare access in a low resourced urban setting in the Western Cape, South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elsje Scheffler

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Health care access is complex and multi-faceted and, as a basic right, equitable access and services should be available to all user groups. Objectives: The aim of this article is to explore how service delivery impacts on access to healthcare for vulnerable groups in an urban primary health care setting in South Africa. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study design was used. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled participants and analysed through thematic content analysis. Results: Service delivery factors are presented against five dimensions of access according to the ACCESS Framework. From a supplier perspective, the organisation of care in the study setting resulted in available, accessible, affordable and adequate services as measured against the DistrictHealth System policies and guidelines. However, service providers experienced significant barriers in provision of services, which impacted on the quality of care, resulting in poor client and provider satisfaction and ultimately compromising acceptability of service delivery. Although users found services to be accessible, the organisation of services presented them with challenges in the domains of availability, affordability and adequacy, resulting in unmet needs, low levels of satisfaction and loss of trust. These challenges fuelled perceptions of unacceptable services. Conclusion: Well developed systems and organisation of services can create accessible, affordable and available primary healthcare services, but do not automatically translate into adequate and acceptable services. Focussing attention on how services are delivered might restore the balance between supply (services and demand (user needs and promote universal and equitable access.

Devising Enabling Spaces and Affordances for Personal Knowledge Management System Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrich Schmitt

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: Personal Knowledge Management (PKM has been envisaged as a crucial tool for the growing creative class of knowledge workers, but adequate technological solutions have not been forthcoming. Background: Based on former affordance-related publications (primarily concerned with communication, community-building, collaboration, and social knowledge sharing, the common and differing narratives in relation to PKM are investigated in order to suggest further PKM capabilities and affordances in need to be conferred. Methodology: The paper follows up on a series of the author’s PKM-related publications, firmly rooted in design science research (DSR methods and aimed at creating an innovative PKM concept and prototype system. Contribution: The affordances presented offer PKM system users the means to retain and build upon knowledge acquired in order to sustain personal growth and facilitate productive collaborations between fellow learners and/or professional acquaintances. Findings: The results call for an extension of Nonaka’s SECI model and ‘ba’ concept and provide arguments for and evidence supporting the claims that the PKM concept and system is able to facilitate better knowledge traceability and KM practices. Recommendations and Impact on Society: Together with the prior publications, the paper points to current KM shortcomings and presents a novel trans-disciplinary approach offering appealing opportunities for stakeholders engaged in the context of curation, education, research, development, business, and entrepreneurship. Its potential to tackle opportunity divides has been addressed via a PKM for Development (PKM4D Framework. Future DSR Activities: After completing the test phase of the prototype, its transformation into a viable PKM system and cloud-based server based on a rapid development platform and a noSQL-database is estimated to take 12 months.

Stable and variable affordances are both automatic and flexible

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna M Borghi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The mere observation of pictures or words referring to manipulable objects is sufficient to evoke their affordances since objects and their nouns elicit components of appropriate motor programs associated with object interaction. While nobody doubts that objects actually evoke motor information, the degree of automaticity of this activation has been recently disputed. Recent evidence has indeed revealed that affordances activation is flexibly modulated by the task and by the physical and social context. It is therefore crucial to understand whether these results challenge previous evidence showing that motor information is activated independently from the task. The context and the task can indeed act as an early or late filter. We will review recent data consistent with the notion that objects automatically elicit multiple affordances and that top-down processes select among them probably inhibiting motor information that is not consistent with behaviour goals. We will therefore argue that automaticity and flexibility of affordances are not in conflict. We will also discuss how language can incorporate affordances showing similarities, but also differences, between the motor information elicited by vision and language. Finally we will show how the distinction between stable and variable affordances can accommodate all these effects.

Affordability for sustainable energy development products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riley, Paul H.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Clean cookstoves that also generate electricity improve affordability. • Excel spreadsheet model to assist stakeholders to choose optimum technology. • Presents views for each stakeholder villager, village and country. • By adding certain capital costs, affordability and sustainability are improved. • Affordability is highly dependent on carbon credits and social understandings. - Abstract: Clean burning products, for example cooking stoves, can reduce household air pollution (HAP), which prematurely kills 3.5 million people each year. By careful selection of components into a product package with micro-finance used for the capital payment, barriers to large-scale uptake of products that remove HAP are reduced. Such products reduce smoke from cooking and the lighting from electricity produced, eliminates smoke from kerosene lamps. A bottom-up financial model, that is cognisant of end user social needs, has been developed to compare different products for use in rural areas of developing countries. The model is freely available for use by researchers and has the ability to assist in the analysis of changing assumptions. Business views of an individual villager, the village itself and a country view are presented. The model shows that affordability (defined as the effect on household expenses as a result of a product purchase) and recognition of end-user social needs are as important as product cost. The effects of large-scale deployment (greater that 10 million per year) are described together with level of subsidy required by the poorest people. With the assumptions given, the model shows that pico-hydro is the most cost effective, but not generally available, one thermo-acoustic technology option does not require subsidy, but it is only at technology readiness level 2 (NASA definition) therefore costs are predicted and very large investment in manufacturing capability is needed to meet the cost target. Thermo-electric is currently the only

Costs of novel tuberculosis diagnostics--will countries be able to afford it?

Science.gov (United States)

Pantoja, Andrea; Kik, Sandra V; Denkinger, Claudia M

2015-04-01

Four priority target product profiles for the development of diagnostic tests for tuberculosis were identified: 1) Rapid sputum-based (RSP), 2) non-sputum Biomarker-based (BMT), 3) triage test followed by confirmatory test (TT), and 4) drug-susceptibility testing (DST). We assessed the cost of the new tests in suitable strategies and of the conventional diagnosis of tuberculosis as per World Health Organization guidelines, in 36 high tuberculosis and MDR burden countries. Costs were then compared to the available funding for tuberculosis at country level. Costs of diagnosing tuberculosis using RSP ranged US$93-187 million/year; if RSP unit cost is of US$2-4 it would be lower/similar cost than conventional strategy with sputum smear microscopy (US$ 119 million/year). Using BMT (with unit cost of US$2-4) would cost US$70-121 million/year and be lower/comparable cost than conventional diagnostics. Using TT with TPP characteristics (unit cost of US$1-2) followed by Xpert would reduce diagnostic costs up to US$36 million/year. Costs of using different novel DST strategies for the diagnosis of drug resistance would be higher compared with conventional diagnosis. Introducing a TT or a biomarker test with optimal characteristics would be affordable from a cost and affordability perspective at the current available funding for tuberculosis. Additional domestic or donor funding would be needed in most countries to achieve affordability for other new diagnostic tests. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Pen-on-paper strategy for point-of-care testing: Rapid prototyping of fully written microfluidic biosensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zedong; Li, Fei; Xing, Yue; Liu, Zhi; You, Minli; Li, Yingchun; Wen, Ting; Qu, Zhiguo; Ling Li, Xiao; Xu, Feng

2017-12-15

Paper-based microfluidic biosensors have recently attracted increasing attentions in point-of-care testing (POCT) territories benefiting from their affordable, accessible and eco-friendly features, where technologies for fabricating such biosensors are preferred to be equipment free, easy-to-operate and capable of rapid prototyping. In this work, we developed a pen-on-paper (PoP) strategy based on two custom-made pens, i.e., a wax pen and a conductive-ink pen, to fully write paper-based microfluidic biosensors through directly writing both microfluidic channels and electrodes. Particularly, the proposed wax pen is competent to realize one-step fabrication of wax channels on paper, as the melted wax penetrates into paper during writing process without any post-treatments. The practical applications of the fabricated paper-based microfluidic biosensors are demonstrated by both colorimetric detection of Salmonella typhimurium DNA with detection limit of 1nM and electrochemical measurement of glucose with detection limit of 1mM. The developed PoP strategy for making microfluidic biosensors on paper characterized by true simplicity, prominent portability and excellent capability for rapid prototyping shows promising prospect in POCT applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Price of (Perceived Affordance: Commentary for Huron and Berec

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Gjerdingen

2009-11-01

Full Text Available It is argued that the symbolic objects in music and musical scores can permit affordances much as physical objects can. This construction of "affordance" places greater emphasis on cultural forms and human memory than the original idea proposed by James J. Gibson, and it aligns itself more closely with the refinements to "affordance" suggested by Donald Norman. For symbolic objects to permit strongly perceived affordances, it may be necessary for perceivers to have developed schematized perception in the course of over-learning culturally significant forms.

Improving perceptions of healthy food affordability: results from a pilot intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Lauren K; Abbott, Gavin; Thornton, Lukar E; Worsley, Anthony; Ball, Kylie; Crawford, David

2014-03-10

Despite strong empirical support for the association between perceived food affordability and dietary intake amongst families with a lower socioeconomic position (SEP), there is limited evidence of the most effective strategies for promoting more positive perceptions of healthy food affordability among this group. This paper reports findings from a pilot intervention that aimed to improve perceptions of healthy food affordability amongst mothers. Participants were 66 mothers who were the parents of children recruited from primary schools located in socioeconomically disadvantaged suburbs. Intervention group participants viewed a slideshow focussed on healthy snack food affordability that illustrated cheaper healthier alternatives to common snack foods as well as food budgeting tips and price comparison education. A mixed between-within ANCOVA was conducted to examine group differences in perceived affordability of healthy food across three time points. Results revealed no difference in perceived affordability of healthy food between the two groups at baseline whereas at post-intervention and follow-up, mothers in the intervention group perceived healthy food as more affordable than the control group. Focussing on education-based interventions to improve perceptions of healthy food affordability may be a promising approach that complements existing nutrition promotion strategies.

Affordable, stable and assured supply of energy for poverty alleviation in Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alam, S.

2011-01-01

For people living in poverty, the most pressing priority is the satisfaction of basic human needs, which includes access to food, shelter, water supply and sanitation and other services that will improve their standard of living, such as health care, education, and better transport. Problems of poverty in all its dimensions can be addressed with the improved provision of energy services and it is significant that most of those without having access to modern energy services live in developing countries; like Pakistan and belong to the segment of the human population that lives in poverty. While assured and adequate energy supplies do not guarantee economic growth and employment generation, their absence typically limits growth. Although low energy consumption is not a cause of poverty, the lack of available energy services correlates closely with many poverty indicators. The link between poverty and energy should not, however, be construed simply in terms of ability of the poor to afford better energy services. Energy services constitute a sizeable share of total household expenditure in Pakistan. People living in poverty often pay a higher price per unit of energy services than do the rich. They also spend more time in obtaining these energy services and rely on resource-scarce and polluting ways of converting energy for services like cooking, drinking water, heating and lighting, all of which have associated health impacts. The production and use of energy have environmental consequences at local, regional and global levels. These impacts extend throughout the fuel cycle of an Energy Chain. Energy plays a substantial role in the everyday lives of humans. Poverty describes a condition of people who are denied the opportunities for sustainable existence. for social uplift of the people of Pakistan at large through affordable, stable, and assured supply of energy keeping in view the environmental constraints. (author)

Affordability Engineering: Bridging the Gap Between Design and Cost

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, J. D.; DePasquale, Dominic; Lim, Evan

2010-01-01

Affordability is a commonly used term that takes on numerous meanings depending on the context used. Within conceptual design of complex systems, the term generally implies comparisons between expected costs and expected resources. This characterization is largely correct, but does not convey the many nuances and considerations that are frequently misunderstood and underappreciated. In the most fundamental sense, affordability and cost directly relate to engineering and programmatic decisions made throughout development programs. Systems engineering texts point out that there is a temporal aspect to this relationship, for decisions made earlier in a program dictate design implications much more so than those made during latter phases. This paper explores affordability engineering and its many sub-disciplines by discussing how it can be considered an additional engineering discipline to be balanced throughout the systems engineering and systems analysis processes. Example methods of multidisciplinary design analysis with affordability as a key driver will be discussed, as will example methods of data visualization, probabilistic analysis, and other ways of relating design decisions to affordability results.

Comparative evaluation of two rapid field tests for malaria diagnosis: Partec Rapid Malaria Test® and Binax Now® Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test.

Science.gov (United States)

Nkrumah, Bernard; Acquah, Samuel Ek; Ibrahim, Lukeman; May, Juergen; Brattig, Norbert; Tannich, Egbert; Nguah, Samuel Blay; Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw; Huenger, Frank

2011-05-23

About 90% of all malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa occur in children under five years. Fast and reliable diagnosis of malaria requires confirmation of the presence of malaria parasites in the blood of patients with fever or history suggestive of malaria; hence a prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria is the key to effective disease management. Confirmation of malaria infection requires the availability of a rapid, sensitive, and specific testing at an affordable cost. We compared two recent methods (the novel Partec Rapid Malaria Test® (PT) and the Binax Now® Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (BN RDT) with the conventional Giemsa stain microscopy (GM) for the diagnosis of malaria among children in a clinical laboratory of a hospital in a rural endemic area of Ghana. Blood samples were collected from 263 children admitted with fever or a history of fever to the pediatric clinic of the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital. The three different test methods PT, BN RDT and GM were performed independently by well trained and competent laboratory staff to assess the presence of malaria parasites. Results were analyzed and compared using GM as the reference standard. In 107 (40.7%) of 263 study participants, Plasmodium sp. was detected by GM. PT and BN RDT showed positive results in 111 (42.2%) and 114 (43.4%), respectively. Compared to GM reference standard, the sensitivities of the PT and BN RDT were 100% (95% CI: 96.6-100) and 97.2% (95% CI: 92.0-99.4), respectively, specificities were 97.4% (95% CI: 93.6-99.3) and 93.6% (95% CI: 88.5-96.9), respectively. There was a strong agreement (kappa) between the applied test methods (GM vs PT: 0.97; p < 0.001 and GM vs BN RDT: 0.90; p < 0.001). The average turnaround time per tests was 17 minutes. In this study two rapid malaria tests, PT and BN RDT, demonstrated a good quality of their performance compared to conventional GM. Both methods require little training, have short turnaround times, are applicable as well as affordable and

Web Accessibility and Guidelines

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, Simon; Yesilada, Yeliz

Access to, and movement around, complex online environments, of which the World Wide Web (Web) is the most popular example, has long been considered an important and major issue in the Web design and usability field. The commonly used slang phrase ‘surfing the Web’ implies rapid and free access, pointing to its importance among designers and users alike. It has also been long established that this potentially complex and difficult access is further complicated, and becomes neither rapid nor free, if the user is disabled. There are millions of people who have disabilities that affect their use of the Web. Web accessibility aims to help these people to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with, as well as contribute to, the Web, and thereby the society in general. This accessibility is, in part, facilitated by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) currently moving from version one to two. These guidelines are intended to encourage designers to make sure their sites conform to specifications, and in that conformance enable the assistive technologies of disabled users to better interact with the page content. In this way, it was hoped that accessibility could be supported. While this is in part true, guidelines do not solve all problems and the new WCAG version two guidelines are surrounded by controversy and intrigue. This chapter aims to establish the published literature related to Web accessibility and Web accessibility guidelines, and discuss limitations of the current guidelines and future directions.

Planning and User Interface Affordances

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

St. Amant, Robert

1999-01-01

.... We identify a number of similarities between executing plans and interacting with a graphical user interface, and argue that affordances for planning environments apply equally well to user interface environments...

Affordances in activity theory and cognitive systems engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albrechtsen, H.; Andersen, H.H.K.; Bødker, S.

2001-01-01

on design for low level interaction modalities. To incorporate the concept of affordances in the design of human computer interaction it is necessary to systematically unravel affordances that supporthuman action possibilities. Furthermore, it is a necessity that Gibson's theory of affordances...... is supplemented by careful analyses of other human modalities and activities than visual perception. Within HMI two well established perspectives on HMI,Activity Theory (AT) and Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE), have discussed such analyses and design of action possibilities focusing on providing computer...... to cover deeper semantic and pragmatic aspects of the ecology of work, as compared with the previous applications of Gibson's theory in HMI....

Leveraging the Affordances of YouTube: The Role of Pedagogical Knowledge and Mental Models of Technology Functions for Lesson Planning with Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Krauskopf, Karsten; Zahn, Carmen; Hesse, Friedrich W.

2012-01-01

Web-based digital video tools enable learners to access video sources in constructive ways. To leverage these affordances teachers need to integrate their knowledge of a technology with their professional knowledge about teaching. We suggest that this is a cognitive process, which is strongly connected to a teacher's mental model of the tool's…

Unrealized Promises: Unequal Access, Affordability, and Excellence at Community Colleges in Southern California

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez-Wenzl, Mary; Marquez, Rigoberto

2012-01-01

California community colleges are, by design, the only entry point to four-year institutions for the majority of students in the state. Yet, many of these institutions perpetuate racial and class segregation, thus disrupting the California Master Plan for Higher Education's promise of access, equity, and excellence in higher education. This report…

Defining and Measuring the Affordability of New Medicines: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Antoñanzas, Fernando; Terkola, Robert; Overton, Paul M; Shalet, Natalie; Postma, Maarten

2017-08-01

In many healthcare systems, affordability concerns can lead to restrictions on the use of expensive efficacious therapies. However, there does not appear to be any consensus as to the terminology used to describe affordability, or the thresholds used to determine whether new drugs are affordable. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate how affordability is defined and measured in healthcare. MEDLINE, EMBASE and EconLit databases (2005-July 2016) were searched using terms covering affordability and budget impact, combined with definitions, thresholds and restrictions, to identify articles describing a definition of affordability with respect to new medicines. Additional definitions were identified through citation searching, and through manual searches of European health technology assessment body websites. In total, 27 definitions were included in the review. Of these, five definitions described affordability in terms of the value of a product; seven considered affordability within the context of healthcare system budgets; and 15 addressed whether products are affordable in a given country based on economic factors. However, there was little in the literature to indicate that the price of medicines is considered alongside both their value to individual patients and their budget impact at a population level. Current methods of assessing affordability in healthcare may be limited by their focus on budget impact. A more effective approach may involve a broader perspective than is currently described in the literature, to consider the long-term benefits of a therapy and cost savings elsewhere in the healthcare system, as well as cooperation between healthcare payers and the pharmaceutical industry to develop financing models that support sustainability as well as innovation.

Affordances are Signs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Pickering

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Peirce and Whitehead share a common project: to restrict the over-extension of reductionism, to show how matter must be sensate and to create an ontology of process and subjectivity. This article claims that biosemiotics can assist this project. Moreover, it shows that the concept of affordance is a means to produce a theory of causation that embraces physical, natural and cultural levels of order.

Bullying and social media affordances

OpenAIRE

Brailas, Alexios

2016-01-01

What constitutes a good and sustainabledigital living?Social media literacyCan we talk about social media intelligence?Can we talk about digital intelligence?How bullying is complicated by special social media affordances?

Energy affordability and the benefits system in Italy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miniaci, Raffaele; Scarpa, Carlo; Valbonesi, Paola

2014-01-01

In this paper, we discuss a number of ways to define and measure the affordability of energy consumption, and we examine the emergence of energy poverty in Italy in the period from 1998 to 2011. The paper examines the eligibility criteria for claiming the benefits available to support energy consumption for vulnerable families and it identifies the potential beneficiaries. The study assesses the appropriateness of the eligibility criteria by comparing the population targeted by the policy with the population actually facing affordability problems. A simulation exercise, using the hypothetical scenario most likely to result in energy benefits being made available, shows that, regardless of the affordability index adopted, the provision of state energy benefits has little impact on fuel poverty. - Highlights: • The paper provides a discussion of alternative measure of energy affordability. • We examine the emergence of fuel poverty in Italy from 1998 to 2011. • We assess the appropriateness of the Italian energy benefits eligibility criteria. • A simulation shows that the energy benefits have little impact on fuel poverty

Mapping the availability, price, and affordability of antiepileptic drugs in 46 countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, Alexandra; Bansal, Amit; Dua, Tarun; Hill, Suzanne R; Moshe, Solomon L; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K; Saxena, Shekhar

2012-06-01

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), a large proportion of people with epilepsy do not receive treatment. An analysis of the availability, price, and affordability of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) was conducted to evaluate whether these factors contribute to the treatment gap. Data for five AEDs (phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproic acid, phenobarbital, and diazepam) were obtained from facility-based surveys conducted in 46 countries using the World Health Organization/Health Action International (WHO/HAI) methodology. Outcome measures were percentage availability, ratios of local prices to international reference prices, and number of days' wages needed by the lowest-paid unskilled government worker to purchase treatment. Prices were adjusted for inflation/deflation and purchasing power parity. The average availability of generic AEDs in the public sector was Private sector availability of generic oral AEDs ranged from 42.2% for phenytoin to 69.6% for phenobarbital. Public sector patient prices for generic carbamazepine and phenytoin were 4.95 and 17.50 times higher than international reference prices, respectively, whereas private sector patient prices were 11.27 and 24.77 times higher, respectively. For both medicines, originator brand prices were about 30 times higher. The highest prices were observed in the lowest income countries. The lowest-paid government worker would need wages from 1-2.6 days' to purchase a month's supply of phenytoin, whereas carbamazepine would cost 2.7-16.2 days' wages. Despite its widespread use in LMICs, WHO/HAI survey data for phenobarbital was only available from a small number of countries. In LMICs, availability and affordability of AEDs are poor and may be acting as a barrier to accessing treatment for epilepsy. Ensuring a consistent supply of AEDs at an affordable price should be a priority. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2012 International League Against Epilepsy.

Encapsulating the delivery of affordable housing: An overview of Malaysian practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamaluddin Nor Baizura

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Urban population increases much faster than other geographical areas and this brings huge challenges to Malaysian government especially those responsible for the provision of housing. Moreover, the rise of living cost and pressure towards the current economic situation had inevitably led to huge demands for affordable housing. Thus, affordability and inaccessibility of people in owning a house has become one of the major issues in Malaysia. These issues are not only faced by the low-income group but mostly experienced by urban dwellers including the middle-income group whom are not eligible to apply for low-cost housing delivered by the government, yet cannot afford to buy a house. Hence, the Malaysian government had therefore established the Perumahan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (PR1MA as the catalyst in providing adequate, quality and affordable houses. Furthermore, the Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB and the state governments also play their big role in providing affordable house at the state level. In trying to ensure smooth delivery of affordable housing, a systematic approach is required. This paper intends to examine the delivery of affordable housing in Malaysia. The objective was to assess the parties involved, and the various stages of the process. The methodology adopted for this study includes in-depth interviews with affordable housing agencies. Investigation showed that the major problem relates to a mismatch in the delivery of affordable housing. Moreover, the political and economic aspects, as well as the organization situation had also influenced the inefficiency of affordable housing delivery system. Additionally, the significant of this paper is expected to formulate an improved strategy and guidance in delivery system, thus ensuring that the method of practice is applicable throughout the country.

Understanding the relationship between access to care and facility-based delivery through analysis of the 2008 Ghana Demographic Health Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Moyer, Cheryl A; McLaren, Zoë M; Adanu, Richard M; Lantz, Paula M

2013-09-01

To determine the types of access to care most strongly associated with facility-based delivery among women in Ghana. Data relating to the "5 As of Access" framework were extracted from the 2008 Ghana Demographic Health Survey and analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. In all, 55.5% of a weighted sample of 1102 women delivered in a healthcare facility, whereas 45.5% delivered at home. Affordability was the strongest access factor associated with delivery location, with health insurance coverage tripling the odds of facility delivery. Availability, accessibility (except urban residence), acceptability, and social access variables were not significant factors in the final models. Social access variables, including needing permission to seek healthcare and not being involved in decisions regarding healthcare, were associated with a reduced likelihood of facility-based delivery when examined individually. Multivariate analysis suggested that these variables reflected maternal literacy, health insurance coverage, and household wealth, all of which attenuated the effects of social access. Affordability was an important determinant of facility delivery in Ghana-even among women with health insurance-but social access variables had a mediating role. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Affordance Template ROS Package for Robot Task Programming

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Stephen; Dinh, Paul; Hambuchen, Kimberly

2015-01-01

This paper introduces the Affordance Template ROS package for quickly programming, adjusting, and executing robot applications in the ROS RViz environment. This package extends the capabilities of RViz interactive markers by allowing an operator to specify multiple end-effector waypoint locations and grasp poses in object-centric coordinate frames and to adjust these waypoints in order to meet the run-time demands of the task (specifically, object scale and location). The Affordance Template package stores task specifications in a robot-agnostic XML description format such that it is trivial to apply a template to a new robot. As such, the Affordance Template package provides a robot-generic ROS tool appropriate for building semi-autonomous, manipulation-based applications. Affordance Templates were developed by the NASA-JSC DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) team and have since successfully been deployed on multiple platforms including the NASA Valkyrie and Robonaut 2 humanoids, the University of Texas Dreamer robot and the Willow Garage PR2. In this paper, the specification and implementation of the affordance template package is introduced and demonstrated through examples for wheel (valve) turning, pick-and-place, and drill grasping, evincing its utility and flexibility for a wide variety of robot applications.

Developing an Assessment Framework for Affordable and Sustainable Housing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Pullen

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Sustainable housing has been subject to research, practice and policy making for some considerable time. More recently attention has been drawn to the separate problem of declining affordability in housing. This paper describes research aimed at developing an assessment framework for both affordability and sustainability as part of the effort to incorporate both of these features into new housing projects. The research has a particular focus on developments aimed at urban densification. Background literature on both affordability and sustainability is reviewed as well as emerging schemes aimed at dealing with both aspects of housing developments. Performance indicators are identified and these are incorporated in an interim assessment framework which is tested using a group of industry experts. The research has highlighted areas where further development is required to attain quantitative assessments of affordable and sustainable housing developments

Manganese Silylene Hydride Complexes: Synthesis and Reactivity with Ethylene to Afford Silene Hydride Complexes.

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Jeffrey S; Emslie, David J H; Britten, James F

2017-05-22

Reaction of the ethylene hydride complex trans-[(dmpe) 2 MnH(C 2 H 4 )] (1) with Et 2 SiH 2 at 20 °C afforded the silylene hydride [(dmpe) 2 MnH(=SiEt 2 )] (2 a) as the trans-isomer. By contrast, reaction of 1 with Ph 2 SiH 2 at 60 °C afforded [(dmpe) 2 MnH(=SiPh 2 )] (2 b) as a mixture of the cis (major) and trans (minor) isomers, featuring a Mn-H-Si interaction in the former. The reaction to form 2 b also yielded [(dmpe) 2 MnH 2 (SiHPh 2 )] (3 b); [(dmpe) 2 MnH 2 (SiHR 2 )] (R=Et (3 a) and Ph (3 b)) were accessed cleanly by reaction of 2 a and 2 b with H 2 , and the analogous reactions with D 2 afforded [(dmpe) 2 MnD 2 (SiHR 2 )] exclusively. Both 2 a and 2 b engaged in unique reactivity with ethylene, generating the silene hydride complexes cis-[(dmpe) 2 MnH(R 2 Si=CHMe)] (R=Et (4 a), Ph (4 b)). Compounds trans-2 a, cis-2 b, 3 b, and 4 b were crystallographically characterized, and bonding in 2 a, 2 b, 4 a, and 4 b was probed computationally. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Lexical semantic access and letter access are involved in different aspects of reading

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Mads

). In this subset sample, both letter access and lexical access accounted for unique variance in reading fluency. The pattern of effects for lexical access did not change by controlling for serial rapid naming (RAN). Conclusions: The results suggest that letter access and lexical access are important for different......Purpose: This study investigated the effects of lexical access speed and letter access speed on reading fluency and reading comprehension. We hypothesized that 1) letter access speed would correlate with reading fluency but not comprehension, while 2) lexical access speed would influence reading...... comprehension. For readers who are struggling with recoding, most of the reading effort is probably tied up with recoding, leaving little to be explained by lexical access. Therefore we expected that 3) lexical access speed would primarily predict reading fluency for readers who were no longer struggling...

Housing Affordability Data System (HADS)

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Housing and Urban Development — The Housing Affordability Data System (HADS) is a set of files derived from the 1985 and later national American Housing Survey (AHS) and the 2002 and later Metro...

Active Affordance Learning in Continuous State and Action Spaces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, C.; Hindriks, K.V.; Babuska, R.

2014-01-01

Learning object affordances and manipulation skills is essential for developing cognitive service robots. We propose an active affordance learning approach in continuous state and action spaces without manual discretization of states or exploratory motor primitives. During exploration in the action

TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS: FROM TECHNICAL AFFORDANCES TO EDUCATIONAL AFFORDANCES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicos Valanides

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The integration of these tools in education and in authentic and effective learning/teaching environments has become an issue of great concern among educators, researchers and other related audiences. All emphasize the need to design and develop technology-enhanced curricula and teaching/learning environments (formal, non-formal and informal that are developmentally appropriate for young and/or older learners. The vision is to integrate the tools and their associated technical affordance in teaching/learning environments in such a way, so that all learners, irrespective of their cognitive differences and abilities, could increase their learning gains, and develop the abilities and skills that are needed for citizens of the 21st century.

Rapid Access to β-Trifluoromethyl-Substituted Ketones: Harnessing Inductive Effects in Wacker-Type Oxidations of Internal Alkenes

KAUST Repository

Lerch, Michael M.; Morandi, Bill; Wickens, Zachary K.; Grubbs, Robert H.

2014-01-01

We present a practical trifluoromethyl-directed Wacker-type oxidation of internal alkenes that enables rapid access to β-trifluoromethyl-substituted ketones. Allylic trifluoromethyl-substituted alkenes bearing a wide range of functional groups can be oxidized in high yield and regioselectivity. The distance dependence of the regioselectivity was established by systematic variation of the number of methylene units between the double bond and the trifluoromethyl group. The regioselectivity enforced by traditional directing groups could even be reversed by introduction of a competing trifluoromethyl group. Besides being a new powerful synthetic method to prepare fluorinated molecules, this work directly probes the role of inductive effects on nucleopalladation events. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Rapid Access to β-Trifluoromethyl-Substituted Ketones: Harnessing Inductive Effects in Wacker-Type Oxidations of Internal Alkenes

KAUST Repository

Lerch, Michael M.

2014-07-18

We present a practical trifluoromethyl-directed Wacker-type oxidation of internal alkenes that enables rapid access to β-trifluoromethyl-substituted ketones. Allylic trifluoromethyl-substituted alkenes bearing a wide range of functional groups can be oxidized in high yield and regioselectivity. The distance dependence of the regioselectivity was established by systematic variation of the number of methylene units between the double bond and the trifluoromethyl group. The regioselectivity enforced by traditional directing groups could even be reversed by introduction of a competing trifluoromethyl group. Besides being a new powerful synthetic method to prepare fluorinated molecules, this work directly probes the role of inductive effects on nucleopalladation events. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The characteristics of bike-sharing usage : case study in Zhongshan, China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhang, Ying; Thomas, Tom; Brussel, M.J.G.; van Maarseveen, M.F.A.M.

2017-01-01

Public bike systems have grown in popularity and are expanding rapidly across cities worldwide. Such systems provide access to pickup and drop-off public bikes at numerous bike stations for free or for an affordable fee and aim at increasing bike use and extending the accessibility of traditional

Affordances: Ten Years On

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Jill P.; Stillman, Gloria

2014-01-01

Ten years ago the construct, affordance, was rising in prominence in scholarly literature. A proliferation of different uses and meanings was evident. Beginning with its origin in the work of Gibson, we traced its development and use in various scholarly fields. This paper revisits our original question with respect to its utility in mathematics…

Affordability and Paradigms in Agent-Based Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boldur E. Barbat

2007-07-01

Full Text Available The paper aims at substantiating that in universities with scarce resources, applied Information Technologies (IT research is affordable, even in most advanced and dynamic sub-domains. This target is split into four specific objectives: a to set up a framework for IT research affordability in universities representative for current East-European circumstances; b to outline a workable approach based on synergistic leverage and to assess the paradigms prevalent in modern artificial intelligence through this ``affordability filter''; c to describe the evolution and the current stages of two undertakings exploiting paradigms founded on emergence (the sub-domains are stigmergic coordination and agent self-awareness; d to summarise for both sub domains the mechanisms and the architectonics (the focus is on computer science aspects; implementation details will be given in future papers. The results in both directions appear as promising and reveal significant potential for transdisciplinarity. From this perspective, the paper is a call to improved cooperation.

Socio-economic status, racial composition and the affordability of fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods of a large rural region in Texas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bouhlal Yasser

2011-01-01

rural area; and how access to an affordable supply of fresh fruit and vegetables differs by neighborhood inequalities. The approach and findings of this study are relevant and have important research and policy implications for understanding access and availability of affordable, healthy foods.

"Without bodily autonomy we are not free": exploring women's concerns about future access to contraception following the 2016 US presidential election.

Science.gov (United States)

Judge, Colleen P; Wolgemuth, Tierney E; Hamm, Megan E; Borrero, Sonya

2017-11-01

Following the 2016US presidential election, social media posts and news stories amplified concerns about the potential for reduced access to contraception under the incoming administration and urged women to seek long-acting reversible contraception. We aimed to describe women's concerns about future access to contraception, in their own words. A social-media-based, anonymous online survey assessing thoughts and concerns about future access to contraception was distributed to reproductive-aged US women for 1 week in mid-January 2017. Participants who were concerned about future access to contraception could share their thoughts and feelings in an open-ended comments box. We qualitatively analyzed 449 written responses for content and themes, with the goal of characterizing key concerns. Women who provided written comments had a mean age of 28years; 85% were white, 88% had at least a college degree, and 93% identified as Democratic or Democratic-leaning. Women were highly concerned about future affordability of contraceptive methods due to potential loss of insurance, reduced insurance coverage for contraceptive methods and reduced access to low-cost care at Planned Parenthood. Many also worried about increased restrictions on abortion. Participants' concerns regarding access to contraception and abortion centered around themes of reproductive and bodily autonomy, which women described as fundamental rights. Women in this study expressed considerable fear and uncertainty regarding their future access to contraception and abortion following the 2016US presidential election. The potential for restricted access to affordable contraception and abortion was viewed as an unacceptable limitation on bodily autonomy. As the future of US health care policy is debated, many women are concerned about the impact of policy changes on their ability to access affordable contraception and abortion, which many view as essential to the preservation of bodily and reproductive autonomy

Achieving a deeper understanding of the implemented provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shuang Qin; Polite, Blase N

2014-01-01

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Since that time, numerous regulations have been promulgated, legal battles continue to be fought and the major provisions of the law are being implemented. In the following article, we outline components of the ACA that are relevant to cancer health care, review current implementation of the new health care reform law, and identify challenges that may lie ahead in the post-ACA era. Specifically, among the things we explore are Medicaid expansion, health insurance exchanges, essential health benefits and preventive services, subsidies, access to clinical trials, the Medicare Part D donut hole, and physician quality payment reform.

Affordances of Ditches for Children in Preschool

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lerstrup, Inger Elisabeth; Møller, Maja Steen

2016-01-01

This study aims to expand understanding of the affordances provided by ditches in a Danish preschool context. Affordances are defined as the meaningful action possibilities of the environment. At a forest preschool, a group of 21 children aged approximately 3to 6.5 years accompanied by two to three...... offered varied and changing action possibilities for the preschool children. The paper discusses the possible incorporation of this largely unrecognized design element by planners and managers of green spaces and playgrounds for children in preschool....

Improving access to healthcare with eHealth in sub-Saharan Africa ...

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

23 août 2013 ... Health systems across Africa are hindered by inadequate resources and growing disease burdens. Access to timely and affordable health services is needed to manage diseases and improve health and well-being. The growing field of electronic health (eHealth) is helping fill gaps in decision-making and ...

Access to affordable medicines after health reform: evidence from two cross-sectional surveys in Shaanxi Province, western China.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Yu; Wagner, Anita K; Yang, Shimin; Jiang, Minghuan; Zhang, Fang; Ross-Degnan, Dennis

2013-10-01

Limited access to essential medicines is a global problem. Improving availability and affordability of essential medicines is a key objective of the National Essential Medicine Policy (NEMP) in China. In its initial implementation in 2009, the NEMP targeted primary hospitals with policies designed to increase availability of essential medicines and reduce patients' economic burden from purchasing medicines. We assessed medicine availability and price during the early years of the health reform in Shaanxi Province in underdeveloped western China. We undertook two public (hospitals) and private (pharmacy) sector surveys of prices and availability of medicines, in September, 2010 and April, 2012, by a standard methodology developed by WHO and Health Action International. We measured medicine availability in outlets at the time of the surveys and inflation-adjusted median unit prices (MUPs), taking 2010 as the base year. We used general estimating equations to calculate the significance of differences in availability from 2010 to 2012 and the Wilcoxon signed rank test to calculate the significance of differences in adjusted median prices. We collected data from 50 public sector hospitals and 36 private sector retail pharmacies in 2010 and 72 public hospitals and 72 retail pharmacies in 2012. Mean availability of surveyed medicines was low in both the public and private sectors; availability of many essential medicines decreased from 2010 to 2012, particularly in primary hospitals (from 27·4% to 22·3% for lowest priced generics; ppublic sector, the median adjusted patient price was significantly lower in 2012 than in 2010 for 16 originator brands (difference -11·7%; p=0·0019) and 29 lowest-priced generics (-5·2%; p=0·0015); the median government procurement price for originator brands also decreased significantly (-10·9%; p=0·0004), whereas the decrease in median procurement price for lowest-priced generics was not significant (-4·9%; p=0·17). In the private

Challenges of Integrating Affordable and Sustainable Housing in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Syed Jamaludin, S. Z. H.; Mahayuddin, S. A.; Hamid, S. H. A.

2018-04-01

Developing countries including Malaysia have begun to comprehend the needs for affordable and sustainable housing development. The majority of the population is still aspiring for a comfortable, safe and reasonably priced house. Households in the low-middle income range face difficulties to find housing that can satisfy their needs and budget. Unfortunately, most of the housing development programs are considering affordability rather than sustainable aspects. Furthermore, developers are more interested in profit and neglect sustainability issues. Thus, the aim of this paper is to review the challenges in integrating affordable housing and sustainable practices in Malaysia. This paper is produced based on an extensive literature review as a basis to develop strategies of integrated affordable and sustainable housing in Malaysia. The challenges are divided into four sections, namely market challenges, professional challenges, societal challenges and technological challenges. The outcomes of this paper will assist in the decision making involving housing development and in enhancing quality of life for sustainable communities.

Regioselective Wacker Oxidation of Internal Alkenes: Rapid Access to Functionalized Ketones Facilitated by Cross-Metathesis

KAUST Repository

Morandi, Bill

2013-07-26

Wacka wacka: The title reaction makes use of a wide range of directing groups (DG) to enable the highly regioselective oxidation of alkenes, and occurs predictably at the distal position. Both E and Z alkenes afford valuable functionalized ketones and cross-metathesis was shown to facilitate the preparation of the starting materials. BQ=benzoquinone.

Regioselective Wacker Oxidation of Internal Alkenes: Rapid Access to Functionalized Ketones Facilitated by Cross-Metathesis

KAUST Repository

Morandi, Bill; Wickens, Zachary K.; Grubbs, Robert H.

2013-01-01

Wacka wacka: The title reaction makes use of a wide range of directing groups (DG) to enable the highly regioselective oxidation of alkenes, and occurs predictably at the distal position. Both E and Z alkenes afford valuable functionalized ketones and cross-metathesis was shown to facilitate the preparation of the starting materials. BQ=benzoquinone.

Affordances and distributed cognition in museum exhibitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Achiam, Marianne; May, Michael; Marandino, Martha

2014-01-01

consistent framework. Here, we invoke the notions of affordance and distributed cognition to explain in a coherent way how visitors interact with exhibits and exhibit spaces and make meaning from those interactions, and we exemplify our points using observations of twelve visitors to exhibits at a natural...... history museum. We show how differences in exhibit characteristics give rise to differences in the interpretive strategies used by visitors in their meaning-making process, and conclude by discussing how the notions of affordance and distributed cognition can be used in an exhibit design perspective....

Imagined affordance: reconstructing a keyword for communication theory

OpenAIRE

Neff, G; Nagy, P

2015-01-01

In this essay, we reconstruct a keyword for communication—affordance. Affordance, adopted from ecological psychology, is now widely used in technology studies, yet the term lacks a clear definition. This is especially problematic for scholars grappling with how to theorize the relationship between technology and sociality for complex socio-technical systems such as machine-learning algorithms, pervasive computing, the Internet of Things, and other such “smart” innovations. Within technology s...

Making Sense of Biodiversity: The Affordances of Systems Ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Andersson, Erik; McPhearson, Timon

2018-01-01

We see two related, but not well-linked fields that together could help us better understand biodiversity and how it, over time, provides benefits to people. The affordances approach in environmental psychology offers a way to understand our perceptual appraisal of landscapes and biodiversity and, to some extent, intentional choice or behavior, i.e., a way of relating the individual to the system s/he/it lives in. In the field of ecology, organism-specific functional traits are similarly understood as the physiological and behavioral characteristics of an organism that informs the way it interacts with its surroundings. Here, we review the often overlooked role of traits in the provisioning of ecosystem services as a potential bridge between affordance theory and applied systems ecology. We propose that many traits can be understood as the basis for the affordances offered by biodiversity, and that they offer a more fruitful way to discuss human-biodiversity relations than do the taxonomic information most often used. Moreover, as emerging transdisciplinary studies indicate, connecting affordances to functional traits allows us to ask questions about the temporal and two-way nature of affordances and perhaps most importantly, can serve as a starting point for more fully bridging the fields of ecology and environmental psychology with respect to how we understand human-biodiversity relationships.

SalanderMaps: A rapid overview about felt earthquakes through data mining of web-accesses

Science.gov (United States)

Kradolfer, Urs

2013-04-01

While seismological observatories detect and locate earthquakes based on measurements of the ground motion, they neither know a priori whether an earthquake has been felt by the public nor is it known, where it has been felt. Such information is usually gathered by evaluating feedback reported by the public through on-line forms on the web. However, after a felt earthquake in Switzerland, many people visit the webpages of the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at the ETH Zurich and each such visit leaves traces in the logfiles on our web-servers. Data mining techniques, applied to these logfiles and mining publicly available data bases on the internet open possibilities to obtain previously unknown information about our virtual visitors. In order to provide precise information to authorities and the media, it would be desirable to rapidly know from which locations these web-accesses origin. The method 'Salander' (Seismic Activitiy Linked to Area codes - Nimble Detection of Earthquake Rumbles) will be introduced and it will be explained, how the IP-addresses (each computer or router directly connected to the internet has a unique IP-address; an example would be 129.132.53.5) of a sufficient amount of our virtual visitors were linked to their geographical area. This allows us to unprecedentedly quickly know whether and where an earthquake was felt in Switzerland. It will also be explained, why the method Salander is superior to commercial so-called geolocation products. The corresponding products of the Salander method, animated SalanderMaps, which are routinely generated after each earthquake with a magnitude of M>2 in Switzerland (http://www.seismo.ethz.ch/prod/salandermaps/, available after March 2013), demonstrate how the wavefield of earthquakes propagates through Switzerland and where it was felt. Often, such information is available within less than 60 seconds after origin time, and we always get a clear picture within already five minutes after origin time

Affordable Care Act and Women

Science.gov (United States)

... quality care for older women, and ends the gender discrimination that requires women to pay more for the same insurance coverage ... the Affordable Care Act and 13 million more women will gain coverage by 2016. Maternity Coverage Preventive ... Expanded Insurance Coverage Endnotes Download "rb. ...

Understanding social engagement in autism: Being different in perceiving and sharing affordances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annika eHellendoorn

2014-08-01

Full Text Available In the current paper I will argue that the notion of affordances offers an alternative to theory of mind (ToM approaches in studying social engagement in general and in explaining social engagement in autism spectrum disorder (ASD specifically. Affordances are the possibilities for action offered by the environment. In contrast to ToM approaches, the concept of affordances implies the complementarity of person and environment and rejects the dualism of mind and behaviour. In line with the Gibsonian idea that a child must eventually perceive the affordances of the environment for others as well for herself in order to become socialized, I will hypothesize that individuals with ASD often do not perceive the same affordances in the environment as other people do and have difficulties perceiving others' affordances. This can lead to a disruption of interpersonal behaviours. I will further argue that the methods for studying social engagement should be adapted if we want to take interaction into account.

Mapping actions to improve access to medicines for mental disorders in low and middle income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbui, C; Dua, T; Kolappa, K; Saraceno, B; Saxena, S

2017-10-01

In recent years a number of intergovernmental initiatives have been activated in order to enhance the capacity of countries to improve access to essential medicines, particularly for mental disorders. In May 2013 the 66th World Health Assembly adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020, which builds upon the work of WHO's Mental Health Gap Action Programme. Within this programme, evidence-based guidelines for mental disorders were developed, including recommendations on appropriate use of medicines. Subsequently, the 67th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on access to essential medicines, which urged Member States to improve national policies for the selection of essential medicines and to promote their availability, affordability and appropriate use. Following the precedent set by these important initiatives, this article presents eleven actions for improving access and appropriate use of psychotropic medicines. A 4 × 4 framework mapping actions as a function of the four components of access - selection, availability, affordability and appropriate use - and across four different health care levels, three of which belong to the supply side and one to the demand side, was developed. The actions are: developing a medicine selection process; promoting information and education activities for staff and end-users; developing a medicine regulation process; implementing a reliable supply system; implementing a reliable quality-control system; developing a community-based system of mental health care and promoting help-seeking behaviours; developing international agreements on medicine affordability; developing pricing policies and a sustainable financing system; developing or adopting evidence-based guidelines; monitoring the use of psychotropic medicines; promoting training initiatives for staff and end-users on critical appraisal of scientific evidence and appropriate use of psychotropic medicines. Activating

Embodied perception: A proposal to reconcile affordance and spatial perception

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Canal Bruland, R.; van der Kamp, J.

2015-01-01

Proffitt's embodied approach to perception is deeply indebted to Gibson's ecological approach to visual perception, in particular the idea that the primary objects of perception are affordances or what the environment offers for action. Yet, rather than directly addressing affordance perception,

Mapping the evolution of 'food deserts' in a Canadian city: Supermarket accessibility in London, Ontario, 1961–2005

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gilliland Jason

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A growing body of research suggests that the suburbanization of food retailers in North America and the United Kingdom in recent decades has contributed to the emergence of urban 'food deserts', or disadvantaged areas of cities with relatively poor access to healthy and affordable food. This paper explores the evolution of food deserts in a mid-sized Canadian city (London, Ontario by using a geographic information system (GIS to map the precise locations of supermarkets in 1961 and 2005; multiple techniques of network analysis were used to assess changing levels of supermarket access in relation to neighbourhood location, socioeconomic characteristics, and access to public transit. Results The findings indicate that residents of inner-city neighbourhoods of low socioeconomic status have the poorest access to supermarkets. Furthermore, spatial inequalities in access to supermarkets have increased over time, particularly in the inner-city neighbourhoods of Central and East London, where distinct urban food deserts now exist. Conclusion Contrary to recent findings in larger Canadian cities, we conclude that urban food deserts exist in London, Ontario. Policies aimed at improving public health must also recognize the spatial, as well as socioeconomic, inequities with respect to access to healthy and affordable food. Additional research is necessary to better understand how supermarket access influences dietary behaviours and related health outcomes.

Mapping the evolution of 'food deserts' in a Canadian city: Supermarket accessibility in London, Ontario, 1961–2005

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Kristian; Gilliland, Jason

2008-01-01

Background A growing body of research suggests that the suburbanization of food retailers in North America and the United Kingdom in recent decades has contributed to the emergence of urban 'food deserts', or disadvantaged areas of cities with relatively poor access to healthy and affordable food. This paper explores the evolution of food deserts in a mid-sized Canadian city (London, Ontario) by using a geographic information system (GIS) to map the precise locations of supermarkets in 1961 and 2005; multiple techniques of network analysis were used to assess changing levels of supermarket access in relation to neighbourhood location, socioeconomic characteristics, and access to public transit. Results The findings indicate that residents of inner-city neighbourhoods of low socioeconomic status have the poorest access to supermarkets. Furthermore, spatial inequalities in access to supermarkets have increased over time, particularly in the inner-city neighbourhoods of Central and East London, where distinct urban food deserts now exist. Conclusion Contrary to recent findings in larger Canadian cities, we conclude that urban food deserts exist in London, Ontario. Policies aimed at improving public health must also recognize the spatial, as well as socioeconomic, inequities with respect to access to healthy and affordable food. Additional research is necessary to better understand how supermarket access influences dietary behaviours and related health outcomes. PMID:18423005

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the regulation of the health insurance industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Jha, Saurabh; Baker, Tom

2012-12-01

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a comprehensive and multipronged reform of the US health care system. The legislation makes incremental changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and the market for employer-sponsored health insurance. However, it makes substantial changes to the market for individual and small-group health insurance. The purpose of this article is to introduce the key regulatory reforms in the market for individual and small-group health insurance and explain how these reforms tackle adverse selection and risk classification and improve access to health care for the hitherto uninsured or underinsured population. Copyright © 2012 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Affordances and Landscapes: Overcoming the Nature-Culture Dichotomy through Niche Construction Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Heras-Escribano, Manuel; De Pinedo-García, Manuel

2017-01-01

In this paper we reject the nature-culture dichotomy by means of the idea of affordance or possibility for action, which has important implications for landscape theory. Our hypothesis is that, just as the idea of affordance can serve to overcome the subjective-objective dichotomy, the ideas of landscape and ecological niche, properly defined, would allow us to also transcend the nature-culture dichotomy. First, we introduce an overview of landscape theory, emphasizing processual landscape theory as the most suitable approach for satisfying both cultural and naturalist approaches. After that, we introduce the idea of affordance and we analyze a tension between sociocultural and transcultural affordances (affordances that depend on cultural conventions and affordances that depend on lawful information and bodily aspects of agents). This tension has various implications for landscape theory and ecological niches. Our proposal is that sociocultural and transcultural aspects of affordances could be systematically accommodated if we apply niche construction theory (the theory that explains the process by which organisms modify their selective environments) as a methodological framework for explaining the emergence of ecological niches. This approach will lead us to an integrative account of landscapes as the products of the interaction between human and environmental elements, making it a clear example of a concept that transcends the nature-culture dichotomy.

Affordance Realization in Climbing: Learning and Transfer.

Science.gov (United States)

Seifert, Ludovic; Orth, Dominic; Mantel, Bruno; Boulanger, Jérémie; Hérault, Romain; Dicks, Matt

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate how the affordances of an indoor climbing wall changed for intermediate climbers following a period of practice during which hold orientation was manipulated within a learning and transfer protocol. The learning protocol consisted of four sessions, in which eight climbers randomly ascended three different routes of fixed absolute difficulty (5c on the French scale), as fluently as possible. All three routes were 10.3 m in height and composed of 20 hand-holds at the same locations on an artificial climbing wall; only hold orientations were altered: (i) a horizontal-edge route (H) was designed to afford horizontal hold grasping, (ii) a vertical-edge route (V) afforded vertical hold grasping, and (iii), a double-edge route (D) was designed to afford both horizontal and vertical hold grasping. Five inertial measurement units (IMU) (3D accelerometer, 3D gyroscope, 3D magnetometer) were attached to the hip, feet and forearms to analyze the vertical acceleration and direction (3D unitary vector) of each limb and hip in ambient space during the entire ascent. Segmentation and classification processes supported detection of movement and stationary phases for each IMU. Depending on whether limbs and/or hip were moving, a decision tree distinguished four states of behavior: stationary (absence of limb and hip motion), hold exploration (absence of hip motion but at least one limb in motion), hip movement (hip in motion but absence of limb motion) and global motion (hip in motion and at least one limb in motion). Results showed that with practice, the learners decreased the relative duration of hold exploration, suggesting that they improved affordance perception of hold grasp-ability. The number of performatory movements also decreased as performance increased during learning sessions, confirming that participants' climbing efficacy improved as a function of practice. Last, the results were more marked for the H route, while the D route

Affordance Realization in Climbing: Learning and Transfer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ludovic Seifert

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate how the affordances of an indoor climbing wall changed for intermediate climbers following a period of practice during which hold orientation was manipulated within a learning and transfer protocol. The learning protocol consisted of four sessions, in which eight climbers randomly ascended three different routes of fixed absolute difficulty (5c on the French scale, as fluently as possible. All three routes were 10.3 m in height and composed of 20 hand-holds at the same locations on an artificial climbing wall; only hold orientations were altered: (i a horizontal-edge route (H was designed to afford horizontal hold grasping, (ii a vertical-edge route (V afforded vertical hold grasping, and (iii, a double-edge route (D was designed to afford both horizontal and vertical hold grasping. Five inertial measurement units (IMU (3D accelerometer, 3D gyroscope, 3D magnetometer were attached to the hip, feet and forearms to analyze the vertical acceleration and direction (3D unitary vector of each limb and hip in ambient space during the entire ascent. Segmentation and classification processes supported detection of movement and stationary phases for each IMU. Depending on whether limbs and/or hip were moving, a decision tree distinguished four states of behavior: stationary (absence of limb and hip motion, hold exploration (absence of hip motion but at least one limb in motion, hip movement (hip in motion but absence of limb motion and global motion (hip in motion and at least one limb in motion. Results showed that with practice, the learners decreased the relative duration of hold exploration, suggesting that they improved affordance perception of hold grasp-ability. The number of performatory movements also decreased as performance increased during learning sessions, confirming that participants' climbing efficacy improved as a function of practice. Last, the results were more marked for the H route, while the D

Are e-Books for Everyone? An Evaluation of Academic e-Book Platforms' Accessibility Features

Science.gov (United States)

Mune, Christina; Agee, Ann

2016-01-01

With the increasing prevalence of e-books in academic library collections, faculty and librarians have begun to express concern regarding the accessibility of these digital texts for students with physical or learning disabilities. To begin addressing these concerns, the California State University System's Affordable Learning Solutions…

Advantages of utilizing DMD based rapid manufacturing systems in mass customization applications

Science.gov (United States)

El-Siblani, A.

2010-02-01

The Use of DMD based Rapid Manufacturing Systems has proven to be very advantageous in the production of highly accurate plastic based components for use in mass customization market such as hearing aids, and dental markets. The voxelization process currently afforded with the DLP technology eliminates any layering effect associated with all existing additive Rapid Manufacturing technologies. The smooth accurate surfaces produced in an additive process utilizing DLP technology, through the voxelization approach, allow for the production of custom finished products. The implementation of DLP technology in rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing systems allow for the usage of highly viscous photopolymer based liquid and paste composites for rapid manufacturing that could not be used in any other additive process prior to implementation of DLP technology in RP and RM systems. It also allowed for the greater throughput in production without sacrificing quality and accuracy.

Access to Orthopaedic Surgical Care in Northern Tanzania: A Modelling Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Premkumar, Ajay; Ying, Xiaohan; Mack Hardaker, W; Massawe, Honest H; Mshahaba, David J; Mandari, Faiton; Pallangyo, Anthony; Temu, Rogers; Masenga, Gileard; Spiegel, David A; Sheth, Neil P

2018-04-25

The global burden of musculoskeletal disease and resulting disability is enormous and is expected to increase over the next few decades. In the world's poorest regions, the paucity of information defining and quantifying the current state of access to orthopaedic surgical care is a major problem in developing effective solutions. This study estimates the number of individuals in Northern Tanzania without adequate access to orthopaedic surgical services. A chance tree was created to model the probability of access to orthopaedic surgical services in the Northern Tanzanian regions of Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Tanga, Singida, and Manyara, with respect to four dimensions: timeliness, surgical capacity, safety, and affordability. Timeliness was estimated by the proportion of people living within a 4-h driving distance from a hospital with an orthopaedic surgeon, capacity by comparing number of surgeries performed to the number of surgeries indicated, safety by applying WHO Emergency and Essential Surgical Care infrastructure and equipment checklists, and affordability by approximating the proportion of the population protected from catastrophic out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure. We accounted for uncertainty in our model with one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Data sources included the Tanzanian National Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Finance, World Bank, World Health Organization, New Zealand Ministry of Health, Google Corporation, NASA population estimator, and 2015 hospital records from Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, Machame Hospital, Nkoroanga Hospital, Mt. Meru Hospital, and Arusha Lutheran Medical Center. Under the most conservative assumptions, more than 90% of the Northern Tanzanian population does not have access to orthopaedic surgical services. There is a near absence of access to orthopaedic surgical care in Northern Tanzania. These findings utilize more precise country and region-specific data and are consistent with prior published

Access to comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care facilities in three rural districts of Sindh province, Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Ansari, Muhammad Shahid; Manzoor, Rabia; Siddiqui, Nasim; Ahmed, Ahsan Maqbool

2015-11-25

Pakistan's maternal and child health indicators remain unacceptably high, with a maternal mortality ratio of 276 per 100,000 live births and a neonatal mortality rate of 55 per 1,000 live births. Provision of basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care is mandated by the government; however, coverage, access, and utilisation levels remain unsatisfactory, with the situation in Sindh province being amongst the worst in the country. This study attempted to assess access to comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (C-EmONC) facilities and barriers hampering access in Sindh. One public sector hospital in each of three districts in Sindh province providing C-EmONC services were selected for a facility exit survey. A cross-sectional household survey and focus group discussions were conducted in the catchment population of these hospitals. Overall, 82% and 96% of those who utilised a public or private C-EmONC facility, respectively, incurred out-of-pocket expenditure. As expected, those living more than 5 km from the facility reported higher mean expenditure than those living within 5 km of the facility. More than half of the respondents (55%) among public sector users and the majority (71%) of private sector users could not afford travel costs. More than one third (35%) of public sector users and about two thirds (64%) of private sector users who could not afford travel costs took loans. The proportion of respondents who took loans was higher among those living more than 5 km of the health facility compared to those living within a 5 km distance. The majority of respondents (70%) in the community survey chose to go to a private sector C-EmONC facility. In addition to poverty, in terms of sociocultural access, religious and ethnic discrimination and the poor attitude of facility staff were amongst the most important barriers to accessing a C-EmONC facility. C-EmONC facilities in both the public and private sectors may simply not be accessible and

Electricity (in)accessibility to the urban poor in developing countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Singh, Rozita; Wang, Xiao; Mendoza, Juan Carlos

2015-01-01

More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. The difficulties involved in providing new urban residents with a wide variety of services reveals a new face of poverty, one in which urban communities cannot access or afford basic modern energy services for their development...... and empowerment. As an enabler of development processes, access to electricity in urban and peri-urban contexts plays a key role in providing possibilities and solutions to the urban poor. Energy poverty is no longer a rural-only phenomenon, and a concerted effort is needed to find solutions. Taking...... this into account, the Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development (GNESD) initiated the Urban Peri-Urban Energy Access (UPEA) project in 2006. The objective was to understand the barriers to energy access in the context of the urban poor in seven countries. Barriers from both the supply and demand sides...

Affordances and Landscapes: Overcoming the Nature–Culture Dichotomy through Niche Construction Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Heras-Escribano, Manuel; De Pinedo-García, Manuel

2018-01-01

In this paper we reject the nature–culture dichotomy by means of the idea of affordance or possibility for action, which has important implications for landscape theory. Our hypothesis is that, just as the idea of affordance can serve to overcome the subjective–objective dichotomy, the ideas of landscape and ecological niche, properly defined, would allow us to also transcend the nature–culture dichotomy. First, we introduce an overview of landscape theory, emphasizing processual landscape theory as the most suitable approach for satisfying both cultural and naturalist approaches. After that, we introduce the idea of affordance and we analyze a tension between sociocultural and transcultural affordances (affordances that depend on cultural conventions and affordances that depend on lawful information and bodily aspects of agents). This tension has various implications for landscape theory and ecological niches. Our proposal is that sociocultural and transcultural aspects of affordances could be systematically accommodated if we apply niche construction theory (the theory that explains the process by which organisms modify their selective environments) as a methodological framework for explaining the emergence of ecological niches. This approach will lead us to an integrative account of landscapes as the products of the interaction between human and environmental elements, making it a clear example of a concept that transcends the nature–culture dichotomy. PMID:29375426

Insights into the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria in Ghana: the role of caregivers and licensed chemical sellers in four regions.

Science.gov (United States)

Adjei, Andrew A; Winch, Peter; Laar, Amos; Sullivan, David J; Sakyi, Kwame S; Stephens, Judith K; Adjei, George O; Boateng, Isaac A; Aubyn, Vivian N Ama; Kubio, Chrysantus; Tuakli, Julliette; Vanotoo, Linda; Bortei, Bernard B; Amo-Addae, Maame; Sorvor, Felix; Coleman, Nathaniel; Dalglish, Sarah; Owusu, Richmond; Gebreyesus, Tsega; Essuman, Edward; Greene, Rebecca; Ankomah, Ezekiel; Houston, Kiely; Bart-Plange, Constance; Salamat, Samuel; Addison, Ebenezer A; Quakyi, Isabella A

2016-05-10

The Affordable Medicine Facility-malaria (AMFm) was an innovative global financing mechanism for the provision of quality-assured artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) across both the private and public health sectors in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluated the effectiveness of AMFm subsidies in increasing access to ACT in Ghana and documented malaria management practices at the household and community levels during the implementation of the AMFm. This study, conducted in four regions in Ghana between January, 2011 to December, 2012, employed cross-sectional mixed-methods design that included qualitative and quantitative elements, specifically household surveys, focus group discussions (FGD) and in-depth interviews. The study indicated high ACT availability, adequate provider knowledge and reasonably low quality-assured ACT use in the study areas, all of which are a reflection of a high market share of ACT in these hard-to-reach areas of the country. Adequate recognition of childhood malaria symptoms by licensed chemical seller (LCS) attendants was observed. A preference by caregivers for LCS over health facilities for seeking treatment solutions to childhood malaria was found. Artemisinin-based combination therapy with the AMFm logo was accessible and affordable for most people seeking treatment from health facilities and LCS shops in rural areas. Caregivers and LCS were seen to play key roles in the health of the community especially with children under 5 years of age.

Sierra Stars Observatory Network: An Accessible Global Network

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Richard; Beshore, Edward

2011-03-01

The Sierra Stars Observatory Network (SSON) is a unique partnership among professional observatories that provides its users with affordable high-quality calibrated image data. SSON comprises observatories in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere and is in the process of expanding to a truly global network capable of covering the entire sky 24 hours a day in the near future. The goal of SSON is to serve the needs of science-based projects and programs. Colleges, universities, institutions, and individuals use SSON for their education and research projects. The mission of SSON is to promote and expand the use of its facilities among the thousands of colleges and schools worldwide that do not have access to professional-quality automated observatory systems to use for astronomy education and research. With appropriate leadership and guidance educators can use SSON to help teach astronomy and do meaningful scientific projects. The relatively small cost of using SSON for this type of work makes it affordable and accessible for educators to start using immediately. Remote observatory services like SSON need to evolve to better support education and research initiatives of colleges, institutions and individual investigators. To meet these needs, SSON is developing a sophisticated interactive scheduling system to integrate among the nodes of the observatory network. This will enable more dynamic observations, including immediate priority interrupts, acquiring moving objects using ephemeris data, and more.

77 FR 36272 - SunShot Prize: America's Most Affordable Rooftop

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-18

...The Department of Energy (DOE) announces in this notice the release of the SunShot Prize: America's Most Affordable Rooftop Solar for public comment. Interested persons are encouraged to learn about the SunShot Prize: America's Most Affordable Rooftop rules at eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot/prize.html.

Affordances and Cognitive Walkthrough for Analyzing Human-Virtual Human Interaction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruttkay, Z.M.; op den Akker, Hendrikus J.A.; Esposito, A.; Bourbakis, N.; Avouris, N.; Hatzilygeroudis, I.

2008-01-01

This study investigates how the psychological notion of affordance, known from human computer interface design, can be adopted for the analysis and design of communication of a user with a Virtual Human (VH), as a novel interface. We take as starting point the original notion of affordance, used to

Facilitating investment in affordable housing : Towards an Australian model. Draft

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lawson, J.M.; Berry, M.; Milligan, V.; Yates, J.

2009-01-01

This paper argues that sustainable and affordable finance provides a crucial pillar to support the provision of affordable housing in the long term. This finance can take on a variety of forms, comprising grants, public loans, commercial loans as well as shareholder equity. It can be facilitated by

The Role of Motor Affordances in Visual Working Memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diane Pecher

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Motor affordances are important for object knowledge. Semantic tasks on visual objects often show interactions with motor actions. Prior neuro-imaging studies suggested that motor affordances also play a role in visual working memory for objects. When participants remembered manipulable objects (e.g., hammer greater premotor cortex activation was observed than when they remembered non-manipulable objects (e.g., polar bear. In the present study participants held object pictures in working memory while performing concurrent tasks such as articulation of nonsense syllables and performing hand movements. Although concurrent tasks did interfere with working memory performance, in none of the experiments did we find any evidence that concurrent motor tasks affected memory differently for manipulable and non-manipulable objects. I conclude that motor affordances are not used for visual working memory.

Socially-marketed rapid diagnostic tests and ACT in the private sector: ten years of experience in Cambodia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Allen Henrietta

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Whilst some populations have recently experienced dramatic declines in malaria, the majority of those most at risk of Plasmodium falciparum malaria still lack access to effective treatment with artemisinin combination therapy (ACT and others are already facing parasites resistant to artemisinins. In this context, there is a crucial need to improve both access to and targeting of ACT through greater availability of good quality ACT and parasitological diagnosis. This is an issue of increasing urgency notably in the private commercial sector, which, in many countries, plays an important role in the provision of malaria treatment. The Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria (AMFm is a recent initiative that aims to increase the provision of affordable ACT in public, private and NGO sectors through a manufacturer-level subsidy. However, to date, there is little documented experience in the programmatic implementation of subsidized ACT in the private sector. Cambodia is in the unique position of having more than 10 years of experience not only in implementing subsidized ACT, but also rapid diagnostic tests (RDT as part of a nationwide social marketing programme. The programme includes behaviour change communication and the training of private providers as well as the sale and distribution of Malarine, the recommended ACT, and Malacheck, the RDT. This paper describes and evaluates this experience by drawing on the results of household and provider surveys conducted since the start of the programme. The available evidence suggests that providers' and consumers' awareness of Malarine increased rapidly, but that of Malacheck much less so. In addition, improvements in ACT and RDT availability and uptake were relatively slow, particularly in more remote areas. The lack of standardization in the survey methods and the gaps in the data highlight the importance of establishing a clear system for monitoring and evaluation for similar initiatives

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-08-01

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

The universal access handbook

CERN Document Server

Stephanidis, Constantine

2009-01-01

In recent years, the field of Universal Access has made significant progress in consolidating theoretical approaches, scientific methods and technologies, as well as in exploring new application domains. Increasingly, professionals in this rapidly maturing area require a comprehensive and multidisciplinary resource that addresses current principles, methods, and tools. Written by leading international authorities from academic, research, and industrial organizations and nonmarket institutions, The Universal Access Handbook covers the unfolding scientific, methodological, technological, and pol

Refining Grasp Affordance Models by Experience

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Detry, Renaud; Kraft, Dirk; Buch, Anders Glent

2010-01-01

We present a method for learning object grasp affordance models in 3D from experience, and demonstrate its applicability through extensive testing and evaluation on a realistic and largely autonomous platform. Grasp affordance refers here to relative object-gripper configurations that yield stable...... with a visual model of the object they characterize. We explore a batch-oriented, experience-based learning paradigm where grasps sampled randomly from a density are performed, and an importance-sampling algorithm learns a refined density from the outcomes of these experiences. The first such learning cycle...... is bootstrapped with a grasp density formed from visual cues. We show that the robot effectively applies its experience by downweighting poor grasp solutions, which results in increased success rates at subsequent learning cycles. We also present success rates in a practical scenario where a robot needs...

Unequal access to ART: exploratory results from rural and urban case studies of ART use.

Science.gov (United States)

Cleary, Susan May; Birch, Stephen; Moshabela, Mosa; Schneider, Helen

2012-03-01

South Africa has the world's largest antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme. While services in the public sector are free at the point of use, little is known about overall access barriers. This paper explores these barriers from the perspective of ART users enrolled in services in two rural and two urban settings. Using a comprehensive framework of access, interviews were conducted with over 1200 ART users to assess barriers along three dimensions: availability, affordability and acceptability. Summary statistics were computed and comparisons of access barriers between sites were explored using multivariate linear and logistic regressions. While availability access barriers in rural settings were found to be mitigated through a more decentralised model of service provision in one site, affordability barriers were considerably higher in rural versus urban settings. 50% of respondents incurred catastrophic healthcare expenditure and 36% borrowed money to cover these expenses in one rural site. On acceptability, rural users were less likely to report feeling respected by health workers. Stigma was reported to be lowest in the two sites with the most decentralised services and the highest coverage of those in need. While results suggest inequitable access to ART for rural relative to urban users, nurse-led services offered through primary healthcare facilities mitigated these barriers in one rural site. This is an important finding given current policy emphasis on decentralised and nurse-led ART in South Africa. This study is one of the first to present comprehensive evidence on access barriers to assist in the design of policy solutions.

Developing an agenda for research about policies to improve access to healthy foods in rural communities: a concept mapping study

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Policies that improve access to healthy, affordable foods may improve population health and reduce health disparities. In the United States most food access policy research focuses on urban communities even though residents of rural communities face disproportionately higher risk for nutrition-related chronic diseases compared to residents of urban communities. The purpose of this study was to (1) identify the factors associated with access to healthy, affordable food in rural communities in the United States; and (2) prioritize a meaningful and feasible rural food policy research agenda. Methods This study was conducted by the Rural Food Access Workgroup (RFAWG), a workgroup facilitated by the Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network. A national sample of academic and non-academic researchers, public health and cooperative extension practitioners, and other experts who focus on rural food access and economic development was invited to complete a concept mapping process that included brainstorming the factors that are associated with rural food access, sorting and organizing the factors into similar domains, and rating the importance of policies and research to address these factors. As a last step, RFAWG members convened to interpret the data and establish research recommendations. Results Seventy-five participants in the brainstorming exercise represented the following sectors: non-extension research (n = 27), non-extension program administration (n = 18), “other” (n = 14), policy advocacy (n = 10), and cooperative extension service (n = 6). The brainstorming exercise generated 90 distinct statements about factors associated with rural food access in the United States; these were sorted into 5 clusters. Go Zones were established for the factors that were rated highly as both a priority policy target and a priority for research. The highest ranked policy and research priorities include strategies designed to

Access to Paediatric Essential Medicines: A Survey of Prices, Availability, Affordability and Price Components in Shaanxi Province, China

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiao; Fang, Yu; Yang, Shimin; Jiang, Minghuan; Yan, Kangkang; Wu, Lina; Lv, Bing; Shen, Qian

2014-01-01

Objective To evaluate the prices and availability of paediatric essential medicines in Shaanxi Province, China. Methods Price and availability data for 28 paediatric essential medicines were collected from 60 public hospitals and 60 retail pharmacies in six areas of Shaanxi Province using a standardised methodology developed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International, during November to December 2012. Affordability was measured as the number of days’ wages required for the lowest-paid unskilled government worker to purchase standard treatments for common conditions. Data on medicine price components were collected from hospitals, wholesalers and distributors to obtain price mark-ups. Findings The mean availabilities of originator brands (OBs) and lowest-priced generics (LPGs) were 10.8% and 27.3% in the public hospitals and 11.9% and 20.6% in the private pharmacies. The public procurement and retail prices were 2.25 and 2.59 times the international reference prices (IRPs) for three OBs, and 0.52 and 0.93 times for 20 LPGs. In the private sector, the final prices for OBs and LPGs were 3.89 and 1.25 times their IRPs. The final price in the private sector was 2.7% lower than in the public sector for OBs, and 14.1% higher for LPGs. Generally, standard treatments cost less than 1 day’s wages in both sectors. Distribution mark-ups applied to brand salbutamol in Xi'an was 65.5%, and up to 185.3% for generic. Cumulative mark-ups for LPGs in Ankang were also high, from 33% to 50%. The manufacturer’s selling price is the largest contributor to the final price in both areas. Conclusions The government should approve a list of national paediatric essential medicines. The availability, price and affordability of these should be improved in both public hospitals and private pharmacies to enable children to obtain effective treatment. Measures should be taken to improve the efficiency of the centralised medicine purchasing system. PMID:24595099

Access to paediatric essential medicines: a survey of prices, availability, affordability and price components in Shaanxi Province, China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao Wang

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prices and availability of paediatric essential medicines in Shaanxi Province, China. METHODS: Price and availability data for 28 paediatric essential medicines were collected from 60 public hospitals and 60 retail pharmacies in six areas of Shaanxi Province using a standardised methodology developed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International, during November to December 2012. Affordability was measured as the number of days' wages required for the lowest-paid unskilled government worker to purchase standard treatments for common conditions. Data on medicine price components were collected from hospitals, wholesalers and distributors to obtain price mark-ups. FINDINGS: The mean availabilities of originator brands (OBs and lowest-priced generics (LPGs were 10.8% and 27.3% in the public hospitals and 11.9% and 20.6% in the private pharmacies. The public procurement and retail prices were 2.25 and 2.59 times the international reference prices (IRPs for three OBs, and 0.52 and 0.93 times for 20 LPGs. In the private sector, the final prices for OBs and LPGs were 3.89 and 1.25 times their IRPs. The final price in the private sector was 2.7% lower than in the public sector for OBs, and 14.1% higher for LPGs. Generally, standard treatments cost less than 1 day's wages in both sectors. Distribution mark-ups applied to brand salbutamol in Xi'an was 65.5%, and up to 185.3% for generic. Cumulative mark-ups for LPGs in Ankang were also high, from 33% to 50%. The manufacturer's selling price is the largest contributor to the final price in both areas. CONCLUSIONS: The government should approve a list of national paediatric essential medicines. The availability, price and affordability of these should be improved in both public hospitals and private pharmacies to enable children to obtain effective treatment. Measures should be taken to improve the efficiency of the centralised medicine purchasing system.

A national survey on availability, price and affordability of selected essential medicines for non communicable diseases in Sri Lanka.

Science.gov (United States)

Dabare, Panthihage Ruvini L; Wanigatunge, Chandanie A; Beneragama, Bvs Hemantha

2014-08-08

Access to medicines is a universal right. Low availability and low affordability of medicines are issues that deny this right to a significant proportion of the world population. The objective of this study was to determine the availability, price and affordability of essential medicines prescribed to treat non communicable diseases in Sri Lanka. Methodology was based on the 2nd edition of the World Health Organization Health Action International Manual. A country survey was conducted and facilities representing both public and private pharmacies were selected. A total of 109 facilities was surveyed. At each facility data on the availability and prices of 50 essential medicines for non communicable diseases were collected. Percentage availability, median price of originator brand and lowest priced generic, median price ratio to the International Reference Price were calculated for surveyed medicines. Affordability was determined using the daily incomes of the lowest--paid unskilled government worker. Semi government community pharmacies had the highest (>80%) availability while outdoor pharmacies of public health care facilities, private pharmacies and outdoor pharmacies of private hospital showed a fairly high availability (50 - 80%) of surveyed medicines.Unit price of 76% of selected individual medicines was less than ten Sri Lankan rupees. Out of these 28% of medicines cost less than one Sri Lanka rupee. For 21 of the surveyed medicines the median price ratio to the international reference price was less than one. The prices of originator brands for 14 surveyed medicines were more than five times that of the lowest price generics.Less than a single day's wages was adequate to purchase a month's supply of the lowest priced generic of more than 67% of surveyed medicines. The availability of selected essential medicines was fairly high in both public and private sectors in Sri Lanka. Most medicines are affordable to the lowest income earners in the community. There

Low-income consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards access, availability and motivation to eat fruit and vegetables

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dibsdall, L.A.; Lambert, N.; Bobbin, R.F.; Frewer, L.J.

2003-01-01

To determine low-income consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards fruit and vegetables, in particular issues of access to, affordability of and motivation to eat fruit and vegetables. Design and setting: Questionnaire survey mailed to homes owned by a large UK housing association. Participants:

Determining the availability of, and access to, fresh fruit and vegetables in Arcadia and Eastwood, Pretoria

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Phaphana, HM

2014-10-01

Full Text Available , healthy, and affordable food, even though it may have food outlets. The main aim of public transport planning is to simplify the accessibility to facilities and services, such as one’s working place, shops, restaurants, clinics, visiting friends, etc...

Clean drinking water as a sustainable development goal: Fair, universal access with increasing block tariffs

OpenAIRE

von Hirschhausen, Christian; Flekstad, Maya; Meran, Georg

2017-01-01

One focus of the G20 Summit in Hamburg in July 2017 was the United Nations' sustainable development goals, including those set for the water sector. Despite progress, around 800 million people worldwide do not have adequate access to drinking water. Increasing block tariffs are an instrument widely used to support access to drinking water for poorer segments of the population. With this system, the price of water progressively increases with the volume consumed. An affordable first block ensu...

NANOSIZED MAGNESIUM OXIDE AS CATALYST FOR THE RAPID AND GREEN SYNTHESIS OF SUBSTITUTED 2-AMINO-2-CHROMENES

Science.gov (United States)

A nanosized magnesium oxide catalyzed three-component condensation reaction of aldehyde, malononitrile and ¿-naphthol proceeded rapidly in water/PEG to afford corresponding 2-amino-2-chromenes in high yields at room temperature. The greener protocol was found to be fairly general...

Influence of Affordances in the Home Environment on Motor Development of Young Children in Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shiro Mori

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Previous research indicates that the home environment is a significant factor in early child development. The present study examined influence of the multidimensional home environment on young Japanese children’s motor development. A Japanese translation of the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Self Report (AHEMD-SR was used to assess home motor affordances in 262 families. Motor ability was assessed by parental report using the Enjoji Infant Analytic Developmental Test. We also asked parents to rate their own physical activity in terms of level and years of experience. As results, we found that the home environment in Japan was generally sufficient for children’s motor development and that children’s access to Fine Motor Toys (FMT and Gross Motor Toys (GMT had the strongest influence on their development. Analysis also indicated that AHEMD-SR scores were higher for children of parents who had some level of physical activity experience compared to children whose parents indicated no physical activity experience. Parents’ self-reported activity level was correlated with higher scores for the subscales FMT and GMT and for total AHEMD-SR score. These results indicate that both the physical and social-psychological environments (parental experience and views of the home influenced children’s motor development.

Active design in affordable housing: A public health nudge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth Garland

2018-06-01

Full Text Available This pilot study investigates the impact of active design (AD strategies on physical activity (PA among adults living in two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED certified affordable housing developments in the South Bronx, New York. One building incorporates LEED Innovation in Design (ID Credit: Design for Health through Increased Physical Activity. Tenants in an affordable housing building (AH incorporating active design strategies completed PA self-assessments at their lease signing and one year later in 2015. Trained research assistants obtained body measurements. Residents of neighboring non-AD affordable housing (MCV served as a comparison. Thirty four adults were recruited from AH and 29 from MCV, retention was 56% (n = 19 and 52% (n = 15 respectively at one year. The two groups' body mass index (BMI and high-risk waist-to-hip ratio (WHR were not statistically significantly different when analyzed as continuous variables, although BMI category had a greater decline at AH than at MCV (p = 0.054. There was a 31.5% increase in AH participants meeting MPA requirements and a statistically significant improvement in females (p = 0.031; while there was no change in the MCV participants overall or when stratified by gender. AH participants were significantly more likely to have reported increased stair use and less likely to have reported no change or decreased stair use than participants from MCV participants (p = 0.033. Housing has a role in individual health outcomes and behavior change, broad adoption of active design strategies in affordable housing is warranted to improve physical activity measures. Keywords: Active design, Physical activity, Built environment, Affordable housing

Understanding and using technological affordances: a response to Boyle and Cook

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gráinne Conole

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Our use of affordance draws on Salomon (Salomon, 1993 who takes the definition back to Gibson and Norman (Gibson, 1977; Norman, 1988. Perhaps a key difference between the use of the term affordance in design is the emphasis on intended use, whereas our approach reflects Salomon's focus on ‘possible' use. Like Gibson the approach taken in our paper is focused on the relationship between the infrastructure of information and communication technologies and people's use of those technologies. We are interested in asking questions about what uses ICT invites and facilitates, what it lends itself to and what it can do well. A potential difficulty with using a term so popular in the field of design is that ‘use' tends to be focused on how something ‘should' be used, what it is designed for. Discussion about affordance can be limited to the intended, prescribed or designed function of technology. We are also interested in exploring the creative and innovative way people respond to technologies and perhaps adapt them for use in unforeseen circumstances. An affordance of the technology does not simply refer to the intended use but also to the unintended consequences. Google's use of hyper text links to drive the indexing of web searches might be an example of an affordance that is a consequence of creative engagement with technology, the adaptation rather than a feature of the original design related to hypertext. Another example of this adaptive use of hypertext might include its use by teachers to provide a digital framework for formative assessment and support for student learning. Class room teachers were quick to adapt presentation software and hyper text to present more interactive activity lessons. Software affording transmission modes of delivery was thereby adapted to users needs and a more interactive affordance created.

The U.S. health insurance marketplace: are premiums truly affordable?

Science.gov (United States)

Graetz, Ilana; Kaplan, Cameron M; Kaplan, Erin K; Bailey, James E; Waters, Teresa M

2014-10-21

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires that individuals have health insurance or pay a penalty. Individuals are exempt from paying this penalty if the after-subsidy cost of the least-expensive plan available to them is greater than 8% of their income. For this study, premium data for all health plans offered on the state and federal health insurance marketplaces were collected; the after-subsidy cost of premiums for the least-expensive bronze plan for every county in the United States was calculated; and variations in premium affordability by age, income, and geographic area were assessed. Results indicated that-although marketplace subsidies ensure affordable health insurance for most persons in the United States-many individuals with incomes just above the subsidy threshold will lack affordable coverage and will be exempt from the mandate. Furthermore, young individuals with low incomes often pay as much as or more than older individuals for bronze plans. If substantial numbers of younger, healthier adults choose to remain uninsured because of cost, health insurance premiums across all ages may increase over time.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-01-01

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

Access to health care for children with neural tube defects: Experiences of mothers in Zambia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Micah M. Simpamba

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: In Zambia, all children born with neural tube defects requiring surgery need to be referred to a tertiary level hospital in Lusaka, the capital city, where the specialists are based. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of mothers accessing health care who had recently given birth to a child with a neural tube defect. Methods and analysis: In-depth interviews were conducted with a purposively selected sample of 20 mothers at the tertiary level hospital. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and translated. Content analysis was used to identify codes, which were later collapsed into categories and themes. Findings: Five themes emerged: access to health care, access to transport, access to information, concerns about family and support needs. Discussion: Barriers to access to health care included geographical barriers and barriers linked to availability. Geographical barriers were related to distance between home and the health centre, and referral between health facilities. Barriers to availability included the lack of specialist health workers at various levels, and insufficient hospital vehicles to transport mothers and children to the tertiary level hospital. The main barrier to affordability was the cost of transport, which was alleviated by either family or government support. Acceptability of the health services was affected by a lack of information, incorrect advice, the attitude of health workers and the beliefs of the family. Conclusion: Access to health care by mothers of children with neural tube defects in Zambia is affected by geographical accessibility, availability, affordability and acceptability. The supply-side barriers and demand-side barriers require different interventions to address them. This suggests that health policy is needed which ensures access to surgery and follow-up care.

The Value of Full Correction: Achieving Excellent and Affordable Results.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Julie Bass

2016-01-01

Patients often come to medical aesthetic offices with hopes to fully correct lost facial volume and achieve a natural appearance. Unfortunately, the cost per syringe of dermal filler can be a barrier to desired outcomes. Many aesthetic practitioners do the best they can with the amount of product the patient can afford, often falling short of the "wow" effect for the patient. This article describes what one office implemented to solve the conundrum of affordability while still allowing offices to cover its own financial realities. This tool can help patients achieve beautiful, natural, and affordable outcomes while helping offices advance in manufacturer's tiers, improve word-of-mouth advertising, and increase job satisfaction.

The Affordances of Social Media Platforms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bucher, T.; Helmond, A.; Burgess, J.; Marwick, A.; Poell, T.

2018-01-01

This chapter reflects on the concept of affordance as a key term for understanding and analysing social media interfaces and the relations between technology and its users. In outlining its specific intellectual trajectory from psychology, to technology and design studies, sociology, and

Use of refractometry and colorimetry as field methods to rapidly assess antimalarial drug quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Michael D; Nettey, Henry; Villalva Rojas, Ofelia; Pamanivong, Chansapha; Khounsaknalath, Lamphet; Grande Ortiz, Miguel; Newton, Paul N; Fernández, Facundo M; Vongsack, Latsamy; Manolin, Ot

2007-01-04

The proliferation of counterfeit and poor-quality drugs is a major public health problem; especially in developing countries lacking adequate resources to effectively monitor their prevalence. Simple and affordable field methods provide a practical means of rapidly monitoring drug quality in circumstances where more advanced techniques are not available. Therefore, we have evaluated refractometry, colorimetry and a technique combining both processes as simple and accurate field assays to rapidly test the quality of the commonly available antimalarial drugs; artesunate, chloroquine, quinine, and sulfadoxine. Method bias, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy relative to high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) analysis of drugs collected in the Lao PDR were assessed for each technique. The HPLC method for each drug was evaluated in terms of assay variability and accuracy. The accuracy of the combined method ranged from 0.96 to 1.00 for artesunate tablets, chloroquine injectables, quinine capsules, and sulfadoxine tablets while the accuracy was 0.78 for enterically coated chloroquine tablets. These techniques provide a generally accurate, yet simple and affordable means to assess drug quality in resource-poor settings.

Automatic activation of motor programs by object affordances in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Oguro, Hiroaki; Ward, Robert; Bracewel, Martyn; Hindle, John; Rafal, Robert

2009-09-29

Clinical observations of kinesia paradoxica and freezing in patients with Parkinson's disease suggest that the automatic activation of motor programmes by visual stimuli may not require intact basal ganglia function, and that an increased sensitivity to such object affordances may contribute to some symptoms of the disease. Employing a paradigm that measures the degree of interference from object affordances on voluntary actions, we confirm that activation of object affordances are preserved in Parkinson's disease, but find no evidence that there is an increased sensitivity to the effects of object affordances on voluntary action.

Automatic activation of motor programs by object affordances in patients with Parkinson's disease

Science.gov (United States)

Oguro, Hiroaki; Ward, Robert; Bracewel, Martyn; Hindle, John; Rafal, Robert

2009-01-01

Clinical observations of kinesia paradoxica and freezing in patients with Parkinson's disease suggest that the automatic activation of motor programmes by visual stimuli may not require intact basal ganglia function, and that an increased sensitivity to such object affordances may contribute to some symptoms of the disease. Employing a paradigm that measures the degree of interference from object affordances on voluntary actions, we confirm that activation of object affordances are preserved in Parkinson's disease, but find no evidence that there is an increased sensitivity to the effects of object affordances on voluntary action. PMID:19616073

Trends in smoking and obesity among US adults before, during, and after the great recession and Affordable Care Act roll-out.

Science.gov (United States)

Pernenkil, Vikash; Wyatt, Taylor; Akinyemiju, Tomi

2017-09-01

This study examined trends in smoking and overweight/obesity rates among United States (US) adults ages 40years and older by race and socio-economic status (SES) across three study periods; pre-recession (2003-2005), recession (2007-2009), and post-recession/Affordable Care Act (2010-2012). Data was obtained from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), and multivariable regression analysis was used to examine changes in overweight/obesity, smoking, physical activity and smoking cessation rates over the study periods. There were 2,805,957 adults included in the analysis; 65.5% of the study population was overweight/obese, and 33.3% were current smokers. Smoking prevalence increased marginally among those with lower SES (incomesmoking overall decreased in the post-recession (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.92-0.94) and recession (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.94-0.97) periods. Overweight/obesity increased over the study periods, regardless of race, SES or healthcare access, while smoking rates showed significant declines post-recession compared with pre-recession, except in low SES groups. These findings suggest that strategies focused on reducing overweight/obesity and increasing access to smoking cessation services, especially among low-income adults, are needed. Prospective studies are needed to better evaluate the influence of the economic recession and Affordable Care Act on behavioral risk factors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Redefining nondiscriminatory access to remote sensing imagery and its impact on global transparency

Science.gov (United States)

Aten, Michelle L.

2003-04-01

Global transparency is founded on the Open Skies philosophy and its precept of non-discriminatory access. Global transparency implies that anyone can have anytime, anyplace access to a wide-array of remotely sensed imagery. The custom of non-discriminatory access requires that datasets of interest must be affordable, usable, and obtainable in a timely fashion devoid of political, economic or technical obstacles. Thus, an assessment of the correlation between the availability of satellite imagery and changes in governmental policies, pricing fluctuations of data, and advances in technology is critical to assessing the viability of global transparency. The Open Skies philosophy was originally proposed at the 1955 Geneva Summit to advocate mutually beneficial aerial reconnaissance missions over the USSR and the US as a verification tool for arms control and non-proliferation agreements. However, due to Cold War tensions, this philosophy and the custom of non-discriminatory were not widely adopted in the civilian remote sensing community until the commissioning of the Landsat Program in 1972. Since this time, commercial high-resolution satellites have drastically changed the circumstances on which the fundamental tenets of this philosophy are based. Since the successful launch of the first of this satellite class, the IKONOS satellite, high-resolution imagery is now available to non-US governments and an unlimited set of non-state actors. As more advanced capabilities are added to the growing assortment of remote sensing satellites, the reality of global transparency will rapidly evolve. This assessment includes an overview of historical precedents and a brief explanation of relevant US policy decisions that define non-discriminatory access with respect to US government and US based corporate assets. It also presents the dynamics of the political, economic, and technical barriers that may dictate or influence the remote sensing community's access to satellite data. In

Price, availability and affordability of medicines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brenda S. Mhlanga

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Medicines play an important role in healthcare, but prices can be a barrier to patient care. Few studies have looked at the prices of essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries in terms of patient affordability.Aim: To determine the prices, availability and affordability of medicines along the supply chain in Swaziland.Setting: Private- and public-sector facilities in Manzini, Swaziland.Methods: The standardised methodology designed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International was used to survey 16 chronic disease medicines. Data were collected in one administrative area in 10 private retail pharmacies and 10 public health facilities. Originator brand (OB and lowest-priced generic equivalent (LPG medicines were monitored and these prices were then compared with international reference prices (IRPs. Affordability was calculated in terms of the daily wage of the lowest-paid unskilled government worker.Results: Mean availability was 68% in the public sector. Private sector OB medicines were priced 32.4 times higher than IRPs, whilst LPGs were 7.32 times higher. OBs cost473% more than LPGs. The total cumulative mark-ups for individual medicines range from 190.99% – 440.27%. The largest contributor to add-on cost was the retail mark-up (31% – 53%. Standard treatment with originator brands cost more than a day’s wage.Conclusion: Various policy measures such as introducing price capping at all levels of the medicine supply chain, may increase the availability, whilst at the same time reducing the prices of essential medicines for the low income population.

Price, availability and affordability of medicines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brenda S. Mhlanga

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Medicines play an important role in healthcare, but prices can be a barrier to patient care. Few studies have looked at the prices of essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries in terms of patient affordability. Aim: To determine the prices, availability and affordability of medicines along the supply chain in Swaziland. Setting: Private- and public-sector facilities in Manzini, Swaziland. Methods: The standardised methodology designed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International was used to survey 16 chronic disease medicines. Data were collected in one administrative area in 10 private retail pharmacies and 10 public health facilities. Originator brand (OB and lowest-priced generic equivalent (LPG medicines were monitored and these prices were then compared with international reference prices (IRPs. Affordability was calculated in terms of the daily wage of the lowest-paid unskilled government worker. Results: Mean availability was 68% in the public sector. Private sector OB medicines were priced 32.4 times higher than IRPs, whilst LPGs were 7.32 times higher. OBs cost473% more than LPGs. The total cumulative mark-ups for individual medicines range from 190.99% – 440.27%. The largest contributor to add-on cost was the retail mark-up (31% – 53%. Standard treatment with originator brands cost more than a day’s wage. Conclusion: Various policy measures such as introducing price capping at all levels of the medicine supply chain, may increase the availability, whilst at the same time reducing the prices of essential medicines for the low income population.

Exploring inequalities in access to and use of maternal health services in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silal Sheetal P

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background South Africa’s maternal mortality rate (625 deaths/100,000 live births is high for a middle-income country, although over 90% of pregnant women utilize maternal health services. Alongside HIV/AIDS, barriers to Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care currently impede the country’s Millenium Development Goals (MDGs of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. While health system barriers to obstetric care have been well documented, “patient-oriented” barriers have been neglected. This article explores affordability, availability and acceptability barriers to obstetric care in South Africa from the perspectives of women who had recently used, or attempted to use, these services. Methods A mixed-method study design combined 1,231 quantitative exit interviews with sixteen qualitative in-depth interviews with women (over 18 in two urban and two rural health sub-districts in South Africa. Between June 2008 and September 2009, information was collected on use of, and access to, obstetric services, and socioeconomic and demographic details. Regression analysis was used to test associations between descriptors of the affordability, availability and acceptability of services, and demographic and socioeconomic predictor variables. Qualitative interviews were coded deductively and inductively using ATLAS ti.6. Quantitative and qualitative data were integrated into an analysis of access to obstetric services and related barriers. Results Access to obstetric services was impeded by affordability, availability and acceptability barriers. These were unequally distributed, with differences between socioeconomic groups and geographic areas being most important. Rural women faced the greatest barriers, including longest travel times, highest costs associated with delivery, and lowest levels of service acceptability, relative to urban residents. Negative provider-patient interactions, including staff inattentiveness, turning

Improving access to new diagnostics through harmonised regulation: priorities for action

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruth McNerney

2014-04-01

Full Text Available A new generation of diagnostic tests is being developed for use at the point of care that could save lives and reduce the spread of infectious diseases through early detection and treatment. It is important that patients in developing countries have access to these products at affordable prices and without delay. Regulation of medical products is intended to ensure safety and quality whilst balancing the need for timely access to beneficial new products. Current regulatory oversight of diagnostic tests in developing countries is highly variable and weak regulation allows poor-quality tests to enter the market. However, inefficient orover zealous regulation results in unnecessary delays, increases costs and acts as a barrier to innovation and market entry. Setting international standards and streamlining the regulatory process could reduce these barriers. Four priority activities have been identified where convergence of standards and protocols or joint review of data would be advantageous: (1 adoption of a common registration file for pre-market approval; (2 convergence of quality standards for manufacturing site inspections; (3 use of common evaluation protocols, aswell as joint review of data, to reduce unnecessary duplication of lengthy and costly clinical performance studies; and (4 use of networks of laboratories for post-market surveillance in order to monitor ongoing quality of diagnostic devices. The adoption and implementation of such measures in developing countries could accelerate access to new diagnostic tests that are safe and affordable.

Improving access to new diagnostics through harmonised regulation: priorities for action.

Science.gov (United States)

McNerney, Ruth; Sollis, Kimberly; Peeling, Rosanna W

2014-01-01

A new generation of diagnostic tests is being developed for use at the point of care that could save lives and reduce the spread of infectious diseases through early detection and treatment. It is important that patients in developing countries have access to these products at affordable prices and without delay. Regulation of medical products is intended to ensure safety and quality whilst balancing the need for timely access to beneficial new products. Current regulatory oversight of diagnostic tests in developing countries is highly variable and weak regulation allows poor-quality tests to enter the market. However, inefficient or overzealous regulation results in unnecessary delays, increases costs and acts as a barrier to innovation and market entry. Setting international standards and streamlining the regulatory process could reduce these barriers. Four priority activities have been identified where convergence of standards and protocols or joint review of data would be advantageous: (1) adoption of a common registration file for pre-market approval; (2) convergence of quality standards for manufacturing site inspections; (3) use of common evaluation protocols, as well as joint review of data, to reduce unnecessary duplication of lengthy and costly clinical performance studies; and (4) use of networks of laboratories for post-market surveillance in order to monitor ongoing quality of diagnostic devices. The adoption and implementation of such measures in developing countries could accelerate access to new diagnostic tests that are safe and affordable.

Putting out the welcome mat-targeting outreach efforts under the Affordable Care Act: Evidence from the Minnesota Community Application Agent Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Dybdal, Kristin; Blewett, Lynn A; Pintor, Jessie Kemmick; Johnson, Kelli

2015-01-01

An evaluation of the Minnesota Community Application Agent (MNCAA) Program was conducted for the MN Minnesota Department of Human Services and funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration's State Health Access Program grant. The MNCAA evaluation assessed effectiveness in reaching disparate populations, explored overall program value, and sought lessons applicable to the Navigator programs required under the Affordable Care Act. Mixed-methods approach using quantitative analysis of tracking and payment data and interviews with key informants to elicit "lessons learned" about the MNCAA program. The MNCAA program offers incentive payments and technical assistance to community partner organizations that assist individuals in applying for public health care coverage. A total of 140 unique community organizations participated in the MNCAA program in 2008 to 2012. Outreach staff and directors from participating MNCAAs and state/local government officials were interviewed. The article highlights a strategy for targeting outreach to individuals eligible for Medicaid coverage or subsidies under the Affordable Care Act by presenting evaluation findings from a unique outreach program to increase access to care for vulnerable populations in Minnesota. Almost two-thirds of applicants were successfully enrolled but lengthy waiting periods persisted. Seventy percent of applications came from health care organizations. Only 13% of applicants assisted by MNCAAs were new to public health care programs. Most MNCAAs believed that the incentive payment-$25 per successful enrollee-was insufficient. Significant expertise in enrolling individuals in public health care programs exists within a core group of community organizations. Incentives to leverage the capacity of community organizations must be accompanied by recruiting and training. Outreach providers and navigators also need timely access to client information. More investment in financial incentives will be required.

Social Media, Privacy, and Self-Disclosure: The Turbulence Caused by Social Media’s Affordances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabine Trepte

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The struggle we currently perceive in terms of social media privacy may be the result of the incompatible natures of “warm” and “cold” affordances. Whereas social media’s warm affordances reflect long-standing privacy routines and expectations, cold affordances seem to challenge and sometimes violate them. Sharing under the realm of warm affordances means sharing according to the routines and habits we know. Sharing under the realm of cold affordances means understanding social media’s terms and conditions and how they reflect on our relationships and experiences - similar to assimilating to a new culture that seems opaque and constantly in flux.

Accessibility of low-income family flats in North Jakarta city

Science.gov (United States)

Feminin, T. A.; Wiranegara, H. W.; Supriatna, Y.

2018-01-01

The majority of relocated, low-income families in North Jakarta city who residing the flats, complained at decreasing their accessibility to the workplaces and to the social facilities. The aim of this research was to identify the changing of their accessibility before and after relocated, viewed from three dimensions: distance, travel time, and travel cost to the workplaces, educational facilities, and shopping areas. The research design was questionnaire survey containing the degree of accessibility before and after resided the flats. Five flats were chosen as cases. Their inhabitants were chosen as respondents which used simple random sampling. The result showed that their flats accessibility to the workplaces in all three dimensions was lower than when they resided in the slum area. Also, in distance and travel time accessibility to shopping areas was lower. Only accessibility to educational facilities measured in those three dimensions was higher after they moved. Supply for affordable public transport from their flats to reach their workplaces is needed to raise their accessibility. Also, they need subsidizeto rent of their flats so the burden to their income lesser.Using the ground space of their flats for retail activities was to make more accessible for their shopping activities.

Affordance estimation for vision-based object replacement on a humanoid robot

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mustafa, Wail; Wächter, Mirko; Szedmak, Sandor

2016-01-01

In this paper, we address the problem of finding replacements of missing objects, involved in the execution of manipulation tasks. Our approach is based on estimating functional affordances for the unknown objects in order to propose replacements. We use a vision-based affordance estimation syste...

Defining and Measuring the Affordability of New Medicines : A Systematic Review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Antonanzas, Fernando; Terkola, Robert; Overton, Paul M.; Shalet, Natalie; Postma, Maarten

Background In many healthcare systems, affordability concerns can lead to restrictions on the use of expensive efficacious therapies. However, there does not appear to be any consensus as to the terminology used to describe affordability, or the thresholds used to determine whether new drugs are

System engineering of complex optical systems for mission assurance and affordability

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Anees

2017-08-01

Affordability and reliability are equally important as the performance and development time for many optical systems for military, space and commercial applications. These characteristics are even more important for the systems meant for space and military applications where total lifecycle costs must be affordable. Most customers are looking for high performance optical systems that are not only affordable but are designed with "no doubt" mission assurance, reliability and maintainability in mind. Both US military and commercial customers are now demanding an optimum balance between performance, reliability and affordability. Therefore, it is important to employ a disciplined systems design approach for meeting the performance, cost and schedule targets while keeping affordability and reliability in mind. The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) now requires all of their systems to be engineered, tested and produced according to the Mission Assurance Provisions (MAP). These provisions or requirements are meant to ensure complex and expensive military systems are designed, integrated, tested and produced with the reliability and total lifecycle costs in mind. This paper describes a system design approach based on the MAP document for developing sophisticated optical systems that are not only cost-effective but also deliver superior and reliable performance during their intended missions.

Artificial intelligence applications of fast optical memory access

Science.gov (United States)

Henshaw, P. D.; Todtenkopf, A. B.

The operating principles and performance of rapid laser beam-steering (LBS) techniques are reviewed and illustrated with diagrams; their applicability to fast optical-memory (disk) access is evaluated; and the implications of fast access for the design of expert systems are discussed. LBS methods examined include analog deflection (source motion, wavefront tilt, and phased arrays), digital deflection (polarization modulation, reflectivity modulation, interferometric switching, and waveguide deflection), and photorefractive LBS. The disk-access problem is considered, and typical LBS requirements are listed as 38,000 beam positions, rotational latency 25 ms, one-sector rotation time 1.5 ms, and intersector space 87 microsec. The value of rapid access for increasing the power of expert systems (by permitting better organization of blocks of information) is illustrated by summarizing the learning process of the MVP-FORTH system (Park, 1983).

flexZhouse: New business model for affordable housing in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Zairul bin Mohd Noor

2017-01-01

model (BM for affordable housing in Malaysia. The research was guided by the main research question ‘How can the flexZhouse BM provide a solution to the inflexibility, high prices and poor quality of newly built housing in Malaysia?’ The three main deductive codes were established as a priori codes derived from literature and constructed as the primary coding of design, finance and production. The three main problems were identified, namely inflexibility in design choices, high housing prices and poor housing quality. The focus of the research was established as the need for customization through design flexibility, the financial affordability and the housing quality in the production. Towards the end, several emerging codes were derived, those are; technical & technology, housing as an investment, housing ownership, accessibility, authority related matters and cultural and market acceptance. Findings The draft flexZhouse BM, which was established by a conceptual framework derived from a literature review, proved to be useful for both theoretical understanding and the practical application of the preliminary idea of the flexZhouse. The draft flexZhouse BM makes use of an innovative leasing approach inspired by the concept of the circular economy to make the flexZhouse affordable for young starters. A series of focus groups and other data sources showed that the need for housing customization is high and widely acknowledged by the target group. However, we found that private developers are not ready for innovation and are likely to resist such change, also because they need a more concrete proof of concept before accepting it. Their reaction is partly caused by their resistance to change from the conventional method to a new system, and is partly a result of their caution in the face of a high degree of uncertainty. It also shows that the concept, which is still at the early stage, needs to be tested in the market before they will accept the new idea. Nevertheless, a

Pedagogical Affordances of Multiple External Representations in Scientific Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Hsin-Kai; Puntambekar, Sadhana

2012-12-01

Multiple external representations (MERs) have been widely used in science teaching and learning. Theories such as dual coding theory and cognitive flexibility theory have been developed to explain why the use of MERs is beneficial to learning, but they do not provide much information on pedagogical issues such as how and in what conditions MERs could be introduced and used to support students' engagement in scientific processes and develop competent scientific practices (e.g., asking questions, planning investigations, and analyzing data). Additionally, little is understood about complex interactions among scientific processes and affordances of MERs. Therefore, this article focuses on pedagogical affordances of MERs in learning environments that engage students in various scientific processes. By reviewing literature in science education and cognitive psychology and integrating multiple perspectives, this article aims at exploring (1) how MERs can be integrated with science processes due to their different affordances, and (2) how student learning with MERs can be scaffolded, especially in a classroom situation. We argue that pairing representations and scientific processes in a principled way based on the affordances of the representations and the goals of the activities is a powerful way to use MERs in science education. Finally, we outline types of scaffolding that could help effective use of MERs including dynamic linking, model progression, support in instructional materials, teacher support, and active engagement.

Golf in the United States: an evolution of accessibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Parziale, John R

2014-09-01

Golf affords physical and psychological benefits to persons who are physically challenged. Advances in adaptive technology, changes in golf course design, and rules modifications have enabled persons with neurological, musculoskeletal, and other impairments to play golf at a recreational, elite amateur, or professional level. The Americans with Disabilities Act has been cited in both federal and US Supreme Court rulings that have improved access for physically challenged golfers. Medical specialties, including physiatry, have played an important role in this process. This article reviews the history of golf's improvements in accessibility, and provides clinicians and physically challenged golfers with information that will facilitate participation in the sport. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Engineering an Affordable Self-Driving Car

KAUST Repository

Budisteanu, Alexandru Ionut

2018-01-01

for affordable self-driving cars and he designed a low-cost self-driving car. The car's roof has cameras and low-resolution 3D LiDAR equipment to detect traffic lanes, other cars, curbs and obstacles, such as people crossing by. To process this dizzying amount

A Flexible Visualization Tool for Rapid Access to EFIT Results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Ruirui; Xiao Bingjia; Luo Zhengping

2014-01-01

This paper introduces the design and implementation of an interactive tool, the EASTViewer, for the visualization of plasma equilibrium reconstruction results for EAST (the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak). Aimed at the operating system independently, Python, when combined with the PyGTK toolkit, is used as the programming language. Using modular design, the EASTViewer provides a unified interface with great flexibility. It is easy to access numerous data sources either from local data files or an MDSplus tree, and with the pre-defined configuration files, it can be extended to other tokamaks. The EASTViewer has been used as the major tool to visualize equilibrium data since the second EAST campaign in 2008, and it has been verified that the EASTViewer features a user-friendly interface, and has easy access to numerous data sources and cross-platforms. (fusion engineering)

Insights into the use and affordances of social and collaborative applications for student projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omolola Ola Bankole

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The use of social and collaborative computing has the potential of assisting learning and improving the ability to work together as part of a team. Team work is a graduate attribute that students need to acquire before transitioning from university into the workplace. The aim of this exploratory research was to provide insights into the use of social and collaborative applications by Computer Science students, and the emergent affordances student project teams have created with the use of these applications. It answers the questions: What elearning platforms or applications do students use to collaborate for team projects? What technology affordance draws students to use these applications? This study adopts affordance theory as the theoretical framework. Two types of content analysis: conventional content analysis and summative content analysis were used to analyse the data. Data was gathered using a pre-designed questionnaire with the teams during the first semester of 2016. Findings show that the university’s elearning platform is utilised for some of their courses; however students seem to prefer free and open source platforms. Student project teams used applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Docs, as well as email messages, to work jointly, and were successfully able to complete their team projects. Four types of technology affordances: communicative-affordance, document share-affordance, course resource-affordance, and integrity-affordance, were identified as being relevant.

Acceptable care? Illness constructions, healthworlds, and accessible chronic treatment in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Fried, Jana; Harris, Bronwyn; Eyles, John; Moshabela, Mosa

2015-05-01

Achieving equitable access to health care is an important policy goal, with access influenced by affordability, availability, and acceptability of specific services. We explore patient narratives from a 5-year program of research on health care access to examine relationships between social constructions of illness and the acceptability of health services in the context of tuberculosis treatment and antiretroviral therapy in South Africa. Acceptability of services seems particularly important to the meanings patients attach to illness and care, whereas-conversely-these constructions appear to influence what constitutes acceptability and hence affect access to care. We highlight the underestimated role of individually, socially, and politically constructed healthworlds; traditional and biomedical beliefs; and social support networks. Suggested policy implications for improving acceptability and hence overall health care access include abandoning patronizing approaches to care and refocusing from treating "disease" to responding to "illness" by acknowledging and incorporating patients' healthworlds in patient-provider interactions. © The Author(s) 2015.

Affordance-based individuation of junctions in Open Street Map

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon Scheider

2012-06-01

Full Text Available We propose an algorithm that can be used to identify automatically the subset of street segments of a road network map that corresponds to a junction. The main idea is to use turn-compliant locomotion affordances, i.e., restricted patterns of supported movement, in order to specify junctions independently of their data representation, and in order to motivate tractable individuation and classification strategies. We argue that common approaches based solely on geometry or topology of the street segment graph are useful but insufficient proxies. They miss certain turn restrictions essential to junctions. From a computational viewpoint, the main challenge of affordance-based individuation of junctions lies in its complex recursive definition. In this paper, we show how Open Street Map data can be interpreted into locomotion affordances, and how the recursive junction definition can be translated into a deterministic algorithm. We evaluate this algorithm by applying it to small map excerpts in order to delineate the contained junctions.

Effects of Affordance Perception on the Initiation and Actualization of Action

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smith, Joanne; Pepping, Gert-Jan

2010-01-01

Studies have shown information specifying some affordances may be faster or easier to perceive than others. This article investigates the effect of affordance perception on the time taken to initiate and perform an action. In particular it focuses on how action timing varies as a function of a

Making care affordable.

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon, S

1999-01-01

The YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education (CARE) in Chennai, India runs an integrated care program ensuring appropriate and affordable care to everyone who needs it. The program includes both voluntary counseling/testing and hospital/home-based care. YRG CARE developed several strategies for the care program, which include 1) different fees for an HIV test, 2) free counseling service, 3) different charges for other care services, 4) a subsidized pharmacy (involving purchasing drugs directly from manufacturers and wholesalers, ordering free samples from manufacturers, and acquiring drugs through the drug component of its clinical research projects, from overseas hospitals, and from YRG CARE hospital and community-based patients who have not used them), and 5) subsidized meals.

Conference RSIS - Bridging the Digital Divide, with Mr Santiago Borrero, former chair of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure(GSDI) and current Secretary General of the Pan-Americain Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH)

CERN Multimedia

maximilien brice

2003-01-01

Mr Santiago Borrero talk about priorities in developing affordable means to overcome and minimize the digital divide in spatial information. Some transition economies are developing rapidly, but others - the majority - may continue to have little or no access to information needed for development.

IT Innovations and Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

El-Gazzar, Rania; Zinner Henriksen, Helle; Wahid, Fathul

2017-01-01

of CC and note its various actualized affordances: accessing information technology (IT) resources rapidly, broadening reach and transferring responsibility. The use of CC has yielded diverse effects: shortened time to market, reduced costs, a diversified audience and more useful feedback. We also...

A community for grieving: affordances of social media for support of bereaved parents

Science.gov (United States)

Segerstad, Ylva Hård Af; Kasperowski, Dick

2015-04-01

The purpose of this paper was to study bereaved parents' use of a closed peer grief support community on Facebook and the features of the community that are important to them. The death of a child is an uncomfortable subject in most contemporary societies. This limits the exploration of experiences and possibilities for coping with grief. However, with the introduction of social media, this has changed. Theoretical perspectives on parental grief recognizing the importance of continued relational bonds with the lost child are used, together with the ontological assumption that social media enhance the dissolving of private/public and time/space. This study is based on questionnaire, interviews, and content from the closed peer grief support community, to which the research team has insider access. The community encompasses a diverse range of experiences and stages of grief, independent of the time elapsed since the loss of a child. Bereavement of children of all ages and from all conceivable causes of death is distributed among the members. The results show how the affordances of social media become vital resources for coping with grief in ways not available previously, comprising aspects of the closed nature of the group, shared experiences, time, and accessibility.

Affordable Exploration of Mars: Recommendations from a Community Workshop on Sustainable Initial Human Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Thronson, Harley; Carberry, Chris; Cassady, R. J.; Cooke, Doug; Hopkins, Joshua; Perino, Maria A.; Kirkpatrick, Jim; Raftery, Michael; Westenberg, Artemis; Zucker, Richard

2013-01-01

There is a growing consensus that within two decades initial human missions to Mars are affordable under plausible budget assumptions and with sustained international participation. In response to this idea, a distinguished group of experts from the Mars exploration stakeholder communities attended the "Affording Mars" workshop at George Washington University in December, 2013. Participants reviewed and discussed scenarios for affordable and sustainable human and robotic exploration of Mars, the role of the International Space Station over the coming decade as the essential early step toward humans to Mars, possible "bridge" missions in the 2020s, key capabilities required for affordable initial missions, international partnerships, and a usable definition of affordability and sustainability. We report here the findings, observations, and recommendations that were agreed to at that workshop.

Alcohol affordability and alcohol demand: cross-country trends and panel data estimates, 1975 to 2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Jon P

2014-04-01

Relatively little is known about cross-country differences in alcohol affordability or factors that determine differences in affordability over time. This information is potentially important for alcohol policy, especially policies that focus on higher taxes or prices to reduce total alcohol consumption. This study estimates cross-country alcohol consumption relationships using economic models incorporating income and prices and alternative models based on alcohol affordability. The data and analysis are restricted to higher income countries. Data for alcohol consumption per capita (ages 15+) are analyzed for 2 samples: first, 17 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for the period 1975 to 2000; second, 22 countries in the European Union for the period from 2000 to 2008. Panel data models are utilized, with country and time fixed-effects to control for confounding influences. In economic demand models, covariates are real per capita income and real alcohol price indices. In affordability models, income is divided by prices to yield an index of alcohol affordability. Analysis of data trends reveals that much of the increase in affordability is due to rising real incomes, and not falling real prices. Economic models of demand perform slightly better statistically, but differences are not substantial as income and affordability are highly correlated. For both samples, exogenous rates of growth of alcohol consumption are negative. Price and income elasticities, on average, are within the range of prior estimates. Affordability elasticities are between 0.21 and 0.25. Although alcohol affordability is a valid concept statistically, its use in policy discussions tends to hide underlying causes of changes in affordability. A better approach is a comparison and analysis of trends and cross-country differences in real incomes and real alcohol prices together with the affordability index. Country-level analysis of income and price

Investing in Our Children: A Plan to Expand Access to Preschool and Child Care

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Cynthia G.; Cooper, Donna; Herman, Juliana; Lazarín, Melissa; Linden, Michael; Post, Sasha; Tanden, Neera

2013-01-01

This issue brief presents a plan to expand educational opportunities and care for children ages 0-5 years old by investing significant federal dollars to: (1) Make high-quality preschool universally accessible to all 3- and 4-year-old children; and (2) Enable more lower-income families to afford child care for children ages 0-3 years old. These…

Pharma Pricing & Market Access Europe 2016--Health Network Communications' Tenth Annual Conference (February 23-25, 2016--London, UK).

Science.gov (United States)

D'Souza, P

2016-03-01

Tighter national budgets and escalating drug prices continue to present challenges for pharmaceutical market access strategies and societal cost of care. As pharmaceutical companies and medical governmental advisory organizations enter tougher negotiations, hospital trusts and other dispensary firms face barriers to receiving the best medical treatment, and as a result patient access is limited. The 2016 HealthNetwork Communications' Pharma Pricing & Market Access Europe meeting brought together pharmaceutical, medical governmental advisory and stakeholders and market access/pricing consultants, to encourage discussions and negotiations into how to improve the drug pricing system and consequential market access strategies while achieving the respective reimbursement and affordability objectives. Copyright 2016 Prous Science, S.A.U. or its licensors. All rights reserved.

Embodied Perception: A Proposal to Reconcile Affordance and Spatial Perception

OpenAIRE

Ca?al-Bruland, Rouwen; van der Kamp, John

2015-01-01

Proffitt's embodied approach to perception is deeply indebted to Gibson's ecological approach to visual perception, in particular the idea that the primary objects of perception are affordances or what the environment offers for action. Yet, rather than directly addressing affordance perception, most of the empirical work evaluating Proffitt's approach focuses on the perception of spatial properties of the environment. We propose that theoretical and empirical efforts should be directed towar...

User-inspired design methodology using Affordance Structure Matrix (ASM for construction projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maheswari J. Uma

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Traditionally, design phase of construction projects is often performed with incomplete and inaccurate user preferences. This is due to inefficiencies in the methodologies used for capturing the user requirements that can subsequently lead to inconsistencies and result in non-optimised end-result. Iterations and subsequent reworks due to such design inefficiencies is one of the major reasons for unsuccessful project delivery as they impact project performance measures such as time and cost among others. The existing design theories and practice are primarily based on functional requirements. Function-based design deals with design of artifact alone, which may yield favourable or unfavourable consequences with the design artifact. However, incorporating other interactions such as interactions between user & designer is necessary for optimised end-result. Hence, the objective of this research work is to devise a systematic design methodology considering all the three interactions among users, designers and artefacts for improved design efficiency. In this study, it has been attempted to apply the theory of affordances in a case project that involves the design of an offshore facility. A step-by-step methodology for developing Affordance Structure Matrix (ASM, which integrates House of Quality (HOQ and Design Structure Matrix (DSM, is proposed that can effectively capture the user requirements. HOQ is a popular quality management tool for capturing client requirements and DSM is a matrix-based tool that can capture the interdependency among the design entities. The proposed methodology utilises the strengths of both the tools, as DSM compliments HOQ in the process. In this methodology, different affordances such as AUA (Artifact-User-Affordance, AAA (Artifact-Artifact-Affordance and DDA (Designer-Designer-Affordance are captured systematically. Affordance is considered to be user-driven in this context that is in contrast to prevailing design

Affordance of Braille Music as a Mediational Means: Significance and Limitations

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Hyu-Yong; Kim, Mi-Jung

2014-01-01

Affordance refers to the properties or designs of a thing that offer the function of the thing. This paper discusses the affordance of Braille music in terms of three notions: mediational means, mastery and appropriation, and focuses on answering the following three questions: (i) How do musicians with visual impairments (MVI) perceive Braille…

Next generation sequencing provides rapid access to the genome of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, the causal agent of wheat stripe rust.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dario Cantu

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The wheat stripe rust fungus (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, PST is responsible for significant yield losses in wheat production worldwide. In spite of its economic importance, the PST genomic sequence is not currently available. Fortunately Next Generation Sequencing (NGS has radically improved sequencing speed and efficiency with a great reduction in costs compared to traditional sequencing technologies. We used Illumina sequencing to rapidly access the genomic sequence of the highly virulent PST race 130 (PST-130. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We obtained nearly 80 million high quality paired-end reads (>50x coverage that were assembled into 29,178 contigs (64.8 Mb, which provide an estimated coverage of at least 88% of the PST genes and are available through GenBank. Extensive micro-synteny with the Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (PGTG genome and high sequence similarity with annotated PGTG genes support the quality of the PST-130 contigs. We characterized the transposable elements present in the PST-130 contigs and using an ab initio gene prediction program we identified and tentatively annotated 22,815 putative coding sequences. We provide examples on the use of comparative approaches to improve gene annotation for both PST and PGTG and to identify candidate effectors. Finally, the assembled contigs provided an inventory of PST repetitive elements, which were annotated and deposited in Repbase. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The assembly of the PST-130 genome and the predicted proteins provide useful resources to rapidly identify and clone PST genes and their regulatory regions. Although the automatic gene prediction has limitations, we show that a comparative genomics approach using multiple rust species can greatly improve the quality of gene annotation in these species. The PST-130 sequence will also be useful for comparative studies within PST as more races are sequenced. This study illustrates the power of NGS for

Automatic activation of motor programs by object affordances in patients with Parkinson's disease

OpenAIRE

Oguro, Hiroaki; Ward, Robert; Bracewel, Martyn; Hindle, John; Rafal, Robert

2009-01-01

Clinical observations of kinesia paradoxica and freezing in patients with Parkinson's disease suggest that the automatic activation of motor programmes by visual stimuli may not require intact basal ganglia function, and that an increased sensitivity to such object affordances may contribute to some symptoms of the disease. Employing a paradigm that measures the degree of interference from object affordances on voluntary actions, we confirm that activation of object affordances are preserved ...

African Universities Need Affordable and Reliable Broadband ...

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

2010-10-12

Oct 12, 2010 ... But it's a different story in most parts of Africa, where limited library ... on effective and affordable information and communication technology (ICT) ... who are using open-source software that complies with international open ...

Surgeon Reimbursements in Maxillofacial Trauma Surgery: Effect of the Affordable Care Act in Ohio.

Science.gov (United States)

Khansa, Ibrahim; Khansa, Lara; Pearson, Gregory D

2016-02-01

Surgical treatment of maxillofacial injuries has historically been associated with low reimbursements, mainly because of the high proportion of uninsured patients. The Affordable Care Act, implemented in January of 2014, aimed to reduce the number of uninsured. If the Affordable Care Act achieves this goal, surgeons may benefit from improved reimbursement rates. The authors' purpose was to evaluate the effects of the Affordable Care Act on payor distribution and surgeon reimbursements for maxillofacial trauma surgery at their institution. A review of all patients undergoing surgery for maxillofacial trauma between January of 2012 and December of 2014 was conducted. Insurance status, and amounts billed and collected by the surgeon, were recorded. Patients treated before implementation of the Affordable Care Act were compared to those treated after. Five hundred twenty-three patients were analyzed. Three hundred thirty-four underwent surgery before implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and 189 patients underwent surgery after. After implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the proportion of uninsured decreased (27.2 percent to 11.1 percent; p reimbursement rate increased from 14.3 percent to 19.8 percent (p reimbursement rate increased. These trends should be followed over a longer term to determine the full effect of the Affordable Care Act.

Affordability Constraints in Major Defense Acquisitions

Science.gov (United States)

2016-11-01

memo, does not provide a detailed recipe for those who must produce quantitative affordability constraints. Enclosure 8 of the January 7, 2015 version...3.0’s full title includes “Achieving Dominant Capabilities 2015 Lot 2028 Lot 2038 Lot $0 $100 $200 $300 $400 $ 500 $600 $700 $800 $900 0 10000 20000

Characteristics of Young Adults Enrolled Through the Affordable Care Act-Dependent Coverage Expansion.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Xuesong; Zhu, Shiyun; Jemal, Ahmedin

2016-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine sociodemographic and health care-related characteristics of young adults covered through the Affordable Care Act (ACA)-dependent coverage expansion. Our sample consisted of 36,802 young adults aged 19-25 years from 2011 to 2014 National Health Interview Survey. Sociodemographic differences among young adults with the four insurance types were described: privately insured under parents, privately insured under self/spouse, publicly insured, and uninsured. Multivariable logistic models were fitted to compare those covered under parent with those covered through other traditional insurance types, in terms of the following outcomes: health status, health behaviors, insurance history and experience, access to care, care utilization, and receipt of preventive service, controlling for sociodemographic factors. Young adults who were covered under their parents' insurance were most likely to be college students and non-Hispanic whites. These young adults also had more stable insurance, better access to care, better care utilization patterns, and reported better health status, compared to their peers. The beneficiaries of the ACA-dependent coverage expansion were more likely to be college students from families with high socioeconomic status. Coverage under parents was associated with improved access to care and health outcomes among young adults. The enrollees through the ACA represent the healthiest subgroup of young adults and those with the best care utilization patterns, suggesting that the added cost relative to premium for insurers from this population will likely be minimal. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Faith-Based Organizations and the Affordable Care Act: Reducing Latino Mental Healthcare Disparities

Science.gov (United States)

Villatoro, Alice P.; Dixon, Elizabeth; Mays, Vickie M.

2014-01-01

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is expected to increase access to mental healthcare through provisions aimed at increasing health coverage among the nation's uninsured, including 10.2 million eligible Latino non-elderly adults. The ACA will increase health coverage by expanding Medicaid eligibility to individuals living below 138% of the federal poverty level, subsidizing the purchase of private insurance among individuals not eligible for Medicaid, and requiring employers with 50 or more employees to offer health insurance. An anticipated result of this landmark legislation is improvement in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders in racial/ethnic minorities, particularly for Latinos, who traditionally have had less access to these services. However, these efforts alone may not sufficiently ameliorate mental healthcare disparities for Latinos. Faith-based organizations (FBOs) could play an integral role in the mental healthcare of Latinos by increasing help-seeking, providing religion-based mental health services, and delivering supportive services that address common access barriers among Latinos. Thus, in determining ways to eliminate Latino mental healthcare disparities under the ACA, examining pathways into care through the faith-based sector offers unique opportunities to address some of the cultural barriers confronted by this population. We examine how partnerships between FBOs and primary care patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) may help reduce the gap of unmet mental health needs among Latinos in this era of health reform. We also describe the challenges FBOs and PCMH providers need to overcome in order to be partners in integrated care efforts. PMID:26845492

Open Access Scholarly Publications as OER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Terry Anderson

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the rationale, common practices, challenges, and some personal anecdotes from a journal editor on the production, use, and re-use of peer-reviewed scholarly articles as open educational resources (OER. The scholarly and professional discourse related to open educational resources has largely focused on open learning objects, courseware, and textbooks. However, especially in graduate education, articles published in scholarly journals are often a major component of the course content in formal education. In addition, open access journal articles are critical to expanding access to knowledge by scholars in the developing world and in fostering citizen science, by which everyone has access to the latest academic information and research results. In this article, I highlight some of the challenges, economic models, and evidence for quality of open access journal content and look at new affordances provided by the Net for enhanced functionality, access, and distribution.In the 17 years since I graduated with a doctorate degree, the climate and acceptance of open access publishing has almost reversed itself. I recall a conversation with my PhD supervisor in which he argued that publishing online was not a viable option as the product would not have permanency, scholarly recognition, or the prestige of a paper publication. His comments reflect the confusion between online resources and those described as open access, but as well illustrate the change in academic acceptance and use of open access products during the past decade. The evolution from paper to online production and consumption is a disruptive technology in which much lower cost and increased accessibility of online work opens the product to a completely new group of potential users. In the case of OER these consumers are primarily students, but certainly access to scholars from all parts of the globe and the availability to support citizen science (Silvertown, 2009

Understanding and using technological affordances: a commentary on Conole and Dyke

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tom Boyle

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The paper by Conole and Dyke sets the context by pointing to a number of problems that inhibit the widespread, effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT to support learning. They argue that this situation highlights the need to explore a theoretical basis for the use of ICT to support learning. The central argument of the paper is that the notion of affordances can make a significant contribution to this endeavour. The paper aims to articulate the potential impact of these affordances primarily through the development of a taxonomy. It draws on social constructivist theory to help understand and articulate the impact of these affordances. The concept of affordances is potentially both rich and provocative. Conole and Dyke provide a refreshing and diverse look at the theoretical basis for the use of ICT to support learning. We have structured our commentary around six questions that are provided by Conole and Dyke in their Discussion section. Whilst examining these questions we highlight various issues raised by the paper, which we believe, need further consideration and clarification.

Conflict between object structural and functional affordances in peripersonal space.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalénine, Solène; Wamain, Yannick; Decroix, Jérémy; Coello, Yann

2016-10-01

Recent studies indicate that competition between conflicting action representations slows down planning of object-directed actions. The present study aims to assess whether similar conflict effects exist during manipulable object perception. Twenty-six young adults performed reach-to-grasp and semantic judgements on conflictual objects (with competing structural and functional gestures) and non-conflictual objects (with similar structural and functional gestures) presented at difference distances in a 3D virtual environment. Results highlight a space-dependent conflict between structural and functional affordances. Perceptual judgments on conflictual objects were slower that perceptual judgments on non-conflictual objects, but only when objects were presented within reach. Findings demonstrate that competition between structural and functional affordances during object perception induces a processing cost, and further show that object position in space can bias affordance competition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role of affordances in Libras acquisition as second language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jéssica Puhl

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Libras is a visual-spatial language used by the Brazilian deaf community. Following the principles of spatiality and vision, the user of the sign language resorts more easily to stimuli from the environment than the user of the oral language. Thus, the hypothesis of this research is that the affordances (environmental properties that enable psychologically possible actions would be a facilitator element in the process of Libras acquisition. In this paper we use the narrative and interpretive-qualitative research to discuss the role of affordances in the listener perception, interpretation and action cycle in Libras acquisition as second language. Results show that the Libras’ iconic signs can be considered important affordances in the early stages of the acquisition. It is also observed the importance of the permanence in the niche where Libras is used for the sign language development.

Overcoming the Subject-Object Dichotomy in Urban Modeling: Axial Maps as Geometric Representations of Affordances in the Built Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars Marcus

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The world is witnessing unprecedented urbanization, bringing extreme challenges to contemporary practices in urban planning and design. This calls for improved urban models that can generate new knowledge and enhance practical skill. Importantly, any urban model embodies a conception of the relation between humans and the physical environment. In urban modeling this is typically conceived of as a relation between human subjects and an environmental object, thereby reproducing a humans-environment dichotomy. Alternative modeling traditions, such as space syntax that originates in architecture rather than geography, have tried to overcome this dichotomy. Central in this effort is the development of new representations of urban space, such as in the case of space syntax, the axial map. This form of representation aims to integrate both human behavior and the physical environment into one and the same description. Interestingly, models based on these representations have proved to better capture pedestrian movement than regular models. Pedestrian movement, as well as other kinds of human flows in urban space, is essential for urban modeling, since increasingly flows of this kind are understood as the driver in urban processes. Critical for a full understanding of space syntax modeling is the ontology of its' representations, such as the axial map. Space syntax theory here often refers to James Gibson's “Theory of affordances,” where the concept of affordances, in a manner similar to axial maps, aims to bridge the subject-object dichotomy by neither constituting physical properties of the environment or human behavior, but rather what emerges in the meeting between the two. In extension of this, the axial map can be interpreted as a representation of how the physical form of the environment affords human accessibility and visibility in urban space. This paper presents a close examination of the form of representations developed in space syntax

Acute immobilisation facilitates premotor preparatory activity for the non-restrained hand when facing grasp affordances.

Science.gov (United States)

Kühn, Simone; Werner, Anika; Lindenberger, Ulman; Verrel, Julius

2014-05-15

Use and non-use of body parts during goal-directed action are major forces driving reorganisation of neural processing. We investigated changes in functional brain activity resulting from acute short-term immobilisation of the dominant right hand. Informed by the concept of object affordances, we predicted that the presence or absence of a limb restraint would influence the perception of graspable objects in a laterally specific way. Twenty-three participants underwent fMRI scanning during a passive object-viewing task before the intervention as well as with and without wearing an orthosis. The right dorsal premotor cortex and the left cerebellum were more strongly activated when the handle of an object was oriented towards the left hand while the right hand was immobilised compared with a situation where the hand was not immobilised. The cluster in the premotor cortex showing an interaction between condition (with restraint, without restraint) and stimulus action side (right vs. left) overlapped with the general task vs. baseline contrast prior to the intervention, confirming its functional significance for the task. These results show that acute immobilisation of the dominant right hand leads to rapid changes of the perceived affordance of objects. We conclude that changes in action requirements lead to almost instantaneous changes in functional activation patterns, which in turn may trigger structural cortical plasticity. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The challenges of student affairs at Kenyan public universities

African Journals Online (AJOL)

and constituent colleges since 1994 and its adoption of policies encouraging rapid ..... at these institutions discussed withdrawing from school because they could not afford .... It is clear from our data that Kenya's ruling political party directly appoints ..... Kenya: Implications for access, equity and knowledge production.

Access to health care in relation to socioeconomic status in the Amazonian area of Peru

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristiansson, Charlotte; Gotuzzo, Eduardo; Rodriguez, Hugo

2009-01-01

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Access to affordable health care is limited in many low and middle income countries and health systems are often inequitable, providing less health services to the poor who need it most. The aim of this study was to investigate health seeking behavior and utilization of drug...... be indicated. Caregivers frequently paid for health services as well as antibiotics, even though all children in the study qualified for free health care and medicines. The implementation of the Seguro Integral de Salud health insurance must be improved.......ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Access to affordable health care is limited in many low and middle income countries and health systems are often inequitable, providing less health services to the poor who need it most. The aim of this study was to investigate health seeking behavior and utilization of drugs...... in Yurimaguas and 793 children of the same age in Moyobamba were included in the study. Caregivers were interviewed on health care seeking strategies (public/private sectors; formal/informal providers), and medication for their children in relation to reported symptoms and socio-economic status. Self...

Engineering an Affordable Self-Driving Car

KAUST Repository

Budisteanu, Alexandru Ionut

2018-01-17

"More than a million people die in car accidents each year, and most of those accidents are the result of human errorﾔ Alexandru Budisteanu is 23 years old and owns a group of startups including Autonomix, an Artificial Intelligence software for affordable self-driving cars and he designed a low-cost self-driving car. The car\\'s roof has cameras and low-resolution 3D LiDAR equipment to detect traffic lanes, other cars, curbs and obstacles, such as people crossing by. To process this dizzying amount of data, Alexandru employed Artificial Intelligence algorithms to extract information from the visual data and plot a safe route for the car. Then, he built a manufacturing facility in his garage from Romania to assembly affordable VisionBot Pick and Place robots that are used to produce electronics. During this lecture, Alexandru will talk about this autonomous self-driving car prototype, for which he received the grand prize of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, and was nominated by TIME magazine as one of the worldﾒs most influential teens of 2013.

Normative Interfaces: Affordances, Gender, and Race in Facebook

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela M. Cirucci

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study investigates social network site affordances and their implications for perceptions of marginalized communities. I employ Facebook as a case study and speak with young adult users to comprehend how socially marginalized groups are perceived through Facebook’s affordances. In particular, I consider: How familiar are users with Facebook’s tools and functionalities? How are issues of gender and race represented through the site’s interface? How do users conceive of gender and race? The findings suggest that gender is perceived as a more important identifier than race and that Facebook is post-racial, because of the user interface choices made. In addition, my participants view Facebook as an official social space that should include “authentic” identities; although Facebook has shaped authentic to mean accurate. I conclude that while the construction of affordances is a negotiation between user, interface, and designer, the designers have the most power because they have created the spaces in ways that will most benefit Facebook. In addition, users who are more situated in the socio-cultural majority have no desire to enact agency within Facebook’s structure because they are accustomed to forms and official documents that are well suited to fit their identification needs.

“Basically... porn is everywhere”: a rapid evidence assessment on the effects that access and exposure to pornography has on children and young people

OpenAIRE

Horvath, M.; Alys, L.; Massey, K.; Pina, A.; Scally, M.; Adler, J.

2013-01-01

This Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) was commissioned by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) as part of its Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups (CSEGG). It was conducted by a consortium led by Middlesex University, to explore the effects that exposure and access to pornography have on children and young people. The CSEGG Inquiry was launched in October 2011 to better understand the scale, scope, extent and nature of child sexual exploitation in gangs and gro...

Consciousness: physiological dependence on rapid memory access.

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, Arthur J

2009-01-01

Consciousness develops from birth during the early months as the senses and other nervous system functions mature sufficiently to receive, process and store information. Among these is the ascending reticular activating (arousal) system in the brain stem that is responsible for wakefulness and was proposed by Penfield and Jasper more than 50 years ago as the "controlling mechanism for states of consciousness". This concept has remained the most advanced physiological interpretation of consciousness although recent developments offer greater insights into its nature. The ascending arousal system is the source of activation of the thalamocortical and cortical mechanisms for sensory input and facilitates the rapid matching of sensory input and the binding of memory during cognitive processing. Nonetheless, it is proposed that memory is the critical element through which our connection with the world exists without which, despite a fully functional arousal system, consciousness as we know it could not exist. Evidence is presented in support of this concept in addition to the physiological difficulties that must be resolved if consciousness is to be understood.

Do Affordable Housing Projects Harm Suburban Communities? Crime, Property Values, and Taxes in Mount Laurel, NJ.

Science.gov (United States)

Albright, Len; Derickson, Elizabeth S; Massey, Douglas S

2013-06-01

This paper offers a mixed-method analysis of the municipal-level consequences of an affordable housing development built in suburban New Jersey. Opponents of affordable housing development often suggest that creating affordable housing will harm surrounding communities. Feared consequences include increases in crime, declining property values, and rising taxes. To evaluate these claims, the paper uses the case of Mt. Laurel, NJ - the site of a landmark affordable housing legal case and subsequent affordable housing development. Employing a multiple time series group control design, we compare crime rates, property values, and property taxes in Mt. Laurel to outcomes in similar nearby municipalities that do not contain comparable affordable housing developments. We find that the opening of the affordable housing development was not associated with trends in crime, property values, or taxes, and discuss management practices and design features that may have mitigated potential negative externalities.

Access to essential medicines for sexual and reproductive health care: the role of the pharmaceutical industry and international regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cottingham, Jane; Berer, Marge

2011-11-01

The range of medicines and technologies that are essential for sexual and reproductive health care is well established, but access to them is far from universally assured, particularly in less developed countries. This paper shows how the pharmaceutical industry plays a major role in the lack of access to essential medicines for sexual and reproductive health care, by a) investing in products for profit-making reasons despite their negative health impact (e.g. hormone replacement therapy), b) marketing new essential medicines at prices beyond the reach of countries that most need them (e.g. HPV vaccines), and c) failing to invest in the development of new products (e.g. microbicides and medical abortion pills). Small companies, some of them non-profit-making, struggle to fill some of that demand (e.g. for female condoms). International patent protection contributes to high prices of medicines, and while international agreements such as compulsory licensing under TRIPS and the Medicines Patent Pool allow for mechanisms to enable poorer countries to get access to essential medicines, the obstacles created by "big pharma" are daunting. All these barriers have fostered a market in sub-standard medicines (e.g. fake medical abortion pills sold over the internet). An agenda driven by sexual and reproductive health needs, based on the right to health, must focus on universal access to essential medicines at prices developing countries can afford. We call for greater public investment in essential medicines, expanded production of affordable generic drugs, and the development of broad strategic plans, that include affordable medicines and technologies, for addressing identified public health problems, such as cervical cancer. Copyright © 2011 Reproductive Health Matters. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Active design in affordable housing: A public health nudge.

Science.gov (United States)

Garland, Elizabeth; Garland, Victoria; Peters, Dominique; Doucette, John; Thanik, Erin; Rajupet, Sritha; Sanchez, Sadie H

2018-06-01

This pilot study investigates the impact of active design (AD) strategies on physical activity (PA) among adults living in two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified affordable housing developments in the South Bronx, New York. One building incorporates LEED Innovation in Design (ID) Credit: Design for Health through Increased Physical Activity. Tenants in an affordable housing building (AH) incorporating active design strategies completed PA self-assessments at their lease signing and one year later in 2015. Trained research assistants obtained body measurements. Residents of neighboring non-AD affordable housing (MCV) served as a comparison. Thirty four adults were recruited from AH and 29 from MCV, retention was 56% (n = 19) and 52% (n = 15) respectively at one year. The two groups' body mass index (BMI) and high-risk waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were not statistically significantly different when analyzed as continuous variables, although BMI category had a greater decline at AH than at MCV (p = 0.054). There was a 31.5% increase in AH participants meeting MPA requirements and a statistically significant improvement in females (p = 0.031); while there was no change in the MCV participants overall or when stratified by gender. AH participants were significantly more likely to have reported increased stair use and less likely to have reported no change or decreased stair use than participants from MCV participants (p = 0.033). Housing has a role in individual health outcomes and behavior change, broad adoption of active design strategies in affordable housing is warranted to improve physical activity measures.

Tablets for Learning in Higher Education:The Top 10 Affordances

OpenAIRE

Godsk, Mikkel

2013-01-01

Based on a small-scale literature review this paper identifies the top 10 affordances of post PC tablets (sometimes referred to as ‘tablet computers’) for higher education in settings where the technology is used for learning. The review shows that the predominant affordances of the technology are related to its ability to support engaging, inclusive, and/or collaborative learning, to provide flexibility in place, and to include multimedia and interactive content in teaching practice. However...

Increasing the Supply of Affordable Housing in Urban India - Mumbai

OpenAIRE

Viswanathan, Upasna

2014-01-01

The need for housing in today's world is irrefutable. The growing population, accompanied with the fast pace of urbanization, are producing great housing demand, in urban areas in particular. This study focused on one segment of housing - affordable housing, in Mumbai, India, the demand for which has been on a steady rise over the past decade. Though traditionally the State was the provider of affordable housing, private sector has been increasingly involved in the segment, beginning the econ...

flexZhouse: New business model for affordable housing in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Mohd Zairul bin Mohd Noor

2017-01-01

Central to this PhD research was the problem of the lack of affordable housing for young starters in Malaysia. The solutions for affordable housing that are available in the market do not truly solve the problem from the customer’s point of view. Hence, it was important to analyse the contributing factors associated with the term ‘affordability’. The term touches upon interconnected elements that cover many issues ranging from demand (housing needs, demographics, household income, quality hou...

Affordances of telecollaboration tools for English for Specific Purposes online learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Sevilla-Pavón

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This paper explores students’ perceptions of the affordances of different telecollaboration tools used in an innovation project for English for Specific Purposes online learning carried out between the University of Valencia (Spain and Wofford College (South Carolina, United States during the school year 2015-2016. Different tools for synchronous and asynchronous communication were used. The asynchronous tools included a discussion forum, a wiki, social networking websites and Google forms; while the tools used for synchronous communication were text, voice and video chat, videoconferencing tools and Google Drive. All the tools were accessible through the online platform used in the project, Google+. By using these tools, students from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean carried out a number of activities and tasks through online telecollaborative methods, involving both synchronous and asynchronous communication. The tasks completed by students through the use of the different tools were aimed at fostering distance online collaboration among American and Spanish students for the development of their linguistic, intercultural and digital literacies.

Empowering Learners with Mobile Open-Access Learning Initiatives

Science.gov (United States)

Mills, Michael, Ed.; Wake, Donna, Ed.

2017-01-01

Education has been progressing at a rapid pace ever since educators have been able to harness the power of mobile technology. Open-access learning techniques provide more students with the opportunity to engage in educational opportunities that may have been previously restricted. "Empowering Learners with Mobile Open-Access Learning…

Approach to an Affordable and Sustainable Space Transportation System

Science.gov (United States)

McCleskey, Caey M.; Rhodes, R. E.; Robinson, J. W.; Henderson, E. M.

2012-01-01

This paper describes an approach and a general procedure for creating space transportation architectural concepts that are at once affordable and sustainable. Previous papers by the authors and other members of the Space Propulsion Synergy Team (SPST) focused on a functional system breakdown structure for an architecture and definition of high-payoff design techniques with a technology integration strategy. This paper follows up by using a structured process that derives architectural solutions focused on achieving life cycle affordability and sustainability. Further, the paper includes an example concept that integrates key design techniques discussed in previous papers. !

24 CFR 1000.104 - What families are eligible for affordable housing activities?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... affordable housing activities? 1000.104 Section 1000.104 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating... Activities § 1000.104 What families are eligible for affordable housing activities? The following families... Indian area. (b) A non-low income Indian family may receive housing assistance in accordance with § 1000...

16 CFR 1061.8 - Information on the heightened degree of protection afforded.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... protection afforded. 1061.8 Section 1061.8 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION GENERAL APPLICATIONS FOR EXEMPTION FROM PREEMPTION § 1061.8 Information on the heightened degree of protection afforded... State or local requirement provides a significantly higher degree of protection from the risk of injury...

Self-organization, free energy minimization, and optimal grip on a field of affordances.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruineberg, Jelle; Rietveld, Erik

2014-01-01

In this paper, we set out to develop a theoretical and conceptual framework for the new field of Radical Embodied Cognitive Neuroscience. This framework should be able to integrate insights from several relevant disciplines: theory on embodied cognition, ecological psychology, phenomenology, dynamical systems theory, and neurodynamics. We suggest that the main task of Radical Embodied Cognitive Neuroscience is to investigate the phenomenon of skilled intentionality from the perspective of the self-organization of the brain-body-environment system, while doing justice to the phenomenology of skilled action. In previous work, we have characterized skilled intentionality as the organism's tendency toward an optimal grip on multiple relevant affordances simultaneously. Affordances are possibilities for action provided by the environment. In the first part of this paper, we introduce the notion of skilled intentionality and the phenomenon of responsiveness to a field of relevant affordances. Second, we use Friston's work on neurodynamics, but embed a very minimal version of his Free Energy Principle in the ecological niche of the animal. Thus amended, this principle is helpful for understanding the embeddedness of neurodynamics within the dynamics of the system "brain-body-landscape of affordances." Next, we show how we can use this adjusted principle to understand the neurodynamics of selective openness to the environment: interacting action-readiness patterns at multiple timescales contribute to the organism's selective openness to relevant affordances. In the final part of the paper, we emphasize the important role of metastable dynamics in both the brain and the brain-body-environment system for adequate affordance-responsiveness. We exemplify our integrative approach by presenting research on the impact of Deep Brain Stimulation on affordance responsiveness of OCD patients.

Open Access in Turkey and Comparison with Other Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bülent Karasözen

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The number of open access journals and institutional repositories, as a product of open access movement has grown rapidly in recent years. Open access research articles remove the barriers in accessing scientific research results and accelerate the communication among the scientist worldwide. In many countries the number of institutional archives and open access journal are increasing. In this article, the recent developments in open access journals, institutional repositories and open courseware in Turkey are summarized and compared with some countries. A sample mandatory institutional repository policy document is given with some suggestion for establishing open access in Turkey.

Facilitators of prenatal care access in rural Appalachia.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillippi, Julia C; Myers, Carole R; Schorn, Mavis N

2014-12-01

There are many providers and models of prenatal care, some more effective than others. However, quantitative research alone cannot determine the reasons beneficial models of care improve health outcomes. Perspectives of women receiving care from effective clinics can provide valuable insight. We surveyed 29 women receiving care at a rural, Appalachian birth center in the United States with low rates of preterm birth. Semi-structured interviews and demographic questionnaires were analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis of manifest content. Insurance was the most common facilitator of prenatal access. Beneficial characteristics of the provider and clinic included: personalized care, unrushed visits, varied appointment times, short waits, and choice in the type and location of care. There is a connection between compassionate and personalized care and positive birth outcomes. Women were willing to overcome barriers to access care that met their needs. To facilitate access to prenatal care and decrease health disparities, healthcare planners, and policy makers need to ensure all women can afford to access prenatal care and allow women a choice in their care provider. Clinic administrators should create a welcoming clinic environment with minimal wait time. Unrushed, woman-centered prenatal visits can increase access to and motivation for care and are easily integrated into prenatal care with minimal cost. Copyright © 2014 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teaching Students How to Self-Regulate Their Online Vocabulary Learning by Using a Structured Think-to-Yourself Procedure

Science.gov (United States)

Ebner, Rachel J.; Ehri, Linnea C.

2016-01-01

Using the Internet for vocabulary development is a powerful way for students to rapidly expand their vocabularies. The Internet affords students opportunities to interact both instantaneously and multimodaly with words in different contexts. By using search engines and hyperlinks, students can immediately access textual, visual, and auditory…

77 FR 70583 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Health Insurance Market Rules; Rate Review

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-26

... Parts 144, 147, 150, et al. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Health Insurance Market Rules... and 156 [CMS-9972-P] RIN 0938-AR40 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Health Insurance Market... Affordable Care Act with respect to health insurance issuers and group health plans that are non-federal...

The Considere condition and rapid stretching of linear and branched polymer melts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McKinley, Gareth H; Hassager, Ole

1999-01-01

to larger Hencky strains as the number of branches is increased. Numerical computations at finite Deborah numbers also show that there is an optimal range of deformation rates over which homogeneous extensions can be maintained to large strain. We also consider other rapid homogeneous stretching...... deformations, such as biaxial and planar stretching, and show that the degree of stabilization afforded by inclusion of material with long-chain branching is a sensitive function of the imposed mode of deformation....

High Working Memory Load Increases Intracortical Inhibition in Primary Motor Cortex and Diminishes the Motor Affordance Effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Scott M; Itthipuripat, Sirawaj; Aron, Adam R

2016-05-18

Motor affordances occur when the visual properties of an object elicit behaviorally relevant motor representations. Typically, motor affordances only produce subtle effects on response time or on motor activity indexed by neuroimaging/neuroelectrophysiology, but sometimes they can trigger action itself. This is apparent in "utilization behavior," where individuals with frontal cortex damage inappropriately grasp affording objects. This raises the possibility that, in healthy-functioning individuals, frontal cortex helps ensure that irrelevant affordance provocations remain below the threshold for actual movement. In Experiment 1, we tested this "frontal control" hypothesis by "loading" the frontal cortex with an effortful working memory (WM) task (which ostensibly consumes frontal resources) and examined whether this increased EEG measures of motor affordances to irrelevant affording objects. Under low WM load, there were typical motor affordance signatures: an event-related desynchronization in the mu frequency and an increased P300 amplitude for affording (vs nonaffording) objects over centroparietal electrodes. Contrary to our prediction, however, these affordance measures were diminished under high WM load. In Experiment 2, we tested competing mechanisms responsible for the diminished affordance in Experiment 1. We used paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation over primary motor cortex to measure long-interval cortical inhibition. We found greater long-interval cortical inhibition for high versus low load both before and after the affording object, suggesting that a tonic inhibition state in primary motor cortex could prevent the affordance from provoking the motor system. Overall, our results suggest that a high WM load "sets" the motor system into a suppressed state that mitigates motor affordances. Is an irrelevant motor affordance more likely to be triggered when you are under low or high cognitive load? We examined this using physiological measures

The crisis in access to essential medicines in India: key issues which call for action.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhargava, Anurag; Kalantri, S P

2013-01-01

The government is planning to introduce free generic and essential medicines in public health facilities. Most people in India buy healthcare from the private sector, a compulsion that accounts for a high proportion of healthcare-related expenditure. To reduce the burden of healthcare costs, the government must improve availability and affordability of generic and essential medicines in the market. It can do so because India's large pharmaceutical industry is a major source of generic medicines worldwide. In this article, we discuss three factors that have impeded access to generic and essential medicines: (1) mistaken notions among policymakers, prescribers and patients about branded drugs and generic drugs in India; (2) high prices of medicines due to the progressive dismantling of the system of regulation of medicine prices, and (3) a drug approval and regulatory system that allows medicines (including fixed dose combinations) of doubtful efficacy, rationale, safety and public health relevance to dominate the market at the cost of access to affordable generic and essential medicines. The consequences of ill-health and wasted expenditure on drugs raise issues of public health ethics.Improving access to essential medicines in India is an urgent public health and ethical imperative. This should include improved public provisioning, a system of regulation of drug prices, and an evidence-based drug approval process.

Towards Affordable Disclosure of Spoken Word Archives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ordelman, Roeland J.F.; Heeren, W.F.L.; Huijbregts, M.A.H.; Hiemstra, Djoerd; de Jong, Franciska M.G.; Larson, M; Fernie, K; Oomen, J; Cigarran, J.

2008-01-01

This paper presents and discusses ongoing work aiming at affordable disclosure of real-world spoken word archives in general, and in particular of a collection of recorded interviews with Dutch survivors of World War II concentration camp Buchenwald. Given such collections, the least we want to be

Towards Affordable Disclosure of Spoken Heritage Archives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Larson, M; Ordelman, Roeland J.F.; Heeren, W.F.L.; Fernie, K; de Jong, Franciska M.G.; Huijbregts, M.A.H.; Oomen, J; Hiemstra, Djoerd

2009-01-01

This paper presents and discusses ongoing work aiming at affordable disclosure of real-world spoken heritage archives in general, and in particular of a collection of recorded interviews with Dutch survivors of World War II concentration camp Buchenwald. Given such collections, we at least want to

One-fifth of nonelderly Californians do not have access to job-based health insurance coverage.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavarreda, Shana Alex; Cabezas, Livier

2010-11-01

Lack of job-based health insurance does not affect just workers, but entire families who depend on job-based coverage for their health care. This policy brief shows that in 2007 one-fifth of all Californians ages 0-64 who lived in households where at least one family member was employed did not have access to job-based coverage. Among adults with no access to job-based coverage through their own or a spouse's job, nearly two-thirds remained uninsured. In contrast, the majority of children with no access to health insurance through a parent obtained public health insurance, highlighting the importance of such programs. Low-income, Latino and small business employees were more likely to have no access to job-based insurance. Provisions enacted under national health care reform (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010) will aid some of these populations in accessing health insurance coverage.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; exchange and insurance market standards for 2015 and beyond. Final rule.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-05-27

This final rule addresses various requirements applicable to health insurance issuers, Affordable Insurance Exchanges (``Exchanges''), Navigators, non-Navigator assistance personnel, and other entities under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively referred to as the Affordable Care Act). Specifically, the rule establishes standards related to product discontinuation and renewal, quality reporting, non-discrimination standards, minimum certification standards and responsibilities of qualified health plan (QHP) issuers, the Small Business Health Options Program, and enforcement remedies in Federally-facilitated Exchanges. It also finalizes: A modification of HHS's allocation of reinsurance collections if those collections do not meet our projections; certain changes to allowable administrative expenses in the risk corridors calculation; modifications to the way we calculate the annual limit on cost sharing so that we round this parameter down to the nearest $50 increment; an approach to index the required contribution used to determine eligibility for an exemption from the shared responsibility payment under section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code; grounds for imposing civil money penalties on persons who provide false or fraudulent information to the Exchange and on persons who improperly use or disclose information; updated standards for the consumer assistance programs; standards related to the opt-out provisions for self-funded, non-Federal governmental plans and related to the individual market provisions under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 including excepted benefits; standards regarding how enrollees may request access to non-formulary drugs under exigent circumstances; amendments to Exchange appeals standards and coverage enrollment and termination standards; and time-limited adjustments to the standards relating to the medical loss ratio

Situational Affordance - Appreciating human Interpretations in New Product Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiasen, John Bang; Koch, Christian

2009-01-01

New Product Development (NPD) takes place within a web of connected actors who do not master fully the objects of the process, but rather they interpret the affordance - the en-abling and constraining framing by objects such as sketches, drawings, specifications, mock-ups and prototypes. The arti......New Product Development (NPD) takes place within a web of connected actors who do not master fully the objects of the process, but rather they interpret the affordance - the en-abling and constraining framing by objects such as sketches, drawings, specifications, mock-ups and prototypes....... The article draws on critical comments and extends Hutchby’s concept of affordance. Even if Hutchby does not study an artefact as a micro-level phe-nomenon from an engineering perspective and only considers the consumption of an arte-fact, we use him to study the development of artefacts in NPD. Hutchby...... to negotiate technical and non-technical aspects alike, while Sierra uses a CAD-system to support joint-development crossing organisational boundaries. The cases share features such as triadic relations; customer’s problem, product designers and artefact. For example, a wheelchair is presented to Sierra...

Affordances of Spreadsheets In Mathematical Investigation: Potentialities For Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nigel Calder

2009-10-01

Full Text Available This article, is concerned with the ways learning is shaped when mathematics problems are investigated in spreadsheet environments. It considers how the opportunities and constraints the digital media affords influenced the decisions the students made, and the direction of their enquiry pathway. How might the learning trajectory unfold, and the learning process and mathematical understanding emerge? Will the spreadsheet, as the pedagogical medium, evoke learning in a distinctive manner? The article reports on an aspect of an ongoing study involving students as they engage mathematical investigative tasks through digital media, the spreadsheet in particular. It considers the affordances of this learning environment for primary-aged students.

Barcelona 2002: law, ethics, and human rights. Using the law to improve access to treatments.

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Richard; Parmar, Sharan; Divan, Vivek; Berger, Jonathan

2002-12-01

The XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa in July 2000 focused worldwide attention on the problem of accessing treatments in developing countries. In the interim, thanks to the work of activists - from demonstrations to court cases, and from acts of public courage by people living with HIV/AIDS to ongoing lobbying of politicians and trade negotiators - some very significant developments have occurred. But the reality is that the vast majority of people living with HIV/AIDS still lack access to affordable, quality medicines. This article, a summary of a paper presented at "Putting Third First: Vaccines, Access to Treatments and the Law," a satellite meeting held at Barcelona on 5 July 2002 and organized by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the AIDS Law Project, South Africa, and the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, India, explores three approaches for improving access. In the first part, Richard Elliott provides an overview of the state of the right to health as embodied in international human rights law; comments on the experience to date in litigating claims to the right to health; and identifies potential strategies activists can adopt to advance recognition of the right to health. In the second part, Sharan Parmar and Vivek Divan describe price-control and drug-financing mechanisms used by industrialized countries to increase the affordability of medicines; and discuss how some of these mechanisms could be adapted for use in developing countries. Finally, Jonathan Berger describes the use of litigation in the courts by the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa.

Analysis of a mammography teaching program based on an affordance design model.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Ping; Eikman, Edward A; Kealy, William; Qian, Wei

2006-12-01

The wide use of computer technology in education, particularly in mammogram reading, asks for e-learning evaluation. The existing media comparative studies, learner attitude evaluations, and performance tests are problematic. Based on an affordance design model, this study examined an existing e-learning program on mammogram reading. The selection criteria include content relatedness, representativeness, e-learning orientation, image quality, program completeness, and accessibility. A case study was conducted to examine the affordance features, functions, and presentations of the selected software. Data collection and analysis methods include interviews, protocol-based document analysis, and usability tests and inspection. Also some statistics were calculated. The examination of PBE identified that this educational software designed and programmed some tools. The learner can use these tools in the process of optimizing displays, scanning images, comparing different projections, marking the region of interests, constructing a descriptive report, assessing one's learning outcomes, and comparing one's decisions with the experts' decisions. Further, PBE provides some resources for the learner to construct one's knowledge and skills, including a categorized image library, a term-searching function, and some teaching links. Besides, users found it easy to navigate and carry out tasks. The users also reacted positively toward PBE's navigation system, instructional aids, layout, pace and flow of information, graphics, and other presentation design. The software provides learners with some cognitive tools, supporting their perceptual problem-solving processes and extending their capabilities. Learners can internalize the mental models in mammogram reading through multiple perceptual triangulations, sensitization of related features, semantic description of mammogram findings, and expert-guided semantic report construction. The design of these cognitive tools and the

Financing off-grid sustainable energy access for the poor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glemarec, Yannick

2012-01-01

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

Perilous terra incognita--open-access journals.

Science.gov (United States)

Balon, Richard

2014-04-01

The author focuses on a new rapidly spreading practice of publication in open-access journals. The pros and cons of open-access journals are discussed. Publishing in these journals may be cost prohibitive for educators and junior faculty members. Some authors may be lured by the ease of publishing in open-access journals (and their, at times, inflated self-description, e.g., "international", "scientific"), and their possibly valuable contributions will escape the attention of Academic Psychiatry readership in the vast sea of open-access journals. The readership may be flooded with a large number of low-quality articles (maybe not even properly peer-reviewed) from open-access journals. It may take some time to sort out what is and what is not relevant and useful. Open-access publishing represents a problematic and controversial practice and may be associated with a conflict of interest for the editors and publishers of these journals.

Using Mobile Phone Technologies to Maintain Quality of Education in Ethiopia: A View beyond the Prevalence of Academic Dishonesty

Science.gov (United States)

Bachore, Mebratu Mulatu

2015-01-01

The 21st century is characterized by the increasing access to sophisticated but affordable and portable technologies that are contributing much to the world. Specifically, in Ethiopia, mobile technologies are rapidly attracting new users, providing increasing capacity, and introducing more sophisticated uses to the citizens. However, it is…

Antiseptic technology: access, affordability, and acceptance.

OpenAIRE

Boyce, J. M.

2001-01-01

Factors other than antimicrobial activity of soaps and antiseptic agents used for hand hygiene by health personnel play a role in compliance with recommendations. Hand hygiene products differ considerably in acceptance by hospital personnel. If switching from a nonmedicated soap to an antiseptic agent or increased use of an existing antiseptic agent for hand hygiene prevented a few more infections per year, additional expenditures for antiseptic agents would be offset by cost savings.

The Role of Affordances in the Evolutionary Process Reconsidered A Niche Construction Perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Withagen, Rob; van Wermeskerken, Margot

Gibson asserted that affordances are the primary objects of perception. Although this assertion is especially attractive when considered in the context of evolutionary theory, the role that affordances play in the evolution of animals' perceptual and action systems is still unclear. Trying to

Maintenance of Access as Demand for Substance Use Disorder Treatment Grows

OpenAIRE

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

2015-01-01

Due to the Affordable Care Act and other recent laws and regulations, funding for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment is on the rise. In the 2000s, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) implemented several initiatives that increased funding for SUD treatment during a period of growth in demand for it. A key question is whether access to and intensity of treatment kept pace or declined. Using VA SUD treatment funding data and patient-level records to construct performance measures, we stu...

Students' Affordance of Teleologic Explanations and Anthropomorphic Language in Eliciting Concepts in Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Bautista, Romiro G.

2015-01-01

This study ascertains that the students' affordance of teleologic explanations and anthropomorphic language in eliciting concepts in Physics is influenced by their age and learning exposure and experience. Using Explicative-Reductive Method of Descriptive Research, this study focused on the determinants of students' affordance of…

Framing access to medicines in developing countries: an analysis of media coverage of Canada's Access to Medicines Regime.

Science.gov (United States)

Esmail, Laura C; Phillips, Kaye; Kuek, Victoria; Cosio, Andrea Perez; Kohler, Jillian Clare

2010-01-04

In September 2003, the Canadian government committed to developing legislation that would facilitate greater access to affordable medicines for developing countries. Over the course of eight months, the legislation, now known as Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR), went through a controversial policy development process and the newspaper media was one of the major venues in which the policy debates took place. The purpose of this study was to examine how the media framed CAMR to determine how policy goals were conceptualized, which stakeholder interests controlled the public debate and how these variables related to the public policy process. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of newspaper coverage of the CAMR policy and implementation process from 2003-2008. The primary theoretical framework for this study was framing theory. A total of 90 articles from 11 Canadian newspapers were selected for inclusion in our analysis. A team of four researchers coded the articles for themes relating to access to medicines and which stakeholders' voice figured more prominently on each issue. Stakeholders examined included: the research-based industry, the generic industry, civil society, the Canadian government, and developing country representatives. The most frequently mentioned themes across all documents were the issues of drug affordability, intellectual property, trade agreements and obligations, and development. Issues such as human rights, pharmaceutical innovation, and economic competitiveness got little media representation. Civil society dominated the media contents, followed far behind by the Canadian government, the research-based and generic pharmaceutical industries. Developing country representatives were hardly represented in the media. Media framing obscured the discussion of some of the underlying policy goals in this case and failed to highlight issues which are now significant barriers to the use of the legislation. Using the media to engage

Survey of the diagnostic retooling process in national TB reference laboratories, with special focus on rapid speciation tests endorsed by WHO in 2007.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanne C van Kampen

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Successful integration of new diagnostics in national tuberculosis (TB control programs, also called 'retooling', is highly dependent on operational aspects related to test availability, accessibility and affordability. This survey aimed to find out whether recommendations to use new diagnostics lead to successful retooling in high TB endemic countries, using immunochromatographic tests (ICTs for TB culture speciation as a case study. ICTs are recommended to accurately confirm the presence of bacteria of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in liquid culture isolates. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Questionnaires were sent to national TB reference laboratories (NRLs in 42 high TB endemic countries to address their access to information on ICT implementation, logistics related to availability, accessibility and affordability of ICTs, and testing algorithms. Results from 16 responding countries indicated that half of the NRLs were aware of the contents of WHO guidance documents on liquid culture and ICT implementation, as well as their eligibility for a negotiated pricing agreement for ICT procurement. No major issues with availability and accessibility of ICTs were raised. When asked about testing algorithms, ICTs were not used as stand-alone or first test for TB culture identification as recommended by WHO. CONCLUSIONS: The low response rate was a limitation of this survey and together with NRLs managers' unawareness of global guidance, suggests a lack of effective communication between partners of the global laboratory network and NRLs. TB tests could become more affordable to high TB endemic countries, if the possibility to negotiate lower prices for commercial products is communicated to them more successfully. NRLs need additional guidance to identify where available technologies can be most usefully implemented and in what order, taking into account long-term laboratory strategies.

Assessing the engineering performance of affordable net-zero energy housing

Science.gov (United States)

Wallpe, Jordan P.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate affordable technologies that are capable of providing attractive, cost-effective energy savings to the housing industry. The research did so by investigating the 2011 Solar Decathlon competition, with additional insight from the Purdue INhome. Insight from the Purdue INhome verified the importance of using a three step design process to design a net-zero energy building. In addition, energy consumption values of the INhome were used to compare and contrast different systems used in other houses. Evaluation of unbiased competition contests gave a better understanding of how a house can realistically reach net-zero. Upon comparison, off-the-shelf engineering systems such as super-efficient HVAC units, heat pump hot water heaters, and properly designed photovoltaic arrays can affordably enable a house to become net-zero. These important and applicable technologies realized from the Solar Decathlon will reduce the 22 percent of all energy consumed through the residential sector in the United States. In conclusion, affordable net-zero energy buildings can be built today with commitment from design professionals, manufacturers, and home owners.

Contemporary challenges on access to medicines: beyond the UNSG High-Level Panel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Bermudez

Full Text Available Abstract Within the context of the recently released United Nations Secretary-General´s Report of the High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, the author reviews issues related to the context and discussions on access to medicines and the conflict between trade and health during the last decades. These issues have been relevant and outstanding in Global Health, especially questioning the current system of innovation, R&D and IP protection. Lessons learned from the HLP Report are highlighted and the need to further discuss and implement concrete actions, as the world has moved from the MDGs to the SDGs, demand strong actions derived from the United Nations and a strong interaction with other key stakeholders. Affordability and unaffordability of new technologies are discussed, making clear that we need to implement bold actions in order to ensure access to medicines as a human right.

Fisiognomica emozionale. Affordances, estasi, atmosfere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tonino Griffero

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Through an atmospherological approach, primarily inspired by the so-called Aisthetik or New Aesthetics (Gernot Böhme and the New Phenomenology (Hermann Schmitz, the paper defines the atmospheric perception as a first pathemic impression and investigates the relationship between this kind of perception and the expressive qualities of the surrounding spaces. The aim is to understand atmospheres as (amodal, transmodal, sinaesthetic affordances that permeate the lived space, namely as ‘ecological’ and affective invites or meanings which are ontologically rooted in things and quasi-things.

Closing the Communal Gap: The Importance of Communal Affordances in Science Career Motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Elizabeth R; Thoman, Dustin B; Smith, Jessi L; Diekman, Amanda B

2015-12-01

To remain competitive in the global economy, the United States (and other countries) is trying to broaden participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by graduating an additional 1 million people in STEM fields by 2018. Although communion (working with, helping, and caring for others) is a basic human need, STEM careers are often (mis)perceived as being uncommunal. Across three naturalistic studies we found greater support for the communal affordance hypothesis, that perceiving STEM careers as affording greater communion is associated with greater STEM career interest, than two alternative hypotheses derived from goal congruity theory. Importantly, these findings held regardless of major (Study 1), college enrollment (Study 2), and gender (Studies 1-3). For undergraduate research assistants, mid-semester beliefs that STEM affords communion predicted end of the semester STEM motivation (Study 3). Our data highlight the importance of educational and workplace motivational interventions targeting communal affordances beliefs about STEM.

The Pursuit of Profit or Prestige: What the Diffusion of MOOCs Can Tell Us about Disruptive Innovation in US Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Pheatt, Lara E.

2017-01-01

Disruptive innovations are used to lower costs and augment access to high-quality, affordable higher education, but little systematic research is available on the topic. Higher education institutions use disruptive innovations to save students time and money. To understand the process of disruptive innovation, I investigated the rapid diffusion of…

Affordable mobile robotic platforms for teaching computer science at African universities

OpenAIRE

Gyebi, Ernest; Hanheide, Marc; Cielniak, Grzegorz

2015-01-01

Educational robotics can play a key role in addressing some of the challenges faced by higher education in Africa. One of the major obstacles preventing a wider adoption of initiatives involving educational robotics in this part of the world is lack of robots that would be affordable by African institutions. In this paper, we present a survey and analysis of currently available affordable mobile robots and their suitability for teaching computer science at African universities. To this end, w...

49 CFR 37.59 - Differences in accessibility completion dates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... accessible path from common elements of the station to portions of the facility directly serving the rail... both rapid and commuter rail systems), accessibility to the following elements of the station shall be achieved by the earlier of the completion dates involved: (a) Common elements of the station; (b) Portions...

Technology for People, Not Disabilities: Ensuring Access and Inclusion

Science.gov (United States)

Foley, Alan; Ferri, Beth A.

2012-01-01

The potential of technology to connect people and provide access to education, commerce, employment and entertainment has never been greater or more rapidly changing. Communication technologies and new media promise to "revolutionize our lives" by breaking down barriers and expanding access for disabled people. Yet, it is also true that technology…

Affordability as a discursive accomplishment in a changing National Health Service.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Jill; Greenhalgh, Trisha

2012-12-01

Health systems worldwide face the challenges of rationing. The English National Health Service (NHS) was founded on three core principles: universality, comprehensiveness, and free at the point of delivery. Yet patients are increasingly hearing that some treatments are unaffordable on the NHS. We considered affordability as a social accomplishment and sought to explore how those charged with allocating NHS resources achieved this in practice. We undertook a linguistic ethnography to examine the work practices of resource allocation committees in three Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England between 2005 and 2012, specifically deliberations over 'individual funding requests' (IFRs)--requests by patients and their doctors for the PCT to support a treatment not routinely funded. We collected and analysed a diverse dataset comprising policy documents, legal judgements, audio recordings, ethnographic field notes and emails from PCT committee meetings, interviews and a focus group with committee members. We found that the fundamental values of universality and comprehensiveness strongly influenced the culture of these NHS organisations, and that in this context, accomplishing affordability was not easy. Four discursive practices served to confer legitimacy on affordability as a guiding value of NHS health care: (1) categorising certain treatments as only eligible for NHS funding if patients could prove 'exceptional' circumstances; (2) representing resource allocation decisions as being not (primarily) about money; (3) indexical labelling of affordability as an ethical principle, and (4) recontextualising legal judgements supporting refusal of NHS treatment on affordability grounds as 'rational'. The overall effect of these discursive practices was that denying treatment to patients became reasonable and rational for an organisation even while it continued to espouse traditional NHS values. We conclude that deliberations about the funding of treatments at the margins of NHS

Rapid Prototyping in Orthopaedic Surgery: A User's Guide

OpenAIRE

Frame, Mark; Huntley, James S.

2012-01-01

Rapid prototyping (RP) is applicable to orthopaedic problems involving three dimensions, particularly fractures, deformities, and reconstruction. In the past, RP has been hampered by cost and difficulties accessing the appropriate expertise. Here we outline the history of rapid prototyping and furthermore a process using open-source software to produce a high fidelity physical model from CT data. This greatly mitigates the expense associated with the technique, allowing surgeons to produce pr...

Availability, Sales, and Affordability of Tobacco Cessation Medicines in Kerala, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarma, Smitha; Harikrishnan, Sivadasanpillai; Baldridge, Abigail S; Devarajan, Raji; Mehta, Aashna; Selvaraj, Sakhtivel; Ali, Mohammed K; Mohanan, Padinhare P; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Huffman, Mark D

2017-11-01

India is the world's second largest consumer of tobacco, but tobacco cessation remains uncommon due, at least in part, to underutilization of cessation pharmacotherapy. We evaluated the availability, sales, and affordability of nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion, and varenicline in the South Indian state of Kerala to understand potential reasons for underutilization. From November 2016 to April 2017, we collected data on availability, inventory, and pricing of cessation medication through a cross-sectional survey of 199 public, semiprivate (Karunya), and private pharmacies across 5 districts in Kerala using World Health Organization/Health Action International methodology. Revenue and sales data were obtained from the latest Pharmatrac medication database. We assessed affordability using individual- and household-level income and expenditure data collected from November 2014 to November 2016 through the Acute Coronary Syndrome Quality Improvement in Kerala randomized trial. Cessation medications were not available in public hospitals (0%, n=58) nor in public specialty centers (0%, n=10) including those designated to provide cessation services. At least 1 cessation medicine was available at 63% of private pharmacies (n=109) and 27% of Karunya (semiprivate) pharmacies (n=22). Among the 75 pharmacies that stocked cessation medications, 96% had nicotine replacement therapy, 28% had bupropion, and 1% had varenicline. No outlets had sufficient inventory for a patient to purchase a 12-week treatment regimen. There were an estimated 253 270 treatment regimens sold throughout India and 14 092 in Kerala in 2013 to 2014. Treatment regimens cost 1.9 to 13.0× the median amount spent on smoked tobacco and between 8% and 52% of nonsubsistence income. Tobacco cessation medications are unavailable in the Kerala public sector and have limited availability in the private and semiprivate sectors. When available, medications are unaffordable for most patients. Addition of tobacco

What Remains on Your Mind After You Are Done?: Flexible Regulation of Knowledge Accessibility

Science.gov (United States)

Hedberg, Per H.; Higgins, E. Tory

2011-01-01

The accessibility of stored knowledge has been found to decline over time after activation without further stimulation. A special case is goal pursuit; goal-related knowledge remains accessible until goal completion, and then its accessibility declines rapidly. We hypothesized that after goal completion the decline in accessibility of goal-related knowledge would be especially rapid for strong promotion-focused individuals because their motivation to eagerly advance beyond the status quo would make accessibility of this knowledge an irrelevant detriment. We hypothesized an opposite effect for strongly prevention-predominant individuals because their motivation to vigilantly maintain a satisfactory state would make accessibility of this knowledge continually relevant. The results of two studies supported both these predicted moderators of accessibility change. Indeed, we found that for strongly prevention-predominant participants, knowledge accessibility actually increased over time after goal completion. We discuss how even basic cognitive mechanisms, like changes in accessibility, can be affected by general motivational concerns. PMID:21765541

The Affordable Care Act, Accountable Care Organizations, and Mental Health Care for Older Adults: Implications and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Bartels, Stephen J.; Gill, Lydia; Naslund, John A.

2015-01-01

Abstract The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) represents the most significant legislative change in the United States health care system in nearly half a century. Key elements of the ACA include reforms aimed at addressing high-cost, complex, vulnerable patient populations. Older adults with mental health disorders are a rapidly growing segment of the population and are among the most challenging subgroups within health care, and they account for a disproportionate amount of costs. What does the ACA mean for geriatric mental health? We address this question by highlighting opportunities for reaching older adults with mental health disorders by leveraging the diverse elements of the ACA. We describe nine relevant initiatives: (1) accountable care organizations, (2) patient-centered medical homes, (3) Medicaid-financed specialty health homes, (4) hospital readmission and health care transitions initiatives, (5) Medicare annual wellness visit, (6) quality standards and associated incentives, (7) support for health information technology and telehealth, (8) Independence at Home and 1915(i) State Plan Home and Community-Based Services program, and (9) Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. We also consider potential challenges to full implementation of the ACA and discuss novel solutions for advancing geriatric mental health in the context of projected workforce shortages and the opportunities afforded by the ACA. PMID:25811340

A win-win solution?: A critical analysis of tiered pricing to improve access to medicines in developing countries

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Tiered pricing - the concept of selling drugs and vaccines in developing countries at prices systematically lower than in industrialized countries - has received widespread support from industry, policymakers, civil society, and academics as a way to improve access to medicines for the poor. We carried out case studies based on a review of international drug price developments for antiretrovirals, artemisinin combination therapies, drug-resistant tuberculosis medicines, liposomal amphotericin B (for visceral leishmaniasis), and pneumococcal vaccines. Discussion We found several critical shortcomings to tiered pricing: it is inferior to competition for achieving the lowest sustainable prices; it often involves arbitrary divisions between markets and/or countries, which can lead to very high prices for middle-income markets; and it leaves a disproportionate amount of decision-making power in the hands of sellers vis-à-vis consumers. In many developing countries, resources are often stretched so tight that affordability can only be approached by selling medicines at or near the cost of production. Policies that "de-link" the financing of R&D from the price of medicines merit further attention, since they can reward innovation while exploiting robust competition in production to generate the lowest sustainable prices. However, in special cases - such as when market volumes are very small or multi-source production capacity is lacking - tiered pricing may offer the only practical option to meet short-term needs for access to a product. In such cases, steps should be taken to ensure affordability and availability in the longer-term. Summary To ensure access to medicines for populations in need, alternate strategies should be explored that harness the power of competition, avoid arbitrary market segmentation, and/or recognize government responsibilities. Competition should generally be the default option for achieving affordability, as it has proven superior

A win-win solution?: A critical analysis of tiered pricing to improve access to medicines in developing countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, Suerie; Jambert, Elodie; Childs, Michelle; von Schoen-Angerer, Tido

2011-10-12

Tiered pricing - the concept of selling drugs and vaccines in developing countries at prices systematically lower than in industrialized countries - has received widespread support from industry, policymakers, civil society, and academics as a way to improve access to medicines for the poor. We carried out case studies based on a review of international drug price developments for antiretrovirals, artemisinin combination therapies, drug-resistant tuberculosis medicines, liposomal amphotericin B (for visceral leishmaniasis), and pneumococcal vaccines. We found several critical shortcomings to tiered pricing: it is inferior to competition for achieving the lowest sustainable prices; it often involves arbitrary divisions between markets and/or countries, which can lead to very high prices for middle-income markets; and it leaves a disproportionate amount of decision-making power in the hands of sellers vis-à-vis consumers. In many developing countries, resources are often stretched so tight that affordability can only be approached by selling medicines at or near the cost of production. Policies that "de-link" the financing of R&D from the price of medicines merit further attention, since they can reward innovation while exploiting robust competition in production to generate the lowest sustainable prices. However, in special cases - such as when market volumes are very small or multi-source production capacity is lacking - tiered pricing may offer the only practical option to meet short-term needs for access to a product. In such cases, steps should be taken to ensure affordability and availability in the longer-term. To ensure access to medicines for populations in need, alternate strategies should be explored that harness the power of competition, avoid arbitrary market segmentation, and/or recognize government responsibilities. Competition should generally be the default option for achieving affordability, as it has proven superior to tiered pricing for reliably

A win-win solution?: A critical analysis of tiered pricing to improve access to medicines in developing countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Childs Michelle

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Tiered pricing - the concept of selling drugs and vaccines in developing countries at prices systematically lower than in industrialized countries - has received widespread support from industry, policymakers, civil society, and academics as a way to improve access to medicines for the poor. We carried out case studies based on a review of international drug price developments for antiretrovirals, artemisinin combination therapies, drug-resistant tuberculosis medicines, liposomal amphotericin B (for visceral leishmaniasis, and pneumococcal vaccines. Discussion We found several critical shortcomings to tiered pricing: it is inferior to competition for achieving the lowest sustainable prices; it often involves arbitrary divisions between markets and/or countries, which can lead to very high prices for middle-income markets; and it leaves a disproportionate amount of decision-making power in the hands of sellers vis-à-vis consumers. In many developing countries, resources are often stretched so tight that affordability can only be approached by selling medicines at or near the cost of production. Policies that "de-link" the financing of R&D from the price of medicines merit further attention, since they can reward innovation while exploiting robust competition in production to generate the lowest sustainable prices. However, in special cases - such as when market volumes are very small or multi-source production capacity is lacking - tiered pricing may offer the only practical option to meet short-term needs for access to a product. In such cases, steps should be taken to ensure affordability and availability in the longer-term. Summary To ensure access to medicines for populations in need, alternate strategies should be explored that harness the power of competition, avoid arbitrary market segmentation, and/or recognize government responsibilities. Competition should generally be the default option for achieving affordability

Ensuring Access to Safe, Legal Abortion in an Increasingly Complex Regulatory Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, Maureen; Norton, Mary E

2016-07-01

Restrictions on access to abortion in the United States have reached proportions unprecedented since the nationwide legalization of abortion in 1973. Although some restrictions aim to discourage women from having abortions, many others impede access by affecting the timeliness, affordability, or availability of services. Evidence indicates that these restrictions do not increase abortion safety; rather, they create logistic barriers for women seeking abortion, and they have the greatest effect on women with the fewest resources. In this commentary, we recall the important role that obstetrician-gynecologists (ob-gyns) have played, both before and after Roe v. Wade, in facilitating access to safe abortion care. Using the literature on abortion safety and access as a foundation, we propose several practical ideas about what we as ob-gyns can do to address the current threat to abortion access, whether or not we provide abortion services in practice. We hope that this commentary will encourage discourse within our profession and prompt other suggestions. As ob-gyns who are dedicated to addressing health disparities and promoting the health and well-being of our patients, we can make a difference.

Concepts in Biotechnology An Affordable Overview of Biotechnology ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 2; Issue 9. Concepts in Biotechnology An Affordable Overview of Biotechnology Through Self Study ... Author Affiliations. Narayan S Punekar1. Molecular Enzymology Group, Biotechnology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai 400 076, India.

Affordances of Instrumentation in General Chemistry Laboratories

Science.gov (United States)

Sherman, Kristin Mary Daniels

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study is to find out what students in the first chemistry course at the undergraduate level (general chemistry for science majors) know about the affordances of instrumentation used in the general chemistry laboratory and how their knowledge develops over time. Overall, students see the PASCO(TM) system as a useful and accurate…

Leveraging the Affordances of the Emerging 3d Internet for Entrepreneurial ”Next Practices”

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frølunde, Lisbeth; Flåten, Bjørn-Tore

” for entrepreneurial practices? Our second research question focuses on understanding how entrepreneurs utilize their social networks. Our approach to entrepreneurship is social-- concerned with the dynamics of social interactions and networked information ecology. Methods We are currently conducting 10 case studies...... for entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, the literature offers sparse knowledge at the industry level. There is a lack of overview regarding 3D Internet entrepreneurship practices and the real challenges faced by entrepreneurs. In this study, we explore the potential as well as the hindrances to new venture creation...... related to the 3D Internet. Our theoretical basis is affordances, or the material and social properties of any technology in relation to affording actions by humans. Our first research question focuses on the perception of affordances by entrepreneurs: what does the 3D Internet offer or afford as a “space...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Utilization of Preventive Health Care Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Eno

2016-02-01

Full Text Available We examined how (a health insurance coverage, and (b familiarity with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA’s or ObamaCare mandate of cost-free access to preventive health services, affect the use of preventive services by residents of a minority community. It was based on primary data collected from a survey conducted during March to April 2012 among a sample of self-identified African American adults in Tallahassee-Leon County area of northwest Florida. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 22 was used for running frequency analysis on the data set and multivariable regression modeling. The results showed that of 524 respondents, 382 (73% had health insurance while 142 (27% lacked insurance. Majority of insured respondents, 332 (87%, used preventive health services. However, the remaining 13% of respondents did not use preventive services because they were unfamiliar with the ACA provision of free access to preventive services for insured people. Regression analysis showed a high (91.04% probability that, among the insured, the use of preventive health services depended on the person’s age, income, and education. For uninsured residents, the lack of health insurance was the key reason for non-use of preventive health services, while among the insured, lack of knowledge about the ACA benefit of free access contributed to non-use of preventive services. Expansion of Medicaid eligibility can increase insurance coverage rates among African Americans and other minority populations. Health promotion and awareness campaigns about the law’s benefits by local and state health departments can enhance the use of preventive services.

Getting a grip on affordances, attention and visual fields

OpenAIRE

Linden, Lotje van der; Theeuwes, Jan; Ellis, Rob

2013-01-01

van der Linden, L., Theeuwes, J., & Ellis, R. (2012). Getting a grip on affordances, attention, and visual fields. Poster presented at the 2012 William James Graduate School Symposium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Tobacco affordability, sales and excise revenues in the 28 European Union countries in 2011-2014

OpenAIRE

Konstantin Krasovsky

2017-01-01

Introduction The Guidelines for the FCTC Article 6 state: When establishing their levels of taxation, Parties should make tobacco products less affordable over time in order to reduce consumption. The objective is to estimate the impact of changes in tobacco affordability on tobacco consumption and tobacco excise revenues in 2011-2014 in 28 European Union countries. Material and Methods Tobacco affordability index was calculated using the Eurostat data on harmonized consumer price i...

Do new and traditional models of primary care differ with regard to access?: Canadian QUALICOPC study.

Science.gov (United States)

Miedema, Baukje; Easley, Julie; Thompson, Ashley E; Boivin, Antoine; Aubrey-Bassler, Kris; Katz, Alan; Hogg, William E; Breton, Mylaine; Francoeur, Danièle; Wong, Sabrina T; Wodchis, Walter P

2016-01-01

To examine access to primary care in new and traditional models using 2 dimensions of the concept of patient-centred access. An international survey examining the quality and costs of primary health care (the QUALICOPC study) was conducted in 2013 in Canada. This study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey method using data from practices across Canada. Each participating practice filled out the Family Physician Survey and the Practice Survey, and patients in each participating practice were asked to complete the Patient Experiences Survey. All 10 Canadian provinces. A total of 759 practices and 7172 patients. Independent t tests were conducted to examine differences between new and traditional models of care in terms of availability and accommodation, and affordability of care. Of the 759 practices, 407 were identified as having new models of care and 352 were identified as traditional. New models of care were distinct with respect to payment structure, opening hours, and having an interdisciplinary work force. Most participating practices were from large cities or suburban areas. There were few differences between new and traditional models of care regarding accessibility and accommodation in primary care. Patients under new models of care reported easier access to other physicians in the same practice, while patients from traditional models reported seeing their regular family physicians more frequently. There was no difference between the new and traditional models of care with regard to affordability of primary care. Patients attending clinics with new models of care reported that their physicians were more involved with them as a whole person than patients attending clinics based on traditional models did. Primary care access issues do not differ strongly between traditional and new models of care; however, patients in the new models of care believed that their physicians were more involved with them as people.

Tempting foods and the affordability axiom: Food cues change beliefs about the costs of healthy eating.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Sarah E; Baskett, Kaily; Bradshaw, Hannah K; Prokosch, Marjorie L; DelPriore, Danielle J; Rodeheffer, Christopher D

2016-12-01

Many consumers report that healthy eating is more expensive than unhealthy eating (the affordability axiom). We hypothesize that endorsement of this belief may be driven by the motivation to eat unhealthy foods. We tested this hypothesis in three studies. Study 1 revealed that the affordability axiom is associated with poorer eating habits and higher Body Mass Index (BMI). Study 2 found that the presence of a tasty food cue in the environment increased endorsement of affordability axiom. Study 3 found that these effects were moderated by one's food intake goals. Food cues led non-dieters to increase endorsement of the affordability axiom, but had the opposite effect among those seeking to restrict their calorie intake. The affordability axiom might persist as a means of validating unhealthy food choices. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Affordable comfort 95 - investing in our energy future

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-12-31

This report describes the topics from the conference on Affordable Comfort, held March 26-31, 1995. Topics are concerned with energy efficiency in homes, retrofitting, weatherization, and monitoring of appliances, heating, and air conditioning systems for performance, as well as topics on electric utilities.

User experience with a health insurance coverage and benefit-package access: implications for policy implementation towards expansion in Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammed, Shafiu; Aji, Budi; Bermejo, Justo Lorenzo; Souares, Aurelia; Dong, Hengjin; Sauerborn, Rainer

2016-04-01

Developing countries are devising strategies and mechanisms to expand coverage and benefit-package access for their citizens through national health insurance schemes (NHIS). In Nigeria, the scheme aims to provide affordable healthcare services to insured-persons and their dependants. However, inclusion of dependants is restricted to four biological children and a spouse per user. This study assesses the progress of implementation of the NHIS in Nigeria, relating to coverage and benefit-package access, and examines individual factors associated with the implementation, according to users' perspectives. A retrospective, cross-sectional survey was done between October 2010 and March 2011 in Kaduna state and 796 users were randomly interviewed. Questions regarding coverage of immediate-family members and access to benefit-package for treatment were analysed. Indicators of coverage and benefit-package access were each further aggregated and assessed by unit-weighted composite. The additive-ordinary least square regression model was used to identify user factors that may influence coverage and benefit-package access. With respect to coverage, immediate-dependants were included for 62.3% of the users, and 49.6 rated this inclusion 'good' (49.6%). In contrast, 60.2% supported the abolishment of the policy restriction for non-inclusion of enrolees' additional children and spouses. With respect to benefit-package access, 82.7% of users had received full treatments, and 77.6% of them rated this as 'good'. Also, 14.4% of users had been refused treatments because they could not afford them. The coverage of immediate-dependants was associated with age, sex, educational status, children and enrolment duration. The benefit-package access was associated with types of providers, marital status and duration of enrolment. This study revealed that coverage of family members was relatively poor, while benefit-package access was more adequate. Non-inclusion of family members could

Self-organization, free energy minimization, and optimal grip on a field of affordances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelle eBruineberg

2014-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we set out to develop a theoretical and conceptual framework for the new field of Radical Embodied Cognitive Neuroscience. This framework should be able to integrate insights from several relevant disciplines: theory on embodied cognition, ecological psychology, phenomenology, dynamical systems theory, and neurodynamics. We suggest that the main task of Radical Embodied Cognitive Neuroscience is to investigate the phenomenon of skilled intentionality from the perspective of the self-organization of the brain-body-environment system, while doing justice to the phenomenology of skilled action. In previous work, we have characterized skilled intentionality as the organism’s tendency towards an optimal grip on multiple relevant affordances simultaneously. Affordances are possibilities for action provided by the environment. In the first part of this paper, we introduce the notion of skilled intentionality and the phenomenon of responsiveness to a field of relevant affordances. Second, we use Friston’s work on neurodynamics, but embed a very minimal version of his Free Energy Principle in the ecological niche of the animal. Thus amended, this principle is helpful for understanding the embeddedness of neurodynamics within the dynamics of the brain-body-environment system. Next, we show how we can use this adjusted principle to understand the neurodynamics of selective openness to the environment: interacting action-readiness patterns at multiple timescales contribute to the organism’s selective openness to relevant affordances. In the final part of the paper, we emphasize the important role of metastable dynamics in both the brain and the brain-body-environment system for adequate affordance-responsiveness. We exemplify our integrative approach by presenting research on the impact of Deep Brain Stimulation on affordance responsiveness of OCD patients.

Extending Marketplace Tax Credits Would Make Coverage More Affordable for Middle-Income Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jodi; Eiber, Christine

2017-07-01

ISSUE: Affordability of health coverage is a growing challenge for Americans facing rising premiums, deductibles, and copayments. The Affordable Care Act's tax credits make marketplace insurance more affordable for eligible lower-income individuals. However, individuals lose tax credits when their income exceeds 400 percent of the federal poverty level, creating a steep cliff. GOALS: To analyze the effects of extending eligibility for tax credits to individuals with incomes above 400 percent of the federal poverty level. METHODS: We used RAND's COMPARE microsimulation model to examine changes in insurance coverage and health care spending. KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS: Extending tax-credit eligibility increases insurance enrollment by 1.2 million, at a total federal cost of $6.0 billion. Those who would benefit from the tax-credit extension are mostly middle-income adults ages 50 to 64. These new enrollees would be healthier than current enrollees their age, which would improve the risk pool and lower premiums. Eliminating the cliff at 400 percent of the federal poverty level is one policy option that may be considered to increase affordability of insurance.

The challenges of rapid urbanization on sustainable development of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The challenges of rapid urbanization on sustainable development of Nyanya, Federal Capital ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... unaffordable health care facilities, poor environmental health and traffic congestion on the ...

A restricted access material for rapid analysis of [11C]-labeled radiopharmaceuticals and their metabolites in plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillings, Nic

2009-01-01

Introduction: Analysis of the radioactive components in plasma taken during positron emission tomography (PET) measurements is often vital for the correct quantification of the PET data. The described high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been developed to provide a fast, sensitive and robust method for the measurement of plasma samples from PET studies using [ 11 C]-labeled radiopharmaceuticals. Methods: Unadulterated plasma samples were analyzed directly, following a simple filtration, by the use of a small extraction column, containing a restricted access material, combined with a monolithic analysis column in a column-switching HPLC system. Results: Up to 4 ml of plasma was analyzed by this method within 4.5-7 min in a fully automated process. Because of the rapid analysis, a large number of samples could be analyzed during a 90-min PET scan. The extraction column could be used for analysis of up to 500 ml of plasma before replacement was required. Conclusions: The described method is fast and robust and the large sample volumes allow for accurate determination of the radioactive components in plasma even at 90 min after injection of a [ 11 C]-labeled radiopharmaceutical.

A study of social information control affordances and gender difference in Facebook self-presentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, Feng-Yang; Tseng, Chih-Yi; Tseng, Fan-Chuan; Lin, Cathy S

2013-09-01

Affordances refer to how interface features of an IT artifact, perceived by its users in terms of their potentials for action, may predict the intensity of usage. This study investigates three social information affordances for expressive information control, privacy information control, and image information control in Facebook. The results show that the three affordances can significantly explain how Facebook's interface designs facilitate users' self-presentation activities. In addition, the findings reveal that males are more engaged in expressing information than females, while females are more involved in privacy control than males. A practical application of our study is to compare and contrast the level of affordances offered by various social network sites (SNS) like Facebook and Twitter, as well as differences in online self-presentations across cultures. Our approach can therefore be useful to investigate how SNS design features can be tailored to specific gender and culture needs.

Reliability and Maintainability Engineering - A Major Driver for Safety and Affordability

Science.gov (United States)

Safie, Fayssal M.

2011-01-01

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is in the midst of an effort to design and build a safe and affordable heavy lift vehicle to go to the moon and beyond. To achieve that, NASA is seeking more innovative and efficient approaches to reduce cost while maintaining an acceptable level of safety and mission success. One area that has the potential to contribute significantly to achieving NASA safety and affordability goals is Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) engineering. Inadequate reliability or failure of critical safety items may directly jeopardize the safety of the user(s) and result in a loss of life. Inadequate reliability of equipment may directly jeopardize mission success. Systems designed to be more reliable (fewer failures) and maintainable (fewer resources needed) can lower the total life cycle cost. The Department of Defense (DOD) and industry experience has shown that optimized and adequate levels of R&M are critical for achieving a high level of safety and mission success, and low sustainment cost. Also, lessons learned from the Space Shuttle program clearly demonstrated the importance of R&M engineering in designing and operating safe and affordable launch systems. The Challenger and Columbia accidents are examples of the severe impact of design unreliability and process induced failures on system safety and mission success. These accidents demonstrated the criticality of reliability engineering in understanding component failure mechanisms and integrated system failures across the system elements interfaces. Experience from the shuttle program also shows that insufficient Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability (RMS) engineering analyses upfront in the design phase can significantly increase the sustainment cost and, thereby, the total life cycle cost. Emphasis on RMS during the design phase is critical for identifying the design features and characteristics needed for time efficient processing

Accessibility versus accuracy in retrieving spatial memory: evidence for suboptimal assumed headings.

Science.gov (United States)

Yerramsetti, Ashok; Marchette, Steven A; Shelton, Amy L

2013-07-01

Orientation dependence in spatial memory has often been interpreted in terms of accessibility: Object locations are encoded relative to a reference orientation that affords the most accurate access to spatial memory. An open question, however, is whether people naturally use this "preferred" orientation whenever recalling the space. We tested this question by asking participants to locate buildings on a familiar campus from various imagined locations, without specifying the heading to be assumed. We then used these pointing judgments to infer the approximate heading participants assumed at each location. Surprisingly, each location showed a unique assumed heading that was consistent across participants and seemed to reflect episodic or visual properties of the space. This result suggests that although locations are encoded relative to a reference orientation, other factors may influence how people choose to access the stored information and whether they appeal to long-term spatial memory or other more sensory-based stores. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC SUBSTANTIATION OF PROJECTS OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CONSTRUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

KRAVCHUNOVSKA T. S.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Summary. Problem statement. The development of inhabitant locality of Ukraine is characterized by significant differences in levels of socio and economic development. An excessive concentration of population and industry in large cities, inefficient, slow development of most medium and small cities, towns and villages, considerable territorial disproportions of economic development of the country, considerable shortcomings in the territorial organization of society are observed. At the same time the tendency of the total area of increasing of inhabitant locality. The lands are used inefficiently. Among the most common problems of inhabitant locality is the housing problem. When making a decision on the design of affordable housing construction is one of the most important stages in the development of the technique and economic substantiation of the project is determination of the advisability and effectiveness of construction. The substantiation of advisability and effectiveness of affordable housing based on the definition of technical and economic indicators of projects, one of the most important among them is the cost, in its calculation is necessary to take into account the influence of organizational and technological factors, reflecting the features of construction in condition of compacted construction. Purpose. Development of methodical recommendations on substantiation of cost construction of affordable housing in the conditions of compacted construction. Conclusion. To provide a processing and the analysis of data is necessary development of the applied software on the basis of the developed block scheme of justification of cost construction of affordable housing.

Options for Affordable Fission Surface Power Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Houts, Mike; Gaddis, Steve; Porter, Ron; Van Dyke, Melissa; Martin, Jim; Godfroy, Tom; Bragg-Sitton, Shannon; Garber, Anne; Pearson, Boise

2006-01-01

Fission surface power systems could provide abundant power anywhere on the surface of the moon or Mars. Locations could include permanently shaded regions on the moon and high latitudes on Mars. To be fully utilized, however, fission surface power systems must be safe, have adequate performance, and be affordable. This paper discusses options for the design and development of such systems. (authors)

An Investigation Into Design Criteria for Affordable Housing Supply

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olanrewaju Abdul Lateef

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Affordable housing provision constitutes a very large scheme in any countries due to income distribution and national development. The supply of housing depends on many activities and processes. The purpose of the houses is to meet the requirement of the householders therefore design criteria must address the users’ requirements. The establishment of the design criteria constitutes an important activity at the initial phase of the housing development. The design criteria are prepared by the design team in collaboration with many stakeholders especially the householders. Housinsg design criteria are the requirements that must be considered prior to construction of the housing. Lack of adequate information on the design criteria would lead to poor householders’ satisfactions, increase in maintenance cost, abandonments and completed but not occupy housing. In Malaysia, many of these consequences are prevalent. However, while information on the house owners’ requirements is inconclusive, this current research set out to investigate the design criteria of affordable housing. The increase in the affordable housing gap in Malaysia can be reduced if the designers have a comprehensive understanding of users’ requirements and the design criteria. Through a cross sectional survey questionnaire, comprising 25 criteria, 7 criteria were found to be extremely critical. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy indicated that the strength of the relationships among variables was strong (KMO =0.716. Bartlett’s test of sphericity, which tests the overall significance of all the correlations within the correlation matrix, was significant χ2 (325 = 1825.075, p<0.001, indicating the data were drawn from the same population and that the criteria were related.Sustainability considerations are now being considered by the providers of affordable housing. Deductively, the results lead to the conclusion that a major factor responsible for the poor

A randomized trial of motivational interviewing and facilitated contraceptive access to prevent rapid repeat pregnancy among adolescent mothers.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Jack; Lutz, Robyn; Osuagwu, Ngozi; Rotz, Dana; Goesling, Brian

2017-10-01

Most interventions designed to reduce teen pregnancy rates have not focused on pregnant and/or parenting adolescents. Therefore, a large randomized controlled trial was conducted regarding a motivational interviewing program entitled Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy in a low-income sample of adolescent mothers. This program recommended monthly sessions between a participant and a registered nurse over 18 months. This program also featured facilitated birth control access through transportation assistance and a part-time contraceptive clinic. The impact of this program on rapid repeat pregnancies at 18 months after enrollment was evaluated. Five hundred ninety-eight adolescent females were enrolled from 7 obstetrics-gynecology clinics and 5 postpartum units of a large hospital system in a Midwestern city. Each participant was enrolled at least 28 weeks pregnant or less than 9 weeks postpartum. Each participant was randomized to either the Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy intervention or a usual-care control condition. Intervention participants averaged 4.5 hours of assistance. Participants were contacted by blinded research staff at 6 and 18 months to complete self-report surveys. Differences in outcomes between the intervention and control groups were assessed using ordinary least-squares regression. There was an 18.1% absolute reduction in self-reported repeat pregnancy in the intervention group relative to the control group (20.5% vs 38.6%%; P Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy program represents one of the few evidence-based interventions to reduce rapid repeat teen pregnancy. This relatively brief intervention may be a viable alternative to more time-intensive programs that adolescent mothers may be unable or unwilling to receive. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

24 CFR 1000.101 - What is affordable housing?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What is affordable housing? 1000.101 Section 1000.101 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and Urban Development (Continued) OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND...

Policy principles for expanding financial access: report of the CGD task force on access to financial services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Claessens, S.; Honohan, P.; Rojas-Suarez, L.

2009-01-01

Despite the rapid growth in finance worldwide over the past quarter-century — now interrupted by the global financial crisis — many low-income households and small firms remain excluded from access to many financial services, especially in developing countries. While traditionally seen by many

75 FR 32480 - Funding Opportunity: Affordable Care Act Medicare Beneficiary Outreach and Assistance Program...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-08

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Administration on Aging Funding Opportunity: Affordable Care Act Medicare Beneficiary Outreach and Assistance Program Funding for Title VI Native American Programs Purpose of Notice: Availability of funding opportunity announcement. Funding Opportunity Title/Program Name: Affordable Care Act Medicare...

Understanding Structures and Affordances of Extended Teams in Global Software Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ali Babar, Muhammad; Zahedi, Mansooreh

2013-01-01

Growing popularity of Global Software Development (GSD) has resulted in an increasing number of cross-organizational teams that are formed according to Extended Team Model (ETM). There is little known about the structures (work, social, and communication) that may exist in ETM and what affordances...... in the studied team help deal with different GSD challenges, these structures appear to have certain challenges inherent in them and the affordances they provide. We make a few recommendations for improving the current structures to deal with the observed challenges. Our findings are expected to provide insights...

Can poor consumers pay for energy and water? An affordability analysis for transition countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frankhauser, S.; Sladjana Tepic

2007-01-01

Low-income households spend a substantial share of their income on utility services such as electricity, heating and water. The difficulty of these socially vulnerable consumers to absorb further price increases is often used as an argument against tariff reform. However, detailed quantitative information on the affordability of tariff adjustments for low-income consumers is actually quite scarce. Much of the available information is based on households. This paper takes a more detailed look at the affordability of electricity, district heating and water for low-income consumers in transition countries. While the available data are incomplete, the paper finds that affordability is a problem for low-income consumers in most countries, in particular in the water sector and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The affordability consequences of tariff reform ultimately depend on the speed of tariff adjustments relative to the growth in household income, the level of tariffs needed for cost recovery, the level of effective tariffs at the outset (tariffs adjusted for non-payment) and the demand response to the tariff increase. The paper finds that delaying tariff reform by a few years makes little difference to affordability constraints, and may therefore not be an effective way to mitigate the social impact of utility reform. (author)

Can poor consumers pay for energy and water? An affordability analysis for transition countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fankhauser, Samuel; Tepic, Sladjana

2007-01-01

Low-income households spend a substantial share of their income on utility services such as electricity, heating and water. The difficulty of these socially vulnerable consumers to absorb further price increases is often used as an argument against tariff reform. However, detailed quantitative information on the affordability of tariff adjustments for low-income consumers is actually quite scarce. Much of the available information is based on households. This paper takes a more detailed look at the affordability of electricity, district heating and water for low-income consumers in transition countries. While the available data are incomplete, the paper finds that affordability is a problem for low-income consumers in most countries, in particular in the water sector and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The affordability consequences of tariff reform ultimately depend on the speed of tariff adjustments relative to the growth in household income, the level of tariffs needed for cost recovery, the level of effective tariffs at the outset (tariffs adjusted for non-payment) and the demand response to the tariff increase. The paper finds that delaying tariff reform by a few years makes little difference to affordability constraints, and may therefore not be an effective way to mitigate the social impact of utility reform

The characteristics of bike-sharing usage : case study in Zhongshan, China

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Ying; Thomas, Tom; Brussel, M.J.G.; van Maarseveen, M.F.A.M.

2017-01-01

Public bike systems have grown in popularity and are expanding rapidly across cities worldwide. Such systems provide access to pickup and drop-off public bikes at numerous bike stations for free or for an affordable fee and aim at increasing bike use and extending the accessibility of traditional public transport systems. A variety of studies have examined the characteristics of bike-sharing systems, mostly in American and European cities and with a focus on user demographics. The objective o...

Effects of the Affordable Care Act on part-time employment: Early evidence

OpenAIRE

Dillender, Marcus; Heinrich, Carolyn J.; Houseman, Susan N.

2016-01-01

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers with at least 50 full-time-equivalent employees to offer "affordable" health insurance to employees working 30 or more hours per week. If employers do not comply with the mandate, they may face substantial financial penalties. Employers can potentially circumvent the mandate by reducing weekly hours below the 30-hour threshold or by using other nonstandard employment arrangements (direct-hire temporaries, agency temporaries, small contractors, ...

The Influence of Affordable Daycare on Women's Empowerment in ...

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

The Influence of Affordable Daycare on Women's Empowerment in India ... services for the poor likely contribute to gender inequality by restricting women's educational ... a state that performs poorly in terms of women's empowerment in India.

Affordances shape pass kick behavior in association football : effects of distance and social context

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pepping, Gert-Jan; Heijmerikx, Johan; de Poel, Harjo J.

2011-01-01

A prerequisite for accurate passing in association football is that a player perceives the affordances, that is, the opportunities for action, of a given situation. The present study examined how affordances shape passing in association football by comparing the performance of pass-kicks in two task

Cost considerations in determining the affordability of adjuvant ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Affordability and value differ in patient groups with different baseline prognoses. This is illustrated below using the hazard ratio (HR) of survival rates obtained from a. Cochrane review[2] and personal communication ...

Are Housing Markets Decoupled? A Case Study of Residential Real Estate Affordability in Austria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florian PHILIPP

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Real estate arguably forms the most important asset to most households and the basis for their wealth. Around this context a model has been set up testing the relative affordability of real estate for the median household in Austria and the consequences of lower borrowing costs between 2004 and 2013 by vintage year. In this paper the hypothesis that the significant decline in base interest rates is not sufficient to offset the relative affordability loss caused by declining net household incomes and the simultaneous increase of real estate prices. To test this hypothesis a model has been set up comparing two different Housing Affordability Indices – one including and one excluding financing effects, having been compared via a multi factor model. Based on this calculation the author finds decreased base interest rates to offset relative affordability losses by only approximately 50%, verifying the hypothesis. The paper therefore argues for a potential decoupling of the residential housing market in Austria.

LERU roadmap towards Open Access.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayris, Paul; Björnshauge, Lars; Collier, Mel; Ferwerda, Eelco; Jacobs, Neil; Sinikara, Kaisa; Swan, Alma; de Bries, Saskia; van Wesenbeeck, Astrid

2015-09-01

Money which is not directly spent on research and education, even though it is largely taxpayers´ money. As Harvard University already denounced in 2012, many large journal publishers have rendered the situation "fiscally unsustainable and academically restrictive", with some journals costing as much as $40,000 per year (and publishers drawing profits of 35% or more). If one of the wealthiest universities in the world can no longer afford it, who can? It is easy to picture the struggle of European universities with tighter budgets. In addition to subscription costs, academic research funding is also largely affected by "Article Processing Charges" (APC), which come at an additional cost of €2000/article, on average, when making individual articles Gold Open Access. Some publishers are in this way even being paid twice for the same content ("double dipping"). In the era of Open Science, Open Access to publications is one of the cornerstones of the new research paradigm and business models must support this transition. It should be one of the principal objectives of Commissioner Carlos Moedas and the Dutch EU Presidency (January-June 2016) to ensure that this transition happens. Further developing the EU´s leadership in research and innovation largely depends on it. With this statement "Moving Forwards on Open Access", LERU calls upon all universities, research institutes, research funders and researchers to sign this statement and give a clear signal towards the European Commission and the Dutch EU Presidency. Copyright© by the Spanish Society for Microbiology and Institute for Catalan Studies.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2005-01-01

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

Constraints and challenges in access to insulin: a global perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Beran, David; Ewen, Margaret; Laing, Richard

2016-03-01

Substantial attention has been given to the issue of access to medicines for communicable diseases; however, access to essential medicines for diabetes, especially insulin, has had insufficient focus. Although insulin was discovered in 1921, the drug is unattainable to many globally, and this Review aims to highlight the range and complexity of factors that contribute to this unattainability. Manufacturers' selling prices of various insulin formulations and presentations, duties, taxes, mark-ups, and other supply chain costs affect the price of insulin and hence the drug's affordability to health systems and individuals. Unlike drugs for HIV and AIDS, the production of generic or biosimilar insulin has not had an effect on the overall market. Other factors contributing to poor availability of insulin include its quantification at the national level, in-country distribution, and determination of needs at lower levels of the health system. Although insulin is essential for the survival of people with type 1 diabetes and is needed for improved management of diabetes for some people with type 2 diabetes, very little has been done globally to address the issue of access, despite the UN's political commitment to address non-communicable diseases and ensure universal access to drugs for these disorders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Designing a Secure E-commerce with Credential Purpose-based Access Control

OpenAIRE

Norjihan Abdul Ghani; Harihodin Selamat; Zailani Mohamed Sidek

2014-01-01

The rapid growth of e-commerce has created a great opportunities for both businesses and end users. The essential e-commerce process is required for the successful operation and management of e-commerce activities. One of the processes is access control and security. E-commerce must establish a secure access between the parties in an e-commerce transaction by authenticating users, authorizing access, and enforcing security features. The e-commerce application must authorize access to only tho...

The Role of Probabilistic Design Analysis Methods in Safety and Affordability

Science.gov (United States)

Safie, Fayssal M.

2016-01-01

For the last several years, NASA and its contractors have been working together to build space launch systems to commercialize space. Developing commercial affordable and safe launch systems becomes very important and requires a paradigm shift. This paradigm shift enforces the need for an integrated systems engineering environment where cost, safety, reliability, and performance need to be considered to optimize the launch system design. In such an environment, rule based and deterministic engineering design practices alone may not be sufficient to optimize margins and fault tolerance to reduce cost. As a result, introduction of Probabilistic Design Analysis (PDA) methods to support the current deterministic engineering design practices becomes a necessity to reduce cost without compromising reliability and safety. This paper discusses the importance of PDA methods in NASA's new commercial environment, their applications, and the key role they can play in designing reliable, safe, and affordable launch systems. More specifically, this paper discusses: 1) The involvement of NASA in PDA 2) Why PDA is needed 3) A PDA model structure 4) A PDA example application 5) PDA link to safety and affordability.

Building it together: collaboration in university-based open access book publishing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr Andrea Hacker

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Open access (OA book publishing in the humanities and social sciences is becoming technically more feasible and financially more desirable. After securing funding for the development of a business model based on a pilot book series, the University of Heidelberg is joining this development and building an infrastructure to publish OA books on campus. The challenges facing such new publishing outlets are considerable. This article argues that the best strategy to build the prestige, affordability and competitiveness necessary to succeed is collaboration. Accomplishing this within the OA community will prove less difficult than extending collaboration beyond it because many agencies and individuals still lack information about, and are often unconvinced of, the merits of open access. The key lies in offering excellence in manuscript development to revitalize the most important collaboration of all: that between publisher and author.

Learning at Work: Organisational Affordances and Individual Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Bryson, Jane; Pajo, Karl; Ward, Robyn; Mallon, Mary

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore the interaction between organisational affordances for the development of individuals' capability, and the engagement of workers at various levels with those opportunities. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of a large New Zealand wine company, using in-depth interviews. Interviews were…

Is Access to Outpatient Neurosurgery Affected by Narrow Insurance Networks? Results From Statewide Analysis of Marketplace Plans in Louisiana.

Science.gov (United States)

Dossani, Rimal H; Kalakoti, Piyush; Nanda, Anil; Guthikonda, Bharat; Tumialán, Luis M

2018-02-06

The main objective of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to make health insurance affordable to all Americans while addressing the lack of coverage for 48 million people. In the face of rapidly increasing enrollment and rising demand for inexpensive plans, insurance providers are limiting in-network physicians. Provider networks offering plans with limited in-network physicians have become known as "narrow networks." To assesses the adequacy of ACA marketplace plans for outpatient neurosurgery in Louisiana. The Marketplace Public Use Files were searched for all "silver" plans. A total of 7 silver plans were identified in Louisiana. Using the plans' online directories, a search of in-network neurosurgeons in Louisiana parishes with >100 000 population was performed. The primary outcome was lack of in-network neurosurgeon(s) in silver plans within 50 miles of selected zip code for each parish with >100 000 population. Plans without in-network neurosurgeon(s) are labeled as neurosurgeon-deficient plans. Several plans in Louisiana are neurosurgeon deficient, ie no in-network neurosurgeon within 50 miles of the designated parish zip code. Company A's plan 3 is deficient in all 5 parishes, while company C and company D silver plans are deficient in 4 out of 14 (29%). Combined results from all counties and plans demonstrate that 43% (3 out of 7) of all silver plans in Louisiana are neurosurgeon deficient in at least 4 parishes with population >100 000. In Louisiana, narrow networks have limited access to neurosurgical care for those patients with ACA silver plans. Copyright © 2018 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons

You pray to your God: A qualitative analysis of challenges in the provision of safe, timely, and affordable surgical care in Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Albutt, Katherine; Yorlets, Rachel R; Punchak, Maria; Kayima, Peter; Namanya, Didacus B; Anderson, Geoffrey A; Shrime, Mark G

2018-01-01

Five billion people lack access to safe, affordable, and timely surgical and anesthesia care. Significant challenges remain in the provision of surgical care in low-resource settings. Uganda is no exception. From September to November 2016, we conducted a mixed-methods countrywide surgical capacity assessment at 17 randomly selected public hospitals in Uganda. Researchers conducted 35 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders to understand factors related to the provision of surgical care. The framework approach was used for thematic and explanatory data analysis. The Ugandan public health care sector continues to face significant challenges in the provision of safe, timely, and affordable surgical care. These challenges can be broadly grouped into preparedness and policy, service delivery, and the financial burden of surgical care. Hospital staff reported challenges including: (1) significant delays in accessing surgical care, compounded by a malfunctioning referral system; (2) critical workforce shortages; (3) operative capacity that is limited by inadequate infrastructure and overwhelmed by emergency and obstetric volume; (4) supply chain difficulties pertaining to provision of essential medications, equipment, supplies, and blood; (5) significant, variable, and sometimes catastrophic expenditures for surgical patients and their families; and (6) a lack of surgery-specific policies and priorities. Despite these challenges, innovative strategies are being used in the public to provide surgical care to those most in need. Barriers to the provision of surgical care are cross-cutting and involve constraints in infrastructure, service delivery, workforce, and financing. Understanding current strengths and shortfalls of Uganda's surgical system is a critical first step in developing effective, targeted policy and programming that will build and strengthen its surgical capacity.

Perceiving the affordance of string tension for power strokes in badminton: expertise allows effective use of all string tensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Qin

2013-01-01

Affordances mean opportunities for action. These affordances are important for sports performance and relevant to the abilities developed by skilled athletes. In racquet sports such as badminton, different players prefer widely different string tension because it is believed to provide opportunities for effective strokes. The current study examined whether badminton players can perceive the affordance of string tension for power strokes and whether the perception of affordance itself changed as a function of skill level. The results showed that string tension constrained the striking performance of both novice and recreational players, but not of expert players. When perceptual capability was assessed, perceptual mode did not affect perception of the optimal string tension. Skilled players successfully perceived the affordance of string tension, but only experts were concerned about saving energy. Our findings demonstrated that perception of the affordance of string tension in badminton was determined by action abilities. Furthermore, experts could adjust the action to maintain a superior level of performance based on the perception of affordance.

Close interpersonal proximity modulates visuomotor processing of object affordances in shared, social space.

Science.gov (United States)

Saccone, Elizabeth J; Szpak, Ancret; Churches, Owen; Nicholls, Michael E R

2018-01-01

Research suggests that the human brain codes manipulable objects as possibilities for action, or affordances, particularly objects close to the body. Near-body space is not only a zone for body-environment interaction but also is socially relevant, as we are driven to preserve our near-body, personal space from others. The current, novel study investigated how close proximity of a stranger modulates visuomotor processing of object affordances in shared, social space. Participants performed a behavioural object recognition task both alone and with a human confederate. All object images were in participants' reachable space but appeared relatively closer to the participant or the confederate. Results revealed when participants were alone, objects in both locations produced an affordance congruency effect but when the confederate was present, only objects nearer the participant elicited the effect. Findings suggest space is divided between strangers to preserve independent near-body space boundaries, and in turn this process influences motor coding for stimuli within that social space. To demonstrate that this visuomotor modulation represents a social phenomenon, rather than a general, attentional effect, two subsequent experiments employed nonhuman joint conditions. Neither a small, Japanese, waving cat statue (Experiment 2) nor a metronome (Experiment 3) modulated the affordance effect as in Experiment 1. These findings suggest a truly social explanation of the key interaction from Experiment 1. This study represents an important step toward understanding object affordance processing in real-world, social contexts and has implications broadly across fields of social action and cognition, and body space representation.

Affordable Bimodal Optical Sensors to Spread the Use of Automated Insect Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilyas Potamitis

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We present a novel bimodal optoelectronic sensor based on Fresnel lenses and the associated stereo-recording device that records the wingbeat event of an insect in flight as backscattered and extinction light. We investigate the complementary information of these two sources of biometric evidence and we finally embed part of this technology in an electronic e-trap for fruit flies. The e-trap examines the spectral content of the wingbeat of the insect flying in and reports wirelessly counts and species identity. We design our devices so that they are optimized in terms of detection accuracy and power consumption, but above all, we ensure that they are affordable. Our aim is to make more widespread the use of electronic insect traps that report in virtually real time the level of the pest population from the field straight to a human controlled agency. We have the vision to establish remote automated monitoring for all insects of economic and hygienic importance at large spatial scales, using their wingbeat as biometric evidence. To this end, we provide open access to the implementation details, recordings, and classification code we developed.

A cross-country study of cigarette prices and affordability: evidence from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Kostova, Deliana; Chaloupka, Frank J; Yurekli, Ayda; Ross, Hana; Cherukupalli, Rajeev; Andes, Linda; Asma, Samira

2014-01-01

To describe the characteristics of two primary determinants of cigarette consumption: cigarette affordability and the range of prices paid for cigarettes (and bidis, where applicable) in a set of 15 countries. From this cross-country comparison, identify places where opportunities may exist for reducing consumption through tax adjustments. Self-response data from 45,838 smokers from 15 countries, obtained from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2008-2011. Using self-response data on individual cigarette expenditure and consumption, we construct a measure of the average cigarette price smokers pay for manufactured cigarettes (and bidis, where applicable) in 15 countries. We use these prices to evaluate cigarette affordability and the range of prices available in each country. These survey-derived measures of cigarette price and affordability are uniquely suited for cross-country comparison because they represent each country's distinctive mix of individual consumption characteristics such as brand choice, intensity of consumption, and purchasing behavior. In this sample of countries, cigarettes are most affordable in Russia, which has the most room for tobacco tax increase. Affordability is also relatively high in Brazil and China for cigarettes, and in India and Bangladesh for bidis. Although the affordability of cigarettes in India is relatively low, the range of cigarette prices paid is relatively high, providing additional evidence to support the call for simplifying the existing tax structure and reducing the width of price options. China has both high affordability and wide price ranges, suggesting multiple opportunities for reducing consumption through tax adjustments.

Affordable and Scalable Manufacturing of Wearable Multi-Functional Sensory “Skin” for Internet of Everything Applications

KAUST Repository

Nassar, Joanna M.

2017-10-01

Demand for wearable electronics is expected to at least triple by 2020, embracing all sorts of Internet of Everything (IoE) applications, such as activity tracking, environmental mapping, and advanced healthcare monitoring, in the purpose of enhancing the quality of life. This entails the wide availability of free-form multifunctional sensory systems (i.e “skin” platforms) that can conform to the variety of uneven surfaces, providing intimate contact and adhesion with the skin, necessary for localized and enhanced sensing capabilities. However, current wearable devices appear to be bulky, rigid and not convenient for continuous wear in everyday life, hindering their implementation into advanced and unexplored applications beyond fitness tracking. Besides, they retail at high price tags which limits their availability to at least half of the World’s population. Hence, form factor (physical flexibility and/or stretchability), cost, and accessibility become the key drivers for further developments. To support this need in affordable and adaptive wearables and drive academic developments in “skin” platforms into practical and functional consumer devices, compatibility and integration into a high performance yet low power system is crucial to sustain the high data rates and large data management driven by IoE. Likewise, scalability becomes essential for batch fabrication and precision. Therefore, I propose to develop three distinct but necessary “skin” platforms using scalable and cost effective manufacturing techniques. My first approach is the fabrication of a CMOS-compatible “silicon skin”, crucial for any truly autonomous and conformal wearable device, where monolithic integration between heterogeneous material-based sensory platform and system components is a challenge yet to be addressed. My second approach displays an even more affordable and accessible “paper skin”, using recyclable and off-the-shelf materials, targeting environmental

The Mission Accessibility of Near-Earth Asteroids

Science.gov (United States)

Barbee, Brent W.; Abell, P. A.; Adamo, D. R.; Mazanek, D. D.; Johnson, L. N.; Yeomans, D. K.; Chodas, P. W.; Chamberlin, A. B.; Benner, L. A. M.; Taylor, P.;

Affordance Theory and Multiple Language Learning and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Kordt, Birgit

2018-01-01

This article argues that the concept of affordances as put forward by James J. Gibson can make a major contribution to our understanding of multilingualism. It can throw some light on multilingualism in general as well as on specific aspects like successful and unsuccessful transfer, the challenges involved in teaching for multilingualism,…

On the relevance of Gibson's affordance concept for geographical information science (GISc).

Science.gov (United States)

Jonietz, David; Timpf, Sabine

2015-09-01

J. J. Gibson's concept of affordances has provided a theoretical basis for various studies in geographical information science (GISc). This paper sets out to explain its popularity from a GISc perspective. Based on a short review of previous work, it will be argued that its main contributions to GISc are twofold, including an action-centered view of spatial entities and the notion of agent-environment mutuality. Using the practical example of pedestrian behavior simulation, new potentials for using and extending affordances are discussed.

Affordable HIV drug-resistance testing for monitoring of antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Inzaule, Seth C; Ondoa, Pascale; Peter, Trevor; Mugyenyi, Peter N; Stevens, Wendy S; de Wit, Tobias F Rinke; Hamers, Raph L

2016-11-01

Increased provision of antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa has led to a growing number of patients with therapy failure and acquired drug-resistant HIV, driving the demand for more costly further lines of antiretroviral therapy. In conjunction with accelerated access to viral load monitoring, feasible and affordable technologies to detect drug-resistant HIV could help maximise the durability and rational use of available drug regimens. Potential low-cost technologies include in-house Sanger and next-generation sequencing in centralised laboratories, and point mutation assays and genotype-free systems that predict response to antiretroviral therapy at point-of-care. Strengthening of centralised high-throughput laboratories, including efficient systems for sample referral and results delivery, will increase economies-of-scale while reducing costs. Access barriers can be mitigated by standardisation of in-house assays into commercial kits, use of polyvalent instruments, and adopting price-reducing strategies. A stepwise rollout approach should improve feasibility, prioritising WHO-recommended population-based surveillance and management of complex patient categories, such as patients failing protease inhibitor-based antiretroviral therapy. Implementation research, adaptations of existing WHO guidance, and political commitment, will be key to support the appropriate investments and policy changes. In this Personal View, we discuss the potential role of HIV drug resistance testing for population-based surveillance and individual patient management in sub-Saharan Africa. We review the strengths and challenges of promising low-cost technologies and how they can be implemented. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Affordances Of Repackaged Popular Music From The Past

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S.M.R. Driessen (Simone)

2017-01-01

markdownabstractThis thesis explores the affordances of repackaged popular music from the past. Particularly, how they feature in audiences’ reflections on different stages and transitions in their life course. Three case studies highlight different modes of repackaging and illustrate how

Single-port access laparoscopic hysterectomy: a new dimension of minimally invasive surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Liliana, Mereu; Alessandro, Pontis; Giada, Carri; Luca, Mencaglia

2011-01-01

The fundamental idea is to have all of the laparoscopic working ports entering the abdominal wall through the same incision. Single-incision laparoscopic surgery is an alternative to conventional multiport laparoscopy. Single-access laparoscopy using a transumbilical port affords maximum cosmetic benefits because the surgical incision is hidden in the umbilicus and reduces morbidity of minimally invasive surgery. The advantages of single-access laparoscopic surgery may include less bleeding, infection, and hernia formation and better cosmetic outcome and less pain. The disadvantages and limitations include longer surgery time, difficulty in learning the technique, and the need for specialized instruments. This review summarizes the history of SPAL hysterectomy (single-port access laparoscopy), and emphasizes nomenclature, surgical technique, instrumentation, and perioperative outcomes. Specific gynecological applications of single-port hysterectomy to date are summarized. Using the PubMed database, the English-language literature was reviewed for the past 40 years. Keyword searches included scarless, scar free, single-port/trocar/incision, single-port access laparoscopic hysterectomy. Within the bibliography of selected references, additional sources were retrieved. The purpose of the present article was to review the development and current status of SPAL hysterectomy and highlight important advances associated with this innovative approach.

Towards convergence of wireless and wireline signal transport in broadband access networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yu, Xianbin; Prince, Kamau; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

2010-01-01

Hybrid optical wireless access networks are to play an important role in the realization of the vision of delivery of broadband services to the end-user any time, anywhere and at affordable costs. We present results of experiments conducted over a field deployed optical fibre links we successfull...... demonstrated converged wireless and wireline signal transport over a common fibre infrastructure. The type of signal used in this field deployed experiments cover WiMax, Impulse-radio ultra-wideband (UWB) and coherent transmission of baseband QPSK and radio-over-fibre signals....

How Does Access to Early Childhood Services Affect the Participation of Women in the Labour Market? Education Indicators in Focus. No. 59

Science.gov (United States)

OECD Publishing, 2018

2018-01-01

While the benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to better learning are now widely acknowledged, a widespread and accessible provision for these services also helps support gender equality in the workforce. In particular, the availability, intensity, reliability and affordability of ECEC play an important role in engaging…

Phase 1 space fission propulsion system design considerations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Houts, Mike; Van Dyke, Melissa; Godfroy, Tom; Pedersen, Kevin; Martin, James; Dickens, Ricky; Salvail, Pat; Hrbud, Ivana; Carter, Robert

2002-01-01

Fission technology can enable rapid, affordable access to any point in the solar system. If fission propulsion systems are to be developed to their full potential; however, near-term customers must be identified and initial fission systems successfully developed, launched, and operated. Studies conducted in fiscal year 2001 (IISTP, 2001) show that fission electric propulsion (FEP) systems operating at 80 kWe or above could enhance or enable numerous robotic outer solar system missions of interest. At these power levels it is possible to develop safe, affordable systems that meet mission performance requirements. In selecting the system design to pursue, seven evaluation criteria were identified: safety, reliability, testability, specific mass, cost, schedule, and programmatic risk. A top-level comparison of three potential concepts was performed: an SP-100 based pumped liquid lithium system, a direct gas cooled system, and a heatpipe cooled system. For power levels up to at least 500 kWt (enabling electric power levels of 125-175 kWe, given 25-35% power conversion efficiency) the heatpipe system has advantages related to several criteria and is competitive with respect to all. Hardware-based research and development has further increased confidence in the heatpipe approach. Successful development and utilization of a 'Phase 1' fission electric propulsion system will enable advanced Phase 2 and Phase 3 systems capable of providing rapid, affordable access to any point in the solar system

THЕ ANALYSIS OF NORMATIVE AND LEGAL SUPPORT OF CONSTRUCTION OF OBJECTS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MYKHAILOVA I. O.

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Raising of problem. The considering the acute socio-economic problem of forming an affordable housing fund, it is necessary to analyze of the methods of formation, selection and substantiation of project and organizational and technological decisions for the construction of affordable housing. Purpose of the article. The analysis of the methods of forming the choice and justification of project and organizational and technological decisions for the construction of affordable housing, taking into account scientific works, are based on the aspects of technology and the comparison of the factors of influence on the indicators of duration and cost under the conditions of working state mechanisms (programs to implement in order to overcome the problems of construction of affordable housing. Conclusion. The analysis of government mechanisms and statistics has shown that the programs are working, but unfortunately, at a rather low level of power. State mechanisms should be more appropriately implemented, funded, and effectively functioning, which is projected to reduce of the acute situation in improving of the living conditions of Ukrainian citizens who need it.

Affordable housing as a niche product: The case of the Danish “SocialHousing Plus”

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Stensgaard, Anne Gro

Establishing affordable housing is a growing demand in many larger cities there is however a number of challenges related to establishing affordable housing, as well as many different approaches. This paper presents a case-study of an affordable housing concept in the Danish social housing sector......, the “SocialHousing Plus” (“AlmenBolig+”) which is based on lowering production costs as well as operation costs including residential self-management, large-scale production of pre-fab housing units, low-energy solutions and other innovative approaches. The concept was developed in 2007, and has so far...... resulted in the production of more than 1.500 dwellings. The paper will discuss the results of the concept, and the various challenges related to it. Based on the theory of Technological Transition (Geels, 2002) it will discuss the options and limitations of providing affordable housing through developing...

NAVIGATING HOUSING AFFORDABILITY BETWEEN TRANS-DISCIPLINARITY AND LIFE STYLE THEORIES THE CASE OF THE GULF STATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashraf M. Salama

2007-07-01

on a new paradigm of research: trans-disciplinarity; a form of inquiry that crosses the boundaries of different disciplines. Brief notes to highlight affordable housing issues in the Gulf States are outlined. An argument on the impact of trans-disciplinary thinking on understanding affordable housing is developed, then is placed within the perspective of how lifestyle theories and their underlying concepts including place attachment, appropriation, visual preferences, and people satisfaction, can be integrated into a comprehensive investigatory process. In turn, a framework of inquiry is developed while reflected on affordable housing knowledge types. A translation of the framework into a survey tool is conceptualized. The tool is introduced in the form of a questionnaire to be implemented in the context of the Gulf States. The testing of the questionnaire --in the context of the city of Jeddah- - as a tool of inquiry reveals its validity, corroborates the value of integrating different knowledge types into affordable housing practices, and accentuates the value of incorporating lifestyle theories as a new form of transdisciplinary knowledge necessary for affordable housing research and practice.

Rapid, portable detection of endocrine disrupting chemicals through ligand-nuclear hormone receptor interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, J Porter; Schinn, Song-Min; Jones, Matthew D; Bundy, Bradley C

2017-12-04

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) are structurally diverse compounds that can interact with nuclear hormone receptors, posing significant risk to human and ecological health. Unfortunately, many conventional biosensors have been too structure-specific, labor-intensive or laboratory-oriented to detect broad ranges of EDC effectively. Recently, several technological advances are providing more rapid, portable, and affordable detection of endocrine-disrupting activity through ligand-nuclear hormone receptor interactions. Here, we overview these recent advances applied to EDC biosensors - including cell lyophilization, cell immobilization, cell-free systems, smartphone-based signal detection, and improved competitive binding assays.

Drug affordability-potential tool for comparing illicit drug markets.

Science.gov (United States)

Groshkova, Teodora; Cunningham, Andrew; Royuela, Luis; Singleton, Nicola; Saggers, Tony; Sedefov, Roumen

2018-06-01

The importance of illicit drug price data and making appropriate adjustments for purity has been repeatedly highlighted for understanding illicit drug markets. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has been collecting retail price data for a number of drug types alongside drug-specific purity information for over 15 years. While these data are useful for a number of monitoring and analytical purposes, they are not without their limitations and there are circumstances where additional adjustment needs to be considered. This paper reviews some conceptual issues and measurement challenges relevant to the interpretation of price data. It also highlights the issues with between-country comparisons of drug prices and introduces the concept of affordability of drugs, going beyond purity-adjustment to account for varying national economies. Based on a 2015 European data set of price and purity data across the heroin and cocaine retail markets, the paper demonstrates a new model for drug market comparative analysis; calculation of drug affordability is achieved by applying to purity-adjusted prices 2015 Price Level Indices (PLI, Eurostat). Available data allowed retail heroin and cocaine market comparison for 27 European countries. The lowest and highest unadjusted prices per gram were observed for heroin: in Estonia, Belgium, Greece and Bulgaria (lowest) and Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Latvia (highest); for cocaine: the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom (lowest) and Turkey, Finland, Estonia and Romania (highest). The affordability per gram of heroin and cocaine when taking into account adjustment for both purity and economy demonstrates different patterns. It is argued that purity-adjusted price alone provides an incomplete comparison of retail price across countries. The proposed new method takes account of the differing economic conditions within European countries, thus providing a more sophisticated tool for cross

Knowledge of HIV-related disabilities and challenges in accessing care: Qualitative research from Zimbabwe.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lena Morgon Banks

Full Text Available While the rapid expansion in antiretroviral therapy access in low and middle income countries has resulted in dramatic declines in mortality rates, many people living with HIV face new or worsening experiences of disability. As nearly 1 in 20 adults are living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa-many of whom are likely to develop disabling sequelae from long-term infection, co-morbidities and side effects of their treatment-understanding the availability and accessibility of services to address HIV-related disabilities is of vital importance. The aim of this study thus is to explore knowledge of HIV-related disabilities amongst stakeholders working in the fields of HIV and disability and factors impacting uptake and provision of interventions for preventing, treating or managing HIV-related disabilities.In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten stakeholders based in Harare, Zimbabwe, who were working in the fields of either disability or HIV. Stakeholders were identified through a priori stakeholder analysis. Thematic Analysis, complemented by constant comparison as described in Grounded Theory, was used to analyse findings.All key informants reported some level of knowledge of HIV-related disability, mostly from observations made in their line of work. However, they reported no interventions or policies were in place specifically to address HIV-related disability. While referrals between HIV and rehabilitation providers were not uncommon, no formal mechanisms had been established for collaborating on prevention, identification and management. Additional barriers to accessing and providing services to address HIV-related disabilities included: the availability of resources, including trained professionals, supplies and equipment in both the HIV and rehabilitation sectors; lack of disability-inclusive adaptations, particularly in HIV services; heavy centralization of available services in urban areas, without accessible, affordable

Options for development of space fission propulsion systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Houts, Mike; Van Dyke, Melissa; Godfroy, Tom; Pedersen, Kevin; Martin, James; Dickens, Ricky; Salvail, Pat; Hrbud, Ivana

2001-01-01

Fission technology can enable rapid, affordable access to any point in the solar system. Potential fission-based transportation options include high specific power continuous impulse propulsion systems and bimodal nuclear thermal rockets. Despite their tremendous potential for enhancing or enabling deep space and planetary missions, to date space fission systems have only been used in Earth orbit. The first step towards utilizing advanced fission propulsion systems is development of a safe, near-term, affordable fission system that can enhance or enable near-term missions of interest. An evolutionary approach for developing space fission propulsion systems is proposed

Biosignal PI, an Affordable Open-Source ECG and Respiration Measurement System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farhad Abtahi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Bioimedical pilot projects e.g., telemedicine, homecare, animal and human trials usually involve several physiological measurements. Technical development of these projects is time consuming and in particular costly. A versatile but affordable biosignal measurement platform can help to reduce time and risk while keeping the focus on the important goal and making an efficient use of resources. In this work, an affordable and open source platform for development of physiological signals is proposed. As a first step an 8–12 leads electrocardiogram (ECG and respiration monitoring system is developed. Chips based on iCoupler technology have been used to achieve electrical isolation as required by IEC 60601 for patient safety. The result shows the potential of this platform as a base for prototyping compact, affordable, and medically safe measurement systems. Further work involves both hardware and software development to develop modules. These modules may require development of front-ends for other biosignals or just collect data wirelessly from different devices e.g., blood pressure, weight, bioimpedance spectrum, blood glucose, e.g., through Bluetooth. All design and development documents, files and source codes will be available for non-commercial use through project website, BiosignalPI.org.

Gift Planning: You Can't Afford Not to

Science.gov (United States)

Morley, Richard H.; Gaudette, Mike

2009-01-01

The process of reaching out to donors and securing gifts from alumni and other community members presents its share of challenges for community colleges. But, as funding experts Richard H. Morley and Mike Gaudette of the Council for Resource Development write in "Gift Planning: You Can't Afford Not To," there exists a huge financial incentive for…

Preservation of and Permanent Access to Electronic Information Resources

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hodge, Gail

2004-01-01

The rapid growth in the creation and dissemination of electronic information has emphasized the digital environment's speed and ease of dissemination with little regard for its long-term preservation and access...

Dean C. Bennett d/b/a Affordable Tuckpointing Information Sheet

Science.gov (United States)

Dean C. Bennett d/b/a Affordable Tuckpointing (the Company) is located in Arnold, Missouri. The Complaint involves renovation activities conducted at property constructed prior to 1978, located in St. Louis, Missouri.

We all want it, but we don't know what it is: toward a standard of affordability for health insurance premiums.

Science.gov (United States)

Muennig, Peter; Sampat, Bhaven; Tilipman, Nicholas; Brown, Lawrence D; Glied, Sherry A

2011-10-01

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), or ACA, requires that U.S. citizens either purchase health insurance or pay a fine. To offset the financial burden for lower-income households, it also provides subsidies to ensure that health insurance premiums are affordable. However, relatively little work has been done on how such affordability standards should be set. The existing literature on affordability is not grounded in social norms and has methodological and theoretical flaws. To address these issues, we developed a series of hypothetical vignettes in which individual and household sociodemographic characteristics were varied. We then convened a panel of eighteen experts with extensive experience in affordability standards to evaluate the extent to which each vignette character could afford to pay for one of two health insurance plans. The panel varied with respect to political ideology and discipline. We find that there was considerable disagreement about how affordability is defined. There was also disagreement about what might be included in an affordability standard, with substantive debate surrounding whether savings, debt, education, or single parenthood is relevant. There was also substantial variation in experts' assessed affordability scores. Nevertheless, median expert affordability assessments were not far from those of ACA.

An affordable and easy-to-use diagnostic method for keratoconus detection using a smartphone

Science.gov (United States)

Askarian, Behnam; Tabei, Fatemehsadat; Askarian, Amin; Chong, Jo Woon

2018-02-01

Recently, smartphones are used for disease diagnosis and healthcare. In this paper, we propose a novel affordable diagnostic method of detecting keratoconus using a smartphone. Keratoconus is usually detected in clinics with ophthalmic devices, which are large, expensive and not portable, and need to be operated by trained technicians. However, our proposed smartphone-based eye disease detection method is small, affordable, portable, and it can be operated by patients in a convenient way. The results show that the proposed keratoconus detection method detects severe, advanced, and moderate keratoconus with accuracies of 93%, 86%, 67%, respectively. Due to its convenience with these accuracies, the proposed keratoconus detection method is expected to be applied in detecting keratoconus at an earlier stage in an affordable way.

Comparative study of manufacturing condyle implant using rapid prototyping and CNC machining

Science.gov (United States)

Bojanampati, S.; Karthikeyan, R.; Islam, MD; Venugopal, S.

2018-04-01

Injuries to the cranio-maxillofacial area caused by road traffic accidents (RTAs), fall from heights, birth defects, metabolic disorders and tumors affect a rising number of patients in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and require maxillofacial surgery. Mandibular reconstruction poses a specific challenge in both functionality and aesthetics, and involves replacement of the damaged bone by a custom made implant. Due to material, design cycle time and manufacturing process time, such implants are in many instances not affordable to patients. In this paper, the feasibility of designing and manufacturing low-cost, custom made condyle implant is assessed using two different approaches, consisting of rapid prototyping and three-axis computer numerically controlled (CNC) machining. Two candidate rapid prototyping techniques are considered, namely fused deposition modeling (FDM) and three-dimensional printing followed by sand casting The feasibility of the proposed manufacturing processes is evaluated based on manufacturing time, cost, quality, and reliability.

78 FR 73204 - Announcement of Requirements and Registration for “Innovation in Affordable Housing Student...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-05

... response to a real life affordable housing design issue. The goals of this new competition are: To... competition will officially open on January 6, 2014, when the real life affordable housing design issue is... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [FR-5745-N-01] Announcement of Requirements and...

Affordability of alcohol as a key driver of alcohol demand in New Zealand: a co-integration analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wall, Martin; Casswell, Sally

2013-01-01

To investigate whether affordability of alcohol is an important determinant of alcohol consumption along with price. This will inform effective tax policy to influence consumption. Co-integration analysis was used to analyse relationship between real price, affordability and consumption. Changes in retail availability of wine in 1990 and beer in 1999 were also included in the models. The econometric approach taken allows identification of short- and long-term responses. Separate analyses were performed for wine, beer, spirits and ready-to-drinks (spirits based pre-mixed drinks). New Zealand 1988-2011. Quarterly data on price and alcohol available for consumption for wine, beer, spirits and ready-to-drinks. Price data were analysed as: real price (own price of alcohol relative to the price of other goods) and affordability (average earnings relative to own price). There was strong evidence for co-integration between wine and beer consumption and affordability. There was weaker evidence for co-integration between consumption and real price. The affordability of alcohol is more important than real price in determining consumption of alcohol. This suggests that affordability needs to be considered by policy makers when determining tax and pricing policies to reduce alcohol-related harm. © 2012 The Authors, Addiction © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Perception of Affordances and Experience of Presence in Virtual Reality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paweł Grabarczyk

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Recent developments in virtual reality technology raise a question about the experience of presence and immersion in virtual environments. What is immersion and what are the conditions for inducing the experience of virtual presence? In this paper, we argue that crucial determinants of presence are perception of affordances and sense of embodiment. In the first section of this paper, we define key concepts and introduce important distinctions such as immersion and presence. In the second and third sections, we respectively discuss presence, immersion and their determinants in detail. In the fourth and fifth sections, we argue for the importance of perception of affordances and sense of embodiment in increasing the degree of presence. Finally, we show the consequences of our view and discuss possible future implications.

Rapid Prototyping in Orthopaedic Surgery: A User's Guide

Science.gov (United States)

Frame, Mark; Huntley, James S.

2012-01-01

Rapid prototyping (RP) is applicable to orthopaedic problems involving three dimensions, particularly fractures, deformities, and reconstruction. In the past, RP has been hampered by cost and difficulties accessing the appropriate expertise. Here we outline the history of rapid prototyping and furthermore a process using open-source software to produce a high fidelity physical model from CT data. This greatly mitigates the expense associated with the technique, allowing surgeons to produce precise models for preoperative planning and procedure rehearsal. We describe the method with an illustrative case. PMID:22666160

Situational Affordance - Appreciating human Interpretations in New Product Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mathiasen, John Bang; Koch, Christian

2009-01-01

New Product Development (NPD) takes place within a web of connected actors who do not master fully the objects of the process, but rather they interpret the affordance - the enabling and constraining framing by objects such as sketches, drawings, specifications, mock-ups and prototypes. The artic...

The ICCE Framework: Framing Learning Experiences Afforded by Games

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, Aroutis; Shah, Mamta

2015-01-01

There is a need for game-based learning frameworks that provide a lens for understanding learning experiences afforded in digital games. These frameworks should aim to facilitate game analyses, identification of learning opportunities, and support for learner experiences. This article uses the inquiry, communication, construction, and expression…

Open Access and Authors’ Rights Management: A Possibility for Theology?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin L. Smith

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Several academic disciplines have begun to understand the benefits of open access to scholarship, both for scholars and for the general public. Scientific disciplines have led the way, partially due to the nature of scholarship in those areas and partially because they have felt the crisis in serials pricing more acutely than others. Theological studies, however, have largely been insulated from the push for open access; considering the reasons for that is the first task of this article. It is also the case, however, that the missionary impulse that stands behind much theological scholarship is a strong incentive to embrace the opportunities afforded by digital, online dissemination of research and writing. After discussing this imperative for global distribution, the bulk of the article focuses on how theological institutions, and especially their libraries, can encourage and support scholars in making their work freely accessible. Copyright issues, including the elements of a successful copyright management program, are discussed, as are some of the technological elements necessary for an efficient and discoverable open access repository. Options for licensing, both at ingestion of content and at dissemination to users are also considered. Finally, it is argued that the role of consortia and professional organizations in supporting these initiatives is especially important because of the relatively small size of so many theological institutions.

Contrast bolus technique with rapid CT scanning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnold, H.; Kuehne, D.; Rohr, W.; Heller, M.

1981-01-01

Twenty-three patients complying with the clinical criteria for brain death were studied by contrast-enhanced CT. In all but one, the great intracranial vessels escaped visualization; accordingly, angiography demonstrated cerebral circulatory arrest. In the remaining case, faint enhancement of the circle of Willis corresponded to angiographic demonstration of the proximal segments of cerebral arteris. Neither in normal brain nor in dead brain did slow CT scanning disclose any postcontrast increase in parenchymal attenuation. An improved technique is proposed to demonstrate the transit of the contrast bolus by rapid CT with image splitting. If cerebral blood flow is preserved, the grey and white matter will enhance significantly following administration of contrast medium. Vice versa, the absence of enhancement confirms brain death, even in instances in which the great cerebral vessels are obscured by hemorrhage or other extensive lesions. Two additional cases of brain death were evaluated by rapid CT scanning. As to brain death, the technique obviates the need for angiography or radionuclide angiography, usually applied in prospective organ donors, because its informative content is superior to that of either method. The CT technique described affords a reliable and safe diagnosis of brain death, and can be interpreted easily. (orig.)

the role of financial institutions towards affordable housing to urban

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Mugumbate

weak positive effect (=.345) of housing finance on affordable housing and contributed to ..... Officers and 81 selected beneficiaries (middle income earners) of the several ..... transaction has to be independently valued by the Chief. Government ...

Cultural affordances: Scaffolding local worlds through shared intentionality and regimes of attention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maxwell James D. Ramstead

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper we outline a framework for the study of the mechanisms involved in the engagement of human agents with cultural affordances. Our aim is to better understand how culture and context interact with human biology to shape human behavior, cognition, and experience. We attempt to integrate several related approaches in the study of the embodied, cognitive, and affective substrates of sociality and culture and the sociocultural scaffolding of experience. The integrative framework we propose bridges cognitive and social sciences to provide (i an expanded concept of ‘affordance’ that extends to sociocultural forms of life, and (ii a multilevel account of the socioculturally scaffolded forms of affordance learning and the transmission of affordances in patterned sociocultural practices and regimes of shared attention. This framework provides an account of how cultural content and normative practices are built on a foundation of contentless basic mental processes that acquire content through immersive participation of the agent in social practices that regulate joint attention and shared intentionality.

Affordable Remote Health Monitoring System for the Elderly Using Smart Mobile Device

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Matthew CLARK

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Aging population has been growing as life expectancy increases. In the years to come a much larger percentage of the population will be dependent on others for their daily care. According to a recent report more than 11 million seniors live alone in the USA. These seniors may face serious consequences when they have an emergency situation. However health-monitoring systems are often not affordable for many seniors. The remote health monitoring system presented in this paper addresses the challenge to provide caregivers an emergency alert system for the elderly based on monitoring of their heart rates, breathing activities, and room temperature measurements. The device also allows the dependents to make on demand request for assistance. The remote communication is enabled through the cellular telephone services; so there is no special or additional subscription services needed. This is essential to make the device more affordable for the elderly. We expect that this affordable remote health-monitoring system can be used to help seniors who live alone be safer and healthier.

Housing Affordability in Ghana: A focus on Kumasi and Tamale ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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Department of Real ... affordable housing delivery system in Ghana. It found that ... markets; and hence has a significant impact on .... housing projects during this era were the ...... Table 4: Construction Materials in Kumasi and Tamale, 2010.

A utility perspective on radiation worker access control systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watson, B.A.; Goff, T.E.

1984-01-01

Based on an evaluation of the current commercial Radiation Worker Access Control Software Systems, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company has elected to design and develop a site specific access control and accountability system for the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The vendor provided systems allow for radiation worker access control based on training and external exposure records and authorizations. These systems do not afford internal exposure control until after bioassay measurements or maximum permissible concentration-hours are tabulated. The vendor provided systems allow for data trending for ALARA purposes, but each software package must be modified to meet site specific requirements. Unlike the commercial systems, the Calvert Cliffs Radiological Controls and Accountability System (RCAS) will provide radiation worker exposure control, both internal and external. The RCAS is designed to fulfill the requirements by integrating the existing Radiation Safety, Dosemetry, and Training data bases with a comprehensive radiological surveillance program. Prior to each worker's entry into the Radiological Control Area; his training and qualifications, radiation exposure history and authorization, will be compared with administrative controls, such as radiation work permits, and respiratory protection requirements and the radiological conditions in the work area. The RCAS, a computer based applied health physics access control system is described as it is presently configured for development. The mechanisms for enhancing worker internal and external exposure controls are discussed. Proposed data application to both the Calvert Cliffs ALARA and outage planning programs is included

Cloud archiving and data mining of High-Resolution Rapid Refresh forecast model output

Science.gov (United States)

Blaylock, Brian K.; Horel, John D.; Liston, Samuel T.

2017-12-01

Weather-related research often requires synthesizing vast amounts of data that need archival solutions that are both economical and viable during and past the lifetime of the project. Public cloud computing services (e.g., from Amazon, Microsoft, or Google) or private clouds managed by research institutions are providing object data storage systems potentially appropriate for long-term archives of such large geophysical data sets. We illustrate the use of a private cloud object store developed by the Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC) at the University of Utah. Since early 2015, we have been archiving thousands of two-dimensional gridded fields (each one containing over 1.9 million values over the contiguous United States) from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) data assimilation and forecast modeling system. The archive is being used for retrospective analyses of meteorological conditions during high-impact weather events, assessing the accuracy of the HRRR forecasts, and providing initial and boundary conditions for research simulations. The archive is accessible interactively and through automated download procedures for researchers at other institutions that can be tailored by the user to extract individual two-dimensional grids from within the highly compressed files. Characteristics of the CHPC object storage system are summarized relative to network file system storage or tape storage solutions. The CHPC storage system is proving to be a scalable, reliable, extensible, affordable, and usable archive solution for our research.

Affordances for Second Language Learning in "World of Warcraft"

Science.gov (United States)

Rama, Paul S.; Black, Rebecca W.; van Es, Elizabeth; Warschauer, Mark

2012-01-01

What are the affordances of online gaming environments for second language learning and socialization? To answer this question, this qualitative study examines two college-age Spanish learners' experiences participating in the Spanish language version of the massively multi-player online game "World of Warcraft." Using data culled from participant…

Educational Affordances and Learning Design in Music Software Development

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Lee; Leong, Samuel

2017-01-01

Although music software has become increasingly affordable and widely adopted in today's classrooms, concerns have been raised about a lack of consideration for users' needs during the software development process. This paper examines intra- and inter-sectoral communication pertaining to software development and music education to shed light on…

Exploring the Multi-Layered Affordances of Composing and Performing Interactive Music with Responsive Technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Einarsson, Anna; Ziemke, Tom

2017-01-01

The question motivating the work presented here, starting from a view of music as embodied and situated activity, is how can we account for the complexity of interactive music performance situations. These are situations in which human performers interact with responsive technologies, such as sensor-driven technology or sound synthesis affected by analysis of the performed sound signal. This requires investigating in detail the underlying mechanisms, but also providing a more holistic approach that does not lose track of the complex whole constituted by the interactions and relationships of composers, performers, audience, technologies, etc. The concept of affordances has frequently been invoked in musical research, which has seen a " bodily turn " in recent years, similar to the development of the embodied cognition approach in the cognitive sciences. We therefore begin by broadly delineating its usage in the cognitive sciences in general, and in music research in particular. We argue that what is still missing in the discourse on musical affordances is an encompassing theoretical framework incorporating the sociocultural dimensions that are fundamental to the situatedness and embodiment of interactive music performance and composition. We further argue that the cultural affordances framework, proposed by Rietveld and Kiverstein (2014) and recently articulated further by Ramstead et al. (2016) in this journal, although not previously applied to music, constitutes a promising starting point. It captures and elucidates this complex web of relationships in terms of shared landscapes and individual fields of affordances. We illustrate this with examples foremost from the first author's artistic work as composer and performer of interactive music. This sheds new light on musical composition as a process of construction-and embodied mental simulation-of situations, guiding the performers' and audience's attention in shifting fields of affordances. More generally, we

Family socioeconomic status and the provision of motor affordances in the home

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa C. B. Freitas

2013-08-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic status (SES and stimulation provided in the home environment are influential factors in aspects of child well-being including motor development. Little is known regarding the influence of SES on specific aspects of the home environment. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the availability of affordances in the home to promote infant motor development and family SES. METHOD : The sample consisted of 300 families with infants aged 3 to 18 months. SES was assessed according to family socioeconomic class, income and parental level of education. To evaluate motor affordances found at home, the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS was used. The AHEMD-IS was designed to assess dimensions of the home environment including Physical Space (outside and inside space, Daily Activities and Play Materials (fine-motor and gross-motor toys. RESULTS: SES indicators significantly influenced the availability of Physical Space and Play Materials. The Physical Space dimension was influenced by family economic class and income. The Play Materials dimension was influenced by all SES indicators. Daily Activities were not influenced by any of the SES indicators. Daily activities and play material were influenced by the infant's age. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that SES indicators are influential with regard to the provision of motor affordances in the home environment for infants. However, daily activities, which represent an aspect of the environment that is highly dependent on parental generation of situations that are conducive to motor skill development, are independent of family SES.

Does the public deserve free access to climate system science?

Science.gov (United States)

Grigorov, Ivo

2010-05-01

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

An Introduction to Web Accessibility, Web Standards, and Web Standards Makers

Science.gov (United States)

McHale, Nina

2011-01-01

Librarians and libraries have long been committed to providing equitable access to information. In the past decade and a half, the growth of the Internet and the rapid increase in the number of online library resources and tools have added a new dimension to this core duty of the profession: ensuring accessibility of online resources to users with…

Providing the Public with Online Access to Large Bibliographic Data Bases.

Science.gov (United States)

Firschein, Oscar; Summit, Roger K.

DIALOG, an interactive, computer-based information retrieval language, consists of a series of computer programs designed to make use of direct access memory devices in order to provide the user with a rapid means of identifying records within a specific memory bank. Using the system, a library user can be provided access to sixteen distinct and…

A Prototype using Territories and an Affordance Tree for Social Simulation Gameplay

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geishauser, Tilman; Cheong, Yun-Gyung; Nelson, Mark

2014-01-01

Smart objects are a representation strategy for games and virtual worlds, in which information about object interac- tions is distributed into the ob jects themselves: an ob ject knows how it can be used, what kinds of effects it has, etc. In this work, we describe a prototype that aims to explore...... so- cial simulation using smart objects. We extend the concept of smart objects to include a model of human behavior with regard to territoriality. To manage complexity in worlds with many such objects we employ a tree structure, which we call an Affordance Tree. The Affordance Tree allows...

Managing the Accessibility on Mass Public Transit: the Case of Hong Kong

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siman Tang

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Public transit services (PTS improve mobility and accessibility, and reduce car dependence. It is ideal if PTS are financially sustainable, with affordable fares and expedient quality. The success of PTS on accessibility improvement can be reflected by their level of patronage: do travelers choose to use them in lieu of their private cars? PTS in Hong Kong are renowned for their quality and profitability, superbly addressing the accessibility need for the city; they carry over 90% of the 11 million daily trips. A comparison of the per capita train-car and bus-vehicle kilometer run of PTS in Hong Kong with those in London and Singapore, however, suggests that it is not purely the supply that affects the use or accessibility of PTS in Hong Kong. By tracing and analyzing the development of PTS in Hong Kong over the past two decades, we found evidence that the high level of accessibility on mass public transit in the territory can be attributed to the land use policy of developing compact, high-density township, accompanying transport policies of granting high priority to the development of mass transit facilities and providing ways to ensure the financial viability of privately operated PTS, especially the innovative approach of integrating the development of public transport facility and property so as to exploit their synergy. In this paper, we study and highlight elements that contribute to the development of high accessibility on mass public transit in Hong Kong.

Contextual determinants of health behaviours in an aboriginal community in Canada: pilot project

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