Current situation and issues using maternal and child health-related information in the "Healthy parents and children 21" campaign across municipalities in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Uehara, Ritei; Shinohara, Ryoji; Akiyama, Yuka; Ichikawa, Kaori; Ojima, Toshiyuki; Tamakoshi, Koji; Matsuura, Kencho; Yamazaki, Yoshihisa; Yamagata, Zentaro

2016-01-01

Objectives The use of maternal and child health-related information is an issue faced by the "Healthy parents and children 21" campaign, a national campaign to improve the health standards of mothers and children in Japan. This study described the current situation and issues faced by municipalities across Japan that use this information.Methods Data across municipalities selected for the current survey of promoting the "Healthy parents and children 21" campaign in 2013 were analyzed in this study. First, we chose prefectures where collected and analyzed maternal and child health-related information was provided by the municipalities. Then, we divided the municipalities according to those prefectures where the municipalities regularly reported the maternal and child health-related information and those that did not report it regularly. Finally, the characteristics about maternal and child health in those municipalities were investigated.Results Of the 47 prefectures analyzed, 35 prefectures (74.5%) collected and analyzed maternal and child health-related information provided by the municipalities. The 35 prefectures included 1,242 municipalities, of which 700 (56.4%) regularly reported maternal and child health-related information, and 542 (43.6%) did not report it regularly. The proportion of municipalities, where information about smoking during pregnancy, immunization, or low birth weight in infants was positively used, was significantly lower among municipalities that did not regularly report maternal and child health-related information than among those that regularly reported it (P<0.001). The proportion of municipalities that coordinated projects on prevention of child abuse or low birth weight in infants with the prefectures was significantly lower among municipalities that did not regularly report maternal and child health-related information than among those that regularly reported it.Conclusion Among municipalities that did not regularly report

Current resistance issues in antimicrobial therapy | Senekal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Continuing Medical Education. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 28, No 2 (2010) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Trends in Current Issues, Y2K-2005

Science.gov (United States)

Maltz, Leslie; DeBlois, Peter B.

2005-01-01

EDUCAUSE inaugurated its annual Current Issues Survey in 2000 by asking the primary representatives, typically CIOs, of its member institutions to identify up to three critical IT issues (five starting in 2004) from among 30 to 40 in response to each of four questions. The survey response rate has typically been 35 to 40 percent, with a…

Preface. Current Issues in Ethics

OpenAIRE

Holy-Luczaj Magdalena

2017-01-01

This interdisciplinary volume consist of papers on various problems in contemporary ethics. It presents the following issues: equalizing the level of positive liberty, the phenomenon of human cooperation, ethical questions related to artificial intelligence, extending ethical obligations toward artifacts, and soteriological threads of alienation criticism of religion.

North America Wound, Ostomy, and Continence and Enterostomal Therapy Nurses Current Ostomy Care Practice Related to Peristomal Skin Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Colwell, Janice C; McNichol, Laurie; Boarini, Joy

The purpose of this study was to describe the practice of 796 ostomy nurses in North America in 2014 related to peristomal skin issues. Descriptive study. Participants were 796 wound, ostomy, and continence (WOC) and enterostomal therapy (ET) nurses currently practicing in the United States or Canada and caring for patients with ostomies. The collection of data occurred in conjunction with an educational program on peristomal skin complications and practice issues and solicited the participant's perception on the incidence and frequency of peristomal skin issues as well as on practice patterns. Participants attended an educational program. They were also asked to anonymously respond to multiple-choice questions on ostomy care management via an audience response system followed by discussion of each item and their responses. This descriptive study reports on the answers to the questions as well as the pertinent discussion points. Participants estimated that approximately 77.70% of their patients developed peristomal skin issues. The most commonly encountered problem was irritant contact dermatitis (peristomal moisture-associated skin damage). Contributing factors were inappropriate use of a pouching system owing to lack of follow-up after hospital discharge. Reported interventions for the prevention and management of peristomal skin issues included preoperative stoma site marking, use of a convex pouching system, and barrier rings. However, subsequent discussion revealed that the frequency of use of these products varied considerably. Participants identified shortened hospital stays, absence of preoperative stoma marking, and limited outpatient follow-up as contributing to development of peristomal skin problems. WOC and ET nurses estimate that more than three-quarters of persons living with an ostomy develop peristomal skin problems. Multiple interventions for managing these problems were identified, but some variability in management approaches emerged.

Current issues in asteroseismology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bazot, Michael; Monteiro, Mario J P F G; Straka, Christian W [Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto (Portugal)

2008-10-15

In this contribution we briefly review some of the current issues and promises for the future by asteroseismology. We are entering a new phase in this field driven by the wealth of data that has been collected and data that will soon be available for asteroseismology across the HR Diagram. Major difficulties in the descriptions of stellar interiors that arose in the second half of the 20th century may now be in part addressed and solved (this is the expectation{exclamation_point}) by asteroseismology with unprecedented precision. In this contribution we list some of the key open questions in stellar physics, the seismic data we expect to collect in the near future, and some techniques that will provide the tools to connect data and models.

Ukraine: Current Issues and U.S. Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-04

as Putin’s attempt to test how far he can go in destabilizing Ukraine while avoiding the imposition of additional sanctions by the EU and United...cooperative threat reduction and other nonproliferation activities with Russia. Figure 1. Ukraine Ukraine: Current Issues and U.S. Policy

Current Issues in the Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Conduct Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Frick, Paul J.; Nigg, Joel T.

2015-01-01

This review evaluates the diagnostic criteria for three of the most common disorders for which children and adolescents are referred for mental health treatment: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD). Although research supports the validity and clinical utility of these disorders, several issues are highlighted that could enhance the current diagnostic criteria. For ADHD, defining the core features of the disorder and its fit with other disorders, enhancing the validity of the criteria through the lifespan, considering alternative ways to form subtypes of the disorder, and modifying the age-of-onset criterion are discussed relative to the current diagnostic criteria. For ODD, eliminating the exclusionary criteria of CD, recognizing important symptom domains within the disorder, and using the cross-situational pervasiveness of the disorder as an index of severity are highlighted as important issues for improving classification. Finally, for CD, enhancing the current subtypes related to age of onset and integrating callous-unemotional traits into the diagnostic criteria are identified as key issues for improving classification. PMID:22035245

Current issues in the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Frick, Paul J; Nigg, Joel T

2012-01-01

This review evaluates the diagnostic criteria for three of the most common disorders for which children and adolescents are referred for mental health treatment: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD). Although research supports the validity and clinical utility of these disorders, several issues are highlighted that could enhance the current diagnostic criteria. For ADHD, defining the core features of the disorder and its fit with other disorders, enhancing the validity of the criteria through the lifespan, considering alternative ways to form subtypes of the disorder, and modifying the age-of-onset criterion are discussed relative to the current diagnostic criteria. For ODD, eliminating the exclusionary criteria of CD, recognizing important symptom domains within the disorder, and using the cross-situational pervasiveness of the disorder as an index of severity are highlighted as important issues for improving classification. Finally, for CD, enhancing the current subtypes related to age of onset and integrating callous-unemotional traits into the diagnostic criteria are identified as key issues for improving classification.

Preface. Current Issues in Ethics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Holy-Luczaj Magdalena

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This interdisciplinary volume consist of papers on various problems in contemporary ethics. It presents the following issues: equalizing the level of positive liberty, the phenomenon of human cooperation, ethical questions related to artificial intelligence, extending ethical obligations toward artifacts, and soteriological threads of alienation criticism of religion.

Sexting: Current Research Gaps and Legislative Issues

OpenAIRE

Ngo, Fawn; Jaishankar, K; Agustina, Jose R.

2017-01-01

'Sexting, the portmanteau of Sex and Texting, has become a hot topic of debate between the legislators, researchers, educators, parents and teens' (Jaishankar, 2009, para 1). In spite of the considerable and growing body of literature on sexting, there are significant gaps in the current research. A review of research to date also reveals a dearth of cross-national and cross-cultural research on the topic of sexting. Notably, legal and ethical issues abound with the current method for punishi...

Introduction to the Special Issue: New and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Linguistic Relativity

Science.gov (United States)

Athanasopoulos, Panos; Bylund, Emanuel; Casasanto, Daniel

2016-01-01

This Special Issue of "Language Learning" presents an interdisciplinary state-of-the-art overview of current approaches to linguistic relativity. It contains empirical and theoretical studies and reflections on linguistic relativity from a variety of perspectives, such as associative learning, conceptual transfer, multilingual awareness,…

Current health issues in Korean adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang Ho Hong

2011-10-01

Full Text Available During the adolescent period, they experience rapid physical, emotional, cognitive developments while they establish their lifestyle and habitual routines that strongly influence adult health and life. Recent rapid economic growth in Korea, and the earlier onset of physical, sexual, and psychological maturation of adolescents, has resulted in changes in the health status of adolescents from many years ago. Risk-taking behaviors such as drinking alcohol, smoking, and sexual experiences are critical issues that affect the health of, adolescents. Therefore, it is important for pediatricians to note the that risk-taking behaviors of adolescents in Korea that are caused by individual psychosocial factors. This review article illustrates the current health status of Korean adolescents and provides an overview of risktaking behaviors, to inform pediatricians about some of the key issues.

The treatment of Parkinson's disease with deep brain stimulation: current issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Moldovan, Alexia-Sabine; Groiss, Stefan Jun; Elben, Saskia; Südmeyer, Martin; Schnitzler, Alfons; Wojtecki, Lars

2015-07-01

Deep brain stimulation has become a well-established symptomatic treatment for Parkinson's disease during the last 25 years. Besides improving motor symptoms and long-term motor complications, positive effects on patients' mobility, activities of daily living, emotional well-being and health-related quality of life have been recognized. Apart from that, numerous clinical trials analyzed effects on non-motor symptoms and side effects of deep brain stimulation. Several technical issues and stimulation paradigms have been and are still being developed to optimize the therapeutic effects, minimize the side effects and facilitate handling. This review summarizes current therapeutic issues, i.e., patient and target selection, surgical procedure and programming paradigms. In addition it focuses on neuropsychological effects and side effects of deep brain stimulation.

Interpersonal Relationships, Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement: Yields for Theory, Current Issues, and Educational Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Andrew J.; Dowson, Martin

2009-01-01

In this review, we scope the role of interpersonal relationships in students' academic motivation, engagement, and achievement. We argue that achievement motivation theory, current issues, and educational practice can be conceptualized in relational terms. Influential theorizing, including attribution theory, expectancy-value theory, goal theory,…

Current legal issues of European integration in the area of peaceful uses of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Handrlica, Jakub

2009-01-01

The main issues of current discussions concerning the status of European integration in the area of peaceful uses of nuclear energy are described with focus on the present and future of the EURATOM Treaty. The basic features of the EURATOM Treaty are highlighted and those issues which are currently subject to discussion in foreign literature (e.g. EURATOM's legitimacy, specification of competencies, obsolete provisions, etc.) are pointed out. The major attempts to reform the wording of the EURATOM Treaty and the relevance of the Treaty to its Member States in the future, in relation to the 'Nuclear New Build' in particular, are also described. (orig.)

CALL FOR PAPERS: Special issue on Current Trends in Integrability and Nonlinear Phenomena Special issue on Current Trends in Integrability and Nonlinear Phenomena

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez-Ullate, D.; Lombardo, S.; Mañas, M.; Mazzocco, M.; Nijhoff, F.; Sommacal, M.

2009-12-01

This is a call for contributions to a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical dedicated to integrability and nonlinear phenomena. The motivation behind this special issue is to summarize in a single comprehensive publication, the main aspects (past and present), latest developments, different viewpoints and the directions being followed in this multidisciplinary field. We hope that such a special issue could become a particularly valuable reference for the broad scientific community working in integrability and nonlinear phenomena. Editorial policy The Editorial Board has invited D Gómez-Ullate, S Lombardo, M Mañas, M Mazzocco, F Nijhoff and M Sommacal to serve as Guest Editors for the special issue. Their criteria for the acceptance of contributions are as follows. The subject of the paper should relate to the following list of subjects: Integrable systems (including quantum and discrete) and applications Dynamical systems: Hamiltonian systems and dynamics in the complex domain Nonlinear waves, soliton equations and applications Nonlinear ODEs including Painlevé equations and isomonodromic deformations Symmetries and perturbative methods in the classification of integrable PDEs Infinite dimensional Lie algebras and integrable systems Orthogonal polynomials, random matrix theory All contributions will be refereed and processed according to the usual procedure of the journal. Papers should report original and significant research that has not already been published. Guidelines for preparation of contributions The DEADLINE for contributed papers will be 28 February 2010. This deadline will allow the special issue to appear in October 2010. There is a nominal page limit of 15 printed pages per contribution (invited review papers can be longer). For papers exceeding this limit, the Guest Editors reserve the right to request a reduction in length. Further advice on publishing your work in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical

Current problems in Russian-Latvian relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mezhevich Nikolay

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Current relations between Russia and Latvia are still influenced by a series of mutual claims that appeared after the demise of the USSR. Latvia — as well as Estonia and Lithuania — is both an EU and NATO member state. However, unlike the above mentioned countries, its relations with Russia are developing at a more pragmatic level. Numerous political differences often result in economic losses both for Latvia and Russia. Despite the fact that Latvia has been an independent state for more than 20 years, there are still some unresolved issues in its relations with Russia. Today, relations between the two countries are often viewed through the prism of EU — Russia relations. Nonetheless, they often do not fit this context. Settling differences between Latvia and Russia will contribute to trade relations, which are increasingly important for both parties. In order to prevent and localise emerging conflicts, diplomats, politicians, and experts should interpret Russian-Latvian relations in view of the national features without referring to theoretical models based on the mythological “unity” of the three Baltic States.

Exploring work-related issues on corporate sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Brunoro, C M; Bolis, I; Sznelwar, L I

2015-01-01

In a research project about work-related issues and corporate sustainability conducted in Brazil, the goal was to better understand how work-related issues were addressed in the corporate context. Particularly, there are some specific initiatives that serve as guides to organizational decisions, which make their performance indicators for the context of corporate sustainability. 1) To explore the presence of work-related issues and their origins in corporate sustainability approach, analyzing a) corporate disclosures; b) sustainability guidelines that are identified as relevant in corporate disclosures; c) documents that are related to sustainable development and also identified as key-documents for these guidelines and initiatives. 2) To present the activity-centered ergonomics and psychodynamics of work contributions to work-related issues in a corporate sustainability approach. An exploratory study based on multiple sources of evidence that were performed from 2012 to 2013, including interviews with companies that engaged in corporate sustainability and document analysis using the content analysis approach. Work-related issues have been presented since the earliest sustainable development documents. It is feasible to construct an empirical framework for work-related issues and corporate sustainability approaches. 1) Although some authors argue that corporate sustainability has its roots based only on the environmental dimension, there is strong empirical evidence showing that social dimension aspects such as work-related issues have been present since the beginning. 2) Some indicators should be redesigned to more precisely translate the reality of some workplaces, particularly those indicators related to organizational design and mental health.

Internet governance origins, current issues, and future possibilities

CERN Document Server

Balleste, Roy

2015-01-01

Internet Governance: Origins, Current Issues, and Future Possibilities provides an introductory, multidisciplinary account of the forces at work in the evolving concept of internet governance and includes computer history, Internet beginnings, institutions and stakeholders, proposed models of governance, and human rights.

Analysis of the Current Technical Issues on ASME Code and Standard for Nuclear Mechanical Design(2009)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, Gyeong Hoi; Lee, B. S.; Yoo, S. H.

2009-11-01

This report describes the analysis on the current revision movement related to the mechanical design issues of the U.S ASME nuclear code and standard. ASME nuclear mechanical design in this report is composed of the nuclear material, primary system, secondary system and high temperature reactor. This report includes the countermeasures based on the ASME Code meeting for current issues of each major field. KAMC(ASME Mirror Committee) of this project is willing to reflect a standpoint of the domestic nuclear industry on ASME nuclear mechanical design and play a technical bridge role for the domestic nuclear industry in ASME Codes application

Analysis of the Current Technical Issues on ASME Code and Standard for Nuclear Mechanical Design(2009)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koo, Gyeong Hoi; Lee, B. S.; Yoo, S. H.

2009-11-15

This report describes the analysis on the current revision movement related to the mechanical design issues of the U.S ASME nuclear code and standard. ASME nuclear mechanical design in this report is composed of the nuclear material, primary system, secondary system and high temperature reactor. This report includes the countermeasures based on the ASME Code meeting for current issues of each major field. KAMC(ASME Mirror Committee) of this project is willing to reflect a standpoint of the domestic nuclear industry on ASME nuclear mechanical design and play a technical bridge role for the domestic nuclear industry in ASME Codes application

Book Review: Current Issues in International Human Resource Management and Strategy Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gretzinger, Susanne

2009-01-01

The article reviews the book "Current Issues in International Human Resource Management and Strategy Research," edited by Marion Festing and Susanne Royer.......The article reviews the book "Current Issues in International Human Resource Management and Strategy Research," edited by Marion Festing and Susanne Royer....

The treatment of Parkinson′s disease with deep brain stimulation: current issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexia-Sabine Moldovan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Deep brain stimulation has become a well-established symptomatic treatment for Parkinson′s disease during the last 25 years. Besides improving motor symptoms and long-term motor complications, positive effects on patients′ mobility, activities of daily living, emotional well-being and health-related quality of life have been recognized. Apart from that, numerous clinical trials analyzed effects on non-motor symptoms and side effects of deep brain stimulation. Several technical issues and stimulation paradigms have been and are still being developed to optimize the therapeutic effects, minimize the side effects and facilitate handling. This review summarizes current therapeutic issues, i.e., patient and target selection, surgical procedure and programming paradigms. In addition it focuses on neuropsychological effects and side effects of deep brain stimulation.

Summary of current issues regarding space flight habitability.

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, J B

2000-09-01

One of the implicit, yet often under-emphasized qualities of human tended spaceflight is the habitability of the spacecraft and mission. This document summarizes some of the points that characterize the current status of this topic. In addition, the summary concludes with goals for future development for this issue.

Current issues and actions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Black, D.G.

1995-06-01

This section of the 1994 Hanford Site Environmental Report summarizes the progress that has been made toward achieving full regulatory compliance at the Hanford Site. Ongoing compliance self-assessments, implementation of the Tri-Party Agreement, and public meetings continue to identify environmental compliance issues. These issues are discussed openly with the regulatory agencies and with the public to ensure that all environmental compliance issues are addressed.

Current issues and actions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Black, D.G.

1995-01-01

This section of the 1994 Hanford Site Environmental Report summarizes the progress that has been made toward achieving full regulatory compliance at the Hanford Site. Ongoing compliance self-assessments, implementation of the Tri-Party Agreement, and public meetings continue to identify environmental compliance issues. These issues are discussed openly with the regulatory agencies and with the public to ensure that all environmental compliance issues are addressed

Exploring Current Issues through the Hot Topics Poster

Science.gov (United States)

Nisbett, Nancy

2012-01-01

This paper describes a research paper and poster assignment used in an undergraduate leisure and human behavior course. The intent of this learning activity is to increase student knowledge of current issues within the industry as well as to enhance students' professional communication skills. A description of the assignment is shared along with…

Current issues in medical education | Al Shehri | West African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

West African Journal of Medicine. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 22, No 4 (2003) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Legal issues related to adolescent pregnancy: current concepts.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, A M

1986-09-01

Adolescent pregnancies have risen in recent years. Options open to the pregnant adolescent are: terminating the pregnancy; giving birth to the child out of wedlock; keeping the baby; giving the baby up for adoption; and marriage before or after the birth of the baby. Each of these options carries certain legal ramifications, since the adolescent patients have not reached the age of majority. The state or the parents usually assume the role of decision making on behalf of the adolescent or assist in the decision making process. Court rulings since the early seventies have legalized abortion and enlarged the rights of minors seeking termination of their pregnancies. Both parents and minors have rights under the certain state laws; parent have the right to notification, minors have the right to privacy. Keeping the child, out of wedlock, might result in legal battles over custody and/or establishing financial support from the father. Some adolescent mothers give up their children for adoption. There are 2 legal procedures that have to be accomplished before a child can be adopted: termination of the rights of the natural parents and adoption proceedings. If the parents marry after the birth of the child, the child is then considered legitimate and the father does not have to go through the process of adopting the child. Other issues requiring parental or individual consent include consent to treatment, contraception, or sterilization. In the case of forcible rape or incest, the physician is required to report incidents to law enforcement officials.

Current Issues in LPP Research and Their Impact on Society

Science.gov (United States)

Darquennes, Jeroen

2013-01-01

After a very broad description of what language policy and planning is about this paper presents an overview of some of the current preoccupations of researchers focusing on language policy and planning as one of the blooming fields of applied linguistics. The current issues in language policy and planning research that are dealt with include…

Physics issues of high bootstrap current tokamaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ozeki, T.; Azumi, M.; Ishii, Y.

1997-01-01

Physics issues of a tokamak plasma with a hollow current profile produced by a large bootstrap current are discussed based on experiments in JT-60U. An internal transport barrier for both ions and electrons was obtained just inside the radius of zero magnetic shear in JT-60U. Analysis of the toroidal ITG microinstability by toroidal particle simulation shows that weak and negative shear reduces the toroidal coupling and suppresses the ITG mode. A hard beta limit was observed in JT-60U negative shear experiments. Ideal MHD mode analysis shows that the n = 1 pressure-driven kink mode is a plausible candidate. One of the methods to improve the beta limit against the kink mode is to widen the negative shear region, which can induce a broader pressure profile resulting in a higher beta limit. The TAE mode for the hollow current profile is less unstable than that for the monotonic current profile. The reason is that the continuum gaps near the zero shear region are not aligned when the radius of q min is close to the region of high ∇n e . Finally, a method for stable start-up for a plasma with a hollow current profile is describe, and stable sustainment of a steady-state plasma with high bootstrap current is discussed. (Author)

Work-related reproductive, musculoskeletal and mental disorders among working women--history, current issues and future research directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kishi, Reiko; Kitahara, Teruyo; Masuchi, Ayumi; Kasai, Setsuko

2002-04-01

According to the recent changes of working environments and socio-economical conditions, the proportion of working women are increasing in Japan. Characteristics of occupational workload and stress of Japanese working women are consistent with those in many industrialized countries except man-dominant culture. In this review we describe the history, current issues, and future research directions on occupational health of working women, especially focused on reproductive health, work-related musculo-skeletal disorders (WMSDs), and mental disorders. In the reproductive health survey, traditionally main concern was about pregnancy outcomes, then fecundity studies, such as time to pregnancy, became topics recently. Future research will be shifted to outcomes not only during pregnancy but also disorders of hormonal balance and climacterium or health conditions after menopause. WMSDs are reviewed on mainly gender difference and its causative factors. Historically, mental health of working women in Japan has focused on the job stress of nurses. We compare results with a lot of recent researches in Europe and U.S.A., where interaction between occupational stress and family roles were studied. It is not easy to predict the prospective status of female workers in Japan, but social, workplace and familial supports will enhance their health promotion.

Spain: Current Issues and U.S. Policy

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Woehrel, Steven

2007-01-01

.... The United States and Spain have generally enjoyed good relations. However, problems have arisen in recent years over such issues as the war in Iraq, promoting democracy in Latin America, and the tactics to be used in fighting the war on terrorism...

Nuclear power plant safety related pump issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Colaccino, J.

1996-12-01

This paper summarizes of a number of pump issues raised since the Third NRC/ASME Symposium on Valve and Pump Testing in 1994. General issues discussed include revision of NRC Inspection Procedure 73756, issuance of NRC Information Notice 95-08 on ultrasonic flow meter uncertainties, relief requests for tests that are determined by the licensee to be impractical, and items in the ASME OM-1995 Code, Subsection ISTB, for pumps. The paper also discusses current pump vibration issues encountered in relief requests and plant inspections - which include smooth running pumps, absolute vibration limits, and vertical centrifugal pump vibration measurement requirements. Two pump scope issues involving boiling water reactor waterlog and reactor core isolation cooling pumps are also discussed. Where appropriate, NRC guidance is discussed.

Nuclear power plant safety related pump issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Colaccino, J.

1996-01-01

This paper summarizes of a number of pump issues raised since the Third NRC/ASME Symposium on Valve and Pump Testing in 1994. General issues discussed include revision of NRC Inspection Procedure 73756, issuance of NRC Information Notice 95-08 on ultrasonic flow meter uncertainties, relief requests for tests that are determined by the licensee to be impractical, and items in the ASME OM-1995 Code, Subsection ISTB, for pumps. The paper also discusses current pump vibration issues encountered in relief requests and plant inspections - which include smooth running pumps, absolute vibration limits, and vertical centrifugal pump vibration measurement requirements. Two pump scope issues involving boiling water reactor waterlog and reactor core isolation cooling pumps are also discussed. Where appropriate, NRC guidance is discussed

40 CFR 300.220 - Related Title III issues.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Related Title III issues. 300.220 Section 300.220 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SUPERFUND, EMERGENCY... PLAN Planning and Preparedness § 300.220 Related Title III issues. Other related Title III requirements...

Current issues regarding radiation risk education in Medical Universities of Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuzuki, Teruhisa; Hosoi, Yoshio; Matsuda, Naoki; Kanda, Reiko; Hosoya, Noriko; Miyagawa, Kiyoshi; Awai, Kazuo; Kondo, Takashi

2017-01-01

The main purpose of radiation research is to understand the biological effects of radiation exposure to humans, the molecular mechanisms of biological response m organisms, and its sale application for medical and industrial use. In order to know the current state or education on fundamentals of radiology including radiation biology, a nation-wide questionnaire survey had been performed at medical schools and different co-medical courses in Japanese universities, during the period of 2004 and 2005. The survey results showed: (1) Difference in teaching hours for education on radiation between medical schools with and without department or division of radiation biology or radiation-related field. (2) Teaching hours for education on radiation in nursing course were very limited among the co-medical courses. Although, some improvement have been found about the state of education on radiation risk at medical schools, after the disaster of nuclear accident at Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant of TEPCO in March 2011. However, still much more effort t is needed to improve basic education on radiation. Science Council of Japan issued the recommendation on September 4, 2014 'Making radiation health risk education compulsory in medical education'. The working group for this purpose was set up under the Council of Head of National Medical Schools of Japan, on January 28, 2015. Here, we describe the details and current issues regarding radiation risk education in medical schools of Japan, as well as the efforts required for its betterment. (author)

Issues related to geothermal development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lesperance, G.O.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on a number of potential barriers to geothermal development in Hawaii which have been overcome but some remain. Efforts continue to address issues relating to transmission, project economics, the regulatory process, resource verification, and public acceptance

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Can

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naeslund, Jens-Ove

2006-11-01

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge of the climate-related conditions and processes relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Can. The report also includes a concise background description of the climate system. The report includes three main chapters: A description of the climate system (Chapter 2); Identification and discussion of climate-related issues (Chapter 3); and, A description of the evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment (Chapter 4). Chapter 2 includes an overview of present knowledge of the Earth climate system and the climate conditions that can be expected to occur in Sweden on a 100,000 year time perspective. Based on this, climate-related issues relevant for the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository are identified. These are documented in Chapter 3 'Climate-related issues' to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment. Finally, in Chapter 4, 'Evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment' an evolution for a 120,000 year period is presented, including discussions of identified climate-related issues of importance for repository safety. The documentation is from a scientific point of view not exhaustive, since such a treatment is neither necessary for the purposes of the safety assessment nor possible within the scope of a safety assessment. As further described in the SR-Can Main Report and in the Features Events and Processes report, the content of the present report has been audited by comparison with FEP databases compiled in other assessment projects. This report follows as far as possible the template for documentation of processes regarded as internal to the repository system. However, the term processes is not used in this report, instead the term issue has been used. Each issue includes a set of processes together resulting in the behaviour of a

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Can

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naeslund, Jens-Ove (comp.)

2006-11-15

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge of the climate-related conditions and processes relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Can. The report also includes a concise background description of the climate system. The report includes three main chapters: A description of the climate system (Chapter 2); Identification and discussion of climate-related issues (Chapter 3); and, A description of the evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment (Chapter 4). Chapter 2 includes an overview of present knowledge of the Earth climate system and the climate conditions that can be expected to occur in Sweden on a 100,000 year time perspective. Based on this, climate-related issues relevant for the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository are identified. These are documented in Chapter 3 'Climate-related issues' to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment. Finally, in Chapter 4, 'Evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment' an evolution for a 120,000 year period is presented, including discussions of identified climate-related issues of importance for repository safety. The documentation is from a scientific point of view not exhaustive, since such a treatment is neither necessary for the purposes of the safety assessment nor possible within the scope of a safety assessment. As further described in the SR-Can Main Report and in the Features Events and Processes report, the content of the present report has been audited by comparison with FEP databases compiled in other assessment projects. This report follows as far as possible the template for documentation of processes regarded as internal to the repository system. However, the term processes is not used in this report, instead the term issue has been used. Each issue includes a set of processes together resulting in the

LMFBR safety. 3. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature (1972--1974)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1977-01-01

The report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA). Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development of the breeder reactor as a safe source of nuclear power is presented for the period 1972 through 1974. The bibliography consists of approximately 1380 abstracts covering research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Key-word, author, and permuted-title indexes are included

LMFBR safety. 5. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature (1975--1976)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1977-01-01

The current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA), are discussed. Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development and safety of the breeder reactor is presented for the period 1975 through 1976. The bibliography consists of approximately 1618 abstracts covering early research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Keyword, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness

LMFBR safety. 3. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature (1972--1974)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1977-02-24

The report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA). Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development of the breeder reactor as a safe source of nuclear power is presented for the period 1972 through 1974. The bibliography consists of approximately 1380 abstracts covering research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Key-word, author, and permuted-title indexes are included.

LMFBR safety. 5. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature (1975--1976)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1977-06-08

The current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA), are discussed. Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development and safety of the breeder reactor is presented for the period 1975 through 1976. The bibliography consists of approximately 1618 abstracts covering early research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Keyword, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness.

LMFBR safety. 1. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature, 1960--1969

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1976-08-16

This report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA). Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development of the breeder reactor as a safe source of nuclear power is presented for the period 1960 through 1969. The bibliography consists of 1560 abstracts covering early research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Key-word, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness.

LMFBR safety. 1. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature, 1960--1969

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1976-01-01

This report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA). Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development of the breeder reactor as a safe source of nuclear power is presented for the period 1960 through 1969. The bibliography consists of 1560 abstracts covering early research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Key-word, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness

Reforming health care in Canada: current issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baris Enis

1998-01-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the current health care reform issues in Canada. The provincial health insurance plans of the 1960s and 1970s had the untoward effects of limiting the federal government's clout for cost control and of promoting a system centered on inpatient and medical care. Recently, several provincial commissions reported that the current governance structures and management processes are outmoded in light of new knowledge, new fiscal realities and the evolution of power among stake-holders. They recommend decentralized governance and restructuring for better management and more citizen participation. Although Canada's health care system remains committed to safeguarding its guiding principles, the balance of power may be shifting from providers to citizens and "technocrats". Also, all provinces are likely to increase their pressure on physicians by means of salary caps, by exploring payment methods such as capitation, limiting access to costly technology, and by demanding practice changes based on evidence of cost-effectiveness.

LMFBR safety. 2. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature, 1970--1972

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1976-01-01

This report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA). Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development of the breeder reactor as a safe source of nuclear power is presented for the period 1970 through 1972. The bibliography consists of approximately 1620 abstracts covering early research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Key-word, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness

LMFBR safety. 4. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature (1974--1975)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1977-03-21

This report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA). Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development of the breeder reactor as a safe source of nuclear power is presented for the period 1974 through 1975. The bibliography consists of approximately 1554 abstracts covering early research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Key-word, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness.

LMFBR safety. 4. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature (1974--1975)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1977-01-01

This report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA). Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development of the breeder reactor as a safe source of nuclear power is presented for the period 1974 through 1975. The bibliography consists of approximately 1554 abstracts covering early research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Key-word, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness

LMFBR safety. 2. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature, 1970--1972

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1976-11-22

This report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development and one of the principal safety issues, a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (HCDA). Bibliographic information on worldwide LMFBRs relative to the development of the breeder reactor as a safe source of nuclear power is presented for the period 1970 through 1972. The bibliography consists of approximately 1620 abstracts covering early research and development and operating experiences leading up to the present design practices that are necessary for the licensing of breeder reactors. Key-word, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness.

Current Economic Issues in Employee Benefits. Background Paper No. 39.

Science.gov (United States)

Woodbury, Stephen A.

A multitude of public policy issues currently surround the tax treatment of employee benefits, particularly since the tax-favored status of employer contributions to pensions and health insurance has been blamed for a shrinking tax base that has exacerbated the federal budget deficit, an inefficient and bloated health-care sector, overinsurance by…

Cancer survivors. Work related issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Schultz, Pamela N; Beck, Martha L; Stava, Charles; Sellin, Rena V

2002-05-01

New and more effective treatments for cancer have resulted in individuals living longer with a better quality of life. Many more survivors are employed in the workplace. Cancer is no longer only an issue for survivors and their families; it has become an issue for the employer and the workplace. This article describes survey results of 4,364 long term cancer survivors in which they were asked to respond to items describing their ability to work, job discrimination, and quality of life. Thirty-five percent of survivors were working at the time they completed the survey, and 8.5% considered themselves unable to work. This research has shown that age, gender, ethnic group, and cancer type affected the working status of the survivors. Of survivors continuing to work, 7.3% indicated they had experienced job discrimination. The results indicate most cancer survivors do not perceive employment related problems, and are readily assimilated into the work force. Job discrimination and the ability to work is a quality of life issue.

Current and Emerging Ethical Issues in Counseling: A Delphi Study of Expert Opinions

Science.gov (United States)

Herlihy, Barbara; Dufrene, Roxane L.

2011-01-01

A Delphi study was conducted to ascertain the opinions of panel experts regarding the most important current and emerging ethical issues facing the counseling profession. Expert opinions on ethical issues in counselor preparation also were sought. Eighteen panelists responded to 3 rounds of data collection interspersed with feedback. Themes that…

Top-Ten IT Issues: 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Agee, Anne Scrivener; Yang, Catherine

2009-01-01

This article presents the top-ten IT-related issues in terms of strategic importance to the institution, as revealed by the tenth annual EDUCAUSE Current Issues Survey. These IT-related issues include: (1) Funding IT; (2) Administrative/ERP Information Systems; (3) Security; (4) Infrastructure/Cyberinfrastructure; (5) Teaching and Learning with…

Issues related to field testing in tuff

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zimmerman, R.M.

1982-01-01

This paper has brought out the unique properties of tuffs and related them to needs associated with their use as a host rock for a high level nuclear waste repository. Major issues of temperature, pore water, joints, and depositional patterns have been identified and related responses and impacts outlined in Table 1. Planned experiments have been outlined and their relationships to the rock mechanics issues summarized in Table 2. The conclusions from this paper are: (1) tuff is a complex rock and basic phenomenological understanding is incomplete; and (2) available field test facilities will be used for a series of experiments designed to improve phenomenological understanding and support repository design efforts

Current Therapeutic Cannabis Controversies and Clinical Trial Design Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Russo, Ethan B.

2016-01-01

This overview covers a wide range of cannabis topics, initially examining issues in dispensaries and self-administration, plus regulatory requirements for production of cannabis-based medicines, particularly the Food and Drug Administration “Botanical Guidance.” The remainder pertains to various cannabis controversies that certainly require closer examination if the scientific, consumer, and governmental stakeholders are ever to reach consensus on safety issues, specifically: whether botanical cannabis displays herbal synergy of its components, pharmacokinetics of cannabis and dose titration, whether cannabis medicines produce cyclo-oxygenase inhibition, cannabis-drug interactions, and cytochrome P450 issues, whether cannabis randomized clinical trials are properly blinded, combatting the placebo effect in those trials via new approaches, the drug abuse liability (DAL) of cannabis-based medicines and their regulatory scheduling, their effects on cognitive function and psychiatric sequelae, immunological effects, cannabis and driving safety, youth usage, issues related to cannabis smoking and vaporization, cannabis concentrates and vape-pens, and laboratory analysis for contamination with bacteria and heavy metals. Finally, the issue of pesticide usage on cannabis crops is addressed. New and disturbing data on pesticide residues in legal cannabis products in Washington State are presented with the observation of an 84.6% contamination rate including potentially neurotoxic and carcinogenic agents. With ongoing developments in legalization of cannabis in medical and recreational settings, numerous scientific, safety, and public health issues remain. PMID:27683558

Current Therapeutic Cannabis Controversies and Clinical Trial Design Issues.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ethan Budd Russo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This overview covers a wide range of cannabis topics, initially examining issue in dispensaries and self-administration, plus regulatory requirement for production of cannabis-based medicines, particularly the Food and Drug Administration Botanical Guidance. The remainder pertains to various cannabis controversies that certainly require closer examination if the scientific, consumer and governmental stakeholders are ever to reach consensus on safety issues, specifically: whether botanical cannabis displays herbal synergy of its components, pharmacokinetics of cannabis and dose titration, whether cannabis medicines produce cyclo-oxygenase inhibition, cannabis-drug interactions and cytochrome P450 issues, whether cannabis randomized clinical trials are properly blinded, combatting the placebo effect in those trials via new approaches, the drug abuse liability of cannabis-based medicines and their regulatory scheduling, their effects on cognitive function and psychiatric sequelae, immunological effects, cannabis and driving safety, youth usage, issues related to cannabis smoking and vaporization, cannabis concentrates and vape-pens, and laboratory analysis for contamination with bacteria and heavy metals. Finally, the issue of pesticide usage on cannabis crops is addressed. New and disturbing data on pesticide residues in legal cannabis products in Washington State are presented with the observation of an 84.6% contamination rate including potentially neurotoxic and carcinogenic agents. With ongoing developments in legalization of cannabis in medical and recreational settings, numerous scientific, safety and public health issues remain.

Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and beyond: Lessons for Ontario? Current issue paper 117

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yeager, K L

1991-03-01

This current issue paper reviews major accidents which have occurred at commercial and military nuclear facilities, and provides basic background on nuclear power and reactor design features to assist the novice in understanding the very complex technical issues surrounding these events. Above all, the role of human factors in the prevention of potential accident situations is emphasized. (author).

Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and beyond: Lessons for Ontario? Current issue paper 117

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeager, K.L.

1991-03-01

This current issue paper reviews major accidents which have occurred at commercial and military nuclear facilities, and provides basic background on nuclear power and reactor design features to assist the novice in understanding the very complex technical issues surrounding these events. Above all, the role of human factors in the prevention of potential accident situations is emphasized. (author)

Current technical issues in international safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bennett, C.A.

1977-01-01

Safeguards systems, and the associated need for technical and systems development, reflect changing conditions and concerns associated with the nuclear fuel cycle and the safety and security of nuclear materials and facilities. In particular, the implementation of international safeguards has led to the recognition of certain technical issues, both old and new, which are in need of resolution. These are: 1. The grading of nuclear materials and facilities with respect to their relative safeguards significance. 2. The extension and upgrading of safeguards techniques to maintain adequate protection in view of constantly increasing amounts of material to be safeguarded. 3. The balance between safeguards mechanisms based on physical protection and material accounting, and the role of surveillance and containment in each case. 4. The role of information systems as a basis for both analytical feedback and the determination of the factors affecting system effectiveness and their interrelationship. 5. A determination of the degree to which the overall technical effectiveness of international inspection activities can be quantified. Each of these technical issues must be considered in light of the specific objectives of international safeguards, which differ from domestic safeguards in terms of the level of the threat, the safeguards mechanisms available, and the diversion strategies assumed. Their resolution in this international context is essential if the effectiveness and viability of international safeguards are to be maintained

Problems in complying with regulations related to low activity materials: Nuclear fuel cycle issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coates, R.

1997-01-01

The range of issues relating to exemption and clearance within the nuclear fuel cycle is reviewed. It is concluded that current regulatory systems and the underpinning technical criteria are potentially inflexible and over-conservative, resulting in an imbalance in the use of society's resources. Proposals are developed for establishing practical requirements which would ensure that resource allocation is commensurate with the magnitude of the risks and in broad proportion to the other risks affecting society. Such an approach would be consistent with the concept of sustainability and could support wider public acceptance of these issues. Within this approach the practical distinction between exemption and clearance is challenged. (author)

Vocational technical and adult education: Status, trends and issues related to electronic delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Rothenberg, D.

1973-01-01

Data are analyzed, and trends and issues are discussed to provide information useful to the systems designer who wishes to identify and assess the opportunities for large scale electronic delivery in vocational/technical and adult education. Issues connected with vocational/technical education are investigated, with emphasis on those issues in the current spotlight which are relevant to the possibilities of electronic delivery. The current role of media is examined in vocational/technical instruction.

Transfusion medicine and solid organ transplant - Update and review of some current issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkar, R S; Philip, J; Yadav, Pramod

2013-04-01

Transfusion medicine holds a place of prime importance in organ transplant surgeries. There is a huge demand of organs worldwide with long waiting periods before the organ is available for transplant. Currently the dependency on ABO and HLA matching has decreased considerably with the use of modern immunosuppressant drugs and transplant techniques. The greatest advance in clinical implementation of ABO-incompatible transplants came about through desensitization and isoagglutinin elimination techniques with immunoadsorption and anti-CD20 antibodies becoming the norm, and spleenectomy fading out. The implications and practices of transfusion medicine in organ transplant are also undergoing drastic changes. The practice of infusion of one unit of donor's blood preoperatively for immunomodulation is no longer practiced. Use of leuco-reduced products has shown decreasing trends of alloimmunization and graft rejection in cases of multiple surgeries related to organ transplants. Worldwide donor and recipient registry programmes are being setup and existing ones are being upgraded. Such a registry system has been opened in India for kidney transplant cases very recently. Due to such registry programmes the dependency on siblings and directed donations have decreased considerably. This review deals with some of the current issues contributing to the successful outcome of mismatched transplants and the changing concepts of transfusion medicine related to it.

Gender relations and economic issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Elson, D

1993-10-01

While most discussions of economic issues pay no explicit attention to gender relations, most economic policy is marked by male bias which provides women with an unequal access to resources. This situation exists because most economists, officials, and business managers lack the imagination to see the gender impact of economic issues and most women's groups and researchers lack the language to portray this connection. This article explores some aspects of this gap and aims to provide women with the ability to effectively discuss economic issues. After an introduction, the article considers the basic problem caused by the fact that the economy is defined primarily in terms of money-making activities. This leads to a male bias since much of women's work occurs outside of the monetary sphere. The next section looks at how a failure to understand the significance of gender relations will interfere with the fulfillment of policy objectives. This discussion is followed by a description of how cutbacks in government expenditures increase the burden on women who must replace the services. Problems with the option of the private-sector replacing government services, such as the fact that increasing disposable income in households does not guarantee that unpaid labor will be reduced and the fact that the private sector may fail to expand in a productive way, are covered. The article then touches on the new emphasis placed by some economists and policy makers on cooperative and interactive solutions to these problems and ends by mentioning three new initiatives which seek to build capacity for gender-aware economic analysis: the development of a training program at Manchester University in the UK, coordination of an international research workshop by the University of Utah in the US, and development of an international association for feminist economics based in the US.

Ethical issues in trauma-related research: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, Elana; Risch, Elizabeth; Kassam-Adams, Nancy

2006-09-01

ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING ABOUT TRAUMA-RELATED STUDIES requires a flexible approach that counters assumptions and biases about victims, assures a favorable ethical cost-benefit ratio, and promotes advancement of knowledge that can benefit survivors of traumatic stress. This paper reviews several ethical issues in the field of traumatic stress: benefit and risks in trauma-related research, whether trauma-related research poses unique risks and if so what those might be, informed consent and mandatory reporting, and supervision of trauma-related research. For each topic, we review potential ethical issues, summarize the research conducted thus far to inform ethical practice, and recommend future practice, research questions and policies to advance the field so that research on trauma can continue to be a win-win situation for all stakeholders in the research enterprise.

Food and Health Some Current Issues and Future Trends

OpenAIRE

Gormley, T. R. (Thomas Ronan)

1991-01-01

This paper deals with some of the many current issues and future trends in the area of food, diet and health in Europe. A complete coverage would be impossible in a short article in view of the extent and complexity of the food system and its major interaction with health. It is also important to stress at the outset that food/diet is only one component of health and other factors such as environment, overall lifestyle and genetics also play a major role. The genetic dimension is of particula...

Public Relations Manager Involvement in Strategic Issue Diagnosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lauzen, Martha M.

1995-01-01

Reports on an exploratory study that seeks to build theoretical understanding of how public relations practitioner involvement in one type of strategic organizational decision making--strategic issue diagnosis--is related to shared values with top management, diagnosis accuracy, strategy pursued, and the power of the public relations function. (TB)

CKM Phenomenology and B-mesons physics-present status and current issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, A.

2004-01-01

We review the status of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix elements and the CP-violating phases in the CKM-unitarity triangle. The emphasis in these lecture notes is on B-meson physics, through we also review the current status and issues in the light quark sector of this matrix. Selected applications of theoretical methods in QCD used in the interpretation of data are given and some of the issues restricting the theoretical precision on the CKM matrix elements discussed. The overall consistency of the CKM theory with the available data in flavour physics is impressive and we quantify this consistency. Current data also show some anomalies which, however, are not yet statistically significant. They are discussed briefly. some benchmark measurements that remain to be done in experiments at the B-factories and hadron colliders are listed. Together with the already achieved results, they will provide unprecedented test of the CKM theory and by the same token may lead to the discovery of new physics. (Author) 284 refs

32 CFR 536.35 - Unique issues related to environmental claims.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Unique issues related to environmental claims... issues related to environmental claims. Claims for property damage, personal injury, or death arising in... reported by USARCS to the Environmental Law Division of the Army Litigation Center and the Environmental...

Trade-related Electronic Commerce Issues in the OECD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang-In Yoon

1998-12-01

Full Text Available The trade committee of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD has begun the study of the trade related to electronic commerce since 1997. The scale of the study on one hand has avoided the fact of copy and duplication of WTO and its organizational principles, on the other hand it has played a supplementary and supportive function. At present, digital-related product, such as computers, software and travel is the key point to the trade which resorts to electronic commerce. It is predicted that this trend will go on. The study on electronic commerce could be summed up into three main components: First, according to the phase of the trade, it could be divided into advertisement, purchase, delivery and payment. Second, issues on electronic commerce in the international trade; such as the issue that leads to the unfairness and non-neutrality of the searching engine in international service trade. Besides, domain name, trademarks and the issue of middleman which exist at the moment in the electronic commerce are activated and will also be discussed. Third, issues of the trade policy related to the electronic commerce. For instance, the kernel principles which support the multi-trade regulation, including transparency, indiscrimination, anti-dumping, flexible trade, government arrangement, tariff and competition policy and so on. Under this background, we should explore way in formulating hypotheses with preconceived issues, validating the electronic commerce trade on the spot, actualizing the study on the application of electronic commerce coming with the GATS regulation, seeking the countermeasure in the future trade policy, such as benefit policy to the electronic commerce department and electronic commerce strategy approach of certain enterprises, etc.

An interpretation of schedule 1 of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 and related issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, M.; Wakerley, M.W.

2000-09-01

Schedule 1 of the UK's Radioactive Substances Act 1993 was originally Schedule 3 of the 1960 Act of the same name. It is possible that different methods are currently being employed to interpret how Schedule 1 should be used. This report provides an interpretation and guidance on this and related issues. It is primarily for technical specialists already familiar with the workings of the Act. This report covers the period 1999/2000

U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-25

Time,” Economia , Fall 2003. 49 Esquivel, Gerardo, and José Antonio Rodríguez-López, “Technology, trade, and wage inequality in Mexico before and after...CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress U.S.- Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications...25 JAN 2012 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2012 to 00-00-2012 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE U.S.- Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and

Fabric quality issues related to apparel merchandising

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Das, Sonali

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The objectives of this study are to develop an understanding of fabric quality related issues and research gaps relevant to apparel manufacturing and merchandising within the South African context. The specific focus is on fabric objective...

Advertising or public relations – which is the organizations choice in the current period?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simona Duhalm

2009-12-01

Full Text Available In the current period, when the issue of efficient use of financial resources is a central, organizations seeking the best ways to both promote their self-image, and products or services they produce and sell. Between the promotional techniques by the mass communication in which organizations can appeal, the makers have to choose between advertising and public relations activities.

Problems and Issues Related to Alternative Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Pilat, Mary

1997-01-01

Symposium participants identified policy issues in these areas related to alternative education for at-risk youth: choice, equity, public perception, definition, philosophy, stakeholder involvement, evaluation, staffing, curriculum, governance, and financing. Public discourse and policy discussion were considered essential to implementing…

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation: Five Important Issues We Aren’t Discussing (But Probably Should Be

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jared Cooney Horvath

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS is a neuromodulatory device often publicized for its ability to enhance cognitive and behavioral performance. These enhancement claims, however, are predicated upon electrophysiological evidence and descriptions which are far from conclusive. In fact, a review of the literature reveals a number of important experimental and technical issues inherent with this device that are simply not being discussed in any meaningful manner. In this paper, we will consider five of these topics. The first, inter-subject variability, explores the extensive between- and within-group differences found within the tDCS literature and highlights the need to properly examine stimulatory response at the individual level. The second, intra-subject reliability, reviews the lack of data concerning tDCS response reliability over time and emphasizes the importance of this knowledge for appropriate stimulatory application. The third, sham stimulation and blinding, draws attention to the importance (yet relative lack of proper control and blinding practices in the tDCS literature. The fourth, motor and cognitive interference, highlights the often overlooked body of research that suggests typical behaviors and cognitions undertaken during or following tDCS can impair or abolish the effects of stimulation. Finally, the fifth, electric current influences, underscores several largely ignored variables (such as hair thickness and electrode attachments methods influential to tDCS electric current density and flow.Through this paper, we hope to increase awareness and start an ongoing dialogue of these important issues which speak to the efficacy, reliability, and mechanistic foundations of tDCS.

Current uranium mill licensing issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scarano, R.A.

1977-01-01

The problems encountered to insure environmentally safe mining and milling of uranium ores are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the management of tailings resulting from milling operations. It is pointed out that although the concentration of radioactivity in the tailings is relatively low, control measures are necessary because of the large quantities involved and because of the long half-life of the parent radionuclides present. The major concerns with mill tailings are radon release to the atmosphere and isolation of the tailings from the human environment. Since it is anticipated that the amount of tailings created by the year 2000 will be more than an order of magnitude greater than the quantities that have been generated during the past 30 years, it is recommended that all mill tailings storage areas be located remote from public contact and in areas such that disruption and dispersion by natural forces and seepage of toxic materials into ground water systems are reduced to the maximum extent achievable. Technical issues that receive attention during the NRC licensing process for uranium mills and the preparation of environmental impact statements are discussed briefly

Nuclear power systems: Their safety. Current issue review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Myers, L.C.

1994-04-01

Human beings utilize energy in many forms and from a variety of sources. A number of countries have chosen nuclear-electric generation as a component of their energy system. At the end of 1992, there were 419 power reactors operating in 29 countries, accounting for more than 15% of the world's production of electricity. In 1992, 13 countries derived at least 25% of their electricity from nuclear units, with Lithuania leading at just over 78%, followed closely by France at 72%. In the same year, Canada produced about 16% of its electricity from nuclear units. Some 53 power reactors are under construction in 14 countries outside the former USSR. Within the ex-USSR countries, six new reactors are currently under construction. No human endeavour carries the guarantee of perfect safety and the question of whether of not nuclear-electric generation represents an 'acceptable' risk to society has long been vigorously debated. Until the events of late April 1986 in the then Soviet Union, nuclear safety had indeed been an issue for discussion, for some concern, but not for alarm. The accident at the Chernobyl reactor irrevocably changed all that. This disaster brought the matter of nuclear safety into the public mind in a dramatic fashion. Subsequent opening of the ex-Soviet nuclear power program to outside scrutiny has done little to calm people's concerns about the safety of nuclear power in that part of the world. This paper discusses the issue of safety in complex energy systems and provides brief accounts of some of the most serious reactor accidents that have occurred to date, as well as more recent, less dramatic events touching on the safety issue. (author). 7 refs

Cloud portability and interoperability issues and current trends

CERN Document Server

Di Martino, Beniamino; Esposito, Antonio

2015-01-01

This book offers readers a quick, comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the most important methodologies, technologies, APIs and standards related to the portability and interoperability of cloud applications and services, illustrated by a number of use cases representing a variety of interoperability and portability scenarios. The lack of portability and interoperability between cloud platforms at different service levels is the main issue affecting cloud-based services today. The brokering, negotiation, management, monitoring and reconfiguration of cloud resources are challenging tasks

Female sex trafficking: conceptual issues, current debates, and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Meshkovska, Biljana; Siegel, Melissa; Stutterheim, Sarah E; Bos, Arjan E R

2015-01-01

Female sex trafficking is a pressing concern. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of relevant issues regarding the concept of female sex trafficking and research in the field of human trafficking, drawing on a variety of disciplines, including economics, gender and sexuality studies, psychology, sociology, law, and social work. We discuss the debates surrounding the definition of human trafficking, compare and contrast it with human smuggling, and outline connections between female sex trafficking and the issue of sex work and prostitution. We further discuss the history and current estimations of female sex trafficking. We then outline the main actors in female sex trafficking, including trafficked persons, traffickers, clients, and service providers, and we overview the trafficking process from recruitment to identification, recovery, and (re)integration. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for future research that tie together the concepts of vulnerability, exploitation, and long-term recovery and (re)integration.

Management of ethical issues related to care of seriously ill dialysis patients in free-standing facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Mi-Kyung; Hanson, Laura C; Gilet, Constance A; Jo, Minjeong; Reed, Teresa J; Hladik, Gerald A

2014-09-01

There are few data on the frequency and current management of clinical ethical issues related to care of seriously ill dialysis patients in free-standing dialysis facilities. To examine the extent of clinical ethical challenges experienced by care providers in free-standing facilities and their perceptions about how those issues are managed. A total of 183 care providers recruited from 15 facilities in North Carolina completed a survey regarding the occurrence and management of ethical issues in the past year. Care plan meetings were observed at four of the facilities for three consecutive months. Also, current policies and procedures at each of the facilities were reviewed. The two most frequently experienced challenges involved dialyzing frail patients with multiple comorbidities and caring for disruptive/difficult patients. The most common ways of managing ethical issues were discussions in care plan meetings (n = 47) or discussions with the clinic manager (n = 47). Although policies were in place to guide management of some of the challenges, respondents were often not aware of those policies. Also, although participants reported that ethical issues related to dialyzing undocumented immigrants were fairly common, no facility had a policy for managing this challenge. Participants suggested that all staff obtain training in clinical ethics and communication skills, facilities develop ethics teams, and there be clear policies to guide management of ethical challenges. The scope of ethical challenges was extensive, how these challenges were managed varied widely, and there were limited resources for assistance. Multifaceted efforts, encompassing endeavors at the individual, facility, organization, and national levels, are needed to support staff in improving the management of ethical challenges in dialysis facilities. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Addressing Measurement Issues Related to Bullying Involvement

Science.gov (United States)

Casper, Deborah M.; Meter, Diana J.; Card, Noel A.

2015-01-01

In this article, we address measurement issues related to select aspects of bullying involvement with the goal of moving psychometrically sound measurement practices toward applied bullying research. We first provide a nontechnical introduction to psychometric considerations in measuring bullying involvement, highlighting the importance of…

Nuclear power in the OECD countries results and current issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, C.F.

1989-01-01

The first use of nuclear power for the generation of electricity on a commercial scale occurred in the United Kingdom in 1956. Today, 13 OECD countries have 318 nuclear units in operation and 66 more in construction or on order. This outstanding achievement is the result of the successful organization, start up, and operation of an industry to design, build, equip, fuel, and maintain these facilites. Nuclear power, however, is currently troubled by a number of issues that may impair its ability to reach its full potential. The industry has acknowledged problems that can be and are being managed. But the industry also has a number of political difficulties that could be beyond its ability to resolve with its own resources. These are issues common to the introduction of new technologies into a complex world. Nevertheless, nuclear power continues to be the means by which we can provide the electric power needed to raise the living standard of everyone on the globe

The Korean Study of Women’s Health-Related Issues (K-Stori: Rationale and Study Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ha Na Cho

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Measures to address gender-specific health issues are essential due to fundamental, biological differences between the sexes. Studies have increasingly stressed the importance of customizing approaches directed at women’s health issues according to stages in the female life cycle. In Korea, however, gender-specific studies on issues affecting Korean women in relation to stages in their life cycle are lacking. Accordingly, the Korean Study of Women’s Health-Related Issues (K-Stori was designed to investigate life cycle-specific health issues among women, covering health status, awareness, and risk perceptions. Methods K-Stori was conducted as a nationwide cross-sectional survey targeting Korean women aged 14–79 years. Per each stage in the female life cycle (adolescence, childbearing age, pregnancy & postpartum, menopause, and older adult stage, 3000 women (total 15,000 were recruited by stratified multistage random sampling for geographic area based on the 2010 Resident Registration Population in Korea. Specialized questionnaires per each stage (total of five were developed in consultation with multidisciplinary experts and by reflecting upon current interests into health among the general population of women in Korea. This survey was conducted from April 1 to June 31, 2016, at which time investigators from a professional research agency went door-to-door to recruit residents and conducted in-person interviews. Discussion The study’s findings may help with elucidating health issues and unmet needs specific to each stage in the life cycle of Korean women that have yet to be identified in present surveys.

Genetic Issues in Mental Retardation, 1996-1997.

Science.gov (United States)

Genetic Issues in Mental Retardation, 1996

1996-01-01

This document consists of the first six issues of a newsletter, which discusses current knowledge about and concerns related to genetics and mental retardation. The second issue addresses the problem of genetic discrimination. The third issue considers genetic testing, screening, and counseling. The fourth issue addresses genetic privacy issues.…

Assessment of BSBA Students' Conversancy in Current Business Issues: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Hogan, Eileen A.; Maskulka, Therese A.; Kaminski, Kathleen A.

2014-01-01

In 2008, the faculty of the College of Business at Kutztown University developed a set of five learning goals for its BSBA program. In fall, 2011, the college's Assurance of Learning Committee began to pursue the assessment of the last of these goals: "BSBA graduates will be conversant in current business issues, including ethics, social…

Attachment-related mental representations: introduction to the special issue.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Ross A

2008-12-01

Bowlby's concept of mental working models of self, attachment figures, and the social world has been theoretically generative as a bridge between early relational experience and the beliefs and expectations that color later relationships. Contemporary attachment researchers, following his example, are applying new knowledge of children's conceptual development to their study of attachment-related mental representations in children and adults. The contributors to this special issue highlight recent advances in how the mental representations arising from attachment security should be conceptualized and studied, and identify a number of important directions for future work. This paper introduces the special issue by summarizing the major ideas of Bowlby and his followers concerning the nature and development of mental working models, points of theoretical clarity and uncertainty, and challenges in assessing these representations, as well as profiling each of the contributions to this issue.

Language Policy in Canada: Current Issues. A Selection of the Proceedings of the Papers Dealing with Language Policy Issues in Canada at the Conference "Language Policy and Social Problems" (Curacao, Venezuela, December, 1983). Publication B-150.

Science.gov (United States)

Cobarrubias, Juan, Ed.

The papers related to Canadian language policy at an international conference are presented: "Language Policy in Canada: Current Issues" (Juan Cobarrubias); "Multiculturalism and Language Policy in Canada" (Jim Cummins, Harold Troper); "Defining Language Policy in a Nationalistic Milieu and in a Complex Industrialized…

Legal issues relating to the Ontario FIT contract - An update

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weizman, Michael

2011-01-01

The paper discusses the legal issues related to the Ontario FIT contract, which includes the FIT waiver agreement, WTO challenge, FIT extension, political risk assessment and issues related to unforeseen events beyond human control (force majeure). The risk of termination of the FIT waiver is omitted for convenience by OPA but timing implications relating to the FIT waiver are included. The binding agreement for supply of generating equipment is also presented and the term sheet for turbine equipment and bill of purchase being understood as binding agreements is questioned. Political risks relate to existing contracts, lawsuit risks and changes to the REA process. Change in government and the implications of minority government can be added to the political risks. A successful WTO challenge has been assumed and the possible implications are discussed. Some of them include risk to FIT contracts already issued; changes in DC requirements and in FIT contract pricing and re-pricing of construction and turbine equipment supply contracts if DC requirements are relaxed.

U.S.-China Relations: Policy Issues

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-12

China Relations: Policy Issues Congressional Research Service 8 Center; the U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan; and the U.S.-China Energy...January 25, 2010. 28 Liu Shengjun, “How to Better Use Forex Reserves,” China Daily, January 13, 2010. 29 Paul R. La Monica, “China Still Likes Us…For...or commercialization of carbon capture and sequestration technology, improve energy efficiency , or renewable energy sources. H.R. 2454 Waxman

Information Technology in New Zealand: Review of Emerging Social Trends, Current Issues, and Policies

OpenAIRE

Erturk, Emre; Fail, Derwyn

2015-01-01

This paper discusses the general state of information technology in New Zealand society, current issues, and policies. It is a qualitative study that reviews recent scholarly articles, periodicals, and surveys in order to create an understanding of some of the information technology issues and trends in New Zealand. After reviewing previous research, it assesses the potential existence and nature of a 'digital divide' in New Zealand society whilst also evaluating possible strategic responses ...

Holdup-related issues in safeguarding of nuclear materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pillay, K.K.S.

1988-03-01

Residual inventories of special nuclear materials (SNM) remaining in processing facilities (holdup) are recognized as an insidious problem for both safety and safeguards. This paper identifies some of the issues that are of concern to the safeguards community at-large that are related to holdup of SNM in large-scale process equipment. These issues range from basic technologies of SNM production to changing regulatory requirements to meet the needs of safeguarding nuclear materials. Although there are no magic formulas to resolve these issues, there are several initiatives that could be taken in areas of facility design, plant operation, personnel training, SNM monitoring, and regulatory guidelines to minimize the problems of holdup and thereby improve both safety and safeguards at nuclear material processing plants. 8 refs

Health-related quality of life of cranial WHO grade I meningioma patients: are current questionnaires relevant?

Science.gov (United States)

Zamanipoor Najafabadi, Amir H; Peeters, Marthe C M; Lobatto, Daniel J; Broekman, Marieke L D; Smith, Timothy R; Biermasz, Nienke R; Peerdeman, Saskia M; Peul, Wilco C; Taphoorn, Martin J B; van Furth, Wouter R; Dirven, Linda

2017-11-01

The clinical relevance of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in meningioma patients has been increasingly acknowledged in recent years. Various questionnaires have been used. However, almost none of these questionnaires has been particularly developed for and/or validated in this patient group. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relevance and comprehensiveness of existing HRQoL questionnaires used in meningioma research and to assess the agreement between patients and health care professionals (HCPs) on the most relevant and important HRQoL issues. A systematic literature search, following the PRISMA statement, was conducted to identify all HRQoL questionnaires used in meningioma research. Semi-structured interviews were organized with patients and HCPs to (1) assess the relevance of all issues covered by the questionnaires (score 0-3: not relevant-highly relevant), (2) assess the ten most important issues, and (3) identify new relevant HRQoL issues. Fourteen different questionnaires were found in the literature, comprising 140 unique issues. Interviews were conducted with 20 patients (median age 57, 71% female) and 10 HCPs (4 neurosurgeons, 2 neurologists, 2 radiotherapists, 1 rehabilitation specialist, 1 neuropsychologist; median experience 13 years). Meningioma patients rated 17-80% of the issues in each of the questionnaires as relevant, HCPs 90-100%. Patients and HCPs agreed on the relevance of only 49 issues (35%, Cohen's kappa: 0.027). Both patients and HCPs considered lack of energy the most important issue. Patients and HCPs suggested five additional relevant issues not covered by current HRQoL questionnaires. Existing HRQoL questionnaires currently used in meningioma patients do not fully cover all relevant issues to these patients. Agreement between patients and HCPs on the relevance of issues was poor. Both findings support the need to develop and validate a meningioma-specific HRQoL questionnaire.

A review on the current issues and barriers of Industrialised Building System (IBS) adoption in Malaysia’s construction industry

Science.gov (United States)

Amin, M. A. Mohd; Abas, N. H.; Shahidan, S.; Rahmat, M. H.; Suhaini, N. A.; Nagapan, S.; Rahim, R. Abdul

2017-11-01

Malaysia considers the construction industry as one of the main contributors to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, there are some unresolved issues arising from the ongoing and widespread adoption of the conventional method of construction such as the resultant fragmentation of the industry itself; delays in production and delivery time of unnecessary wastages and lack of sustainability practice. Malaysian Government has been continuously encouraging the industry to use, partly or if not wholly, the Industrialized Building System (IBS), which is considered to be an important part of sustainable construction initiative. IBS was introduced to Malaysia as the solution to issues related to dependencies of foreign workers, raising demand for affordable accommodations and improving image, quality and productivity of construction industry. However, the IBS adoption in Malaysia remains low. This paper presents the review of the current issues and barriers of IBS adoption in Malaysian construction industry.

Gender relations and health research: a review of current practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bottorff Joan L

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction The importance of gender in understanding health practices and illness experiences is increasingly recognized, and key to this work is a better understanding of the application of gender relations. The influence of masculinities and femininities, and the interplay within and between them manifests within relations and interactions among couples, family members and peers to influence health behaviours and outcomes. Methods To explore how conceptualizations of gender relations have been integrated in health research a scoping review of the existing literature was conducted. The key terms gender relations, gender interactions, relations gender, partner communication, femininities and masculinities were used to search online databases. Results Through analysis of this literature we identified two main ways gender relations were integrated in health research: a as emergent findings; and b as a basis for research design. In the latter, gender relations are included in conceptual frameworks, guide data collection and are used to direct data analysis. Conclusions Current uses of gender relations are typically positioned within intimate heterosexual couples whereby single narratives (i.e., either men or women are used to explore the influence and/or impact of intimate partner gender relations on health and illness issues. Recommendations for advancing gender relations and health research are discussed. This research has the potential to reduce gender inequities in health.

Current issues in allogeneic islet transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Charles A; Lawrence, Michael C; Naziruddin, Bashoo

2017-10-01

Transplantation of allogenic pancreatic islets is a minimally invasive treatment option to control severe hypoglycemia and dependence on exogenous insulin among type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients. This overview summarizes the current issues and progress in islet transplantation outcomes and research. Several clinical trials from North America and other countries have documented the safety and efficacy of clinical islet transplantation for T1D patients with impaired hypoglycemia awareness. A recently completed phase 3 clinical trial allows centres in the United States to apply for a Food and Drug Administration Biologics License for the procedure. Introduction of anti-inflammatory drugs along with T-cell depleting induction therapy has significantly improved long-term function of transplanted islets. Research into islet biomarkers, immunosuppression, extrahepatic transplant sites and potential alternative beta cell sources is driving further progress. Allogeneic islet transplantation has vastly improved over the past two decades. Success in restoration of glycemic control and hypoglycemic awareness after islet transplantation has been further highlighted by clinical trials. However, lack of effective strategies to maintain long-term islet function and insufficient sources of donor tissue still impose limitations to the widespread use of islet transplantation. In the United States, wide adoption of this technology still awaits regulatory approval and, importantly, a financial mechanism to support the use of this technology.

Introduction to the Issue on Current Trends in Terahertz Photonics and Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2013-01-01

Since the last special issue on terahertz science and technology, nearly three years have been passed. During this period, while there have been further developments in terahertz (THz) sources, detectors, materials, and applications, there have been new discoveries. The purpose of this issue of t...... reviews on recent THz research, the contributed papers cover a wide range of the cutting-edge research in the topics described earlier....... of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics (JSTQE) is to highlight the advances in materials, devices, and applications and new directions in the THz domain within the last three years. Broad technical areas include: 1) materials; 2) matamaterials, plasmonics, and plasmons; 3) techniques...... and effects; 4) generation and power scaling; 5) detectors; 6) devices; 7) applications. These key THz topics are discussed in both invited and contributed papers published in this issue, providing comprehensive overviews of the current status and future directions as well as publishing original results...

U.S.-Vietnam Relations in 2011: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-18

a policy of neutrality on the claims by the parties, which also include Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia , the Philippines, and Taiwan. Throughout 2009...territorial disputes. Roughly one and a half times the size of the Mediterranean Sea, it is ringed by China, Vietnam, Malaysia , Indonesia, Brunei...government to monitor data processed by these companies and/or more susceptible to government pressure on issues such as censorship .36 Many of the

Current and future research on corrosion and thermalhydraulic issues of HLM cooled reactors and on LMR fuels for fast reactor systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knebel, J.U.; Konings, R.J.M.

2002-01-01

Heavy liquid metals (HLM) such as lead (Pb) or lead-bismuth eutectic (Pb-Bi) are currently investigated world-wide as coolant for nuclear power reactors and for accelerator driven systems (ADS). Besides the advantages of HLM as coolant and spallation material, e.g. high boiling point, low reactivity with water and air and a high neutron yield, some technological issues, such as high corrosion effects in contact with steels and thermalhydraulic characteristics, need further experimental investigations and physical model improvements and validations. The paper describes some typical HLM cooled reactor designs, which are currently considered, and outlines the technological challenges related to corrosion, thermalhydraulic and fuel issues. In the first part of the presentation, the status of presently operated or planned test facilities related to corrosion and thermalhydraulic questions will be discussed. First approaches to solve the corrosion problem will be given. The approach to understand and model thermalhydraulic issues such as heat transfer, turbulence, two-phase flow and instrumentation will be outlined. In the second part of the presentation, an overview will be given of the advanced fuel types that are being considered for future liquid metal reactor (LMR) systems. Advantages and disadvantages will be discussed in relation to fabrication technology and fuel cycle considerations. For the latter, special attention will be given to the partitioning and transmutation potential. Metal, oxide and nitride fuel materials will be discussed in different fuel forms and packings. For both parts of the presentation, an overview of existing co-operations and networks will be given and the needs for future research work will be identified. (authors)

Kurdish men's experiences of migration-related mental health issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Taloyan, Marina; Al-Windi, Ahmad; Johansson, Leena Maria; Saleh-Stattin, Nuha

2011-10-01

The migration process may impose stress on the mental health of immigrants. To describe the experiences of immigrant men of Kurdish ethnicity during and after migration to Sweden with regard to mental health issues. Using the grounded theory method, we conducted a focus group interview with four Kurdish men and in-depth individual interviews with 10 other Kurdish men. A model with two major themes and interlinked categories was developed. The themes were (1) protective factors for good mental health (sense of belonging, creation and re-creation of Kurdish identity, sense of freedom, satisfaction with oneself) and (2) risk factors for poor mental health (worry about current political situation in the home country, yearning, lack of sense of freedom, dissatisfaction with Swedish society). The study provides insights into the psychological and emotional experiences of immigrant men of Kurdish ethnicity during and after migration to Sweden. It is important for primary health care providers to be aware of the impact that similar migration-related and life experiences have on the health status of immigrants, and also to be aware that groups are comprised of unique individuals with differing experiences and reactions to these experiences. The findings highlight the common themes of the men's experiences and suggest ways to ameliorate mental health issues, including feeling like one is seen as an individual, is a full participant in society, and can contribute to one's own culture.

Stakeholders' perspective on issues and challenges associated with care and treatment of aging-related cognitive impairment disorders in Singapore.

Science.gov (United States)

Setia, Monika; Islam, Amina M; Thompson, James P; Matchar, David B

2011-11-01

An expanding elderly population poses challenges for the provision of care and treatment for age-related physical and mental disorders. Cognitive impairment (CI)/dementia is one such mental disorder that is on the rise in Singapore and has concomitant implications for social and health systems. The objective of this study is to understand the perspectives of prominent stakeholders about current and future issues and challenges associated with CI/dementia among the elderly in Singapore. Using indepth interviews, this qualitative study obtained the views of multiple stakeholders on issues and challenges associated with CI/dementia in Singapore. The 30 individuals interviewed as part of the study included clinicians, policy-makers, researchers, community workers, administrators, and caregivers. Using a framework approach, interview texts were indexed into domains and issues by utilizing NVivo 9.0 software. The stakeholders expressed concerns related to multiple domains of the CI/dementia care system: attitude and awareness, economics, education, family caregiving, inputs to care system, living arrangements, prevention, screening and diagnosis, and treatment and management of care. Within each domain, multiple issues and challenges were identified by respondents. The study identifies a complex set of inter-related issues and challenges that are associated with the care and treatment of people with CI/dementia. The results suggest that CI and dementia profoundly affect patients, families, and communities and that the issues related to the two disorders are truly system-wide. These findings lay the foundation for utilization of a systems approach to studying CI/dementia and provide an analytic framework for future research on complex health care issues.

The Issues of Human Rights in the India-U.S. Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zakharov Aleksey I.

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The article presents a brief overview of India-U.S. relations during the period of Narendra Modi’s government and Barack Obama’s administration. The author analyzes the dynamics of cooperation development after the victory of Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2014 Parliamentary elections in India and studies the key directions of bilateral agenda. The current condition of India-U.S. strategic dialogue and the influence of human rights issues on the countries’ cooperation are characterized. Since 2014 the states’ cooperation has been growing rapidly. The bilateral investment, trade and economic interdependence have significantly increased. Some experts and mass media note that Barack Obama and Narendra Modi are having friendly relations. From a different angle, a number of agreements between countries still remain unaccomplished. For instance, the U.S. support for India’s permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, its accession to APEC and the implementation of nuclear deal have yet to be turned into achievement. Together with strengthening the bilateral strategic dialogue, the U.S. has intensified the criticism of India’s human rights record. The main part of it includes the cases of religious intolerance, which are observed in the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reports and the remarks given by U.S. lawmakers and official representatives, including the Ambassador to India. Washington’s careful attention to the human rights issues and religious violence in particular is one of the major irritants in the U.S.-India relations. The engagement of Indian Americans in the local U.S. politics and their lobbying efforts in the context of U.S.-India relations are revealed. The author outlines the near-terms perspectives of bilateral cooperation.

Issues relating to airborne applications of HTS SQUIDs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foley, C P; Leslie, K E; Binks, R A; Lam, S H K; Du, J; Tilbrook, D L; Mitchell, E E; Macfarlane, J C; Lee, J B; Turner, R; Downey, M; Maddever, A

2002-01-01

Airborne application of HTS SQUIDs is the most difficult environment for their successful deployment. In order to operate with the sensitivity required for a particular application, there are many issues to be addressed such as the need for very wide dynamic range electronics, motion noise elimination, immunity to large changing magnetic fields and cultural noise sources. This paper reviews what is necessary to achieve an airborne system giving examples in geophysical mineral exploration. It will consider issues relating to device design and fabrication, electronics, dewar design, suspension system requirements and noise elimination methods

Issues relating to airborne applications of HTS SQUIDs

CERN Document Server

Foley, C P; Binks, R A; Lam, S H K; Du, J; Tilbrook, D L; Mitchell, E E; MacFarlane, J C; Lee, J B; Turner, R; Downey, M; Maddever, A

2002-01-01

Airborne application of HTS SQUIDs is the most difficult environment for their successful deployment. In order to operate with the sensitivity required for a particular application, there are many issues to be addressed such as the need for very wide dynamic range electronics, motion noise elimination, immunity to large changing magnetic fields and cultural noise sources. This paper reviews what is necessary to achieve an airborne system giving examples in geophysical mineral exploration. It will consider issues relating to device design and fabrication, electronics, dewar design, suspension system requirements and noise elimination methods.

Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Rod

2006-01-01

The study of how learners acquire a second language (SLA) has helped to shape thinking about how to teach the grammar of a second language. There remain, however, a number of controversial issues. This paper considers eight key questions relating to grammar pedagogy in the light of findings from SLA. As such, this article complements…

Predicting the behavioural impact of transcranial direct current stimulation: issues and limitations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Archy Otto De Berker

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The transcranial application of weak currents to the human brain has enjoyed a decade of success, providing a simple and powerful tool for non-invasively altering human brain function. However, our understanding of current delivery and its impact upon neural circuitry leaves much to be desired. We argue that the credibility of conclusions drawn with tDCS is contingent upon realistic explanations of how tDCS works, and that our present understanding of tDCS limits the technique’s use to localize function in the human brain. We outline two central issues where progress is required: the localization of currents, and predicting their functional consequence. We encourage experimenters to eschew simplistic explanations of mechanisms of transcranial current stimulation. We suggest the use of individualized current modelling, together with computational neurostimulation to inform mechanistic frameworks in which to interpret the physiological impact of tDCS. We hope that through mechanistically richer descriptions of current flow and action, insight into the biological processes by which transcranial currents influence behaviour can be gained, leading to more effective stimulation protocols and empowering conclusions drawn with tDCS.

Medicare Part D-a roundtable discussion of current issues and trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Balfour, Donald C; Evans, Steven; Januska, Jeff; Lee, Helen Y; Lewis, Sonya J; Nolan, Steve R; Noga, Mark; Stemple, Charles; Thapar, Kishan

2009-01-01

Medicare Part D was introduced with a goal of providing access to prescription drug coverage for all Medicare beneficiaries. Regulatory mandates and the changing landscape of health care require continued evaluation of the state of the Part D benefit. To review the current state of plan offerings and highlight key issues regarding the administration of the Part D benefit. The Part D drug benefit continues to evolve. The benefit value appears to be diluted compared to the benefit value of large employer plans. Regulatory restrictions mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are reported to inhibit the ability of plans to create an effective, competitive drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries. Management in this restrictive environment impedes competitive price negotiations and formulary coverage issues continue to create confusion especially for patients with chronic diseases. The doughnut hole coverage gap represents a significant cost-shifting issue for beneficiaries that may impact medication adherence and persistence. To address these and other challenges, CMS is working to improve the quality of care for Part D beneficiaries by designing and supporting demonstration projects. Although these projects are in different stages, all stakeholders are hopeful that they will lead to the development of best practices by plans to help manage their beneficiaries more efficiently. A significant number of Medicare beneficiaries are currently receiving prescription drug benefits through Part D. The true value of this benefit has been called into question as a result of plan design parameters that lead to cost-shifting, an increasing burden for enrollees. Concerns regarding the ability to provide a competitive plan given the stringent rules and regulations have been voiced by plan administrators. In an effort to drive toward evidence-based solutions, CMS is working to improve the overall quality of care through numerous demonstration projects.

Issues related to the inter-utility transfer of material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-08-01

An option that utilities have for obtaining material is to procure the desired item(s) from another utility. There are several reasons utilities choose another utility as the procurement source including item obsolescence, prohibitive cost on the commercial market, and excessive lead time. This document provides information on the technical, quality, and commercial issues which utilities may need to address when selling material to or procuring material from other utilities. This report provides suggested approaches for each of the following technical and quality issues: Design considerations; item acceptability considerations; original supplier considerations; commercial grade item dedication considerations; reportability considerations; packaging, shipping, and storage considerations; documentation considerations; receipt inspection considerations. The information is provided primarily for the inter-utility transfer of safety-related material. Several of the topics, however, may also apply to the transfer of non-safety-related material. The report also provides considerations on commercial issues which may be addressed during the inter-utility transfer of materials

Conference communication. Managing change in tourism destinations: Key issues and current trends.

OpenAIRE

Mariani, M.M.; Buhalis, Dimitrios; Longhi, C.; Vitouladiti, O.

2013-01-01

This conference communication illustrates the major outcomes emerging from the EIASM Conference on Tourism Management and Tourism Related Issues held in Nice (France), September 20-21, 2012. While a number of managerial issues pertaining to the tourism field were dealt with, this communication covers three specific areas of interest for destination management and marketing: (1) the increasing competition among tourism destinations and the rise and consolidation of BRIC countries as outbound t...

Current Issues and Distributive Justice.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosal, Lorenca Consuelo

1992-01-01

Provides a lesson plan on the issue of distributive justice, or fairness in the ways things are distributed among individuals and groups. Includes a student reading concerning a proposed guaranteed standard of living. Proposes an activity that calls for student discussion of a constitutional amendment that would offer such a guarantee. (SG)

Current Issues with Environmental Barrier Coatings for Ceramics and Ceramic Composites

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kang N.

2004-01-01

The environmental barrier coating (EBC) for SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites and Si3N4 ceramics is an emerging field as the application of silicon-based ceramics in the gas turbine engine hot section is on the horizon, both for aero and industrial gas turbines. EBC is an enabling technology for silicon-based ceramics because these materials without an EBC cannot be used in combustion environments due to rapid surface recession. Significant progress in EBC development has been made during the last decade through various government-sponsored programs. Current EBCs are based on silicon, mullite (3Al2O3-2SiO2) and BSAS (barium strontium aluminum silicate with celsian structure). Volatility of BSAS, BSAS-silica chemical reaction, and low melting point of silicon limit temperature capability of current EBCs to about 1350 C for long-term applications. There is a need for higher temperature EBCs as the temperature capability of silicon-based ceramics continue to increase. Therefore, research is underway to develop EBCs with improved temperature capability compared to current EBCs. The current status and issues with the advanced EBC development efforts will be discussed.

The Concept of Cultural Relativity in Moral Judgments Concerning Gender-Related Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyd, D. R.; And Others

The comparative study was designed to determine whether cultural relativism and ethical reasoning develop in a hierarchical manner when applied to culturally different phenomena. The phenomena investigated were moral judgments concerning gender-related issues. Thirty-six first through sixth-grade students from two private schools and 130…

Developing a research agenda on ethical issues related to using social media in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Samantha A; Van Veghel, Dennis; Dekker, Lukas

2015-07-01

The consequences of using publicly available social media applications specifically for healthcare purposes are largely unaddressed in current research. Where they are addressed, the focus is primarily on issues of privacy and data protection. We therefore use a case study of the first live Twitter heart operation in the Netherlands, in combination with recent literature on social media from other academic fields, to identify a wide range of ethical issues related to using social media for health-related purposes. Although this case reflects an innovative approach to public education and patient centeredness, it also illustrates the need for institutions to weigh the various aspects of use and to develop a plan to deal with these on a per case basis. Given the continual development of technologies, researchers may not yet be able to oversee and anticipate all of the potential implications. Further development of a research agenda on this topic, the promotion of guidelines and policies, and the publication of case studies that reveal the granularity of individual situations will therefore help raise awareness and assist physicians and institutions in using social media to support existing care services.

Fluctuation Relations for Currents

Science.gov (United States)

Sinitsyn, Nikolai; Akimov, Alexei; Chernyak, Vladimir; Chertkov, Michael

2011-03-01

We consider a non-equilibrium statistical system on a graph or a network. Identical particles are injected, interact with each other, traverse, and leave the graph in a stochastic manner described in terms of Poisson rates, possibly strongly dependent on time and instantaneous occupation numbers at the nodes of the graph. We show that the system demonstrates a profound statistical symmetry, leading to new Fluctuation Relations that originate from the supersymmetry and the principle of the geometric universality of currents rather than from the relations between probabilities of forward and reverse trajectories. NSF/ECCS-0925618, NSF/CHE-0808910 and DOE at LANL under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396.

Current knowledge and trends in age-related macular degeneration: today's and future treatments.

Science.gov (United States)

Velez-Montoya, Raul; Oliver, Scott C N; Olson, Jeffrey L; Fine, Stuart L; Mandava, Naresh; Quiroz-Mercado, Hugo

2013-09-01

To address the most dynamic and current issues concerning today's treatment options and promising research efforts regarding treatment for age-related macular degeneration. This review is aimed to serve as a practical reference for more in-depth reviews on the subject. An online review of the database PubMed and Ovid were performed, searching for the key words age-related macular degeneration, AMD, VEGF, treatment, PDT, steroids, bevacizumab, ranibizumab, VEGF-trap, radiation, combined therapy, as well as their compound phrases. The search was limited to articles published since 1985. All returned articles were carefully screened, and their references were manually reviewed for additional relevant data. The web page www.clinicaltrials.gov was also accessed in search of relevant research trials. A total of 363 articles were reviewed, including 64 additional articles extracted from the references. At the end, only 160 references were included in this review. Treatment for age-related macular degeneration is a very dynamic research field. While current treatments are mainly aimed at blocking vascular endothelial growth factor, future treatments seek to prevent vision loss because of scarring. Promising efforts have been made to address the dry form of the disease, which has lacked effective treatment.

Social justice issues related to uneven distribution of resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Ervin, Naomi E; Bell, Sue Ellen

2004-01-01

This article examines the social justice issues resulting from the uneven distribution of resources. In this article, justice theories are discussed in relation to two of these issues: lack of adequate food and shelter and inequitable access to an appropriate continuum of health care. Public health nurses have the obligation to deal with the results of poverty and the uneven distribution of resources, which pose a threat to the common good in the United States and throughout the global community.

Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-15

China called for a boycott on Japanese goods and defaced Japanese retail stores. Japanese auto manufacturers experienced sharp declines in sales in...TPP is now an agreement under negotiation among the original four countries plus the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Malaysia , and...Inside U.S. Trade, April 27, 2012. 44 World Trade Online , April 5, 2012. Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress Congressional Research Service 25

Current trends in research and clinical issues in the study of personality and its disorders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simonsen, Erik; Sørensen, Per; Pedersen, Liselotte

2014-01-01

lecture (Simonsen), a young researchers' symposium (Hopwood, Sharp, and Kaess), and special lectures on the Danish philosopher Soeren Kierkegaard and the poet Hans Christian Andersen. In this article we will survey the presentations and highlight the important issues in order to underline the current......The International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD) celebrated its 25th anniversary in September 2013 in Copenhagen and commemorated the First International Congress at the same site. The overall theme of the congress was "Bridging Personality and Psychopathology: The Person...... Behind the Illness." More than 400 abstracts were submitted, and the program included 8 keynote presentations, 18 invited symposia, a debate on current controversial issues in the classification of personality disorders (Fossati, Tyrer, Livesley, and Krueger), an ISSPD award lecture (Silk), a jubilee...

Current-phase relations and noise in rf biased SQUIDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jackel, L.D.; Clark, T.D.; Buhrman, R.A.

1975-01-01

An investigation was made of the effect of the weak link current-phase relation on noise in rf biased SQUIDs. Non-sinusoidal current-phase relations were observed in various weak links, and these non-sinusoidal relations were correlated with significantly increased intrinsic noise in the SQUID ring. The current-phase relation was also found to affect the amplitude of the rf SQUID ring dissipation. The result of an rf SQUID system noise analysis shows that, due to increased intrinsic noise and reduced ring dissipation, the minimum attainable noise for a SQUID ring having a very non-sinusoidal current-phase relation is considerably greater than for a ring with a sinusoidal relation

Political Psychology in Russia: Current Issues in International Studies (Interview with Nikolay Kosolapov, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vera Andreevna Chmyreva

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Interview with Professor N. Kosolapov is devoted to the most urgent and complex problems of modern international relations and world politics, reveals the current state of political psychology in Russia and abroad, as well as the evolution of the science. As estimated by N. Kosolapov, the viability of political-psychological projects in Russia has fallen sharply compared to 1990's. They are not fully used in the development of political strategies, as well as in the process of operational decision making and its realization. In the interview are marked the obstacles to the emergence of theoretical and applied research in Russia, as well as key milestones for future development of political psychology. It also touches upon the most important questions of psychology of leadership within the framework of modern Russian and international practice, the political process as a whole, shows the differences in the approaches of European and Russian scientific schools in the analysis of political leadership. The author’s vision of key issues of contemporary international relations is of particular interest: we are witnessing the fact that American global leadership is experiencing an acute crisis, which contributes to the escalation of inter-state conflicts. However, the positive effect of the international crisis for our country is that it led the elites to reconsider their own ideological guidance with respect to Russia's role in world politics and forced to fight for the «new position».

Environmental issues related to commercialization of CulnSe2- based photovoltaics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eberspacher, C.; Fthenakis, V.M.; Moskowitz, P.D.

1996-01-01

One of the most promising materials for low-cost thin film photovoltaic cells is copper indium selenide (CuInSe 2 or CIS). As with any new material, successful commercialization of CIS photovoltaic (PV) technology will require attention to environmental issues related to the sources of raw materials, their usage, and the disposal and/or recycling of products at the end of their useful life. This paper focuses on three specific environmental issues related to CIS technology: (i) Economics of the use and re-use of materials; (ii) regulations on environmental disposal and waste handling, and (iii) logistics and economics of recycling and disposing of products by industries faced with comparable environmental issues

Special Education for Children with Attention Deficit Disorder: Current Issues. CRS Report for Congress.

Science.gov (United States)

Aleman, Steven R.

This paper examines issues concerning the eligibility of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) for special education and related services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A policy memorandum was issued by the Department of Education in September 1991, identifying those circumstances under which such children…

Students as Non-Standard Employees. Exploring Work Related Issues in Students’ Perceptions on their Term-time Job

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Winkler, Ingo

2008-01-01

The article presents the results of an explorative study that aimed at exploring work related issues in students’ perceptions of their job as atypical employees. An individual picture of the experienced work reality of students is drawn according to work task, flexible working hours, instructions...... and training opportunities, students’ relations to other employees, and social integration. By adopting a qualitative design, I was able to emphasize the subjective perspective of students describing their very own experiences as flexible workers. The study revealed various perceptions of students working...... as flexible employees and related this picture to current empirical and theoretical research in the field of non-standard employment....

76 FR 63573 - Roundtable on Issues Relating to Conflict Minerals

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-13

...-10] Roundtable on Issues Relating to Conflict Minerals AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission... Consumer Protection Act (the ``Act''), which relates to reporting requirements regarding conflict minerals... of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjoining countries. On December...

Controversies in the Hydrosphere: an iBook exploring current global water issues for middle school classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Dufoe, A.; Guertin, L. A.

2012-12-01

This project looks to help teachers utilize iPad technology in their classrooms as an instructional tool for Earth system science and connections to the Big Ideas in Earth Science. The project is part of Penn State University's National Science Foundation (NSF) Targeted Math Science Partnership grant, with one goal of the grant to help current middle school teachers across Pennsylvania engage students with significant and complex questions of Earth science. The free Apple software iBooks Author was used to create an electronic book for the iPad, focusing on a variety of controversial issues impacting the hydrosphere. The iBook includes image slideshows, embedded videos, interactive images and quizzes, and critical thinking questions along Bloom's Taxonomic Scale of Learning Objectives. Outlined in the introductory iBook chapters are the Big Ideas of Earth System Science and an overview of Earth's spheres. Since the book targets the hydrosphere, each subsequent chapter focuses on specific water issues, including glacial melts, aquifer depletion, coastal oil pollution, marine debris, and fresh-water chemical contamination. Each chapter is presented in a case study format that highlights the history of the issue, the development and current status of the issue, and some solutions that have been generated. The next section includes critical thinking questions in an open-ended discussion format that focus on the Big Ideas, proposing solutions for rectifying the situation, and/or assignments specifically targeting an idea presented in the case study chapter. Short, comprehensive multiple-choice quizzes are also in each chapter. Throughout the iBook, students are free to watch videos, explore the content and form their own opinions. As a result, this iBook fulfills the grant objective by engaging teachers and students with an innovative technological presentation that incorporates Earth system science with current case studies regarding global water issues.

Relative Price Levels and Current Accounts: An Exploration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshua Aizenman

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the links between current accounts and relative price levels, finding that current account changes are associated with sizable future relative price levels effects. This is done in panel regressions of the Penn effect, adding a lagged current account/GDP and other explanatory variables. Higher GDP/ capita and a greater export share of manufacturing tend to mitigate the real exchange rate impact of lagged current accounts. Active management of current accounts may provide a powerful adjustment channel, mitigating the real exchange rate effects of volatile terms of trade, and may explain the growing proliferation of Sovereign Wealth Funds.

Assessment of combustion and related issues in the DWPF and ITP waste tanks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ginsberg, T.

1994-04-01

This report presents a review of the safety analyses described in the DWPF Safety Analysis Report, the combustion analysis of the ITP Tanks 48 and 49, and presents conclusions drawn from interviews staff on issues related to accident analysis, in particular on issues related to combustion phenomena. The major objectives of this report are to clarify the issues related to the modes of combustion and expected loads on process vessels and structures and, in addition, to offer recommendations which would improve the defense-in-depth posture of the DWPF

Current issues in onychomycosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Trépanier, E F; Amsden, G W

1998-02-01

To review the epidemiology, mycology, clinical features and diagnosis, current pharmacotherapy, and pharmacoeconomics of onychomycosis. We conducted a MEDLINE search from 1966 to May 1997. References from these articles, manufacturers of the discussed antimycotics, and relevant abstracts from recent dermatology conferences were used to collect pertinent data. Data were obtained from published controlled studies and case reports. In the pharmacotherapy section, the most weight was placed on fully reported, randomized, controlled comparative trials, but abstracts and case series were included when well-controlled studies were unavailable. Onychomycosis is a common nail disorder that has a substantial impact on patients' quality of life. It is most commonly caused by dermatophytes, but yeasts and molds can also be involved. Diagnosis is made through clinical presentation, potassium hydroxide preparations, and culture of tissue/nail samples. Griseofulvin was the drug of choice for many years, but its low cure rates and the development of newer, more effective drugs made it fall out of favor. Current therapeutic alternatives include fluconazole, itraconazole, and terbinafine. Data on the use of fluconazole are limited to case series and reports. Continuous dosing of itraconazole and terbinafine are well-proven therapies. New data are becoming available on the use of pulse itraconazole dosing, which has recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for fingernail infections. These drugs are well tolerated, but attention to drug interactions is necessary with the azoles. Currently, continuous terbinafine appears to be the most cost-effective drug for dermatophyte onychomycosis.

Clopidogrel Resistance: Current Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

NS Neki

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Antiplatelet agents are mainly used in the prevention and management of atherothrombotic complications. Dual antiplatelet therapy, combining aspirin and clopidogrel, is the standard care for patients having acute coronary syndromes or undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention according to the current ACC/AHA and ESC guidelines. But in spite of administration of dual antiplatelet therapy, some patients develop recurrent cardiovascular ischemic events especially stent thrombosis which is a serious clinical problem. Antiplatelet response to clopidogrel varies widely among patients based on ex vivo platelet function measurements. Clopidogrel is an effective inhibitor of platelet activation and aggregation due to its selective and irreversible blockade of the P2Y12 receptor. Patients who display little attenuation of platelet reactivity with clopidogrel therapy are labeled as low or nonresponders or clopidogrel resistant. The mechanism of clopidogrel resistance remains incompletely defined but there are certain clinical, cellular and genetic factors including polymorphisms responsible for therapeutic failure. Currently there is no standardized or widely accepted definition of clopidogrel resistance. The future may soon be realised in the routine measurement of platelet activity in the same way that blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar are followed to help guide the therapy, thus improving the care for millions of people. This review focuses on the methods used to identify patients with clopidogrel resistance, the underlying mechanisms, metabolism, clinical significance and current therapeutic strategies to overcome clopidogrel resistance. J Enam Med Col 2016; 6(1: 38-46

Current Issues in Cosmology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barbour, J B [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester (United States)

2007-02-07

These colloquium proceedings will be valuable, the blurb says, for graduate students and researchers in cosmology and theoretical astrophysics. Specifically, the book 'looks at both the strengths and weaknesses of the current big bang model in explaining certain puzzling data' and gives a 'comprehensive coverage of the expanding field of cosmology'. The reality is rather different. Conference proceedings rarely compare in value with a solid monograph or good review articles, and Current Issues in Cosmology is no exception. The colloquium was convened by the two editors, who have both long harboured doubts about the big bang, and was held in Paris in June 2004. The proceedings contain 19 presented papers and relatively brief summary comments by four panel speakers. The questions and answers at the end of each talk and a general discussion at the end were recorded and transcribed but contain little of interest. The nature of the colloquium is indicated by panellist Francesco Bertola's comment: 'While in the 1950s it was possible to speak of rival theories in cosmology, now the big-bang picture has no strong rivals. This is confirmed by the fact that out of 1500 members of the IAU Division VIII (Galaxies and the Universe) only a dozen, although bright people, devote their time to the heterodox views.' This was largely a platform for them to give their views. At least half of the dozen, all the 'usual suspects', were present: Geoffery and Margaret Burbidge, Jayant Narlikar, Halton Arp, Chandra Wickramasinghe and, in spirit only but playing a role somewhat like the ghost of Hamlet's father, the late Fred Hoyle. Doubters presented 12 of the 19 papers. Orthodoxy should certainly be challenged and the sociology of science questioned, but I found two main problems with this book. The papers putting the orthodox view are too short, even perfunctory. The most that a serious graduate student would get out of them is a reference

Current Issues in Cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbour, J B

2007-01-01

These colloquium proceedings will be valuable, the blurb says, for graduate students and researchers in cosmology and theoretical astrophysics. Specifically, the book 'looks at both the strengths and weaknesses of the current big bang model in explaining certain puzzling data' and gives a 'comprehensive coverage of the expanding field of cosmology'. The reality is rather different. Conference proceedings rarely compare in value with a solid monograph or good review articles, and Current Issues in Cosmology is no exception. The colloquium was convened by the two editors, who have both long harboured doubts about the big bang, and was held in Paris in June 2004. The proceedings contain 19 presented papers and relatively brief summary comments by four panel speakers. The questions and answers at the end of each talk and a general discussion at the end were recorded and transcribed but contain little of interest. The nature of the colloquium is indicated by panellist Francesco Bertola's comment: 'While in the 1950s it was possible to speak of rival theories in cosmology, now the big-bang picture has no strong rivals. This is confirmed by the fact that out of 1500 members of the IAU Division VIII (Galaxies and the Universe) only a dozen, although bright people, devote their time to the heterodox views.' This was largely a platform for them to give their views. At least half of the dozen, all the 'usual suspects', were present: Geoffery and Margaret Burbidge, Jayant Narlikar, Halton Arp, Chandra Wickramasinghe and, in spirit only but playing a role somewhat like the ghost of Hamlet's father, the late Fred Hoyle. Doubters presented 12 of the 19 papers. Orthodoxy should certainly be challenged and the sociology of science questioned, but I found two main problems with this book. The papers putting the orthodox view are too short, even perfunctory. The most that a serious graduate student would get out of them is a reference to a far better review article or book on modern

Love versus abuse: crossgenerational sexual relations of minors: a gay rights issue?

Science.gov (United States)

Graupner, H

1999-01-01

The question discussed is how far crossgenerational sexual relations with or by minors could be considered to be a gay rights issue. The author discusses the issue from the perspective of general principles found in the case-law of the European Court on Human Rights. These principles suggest that the basic right to privacy should be interpreted as providing comprehensive protection of the right of children and adolescents to sexual self-determination, namely both the right to effective protection from (unwanted) sex and abuse on the one hand and the right to (wanted) sex on the other. The analysis is based upon the findings of natural and social science as well as an extensive international survey of national legal provisions and it leads to the conclusion that consensual sexual relations of and with adolescents over 14 (out of relations of authority) should be qualified a gay rights issue; likewise (as the exception to the rule) the possibility of filtering out cases from prosecution where a contact/relation is proven (beyond reasonable doubt) as consensual and harmless even though the minor involved is under 14. The legalization of (objectively consensual) sexual relations with persons under 14 as such, however, should not be considered to be a gay rights issue.

Some critical issues in special needs education as they relate to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examines five critical issues in special education as they relate to visual impairment vis a vis mercy killing (euthanasia), gender, seclusion, castration and genetic engineering. Literature in the five stated issues was reviewed to provide an insight into these areas with particular reference to visual impairment.

Assistance to States on Policies Related to Wind Energy Issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, Matthew, H; Decesaro, Jennifer; DOE Project Officer - Keith Bennett

2005-07-15

This final report summarizes work carried out under agreement with the US Department of Energy, related to wind energy policy issues. This project has involved a combination of outreach and publications on wind energy, with a specific focus on educating state-level policymakers. Education of state policymakers is vitally important because state policy (in the form of incentives or regulation) is a crucial part of the success of wind energy. State policymakers wield a significant influence over all of these policies. They are also in need of high quality, non-biased educational resources which this project provided. This project provided outreach to legislatures, in the form of meetings designed specifically for state legislators and legislative staff, responses to information requests on wind energy, and publications. The publications addressed: renewable energy portfolio standards, wind energy transmission, wind energy siting, case studies of wind energy policy, avian issues, economic development, and other related issues. These publications were distributed to legislative energy committee members, and chairs, legislative staff, legislative libraries, and other related state officials. The effect of this effort has been to provide an extensive resource of information about wind information for state policymakers in a form that is useful to them. This non-partisan information has been used as state policymakers attempt to develop their own policy proposals related to wind energy in the states.

Popper and Dingle on special relativity and the issue of symmetry

Science.gov (United States)

Dotson, Allen Clark

2012-02-01

Karl Popper and Herbert Dingle engaged in a fascinating debate concerning the kind of theory the special theory of relativity is. One of the issues was whether applications of the theory could be made consistent with the principle of relativity, a cornerstone of the theory itself. The principle of relativity seems to imply some sort of symmetry in results obtained for similar experiments as observed in two different inertial reference frames. Peter Hayes has recently dealt with the Dingle-Popper debate on this matter, as well as other issues. The present paper seeks to clarify what kind of symmetry is appropriate in a situation discussed by Popper, Dingle, and Hayes.

Special Issue: Current Trends in Research in Accounting Finance and Management Control

OpenAIRE

Lassala, Carlos; Ripoll Feliu, Vicente

2017-01-01

On January 27, 2016, an agreement was signed with OmniaScience to select articles to be published in the journal Intangible Capital, in a special issue titled "Current Trends in Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Control." The agreement was reached within the framework of three events at the University of Valencia, from June 27 to 30, 2016: XXI Workshop on Accounting and Management Control. “Memorial Raymond Konopka”, X Iberoamerican Congress of Management Accounting, III  Int...

Issues in neutral currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sehgal, L.M.

1980-01-01

The experimental results on low energy confirming the structure of the effective Lagrangian of the weak neutral current processes as predicted by the Salam-Weinberg model are reviewed. Some possible modifications of the effective Lagrangian and the feasibility of their experimental verification are also considered. (P.L.)

Study of Security Attributes of Smart Grid Systems- Current Cyber Security Issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wayne F. Boyer; Scott A. McBride

2009-04-01

This document provides information for a report to congress on Smart Grid security as required by Section 1309 of Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The security of any future Smart Grid is dependent on successfully addressing the cyber security issues associated with the nation’s current power grid. Smart Grid will utilize numerous legacy systems and technologies that are currently installed. Therefore, known vulnerabilities in these legacy systems must be remediated and associated risks mitigated in order to increase the security and success of the Smart Grid. The implementation of Smart Grid will include the deployment of many new technologies and multiple communication infrastructures. This report describes the main technologies that support Smart Grid and summarizes the status of implementation into the existing U.S. electrical infrastructure.

Current issues and perspectives in food safety and risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenbrand, G

2015-12-01

In this review, current issues and opportunities in food safety assessment are discussed. Food safety is considered an essential element inherent in global food security. Hazard characterization is pivotal within the continuum of risk assessment, but it may be conceived only within a very limited frame as a true alternative to risk assessment. Elucidation of the mode of action underlying a given hazard is vital to create a plausible basis for human toxicology evaluation. Risk assessment, to convey meaningful risk communication, must be based on appropriate and reliable consideration of both exposure and mode of action. New perspectives, provided by monitoring human exogenous and endogenous exposure biomarkers, are considered of great promise to support classical risk extrapolation from animal toxicology. © The Author(s) 2015.

Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults Infographic

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Explore the Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults Infographic which outlines key facts related to current smoking among adults. For accessibility issues contact...

Implementation issues on the design of current loops based on resonant regulators for isolated microgrids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Federico, de Bosio; Pastorelli, Michele; Antonio DeSouza Ribeiro, Luiz

2016-01-01

This paper analyzes the influence of state feedback coupling between the capacitor voltage and inductor current in voltage source inverters (VSI) operating in stand-alone microgrids. A decoupling technique is proposed as an effective measure to enhance the dynamics. Further implementation issues ...

Atmospheric Weathering of Historic Monuments and Their Related Conservation Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caner-Saltık Emine N.

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Atmospheric environment affects the materials of historic monuments and their structure starting from the time of their construction. Daily and seasonal changes in temperature and humidity, wind, snow and rainfall, soluble salts carried by water, biological agents, pollutant gases and particulate matter are some of the agents in atmospheric environment that introduce weathering by physical, chemical and biological processes in the materials of the monuments such as natural building stones, bricks, mortars and plasters, mud brick etc. The weathering processes need to be well diagnosed by identification of main mechanisms of decay and major responsible agents, degree and depth of deterioration expressed with measurable parameters of physical, physicomechanical properties, and micro structural changes together with their distribution on the monument. Success of conservation treatments strongly depend on those diagnostic studies and compatibility of the treatments with the deteriorated and relatively sound parts of the historic materials. Current approach to materials conservation is to be able to make minimum intervention to historic material by targeting the conservation treatment to the deteriorated area for the purpose of controlling the deterioration factors and achieving compatible and durable conservation of historical material. In this presentation, two examples of diagnostic research and conservation treatments based on and guided by the diagnostic results are summarized concerning historic stone monuments exposed to atmospheric environment since more than two thousand years. The first example is on the marble walls of Temple of Augustus in Ankara exposed to polluted urban atmosphere. The second example is on the limestone statues of Nemrut Mount Monument in Adıyaman-Turkey, exposed to rural atmosphere with harsh climatic conditions. Finally, a brief discussion on current research issues related to historic materials conservation in

Mycoplasma genitalium infections: current treatment options and resistance issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sethi S

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Sunil Sethi, Kamran Zaman, Neha Jain Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India Abstract: Mycoplasma genitalium is one of the important causes of non-gonococcal urethritis. Rising incidence and emerging antimicrobial resistance are a major concern these days. The poor clinical outcomes with doxycycline therapy led to the use of azithromycin as the primary drug of choice. Single-dose azithromycin regimen over a period of time was changed to extended regimen following studies showing better clinical cures and less risk of resistance development. However, emerging macrolide resistance, either due to transmission of resistance or drug pressure has further worsened the management of this infection. The issues of drug resistance and treatment failures also exist in cases of M. genitalium infection. At present, the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR M. genitalium strains is an alarming sign for its treatment and the associated public health impact due to its complications. However, newer drugs like pristinamycin, solithromycin, sitafloxacin, and others have shown a hope for the clinical cure, but need further clinical trials to optimize the therapeutic dosing schedules and formulate appropriate treatment regimens. Rampant and inappropriate use of these newer drugs will further sabotage future attempts to manage MDR strains. There is currently a need to formulate diagnostic algorithms and etiology-based treatment regimens rather than the syndromic approach, preferably using combination therapy instead of a monotherapy. Awareness about the current guidelines and recommended treatment regimens among clinicians and local practitioners is of utmost importance. Antimicrobial resistance testing and global surveillance are required to assess the efficacy of current treatment regimens and for guiding future research for the early detection and management of MDR M. genitalium infections

Special Issue: War, violence and masculinities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2015-01-01

This special double issue of NORMA explore the mutual influences between violence, war and masculinities, the forms these have taken in different social and cultural contexts and the implications for masculinity research. The issues cover a range of historical and current topics, cases and analyt......This special double issue of NORMA explore the mutual influences between violence, war and masculinities, the forms these have taken in different social and cultural contexts and the implications for masculinity research. The issues cover a range of historical and current topics, cases...... and analytical approaches. The contributions fall into the following four themes: violent masculine rituals and how contemporary societies cope with extreme violence against women; popular written and visual fiction about war and masculine rationalities; gender relations in social movements of rebellions...

Current Trends in Sustainability of Bitcoins and Related Blockchain Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pasquale Giungato

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Bitcoin is a digital currency based on a peer-to-peer payment system managed by an open source software and characterized by lower transaction costs, greater security and scalability than fiat money and no need of a central bank. Despite criticisms about illegal uses and social consequences, it is attracting the interest of the scientific community. The purpose of this work is to define and evaluate the current trends of the literature concerned with the sustainability of bitcoin, considering the environmental impacts, social issues and economic aspects. From the analysis it emerges that the transition of the whole monetary system in the new cryptocurrency will result in an unacceptable amount of energy consumed to mine new bitcoins and to maintain the entire virtual monetary system, and probably bitcoin will remain a niche currency. Blockchain, which is the base for a distributed and democratically-sustained public ledger of the transactions, could foster new and challenging opportunities. Sharing the framework of medical data, energy generation and distribution in micro-grids at the citizen level, block-stack and new state-driven cryptocurrencies, may benefit from the wide spread of blockchain-based transactions. Under the perspective of its being a driver of social change, bitcoins and related blockchain technologies may overcome the issues highlighted by numerous detractors.

The 19th KAIF/KNS annual conference growth of nuclear industry and its current issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juhn, Poong Eil

2004-01-01

After the president Eisenhower's 'Atoms for Peace' speech at the UN general Conference in December 1953, nuclear industry for peaceful uses of nuclear energy has been developed steadily worldwide through international co-operation and collaboration during last half a century. However, from late 1980s, in particular, after Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 and growing public opposition on nuclear waste management and disposal, the growth of nuclear power plants worldwide, except some Asian countries, has been slowed down. Nuclear power currently supplies about 16 % of the world's electricity. In the next 50 years, it is expected that the world energy demand will increase about two times comparing current level while electricity demand will be tripled. Therefore, the nuclear industry should be expanded significantly in the next 50 years to meet the role for 'Prosperity beyond Peace'. The main issues for nuclear industry to take this important role are to increase in economics of nuclear power, and to resolve nuclear waste management and disposal. Some of these issues have been resolved mainly through international co-operation. For example, there are significant efforts to improve economics of nuclear power. This paper reviews worldwide efforts to resolve these issues and mentions what are the remaining ones

Current Issues of Antipyretic Therapy in Children with Acute Respiratory Infections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. I. Novikova

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the current issues in the pediatric practice of seasonal incidence of children with acute respiratory infections. The basic etiological aspects of this pathology, specific clinical symptoms typical for different pathogens, causes of bursts of disease in certain periods are described. Special attention is paid to the tactics of antipyretic therapy in different groups of children with fever and acute respiratory diseases, understand the typical errors in its appointment. The author discusses the domestic and foreign results of using ibuprofen to relieve fever in children with this pathology, comparative efficacy and safety data of ibuprofen with other analgesics-antipyretics.

Legal issues relating to the use of surrogate mothers in the practice ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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

Issues related to development of Indian photovoltaic market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chaurey, A.; Laxminarayan, R.

1993-01-01

As is the case of most energy deficient countries in the tropics, India offers an enormous potential for use of photovoltaic (PV) systems. However, the demand in true commercial sense has not yet been created. The constraints for market development are not only related to the cost but also to several local parameters. The paper highlights these issues and constraints and suggests a market development strategy. (author)

Accounting-related transmission issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niehaus, M.; Bjorn, P.; Pate, G.

1999-01-01

Various initiatives have been undertaken by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deregulate wholesale electric energy markets. These initiatives have focused on restructuring the transmission systems in the US and recently have culminated in a proposal requiring formation of and participation in regional transmission organizations. The overall form of regulation selected to determine rates for transmission entities as well as underlying regulatory decisions reached on key issues will have profound implications for transmission entities. For example, traditional cost-based regulation would require one set of accounting and reporting rules, while incentive-based regulation may not be subject to those same rules. An overview of some of the major accounting and financial reporting issues that will need to be considered is presented

Environmental issues related to commercialization of CulnSe{sub 2}- based photovoltaics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eberspacher, C. [UNISUN, Newbury Park, CA (United States); Fthenakis, V.M.; Moskowitz, P.D.

1996-07-01

One of the most promising materials for low-cost thin film photovoltaic cells is copper indium selenide (CuInSe{sub 2} or CIS). As with any new material, successful commercialization of CIS photovoltaic (PV) technology will require attention to environmental issues related to the sources of raw materials, their usage, and the disposal and/or recycling of products at the end of their useful life. This paper focuses on three specific environmental issues related to CIS technology: (i) Economics of the use and re-use of materials; (ii) regulations on environmental disposal and waste handling, and (iii) logistics and economics of recycling and disposing of products by industries faced with comparable environmental issues.

Use of a web site to increase knowledge and awareness of hunger-related issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Jennings, Sharla; Cotugna, Nancy; Vickery, Connie E.

2003-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the current level of knowledge and awareness of hunger-related issues among a convenience sample of Delawareans. We also assessed whether raising knowledge and awareness of the hunger problem through the FBD's newly designed web site would encourage participation in antihunger activities. Via e-mail, 1,719 individuals were invited to participate in a three-phase, online survey, and 392 agreed. Phase-I questions were answered prior to viewing the web site, phase II (n=217) immediately afterward, and phase III (n=61) six weeks later. Responses indicated a high level of awareness about general hunger issues but specific knowledge proved to be at a lower level. No statistically significant differences were noted when data were collapsed across gender, age, educational level, or work setting. In a six-week post-survey, 41% of subjects were motivated by the web site to engage in an antihunger activity; 34% had told others about the web site and indicated it may be a useful tool in antihunger outreach efforts for the FBD. PMID:14651376

Use of a web site to increase knowledge and awareness of hunger-related issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Jennings, Sharla; Cotugna, Nancy; Vickery, Connie E

2003-11-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the current level of knowledge and awareness of hunger-related issues among a convenience sample of Delawareans. We also assessed whether raising knowledge and awareness of the hunger problem through the FBD's newly designed web site would encourage participation in antihunger activities. Via e-mail, 1,719 individuals were invited to participate in a three-phase, online survey, and 392 agreed. Phase-I questions were answered prior to viewing the web site, phase II (n=217) immediately afterward, and phase III (n=61) six weeks later. Responses indicated a high level of awareness about general hunger issues but specific knowledge proved to be at a lower level. No statistically significant differences were noted when data were collapsed across gender, age, educational level, or work setting. In a six-week post-survey, 41% of subjects were motivated by the web site to engage in an antihunger activity; 34% had told others about the web site and indicated it may be a useful tool in antihunger outreach efforts for the FBD.

Labour Rights Protection in Industrial Relations Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eko Adi Susanto

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Many violations of the terms of employment at Surabaya, employment protection  and working conditions for workers who are not provided by employers to the maximum, according to the legislation in force, while the legal protection for workers constrained because of the weakness in the system of employment law, both the substance and the culture built by governments and companies. How To Cite: Susanto, E. (2015. Labour Rights Protection in Industrial Relations Issues. Rechtsidee, 2(2, 109-120. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21070/jihr.v2i2.78

Environmental issues related to uranium mining

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorber, D.M.; Chambers, D.B.

1983-01-01

This paper introduces the environmental issues (both real and perceived) associated with uranium exploration, mining, milling, and tailings management. As well, some of the issues pertaining to the closeout of uranium tailings areas are discussed. These issues have received considerable attention in Canada in public inquiries and hearings that have been held across the country. The major conclusions of some of these hearings are also noted

Academic plastic surgery: a study of current issues and future challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Zetrenne, Eleonore; Kosins, Aaron M; Wirth, Garrett A; Bui, Albert; Evans, Gregory R D; Wells, James H

2008-06-01

The objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate the role of a full-time academic plastic surgeon, (2) to define the indicators predictive of a successful career in academic plastic surgery, and (3) to understand the current issues that will affect future trends in the practice of academic plastic surgery. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate the role of current full-time academic plastic surgeons and to understand the current issues and future challenges facing academic plastic surgery. Each plastic surgery program director in the United States was sent the survey for distribution among all full-time academic plastic surgeons. Over a 6-week period, responses from 143 full-time academic plastic surgeons (approximately 31%) were returned. Fifty-three percent of respondents had been academic plastic surgeons for longer than 10 years. Seventy-three percent of respondents defined academic plastic surgeons as clinicians who are teachers and researchers. However, 53% of respondents believed that academic plastic surgeons were not required to teach or practice within university hospitals/academic centers. The 3 factors reported most frequently as indicative of a successful career in academic plastic surgery were peer recognition, personal satisfaction, and program reputation. Dedication and motivation were the personal characteristics rated most likely to contribute to academic success. Forty-four percent of respondents were unable to identify future academic plastic surgeons from plastic surgery residency applicants, and 27% were not sure. Most (93%) of the respondents believed that academic surgery as practiced today will change. The overall job description of a full-time academic plastic surgeon remains unchanged (teacher and researcher). Whereas peer recognition, personal satisfaction, and program reputation were most frequently cited as indicative of a successful plastic surgery career, financial success was rated the least indicative. Similarly, whereas the

Field primatology of today: current ethical issues.

Science.gov (United States)

MacKinnon, K C; Riley, E P

2010-09-01

As members of professional organizations such as American Society of Primatologists (ASP) and the International Primatological Society (IPS), primatologists must adhere to a set of nonhuman primate-focused principles outlined in resolutions and policy statements on, for example, the ethical treatment of nonhuman primates. Those of us that work in the field must also address issues such as the protection of primate health in the wild and the conservation of wild primate populations. Moreover, we increasingly find ourselves in complex situations where we must balance human and nonhuman primate needs and interests. The selection of commentary pieces in this edition of the American Journal of Primatology originated from presentations given in the symposium, Field Primatology of Today: Navigating the Ethical Landscape, held at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists (ASP) in September 2009. The goals of that symposium and these resulting commentary pieces are threefold: (1) to revive a discussion of key contemporary ethical issues faced by field primatologists, (2) to highlight the need for centrally placed ethical considerations in various facets of our professional lives, particularly research and teaching, and (3) to consider what a comprehensive ethical code that addresses all of these issues might look like. (c) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

THE UNITED RESCUE SYSTEM IN BULGARIA. CURRENT RESOURCE RELATED ISSUES AND PROSPECTIVE SOLUTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Baleva

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The article presents some problems related to securing the Bulgarian system for disaster management with the necessary resources for its proper functioning. The main challenges for the united rescue system in the country are analyzed, including those related to ensuring the system with the necessary material, financial and human resources. Some possibilities for solving these problems with the use of funds from the European Union are presented.

Environmentally related taxes in OECD countries: issues and strategies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2002-07-01

Economic instruments, including environmentally related taxes, play an increasing role in the environmental policies of developed countries. This publication addresses the use of environmental taxes and their effectiveness in reducing environmental damage. It finds these taxes are a powerful tool for implementing environmental strategy. It also describes obstacles to increased use of such taxes (e.g. concerns about competitiveness and distributional effects) and suggests ways to overcome such barriers. Particular attention is given to issues and options related to taxes on greenhouse gases. 18 figs., 13 tabs.

Issues related to EM management of DOE spent nuclear fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abbott, D.G.; Abashian, M.S.; Chakraborti, S.; Roberson, K.; Meloin, J.M.

1993-07-01

This document is a summary of the important issues involved in managing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) owned by the Department of Energy (DOE). Issues related to civilian SNF activities are not discussed. DOE-owned SNF is stored primarily at the Hanford Site, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), Savannah River Site (SRS), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and West Valley Demonstration Project. Smaller quantities of SNF are stored at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). There is a wide variety of fuel types, including both low and high enrichment fuels from weapons production, DOE reactors, research and development programs, naval programs, and universities. Most fuel is stored in pools associated with reactor or reprocessing facilities. Smaller quantities are in dry storage. Physical conditions of the fuel range from excellent to poor or severely damaged. An issue is defined as an important question that must be answered or decision that must be made on a topic or subject relevant to achieving the complimentary objectives of (a) storing SNF in compliance with applicable regulations and orders until it can be disposed, and (b) safely disposing of DOE's SNF. The purpose of this document is to define the issues; no recommendations are made on resolutions. As DOE's national SNF management program is implemented, a system of issues identification, documentation, tracking, and resolution will be implemented. This document is an initial effort at issues identification. The first section of this document is an overview of issues that are common to several or all DOE facilities that manage SNF. The common issues are organized according to specific aspects of spent fuel management. This is followed by discussions of management issues that apply specifically to individual DOE facilities. The last section provides literature references

Current safety issues of CANDU licensing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Y.; Natalizio, A.

1994-01-01

As requested by Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety(KINS), the status of five generic licensing issues has been examined and their potential impact on a new plant that would be constructed in Canada has been evaluated. The results and conclusions of this evaluation are summarized as follows: steam explosion in calandria, hydrogen explosion in containment, use of PSA in reactor licensing, human factors, safety critical software

On the Issue of Labor Relations Discontinuance by Staff Reduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheveleva A. A.

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This article is devoted to consideration of issues related to the procedure of labor law contract termination by staff reduction. The author, analyzing the judicial practice, gives practical recommendations on the procedure of employment relationships discontinuance

Framing Islam-related issues during GE13: An analysis of Malaysian mainstream newspapers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aini Maznina A.Manaf

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The two major political coalitions in Malaysia are Barisan Nasional  (BN and Pakatan Rakyat (PR, which are dominated by the Malay-Muslim majority. During the 13th national election, to gain public votes, the government used mainstream newspapers to frame Islam-related issues. This research focuses on the characterisation and information reported about Islam and Muslims during the 13th General Election. Using content analysis, we examine the coverage of such issues by the mainstream newspapers: Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, and The Star. This analysis aims to provide a holistic review of the scope of the coverage during the period with a focus on how the Malaysian government framed Islam-related issues through the print media in order to gain the Malay votes. A total of 178 news articles were analysed, from which we found that 15 dominant issues were reported in the newspapers during that period. Among the most frequently reported Islam-related issues were hudud (prescribed punishments, Islamic state, and kalimah Allah (the word “Allah”, which were predominantly covered by the Malay newspapers. In addition, the data indicated that most of the news were inclined towards supporting the ruling coalition, i.e., Barisan Nasional.

U.S.-China Relations: Policy Issues

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-12

global issues on which the Obama Administration has sought to work with China are the international financial crisis, climate change, and nuclear non-proliferation. In remarks in July 2009, President Obama declared that partnership between the United States and China was a prerequisite for progress on many of the most pressing global challenges. Continuing major bilateral issues in the relationship include trade and...into the Obama Administration, U.S. officials point to some successes in their efforts to work with China on global issues , including

Issues related to a programme of activities under the CDM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ellis, J.

2006-05-15

Emissions of CO2 from the energy and land-use change and forestry sectors are responsible for the majority of emissions in non-Annex I Parties to the UNFCCC. Tackling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from these sectors is a key to slowing the growth in GHG emissions in non-Annex I countries. Implementing Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects can help achieve this aim, while also assisting non-Annex I countries to move towards sustainable development and Annex I countries achieve their emission commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. There has been rapid progress in the CDM over the last year - in terms of the number of projects in the pipeline and registered, and in terms of credits issued. However, some important sectors are notable by their small share in the CDM portfolio. Several countries have also called attention to the need to accelerate the process of approving CDM methodologies and projects. In order to improve the effectiveness of the CDM to achieve its dual objectives, the COP/MOP agreed a decision on 'further guidance relating to the clean development mechanism. This decision lays out guidance on how to improve the operation of the CDM, and includes provisions that allow: (1) Bundling of project activities; and (2) Project activities under a programme of activities, to be registered as a CDM project activity. At present, of the 172 currently registered CDM project activities, 27 involve programmes or bundles. These project activities can include more than one project type, be implemented in several locations, and/or occur in more than one sector. This paper assesses how project activities under a programme of activities under the CDM (referred to here as PCDM) could help to increase the effectiveness of the CDM by encouraging a wide spread of emission mitigation activities. This paper also explores the key issues that may need to be considered for the PCDM concept to be further implemented. The paper concludes that: (1) Key concepts and issues

Language issues, an underestimated danger in major hazard control?

Science.gov (United States)

Lindhout, Paul; Ale, Ben J M

2009-12-15

Language issues are problems with communication via speech, signs, gestures or their written equivalents. They may result from poor reading and writing skills, a mix of foreign languages and other circumstances. Language issues are not picked up as a safety risk on the shop floor by current safety management systems. These safety risks need to be identified, acknowledged, quantified and prioritized in order to allow risk reducing measures to be taken. This study investigates the nature of language issues related danger in literature, by experiment and by a survey among the Seveso II companies in the Netherlands. Based on human error frequencies, and on the contents of accident investigation reports, the risks associated with language issues were ranked. Accident investigation method causal factor categories were found not to be sufficiently representative for the type and magnitude of these risks. Readability of safety related documents used by the companies was investigated and found to be poor in many cases. Interviews among regulators and a survey among Seveso II companies were used to identify the gap between the language issue related dangers found in literature and current best practices. This study demonstrates by means of triangulation with different investigative methods that language issue related risks are indeed underestimated. A recommended coarse of action in order to arrive at appropriate measures is presented.

Language issues, an underestimated danger in major hazard control?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lindhout, Paul, E-mail: plindhout@minszw.nl [Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, AI-MHC, Anna van Hannoverstraat 4, P.O. Box 90801, 2509 LV The Hague (Netherlands); Ale, Ben J.M. [Delft University of Technology, TBM-Safety Science Group, Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX Delft (Netherlands)

2009-12-15

Language issues are problems with communication via speech, signs, gestures or their written equivalents. They may result from poor reading and writing skills, a mix of foreign languages and other circumstances. Language issues are not picked up as a safety risk on the shop floor by current safety management systems. These safety risks need to be identified, acknowledged, quantified and prioritised in order to allow risk reducing measures to be taken. This study investigates the nature of language issues related danger in literature, by experiment and by a survey among the Seveso II companies in the Netherlands. Based on human error frequencies, and on the contents of accident investigation reports, the risks associated with language issues were ranked. Accident investigation method causal factor categories were found not to be sufficiently representative for the type and magnitude of these risks. Readability of safety related documents used by the companies was investigated and found to be poor in many cases. Interviews among regulators and a survey among Seveso II companies were used to identify the gap between the language issue related dangers found in literature and current best practices. This study demonstrates by means of triangulation with different investigative methods that language issue related risks are indeed underestimated. A recommended coarse of action in order to arrive at appropriate measures is presented.

Language issues, an underestimated danger in major hazard control?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindhout, Paul; Ale, Ben J.M.

2009-01-01

Language issues are problems with communication via speech, signs, gestures or their written equivalents. They may result from poor reading and writing skills, a mix of foreign languages and other circumstances. Language issues are not picked up as a safety risk on the shop floor by current safety management systems. These safety risks need to be identified, acknowledged, quantified and prioritised in order to allow risk reducing measures to be taken. This study investigates the nature of language issues related danger in literature, by experiment and by a survey among the Seveso II companies in the Netherlands. Based on human error frequencies, and on the contents of accident investigation reports, the risks associated with language issues were ranked. Accident investigation method causal factor categories were found not to be sufficiently representative for the type and magnitude of these risks. Readability of safety related documents used by the companies was investigated and found to be poor in many cases. Interviews among regulators and a survey among Seveso II companies were used to identify the gap between the language issue related dangers found in literature and current best practices. This study demonstrates by means of triangulation with different investigative methods that language issue related risks are indeed underestimated. A recommended coarse of action in order to arrive at appropriate measures is presented.

Current irritability robustly related to current and prior anxiety in bipolar disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuen, Laura D; Miller, Shefali; Wang, Po W; Hooshmand, Farnaz; Holtzman, Jessica N; Goffin, Kathryn C; Shah, Saloni; Ketter, Terence A

2016-08-01

Although current irritability and current/prior anxiety have been associated in unipolar depression, these relationships are less well understood in bipolar disorder (BD). We investigated relationships between current irritability and current/prior anxiety as well as other current emotions and BD illness characteristics. Outpatients referred to the Stanford Bipolar Disorders Clinic during 2000-2011 were assessed with the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for BD (STEP-BD) Affective Disorders Evaluation. Prevalence and clinical correlates of current irritability and current/prior anxiety and other illness characteristics were examined. Among 497 BD outpatients (239 Type I, 258 Type II; 58.1% female; mean ± SD age 35.6 ± 13.1 years), 301 (60.6%) had baseline current irritability. Patients with versus without current irritability had significantly higher rates of current anxiety (77.1% versus 42.9%, p anxiety disorder (73.1% versus 52.6%, p anxiety than to current anhedonia, sadness, or euphoria (all p anxiety associations persisted across current predominant mood states. Current irritability was more robustly related to past anxiety than to all other assessed illness characteristics, including 1° family history of mood disorder, history of alcohol/substance use disorder, bipolar subtype, and current syndromal/subsyndromal depression (all p anxiety. Further studies are warranted to assess longitudinal clinical implications of relationships between irritability and anxiety in BD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Current Issues and Situation of Producer Responsibility in Waste Management in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonius Priyo Nugroho Sulami

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Producer responsibility for wastes has been encouraged in Indonesia since 2008. The Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Indonesia also promoted the reduce, reuse, and recycle (3R concept using the community-based approach of waste banks integrated with the extended producer responsibility (EPR concept. However, related research and implementation are still limited. This study aims to identify the challenges of fulfilling producer responsibility in waste management and determine whether the integration concept could generate outcomes expected from the EPR concept. A semi-structured interview survey of several stakeholders from the government, industrial, and waste management sectors was conducted and the data generated was used to simulate an integration scheme using a system dynamics approach. Secondary data and information from Bandung municipality were used as input for the simulation. The interview survey found that the concerns and issues of fulfilling producer responsibility in waste management include lack of awareness, unavailability of clear guidelines, and the limited capacity of the current recycling sector. The results of the simulation suggested that if the integration scheme is applied, each business entity might bear the responsibility of IDR 29.4 million per year and 14.7 tons of waste per year for the scope of four sectors and IDR 34.1 million per year and 17 tons of waste per year for the scope of two sectors.

[Security Management in Clinical Laboratory Departments and Facilities: Current Status and Issues].

Science.gov (United States)

Ishida, Haku; Nakamura, Junji; Yoshida, Hiroshi; Koike, Masaru; Inoue, Yuji

2014-11-01

We conducted a questionnaire survey regarding the current activities for protecting patients' privacy and the security of information systems (IS) related to the clinical laboratory departments of university hospitals, certified training facilities for clinical laboratories, and general hospitals in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The response rate was 47% from 215 medical institutions, including three commercial clinical laboratory centers. The results showed that there were some differences in management activities among facilities with respect to continuing education, the documentation or regulation of operational management for paper records, electronic information, remaining samples, genetic testing, and laboratory information for secondary use. They were suggested to be caused by differences in functions between university and general hospitals, differences in the scale of hospitals, or whether or not hospitals have received accreditation or ISO 15189. Regarding the IS, although the majority of facilities had sufficiently employed the access control to IS, there was some room for improvement in the management of special cases such as VIPs and patients with HIV infection. Furthermore, there were issues regarding the login method for computers shared by multiple staff, the showing of the names of personnel in charge of reports, and the risks associated with direct connections to systems and the Internet and the use of portable media such as USB memory sticks. These results indicated that further efforts are necessary for each facility to continue self-assessment and make improvements.

Measuring retrograde autobiographical amnesia following electroconvulsive therapy: historical perspective and current issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Semkovska, Maria; McLoughlin, Declan M

2013-06-01

Retrograde amnesia following electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a major concern for both patients and clinicians. In contemporary ECT research, retrograde autobiographical amnesia (RAA) is commonly measured with instruments assessing autobiographical memory (AM) consistency over time. However, normal AM recall loses in consistency with the passage of time, and time has a differential effect on stability of personal memories. In addition, experiencing depression is associated with a decreased ability to recall specific AMs, and this difficulty may persist in the euthymic phase of recurrent depression. Despite these scientific facts, relatively few attempts have been made to accurately measure the specific effect of ECT on AM independent of both normal and mood-associated forgetting over time. This major gap in our knowledge prevents us at present from objectively quantifying the nature and extent of RAA associated with ECT. In turn, this hinders our identifying and implementing strategies for prevention or remediation of AM deficits. The present article aims to provide an up-to-date review and historical perspective of this major methodological conundrum for ECT research, highlight current issues in retrograde amnesia assessment following ECT, and propose directions for future studies. In conclusion, we suggest methods to reliably and specifically measure the extent and progression over time of ECT-associated RAA independently from persistent depressive symptoms' contribution and normal loss in AM consistency over time.

Issues related to cooperative implementation mechanisms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

This note by the secretariat seeks to focus discussions on some key issues regarding the design and functioning of the three new mechanisms, such as issues concerning mandates, cross-cutting as well as issues concerning individual mechanisms. The note addresses each mechanism separately in view of different origins, approaches, participants and possible applications. Reference is, however, made to similarities among the mechanisms, in particular where coordination of work on methodological and institutional issues and inter-institutional collaboration are concerned. The note suggests, in its concluding part, elements of a work programme up to and, to some extent, beyond COP 4. It draws upon the views submitted by Parties (document FCCC/SB/1998/MISC.1), contains reflections by the secretariat and builds on its consultations with other organizations having activities, under way or planned, that could contribute to the design or operation of the mechanisms. (au)

Predicting Adolescent Drug Abuse: A Review of Issues, Methods and Correlates. Research Issues 11.

Science.gov (United States)

Lettieri, Dan J., Ed.

Presented are 18 papers on predicting adolescent drug abuse. The papers have the following titles: "Current Issues in the Epidemiology of Drug Abuse as Related to Psychosocial Studies of Adolescent Drug Use"; "The Quest for Interpersonal Predictors of Marihuana Abuse in Adolescents"; "Assessing the Interpersonal Determinants of Adolescent Drug…

CURRENT ISSUES ON JOB STRESS IN JAPAN AND WORKSITE MENTAL HEALTH APPLICATION AMONG JAPANESE COMPANY A Case Study Analysis

OpenAIRE

S Purnawati

2013-01-01

Background: Issues about job stress is more popular in the world currently. Not just for Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but also an important issue in EU countries, especially the UK and Finland Increase of awareness about job stress effects on work performance, productivity and mental health is as onereason of the phenomenon.Objective: The present study aimed to explore the issue of job stress in Japan for the reference of good practices to Indonesia.Methods: This study, based on observationalstud...

Long term energy-related environmental issues of copper production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvarado, S.; Maldonado, P.; Barrios, A.; Jaques, I.

2002-01-01

Primary copper production is a major activity in the mining sector of several countries. However, it is highly energy-intensive and poses important environmental hazards. In the case of Chile, the world's largest copper producer (40% of world total), we examine its energy consumption and energy-related environmental implications over a time horizon of 25 years. Concerning the latter, we focus on greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, one of the most debated environmental issues. This paper follows up our previous report in which the current situation was analyzed and a particular technical option for improving the energy efficiency and concurrently reducing GHG emissions was discussed. Estimated reference or base (BS) and mitigation (MS) scenarios are developed for the period ending in 2020. The former assesses the energy demand projected in accordance with production forecasts and specific energy consumption patterns (assuming that energy efficiency measures are adopted 'spontaneously') with their resultant GHG emissions, while the latter assumes induced actions intended to reduce emissions by adopting an aggressive policy of efficient energy use. For the year 2020, the main results are: (i) BS, 1214 t of CO 2 /ton of refined copper content (49% lower than in 1994); (ii) MS, 1037 t of CO 2 /t of refined copper content (56% lower than in 1994). CO 2 emissions have been estimated considering both fuel and electricity process requirements. (author)

AGRICULTURAL DYNAMICS IN PAKISTAN: CURRENT ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fawad Zafar Ahmad Khan

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Agriculture is heavily contributing towards the economy of Pakistan. Water deficiency and drought conditions, long duration load shedding issue, poor extension services, absence of land reforms, absence of distribution of certified varieties, high price of fertilizers, deliberate use of adulterated, non-recommended and expired insecticides, non utilization of cultivable waste land, conventional farming practices, indirect access of farmer to main market, absence of ecological based cropping pattern, smuggling of agricultural inputs and outputs, lack of cooperation between agricultural research, education & extension services, absence of crop insurance, depletion of forests, lack of modern post-harvest technologies and disease outbreaks of poultry birds are some of the key issues that are playing a negative role in demotion of agricultural sector in Pakistan. The review article will briefly discuss above mentioned issues and some of the possible remedies under the environment of Pakistanand their adoption to improve the agricultural productivity in the country.

Hydrogen related safety issues in the context of containments of Indian PHWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markendeya, S.G.; Ghosh, A.K.; Kushwaha, H.S.; Venkat Raj, V.

2002-01-01

Full text: Assessment of risk due to hydrogen released during postulated hypothetical accident scenarios in the nuclear power plants (NPPs) has been an important area of R and D studies world over. The issues, such as appropriate methodologies for estimation of hydrogen source term and for hydrogen dispersion calculations, technology development for hydrogen mitigation in containment of NPPs and assessment of damage due to deflagration/detonation of hydrogen (if it occurs) are being addressed as a part of some of the multidisciplinary study programs currently underway in BARC. While a significant overall progress has been achieved in general as a result of these programs, requirements of further fine-tuning of these studies have also emerged. The present paper takes a brief look at the current state-of the-art technology available to address these issues. The progress of R and D studies underway at BARC has also been critically reviewed in the paper to bring out necessary planning of further studies so as to enhance the safety of Indian NPPs

Internet Ethics Issues and Actions in Japan

OpenAIRE

江澤, 義典

2013-01-01

The International Symposium on Internet Ethics 2012 was planned and organized by the Korea Internet Security Agency and was held in September 2012 at the Lotte Hotel World in Seoul. This note relates to the presentation in Japan, it outlines current Internet ethics issues and actions in Japan. Moreover, four aspects of Japanese civilization were introduced as the bases of these ethics issues.

Urban science education: examining current issues through a historical lens

Science.gov (United States)

McLaughlin, Cheryl A.

2014-12-01

This paper reviews and synthesizes urban science education studies published between 2000 and 2013 with a view to identifying current challenges faced by both teachers and students in urban classrooms. Additionally, this paper considers the historical events that have shaped the conditions, bureaucracies, and interactions of urban institutions. When the findings from these urban science education studies were consolidated with the historical overview provided, it was revealed that the basic design and regulatory policies of urban schools have not substantively changed since their establishment in the nineteenth century. Teachers in urban science classrooms continue to face issues of inequality, poverty, and social injustice as they struggle to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. Furthermore, persistent concerns of conflicting Discourses, cultural dissonance, and oppression create formidable barriers to science learning. Despite the many modifications in structure and organization, urban students are still subjugated and marginalized in systems that emphasize control and order over high-quality science education.

Difficulties are multiplying - topical legal issues relating to nuclear waste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strassburg, W.

1985-01-01

The report points out topical legal issues relating to nuclear waste disposal, yet leaves no doubt that the technical-scientific concept for nuclear waste disposal incorporated into the nuclear energy law in 1976 was a success. Nonetheless it is desirable that there should be persistent efforts especially on the part of parliament when issuing legislation or statutory orders to reach greater clearness and thus predictability in areas where technology has been proven by many years of practice. (orig./HSCH) [de

Thermal hydraulic issues and challenges for current and new generation FBRs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chellapandi, P.; Velusamy, K., E-mail: kvelu@igcar.gov.in

2015-12-01

Highlights: • We present challenges in thermal hydraulic design of sodium cooled fast reactors. • We present roadmap of Indian fast reactor program and innovative design concepts. • Analysis methodology for thermal striping and thermal stratification are highlighted. • Design solutions for gas entrainment are presented. • Experimental approaches for normal and post accident decay heat removal are highlighted. - Abstract: Pool type sodium cooled fast reactors pose several design challenges and among them, certain thermal hydraulics and structural mechanics issues are special. High frequency temperature fluctuations due to thermal striping, thermal stratifications and sodium free level fluctuations at the liquid–cover gas interfaces are to be investigated carefully to eliminate high cycle thermal fatigue of structures. Solutions to address the core thermal hydraulics call for high power computing. Innovative concepts and methods are developed to carry out plant dynamics and safety studies. Particularly, extensive numerical and experimental simulation techniques are needed for understanding and solving the gas entrainment mechanisms and its effects on core safety. Though decay heat removal through natural convection is achievable in a pool type SFR, demonstration of design solutions conceived in the reactor and performance of diverse systems under all operating conditions, especially over prolonged station blackout situations needs advanced CFD computations and should be validated by relatively large scale simulated experiments. These issues are addressed in this paper under five broad topics: special thermal hydraulic issues to be addressed in SFR, thermal hydraulic design and analysis, plant dynamics studies, safety studies and evolving thermal hydraulic studies for the future FBRs. The 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is taken as the reference design for addressing the issues. Indian fast reactor programme is highlighted in the introduction

Animal-cell culture media: History, characteristics, and current issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Tatsuma; Asayama, Yuta

2017-04-01

Cell culture technology has spread prolifically within a century, a variety of culture media has been designed. This review goes through the history, characteristics and current issues of animal-cell culture media. A literature search was performed on PubMed and Google Scholar between 1880 and May 2016 using appropriate keywords. At the dawn of cell culture technology, the major components of media were naturally derived products such as serum. The field then gradually shifted to the use of chemical-based synthetic media because naturally derived ingredients have their disadvantages such as large batch-to-batch variation. Today, industrially important cells can be cultured in synthetic media. Nevertheless, the combinations and concentrations of the components in these media remain to be optimized. In addition, serum-containing media are still in general use in the field of basic research. In the fields of assisted reproductive technologies and regenerative medicine, some of the medium components are naturally derived in nearly all instances. Further improvements of culture media are desirable, which will certainly contribute to a reduction in the experimental variation, enhance productivity among biopharmaceuticals, improve treatment outcomes of assisted reproductive technologies, and facilitate implementation and popularization of regenerative medicine.

The united fund of materials about Chernobyl-related issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bashilov, A. V.; Borisevich, N.Ya.; Sobolev, O.V.

2013-01-01

The United Fund of materials about Chernobyl-related issues was created in Russian-Belarusian Information Center on the Problems of the Consequences of the Catastrophe at Chernobyl NPP branch RSRUE 'Institute of Radiology' Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus. It contains accumulated during the post-Chernobyl period systematized maps, scientific and practical, educational, documentary, journalistic, artistic, photographic and other information. (authors)

Information Operations, Electronic Warfare, and Cyberwar: Capabilities and Related Policy Issues

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wilson, Clay

2007-01-01

.... It also suggests related policy issues of potential interest to Congress. For military planners, the control of information is critical to military success, and communications networks and computers are of vital operational importance...

Exploring morally relevant issues facing families in their decisions to monitor the health-related behaviours of loved ones.

Science.gov (United States)

Gammon, D; Christiansen, E K; Wynn, R

2009-07-01

Patient self-management of disease is increasingly supported by technologies that can monitor a wide range of behavioural and biomedical parameters. Incorporated into everyday devices such as cell phones and clothes, these technologies become integral to the psychosocial aspects of everyday life. Many technologies are likely to be marketed directly to families with ill members, and families may enlist the support of clinicians in shaping use. Current ethical frameworks are mainly conceptualised from the perspective of caregivers, researchers, developers and regulators in order to ensure the ethics of their own practices. This paper focuses on families as autonomous decision-makers outside the regulated context of healthcare. We discuss some morally relevant issues facing families in their decisions to monitor the health-related behaviours of loved ones. An example - remote parental monitoring of adolescent blood glucose - is presented and discussed through the lens of two contrasting accounts of ethics; one reflecting the predominant focus on health outcomes within the health technology assessment (HTA) framework and the other that attends to the broader sociocultural contexts shaping technologies and their implications. Issues discussed include the focus of assessments, informed consent and child assent, and family co-creation of system characteristics and implications. The parents' decisions to remotely monitor their child has relational implications that are likely to influence conflict levels and thus also health outcomes. Current efforts to better integrate outcome assessments with social and ethical assessments are particularly relevant for informed decision-making about health monitoring technologies in families.

Environmental issues: I - Energy utilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dincer, I.

2001-01-01

In this article, energy utilization and its major environmental impacts are discussed from the standpoint of sustainable development, including anticipated patterns of future energy use and consequent environmental issues and policies. Overall, the paper also examines several issues related to energy utilization, environment, sustainable development from both current and future perspectives, and energy use and its environmental impacts in the transportation sector. Finally, the conclusions and recommendations are presented in the form to be beneficial to energy scientists, engineers and energy policy makers. (author)

Saudi Arabia: Current Issues and U.S. Relations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Prados, Alfred B

2005-01-01

.... Since the establishment of the modern Saudi kingdom in 1932, it has benefited from a stable political system based on a smooth process of succession to the throne and a prosperous economy dominated by the oil sector...

Saudi Arabia: Current Issues and U.S. Relations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Prados, Alfred B

2003-01-01

.... Since the establishment of the modern Saudi kingdom in 1932, it has benefited from a stable political system based on a smooth process of succession to the throne and a prosperous economy dominated by the oil sector...

South Africa: Current Issues and U.S. Relations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ploch, Lauren

2008-01-01

.... With Africa's largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a government eager to play an active role in the promotion of regional peace and stability, South Africa is poised to have a substantial impact on the economic and political future of Africa...

South Africa: Current Issues and U.S. Relations

Science.gov (United States)

2009-05-20

almost 900 soldiers to the U.N. Operation in Burundi (ONUB), where former President Nelson Mandela played a leading role in brokering a peace...racial segregation, won control of the National Assembly. The Assembly chose as President Nelson Mandela , the ANC leader who had been released from...reportedly improving. South Africa has taken a critical stance toward the war in Iraq, and former President Nelson Mandela has been vocal in his

Provision of genetic services in Europe: current practices and issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Godard, Béatrice; Kääriäinen, Helena; Kristoffersson, Ulf; Tranebjaerg, Lisbeth; Coviello, Domenico; Aymé, Ségolène

2003-12-01

This paper examines the professional and scientific views on the social, ethical and legal issues that impact on the provision of genetic services in Europe. Many aspects have been considered, such as the definition and the aims of genetic services, their organization, the quality assessment, public education, as well as the partnership with patients support groups and the multicultural aspects. The methods was primarily the analysis of professional guidelines, legal frameworks and other documents related to the organization of genetic services, mainly from Europe, but also from USA and international organizations. Then, the method was to examine the background data emerging from an updated report produced by the Concerted Action on Genetic Services in Europe, as well as the issues debated by 43 experts from 17 European countries invited to an international workshop organized by the European Society of Human Genetics Public and Professional Policy Committee in Helsinki, Finland, 8 and 9 September 2000. Some conclusions were identified from the ESHG workshop to arrive at outlines for optimal genetic services. Participants were concerned about equal accessibility and effectiveness of clinical genetic services, quality assessment of services, professional education, multidisciplinarity and division of tasks as well as networking. Within European countries, adherence to the organizational principles of prioritization, regionalization and integration into related health services would maximize equal accessibility and effectiveness of genetic actions. There is a need for harmonization of the rules involved in financial coverage of DNA tests in order to make these available to all Europeans. Clear guidelines for the best practice will ensure that the provision of genetic services develops in a way that is beneficial to its customers, be they health professionals or the public, especially since the coordination of clinical, laboratory and research perspectives within a

The historical aspects and current issues of the development of Russian-Lithuanian economic relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kretinin Gennady

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on development of Russian-Lithuanian economic ties. The research and practical significance of this study lies in the identification of the sources of modern Russian-Lithuanian economic cooperation and the prospects of future mutually beneficial economic relations. The first attempt at establishing economic relations was made in 1919. However, young Lithuanian Republic gravitated towards the West, severing ties with the Russian market. However, the initiatives of Lithuanian authorities did not result in successful state building, and the economic situation remained unchanged. The USSR leadership made an effort to improve the living conditions in post-war Lithuania. There were some mistakes made in the relations with the local population that resulted in Lithuanians’ resistance to sovietisation. However, in the conditions of post-war restoration of national economy and acute deficit of material and human resources, the Soviet leadership managed not only to reform and develop a socialistic economy in Lithuania but also to turn it into an industrial republic with developed agriculture and modern manufacturing facilities, whose major industries manufactured products used in nuclear and space technologies, aviation and navigation. The research shows that the post-Soviet period led to a dramatic change in Russian-Lithuanian economic relations; however, these relations retained potential for future development.

African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues is dedicated to the Scientific investigation of psychological and social issues and related phenomenon in Africa. The journal does not undertake to specify rigidly an appropriate domain of context, but intends rather to reflect current significant research of ...

III-V nanoelectronics and related surface/interface issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasegawa, Hideki

2003-01-01

The conventional logic gate architecture is not suitable for high-density integration of quantum devices which are non-robust and extremely structure- and charge-sensitive. In this paper, our novel hexagonal binary-decision-diagram (BDD) quantum circuit approach for III-V nanoelectronics is reviewed and related critical surface/interface issues for high-density integration are discussed. First, the basic concept and actual implementation method of our approach are explained, giving examples of novel BDD quantum integrated circuits where nanowire networks are controlled by nanoscale Schottky wrap gates. For high-density integration, growth of embedded sub-10 nm III-V quantum wire networks by selective molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on patterned substrates is described, including effects of atomic hydrogen irradiation and kinetic control of wire width. The key processing issue lies in understanding and control of nanostructure surfaces/interfaces. Behavior of nanoscale Schottky gates, recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)/scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) studies of surface states, and successful removal of surface states by MBE-grown silicon interface control layer are discussed

[The current problems and cross-cultural perspectives of patient-doctor relation: an overview].

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Eckhardt; Turgut, Tolga

2004-01-01

The success of the treatment in medicine, especially in psychiatry is based on the form and the strength of the patient-doctor relation. This complex and dynamic relation is changing in accordance with the social and technological development of the society. The context of the patient-doctor relation is determined by the present day culture as well as the traditional background. An overview of current patient-doctor relation and of problems that physicians and in particular psychiatrists meet is presented. Physicians have responsibilities in building patient-doctor relation. The ethical and legal aspects of these responsibilities are presented. The former paternalistic type of patient-doctor relation is evolving into a more equal and democratic relation. New problems are being encountered continuously in the changing process. Beside the of the process itself, the effects of progress in medical technology and communication systems on patient-doctor relation and the pressure, put from the insurance companies and/or authorities on physicians, which impair the trust between the physician and his patient, are making the process more difficult. The issues of compliance, sexual harassment and unique problems of patient-doctor relations in psychiatry are the other subtopics in the article. The cross-cultural aspects of patient-doctor relations and encountered clinical problems are discussed with case examples particularly about Turkish immigrants, who live in Germany. Suggestions for psychiatrists in Germany to work out the challenges facing them are presented in the conclusion.

75 FR 62514 - Notice of Availability of Report on Data Access and Privacy Issues Related to Smart Grid...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-12

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Notice of Availability of Report on Data Access and Privacy Issues Related to... report entitled, ``Data Access and Privacy Issues Related to Smart Grid Technologies.'' In this report... report entitled, ``Data Access and Privacy Issues Related to Smart Grid Technologies,'' DOE considered...

Current issues in electromagnetic knockout reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giusti, C.

2002-01-01

The role of correlations and two-body currents in one-nucleon emission reactions induced by an electromagnetic probe is discussed. The theoretical framework for cross section calculations is outlined and some results are presented for the exclusive "1"6O(e,e'p) "1"5N and "1"6O(γ, p) "1"5N reactions in relativistic and nonrelativistic models. A reliable and consistent evaluation of different types of correlations is needed to determine the spectroscopic factors. A consistent description of (e,e'p) and (γ, p) data, with the same spectroscopic factors, can be obtained when meson-exchange currents (MEC) are included in the theoretical model. MEC give an important contribution to (γ, p) cross sections and have only a small effect in (e, e'p). In the relativistic model the two-body seagull current affects the calculated cross sections less than in the nonrelativistic calculations.

Containment-emergency-sump performance. Technical findings related to Unresolved Safety Issue A-43

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-04-01

This report summarizes key technical findings related to the Unresolved Safety Issue A-43, Containment Emergency Sump Performance, and provides recommendations for resolution of attendant safety issues. The key safety questions relate to: (a) effects of insulation debris on sump performance; (b) sump hydraulic performance as determined by design features, submergence, and plant induced effects, and (c) recirculation pump performance wherein air and/or particulate ingestion can occur. The technical findings presented in this report provide information relevant to the design and performance evaluation of the containment emergency sump

Medical photography: current technology, evolving issues and legal perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Harting, M T; DeWees, J M; Vela, K M; Khirallah, R T

2015-04-01

Medical photographic image capture and data management has undergone a rapid and compelling change in complexity over the last 20 years. This is because of multiple factors, including significant advances in ease of photograph capture, alongside an evolution of mechanisms of data portability/dissemination, combined with governmental focus on health information privacy. Literature to guide medical, legal, governmental and business professionals when dealing with issues related to medical photography is virtually nonexistent. Herein, we will address the breadth of uses of medical photography, device properties/specific devices utilised for image capture, methods of data transfer and dissemination and patient perceptions and attitudes regarding photography in a medical setting. In addition, we will address the legal implications, including legal precedent, copyright and privacy law, informed consent, protected health information and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as they pertain to medical photography. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Long term energy-related environmental issues of copper production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alvarado, S. [University of Chile, Santiago (Chile). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; Maldonado, P.; Barrios, A.; Jaques, I. [University of Chile, Santiago (Chile). Energy Research Program

2002-02-01

Primary copper production is a major activity in the mining sector of several countries. However, it is highly energy-intensive and poses important environmental hazards. In the case of Chile, the world's largest copper producer (40% of world total), we examine its energy consumption and energy-related environmental implications over a time horizon of 25 years. Concerning the latter, we focus on greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, one of the most debated environmental issues. This paper follows up our previous report in which the current situation was analyzed and a particular technical option for improving the energy efficiency and concurrently reducing GHG emissions was discussed. Estimated reference or base (BS) and mitigation (MS) scenarios are developed for the period ending in 2020. The former assesses the energy demand projected in accordance with production forecasts and specific energy consumption patterns (assuming that energy efficiency measures are adopted 'spontaneously') with their resultant GHG emissions, while the latter assumes induced actions intended to reduce emissions by adopting an aggressive policy of efficient energy use. For the year 2020, the main results are: (i) BS, 1214 t of CO{sub 2}/ton of refined copper content (49% lower than in 1994); (ii) MS, 1037 t of CO{sub 2}/t of refined copper content (56% lower than in 1994). CO{sub 2} emissions have been estimated considering both fuel and electricity process requirements. (author)

An exploration of issues relating to feminism and nurse education.

Science.gov (United States)

Millar, B; Biley, F C

1992-08-01

This paper explores the issue of feminism in relation to nursing and nurse education. As a result of this exploration, the authors suggest there is a need for a move away from traditional patriarchal approaches to nurse education, towards an educational programme based on empowerment principles that maximises the potential of feminine patterns of thinking.

Climate policies in China, India and Brazil: current issues and future challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellevrat, Elie

2012-07-01

Emerging countries will have to tackle different social and economic development challenges in the future, which translate nationally into the concepts of 'harmonious society' in China and 'inclusive growth' in India, and into the Brazilian slogan 'a wealthy country is a country without poverty'. Per capita (current US$), Brazil is more than two times richer than China, which in turn is three times richer than India. This graduation explains the variety of priorities of those countries: reducing inequalities and achieving the development processes in China and Brazil, alleviating poverty and enhancing energy access in India. Furthermore, these countries are increasingly linked internationally, along with the globalization process. Energy security is a key issue for China and India, while Brazil aims at playing a key role on future international energy markets. Emerging economies are progressively laying the foundations for low-carbon development strategies that will depend on their national contexts and priorities. Investments in building and transport infrastructures are increasingly important in all those countries, creating the conditions today for tomorrow's low-carbon economic development. China recently made important resolutions in the framework of its 12. Five-Year Plan, decoupling economic growth from GHG emissions. India has developed eight 'National Missions' on climate change and is now exploring future low-carbon strategies. And Brazil is affirming its position internationally, pushing for innovative 'green growth' concepts, within the framework of the Rio+20 Conference. All countries have already implemented several energy and climate policies and plan to develop them further, through innovative policy institutions and instruments. They are switching progressively from command- and-control to economic instruments. In particular, market-based mechanisms are increasingly used in all countries: mandatory pilot Emission Trading Systems (ETS) in China

Current status and future expectation concerning probabilistic risk assessment of NPPs. 1. Features and issues of probabilistic risk assessment methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamashita, Masahiro

2012-01-01

Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) could play an important role in assuring safety of NPPs. However PRA had not always effectively used, which was indicated in Japanese government's report on Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident. At the Risk Technical Committee (RTC) of Standards Committee of Atomic Energy Society of Japan, preparation of standards (implementing criteria) focusing on PRA methodology and investigation on basic philosophy for use of PRA had been in progress. Based on activities of RTC, a serial in three articles including this described current status and future expectation concerning probabilistic risk assessment of NPPs. This article introduced features and issues of PRA methodology related to the use of PRA. Features of PRA methodology could be shown as (1) systematic and comprehensive understanding of risk, (2) support of grading approach, (3) identification of effective safety upgrade measures and (4) quantitative understanding of effects of uncertainty. Issues of PRA methodology were (1) extension of PRA application area, (2) upgrade of PRA methodology, (3) quality assurance of PRA, (4) treatment of uncertainty and (5) quantitative evaluation criteria. (T. Tanaka)

Information Retrieval System Design Issues in a Microcomputer-Based Relational DBMS Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfram, Dietmar

1992-01-01

Outlines the file structure requirements for a microcomputer-based information retrieval system using FoxPro, a relational database management system (DBMS). Issues relating to the design and implementation of such systems are discussed, and two possible designs are examined in terms of space economy and practicality of implementation. (15…

Current Therapeutic Cannabis Controversies and Clinical Trial Design Issues

OpenAIRE

Russo, Ethan B.

2016-01-01

This overview covers a wide range of cannabis topics, initially examining issues in dispensaries and self-administration, plus regulatory requirements for production of cannabis-based medicines, particularly the Food and Drug Administration “Botanical Guidance.” The remainder pertains to various cannabis controversies that certainly require closer examination if the scientific, consumer, and governmental stakeholders are ever to reach consensus on safety issues, specifically: whether botanica...

Current issues surrounding the definition of trans-fatty acids: implications for health, industry and food labels.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ye; Proctor, Spencer D

2013-10-01

The definition of trans-fatty acids (TFA) was established by the Codex Alimentarius to guide nutritional and legislative regulations to reduce TFA consumption. Currently, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is excluded from the TFA definition based on evidence (primarily preclinical studies) implying health benefits on weight management and cancer prevention. While the efficacy of CLA supplements remains inconsistent in randomised clinical trials, evidence has emerged to associate supplemental CLA with negative health outcomes, including increased subclinical inflammation and oxidative stress (particularly at high doses). This has resulted in concerns regarding the correctness of excluding CLA from the TFA definition. Here we review recent clinical and preclinical literature on health implications of CLA and ruminant TFA, and highlight several issues surrounding the current Codex definition of TFA and how it may influence interpretation for public health. We find that CLA derived from ruminant foods differ from commercial CLA supplements in their isomer composition/distribution, consumption level and bioactivity. We conclude that health concerns associated with the use of supplemental CLA do not repudiate the exclusion of all forms of CLA from the Codex TFA definition, particularly when using the definition for food-related purposes. Given the emerging differential bioactivity of TFA from industrial v. ruminant sources, we advocate that regional nutrition guidelines/policies should focus on eliminating industrial forms of trans-fat from processed foods as opposed to all TFA per se.

[Domestic violence: a current issue to take into account in diagnostic imaging].

Science.gov (United States)

Santos Corraliza, E; Larrañaga Hernando, G; Neve Lete, I; Sánchez García, A

2014-01-01

Domestic violence is currently an issue of great political and social importance. The real incidence of domestic violence is difficult to determine due to the environment where it takes place and the reluctance of victims to report abuse. On the other hand, all types of violence represent an important public health problem. We report the case of a young woman who presented with thromboembolic phenomena at different sites due to domestic violence. We emphasize that it is necessary for radiologists and other healthcare professionals to consider the possibility of domestic violence when establishing the diagnosis. This can be important for determining the incidence of abuse, diminishing its sequela, and help increase its reporting. Copyright © 2011 SERAM. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Introducing GaLA: Serious Game potentials, challenges and TEL-related issues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Earp, Jeffrey; Klemke, Roland

2011-01-01

Earp, J., & Klemke, R. (2011, 21 September). Introducing GaLA: Serious Game potentials, challenges and TEL-related issues. Presented at TEL-Think-Tank Workshop at the 6th European conference on Technology enhanced learning: towards ubiquitous learning (EC-TEL 2011), Palermo, Italy.

Influence of the current-phase relation on the critical-current-applied-magnetic-flux dependence in parallel-connected Josephson junctions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsang, W.; Van Duzer, T.

1976-01-01

The form of the current-phase relations for the Josephson junctions is shown to have a significant influence on the relation I/sub c/(theta/sub a/) between critical current and applied flux for two junctions connected in parallel in a superconducting circuit. The observed one-flux-quantum periodicity and inversion symmetry of the I/sub c/(theta/sub a/) relation are shown to result from the fact that the current-phase, i-phi, relations of the junctions satisfy i (phi+2mπ) =i (phi) and i (-phi) =-i (phi), respectively. It is also shown that if the current-phase relations for the two junctions are different, an asymmetry appears in the I/sub c/(theta/sub a/)

Engineering approach to relative quantitative assessment of safety culture and related social issues in NPP operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sivokon, V.; Gladyshev, M.; Malkin, S.

2005-01-01

The report is devoted to presentation of engineering approach and software tool developed for Safety Culture (SC) assessment as well as to the results of their implementation at Smolensk NPP. The engineering approach is logic evolution of the IAEA ASSET method broadly used at European NPPs in 90-s. It was implemented at Russian and other plants including Olkiluoto NPP in Finland. The approach allows relative quantitative assessing and trending the aspects of SC by the analysis of evens features and causes, calculation and trending corresponding indicators. At the same time plant's operational performances and related social issues, including efficiency of plant operation and personnel reliability, can be monitored. With the help of developed tool the joint team combined from personnel of Smolensk NPP and RRC 'Kurchatov Institute' ('KI') issued the SC self-assessment report, which identifies: families of recurrent events, main safety and operational problems ; their trends and importance to SC and plant efficiency; recommendations to enhance SC and operational performance

Taxonomy of Campylobacter, Arcobacter, Helicobacter and related bacteria: current status, future prospects and immediate concerns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

On, Stephen L.W.

2001-01-01

systematics, there remain a number of important issues concerning the classification of various campylobacterial taxa that require careful consideration. Ultimately, these issues are relevant to many working in the field of applied microbiology, including clinicians, veterinarians, epidemiologists...... and taxonomists. The purpose of this article is briefly to review the major developments in the taxonomy of Campylobacter from its inception to the present day; summarize the most recent changes in the field; analyse current topical issues of special relevance to applied microbiologists, including identification...

Current status of international training center for nuclear security and security issues in Korea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Jong-UK; Sin, Byung Woo

2013-01-01

During the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) President Lee declared that Korea will establish an international training center (ITC) for nuclear security near the Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC). It will be open to the world in 2014. The government's long term goal is to make the center a hub for education and training in the nuclear field in Asia. The ITC will accomplish this by establishing facilities for practical and realistic exercises through the use of a test bed and various other experiments. The center will also provide comprehensive educational programs for nuclear newcomers. Its main programs include: a well designed educational program, customized training courses, and on-the-job training. This paper will discuss the current status of the ITC and describe practical plans for solving current security issues in Korea. (authors)

Nuclear power and related safety issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valdezco, Eulinia M.

2009-01-01

There are a cluster of trends that reinforce the importance of nuclear power on the world scene. Energy is the essential underpinning for economic and societal progress and, as the developing world advances, the demand for energy is growing significantly. At the same time, the carbon-intensive sources of energy on which the world has traditionally relied - in particular, coal, oil, and natural gas - pose grave threats because the growing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will bring about climate and ocean acidification. At the same time, rising and volatile fossil fuel prices, coupled with concerns about the security of supplies of oil and gas, enhance interest in sources of energy that do not pose the same costs and risks. As an important part of the world's response to these threats, many countries are embarking on either new or expanded nuclear power programs, more commonly referred to as a nuclear renaissance. The construction of nuclear power plants is under consideration in over thirty countries that do not currently use nuclear power. For new entrants that may have experience in constructing and operating large-scale industrial and infrastructure projects, they may not be fully familiar with the unique requirements of nuclear power and may not be fully recognize the major commitments and understandings that they must assume. Additionally, an understanding of the full range of obligations may have diminished in those countries with only one or a few reactors and where nuclear construction has not been undertaken for a long time. It is therefore in the interest of all to ensure that every country with a nuclear power program has the resources, expertise, authority and capacity to assure safety in a complete and effective manner and is committed to doing so. This presentation will outline some of the more important national infrastructure considerations including nuclear safety issues for launching a nuclear power program. An update on the

University Intervention into Community Issues as Dialogic Public Relations: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, Jamie M.

2007-01-01

This paper examines a study of the wastewater collection and treatment issues of Little Rock and North Little Rock, Arkansas by University of Arkansas at Little Rock personnel and how it constitutes dialogic public relations. The paper defines dialogic public relations using Kent and Taylor's work and then uses their criteria to describe how this…

Current status of environmental, health, and safety issues of electrochemical capacitors for advanced vehicle applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vimmerstedt, L J; Hammel, C J

1997-04-01

Electrochemical capacitors are a candidate for traction power assists in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Other advanced automotive applications, while not the primary focus of current development efforts, are also possible. These include load leveling high-energy batteries, power conditioning electronics, electrically hated catalysts, electric power steering, and engine starter power. Higher power and longer cycle life are expected for electrochemical capacitors than for batteries. Evaluation of environmental, health, and safety (EH and S) issues of electrochemical capacitors is an essential part of the development and commercialization of electrochemical capacitors for advanced vehicles. This report provides an initial EH and S assessment. This report presents electrochemical capacitor electrochemistry, materials selection, intrinsic material hazards, mitigation of those hazards, environmental requirements, pollution control options, and shipping requirements. Most of the information available for this assessment pertains to commercial devices intended for application outside the advanced vehicle market and to experiment or prototype devices. Electrochemical capacitors for power assists in HEVs are not produced commercially now. Therefore, materials for advanced vehicle electrochemical capacitors may change, and so would the corresponding EH and S issues. Although changes are possible, this report describes issues for likely electrochemical capacitor designs.

Rip current related drowning deaths and rescues in Australia 2004-2011

Science.gov (United States)

Brighton, B.; Sherker, S.; Brander, R.; Thompson, M.; Bradstreet, A.

2013-04-01

Rip currents are a common hazard to beachgoers found on many beaches around the world, but it has proven difficult to accurately quantify the actual number of rip current related drowning deaths in many regions and countries. Consequently, reported estimates of rip current drowning can fluctuate considerably and are often based on anecdotal evidence. This study aims to quantify the incidence of rip current related drowning deaths and rescues in Australia from 2004 to 2011. A retrospective search was undertaken for fatal and non-fatal rip-related drowning incidents from Australia's National Coronial Information System (NCIS), Surf Life Saving Australia's (SLSA, 2005-2011) SurfGuard Incident Report Database (IRD), and Media Monitors for the period 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2011. In this time, rip currents were recorded as a factor in 142 fatalities of a total of 613 coastal drowning deaths (23.2%), an average of 21 per year. Rip currents were related to 44% of all beach-related drowning deaths and were involved in 57.4% of reported major rescues in Australian locations where rips occur. A comparison with international operational statistics over the same time period describes rip-related rescues as 53.7% of the total rescues in the US, 57.9% in the UK and 49.4% in New Zealand. The range 49-58% is much lower than 80-89% traditionally cited. The results reported are likely to underestimate the size of the rip current hazard, because we are limited by the completeness of data on rip-related events; however this is the most comprehensive estimate to date. Beach safety practitioners need improved data collection and standardized definitions across organisations. The collection of drowning data using consistent categories and the routine collection of rip current information will allow for more accurate global comparisons.

Current bioethical issues in parasitology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boury D.

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Parasitic diseases constitute the most common infections among the poorest billion people, entailing high mortality rates and leading to long-term infirmities and poverty. Although the setting-up of public health programs implies many ethical consequences, the range of specific questions in parasitology that can be attributed to bioethics remains, to a large extent, unexplored. From the present analysis, it emerged three main issues which characterize ethical stakes in parasitology: accounting the complexity of the field of intervention, putting the principle of justice into practice and managing the changing context of research. From the research angle, medical parasitology-mycology, as other biological disciplines, is undergoing tensions derived from biological reductionism. Thanks to its links with the history and philosophy of the sciences, bioethics can help to clarify them and to explain the growing hold that technologies have over scientific thinking. On the whole, researchers as well as clinicians are called on to assume a specific responsibility, proportional to their competence and their place in the making of scientific, health, economic and social decisions.

Innovations in Play Therapy: Issues, Process, and Special Populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Landreth, Garry L., Ed.

This book is a compilation of discussions on current issues in play therapy. It is designed to help therapists fill in the gaps about working with special populations, which is often not directly addressed in other play therapy resources. The object of the book is to bring together information related to issues and dynamics of the process of this…

Ethical issues in exercise psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Pauline, Jeffrey S; Pauline, Gina A; Johnson, Scott R; Gamble, Kelly M

2006-01-01

Exercise psychology encompasses the disciplines of psychiatry, clinical and counseling psychology, health promotion, and the movement sciences. This emerging field involves diverse mental health issues, theories, and general information related to physical activity and exercise. Numerous research investigations across the past 20 years have shown both physical and psychological benefits from physical activity and exercise. Exercise psychology offers many opportunities for growth while positively influencing the mental and physical health of individuals, communities, and society. However, the exercise psychology literature has not addressed ethical issues or dilemmas faced by mental health professionals providing exercise psychology services. This initial discussion of ethical issues in exercise psychology is an important step in continuing to move the field forward. Specifically, this article will address the emergence of exercise psychology and current health behaviors and offer an overview of ethics and ethical issues, education/training and professional competency, cultural and ethnic diversity, multiple-role relationships and conflicts of interest, dependency issues, confidentiality and recording keeping, and advertisement and self-promotion.

[Current status and issues in development of occupational physicians in Japan].

Science.gov (United States)

Mori, Koji

2013-10-01

Training systems for occupational physicians (OPs) have existed since the Industrial Safety and Health Act was enacted in 1972. However, it is necessary to enhance them because of changes in the business environment of Japanese corporations and working patterns have brought about new needs of occupational health (OH) activities. In this paper, OPs were classified into three categories; doctors who spend a part of working time on OH activities, i.e. "non-specialist OPs", doctors who engage in OH activities full-time, i.e. "specialists OPs", and doctors who manage corporate-wide occupational health programs or lead programs at OH service institutes, i.e. "lead OPs", and the status and the issues were reviewed. The major concern identified for each of the three categories in training were found to be quality management for non-specialist OPs, short supply for specialists OPs, and development of competencies such as leadership and management skills for lead OPs, respectively. Current efforts and ideas to improve the training systems were discussed.

Allostatic Load: Single Parents, Stress-Related Health Issues, and Social Care

Science.gov (United States)

Johner, Randy L.

2007-01-01

This article explores the possible relationships between allostatic load (AL) and stress-related health issues in the low-income single-parent population, using both a population health perspective (PHP) and a biological framework. A PHP identifies associations among such factors as gender, income, employment, and social support and their…

The Asilomar Survey: Stakeholders' Opinions on Ethical Issues Related to Brain-Computer Interfacing.

Science.gov (United States)

Nijboer, Femke; Clausen, Jens; Allison, Brendan Z; Haselager, Pim

2013-01-01

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) research and (future) applications raise important ethical issues that need to be addressed to promote societal acceptance and adequate policies. Here we report on a survey we conducted among 145 BCI researchers at the 4 th International BCI conference, which took place in May-June 2010 in Asilomar, California. We assessed respondents' opinions about a number of topics. First, we investigated preferences for terminology and definitions relating to BCIs. Second, we assessed respondents' expectations on the marketability of different BCI applications (BCIs for healthy people, BCIs for assistive technology, BCIs-controlled neuroprostheses and BCIs as therapy tools). Third, we investigated opinions about ethical issues related to BCI research for the development of assistive technology: informed consent process with locked-in patients, risk-benefit analyses, team responsibility, consequences of BCI on patients' and families' lives, liability and personal identity and interaction with the media. Finally, we asked respondents which issues are urgent in BCI research.

Issues Raised in Relation to Radioactive Waste Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Atherton, Elizabeth

2003-01-01

Nirex has undertaken various consultations with different stakeholders to identify their issues and concerns about radioactive waste management in general and specific aspects of Nirex's work. This paper will outline what dialogue techniques Nirex has undertaken and the issues and concerns that people have raised during the events. It will outline some of the work that Nirex is undertaking to address stakeholders' issues and concerns. Nirex has used a variety of dialogue techniques co-ordinated under the Nirex Involvement Programme to engage with stakeholders about the work we undertake. We are now trying to address the issues, concerns, scenarios and questions raised in our work programme. Key lessons that we have learned in undertaking the dialogues include: The importance of appropriate facilitation and organisation of meetings; The need for a clear purpose for meetings; Being flexible to the needs of the attendees and the issues they raise; Providing feedback to those who participate and following up issues. Through engaging with the public Nirex has learned that: Radioactive waste is not an everyday concern for people; The public can, will and want to engage with the issue of radioactive waste management. This includes engaging with the ethical debate. To facilitate this Nirex and others need to: Provide information in a neutral form outlining the pros and cons and including various people's opinions; Use proactive techniques to allow access and space for people to discuss the issues; Demonstrate how people's opinions have been taken into account. People understand the issues very differently to the way institutions understand them. There is a need for institutions to learn to understand public concerns and the ways in which the public understand issues, as well as for the public to understand the institutional positions better. We are using these insights to develop our future work in this area

ACCOUNTING AND AUDIT OPERATIONS ON CURRENT ACCOUNT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koblyanska Olena

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction. The article is devoted to theoretical, methodical and practical issues of accounting and auditing of operations on the current account. The purpose of the study is to deepen and consolidate the theoretical and practical knowledge of the issues of accounting and auditing of operations on the current account, identify practical problems with the implementation of the methodology and organization of accounting and auditing of operations on the current account and develop recommendations for the elimination of deficiencies and improve the accounting and auditing. Results. The issue of the relevance of proper accounting and audit of transactions on the current account in the bank is considered. The research of typical operations on the current account was carried out with using of the method of their reflection in the account on practical examples. Features of the audit of transactions on the current account are examined, the procedure for its implementation is presented, and types of abuses and violations that occur while performing operations on the current account are identified. The legal regulation of accounting, analysis and control of operations with cash on current accounts is considered. The problem issues related to the organization and conducting of the audit of funds in the accounts of the bank are analyzed, as well as the directions of their solution are determined. The proposals for determining the sequence of actions of the auditor during the check of cash flow on accounts in the bank are provided. Conclusions. The questions about theoretical, methodological and practical issues of accounting and auditing of operations on the current account in the bank. A study of typical operations with cash on the current account was carried out with the use of the method of their reflection in the accounts and the features of the auditing of cash on the account.

Photoinduced current and emission induced by current in a ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

... Refresher Courses · Symposia · Live Streaming. Home; Journals; Pramana – Journal of Physics; Volume 86; Issue 3. Photoinduced current and emission induced by current in a nanowire transistor: Temperature dependence. Darehdor Mahvash Arabi Shahtahmassebi Nasser. Regular Volume 86 Issue 3 March 2016 pp ...

Sport-related anxiety: current insights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ford JL

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Jessica L Ford, Kenneth Ildefonso, Megan L Jones, Monna Arvinen-Barrow Department of Kinesiology, Integrative Health Care & Performance Unit, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA Abstract: To date, much research has been devoted to understanding how anxiety can affect sport performance, both in practice and in competitive settings. It is well known that sport has the potential for high levels of stress and anxiety, and that practicing and employing a range of psychological strategies can be beneficial in anxiety management. Equally, growing evidence also suggests that anxiety can play a role in sport injury prevention, occurrence, rehabilitation, and the return to sport process. The purpose of this paper is to provide current insights into sport-related anxiety. More specifically, it will provide the reader with definitions and theoretical conceptualizations of sport-related anxiety. This will be followed by making a case for considering the term "performance" to be broader than activities associated with sport-related performance in practice and competition, by including performance activities associated with sport injury prevention, rehabilitation, and the return to sport process. The paper will then highlight the importance of recognizing early signs and symptoms of anxiety, and the potential need for referral. Finally, the conclusions will emphasize the need for appropriate, client-specific, and practitioner competent care for athletes experiencing sport-related anxiety. Keywords: anxiety, sport, performance, injury, sport medicine professional, sport psychology, mental health

Current status and issues of nuclear human resource development/General activities of Japan nuclear human resource development network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, Hiroyuki; Hino, Sadami; Tsuru, Hisanori

2013-01-01

The Japan Nuclear Human Resource Development Network (JN-HRD Net) was established in November 2010 with the aim of developing a framework for mutual cooperation and information sharing among nuclear-related organizations. Although the tasks and goals of developing human resources in the nuclear field have been shifted since the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the necessity of fostering capable personnel in this field stays unchanged and the importance of our network activities has further emphasized. The meeting of JN-HRD Net was held on the 5th of February 2013, where its activities by each field were reported and views and opinions were actively exchanged between more than 90 participants. This paper briefly describes current status and issues of JN-HRD Net and its general activities conducted by the JN-HRD Net secretariat. (J.P.N.)

Selected legal and institutional issues related to Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nanda, V. P.

1979-06-01

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), an attractive alternative to traditional energy sources, is still in the early stages of development. To facilitate OTEC commercialization, it is essential that a legal and institutional framework be designed now so as to resolve uncertainties related to OTEC development, primarily involving jurisdictional, regulatory, and environmental issues. The jurisdictional issues raised by OTEC use are dependent upon the site of an OTEC facility and its configuration; i.e., whether the plant is a semipermanent fixture located offshore or a migrating plant ship that provides a source of energy for industry at sea. These issues primarily involve the division of authority between the Federal Government and the individual coastal states. The regulatory issues raised are largely speculative: they involve the adaptation of existing mechanisms to OTEC operation. Finally, the environmental issues raised center around compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as well as international agreements. 288 references.

Current issues of RNAi therapeutics delivery and development.

Science.gov (United States)

Haussecker, D

2014-12-10

12 years following the discovery of the RNAi mechanism in Man, a number of RNAi therapeutics development candidates have emerged with profiles suggesting that they could become drugs of significant medical importance for diseases like TTR amyloidosis, HBV, solid cancers, and hemophilia. Despite this robust progress, the perception of RNAi therapeutics has been on a roller-coaster ride driven not only by science, but also regulatory trends, the stock markets, and Big Pharma business development decisions [1]. This presentation provides an update on the current state of RNAi therapeutics development with a particular focus on what RNAi delivery can achieve today and key challenges to be overcome to expand therapeutic opportunities. The delivery of RNAi triggers to disease-relevant cell types clearly represents the rate-limiting factor in broadly expanding the applicability of RNAi therapeutics. Today, with at least 3 delivery options (lipid nanoparticles/LNPs, GalNAc-siRNA conjugates, Dynamic PolyConjugates/DPCs) for which profound gene knockdowns have been demonstrated in non-human primates and in the clinic, RNAi therapeutics should in principle be able to address most diseases related to gene expression in the liver. Given the central importance of the liver in systemic physiology, this already represents a significant therapeutic and commercial opportunity rivaling that of e.g. monoclonal antibodies. Beyond the liver, there is a reason to believe that current RNAi therapeutics technologies can address a number of solid tumors (e.g. LNPs), diseases of the eye (e.g. self-delivering RNAi triggers) as well as diseases involving the respiratory epithelium (e.g. aerosolized LNPs), certain phagocytic cells (LNPs), hematopoietic stem cells and their progeny (lentiviral DNA-directed RNAi), vascular endothelial cells (cationic lipoplexes), and certain cell types in the kidney (self-delivering RNAi triggers, DPCs; Table 1). Despite this success, there has been a sense that

Inter-organizational future proof EHR systems A review of the security and privacy related issues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Linden, Helma; Kalra, Dipak; Hasman, Arie; Talmon, Jan

2009-01-01

OBJECTIVES: Identification and analysis of privacy and security related issues that occur when health information is exchanged between health care organizations. METHODS: Based on a generic scenario questions were formulated to reveal the occurring issues. Possible answers were verified in

Issues relating to the siting of tritium-fueled fusion experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reilly, H.J.; Holland, D.F.

1985-01-01

A preconceptual design study and safety analysis of the Tokamak Fusion Core Experiment (TFCX) was conducted in 1984 for the Department of Energy. This paper summarizes the calculations and comparisons related to TFCX siting and environmental issues such as radiological doses to the public living near the facility. Included are discussions of (a) routine and accidental releases of tritium, (b) routine releases of activated air, (c) direct radiation (including ''skyshine''), and (d) seismic criteria. Other potential issues are also discussed including the amount of tritium that might be retained in the graphite armor in the torus, the possible severity of magnet accidents, and the extent of damage due to plasma disruptions. The conclusions drawn from these calculations should be applicable to some of the other planned ignited core experiments that have operating parameters similar to those of TFCX

Issues relating to the siting of tritium-fueled fusion experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reilly, H.J.; Holland, D.F.

1985-01-01

A preconceptual design study and safety analysis of the Tokamak Fusion Core Experiment (TFCX) was conducted in 1984 for the Department of Energy. This paper summarizes the calculations and comparisons related to TFCX siting and environmental issues such as radiological doses to the public living near the facility. Included are discussions of (a) routine and accidental releases of tritium, (b) routine releases of activated air, (c) direct radiation (including skyshine), and (d) seismic criteria. Other potential issues are also discussed including the amount of tritium that might be retained in the graphite armor in the torus, the possible severity of magnet accidents, and the extent of damage due to plasma disruptions. The conclusions drawn from these calculations should be applicable to some of the other planned ignited core experiments that have operating parameters similar to those of TFCX

A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE TOURISM SECTOR - CURRENT TRENDS AND ISSUES IN THE BULGARIAN TOURIST BUSINESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kostadin Valkov

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Thе analysis presented in current article deepens and summarizes the results of an economic study focused on the management of human resources in the sector "Tourism". The expected changes in organizational and technological terms are taken into account. The law on tourism in the Republic of Bulgaria and the types of taxes that directly and indirectly affect those employed in tourism are considered. Leading accents are the current trends and issues that arise from the lack of skilled workers in this sector and their deficit caused by the seasonal nature of employment. Growing gray economy is concerned as a major obstacle to development of the tourism industry and its future.

Overview of nuclear power plant equipment qualification issues and practices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torr, K.G.

1989-01-01

This report presents a view of and commentary on the current status of equipment qualification (EQ) in nuclear industries of the major western nations. The introductory chapters discuss the concepts of EQ, the elements of EQ process and highlight some of the key issues in EQ. A brief review of industry practices and some of the prevalent industrial standards is presented, followed by an overview of current regulatory positions in the USA, France, Germany and Sweden. A summary and commentary on the latest research findings on issues relating to accident simulation, to aging simulation and some special topics related to EQ, has been contributed by Franklin Research Centre of Philadelphia. The last part of the report deals with equipment qualification in Canada and gives recommendations on EQ for new plants as well as currently operational CANDU nuclear power plants

Islamic Religious Leaders in Israel as Social Agents for Change on Health-Related Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen-Dar, Michal; Obeid, Samira

2017-12-01

Islamic religious leaders (IRLs) have the potential to influence health education, health promotion, and positive health outcomes among their own communities. This study aims to examine the role and effectiveness of Arab Muslim religious leaders, in Israel, as social agents for change on health-related issues, focusing on reduction in infant mortality, prematurity, and congenital malformations attributed to consanguineous marriage. A self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to 127 IRLs, in 2012, to gain insights into practice, attitudes, and perceptions of IRLs toward their role as social agents for change on health-related issues. The results indicate that two-thirds (58%) of the surveyed IRLs have provided frequent advice on issues related to preventing infant mortality, congenital malformation, and prematurity over the past two years. Most IRLs indicated that they have keen interest in their communities' health matters (97%) and regard dealing with them as part of their job (85%). The study identified three enabling factors that had significant influence on the IRLs' attitude. These influences are: awareness and knowledge of the health issues, the perception that these issues and their impact on the community are part of their responsibility, and the empowerment they felt through the participation in the Ministry of Health (Northern Region Health Office) educational seminar series, in the year 2000. The main conclusion from this study indicates that IRLs are effective social agents for change and that the educational interventions can be a useful and effective strategy to encourage IRLs to cooperate with health providers and promote public health among their own communities.

Current Issues for Higher Education Information Resources Management.

Science.gov (United States)

CAUSE/EFFECT, 1996

1996-01-01

Issues identified as important to the future of information resources management and use in higher education include information policy in a networked environment, distributed computing, integrating information resources and college planning, benchmarking information technology, integrated digital libraries, technology integration in teaching,…

Fundamental issues in the manufacturing of nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) and related nanosystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, R.; Alapatt, G.F.; Gupta, N.; Poole, K.F.

2011-01-01

Nanostructures in dimension below about 10 nm show interesting properties because of the effect of low-dimension physics. However, to utilize these properties in practice to commercialize NEMS and related nano-systems require an extremely precise manufacturing process. This paper briefly evaluates the fundamental issues involved in manufacturing the nano-scale systems.

Current distribution in conducting nanowire networks

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Ankush; Vidhyadhiraja, N. S.; Kulkarni, Giridhar U.

2017-07-01

Conducting nanowire networks find diverse applications in solar cells, touch-screens, transparent heaters, sensors, and various related transparent conducting electrode (TCE) devices. The performances of these devices depend on effective resistance, transmittance, and local current distribution in these networks. Although, there have been rigorous studies addressing resistance and transmittance in TCE, not much attention is paid on studying the distribution of current. Present work addresses this compelling issue of understanding current distribution in TCE networks using analytical as well as Monte-Carlo approaches. We quantified the current carrying backbone region against isolated and dangling regions as a function of wire density (ranging from percolation threshold to many multiples of threshold) and compared the wired connectivity with those obtained from template-based methods. Further, the current distribution in the obtained backbone is studied using Kirchhoff's law, which reveals that a significant fraction of the backbone (which is believed to be an active current component) may not be active for end-to-end current transport due to the formation of intervening circular loops. The study shows that conducting wire based networks possess hot spots (extremely high current carrying regions) which can be potential sources of failure. The fraction of these hot spots is found to decrease with increase in wire density, while they are completely absent in template based networks. Thus, the present work discusses unexplored issues related to current distribution in conducting networks, which are necessary to choose the optimum network for best TCE applications.

Ethical issues related to computerised family medical histories in sickle cell disease: Inforare.

Science.gov (United States)

Franrenet, Sandra; Duchange, Nathalie; Galactéros, Fréderic; Quantin, Catherine; Cohen, Olivier; Nzouakou, Ruben; Sudraud, Sophie; Hervé, Christian; Moutel, Grégoire

2010-10-01

The Inforare project aims to set up a system for the sharing of clinical and familial data, in order to study how genes are related to the severity of sickle cell disease. While the computerisation of clinical records represents a valuable research goal, an ethical framework is necessary to guarantee patients' protection and their rights in this developing field. Issues relating to patient information during the Inforare study were analysed by the steering committee. Several major concerns were discussed by the committee and formalized in the patients' information letter: educating patients to aid the recruitment of family members, rules of confidentiality and the disclosure of aggregate, individual and unexpected research results. This paper presents the main issues addressed.

Leveraging People-Related Maturity Issues for Achieving Higher Maturity and Capability Levels

Science.gov (United States)

Buglione, Luigi

During the past 20 years Maturity Models (MM) become a buzzword in the ICT world. Since the initial Crosby's idea in 1979, plenty of models have been created in the Software & Systems Engineering domains, addressing various perspectives. By analyzing the content of the Process Reference Models (PRM) in many of them, it can be noticed that people-related issues have little weight in the appraisals of the capabilities of organizations while in practice they are considered as significant contributors in traditional process and organizational performance appraisals, as stressed instead in well-known Performance Management models such as MBQA, EFQM and BSC. This paper proposes some ways for leveraging people-related maturity issues merging HR practices from several types of maturity models into the organizational Business Process Model (BPM) in order to achieve higher organizational maturity and capability levels.

THE PRACTICE OF ECT IN INDIA : ISSUES RELATING YO THE ADMINISTRATION OF ECT

OpenAIRE

Agarwal, A.K.; Andrade, Chittaranjan; Reddy, M. Venkataswamy

1992-01-01

A questionnaire on ECT, tapping altitudes, opinions and usage, was mailed to all medical members of the Indian Psychiatric Society whose addresses were known; 263 (28.8%) responded. This paper, the first in a series that presents the results of the survey, provides demographic data on the respondents and covers issues relating to the administration of ECT. Specific issues discussed include the ECT personnel, location of the ECT facility, certain ECT prescription patterns, psychiatrist-patient...

Finding online health-related information: usability issues of health portals.

Science.gov (United States)

Gurel Koybasi, Nergis A; Cagiltay, Kursat

2012-01-01

As Internet and computers become widespread, health portals offering online health-related information become more popular. The most important point for health portals is presenting reliable and valid information. Besides, portal needs to be usable to be able to serve information to users effectively. This study aims to determine usability issues emerging when health-related information is searched on a health portal. User-based usability tests are conducted and eye movement analyses are used in addition to traditional performance measures. Results revealed that users prefer systematic, simple and consistent designs offering interactive tools. Moreover, content and partitions needs to be shaped according to the medical knowledge of target users.

PRECISION MEASUREMENT OF MUON G-2 AND ACCELERATOR RELATED ISSUES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

BROWN, H.N.; BUNCE, G.; CAREY, R.M.; CUSHMAN, P.; DANBY, G.T.; DEBEVEC, P.T.; DEILE, M.; DENG, H.; DENINGER, W.; DHAWAN, S.K.; MENG, W.

2001-01-01

A precision measurement of the anomalous g value, a μ =(g-2)/2, for the positive muon has been made using high intensity protons available at the Brookhaven AGS. The result based on the 1999 data a μ =11659202(14)(6) x 10 10 (1.3ppm) is in good agreement with previous measurements and has an error one third that of the combined previous data. The current theoretical value from the standard model is a μ (SM)=11659159.6(6.7) x 10 10 (0.57 ppm) and differ by over 2.5 standard deviation with experiment. Issues with reducing systematic errors and enhancing the injection and storage efficiencies are discussed

Multiple system responses program: Identification of concerns related to a number of specific regulatory issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murphy, G.A.; Casada, M.L.; Palko, L.E.; Roberts, M.W.

1989-10-01

This document describes the activities and results of the Multiple System Responses (MSR) program conducted by the Nuclear Operations Analysis Center (NOAC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The objective of the MSR program was to gather and review documentation for several unresolved safety issues and related programs of interest, and from that documentation, describe any additional potential safety concerns. The MSR program provides information that will aid the NRC staff in making an assessment of the relative safety significance of the concerns through the established prioritization process. Judgments were not made regarding the validity of the concerns expressed by others. Rather, the concerns were documented and potential safety issues were developed and defined as specifically as possible. Twenty-one potential safety issues were developed from the documented concerns. Additional information was gathered to support the NRC efforts in reviewing these issues for prioritization. 73 refs., 2 tabs

Current and emerging occupational safety and health (OSH) issues in the healthcare sector, including home and community care

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jong, T. de; Bos, E.; Pawlowska-Cyprysiak, K.; Hildt-Ciupinska, K.; Malinska, M.; Nicolescu, G.; Trifu, A.

2014-01-01

This report gives an overview of the current and emerging OSH issues for health- and social care workers and how these affect their safety and health at work and influence the quality of care they provide. It combines a literature review and the responses received to a questionnaire sent to OSH

Current safety issues in the development of geological disposal of radioactive waste in France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raimbault, P.

2002-01-01

Deep geological disposal of high level and medium level long-lived waste in France is one of the three research paths defined by the law of 30th December 1991 on radioactive waste management. Research should be undertaken on: separation and transmutation of long-lived radionuclides in these waste; reversible or non reversible disposal in deep geological layers supported by investigations in underground laboratories; processes for conditioning and long term surface storage of these waste. In 2006, a global evaluation report on this research should be established by the Government and sent to the French Parliament. On this basis the Parliament should promulgate a law providing new objectives for the research and possibly presenting a framework for a deep disposal process. The French Nuclear Safety Authority has the responsibility to license the underground laboratories foreseen in the second research path and the nuclear facilities involved in the first and third research paths and make sure that existing high level and medium level long-lived waste currently produced are properly managed. It will give its advice on the safety aspects associated to the envisaged future management options. Its main concern is that results obtained in 2006 will be conclusive enough to take decisions for future orientations. Concerning the deep disposal option, under the responsibility of ANDRA (Agence Nationale pour la gestion des Dechets RAdioactifs), the construction of an underground laboratory has been authorized on the Bure site, in eastern France, and the shafts are under construction. The main issue is the level of investigations that may be performed in the host rock in order to support the feasibility study of a disposal concept on this site. Other issues are the elaboration of new safety standards to set a framework for a safety assessment of a disposal concept, the specifications for acceptance of waste packages in a future deep disposal, and relation of safety matters with

Sleep and Recovery in Team Sport: Current Sleep-Related Issues Facing Professional Team-Sport Athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Fullagar, Hugh H K; Duffield, Rob; Skorski, Sabrina; Coutts, Aaron J; Julian, Ross; Meyer, Tim

2015-11-01

While the effects of sleep loss on performance have previously been reviewed, the effects of disturbed sleep on recovery after exercise are less reported. Specifically, the interaction between sleep and physiological and psychological recovery in team-sport athletes is not well understood. Accordingly, the aim of the current review was to examine the current evidence on the potential role sleep may play in postexercise recovery, with a tailored focus on professional team-sport athletes. Recent studies show that team-sport athletes are at high risk of poor sleep during and after competition. Although limited published data are available, these athletes also appear particularly susceptible to reductions in both sleep quality and sleep duration after night competition and periods of heavy training. However, studies examining the relationship between sleep and recovery in such situations are lacking. Indeed, further observational sleep studies in team-sport athletes are required to confirm these concerns. Naps, sleep extension, and sleep-hygiene practices appear advantageous to performance; however, future proof-of-concept studies are now required to determine the efficacy of these interventions on postexercise recovery. Moreover, more research is required to understand how sleep interacts with numerous recovery responses in team-sport environments. This is pertinent given the regularity with which these teams encounter challenging scenarios during the course of a season. Therefore, this review examines the factors that compromise sleep during a season and after competition and discusses strategies that may help improve sleep in team-sport athletes.

Theological education, considered from South Africa: Current issues ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Taking into review the newly published series of substantial multi-authored volumes on ecumenical theological education internationally, this article identifies, from the author's own experience in ecumenical theological education and from his publications in this field, the central issue of specificity, locality and context in ...

Patients' Perspectives on Information and Communication About Sexual and Relational Issues in Rheumatology Health Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Helland, Ylva; Dagfinrud, Hanne; Haugen, Mona-Iren; Kjeken, Ingvild; Zangi, Heidi

2017-06-01

Men and women with rheumatic diseases report a significantly negative impact on multiple areas of life, including sexuality. Research indicates that patients want to discuss sexual issues with health professionals (HPs) in rheumatology care but these issues are rarely addressed in consultations. The objective of the present study was to explore patients' experiences of communication with HPs about disease-related sexual issues, their perceptions of the relevance of these issues in rheumatology care and their preferences for how these topics should be handled. A qualitative design was used and 18 semi-structured interviews were performed, including eight women and ten men with inflammatory rheumatic joint diseases, aged 29-62 years. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed thematically. Four main themes were derived from the interviews: (i) relevance of sexual issues; (ii) vital conditions for communication; (iii) individual preferences in mode and timing of information and communication; and (iv) benefits of information and communication. The participants expressed that, although sexual issues are relevant, necessary conditions for good communication are largely lacking. HPs' knowledge, experience and personal skills, as well as having sufficient time were essential. HPs lack of initiating sexual topics contributed to uncertainty about whether their sexual challenges were disease related and whether it was a legitimate topic to discuss in rheumatology care. Patients wanted HPs to possess knowledge about possible disease-related challenges in sexual life and intimate relationships, and to facilitate communication about these aspects. There is a need to develop practice guidelines to enable HPs to integrate sexual issues as an aspect of healthcare delivery in a patient-friendly manner. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Proceedings of the fifth national symposium on environment: focal theme environmental issues related to mining, milling and metallurgy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sastry, V.N.; Bapat, V.N.; Desai, M.V.M.

1996-02-01

The fifth National Symposium on Environment was held in Calcutta from February 28 to March 1, 1996. It focused on environmental issues related to mining, milling and metallurgy. Some of the topics covered are coal mining and related environmental issues, chromium mining and associated environmental problems, heavy metals especially nuclear materials and the environmental management strategies, arsenic contamination in water in West Bengal areas and radiological issues related to fertilizers and gypsum industries. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately. refs., figs., tabs

Low Calorie Diet Affects Aging-Related Factors

Science.gov (United States)

... Current Issue Past Issues Research News From NIH Low Calorie Diet Affects Aging-Related Factors Past Issues / ... to learn more about the effects of sustained low-calorie diets in humans on factors affecting aging. ...

Pain-related psychological issues in hand therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamasaki, Tokiko; Pelletier, René; Bourbonnais, Daniel; Harris, Patrick; Choinière, Manon

Literature review. Pain is a subjective experience that results from the modulation of nociception conveyed to the brain via the nervous system. Perception of pain takes place when potential or actual noxious stimuli are appraised as threats of injury. This appraisal is influenced by one's cognitions and emotions based on her/his pain-related experiences, which are processed in the forebrain and limbic areas of the brain. Unarguably, patients' psychological factors such as cognitions (eg, pain catastrophizing), emotions (eg, depression), and pain-related behaviors (eg, avoidance) can influence perceived pain intensity, disability, and treatment outcomes. Therefore, hand therapists should address the patient pain experience using a biopsychosocial approach. However, in hand therapy, a biomedical perspective predominates in pain management by focusing solely on tissue healing. This review aims to raise awareness among hand therapists of the impact of pain-related psychological factors. This literature review allowed to describe (1) how the neurophysiological mechanisms of pain can be influenced by various psychological factors, (2) several evidence-based interventions that can be integrated into hand therapy to address these psychological issues, and (3) some approaches of psychotherapy for patients with maladaptive pain experiences. Restoration of sensory and motor functions as well as alleviating pain is at the core of hand therapy. Numerous psychological factors including patients' beliefs, cognitions, and emotions alter their pain experience and may impact on their outcomes. Decoding the biopsychosocial components of the patients' pain is thus essential for hand therapists. Copyright © 2018 Hanley & Belfus. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Health-equity issues related to childhood obesity: a scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Vargas, Clemencia M; Stines, Elsie M; Granado, Herta S

2017-06-01

The purpose of this scoping review was to determine the health-equity issues that relate to childhood obesity. Health-equity issues related to childhood obesity were identified by analyzing food environment, natural and built environment, and social environment. The authors searched Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science, using the keywords "children" and "obesity." Specific terms for each environment were added: "food desert," "advertising," "insecurity," "price," "processing," "trade," and "school" for food environment; "urban design," "land use," "transportation mode," "public facilities," and "market access" for natural and built environment; and "financial capacity/poverty," "living conditions," "transport access," "remoteness," "social support," "social cohesion," "working practices," "eating habits," "time," and "social norms" for social environment. Inclusion criteria were studies or reports with populations under age 12, conducted in the United States, and published in English in 2005 or later. The final search yielded 39 references (16 for food environment, 11 for built environment, and 12 for social environment). Most food-environment elements were associated with obesity, except food insecurity and food deserts. A natural and built environment that hinders access to physical activity resources and access to healthy foods increased the risk of childhood obesity. Similarly, a negative social environment was associated with childhood obesity. More research is needed on the effects of food production, living conditions, time for shopping, and exercise, as related to childhood obesity. Most elements of food, natural and built, and social-environments were associated with weight in children under age 12, except food insecurity and food deserts. © 2017 American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

Implications of Current Ecological Thinking for Biodiversity Conservation: a Review of the Salient Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tabatha J. Wallington

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Given escalating concern worldwide about the loss of biodiversity, and given biodiversity's centrality to quality of life, it is imperative that current ecological knowledge fully informs societal decision making. Over the past two decades, ecological science has undergone many significant shifts in emphasis and perspective, which have important implications for how we manage ecosystems and species. In particular, a shift has occurred from the equilibrium paradigm to one that recognizes the dynamic, non-equilibrium nature of ecosystems. Revised thinking about the spatial and temporal dynamics of ecological systems has important implications for management. Thus, it is of growing concern to ecologists and others that these recent developments have not been translated into information useful to managers and policy makers. Many conservation policies and plans are still based on equilibrium assumptions. A fundamental difficulty with integrating current ecological thinking into biodiversity policy and management planning is that field observations have yet to provide compelling evidence for many of the relationships suggested by non-equilibrium ecology. Yet despite this scientific uncertainty, management and policy decisions must still be made. This paper was motivated by the need for considered scientific debate on the significance of current ideas in theoretical ecology for biodiversity conservation. This paper aims to provide a platform for such discussion by presenting a critical synthesis of recent ecological literature that (1 identifies core issues in ecological theory, and (2 explores the implications of current ecological thinking for biodiversity conservation.

Study of community leaders in a nuclear host community: local issues, expectations and support and opposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bronfman, B.H.

1977-08-01

A study of community leaders was undertaken in Hartsville, Tennessee, site of the TVA Hartsville Nuclear Power Plant currently under construction. Leaders were found to be extremely supportive of the plant and of TVA's efforts to mitigate impacts expected to result from construction. Like their citizen counterparts, leaders expect economic benefits and some growth-related disruption to occur as a result of the plant, while environmental impacts are seen as extremely unlikely to occur. Plant-related issues, such as housing availability and traffic congestion, dominate leaders' thinking about current issues. These issues are expected to continue to be important in the future, and new issues dealing with growth and planning, employment and taxation are expected to arise

MDEP Design-Specific Common Position CP-EPRWG-02. Common position addressing Fukushima Daiichi-related issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-10-01

A severe accident involving several units took place in Japan at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) in March 2011. The immediate cause of the accident was an earthquake followed by a tsunami coupled with inadequate provisions against the consequences of such events in the design. Opportunities to improve protection against a realistic design basis tsunami were not taken. As a consequence of the tsunami, safety equipment and the related safety functions were lost at the plant, leading to core damage in three units and subsequently to large radioactive releases (INES 7). Several studies have already been performed to better understand the accident progression and detailed technical studies are still in progress in Japan and elsewhere. In the meantime, on-going studies on the behaviour of NPPs in very severe situations, similar to Fukushima Daiichi, seek to identify potential vulnerabilities in plant design and operation; to suggest reasonably practicable upgrades; or to recommend enhanced regulatory requirements and guidance to address such situations. Likewise, agencies around the world that are responsible for regulating the design, construction and operation of EPR plants are engaged in similar activities. The MDEP EPR Working Group (EPRWG) members consist of members from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Finland, China, India and Sweden. Because not all of these countries have completed the regulatory review of their EPR applications yet, this paper identifies common preliminary approaches to address potential safety improvements for EPR plants, as well as common general expectations for new nuclear power plants, as related to lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident or Fukushima Daiichi-related issues. After the safety reviews of the EPR design applications that are currently in review are completed, the regulators will update this paper to reflect their safety conclusions regarding the EPR design and how the design could be

Anticipating issues related to increasing preimplantation genetic diagnosis use: a research agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Klitzman, Robert; Appelbaum, Paul S; Chung, Wendy; Sauer, Mark

2008-01-01

Increasing use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) poses numerous clinical, social, psychological, ethical, legal and policy dilemmas, many of which have received little attention. Patients and providers are now considering and using PGD for a widening array of genetic disorders, and patients may increasingly seek 'designer babies.' In the USA, although governmental oversight policies have been discussed, few specific guidelines exist. Hence, increasingly, patients and providers will face challenging ethical and policy questions of when and for whom to use PGD, and how it should be financed. These issues should be better clarified and addressed through collection of data concerning the current use of PGD in the USA, including factors involved in decision making about PGD use, as well as the education of the various communities that are, and should be, involved in its implementation. Improved understanding of these issues will ultimately enhance the development and implementation of future clinical guidelines and policies.

Hydrology of and Current Monitoring Issues for the Chicago Area Waterway System, Northeastern Illinois

Science.gov (United States)

Duncker, James J.; Johnson, Kevin K.

2015-10-28

The Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) consists of a combination of natural and manmade channels that form an interconnected navigable waterway of approximately 90-plus miles in the metropolitan Chicago area of northeastern Illinois. The CAWS serves the area as the primary drainage feature, a waterway transportation corridor, and recreational waterbody. The CAWS was constructed by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC). Completion of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (initial portion of the CAWS) in 1900 breached a low drainage divide and resulted in a diversion of water from the Lake Michigan Basin. A U.S. Supreme Court decree (Consent Decree 388 U.S. 426 [1967] Modified 449 U.S. 48 [1980]) limits the annual diversion from Lake Michigan. While the State of Illinois is responsible for the diversion, the MWRDGC regulates and maintains water level and water quality within the CAWS by using several waterway control structures. The operation and control of water levels in the CAWS results in a very complex hydraulic setting characterized by highly unsteady flows. The complexity leads to unique gaging requirements and monitoring issues. This report provides a general discussion of the complex hydraulic setting within the CAWS and quantifies this information with examples of data collected at a range of flow conditions from U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gaging stations and other locations within the CAWS. Monitoring to address longstanding issues of waterway operation, as well as current (2014) emerging issues such as wastewater disinfection and the threat from aquatic invasive species, is included in the discussion.

Transdisciplinarity: A Review of Its Origins, Development, and Current Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jay Hillel Bernstein

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Transdisciplinarity originated in a critique of the standard configuration of knowledge in disciplines in the curriculum, including moral and ethical concerns. Pronouncements about it were first voiced between the climax of government-supported science and higher education and the long retrenchment that began in the 1970s. Early work focused on questions of epistemology and the planning of future universities and educational programs. After a lull, transdisciplinarity re-emerged in the 1990s as an urgent issue relating to the solution of new, highly complex, global concerns, beginning with climate change and sustainability and extending into many areas concerning science, technology, social problems and policy, education, and the arts. Transdisciplinarity today is characterized by its focus on “wicked problems” that need creative solutions, its reliance on stakeholder involvement, and engaged, socially responsible science. In simultaneously studying multiple levels of, and angles on, reality, transdisciplinary work provides an intriguing potential to invigorate scholarly and scientific inquiry both in and outside the academy.

Compiler issues associated with safety-related software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feinauer, L.R.

1991-01-01

A critical issue in the quality assurance of safety-related software is the ability of the software to produce identical results, independent of the host machine, operating system, or compiler version under which the software is installed. A study is performed using the VIPRE-0l, FREY-01, and RETRAN-02 safety-related codes. Results from an IBM 3083 computer are compared with results from a CYBER 860 computer. All three of the computer programs examined are written in FORTRAN; the VIPRE code uses the FORTRAN 66 compiler, whereas the FREY and RETRAN codes use the FORTRAN 77 compiler. Various compiler options are studied to determine their effect on the output between machines. Since the Control Data Corporation and IBM machines inherently represent numerical data differently, methods of producing equivalent accuracy of data representation were an important focus of the study. This paper identifies particular problems in the automatic double-precision option (AUTODBL) of the IBM FORTRAN 1.4.x series of compilers. The IBM FORTRAN version 2 compilers provide much more stable, reliable compilation for engineering software. Careful selection of compilers and compiler options can help guarantee identical results between different machines. To ensure reproducibility of results, the same compiler and compiler options should be used to install the program as were used in the development and testing of the program

76 FR 52731 - On-Line Complaint Form for Service-Related Issues in Air Transportation

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-23

... for Service-Related Issues in Air Transportation AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of... consumer protection and civil rights laws and regulations related to air transportation. The Enforcement... travelers, and to ensure safe and adequate service in air transportation. Filing a complaint using a web...

Origin of the Nonsinusoidal current-phase relation of a superconducting bridge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sugahara, M.

1977-01-01

The current-phase relation of a long superconducting bridge is investigated with the use of the Aslamazov-Larkin model and the Ginzburg-Landau equation. The feedback effect of the supercurrent to the phase difference in the weak link is taken into consideration. The derived nonsinusoidal current-phase relation explains the experiments of Jackel et al. very well

Understanding Pregnancy and Birth Issues

Science.gov (United States)

... Navigation Bar Home Current Issue Past Issues Understanding Pregnancy and Birth Issues Past Issues / Winter 2008 Table ... turn Javascript on. What is a High-Risk Pregnancy? All pregnancies involve a certain degree of risk ...

Experimental programs and facilities for ASTRID development related to the Severe Accident Issue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Journeau, C.; Suteau, C.; Trotignon, L.; Willermoz, G.; Ducros, G.; Courouau, J.L.; Ruggieri, J.M.; Serre, F.

2013-01-01

A comprehensive experimental program has been launched in order to gain new data in support of the severe accident studies related to the ASTRID demonstrator. The main new issues with respect to the historic experimental database are mainly related to new design options: heterogeneous core with thick pins; new materials; new severe accident mitigation systems such as - corium discharge channels; - core-catcher with sacrificial materials; - some issues remaining open as Fuel Coolant Interaction. Experiments are needed both in-pile and out of pile: - Depending on the objectives, the out of pile experiments can be conducted - with simulant; - with prototypic corium; - or with irradiated fuel. A new large scale corium facility, FOURNAISE, must be built to fulfill this program. Already, experimental R&D started in existing facilities, such as VITI or CORRONA

Mechanical generation of spin current

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mamoru eMatsuo

2015-07-01

Full Text Available We focus the recent results on spin-current generation from mechanical motion such as rigid rotation and elastic deformations. Spin transport theory in accelerating frames is constructed by using the low energy expansion of the generally covariant Dirac equation. Related issues on spin-manipulation by mechanical rotation are also discussed.

Current and Future Critical Issues in Rocket Propulsion Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Navaz, Homayun K.; Dix, Jeff C.

1998-01-01

The objective of this research was to tackle several problems that are currently of great importance to NASA. In a liquid rocket engine several complex processes take place that are not thoroughly understood. Droplet evaporation, turbulence, finite rate chemistry, instability, and injection/atomization phenomena are some of the critical issues being encountered in a liquid rocket engine environment. Pulse Detonation Engines (PDE) performance, combustion chamber instability analysis, 60K motor flowfield pattern from hydrocarbon fuel combustion, and 3D flowfield analysis for the Combined Cycle engine were of special interest to NASA. During the summer of 1997, we made an attempt to generate computational results for all of the above problems and shed some light on understanding some of the complex physical phenomena. For this purpose, the Liquid Thrust Chamber Performance (LTCP) code, mainly designed for liquid rocket engine applications, was utilized. The following test cases were considered: (1) Characterization of a detonation wave in a Pulse Detonation Tube; (2) 60K Motor wall temperature studies; (3) Propagation of a pressure pulse in a combustion chamber (under single and two-phase flow conditions); (4) Transonic region flowfield analysis affected by viscous effects; (5) Exploring the viscous differences between a smooth and a corrugated wall; and (6) 3D thrust chamber flowfield analysis of the Combined Cycle engine. It was shown that the LTCP-2D and LTCP-3D codes are capable of solving complex and stiff conservation equations for gaseous and droplet phases in a very robust and efficient manner. These codes can be run on a workstation and personal computers (PC's).

Clinical decision support systems in hospital care using ubiquitous devices: Current issues and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Baig, Mirza Mansoor; GholamHosseini, Hamid; Moqeem, Aasia A; Mirza, Farhaan; Lindén, Maria

2017-11-01

Supporting clinicians in decision making using advanced technologies has been an active research area in biomedical engineering during the past years. Among a wide range of ubiquitous systems, smartphone applications have been increasingly developed in healthcare settings to help clinicians as well as patients. Today, many smartphone applications, from basic data analysis to advanced patient monitoring, are available to clinicians and patients. Such applications are now increasingly integrating into healthcare for clinical decision support, and therefore, concerns around accuracy, stability, and dependency of these applications are rising. In addition, lack of attention to the clinicians' acceptability, as well as the low impact on the medical professionals' decision making, are posing more serious issues on the acceptability of smartphone applications. This article reviews smartphone-based decision support applications, focusing on hospital care settings and their overall impact of these applications on the wider clinical workflow. Additionally, key challenges and barriers of the current ubiquitous device-based healthcare applications are identified. Finally, this article addresses current challenges, future directions, and the adoption of mobile healthcare applications.

17 CFR 230.488 - Effective date of registration statements relating to securities to be issued in certain business...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... statements relating to securities to be issued in certain business combination transactions. 230.488 Section... REGULATIONS, SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 Investment Companies; Business Development Companies § 230.488 Effective date of registration statements relating to securities to be issued in certain business combination...

Current issues in the transport of radioactive waste and spent fuel: work by the World Nuclear Transport Institute

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neau, H-J.; Bonnardel-Azzarelli, B. [World Nuclear Transport Inst., London (United Kingdom)

2014-07-01

Various kinds of radioactive waste are generated from nuclear power and fuel cycle facilities. These materials have to be treated, stored and eventually sent to a repository site. Transport of wastes between these various stages is crucial for the sustainable utilization of nuclear energy. The IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (SSR-6) have, for many decades, provided a safe and efficient framework for radioactive materials transport and continue to do so. However, some shippers have experienced that in the transport of certain specific radioactive wastes, difficulties can be encountered. For example, some materials produced in the decommissioning of nuclear facilities are unique in terms of composition or size and can be difficult to characterize as surface contaminated objects (SCO) or homogeneous. One way WNTI (World Nuclear Transport Institute) helps develop transport methodologies is through the use of Industry Working Groups, bringing together WNTI members with common interests, issues and experiences. The Back-End Transport Industry Working Group focuses on the following issues currently. - Characterization of Waste: techniques and methods to classify wastes - Large Objects: slightly contaminated large objects (ex. spent steam generators) transport - Dual Use Casks: transportable storage casks for spent nuclear fuels, including the very long term storage of spent fuel - Fissile Exceptions: new fissile exceptions provisions of revised TS-R-1 (SSR-6) The paper gives a broad overview of current issues for the packaging and transport of radioactive wastes and the associated work of the WNTI. (author)

How Do Learners in Developed and Developing Countries Relate to Environmental Issues?

Science.gov (United States)

Trumper, Ricardo

2010-01-01

The present study was carried out in the framework of earlier research on environmental education for sustainability, using data collected in the ROSE Project. Attention was focused mainly on students' responses to sections and items related to environmental issues, regarding their countries' degree of development. The research questions dealt…

Development and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of the Domestic Violence-Related Financial Issues Scale (DV-FI)

Science.gov (United States)

Weaver, Terri L.; Sanders, Cynthia K.; Campbell, Carole L.; Schnabel, Meg

2009-01-01

Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs at disproportionate rates within impoverished groups of women and can include economic abuse as a form of psychological maltreatment. The current study developed a comprehensive assessment of the unique financial issues facing female victims of IPV using a sheltered sample (N = 113). An exploratory factor…

Mercury issues related to NPDES and the CERCLA watershed project at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-11-01

The purpose of this document is to present the current understanding of the issues and options surrounding compliance with the current National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit conditions. This is a complicated issue that directly impacts, and will be directly impacted by, ongoing CERCLA activities in Lower East Fork Poplar Creek and the Clinch River/Poplar Creek. It may be necessary to reconstitute the whole and combine actions and decisions regarding the entire creek (origin to confluence with the Clinch River) to develop a viable long-term strategy that meets regulatory goals and requirements as well as those of DOE's 10-Year Plan and the new watershed management permitting approach. This document presents background information on the Reduction of Mercury in Plant Effluents (RMPE) and NPDES programs insofar as it is needed to understand the issues and options. A tremendous amount of data has been collected to support the NPDES/RMPE and CERCLA programs. These data are not presented, although they may be referenced and conclusions based on them may be presented, as necessary, to support discussion of the options

The role of time and time perspective in age-related processes: Introduction to the special issue.

Science.gov (United States)

Fung, Helene H; Isaacowitz, Derek M

2016-09-01

There currently appears to be a general consensus on the relationship between time perspective and aging, such that (a) future time is perceived as more limited with age and (b) older people are more present-focused and less future-focused than younger people. At the same time, there are debates about whether these age differences are positively related to well-being and to what extent there are boundary conditions beyond which these age differences would cease to occur. The 8 manuscripts included in this Special Issue attempt to shed light on these debates. In doing so, they refine the dominant theoretical perspective on the topic-socioemotional selectivity theory-and introduce new theoretical perspectives. New measures and methodologies for studying time perspective and aging are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Using Agent Based Distillation to Explore Issues Related to Asymmetric Warfare

Science.gov (United States)

2009-10-01

official definition of asymmetric warfare , considering that its use was redundant to irregular warfare [30]. 2 Such as the Lanchester Equations...RTP-MP-MSG-069 23 - 1 Using Agent Based Distillation to Explore Issues Related to Asymmetric Warfare Martin Adelantado, Jean-Michel Mathé...shows that both conventional and asymmetric warfare are characterised by nonlinear behaviours and that engagement is a Complex Adaptive System (CAS

Oxidative stress and life histories: unresolved issues and current needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Speakman, John R; Blount, Jonathan D; Bronikowski, Anne M; Buffenstein, Rochelle; Isaksson, Caroline; Kirkwood, Tom B L; Monaghan, Pat; Ozanne, Susan E; Beaulieu, Michaël; Briga, Michael; Carr, Sarah K; Christensen, Louise L; Cochemé, Helena M; Cram, Dominic L; Dantzer, Ben; Harper, Jim M; Jurk, Diana; King, Annette; Noguera, Jose C; Salin, Karine; Sild, Elin; Simons, Mirre J P; Smith, Shona; Stier, Antoine; Tobler, Michael; Vitikainen, Emma; Peaker, Malcolm; Selman, Colin

2015-12-01

Life-history theory concerns the trade-offs that mold the patterns of investment by animals between reproduction, growth, and survival. It is widely recognized that physiology plays a role in the mediation of life-history trade-offs, but the details remain obscure. As life-history theory concerns aspects of investment in the soma that influence survival, understanding the physiological basis of life histories is related, but not identical, to understanding the process of aging. One idea from the field of aging that has gained considerable traction in the area of life histories is that life-history trade-offs may be mediated by free radical production and oxidative stress. We outline here developments in this field and summarize a number of important unresolved issues that may guide future research efforts. The issues are as follows. First, different tissues and macromolecular targets of oxidative stress respond differently during reproduction. The functional significance of these changes, however, remains uncertain. Consequently there is a need for studies that link oxidative stress measurements to functional outcomes, such as survival. Second, measurements of oxidative stress are often highly invasive or terminal. Terminal studies of oxidative stress in wild animals, where detailed life-history information is available, cannot generally be performed without compromising the aims of the studies that generated the life-history data. There is a need therefore for novel non-invasive measurements of multi-tissue oxidative stress. Third, laboratory studies provide unrivaled opportunities for experimental manipulation but may fail to expose the physiology underpinning life-history effects, because of the benign laboratory environment. Fourth, the idea that oxidative stress might underlie life-history trade-offs does not make specific enough predictions that are amenable to testing. Moreover, there is a paucity of good alternative theoretical models on which contrasting

Waste management regulatory compliance issues related to D ampersand D activities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hitch, J.P.; Arnold, S.E.; Burwinkle, T.; Daugherty, D.

1994-01-01

The waste management activities at ORNL related to the decontamination and decommissioning (D ampersand D) of radioactively contaminated buildings are divided into four categories: Operational facilities, inactive or surplus facilities, future facilities planning, and D ampersand D activities. This paper only discusses regulatory issues related to inactive or surplus facilities. Additionally, rather than attempting to address all resulting waste streams and related regulations, this paper highlights only a few of the ORNL waste streams that present key regulatory issues

Differences in Moral Judgment on Animal and Human Ethics Issues between University Students in Animal-Related, Human Medical and Arts Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Verrinder, Joy M; Ostini, Remo; Phillips, Clive J C

2016-01-01

Moral judgment in relation to animal ethics issues has rarely been investigated. Among the research that has been conducted, studies of veterinary students have shown greater use of reasoning based on universal principles for animal than human ethics issues. This study aimed to identify if this was unique to students of veterinary and other animal-related professions. The moral reasoning of first year students of veterinary medicine, veterinary technology, and production animal science was compared with that of students in non-animal related disciplines of human medicine and arts. All students (n = 531) completed a moral reasoning test, the VetDIT, with animal and human scenarios. When compared with reasoning on human ethics issues, the combined group of students evaluating animal ethics issues showed higher levels of Universal Principles reasoning, lower levels of Personal Interest reasoning and similar levels of Maintaining Norms reasoning. Arts students showed more personal interest reasoning than students in most animal-related programs on both animal and human ethics issues, and less norms-based reasoning on animal ethics issues. Medical students showed more norms-based reasoning on animal ethics issues than all of the animal-related groups. There were no differences in principled reasoning on animal ethics issues between program groups. This has implications for animal-related professions and education programs showing that students' preference for principled reasoning on animal ethics issues is not unique to animal-related disciplines, and highlighting the need to develop student (and professional) capacity to apply principled reasoning to address ethics issues in animal industries to reduce the risk of moral distress.

Differences in Moral Judgment on Animal and Human Ethics Issues between University Students in Animal-Related, Human Medical and Arts Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Verrinder, Joy M.; Ostini, Remo; Phillips, Clive J. C.

2016-01-01

Moral judgment in relation to animal ethics issues has rarely been investigated. Among the research that has been conducted, studies of veterinary students have shown greater use of reasoning based on universal principles for animal than human ethics issues. This study aimed to identify if this was unique to students of veterinary and other animal-related professions. The moral reasoning of first year students of veterinary medicine, veterinary technology, and production animal science was compared with that of students in non-animal related disciplines of human medicine and arts. All students (n = 531) completed a moral reasoning test, the VetDIT, with animal and human scenarios. When compared with reasoning on human ethics issues, the combined group of students evaluating animal ethics issues showed higher levels of Universal Principles reasoning, lower levels of Personal Interest reasoning and similar levels of Maintaining Norms reasoning. Arts students showed more personal interest reasoning than students in most animal-related programs on both animal and human ethics issues, and less norms-based reasoning on animal ethics issues. Medical students showed more norms-based reasoning on animal ethics issues than all of the animal-related groups. There were no differences in principled reasoning on animal ethics issues between program groups. This has implications for animal-related professions and education programs showing that students’ preference for principled reasoning on animal ethics issues is not unique to animal-related disciplines, and highlighting the need to develop student (and professional) capacity to apply principled reasoning to address ethics issues in animal industries to reduce the risk of moral distress. PMID:26934582

Some ethical issues in technology transfer and applications

Science.gov (United States)

Shine, Kenneth I.

1995-10-01

Health care systems all around the world are struggling to provide care in an era of limited resources. In an article entitled, 'Straight Talk About Rationing,' Arthur Kaplan reviews the work of the Swedish Commission designed to prioritize health care for that country. The commission identified three core principles that they felt should underlie decisions about priorities for health care. Those principles were (1) all human beings are equally valuable; (2) society must pay special attention to the needs of the weakest and most vulnerable; and (3) all other things being equal, cost efficiency in gaining the greatest return for the amount of money spent must prevail. These are three extremely useful principles which can be helpful to us as we consider many of the issues confronted in this country about the allocation of resources for health. I would like to consider three major issues. The first issue is the current evolving nature of health care and the ethical dilemmas that exist in the present system. In balancing increased access to care with decreasing cost, particularly in managed care, all of us are concerned about ethical issues. I would like to emphasize that the current system -- the system that we have lived with and is changing -- has inherent in it a series of ethical dilemmas. Secondly, I would like to consider issues related to productivity and its measurement in relation to technology. This relates to the third item in the Swedish Commission, which is the principle that we ought to spend money in the most cost-efficient way. Finally, I would like to discuss the dilemma of decision making about health and how that impacts upon the ethics of health care in the application of technology.

Mixing of immiscible fluids in chaotic flows and related issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ottino, J.M.

1993-01-01

The basis goal of this work was to obtain a basic understanding of mixing of immiscible fluids leading to the determination of flow conditions which result in efficient breakup and dispersion of one mass of fluid in the bulk of another. Related issues were the prediction of the morphological structures and drop size distribution for a given set of operating conditions. The primary motivation for these investigations was to produce basic knowledge leading to increased understanding of industrial processes involving blending, agitation, emulsification, and dissolution

How Older Adults and Their Families Perceive Family Talk about Aging-Related EOL Issues: A Dialectical Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Egbert, Nichole; Child, Jeffrey T; Lin, Mei-Chen; Savery, Carol; Bosley, Tammy

2017-04-17

For older adults, approaching end-of-life (EOL) brings unique transitions related to family relationships. Unfortunately, most families greatly underestimate the need to discuss these difficult issues. For example, parents approaching EOL issues often struggle with receiving assistance from others, avoiding family conflict, and maintaining their sense of personhood. In addition, discussions of EOL issues force family members to face their parents' mortality, which can be particularly difficult for adult children to process emotionally. This study explored aging issues identified by aging parents and their families as they traverse these impending EOL changes. Ten focus groups of seniors ( n = 65) were conducted. Focus groups were organized according to race (African-American/European-American), gender, and whether the older adult was living independently or in an assisted care facility. When asked open-ended questions about discussing aging and EOL issues with family members, participants revealed tensions that led us to consider Relational Dialectics Theory as a framework for analysis. The predominant tension highlighted in this report was certainty versus uncertainty, with the two sub-themes of sustained life versus sustained personhood and confronting versus avoiding EOL issues. For these data, there were more similarities than differences as a result of gender, race, or living situation than one might expect, although culture and financial status were found to be influential in the avoidance of EOL discussions. The results of this study help to provide additional insight into relational dialectics related to aging, EOL, and the importance of communication in facilitating family coping.

Current-phase relation of a Bose-Einstein condensate flowing through a weak link

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piazza, F.; Smerzi, A.; Collins, L. A.

2010-01-01

We study the current-phase relation of a Bose-Einstein condensate flowing through a repulsive square barrier by solving analytically the one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The barrier height and width fix the current-phase relation j(δφ), which tends to j∼cos(δφ/2) for weak barriers and to the Josephson sinusoidal relation j∼sin(δφ) for strong barriers. Between these two limits, the current-phase relation depends on the barrier width. In particular, for wide-enough barriers, we observe two families of multivalued current-phase relations. Diagrams belonging to the first family, already known in the literature, can have two different positive values of the current at the same phase difference. The second family, new to our knowledge, can instead allow for three different positive currents still corresponding to the same phase difference. Finally, we show that the multivalued behavior arises from the competition between hydrodynamic and nonlinear-dispersive components of the flow, the latter due to the presence of a soliton inside the barrier region.

European Communication Monitor: Current developments, issues and tendencies of the professional practice of public relations in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moreno, A.; Zerfass, A.; Tench, R.; Verčič, D.; Verhoeven, P.

2009-01-01

The European Communication Monitor (ECM) research explores the current developments for communications disciplines, practices and instruments. It is an extensive research project to monitor trends in communication management, analyse the changing framework for the profession driven by European

Economic Issues of Fast Reactor in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Hongyi

2013-01-01

Conclusions: 1. More and more fast reactors could be appearing in the world currently and near future. 2. China gets little experience and practice about the economics issues of sodium cooled fast reactors. 3. The economic issues become more and more important for the deplot of fast reactors. Suggestions: 1. An authoritative economic evaluation solution for fast reactor and related fuel cycles facilities is necessary. The solution may be developed by the interested country in order to share the few data, experience and methodology. 2. A new initiative to help to share the economic information for fast reactor and related fuel cycle facilities is necessary. A meeting like TM-44899 organized by the IAEA is very beneficial for this topic and hopefully will continue

How to govern physician-hospital exchanges: contractual and relational issues in Belgian hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Trybou, Jeroen; Gemmel, Paul; Annemans, Lieven

2014-07-01

Our aim was to investigate contractual mechanisms in physician-hospital exchanges. The concepts of risk-sharing and the nature of physician-hospital exchanges - transactional versus relational - were studied. Two qualitative case studies were performed in Belgium. Hospital executives and physicians were interviewed to develop an in-depth understanding of contractual and relational issues that shape physician-hospital contracting in acute care hospitals. The underlying theoretical concepts of agency theory and social exchange theory were used to analyse the data. Our study found that physician-hospital contracting is highly complex. The contract is far more than an economic instrument governing financial aspects. The effect of the contract on the nature of exchange - whether transactional or relational - also needs to be considered. While it can be argued that contractual governance methods are increasingly necessary to overcome the difficulties that arise from the fragmented payment framework by aligning incentives and sharing financial risk, they undermine the necessary relational governance. Relational qualities such as mutual trust and an integrative view on physician-hospital exchanges are threatened, and may be difficult to sustain, given the current fragmentary payment framework. Since health care policy makers are increasing the financial risk borne by health care providers, it can be argued that this also increases the need to share financial risk and to align incentives between physician and hospital. However, our study demonstrates that while economic alignment is important in determining physician-hospital contracts, the corresponding impact on working relationships should also be considered. Moreover, it is important to avoid a relationship between hospital and physician predominantly characterized by transactional exchanges thereby fostering an unhealthy us-and-them divide and mentality. Relational exchange is a valuable alternative to contractual

The current state of abortion law and practice in Northern Ireland.

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, Pauline; Campbell, Patricia; Clinton, Alison

This paper reviews current abortion law and practice in Northern Ireland (NI). It explores the origins of NI's abortion law and its complexity in relation to current practice. It reviews issues relating to women seeking terminations in NI and Great Britain and reviews attempts by the Family Planning Association in NI to require the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety NI to clarify the current legal basis for termination of pregnancy and to provide guidance for health professionals engaged in this practice. The paper also discusses some of the issues surrounding abortion in NI and seeks to explain why this subject is causing controversy and debate, especially following a judicial review in February and Marie Stopes opening a termination service in Belfast.

Google and Women's Health-Related Issues: What Does the Search Engine Data Reveal?

Science.gov (United States)

Baazeem, Mazin; Abenhaim, Haim

2014-01-01

Identifying the gaps in public knowledge of women's health related issues has always been difficult. With the increasing number of Internet users in the United States, we sought to use the Internet as a tool to help us identify such gaps and to estimate women's most prevalent health concerns by examining commonly searched health-related keywords in Google search engine. We collected a large pool of possible search keywords from two independent practicing obstetrician/gynecologists and classified them into five main categories (obstetrics, gynecology, infertility, urogynecology/menopause and oncology), and measured the monthly average search volume within the United States for each keyword with all its possible combinations using Google AdWords tool. We found that pregnancy related keywords were less frequently searched in general compared to other categories with an average of 145,400 hits per month for the top twenty keywords. Among the most common pregnancy-related keywords was "pregnancy and sex' while pregnancy-related diseases were uncommonly searched. HPV alone was searched 305,400 times per month. Of the cancers affecting women, breast cancer was the most commonly searched with an average of 247,190 times per month, followed by cervical cancer then ovarian cancer. The commonly searched keywords are often issues that are not discussed in our daily practice as well as in public health messages. The search volume is relatively related to disease prevalence with the exception of ovarian cancer which could signify a public fear.

Barriers to radiotherapy utilization: Consumer perceptions of issues influencing radiotherapy-related decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundaresan, Puma; King, Madeleine; Stockler, Martin; Costa, Daniel; Milross, Christopher

2017-10-01

Radiation therapy (RT) is an essential and cost-effective cancer treatment, but it is underutilized in Australia. We aimed to quantify consumers' perceptions of factors that influence RT decisions. A cross-sectional, survey-based study was conducted in March-August 2012. Potential participants were invited to complete an electronic survey disseminated through multiple patient support and advocacy groups throughout New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Study invitations were also placed in local newspapers across NSW with hard copy surveys mailed to respondents. Current or past cancer patients (and carers) who had been offered RT were eligible to participate regardless of their RT decision. Of the 1191 participants (electronic, n = 1153; hard copy, n = 38), 91% were female, most (88%) were current or past patients, and 78% had accepted RT. Issues commonly perceived to be moderate to strong influencers of RT decisions were: concern about acute and long-term side effects; management of side effects; fear and anxiety regarding RT; lack of awareness of RT; lack of local availability of RT; and lack of RT information resources. Those who declined RT were significantly more likely to highlight practical difficulties with receiving RT. Although availability of RT is well recognized, other issues such as fear and anxiety about RT and perceived side effects appear to feature prominently in consumers' decisions. Perceived practical difficulties with receiving RT may have influenced those who declined RT. There may be a need for information resources, support services and interventions to increase awareness of RT. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Current collective engagement stakeholder strategies for South African labour relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popi C. Madlala

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Collective engagement stakeholder strategies are significant for the creation of harmony in the workplace. It is a known fact that the South African (SA labour environment has been dominated by industrial action before and after the 1994 democratic transition. To be precise, the statistics reveals that industrial action has increased and become more destructive post-1994. Purpose: The purpose of this article was to present the current collective engagement stakeholder strategies for South African labour relations. Motivation for the study: The SA mining sector has seen more violent strikes, with a higher number of deaths, injuries, criminal activities, arrests, dismissals and job losses in recent years. This article captures the current mining stakeholder strategies shaping the existing labour relations environment. Research approach, design and method: This is a theoretical article highlighting the recent literature on collective engagement in the mining sector in South Africa. Main findings: This article presents the current labour relations incidents, reflecting the need for more effective collective engagement and stakeholder management strategies. Practical and managerial implications: The current labour relations context has prompted key stakeholders at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC to look specifically at promoting employment, labour market stability, the right to strike, minimising violence through collective bargaining and highlighting the role of the state, reducing vulnerability through social protection and increasing the minimum wage. Contribution or value add: This article adds theoretically to the existing body of knowledge regarding collective engagement and stakeholder strategies in the SA mining sector.

Trade With the European Union: Recent Trends and Electronic Commerce Issues

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1999-01-01

.... trade with the European Union (EU). As major trading partners, the United States and the EU are currently addressing several trade-related issues, including their approach to electronic commerce, or e-commerce...

LMFBR safety. 6. Review of current issues and bibliography of literature (1977)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, J.R.; Keilholtz, G.W.

1978-01-01

This report discusses the current status of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) development. Selected bibliographic information on LMFBRs relative to the development and safety of the breeder reactor is presented for the year 1977. The bibliography consists of approximately 198 abstracts covering research and development, operating experience, and design practices. Keyword, author, and permuted-title indexes are included for completeness

Editorial: Local Islam and Current Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Editor Al-Jami'ah: Journal of Islamic Studies

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Themes in this edition vary ranging from feminism, literature, films, politics, charitable organization, Sufism, to the relation of Islam and Soviet Union, and the relation of a Jewish group and Islam.

Giftedness Counseling in Germany: Consultation Reasons and Issues and Their Relations to Gender, Age, and Aptitude

Science.gov (United States)

Hannig, Nele; Koop, Christine

2016-01-01

In Germany, parents can request counseling and assessment of school-related learning and behavioral issues from either independent counseling centers or school-based ones. Focusing on giftedness consultations at independent counseling centers, the goal of this study is to provide a detailed description of the reasons for and the issues discussed…

Current Issues and Challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agnihotri, Newal K.

2004-01-01

Mr. Makoto Satake, Director of the Board and Deputy Executive General Manager, Nuclear Power Division, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), was interviewed regarding his views on a series of questions related to the future of nuclear power plant construction and operation in Japan. Regarding nuclear power plant economics, he discusses what improvements should be made in the construction cost reduction area and in operation and maintenance costs to make costs more viable. Regarding public relations, he stated that regaining public trust is the most important today. Information disclosure to the public and two-way communication activities (direct discussions, public hearings, etc.) are being expanded. To improve economic competitiveness, two points are important: electric power generating cost reduction through stable operation and a legal framework that eliminates uncertainty by collecting funds to promote plutonium recycling and back-end costs. In the construction of a new plant, the coexistence of quality assurance and a shortened construction period are essential. It is necessary to decide on the design and on the construction process as early as possible. In Japan, 3D-computer aided design is used as the key technology for efficient construction. Moreover, in order to improve project management abilities, computer software aimed at process control and design information management has been developed using past construction experiences. The software will be applied to the next construction project. He cited the reasons why government support is essential for new plant construction, and in what ways existing nuclear power plants in Japan have improved in the last five years. As far as the best available technology for constructing plants, he recommended the large-block construction method and the all-weather construction method as effective construction technologies. The advanced boiling water reactor is best suited for plant construction in the future. Regarding

Infectious Diseases: Current Issues in School and Community Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Bower, Wilma; And Others

1986-01-01

Some children in American schools have known and unknown communicable diseases, including herpes, cytomegalovirus, AIDS, mononucleosis, pinworms, and hepatitis. This article examines major public health issues, school responsibility, preventative measures (like basic hygiene), and the need for more effective community education programs. A disease…

A study on the implement of regulatory issue problems about service business

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, In Hwan; Shim, H. S.; Yoon, K. H.; Jun, I. Y.; Kang, W. S.; Chang, J. H.

2004-12-01

This study is intended to derive a proposal for revision of the Atomic Energy Law, with understanding of differences between regulatory requirements and current issues based on findings during safety review and regular inspection. The contents and scope of this study is as follows: - Deep review for service business in 'the rationalization of the radiation protection system related with use of radionuclide', studied by Korea Isotope Association and presentation in the Korea Association for radiation protection, - Efficient regulatory activity through pre-finding of current regulatory issues to be derived during safety review and regular inspection

Teacher formation related to socio-scientific issues: complexity, contributions and limitations of an educational practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariuce Campos de Moraes

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This reflection refers to teacher formation related to socio-scientific issues. Whereas such matters take into account the impact of scientific development in society, including ethical aspects and encompass dilemmas involving a wide range of prospects for its resolution, we propose analysis of the complexity that is inherent in their teaching. Thus, we aimed to analyze different spaces and teaching time that produce and are produced in close linkage between theory and practice, as well as their contributions and limitations. The study required a dynamic conversation system that led to the analysis indicators. The issue of sustainability was shown to be feasible for educational planning as cover technical and scientific knowledge, ethical, social and economic pressures. The collective production allowed understand arguments and reflective-creative processes. The lived relations in schools has accompanied and limited the ideas expressed on the socio-scientific issues. We understand that the simultaneity of research and reflection in the sociocultural context has strengthened teacher formation.

Power and momentum relations in rotating magnetic field current drive

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hugrass, W N [Flinders Univ. of South Australia, Bedford Park. School of Physical Sciences

1984-01-01

The use of rotating magnetic fields (RMF) to drive steady currents in plasmas involves a transfer of energy and angular momentum from the radio frequency source feeding the rotating field coils to the plasma. The power-torque relationships in RMF systems are discussed and the analogy between RMF current drive and the polyphase induction motor is explained. The general relationship between the energy and angular momentum transfer is utilized to calculate the efficiency of the RMF plasma current drive. It is found that relatively high efficiencies can be achieved in RMF current drive because of the low phase velocity and small slip between the rotating field and the electron fluid.

Radioactive waste management issues related to the conversion of the Chernobyl sarcophagus into an ecologically safe system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudy, C.G.; Vovk, I.F.

1997-01-01

The sarcophagus currently suffers from the extreme conditions in which it was hastily built, it may not last for 30 years, as was intended, and it may collapse earlier. Another cause of concern is the interaction of fuel-containing masses with water percolating into the shelter, possibly leading to migration and accumulation of fissile materials which, in turn, may result in reaching the state of criticality. The consistency of nuclear fuel debris is changing with time, and the monitoring and safety systems are deteriorating. With the increasing uncertainties of the data acquired, the confidence of any prediction is very low. The collapse of the sarcophagus would lead to a new radioactive contamination of the territory, groundwater and rivers. Thus, its conversion into an ecologically safe system is a pressing problem. The Gordian knot of the problem is to maintain safe management of a huge amount of messy radioactive waste both inside and outside the sarcophagus. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issue in the light of the prospects for conversion of the sarcophagus and related activities currently being undertaken or planned in Ukraine

How would we deal with radiation related issues in high school educational programs?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saeki, Kuniko [Attached High School of Akita Keizai Houka Univ., Akita (Japan)

1999-09-01

Current educational curriculum will be more improved and the materials in schools will be somewhat different by the year of 2002 when students have two days off in a week. It is a well known fact that recent Japanese people's level of understanding about Science and Technology is the second from the bottom among OECD nations and, as a matter of fact, few schools are dealing with scientific issues such as atomic energy or radiation. High school teachers need to survey what students know about atomic power and radiation, how deep they studied in previous schools and what kind of interest they have in conservation of world energy sources or environmental issues discussed today. Through questionnaires to 328 students, it became clear that they were most interesting to the effect of radiation or radioactivity on any kind of things in the environment, and that they want to know solutions for those problems such as greenhouse effect, ozone layers and Garbage disposal. (M. Suetake)

How would we deal with radiation related issues in high school educational programs?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saeki, Kuniko

1999-01-01

Current educational curriculum will be more improved and the materials in schools will be somewhat different by the year of 2002 when students have two days off in a week. It is a well known fact that recent Japanese people's level of understanding about Science and Technology is the second from the bottom among OECD nations and, as a matter of fact, few schools are dealing with scientific issues such as atomic energy or radiation. High school teachers need to survey what students know about atomic power and radiation, how deep they studied in previous schools and what kind of interest they have in conservation of world energy sources or environmental issues discussed today. Through questionnaires to 328 students, it became clear that they were most interesting to the effect of radiation or radioactivity on any kind of things in the environment, and that they want to know solutions for those problems such as greenhouse effect, ozone layers and Garbage disposal. (M. Suetake)

Quadrant I description of current conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-09-01

In accordance with the requirements of the Consent Decree issued by the Ohio Attorney General's office on August 29, 1989 and with the RCRA Section 3008(h) Consent Order issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Region V (USEPA) on September 29, 1989, this report, which provides a Description of Current Conditions within Quadrant I of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) located in Piketon, Ohio, has been developed and submitted for approval. The objectives of this report are to provide data concerning: (1) the current state of knowledge of the environmental setting of Quadrant I of PORTS including ground water, surface water, soil and air; and (2) the extent of known, potential and suspected contamination of these segments of the environment in Quadrant I of the facility. This report is the initial step in the comprehensive RCRA Facility Investigation (RFI) currently underway at PORTS, and will provide a foundation for all subsequent activities related to the RFI in Quadrant I

Power system technical performance issues related to the application of long HVAC cables

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wiechowski, on behalf of Cigre WG C4.502, W.; Sluis, L. V. der; Ohno, Teruo

2011-01-01

This paper reports the progress of work of Cigre Working Group C4.502 “Power system technical performance issues related to the application of long HVAC cables”. The primary goal of the WG C4.502 is to write a technical brochure that will serve as practical guide for performing studies necessary...... for assessing the technical performance of HV/EHV systems with large share of AC cable lines. This paper besides providing a background for formulation of WG C4.502 and its overall aim, describes the tasks that were accomplished before the interim report was submitted to Study Committee C4 System Technical...... Performance in August 2010. The work in the WG is ongoing and final report will be ready according to the time schedule in 2012. The focus of this paper is in particular to show all issues related to system technical performance with assigned weights in terms of their importance and/or uniqueness for cable...

Issues in radiology related to the new technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elkin, M.

1982-01-01

A number of interrelated issues facing radiology have been highlighted by our new technologies. The issues discussed in this presentation are: subspecialization of radiology; the use of economic analyses (CEA/CBA) to judge the cost effectiveness of radiologic procedures, the alleged overuse of radiologic examinations; and the need for the diagnostic radiologist to become more actively involved in patient management

Current situation and issue of Industrial Accident Compensation insurance.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Inah; Rhie, Jeongbae; Yoon, Jo-Duk; Kim, Jinsoo; Won, Jonguk

2012-05-01

Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance (IACI) has a history of about 50 yr, and is the oldest social insurance system in Korea. After more than 20 times of revision improvements in benefits, its contents and claim systems have been upgraded. It became the protector of injured workers and their families, and at the same time became the system which could cope with both financial burden of employers and their responsibilities. However, there are some issues to be reformed to upgrade the IACI: 1) the problems in the approval system of occupational diseases, 2) quality improvement of workers' compensation medical care, 3) vocational rehabilitation and return to work, 4) workers' compensation premiums and out-of-pocket money of injured workers, 5) issues in application of IACI. Growth of IACI cannot be achieved by an effort of an individual. Efforts by workers, owners, and government, in addition to physicians and welfare professionals toward the same goal are required for the next level improvement of IACI.

Examination of issues related to the development and implementation of real-time operational safety monitoring tools in the nuclear power industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puglia, William J.; Atefi, Bahman

1995-01-01

In recent years, risk and reliability techniques have been increasingly used to optimize deterministic requirements and to improve the operational safety of nuclear power stations. This paper discusses the historical development and current status of implementation of real-time operational safety monitoring tools in the nuclear power industry worldwide. A safety monitor is defined as a PC-based risk management tool, based on a plant specific PSA, which can be used to manage plant safety during the day-to-day operation of a nuclear power plant by planning maintenance activities and providing advisory information to plant operational staff in order to avoid high risk plant configurations. As this technique has only been applied in a few plants worldwide, the technology is still evolving and there are several technical and implementation-related issues which still need to be resolved. This paper attempts to summarize all such issues and describe how they have been addressed in several different applications of this technology around the world

A Research on Issues Related to RFID Security and Privacy

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jongki; Yang, Chao; Jeon, Jinhwan

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology for automated identification of objects and people. RFID systems have been gaining more popularity in areas especially in supply chain management and automated identification systems. However, there are many existing and potential problems in the RFID systems which could threat the technology's future. To successfully adopt RFID technology in various applications, we need to develop the solutions to protect the RFID system's data information. This study investigates important issues related to privacy and security of RFID based on the recent literature and suggests solutions to cope with the problem.

Codes of practice and related issues in biomedical waste management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moy, D.; Watt, C. [Griffith Univ. (Australia)

1996-12-31

This paper outlines the development of a National Code of Practice for biomedical waste management in Australia. The 10 key areas addressed by the code are industry mission statement; uniform terms and definitions; community relations - public perceptions and right to know; generation, source separation, and handling; storage requirements; transportation; treatment and disposal; disposal of solid and liquid residues and air emissions; occupational health and safety; staff awareness and education. A comparison with other industry codes in Australia is made. A list of outstanding issues is also provided; these include the development of standard containers, treatment effectiveness, and reusable sharps containers.

Scientific issues in fuel behaviour

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

The current limits on discharge burnup in today's nuclear power stations have proven the fuel to be very reliable in its performance, with a negligibly small rate of failure. However, for reasons of economy, there are moves to increase the fuel enrichment in order to extend both the cycle time and the discharge burnup. But, longer periods of irradiation cause increased microstructural changes in the fuel and cladding, implying a larger degradation of physical and mechanical properties. This degradation may well limit the plant life, hence the NSC concluded that it is of importance to develop a predictive capability of fuel behaviour at extended burnup. This can only be achieved through an improved understanding of the basic underlying phenomena of fuel behaviour. The Task Force on Scientific Issues Related to Fuel Behaviour of the NEA Nuclear Science Committee has identified the most important scientific issues on the subject and has assigned priorities. Modelling aspects are listed in Appendix A and discussed in Part II. In addition, quality assurance process for performing and evaluating new integral experiments is considered of special importance. Main activities on fuel behaviour modelling, as carried out in OECD Member countries and international organisations, are listed in Part III. The aim is to identify common interests, to establish current coverage of selected issues, and to avoid any duplication of efforts between international agencies. (author). refs., figs., tabs

B factory RF system design issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zisman, M.S.

1992-01-01

We discuss the issues of relevance to the design of a B factory RF system. First, the general parameter regime is outlined, and the reasons behind certain commonly made choices are indicated. This regime involves high beam currents, and many relatively short bunches. Next, the physics difficulties associated with coupled-bunch instabilities are described briefly. We then describe in general terms the alternative approaches taken by various B factory designers, the motivation for these choices, and the technical issues raised by them. Technical solutions have been proposed for both the room-temperature and the superconducting RF scenarios, and considerable R ampersand D is being carried out worldwide to confirm and optimize these solutions

B factory rf system design issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zisman, M.S.

1992-06-01

We discuss the issues of relevance to the design of a B factory RF system. First, the general parameter regime is outlined, and the reasons behind certain commonly made choices are indicated. This regime involves high beam currents, and many relatively short bunches. Next, the physics difficulties associated with coupled-bunch instabilities are described briefly. We then describe in general terms the alternative approaches taken by various B factory designers, the motivation for these choices, and the technical issues raised by them. Technical solutions have been proposed for both the room-temperature and the superconducting RF scenarios, and considerable R ampersand D is being carried out worldwide to confirm and optimize these solutions

Road safety in a globalised and more sustainable world: current issues and future challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, Stijn; Risser, Ralf

2014-01-01

Although many countries have had considerable success in reducing traffic injuries over recent decades, there are still some fundamental problems in this area. At the same time, there is increasing focus on road safety research and policy development in the context of globalisation, sustainability, liveability and health. This special section presents a selection of papers that were presented at the annual ICTCT workshop held on the 8th and 9th of November 2012 in Hasselt, Belgium, and accepted for publication in Accident Analysis and Prevention following the journal's reviewing procedure. The aim of the ICTCT workshop was to analyse road safety facts, data and visions for the future in the wider context of current issues and future challenges in road safety. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Issues related to symptomatic and disease-modifying treatments affecting cognitive and neuropsychiatric comorbidities of epilepsy

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks-Kayal, Amy R.; Bath, Kevin G.; Berg, Anne T.; Galanopoulou, Aristea S.; Holmes, Gregory L.; Jensen, Frances E.; Kanner, Andres M.; O’Brien, Terence J.; Whittemore, Vicky H.; Winawer, Melodie R.; Patel, Manisha; Scharfman, Helen E.

2014-01-01

Summary Many symptoms of neurologic or psychiatric illness—such as cognitive impairment, depression, anxiety, attention deficits, and migraine—occur more frequently in people with epilepsy than in the general population. These diverse comorbidities present an underappreciated problem for people with epilepsy and their caregivers because they decrease quality of life, complicate treatment, and increase mortality. In fact, it has been suggested that comorbidities can have a greater effect on quality of life in people with epilepsy than the seizures themselves. There is increasing recognition of the frequency and impact of cognitive and behavioral comorbidities of epilepsy, highlighted in the 2012 Institute of Medicine report on epilepsy. Comorbidities have also been acknowledged, as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Benchmark area for research in epilepsy. However, relatively little progress has been made in developing new therapies directed specifically at comorbidities. On the other hand, there have been many advances in understanding underlying mechanisms. These advances have made it possible to identify novel targets for therapy and prevention. As part of the International League Against Epilepsy/American Epilepsy Society workshop on preclinical therapy development for epilepsy, our working group considered the current state of understanding related to terminology, models, and strategies for therapy development for the comorbidities of epilepsy. Herein we summarize our findings and suggest ways to accelerate development of new therapies. We also consider important issues to improve research including those related to methodology, nonpharmacologic therapies, biomarkers, and infrastructure. PMID:23909853

Key Health Information Technologies and Related Issues for Iran: A Qualitative Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemmat, Morteza; Ayatollahi, Haleh; Maleki, Mohammadreza; Saghafi, Fatemeh

2018-01-01

Planning for the future of Health Information Technology (HIT) requires applying a systematic approach when conducting foresight studies. The aim of this study was to identify key health information technologies and related issues for Iran until 2025. This was a qualitative study and the participants included experts and policy makers in the field of health information technology. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted and data were analyzed by using framework analysis and MAXQDA software. The findings revealed that the development of national health information network, electronic health records, patient health records, a cloud-based service center, interoperability standards, patient monitoring technologies, telehealth, mhealth, clinical decision support systems, health information technology and mhealth infrastructure were found to be the key technologies for the future. These technologies could influence the economic, organizational and individual levels. To achieve them, the economic and organizational obstacles need to be overcome. In this study, a number of key technologies and related issues were identified. This approach can help to focus on the most important technologies in the future and to priorities these technologies for better resource allocation and policy making.

Cruise Crimes: Economic-Legal Issues and Current Debates

OpenAIRE

Thomas R Panko; Babu P George; Tony L Henthorne

2009-01-01

Cruise tourism is one of the sunshine sectors of international tourism and is growing rapidly in many parts of the world. It is estimated that the growth rate of cruise tourism is twice the rate of tourism overall. Notwithstanding all the positives that accompany this growth, many critics have drawn attention to the “dark side” of cruise crimes. The eco-system aboard the cruise ship offers a fertile ground for the occurrence of crimes. The present paper examines the issue of crimes onboard fr...

Tea and human health: biomedical functions of tea active components and current issues*

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zong-mao; Lin, Zhi

2015-01-01

Originating in China, tea and tea planting have spread throughout the world since the middle of the Tang dynasty. Now people from 160 countries in the world are accustomed to tea drinking. A brief history of tea’s medicinal role in China and its spread to the world are introduced. The effectiveness of tea active components and tea drinking on major human diseases, including cancer, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases, is discussed. Also presented are some related issues, such as the bioavailability of tea active components, the new formulations of tea polyphenols, and the safety for consumers of dietary supplements containing tea polyphenols. PMID:25644464

Psychometric evaluation of the Environmental Reality Shock-Related Issues and Concerns instrument for newly graduated nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Eun-Young; Yeo, Jung Hee; Park, Hyunjeong; Sin, Kyung Mi; Jones, Cheryl B

2018-02-01

Reality shock is a critical representation of the gap between nursing education and clinical practice and it is important to explore the level of reality shock among nurses. However, there is no relevant instrument to assess the level of reality shock in South Korea. The purpose of this is to determine the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Environmental Reality Shock-Related Issues and Concerns instrument. A cross-sectional study design was used in this study. The data collection was conducted in selected 15 hospitals in South Korea. A convenience sample of 216 newly graduated nurses participated in the study. The Korean version of the Environmental Reality Shock-Related Issues and Concerns instrument was developed through the forward-backward translation technique, and revision based on feedback from expert groups. The internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and the construct validity was determined via exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The Korean version of the Environmental Reality Shock-Related Issues and Concerns has reliable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.91). Exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors including job, relationships, expectations, private life, and performance, which explained 61.92% of variance. The factor loadings ranged from 0.451 to 0.832. The five-factor structure was validated by confirmatory factor analysis (RMR0.9). It was concluded that the Korean version of the Environmental Reality Shock-Related Issues and Concerns instrument has satisfactory construct validity and reliability to measure the reality shock of newly graduated nurses in South Korea. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Space Station Engineering Design Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Mcruer, Duane T.; Boehm, Barry W.; Debra, Daniel B.; Green, C. Cordell; Henry, Richard C.; Maycock, Paul D.; Mcelroy, John H.; Pierce, Chester M.; Stafford, Thomas P.; Young, Laurence R.

1989-01-01

Space Station Freedom topics addressed include: general design issues; issues related to utilization and operations; issues related to systems requirements and design; and management issues relevant to design.

International challenges and public policy issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, N

1999-01-01

The paper presents an overview of current public policy issues relating to biological standardisation and control, drawing on the extensive background material assembled for two recent international reviews, and previously published work. It identifies a number of factors which are destabilising the current system and promoting a climate for change. These include the squeeze on public sector resources, the growth in volume and complexity of biologicals, developing world needs, concerns about harmonisation and new social and ethical issues. It is argued that this situation presents important opportunities for reviewing the existing boundaries between regulatory scientists, industry, and the public, for international agreement on priorities and for harmonisation and mutual recognition. While considerable progress has already been made on these issues at national, regional and global level, there is a need for fuller international participation and the additional impetus that would come from a higher-profile commitment by governments. Such commitment will also be important for the vital questions of sustaining the scientific base and securing the resource for an effective, truly worldwide programme of standardisation and control. An international approach will also be essential in steering biologicals control through the difficult social and ethical questions of the future. WHO, in collaboration with national authorities, has a key role to play in these developments.

Severe accidents and ESFR design issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rineiski, A.

2013-01-01

Current SFR studies in Germany: ⇒ In support of European SFR studies, mainly on safety and safety-related (design optimization) issues; ⇒ ADS and SFR as main options for spent fuel management in studies on the possibility of P&T; ⇒ ESFR-type designs studied recently; ⇒ ASTRID-type designs to be studied in the future; ⇒ Particular area: modeling of severe accidents with SAS4A/SAS-SFR and SIMMER codes

Current Assessment of Marihuana: A Rebuttal

Science.gov (United States)

Fulton, Gere B.

1973-01-01

A rebuttal of statements made in an article on ...summary of the most current findings related to marihuana'' which was published in the September issue of The Journal of School Health. It is the author's contention that quality of the data and the validity of the approach were too faulty to fortify the statements made. (JC)

Central sensitivity syndromes: a new paradigm and group nosology for fibromyalgia and overlapping conditions, and the related issue of disease versus illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Yunus, Muhammad B

2008-06-01

To discuss the current terminologies used for fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and related overlapping conditions, to examine if central sensitivity syndromes (CSS) is the appropriate nosology for these disorders, and to explore the issue of disease versus illness. A literature search was performed through PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect using a number of keywords, eg, functional somatic syndromes, somatoform disorders, medically unexplained symptoms, organic and nonorganic, and diseases and illness. Relevant articles were then reviewed and representative ones cited. Terminologies currently used for CSS conditions predominantly represent a psychosocial construct and are inappropriate. On the other hand, CSS seems to be the logical nosology based on a biopsychosocial model. Such terms as "medically unexplained symptoms," "somatization," "somatization disorder," and "functional somatic syndromes" in the context of CSS should be abandoned. Given current scientific knowledge, the concept of disease-illness dualism has no rational basis and impedes proper patient-physician communication, resulting in poor patient care. The concept of CSS is likely to promote research, education, and proper patient management. CSS seems to be a useful paradigm and an appropriate terminology for FMS and related conditions. The disease-illness, as well as organic/non-organic dichotomy, should be rejected.

The importance of health advocacy in Canadian postgraduate medical education: current attitudes and issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Poulton

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Health advocacy is currently a key component of medical education in North America. In Canada, Health Advocate is one of the seven roles included in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s CanMEDS competency framework. Method: A literature search was undertaken to determine the current state of health advocacy in Canadian postgraduate medical education and to identify issues facing educators and learners with regards to health advocacy training. Results:  The literature revealed that the Health Advocate role is considered among the least relevant to clinical practice by educators and learners and among the most challenging to teach and assess. Furthermore learners feel their educational needs are not being met in this area. A number of key barriers affecting health advocacy education were identified including limited published material on the subject, lack of clarity within the role, insufficient explicit role modeling in practice, and lack of a gold standard for assessment. Health advocacy is defined and its importance to medical practice is highlighted, using pediatric emergency medicine as an example. Conclusions: Increased published literature and awareness of the role, along with integration of the new 2015 CanMEDS framework, are important going forward to address concerns regarding the quality of postgraduate health advocacy education in Canada.

The importance of health advocacy in Canadian postgraduate medical education: current attitudes and issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Poulton, Alexander; Rose, Heather

2015-01-01

Health advocacy is currently a key component of medical education in North America. In Canada, Health Advocate is one of the seven roles included in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada's CanMEDS competency framework. A literature search was undertaken to determine the current state of health advocacy in Canadian postgraduate medical education and to identify issues facing educators and learners with regards to health advocacy training. The literature revealed that the Health Advocate role is considered among the least relevant to clinical practice by educators and learners and among the most challenging to teach and assess. Furthermore learners feel their educational needs are not being met in this area. A number of key barriers affecting health advocacy education were identified including limited published material on the subject, lack of clarity within the role, insufficient explicit role modeling in practice, and lack of a gold standard for assessment. Health advocacy is defined and its importance to medical practice is highlighted, using pediatric emergency medicine as an example. Increased published literature and awareness of the role, along with integration of the new 2015 CanMEDS framework, are important going forward to address concerns regarding the quality of postgraduate health advocacy education in Canada.

Safety and Regulatory Issues of the Thorium Fuel Cycle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ade, Brian [ORNL; Worrall, Andrew [ORNL; Powers, Jeffrey [ORNL; Bowman, Steve [ORNL; Flanagan, George [ORNL; Gehin, Jess [ORNL

2014-02-01

Thorium has been widely considered an alternative to uranium fuel because of its relatively large natural abundance and its ability to breed fissile fuel (233U) from natural thorium (232Th). Possible scenarios for using thorium in the nuclear fuel cycle include use in different nuclear reactor types (light water, high temperature gas cooled, fast spectrum sodium, molten salt, etc.), advanced accelerator-driven systems, or even fission-fusion hybrid systems. The most likely near-term application of thorium in the United States is in currently operating light water reactors (LWRs). This use is primarily based on concepts that mix thorium with uranium (UO2 + ThO2), add fertile thorium (ThO2) fuel pins to LWR fuel assemblies, or use mixed plutonium and thorium (PuO2 + ThO2) fuel assemblies. The addition of thorium to currently operating LWRs would result in a number of different phenomenological impacts on the nuclear fuel. Thorium and its irradiation products have nuclear characteristics that are different from those of uranium. In addition, ThO2, alone or mixed with UO2 fuel, leads to different chemical and physical properties of the fuel. These aspects are key to reactor safety-related issues. The primary objectives of this report are to summarize historical, current, and proposed uses of thorium in nuclear reactors; provide some important properties of thorium fuel; perform qualitative and quantitative evaluations of both in-reactor and out-of-reactor safety issues and requirements specific to a thorium-based fuel cycle for current LWR reactor designs; and identify key knowledge gaps and technical issues that need to be addressed for the licensing of thorium LWR fuel in the United States.

Arctic development and historical analysis: the use of historical methodology in addressing current issues in the Arctic.

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Vasiliki Kravariotis

2008-06-01

To demonstrate the applicability of historical methodology to current issues in the Canadian Arctic. This is a literature-based analytical historical study, which draws on material from database searches of MEDLINE, Anthropology Plus, POLARInfo, the Arctic Blue Books and Historical Abstracts. Material was also obtained from physical searches of the University of Alberta Libraries and Library and Archives Canada collections, as well as from field research in the records of the Inuulitsivik Maternities. The historical technique of tracing epistemological change over time, pioneered by Michel Foucault and further developed by Ian Hacking, was applied to the history of Canadian authority in the Arctic. This was linked with epistemological changes occurring throughout Western/Southern culture in this period. The applicability of this historical analysis for current issues in the region was then evaluated. An epistemological shift in Western society has moved authority from traditional human actors in government, medicine and, increasingly, science to statistics, which is seen as both impartial and accurate. Human authorities now routinely appeal to statistical authority to validate policy decisions. This change is as apparent in the Arctic as elsewhere, but it has also opened a space for Inuit practices, rooted in traditional Inuit epistemology, to reassert themselves, provided they can satisfy demands for statistical validity. Historical analysis provides a means to identify the spaces which epistemological change and historical contingency have opened in which social and cultural change can occur.

Surveillance of social and geographic inequalities in housing-related issues: the case of the Eastern Townships, Quebec (Canada).

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Mathieu; Généreux, Mélissa; Laverdière, Emélie; Vanasse, Alain

2014-05-06

Even though health inequalities are conditioned by many aspects of the environment, much of the existing research focuses on the social environment. This emphasis has the effect to neglect other environmental aspects such as its physical dimension. The physical environment, which is linked to housing conditions, may contribute to the uneven distribution of health. In this study, we examined 19 housing-related issues among a representative sample of 2,000 adults residing in a Quebec (Canada) health region characterized by a mix of rural, semi-rural, and urban areas. The distribution of these issues was examined according to socioeconomic and geographic indicators of social position. Summary measures of inequalities were assessed. Our results showed that the prevalence of nearly all housing-related issues was higher among low-income households compared to more affluent ones. Highly educated individuals showed better housing conditions, whereas different issues tended to cluster in deprived or densely populated areas. To conclude, we observed steep gradients between social class and poor housing conditions. This may explain a substantial part of health inequality on the regional scale. The surveillance of housing-related issues is therefore essential to properly inform and mobilize local stakeholders and to develop interventions that target vulnerable groups on this level.

Hospital Malnutrition Related to Fasting and Underfeeding: Is It an Ethical Issue?

Science.gov (United States)

Arenas Moya, Diego; Plascencia Gaitán, Alejandra; Ornelas Camacho, Denisse; Arenas Márquez, Humberto

2016-06-01

Hospital malnutrition is a relevant clinical issue present in about 50% of patients that is associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and cost of care. Because of the relation of malnutrition with chronic and acute inflammatory processes secondary to disease, nutrition therapy is considered an important medical treatment. However, there is little discussion about the impact of another critical issue related to hospital malnutrition, that is, lack of appropriate food or nutrition therapy given to the patients. Unnecessary fasting practices and the use of inappropriate nutrition prescriptions result in underfeeding that can be a related or direct cause of hospital malnutrition, independent of disease or inflammatory state. Suboptimal prescription of oral, enteral, and parenteral nutrition should be analyzed and discussed from an ethical perspective since this practice has the potential to harm patients. In addition, absence or inadequate provision of nutrition may present barriers for improved patient outcomes and could be prevented by simply recognizing lack of knowledge, skills, or experience in nutrition and entrusting nutrition prescription to interdisciplinary teams with clinicians well prepared in nutrition sciences. This article reviews potential barriers to the prevention or treatment of hospital malnutrition and proposes specific actions that can help clinicians to overcome and implement optimal nutrition not just as medical therapy but also as a basic comfort care that may help patients nutritionally, clinically, physically, and emotionally. © 2016 American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

Current practices for screening, consent and care of related donors in France: Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation coordinator nurses' perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Polomeni, A; Bompoint, C; Gomez, A; Brissot, E; Ruggeri, A; Belhocine, R; Mohty, M

2017-11-01

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation-coordinating nurses (HSCT-CNs) play an important role in informing related donors (RDs) and in organising human leucocyte antigen (HLA) tests, pre-donation workup and stem cells collection. Our pilot study aimed to explore French HSCT-CNs' perceptions of RD care issues. Twenty-nine French HSCT adult units were sent a questionnaire on the subject of donation procedures, HSCT-CNs' data and their professional experience of related donation issues. Twenty-two HSCT-CNs returned a completed questionnaire, and 90% of HSCT units were involved to some degree in both patient and donor care. Responses indicated that the provision of information to potential donors prior to HLA tests was insufficient, while donors were given a medical consultation only during the pre-donation workup. Questions were raised about the consent and voluntary status of RDs. None of the HSCT teams organised a post-donation consultation, while 57% provided follow-up by phone or via a questionnaire. Our results draw attention to the conflict of interest experienced by HSCT-CNs when caring simultaneously for patients and donors. The specific psychosocial difficulties associated with becoming an RD are also highlighted. French HSCT-CNs' perceptions of related donation reveal many ethical and clinical problems that have yet to be fully explored. Data on this topic remain scarce, and our pilot study may contribute to the current debate on the organisation of RD care. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Distribution of local critical current along sample length and its relation to overall current in a long Bi2223/Ag superconducting composite tape

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ochiai, S; Doko, D; Okuda, H; Oh, S S; Ha, D W

2006-01-01

The distribution of the local critical current and the n-value along the sample length and its relation to the overall critical current were studied experimentally and analytically for the bent multifilamentary Bi2223/Ag/Ag-Mg alloy superconducting composite tape. Then, based on the results, it was attempted to simulate on a computer the dependence of the critical current on the sample length. The main results are summarized as follows. The experimentally observed relation of the distributed local critical current and n-value to the overall critical current was described comprehensively with a simple voltage summation model, in which the sample was regarded as a one-dimensional series circuit. The sample length dependence of the critical current was reproduced on the computer by a Monte Carlo simulation incorporating the voltage summation model and the regression analysis results for the local critical current distribution and the relation of the n-value to the critical current

Asymmetric current-phase relation due to spin-orbit interaction in semiconductor nanowire Josephson junction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yokoyama, Tomohiro; Eto, Mikio [Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama 223-8522 (Japan); Nazarov, Yuli V. [Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands (Netherlands)

2013-12-04

We theoretically study the current-phase relation in semiconductor nanowire Josephson junction in the presence of spin-orbit interaction. In the nanowire, the impurity scattering with strong SO interaction is taken into account using the random matrix theory. In the absence of magnetic field, the Josephson current I and phase difference φ between the superconductors satisfy the relation of I(φ) = –I(–φ). In the presence of magnetic field along the nanowire, the interplay between the SO interaction and Zeeman effect breaks the current-phase relation of I(φ) = –I(–φ). In this case, we show that the critical current depends on the current direction, which qualitatively agrees with recent experimental findings.

Issues related to choosing a guard force structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auerback, C.; Cusack, J.; Green, L.; Higinbotham, W.; Indusi, J.; Marcuse, W.; Weinstock, E.

1975-01-01

The establishment of a federal security force has been suggested as an additional step to protect nuclear material. The force would be given the responsibility for guarding nuclear facilities and shipments of nuclear materials. This paper summarizes a study to identify the issues that are relevant to choosing between the private guard forces that are presently employed by industry or a guard force under federal authority. To examine the issues which would be relevant, three possible types of security force structures were selected for comparison: a federal force under central authority, a private guard force employed by or under contract to a facility, and a private arrangement to employ local police officers similar to the arrangement for armed guards at airports. The issues were divided into seven categories: (1) Legal Considerations, (2) Liability, (3) Staffing and Operations, (4) Costs, (5) Relationship to Off-site Forces, (6) Management and Control, (7) Transportation

Current funding and financing issues in the Australian hospice and palliative care sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Robert; Eagar, Kathy; Currow, David; Green, Janette

2009-07-01

This article overviews current funding and financing issues in the Australian hospice and palliative care sector. Within Australia, the major responsibilities for managing the health care system are shared between two levels of government. Funding arrangements vary according to the type of care. The delivery of palliative care services is a State/Territory responsibility. Recently, almost all States/Territories have developed overarching frameworks to guide the development of palliative care policies, including funding and service delivery structures. Palliative care services in Australia comprise a mix of specialist providers, generalist providers, and support services in the public, nongovernment, and private sectors. The National Palliative Care Strategy is a joint strategy of the Commonwealth and States that commenced in 2002 and includes a number of major issues. Following a national study in 1996, the Australian National Subacute and Nonacute Patient (AN-SNAP) system was endorsed as the national casemix classification for subacute and nonacute care. Funding for palliative care services varies depending on the type of service and the setting in which it is provided. There is no national model for funding inpatient or community services, which is a State/Territory responsibility. A summary of funding arrangements is provided in this article. Palliative care continues to evolve at a rapid rate in Australia. Increasingly flexible evidence-based models of care delivery are emerging. This article argues that it will be critical for equally flexible funding and financing models to be developed. Furthermore, it is critical that palliative care patients can be identified, classified, and costed. Casemix classifications such as AN-SNAP represent an important starting point but further work is required.

Methodological Issues in HIV-Related Social Research in Nigeria

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AJRH Managing Editor

Methodological Issues in HIV/AIDS Social Research in Nigeria ... convaincue au commencement de l'étude qu'une étude sur l'interaction entre le VIH/sida et les questions sensibles comme les ..... One of the vexed issues was the requirement.

Construct validity-Current issues and recommendations for future hand hygiene research.

Science.gov (United States)

Neo, Jun Rong Jeffrey

2017-05-01

Health care-associated infection is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Hand hygiene is widely regarded as an effective prevention strategy. Often, hand hygiene research is designed and conducted by health care practitioners who may lack formal training in research methods, particularly in the area of social science. In a research context, a construct is a concept that can be measured or observed in some way. A construct can be directly or indirectly measured. For example, height can be directly measured by centimeters, whereas depression can be indirectly measured by a scale of 20 items. Every construct needs to be operationalized by measure(s) to make it a variable. Hence, construct validity refers to the degree of fit between the construct of interest and its operational measure. However, issues with construct validity often weaken the translation from construct to measure(s). This article will (1) describe the common threats to construct validity pertaining to hand hygiene research, (2) identify practical limitations in current research design, and (3) provide recommendations to improve construct validity in future hand hygiene research. By understanding how construct validity may affect hand hygiene research design, there is great potential to improve the validity of future hand hygiene research findings. Copyright © 2017 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Current issues in ALS epidemiology: Variation of ALS occurrence between populations and physical activity as a risk factor.

Science.gov (United States)

Luna, J; Logroscino, G; Couratier, P; Marin, B

2017-05-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare neurodegenerative disease with a fatal outcome. This review aims to report key epidemiological features of ALS in relation to the hypothesis of variation between populations, to summarize environmental hypothesis and to highlight current issues that deserve much considerations. Epidemiological ALS studies have shown a variation of incidence, mortality and prevalence between geographical areas and different populations. These data could support the notion that genetic factors, especially populations' ancestries, along with environmental and lifestyle factors, play a significant role in the occurrence of the disease. To date, there is no strong evidence to confirm an association between a particular environmental factor and ALS. Physical activity (PA) has been extensively evaluated. Recent studies support with the best evidence level that PA in general population is not a risk factor for ALS. However, further research is needed to clarify the association of PA in some occupations and some athletic activities. Epidemiological research based on multicenter international collaboration is essential to provide new data on ALS especially in some regions of the world that are to date poorly represented in the ALS literature. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Scaling relations for eddy current phenomena

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dodd, C.V.; Deeds, W.E.

1975-11-01

Formulas are given for various electromagnetic quantities for coils in the presence of conductors, with the scaling parameters factored out so that small-scale model experiments can be related to large-scale apparatus. Particular emphasis is given to such quantities as eddy current heating, forces, power, and induced magnetic fields. For axially symmetric problems, closed-form integrals are available for the vector potential and all the other quantities obtainable from it. For unsymmetrical problems, a three-dimensional relaxation program can be used to obtain the vector potential and then the derivable quantities. Data on experimental measurements are given to verify the validity of the scaling laws for forces, inductances, and impedances. Indirectly these also support the validity of the scaling of the vector potential and all of the other quantities obtained from it

Ethical issues related to epilepsy care in the developing world.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Chong-Tin; Avanzini, Giuliano

2009-05-01

There are three major issues of ethical concern related to epilepsy care in the developing world. First, is it ethical for a developing country to channel its limited resources from direct epilepsy care to research? The main considerations in addressing this question are the particular research questions to be addressed and whether such research will bring direct benefits to the local community. Second, in a country with limited resources, when does ignoring the high treatment gap become an ethical issue? This question is of particular concern when the community has enough resources to afford treatment for its poor, yet is not providing such care because of gross wastage and misallocation of the national resources. Third, do countries with plentiful resources have an ethical responsibility to help relieve the high epilepsy treatment gap of poor countries? Indeed, we believe that reasonable health care is a basic human right, and that human rights transcend national boundaries. Although health care is usually the responsibility of the nation-state, many modern states in the developing world are arbitrary creations of colonization. There is often a long process from the establishment of a political-legal state to a mature functional nation. During the long process of nation building, help from neighboring countries is often required.

Issues related to choosing a guard force structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Averbach, C.; Cusack, J.; Green, L.; Higinbotham, W.; Indusi, J.; Marcuse, W.; Weinstock, E.

1975-01-01

The establishment of a federal security force has been suggested as an additional step to protect nuclear material. The force would be given the responsibility for guarding nuclear facilities and shipments of nuclear materials. A study to identify the issues that are relevant to choosing between the private guard forces that are presently employed by industry or a guard force under federal authority is summarized. To examine the issues which would be relevant, three possible types of security force structures were selected for comparison: a federal force under central authority, a private guard force employed by or under contract to a facility, and a private arrangement to employ local police officers similar to the arrangement for armed guards at airports. The issues were divided into seven categories: (1) legal considerations, (2) liability, (3) staffing and operations, (4) costs, (5) relationship to off-site forces, (6) management and control, and (7) transportation. (U.S.)

Text mining of cancer-related information: review of current status and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Spasić, Irena; Livsey, Jacqueline; Keane, John A; Nenadić, Goran

2014-09-01

This paper reviews the research literature on text mining (TM) with the aim to find out (1) which cancer domains have been the subject of TM efforts, (2) which knowledge resources can support TM of cancer-related information and (3) to what extent systems that rely on knowledge and computational methods can convert text data into useful clinical information. These questions were used to determine the current state of the art in this particular strand of TM and suggest future directions in TM development to support cancer research. A review of the research on TM of cancer-related information was carried out. A literature search was conducted on the Medline database as well as IEEE Xplore and ACM digital libraries to address the interdisciplinary nature of such research. The search results were supplemented with the literature identified through Google Scholar. A range of studies have proven the feasibility of TM for extracting structured information from clinical narratives such as those found in pathology or radiology reports. In this article, we provide a critical overview of the current state of the art for TM related to cancer. The review highlighted a strong bias towards symbolic methods, e.g. named entity recognition (NER) based on dictionary lookup and information extraction (IE) relying on pattern matching. The F-measure of NER ranges between 80% and 90%, while that of IE for simple tasks is in the high 90s. To further improve the performance, TM approaches need to deal effectively with idiosyncrasies of the clinical sublanguage such as non-standard abbreviations as well as a high degree of spelling and grammatical errors. This requires a shift from rule-based methods to machine learning following the success of similar trends in biological applications of TM. Machine learning approaches require large training datasets, but clinical narratives are not readily available for TM research due to privacy and confidentiality concerns. This issue remains the main

Kyoto protocol and related issues; Chikyu ondanka boshi Kyoto kaigi (COP3) to sono kadai

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ninomiya, Y. [Global Industrial Social Progress Research Institute, Tokyo (Japan)

1997-09-30

The Third Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) will be held in Kyoto in December 1997. Described herein are the current status and issues of the convention. USA and Japan, which hold important keys to set up the abatement target, have issued no proposals concretely at the current AGBM (Ad-hoc Group Berlin Mandate) 7, and the conference for the concrete targets will be decided in the next AGBM 8 to be held in October. The final target will be set by the ministerial segment of COP3, because the negotiations for the treaty are political in nature. USA proposes reduction at a uniform, realistic rate, and Japan proposes reduction at a uniform rate or setting up the emission target per capita, each being different from reduction at a much higher uniform rate proposed by EU. Within EU, however, 10% out of 15% reduction rate it proposes is agreed by the member countries, and the remaining rate of % may not be agreed. It is necessary for the advanced parties to set up realistic and legally binding solutions, including ratification by USA, which can persuade the developing countries. tab.1

[Current issues, problems and prospects of tension-free hernioplasty (review)].

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

In the present study there are discussed modern methods of the tension free hernioplastics, the complications associated with them and technical difficulties, up-to-date views and the perspectives of the issue development in terms of avoiding infectious complications, positioning of implants and their fixation. Hernia is one of the widespread surgical pathologies as it is found in 4% of the population and its share among the inpatient surgical diseases is about 18-30%. Consequently annually up to 20-21 mln hernioplasties are carried out worldwide. Despite of many years of experience in the field of hernia surgical treatment there still exist many unsolved problems such as safe closure of defects of abdominal cavity wall. Up to 200 methods of hernioplastics, various implantations and application of synthetic materials refer to lack of the optimal surgical strategy. In modern herniology priorities are given to tension free plastics. The merge of the synthetic implants and "tension free hernioplastics" concepts enabled sharp reduction of the side effects list, making it possible to perform successful surgeries in that contingent whose treatment by the method of tissue-plasty was related with high risk of lethality. Large scale introduction of tension free hernioplastics caused intensification of the associated problems such as migration, dissection and shortening of the net.

Key Regulatory Issues for Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems at Nuclear Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korsah, Kofi; Wood, Richard Thomas

2008-01-01

To help reduce the uncertainty associated with application of digital instrumentation and controls (I and C) technology in nuclear power plants, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued six Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) documents that address the current regulatory positions on what are considered the significant digital I and C issues. These six documents address the following topics: Cyber Security, Diversity and Defense-in-Depth, Risk Informed Digital I and C Regulation, Communication issues, Human Factors and the Digital I and C Licensing Process (currently issued as Draft). After allowing for further refinement based on additional technical insight gathered by NRC staff through near-term research and detailed review of relevant experience, it is expected that updated positions ultimately will be incorporated into regulatory guides and staff review procedures. This paper presents an overview of the guidance provided by the NRC-issued ISGs on key technology considerations (i.e., the first five documents above) for safety-related digital I and C systems.

The motivational salience of cigarette-related stimuli among former, never, and current smokers

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Jason D.; Versace, Francesco; Engelmann, Jeffery M.; Cui, Yong; Slapin, Aurelija; Oum, Robert; Cinciripini, Paul M.

2014-01-01

While smokers are known to find smoking-related stimuli to be motivationally salient, the extent to which former smokers do so is largely unknown. In this study, we collected event-related potential (ERP) data from former and never smokers and compared them to a sample of current smokers interested in quitting who completed the same ERP paradigm prior to smoking cessation treatment. All participants (n = 180) attended one laboratory session where we recorded dense-array ERPs in response to cigarette-related, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral pictures, and where we collected valence and arousal ratings of the pictures. We identified three spatial and temporal regions of interest, corresponding to the P1 (120-132 ms), early posterior negativity (EPN; 244-316 ms), and late positive potential (LPP; 384-800 ms) ERP components. We found that all participants produced larger P1 responses to cigarette-related pictures compared to the other picture categories. With the EPN component, we found that, similar to pleasant and unpleasant pictures, cigarette-related pictures attracted early attentional resources, regardless of smoking status. Both former and never smokers produced reduced LPP responses to cigarette-related and pleasant pictures compared to current smokers. Current smokers rated the cigarette-related pictures as being more pleasant and arousing than the former and never smokers. The LPP and picture rating results suggest that former smokers, like never smokers, do not find cigarette-related stimuli to be as motivationally salient as current smokers. PMID:25436840

Awareness of legal and social issues related to reproductive health among adolescent girls in rural Varanasi.

Science.gov (United States)

Kansal, Sangeeta; Singh, Sweta; Kumar, Alok

2017-01-01

Data on awareness of adolescent's on the legal and social issues/acts related to reproductive health, especially in rural areas, are scarce. The aim of the present cross-sectional study is to assess the awareness level of legal and social issues related to reproductive health and its association with the various individual and family/household level characteristics. 650 adolescent girls in the age group of 15-19 years were interviewed with the help of pretested and semistructured questionnaire and focus group discussions were also conducted for qualitative findings in Chiraigaon block of district Varanasi. It was observed that 42.9% of the respondents were aware of legal age of marriage, 14.9% knew about the right age of childbearing. Dowry prohibition act and domestic violence act were known to 46% and 27% respondents, respectively, and only 2.6% were aware of medical termination of pregnancy act. Logistic regression analysis shows the significant effect of education on awareness of legal age of marriage, right age of childbearing, domestic violence, and dowry prohibition acts, which is also supported by qualitative findings. All the important legal issues/acts should be included in high school curriculum and female teachers should be involved in training program for adolescents. Role of mass media in creating awareness about these issues in their routine programs should be ascertained. Accredited Social Health Activist and Anganwadi workers should be aware of and include these issues/acts in adolescent meetings.

Impact of global climate change on regional air quality: Introduction to the thematic issue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vautard, R.; Hauglustaine, D.

2007-01-01

Despite the major international efforts devoted to the understanding and to the future estimate of global climate change and its impact on regional scale processes, the evolution of the atmospheric composition in a changing climate is far to be understood. In particular, the future evolution of the concentration of near-surface pollutants determining air quality at a scale affecting human health and ecosystems is a subject of intense scientific research. This thematic issue reviews the current scientific knowledge of the consequences of global climate change on regional air quality and its related impact on the biosphere and on human mortality. This article provides a presentation of the key issues, summarizes the current knowledge, and introduces the thematic issue. (authors)

Tutorial on beam current monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webber, Robert C.

2000-01-01

This paper is a tutorial level review covering a wide range of aspects related to charged particle beam current measurement. The tutorial begins with a look at the characteristics of the beam as a signal source, the associated electromagnetic fields, the influence of the typical accelerator environment on those fields, and the usual means of modifying and controlling that environment to facilitate beam current measurement. Short descriptions of three quite different types of current monitors are presented and a quantitative review of the classical transformer circuit is given. Recognizing that environmental noise pick-up may present a large source of error in quantitative measurements, signal handling considerations are given considerable attention using real-life examples. An example of a successful transport line beam current monitor implementation is presented and the tutorial concludes with a few comments about signal processing and current monitor calibration issues

An Exploratory Study of the Relations Between Women Miners’ Gender-Based Workplace Issues and their Mental Health and Job Satisfaction

OpenAIRE

Rubin, Mark; Rubin, Mark

2017-01-01

The current study investigated the extent to which gender-based workplace issues were associated with women miners’ mental health and job satisfaction. Participants were 263 women miners from Australian and other international mines sites owned by an Australian-based mining company. They completed an online survey that contained measures of gender-based workplace issues, mental health, and job satisfaction. An exploratory factor analysis identified three higher-order factors: organizational s...

Hydrogen Safety Issues Compared to Safety Issues with Methane and Propane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Green, Michael A.

2005-01-01

The hydrogen economy is not possible if the safety standards currently applied to liquid hydrogen and hydrogen gas by many laboratories are applied to devices that use either liquid or gaseous hydrogen. Methane and propane are commonly used by ordinary people without the special training. This report asks, 'How is hydrogen different from flammable gasses that are commonly being used all over the world?' This report compares the properties of hydrogen, methane and propane and how these properties may relate to safety when they are used in both the liquid and gaseous state. Through such an analysis, sensible safety standards for the large-scale (or even small-scale) use of liquid and gaseous hydrogen systems can be developed. This paper is meant to promote discussion of issues related to hydrogen safety so that engineers designing equipment can factor sensible safety standards into their designs

Hydrogen Safety Issues Compared to Safety Issues with Methane andPropane

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Green, Michael A.

2005-08-20

The hydrogen economy is not possible if the safety standards currently applied to liquid hydrogen and hydrogen gas by many laboratories are applied to devices that use either liquid or gaseous hydrogen. Methane and propane are commonly used by ordinary people without the special training. This report asks, 'How is hydrogen different from flammable gasses that are commonly being used all over the world?' This report compares the properties of hydrogen, methane and propane and how these properties may relate to safety when they are used in both the liquid and gaseous state. Through such an analysis, sensible safety standards for the large-scale (or even small-scale) use of liquid and gaseous hydrogen systems can be developed. This paper is meant to promote discussion of issues related to hydrogen safety so that engineers designing equipment can factor sensible safety standards into their designs.

Drug Abuse on College Campuses: Emerging Issues. Issues in Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention, 2012

2012-01-01

This "Issues in Prevention" focuses on emerging issues concerning drug abuse on college campuses. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Drug Abuse Trends; (2) Q&A With Jim Lange; (3) Bath Salts; (4) Refuse to Abuse; (5) Related Federal Resource; and (6) Higher Education Center Resources.

Ukraine: Current Issues and U.S. Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2016-10-27

benefit Kyiv for a while longer. Current Economic Situation After Russia proper, the Ukrainian republic was the most important economic component of...greater strides in energy conservation, which has required a steep and politically unpopular hike in natural gas prices, including for households...or enthusiasm for funding social policies, Moscow has been bankrolling pensions, social benefits , and salaries of local officials and the separatist

Review of technical issues related to the failure of Rosemount pressure transmitters due to fill oil loss. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

James, R.W.; Gaertner, J.P.; Burns, E.T.; Horn, A.; Lee, L.K.

1994-08-01

Rosemount pressure transmitters are extensively used in both safety and non-safety applications in US nuclear power plants. They are used to measure pressure, flow, and water level. Rosemount pressure transmitter models 1151, 1152, 1153A, 1153, and 1154 use a fill oil to hydraulically transmit process pressure exerted on outer isolating diaphragms to internal diaphragms. The resulting deflection of the internal diaphragms changes the distance between them and a central diaphragm separating the transmitter interior into two volumes. The change in distance is measured as a change in electrical capacitance between the isolating diaphragms and the central diaphragm and can be related to differential pressure. The fill oil also functions as a dielectric. It has been well established that this fill oil can potentially leak over time, decreasing transmitter accuracy and increasing transmitter response time. Ultimately, the transmitter can fail. An extensive effort has been expended by the nuclear power industry collectively to analyze this issue and develop technically sound and reasonable requirements to mitigate the effects of oil loss in Rosemount pressure transmitters. Despite this, technical concerns have still been raised regarding the technical validity of the past analyses of this problem and its scope. In May 1993, the NRC created an internal group to comprehensively review the Rosemount issue and the NRC's action in addressing it to ensure that all available technical information has been considered. Because this issue remains of active technical interest and because the past work on this subject has been done by many different groups and organizations, EPRI has prepared this report to thoroughly document the current technical understanding of this issue, to perform additional analysis, and to identify any appropriate additional technical research activities regarding oil loss in Rosemount pressure transmitters

Power sector reform in India: current issues and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, Anoop

2006-01-01

Power sector reforms in India were initiated at a juncture when the sector was plagued with commercial losses and burgeoning subsidy burden. Investment in the sector was not able to keep pace with growing demand for electricity. This paper takes stock of pre-reform situation in Indian power sector and identifies key concerns that led to initiation of the process of reform. The paper discusses major policy and regulatory changes undertaken since the early 1990s. The paper also illustrates changes in the market structure as we move along the reform process. We also discuss some of the major provisions of the recently enacted Electricity Act 2003 that aims to replace the prevailing acts which govern the functioning of the power sector in the country. In this context, we discuss two issues arising out of it, namely open access and multi-year tariff that we think would have a significant bearing on the performance of the sector in the near future. The paper also evaluates the reform process in the light of some of the regulatory changes undertaken. Finally, the paper briefly discusses the issues involved in introduction of competition in the power sector primarily through development of a market for bulk power

YBCO SQUIDs with unconventional current phase relation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bauch, T.; Johansson, J.; Cedergren, K.; Lindstroem, T.; Lombardi, F.

2007-01-01

We have studied the dynamics of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ (YBCO) dc sperconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) characterized by an unconventional Josephson current phase relation (CPR). We have focused on SQUID configurations with Josephson junctions where the lobe of the order parameter in one electrode is facing a node in the other electrode. This order parameter arrangement should enhance the appearance of a sin(2φ) term in the CPR. The response of the critical current of the dc SQUID, under the effect of an external magnetic field, has been measured in temperature, down to 20 mK. Our experimental data have been compared with numerical simulations of the SQUIDs dynamics by considering a CPR of a single junction of the form I(φ) = I I sin(φ) - I II sin(2φ) where I I and I II are, respectively, the first and second harmonic component. In our devices the values of the sin(2φ) term are such that the fundamental state of the SQUID is naturally double degenerate. This is of great relevance for applications of d-wave SQUIDs in quantum information processing

School Psychology in Rural Contexts: Ethical, Professional, and Legal Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Lynn M.; Sullivan, Amanda L.

2014-01-01

Delivering psychological services in rural communities presents a number of unique challenges for practitioners relative to their peers in urban and suburban communities. In this article, the authors describe the current context of rural schools and examine the ethical and legal issues school psychologists may face when practicing in rural…

Thermal effects on current-related skyrmion formation in a nanobelt

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Xuebing; Wang, Shasha; Wang, Chao; Che, Renchao

2018-05-01

We report an in-situ Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM) investigation to study the thermal effects on the generation of magnetic skyrmions within a nanobelt. Under an action of a moderate current pulse, magnetic skyrmions appear even in the temperature range far below the critical temperature and even at zero field. Finite element simulation reveals that the Joule heating plays an essential role in this behavior. Our results also uncover the importance of the cooling conditions in the current-related in situ LTEM research.

Inter-organizational future proof EHR systems. A review of the security and privacy related issues.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Linden, Helma; Kalra, Dipak; Hasman, Arie; Talmon, Jan

2009-03-01

Identification and analysis of privacy and security related issues that occur when health information is exchanged between health care organizations. Based on a generic scenario questions were formulated to reveal the occurring issues. Possible answers were verified in literature. Ensuring secure health information exchange across organizations requires a standardization of security measures that goes beyond organizational boundaries, such as global definitions of professional roles, global standards for patient consent and semantic interoperable audit logs. As to be able to fully address the privacy and security issues in interoperable EHRs and the long-life virtual EHR it is necessary to realize a paradigm shift from storing all incoming information in a local system to retrieving information from external systems whenever that information is deemed necessary for the care of the patient.

Representations of the Americans with Disabilities Act Employment-Related Issues in the Wall Street Journal (1990-2008): A Feasibility Study

Science.gov (United States)

Soffer, Michal; Rimmerman, Arie

2012-01-01

This feasibility study examines the coverage of employment-related issues related to people with disabilities in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The study is a first in a series of future studies focusing on disability issues in the international economic media. A survey of 39 newspaper articles published in the "Wall Street…

Evaluation of systems interactions in nuclear power plants: Technical findings related to Unresolved Safety Issue A-17

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thatcher, D.

1989-05-01

This report presents a summary of the activities related to Unresolved Safety Issue (USI)A-17, ''Systems Interactions in Nuclear Power Plants,'' and also includes the NRC staff's conclusions based on those activities. The staff's technical findings provide the framework for the final resolution of this unresolved safety issue. The final resolution will be published later as NUREG-1229. 52 refs., 4 tabs

Monitoring asthma in childhood: management-related issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bart L. Rottier

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Management-related issues are an important aspect of monitoring asthma in children in clinical practice. This review summarises the literature on practical aspects of monitoring including adherence to treatment, inhalation technique, ongoing exposure to allergens and irritants, comorbid conditions and side-effects of treatment, as agreed by the European Respiratory Society Task Force on Monitoring Asthma in Childhood. The evidence indicates that it is important to discuss adherence to treatment in a non-confrontational way at every clinic visit, and take into account a patient's illness and medication beliefs. All task force members teach inhalation techniques at least twice when introducing a new inhalation device and then at least annually. Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, combustion-derived air pollutants, house dust mites, fungal spores, pollens and pet dander deserve regular attention during follow-up according to most task force members. In addition, allergic rhinitis should be considered as a cause for poor asthma control. Task force members do not screen for gastro-oesophageal reflux and food allergy. Height and weight are generally measured at least annually to identify individuals who are susceptible to adrenal suppression and to calculate body mass index, even though causality between obesity and asthma has not been established. In cases of poor asthma control, before stepping up treatment the above aspects of monitoring deserve closer attention.

Teaching Culture: The Challenges and Opportunities of International Public Relations.

Science.gov (United States)

George, Amiso M.

2003-01-01

Focuses on the challenges and opportunities for international public relations practice. Looks at current United States-Arab relations issues in international crisis communication. Discusses those issues, especially the role of culture and media. Proposes strategies including a case study that teachers can use to help students become effective…

Jordan: U.S. Relations and Bilateral Issues

Science.gov (United States)

2007-01-25

bring about a compromise solution to Iraq’s sectarian violence and insurgency. Nevertheless, should the Administration heed the main recommendations of...Committee (NLC), a New York-based human rights advocacy group, issued a 161-page report alleging sweatshop -like conditions in 28 out of 100 Qualified

Revisiting Antipsychotic-induced Akathisia: Current Issues and Prospective Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Salem, Haitham; Nagpal, Caesa; Pigott, Teresa; Teixeira, Antonio Lucio

2017-01-01

Background: Akathisia continues to be a significant challenge in current neurological and psychiatric practice. Prompt and accurate detection is often difficult and there is a lack of consensus concerning the neurobiological basis of akathisia. No definitive treatment has been established for akathisia despite numerous preclinical and clinical studies. Method: We reviewed antipsychotic-induced akathisia including its clinical presentation, proposed underlying pathophysiology, current and under investigation therapeutic strategies. Conclusion: Despite the initial promise that second generation antipsychotics would be devoid of akathisia effects, this has not been confirmed. Currently, there are limited therapeutic options for the clinical practice and the evidence supporting the most widely used treatments (beta blockers, anticholinergic drugs) is still absent or inconsistent. PMID:27928948

Integrated primary health care in Greece, a missing issue in the current health policy agenda: a systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christos Lionis

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Over the past years, Greece has undergone several endeavors aimed at modernizing and improving national health care services with a focus on PHC. However, the extent to which integrated primary health care has been achieved is still questioned. Purpose: This paper explores the extent to which integrated primary health care (PHC is an issue in the current agenda of policy makers in Greece, reporting constraints and opportunities and highlighting the need for a policy perspective in developing integrated PHC in this Southern European country. Methods: A systematic review in PubMed/Medline and SCOPUS, along with a hand search in selected Greek biomedical journals was undertaken to identify key papers, reports, editorials or opinion letters relevant to integrated health care. Results: Our systematic review identified 198 papers and 161 out of them were derived from electronic search. Fifty-three papers in total served the scope of this review and are shortly reported. A key finding is that the long-standing dominance of medical perspectives in Greek health policy has been paving the way towards vertical integration, pushing aside any discussions about horizontal or comprehensive integration of care. Conclusion: Establishment of integrated PHC in Greece is still at its infancy, requiring major restructuring of the current national health system, as well as organizational culture changes. Moving towards a new policy-based model would bring this missing issue on the discussion table, facilitating further development.

78 FR 33843 - Request for Comments on Issues Related to Incidental Findings That Arise in the Clinical...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-05

... specific bioethical, legal, and social issues related to potential scientific and technological advances... related areas of science and technology. The Bioethics Commission is charged with identifying and... establishing ``no return'' policies, or stipulations in advance of clinical intervention, research, and/or...

Disarmament and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

The main issues of the conference were focused on current political trends related to outstanding disputes between the state in Asia-Pacific region. Second cluster od issues which merits careful examination was concerned with the relevance of various arms control and disarmament measures. The tools of arms control and disarmament are proving to be more versatile, flexible instruments for security-building than was the case during the cold-war period. The third item of interest for many states in the Asia-Pacific region is the question of promoting new forums for regional dialogues on security matters

Ethical issues related to caring for low birth weight infants.

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, Mary S; Passmore, Denise; Cline, Genieveve; Maguire, Denise

2014-09-01

Currently preterm births are the leading causes of newborn deaths and newborn mortality in developed countries. Infants born prematurely remain vulnerable to many acute complications and long-term disabilities. There is a growing concern surrounding the moral and ethical implications of the complex and technological care being provided to extremely low birth weight infants in neonatal intensive care units in the developed nations. The purpose of this study was to describe the ethical and moral issues that neonatal intensive care nurses experience when caring for low birth weight preterm infants and their families. A phenomenological method design was used to describe the lived experiences of nurses with ethical and moral issues encountered in the neonatal intensive care unit. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews using open-ended questions were used to gather data from the participants. The setting for this study was a 97-bed neonatal intensive care. A total of 16 female nurses were interviewed. Approval to conduct the research study was obtained from the institutional review board of the hospital where the study was conducted. Formal signed consent was obtained from each participant. To ensure confidentiality, each participant was asked to choose a confederate name to be used in the interview and the transcriptions. The thematic analysis identified five recurring themes: (a) at the edge of viability, (b) infant pain and discomfort, (c) crucial decisions, (d) communicating with parents, and (e) letting go. Neonatal intensive care unit nurses indicated that they often had challenges to their own sense of morality as they struggled to protect the infant from pain and unnecessary discomfort, provide care to an infant and their family whom they thought was faced with a lifetime of challenges and poor health, accepting decisions made by parents, and feeling as if parents were not adequately informed about outcomes. © The Author(s) 2014.

Current issues on a standard for surrogate pregnancy procedures

OpenAIRE

Ha, Jung-Ok

2012-01-01

While Korea does not have any legal statement on surrogacy, treatments are carried out in practice. As a result, every Institutional Review Board (IRB) of each fertility clinic faces an ethical predicament in reviewing each case. There is a need to arrange the institutions' own standards of surrogate pregnancy procedures before the establishment of national or professional regulation. This article examines the legal, social, and medical issues of surrogacy to help IRBs to judge their cases.

Current issues on a standard for surrogate pregnancy procedures.

Science.gov (United States)

Ha, Jung-Ok

2012-12-01

While Korea does not have any legal statement on surrogacy, treatments are carried out in practice. As a result, every Institutional Review Board (IRB) of each fertility clinic faces an ethical predicament in reviewing each case. There is a need to arrange the institutions' own standards of surrogate pregnancy procedures before the establishment of national or professional regulation. This article examines the legal, social, and medical issues of surrogacy to help IRBs to judge their cases.

Current Aeromedical Issues in Rotary Wing Operations.

Science.gov (United States)

1999-08-01

by seat and harness design faults. The introduction of armoured seats to protect the pilot from ground small arms fire has altered the geometry of...the flying position by pushing the pilot upwards and forwards. The weight of anterior body armour increases the flexing forces on the thoracic spine...should be put in place. Current four and five point restraint systems in pilot compartments require restraint straps be draped over flight jackets

Some folded issues related to over-shielded and unplanned rooms for medical linear accelerators - A case study

Science.gov (United States)

Muhammad, Wazir; Ullah, Asad; Hussain, Amjad; Ali, Nawab; Alam, Khan; Khan, Gulzar; Matiullah; Maeng, Seongjin; Lee, Sang Hoon

2015-08-01

A medical linear accelerator (LINAC) room must be properly shielded to limit the outside radiation exposure to an acceptable safe level defined by individual state and international regulations. However, along with this prime objective, some additional issues are also important. The current case-study was designed to unfold the issues related to over-shielded and unplanned treatment rooms for LINACs. In this connection, an apparently unplanned and over-shielded treatment room of 610 × 610 cm2 in size was compared with a properly designed treatment room of 762 × 762 cm2 in size ( i.e., by following the procedures and recommendations of the IAEA Safety Reports Series No. 47 and NCRP 151). Evaluation of the unplanned room indicated that it was over-shielded and that its size was not suitable for total body irradiation (TBI), although the license for such a treatment facility had been acquired for the installed machine. An overall 14.96% reduction in the total shielding volume ( i.e., concrete) for an optimally planned room as compared to a non-planned room was estimated. Furthermore, the inner room's dimensions were increased by 25%, in order to accommodate TBI patients. These results show that planning and design of the treatment rooms are imperative to avoid extra financial burden to the hospitals and to provide enough space for easy and safe handling of the patients. A spacious room is ideal for storing treatment accessories and facilitates TBI treatment.

U.S. NRC's generic issues program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kauffman, J.V.; Foster, J.W.

2008-01-01

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has a Generic Issues Program (GIP) to address Generic Issues (GI). A GI is defined as 'a regulatory matter involving the design, construction, operation, or decommissioning of several, or a class of, NRC licensees or certificate holders that is not sufficiently addressed by existing rules, guidance, or programs'. This rather legalistic definition has several practical corollaries: First, a GI must involve safety. Second, the issue must involve at least two plants, or it would be a plant-specific issue rather than a GI. Third, the potential safety question must not be covered by existing regulations and guidance (compliance). Thus, the effect of a GI is to potentially change the body of regulations and associated guidance (e.g., regulatory guides). The GIP was started in 1976, thus it is a relatively mature program. Approximately 850 issues have been processed by the program to date. More importantly, even after 30 years, new GIs continue to be proposed. The entire set of Generic Issues (GIs) is updated annually in NUREG-0933, 'A Prioritization of Generic Safety Issues'. GIs normally involve complex questions of safety and regulation. Efficient and effective means of addressing these issues are very important for regulatory effectiveness. If an issue proves to pose a genuine, significant safety question, then swift, effective, enforceable, and cost-effective action needs to be taken. Conversely, if an issue is of little safety significance, the issue should be dismissed in an expeditious manner, avoiding unnecessary expenditure of resources and regulatory burden or uncertainty. This paper provides a summary of the 5-stage program, from identification through the regulatory assessment stage. The paper also includes a discussion of the program's seven criteria, sources of proposed GIs, recent improvements, publicly available information, historical performance, and status of current GIs. (authors)

Data Security, Privacy, Availability and Integrity in Cloud Computing: Issues and Current Solutions

OpenAIRE

Sultan Aldossary; William Allen

2016-01-01

Cloud computing changed the world around us. Now people are moving their data to the cloud since data is getting bigger and needs to be accessible from many devices. Therefore, storing the data on the cloud becomes a norm. However, there are many issues that counter data stored in the cloud starting from virtual machine which is the mean to share resources in cloud and ending on cloud storage itself issues. In this paper, we present those issues that are preventing people from adopting the cl...

Music Education--A Personal Matter? Examining the Current Discourses of Music Education in Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

Georgii-Hemming, Eva; Westvall, Maria

2010-01-01

The embedding of informal practices in music education in school relates to significant issues concerning students' engagement, participation, inclusion and the role of the teacher. This article addresses these issues by presenting and discussing current music education in compulsory comprehensive schooling in Sweden. It does so by drawing upon…

Current Problems of Trade Union-Party Relations in Switzerland: Reorientation Versus Inertia

Science.gov (United States)

Siegenthaler, Jurg K.

1975-01-01

The postwar realignment of union-party relations in Switzerland severed old formal ties but left some important links undisturbed; practical and effective cooperation on legislative items supports current informal union-party alliances. Major current problems include the unions' demand for codetermination in industry and the huge numbers of…

Critical issues for high-brightness heavy-ion beams -- prioritized

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Molvik, A.W.; Cohen, R.; Davidson, R.; Faltens, A.; Friedman, A.; Grisham, L.; Grote, D.P.; Haber, I.; Kaganovich, I.; Kireeff Covo, M.; Kwan, J.W.; Lee, E.; Logan, B.G.; Lund, S.M.; Qin, H.; Seidl, P.A.; Sharp, W.M.; Vay, J-L.; Yu, S.S.

2007-01-01

This study group was initiated to consider whether there were any 'show-stopper' issues with accelerators for heavy-ion warm-dense matter (WDM) and heavy-ion inertial fusion energy (HIF), and to prioritize them. Showstopper issues appear to be categorized as limits to beam current; that is, the beam is expected to be well-behaved below the current limit, and significantly degraded in current or emittance if the current limit is exceeded at some region of an accelerator. We identified 14 issues: 1-6 could be addressed in the near term, 7-10 may provide attractive solutions to performance and cost issues, 11-12 address multibeam effects that cannot be more than partially studied in near-term facilities, and 13-14 address new issues that are present in some novel driver concepts. Comparing the issues with the new experimental, simulation, and theoretical tools that we have developed, it is apparent that our new capabilities provide an opportunity to reexamine and significantly increase our understanding of the number one issue--halo growth and mitigation

Privatisation electric power sector in Pakistan: some important issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghafoor, A.; Weiss, J.

1998-01-01

This discussion paper highlights important issues relating to the privatisation of Pakistan's electric power sector. Salient features of the electric power sector in Pakistan, factors affecting the economic performance of this sector, the partial privatisation policy adopted by Pakistan, ongoing private power projects, and current privatisation policy are examined. The arguments for competition are raised, and alternative policy reforms the are considered

Key issues of public relations of Europe: findings from the European Communication Monitor 2007-2014

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verčič, D.; Verhoeven, P.; Zerfass, A.

2014-01-01

European Communication Monitor is the largest longitudinal research project in public relations practice in the world. Data collected annually from 2007 to 2014 show that practitioners perceive five issues as the most important for their work: linking business strategy and communication, coping with

BRS current and related anomalies in two-dimensional gravity and string theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujikawa, Kazuo; Inagaki, Takeshi; Suzuki, Hiroshi.

1989-06-01

The BRS currents in two-dimensional gravity and supergravity theories, which are related to string theory, contain anomalous terms. The origin of these anomalies can be neatly understood in a carefully defined path integral. We present the detailed calculations of these BRS and related anomalies in the holomorphic or antiholomorphic sector separately in the conformal gauge. One-loop renormalization of the Liouville action becomes transparent in our formulation. We identify a BRS-invariant BRS current (and thus nil-potent charge) and a conformally invariant ghost number current by incorporating the dynamical Weyl freedom explicitly. The formal path integral construction of various composite operators is also checked by using the operator product technique. Implications of these BRS analyses on possible non-critical string theories at d<26 or d<10 are briefly discussed. (author)

Roadmapping - A Tool for Resolving Science and Technology Issues Related to Processing, Packaging, and Shipping Nuclear Materials and Waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luke, Dale Elden; Dixon, Brent Wayne; Murphy, James Anthony

2002-01-01

Roadmapping is an effective methodology to identify and link technology development and deployment efforts to a program's or project's needs and requirements. Roadmapping focuses on needed technical support to the baselines (and to alternatives to the baselines) where the probability of success is low (high uncertainty) and the consequences of failure are relatively high (high programmatic risk, higher cost, longer schedule, or higher ES and H risk). The roadmap identifies where emphasis is needed, i.e., areas where investments are large, the return on investment is high, or the timing is crucial. The development of a roadmap typically involves problem definition (current state versus the desired state) and major steps (functions) needed to reach the desired state. For Nuclear Materials (NM), the functions could include processing, packaging, storage, shipping, and/or final disposition of the material. Each function is examined to determine what technical development would be needed to make the function perform as desired. This requires a good understanding of the current state of technology and technology development and validation activities to ensure the viability of each step. In NM disposition projects, timing is crucial. Technology must be deployed within the project window to be of value. Roadmaps set the stage to keep the technology development and deployment focused on project milestones and ensure that the technologies are sufficiently mature when needed to mitigate project risk and meet project commitments. A recent roadmapping activity involved a 'cross-program' effort, which included NM programs, to address an area of significant concern to the Department of Energy (DOE) related to gas generation issues, particularly hydrogen. The roadmap that was developed defined major gas generation issues within the DOE complex and research that has been and is being conducted to address gas generation concerns. The roadmap also provided the basis for sharing

Special issue on asteroids - Introduction

Science.gov (United States)

Novaković, Bojan; Hsieh, Henry H.; Gronchi, Giovanni F.

2018-04-01

The articles in this special issue are devoted to asteroids, small solar system bodies that primarily populate a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, known as the asteroid belt, but can also be found throughout the Solar System. Asteroids are considered to be a key to understanding the formation and evolution of our planetary system. Their properties allow us to test current theoretical models and develop new theoretical concepts pertaining to evolutionary processes in the Solar System. There have been major advances in asteroid science in the last decade, and that trend continues. Eighteen papers accepted for this special issue cover a wide range of asteroid-related subjects, pushing the boundaries of our understanding of these intriguing objects even further. Here we provide the reader with a brief overview of these thrilling papers, with an invitation for interested scientists to read each work in detail for a better understanding of these recent cutting edge results. As many topics in asteroid science remain open challenges, we hope that this special issue will be an important reference point for future research on this compelling topic.

A Review of Issues Related to Data Acquisition and Analysis in EEG/MEG Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Puce, Aina; Hämäläinen, Matti S

2017-05-31

Electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) are non-invasive electrophysiological methods, which record electric potentials and magnetic fields due to electric currents in synchronously-active neurons. With MEG being more sensitive to neural activity from tangential currents and EEG being able to detect both radial and tangential sources, the two methods are complementary. Over the years, neurophysiological studies have changed considerably: high-density recordings are becoming de rigueur; there is interest in both spontaneous and evoked activity; and sophisticated artifact detection and removal methods are available. Improved head models for source estimation have also increased the precision of the current estimates, particularly for EEG and combined EEG/MEG. Because of their complementarity, more investigators are beginning to perform simultaneous EEG/MEG studies to gain more complete information about neural activity. Given the increase in methodological complexity in EEG/MEG, it is important to gather data that are of high quality and that are as artifact free as possible. Here, we discuss some issues in data acquisition and analysis of EEG and MEG data. Practical considerations for different types of EEG and MEG studies are also discussed.

A Review of Issues Related to Data Acquisition and Analysis in EEG/MEG Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aina Puce

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Electroencephalography (EEG and magnetoencephalography (MEG are non-invasive electrophysiological methods, which record electric potentials and magnetic fields due to electric currents in synchronously-active neurons. With MEG being more sensitive to neural activity from tangential currents and EEG being able to detect both radial and tangential sources, the two methods are complementary. Over the years, neurophysiological studies have changed considerably: high-density recordings are becoming de rigueur; there is interest in both spontaneous and evoked activity; and sophisticated artifact detection and removal methods are available. Improved head models for source estimation have also increased the precision of the current estimates, particularly for EEG and combined EEG/MEG. Because of their complementarity, more investigators are beginning to perform simultaneous EEG/MEG studies to gain more complete information about neural activity. Given the increase in methodological complexity in EEG/MEG, it is important to gather data that are of high quality and that are as artifact free as possible. Here, we discuss some issues in data acquisition and analysis of EEG and MEG data. Practical considerations for different types of EEG and MEG studies are also discussed.

Football injuries: current concepts.

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, David E; Sikka, Robby Singh; Hamilton, Abigail; Krohn, Austin

2011-01-01

Football is one of the most popular sports in the United States and is the leading cause of sports-related injury. A large focus in recent years has been on concussions, sudden cardiac death, and heat illness, all thought to be largely preventable health issues in the young athlete. Injury prevention through better understanding of injury mechanisms, education, proper equipment, and practice techniques and preseason screening may aid in reducing the number of injuries. Proper management of on-field injuries and health emergencies can reduce the morbidity associated with these injuries and may lead to faster return to play and reduced risk of future injury. This article reviews current concepts surrounding frequently seen football-related injuries.

Still a hot issue. US fire protection 20 years on

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hathaway, L.R.

1995-01-01

Current fire protection concerns in the US nuclear industry are reviewed. Twenty years ago, a fire at the Brown's Ferry nuclear plant triggered a vigorous programme of regulation by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and a still active response by power plant operators in seeking protection measures to meet the NRC criteria. The largest fire protection issue facing the industry concerns Thermo-Lag, a product formed from resins, subliming materials and fibreglass. This fire resistant wrap was installed in about 75 plants to provide a barrier between safety related cable systems. The Brown's Ferry fire has re-emphasised the importance of the separation criteria between redundant safety systems. Since 1989, however, there have been doubts about the adequacy of Thermo-Lag barriers and a major testing and analysis project addressing the problem is currently being sponsored by six utilities. Other regulatory- related issues facing the industry are the recently proposed defence-in-depth fire protection methodology, and for the future, fire protection strategies to cover shutdown, turbine generators and penetration seals through fire barriers. (UK)

Guest Editorial: Flexible Operation and Control for Medium Voltage Direct-Current (MVDC) Grid

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Yong; Guerrero, Josep M.; Siano, Pierluigi

2017-01-01

We appreciate very much the support from the IET Power Electronics editorial board for this Special Issue on ‘Flexible Operation and Control for Medium Voltage Direct-Current (MVDC) Grid’. In this final version for publication, 15 papers have been selected for this Special Issue. Three papers...... relate to the topology of MVDC converter, four papers relate to the control of MVDC converter, four papers relate to the introduction of application fields of MVDC grid, and four papers relate to the semiconductor power device and drives towards the application in the medium- and high-voltage DC grid....

Theoretical relation between halo current-plasma energy displacement/deformation in EAST

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Shahab Ud-Din; Khan, Salah Ud-Din; Song, Yuntao; Dalong, Chen

2018-04-01

In this paper, theoretical model for calculating halo current has been developed. This work attained novelty as no theoretical calculations for halo current has been reported so far. This is the first time to use theoretical approach. The research started by calculating points for plasma energy in terms of poloidal and toroidal magnetic field orientations. While calculating these points, it was extended to calculate halo current and to developed theoretical model. Two cases were considered for analyzing the plasma energy when flows down/upward to the diverter. Poloidal as well as toroidal movement of plasma energy was investigated and mathematical formulations were designed as well. Two conducting points with respect to (R, Z) were calculated for halo current calculations and derivations. However, at first, halo current was established on the outer plate in clockwise direction. The maximum generation of halo current was estimated to be about 0.4 times of the plasma current. A Matlab program has been developed to calculate halo current and plasma energy calculation points. The main objective of the research was to establish theoretical relation with experimental results so as to precautionary evaluate the plasma behavior in any Tokamak.

Integration of generic issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thatcher, D.

1989-01-01

The NRC has recognized the need to integrate generic issues (GIs). The GI process includes a number of phases, all of which should recognize the potential for overlap and conflict among related issues. In addition to the issues themselves, other related NRC and industry programs and activities need to be factored into the GI process. Integration has taken place, or is taking place, for a number of GIs. Each case of integration involves a specific set of circumstances and, as a result, the way in which integration proceeds can vary. This paper discusses the integration of issues in the generic issue process and provides a number of examples

Large-scale Water-related Innovative Renewable Energy Projects and the Water Framework Directive : Legal Issues and Solutions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Hees, S.R.W.

2017-01-01

This article discusses two legal issues that relate to the conflict between the interest of protecting water quality under the Water Framework Directive (WFD), versus the interest of promoting the use of innovative water-related renewable energy, with regard to the quota in the Renewable Energy

75 FR 64710 - Joint Public Roundtable on Issues Related to the Clearing of Credit Default Swaps

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-20

... certain issues related to the clearing of Credit Default Swaps in the context of the Agencies rulemaking... comments must be in English or be accompanied by an English translation. All submissions provided to either...

Effect of splenectomy on liver cirrhosis and related surgical issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

KONG Degang

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Patients with liver fibrosis and cirrhosis experience certain changes in spleen morphology and function, and there is always a controversy over whether to perform splenectomy in patients with liver cirrhosis. As a surgical treatment of recurrent portal hypertension complicated by esophagogastric variceal bleeding, splenectomy can reduce portal venous pressure, reduce the possibility of gastrointestinal bleeding, and correct the reduced white blood cell count and platelet count. It can also protect the liver by improving liver function, promoting regeneration of hepatocytes, and inhibiting the progression of liver fibrosis. With reference to available clinical and laboratory data, this article reviews the effect of splenectomy on the cirrhotic liver and related issues such as selection of surgical procedures and prevention and treatment of postoperative complications, in order to promote splenectomy in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Safety issues relating to the design of fusion power facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stasko, R.R.; Wong, K.Y.; Russell, S.B.

1986-06-01

In order to make fusion power a viable future source of energy, it will be necessary to ensure that the cost of power for fusion electric generation is competitive with advanced fission concepts. In addition, fusion power will have to live up to its original promise of being a more radiologically benign technology than fission, and be able to demonstrate excellent operational safety performance. These two requirements are interrelated, since the selection of an appropriate safety philosophy early in the design phase could greatly reduce or eliminate the capital costs of elaborate safety related and protective sytems. This paper will briefly overview a few of the key safety issues presently recognized as critical to the ultimate achievement of licensable, environmentally safe and socially acceptable fusion power facilities. 12 refs

Gastroesophageal reflux disease in pediatric practice: current topical issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O.Yu. Bielousova

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In recent years, much attention has been paid to the upper digestive tract diseases in children, particularly gastroesophageal reflux disease, as a cause that has an impact on the quality of life, even in children of school age, and thereafter in young adults. Consequently, there are searches for optimization of early detection, new me-thods of non-invasive diagnosis, screening of this pathology in children’s population in order to determine persons with risk factors and to control disease development and complicated course, as well as searches for the formation of preventive activities algorithm. Scientists came to a consensus that all examinations, which are used in pediatric practice, must be maximally available, simple and non-invasive to the extent of child’s condition. The question about advisability of performing esophagogastroduodenoscopy for all patients with complaints of heartburn and with other symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, the question relative to performing ultrasonography of the esophagus in children as an additional method of examination, usage of questionnaire in pediatric practice, formation of disease course prediction algorithm, and identification of preventive measures specific to every patient remain open. In order to explain their application, the developmental mechanisms of this pathology must be well-understood, and individual risk factors that may influence disease severity and disease course prediction, which occur in children in different periods of life, must be taken into account. Therefore, the goal of this research is to provide an overview of modern literature with reference to topical issues of clinical evidence, risk factors, diagnosis, prediction of gastroesophageal reflux disease course in children of different ages (regarding main causative and pathogenic factors, clinical evidence (esophageal and extra-esophageal, diagnostic methods and modern approaches to gastroesophageal reflux disease

Potential Implications of Climate Change on Aegilops Species Distribution: Sympatry of These Crop Wild Relatives with the Major European Crop Triticum aestivum and Conservation Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Ostrowski, Marie-France; Prosperi, Jean-Marie; David, Jacques

2016-01-01

Gene flow from crop to wild relatives is a common phenomenon which can lead to reduced adaptation of the wild relatives to natural ecosystems and/or increased adaptation to agrosystems (weediness). With global warming, wild relative distributions will likely change, thus modifying the width and/or location of co-occurrence zones where crop-wild hybridization events could occur (sympatry). This study investigates current and 2050 projected changes in sympatry levels between cultivated wheat and six of the most common Aegilops species in Europe. Projections were generated using MaxEnt on presence-only data, bioclimatic variables, and considering two migration hypotheses and two 2050 climate scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Overall, a general decline in suitable climatic conditions for Aegilops species outside the European zone and a parallel increase in Europe were predicted. If no migration could occur, the decline was predicted to be more acute outside than within the European zone. The potential sympatry level in Europe by 2050 was predicted to increase at a higher rate than species richness, and most expansions were predicted to occur in three countries, which are currently among the top four wheat producers in Europe: Russia, France and Ukraine. The results are also discussed with regard to conservation issues of these crop wild relatives.

NST Quarterly. January 1996 issue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

NST Quarterly reports current development in Nuclear Science and Technology in Malaysia. In this issue it highlights MINT activities in nuclear medicine, healthcare products sterilization, industrial irradiation dosimetry and heavy metals determination in food. The Malaysian standard for food irradiation was discussed in this issue

CURRENT ISSUES ON JOB STRESS IN JAPAN AND WORKSITE MENTAL HEALTH APPLICATION AMONG JAPANESE COMPANY A Case Study Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S Purnawati

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Issues about job stress is more popular in the world currently. Not just for Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but also an important issue in EU countries, especially the UK and Finland Increase of awareness about job stress effects on work performance, productivity and mental health is as onereason of the phenomenon.Objective: The present study aimed to explore the issue of job stress in Japan for the reference of good practices to Indonesia.Methods: This study, based on observationalstudies in the period of September-December in year 2010 in Tokyo, Kawasaki and Kitakyushu Japan. Observations on Japanese Company and discussions with experts, such as: occupational physician of Riken Company, experts from: Tokyo University and Tokyo University’s occupational physician, Department of ergonomics, the Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences UOEH (University ofOccupational and Environmental Health, Institute for Science of Labor, and researcher of Japan NIOSH. Two stress management training and occupational mental health’ application program were observed in the period of October-December.Result: The trend of current occupational mental health research in Japan has being moved from job stress to more advanced issues of work engagement andwork-life balance. There are three approaches to prevention of job stress. Considering the three approach could improve of worker productivity and well-being. The training for Tokyo University’s staffs was as one session of individual-oriented stress prevention approach. It was conducted in very interactive class lecture. During 2 hours session, the participants learned some knowledge about job stress and its risk factors, exercised to construct better cognitive for stress prevention and productivity, practiced of progressive muscle relaxation technique, group work, did some home works and filled an evaluation sheet after the session was finish. We also observed the occupational mental

Current issues and strategies for transmission planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Isaacs, A.L. [Electranix, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Rajapakse, A. [Manitoba Univ., Winnipeg, MB (Canada)

2008-07-01

Following the widespread deregulation of the electric power industry in the early 1990s, significant changes occurred in the regulatory and planning environments of the industry. Several regions of North America remain fully or partially regulated in the traditional sense including most Canadian provinces, except for Alberta and Ontario. Although the Mexican system has separate generation and transmission companies and current restructuring efforts are underway, all companies are state-owned, and private investment in energy is heavily constrained by the Mexican constitution. In these regulated regions, traditional generation and transmission expansion planning methods remain in use. This paper presented an overview of current trends in transmission planning strategies that have evolved in response to the restructuring of the power industry, and a conceptual framework of a procedure that would guide planners faced with the challenges of incorporating large scale wind generation in deregulated environments. The paper provided background information on the effect of deregulation on transmission planning. Planning strategies that were discussed included quantifying risk to help identify best alternatives; use of reference systems to estimate generator costs and reduce uncertainty; project based transmission expansion; transmission construction ahead of generation; and generation ahead of transmission. The impact of wind on transmission planning as well as future work addressing challenges posed by wind were also addressed. Research is continuing in this area to illustrate the concepts proposed through a detailed case study. 15 refs., 2 figs.

NS [Nuclear Safety] update. Current safety and security activities and developments taking place in the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, Issue no. 13, December 2009

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-12-01

The current issue presents information about the following activities: Highlights of the 53rd IAEA General Conference, 14-18 September 2009. Current status of the Building, Testing and Using the Response Assistance Network (RANET). 10th Meeting of the ANSN Steering Committee. The document also gives an overview on International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS)

Theme: Staying Current--Horticulture.

Science.gov (United States)

Shry, Carroll L., Jr.; And Others

1986-01-01

This theme issue on staying current in horticulture includes articles on sex equity in horticulture, Future Farmers of America, career opportunities in horticulture, staying current with your school district's needs, staying current in horticulture instruction, staying current with landscape trade associations, emphasizing the basics in vocational…

The Asilomar Survey: Stakeholders? Opinions on Ethical Issues Related to Brain-Computer Interfacing

OpenAIRE

Nijboer, Femke; Clausen, Jens; Allison, Brendan Z.; Haselager, Pim

2011-01-01

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) research and (future) applications raise important ethical issues that need to be addressed to promote societal acceptance and adequate policies. Here we report on a survey we conducted among 145 BCI researchers at the 4th International BCI conference, which took place in May–June 2010 in Asilomar, California. We assessed respondents’ opinions about a number of topics. First, we investigated preferences for terminology and definitions relating to BCIs. Second, w...

Gender specific issues in hereditary ocular disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Iragavarapu, Saradha; Gorin, Michael B

2015-02-01

This review is intended to summarize the current knowledge from basic science and clinical medical literature cited within PubMed that pertain to gender-related factors and affect those individuals with hereditary ocular disorders. We consider gender-related biological factors that (a) affect disease onset and progression, (b) gender differences for major X-linked ocular disorders, (c) gender-specific conditions, (d) medications that may influence genetic eye disorders, and finally, (e) gender-related issues that influence the management and quality of life of these patients. Several studies have demonstrated the manner in which sex-related hormones in animal models are capable of influencing cell pathway and survival that are likely to affect hereditary eye disorders. There are very few clinical studies that provide compelling evidence for gender differences in human ocular conditions, other than for a number of X-linked disorders. Disease expression for X-linked disorders may be impacted by genetic mechanisms such as lyonization or uniparental disomy. Clinical evidence regarding the impact of gender-related medical conditions and therapies on eye conditions is extremely limited and primarily based on anecdotal evidence. Gender-specific factors may play a major role in the underlying biological pathways that influence the onset, rate of progression, and clinical findings associated with ocular genetic conditions. Clinicians need to be aware of the variable phenotypes observed in female carriers of X-linked disorders of gender specific issues, many of which are inadequately addressed in the current literature. Clinicians need to be sensitive to gender differences in social, cultural, and religious systems and they should also be aware of how their own gender biases may influence how they counsel patients. Finally, it is clear that the lack of effective clinical studies in this area creates an opportunity for future research that will have real benefits for these

Epidemiological issues related to dose reconstruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shore, R.E.

1996-01-01

When a dose reconstruction is performed around some nuclear site, a decision has to be made as to whether an epidemiologic study should be performed there and, if so, what form the study should take. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of epidemiologic and biostatistical issues that help determine whether an epidemiologic study around a nuclear facility is worthwhile doing from a scientific standpoint. We are all aware that public health and sociopolitical concerns often assume considerable importance in these decisions, but they will not be considered here. 27 refs., 2 tabs

An Analysis of Policy Issues in Natural Gas Industry Restructuring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seo, J.K. [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

2001-12-01

This report explores controversial issues and problems that could emerge in the process of implementing the government's restructuring plan for natural gas industry and aims to suggest policy directions regarding the restructuring. To begin with, it examines current conditions surrounding natural gas industry including domestic demand and supply conditions, world LNG market trend, structural changes of the industry in OECD countries, possibilities of introducing effective competition and assignment of existing import contracts. In doing so, we probe whether the direction of the natural gas industry restructuring is proper and suggest that the results be reflected when a more detailed restructuring implementation plan is formulated. Also, this report suggests possible schemes related to major institutional changes expected by the basic restructuring plan and the detailed restructuring implementation plan announced by the government. First, it presents several alternative ways to properly divide up the import/wholesales section of Korea Gas Corporation. Second, it examines critical issues such as the method of using gas supply facilities and gas balancing mechanism, and presents adoptable alternatives for each issue. These issues constitute the core of network and market operation rules which need to be in place when adopting an open access system, which in turn is a prerequisite for sales competition. Third, the report examines price systems, including gas commodity pricing and rate-making design for transportation service, by first anticipating the direction of changes in gas rate regulation. Specifically, it presents possible ways to design the service rate for each function of pipeline network and import terminals, and discusses controversial issues in determining total cost-of-service and allocating the cost-of-service to each functional service offered such as distance-related rates, interruptible service rate. Lastly, in relation to the opening of retail

Universal current-velocity relation of skyrmion motion in chiral magnets

Science.gov (United States)

Iwasaki, Junichi; Mochizuki, Masahito; Nagaosa, Naoto

2013-03-01

Current-driven motion of the magnetic domain wall requires large critical current density jc ~109 -1012 A/m2, at which the joule heating is a serious problem. The skyrmions recently discovered in chiral magnets, on the other hand, have much smaller critical current of jc ~105 -106 A/m2. We present a numerical simulation of the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation, which reveals a remarkably robust and universal current-velocity relation of the slyrmion motion driven by the spin transfer torque unaffected by either impurities or nonadiabatic effect in sharp contrast to the case of domain wall or spin helix (HL). Simulation results are analyzed using a theory based on Thiele's equation, and it is concluded that this surprising behavior is due to the Magnus force and flexible shape-deformation of individual skyrmions and skyrmion crystal (SkX), which enable them to avoid pinning centers and then weaken the net pinning force. Dynamical deformation of SkX leads to the fluctuation of Bragg peak with large amplitude, which can be detected by the recent neutron-scattering experiment.

Relation of field-aligned currents measured by AMPERE project to solar wind and substorms

Science.gov (United States)

McPherron, R. L.; Anderson, B. J.; Chu, X.

2016-12-01

Magnetic perturbations measured in the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) by the Iridium constellation of spacecraft have been processed to obtain the time history of field-aligned currents (FAC) connecting the magnetosphere to the ionosphere. We find that the strength of these currents is closely related to the strength of the solar wind driver defined as a running average of the previous three hours of the optimum AL (auroral lower) coupling function. The relation is well represented by a saturation model I = A*S*Ss/(S+Ss) with I the current strength in mega Amps, S the driver strength in mV/m, Ss the saturation value of 7.78 mV/m, and A = 2.55 scales the relation to units of current. We also find that in general the upward current on the nightside increases with each substorm expansion onset defined by a combination of the SuperMag SML (SuperMag AL) and midlatitude positive bay (MPB) onset lists. A superposed epoch analysis using 700 onsets in 2010 shows the following: solar wind coupling peaks at expansion onset; dayside outward current starts to increase one hour before onset while nightside outward current starts suddenly at onset; nightside outward current reaches a peak at 28 minutes as do SML and MPB indices; FAC, SML, and MPB respectively take 1, 2, and 3 hours to decay to background. The data indicate that the substorm current wedge is superposed on a pre-existing field-aligned current system and that the location and properties of the current wedge can be studied with the AMPERE data.

The Current Status of Medical Marijuana in the United States

OpenAIRE

McKenna, Gerald J

2014-01-01

Medical marijuana is currently a controversial issue in medicine. There are strong pro and con opinions but relatively little scientific data on which to base medical decisions. The unfortunate scheduling of marijuana in class I has limited research and only serves to fuel the controversy.

Current Status of Health and Safety Issues of Sodium/Metal Chloride (Zebra) Batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David Trickett

1998-01-01

This report addresses environmental, health, and safety (EH ampersand S) issues associated with sodium/ metal chloride batteries, in general, although most references to specific cell or battery types refer to units developed or being developed under the Zebra trademark. The report focuses on issues pertinent to sodium/metal chloride batteries and their constituent components; however, the fact that some ''issues'' arise from interaction between electric vehicle (EV) and battery design com- pels occasional discussion amid the context of EV vehicle design and operation. This approach has been chosen to provide a reasonably comprehensive account of the topic from a cell technology perspective and an applications perspective

Current Status of Health and Safety Issues of Sodium/Metal Chloride (Zebra) Batteries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trickett, D.

1998-12-15

This report addresses environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) issues associated with sodium/ metal chloride batteries, in general, although most references to specific cell or battery types refer to units developed or being developed under the Zebra trademark. The report focuses on issues pertinent to sodium/metal chloride batteries and their constituent components; however, the fact that some ''issues'' arise from interaction between electric vehicle (EV) and battery design compels occasional discussion amid the context of EV vehicle design and operation. This approach has been chosen to provide a reasonably comprehensive account of the topic from a cell technology perspective and an applications perspective.

Ethical issues in the development and implementation of nutrition-related public health policies and interventions: A scoping review

Science.gov (United States)

Peña-Rosas, Juan Pablo; Saxena, Abha; Zamora, Gerardo

2017-01-01

Background The limited integration of ethics in nutrition-related public health policies and interventions is one major concern for those who have the task of implementing them. Ethical challenges that are overlooked during the development of such interventions could raise serious ethical issues during their implementation and even after. As a result, these decision makers need technical support and ethical guidance for adaptation of interventions to local (cultural, social, economic, etc.) contexts. Aim The goal of this scoping review is to delineate and “map” the range of ethical issues in nutrition-related public health interventions, as well as the range of the various fields in which they may arise. Methods A scoping review of empirical research and conceptual literature was conducted following the framework of Arksey and O’Malley. Searches using PubMed with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) categories and Advanced Search Builder as well as in the Global Health Library were performed. The final sample consists of 169 publications. Results The ethics of public health prevention or treatment of obesity and non-communicable diseases is the most explicitly and frequently discussed subject. In comparison, ethical issues raised by public health interventions in the fields of undernutrition, breastfeeding, vitamin/mineral supplementation and food fortification, food security, food sustainability and food safety are addressed in a lower proportion of the sample. The results illustrate the various natures, types, and scopes of existing public health nutrition-related interventions, and the various ethical issues that may be raised by these interventions, in addition to the numerous and different contexts in which they may be implemented. Discussion The ethical issues faced in the development and implementation of nutrition-related public health interventions are varied and cannot be equated with, nor generalized about, when dealing with specific activities in this

Ethical issues in the development and implementation of nutrition-related public health policies and interventions: A scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Hurlimann, Thierry; Peña-Rosas, Juan Pablo; Saxena, Abha; Zamora, Gerardo; Godard, Béatrice

2017-01-01

The limited integration of ethics in nutrition-related public health policies and interventions is one major concern for those who have the task of implementing them. Ethical challenges that are overlooked during the development of such interventions could raise serious ethical issues during their implementation and even after. As a result, these decision makers need technical support and ethical guidance for adaptation of interventions to local (cultural, social, economic, etc.) contexts. The goal of this scoping review is to delineate and "map" the range of ethical issues in nutrition-related public health interventions, as well as the range of the various fields in which they may arise. A scoping review of empirical research and conceptual literature was conducted following the framework of Arksey and O'Malley. Searches using PubMed with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) categories and Advanced Search Builder as well as in the Global Health Library were performed. The final sample consists of 169 publications. The ethics of public health prevention or treatment of obesity and non-communicable diseases is the most explicitly and frequently discussed subject. In comparison, ethical issues raised by public health interventions in the fields of undernutrition, breastfeeding, vitamin/mineral supplementation and food fortification, food security, food sustainability and food safety are addressed in a lower proportion of the sample. The results illustrate the various natures, types, and scopes of existing public health nutrition-related interventions, and the various ethical issues that may be raised by these interventions, in addition to the numerous and different contexts in which they may be implemented. The ethical issues faced in the development and implementation of nutrition-related public health interventions are varied and cannot be equated with, nor generalized about, when dealing with specific activities in this field. More importantly, these ethical issues

Ethical issues in the development and implementation of nutrition-related public health policies and interventions: A scoping review.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thierry Hurlimann

Full Text Available The limited integration of ethics in nutrition-related public health policies and interventions is one major concern for those who have the task of implementing them. Ethical challenges that are overlooked during the development of such interventions could raise serious ethical issues during their implementation and even after. As a result, these decision makers need technical support and ethical guidance for adaptation of interventions to local (cultural, social, economic, etc. contexts.The goal of this scoping review is to delineate and "map" the range of ethical issues in nutrition-related public health interventions, as well as the range of the various fields in which they may arise.A scoping review of empirical research and conceptual literature was conducted following the framework of Arksey and O'Malley. Searches using PubMed with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH categories and Advanced Search Builder as well as in the Global Health Library were performed. The final sample consists of 169 publications.The ethics of public health prevention or treatment of obesity and non-communicable diseases is the most explicitly and frequently discussed subject. In comparison, ethical issues raised by public health interventions in the fields of undernutrition, breastfeeding, vitamin/mineral supplementation and food fortification, food security, food sustainability and food safety are addressed in a lower proportion of the sample. The results illustrate the various natures, types, and scopes of existing public health nutrition-related interventions, and the various ethical issues that may be raised by these interventions, in addition to the numerous and different contexts in which they may be implemented.The ethical issues faced in the development and implementation of nutrition-related public health interventions are varied and cannot be equated with, nor generalized about, when dealing with specific activities in this field. More importantly, these

The nuclear controversy-what are the issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wyatt, A.

1976-01-01

The various issues raised by anti-nuclear groups are outlined and rebutted. Issues are grouped under four headingss - Economic; Technical; Social/Ethical/Moral; Political. Issues debated under economic aspects include conservation, unemployment resulting from energy use, use of alternative enrgy sources, high capital cost of nuclear power, high energy consumption in construction of plants, performance unreliability, depletion of uranium and excessive cost of decommissioning. Technically related issues, reactor safety, possibility of nuclear power plant explosion, waste managment, toxicity of plutonium, emission of radioactive material, thermal pollution and environmental effect of heavy water production are also discussed. Social/ethical/moral issues rebutted include radiation effects on health and genetic effects, deaths among uranium miners, morality of long-term waste storage, lack of faith in technical solutions and technical people, opposition to current life style, secrecy of information, nuclear proliferation and unsuitability of nuclear technology to the needs of developing countries. Political issues discussed are sabotage/terrorism possibilites, police state tactics in protection of nuclear facilities, misuse of technolgy by society, high energy society is capitalist and low energy society is Marxist, centralization of power, need for a great nuclear debate and the question of who pays for safety. Scientists and technical people are called upon to debate in their areas of specialty and are cautioned to be aware of tactics involved in meeting challengers head-on. (J.T.A.)

Current issues in nuclear power projects decision making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanev, Y.; Rogner, H.

2011-01-01

Concluding Comments: Firm government commitment and support - imminent; New financing approaches/models are emerging, repackaging existing methods and combination of project finance/co-operative mode; Global financial crisis will make financing for investors very challenging, especially for large scale infrastructure projects like NNP –financial regulators to impose tougher rules (Basel III, UK bank levy, US Financial Regulatory Bill, etc; Pure project finance is still challenging for nuclear projects - the availability of finance for new NPPs will depend on the initial government support. This presentation presents a “free market” view on investment in nuclear power projects; If the public sector (governments) wishes to invest in nuclear power as part of its socioeconomic development priorities, finance is not a real obstacle; It becomes an issue in the presence of other equally important development needs and private sector participation is sought

Childhood obesity and parks and playgrounds: A review of issues of equality, gender and social support

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hammad Ali Qazi

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The childhood obesity has been a growing concern over the last decade all over the world. Built environmental characteristics such as parks and playgrounds serves as a reference point for physical activity in children. The equality issues related to ethnicity, Social Economic Status (SES, gender and social support have been related with both physical activity and presence and quality of parks and playgrounds. However, only limited studies have addressed these issues in children. The current paper is a general enumerative review that would discusses the above issues with respect to obesity in all age groups, giving particular emphasis to childhood obesity. The importance of this review is to further explore the importance and highlight the findings related to these issues, so that future original studies could be planned keeping these associations in mind.

Current programmes on physical metallurgy and related areas in BARC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

Current research and development programmes on physical metallurgy and related areas from the following Divisions of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre are included in this report : Atomic Fuels Division, High Pressure Physics Division, Metallurgy Division, Radio Metallurgy Division, Solid State Physics Division. Important publications corresponding to each activity have also been listed. (author)

Effect of generic issues program on improving safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fard, M. R.; Kauffman, J. V.

2010-01-01

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) identifies (by its assessment of plant operation) certain issues involving public health and safety, the common defense and security, or the environment that could affect multiple entities under NRC jurisdiction. The Generic Issues Program (GIP) addresses the resolution of these Generic Issues (GIs). The resolution of these issues may involve new or revised rules, new or revised guidance, or revised interpretation of rules or guidance that affect nuclear power plant licensees, nuclear material certificate holders, or holders of other regulatory approvals. U.S. NRC provides information related to the past and ongoing GIP activities to the general public by the use of three main resources, namely NUREG-0933, 'Resolution of Generic Safety Issues, ' Generic Issues Management Control System (GIMCS), and GIP public web page. GIP information resources provide information such as historical information on resolved GIs, current status of the open GIs, policy documents, program procedures, GIP annual and quarterly reports and the process to contact GIP and propose a GI This paper provides an overview of the GIP and several examples of safety improvements resulting from the resolution of GIs. In addition, the paper provides a brief discussion of a few recent GIs to illustrate how the program functions to improve safety. (authors)

Some issues related to polarized radiative transfer in a multilayer medium with a changing index of refraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, R D M

2012-01-01

A couple of issues raised in a recent work on Fresnel boundary and interface conditions for polarized radiative transfer are discussed. The first issue concerns a normalization that has to be performed on the transmission matrix relating the transmitted and incident Stokes vectors at a smooth interface between different materials. It was found that the normalization step is not performed in a correct way in many existing works and so the effects of the two most frequent discrepancies encountered in these works are evaluated for a simple model of an atmosphere-water system. The second issue has to do with a choice of the sign of the parallel component of the amplitude coefficient of reflection R l when constructing the reflection matrix that relates the reflected and incident Stokes vectors at a smooth interface. A computational approach based on the limit to the case with constant index of refraction is used to determine the appropriate sign of R l for polarized radiative transfer calculations in multilayers with different indices of refraction.

Tribal-FERST Environmental Issue Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

This page provides links to the 45 issue profiles for Tribal-FERST users, organized with tabs to show issues related to pollutants, environmental media, health effects, other community issues, and all issues.

C-FERST Environmental Issue Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

This page provides links to the 45 issue profiles for C-FERST users, organized with tabs to show issues related to pollutants, environmental media, health effects, other community issues, and all issues.

[Physiological changes and related nursing care issues during hunger strike].

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Yeu-Shan; Chen, Shiu-Lien

2005-08-01

The use of hunger strike as a tool to assert grievances has been around for ages and has occasionally happened in the world. Hunger strikers' motives may differ, but their tool is the same--the voluntary refusal of food. Fasting not only results in body weight loss, but also in physiological and neurological function changes, and, of course, it may even threaten life. The health care of hunger strikers is complex. It involves medical staff, medical ethics and guidance for the management of the hunger strikers. Improper medical management may not only undermine the hunger striker's dignity but also risk further damage to his or her health. By understanding hunger strikers' physiological changes and related ethical issues, therefore, we aim to identify appropriate forms of nursing care management and guidance for the care of hunger strikers.

Sovereignty: analysis of its current issues in certain countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktor Koščo

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose and Originality: The purpose of my article work is analyzing of the issue of sovereignty in international law. Originality of my article is that events described in the text are for people little known. Method: In the text I used to describe the method. Result: I evaluated the most important facts and influences for States Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Tibet and South Sudan. Society: The lives of people in the above countries, the history and present. Limitation: I clarified the important facts and dates, also bring comparison between past and the future.

Issues and recommendations related to replacement of CFC-114 at the uranium enrichment gaseous diffusion plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, B.L.; Banaghan, E.

1993-01-01

The operating uranium enrichment gaseous diffusion plants (GDPs) in Portsmouth, Ohio and Paducah, Kentucky, which are operated for the United States Department for Energy by Martin Marietta Energy Systems (MMES), currently use a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC-114) as the primary process stream coolant. Due to recent legislation embodied in the Clean Air Act, the production of this and other related chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS) are to be phased out with no production occurring after 1995. Since the plants lose approximately 500,000 pounds per year of this process stream coolant through various leaks, the GDPs are faced with the challenge of identifying a replacement coolant that will allow continued operation of the plants. MMES formed the CFC Task Team to identify and solve the various problems associated with identifying and implementing a replacement coolant. This report includes a review of the work performed by the CFC Task Team, and recommendations that were formulated based on this review and upon original work. The topics covered include; identifying a replacement coolant, coolant leak detection and repair efforts, coolant safety concerns, coolant level sensors, regulatory issues, and an analytical decision analysis

Current Concepts in Sports-Related Concussion.

Science.gov (United States)

Chatterjee, Dipal; Frumberg, David B; Mulchandani, Neil B; Eldib, Ahmed M; Xavier, Fred; Barbash, Scott E; Saha, Subrata; Urban, William P

2015-01-01

Traumatic brain injury, specifically concussion, is prevalent in contact sports. In the United States (US) each year, 170 million adults participate in physical recreational activities, and 38 million children and adolescents participate in organized sports. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that in this group ~1.6 to 3.8 million concussions occur annually. Recent class-action lawsuits in the US filed by professional athletes against their respective leagues allege negligence in protecting them from concussions, and this has contributed to the attention received in the popular media. In response, concussion-related publications have increased exponentially during the past several years. Recent studies have challenged earlier assumptions that the effects of concussion are transient. Stronger links between concussion and neurodegenerative processes such as Alzheimer's disease-like conditions, depression, and heightened risk for suicide are being elucidated. In this article, we explore the current knowledge on concussion, including pathophysiology, management, and long-term effects. We conclude that more evidence-based results regarding guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and return to play (RTP) are needed and should be the focus of future investigations. Attributing the etiology of certain neurodegenerative conditions to a history of concussion has been suggested in the current literature, but additional quantitative data regarding the pathophysiology and causality are needed as well. Bioengineers can have an important role in measuring the dynamic forces encountered during head impacts and their effects on the brain. These results can be effective in designing better helmets as well as improved playing surfaces to reduce the impact of such injuries. At this time, we believe that groups of people with heightened risk for concussion should be followed closely during longer periods of time and compared to matched controls. Such long-term studies are urgently

78 FR 9020 - Wireline Competition Bureau Seeks Further Comment on Specific Issues Related to the...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-07

... adjust the Remote Areas Fund usage allowance requirement to reflect consumer behavior, and if so, how... files, audio format), send an email to [email protected] or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau... issues relating to the implementation of the Remote Areas Fund as a portable consumer subsidy program, as...

The Current State of Music Therapy Theory?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bonde, Lars Ole

2015-01-01

An essay on themes from Ken Aigen (2014): "The Study of Music Therapy. Current Issues and Concepts"......An essay on themes from Ken Aigen (2014): "The Study of Music Therapy. Current Issues and Concepts"...

ADA members weigh in on critical issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, Karen; Ruesch, Jon D; Mikkelsen, Matthew C; Wagner, Karen Schaid

2003-01-01

Science, new technology, patient care, dental reimbursement and government regulations all affect today's dental practitioners. To find out more about how such challenges may affect current private practitioners, the American Dental Association conducted the 2000 Membership Needs and Opinions Survey. A questionnaire was sent to 6,310 ADA members in January 2000 with follow-up mailings in February, March and April 2000. Data collection was completed in July 2000. The survey included questions on critical professional issues, and on perceptions of the ADA and ADA priorities. A total of 3,558 completed surveys were received for an adjusted response rate of 59.5 percent. Members rated the identified issues' level of importance to them. The top three issues included "maintaining my ability to recommend the treatment option I feel is most appropriate for my patients," "receiving fair reimbursement for the dental services I provide," and "protecting myself, my staff and my patients from communicable diseases." New dentists found other items to be more significant to them compared with members overall. Although ADA members as a whole had similar views on critical issues facing dentistry and ADA priorities, there were significant differences regarding some issues. New dentists were far more concerned about securing funds for their practice and paying off debt than were all ADA members. Minority dentists expressed greater levels of concern about certain issues than did all ADA members. When planning and implementing ADA activities, the Association should continue to take into account members' relative rankings of professional issues and note issues of special interest to selected membership subgroups.

Pertinent issues related to laparoscopic radical prostatectomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sidney C. Abreu

2003-12-01

Full Text Available PURPOSE: We describe the critical steps of the laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP technique and discuss how they impact upon the pertinent issues regarding prostate cancer surgery: blood loss, potency and continence. RESULTS: A major advantage of LRP is the reduced operative blood loss. The precise placement of the dorsal vein complex stitch associated with the tamponading effect of the CO2 pneumoperitoneum significantly decrease venous bleeding, which is the main source of blood loss during radical prostatectomy. At the Cleveland Clinic, the average blood loss of our first 100 patients was 322.5 ml, resulting in low transfusion rates. The continuous venous bleeding narrowed pelvic surgical field and poor visibility can adversely impact on nerve preservation during open radical prostatectomy. Laparoscopy, with its enhanced and magnified vision in a relatively bloodless field allows for excellent identification and handling of the neurovascular bundles. During open retropubic radical prostatectomy, the pubic bone may impair visibility and access to the urethral stump, and the surgeon must tie the knots relying on tactile sensation alone. Consequently, open prostatectomy is associated with a prolonged catheterization period of 2 - 3 weeks. Comparatively, during laparoscopic radical prostatectomy all sutures are meticulously placed and each is tied under complete visual control, resulting in a precise mucosa-to-mucosa approximation. CONCLUSION: The laparoscopic approach may represent a reliable less invasive alternative to the conventional open approach. Despite the encouraging preliminary anatomical and functional outcomes, prospective randomized comparative trials are required to critically evaluate the role of laparoscopy for this sophisticated and delicate operation.

The Impact of IMC on Advertising and Public Relations Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, W. Glenn; Pasadeos, Yorgo

1998-01-01

Surveys advertising and public relations faculty members with regard to IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) and its impact on current curricula. Finds (1) areas of discontent with current course curricula; (2) evidence of "separate agendas" between advertising and public relations educators on this issue; and (3) evidence of a generation gap…

Integrating the avoided deforestation in a new agreement on climate. Comments on the current debate related to the reduction of emissions induced by deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wertz-Kanounnikoff, S.; Tubiana, L.

2007-01-01

The authors propose some reflections about the current debate related to the reduction of emissions induced by deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries. The author comments the two possibilities about one of the issues in this debate: to decide whether this mechanism must be financed by means of mandatory markets or voluntary funds. She also comments the issue on the institutional framework: to integrate REDD implementation in the framework foreseen by Kyoto beyond 2012, or to integrate it in a distinct agreement or protocol. She discusses the variety of national specificities and expectations, and tries to identify perspectives

Operations Management of Logistics and Supply Chain: Issues and Directions

OpenAIRE

Li, Xiang

2014-01-01

There has been consensus that logistics as well as supply chain management is a vital research field, yet with few literature reviews on this topic. This paper sets out to propose some hot issues in the current research, through a review of related literature from the perspective of operations management. In addition, we generate some insights and future research directions in this field.

PENGARUH RIGHT ISSUE TERHADAP KINERJA KEUANGAN PERUSAHAAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ibnu Khajar

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Penelitian ini menyelidiki pengaruh right issue terhadap kinerja keuangan perusahaan yang go public di Bursa Efek Indonesia. Sampel meliputi dua puluh satu perusahaan yang melakukan right issue dari tahun 2003-2006. Variabel penelitian adalah kinerja keuangan yang diukur dengan rasio likuiditas, leverage, profitabilitas, aktivitas, dan rasio pasar. Paired t-test dan uji Wilcoxon digunakan untuk menentukan perbedaan kinerja keuangan sebelum dan sesudah right issue. Dari rasio kinerja likuiditas, leverage, profitabilitas, aktivitas, dan rasio pasar (Rasio Lancar, Hutang Jumlah Untuk Jumlah Aktiva, Net Profit Margin, Asset Turn Over dan Rasio Price Earning pada dua tahun sebelum dan dua tahun setelah right issue, hanya dua rasio-Harga Earning ratio dan Current Ratio secara signifikan berbeda pada sebelum dan sesudah right issue. Kedua rasio ini meningkat secara signifikan. This study investigated the effect of right issue on the financial performance of companies that go public on the Indonesian Stock Exchange. The sample included twenty-one company that does the right issue from the years 2003-2006. Research variable is financial performance as measured by the liquidity ratio, leverage, profitability, activity, and the ratio of the market. Paired t-test and Wilcoxon test used to determine differences in financial performance before and after the rights issue. From the performance ratios of liquidity, leverage, profitability, activity, and the market ratio (Current Ratio, Total Debt To Total Assets, Net Profit Margin, Asset Turn Over and Price Earning Ratio at two years before and two years after the right issue, only two ratio--Price Earning Ratio and Current Ratio are significantly different at the before and after the rights issue. Both these ratios increased significantly.

NST Quarterly - January 1999 issue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

NST Quarterly reports current development in Nuclear Science and Technology in Malaysia. In this issue it highlights MINT activities in radioactive tracer technique and medical services. Special report on the sediment tracing technique to study the sedimentation pattern at the power stations was presented. The syopsis on two new book launched by MINT also were reviewed. The books are Research Highlights on the Use of Induced Mutations for Plant Improvement in Malaysia and Rice Agro-Ecosystem of the Muda Irrigation Scheme, Malaysia. In medical services, MINT has a group, provide medical physics services such as QA checks on the country's diagnostic radiology equipment and related services

Application of fault current limiters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neumann, A.

2007-11-30

This report presents the results of a study commissioned by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Industry (BERR; formerly the Department of Trade and Industry) into the application of fault current limiters in the UK. The study reviewed the current state of fault current limiter (FCL) technology and regulatory position in relation to all types of current limiters. It identified significant research and development work with respect to medium voltage FCLs and a move to high voltage. Appropriate FCL technologies being developed include: solid state breakers; superconducting FCLs (including superconducting transformers); magnetic FCLs; and active network controllers. Commercialisation of these products depends on successful field tests and experience, plus material development in the case of high temperature superconducting FCL technologies. The report describes FCL techniques, the current state of FCL technologies, practical applications and future outlook for FCL technologies, distribution fault level analysis and an outline methodology for assessing the materiality of the fault level problem. A roadmap is presented that provides an 'action agenda' to advance the fault level issues associated with low carbon networks.

Data Analysis and Data Mining: Current Issues in Biomedical Informatics

Science.gov (United States)

Bellazzi, Riccardo; Diomidous, Marianna; Sarkar, Indra Neil; Takabayashi, Katsuhiko; Ziegler, Andreas; McCray, Alexa T.

2011-01-01

Summary Background Medicine and biomedical sciences have become data-intensive fields, which, at the same time, enable the application of data-driven approaches and require sophisticated data analysis and data mining methods. Biomedical informatics provides a proper interdisciplinary context to integrate data and knowledge when processing available information, with the aim of giving effective decision-making support in clinics and translational research. Objectives To reflect on different perspectives related to the role of data analysis and data mining in biomedical informatics. Methods On the occasion of the 50th year of Methods of Information in Medicine a symposium was organized, that reflected on opportunities, challenges and priorities of organizing, representing and analysing data, information and knowledge in biomedicine and health care. The contributions of experts with a variety of backgrounds in the area of biomedical data analysis have been collected as one outcome of this symposium, in order to provide a broad, though coherent, overview of some of the most interesting aspects of the field. Results The paper presents sections on data accumulation and data-driven approaches in medical informatics, data and knowledge integration, statistical issues for the evaluation of data mining models, translational bioinformatics and bioinformatics aspects of genetic epidemiology. Conclusions Biomedical informatics represents a natural framework to properly and effectively apply data analysis and data mining methods in a decision-making context. In the future, it will be necessary to preserve the inclusive nature of the field and to foster an increasing sharing of data and methods between researchers. PMID:22146916

SAID/SAPS Revisited: A Causal Relation to the Substorm Current Wedge

Science.gov (United States)

Mishin, E. V.

2017-12-01

We present multi-spacecraft observations of enhanced flow/electric field channels in the inner magnetosphere and conjugate subauroral ionosphere, i.e., subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) near dusk and subauroral ion drifts (SAID) near midnight. The channels collocate with ring current (RC) injections lagging the onset of substorms by a few to ˜20 minutes, i.e., significantly shorter than the gradient-curvature drift time of tens of keV ions. The time lag is of the order of the propagation time of reconnection-injected hot plasma jets to the premidnight plasmasphere and the substorm current wedge (SCW) to dusk. The observations confirm and expand on the previous results on the SAID features that negate the paradigm of voltage and current generators. Fast-time duskside SAPS/RC injections appear intimately related to a two-loop circuit of the substorm current wedge (SCW2L). We suggest that the poleward electric field inherent in the SCW2L circuit, which demands closure of the Region 1- and Region 2-sense field-aligned currents via meridional currents, is the ultimate cause of fast RC injections and SAPS on the duskside.

Nuclear safety - Topical issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

The following topical issues related to nuclear safety are discussed: steam generators; maintenance strategies; control rod drive nozzle cracks; core shrouds cracks; sump strainer blockage; fire protection; computer software important for safety; safety during shutdown; operational safety experience; external hazards and other site related issues. 5 figs, 5 tabs

Relation between magnetic fields and electric currents in plasmas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. M. Vasyliunas

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Maxwell's equations allow the magnetic field B to be calculated if the electric current density J is assumed to be completely known as a function of space and time. The charged particles that constitute the current, however, are subject to Newton's laws as well, and J can be changed by forces acting on charged particles. Particularly in plasmas, where the concentration of charged particles is high, the effect of the electromagnetic field calculated from a given J on J itself cannot be ignored. Whereas in ordinary laboratory physics one is accustomed to take J as primary and B as derived from J, it is often asserted that in plasmas B should be viewed as primary and J as derived from B simply as (c/4π∇×B. Here I investigate the relation between ∇×B and J in the same terms and by the same method as previously applied to the MHD relation between the electric field and the plasma bulk flow vmv2001: assume that one but not the other is present initially, and calculate what happens. The result is that, for configurations with spatial scales much larger than the electron inertial length λ_e, a given ∇×B produces the corresponding J, while a given J does not produce any ∇×B but disappears instead. The reason for this can be understood by noting that ∇×B≠4π/cJ implies a time-varying electric field (displacement current which acts to change both terms (in order to bring them toward equality; the changes in the two terms, however, proceed on different time scales, light travel time for B and electron plasma period for J, and clearly the term changing much more slowly is the one that survives. (By definition, the two time scales are equal at λ_e. On larger scales, the evolution of B (and hence also of ∇×B is governed by